Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Tsuki no Hime ❯ Part 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Author's Notes: Wow that was a long wait. Gomen! I had/have major writers block. Things are just not there in my head anymore. It's all mush!!!! Oh well. So if this chapter seems short than the others, that's because it is. If there are any misspellings of the character's names please let me know!!! Thanx to all of those who reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't Esca. I wish I did but I don't. WAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

The Vision of Escaflowne: Tsuki no Hime-Part 3

Both moons shone bright in the night sky. The Mystic Moon was still the sparkling jewel it always was. Though, to Hitomi the Mystic Moon always was bright. She never knew how it was when she wasn't there. To her, this resplendent phenomenon was normal, but to the people of Gaea it meant something was going down. Somewhere on the planet, something that had to do with a woman from the Mystic Moon, was happening.

Hitomi and Allen stood in serene silence over looking the vast clearing. Little giggles and playful screams could be heard from below. Hitomi looked after her young child with a watchful eye while Varie played with Celena, Gaddes, and Uryko down in the courtyard.

Allen was the first to break the silence.

"Is she-"

"You know already." Hitomi responded knowing exactly what Allen was going to ask.

"But I thought she didn't-"

"She did. She's strong, determined, a true Draconian," Hitomi smiled, as she spoke a small laugh underlined her words. "You should see her fight."

"She is very beautiful. She definitely takes after her glorious mother."

"Thank you."

He paused as he watched Varie run around the courtyard, chased by Uryko. "You're not getting away with that you little Hobbit!" Uryko yelled as he ran after Varie-who expertly climbed up the nearest tree. She stuck her tongue out at him; he did the same to her. "You're sleeping up there if you can't get down!"

"I can get down! I just don't want to!" Varie huffed. She looked at her mother and waved. "Uncle U'ko's being mean!"

"She started it! She hit me on the hand with her sword, when I was trying to teach her."

Hitomi merely laughed. "Uryko, you're an adult. You work it out." Hitomi and the others laughed as Varie and Uryko stuck their tongues out at each other.

"On the count of three. One….." Varie squirmed, "two……." She squirmed even more. "Th-" before Uryko could finish Varie leaped out of the tree and ran behind Celena.

"I see Van in her as well," Allen started. "Her spirit, the fire starting to take shape in her eyes… She is definitely Van's child. She will make a great queen."

A small grin appeared on Hitomi's lips. "Thank you." She said softly, as her cheeks flushed slightly. "Does he know?" Hitomi looked at Allen with soft eyes. She was always afraid that Van had found out about Varie when Hitomi was on earth. Nevertheless she had to know if Van knew, and if he did, how did he take it.

"Her hair it's not natural is it?" Allen said quickly, trying to change the subject.

"Allen?"

"No, he doesn't know," Allen paused, "at least, to my knowledge."

Hitomi nodded.

"So, her hair…has it always been that way?"

"No." Hitomi stated without hesitation.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Varie's hair was the blackest you could ever imagine. It was so beautiful, so iridescent, so much like Van's. Then three years ago she fell into a comma. No ones knows why. Varie was in that state for about a month and a half, during that time her hair gradually turned white." She took a breath, allowing Allen to soak in the information before she continued. "Though, now… It changes colors, depending on where she is. The light reflecting off the surfaces of her surroundings causes it. It can turn green or blue or what ever, but it happens on very rare occasions." Hitomi clarified. "Eventually," She continued with her story, "Varie began to toss and turn. She woke up screaming `Don't let them take me mother, please' over and over again." The pain in Hitomi's voice was palpable.

Allen inhaled. Taking in all the comforting air he could. "What was she talking about when she woke?"

"I don't know. She says she doesn't remember much…um…a cat's eyes, green scaly skin. I'm sure she just blocked it from her memory." She looked at Allen as if trying to explain something. "You know when something traumatic happens to a person, and they block it out? They know nothing of it until something, just one thing, jogs their memory and they go insane. Do you understand?"

There was a short deadly silence between the two, while they looked into each other's eyes. Allen nodded and Hitomi turned back to the courtyard.

"Okay, Varie!" Uryko's voice resonated between short gasps. "Okay, okay, okay! Uncle! I give up. I give up!"

Allen looked over the rail to find Uryko "pinned" to the ground by Varie who was unmercifully tickling Uryko. Gaddes walked up to the two on the ground. When he got there he picked Varie and threw her over his shoulder. Small protests were heard from the girl, along with the occasional `I can't breathe'. Gaddes dropped Varie on a pile hay next to Celena, who immediately tickled Varie.

Leaning on the railing of the balcony Hitomi mustered up her courage to say the one thing she had been waiting to say to Allen for six years. She took a deep breath and spoke over Varie's laughter. "I-I'm sorry Allen…"

"For what?" The little gray cells in Allen's brain had been working over time the whole day. His brain had turned to mush, but he still searched his softball-sized database to find out the reason Hitomi said what she had said.

Could he really have gotten over it? It had been six years he probably had forgotten all about it by now. Again Hitomi resolved to trigger Allen's memory.

"When I left Gaea. I was a jerk, an ass hole, a bitch and I am greatly sorry. I just wanted to be alone with Van no one would leave us be and-and the secret. I shouldn't have been so…you were so concerned about my life…I couldn't take it…" Her voice trailed off, once again inviting the silence.

Finally Allen's little gray cells found what they were looking for. He remembered everything that he and Hitomi had fought about. The secrets, so many secrets. Everyone was hiding something. Then as if he had just betrayed his best friend guilt and regret swarmed through him.

"Shh…Don't worry about it Hitomi. It's all history now." He reached out a comforting arm and placed it on her far shoulder. Slowly he pulled her toward him.

Hitomi didn't protest. Next to Van and Uryko, Allen was the only person that could make some of her pain go away. Allen allowed Hitomi into his embrace. Though, unlike he thought she would do, Hitomi didn't cry. She just returned his hug and continued staring at the Mystic Moon. Eventually Hitomi pulled away to look at Allen expecting to see his mask of no emotion covering his face, but she could see the pain in his eyes, she could feel the guilt. She was the one supposed to feel guilty, not him. Allen's eyes were vivid, deep, and vibrant blue revealing all sincerity.

"So…How have you been?" She asked pulling away completely and leaning on the railing.

Allen was a little grateful for the change of subject. "Great. I'm a father of twins, Aldric an Erelah." His smile was genuinely happy.

"How old?"

"They are almost seven summers."

"They're as old as Varie." Hitomi paused; what about Allen's other son? "Have you told Chid yet? You know that-"

"Yes," Scrunching his face, Allen continued. "It didn't go…as well as I had planed. He didn't speak to me for a year…or two..."

"Oh, Allen! I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it worked out in the end. He comes to Palas a few weeks out of the year. He should be there now."

"I'm glad it worked out." Hitomi smiled again.

"Me too."

Other silence came. Faint conversations between the three adults could be heard from below. Varie would chime in every once and a while with a very loud response or detail to add.

A thought zipped through Hitomi's mind. Where had Allen's men gone? She could still see a few, ten at the most, walking around, but ten out a fifty is a small number. "Allen where are all your men?"

Allen sighed, "We've disbanded." Hitomi nodded understandingly. "When they realized peace was a lasting thing and that I would stay king they left. Some have become Caeli Knights, others have married, had children, reunited with family. We meet every once in a while."

"As long as you keep in touch."

"Yeah."

"What about the others? Dryden…Milerna…?"

"They are living up north, now. They run a clinic. They are experts at juggling their work. I dare say that they are better at business than anyone I know."

"Every one seems to have moved on quite a bit since I left."

"Six years can change a person, Hitomi. A lot happens in six years." Hitomi nodded again. There was another silence. This time it was comforting and friendly.

"Allen-"

"I know. We will leave for Palas tomorrow morning and hopefully get there by the late afternoon."

"Thank you, Allen. But, why Palas? Shouldn't we go to Fanelia?"

"No we shouldn't, because Van wouldn't be there." Hitomi looked at him with confused eyes. He could tell she was trying to read what he was saying but he had known he stumped her. He, Allen Shezar, had stumped the Seeress Hitomi. "Van is in Palas." He stated as he left the balcony. Hitomi followed him inside.

"I knew that…" Allen chuckled. "What?" Allen merrily chuckled again. "I better go put Varie to bed. Good night Allen." She hugged Allen and gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So tell me, what's your story? How do you know Hitomi?" Gaddes asked as he sat next to Celena. Uryko had been tackled a third time by Varie and had flipped her over.

"Let me go!" Varie squirmed in Uryko's grasp. His hands had pinned the girl's arms together, enabling the girl to move.

"Nope." Uryko looked up at Gaddes and Celena. "I've know Hitomi since she was born. We were neighbors up until I was twelve. I moved away and then six years later moved back. We ended up going to the same high school, but we weren't as close as we were when we were kids. I was a senior and she was a sophomore.

"Then she disappeared for a month or so. Turned out she had come here. When she came back I asked her to tell me why she had disappeared, but she hadn't even told Yukari. If she didn't tell her best friend, why would she tell me? Even so we slowly became closer.

"Amano left for England after high school, Hitomi's brother disappeared, her parents died and all she had left was me and Yukari. I let her move in and we-Hitomi, me, my late wife, and Yukari-started a center called Tatsu Dojo. It was to be a safe haven for those with special abilities, like Hitomi and me.

"Yukari, Miko-my late wife-and I took the kids at the center to a retreat and I guess Hitomi went to Gaea again. She came back a day after we returned and was pregnant and married. She refused to tell us what happened for a while, but after our persistent peer-pressure she gave in and told us all about Gaea and wrote two books. It was safe to say we thought she had lost it, but we didn't want her to go to a shrink, her mother had made her go to one after her first disappearance and completely despised shrinks.

"Anyway, we didn't think much of it until we saw Varie's wings. That told us that Hitomi wasn't insane. It was hard to believe, but in the end we did. I know I believe even more now. Poor Yukari, I hope she didn't go into labor, no one is at the center that can drive legally."

Uryko stopped talking just as fast as he began. Gaddes and Celena glanced at each other and back at Uryko. "Question," Uryko nodded. "What's a `shrink'?"

"Yeah, and what's a `senior' and a `sophomore'?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In the throne room Van and Eries were in a heated discussion about the scandalous rebels that were bent on destroying the peace that had lasted for years, even if it was the last thing they did.

"I am greatly sorry Van but there is absolutely nothing I can do. They are no longer in Asturia. In fact I have no idea where they are at this moment. So all we can do right now it wait for them to attack. But you must be ready." Eries said trying convince Van that there was nothing she could do.

Van opened his mouth to speak.

"I know what you're going to say. And that will not work. If they are hiding out in Dimitria, we can't just charge into a new ally's country without hard evidence. That wouldn't do us any good, Van. Let's just drop it for now and think of another way to work this out when Allen comes home. We've been debating for days now, Allen might have an idea that works for both you and me."

The door to the counsel room opened and young servant not much older than seventeen walked in announced Allen.

"Speak of the devil." Van murmured under his breath. Unfortunately it was loud enough for Eries to hear. Van had expected her to glare at him for such a remark and in such a tone, but she didn't. In fact she smiled. For the first time since Allen had left Asturia a month ago Eries actually smiled, not because Allen was home but because of Van's childish remark.

When Allen entered the room he walked straight over to Eries and gave her an 'I've-missed-you-so-much-and-I-hope-you-missed-me-too' kiss.

As they did so Van averted his eyes toward the giant bay window over looking the vast city of Palas and the even more-vast ocean. It glittered in the afternoon sun, like a sapphire jewel. Van then thought of how lucky they were to have this wonderful resource and how unlucky they were when the seasonal winds came, causing the streets to flood and half the Asturian people to move to other parts of the huge country.

When Eries and Allen parted. Van turned back to them contemplating if he should say something like `I best be going now' or `I'll leave you two love birds to go on with your lovey-dovey mushy stuff' however he refrained the second remark and decided to go with the first one.

"I best b-" He stopped when he saw Eries's eyes grow wide with disbelief. Van-who was extremely befuddled at why Eries was staring at him in such a way-slowly turned, wondering if it was really him that she was so astounded by.

Van turned towards the doorway. A small figure of a woman, who couldn't possibly be older than him, stood ghost like in the shadows. Her green and gold swirling eyes glittered and her straw colored hair shined as she stepped into the light, her skirts rustling as she did so.

As Eries had done, Van couldn't do anything but stare. Slowly he regained what ever it was he had; be it grace, leadership, pride, he regained it. However, he still wasn't able to triumph over his shock.

He managed to squeak out a small but audible "Hitomi?"

The figure nodded and smiled.

Author's Notes: Hey I hoped you liked it. Please review! And if you liked this story go read my other stories as well! ~Raye-Rei~