Adne tried to stand.  "No!  Please, leave her alone!  I know that she doesn't have it!"

Dra shook its head, muttering into a crystal.  "I know what I want, and I want her and that meddlesome pendant.  She is in possession of It, and I need it.  Therefore I am killing two birds with one stone.  I get her and her powers, and, as a prize, the pendant."  It waved a hand over the crystal, and the crystal blazed into life.  Dra held the crystal out in front of itself, and the crystal floated in the air.  "This should suffice to keep an eye on her."

Adne managed to pull herself up.  "Please, leave her alone!  I told you, she doesn't have it!"

Dra smiled, a truly evil smile.  "Ariadne, come to me."  Adne struggled as she was forced to come to Dra.  It stroked her cheek with a finger.  "Ariadne, Ariadne, Ariadne.  It was quite clever of you to give your pendant to your grand-daughter, and it was also quite clever of you to make an imitation for yourself.  But I need the real thing, and I need it now!"  It banged a fist on the table cluttered with old books and writing instruments, which banged together and bounced from the impact.  "I need its power to fulfill my dream, and I want that dream fulfilled now!"  It threw her across the room.  "I am exceptionally glad that I have your name.  I knew that Adne wasn't all of it."

Adne looked up from where she had fallen on the ground.  "How-"  she managed to rasp out before she collapsed.  She had always gone by Adne in this world, and Tess knew her as Adne too.  Only her family knew her full name, and though she did have a few friends call her 'Ari', they did not know the last two syllables of her name. To have her full name…Dra could and would do the most horrific things.

Dra shook its head.  "Simple.  I sent a Demon to do my work.  I knew that you were not originally from this world, and I knew that you were born on the Moon of Illusions.  All I had to do was search there.  Ariadne Celestia Hairem is your full maiden name, the name you were christened with."

Ariadne bowed her head.  With her full, Christian name at hand, Dra really could force her to do anything.  She was completely under Dra's power.  She fought off the darkness wanting her to lose consciousness.  At least it didn't know Tess's real name, or else it could control her as well. Ariadne's only link to Earth, and any world out side Dra's fortress, Tess was the only person who could help her guide her grand-daughter.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Hitomi drove back home, stopping at a small restaurant to get a bite to eat.  She knew that Bradley had probably called Yukari, Amano, her mother, anyone who might have an idea where she was.  She knew that they were probably worried about her, and searching for her.  But Hitomi didn't care.  Yes, she was sorry that they were wasting their time, looking all over for her, but the truth was that Hitomi wanted to be left alone, not to be fussed over.  And that's what her friends did.

The moment she returned from Gaea, she had ran home.  There she had pounded on the door, waiting for her mother to answer it, and she had.  Mrs Kanzaki had opened the door, expecting to find an emergency, and instead saw her daughter.  Hitomi remembered her mother wrapping her up in a hug, squeezing her tight.  Her scolding, about being missing for four days.

Hitomi remembered questioning that.  "Four days?  It's been four months!"  Her mother had laughed at that, and then had ushered her inside, asking where on earth she had been.  Hitomi hadn't answered.  She couldn't bring herself to tell her mother what had happened.  Mrs Kanzaki had called Yukari and Amano, and they had rushed over immediately.

But the thing was, they thought she had been sick.  Sick with the stomach flu, and she had been throwing up constantly for the last few days.  It wasn't until she had described exactly what they had been there with, with Van, the dragon, Yukari twisting her ankle…that they had finally remembered. 

"Oh, right, I remember know…we raced home, and your mother said that you were sick…and she'd call us as soon as you got better."  Yukari had said.  Amano had sat there, and just stared at her. 

"Weren't you supposed to go away?"  Hitomi had asked. Amano had answered that it had been delayed, something to do with registration, or something.

Hitomi had also missed that day of school, and Yukari had brought back the work that she needed to catch up on.  For a week she managed to survive, she got caught up in school, she talked to Yukari and Amano, talked to her mother, though she still couldn't tell her where she had gone.  But then the true loss of the situation hit her.  She had left Gaea, and even though she was glad she had gotten to see her family, she wanted to go back.  And she couldn't.

She remembered how the despair washed over her, like getting drenched in the rain.  How she realised she had left her love behind, her friends, everything she had had there, and there wasn't away of getting it back.  She had talked to Van, but they couldn't say much to each other, and that wasn't the same as being in his arms.  She had stopped caring.

She didn't eat anymore, and school work was forgotten.  She spent hours in her room, just blocking out everything.  Yukari and Amano, her mother they had all tried to talk to her, but nothing worked.  It wasn't until Hitomi almost died, that she was admitted into a programme at the hospital where she was constantly watched, and fed.  There was even a psychiatrist, Dr Waver, who would come and talk to her every day for half an hour. And after telling him about Gaea, they had really thought she was crazy.  "Delusional with fever" had been what they had said, during the alleged four days she had been gone.  At least they didn't try to throw her into the mental ward. 

After that, she had kept her mouth shut, and tried to eat.  They had labelled her as 'anorexic', but that wasn't true.  She was not starving herself for beauty, she was starving herself for love.  After about a year in the clinic, she was able to go home.  Her family kept a watchful eye on her, meals were always to be eaten, and she started to throw herself into her school work and track.

She had succeeded somewhat, and had been able to skip a grade.  Yukari and Amano started going out on Hitomi's insistence, and she had managed to stay out of the hospital.  Finally one night, she had told them everything.  Everything that had ever happened to her in Gaea.  Her love of Van, Escaflowne, Merle, Allen, Dilandau, Folken-everything.  They had sat by her, and weren't sure if they believed her or not.  But after bringing Van's feather out, and making the connection of the boy fighting the dragon the day she disappeared, they had believed her more.  She still wasn't totally sure if they believed her.

She and Van talked a lot back then, and he was the one who had convinced her to start eating again.  Whenever she had a problem, she would go to him.  But it got less and less.  And soon it was once a month, or even less than that.

But at seventeen, she was about to graduate high school, and taking college classes.  A boy had transferred into her class, from another country, and ended up sitting next to her.  She had started to show him around school, and then they had become good friends with each other.  There was a dance for all seniors, and they had gone together.  Yukari and Amano liked him as well, and the four often hung out with each other.

Bradley had worked hard to catch up with her, so he could graduate college with her.  She was already a year ahead, and in the classes she wanted to major in, two years ahead.  He worked hard, and managed to catch up with her, leaving Amano and Yukari both in their first year, while Bradley and Hitomi were in their third.

Bradley and she had started to spend more time together, and then they started to date.  They had dated steadily for two years, and had been friends for three.  And then he had asked her to marry him.  In a way, she was sure she could be happy with him.  He had already showed her pictures of the house the company had already purchased for him, the company car he was to get, and other assorted pictures of the new town.  It was a dream world, paradise to any other woman. 

But Hitomi Kanzaki was not 'any other woman'.  She had found true love before, and though she realised that she did love Bradley, she did not love him enough to marry him.  But marrying Van was impossible.  He was in Gaea, another world.  How was she to marry him?  She had to settle for Bradley.  But then that wasn't fair to Bradley. 

Hitomi Kanzaki sat at a single table, sipping a glass of hot tea, nibbling on a breadstick.  She was truly free at the moment.  What a shame all her troubles would be waiting on her doorstep as she as she reached her apartment.

*          *          *

It was almost ten when she reached her apartment.  She grabbled in her purse for her key, and upon finding it, stuck it into the door, unlocking it.  What she didn't realise was that the door was already unlocked.  She had a small hall in her apartment, really more of an entry way.  She kicked of her boots, hung up her coat, and set her purse on the small umbrella stand/table.  She had already picked her mail up on the way in, and sorted through it, making her way to the kitchen.  She never realised that the kitchen light was on, until she opened up the door. 

Her nose was still in the mail.  She had received a letter from Danielle, a cousin on her father's side, who was fairly close to her.   She had also received two bills, electrical and water, two announcements for sales and discounts, and a magazine.  She turned the door knob, and pushed the door opened, blinking in the light.  There stood Bradley.

*          *          *

Bradley was sitting there, flipping through a woman's magazine he must have gotten off of her coffee table in the living room.  He looked up as the door opened.  "Hello, Hitomi."

The letters dropped from her hand, falling to the floor.  "What-what are you doing here?"  Her voice changed from surprised to angry.  "And how the hell did you get in?  I always keep the door locked, I'm on the third story, and Yukari has the only spare key."

Bradley shrugged and held up a key.  "I convinced Yukari to give me hers.  It's not like she'll need it after two weeks."

Hitomi shook her head.  "You're changing the topic.  What are you doing here?"