A different world...

Author note and disclaimers: First of all I don not own any of the Escaflowne characters. I do however own Ann, she’s my creation!, and I don’t won Varun. He’s property of Pyro_kittie_13.
And I don’t own the idea in this introduction, that’s the property of the Yahoo group I’m in. (www.groups.yahoo.com/group/gaeatheplanetofthelostsouls/)

And that’s it for this A/N. (There will be another one further down.)

Bit of a warning as well, mentioning of M/M relationships. If you don’t like that, then well... don’t read. ^__^

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Hitomi and Youkari have always been friends, since they both were kids, they always did have a certain something that drew them together. Hitomi got a mystical pendant from her grandmother, Youkari found one hanging from a branch of a cherry tree. Hitomi shared her gift with everyone, Youkari’s gift was kept like a dire secret.

Two gems of power, two wills, two nations.

When Van comes down to land on Earth, two girls meet him and when the beam of light lifts Hitomi off the ground, Amano rushes to her side, Hitomi’s fingers close around her pendant at the same time Youkari’s fingers let go and let the other pendant swing. Two wills collide, both wishing to be with the man they love.

The friends are separated from the moment they land on Gaia, Hitomi stays with Van, Youkari is transported across the lands to fall into a cold barren country. One travels in glory to the country of the new king, the other lays dying in the snow in the path of the soldiers returning victorious home.

Step after step armoured boots push through the snow fighting the blizzard beating into their faces and wrapping the warm fur cloaks closer to their bodies. Someone trips, there’s a disturbance in the ranks, a cold body is revealed beneath the snow. Shouts follow…

“It’s a woman!”….

There is more hassle in the ranks, the march is broken, gloved hands are turning her over…

“She’s alive!”…

Wrapped in a fur coat and thrown over the back of a strange mooing animal Youkari sleeps as she is piled up on top of the war spoils and transported like luggage to the heart of Zaibach.

Two paths shall cross again, two wills collide as two goddesses watch other two nations in their struggle for dominance. Two pendants swing in different directions spinning two different fates. Two brothers will meet, two friends come face to face as enemies, the stronger heart shall find true love and direct the future of Gaia

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Hitomi has the gem of fire, she is the guardian and seal of the white dragon. Her pendant is red and it swings clockwise. She sees the future just before it happens and sees the distant past. She uses her tarot cards to see or spin the fate. Her will is the end of war with all nations being free and living at peace with one another.

Youkari has the gem of ice, she is the guardian and seal of the black dragon. Her pendant is blue and spins counter clockwise. She sees the past just after it happened and the distant future. She uses her runes to see or spin the fate. Her will is the end of war with all nations united under one supreme rule so that there will be no two nations that could fight each other.
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A/N: That’s the history behind this fan fic. It’s actually set three years after the beginning of the rpg I’m basing this of. Me and a friend (Pyro) just started rping, when the group started to die down... and it actually turned out to be really interesting. It is a bit jumpy as it’s done as and PBM rpg, but if you bear with it, I think you’ll enjoy it.

And now some much needed information about the characters that has been placed in this fan fiction.

I’ll just give you guys the character sheets of the two characters that’s made up, meaning the main character and her friend. I suggest that you at least read Ann’s history, otherwise the fic may be a little confusing.

*Name: Anndrea Northeim
*Nickname: Ann
*Age: 19 or 20 she’s not entirely sure herself.
*Age they appear: somewhere between 17 and 21
*Height: 5.5’
*Ethnicity: White
*Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
*Occupation: Any job she can get, from mercenary to waitress
Blood Type: AB+
*Eyes: Blue
*Hair colour: Pink
*Hair style: Tussled, goes to about her shoulders.
*Build: Lean
*Complexion: Most part smooth, but she has her share of small scars from different struggles in her young life. She has a tribal tattoo on her left upper arm.
*Healthy: She has a frail mind when it comes to some things, and can be unpredictable at those times, along with constant pain in her right arm.
*Orientation: Heterosexual
*Prized Possession: Her mother’s wedding ring that she wears on a chain around her neck, and a pair of goggles. It’s the only things she has left of her family and rightful home.
Best friend: Varun
Motto: Take one day at a time, you don’t know what will happen tomorrow.
*Saying: “There’s always tomorrow”
Curse: Fuck
*Pet Peeve: People biting their nails
Favourite Colour: Blue
*Greatest fear: To be taken back to Zaibach.
*Distinguishing features: She has big blue eyes and two small white marks under her right eye, they almost look metallic.
*Likes: To spend time with Varun and his family.
*Dislikes: To be told what to do
*Strengths: She has a very strong will, and will do whatever she says she will do, can use her liquid metal blade to almost perfection.
*Weaknesses: She can become either paralyzed or go mental when Zaibach soldiers are to close or when any form of scientist comes within site. And she can’t swim...

*Powers/special abilities: Her liquid metal blade.

*Clothing/accessories: She has a blue shirt witch the left sleeve is reaching past her hand and the left one is off at the shoulder it only has a leather strap as decoration. She had black rather tight fitting pants and black shoes. The leather belt that is loosely resting on her hips holds her daggers and money pouch. She also has a pair of goggles that she always had with her since
she came to Gaea, it was a gift from her father...

*Soft spot: People who can truly make her laugh and feel at ease.

***Personality: Takes the days for what they are, tries not to think of her past or the future. She tires not to get involved with other peoples problems, she has enough of her own. Can be very bubbly and friendly when she has to be but when she goes into one of her bad moods, people should stay away, when she gets angry, she gets really angry.

*How they feel about themselves: Not to good. She feels like a failure.

*Habits: She rubs her right wrist when she’s nervous or afraid. She never bathes with other people around. She has a habit of taking of her shoes when she goes into some ones house, even if she knows that it’s ok to wear shoes inside.

*Darkest secret: Her liquid metal blade, and that she’s from Earth.


***History:
Hikari lived with her father because her mother passed away when she was very young. Her father gave her, her mothers wedding ring as a gift on her seventh birthday telling her to always have it near so it would bring her luck.

But one day she was swept of to Gaia, that day or rather that whole year had been very tearing on her, she had moved five times in four months, she hadn’t been able to make any friends, and the kids at school had bullied her ever since she started. She didn’t want to be there anymore, she wanted to go away somewhere where everything was different. Where everything was like in a fairytale, she had started to walk home by herself and ended up in an empty park and had climbed up onto the big slide and stood there for a long while, whishing that something would take her away. Wished to be somewhere else but where she was... eight year old Hikari got her wish, but unlucky for her she landed in the middle of Zaibach. She was taken for an orphan from a different part of the land she was captured to be experimented on by a crew of scientists.

But she was a failed experiment. It hadn\'t worked out like they had planned. They had meant to turn her into a boy, due to the boosted physical strength she would gain, and implanted a device in her right arm that would, when triggered, shoot out liquid metal that would form a blade over her hand for her to be able to use.

The device was operated into her arm, up her shoulder and down and around her spine, to be able to hold the amount of liquid metal that was needed. It was very risky and people before her had been paralyzed or even died.

They however succeeded with the device, but not to turn her into a boy it would only work for a few minutes and then she was back to normal again. At some point her hair started to turn from blond to pink during the experiments. No one really cared and didn’t even question why.

They didn\'t give up on using her sometime in battle though. They trained her, threatening to kill her if she didn\'t do as she was told, and did more of the sex altering experiments on her.

But when she turned 14 she was able to get away from her prison. When she got the opportunity she killed the scientist that was coming to get her from her cell, to once again try to turn her into a boy. But she had had enough, not wanting to be put trough that pain anymore, she had used her blade, almost slicing the man in two. She hid and after a week she was out on the streets of Zaibach. The young girl was taken in by an almost blind elderly lady, who took care of her and gave her clothes, but Ann had to leave pretty soon, due to the fact that she was being hunted.

She managed to sneak her way out of the city and eventually found her way to a small town in the middle of nowhere, it was mostly a bandit town, full of gambling and such things. She learned how to gamble and soon she was able to beat the drunken old fools in both cards and dice, so she made her living.

When she was 17 she accidentally met up with Varun in Asturia. He was well mannered and handsome young man with metallic grey eyes and fiery red hair. They met when Ann was gambling with a young woman, witch happened to be Millerna, witch she didn’t do often, and eventually won. She however never made the young girl pay up, it had been fare to easy to beat her. Varun hadn’t really liked it, he thought that women shouldn’t do such vulgar things, but he had a soft spot for the blond princess, witch he never spoke of, so whatever the princess did was ok. But he was never able to make himself speak to the princess... not once...

Ann had actually left her gambling place, and in the same time walked away from Varun, when she realized that she had left her bag on the docks. In her hurry to get back she bumped into the red haired man. She had been rude to him, telling him to get out of her way, but he just smiled and apologized and getting out of the way.

The whole thing had surprised Ann, not really expecting it but then just turned away from him and started to look for her bag. She eventually found it and when she was about to leave the docks, she caught a glimpse of the Mystic Moon, she still wished to go back at that time thinking that maybe someone was still waiting for her, as in a trance she started to walk further out a wooden pier, and getting dangerously close to the edge... Just as she took that dreadful step that almost sent her falling, Varun had however called out to her and grabbed onto her wrist, drawing her out of her trance and hindering her fall.

But Ann wasn’t one who liked being touched, so she had insulted Varun and taken a step back and fell, in her desperation she had grabbed on to Varun’s robes taking him with her in her fall.

Ann had almost drowned, having to use her blade to be able to stop sinking by piercing one of the support beams of the pier. Varun had seen it when he tried to save her, being shocked at what he saw he lost his breath and had to surface.

After much struggling, and almost drowning, Ann made it to the surface and pleaded for Varun to not say a word about her blade. Varun promised and offered her to come back to his home and dry up.

Since then they shared good times and bad times, but became close friends. Varun helped Ann trough some of her episodes regarding Zaibach, she had actually trashed one of the rooms in her panic, but he never blamed her...

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*Name: Varun Thymes
Nickname: wave-rider
*Age: 19
*Age they appear: 20ish
*Race: Shaman/healer
*Height: 6\' 3\"
*Weight: 180 lbs
*Ethnicity: Asturian
*Hometown: Palais
Blood Type: N/A
*Eyes: always slightly sad, metallic grey
*Hair colour: bright red
*Hair style: rather long, short light bangs parted in the middle falling across his forehead, in the back it\'s tied into a really low pony tail.
*Build: He\'s not a boulder muscle man, his features, especially his hands could almost be considered delicate, but his frame is rather large, he is tall, with very broad shoulders, strong neck and a solid firm build.
*Complexion: slightly tanned skin, he has a strange red mark on his forehead, like a gem, it is said to be a birthmark, but it looks more like a tattoo of some sort.
Best friend: Dryden
Motto: \"If you can let go of a hurt, do so„£hurts are not valuable enough to be kept\"
*Saying: \"To forgive doesn\'t always mean to forget, but to harbour venom in one\'s heart is not healthy\"
Curse: prefers not to curse, would never curse at a woman but the worst curse he has for a man is bastard
*Pet Peeve: men hitting women
Favourite Colour: red and gold
*Greatest fear: Being called into the army
*Distinguishing features: the colour of his eyes and hair stands out,

*Dislikes: soldiers, war, violence and aggression of any kind, women fighting, he despises a woman in armour, women doing men\'s work, be it politics in the upper classes or toiling the land in the lower, he thinks a woman can not retain her natural beauty and appeal if she is trying to be a man. Liars, his word means a world to him, rudeness, not being able to help people who are ill, marriages for convenience and not love, fathers selling their daughters off to the highest bidder.

*Strengths: A vast knowledge of medicine and languages, he is a scholar, studying has been a male privilege that he greatly enjoyed and took advantage of. He has insight into people that helps him a lot, his mild nature makes it easy for him to make friends, when in the water, he is a fish, he\'s braved the toughest sea waves and he loves to swim, he is great in the water and thinks that in the water he comes as close as he can to flying free like a bird, he has above then average physical strength and speed, partially from his above then average size, partially from the amount of times he spends outdoors and swimming in the sea, good exercise granted him health and strength. He can handle a sword well enough to defend himself and others around him, but he would much rather talk, and when he can, he would walk away from a fight no matter what the insult is, only persisting danger will back him into using his sword, he’s an extremely fast and skilled rider

*Weaknesses: He is far too naive and idealistic sometimes, he does not value his possessions much, like Dryden, he is a big spender, beautiful things are worth paying for, and he has a weak spot for helping anyone who asks him, he can not pass a beggar on the street without dropping a coin, his friends warn him that with his spending he\'ll go broke one day, when the situation calls for fighting, he always hesitates till the last moment before he draws a sword, an advantage to an experienced enemy, his honour will make it most hard for him to do an immoral deed like lying even when it\'s of great importance. He\'ll not fight a woman no matter what and he has a tendency to enjoy good wine a tad too much at parties, but fortunately, he is a quiet drunk and has never yet embarrassed himself.

*Powers/special abilities: his shamanic powers are not too great, nothing like the hypnotizing powers of the Shaman\'s in Freid, but he has a certain insight into people, when he talks to them he always knows if they are lying or telling the truth, you absolutely can not lie to him unless you are fooled yourself and believe yourself in what you are saying. He won\'t know what the truth is when you do lie to him unless it\'s a matter of a yes or a no, but he will know that what you said is not true.

*Clothing/accessories: he wears wide robes with a wide collar and long sleeves, over them a black long tunic with embroidered trim and short sleeves, all that is tied with a sash. Over his shoulders he always wears a bright red cloak with golden designs, in various places his clothing is held together with clasps decorated with large precious blue gems, the designs of the clothing are simple, but the rich colour of his cloak, the expensive materials and the gems decorating it suggest that he is very well off financially.

*Soft spot: anyone who is in trouble or in need and asking him for financial, or any other kind of help, he can\'t refuse a person in need as long as they really are in need, he would not spend on those who just want to rob him because he is kind.

***Personality: He is an idealist and a romantic, ambitious, when he gets an idea he will not stop working on it, sometimes for days without rest until he completes his project, but most other times he finds himself to be lazing away with not much better to do then stuff his head with more knowledge. He is kind and compassionate never able to refuse a plea from someone in need, a good listener to friends he has a soft heart, but in some things, he just has a resolve that won\'t break, like his ideal gender roles, no matter how much a woman may plead with him that it\'s a good idea, he\'ll not agree, he has an ideal of society and an ideal of every citizen in it, a perfect view and it\'s hard to change that view. He is a dreamer and a peaceful person, but he\'s not always happy or at peace with himself, often he is anxious, he longs for something better, the world around him is not the perfect world of his vision and he longs for freedom from it. He can be mellow at times, a friendly laid back person, but when you get him exited about something he can be most passionate, he believes in love, even though he has never loved anyone himself yet and always encourages it, and should he ever fall in love, he\'d court the woman of his dreams and follow her like a shadow till it killed him, but he would have what he desired (that doesn\'t mean that he\'d hurt the woman of course, himself more likely) he can be quite passionate. His temper is almost inexistent at most times, but if anyone ever pushed him to that extreme, that temper would be one that no one would wish to be met with. Most at ease when: In solitude lying in the grass, listening to the waves of the sea and staring up at the seagulls soaring in the sky Most ill at ease when: having to confront soldiers, or militia, or any other officials who proffer to use force rather then reason

Priorities: at the moment finishing his medical studies so he can travel abroad, his father’s ships go far and he wants to go, but his father won’t take a man with no use on board, if he becomes a healer before the ships come back, he can go on board as a healer

*How they feel about themselves: he’s a bit proud of who he is, his upbringing and his heritage, so generally a bit better then he should be

*Habits: tends to close his eyes when he feels angry, plays with the ring on his finger

***History: Born in the house of a rich merchant in Asturia since birth Varun was a bit spoiled. His tastes were always high and they were nurtured in the culturally rich environment of Palais. The first boy after two girls he has been the favourite of the family for some years. His father insisted to pay for his education and insisted that he gets the best one, but between learning and doing next to nothing when he was not Varun had too much time to just idle away and became quite a dreamer at an early age. Not much happened in his life, he went to the library, studied with his tutor, went out to ride with his friends, socialized, partied nothing too special until the age of fifteen when his father was invited to princess Millerna’s thirteenth birthday party. It was a grand party, bigger then he ever been to and no wonder, the girl was a princess! He didn’t think much of it until he first saw the thirteen year old girl, in his mind, she was the loveliest creature in the world and for the first time he has found it hard to approach her. He never did at the party, although he was sure that she had seen him at least a few times, it was hard to miss him, he stood out with his unordinary appearance. Varun fell in love then, at the age of fourteen, but there were things that completely prevented him from even trying, one, the princess was engaged to his very best friend since childhood, two, she was a princess, one didn’t just walk up to a princess and told her that he was in love, she had a duty to fulfil to her country, she could not spend time on her, and three, she did not fit into his ideology. Not only was this woman not as his perfect woman should be, but he could not seem to know how to approach her, she was an enigma to him and he reasoned that a woman that was so not like his perfect lady could not be a woman he could love. He has convinced himself almost completely that it had to be something else and therefore does not consider himself in love or pursue her in any way. HE has been even more dreamier ever since then though, his life, so very normal and common was starting to make him restless, nothing, absolutely nothing was happening! It was infuriating to the young man, he longed for something different and then, all too soon he got his wish. The arrival of Zaibach for the first time when he was sixteen, almost seventeen marked the first turn in events, a turn to something he did not like, if Zaibach was making alliances, then there would be war and he despised the idea of his beautiful home being involved in war of any kind. He despised Zaibach for their reputation as well, but he was loyal to his country and his king and when summoned to welcome Zaibach in, he did. Almost at the same time another event happened that shook him and at the same time strengthened his belief in his ideals. His eldest sister fell in love, the man was from Freid, a traveller and a philosopher, young, but learned. She was most infatuated and after the second week of seeing him, her resolve was to go wherever he goes. Of course, Varun’s father would hear of no such thing, his eldest daughter marrying some travelling talker with not a penny behind him! Not listening to reason she chose elopement and in the name of true love Varun helped her. Fortunately for her, the match was a happy one and when they got to Freid by chance her new husband was offered a teaching job which he accepted, she lives there now rather happily and that eases Varun’s heart, but at the same time, he can not fully let go of the guilt that accompanies him, he defied his father and broke his word, unthinkable and unforgivable in his mind. While Varun forgives others easily, he is not nearly as lenient on himself, if anyone should follow his ideals, it should be him first, practice what you preach so to speak. But after these series of events and turbulence his life once again settled down, it was more studying, more daily life, less excitement outside the music and the dancing and the wine of the nights. His father was starting to talk of him marrying and taking over the business, his second older sister was much more interested in the business though then he was, and the only reason why he ever even bothered with trying to oblige his father was to spare his sister from a man’s job, he could not see her travelling and managing such a job, or so much money, but of course, she could not see him managing any kind of money, large or small. As for the marrying part, he was resolved on marrying for love, but since princess Millerna, he saw no woman that intrigued him enough to arise any other feelings beside friendship. Years have passed since Zaibach became an ally as well, and no war happened, some people thought they were plotting, but most, including Varun forgot for the most part about Zaibach’s presence and went about their daily lives.
Biggest regret: not taking the chance to talk to princess Millerna when his father was invited to her birthday ball and he was taken too

Accomplishments: if his studies could be considered an accomplishment, they are, being chosen as the speaker at the welcoming ball that was thrown for Folken when he first came to Asturia after having made a successful alliance, he considers it an accomplishment because the king himself noticed him, but he opposes Zaibach in his heart therefore the job was not nearly as pleasant as it should have been

*Darkest secret: when his eldest sister eloped, he knew where she went and with whom, but for her sake, as she begged him and claimed to love the man with all her heart, he lied to his father and said that he didn’t know