A green light erupts from Dornkirk's fortress.  The pillar shoots into the air, then spreads across the world, and the current battlefield, making the sky a psychadelic green
Soldier 1: "What's that light?  It's from the Imperial capital.  Could it be..."
Soldier 2: "It's over.  The Empire is ruined."

Hitomi is still in Dornkirk's fortress, confronting his phantom image
Hitomi: "The Zone of Absolute Fortune?"
Dornkirk: "Yes.  The last process of the Fate Redirector will change our fate.  It will grant everyone's wishes, and create absolute happiness.  The true potential of the Atlantis Machine will be tested."
Hitomi: "That's... Isn't that what ruined Atlantis?"

The troops march on
Baslam Soldier: "Zaibach's army is withdrawing."
General: "Now that its main force is destroyed, Zaibach is dying out.  The aftermath of this war will be very important to our country of Baslam.  Change the course of Norte!  We'll kill those allied pigs now!"

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the allied armies continue to turn against each other
Soldier A: "It's Deidalas's army!  It's a surprise attack from Deidalas!"
Soldier B: "As soon as the war's outcome is determined, he takes action!  We'll defeat them instead!"

Chezario General: "Now is the time for Chezario Kingdom to conquer Gaea!  Destroy them!"

Trenchcoat Guy: "They wouldn't have won without us.  Don't hold back!  Destroy them all!"
o_O These guys look like Nazis...

Soldier I: "Enemy attack!  Enemy attack!"
Soldier II: "Baslam's army..."
They get mauled.  Off to the side, Allen's slicing apart the small guymelefs who try to attack him
Allen: "The ties between our allies have broken?!"

The Crusade hangs out with a bunch of the other warships
Gaddess: "What're they doing?!  Our allies have split up!"
Reeden: "Sarge, Baslam's floating ship is..."
Yup, the Baslam ship is practically right on top of them, dwarfing the size of the Crusade
General: "Cowards of Asturia...  Swat them from the skies!"
The Baslam ship rams the Crusade
Gaddess: "Descend!"
Too late.  One of the floating rocks and sails breaks off
Kio: "They got us!  The rock was broken off!"
Gaddess: "Crash land!"
The Crusade crashes, not too badly, so it looks like everyone's okay

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Van is fending off other glory-hunters.  He turns and sees the allied forces fighting each other
Van: "What?  Our enemy is Zaibach!"
The guymelef he was fighting hits him
Van: "Stop it!"
He swings his sword at it

And the pendant swings as well
Hitomi: "What's that?  Why are the allied armies fighting each other?"
Dornkirk: "People's thoughts are the cause of this."

Some guy in a guymelef chops down one of the Zaibach guymelefs
Guy: "It's so easy to hunt the remnants."
However, there's one remnant that's not so easy.  That would be the pyro in the red guymelef, who comes flying out of the smoke and impales one guymelef, then chops the aforementioned guy down the middle.  Dilandau laughs and holds up the guymelef on the end of his sword-claw
Dilandau: "My war hasn't ended yet... Van!"

Dornkirk: "War is expanding in the Zone of Absolute Fortune, where people's wishes are supposed to be granted.  Can't people escape the fate of war?  Are people willing to fight?"
Hitomi: "That can't be."

Doggy-man is off slicing down guys who try to pick him off
Jajuka: "I lost track of Lord Dilandau."
He has a flashback to when he first met Dilandau
~Sorcerer~: "Jajuka, I'm entrusting you with another child to take care of.  Keep our experiment between us."
The aforementioned child is a little girl crying in a room
~Child~: "Don't leave me alone!  Please, take me home!"
Jajuka walks in
~Jajuka~: "Eat something.  I'll be in trouble if you die."
The little girl looks up at him, and you see her face.  She looks like Allen's sister from his flashbacks
~Jajuka~: "Poor thing.  Your hair was cut off."
End flashback.  Continue present story
Jajuka: "I must find him quickly!"

Hitomi: "Please, stop the machine, and end the war!"
Dornkirk: "Impossible.  No one can stop changing fate once it has begun.  If destruction is our fate, we must accept it."

A cloud covers the Earth, and the battlefield become dark and ominous.  Van is still beating up on the guymelefs who get in his way
Van: "Damn!"
He looks up and sees one of the melefs in front of him get impaled on a set of claws.  The melef falls, revealing...
Van: "The red guymelef..."
Dilandau chuckles, and "Epistle" starts up again.  Uh, this isn't gonna be like last time those two faced off and this music played, is it?
Dilandau: "I finally found you.  I've been loooking for you for a long time, Van."
He shoots a ton of claws at Van, who manages to dodge all of them
Van: "Dilandau!"
Dilandau: "Here I come!"
He strikes, Van blocks
Dilandau: "Excellent!"
He lunges again, but Van catches the guymelef's arm with his sword, and cuts it off.  He then chops one of Dilandau's guymelef's legs off as well (It's only a flesh wound!).  Dilandau is now immobile against a rock wall, so trys the claw-shooting thing again.  Van deflects all those and cuts that arm off as well.  He yells, in a shot reused from episode 14 (uh oh).  He prepares to strike the defenseless pyro, but Jajuka jums in the way at the last second and gets cut in half himself
Dilandau: "Jajuka!"
Jajuka: "Lord Dilandau, please escape!"
There's a brief flashback of Jajuka and little Celena hanging out in a field of flowers
Jajuka: "It's okay to change back to Celena!  That gentle Celena...!"
The metal in his guymelef ignites, and he is burned up
Dilandau: "Jajuka..."
Flashback to Jajuka and Celena again, this time from Dilandau's POV
~Jajuka~: "Don't be afraid.  My name is Jajuka."
One of the Zaibach soldiers beats Jajuka against the wall
~Soldier~: "You mere beastman...!"
~Celena~: "Jajuka!"
~Jajuka~: "Don't!  Don't take her!  Celena!"
That sparked something...
Dilandau: "Jajuka, don't leave me alone..."
His eyes flash from red to blue.  His hair changes to its wavy blonde style, and the scar on his cheek disappears.  However, (s)he's still inside the guymelef, so Van can't see this
Van: "I'll finish you!"
He charges the fallen Dilandau/Celena.

Hitomi, however, can see what happened
Hitomi: "Don't!"

Van: "What?"
Scherezade comes flying out of the air (how the heck did he get up in the air?), and blocks Van's attack
Van: "Allen."
Allen: "Don't, Van!  Draw back your sword!"
Van: "He's possessed by fighting.  I'll kill him to eliminate the root of evil in Gaea!"
Allen: "No!  Even if you kill Dilandau, people won't be free from grief!"
Van: "What?  How can you understand the sadness of someone who lost his country?!"
Allen: "I'll be your opponent."
And thus, Allen speaks his infamous line
Allen: "Dilandau is my sister!"
^_^*
Van: "Allen, have you gone crazy?"
Allen: "Her sin is my sin, even yough she was controlled by Zaibach's black magic.  You don't have to hold back!  Defeat me!  Fight me, Van Fanel!  The Knight Caeli, Allen Schezar, will fight as best I can!"
In a move born of show rather than smarts, he throws his sword in the air to signal the start of the battle.  He catches it and strikes Escaflowne, as the edit-favorite, "Dance of Curse" starts playing.  Above on a cliff, the Crusade crew watches
Gaddess: "Scherezade and Escaflowne!"
Reeden: "The Boss and the King are..."
Gaddess: "They're serious.  It won't be over until one of them dies."
Reeden: "Sarge..."
Somehow, Hitomi has an out-of-body and appears on the battlefield as a phantom, watching the battle
Hitomi: "Why are Van and Allen...?"
Dornkirk: "That's their wish."
Hitomi: "That can't be!  Stop, Van!"
Of course, those two can't hear her.  They continue their swordfight, and the sparks be flying
Allen: "You skills have surprisingly improved.  I'm so glad, Van!"
He lunges forward, and Van catches Allen's sword with his
Van: "How can you control a guymelef so well?"
A few more sword strokes.  Hit here, dodge there
Van: "You're strong!  Just like you, Allen!"
Wow, look, it's that scene from the (original) opening!  See, that's why Scherezade has a cape.  So it can look spiffy in this battle (and probably to balance out Escaflowne's cape)
Allen: "You've become a very good pilot!  You remind me of Balgus!"
Van swings, and Allen jumps over it (how did he do that?)
Van: "I want to defeat him!"
And Hitomi and Dornkirk are still off to the side
Dornkirk: "They look happy.  Their wishes were granted in the Zone of Absolute Fortune."
At this point, Celena has finally managed to get out of her guymelef.  She takes off the tiara Dilandau always wore, and looks up at the battling Scherezade and Escaflowne.  Somehow, seeing Scherezade reminds her of her older brother.  How a battling mecha reminds her of a nice boy standing in a field...
~Allen~: "Celena!"
...is beyond me
Celena: "Brother..."
They didn't hear her.  So, she walks towards the two batters and yells at them
Celena: "Brother!"
That got Allen's attention.  He looks down and sees his sister, in Dilandau's uniform, naturally, yelling up at him
Celena: "Brother!"
Allen: "Celena!"
However, this distraction leavs him open
Van: "Allen!"
He charges, and Allen turns to block, but not in time.  Hitomi tries to stop him
Hitomi: "Don't!"
And everything stops and goes silent, Escaflowne's sword smashed into Scherezade's facemask

The Hitomi phantom has somehow grabbed ahold of Van inside the cockpit
Hitomi: "Stop, Van.  You shouldn't fight."
Van: "What...?  Hitomi...!"
Hitomi: "This is because of Dornkirk's machine.  At this rate, Gaea will be like Atlantis!"
Van: "So, I'll settle the matter with Allen, then I'll kill Dornkirk."
Hitomi: "No, you don't have to fight, Van."
Van: "I'll end this war.  I'll avenge my brother, and save you."
Hitomi: "No!  That way of thinking is causing the war!"
Van: "I'm fighting to protect you."
Hitomi: "No one asked you to!  You shouldn't fight!  You don't have to fight Allen!"
Van: "You just care about Allen."
Hitomi: "No!  Why won't you understand me?"
They break apart, and float away from each other
Hitomi: "Although I worry about you so much... Although I care about you so much, why won't you understand?"
Folken: "I'll be alright, as long as you believe."
Gah!  More ghosts!  And he's got his real arm, too
Hitomi: "Folken..."
Folken: "People's wishes can sometimes shake heaven.  However, when two wishes collide, it creates a very bad feeling.  If people can eliminate it, they will change."
Hitomi: "Bad feelings...?  Colliding wishes...?"
She sees an image of a bunch of knottend strings over Van
Hitomi: "My wish has bound Van...?  To honestly care about Van... To believe in... I..."
The pendant swings, and the strings are broken and float away
Hitomi: "Because I like Van.  I really like..."
She imagines herself in a field, the wind blowing
Hitomi: "The smell of grass... the smell of Van...  Because I like you, Van."
That snaps Van out of it
Van: "Hitomi."
Hitomi: "Sorry, I was the one who was blind."
Time restarts.  Scherezade collapses, but Allen's just fine.  The sword didn't go far enough through.  He jumps out and runs to his sister
Allen: "Celena!  Celena..."
Celena: "Brother."
She faints, and Allen catches her
Allen: "Celena!  Do you recognize me?"
Celena: "Brother... I wanted to see you."
Allen hugs her
Allen: "Celena, I'm glad that you're back.  I won't leave you alone."
I guess Van had to see it to believe it
Van: "Celena... Allen's sister..."
Allen: "Van, I heard Hitomi's voice.  Hitomi's waiting."
Van nods, dragonizes Escaflowne, and flies off, leaving Allen and Celena holding each other
Allen: "Van..."
Celena: "White... a white dragon..."
The Crusade crew run to them to make sure they're okay
Crew: "Boss!"

Hitomi and Dornkirk are back in Zaibach.  The green pillar is still looming overhead
Dornkirk: "It's the final phase.  Just as gold can't be created, fate can't be controlled."
Hitomi: "Did you give up?"
Dornkirk: "Hm?
Hitomi: "I don't believe that there's a predetermined fate."

Van flies toward Zaibach, over the soldiers who are still fighting each other
Van: "An excited mind draws the dragon.  Grudge and fear cause war."
Escaflowne doesn't seem to like that, and starts trying to buck Van off
Van: "Escaflowne...!"
However, Van has a vision of Hitomi (aah, she's contagious!)
Van: "Hitomi...  HITOMIIII!"
Well, there goes another shirt.  He spreads his wings and jumps off of Escaflowne.  He molts all over the battlefield, and the soldiers stop fighting and look up 
Soldier: "A dragon... A white dragon's flying away."
He drops his spear

Van goes on ahead, flying himself into the heart of Zaibach
Van: "Is that it?"
The place with the green pillar of light and all the lighting bolts around it?  Naaah.  He flies straight into the pillar of light, and flies down it into the complex
Van: "Hitomi!"
Hitomi: "Van!  Van's coming!  He's coming for me!"
Dornkirk: "Impossible.  Once the Atlantis Machine has been activated..."
Hitomi: "Van!"
Dornkirk's big crystal ball thing begins to crack and shatter.  Finally, van breaks through it and comes flying down.  Hitomi and Van reach for each other and embrace, flying back up
Dornkirk: "Their feelings that draw each other..."
His phantom image disappears
Dornkirk: "Did their feelings surpass people's minds that were bound by the fate of war?  However, can this moment, created by the fragile minds of people, last forever?"
Dornkirk's room goes dark, and the pillar of light disappears.  The sun finally comes out over Zaibach, and the allied soldiers have stopped fighting each other.  Allen, Celena, and the Crusade crew look on
Allen: "Hitomi..."

And now we go to... Earth?  Hitomi's standing at a train station, with a few girls off to the side
Girl 1: "He might have a crush on me."
Girl 2: "What?  You're overconfident."
Girl 1: "Nao, you're mean."
Girl 3: "How about asking to have your fortune read to see if Takuya's in love with you, Sachiko?"
Girl 2: "Kanzaki, you're good at fortune-telling, right?  Can you read her love fortune?"
Hitomi: "I quit fortune-telling.  Sorry."

The people have returned to Fanelia, and are starting to rebuild
Merle: "I brought your food!"
Worker: "Oh, thanks!"

Van and Hitomi are at the grave of Van's family
Van: "Brother, I've finally returned to our homeland, Fanelia.  Watch over the future of the country from here."
Hitomi: "I feel like it was long ago when I came to Fanelia.  What are you going to do?"
Van: "People's wishes will rebuild Gaea."
He walks over to Escaflowne, which has more or less now been left to be enshrined at this gravesite.  He climbs up onto it and removes its energist, as the final episode ending theme starts playing.  He jumps down and looks up at Escaflowne
Van: "Thank you, Escaflowne."
Hitomi: "Van..."
Van: "Escaflowne should be kept asleep.  My brother wished for a Fanelia and Gaea where no one relies on it.  I want to see a world like that."
Hitomi: "I want to see that with you.  I wonder if I can...  I like Gaea and Fanelia."
Van: "If you want to do so, it's alright with me.  But we can see each other anytime, as long as we share a common feeeling."
Hitomi: "Van... Here..."
She holds out her pendant.  He takes it
Hitomi: "Keep this, Van."
Van takes her hand as well and pulls her into an embrace
Hitomi: "I'll never forget you, even if I become old.  I'll never forget, no matter what."
They hug tighter.  Around them, the spirits of those who died along the way watch over them.  Van's mother and father, Duke Freid and Marlene, Folken and the Leopard sisters, and Balgus.  Van holds the energist high, and creates a column of light to send Hitomi home.  She starts floating up it
Hitomi: "I'll never forget!"
Van: "Hitomi..."
The end credits play, as everyone watches the pillar of light send Hitomi back to earth
 

Back on Earth, it appears everything's okay.  Hitomi's looking out over the ocean, and some girls are talking in the background
Girl 1: "I'm envious of Yukari."
Girl 2: "Right, She perfectly matches Amano.  She's like our..."
However, out on the breakwater, Hitomi sees Van, wings and all sitting out there watching her
Hitomi: "Van...  I'm doing fine."
We look back again, and there's really nothing there.  The camera pans up and we see... two moons?  I'm assuming one is Gaea, now visible to Hitomi.  A feather falls and cradles the two moons
 

And that... is the end of Escaflowne