Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Escaflowne characters or the
show.
The organ played so loud that thewalls of the church began
to shake. Each pane in the stain glass windows sang out a note all of its
own asit shook in its own little space. The air around Hitomi's ears
vibrated so hard against her head that she had to restrain herself from running out of the church with
her hands over her ears. But she knew that it would offend everyone,
and besides, she was the maid of honor.
Van was standing on the other side of Allen and looked like
he was thinking the same thing as Hitomi, but he stayed put too. After
what seemed like forever the music stopped and silence flooded the sanctuary.
To Hitomi, it was even more beautiful than the organ music had been.
Then Father Mason began the service. He had been instructed by Allen
to keep the ceremony short and he did. In no time Allen was leading Millerna
downthe isle and out into the sunshine with Hitomi, Van, and Merle following.
Outside waited two coaches, one for Allen and Millerna, which
had been draped with white fabric, even against their wishes. The second
coach was undecorated and was intended for the other guests of the wedding
party, who were Hitomi, Van and Merle. The rideback to the inn
was a bumpy one. Hitomi held onto the small coach window and Merle
held onto Van as he did his best to brace himself with his feet so that he
wouldn't look like he had to hold ontoanything. Hitomi let out a sigh of
relief when they reached the Golden Dawn, the inn where they had rooms.
I miss streets, Merle wined as they all shook off the effect
of the short journey across the small country town. Hitomi looked at
the mud pathsthat were used as the villages roads. She nodded in agreement
she missed pavedroads too.
"Well, lets move up to our room snow." Allen said as he
lead Millerna into the inn. Everyone trailed along behind. The
common of the inn was filled with burly farm men, throwing dice and relaxing
from the days work. One man impecticular caught Hitomi's eye asthey passed through the nosiey room.
He had been sitting in that same spot when they had left and that had been
over an hour ago. She had seen him then too. He stood out amoung
the musclely farmers, he was skinny and looked as if he were wasting away
with a sickness,his cheeks pale and caved in. The othermen in the room
had beards and hair that fell into their eyes while this manlooked to be
cleanshaven and had no hair what- so- ever. The thing that stood out
most in Hitomi's mind was the red scar that ran down his head. It started
at the crown of his head and ran to his chin, cutting overhis left eye.
It was blood red, italmost looked like a freshly healed cut, and stood out
plain as day against the man's
white skin.
They all climbed the stairs and followed Allen and Millerna to the room they
would be sharing. When they had checked in the day before,they had
gotten two rooms, one for the girls and one for the boys. Since
the wedding though Van had given up his spot in the room he shared with Allen
so that he could be with his bride.The door that joined the rooms had been
opened to let in fresh air
from the window in the girls room. Placed all around the room were pots and
vases filled with purple irises that Millerna had ordered the
day before from the villages one florist. The aroma from the flowers
filled the room and sent Hitomi's mind spinning so that she almost forgot
about the dull ach ethat had invaded her chest earlier that morring.
"Throw your boughet! Throw it! Throw it" Merle sang as she danced around
Millerna's feet. Millerna smiled down at Merle and pointed tothe other
side of the room.
"Ok, but you have to go and stand over there." Merle scampered to where she was told and ended up
standing only three feet farther away
from Millerna than she had Hitomi, Millerna said, still pointing at where Merle was standing, "you have to go and standover
there too."
Hitomi looked up at Millerna and stammered, "No I couldnt really
I"
"Nonsence," Millerna cut in, "now go and stand next to Merle."
Merle crossed her arms and gave Hitomi a look that dared her not
to move. For a moment the visions of what Merle would do
if she didnt move glued her to the floor, but she soon freed
herself from them and stood next to Merle who was now singing
a song about some brave warrior cat who was so fast no one could
ever catch him.
Then Millerna's boughet of fresh picked wild purple irises with
one creamy yellow wild rose in the center was flying through the air
strait for Hitomi's heart. Visions of her wedding day floated
through her mind, how perfect would be. Slowly, her arms
reached for the boughet when Merle jumped and grabbed it almost
right out of Hitomishands. Hitomis heart sank a little deeper
and the dull ache in her chest became a little sharper.
Merle squeeled with delight and pressed her nose into the flowers.
Then she ran over to Van and snaked her arm through his.
"Van-sama," she cooed, looking up at Van with her best version
of moon-eyes, "will you marry me?"
Millerna and Allen chuckled softly but all Hitomi could do was
smile. Thepain in her chest sharpening again. Van looked
down at Merle and smiled, "No, I dont think this is the right
time for that". He managed to pry his arm away from her and
walked over to stand next to Hitomi.
Millerna grabbed Allen's hand andannounced, We are going out on
a carage ride in the country, Allen shook his head no but he didnt
object to going with her, "would any of you like to join us?"
Merle placed her flowers in an empty pot and danced over to Millerna,
"I would!" She yelled. Hitomi and Van both shook their heads
no and the three went out the door and into one of the coaches
that was waiting outside. Millerna had fallen in love with
the wild flower covered moutian faces when she had first laid
eyes on them. She had taken every chance to go out and
seethem and she would take anyone who would come along.
Van and Hitomi stood in silence fora few moments before Van broke
it. "Well, I think that Im going to go and take a nap," he
began to walk to the other room. "What about you?"
Hitomi had been drifting in her thoughts, the question from Van
snapped her out of them. "Wha-? Oh, I think Ill go down
to the market place,look around a little. Ill be back in
alittle while." Van looked as though he didnt like the idea
of her going out alone and was about to say something about it
when Hitomi cut him off, "I'll wake you up when I get back ok?"
He nodded and went into his room to sleep.
Hitomi grabbed a little bag that she had been using as a purse
and went down and out of the inn. The walk was a short
one, it was a smallvillage. The rest of the village wasempty
compared to the bustle that was going on in the market place.
People were everywhere, and they wereselling things that looked
like the vender had traveled far and wide to come tothis nowhere
place. Each venders voice was louder than the last, Hitomi
almost covered her ears, but she didnt. She wandered around
for what seemed likeonly a few minutes, but when she glanced
at her watch she was shocked to seethat she had been gone for
45 minutes. AH! I hope Van isnt awake yet She
thought as she struggled with the large crowd. Just as she got
past the last both did she see him, the white man with the scar
that ran down his face. Andthis time she was positive that
she was looking at her.
He took a step forward and held outhis hand, Miss Hitomi, allow
me to introduce myself Hitomi didnt wait around to hear what else
he was going to say, she took off run to the inn. Hitomi
was sure that if Amano had been there to see her run like that,
he would have been proud.
Hitomi burst into the inn andsprinted up the stairs to her room.
She almost kicked the door in, and slammed is behind her.
Van was on his feet, sword in hand with a look of surprise of
his face. "I'm sorry, you woke me up and I didnt know who it
was" he stammered. Hitomi smiled, he was cute when he was
still sleepy.
She smiled at him, "I'm back now." They both laughed.
Van put his sword away and put on a shirt. Then they went
into the other room and sat on the windowsill and looked out over
the city. Small, flickering lights was all that lighted
the night. The star shone asbright as anything and the
full moon lit up the small but of earth for them.
"So how was your trip to the market?" Van asked after they
had been sitting for a while. Hitomi only then remembered
the strange man with the scar who knew where she was staying.
She told him the whole story as fast as she could. Van just
sat there, taking itall in as it came to him. I guess we should
find the others and start running, if they've found us again.
Hitomi's heart sank, she had grown tried of always being on guard,
always being ready to run. She wanted to stay in one place
fro more than a day or two.
Hitomi sighed, "But how are wegoing to find them? Its not
like they told us which mountain they were going to." She
waved her hand out of the open window and pointed to the mountains that
protected the valley the village was in. "And if the guy
found us here, he can find us anywhere." Hitomi rested her
head on her knees and wished with all her heart to be home. Just
anywhere but here.
Van gently rubbed her back. "Dont worry, well find someway
to shake him. We'll get away and then we can stay in the towns
we end up in for more than just a day at a time." Hitomi
looked up at Van, had he read her mind?" The moonlight glinted
off his black hair and lit up his eyes glittered. "It'll all be
ok, I promise." He smiled down at her and rested his head
on her back. They sat there until the others got back from
their trip, which was close to dawn.
Merle was the first in the room. She bounded over to where
Hitomi and Van had fallen asleep on each other and yelled, "Hey
wake up you two! Its time to go and have breakfast!"
Hitomi jumped so hard that she almost fell out of the window.
But Van grabbed her before she was able to go to far down. Once
everyone had changed, they all piled down into the common room
for breakfast. It was served to them on the inns finest dishes,
they looked like sliver platters but were probably something a
lot cheaper. Plate after plate after plate was served to
them until they couldn't eat another bite. They all ordered
some after breakfast wineand sat sipping it as they talked about
what they had done the night before.
Part 2
Back to Fanfiction
