Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Tsuki no Hime ❯ Part 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Author's notes: I think it's time I give thanx to all my wonderful reviewers! Thanx so much!!! Thanx for supporting me through this fic. ^_________^

Anywayz… Here's part 5. Yeah, I know long wait… tough beans! I know some parts are confusing and that some parts go too fast so let me know where it happens and I'll try to explain it to ya!!! Oki doki! Here's part 5!!

Disclaimer: If I owned Escaflowne there would already be another season.

The Vision of Escaflowne: Tsuki no Hime-Part 5

"Celena, Celena, Celena," Gaddes chanted over and over in his mind. "No, no, no. Please be there!" He turned a corner and ran some more. "Oh God! Please let her be there." He reached a door and knocked a few times. No answer. Gaddes's fears escaped his mind and began to swallow him whole. She hadn't made it to her room. Did she scream? Was it her? What the Hell happened? He swung the door open; no one was there. The bed hadn't been touched and Celena's nightgown still rested across the foot of the bed. "Shit!" he hissed and ran out of the room. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A muffled thud echoed off the castle corridors as Hitomi ran out of the room and into the wall. She pushed off the wall and propelled herself down the void hallway, Van in tow. Their hair whipped about their faces and flew behind them like a scarf. Hitomi's track training surfaced as she bounded down the hall. Her mind screamed imprecations; if Varie wasn't there Hitomi would blow into tiny pieces. "Varie, Varie, Varie, Varie!" she panted worriedly, with the echo of Van growling "Shit." Upon reaching the door her body continued to run as her mind stopped, causing her to slide slightly. Van followed suit. She pounded on the door repetitively, her pleas for Varie to open the door and the thudding of her fist against the thick oaklike wood door resounded down the many corridors and weren't answered.

The door next to them opened, revealing a half-awake Uryko. His hands were balled into fits while he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What the Hell do you think you're doing? It's…" Uryko looked at his watch, "three o'clock in the afternoon… Wait that can't be right." He checked his watch again as Van spoke.

"It's Varie."

"I-I can'tfeelherpresenceanymore, Uryko! She's ga-one " Hitomi whined so quickly and so high, her words slurred together, but the men seemed to understand. Thud! "DAMN door!" Hitomi screeched after she kicked it.

Uryko closed his eyes, as if in deep thought. When he opened them he spoke, "You're right."

"It's locked. Break down the door." Hitomi demanded.

"Can we do that? I mean… can we do that?"

"Shut-up and break down the damn door, you two! Van, you'll pay for the damage, right?"

"Thanks for volunteering me." Van grumbled as he got in position next to Uryko. "On three."

"On three, or after three?" Uryko asked.

"On three."

"Right!"

"One…Two…Three!" Hitomi counted.

Van charged forward, with Uryko not too far behind. The bolt on the door buckled, a hinge broke, and wood splinters soared into the room at incredible speeds.

Hitomi ran in after them and headed for the bed with all her hope focused on one person. "Varie?" Hitomi whispered. As she reached the bed. It looked as if a figure was asleep on the bed. Hitomi pulled down the covers as the two men groaned. There was nothing but pillows.

"I said `on three,' ya idiot." Van snapped.

"Temper, temper!" Uryko said rubbing his wounds.

"She isn't here! She's-not-here! Not here, not here, not here!" Hitomi's voice was drenched with hysteria.

Someone ran past the door speedily, not noticing the wreckage. Seconds later it reappeared. "What the Hell happened?"

"Vaire's gone." Van stated standing up.

"Celena's gone too." Gaddes said looking at the king. "I was with-I was outside and I heard a scream. I knew it was Celena's but I didn't want to believe it. I saw three dragon's fly across the moon. I ran to her room and she wasn't there." He paused, taking in a deep breath to keep his emotions in check. "I was just on my way to get Allen."

"That's odd," Van began, "dragons don't usually fly in packs. They are solitary creatures." Van moved to his hands and knees and looked under the bed.

Hitomi roamed around the room, and balcony. Nothing. She reached the far wall and turned around. When she took a step forward the wall behind her started to ripple. Two scaly, green arms complete with hands and long, sharp claws reached out toward Hitomi. One hand covered her mouth before she had the chance to scream and the other snaked around her waist, pulling her into the wall. She wrestled, struggled, and wriggled in the creature's grip. Tear's rolled down her cheeks, down the hand and onto the floor. She closed her eyes. "This is a dream. It's all a dream. Varie's still asleep in her bed and everything will be all right. Okay, Hitomi wake up now…Help!" mind screamed. She opened her eyes again and saw the three men talking. "Hello! Help!"

Sweet smelling breath blew past her face. Her vision slowly blurring, and her judgement slowly impairing. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a multitudinous amount of white, jagged teeth; gleaming in the moons' glow. A single yellow eye with nothing but a black slit for the pupil looked at her.

"Don't scream," it hissed under its breath. "I don't want to hurt you Seeress."

"Yeah! You would know!" Uryko said meeting Van's height, then standing up to check the bed once more.

"Van lives in a country surrounded by dragons. Of course he would know." Gaddes retorted.

"Well, excu-use meee Mister Know-it-all!" Uryko snapped back.

"Temper, temper!" Van said mocking Uryko.

"Shh… never mind."

"I'll go get Allen." Gaddes left the room.

Uryko ripped the covers off the bed and with Van's help pushed off the top mattress.

"Sure, she'll be in between the mattresses." Van snorted. He looked up. "Hitomi what do you-?" she wasn't in the room. "Hitomi?" Van moved over to the other side of the bed. Something moved out of the corner of his eye. The wall was rippling. A hand? Something glittered in the moonlight. A ring? Hitomi! He bolted over to the hand and began to pull. "Uryko get over here!"

Within seconds Uryko was there too, pulling on the hand. The forearm appeared, then an elbow, shoulder, neck, head. Hitomi gasped for air as she surfaced out of the wall. Her other arm, torso, and legs were still in the wall. "ON three." As they prepped, Hitomi moved her arm up to the creature's chest. "Three!" she pushed off the creature, her hand catching on something. She was ripped out of the creature's grasp, out of the wall and the object in her hand came with her.

"Took you long enough," Hitomi growled her hot tears streamed down as she got off the two men. "Thanks." She stood up and began to walk. Her hand felt warm, really warm, really, really warm. It burned. The object's heat was unbearable. "Ouch!" Hitomi yelped as she opened her hand and let the object fly. It was a medallion.

"What?" Van asked when he got to her.

"That stupid thing burned me, look!" She shoved her hand in front of Van's face. Her skin was dark red, blistered and puffy. The burn seemed to be a symbol, looking like water, or a dragon, or something… Van was unsure what it was.

Uryko picked up the medallion, still red from the heat. "Damn, that thing looks like a dragon…" he touched it absently. Hitomi moved to stop him. His fingers ran across the glowing metal. "It's not burning me." He stated; his whole hand cupped the medallion. "Weird…"

"The thing was a dragon. Its eyes looked like that one dragon's eye that you slayed on Earth." She said looking at Van. "But it was standing on both legs, and it had arms and legs, not four legs..."

"A Biped?" Uryko said letting go of the medal, now back to it's original color.

She nodded. There was a long silence as Hitomi took in a long breath. She turned to Uryko. "It knows Japanese."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. Hitomi thought over and over. I've cried too much. I can't cry. I must be strong. No matter how much she told her self that the tears rolled down her face from the pain in her hand and heart. It was bandaged now, the hand. No one was able to figure out why the medallion had burned her and not Uryko and know one knew what the symbol was. The morning sun played with her hair as she stood on the castle roof overlooking Palas. Her eyes reflecting the bright light, though dull and bland.

A group of soldiers ran past the castle wall. They were still searching every nook and krany for the to missing girls. But it was futile. Hitomi knew in her heart that Celena and Varie were no longer in the country. They hadn't been in the country since she came up to the roof.

Things weren't going too well for Hitomi. Van hadn't spoke to her since they found out two girls had vanished. Surely if Van hadn't noticed her hand then she would have turned up missing as well. But why? Who would want them?

Sighing Hitomi sank to her knees and rested her head on the cold stone. Her life had become a mess ever since she left Gaea. Attacks, death and lies surrounded her on Earth. There were so many things that she hadn't told Van. Sure, she told him about the attack on her and the death of her family, but not of the one thing that still plagued her. Even now she couldn't believe what she had wanted to do years ago.

She sat in her room, four years after adventure on this magical planet, deciding if it was the right thing to. Wondering if she would ever come back. Terrified that Van had found another. She had nothing left her family, and her innocence were gone, dead. She held a dagger that she had borrowed from the dojo. At the last second she was taken to Gaea. It was a Godsend.

She sighed again. I didn't tell him a lot of stuff…

"God damn-it! Why is my life such a depressing mess?" Hitomi yelled at the sky. "Why are you making my life a living Hell? …You enjoy it don't you, seeing people suffer! Some superior being you are!" She threw her hands in the air then looked back over to the sea, saying some very unpleasant words under her breath.

A cold rush of wind blew past. Hitomi looked out of the corner of her eye and chose to remain silent.

"We do not enjoy your pain. Everything is Fated, Destined to be, Seeress. Your daughter and Celena are missing for a reason. Something has been left unfinished and it is up to my son to destroy it."

"But why?" Hitomi whispered turning to the translucent apparition. "Why all this pain?" Hitomi laughed slightly not knowing why. Maybe she had lost it, after all she was talking to a spirit. "Must everything be so painful?"

"No, you're just making it painful. I-"

"You have no idea what I have been through, so shove it!" Hitomi snapped. She closed her eyes tight after remembering whom she was talking to. "Sorry, Varie."

"It's alright. I know how you feel. I lost many people in my life too. I have suffered like you are suffering now."

"Not as much as Van." Hitomi looked into the woman's eyes. "He lost his whole family, his country, me, and now his daughter. If you had stayed with Van instead of run after Folken, things would be different. Sure, I wouldn't have met Van, but maybe his life wouldn't have been so damn hard!" Again she remembered whom she was talking to. She turned to the sea. Shut up, Hitomi!

"I thank you for speaking your mind, Lady Hitomi." The woman's voice dripped with disdain. Varie kneeled next to Hitomi and placed a hand on her shoulder. Her ebony hair flowed over her shoulder. She spoke again but her voice was caring. "But please, don't hold everything that goes wrong against me, and the Divine. Most of the time it is a consequence for poor judgement of this side or the other. Just…ride it out." Then the woman was gone.

Hitomi continued to look over the city to the horizon. How long would it take for her fall from this spot? How long would it take for her to drown in that ever-flowing ocean, the bringer of life and death? She cursed herself for thinking those thoughts. Varie needs my help, not a dead mother.

Hitomi cringed as a pain stung her heart. She's afraid… She looked up to the sky. "Where are you?" She looked at the sun. It had finished half its journey. She'd been up there for a long time.

"Hitomi?" Hitomi looked up after whipping her tears away, only to find Van and the others looking at her, Eries standing nearer to her than the others. "I have had Gaddes prep the Crusade for a voyage north. Dryden is there along with Milerna, and Merle."

Hitomi snorted softly. "No wonder it was so quiet…" She whispered.

"Dryden might be able to decipher the symbol on the medallion."

Hitomi stood up silently, her skirts rustling with the motion. She smiled and nodded to Eries. "Thank you." She managed to say while walking past. She dreaded the thought of a road trip, but if it helped her to find Varie, she guessed it wasn't such a bad idea. "I appreciate your kindness, Eries. When are we to leave?"

"As soon as possible."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The cargo bay was silent for the most part. Nothing but the faint roar of the engine could be heard. The party had left Palas two hours ago and two more needed to pass as the Crusade flew north. No one was speaking to each other. Everyone was in their own place doing what they had to do in silence.

Van unseethed his sword and began his training. The victim-a fat, wood support pillar he had always practiced on when he flew in this ship. All his anger, abhorrence, dejection, and diffidence seeped out of him, onto the sword and left a scar on the poor, poor pillar. He was so entranced by the act of hurting something realize someone had walked into the room. Van let one last thrash fly and as the sword cut through half the wood he broke apart. He rested his head against the pillar; his eyes full of unshed tears. He pulled away and punched the pillar, causing the deep scar to expand.

"I think you have anger management problems, buddy."

Van turned to look at the man. He took a deep breath trying to keep his emotions from showing. Van wordlessly ripped his sword out of the pillar.

"So…You're a king, right?"

"Yes."

"What kind of country do you run? Agriculture, industry, you know." Uryko moved into the cargo bay and sat on a wooden crate. "Do you think you're a good king? Do your people think you're a good king?"

Van went ridged. "I know you're trying to juice me for information, like, am I a good person, and am I good enough for Hitomi." Uryko slouched, defeated in his own interrogation. "I love her, you know. Nothing will ever change that." He paused, "and as for my country it's a mix of many things. Trade is the norm. My people…? I sure do as Hell hope they think I'm a good king."

"With the way you've been acting recently it seems like you're holding Hitomi in contempt." He began to walk out. He hollered over his shoulder "Talk to her Van. She needs you to comfort her, not me. I've been doing that for the past ten years." he turned around and meet eye to eye with Van. Van felt slightly uncomfortable; Uryko's eyes were highly disturbing when he was serious; piercing and deadly. "And, Van, keep in mind if you hurt Hitomi, if you do to her what you were doing a few minutes ago I will make your death extremely slow and painful." With that Uryko was gone.

Moving out of the cargo bay, Van sighed. Better now than never…I must find Hitomi.

Author's Notes: Well there ya go! There's Part 5! It's not as long as the others are and there's not much action and stuff, but hey! I know the top went sorta slow for the situation and well, it's really hard to write two events happening at the same time at the same time. This fic is being hosted on http://www.opalwings.com/escaflowne the site is run by StarsapphireZ. Go check it out. There are really amazing fics on the site, including hers. GO READ!!! =^0^=