"It's just so humiliating." a voice says, as the screen shows us a barren land filled with tents and guymelefs. "We just couldn't hold in the face of Zaibach's military might. Still, we must hold this position."
    The camaera pans towards the speaker and we see that 2 soldiers are kneeling in front of Van. Hitomi is standing a few feet away, looking a little out of place.
    "We have to hold the line until the Alliance's main forces arrive." adds the other soldier. [sudden Gundam Wing flashback here]. "Our remaining solders are few."
    They ask Van to help them, they will fight side by side.
    Van hesitates a moment before answering. "I, Van Fanel, will aid you and lead your troops onto the battlefield."
    "We thank you." the soldiers say in unison.
    "There is but one favour I ask," adds the young king. "I would like you to escort her to Asturia." he motions to Hitomi.
    "Very well," agrees one of them. "She will be made ready at once." The soldiers exit quickly, leaving the two alone. Van faces Hitomi.
    "But I want to stay..." she protests lightly. "You know, I might be able to help you in some way, Van."
    "I know that if you stayed, I would rely on you. I need you to understand... I don't want to rely on your powers." At this point, he gives her the most caring look... *flicks away a tear*.
    "Van." says Hitomi, in that "are you sure" tone of voice.
    She is soon whisked away by the Asturian airship. From the window, she watches Van as she slowly drifts away. He returns her longing gaze.

    "I don't understand..." begins General Adelfus. "If we have this many troops, why haven't we permission to advance? I'd like to know just what Emperor Dornkirk is thinking."
    And my, aren't we lucky! We get to see what Dornkirk is up to.
    "I can see it," the wrinkled guy in the overly huge chair says, doing the usual telescopey-thing. "Fate will lead the girl into my hands. The zone of absolute fortune will finally be set in motion."
 
    It's raining heavily in Asturia. Allen and Hitomi watch it fall from the windows in a room in the Asturian castle.
    "Rain..." begins Allen solemnly, causing Hitomi to be jerked from her thoughts. "There's something sad about the rain... it washes everything away." he turns to face her. "Van loves you, you know, Hitomi, that's why he brought you back to Gaia. And I know that... that you wanted to come back too." he smiles. "You know, this may be the first time... that a woman's ever refused my advances."
    "Allen, I--" Hitomi looks apologetic.
    "It's okay, don't worry about it." he assures her gently. "Van's going to return safely because (he struggles with these next few words] the most important person in the world to him is here... you."

    "Pathetic!" scowls Dryden, from his desk in a big room in the castle. "War's useless! Nothing good ever comes of it. It just kills and destroys." [wow, talk about stating the obvious] "A merchant like myself who only sees tags on goods can't do a thing to stop a war that destroys them. What a cruel joke."
    "Millerna, who had previously been watching the rain fall from a large window-door, approaches him. "Uhh, what's wrong?"
[weren't you listening?] "you don't seem yourself."
    "I suppose I don't." agrees Dryden angrily. He gets up and walks over to her. He caresses her cheek. "Ohh, you are so beautiful. Even a goddess would be jealous."
    "Oh, Dryden." says Millerna modestly.
    The merchant prince drops his hand down to her arm and takes her hand in his. He encloses something in it, and walks a few feet away. We see that what he left in her palm is his wedding ring.
    "I'm not the kind of man you deserve yet." is his explanation.
    "What are you saying?" asks Millerna, alarmed.
    "This war will soon be over. Whichever side winds, the people sacrificed will still be there. I want to start over again, with them. Who knows... there may be something a man like me would be good for. I'll live as a merchant, alongside them. Maybe that's the best shortcut to becoming the man you deserve." he heads for the door.
    "Wait a minute, Dryden." Millerna halts him. "...I don't know if I'll be waiting."
    "I can make you fall for me..." says Dryden, not turning around. "Because I love you more than anything." he leaves the room.
    Millerna watches the retreating figure, and her hand closes around the ring. She begins to cry silently.

    "So, you want to help Van." says Folken. He and Hitomi are in his lab.
    "Folken, tell me how to create a pillar of light and go to Zaibach." her voice is shaky. "It's my duty to go and see Dornkirk, and to get him to stop all this fighting!"
    Folken turns to the chemicals on his table. "Dornkirk's not the tupe to listen to anyone." he says flatly. "Besides, if you were to put yourself in danger, it could hurt Van. Anyway, I should be the one who confronts Dornkirk." he tells her how he thinks a pillar of light can be created, and that he will settle the matter himself.
    "No, you musn't!" the great protesteress protests. She has a sudden vision of a lifeless Folken, and feathers falling into a puddle of red liquid.
    No... if he goes to see Dornkirk, he'll die! Folken eyes her suspiciously, but says nothing. 

    "I suppose he was being kind, in his own way." Millerna looks out the window. Allen is kneeling a few metres behind her. "I thought that he would make me happy... I know that it was all wrong. And I didn't realize it until Dryden left me." she turns to face the blond knight. "You knew. You knew all along, didn't you."
    "Please, Princess Millerna--" he begins.
    "Don't say anything! If I hear one kind word from you, I'll start to rely on you. I don't want to be a burden to you. I'm going to be just fine."
    "Allen smiles and announces that he is leaving for the battlefield. Millerna wishes him luck.

 Tents are scattered around the battlefield. In one of them, a blue flame flickers. Next to it is a seated Dilandau, looking scared and deep in thought.
    Jajuka enters. "Lord Dilandau." Dilly-boy looks up, still a little dazed. Jajuka informs him that they've received their orders.
    "Oh really," the younger boy sneers. "It's been a while since we've had a good battle. This is going to be fun."

    The battle begins with many forces attacking many forces, and Van letting out his famous battle cry. Guymelefs are sliced and diced.

    "What? Use our ultimate weapon??" a soldier exclaims.
    "At this rate, we won't even make it to enemy headquarters!" a fat man sweating a great deal says. "We'll have to blast out way through!!" they are evidently on a big ship.
    "But sir! Our allies are on the battlefield!"
    "I don't care! Zaibach, we are going to teach you a lesson!"

 "Oh Van..." sighs Hitomi*, looking out from her porch. It's nighttime. She returns to her room, only to find a catgirl with pink hair on her bed, crying.
    "Merle?" the girl from the Mystic Moon says gently. "What's wrong, Merle?"
    "Can I stay here?" the catgirl asks through tears.
    "Yes!"
    "I feel as if Lord Van is never going to come back!" she throws herself into Hitomi's arms, saying that she's scared.
    "Believe in him." Hitomi soothes, hugging the catgirl. "Van's going to come back [because I, his beloved, am here]. Alright Merle?"

    "We're over the target airspace." a muffled voice announces. He and another soldier are in a little aircraft, speaking through.. er... "flightmasks". "Now dropping!" with that, a very large object is released from the aircraft. It falls. When it lands, it blows up, and a huge bright light goes off, destroying everything it touches. Soldiers and floating fortresses are litterally torn apart. [ewww].
    "I can't believe they actually used it!" exclaims Allen.
    From her window, Hitomi can see the light [of the blast, not 'The Light']
    "Kio, take us behind those mountains!" orders Gadus from the Crusade.
    "Yessir!"
    "This isn't war," Gadus comments angrily. "It's a mass slaughter!"
    The light eventually stops at a certain pointing, managing to get only a portion of another Floating Fortress, which crashes to the ground. Adelphos emerges from the wreck, threatening to make them pay for releasing their ultimate weapon.
    Naturally, the main characters in their fancy-shmancy guymelefs remain unharmed.
    "What just happened?" Van asks shaily. "It's gone... there's nothing left!" and he's right. Where a whole bunch of troops just were is now a humoungous hole.
    Suddenly, a guyme;ef comes up behind him.
    "What are you madmen doing??" the pilot cries. "Do you think you could possible wipe out Zaibach??" Instinctively, Van clashes swords with him, and within a few seconds has crushed his opponent's energist.
    "Curse you all!!! Curse you aAHHH!!!" the pilot screams before being engulfed by flames.
    "Van is shaking. "No I... No I didn't!" he's in shock that he just killed someone.
 
    Hitomi looks up suddenly. "Van't hurting." she says. "Van's hurting, I can feel it!" Merle looks up. Hitomi runs out of the room.

    Folken is sitting at his desk, concentrating.
    "Folken!" calls a female voice behind him. He turns around and sees Hitomi at the top of the stairs which descends into his laboratory. He stands as the girl runs towards him.
    "Van's hurting." she says. "I... i want to help him." she stops to catch her breath.
    "Somehow, I knew you would come, Hitomi." Folken says casually.
    "But I saw something that was..." Hitomi begins and the man looks at her with curiousity.
    "Well, I saw that you might die in Zaibach, Folken! I saw something that was so horrible..." 
    "You needn't worry about that." assures Folken. "You see, I don't have much longer to live." He turns around and strips down to his waist. He unfurls his wings, which are black. "A reaction of fortune is shortening my life." he explains. "These black wings are proof of that.
    "Your black wings are..."
    "He turns to face her. "I plan to attone with my life for my many crimes from working for Dornkirk. This is my fate."
    "No, you can't!" cries Hitomi. "If you die, you'll leave Van all alone, I don't want to see him alone! I can't stand the thought of him being unhappy!**" she's close to tears.
    "Don't worry, Van will succeed." says Folken calmly. "I will leave my body behind... all for the sake of a new world."
    "No, that's not right! I will do everything I can... to change that awful fate!" Hitomi promises. With that, her pendant glows and the little machine whirs. She and Folken are engulfed by a familiar pillar of light.

    On the battlefield, Allen and Van continue the destroying of enemy melefs. [aha! So Van was wrong! There was something left!]
    "Just where is that red guymelef?" Allen growls.

    "They've come." Dornkirk announces to anyone who wants to listen.
    The pillar that once surrounded Hitomi and Folken disappears, dropping them off at Emperor Dornkirk's fortress.
 "Where are we?" Hitomi inquires.
    "Everything is now in place. All the pieces have come to me. The time has come to use the full pwer of the fate-alteration machine! All is proceeding according to my will."
    "Your will?" sneers Folken.
    "Yessss," she old man hisses. "I guided fate... so that you would bring the girl from the Jystic Moon to me."
    This information alarms the two.
    "Tell me just how long do you plan to toy with fate??" demands Folken angrily.
    "Foolish question." Dornkirk dismisses it easily. "You should know my true intentions."
    "Then you should know what I'm planning to do!" retorts Folken.
    "You have come to kill me, am I right?" Dornkirk says simply.
    Hitomi seems scared that the old geezer knew this information, but Folken just looks outraged.
    "Well come on, kill me!" Dornkirk encourages, sounding like a father at his son's baseball game, telling him to "hit a homer". "Come on, what are you waiting for, Folken?" The black-winged angel pulls out his sword.
    "No, Folken!" Hitomi protests. Dornkirk begins to remove all his protection, laughing insanely. Finally, after all the layers are removed, he stands. And dang, are we ever overjoyed that his beard is extremely long. [ewww!].
    "Now is the time to fight with me, Lord Folken!" he shouts to the figure down below. He laughs some more, more maniacally this time.
    "Monster..." Folken growls, and takes flight. Hitomi tries to stop him but he ignores her, flying faster and faster towards the old naked guy. He lands at Dornkirk's platform.
    "No, don't!!!!" screams Hitomi.
    But it's too late. Folken, overcome with anger, brings down the sword, cutting Dornkirk in two. Green liquid oozes from the corpse. However...
    The scene plays in slow motion as Folken's sword slowly comes down. After killing Dornkirk, the sword goes through the body and hits the metal layer. The tip of the Fanelian's sword breaks off, and lands right in his chest.
 Folken gasps for air, realizing that he is going to die. "I see..." he whispers. "This is the heart of the fate-alteration. Where action and reaction are the most.... powerful..." he continues to breathe heavily. "But that's alright because now the war will be over. May Gaia find true peace!" with that, he falls backwards, hitting the large machine once as he falls. He lands on the ground [naturally, the blood was cut from this scene, damn those editors] and says one thing before dying: "Van."
    "Folken! No!!!!!" Hitomi screams.
 
    On the battlefield, Van freezes, sensing his brother's death. "B-brother!" Images play through his mind of when he was a child. "Brother!" says little Van, running up to the aqua-haired teenager. The older one picks him up and twirls him around in the air, both of them laughing merrily. 
    "B..brother..." Van whispers, and tears are streaming down his face.

    "I... I feel Van crying." Hitomi says warily. Feeling his immense pain, she begins to cry too. "Van... why? Why do things like this always happen? No more... I don't want to see any more! I'm sick of this kind of fate!" with those powerful last words, the fate-alteration machine whirs, and a ghost appears before her, surrounded by a faint green light.
    "It has begun." says dead-Dornkirk, dressed in a long cloak and using a cane to support himself.
    "Who are you?" Hitomi asks. [blind, much?]
    "Just sit back and watch with me, young lady." invites Dornkirk. "Watch the zone of absolute fortune."
    "Yes, but you're..." she stutters, finally figuring it out.

    On the battlefield, Allen defeats a few more melefs and looks around for Van.
    Van is in Escaflowne, standing over a "dead" guymelef, with the rising sun behind him. "Brother!!!!!!!!!!!!" he mourns.
To be continued.... (for the last time, *sniff*)

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