Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Under The Same Stars ❯ 1.2 The Red-Eyed Stranger ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Aeolia

Welcome to the fabulous second chapter, in which Celena finds out she is the lost Queen of the far-away Eastern Mary-Sue Realm (think Allen and Hitomi), discovers her abilities to talk to horses and little woodland furry creatures (hm, I think I saw this in a fic somewhere...) and single-handedly cuts down the nasty villains to pieces with a multi-use hair-pin!
Meanwhile, the other hero (aka you-know-who) stands pathetically rooted to the spot before engaging himself in a deadly battle against the Evil Butter Lord! Seriously. u_u

Anime/Manga: Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Adventure | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.26.2005 | Updated On: 10.15.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 322 | Status: Work In Progress

A/N: Welcome to the fabulous second chapter, in which Celena finds out she is the lost Queen of the far-away Eastern Mary-Sue Realm (think Allen and Hitomi), discovers her abilities to talk to horses and little woodland furry creatures (hm, I think I saw this in a fic somewhere...) and single-handedly cuts down the nasty villains to pieces with a multi-use hair-pin! Meanwhile, the other hero (you know who...) stands pathetically rooted to the spot before engaging himself in a deadly battle against the Evil Goat-Butter Lord! Seriously. u.u

For those who for some reason don't know/don't remember: Jichia is the Sea Dragon god of Asturia and Red is the equivalent in the Gaean calendar to August. Enjoy! And please let me know you read at the end - review, e-mail me, send me a carrier pigeon, whatever...

IntÃ©! ;)
(Yes... I ramble too much... T.T)

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Part 1 : Innocence
Chapter II : The Red-Eyed Stranger

Celena lay on the ground, holding herself. Tears were flowing freely down her face, due to nervousness and fear, but she was also struggling to get a grip on herself. Her muscles were gradually unclenching as her mind slowed down a notch. She still hadn't looked up to see the men around her, but didn't have to in order to know that they were very probably thieves hiding in the woods. Maybe killers!

Oh, Jichia, save me! Her eyes shut on reflex and fear escalated up her spine, ready to paralyse her again. This time, though, she decided to try to keep a cool mind and fight off what the instincts forced upon her. At least the man was no longer in front of her, so maybe they'd just take whatever they wanted and walk away. Her ears started to open and all sort of sounds rushed into her weary head.

The thieves were talking, not all too pleased if she was any good at judging their tone. Probably frustrated about finding more dresses than gold, she thought and would have smiled if only that didn't imply that she wasn't out of trouble yet. They'd assembled somewhere to her left, towards the back of the carriage, and she risked a glance. What she found made her gasp and stare.

There were five of them and her guess had been half-right. They were indeed upset and some of her dresses were lying on the road, but there was something else, or rather, someone else. He wore a dark cloak and had his head covered. He daringly waved a sword at the other five while talking.

“I won't say it again! If you have any love whatsoever for your sorry asses, you'll leave!” His voice was commanding, but somehow soft in comparison to the other men there. Celena felt an irresistible urge to just go there and hug the man in thanks, her saviour! However, that little bubble of joy soon burst when the thieves only jeered and laughed as if they'd heard a joke at a tavern.

“Let's find out if you're really up to that fancy heroic talk after I kick the hell out of you, boy!” One of them drawled, pulling out his sword to the sound of the others' cheers.

He had to be at least twice the size of her rescuer, in both width and height. His clothes had faded to an indistinct brownish grey from wear and accumulated dirt and he had no hair to go with them. A few teeth were missing for sure, judging by the way he talked. Celena gave out a small cry and prayer when he charged at her saviour. The thief's sword rose to shine off the two moons' light and he lunged downward with practised strength. Celena could not bear to watch.

“Is that all you can do, old man?” Her head rose to the now familiar voice and looked again. He'd dodged the blow, he was all right! Before relief even had a chance to stop washing over her, her rescuer had danced under the other's outstretched arm and had lain his blade on the back of the thief's neck. “You're slow as a cow!” He laughed, then turned serious. “And I never do heroics!”

His blade retracted, so he could better swing it back to the spot, and the burly, toothless thief instantly fell cold to the ground. She couldn't help crying out again and closing her eyes, but then opened them just as fast and cocked her head in awe-struck curiosity. There was no blood. Everyone had turned silent and the stranger pointed his sword at the remaining four, going through them one by one with his concealed gaze.

“Anyone else?” Again, Celena marvelled at the power held behind the voice. Obviously, the other thieves could feel it too, because they just put away their own weapons and rushed back to the forest, taking their fallen friend as fast as their feet permitted.

Both the stranger and Celena stood for a few seconds watching the trees through which they'd just vanished, until the sound of metal brought her back to reality. Her saviour was sheathing his sword and making his way towards where she was sitting.

“I really must thank you, sir! Who knows what could have taken place if you hadn't been here.” He shrugged and offered her a hand up. She gladly took it and stood up, waiting for an answer. None came, he was quietly looking over the carriage. She eyed him with curiosity. “Sir?”

“Huh?” He turned to her, startled out of his thoughts and took off his hood to look down at her. “Sorry, I suppose that wasn't very `gentlemanish' of me”, he told her, failing to notice how unmoving and abnormally large her eyes had just become. He continued. “Does that word even exist? I mean, it should, but...”

Any further rambling he could have gotten into was suddenly cut short as Celena fainted and he had to dive to catch her before she hit the ground...

When next Celena came to, it was morning already and she didn't remember much of what had happened. The first thing to enter her hazy head was of how hard and uncomfortable her bed was. Then it came back to her: she was still in the carriage. She didn't open her eyes, for the sun was bathing her face, and lazily stretched her arms.

She'd had the worst dream ever. Some foul thieves had stopped her on the road and she'd been saved by a... She shuddered.

Warmth stopped coming to her cheeks and she wondered, what happened to the sun? Opening her eyes, she came upon the wondering face of a silver haired man with eyes red as wine, hovering inches above her. There was no time to think and she did the only thing she could do - she screamed.

The man peering through the carriage's door was startled beyond his wits and jumped back, effectively banging his head on the roof along the way. “Damn it! What was that for! I saved you, remember!” He growled at her, pacing outside and rubbing his head. “It's not like I'm going to hurt you or anything, you know?”

“I'm terribly sorry, sir! But it wasn't very nice of you to come upon me like that either. You frightened me.” She answered him, after cringing slightly at his manners and placing a hand over her rushing heart. So it wasn't a dream after all. She stepped outside and noticed that the former driver was nowhere in sight and there was a small pile of ash by the front wheel.

“I thought you were awake”, he told her more calmly, determining his abused head was ready for another go if need be. Then he seemed to read her line of thought as he answered her unspoken questions. “I buried the old man last night... And I prepared some food, if you want something to eat... my lady.”

She had to smile at that. At least he seemed to be trying to act `gentlemanishly' as he'd put it, but it was obvious he wasn't very used to it. The words sounded somewhat wrong coming from his mouth.

“Thank you, I would very much appreciate that, yes.” She continued studying him as he leaned over the burn out fire and handed her breakfast on an improvised plate. The smell of burnt food immediately assailed her nostrils, but she accepted it with a polite smile. She saw him turn to look around absently afterwards and quickly put the `food' aside. “With all due respect, you're not from Asturia, are you?”

“Not really.” Her red-eyed saviour turned to face her again. “Just...” he looked thoughtful for a moment. “A wanderer looking for adventure, I guess”, he concluded brilliantly with a smile. “Oh, you finished eating! That was fast. But it's good, now we can be on our way! You're going to Palas, I take it?”

She nodded, too dazzled by his voice to speak out an answer. That feeling of power she'd sensed earlier was gone now, or rather, it was laying dormant. She also remembered that his voice had been different from the thieves' ones, softer. She could see now why. He was young, apparently the same age as her... “Hello?”

Her attention snapped back to what he was saying, murmuring a small “sorry” under her breath. He was already a couple of meters ahead on the road, a small bag slung over his right shoulder and looking expectantly at her. Is he serious?, she asked herself. Out loud, though, she said “You're not planning on going all the way to Palas on foot, are you?”

“Yes, I am. Now come on, I don't know how much further it is, but the sooner we're there, the better.” He stated matter-of-factly.

“I can't walk to Palas! And we've got a perfectly nice carriage and horses here, why not use them?” She made a stand, crossing her arms in front of her.

“I don't like carriages”, he said simply, making it sound like it was the universal truth behind truths and if she couldn't understand something as simple as that, she wasn't worthy.

“Well, I don't like walking.” A light pout formed on her face as she looked dramatically to the side. She had no idea where all this was coming from; under normal circumstances, never would she act like this, but she decided it was a nice change. He paused, and fumed at her stubbornness.

“All right then. I'll walk, you ride. I'm not your servant anyway”, he said, turning and continuing down the path. “Bye!”

Celena stared. Somehow, her speech had backfired. Didn't this person know a thing about how to act towards a lady like her? She ran after him and held on to his sleeve. “Wait! You can't just leave me here alone! How will I make it home on my own!”

“Argh! Fine!” He threw his hands up in the air, realising how helpless she really felt. “I'll take you in the carriage to wherever it is you're going and then be on my way. Is that alright with you, milady?”

“Yes”, she replied, her urgent face instantly melting. To wherever she was going... Allen! She was sure he must be dead worried with her delay already. She knew he'd received her warning letter saying she'd come. The red-eyed stranger was opening the carriage's door for her, but after an adventurous night like the one before and a dispute like the one now, she felt she had the right to do one more thing the way she wanted. “Would you mind if I went up front with you? The day is so beautiful...”

He saw no problem with it and helped her up instead, grumbling to himself all the way. The dress got stuck on some places and the delicate fabric tore but it was nothing Celena couldn't handle. Until she leaned onto the seat and almost fell backwards. Gaining her balance, she glanced over her shoulder and found that most of the wooden boards there were gone. The man was climbing up himself on the other side and she shot him a questioning look. He noticed and smiled sheepishly.

“Well, I needed some wood to start the fire for the food, you see...” It made some sense, but she thought better not to ask him why couldn't he have used some dead branches instead of those specific boards. They were in the middle of a forest, after all. He picked up the reigns and got the horses on the move. “Anyway, I'm glad we're finally leaving! Just between you and me, I don't think I could have done much if those guys came back!” He told her moments later, his strangely placed smile making her quirk an eyebrow at him.

“What makes you say that?” She asked with measured words. “You were pretty fabulous last night.” He looked at her awkwardly for the compliment, but otherwise kept speaking normally.

“I had the element of surprise on my side, yesterday, and they had no idea who I was or what I was capable of, so it was easy. And the cape really gave me that creepy-guy look, don't you think?” He was smiling now, seemingly very proud of himself for having outsmarted the villains. It seemed his dispositions were quick to change.

“I don't know... Maybe if you had your hood down it would have scared them more...” The look of hurt that flashed on his face for instants was not lost on her and she made sure to apologise. “I'm sorry! That was a terrible thing for me to say! I wasn't thinking... It's not what I meant at all!”

“Sure...” Then a while later, “I guess I'm the one who should be apologising... I bet I scared you to hell and back last night.” She smiled, secretly admitting that that had been a nice understatement. “Besides, you're probably right, it would be a neat little trick to use if they were any good in fighting or scaring them off with this sword failed.”

“What do you mean, is there something wrong with it?”

“Hell yes!” He put a hand over his mouth, remembering himself he was in the presence of a lady. “The blade's completely blunt! It wouldn't cut through butter in the middle of Red! See for yourself if you want to!”

Celena blanched and waited a few seconds to make sure her heart was still there, beating. “You mean you ran into a group of five armed thieves in the middle of the night in an unknown forest with a weapon that's completely useless!” She took a long breath in the end to compose herself. Then, “Are you mad!”

“Easy there, you almost sound like you didn't want to be rescued! I could have taken one of their swords at any time if I had to...” She had her doubts, but kept them for herself. There was something definitely off with this man. He seemed to be looking at her differently now, though. “So, what's your name and where are we going exactly anyway?”

“I'm Celena, Celena Schezar. I was on my way home. It's in the outskirts near Palas, but I'm familiar with the road, so I can tell you the way.” He muttered an assent and didn't speak further. She assured him they weren't very far from their destination and then fell silent as well. No one said anything else for the rest of the journey but Celena noticed her red-eyed saviour took to shifting a lot in his seat.

Palas came into view before Celena's house did, and the red-eyed was clearly marvelled. She thought she heard him whispering something, but dismissed it as the wind playing tricks. She saw the way his eyes were glued on the ocean below and hated to interrupt him, but her home was very close now.

“We're here. That's where I live.” His head snapped forward and this time she was sure she'd heard him say “Not bad” to himself. She laughed. “Would you like to come in? Do you need a place to stay? I'm sure my brother...”

He halted both the horses and her at the same time, raising a hand. “No, thanks, I'm going to town. I can work out some place to stay there for myself.” He jumped from his seat and unceremoniously turned on his heels towards the road he'd seen descending to Palas some way back, shouting his goodbyes over the bag on his shoulder.

“It was a pleasure accompanying you. Take care, Celena Schezar!”

Well, I wonder why he's in such a hurry... “Take care yourself!” You need it more than I do... Hold on, he didn't tell me his name! “Wait!” She looked back, but he was already gone and too far to hear.