A general warning for anyone here: If you don't like spoilers (even 
small ones), delete and wait until you get a copy of Escaflowne. This 

	Small ones? This is no small spoiler, it's an "end of the anime"
spoiler.... *sigh* Of course, I haven't seen the end of the anime, but I
had the misfortune to read a plot summary a little farther than I would
have liked. :P

is based completely off of the anime, BTW.

	How much different is the manga from the anime?

Still here?  Cool.

Leifker presents...

Second Nature

A work of anime fanfiction by Nicholas Leifker

I'm not sure who created Escaflowne, or who owns it.  I beg pardon to
whoever they are.  I ask that you not publish or use any part of this
work without the author's permission.

	Yay Escaflowne.... ^_^

*********************************************************************

  What do you see when you look in a mirror?  Do you see just a
  simple reflection, only the chiselmarks and curves that form the
  face?  Or do you see something else... something darker?  
  
  It's almost enough to terrify me anymore.  I know who I am now,
  and what happened to me... but it still doesn't help.  I wish I
  could get rid of him and everything he stood for in all his
  chaotic madness, but I can't. He is a small, frightening part of
  me, just as I was a small, quiet part of him when he was in
  charge.  And, when I look upon myself in the mirror, it isn't just
  me I see anymore... but him, with his blood-red eyes, and angry
  scar, and animal sneer.  

	At this point, I realized that this would be Dilandau-after-
Dilandau, if that makes any sense.... Scary sort of thing to think about,
though, isn't it?

  Perhaps all this is a byproduct of what I have been through.  I am
  in truth a gentle soul, though I doubt I could be held back if I
  saw the sorcerors who did this to me.  What they did... most
  people would gut them on sight for, for a sin to the innocent is
  magnified a thousandfold.

	Good line.

  Still, even in this dank pit, I found some friendship.  The lionic
  Jajuka protected me, becoming my sole comfort there.  A small part
  of me still longs for his warm touch; unfortunately, I was taken
  away once more, and would not see him again until shortly before
  his death.  Even then, I could not appreciate his presence... for
  _he_ was in charge.  

	"He"? Would this be a reference to the shapeshifter who did the
brainwashing?

  For he is me, whether I like it or not.  I can still see his
  handiwork - the scars and scorchmarks along some of the city's
  streets let me know of his sins, and that he was as real as I am
  now.  

	What a nightmare....

  If you were to ask me what hell is, I would point you to the
  mirror.  The mirror hides nothing, and tells the truth behind the
  masks we wear.  My eyes are as red as blue when I look inside, and
  my face as handsome as it is beautiful.  
  
  I wish I could be rid of him.  Unfortunately, he lives inside of
  me as much as I lived inside of him.  I am as much Dilandu as he
  was Serena.  And, for my - for our - sakes, we have to come to
  some balance.  He is still inside me, and he will find a way out
  if I am not careful.

  Perhaps in time, Dilandu can find peace.  I pray I can show it to
  him, as his soul sees my light just as I saw his darkness.  For if
  I cannot show him repentance, both our souls are damned to hell.  
  
  He is me, perhaps for all time.  And, unless I can convince him to
  become a part of me, we will destroy each other.  It is the only
  way - and, yet, it is the most difficult way.  
  
  It is the only way...

	Nice, nice job. Great piece of work....

>From Andrew Huang, brought to you by his computer, Oddzilla
Oddzilla says, "Mmmmm...Evanjellydonut...."
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/
Harvard Anime Society, Secretary