Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow War ❯ Shadow War 4 ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Muffled voices filtered into her sleep hazed mind, one deep and masculine, the other young and unsure. ::Must still be at the party:: she thought drowsily. ::Mom is going to have a fit when I get home:: She smiled, unknowingly. ::Oh yeah, high school is finally over. Good graduation party. I wonder who’s talking. . . such a nice voice.:: She let sleep reclaim her for a few more minutes, listening to the conversation without really listening to the words. The changing tones were calm, a nice lullaby. ::I wonder what time it is::
Amber eyes opened slowly, unfocused and dream clouded. Waking up could be such a pain at times. Aristae pulled the blankets up around her shoulders. ::Kind of drafty in here:: she thought idly. Sighing, she let her eyes slide shut once more. The conversation stopped abruptly as she moved, double pairs of eyes focusing on her.
Aristae felt the weight of their gaze on her, annoying. She defiantly turned her back to them, settling down for a longer nap. ::Stupid boys, staring like that:: That’s when it hit her. ::I’m in a bed. I fell asleep on the couch, I think. Did someone move me? Did I. . .?::
She bolted upright. “Holy Shit!”
Gadeth and Duran both took a giant step back, hands already on the hilts of their swords. The strange girl was awake.
Her eyes quickly looked around the room. Stone walls, tapestries, wall sconces with candles, the four poster canopied bed she was in. . . Her attention drew to the men beside the bed. ::What the. . .?:: They wore armor, had swords, and were definitely not party goers. Regaining what senses she could, she smiled at them, covering her confusion. The younger of the two, with sandy brown hair smiled back nervously. The dark haired one kept his face neutral. “Hi.” she said in what she hoped was a confident voice. “Where exactly am I? And who the heck are you?”
It was something out of a fairy tale, or a very sharp acid trip. Aristae found herself among the creatures of legend. Knights in shining armor, complete with swords and a chivalry code; Princesses in long flowing gowns of satin and silk, trimmed with delicate lace and ribbons; above all that, a castle: a full blown, stone walled, high towered castle. There were even stately banners flying at the peaks of those towers, with larger flags billowing in the breeze along the turrets.
She had stopped paying attention to Duran’s historical speech about everything there was to see. He was bringing everything to light from the dinner plates to the rugs on the floor. The dates didn’t make sense anyway, different from Earth’s years. He was a nice enough guy, but the fervor he held for his country and military had fathomless depth. From what Aristae could gather, she somehow flew off the Earth to some other planet. Impossible but obviously true, since when she looked outside a palace window that faced West she saw a suspiciously familiar shot of the Earth and Moon with the Asia planted squarely in the middle of the cloud swirled mess. “What’s this place called again?” she asked absently, staring at an official looking seal above the largest door leading out of one of the courtyards.
Duran paused in his explanation of the Gaian calender. “The Country of Asturia, specifically the city of Palas, the capital.”
Aristae shook her head. “I mean globally, what planet am I on?”
Duran smiled politely. He still hadn’t been able to figure out a thing about her. It was becoming apparent she was slightly off center in the head. “Gaia, My Lady.”
“Yes, Gaia,” she sighed. How odd. One day she was celebrating the end of school, the next she was having a conversation with a young man who called her ‘My Lady’. It would make for a good story; as for reality, it was disturbing.
Duran watched for several minutes as she aimlessly walked the paths that wound through the courtyard garden. Watched her stop to smell a flower, walk a bit further only to stop and study a common snail. It was as if she hadn’t seen any of it before. “Do you travel often?” he asked.
“Hmm?” She continued to stare intently at the snail, watching it look back at her with long antennae eyes. It looked like an Earth snail, only bigger, thicker shelled, and lidded eyes. It blinked adorably at her. ::If snails looked like this at home I would be tempted to keep one as a pet:: she admitted, touching it gingerly with one finger.
Keeping his newly acquired charge’s attention was more difficult than Duran wanted to admit. She was busy looking at everything boring, while he spoke about all things of great relevance to a guest of the court. “Have you been away from Earth many times?”
“No, this is the first,” she mumbled, attention moving to a feathered mouse which had bravely ventured from its nest to sniff at her sneakers. “Oh, how cute,” she smiled, reaching to touch the fluffy little thing. It promptly bit her and ran back to the crack in the wall it came from.
Duran stifled a giggle. “There are dozens of those in the stables. They like to nest in the straw.”
Aristae turned to him for the first time during their palace walk. “Stables?”
Millerna stood outside Selena’s door, waiting for Allen to emerge. After a couple of hours and much muffled arguing, he did. Tired and less than satisfied he closed the door firmly behind him. The new situation was not to his liking.
“Well?” Millerna asked, moving to walk beside him. “What happened?” Allen looked straight ahead, his mouth a grim line of displeasure. “It would seem my sister summoned a girl straight out of the sky.”
Millerna felt excitement rise in her chest. “Is it Hitomi? Shall we call for Van? He’d be so-”
“No, not Hitomi,” he dismissed, pushing her memory aside. “Someone else.”
“Oh,” she said, disappointed. “Oh, I see. . .”
“Though it looks like a similar phenomenon. The Earth, sky, beams of light. There could be a connection.” he fell into muttering, so unlike the Allen that Millerna knew. “I think I need to speak with this Earth girl,” he stated firmly, walking away before she could say anything. Millerna turned to follow, but at hearing a muffled gasp from beyond the heavy door she paused. Another sound floated over her ears: conversation.
She pressed herself against the door, leaning with her ear to the wood. “I hate you, all of you,” came Selena’s voice. “I am not even myself, thanks to you. I am nothing. I only exist because I will myself to. Do you understand that? If I forget I am separate from you I will disappear. Do you know how that feels? I don’t suppose you’d care. No, I don’t want your pity. I want my body back.”
Millerna’s jaw hung slack as she listened. Dilandau was talking; it had to be him. Opening the door a fraction of an inch she peeked inside. Selena sat in front of her full-length mirror, brushing her hair in sharp, short strokes. Not like a girl would brush their delicate tresses, but as a boy might, tugging out the knots and pulling the rest behind their ears. ::Dilandau is taking over and doesn’t even know it:: she realized, stepping back in shock.
Selena turned sharply to the door, a deep scowl on her face. She didn’t miss the princess’s the look of shock as she retreated. With a dark little smile she looked back into the mirror, resuming her grooming with much more care, slowly working through the tangles, gently smoothing back the strands. She continued to brush as a girl would, as the new resident in her mind retreated in slow measured steps.