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.


"...the prince is injured? How could..."

"Not quite."

Ruby's eyes drifted open, heavy as lead weights. Lights, candles, she thought... they glittered at a distance past her feet. An amulet design, on the wall... healing. A room...? How had she gotten into a... room...?

"Sh, she's awake-"

Her eyes fell shut again, aching from the sudden stab of illumination and a headache that would have felled a dragon. Where was she? It didn't matter. They didn't sound like the men in the forest...

Sleep seemed so inviting, now. Nothing would be real, if she could just slip into a dream...


//"They're almost here! Brother-!"

"Shh." A slender hand, calloused from years of sword practice and training, clapped over her mouth gently. Deep, serious green eyes stared directly into hers, his nose almost pressed against his own hand, he was leaning so close to her. In barely a whisper, he continued. "They're going to find us no matter what we do. We have to run."

Ruby nodded, subdued, when he paused for her answer. Venturing a reply, she rasped, "Where?"

He carefully removed his hand, pressing her back against the wall and pointing out to the forest. They had made it outside of the city gates, but before them lay a long expanse of hills - smooth, grassy hills, moonlit, without any kind of shelter aside from their natural curves and burrows.

"The forest. See how it comes out from both sides there, and then shapes itself like a crescent near the mountains?" She nodded again, afraid to speak. Even his whisper, now that she realized the quiet around them, seemed unbearably loud. And the shadows... they were coming. She could hear them, vaguely - but they were still on the streets. "If you run to the right side, and I run to the left, they won't be able to tell which one of us is which - it's too dark."

She nodded again, although this time the motion was slower, weighted down by a sudden dread. He wanted her to go into the forest... alone? Without him? It was so... dark...

Ruby opened her mouth again, but his hand covered it again quickly, and she clamped her lips shut. "I know you're afraid of the dark, silly. But it isn't that bad - the Mystic Moon is out, and all of the big constallations are in the sky this month. It'll be okay." She shook her head frantically, grabbing a handful of his tunic and holding onto it as if she would be swept away without it. He sighed. "I'll still be there. I'll find you out there. Keep walking toward the mountains and you won't get lost."

All she could do was shake her head. No! She wanted to shout it, because she knew that if they got lost, they'd be lost forever. The children downstairs always said that - if you got lost in the forest, you'd be eaten by dragons and no one would ever find you or know what happened! What if her brother was eaten by a dragon? No!

She released his tunic and flung her spindly arms around his chest, pressing her face into the warm cloth and shaking her head again. Ruby didn't want to go - she didn't want to leave him. Couldn't he do what she wanted? He always laughed and let her have her way at home... but he wasn't laughing now. "Leven..."

"It'll be fine, it'll be fine." He squeezed her hard, rocking her back and forth. "Just like when we steal Cook's cakes and run down different halls so they don't know who to follow. Same thing." She only clung more tightly at the memory. "What's wrong - are you worried about me? Silly." He tugged at her braid gently, a breath of laughter in her ear. "I have my sword - just watch, I'll end up saving you instead, just like the 'damsels in distress' in Father's stories. And when we get home I'll make you shine my boots just like the little baker boy does..."

She kicked at his shins, but before she could land a blow he pulled her away from the wall and into a run, leading her through the tall grass to the beginnings of the forest and away from the city. Ruby didn't look back - she couldn't, because her brother was pushing her so hard. He was still close to her, but soon...

Leven grinned down at her, pushing something into her hands - a dagger. She wasn't allowed to touch weapons like this yet, but he was giving it to her anyway... When she grabbed the hilt, too scared to drop it, she felt the impression of their mother's amulet seal embedded into the end. Cold on her hand, like a stamp.

"They see us from the walls!" He didn't bother to whisper now; he simply released her shoulder and threw another glance back, before pushing her harder with both hands. As if she could run any faster! They were far from the walls already, but again, she heard them... shouts, and a creak that could only mean they were opening the gates more widely - if they had horses, would she or Leven even make it to the forest?

"Brother!" She didn't even try to look back; it was hard enough to run through the grass without tripping over rocks, or catching her toes in gopher holes. The moons were bright, but not bright enough - she still couldn't bear the thought of being left alone even out /here/... What would it be like in the forest? "Don't go! Leven~!"

"Run!" He shoved her toward the trees he'd pointed out to her earlier, nearly sending her sprawling. It was a supreme effort on her part just to keep on her feet.

"No! Leven!" She slowed down, veering back toward him. "Don't leave me alone!"

"Go!" The ferocity of the shout startled her into action again, and she hesitantly turned back toward her half of the forest, trying her best to ignore the shouts and shadows that she knew were gaining on them. "Don't stop, Ruby! Don't ever let them catch you!"

She ran. The wind was against them, carrying their shouts back to their enemies, their scents to whoever could follow them... "Leven...!" One last shout - her last try. "I don't wanna be alone!"

Leven's green eyes flashed at her over the distance growing between them. "RUN!"

Ruby ran.//


Wetness ran down Ruby's cheeks; a weak breeze, ever so soft, chilled her skin. It must have rained while she was sleeping, or perhaps it was just her imagination... Soft, warm wool rubbed against her exposed skin when she shifted, and her arm... her arm hurt. But it hurt even more to breathe. She was sure that some invisible hand had reached into her chest and clutched its bony fist around her heart.

No, not rain... tears. She was crying. And alone. Her arm didn't hurt enough to make her cry, but her chest did.

Leven. Why did she remember him now? Why?

She ran. Ruby was always running. Into the forest, into the city... she'd learned not to run away from dragons, after her first month spent running and hiding in terror of the things. The beastmen had imparted that secret upon her, something even they admitted was hard-earned -- the dragons respected courage and calm. After that, she'd never run from them again.

But she hadn't ever found Leven either. Not in the first week, or the first month, or the first year... Ruby remembered searching day after day for hours, following the dragon trails, avoiding the roads, scared to death of getting too close to the city, lest those shadows find her again... Her brother wanted her free, and she would not dishonor him. They wouldn't ever catch her - not as long as she was breathing!

But he was still gone. Leven never returned... never found her and saved her.

"Young lady?"

Cry it away... The shaman in the mountains had told her that crying was a release - crying would ease the pain, if she would just accept it and let it go. But he was wrong in this case. Maybe crying made it go away for awhile, but it was back again...

A soft cloth brushed her skin, wiping the tears from her cheeks and ears. More welled up to take their place, but the hands tending to her were patient; even though she refused to open her eyes, the gentle touch brushed away the wetness and soothed, accompanied by a crooning lulluby so soft it almost seemed like an echo. But it was a familiar echo, and Ruby was tempted to drift off into sleep again and ignore the mystery of her surroundings in favor of the pleasant feeling that old, comforting voice summoned to her heart.

But no, she would not run away. Leven told her to run from danger, but this was nothing /dangerous/... She knew beyond a doubt that wherever she was, it was safe and warm, and it would open its arms to protect her. She even recognized the ever so faint scent that drifted along the air currents, though placing it was nearly impossible. A mixture of wax and hot iron, with a tiny trace of pepper and the unmistakable scent of baking bread. It was like being home again.

Yes... home.

Ruby struggled to open her eyes, lashes sticking together and dropping stray tears into her eyes as she blinked at her surroundings. It was all a blur of candlelight and brown at first, but as her eyes adjusted and the tears faded, she found herself staring at a stone wall the color of sandstone. A crest was etched into its surface, shallow but distinct; her fingers crept to her hip of their own accord, where her dagger would normally rest tucked behind her belt.

It was gone now of course - not surprising. She was left only with her smallclothes beneath the blankets, but that was expected. The crest on the wall... it was a seal. A cleric's seal. And this was definitely a sickbed, stuffed and covered for warmth, the type of bed one would be placed in to burn away a fever. Of course they wouldn't leave her the dagger...

But she didn't need it. The crest was etched into her mind, the very same as the decoration on the hilt of her blade. She'd spent hours studying it over the years, trying to draw the faces of the memories it invoked back to her when she was too tired to travel. It was very odd to find it here, so suddenly; her mind twinged at the thought, but she was too tired to follow its path right now. Thinking could come later, when she was a little mroe awake, perhaps a little less hungry...

The old woman's voice - it was definitely female, aged beyond anything she was used to - ceased its humming, fading away like the wind, though a rustle assured her that her watcher was still present beside the bed.

But who was it? Ruby turned her head, the task more difficult than it should have been at first. Her cheek fell to press against the cool linen of the pillow and she stared with bleary eyes at the owner of the gentle fingers that had wiped her tears away and kept her warm.

"Those jade eyes of yours are a welcome sight, Highness. We were afraid you would sleep forever."

Ruby blinked again, staring at the old woman in confusion. 'Highness'? She tried to sit up, and managed to lever herself a few inches away from the mattress with her good arm, though she fell back again a moment later. The old woman chuckled, her shoulders shaking under stone-gray robes, and a bony hand rose to pat her arm through the blanket.

"Stay still now, young lady. We won't let any harm come to you here." She leaned back in her chair, hand sliding from the covers to fall into her lap. Her eyes were fixed on Ruby, far clearer than she would have given an old woman credit for - this was no decrepit, feeble-minded elder. "You musn't overtax yourself. We won't have you die on us now that we've finally found you again."

What? Maybe she wasn't as sharp-minded as she looked. The woman spoke as thought Ruby was someone she knew, when that was most certainly not the case. Oh, the song was familiar... Even her voice seemed a little bit like someone she remembered from her home years and years ago. But... she did not know this place. She did not know this person. 'Found her again'?

Maybe she'd been mistaken for someone else. Why, she was nearly a match for her brother; there must be at least one other person she might look like in the world. Maybe even in Fanelia.

"Perhaps this isn't a good time, Alaine." The voice fell soft and precise, from a shadowed corner behind the old woman. Ruby turned her gaze that way, just able to make out the outline of a tall, well-chiseled figure in the dim light. A pair of eyes glinted, but whether they were fixed on the bed or the woman sitting beside it, she couldn't tell.

"There will never be a good time," Alaine muttered, twisting around to look over her shoulder. "What would you suggest then, General?"

Ruby felt her stomach drop in horrified surprise, and her wide eyes traveled back to the corner in which the 'general' was standing. Hiding really, she assumed, because he must have expected that she would recognize his voice.

"She needs rest, woman. That wound has clearly taken its toll on her - has her fever gone down yet?"

Soft, precise, she had thought...? Yes, and very cold, with a biting edge to it that no measure of velvet or lowering of pitch could hide. It sounded different here, but it had not changed much from the night before, now had it? The same layering of command, and that hint of sarcasm.

Yes, it was him - the one with the sword! /General/!

He stepped out of the shadow, into the circle of candlelight that illuminated Alaine. Ruby wanted nothing more than to shrink back into her blankets and hide like a child, a coward, but she couldn't move. Couldn't even twitch. Those cold eyes were all she needed to see, more than she ever wanted to know.

"Rest, Highness," he murmured to her with a silky smile, quite unsuited to his chill face. "Welcome back."