Disclaimer: Escaflowne belongs to people other than me - I'm just writing a story about it. Comments are more than welcome, but please don't use anything in the fic without asking, etc. ...My original plan involved dragons, hence the setting in Fanelia, but don't know what happened to that idea. ^^ Consider this a century or two before Escaflowne... and the title is still tentative right now.


'Crowded' did not begin to describe the streets of Fanelia's capitol. To Ruby, who only remembered seeing this many people together in her vaguest of memories, it was unbelievable. People shoved their way through gatherings, shopkeepers shouted at each other across streets, vendors cried their wares... and everwhere, a thin pall of smoke hung in the air like a residue. Torches, coal, wagons, sparks and smoke from the blacksmithies... it all spoke unmistakably of /civilization/ - something she hadn't really missed...

It was so much cleaner out in the forests, so much quieter. Maybe it was a little lonely once in awhile - oh, who was she kidding... all the time... - but it had a feeling of depth and earthiness that could not penetrate this place. Here, it was all covered and warped with the presence of so many humans, and the taint of their technology. Maybe that was just the beastmen talking, but she could see where they were coming from. The city had its advantages, but how could anyone live in a place like this?

It was /alive/... but not in the way the forest was. It was almost frightening.

But fright wasn't a luxury she could enjoy right now. Ruby hitched her newly acquired cloak over her wounded arm and walked carefully through the crowd, careful to both avoid contact with others and remain steady on her feet. The injury had taken its toll; though she had managed to staunch the flow of blood, dizziness had plagued her since early morning, and if she didn't find a shaman or doctor of some sorts, it would only worsen.

And then there was the problem of her pursuers. They had left her trail in the middle of the night, but that did not mean they had given up no her; quite the contrary... it was obvious where she would have to go. Fanelia was the only city within her range as a girl on foot and injured... They would be looking for her here too, and caution was very important.

But it was expensive. She didn't like to think of how she had 'acquired' this cloak...

How had she gotten into all of this? Leaving her home to run from people she didn't even know, the arrow wound, returning to Fanelia after so long... and now /stealing/. It was ridiculous! How could she let two complete strangers drive her into a situation like this? If she had just kept to herself for once and stayed at her shelter, none of this would be happening. She would be back to wandering the forest roads again, perhaps making another visit to the dragon dens, not trying desperately to hide in a crowd of people that frightened her almost as much as the men chasing her.

Ruby had never been good with crowds; she remembered vaguely being surrounded by a lot of people, but never alone like this. She hadn't liked it then, but she had a more reassuring presence back then, too. Mother, father, and a much-loved brother... they were little more than shades now, dead... almost forgotten.

//Leven.// She stopped unsteadily, dizziness clawing at her eyes and making the world look distant, tilted. With a gasp she fell back against the wall, hands pressed flat against the cold stone as if it could offer the steadiness her feet could not. Her arm hurt. It was just a dull ache now compared to the pain of the night before, but it had moved up, through her shoulder, down through the rest of her arm, and moving it was like trying to move stone.

Maybe it was just the loss of blood. Gods knew she felt as weak as a child, and if that man found her, well... there wasn't much she would be able to do to stop them.

Leven... he would have been able to help her, if he was here. He was trained as a samurai, or... at least he had begun his training. He knew about wounds, and field healing, and things that she could only dream of mastering when she had no one to teach her. He would have been able to help her.

But he wasn't here. She missed him so terribly that it brought tears to her eyes, yet she could not even remember his face. Not /his/ face. Certainly they had looked quite a bit alike, being so close as siblings, but even that did not bring his face into the clear focus she wanted. All she remembered were the little things - his easy laugh, his strength, when he would toss her over walls or windowsills so they could steal the cook's honeycakes before dinner, his long, silken hair that had been braided lest he be mistaken for a girl, or even Ruby herself.

She had only been a few years younger; from afar, with their hair loose, they could have been mirror images. They'd fooled the household staff for days, once.

Shivering, Ruby reluctantly removed her hands from the reassuring strength of the wall and gathered her cloak close. It wasn't the time to daydream, not with two murderers dogging her footsteps, but she couldn't shake the memories from her mind. That poor man was a mystery indeed... he invoked memories she had not allowed herself to think of for months.

Carefully, so as not to let in any more of the morning chill than she had to, Ruby pulled the kerchief from her pouch and spead it over her hand, holding it out so she could see it by the sunlight this time, rather than the pale moons.

His name was embroidered at the corner, the stitch swift and a bit crooked, as if it had been done quickly so the boy it had been meant for would not lose it. The cloth itself was worn and faded, where blood had not stained it black, and it had the look of a beloved possession, something its owner had wanted to keep despite its uselessness.

What is in a name?

She had been taught to read, before being driven into the forest by those black-cloaked shadows. Although someone her age - back then at least - still wouldn't know enough of the complicated writing system to read official documents or anything else meant for adults, she knew enough to figure out names. And although she had not learned most of these symbols at that age, she had known them by heart.

'Leven,' it said.

It hurt, more than her arm, to see the name. Her brother's name. The name of a dead man, out in the forest, forever separated from his family and his life and everything he might have been. It wasn't right. She had suffered like that - no one else should have to. Not in her opinion, anyway.

Ruby pushed herself away from the wall, summoning the strength to walk with great difficulty. Her legs felt like jelly, holding her up only by the strength of her will, and even the tiny slip of fabric in her hand felt like a great weight upon her arm as she stuffed it behind her belt. Not good; this was not good at all. She could barely walk - stumbling was more like it - and the crowds were slowly thinning as people returned home, or to their places of work. Great. Just great.

Cliff walls loomed high above the rooftops, still casting shade over the city despite the ever-marching pace of time. The sun wouldn't reach this part of Fanelia for a little while ye, although it already shined along the tips of the palace battlements. That helped a little bit... but she was too close to the palace. Crowds were sparse enough here already, and almost unheard of near the palace gates.

But where else was she going to go? She didn't know where the city authorities were, and this was important. She had to tell someone. Somebody would have to know who that man was, someone would have to be able to reach his family, give him a proper burial, /something/. She couldn't do it by herself.

It was getting harder to walk; she would have given anything to just find a patch of grass somewhere and collapse into sleep. She didn't even care if she could find a doctor anymore, as long as she could find some place to rest for a little while.

"HEY!"

Ruby stumbled to a halt, a stab of pain jolting thorugh her arm. Had she...?

"Watch where yer going!"

That voice...

"Hey kid!" Someone grabbed her wrist and jerked her around; her hood flew back, sunlight stabbed into her eyes. "Who the hell do you think you are to--"

Time seemed frozen, as they stared at each other. She didn't recognize the face, but she knew that voice better than she knew her own. It had echoed through the empty, moonlit forest mere hours ago...

His eyes moved from her face to her blood-stained hand, and then to her other arm. When his gaze met hers again, Ruby could almost feel the blood drain out of her face the way she felt it seeping out of the wound in her arm. He /knew/. What kind of luck was this? She had fled to the city only to run right into one of the men looking for her!

Ruby yanked her hand away and landed a kick to his knee before he could do more than open his mouth, and then she ran. Energy flowed through her veins and pushed away her fatigue - if not for that, she would have fallen within two steps. //Palace.// That was the only way - if she ran toward the palace gates, she was sure to run into guards. And if that man tried to run after her, maybe they would be able to save her. Maybe. If she could convince them she wasn't a criminal herself.

The world wavered again, and Ruby stumbled, barely catching herself before she hit the ground. Not /again/! Not when she had to get /away/! She started running again, but the street wasn't cooperating; she could see the stairs leading to the castle gate now, and the guards, but the cobblestones were getting rougher with each step, trying to trip her up before she could reach her destination. That couldn't happen - if she didn't get over there, she would be finished. There was no way to defend herself like this.

"My lord!"

Her foot caught on a cobblestone and Ruby flew forward with a wordless cry, arms wheeling despite the throbbing pain of her injury. She caught a glimpse of the two guards running down the street before she hit the ground, forehead smacking against the smoothed stones.

The blow stunned her, but her vision had begun to fade even before the fall. She didn't even know if that man was still chasing her; all she felt before sliding into blackness was the pressure of hands closing about her shoulders.