Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Persephone ❯ Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, the characters, these are copyrighted by their original creators. (I actually don't own the Greek mythology either. Go figure, ne?)

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Persephone: Chapter 2
by Katrina Kadabra

Hitomi wept for the entire journey down to the lower world and went on doing so for some time after that. Despite his impatience with her, Van decided to leave Hitomi alone to her sorrows, at least for the first day. And she in turn, was perfectly content for him to do just that and stay in her own room the remainder of the day while he about his business. But when evening came and Hitomi still had not left her quarters once all evening, Van began to worry for her and wonder what she was up to.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked, standing outside her closed doorway.

"No," Hitomi answered in the same cold and sorrow-ridden voice she had arrived with. "I only want to be left alone."

"Well..." said Van hesitantly. "If there is, you'll come to me?"

"Not likely," Hitomi answered and refused to speak anymore. Satisfied as he was going to get, Van retired for the evening himself while Hitomi lay awake several long hours after that mourning for her mother. There was no solace for her until the next day when she received a visit from Zeus' messenger, Hermes.

One of Hermes' duties was to guide the souls of the dead to the lower world, and, consequently, he had met Van and Hitomi many times before. Most of the time, however, he simply went about his business and left the monarchs of the dead to do the same. But, today, he made an exception and went to try and comfort Hitomi.

She was overjoyed to see him, as she would have been to see anyone other than Van, and was altogether ecstatic when she heard he had news for her.

"Your mother missed you terribly," he said. "As does Zeus for that matter. He even created a new flower in your honor..."

Hearing about her mother lifted Hitomi's sprits considerably and brought on dozens of other questions. What were her friends up to? Was her mother feeling all right? As many questions as she could think, she asked, until Zeus summoned Hermes again. At this, he bade her a quick farewell and promised to take a few moments the next day to stop by and tell her what was going on and to take messages for her mother. That's somewhat comforting," Hitomi thought to herself. "But I'm still not going to see Van for any reason."

Hitomi was a girl of her word. Van had made several requests for her to join him at his work throughout the day, but she declined from all of them. Finally, against his better judgement, he ordered her to accompany him at the evening meal, at which point, reluctant as she was, she could not disprove.

Dinner was not as pleasant as Van had envisioned it. Ideally, he wanted Hitomi to be sitting right next to him, but she insisted on sitting on the opposite end of the table and was careful to keep what conversation there was brief.

"What did you want me for?" she asked angrily.

"I wanted you to stop sulking," he replied. "You've didn't even leave that room until now, and you haven't eaten a thing since you got here."

"I'm not hungry," she answered. She was about to say she wasn't hungry for what he had to offer, but she then thought the better of it and stopped her sentence short. Van suspected this sort of response, as weaning a strong willed goddess like Hitomi from nectar and ambrosia was quite a difficult task. He tried throughout the meal to get her to open up to him, but getting her to speak was enough of a challenge in itself.

"Will you tell me more about you?"

"I'd rather not."

"What have you been doing all day?"

"Mostly sleeping, crying."

"Will you come out and join me in my work tomorrow?"

"Not very likely."

Seeing he was getting nowhere, Van finally excused Hitomi and she immediately rushed back to her room with no plans to come out again until Hermes visited the next day.

Hermes arrived without fail first thing in the morning. This time, however, before he went to see Hitomi, Van stopped him.

"Listen, Hermes, when you're done talking to Hitomi, I want you to come see me. And make sure not to mention anything about it to her."

"Yes, of course," Hermes replied obediently, and with that, he flew to Hitomi's chambers.

Hitomi welcomed her visitor warmly and asked all her usual questions, instructing Hermes to tell her mother that she missed her very much and she thought of her every day. Hermes nodded to acknowledge Hitomi's words, but inside there was something distressing him. He just wondered if he should say anything or not.

"You're looking a bit pale," Hermes finally commented as he turned to leave. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," Hitomi replied. It was a weak cover up, considering the fact that Hermes seemed to have a natural skill for knowing instantly was wrong.

"You're not eating are you?" he asked.

"Well, no."

"You're really should, you know."

"I'll think about it," she answered. Satisfied with that, Hermes left her and went to find Van, who was having problems of his own. He had no clue how to deal with Hitomi in her stubbornness, and he hoped that Hermes had some suggestions.

"Well, I convinced her to consider coming to dinner tonight," Hermes informed him. "Just give it some time. She's really worked up about all this, and, frankly, I don't blame her. These past few days have been really rough. She can't snap out of it just like that."

"Well, she had better snap out of it soon," said Van. "I'm getting sick of her sobbing and moping around from dawn to dusk every single day,"

"Just be patient with her and she'll open up to you soon enough," Hermes assured him. "Now, I'd love to stay, but I've got work to do." He then left and hurried back to Atlantis. Van decided to take his advice and let Hitomi adjust on her own. Nothing else he had tried had worked yet, and in the mean time, he had work to do himself.

That evening, just as Hermes had predicted, Van had a visitor at the evening meal when Hitomi joined him about halfway through. Van said nothing, but simply allowed her to sit where she pleased and take her fill. Neither did she speak to him and, for the most part avoided eye contact, which was difficult, as Van was glancing in her direction for the majority of time she was there. She ate lightly, Van noticed, but nevertheless it was something. For her to accept at all was a gesture of trust in itself . Within a few minutes, she was satisfied and returned to her solitude. Van smiled at the thought that maybe, just maybe, he would start to warm up to her soon.

Over the next few weeks, Hitomi put her husband's patience to the test. She was starting to get used to the routine of being on her own most of the day, although she occasionally joined Van at his work when all else had failed to keep her occupied.

As often as he could, Van tried to distract her from her constant weeping for her mother, which was not easy. Ideally, he wanted to able to comfort her, but since he was the source of all her misery in the first place, she was not quick to rely on him for condolences.