29 September, 2000

Vision of Escaflowne

"The Return"

by: The MOUSE.................................

Van Slanzar de Fanel, King of Fanelia, last of that lineage, expertly tugged at the control tethers of Escaflowne's dragon form, being careful not to accidentally bump the large wooden chest clutched in the dragon's claws. He had awaked the ancient living armor to use as leverage against the Raiders. From the reports, Sheahan was known to respect strength and force. There was no more powerful show of force in all of Gaia than Escaflowne. It was also an intimidation factor, to keep the Raiders from trying anything against him. Under cover of the snowstorm and under Van's guidance, the great dragon swooped in low to the wind swept ground towards a steep grouping of hills.

"I know the place!" Merle's voice echoed in his mind from only hours before. "It's like an amphitheater with a flat area leading into it like a stage that goes on to the horizon."

"Then the setting lends itself perfectly to the plan." Allen had then added.

Van allowed himself a smile. Yes, he had to admit the Knight's plan was perfect. The Raider, Sheahan, would never realize the mistake he made in choosing his camp's location until it was much too late. With a barely perceivable sound of gears Van suddenly found himself inside the guymelef, in its pilot seat, Escaflowne having gone through its remarkable transformation from dragon to living armor to be able to land. He stood at the mouth of the natural amphitheater, facing the grouping of Raider tents. Through the blowing snow he could see a few hundred armed men standing between him and the tents.

"We will await your signal, Van." came Allen's voice through the guymelef's comm.

Van didn't answer; he didn't have to, merely began moving towards the camp. Roughly one hundred feet from the edge of the camp he stopped, just enough for the blowing snow to still offer cover to what was to happen next. Escaflowne's chest opened up, one of its mighty hands raising to act as a platform for its pilot to walk out on. It lowered Van to the snow covered ground, then straightened, its chest shutting again. The young King began walking towards the camp, very aware of the formal Royal garb he was now wearing, complete with the helmet-like crown. Allen and the Advisory Council had convinced him that the more power and authority he showed the better his chances were of gaining the Raiders' fear if not respect. Escaflowne followed a few steps behind him like some giant sentinel. The blood bond the two shared allowed for Van to think what he wanted Escaflowne to do and it would do it. Something Hitomi had taught him to do. Entering the confines of the amphitheater the winds died down, allowing all to see the great machine following the boy King of Fanelia. The Raiders could only stare in awe.

One Raider recovered and stood arrogantly before Van, his sword lying casually on his shoulder. "Lord Fanel, tell your escort to get out of the guymelef."

With only a thought from the Fanelian, Escaflowne's chest opened to reveal a very empty pilot's seat. The Raider gawked at the machine, then to the stoically silent and frowning King.

"But... then who's controlling it?" the man demanded.

"I am." came the simple reply from the youth.

"... But... how...?"

"I don't have to be inside Escaflowne to control him anymore."

From the crowd of men he could hear the hushed and awed whispers at the ancient Ispano armor's name. There weren't many left in Gaia who didn't know of its power. Van kept his face completely blank at it all.

"Take me to Sheahan." he ordered.

At those words the Raider recovered from his shock and led the way through the crowd to the largest of the tents. Van could feel Hitomi's presence growing stronger the nearer her got to the tent. On a throne-like chair dominating the tent sat Sheahan, a man of imposingly large musculature and stature, arrogance radiating around him and glowing in his jet black eyes. Van stood before his rival, proud, defiant.

"So, the boy who would be King." Sheahan taunted with a grin.

Van didn't dignify the taunt with an answer.

The Raider's grin faded to a frown. "Is the victor to the Great War, the great Lord Van Fanel, a mute?"

"Where is she?" the youth demanded with more authority than a twenty year old should be able to possess.

Sheahan didn't register the tone as his smile returned. "Ah, he speaks. And he's direct as well. Yes, I'm not too good with pleasantries myself. She is here, Fanelian, the lovely girl from the Moon of Illusions. Would you like to see her? I wager you would."

Van didn't reply, only continued his hard stare.

Sheahan turned to one of his men guarding the tent entrance. "Bring the girl." he ordered. This one left quickly, his leader turning his attention back to Van standing in the middle of the tent. "So, this girl must be very important to you, King of Fanelia, to bring you all the way out here to personally oversee her return. Is she a close friend?"

Silence.

"A Sister figure, perhaps?" the Raider tried again.

Again silence.

"More than a Sister? Your soul mate?"

Once again, silence.

"Ah, I know! Your future Queen."

Van remained silent still.

"Humph! It's very rude of you to remain so quiet to your host, Lord Fanel. Tell me this at least. Is she worth risking your life for?"

The young King had to shut his eyes tight, his mind screaming a resounding yes in silent response. Sheahan began to chuckle in enjoyment at the pain he saw etched on his face from the question. He tried to hide it from him, but pain was a feeling the Raider was very familiar with. A woman's small cry suddenly caused Van's eyes to snap open in time to see Hitomi being pushed into the tent and thrown at the lead Raider's feet. All she wore now was a thin sheet of yellow silk. Anger flared up in the young noble. These bandits had stripped her! She had been forced to walk in the snow barefoot and face the frigid cold of Gaia's winter without a coat of some kind. From the paleness and slight blue tinge of her skin Van could tell she was very near frozen. Sheahan would regret treating her this way, Van would see to it personally. Clutched in her trembling hands he could see her precious Tarot deck. She never had it very far from her.

"Here she is; Hitomi, the girl from the Moon of Illusions." Sheahan intoned theatrically, laughter in his voice.

Hitomi's dulled green eyes looked up from the ground and found Van's ruddy brown eyes watching her carefully for any sign of injury. She blinked at the sight of him there. The last time she had seen him in those formal clothes he was being crowned King of Fanelia, and back then they had looked far too large and bulky on his slim figure. Nothing like how he offered himself to her eyes at that moment. Regal, impressive, authoritative, handsome... sexy. She blinked, suddenly realizing that it had been a long time since she had seen him. Her feelings for him had only intensified. And now here he was to ask for her return. She could see him struggling with himself, felt the battle raging within him, to keep from rushing to her. She understood that a move like that could be seen as a sign of weakness from him and nodded ever so slightly to him, a sign that despite everything she was all right.

"She's a little frozen, but undamaged, I assure you." Sheahan chuckled. "And in the spirit of good relations with Fanelia, I am willing to sell her back to you, Lord Fanel... for a reasonable price."

"Reasonable by your standards." the King snapped.

Van glared at him and suddenly the giant hand of a white guymelef burst through the tent's entrance to deposit a wooden chest right at his side, within easy reach. Then the hand retreated as silently as it had appeared. Sheahan gawked in shock. A guymelef pilot had to be awfully sure of himself to have pulled off a blind stunt like that one. He glanced to Hitomi and found a slight reassured light shining in her eyes. Van took hold of the lid with one hand and easily opened it to reveal a multitude of captured stars twinkling in the flickering torchlight. Hitomi couldn't hold back her gasp of surprise. On Earth, one gem like those he was offering would be worth several thousand dollars.

"For her safe return." Fanelia's monarch stated.

It was a small fraction of Fanelia's treasury reserves, hidden deep under the Palace for safe keeping, but Van felt he would give it all to get Hitomi back. That was something he wasn't going to let the Raider know though. He could see the greedy glint in Sheahan's eyes at the sight of so many precious stones gathered together in one spot, but at the same time he didn't look satisfied with this payment.

"Very impressive, Lord Fanel." he stated in a slow drawl that confirmed Van's thought. "You hold her life very dearly as I see..."

"But...?" Van prompted with a frown.

Sheahan smiled that the boy had caught on that there was more. "But... there is something more I want."

"What more would that be?"

The Raiders' leader brought the two white feathers into view, gazing at them as if they were diamonds of the first water. "I want more of these, more Draconian feathers."

"How many is more?" he asked carefully.

"Oh, I'm not a greedy man." he chuckled. "Shall we say... fifty. It's a nice round number I would be most satisfied with."

Hitomi stiffened out of sudden fear for Van. There was only one way for him to get so many feathers so quickly. "No, Van, you can't--" she began to plead vehemently, rising to her feet.

Sheahan grabbed her throat and squeezed menacingly. "Quiet, girl!" he hissed at her.

A loud banging thud caused him to look at the King. Van had slammed the chest's lid shut and now stood there, staring at him, barely contained fury in his eyes. Slowly, Van removed the helmet-like crown from his head and set it on the chest. His cloak followed next. Finally his near form fitting shirt. Then he just stood there. Sheahan cocked his head, confused. Hitomi's eyes filled with tears in guilt. She knew Van didn't like showing his wings in public. The fewer people who knew about them the better it was. But because of her he had to reveal them. With a burst of light his wings thrust out to their full length, filling the tent in a storm of fluttering, glowing feathers. Sheahan was in awed shock from the sight. Hitomi cried.

"Haaa... that's what she meant by you had more of them. You're a Draconian." the Raider whispered in the thick silence that reigned in the tent. "The girl is yours for the gems and the feathers." and he shoved Hitomi hard in Van's direction, stooping to begin gathering the precious feathers.

Van caught her as she stumbled, pulling her sobbing and trembling form to his chest. Her skin felt so cold where it came in contact with his, her tears even colder where they fell. To offer her some desperately needed warmth he bent slightly to envelop her in his wings, enclosing her in a warm, feathery cocoon.

"I'm so sorry, Van." she sobbed softly.

"Shh... it's not your fault." he soothed in her ear, stroking her hair. "It was never your fault." and his arms tightened around her form.

"Take me home, Van." she pleaded in a trembling voice against his shoulder. His heart sank at the thought that this whole experience had convinced her to return to her world... and possibly never want to return. "Take me home to Fanelia." she finished her plea.

Joy threatened to burst open his chest. She had called Fanelia her home. "Anything you want, dearest Hitomi." he breathed with a smile.

He retracted his wings as he reached for his fur-trimmed coat lying on the chest, wrapping the insulated item warmly around her shoulders. Then, after donning his shirt and crown, he held her close to his side and began leading the frozen and frightened girl towards the tent entrance. The towering guymelef, Escaflowne, stood guard there, waiting. At a thought from the young monarch it carefully picked them up, keeping Hitomi close to its glowing crystal heart to keep her warm while it gave Van access to its pilot seat within its chest.

"I feel horrible at the thought that you had to give him all those precious stones and so many of your beautiful feathers just to get me away from him." she admitted to her rescuer.

"Even when you're easily worth a thousand times what he got, a price I would've still paid for you." he smiled at her.

She blinked, eyes going wide at his admission. Van had changed over the years. He was more forthcoming with his feelings now, feelings he so obviously had directed at her. Hitomi blushed a shy smile in return.

"Besides, Hitomi, he'll never get to enjoy his ill gotten goods. When I slammed the chest shut it locked automatically. Nothing can crack, pry, burn or melt that thing open... and I have the only key." Seeing amusement touch her tear filled eyes rewarded him. "As for the rest..." He climbed into Escaflowne and activated the comm. "Now, Allen." was all he said.

A second passed, and then the air was filled with sudden cries of war over the howl of the blowing wind. She looked up to the hill crests and saw hundreds of armed men and a few dozen guymelefs, including Allen's Sheherazade, spilling over towards the camp. She could see three banners flying in the wind: Freid, Asturia, and Fanelia. Holding its precious cargo protectively in its hands, Escaflowne was guided towards an approaching covered coach. Hitomi was set down before it just as a lithe cat-woman bounded out to cover her with more thick blankets. This female was older than she remembered, but Hitomi recognized her as if she had seen her only a moment ago.

"Merle!" and the two women embraced as if they were Sisters.

"Are you all right?" Merle questioned, all jealousies forgotten, replaced with concern.

"I will be."

"C'mon, my part in all this is to get you back to Fanelia." and she tugged her friend into the waiting coach.

Sitting in the comforting warmth and isolating quiet, Hitomi allowed herself a sigh to ease the tension forming a painful knot in her shoulders. Then her eyes snapped wide open as a vision gripped every one of her senses. It was the fireball being catapulted through the air and smashing through Escaflowne's open pilot visor, killing Van in a torturingly slow, burning death. She felt the searing heat; the pain as skin and muscle were burned away, the nauseating odor of charred flesh. She cried out in phantom pain, Merle desperately shaking her out of this vision.

"What is it? What did you see?" the lovely feline demanded.

"Van... We have to go back!"

"We can't."

"Why not?" Hitomi's voice rose an octave in fear.

"The coachman got his orders from Van-sama himself. He won't stop the coach until we're back at the Palace."

"No, we have to go back and warn Van! He's in danger!"

Merle bit her lip. Deep down she hated the suggestion she was about to give since it only reminded her of how close Van and Hitomi really were. "Call to him."

"What?"

"You've done it before. I know you can still do it. If Van-sama is in danger I know you can warn him from here. Please, Hitomi, call to him."

Hitomi had a short pause. Could she do it? And from so far? She could hear random thoughts and project her own by accident or on rare occasions when the other person was receptive. But could she actively control it? Yes, she had to try. Summoning all her inner strength she focused all her thoughts on her dearest of friends, willing her mind to reach out to his across the void, willing herself to connect.

"Van..." he lips formed, but no sound came out.

* * *

The young King of Fanel gritted his teeth at the slaughter going on before him. He had the superior numbers and the surprise advantage. So why was it then that the Raiders were steadily gaining the upper hand?

"Allen, they're winning!" he called in his comm.

"They are using other machines of war we were unprepared for, spoils of their raids. I saw a few Ispano designs amongst them. We must cut off their weapons and ammunition supply."

"Find it. We're enough of a distraction out here for you."

There was a long pause. Then, "Send a demolition team to the rear of the encampment. There is an abandoned mineshaft at the base of the hill. The Raiders are using it to store their weapons and as a fortified "fall back" site."

"I'm on it!"

Van searched through the billowing smoke, of so many fires burning at once, and blowing snow for any sign of his expert demolition squad. Bodies were strewn everywhere he looked, sometimes whole, sometimes in scattered parts. Through a puff of black smoke he saw a grouping of six men flying Fanelia's colors from their mounts, beasts of burden carrying barrels of the deadly black powder they alone knew the recipe for. He brought Escaflowne to stand before them and opened the armor's visor.

"Powder Masters!" he called to the men. "I have a target for you! Back of the camp! A mine shaft!"

"Condition it has to end up in, Lord Fanel?" one man called back.

"Leveled! Go to it!" and the men quickly moved away to carry out their orders.

*Van!* a voice called urgently in his head.

He blinked in surprise, going still. "Hitomi?"

*Van! Close the visor!* it urged desperately.

He did so quickly and felt Escaflowne stagger moments later from an impact. He looked through the living armor's eyes and saw bits of burning debris clinging and falling away from the very spot where the visor had been open just seconds before. He would have died from the impact. It had been Hitomi's voice warning him of the danger. A vision must have warned her of it. Again she had saved his life like so many times before. Van allowed himself a small smile, thinking of Hitomi, the one person he would willingly walk through fire for.

"Thank you, Hitomi." he breathed quietly, then returned his attention to the battle.

* * *

In the covered coach, quickly heading back to Fanelia, Hitomi Kanzaki sighed in relief, her shoulders sagging as the tension finally broke. Then her sight went dark as she passed out in exhaustion.

To Be Continued…