Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Sides of the Same Coin ❯ One ( Chapter 1 )

She was thin, and didn't fill out the armor she was wearing-it belonged to someone else. Strong arms held her tightly, the layers of leather and metal translating the embrace to an encompassing pressure which, for all its strength, did not serve to ground her. It had been years, it felt like, since her skin had truly felt the touch of another. For all that her brother was nearly squeezing the life out of her, she still couldn't feel him. Maybe it was just the armor, but the distance between them was miles.

"Brother….?" Celena stared uncertainly up into the face of a man she thought she might remember. His strong, handsome features were unstable with emotion. She observed her own emotions through a glass barrier, and could not touch them in her dazed state. It was the same with the outside world. In Celena's mind, all was silent, calm, and numb.

All action was frozen inside her, so she just stood there, letting herself be hugged by her big brother. After a moment, he pulled back, and drank up the sight of her face.

"Oh, gods, Celena. I've missed you so much, I can't believe you're alive, I just-" breaking off, Allen once again crushed Celena tightly to his chest. The world static, he spoke a vow into her fine, white-blonde, sweat-streaked hair.

"I *swear* I will protect you. I will let nothing harm you, ever again!"

With those words, the glass wall inside Celena broke, and she was suddenly naked against the storm. The entire world was dying, it seemed. She was hot and sweaty in that stiff uniform, and her body ached in various places from being thrown about inside the Alseides. Fire and bits of metal rained down upon the scorched earth, melefs staggered and lunged in the near and far distance. Airships flew overhead, some of them smoking. These sights flooded Celena's eyes as the corresponding sounds flooded her ears: metal screeching on metal, the rumbling of earth as it was pummeled by melef and firearm alike. There were human noises too, screaming and begging and incoherent prayer, sniffling and moaning and vomiting. It was terrifying.

She gasped out a sob and clutched Allen as her lifeline. The warmth and strength of her brother seemed like they would never fade, and his words assured her. Everything else was fleeting and painful.

In an attempt to regain normalcy, Celena's mind tried to shut itself away from the world. First Allen, then the battle would fade in and out of reality, one seeming dream-like in one moment, the other, in the next.

The heat, however, was not ethereal. Waves of it rolled off of fires, off of Allen, and from her own body. It was both unbearable and comforting. With no memories, Celena had nothing to ground her. Only the insurmountable heat was constant.

Looking around them, Allen released his sister. "We have to get off this field."

The disoriented girl reluctantly let go of her brother, only to find him gripping her hand firmly and leading her to his own melef. He pushed and pulled her up into the cockpit, where he squished in beside her.

"I can't do much like this. It's a good thing the battle is mostly over. I'll get us back to basecamp, and then, I'll take you back to Asturia."

Celena nodded, and tried to lean in such a manner that would give Allen maximum mobility. What else could she do?

//I'm scared.// She thought about the battlefield they had left behind, of the little she could see out of the viewslits.

//This should mean something,// she thought. She knew she should know the whys and whos and hows of the battle. She remembered none of it.

She did remember clawing for breath and opening her eyes inside the darkened Alseides.

//This *does* mean something. Why can't I remember?!//

She was scared.

***

Like a child, Celena grew day by day. Already much matured, her body did not undergo rapid change. In fact, the only physical thing that seemed to change much at all was her hair. It grew quick and wild, and soon was past her shoulders. Her brother had the old cook teach her how to pin it back and up, in several styles then popular among Asturian women.

More notable was the growth of her mind. Fresh off the battlefield, Celena was disoriented, dependant, and frightened. However, it was discovered not three days afterward that she could read.

[Allen walked into his father's old study. Yellow lamplight turned it into a landscape, the shadows making piles of books look like canyons. Though dim, it was that light that had led him there.

"Celena? What are you doing in here?" He looked cross, probably because his sister had disappeared from her room without a word, and so soon after such a big shock to her system. If Allen had had his say, she would remain in bed for another week.

Celena looked up from the book in her lap. "Brother?" she asked, frowning slightly, "We're….we're in Asturia, aren't we?" She seemed uncertain.

Allen was taken aback.

"Yes…"

"Then, where is," she looked back down to the book, "Atlantis?"

Allen just stood there, jaw hanging open. When he did speak, his voice was surprised and confused.

"When...How...You can read?"

Celena nodded.

"Ah...well, Atlantis was a very old city. It doesn't exist anymore."

"Oh."

Shaking his head to clear it, Allen moved forward, and gathered his sister in his arms.

"Come on now. We're going back to your room. I don't want you wandering around like that again, is that clear?" He was stern, and Celena bowed her head in shame.

"Yes, Brother."

"Good. If…if you want another book to amuse yourself with, just ask."

The girl brightened. "Thank you!" She twisted in his arms to kiss his cheek.

Allen smiled. Well, a few books for his sister would be worth it, if it made her happy. Nothing about Atlantis, though, or the Mystic Moon nonsense his father had been obsessed with...

Or about Zaibach.

Allen nodded, making the decision to dig up some of Celena's old storybooks that night.]

It was that way with the rest of her mental faculties. While most knowledge about her world escaped her, certain skills, skills that were so well-learned as to be habitual, remained. Reading was one of them, as were simple things such as feeding and dressing herself (though she had trouble at first with the buttons on her dresses). Allen, and the others about the estate who knew Celena's secret, were afraid to find out what other skills the girl retained.

Weeks passed, and Celena grew. Her brother and caretakers were soon to realize that her mind was progressing at a rapid rate. Her ability to read was only the precursor; the girl absorbed knowledge in enormous quantities. Her perceptiveness and skills of analysis progressed more slowly, but these too were more each day. As her mind approached the same maturity of her body, it became apparent that she was very intelligent.

Allen kept good on his word, and the next evening after her discovery in their father's study, Allen brought a large stack of storybooks to Celena's bedroom. She went through those in a matter of days, at which point Allen brought more. These too she finished quickly, and Allen started bringing in any book that didn't contain information that might…upset her. He supposed that the dry scientific texts and explorer's journals would bore her, but she devoured them as quickly as the storybooks. While completely uninterested in accounts of battles (Allen was *greatly* relieved), she seemed fascinated by books about animals and plants and far-off lands. She was even able to understand some of the more difficult science texts that had belonged to the elder Schezar.

"Brother! Did you know that plants need food too, only not like ours? And they *make* their own food, out of sunlight and water!" She eagerly showed him a picture during one of his many visits to her room.

"Is that so?" He smiled good-naturedly. There was something different about him, though Celena could not have recognized it. With his sister at home again, Allen seemed at peace.

"Oh, it's amazing! That's why they're green, you know. The things inside them that turn light into food are green."

"That's fascinating! What else did you learn today?" Celena smiled at his interest in her, and Allen smiled at seeing her happy and healthy. It was one of those beautiful moments in life, and while neither sibling would wish it to end, it was all the more perfect for its transience.

***

She read the parchment, and did not remember learning to read. It was written in clean, flowing black ink, without a smudge or droplet in sight, immaculate on the thick white paper. The broken royal seal of Fanelia graced the envelope that Allen held in his hand.

He had brought the document to his sister for several reasons. He knew that she loved to read, and he knew that she would be hurt if he didn't tell her the news. He also suspected that she would find out sooner or later anyway. He hadn't seen her outside her room except when he took her for strolls in the gardens, but sometimes he would notice objects being in slightly different places than he remembered, especially in his father's study. Fearful for his sister and what would happen if she were to happen upon delicate information, Allen began to lock the study. He wasn't sure that she was wandering around at night, so he didn't say anything to her, but he suspected.

So, to forestall any of that, he brought the letter to her.

The invitation was short and to the point, though not ungracious.

Allen Schezar, Caeli Knight of the Asturian Court:

You are cordially invited to Fanelia's celebration of her rebuilding. As a past and present ally of Fanelia, your presence, and that of any guests, will be most welcome and desired at this joyous occasion.

Please send your reply within a fortnight.

"Are you going?" Celena asked when she had finished.

"Yes," said Allen. "Van Fanel was an ally during the war, and a friend."

Celena tilted her head to the side a little. "You know the king?"

Allen nodded.

"What's he like?"

Allen smiled at his sister's curiosity. "He's young, about your age. He's very dedicated to his country, which is an excellent quality in royalty. Odd, because he…I don't think he even really wanted to be king. He's very kind, though he's lost a lot of people dear to him, so he can be a little gruff." By the end of his monologue, his face had become serious again.

Celena was a bit surprised; she hadn't expected the king to be so young, or so tragic. And yet, all of it seemed familiar, in a way she couldn't pinpoint. This didn't bother her, because she was used to knowing things without knowing how she knew them, but this time, something deep inside her had shifted. It's displacement made her uncomfortable, though on a level she couldn't really register or understand.

After an appropriate amount of time had passed, Celena asked something of Allen, as she had not done before.

"Brother….can I go with you?"

Allen made a valiant effort to dissuade his sister from going, but in the end, she managed to convince him that it would be good for her. He put his fears to rest by focusing on the fact that there hadn't been any problems with Celena so far, and anyway, she was getting more normal every day. Maybe a jaunt to see the outside world would do her some good.

***

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