Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ On a Wing and a Prayer ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3

"And that was when Hitomi left Gaea." Millerna said as she looked over at Katia. They were back in the room Katia had woken up in. Allen was standing by the door, arms folded across his chest, while Katia and Millerna sat on the bed. He and Millerna had just spent the last two hours telling Katia the whole story of the Destiny War in which Hitomi was a hero.

Katia had told them that she had been on her way to see her friend/roommate, Hitomi Kanzaki, when she and Hitomi had been swept up by the light pillar. Millerna and Allen had both been shocked at the mention of Hitomi, and when Katia had questioned them about it, they told her all about Hitomi's first visit to Gaea.

Katia could hardly believe her ears. Hitomi…a war hero? It was a side of her friend that she had had absolutely no idea about.

"There was one other thing too." Allen said, interrupting Katia's thoughts. She looked up at him and waited for the next bombshell to drop. "Hitomi found love here on Gaea." Katia's eyes grew wide. Now it was all starting to make sense.

"She…she had a boyfriend here on Gaea?" Katia asked in a shaky voice. Allen gave a curt nod. "Who was it?"

"Van Slanzar de Fanel, King of Fanelia." Millerna answered with a slight smile. Katia's eyes were almost as big as dinner plates.

"King?! Hitomi was dating a KING?!" Though Millerna was smiling, Katia thought that Allen looked almost pained.

"Well, DATING isn't exactly what I would call it." Millerna said with a slight chuckle. Katia gave her a puzzled look, at which Millerna couldn't help but burst out laughing. "You should have seen how they acted around one another. Both always trying to deny and hide their feelings, yet doing a miserable job of it." Even Allen chuckled at this. Millerna managed to calm herself somewhat before continuing. "But it was pretty obvious to anyone that was around them for an extended period of time that they truly cared deeply for one another. You rarely saw one without the other."

Though Katia was somewhat surprised, she now finally understood Hitomi's behavior. <No wonder she never wanted to go out with any of the men that Yukari and I tried to hook her up with. Her heart has been spoken for since she was fifteen years old.> Katia got up and looked out the window. "Can either of you answer a question for me?"

"We can try." Millerna answered as she stood up, all of her giddiness now replaced by her genuine desire to help make Katia as comfortable as possible.

"How come I suddenly have wings here on Gaea?" She looked back at Allen and Millerna and noticed that their faces had gone considerably pale, and they were looking at each other worriedly.

<Oh no. From their reactions, I'm guessing that having wings is a bad thing.>

Millerna looked back at her. "The best person to speak to about that would be Lord Van. He knows more about it than either Allen or I."

Katia's kept her face emotionless and nodded, but her mind was panicking. <I have to ask a KING about this? Why can't either of them just tell me what they know?> She turned back towards the window.

"I'm sorry that I gave you both such a scare when I let myself fall out of the hanger." Her voice was completely neutral and held no trace of her inner thoughts. She turned back around to face them and found them both smiling at her.

"It is somewhat understandable. It must have been quite a shock for you to wake up and find yourself on a different planet." Allen said as he moved up beside Millerna.

"I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to explain some of these things to me."

"It was our pleasure Katia." Millerna answered. Katia smiled weakly at the two of them before turning back around to look out the window again. Tears were burning in her eyes and threatening to fall. Allen seemed to sense this.

"Would you like to be alone for a few moments?" Katia gave a slight nod, and Allen ushered Millerna out of the room.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Katia's resolve crumbled and she fell to the floor in tears. She covered her mouth to muffle the sounds of her howls of despair as her tears flowed like waterfalls down her face.

<Haven't I been through enough already in my life?> she thought resentfully as she pulled herself up off the floor and turned to the window again. <I moved to Tokyo all by myself and started over after mom and dad died. Things were just starting to go right…and now this.>

She looked up at the Earth, or as people here on Gaea called it, the Mystic Moon. <I don't belong here. Hitomi might, but what is there for me here on Gaea? Then again…there isn't much for me back home either.> She wiped the tears from her face and continued to look up at the Earth. But a knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.

She frantically wiped away the rest of the tears that ran down her face. <Probably Allen or Millerna wanting to check up on me.> she thought as she moved towards the door. She took a few calming breathes before finally opening it.

Millerna stood on the other side and smiled at her. Katia moved aside and allowed her to enter, but Millerna wasn't alone. She had one of her handmaidens with her, and the handmaiden was laden down with dresses and other items.

Katia gave Millerna a startled look and began backing away, shaking her head vigorously.

"Oh no, no way Your Highness."

Millerna placed her hands on her hips and looked at Katia crossly. "Well you can't very well go in front of the King of Fanelia and his court looking like a peasant who's spent the last decade in a forest. My taste and dignity would be called into question."

Katia too placed her hands on her hips and stood up to Millerna's challenge. "There is nothing wrong with what I'm wearing. These are some of the most stylish cloths that money can buy on Earth."

Millerna raised her eyebrow and looked at Katia critically, a small smile creeping across her face. Katia looked down at her cloths and immediately lost her confidence in the argument.

She was wearing a thigh length black skirt, knee high boots, and a forest green tank top that revealed A LOT of cleavage. But it wasn't just the cloths that made her falter in her convictions; it was the fact that the front of her shirt and the top part of her skirt were covered in dried blood. And she just knew that there must be rips in the back of her shirt from where her wings had sprouted.

Her cheeks a bright crimson, she looked back at Millerna and tried to laugh off her embarrassment. Millerna smiled at her and turned to her hand maiden, choosing a royal blue dress from the pile and held it up to Katia.

"I think that this one will suite you very well." she said as she gave Katia another once over, but she made a face as she touched Katia's waist length hair, pulling out some pieces of grass and leafs. "But I think that the cloths aren't the only thing that we need to fix here."

Katia's anger and embarrassment rose again and her face turned an even brighter shade of red.

<Is she deliberately going out of her way to insult my looks, or is she always this condescending? Okay so my cloths are ripped and stained with blood and my hair probably looks like shit, but I'd like to see how she'd look if she woke up on the ground in a forest!> But before she had a chance to voice her opinion, the hand maiden pushed her out of the room and down the hall into the bathroom.

* * *

It took almost an hour for the handmaiden to get Katia all cleaned up. The handmaiden, who didn't once tell Katia her name, had washed Katia's hair in the sink and then told her to take a short bath. Then the handmaiden helped her into the dress that Millerna had given her. This was actually a lot harder than Katia thought it would be. The dress had a corset sewn into it and the strings didn't seem to be able to be pulled enough so that the dress would fit properly on her slight frame. When they had finally gotten the dress on, the handmaiden had sat her down and done her hair and makeup.

At last the handmaiden, satisfied with Katia's appearance, led her out of the bathroom and back towards the room where Millerna was waiting.

The handmaiden opened the door and stepped to the side, allowing Katia to enter the room. The first thing Katia noticed was that Millerna too was now in a full-length dress. She wore a crown atop her head, and her long blond hair was out of the ponytail and flowing down her back.

Katia felt very self-conscious and intimidated as she entered the room and walked towards Millerna. Millerna was very beautiful, and Katia thought that she was the ideal of what a queen should look like. Katia curtsied and bowed her head low as she stood in front of Millerna. She was inwardly holding her breath as she raised her head and looked the Queen of Asturia in the eye, waiting for some sign of approval or comment about her appearance.

"Now that's more like it. A HUGE improvement over before." Millerna said with a bright smile as she walked around her and took in her full appearance. "If I didn't know any better, I would think that you were a princess on her way to court Lord Van." Katia wasn't sure whether that was supposed to be a complement or an insult. But then she noticed the mirror behind Millerna and caught sight of her reflection.

Her eyes widened as she stepped closer to the mirror and took in her own appearance. The royal blue dress suited her very well. It was sleeveless, but had thick shoulder straps. The corset made the dress conform perfectly to the curves of her body, and it made her chest, an area in which she wasn't lacking to begin with, appear five times larger. Her waist length ebony hair was piled high atop her head, but there were two tendrils left out to frame her face. The handmaiden had applied just the right amount of eye shadow and mascara to bring out her auburn colored eyes. In no uncertain terms, she was beautiful.

A knock at the door interrupted them. The handmaiden opened the door and Allen stepped into the room. He bowed to Millerna and was about to speak when he noticed someone standing beside her. His eyes widened as he realized it was Katia.

Katia's self consciousness came back ten fold under Allen's gaze. She averted her eyes away from him and stared at the floor. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as a palpable silence passed between them. It was Millerna who broke the silence.

"Is there something wrong Allen?" she asked with a slight chuckle, noticing that Allen was staring. Allen pulled his gaze away from Katia and looked at Millerna with a slightly dazed expression. Katia looked up from the floor and saw that, he too was blushing. But he was able to gain his composure back quickly.

"No Your Highness, there is nothing wrong. I just wanted to inform you that we are approaching Fanelia and I was wondering if Katia would like to see it." He looked at Katia again and offered her his arm.

Katia blushed even more and could hardly contain the giggle that was threatening to escape her lips. But before she had a chance to take Allen's arm and accept his offer, Millerna had grabbed her hand and was dragging her out the door.

"Come on! You have just got to see Fanelia from the air. It's the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Well, except for Palas of course."

Katia didn't even bother arguing with Millerna. It hadn't really taken her long to realize that it was pointless to argue with the Queen of Asturia. She inwardly giggled as she realized that it was a lot like when Yukari, Hitomi, Amano, and herself all gotten together to go out when they were in high school. Yukari would always grab onto Hitomi and drag her to the mall or whatever they were planning to do, while she and Amano followed laughing at Yukari's enthusiasm.

* * *

They landed at the palace a short time later and were greeted by the royal guard of Fanelia and;

"Merle!" Celena exclaimed as she ran down the exit ramp and embraced her friend. Katia followed Millerna and Allen as they disembarked and stood next to Millerna at the base of the ramp.

The view of Fanelia from the air had been absolutely breath taking. She had never seen such a beautiful city in all her life, not even in America. She stared at the palace in front of her in awe. <It reminds me of some of the temples back in Japan. Only this is MUCH bigger and more beautiful.> Then she caught sight of Merle and froze, her eyes growing wide. <Oh my God! She really is a cat!>

Allen and Millerna had told her about Merle of course, but she still hadn't really expected this.

"It's so great to see you all again!" Merle said as she gave Millerna and Allen both a hug. "Lord Van has been speaking of nothing but your visit for days. And he…" she caught sight of Katia and her ears bent back in suspicion. They stared at one another for a moment before Katia lost her nerve and hid behind Millerna, causing the Queen to burst out laughing.
"Merle, this is Katia Tsukino." Allen said with a smile indicating Katia. "Katia, this is Merle. Loyal aide and best friend of Lord Van."

Katia gathered her courage and forced herself to step out from behind Millerna and face the cat-woman again. She extended her hand as a gesture of greeting, but when Merle simply continued to stare at her she quickly withdrew it again, resorting instead to a small curtsy.

Merle sniffed the air as she drew closer to Katia and looked her in the eye. She gave Katia a once over before getting right up in her face. "You smell kinda familiar. Have we met before?"

Katia gulped slightly. "I don't see how that is possible Lady Merle. I would remember if we had."

<Meeting and talking to a cat-woman is NOT something I could forget even if I wanted too.> she added mentally.

Merle shot her one last suspicious look before turning back to Allen, Celena and Millerna. "Please follow me. Lord Van is awaiting you in the throne room."