Firstly, I must state that this is NOT, I repeat, NOT, I, Zhou Tai An,
writing. All comments should be addressed to my 9 year-old sister, Zhou Mei
An, who is the real writer of this piece. I only helped a bit. ^_^

Note : Asreia's name, Haneko, can be read as "Winged Child." Just for your
attention. This piece, obviously, is also not complete yet - give my sis
some encouragement please! ^_^

Escaflowne
Visions from Another World

by Zhou Mei An

�There�s something funny about that hair.� Hitomi thought as she stared at
her new teacher. She was young, pretty, and everything else but she always
reminded of her days at Gaia. Memories that she did not want to remember.
There was just some... magic? "It�s nothing she tried to tell herself. But a
small voice and her head kept saying : "But it *is*." "Quit staring." The
teacher was looking straight at her. That voice had a tinge of something,
she didn�t know what. Something the teacher was trying to hide, but could
barely. 

"Hitomi, I notice you look out at the sky a lot." Hitomi turned to look at
the speaker. A girl with light brown hair, tied up in a very long braid,
with a cheerful smile. 
"Missing something?" Then she turned to look at the teacher in a strange
way. The teacher nodded, and then smiled. 

" Er, no." Hitomi blushed. The girl spoke: " Well, can you meet me at the
toilet after school?" "Why?" "I think I can confess something to you, but
not right in front of all these people. Your last name is Kanzaki, right?"
"How did you know?" "Tell you later."

After school, she went to the toilet, there was that girl, waiting. But
somehow, she looked kind of sad. "So what�s this all about?" "I�ll start."
They went into one of the girl�s toilets.  "Promise not to tell?" "Promise."
"Okay....... Well, I�m Asreia, Princess of Atlantis...." "Atlantis?!" "Shut
up. I asked you to promise, didn�t I?" " At least, I was.... then, they, the
Atlantisians, found out that we had sinned or something, so, when evolved,
we would turn into gargoyles. So, when I was very small, my father sent me
here, because somebody from your world was able to reach Gaia, don�t ask me
how.  I was alone with the two people I was brought up with, your teacher,
and another person. It was okay when I was small, but one day I found out
the truth, and it was very hard after that, I never forgot those days......"
Her voice trailed off.

 "How come you didn�t turn into a gargoyle?" "Cos I was sent here, before I
could sin!" "Oh." Hitomi remained silent for awhile, she knew how much the
girl must have felt, born with royal blood but with no real home. "Busted,
it must be.� She thought. " Asreia, how come you write "Haneko� on your
worksheets?" Hitomi asked, breaking her silence. "You think I�ll write my
real name? Look, you�re the only person I can tell because you went to Gaia
and came back. I was here all the time, and our route back is blocked," her
voice was a whisper now "It was your pendant." Then her voice brightened :
"Cm�on, there�s no use moping, only Van can bring you back." 

Day after day, the two of them played together, walked together, and talked
together. The teacher always looked happy when she saw them both talking.
She knew that Asreia, Princess Of Atlantis, finally had a chance of going
back to Gaia, her home. 

The next month, everybody started to bring autograph albums to school.
Asreia had a really cool one with a picture of Earth on it. Hitomi had a
green one, something she brought over to write in but had stopped. The first
thing she did was ask Asreia to write in there, and she received a special
autograph. Inside, though rather squashed, was a white but red-tipped
feather. She looked up and winked at Asreia, who was now her best friend.
Asreia winked back. The teacher pretended to be cross. When they had time
together, Asreia would tell stories of Atlantis, and they would both talk
about Gaia. Those were the best days in Hitomi�s life on Earth. 

Hitomi also loved to go to the station where she had last seen Van. Both of
them usually went there to see if he would be there. "There�s a slight
chance." Asreia would say. Even though they never saw him, they liked to
feel that there was a bit of Gaia on Earth. Hitomi always pointed to the
rock where she had seen him last.

But that bit of Gaia was not just for going to. One day, when they were
sitting there, Asreia suddenly fell forward and coughed out some blood.
Hitomi didn�t just sit there.  "Asreia! What�s wrong?" she asked, panicking.

Asreia didn�t act like a normal student. She fished in her pocket awhile,
and brought out a pendent. Hitomi stared as the girl put into to her hand.
"Hitomi, go.... back to Gaia.... for Fanelia, the fighting... has begun..
again. Van...Van is hurt." 

Hitomi realised she wanted to go back to Gaia, but not admist a lot of
fighting. But Van...her thoughts and Asreia�s words gave her what she
needed. Courage. Once again, the stream of blue light formed, and she looked
for what seemed like her last time at Asreia. She was smiling, looking up at
Hitomi. "Good luck, let the pendant guide you." Then she whispered out
"Please revive Atlantis. Your thoughts are what we need." Then, Hitomi had
seen her (or what she thought) last glimpse of Earth.

Hitomi appeared right in the battle field. She could see the Escaflowne,
with its huge sword, fighting like in the old times. She looked around and
the pendent started to glow. Then it seemed to pull her somewhere.... a
deserted place, the graveyard of the Atlantisans. The pendant then flew from
her hand and landed on the spot where the King of the Atlantisans was buried.  

The air seemed to be sucked into a vacuum. Everything was filled with a
mysterious energy. Suddenly, the light intensified; and Hitomi was blinded
by it for a second. Then it all cleared slowly, revealing something that
resembled a Gimelf. As she stared, shocked, Asreia�s voice rang out. 

"Hitomi, this is the Fainlarueil that you were destined to pilot, the
Rysidrin in which the Atlantisan�s last energy was put into. You are the
only one who can pilot it. Step inside now, or else Van might die." Hitomi
stepped towards the cockpit of the Rysidrin. She did not know why she was
choosen to pilot the Fainlarueil, or what it was, but she knew that she had
to save Van. The breastplate slid open with a hiss, displaying what seemed
to be a raised armchair. It knelt down and she got into the chair, then waited.

"Hitomi, your thoughts will pilot this Rysidrin. Whatever you think is
whatever it will do; for example, it�s arm will lift if you want it to. You
don�t need to move at all."

"Asreia! How will I fight? How will I save Van?" "The Rysidrin�s own mind
will assist you." Asreia�s voice faded away. "Asreia!" There was no reponse
to her call. "Hitomi." came a deep voice. "What the..." Hitomi said,
startled. "Let your thoughts of Van guide you." Van...are you hurt? Are you
safe? she wondered. A vision appeared, of the Escaflowne fighting in vain
against hordes of gaimelfs. "Van!" He couldn�t be hurt...couldn�t! "VAN!"

In a flare of light, she materialized in the middle of a vast battlefield.
The Escaflone was there, and so was the Scherarzade. "Use your pistol, it is
the only weapon we have.� the voice boomed out in her head. As the Gaimelfs
stepped back in fear, she thought about moving the pistol, shooting..... The
Rysidrin obeyed her orders. As enimes closed upon them, it let fire half a
dozen energy bullets from the mouth of the gun. The Gaimelfs fell to the
ground like toy soldiers. "Thank you." Hitomi silentily whispered. "You are
a good pliot, I shall leave you on your own now." Said the great voice. "Aim
for the back row of gaimelfs, then shoot the ones surrounding the
Escaflowne." were her next few thoughts. The Rysidrin obeyed without a word.

Apparently, the Gaimelfs had decided to attack the Escaflowne, which was
less powerful than Hitomi�s Rysidrin bcause it didn�t have a gun. The
Fainlarueil made them all bite the dust.

After the battle, she told the Fainlarueil to let her down. It knelt and
released her to the ground. Van had climbed down from his Gaimelf. "Van!"
she shouted, running to him just as he turned around to look at her. Then
they both hugged. Van could hardly believe it. "Hitomi, are you really
back?" "Yes...Oh Van, I�m sorry..... about leaving you." she said, looking
up at him. "Actually... it was my fault. " He looked away. Then released her
and looked off. "I promised to bring back to Earth, but..... you came back.
My mother said that the worst thing in the world was to break a promise." "I
guess I was angry at you not joining me...." He hugged her again. At that,
she rested her head on his shoulder. "Van...."

"Van-sama!!!!" Merle came running up to him. She stopped dead when she saw
Hitomi, resting there. Van blushed. They both seperated. Merle looked
crossly at Hitomi as she face-faulted. "You�re not supposed to be with
Van-sama." She said at last. "Why not?" asked Hitomi. "Because your not
supposed to." came the promt reply. "Why not?" Hitomi asked again, thinking
it was unreasonable. "You�re not even from this world." Merle looked as if
she had ended the discussion, with her winning. 

Then Allen stepped into the sence. Hitomi blushed, though she didn�t know
why. "Hitomi, are you really back?" Same question, same answer. "Yes." She
seemed to stare at Allen. "How come?" "Um..." She had no answer. She didn�t
want to talk about Asreia, Princess of Atlantis. Anyway, all Atlantisians
were supposed to be dead. "I wanted to." came her reply. (This paragraph is
not finished.)

After a joyous meeting, Hitomi retired back to her Guest Room and rested
there. "Asreia, Gaia is beautiful. Why don�t you come here?� Her mind called
to Earth. Suddenly a reply came. "Hitomi, in order to make a gate to allow
travel between both worlds, I must stay on Earth to help you. The empire of
Zaibach might attack from Earth, and I am the only one who can protect it.
You never know about Zaibach." "Asreia!?" The connection must have been cut
off. Hitomi slumped restlessly on the bed. "From Earth?" she thought. Now
both worlds were going to be improsioned by the empire. Then what, why were
they attacking another world, when the one they wanted was this one, this
world? 

Then Van came. "Hitomi, I know that the reason you gave to Allen was a lie."
Hitomi nodded. "So what was the real reason?" He asked. Hitomi was caught.
Then she told him everything. About Asreia, Earth, everything. He hugged
her, again. "I always wished that you would come back. Sometimes Merle is a
little irritating." "She�s VERY irritating to me." Hitomi aswered. As he
looked over at her, she was still the same girl, same hair same eyes, same
everything. Then he released her. "I guess." He got up and left. Hitomi
began to feel uncomfortable. "Van..." she thought. There was something she
wanted to say to him,  about Asreia... but what was it? 

"Van, Asreia said�something about Atlantis�" "What?" He turned to look at
her. Hitomi sat upright. " Being saved." She finished. "Really?" He asked,
surprised. "Yes, what�s wrong?" She sounded equally surprised. "Mother used
to always say �When you grow up, always try help us.� That was why I always
was protecting you, because I had a feeling that you would help my mother in
some way� " His voice trailed off. Then he left. "He problaby didn�t want to
talk, anyway." Hitomi thought. 

Then she realised what she had to do. She ran to a deserted place in the
palace and looked up. "Asreia�"  The answer she expected came. "Hitomi, I�m
ready." Hitomi closed her eyes, thinking about the gate bettween both
worlds. She knew that, far away, Asreia was thinking of the same thing. 

The sky darkened. Hitomi looked up. "Asreia� the gate�. Fanelia�." As she
whispered those words, she looked up. The darkness was still there. "Hitomi,
it�s finished."  Asreia sounded both happy and tired at the same time.
Hitomi sighed, for no real reason. Then she looked up at the dark sky once
more, "Asreia, I know you always wanted this." Hitomi remained silent for
awhile, then left. 

Life in Gaia was the same, a few battles, lots of trips round the castle,
and lots of other things. Hitomi enjoyed it all very much, for she liked to
see Fanelia in the same state as when she first saw it. "It still bears
scars of what happened before, but we have to let the kingdom know of its
past." Van said to her once. 

One week, there were no battles for a long time, and people sensed something
fishy. The empire of Zaibach was not known to stay still for very long. But
still, they did not attack at all.

One day, Hitomi recived a letter, given to her by a dove. As she read it,
she realized why Zaibach had stayed so still. Hitomi stared at the letter.
It sounded too bad to be true.  She hurried to Van. 

"Van, I need to go back to Earth." She panted, showing him the letter. He
read through it. " Are you sure you�ll be safe?" He asked, concerned. "I�ll
be okay," she answered. �And I know how to get there." He nodded. Then she
ran off, there was no time to lose. 

"Bring me back to Earth." Hitomi thoughs sounded. She looked up at the dark
space that was the gate. Right then it was glowing, first pale blue, then
bright yellow. Hitomi felt as if  she was being pulled towards the sky. 

It appeared all too soon. One second, Hitomi was looking at Fanelia, the
next, she was falling to Earth, and fast. Thud. She found herself sitting on
the track, apparently the gate did not care about the way she landed on
Earth. She huffed a little. It was recess. Then she heard a familiar voice:

"Hey, Hitomi, you came back. A little too late though." Asreia�s voice.
Always so cock-sure and cheerful. "Asreia! What is it?" Hitomi knew already
but Asreia had not stated much in her letter. "Well.... I guess I have to
explain clearly." Said Asreia, looking up at the sky. "And explain why
you�re dressed like that." Hitomi added, rubbing herself. Asreia was dressed
in pale green T-shirt and pants, which fitted her exactly. 

" Well, one day a Gaimelf appeared, to cut the long story short. Then it
theatened everybody. After that, it asked about �The Kanzaki Girl�, or �The
Girl From The Phantom Moon�. You, of course. "She said, pointing a finger at
Hitomi." "Then Yukari accidentily sputtered : "She�s my friend!" I didn�t
say anything. I didn�t want to. Then the Gaimelf said "So you are the one."
And then the metal tenticales shot out and grabbed her. I wanted to get at
the Gaimelf, but it vanished. But I did manage to get a piece of paper to
her, which said "Never tell them about Hitomi." I hope she �obeys� the words." 

�You�ve told me all that, but you still haven�t told me why you�re dressed
that way." Said Hitomi, pointing an accusing finger at Asreia. "Isn�t it
obvious?" Asreia asked. "I�m going to save Yukari, I suspect there�s one of
Zaibach�s flying castles here. She might have been taken to that." 

Then the teacher came running out. "Asreia-sama!" she cried out, clutching a
floppy disk. Hitomi had gotten up from a sitting position. "What�s wrong
with it?" Asreia looked annoyed. "Besides, you were supposed to be absent."
"Was I? Ha, I was planning to do some snooping around here." The teacher
smiled and winked. "Never mind, he�s taking my place while I do it. He knows
I�m better." "Who�s �He�?" Hitomi asked, curious. "My other �protector�. He
was sent here to act as my �father�. He isn�t, of course." Asreia answered.
Then she turned to the teacher: "So, what�s this all about?" 

�I don�t quite know myself. But there was a report that a girl got
hypnotized while working on the computer, so I checked. Apperently, Zaibach
is attacking from every way possible to get Hitomi.- "What happened?" Asreia
asked. "I don�t really know. After snooping at the computer lab, -

At that moment, people started shouting "What�s that black thing in the sky?
Hey, black thing in the sky!!" They all pointed at a black, UFO like crusier
that floated slowly along the clouds. A huge crowd had gather by now and
were chatting about it. The crusier hovered around and started to go down
quickly. 

"That thing....." Hitomi squinted, Asreia�s eyes looked around as if danger
was near, it was. �Black thing in the sky all right! That�s a Zaibachian
flying castle!" The teacher looked around, and made a pass that all students
went back to the cafiteria.

"Quick, Hitomi, summon your Rysidrin!" Asreia shouted., looking straight at
the surprised girl. "How?" she asked. "Think!" Asreia shouted at her.
"What?" "Think!!" Hitomi tried to concentrate through the hustle and bustle
of the students. 

A high pitched cry signalled Asreia�s Rysidrin�s arrival as it soared into
the school  grounds. The next cry was Hitomi�s Fainlariel swooping
downwards. "Hitomi! Get on!" Asreia shouted as she landed on her Rysidrin�s
steel back. "They�re coming!" Hitomi knew, purple Gaimelfs were already
shooting off the flying castle. 

Hitomi looked at the pheonix that swooped lower and lower towards her. At
its lowest point, she jumped and managed to clamber up its shiny steel back. 

She found herself sitting in the exact same raised armhair she had occupied
in the first battle. "Welcome back, my pilot," the Rysidrin boomed in its
great voice. "The weapons of this configeration are different. You can use
my beak or talons for close range attack. The wings can be used for either
long range or close range. That is all the breifing I can give you." Hitomi
could see that Asreia�s Rysidrin was already huirling Gaimelf into one
another using its talons. 

�Fire from wings to incoming Gaimelfs," the Fainlareil swooped and cried
out. The feathers of its wings opened up, revealing mulitple small turrets.
Bullets, similar to the ones that her gun fired, shot out and homed towards
some of the purple Gaimelfs. 

"Hitomi, that�s not enough to keep off this swarm! You better just defend
yourself! Every Gaimelf here knows who you are! I�ll handle the rest!"
Asreia�s spoke so fast Hitomi could not really hear. But as the next swarm
was already coming, she directed her Fainlariel downwards where it began
hurling Gaimelfs into one another. Asreia�s Rysidrin swooped, ducking the
metal tenticles that fired towards both of them. 

"Damn the bastards!" Hitomi heard Asreia mutter under her breath. Suddenly,
Areia�s eagle tensed and as two blades of blue energy crested its wings,
then it fired them both out. They sliced through two saperate Gaimelfs,
making them fall to the ground. 

As the Fainlariel  launched another lot of  �missiles� into the air, its
talons tore into another one of the enemy force. Asreia�s Rysidrin blastered
a final one and then backed away, tensing. The enemy had started to retreat. 

Hitomi looked at the school grounds and realised how many homing gunshots
had missed. They were littered with smoking Gaimelfs and dislockated parts
of the enemy force. "It�s a pretty bad mess, uh, Hitomi?" Asreia looked at
her. "Yeah..... and it�s all for couple of Gaimelfs." Hitomi answered,
looking around. it was a good thing everybody had gone back to class. She
knew that they would be excited. 

Suddenly, Asreia�s Rysidrin cried again, and started flying towards the
fleeing castle. Its great wings beat the air as Asreia waved to Hitomi. "
Bye!" Then she flew into the distance, becoming a tiny speck in the sky as
she pursued the Zaibachian flying castle.

Hitomi arravied in class sweating. She told the teacher that Asreia had
fainted as she walked to her seat. She looked at what she was supposed to
do. "Good luck, Asreia," she thought as the teacher walked down the asile.
Hurriedly she looked down at her work. 

As it turned out

Zhou Tai An (kain@pacific.net.sg) "There is no one simple truth." - Rune Walsh

"Who is this? This is I. Who is I? What is I?		   - Rei Ayanami
I am myself. This object is I. The figure that forms me."

The ways of nature and of life are strange and deep. They are not to be
understood. In the midst of angers and of wars love's secret work goes on,
and binds us all by blood, and this, whether love is denied or bestowed. -
Pearl S. Buck