Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ The Girl With the Raven Hair ❯ Remember When ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter 3:



A/N: I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. Three weeks! AAARRRGGG!!!!! I'll try to get one out each week, but don't be mad at me if it's two. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter (it sure took me long enough).

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Chapter 3: Remember When

"Do you have any food in that bag of yours?" Vallen asked as he restocked the fire. It was the least he could do seeing as he wasn't much help the night before.
"As a matter of fact I do." Nanaki replied "Do you want a rice ball?"
"What's a rice ball? Nevermind if it's even slightly edible I'll eat it." Vallen hadn't eaten in a bit over a day. He'd skipped breakfast and when he got the news he had lost his appetite. So naturally, he was starving.
They're not that bad," Nanaki said laughing. She dug through her bag and pulled out two rice balls and a water bottle. "Here," she said passing him a rice ball "I only have one water bottle though so we're going to have to share."
"Mph" Vallen said as he was stuffing his face.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. Though it came out more like "Vuts mwat uffo ooo veeb?" because she was also stuffing her face in a most 'unladylike manner', to put it lightly. She had also not eaten in a while, though for slightly different reasons.
Vallen took one look at her and started half laughing and half coughing up all of the partially chewed 'stuff' he was about to swallow. He put out his hands to catch it all and tried to stop laughing. Nanaki had luckily finished with her rice ball so she didn't do the same thing. Vallen finally calmed himself down and shoved the contents of his hands back in his mouth.
"Ugh" Nanaki said disgusted.
Vallen carefully chewed and swallowed before replying "What?"
"What do you think?" she said, "I just saw you spit up your food and then shove it all back in your mouth."
"Well you didn't look so good yourself. Shoving the entire rice ball in your mouth all at once."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah"
Nanaki didn't know what to say for once. (A/N: This is due to the complete lack of imagination concerning insults on my part. ^_^) Then for some reason she yelled out "Well, you're mother was killed by bandits!"
Vallen was shocked. "H how did you know that" he said as a single tear slid down his cheek.
Yeah, how did I know that? Nanaki silently asked herself as she went over to comfort Vallen. "I…I'm so sorry I said that," she said avoiding the question "I don't know what came over me." It must've been the resemblance. Yes, that must be it. She decided to wait until he had calmed down a bit before she started to explain. This took awhile and she sat there calmly whispering soothing words as Vallen cried quietly into her shoulder.
Finally he stopped crying, sat up and wiped his eyes. Nanaki proceeded to tell her story. " Well, last night a had a dream, no, a vision of a girl and a woman playing hide and seek, when these bandits popped up from nowhere and killed the woman. Luckily some men appeared and saved the girl before the bandits could harm her. I'm not sure how recent it was though because I've never been able to tell with visions. Sometimes I don't even know if it's past or future. I guess I thought it was your mother because of the resemblance between you two, though you do look more like your sister."
" It happened yesterday."
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I didn't realise."
"That's okay, I understand." Vallen was speaking in a monotone voice, but then he spoke with a sudden interest, "Did you say visions?"
"Yes I did." She said relieved at his sudden change of tone. "I've had visions ever since I can remember, telling me the past and possible futures. They weren't always bad though, it's pretty much fifty/fifty between bad and good visions. But why the sudden interest?"
"Well queen Hitomi had visions when she first came here, though I'm not sure if she still gets them."
"And how do you know this?"
"Well it's common knowledge. She was one of the most important people in the Destiny War you know. Besides, I happen to know her."
"How?"
"Well, my uncle knew her, and so I met her by him introducing us."
"Who's your uncle and how do they know each other?"
"My uncle's Allen Shizar and as to how they know each other, it's a long story."
"I've got time."
"Well, actually, it's not that long. I just said it was because I don't know exactly, he never told me. I suppose they met during the war."
"What about your father? You've never mentioned him."
"He died just before Alice was born."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"That's okay. Five years is long enough to get over it, I suppose."
"You never get over things like that."
"Yeah, I know." He sighed
"What was his name?"
"Dryden Fassa. He was a merchant. …I remember the way he used to put me up on his shoulders and take me to work with him. I met a lot of interesting people that way. I'm sure Alice would've liked him, unfortunately she never got to meet him. I think the thing I remember most was how my parents loved each other. There was something in they're eyes when they looked at each other that said more than words ever could. It nearly killed my mother when he died, but she had me and her unborn child to think about, so she pulled through.
"But here I am telling you practically everything about me and you haven't said a word about yourself."
"We had better pack up and get going." Said Nanaki trying to avoid what he was implying.
Vallen realised what she was trying to do but he also knew that she was right. I'll get it out of her on the way. "You're right we'd better leave now if we want to get there by nightfall."
Nanaki threw dirt on the fire and started to put the blanket back into her bag. They started walking. They walked for what seemed like hours in silence.
Finally Nanaki broke the silence by saying; "I was adopted." This startled Vallen and as he tried to recover from shock, Nanaki continued. "You said you wanted to hear about my life so here it is. I was adopted by a nice woman named Diana Summers. She is…was the only one who believed me about my visions. I only ever had one real friend in my entire life, her name was Natasha. Funny isn't it? How our names are so similar. I grew up in a small city named Guelph, it's in a country named Canada.
"My mother was fairly rich, which turned out to be a problem. I was spoiled rotten and didn't even know it. Everyone thought I was a snob, and I suppose I was. Natasha was the only one of my 'friends' that liked me for me, and not for my money.
"We, Natasha and I that is, were going for a picnic when I came here. I know it's crazy to go for a picnic in the middle of winter, but we do it every year, ever since we were really little. We would build a little snow fort make some sandwiches and 'hide' in the fort for a day. We pretended all sorts of things. We were escaped convicts running from the law, we were running away from home, or we were two explorers trapped in a snowstorm in the North Pole. I guess when we got older it was hard to break the habit. So we changed it slightly and had yearly picnics instead." Throughout this entire thing, Nanaki had only half realised that she was saying it out loud and she was awakened from her reverie by cold metal being held against her throat.
Vallen looked at the scene. Nanaki had a sword at her throat, held there by some strange man in shabby clothing. Only then did he realise he had left his sword at home. He was powerless to do anything.
Nanaki quickly assessed the situation. She elbowed her attacker in the stomach. He was tempted to drop his sword to hold his hurting stomach but held his ground. He pressed his sword ever so slightly closer to her neck, just enough to draw a little blood. "Just back off boy and the lady here won't get hurt, much." He said the last part to himself so no one but Nanaki heard him. Nanaki glared at the sword that was digging slightly into her skin. To everyone's surprise, except her that is, it flew from the man's hand and sliced right into a nearby tree. Vallen trying not to show his shock inched towards the sword, his eyes still on the two. Nanaki pivoted around to face him. She glared at him and spread her arms. With that he flew against a tree, rendering him unconscious. Then and only then did she have time to see who her attacker was.
"I…it's you." She stammered "you're the one who killed Vallen's mother."

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A/N: I decided that the bandit that killed Vallen's mother was one of the two cowardly ones that ran away. He just likes to pick on people who are weaker than he is. Anyway, what do you think should I continue? Well even if people don't think I should I'm going to whether you like it or not. So there! ^_^ Oh, and by the way, REVIEW!!!!! I'd like to hear what you think. I'll even take flames as long as you give me the reason you don't like it.