Hitomi had forgotten when Van took her hand and they flew to the edge of the cliff above them. That's how beautiful the sight was. No wonder Van wanted to show this to her, it was so amazing. It made you forget everything. She forgot she flew to get up here, that Van was king of a destroyed country, that Merle the cat girl was waiting for them to return, that tomorrow they would continue running from Zaibach and that oh yeah,the fact that she may never see home again.

      She looked at the scene in front of her. The small bushy green trees below her that touched the royal purple sky filled with bright strange stars. Off beyond the trees was a small town. Hitomi could see the little flames from the lanterns outside the houses as they danced in the wind.

      Then it hit her like a thousand bricks. She wasn't anywhere near home, involved in some horrible war. She stared blankly at the little houses and wished with all her heart that she was home. She even wished her mom could tuck her in bed like when she was a little girl.

     "Hitomi?..." Van asked softly.

      Hitomi whipped her head in his direction. "What?"She snapped, huge wet tears running down her face.

      Van was a little startled by Hitomi's suddenly harsh tone, but he recovered quickly. "Are you all right? You're crying..."

      Hitomi hadn't even noticed she was crying until that moment. Then a soft wind blew across her face, making her wet face sting from the cold. She wiped her face on her sleeve. "I'm sorry... I just miss home...being here reminds me of it...this place just feels sort of homey, ya know?"

     "Yeah...I know what you mean..."

      Hitomi blushed, "Van I'm sorry if this is none of my business, but do you ever miss your parents?...You never talk about them...."

      Just then, an ear-splitting cry echoed through the quiet night. "Merle!" Van exclaimed.

     "Are you sure that was her?" A worried Hitomi asked getting up from her seat on a large rock.

     "Yes," Van said quickly. He scooped Hitomi up and dove off the cliff.

     Hitomi gripped Van for dear life as the wind ran through her hair and the ground came closer and closer to her. "VAN!!!!!" She screeched.

****

     Merle found herself being thrown down on a cold hard floor in a dimly light room. "Ouch!" she whined. She looked up at the Dragonslayers that had thrown her on the floor. They looked nervous, very nervous.

     he heard the shuffle of dragging feet coming closer and she couldn&rsquot help but wonder what made the Dragonslayers so nervous.

     Shuffle. Shuffle. Shuffle. The footsteps came closer and then there was a horrible hacking cough.

     "How are you feeling Dilandau-sama?" Shesta cautiously ventured.

     "What the Hell are you doing here?" Dilandau groaned, feeling to horrible to slap some sense into anyone.

     The other Dragonslayer gulped, expecting a harsh blow to the face anysecond."We have captured the Guymelef Escaflowne, however there was no sign of the king of Fanelia, but we think with Escaflowne and her," he indicated Merle on the floor, "We can bring him here."

     Dilandau's clouded wine-red eyes brightened a little for the first time in days. It made the Dragonslayers glad to see he was improving, he was just plain weird when he was sick.

     Dilandau began to rub his finger up and down the scar on his cheek, a blood thirsty look returned to his eyes. "Van.....Come here...?" He mused, letting out a disturbing chuckle, "I like that idea, Good work," he finished. He turned to leave, but stopped for a moment. "By the way...." He added gracefully walking back toward the two Dragonslayers. He swiftly stuck each of them across the face. "You acted without my orders," he stated flatly.

     Miguel began to pick himself of the floor as he watched Dilandau almost skip for joy out of the room. He turned to Shesta, "Well.... IS good to see him feeling better," he muttered.

****

     Merle was thrown into the dungeon in the bottom of the floating fortress. She was cold, hungry, dirty, scared, and still worried about Van.She had rarely seen him like he was tonight: cold and cut off.He rarely was like that around her.

     She sat in the darkest corner she could find, away fromthe dim light that came through the door with the iron-bared window. She pulled her knees up to her chest and tried to fight back her tears. "Van-sama...." She choked.

****

      In an attempt to pull up drastically, and avoid crashing to the ground, Van weaved through the trees. Unfortunately he still wasn't used to using his wings and they ultimately crashed into a tree falling to the ground 

     "Uh sorry..."Van stammered as he picked himself off Hitomi.

     Hitomi brushed herself off. "Van..."she said patiently, "don't EVER do that again...."

      "You're right I should have let you take the path down.."he said quickly putting his usual red shirt on and taking off in the direction of their camp.

     Hitomi took a quick glance at what she assumed was the path. She wondered whether she was more likely to die from sheer exhaustion on the damn path or from another of Van's less-than-graceful landings."Hey Van wait!" She yelled as she noticed how far a head of her Van was.Van was gracious enough to slow down.

     Hitomi remembered when Merle was screaming at her to goafter Van earlier this evening. She only just realized it, but Merle told her to go after Van, not Van-sama. Merle must have been so worried about Van that she forgot the whole sama bit. They must care for each other a lot, Hitomi thought as she observed the worried look in Van's big, brown eyes.

     "You know You COULD thank me for carrying you upand down that cliff..." Van stated over his shoulder.

     Oooooh! He's so damn arrogant sometimes! I can't see why the Hell Merle would care about him so much... Hitomi's mind screamed. "And you COULD thank me for breaking your damn fall." Hitomi mimicked.

     Hitomi saw Van blush out of the corner of her eye, but Van said nothing. They reached the camp and it was obvious there was some kind of fight. Droplets of blood were scattered about the grass, and in the distance were the tracks of Zaibach Guymelefs.

     "Merle?!? ...Merle?!?" Van cried, but the only reply he got was the echo of his own voice. He gave a growl of frustration as he thrust his fist into the nearest tree, then flopped to the dirt surrounding it.

     "Hey....Van..." Hitomi approached him cautiously, "don't worry we'll find her..." she said reassuringly as she put her hand on his shoulder. "Remember, I've still got this.." she added taking out her pendant.

     "Van looked up at Hitomi and smiled as he put his hand on hers. "Thank you...." he said softly.

****

Yeah I know it's kinda short, but I am working on part 3 and that should be up soon~!!!
I hope I wrote Dilandau all right, it's my first attempt so be nice.

Please reveiw! I need to know how I'm doing here! And It makes me so happy! (yeah I know that's corny...but it's true..)

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