Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Paths of Destiny ❯ Parallel Awakenings ( Chapter 6 )

The skies were cloudless for the first time since Asano's arrival on Gaia. The sun illuminated the forest as the group trudged on, led by Van's purposeful stride through well worn pathways. Strange creatures stopped sniffing around the ground to stare at the passing party, their oblong snouts turning disdainfully up at Asano's mud-stained school trousers - he could only wonder how Amano must feel, considering that he was still wearing his athletics shorts! Ducking to avoid a branch that Celena had let flick back into his face while giggling slightly and moving ahead, Asano was slightly uneasy. While he was unnerved by Gaia - no matter how often Asano had dreamed of getting away from his mundane school life like so many other teenagers, he hadn't thought of going THIS far away - that didn't seem to be bothering him half as much as the feeling of being tugged away against his will that had started since that…thing inside of him had woken up.

Asano frowned to himself. He didn't even feel particularly power-mad after what he had done yesterday. It was as if he'd been expecting it to happen for a very long time without really knowing it, and the fact that he'd had water raging around him at his command was something ordinary and commonplace.

"Asano!" Hitomi detached herself from Van's arm and waited for her classmate to catch up to her. She had been used to the endless walking after her last trip to Gaia - Asano's feet, on the other hand, were beginning to ache, and his shirt, damp with sweat, clung to his back.

"Yeah, Hitomi?" Asano panted, wiping his forehead on his sleeve.

"I just wanted a word about yesterday. This is going to sound crazy, but…you don't have wings do you?"

"Not that I've noticed over the past sixteen years, sorry, no. Not every guy is going to have great big fluffy wings sprouting out of their backs on command like His Majesty up there." Asano stopped talking before he said anything else, flummoxed as to why he said anything like that - he'd only learnt to speak the same language as Van about an hour ago, and he was already being rude about him!

Hitomi, seeming not to notice, carried on talking, lowering her voice slightly as if conspiring with Asano. "I had just wondered if you were a Draconian too, like Van is. What that voice said, about awakening the Dragon inside you…it just confused me, that's all. Any idea of what she meant?"

"I can't think of anything off-hand. I hope this isn't some kind of demonic baby situation - I'm not planning on having a lizard burst out of my stomach!"

Hitomi laughed loudly, causing Van to turn his head in puzzlement, shooting a wary glance at Asano. "You're so WEIRD! I can see this life-threatening battle for Gaia is going to be a lot more fun than the last one - Van's always so serious, going on about how he lives for honour and all that!" Van stiffened slightly, his posture shifting to become slightly hurt yet also almost menacing.

Hitomi, seeing Van's coolness, quickly hurried back to the head of the group.

"Tough crowd, Asano?" Yukari crept up behind him, whispering in his ear. "Don't even think about it - this one's forever, and she's WAY out of your league."

Asano spluttered as Yukari rejoined Amano, wrapping her arms around him and smiling adoringly up at his face.

The small glade was illuminated by beams of sunlight drifting lazily through the dense woodland. Somehow well kept, although human feet hardly ever trod the soft grass around, there was unusually little sign of animal life for such a remote area - birds perched in the surrounding trees in an awed silence, while occasionally small, deer-like creatures bounded through the shadowy woodland.

The one sign of disturbance was the enormous, faded monument that stood in this peaceful vale. Towering above the gathered teenagers, the infamous Guymelef Escaflowne, dormant for only a short while, loomed over them, browning from lack of use. A mixture of respect and sorrow lined Van's face as he stared up at the guardian machine that had been a pivotal part of his life so recently.

"I don't know if this has crossed anyone else's mind," said Merle archly, playing absently with her nail file once more, "but how are we supposed to get everyone, and Escaflowne, out of Fanelia? We don't have anything like the Crusade to carry a Guymelef in, and Escaflowne can't support so many people in Dragon mode - just getting three people on there was enough of a squeeze - I remember Hitomi telling me how she and Allen…"

"THAT'S ENOUGH, MERLE!" Hitomi and Celena shouted in unison, glaring at each other with the same irate expression before turning away and folding their arms in similar defiant poses.

"I've already thought of that," Van said calmly, turning towards the group. "I thought that Hitomi could use her powers…"

"Wait a minute, Van." Hitomi looked concerned. "I thought we went through this once before - I'm not some kind of tool to be used by anyone."

"Why are you being so difficult?" Van looked exasperated, raising his hands ineffectually. "I didn't mean it like that - anyway, you need to do this as much as I do; it sounds like we all need to stick together to avoid whatever disaster could befall Fanelia now."

"I can't control it!" Hitomi pleaded, almost whining, completely changed from the happy girl of only moments before. "I didn't bring myself here - I can't explain it, like the first time we were both transported to Gaia! The time when we were attacked in Fanelia I panicked, and when I returned to Earth I didn't really know what I was doing either! What makes you think I can get all of us out of here? Where are we going anyway?"

"Calm down, Hitomi." Amano walked over to the girl, her fists clenched tightly in defiance, and placed his hand on her shoulder. "While I would like to know where we're supposed to be going," he said, looking inquiringly at Van, "I have faith that Hitomi can get us there - she seems to be able to do an awful lot of things I didn't think she could!"

"Let's go to Asturia!" Celena piped up, an excited look on her face. "We can get my brother and Millerna to come along, and I'm sure that someone will have an idea where we can find Dryden - and we can also pick up the Crusade while we're there, although I don't know what the crew have been up to since I came to Fanelia."

"Sounds like a good idea," Yukari said laconically, leaning against a tree. "Why don't we just go straight to another place I've never heard of before!"

"It's settled then." Van used his authority once more, attempting to stand imposingly in front of the assembled teenagers, although Amano's imposing height did little for Van's self-importance. "We travel to Asturia - if Hitomi will help us…" Van looked imploringly at Hitomi

"Hitomi, I think I understand why you're so reluctant about all this." Amano turned Hitomi's head towards him, her eyes still defiant and angry. "Last time you did all these mystical things, there was that war or something?"

Hitomi nodded, softening slightly. Asano, unnoticed, frowned at the intimacy of Amano's touch as inappropriate - after all, she did seem to be Van's girlfriend.

"This time, if you don't help, you'll probably only put this planet in danger - and yourself. Those winged people will come back here - where did they go, anyway?"

Van shifted uneasily. "Rem said that they vanished - that red liquid Hitomi saw when Leah came to attack her didn't seem to appear anywhere, and there's no trace of their presence save the destruction to the palace. We can't predict their next move - and there's no record of any Venal existing anywhere either."

"Okay. Well, anyway, if you don't at least try to get us out of here, they'll come after you - and if we don't go anywhere, that prophecy of yours will never get fulfilled, and that destiny shattering thing might come into effect."

Hitomi looked up at Amano. "Can I do it right?" she half-whispered.

"Of course you can."

Hitomi withdrew from Amano, radiating steely resolve. "Right then!" she said exuberantly, a rejuvenated glimmer in her eyes. "Let's give this a try! Well, first of all, I think you should re-awaken Escaflowne, Van. It might help - it certainly seemed to when we last transported out of Fanelia."
Van sighed with a mixture of relief and anxiety. "Looks like I'll have to bring it back again, then." He turned to face the enormous machine, its dormant form seeming almost benign in such tranquil surroundings.

Van reached into the pocket of his trousers and brought out a strange, spherical pink object which Hitomi recognised as an Energist, the heart of a dragon required to power the mysterious Guymelef. Unsheathing his sword, he cut a small nick in his thumb, letting a thick drop of dark blood run down onto the Energist, seeming to flow away into nothing. Raising the Energist above his head, Van shouted in a commandeering voice at the ancient weapon before him, the Energist shining with an eerie bright light:
"I, Van Fanel, king of Fanelia, re-affirm my blood pact to thee, Escaflowne! Thou sleeping dragon, awake!"

The glade erupted into bright light from around Van's feet, swirling upwards with an unseen wind towards the sky, a look of almost peaceful concentration upon Van's face midst the blinding chaos around him. Yukari shielded her eyes against Amano's shirt, as Hitomi stared at the familiar sight once more.

Asano watched in awe as cracks in the withered armour before him began to heal over, and the brown colour began to fade into a pure, clean white. The tarnish covering what appeared to be green gems set in the shoulders seemed to melt away from the centre, allowing the illustrious sheen of expense to shine out. Dirt dropped away from hinges and joints to vaporise upon contact with the ground, sending up small hisses of water as they did so.

The light around Van began to fade away, and he opened his eyes to see his re-awakened birthright before him. Hoisting himself up onto the sitting giant, he plunged the Energist into what had appeared to be a solid red gem on the left of the armour's chest plate, withdrawing his hand as the gem flowed back into shape.

A pulsating sound came from within Escaflowne as a beat resounded once more from the heart of the machine. The Dragon Armour had re-awakened, and Hitomi knew that this meant the journey had truly begun once more.