A/N: ^^;; Eek! I just re-read this, and I caught some mistakes .. (I whipped it together at around 2 am, so I thought I'd re-do it XD)

Chapter Four: (Fire and Rain)

"Told myself for a long time; don't go there, you will only be sorry. Told myself so many times, I just had to take a look in those far away eyes..." - Vector, Escaflowne soundtrack

***

Folken gazed at his mechanical hand.

It flexed, the shiny pins that formed it's skeletal frame catching the candlelight.

The sharply tapered fingers drummed against the desk reflexively- like metallic spider legs.

Folken placed his quill quietly beside the open ink bottle.

The candle burned low, casting only a dim light across his sketches.

His progress was on schedule. The plans for his new invention would be in King Aston's hand within a day.

Efficient, thorough.

Usually he would have spent the rest of the night in his laboratory, making modification upon modification until he was satisfied. Therefore it wasn't unusual for him to calculate possible scientific theories within his mind; but it was very unusual for him to be lost in a daydream. Or a nightmare.

Folken stared, transfixed as the light flickered like fire within the metal of his hand. He couldn't avert his gaze. It was moving steadily closer...

Fire. Burning.

His throat constricted.

He could feel heat from the flames as they licked at his limbs, encircling him.

Voices. Whispers. Screams.

The fire was like a great sea, washing over them all.

Fanelia ...

Folken managed to shut his eyes tightly, and the images vanished. Darkness enveloped him once again, like a thick black curtain.

The sound of rain beat against the window panes.

He tried to focus on it, hoping its steady rhythm might drown out the sound of those voices, and clear his mind. Whispers. He could hear them still. Speaking at once, and so quickly he couldn't understand them. Panic was building slowly in the pit of his stomach, and his temples beaded with sweat.

Then, something permeated the darkness.

Eyes. Eyes as green as the sea and filled with compassion.

The desk rattled on its legs as Folken rose abruptly from his chair.

He looked down at his metal hand, which had balled into a fist. It was unfeeling.

Lifeless. Just as he was.

That was what Van had called him; dead. A shell ...

And he agreed with Van, of course.

Yet...

Today in the library his hands had shook. Shook with what he didn't know. But he knew why.

Hitomi ...

Her name grazed across the surface of his mind like a petal caught in a current, swirling and drifting away, only to be brought back to the same place again.

It filled him with an emotion he'd thought was impossible.

What is it in your eyes?

It was a question he'd asked himself ever since she'd placed her trembling hand over his.

The day the dragons had come. The day Van should have lost Escaflowne to Zaibach.

Hitomi, rigid with fear had sunk to the ground at his feet, completely paralyzed. He'd smelt her fear in the air, and her short breaths against his palm. At that moment he'd been prepared to use her. She was a valuable tool; the perfect way to manipulate Van. Strategos was after all, renowned in Zaibach for his ruthless intellect and flawless stratagems. Nearly flawless. She'd looked up, her eyes moist and wide; and brought him to his knees.

It was devastatingly simple.

The realization that one moment could change so much was almost insanity. Yet it had happened, and the memory was still so powerful it still made his legs feel slightly weak and unsteady. He strode quietly to the window, gazing past his own reflection and out into the black sky.

Something in her eyes had stripped him bare.

The plan had disintegrated quickly from there, and when Escaflowne had soared into the sky and out of Zaibach's grasp once more, he'd felt the strongest urge to go with it.

Folken's gaze fixed on the tops of the turrets, which were wet and shiny with rain. Their spear-like steeples pierced the dark sky, where the moon struggled to free itself from the black clouds.

Once he had soared above the steeples, and into the clouds on wings that were as powerful as they were forbidden. His body had sliced through the white mist effortlessly.

He could still remember the sensation; millions of tiny pricks of water against his skin.

Van was the only one who understood the freedom.

Folken looked from the window, to his bolted door.

There was no one posted behind it preventing him from wandering out into the night, but he still felt caged.

Turning back to the welcome relief of his one window, he reached out to lift up the latch. It snapped off in his shiny fingers, like a butterfly's wing.

Slightly abashed, he retracted the metallic claw into the folds of his plain, woolen robe.

He was too cold and harsh for such fragile things.

Protect that girl with your life, Van.

It had been all he could say as Escaflowne had risen into the air, causing a storm of wind and dust to obscure his view of them.

And everyday after that, he hadn't thought of her fragile eyes once.

Turning from the window, he decided. He would fulfill his commitment to Austuria without any more distractions. He would do what he came to do.

He would make Van understand that to deny progress was useless.

And he wouldn't think about Hitomi again. Not her eyes, not her scent.

Determined, he was about to dive back into his work when something gave him pause.

A hesitant knock at the door.

A/N: ^^;; ! Please feel free to leave any suggestions.. (I'm so *not* having 'writers phobia' ....;;) Hee! Mad huggles of doom ..XD! Thank you so much for your reviews!! They made mah day!!! Sorry for the evilness that is called cliffhanger, but I chickened out and decided to take some more time to work out the plot- so I'm now 'plotting' if you will. XD I also wanted to make Folken a little more mysterious in his true motives for defecting from Zaibach.. I hope it came across! ^^;; !! Thanks all!!