Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ The Call ❯ Four ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Merle flinched as if she was struck and Gaddes immediately went to bar the door. This done he sat back away from the group and watched quietly as they tried to get Hitomi to remember who they were.

"Hitomi. Do you know who you are?" Millerna asked quietly as she took the girl's attention away from the young king who looked like he was in shock.

"Y-yes, my name is Hitomi Kanzaki. I know that, and I know that I am supposed to be in school right now because the regional track meet is coming up." She tried to sit up through the pain she was in and found the all it took was the young man's hand on her shoulder to keep her back down on the pillows. "Why do I hurt so much and why am I in this bed?"

"Hitomi, I am Millerna Aston, I helped to save your life after you were hit by a machine of some sort on the Mystic Moon." Millerna stopped speaking as soon as she said 'Mystic Moon' as it seemed to have arrested the girl's attention.

"Mystic Moon. It sounds familiar but I can't place where I heard it from." Hitomi looked genuinely confused as she looked about trying to find the answer to the puzzle that perplexed her. "I know all of you I think, or I should." She murmured and then she saw the cat woman.

Raising her eyebrow she fought the sense of deja vu as she noted the pink hair, longer now than it was when they had last met, and the ears that perked up out of them. "A cat girl." There were pieces here that were a puzzle and she had no idea what the picture was supposed to be.

"Hitomi. You can't tell me that you don't remember who we all were. A year ago you were taken to a place called Gaea. It was there that you came to know a young king named Van Fanel." Gaddes gestured to the young man seated on the bed looking over Hitomi worriedly.

"I might have, but it is all so foggy. I can't remember clearly. A dream perhaps?" Again Hitomi struggled to sit up to try to think clearly and this time Millerna and Van helped her up and braced her back with a firm pillow.

Looking at Van she tried to remember him. These people said that they knew each other and he was certainly looking at her like someone that had known her for a long time. She shook her head slowly. "I just can't remember." Looking down a little she noticed her grandmother's pendant around his neck. "My pendant! How did you get it?" Millerna looked a little relieved as she noted the recognition of the pendant.

"Hitomi?" Millerna started. "You were hit by something on the Mystic Moon, I think you called that place Earth. Van brought you here to Gaea to get help." She paused to let it sink in that she was very hurt.

"You seem to be recovering nicely but I am not certain of all of your motor functions. You will need a lot of help getting around for a time and until you are steady on your feet, you will have someone with you as you move about the castle." She finished with her prognosis.

"I also believe that in time your memories will return with seeing things and people that you knew back in the days of the Great War. Allen and Celena are coming to visit soon and there will be much to see and listen to. Just take it in slowly and let things unlock as they will OK?" Millerna hoped that this would work. She knew that forcing things on this girl produced unexpected results and so letting things go at Hitomi's pace would be best, even if it was harder on everyone else for her to have to relearn everyone in the hopes that she would then start remembering.

Hitomi nodded slowly. She had the memory of loving to run and she knew that she wanted to run again. But if this Millerna person was right, she wouldn't be running for a long time yet.

"You mentioned that I would have someone with me at all times when I go about? Who might that be?" Her voice was wary now. The people in the room had not tried to hurt her in any way and her innate feelings of trust in them allowed for her calm demeanor throughout the entire set of explanations.

Looking to Millerna she was taken by surprise when the cat woman spoke. "I will start with introductions and then I will take you on for a while OK?"

Merle had seen the look of shock on Van's face and she wanted to be the one that would help Hitomi get better soon. She was more patient than she was over a year ago and her power in the castle walls increased with her self-assurance of her worth.

Looking to Van with a reprimanding glare for his oversight she continued. "The ones in front of you are Princess Millerna Aston of Asturia and King Van Fanel of Fanelia. Millerna studied to be a doctor so you were in capable hands as soon as she arrived here." She smiled reassuringly as Hitomi when she noted the look of shock on the young woman's face.

Pointing to Gaddes she continued. "Over there you have Gaddes, captain of the royal guard and friend to Allen Schezar. I am Merle and for today I think that I will be your guide about the castle."

Merle ignored Van's dirty look as she continued to plan. "Much to do but as I went through your bag I can see that you were expecting to come back to Gaea and brought a suitable dress for the occasion." She pointed over towards the changing area of the room where Hitomi's things had been placed and her dress hung up and the wrinkles removed.

Merle knew better than to throw Hitomi's school uniform away after her last visit so she had the women that did the laundry clean the blood out of it as best they could and then she folded it and put it back into her bag. Looking at Millerna she nodded. "OK boys, out for a while. Millerna and I are going to get Hitomi cleaned up and dressed so that she is a little more presentable and she doesn't need an audience.

Smiling slightly at Merle's change in demeanor Van allowed himself to be escorted out of the room with Gaddes by the two women. Once the door was shut Gaddes put himself at the guard post of the door and smiled at Van. "I wouldn't worry about Hitomi with those two around her."

Van smiled slightly and nodded. He couldn't help but be nervous now. He had seen her eyes, she had wanted so much to remember them all, and yet she couldn't. He knew that everything was there; he was just going to have to wait for her to remember, and hope that she didn't forget herself in the process.

Inside the bathing room Merle gathered a couple of the maids and they all set to work on Hitomi. Getting her cleaned up and then one of the older matrons started on a massage that seemed to hurt more than it soothed. When she protested she was hushed by the woman and got her explanation from Millerna. "Hitomi, you have been asleep for just over two weeks. This massage will help you rebuild your atrophied muscle tissue faster with fewer consequences than strait working them. You are in good hands."

Hitomi looked like she wanted to argue that point but if it got her running again she would endure much. Looking around she saw the maids set out her things by the dressing screen and then a chair back there.

"You don't need our help dressing Hitomi. But we will be right here when you are done so that we can help you to the dining hall. I believe that Millerna has sent an order down for you so that you can get something to eat to tide you over until dinner." Merle helped Hitomi to the chair behind the screen and it was painfully obvious the girl needed it. Despite the work done on her Hitomi was in an incredible amount of pain with each step she took.

She sat down gratefully and started dressing. She had picked out her favorite sun dress for her trip before everything happened and now all she could do was wonder how it got in her bag with everything else.

Dressing was a chore in itself but it only served to prove that she had a long way to go before she was as fit as she used to be. Hopefully her memories would come back with her physical shape.

After dressing she indicated that she was ready and as Merle and Millerna helped Hitomi up and about they were surprised to see Gaddes outside of the door with a chair on wheels. "The king mentioned seeing such things on the Mystic Moon and so I had one of the guys try to throw something like it together. You'll need some help getting down the steps but it will help in your recovery as the back can have handles added to it for when you are better up for walking about instead of being rolled around."

Hitomi smiled and bit back the comment that she would rather be walking about now but she had seen the look that Merle had given her and knew that to try something like that right now would only bring the wrath of everyone she had met so far down on her. "Thank you Gaddes." She spoke quietly a little uncertain if she had the names right, but fairly certain in her mind. Smiling, Gaddes helped her into the chair and started wheeling her down the hallway to the dining area.

Elsewhere not to far away one very irate princess watched the whole scene. There was no way that skinny little girl was a match for her. What could Van see in such a woman? She seethed as she watched Millerna and Merle stay with her. Rumors were running rife through the castle already about how the girl who had predicted the fall of Fanelia when she first arrived couldn't remember the king. Smiling to herself she stored that little piece of information away for later.

Right now there was a dinner to attend to and, unfortunately, with Princess Millerna in attendance Narine was going to have to be on her better behavior. Upsetting the headstrong crown princess of Asturia was the last thing she was going to do at this point in time. Not even her father would forgive her if she managed to bring Asturia's wrath down upon her tiny country.

==

As they toured the castle to get to the dining hall it was explained that Van was engaged to a princess from one of the eastern lands, and that Narine would be in attendance.

Hitomi tried to understand but something told her that it wasn't right. She kept her thoughts to herself however and looked over just in time to see one of the practice rooms. The lighting was perfect and a ghost of a memory played out in front of her. Her watching Van in sword practice with a man that was practically a mountain.

The ghost image left as soon as she focused to see who was in there and left her wondering if she had really seen anything at all. Looking about she took in some of the other things and idly wondered if she would be able to say anything.

Millerna was reliving some memories herself of a time when she had come to visit Fanelia in her youth. Apparently at that time Van had an older brother who's name was Folken. Another ghost whispered through her mind with that name still too elusive to capture to see clearly. Hitomi began to wonder if she would ever remember what these people were talking about.