Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon's Bait ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Escaflowne belongs to Bandai and all other respective owners. The actual novel Dragon's Bait belongs to Vivian Vande Velde.

A/N Well its been over a year now, scary how time flies. If you're still reading this power to you, if not I totally understand (not that you'll know that I understand as you will not be reading this). I've felt incredibly guilty about not updating, especially when I promised it would be out soon. I've been busy, had writer's block, dabbled in other fandoms: Harry Potter, Inuyasha, Batman, & Teen Titans. Special thanks for all the reviews and emails and my apologies to all the people who emailed and asked when I update and to whom I replied "two weeks." Just a small refresher. We left Hitomi on an island surrounded by dragons and having strange visions. She has just discovered blood on the floor.

It was day seven and Van was still unconscious. Hitomi was still unsure of how she had reacted so fast. She had found Van lying in a puddle of his own blood and she had acted instinctively. She had dragged him down the hall, and into her bathroom. There she had started to pump water into the tub. She had somehow managed to heave Van into the water and then had somehow managed to grab him before his head had slipped below the surface of the water. The tub had turned deep red with his blood and Hitomi quickly pulled the stopper out and watched as the crimson vanished down the drain. She had then managed to grab some towels and had, rather not to gently, dragged Van out of the tub and on to the towels lying on the floor. She had begun to stitch him up, with a needle she had found, well she wasn't really sure where-in one of the many drawers she had hastily pulled out in her search for medical supplies. That completed she had dragged him into her bed, pulled up a chair and watched him sleep.

After the first day she found that a little boring. On the second day she went in search of linens, found them, and changed the blood soaked sheets. On the third day she ventured into the kitchen and scrounged around for food. On the fourth day, while playing with her pendant, she started to sense the dragons' agitation, as if they knew Van was ill and near death. On day six she had heard a crash and on further investigation she had discovered that a dragon had flown through one of the castle windows and was stalking the halls. Hitomi had swallowed her screams and walked back to her bedroom bolting the door behind her. And now it was day seven.

Hitomi yawned and stretched. She rose from the chair next to her bed where Van was lying and examined him. No fresh bleeding, side was healing nicely, he didn't have a fever, he was no longer talking in his sleep, so why wasn't he waking up? Hitomi's stomach rumbled and she was just about to open the door when she remembered that somewhere in the castle a dragon was running wild. She was debating whether or not to chance a quick trip to the kitchen, or if she should use the pendant to try to figure out where the dragon was when she heard a faint groan.

"Van," Hitomi rushed to the bedside. "Van, Van are you awake?"

"I….I….wa…….." Van rasped.

Hitomi rushed the bathroom and returned with a glass of water. "Slowly now," she said gently as Van gulped back the water.

Hitomi stared at Van. "Oh Van thank the gods your awake. I was so worried……I…." Hitomi could feel tears coming to her eyes as she hasty tried to brush them away.

Van looked at Hitomi as if seeing her for the first time. "What are you doing here?"

Hitomi paused mid hiccup to stare at him. What was she doing here? Did she have anywhere else to be? How dare he! And why was she crying for him. "What am I doing here. As if I had anywhere else to go. Pardon me but some of us are stuck here on this island. I was worried, I nursed you back to health, it was touch and go for a few days and all you can say is what are you doing here?" Hitomi could feel here anger rising. She knew she was overreacting, that it was ridiculous to be mad at him but she could stop herself. And then she heard him laughing.

"You….you…..you are so, so……OH!" Hitomi stomped her feet and wrenched open the door. Hitomi froze as she stared at the dragon that had flown through the window the day before. The dragon walked right by and started to rub affectionately up against Van's leg, who by this time was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Hey Ali have you been waiting for me all this time?" Van scratched the dragon affectionately on it's snout. "Thank-you." He continued out the door and Ali followed. "Ah no Ali I think you should stay with Hitomi. She seems a bit frustrated and I think she needs a friend to talk to," Van chuckled, "Yes Ali you'll make a most excellent friend for Hitomi."

Hitomi watched in horror as Van continued to walk down the hall and Ali sat expectantly at the door. "Nice dragon," she whimpered. Friend? Was Van crazy? It was than that she remembered she had forgotten to tell Van about her vision.

"………and he's insufferable, and rude, and arrogant…." Hitomi continued to list Van's undesirable qualities to Ali who gazed at Hitomi with a vacant expression. She was interrupted by the sound of her stomach growling. "Maybe we should get something to eat?"

He wasn't in the kitchen. Hitomi breathed a sigh of relief that she wouldn't have to deal with him and made herself a light supper. When she looked around she realized Ali had wandered off and Hitomi felt a pang of loneliness. After Hitomi had gotten over her initial fear and realized that Ali wasn't going to eat her Hitomi had enjoyed the dragon's company. Your going crazy Hitomi talking to a dragon……but you'd better get used to it, lets face it you may be here a LONG time.

As she walked back to her room Hitomi passed by the spot she had initially seen Van's blood. As she shut her eyes she could still see the red pool on the floor and she could faintly hear the clashing of swords? Suddenly recalling her vision Hitomi pulled out her pendant to pinpoint Van's location so she could warn him about what she had seen. She was startled to discover she couldn't sense him right away. The presence of the dragons around her was overwhelming but Hitomi could faintly feel another aura down the hall.

Following the subtle swings of her pendant Hitomi found herself in front of massive mahogany doors. Pushing them open Hitomi found herself surrounded by shelves of books. The smell of dust and books tickled her nose as she tried to unsuccessfully stifle a sneeze.

"Ah milady, how did you know I was here?" Hitomi glanced up from her sneezing fit to see Van curled up on a overstuffed green sofa staring up at her from a rather large book of maps, a cocky grin on his face.

Hitomi nodded at the pendant in her hand. "I used my pendant to pinpoint your aura and followed it here."

Van gazed at the pink jewel curiously. "Can you find anything with the pendant?"

"Almost anything, which is what I came to talk to you about."

"You came to talk about finding lost things?" Van smirked.

"No," Hitomi stammered, "I came to talk to you about my vision, or rather visions."

"Visions of what?" he questioned.

"Visions of you," Hitomi whispered.

Van laughed. "Do you dream of me Miss. Kanzaki?"

Hitomi felt her face flush. "No, I see your death."

Startled Van stared at Hitomi, mouth wide with shock. "You see my death?"

"Yes." She whispered again suddenly afraid for Van, reliving her vision.

"Please tell me what you have seen," Van said with a kindness and gentleness that Hitomi was unaware he possessed.

"All of it?"

Van lead her to the couch by the fire and gently sat her down. "Everything."

"The first vision was of the leader of the Dragonslayers. He was fighting someone, I couldn't see who at the time. He ran his opponent through and pulled out a large pink gem. And then there were scales and feathers and I was in Fanelia. I've never been to Fanelia but I know that's where it is. People were dying."

Hitomi stopped and stared at Van. Emotions of pain and regret played across his face. Van noticed Hitomi staring at him and smiled. "Please continue."

"In my second vision I was in Fanelia again. The people were talking about armies gathering for war, and people dying, and that there was no king. Idle gossip of housewives mostly. And then….then there were the sound of hooves and the same leader of the Slayers and his men rode in and Fanelia was bathed in fire and blood. My vision changed and the general was fighting with his opponent and just as the general was running his opponent through I recognized who the opponent was. It was you Van. It was so horrible Van. I could hear their screams, I could sense their pain. Oh Van I could feel them dying. And you……..and you, he killed you Van, he killed you….he……." Hitomi trailed of as sobs wracked her body. Hitomi stared at Van who was sitting rigid in front of her. Hitomi could feel her fear as she replayed her visions in her head. "Oh Van," she cried as she reached out to touch him in reassurance. As her hand grazed his arm Hitomi found herself engulfed in another vision.

Deep Red Blood, Vibrant Green Dragon Scales, and Brilliant White Feathers danced in Hitomi's mind as she heard the shrill of a Dragon's cry.

Opening her eyes Hitomi found herself gazing into Van's concerned eyes. She stared at Van in shock and fear. "You're a Draconian!" she gasped.

A/N: Well that's another chapter posted. It seems that I always write these things late at night or or early in the morning. I've been working on this consecutive nights/morning and am proofreading it rather late. Once again if you see anything wrong please email me so that I can fix my mistakes. Once upon a time I created a mailing list for this fic but since then ff.net has invented these nifty little Author Alerts. If you do not have an ff.net but would like to be notified when I update please email and I shall add you to the list. I'm not making any promises but hopefully I will be able to update soon.

~Nox