Chapter 1 - Visions of Red

Chapter 1
Visions of Red

A still and bitter winter was coming to a close. It was a cold morning and the dew had become frost and made the green grasses white. A tall girl shivered as the trees rustled around her with wisps of cold air. She still had a ways to go before she arrived at the steps of her destination.

The streets seemed empty and yet alive. There was no one about but her and the waving trees along the street. In the distance down the way were the figures of two people. When she saw them, though she was cold, she felt warm in her heart. A smile came to her face as they called out to her: "Hitomi!"

Hitomi ran to catch up to her friends. The bitter cold nipped at her long legs but it did not slow her. She caught up and hugged them with the cold to encourage them. "Yukari! Amano!" She said happily. And she was happy. Despite the separation of an entire world, she was happy. Happy because the love that she had, like her wishes, were stronger than any distance or any length of time.

The three old friends climbed the steps of Tokyo University to start their new semester with each other, for years had passed since that fateful day, that day of Dragons and Destiny. Hitomi's thoughts wondered as Yukari, Amano and she walked to their dorms. Her thoughts dwelled on the past. Hitomi had come back to a world that she loved but she had also left one that she had an equal love for. The smell of the fields. His smell.

There was a breeze and Hitomi looked up from the ground toward the sky. The moon was dim above; seeming to fade into the light blue of the early morning sky. There was a smell of grass on the air despite the frost and it took her back. 'I miss him. I hope he's happy' she said softly to herself.

Suddenly an enthusiastic and nosy Yukari threw her arm over Hitomi's shoulder. "You miss who?" she said loudly.

Hitomi's pail skin flushed red with an almost contented smile. "Oh, no one." She said softly. She looked at her friends and decided not to think about it for a while. "Let's go." She said.

The three trotted off into the morning talking about the future and reminiscing about the past. Yukari giggled about her and Amano and about things they did over the winter break. They talked all the way to the dorms and the two girls said goodbye to Amano as the all went to settle into their rooms again.

Hitomi and Yukari's dorm room was on the third floor of a sorority house. As they unpacked and settled in they talked more about old and almost forgotten memories. Subjects like old friends and old crushes. This brought up a question in Yukari's mind which she had meant to ask Hitomi for a long while now. It was one that had troubled Yukari now and then for the last couple of years in fact. "Hitomi." she started, calling Hitomi's attention from putting her clothes in a chiffonnier by the window.

There was a pause as Hitomi looked to her best friend with an expression of query. "Yes?" she said in her soft snowy voice.

"Hitomi I've been meaning to ask you about something." Yukari continued.

"What about?" Hitomi said.

"About you." She said trailing down into a quiet voice. Yukari was afraid to ask as she thought Hitomi might take it the wrong way. "You and Amano."

"Me and Amano?" Hitomi said with surprise. "Yukari, you know you don't have to worry about that! Maybe once I thought that I loved him but- well he's with you and there is nothing I could do to change that." Hitomi smile at her friend to alleviate the rather uncomfortable and embarrassed look on her face.

"No! Hitomi I'm sorry! That's not what I meant at all! I trust that you would never do anything like that. What I meant was something else. I wanted to ask you why- why I haven't seen you with anyone else." Yukari explained. "I mean I've never seen you with any men and you haven't confided anything in me for a long time." She trailed off.

"Oh." Hitomi was taken aback. It wasn't really something she had noticed but it was true. She hadn't been with anyone or thought about anyone else since. Yukari was looking with intent and caring eyes at Hitomi, but Hitomi didn't know what else to say. "Oh." She repeated.

"I'm sorry." Yukari said again. There was an uncomfortable silence.

After a moment Hitomi broke the silence. "It's not that I don't want anyone." Hitomi said looking out the window. "I suppose I'm just waiting." The skies outside were patched with clouds. Hitomi thought to herself 'But waiting for what? Can I really want to go back after all this time? Sometimes I feel sad, and I wonder: is it because we are so far apart? Or maybe I'm sensing that he is sad, or upset or both. I miss him.'

"Hitomi?" she suddenly realized that Yukari was kneeling next to her with her hand on her shoulder. "What is wrong? You seem distant again. Like you were off in another world."

Hitomi's eyes shot to Yukari's. "What do you mean 'in another world'?" Hitomi looked almost scared, panic-stricken even, for that moment.

"In another world? I don't know, it's just a figure of speech. I mean you look like something's on your mind. Something important." she said.

Hitomi didn't know why but her eyes started to tear up. She thought to herself that by all means she should be happy, and she was most of the time. But there were other times like this one when she just felt sad and feeling happiness or joy seemed an impossibility or a distant memory. She felt cold all over. All over except where Yukari's hand was. Without another word the two friends embraced each other and sat in each other's arms on the floor for a long time.

Later that day they and the other students started up their routines again going to classes or cutting them. Hitomi saw familiar faces and new ones and went from class to class but she couldn't shake the sad feeling. Lunch came and she thought maybe she should eat something but she wasn't hungry and she hadn't felt the symptoms of anemia for a while.

Hitomi finished her last class of the day and started on home to her dorm room. The day was waneing and the moon was getting brighter in the sky. It was near full and as Hitomi stared at it she couldn't help but wonder what Gaea would look like in the sky with the moon. Before she realized she was at the step of her dorm so she went up to her room.

It was just her in the room; Yukari was out somewhere with Amano. She sat down on the window seat and tried to do the homework she hadn't finished between classes. It was not much use however for she couldn't prevent her mind from wondering. She looked from the window to her notepad and found herself imagining a feather appearing before her like so long ago. It would be white and soft, though she would not be able to touch it.

She looked out the window again and her hand went to her chest looking for her pendent, something she hadn't done in a very long time. Thoughts started racing through her head, ones that she wished wouldn't, wants and desires. She looked at her top chiffonnier drawer. She knew what was in it. She had vowed never to use them again but she had kept them anyway. She didn't know why but she kept them. For what seemed like hours she fought the desire but in the end she stood, opened the drawer and from it drew the deck of cards.

Hitomi sat at the window with the deck in front of her for what seemed like an equally long amount of time too afraid to touch them. More thought raced through her head. Mostly about all the people that suffered and died because of her and her readings. "Valgus, all the men at Allen's castle, Duke Freid and Vorris, Naria and Eriya, all the people at Malerna's wedding. All because of me."

After long she stood again and took the cards in her hand with the intent to put them back in the drawer. But she was stopped by something. A sound, but so quiet that she thought it might have just been her imagination. Her first thought was that it was just the breeze outside but it came again. This time she could tell that it was a voice but she couldn't tell what it had said or where it was coming from. It came again louder this time. Someone was calling her name.

Hitomi walked to the short foyer at the door. "Is someone there?" She said in a very quiet voice. So quiet that anyone outside would not have heard it. Somehow she knew that there was no one outside the door.

It came again. 'Hitomi!' Though seemingly far away and almost ghostlike she now recognized the voice and it terrified her.
"Di- Dilandau! N- no. You're dead." Hitomi suddenly felt a weight in her hand. She turned from the door and faced a mirror on the wall above a small wooden table with pictures of Yukari's and her families. She starred at herself holding the cards.

Though she didn't want to and would give anything to have never done it, she drew a card from the top of the deck and placed it on the table. It was the Devil card. Hitomi stiffened and her hand shook as she drew the next card. When she placed it on the table and saw it she was somewhat relieved but still frightened at what it could mean. It was the Lovers card.

She drew the third card and placed it face down above the others. She had almost no desire to know what the card was and yet at the same time she of corse she did. The preceding cards were enough of an indication for her. She placed a finger on each card facing up. "The Devil and the Lovers. A great evil will come between two that deeply love one another." Hitomi said half in trance.

Hitomi looked at the unturned card. She couldn't stop from trembling now. She reached for the card and rested her hand on its edge. The image of a woman with white wings came into her mind and the memory of what she had said: 'You brought those unhappy futures into being.'

She felt the deck of cards slip out of her grasp. "No!" she yelled in fear and rage. She tore her hand away from the card and than threw her arms across the table sweeping everything onto the floor. "I won't let it happen!"

Hitomi looked at the broken glass of the picture frames on the floor. And than she saw it and cupped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. The card. It was still lying face down on the table. In a low and shaky voice she uttered: "I don't want to go back."

Suddenly Hitomi heard someone outside the door. It opened and Yukari stood in the doorway starring at Hitomi and the cards and the broken glass. "Hitomi!?" She said concerned. Hitomi looked at her friend for a moment and than ran past her out the door. "Hitomi!" Yukari only felt the tips of her fingers reach Hitomi for a short moment before she was gone.

Yukari stepped inside the room. She looked again at the broken glass and the cards on the ground and than she noticed the card on the table. She picked it up and looked at it. "The Tower?"

Hitomi ran down the stairs and out of the dorm. Without any knowledge of where she was going she ran simply to run. To somehow run away from her own thoughts. She had no intent to stop any time soon but it seemed to her that fate intervened and she tripped over a root in the ground.

The cold blades of grass hurt Hitomi's skin when she hit the ground and the night air was very cold. She picked herself up and looked around. She was in a long courtyard just outside the campus. She shivered as all she had on was her school uniform. She sat beneath the tree the root belonged to and hugged her thighs. The field around her glistened with frost in the moonlight.

Hitomi looked up to see the moon through the branches of the tree. She tucked her head between her knees and felt her tears fall to the grass. 'I don't want it to begin again. I don't want to see it anymore.' She heard herself say.

Suddenly something told her to open her eyes. Before her a spot on the ground seemed to glow a gentile white. Hitomi knelt and looked closely at it. For a moment she thought she could make out a white feather but before she could focus on it, it disappeared. This saddened Hitomi even more as she felt that it took take away any hope of seeing him again. She put her face in her hands and began crying again.

But a moment later she felt a slight wind and heard the branches of the tree sway. She felt something light land in her lap. When she opened her eyes they fell upon a white feather resting on her thighs. She smiled and several images flashed through her mind. Images of the one she loved. Then she heard another sound. It came from several feet ahead of her.

She looked up and she saw the tall dark figure of a boy. The light of the moon glinted off of his eyes and a red stone hanging from his neck. He walked to Hitomi and stood smiling down at her with gentile eyes. Hitomi jumped from the ground into his arms. "Van!"

Van held her close and whispered to her: "Hitomi. I missed you. And I'm sorry, I was starting to forget." Hitomi looked at Van's face and their hands met at their sides. Hitomi became lost in his eyes and finally felt joy.

Suddenly there was a fast sound of a blade through the air. Hitomi was filled with horror as Van suddenly leaned back and than fell forward into Hitomi's arms. She fell to her knees supporting Van in her arms. She could feel his blood running from the wound across his back. "Van!" she yelled to no avail.

Hitomi heard the sound of a sword being sheathed and she looked up. A perverse and sadistic laugh came from a dark figure walking toward Hitomi and Van. It was a man. A man in red armor. Dilandau. He stood over Hitomi and Van. Hitomi could say nothing. Dilandau reached down toward Hitomi and she reared back still hanging onto Van's body. Dilandau's hand went to Van's neck and he ripped the pendant from it.

The pendant hung from Dilandau's hand swinging back and forth. "The stone will bring you to me, and then you will die. You can't escape that fate." Dilandau's voice seemed ghostlike just as it was before. With the pendant still in his hand he drew his sword and raised it above. The light of the moon shone off of the stone and the blade. Hitomi closed her eyes as she heard his bloodthirsty cry and the blade swinging down.

Hitomi awoke suddenly with a frightened yell. She laid where she was and didn't move as she was disoriented and still frightened. As she focused her eyes she realized that she was looking at the ceiling in her dorm. She sat up in her bed and wiped the sweat from her face. She gripped the white sheet and fell back to the bed and looked at the ceiling again. "I suppose I was dreaming. I'm glad that's all it was." She said to herself quietly. "But where did it begin?"
She glanced over to the window and saw that it was morning again. But she couldn't see the sun, it was covered by clouds. She then heard the door open and someone walk in. She quickly sat up and saw Yukari rush over to her. "Are you feeling alright? You really had us worried yesterday!" Yukari exclaimed as she sat down and took Hitomi's hand.

"I'm fine." Hitomi said with a reliving tone but then her expression changed. "Wait, why were you worried?"

"I was worried because you ran out on me last night and when Amano and I found you, you were passed out lying face down in a field. We tried to wake you up but you just wouldn't. Amano carried you here." Yukari said frantically.

"You found me lying on the ground?" Hitomi said perplexed. 'That's it. That's when it started. It didn't really happen.' She thought. She then realized something else: 'If it started when I fell outside than the reading was real. What does it mean? A great evil will come between two that deeply love one another.'

Yukari saw that Hitomi was drifting off again. She turned her head to the side still concerned. "Are you sure you're okay? You look a little pale." Yukari said as she leaned over Hitomi and put her hand on her forehead. Hitomi pulled Yukari's hand off her head and held it. "Don't worry, everything's fine." Hitomi smiled at her friend even though she still felt uneasy.

After a few more times of making sure her best friend was alright, Yukari went off to the bathroom and left Hitomi to get dressed. Hitomi got out of bed to get dressed. She noted that she was in her nightgown and not the school uniform she had been wearing that night. 'Sometimes I wonder about that girl' Hitomi joked to herself as she paced a few steps to her chiffonnier. She reached for the handle of the top drawer but stopped as she glanced at the deck of tarot cards on top of the chiffonnier. 'Yukari must have picked them up for me.' She thought. She put her hand on the top of the deck. She thought for a moment about taking the card but instead picked up the whole deck and put it back in the drawer.

"Never again." The girl from the mystic moon said.

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