Part II

Yours,

Kevin Shiue                      | Willpower cannot change Fate,
                                 | Fate cannot change Willpower.
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~shiue | Therefore, we can only hope...
http://www.escaflowne.ml.org     | For the best, and smile.


---Story Begins---


	Again Hitomi had a vision.  Like before, it was a vision of
darkness, violence, and blood.  Like before, it struck so suddenly that
Hitomi collapsed on the ground, off the chair, interrupting the mid-day
meal.
	"Are you all right?" asked Van as he quickly rose to his feet and
immediately was there by Hitomi's side.  Her eyes were glistening, glazed
as the vision of a city burning, its citizens fleeing, reached her mind.
The melefs were attacking a magnificent fortress in the center of the
city as the people valiantly tried to fight back.  Yet, they had lost,
and had lost badly, for...
	"Hitomi, Hitomi, are you all right?" repeated Van, with increasing 
urgency as the time passed.  A sigh left Hitomi's lips as she broke out
of her trance.  "Just another vision, more fighting..." said Hitomi,
softly as the breeze outside, and she began to cry, whimpering as Van
pulled her close to comfort her.
	"Hitomi," whispered Van, "Everything will be all right.  I'll be
here, here always, to protect you..." as he took her in his arms and
embraced her deeply.  As her tears dried she separated from him a little,
and their eyes met, understanding of each flowed from one mind to the
other, and they hugged each other, more tightly, again.
	Abruptly, Van stood up.  "I'm sorry, there is much I must do..."
and after a brief pause, Van walked quickly out of the dining hall.
Hitomi rose to follow, reaching her hand out, about to cry out, when she
restrained herself, and reminded herself that it wasn't necessary.
"Whatever is bothering him, I'm sure he'll work it out," she thought to
herself, and began to walk back to the room she was staying in.  Even as
she walked back, however, doubts resurfaced, and old images of the
carnage and death bothered her.  Among those was the worry that Van would
not be okay, that he would be hurt badly.


---Return of Escaflowne, Part II---
---Vision Without Light         ---
---By Kevin Shiue (3/9/97)      ---


	Hitomi sat in her room, thinking about her situation, pondering
the results, saying to herself "I want to be here, so why do I have a
feeling of fear?"  She looked around, at the bed with the pink and white
sheets, the window and flowered blinds, the old respectable bookshelf in
the corner.  It was almost the same as the room she had stayed in here
before, but she knew it was different.  The original building had burned,
and this was simply another building built to take its place.  There was
no way to replace the people, though, since once the people were
scattered, killed, they could never be returned to the state of before.
She closed her eyes, and fell into deep thought.  Again the vision of a
city burning, its citizens fleeing, reached her mind.  The melefs were
attacking a magnificent fortress in the center of the city as the people
valiantly tried to fight back.  The people suffered, yet the inhabitants
of the castle were well protected by blue beams of light that emanated
from the castle walls. 
	Yet, they had lost, and had lost badly, for they were
outnumbered, outnumbered by a ratio of...

	"Hitomi?"
	Van stood outside the open doorway, as Hitomi broke out of her
self-induced trance.
	"Yes?"
	"I must go to Freid.  You remember Prince Sid?  Would you like to
come?" asked Van, and though he knew it was safer for Hitomi to stay
here, his heart longed for her company, and secretly hoped she would join
him in his upcoming battle.  Hitomi was everything to him, and he wanted
to spend as much time as he could with her, until the day of battle came,
when the empire that had threatened all of Gaea would be vanquished.  He
knew that he could die in the fighting, so the time with Hitomi now was
precious.  He had already planned his travels, to go to lands which, once
were on the other side, but had finally seen clearly that Zaibach would
violate any treaty, should Zaibach benefit.  Van hardened his shoulders,
and his mouth formed a hard frown as he thought about what was necessary
for him to do.... Truth was, he did not look forward to fighting again...
the deaths of the multitudes of people disturbed him, and, even now, the
visions of his own near-death still haunted him.  But now, there was
Hitomi, and her simple presence lifted much weight off his shoulders.
There was just something about her.  He hoped she would come.
	"Of course," answered Hitomi, much to Van's delight.  She would
go anywhere with Van, just to be with him.  In the two remaining years
that she had been in high school, and the one in university, she had
thought about him... not constantly, but in bad times she would dream,
dream of being with him, and sharing his experience.  Her love had not
increased, but had taken new meaning, as her desire  for him increased
with each passing month, passing day.  Now, she was here, standing on the
ground of Gaea, in the Kingdom of Fanelia, in the Royal Castle... "I'm
actually here.  Van's actually here..." thought Hitomi, and she closed
her eyes and sighed contently.  This would be a nice rest from the
monotonous daily routines at school.  Of course, she would not and could
not stay long, for she could not just skip out on school like this...
yet... the last time she had stayed for quite a while, yet returned to
Earth before she had left for Gaea... so she would have as much time here
as she wanted... here... with Van.
	Van reached his hand out for Hitomi follow, but when she clasped
it there was an object... the pendant.  "Please wear it," said Van
solemnly.  Hitomi did, knowing that it was not just any other piece of
jewelry, but a powerful tool... she still had a bad feeling, and
desperately tried to shake it off, but to no avail.
	The two moved into the room, to discuss the upcoming plans.
	"I'm coming also," asserted Merle, bounding into the room.  At
least SHE hadn't changed at all, at least, she was still cheery,
energetic, though finally she had conceded that Van and Hitomi were
better suited for each other.  She still loved Van though, and very much,
so his three years of depression had saddened her.  No longer did she
feel the jealousy from the beginning... she had given up, content to be
at Van's side, even if the feeling was not, could not ever be returned.
Now that Hitomi came back, Merle was pleased that Van had been lifted
from his melancholy... yet, she noticed something else was wrong... and
she knew that Van was hiding something, again.  She hoped that he would
tell them what the problem was, so she wouldn't have to force it from
him... and with that thought, she snickered.
	"Eh... Van... what's been bugging you?" asked Merle as she sidled
up to Van.
	"I'll tell you in due time, but we have to prepare to go..." said
Van.  He didn't want the other two to worry, so for now, it was better
his plans were left secret.  He disliked hiding, though.  However, it was
a necessity, now.
	With his statement, though, Hitomi confirmed that there was
indeed something else on Van's mind.  "What is he withholding?" thought
Hitomi.  Again, she had a feeling of dread, and sought to shake it off,
with very limited success.  She felt only marginally better.
	The threesome went to the storeroom and packed items that would
be useful, including such items as rope, extra food, and other items, and
proceeded down the main corridor, footsteps echoing eerily... though
there were some people who now lived here, many were still helping to
rebuild Fanelia, and find the remaining survivors; there were still a
great many who were separated, driven into the forest, and staying there
in the perpetual fear the invisible Alseides of the Zaibach Empire, the
most ruthless war machines, inside them the most ruthless soldiers.
These people in the forests would never return without reassurance that
indeed the Zaibach threat was over.
	Van, Hitomi, and Merle traveled to Fried, on their way to the new
capital of Polta.  While traveling there on Van's guymelef, Hitomi again
had another vision.  There was a foreigner at Freid, and he did not come
from anywhere on Gaea!
	"Van, what is the reason we're going to Freid?" asked Hitomi,
hoping to find the reason for this mysterious revelation of fate.
	"Zaibach has become powerful again.  Rumors are that another one
from the Visionary Moon has replaced Dornkirk, and has given them even
more power.  It seems again they seek to take over all of Gaea.  But,
this time, all of the other countries are working together to defeat
them.  We're going to Freid to arrange with Prince Sid, no, I mean King
Sid, the battle plans... and also, they, too, have a visitor from
afar..."
	"Who?" asked Hitomi.
	"They don't know.  The man seems to be from the Visionary Moon,
where you're from, Hitomi.  Other than that, I haven't been told more."
	Hitomi saw in her mind's eye the face of an unknown, young man,
and he was yelling something, and his body was swallowed by a blue,
liquid light.  She could not tell whether there was fear on the man's
face.  Again Hitomi had a vision...







To be continued...