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Escaflowne4



Forgive me for the huge lateness!!! If you are curious, Skies of Arcadia Legends (GameCube) has eaten my life! My days off of work I just spend in front of the tv playing it for hours on end. So, uh, sorry. It's really good though, so I recommend anyone with a Dreamcast or GameCube to pick it up. Oh, and in regards to the fic, I know some people spell it Serena, and others Celena. . . but I just like the way Celena looks better (this is for Allen's sister), so that's the spelling I'm going to use.

Dream Desire: Chapter 4
Searching for Destiny

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It had turned dark, but that hadn't bothered Celena yesterday or the day before, and it wouldn't bother her today. Nothing would stop her from finding her brother. After sending scouts out all over Gaea and receiving no word of his whereabouts, Celena knew she had to investigate the ruins. Though Dornkirk's ship had fallen years ago, a ban was put up from anyone disturbing the ruins. Allen had told her it was so no one could find and fix his horrible inventions and to keep the flow of destiny and fate unaltered. So guards of the highest order were posted and all were kept out.

But Celena had recognized the pillar of light that had taken her brother. She knew it from that girl, Hitomi. And she knew Hitomi's strange powers were connected with Dornkirk's machines and plans. A lot had been kept from her about the past, but she knew enough about Hitomi to figure out what happened. And if Allen was no where on Gaea, that meant he had to be with Hitomi on the Blue Moon.

Celena was about to actually enter part of the wrecked ship, done with skirting the outside for clues, when one of the guards finally spotted her. Though they had chosen the best of the best for guarding the ruins, Celena couldn't blame them for not seeing her until now. She had been trained by her brother and his crew, after all. It was an odd coincidence then, that the one guard she ran into was the one man invited from Allen's crew to join.

"Celena? What in blazes are you doing out here in the middle of the night? And sneaking into the ruins for heaven's sake. Allen would have my hide."

"But Allen isn't here! And that's why I am. Gaddes, let me through so I can find my brother," she demanded while wrenching herself free from his grip. Though he gave her a hurt expression that would normally have melted her cold exterior, today was different. The harsh glare she sent back at him made Gaddes turn away with a sigh. Thinking she had won, Celena stalked past the former Crusade crewman only to be stopped once more.

"I'm sorry. I know he isn't here. But that still doesn't mean he would skin me alive if he found out I'd let you go into these ruins all alone," he told her, and if Celena hadn't known him so well she would have missed the un-stated promise. She turned back towards him and smirked.

"Well, if you escort me then I see no problem." Which was exactly what Gaddes was waiting to hear. He gave her a brief bow and offered his arm to her.

"Then shall we go, milady?" he proffered, and the silver haired sister of Allen took it gracefully. She had been taught good manners after all, from her brother and from Jajuka. Arm in arm the two entered the broken ruins of Dornkirk's last stand, ready for what the rule of fate might throw at them.

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The day had simply crawled by for Hitomi. The secondhand on her watch dutifully ticked away, but she couldn't help feeling that it was slower than normal, delaying the passage of time. Then again, time always seemed to move slower when she was waiting for something.

Merle had noticed her preoccupation during class and had become thoroughly annoyed. She knew what Van was planning for tonight and that had to be why Hitomi was in a daze. If it wasn't bad enough that Hitomi had the man of Merle's dreams at her fingertips, the blonde was also supposed to take notes in this class and share them with Merle later! Now Merle had to take her own notes while watching Hitomi sigh dreamily. It was enough to make a girl scream.

After the last class of the day Hitomi was all but running to get home and change. But she had noticed Merle's huffiness and decided to patch things up with the cat-girl (er, well not anymore) before her date. Now that she actually had her friends here on earth, Hitomi didn't want to screw things up with them. Merle lived in the same dorm so they walked together, giving Hitomi time to apologize for whatever she had done to anger the redhead.

"Ne, Merle, is everything all right?" she asked, looking down at the sidewalk. Merle simply gave a short sniff.

"Well, it will be until a test. You did an awful job of taking notes today and now I'll have to suffer for it," she retorted nastily. Hitomi gave her a confused look.

"That's why you're so mad at me? Because I wasn't paying attention in class?" Something was definitely off in that reason. In the week or so since they'd been going to class together Merle had never seemed cross at Hitomi for drifting off in class. And it wasn't as if Merle herself didn't daydream ever either. But the shorter girl refused to give any further response.

"Listen, I'll help you study, okay? I'll have to learn what I missed today in class anyway so we can do it together. I'll ask Miaka tomorrow for her notes and we can study them after classes. Will that make you happy?"

"No, I want to get together tonight. We'll study tonight," Merle demanded, stopping in her tracks to glare at Hitomi and wait for the former track-star's answer.

"But tonight I have a date with -" Oh. So that was the problem. "Merle. . ." she pleaded, but Merle had turned away. Hitomi heard a quiet sniffle and saw a thin, tan arm go up to wipe at teary eyes.

"Never mind. Just go home and get ready. I'm going to go over to Millerna's. Have a good time tonight," she mumbled, then took off. Hitomi reached out to grab her, but it was too late. She stood there and watched Merle run until she turned a corner and was out of Hitomi's sight.

"Oh Merle," Hitomi whispered. She had always had such a strong affinity for Van, and Hitomi had stolen him from her twice in two different worlds. But the best thing to do right now would be to let Merle have some time to cool down and vent to Millerna. At least she hoped that was the best thing to do. With a defeated sigh Hitomi continued her journey home. She'd have to talk to Van about Merle tonight. That thought both brightened and dampened Hitomi's spirit. She had no real idea how close earth's version of Merle and Van were, but she would venture into un-forged territory anyway. The good news was tonight she was seeing Van and he had something special planned. Last night had been. . . it had been extraordinary. Finally she had kissed him. A warmth ran through her body and ended as a flush in her cheeks. The remaining minutes passed like a flash of lightning as she wandered in a dream to her dorm. Setting her book bag down in the corner next to the door after taking her shoes off, Hitomi hopped on one foot while taking her sock off, then did the same for her other foot. She made her way into her bedroom and closed the door so she could change in peace. All Van had said was to be ready at eight. Her class ended at 7:15 and it was 7:36 now, so she only had 20 minutes or so to find an outfit and do her hair. Of course, that wasn't much of a problem as she had kept her hair almost the same since her Gaea adventure. Hitomi hadn't wanted to change, wanted to keep things as similar to that time as she possibly could. She also wanted Van to recognize her when he made his brief visits. He had kept his hair mostly the same as well, maybe for the same reason. Her hair was a little longer now, but it fell into place just the same. So really, hair wasn't the problem. The problem was finding what to wear for a night when anything could happen. Van hadn't even told her where they were going, if anywhere.

Finally deciding on something comfortable, yet elegant (she was used to skirts from school and they always looked good - her shirt was slim fitting with slight ruffles down the neckline), Hitomi brushed her teeth and ran a brush through her hair. Making sure her sandals were by the door and with everything ready to go (with six minutes to spare, no less!) Hitomi sat down gently on her love seat and waited. Kicking her legs back and forth and twiddling her thumbs, Hitomi leapt up with a slightly startled gasp when a knock finally came at the door. Van was right on time.

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"What exactly are we looking for in here anyway?" Gaddes asked, holding a torch out in front of the pair, exposing the abandoned ruins. Since they'd entered, Gaddes had just been following Celena as the woman seemed to know what she was after. It was only after an hour or so with no success and no idea how to help that Gaddes asked.

"I. . . I'm not exactly sure," was the answer and Gaddes felt like hitting himself in the head. They had been searching in here for over an hour and Celena didn't even know what she was looking for? "But I think we need to go farther in. Dornkirk wouldn't have kept his valuable machines in the outer ring of his fortress. They're probably in the middle where they could be protected." Gaddes couldn't disagree with that logic, so the two continued on yet again. After several moments of silence and a few failed conversation starters, Gaddes decided to just think things over.. Celena had kept mostly to her brother's side after her. . . transformation. . . from Dilandeau, so Gaddes and the crew had seen her a lot, but she had been very quiet and reserved. And of course she had good reason to be withdrawn. Gaddes still had trouble reconciling the devilish image of Dilandeau with the gentle girl next to him. They both had a stubborn streak, granted, but still. Though most of the crew and people Celena had come to know gave her their trust and disregarded her past, she was ever afraid of the few that shunned her. She had a good brother to protect her though. A missing brother at the moment.

With so many important people missing from Gaea, the world had gone into a sort of panic, spies and emissaries sent across the lands to find a clue. Van was king of Fanelia, Millerna and Dryden were the joint rulers of their countries, which had joined together after the pair's second wedding. Merle and Allen were both knights, Merle serving under Van and Allen becoming the first of the World Knights which flew the world and kept the peace. And all five had disappeared, just like that.

The ruins where Celena and Gaddes were searching was the only place the world over no one had been to yet. So of course it was the first place everyone should have looked.

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Ha ha! Suspense. Once again, sorry for the lateness. And until I beat Skies of Arcadia Legends. . . the next parts will probably be late too! But thanks for reading anyway!! Until next time!

Mako3