Dilandau brought the sword around and buried the blade in the training dummy on which he was taking out his rage.

His blade worked fine right now.

Allen Schezar was the problem. Celena was the problem. He didn't know how she was doing it but somehow that bitch who stole his body and trapped him for months at a time in the dark corners of their mind was managing to make trouble for him again.

He thought once he was back in Zaibach he would be able to get them to remove her, but so far none of their experiments had done any good. He was stuck in this body, and he was stuck with her, cowering in the back of their mind, a simpering doll, good for nothing but getting in his way.

He had to remove Allen from the picture to get rid of her.

He pictured Allen in his mind and swung as hard as he could at the dummy. His sword stopped short. It would not budge. He screamed in rage and swung the sword around the other way, slicing the dummy clean in half.

This situation was untenable. He could feel her there, in his mind, scared.

"You don't even want to be here!" he shouted to the empty room. "Leave! Get out of my head! Disappear!"

He felt the tickle of her fear fade away into nothing, but he knew she wasn't really gone. She was just hiding.

"Sir." Bash entered the room from behind Dilandau.

"I said no one was to interrupt me!" shouted Dilandau, turning on Bash.

"Sir, the campaign has encountered trouble," Bash reported.

"What kind of trouble?" asked Dilandau eagerly.

"The reports aren't entirely clear. It seems ships the size of cities have descended from the sky at every target."

"That's impossible! They don't have that kind of power?"

"We are investigating now, but the Strategos instructed all teams to prepare for an intervention."

A grin spread across Dilandau's face, "That is just what I wanted to hear."

There she was again, knocking at the back of his mind. Was she crying? He could feel her trying to weasel her way into his consciousness. He had to find some way to scare her back into the darkness.

"Sir, are you alright?" Bash asked, concerned.

"Of course I'm alright, what do you mean?"

"Sir, your face was contorted, like… for a moment it was like you were in a lot of pain."

Dilandau grabbed Bash by the neck. "I'm fine, do you hear me? You didn't see anything! Do you understand?"

Bash did the best he could to nod and fled the room as soon as Dilandau released him.

"You cowardly bitch! You are making me look crazy! I will kill you! I'll kill you, you hear me? And then I'll kill that annoying brother of yours!"

He felt her push back against his words. Of course, Allen Schezar was the one thing that would get a rise out of her.

"I'll rip him to pieces!" he continued. "I'll burn him alive, so you can hear him scream! If you leave me alone, I might let him live! You just be good and stay out of my way, and I may spare you the pain of watching him suffer!"

She seemed to have understood. He felt her retreating back away from his consciousness. He wouldn't spare Allen, of course. How could he? He -

Celena opened her eyes. She was laying on the stone ground in front of a broken training dummy. She pushed herself up from the floor. The tight leather armor she wore bit into her skin, and she bit her lip to keep from making a sound. Her heart pounded in her chest. There was no one here to help her. Was this better than being trapped in the darkness of her own mind? She had spent so much time hiding from Dilandau. She only felt safe with Allen. She had to find him.

The room was cold. There was a sword hilt in her hand. It was heavy, but she found she was able to lift it. She had never held a sword before. It felt foreign. There was a sound in the hall and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She hadn't meant to push so hard against Dilandau. This wasn't safe. What was she thinking? She looked around for somewhere to hide. They would kill her for sure. There was no one here to protect her.

She could hear the blood rushing through her ears. Her eyes darted around in vain for something, anything to keep them from finding her. Her heart raced. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, her breath came short and quick, and -

Dilandau was standing up against the wall. His heart was racing for some unknown reason. He hated that feeling. He killed anything that made him feel such things.

That bitch had taken over, hadn't she? He snarled inwardly. Somehow, she had managed to break through.

He panted as his breathing slowed. He had to get rid of Allen before she got any bolder. He would not disappear because of her. He pushed himself from the wall and stormed off to go find someone to take his rage out on.

The strange, giant ship hung in the air above the city of Palas. Van could not see any levistones, and the air was still, but the ship remained exactly in place.

Allen ran out of the barracks towards him and turned to look up where Van was looking.

"Ispano?" he asked.

The air began to hum again. Van could feel the humming in his bones. It was as if reality itself was vibrating.

The lights on the Zaibach fortresses began to glow brighter, and then suddenly all went out at once. The cables that tethered the anchors in the ground appeared to resonate with the hum in the air until they couldn't take any more stress and burst into dust. The air went quiet again.

Van and Allen looked at each other, then turned and rushed to the main palace entrance.

Millerna was already there. Before her stood ten oddly shaped creatures in cloaks, each with a different number of lenses that appeared to serve as eyes. A figure with a singular lens stepped forward and addressed Millerna in a ringing metallic voice.

"Your Highness, leader of Asturia, we have come to prevent catastrophe. We must convene with you for the future of Gaia."

"Thank you, great Ispano. We are honored by your presence. Asturia will forever be indebted to you." Millerna bowed low to the strange figures.

"That is unnecessary," continued the Ispano. "All of Gaia is in dire need. The Zaibach empire has deployed its mining forces to every corner of the world. We could no longer wait and hope you could handle them. Our dimension faces the same threat. Our very existence is at stake."

The Ispano looked around the group.

"Come, we must tell all, for everything will depend on what you do."

Van felt a strange pulling sensation in the center of his chest. He felt like he was being pulled inside out, and then he was standing on a dark metal deck in a cavernous space. There were catwalks and platforms all along the walls that led to dark tunnels off into the bowels of what Van could only suppose must have been the Ispano ship. There was no vibration of a motor or hum of levistones. The only sound came from the many Ispano who watched from nearly every platform.

Allen stood beside Van, looking as sick as Van felt from their sudden transition to the ship. Millerna still stood in front of the group of Ispano that congregated before them in the same formation, but her posture had lost its regal composure.

A sphere of light grew in the center of the room. Blue and green colors played over its surface. Van was dazzled by its brilliance.

"Gaia. The product of the last wish of the Atlantean people. It flows with the power of their life force. Every living thing that inhabits it depends on and is a part of this life force."

Glowing tendrils of light snaked across the surface of the glowing globe, igniting points of light everywhere it passed.

"It was this force that powered the Atlantis Machine, and ultimately spelled the destruction of Atlantis. Zaibach discovered once again how to harness this power when Dornkirk built his Fate Alteration Machine."

A small area of the globe lit up green. Van could remember seeing that glow in person; the great pillar of energy reaching out from the center of Zaibach and blanketing the surrounding land until he forced his way through the center to rescue Hitomi. Now he could see the light of Gaia being sucked towards that green pillar.

"It was you, Van, descendant of the draconian race, who ended Dornkirk's experiment. We hoped that would be the end, but the Sorcerers of Zaibach continued to explore the potential Dornkirk had uncovered."

Small dark places began to appear on the surface of the globe. Some were motionless, but others moved across the surface.

"All life on Gaia depends on this energy. In the natural cycle, the energy is returned to Gaia and becomes part of new life. Now the life force is disappearing and the planet itself is dying. We are creatures of Gaia, created by the Atlanteans many generations ago. When the last Atlanteans were gone we hid away in another dimension and vowed not to interfere in anything that did not concern us. Twice we have returned, once for you-" the Ispano pointed directly at Van. "And now for all of Gaia, and for ourselves who depend on the life energy of Gaia."

The Ispano waved its hand and the dark patches spread across the globe.

"Unlike the Atlantis Machine, Zaibach's methods do not replenish the life force, and the limited life force of Gaia is being drawn into their machines, never to return."

The Ispano dropped its arm to its side. The globe glowed brilliantly once more and then disappeared. Silence filled the vast room. In the chilling quiet, Millerna's voice sounded small and lonely.

"What will you do?"

There was another long pause before the Ispano spoke again.

"We have already done all we can do."

Van almost heard Millerna's heart break. He understood. If the mysterious Ispano with their ancient power and knowledge couldn't stop Zaibach, what could they do? Was Gaia now doomed to its fate, just as ancient Atlantis had been?

"We can only exist in your dimension for a brief period of time. We must soon return. We have severed the Zaibach mining tethers and crippled the Zaibach fleet for now, but the technology still exists. They will begin again. They must be stopped so that the power to drain Gaia can never be used again. It is up to you."

Van was beginning to lose his temper. He was tired of impossible situations. He was tired of being told things must be done with no indication of how. He was tired of existing at the whim of history. "How?!" He shouted at the ancient creature.

"With the girl from the mystic moon," said the Ispano.

Van's own heart broke. He couldn't make the words come out of his mouth. Allen spoke for him.

"That may not be possible. You see...she may…" not even Allen could finish the sentence they were all thinking.

Van clutched at a last thread of hope. If she was really so important, if they knew so much then… "can you help her?"

Van again felt the strange pulling sensation, but this time he knew what was happening.

They were in Hitomi's sick room. She still lay unconscious on the bed, pale and gaunt. She appeared now to be hanging on by a thread. If the Ispano could do nothing she may not survive another day. Van's voice caught in his throat and he could barely breathe.

The single-eyed Ispano was the only one who accompanied them here. It moved beside Hitomi and reached out a finger to touch the pendant on her throat. The pendant glowed faintly under its touch and again went dark.

"We knew, but we did not understand," said the Ispano, cryptically. "She is dying. Her life force has been drained away."

Rage filled Van. "Zaibach," he growled, thinking of the experiments they performed on her.

"No," replied the Ispano.

Van was taken aback and looked at the Ispano in shock. Not Zaibach? The enemy who drains the life force of Gaia was not responsible?

"It is as though she has been disconnected from Gaia," said the Ispano.

"But she isn't from Gaia. How is that possible?" asked Allen.

"She has draconian blood," answered the Ispano.

Van gasped silently. Both Allen and Millerna turned to look at him. His mother was the only draconian of which any of them had been aware. He and his brother were the last draconians to exist on Gaia.

"It is generations old, but powerful," continued the Ispano. "And this shard, I recognize. It is from the first energist to power The Escaflowne, and it is blood bonded to Escaflowne's first draconian pilot, her ancestor."

"What does that mean? What is happening to her?" pleaded Millerna.

"She has the power of the ancients. You may have seen it."

Hitomi's powers, thought Van. The way she could connect to his mind, clairvoyance, teleportation. He thought it was because she was from the mystic moon.

"Her power comes from her blood, but it is tied to Gaia. The pendant opened a conduit between her and the life force of the planet, but it is not enough. As her powers have grown she has been using her own life force instead. She has been draining the life from herself into her power."

Van was horrified. Every time he had encouraged her, every time he had pushed her to learn more, every time she had used her powers on his behalf led her here. He fell to his knees beside the bed and reached out to her, but stopped short of caressing her face. He didn't deserve to touch her.

"Van, you didn't know," said Millerna, picking up on his anguish, "none of us did."

Allen put his hand on Van's shoulder, but addressed the Ispano, "is there anything you can do to help her?"

"We can do nothing," it said. Van's insides wrenched and he heaved, but the Ispano continued, speaking directly to Van. "There is something that can be done. You must find a conduit between her and Gaia. With a powerful enough conduit and a strong enough connection, her link to Gaia can be restored, the cycle of power can be complete."

"But where would we-" began Allen, but Van cut him off.

"Escaflowne. You mean Escaflowne, right?" He asked, a new strength breathing back into his limbs.

The Ispano seemed to nod.

"She knew. Somehow she knew, and she tried to tell me, but I didn't understand." He could have saved her then, he could have prevented this, but he had been too stubborn. He had been too wrapped up in his own needs to notice what was happening to her. "Escaflowne is all the way in Fanelia," he choked.

"Our last levi-ship was damaged in the fight," Millerna apologized.

Van looked up at the Ispano, pleading. "Can you take us?"

"We have already been here too long, our powers grow weak, and Fanelia is far," it replied metallically.

Van became resolute. There was only one way. He stood and bent, looping his arms underneath Hitomi's withering frame and pulled her tightly against himself. He walked to the window on the outside wall of the room.

"Van!" said Allen. "You're going to fly all the way to Fanelia?!"

Van looked back at Allen, with a heaviness in his chest he could not dispel. He looked out to the sky and his wings burst painfully from his back, filling the room with a cloud of feathers. "It's the only way." Van lifted off into the sky.

Van alighted, exhausted, on the rampart outside the door to Escaflowne's temple. An Ispano ship hung silently in the air above Fanelia. Outside the walls of the city, Zaibach floating fortresses hummed, but they were dark. The earth below them was scorched just as it had been in Asturia. The palace seemed empty for the moment, but Van was sure everyone was congregated elsewhere, probably looking after the injured in the quiet after the storm, preparing from whatever was to come next.

He carried Hitomi to the huge temple door, and slowly shouldered it open. The door swung silently and slowly inward.

The air inside the temple was completely still. The hall seemed to absorb all sound, leaving a muffled silence that swallowed Van's footsteps as he entered. As Van looked up, the vast figure of Escaflowne seemed to loom out of the shadows. Nearby, he spotted on a pedestal the energist with which he was blood bonded, and which had last been used to send Hitomi back to the Mystic Moon. He lowered Hitomi to the ground on the platform in front of Escaflowne. She was so pale, and her skin was cool but sweat beaded on her brow. The life was slipping out of her every second.

Van grabbed the energist from the pedestal and placed it into the chest cavity of Escaflowne. He felt a jolt rush up his arm. Energy surged through him and a gust of wind seemed to rush through the room from nowhere.

Van looked down to check on Hitomi. Her back was arched and the wind whipped her hair and clothes around her, but her face was serene and almost happy.

It took all the strength Van had to pull his hand away from the energist. He stumbled back and almost tripped over Hitomi. The wind still whipped around them both. The energist glowed brilliantly in Escaflowne's chest and began to pulse with a steady rhythm. Van noticed Hitomi's pendant pulsing in time with Escaflowne. Van sat down and scooped Hitomi into his arms, cradling her against his chest. He reached to touch the pendant and lift it and felt Hitomi's heartbeat under his hand. The pulsing pendant and energist were both in time with Hitomi's heartbeat.

The turbulent air and energy in the room intensified, roaring in Van's ears and then all at once went silent. Hitomi's frame fell limp in his arms. The pulsing of her pendant and the energist stopped, but settled to a constant faint glow. Her breathing was deep and even and her skin began to regain color, but she didn't stir.

"Hitomi," Van whispered into the silence. He caressed her face, and patted her cheek, trying to wake her. "Hitomi, can you hear me?" She still did not move. He touched her hair and brow delicately, searching for signs of health. Her skin was no longer clammy. "Hitomi," he whispered with more intensity. He squeezed her limp form to him and looked around, terror gripping him. She seemed to be recovering, but she was still completely unresponsive. What if she never woke up? What if his hubris, his eagerness for her to be able to protect herself meant she was stuck like this forever? What would they do without her, if she was the key to stopping Zaibach? What would he do if she never woke up? All he ever wanted was for her to be safe. He buried his head against her neck, squeezing his eyes shut against the tears.

Hitomi, please… you have to wake up. You have to come back. He thought the words as clearly and forcefully as he could. I'll do anything.

On a whim, he took her pendant in his hand and held it tight. Hitomi, he thought, where are you? Please, come back to me. He thought those words repeatedly for what seemed like hours until he was almost in a trance state. The room faded away. All he was aware of were his words and the growing warmth of the pendant in his hand, and soon, even those began to fade.

Van found himself standing on a grassy hill overlooking what appeared to be the mystic valley. Draconian people flew majestically above white terraced buildings, with fountains and garden paths filling the spaces between. Hitomi stood not far away gazing off into the distance.

Van walked up to stand next to her.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" she asked, peacefully.

"It is, but why are we here in the Mystic Valley?" He was amazed at how calm he was, they were, considering the circumstances. The terror and turmoil in his heart seemed to be completely erased by the energy of this radiant place.

"But, this isn't the Mystic Valley," Hitomi responded. "Don't you recognize it?"

"What?" Van looked again at the valley. There was a forest surrounding the small city, and he could see land dragons in the distance, roaming the open pastures. The mountains of the Mystic Valley were missing.

"This is Fanelia, silly," laughed Hitomi. "Fanelia as it once was."

Once she said it, he knew it was true. "But how -"

"There will be time for that. Please, let's just enjoy this peace for a moment," Hitomi said, sadness that didn't fit this place creeping back into her voice.

Van had almost forgotten why he was here in the first place.

"Hitomi." He turned to her, taking her hand in his. "Please, come back with me."

"Why?" she asked, still looking out at the beautiful city. "Why? When it's so peaceful here?"

"Hitomi, we need you." The spell of the space they were in was beginning to wear off and the urgency of the situation was winding its way back into Van's mind.

"You don't need me. I've only ever made things harder for you. You didn't even want me to come back."The look on her face was still serene, but Van could hear the bite in her words.

"What are you talking about? You saved those children from Zaibach! You're the only reason we were able to get out of there at all. If it weren't for you-"

"If it weren't for me, we wouldn't have been there in the first place," she scolded. Her composure finally broke. The hillside grew cloudy, and winds kicked up around them. The draconians disappeared from the sky above ancient Fanelia. Hitomi looked Van in the eyes for the first time since he arrived, her face contorted with pain. "If it weren't for me, Celena wouldn't have been taken; Allen wouldn't have been injured; you wouldn't have been captured, and wouldn't have had to endure-" she bit her lip and turned away, unable to continue.

"No, I didn't want you to come back, because I wanted you to be safe. I wanted to believe you were safe elsewhere. I was selfish. I didn't know how to deal with the distance, and then I didn't know how to deal with you suddenly being here again-"

Hitomi pulled her hand away. Van reached out and grabbed her shoulders.

"I was wrong. We need you. Somehow, I think you're coming back might be fate. I don't know how this works, I don't know how any of this works, but you may be our only hope for saving Gaia."

Tears overflowed from Hitomi's eyes. She tried to pull away from him. "How can you ask that of me, Van? After everything? How can you put that kind of responsibility on my shoulders? You don't understand anything. I can't do it. I can't do what you ask me to do. I can't be your tool to save Gaia. I can't be the magic fix for your war. It's too much. It was hard enough just surviving. Every day took more out of me. How can you possibly ask me to give more? All I ever wanted was to be back here, with you. I didn't want this. And all you ever seem to want from me is my power, my ability to see things, to get us out of harm's way, to - do you know how hard it was for me to watch you being tortured? And I couldn't do anything. The only reason we were able to get out of that horrible place was Allen showing up just at the right time."

Van didn't know what to do. He had no idea the past few weeks had been so hard on her. He really had been selfish, from day one. He didn't want her to have to shoulder these burdens. These were his burdens to bear. He was a king of Gaia. Hitomi never asked for any of this. He had wanted her to be strong, to use her power, so she could safely stay by his side since she wouldn't let him leave her behind. The truth was, once she was back, he couldn't stand to leave her behind. Why couldn't he tell her that? Now here she was, thinking her powers were the only reason he let her be there, and she had failed him. He had failed her. He had failed her, failed to protect her, failed to support her, failed to be truthful with her so many times.

"Hitomi, I was wrong," he said quietly. "I was wrong so many times, and I'm wrong now. I don't want you to come back to save Gaia-"

Hitomi choked back more tears.

"What I mean is," Van took a deep breath. "The truth is, I want you to come back because, well, because I'm selfish. I know it's going to be hard. I know things are going to be asked of you that you may not be able to do. You might fail. We might have to endure more suffering. We might not survive. The responsibilities that will be placed on your shoulders are ones no one should ever have to carry. If what you really want is to leave Gaia and the responsibilities behind, then I will find a way to make that happen, but… I want you to come back, in spite of all of that, because I don't know what to do without you. I need you beside me. Not your power, not what you can do for the cause. I need you. I want you to be here with me." Van's voice began to crack, and he couldn't continue.

Hitomi stared at him, open-mouthed. Tears streamed down her face.

"Do you mean that?" she asked, her voice unsteady. She crossed her arms over her chest, defensively.

Her life was on the line. Van couldn't afford to be shy, or indecisive now. He had to make her understand. He didn't know for sure that this would work, but he had to take a leap. He had to do something to prove to her that she mattered; that there was a reason to come back, to keep going. He walked over to her and reached out with both hands to lift her face to look at him.

"I want you to come back, Hitomi, because," he paused and took another deep breath. "Because, I love you." He leaned in and gently kissed her lips.