Umi slide off the flying fish and onto the ground,
falling. "Why does
this always happen to me?" She stood up wincing.
"We're home!" She
chuckled and looked around the front foryer of the
castle. "Anyone?"
She walked in further past the doors. "Cadina?
Ascot? Clef?"
Ascot looked up from the hall, momentarily
distracted from the
strange presence that had held him captive only
moments before; the
sound of a familiar voice... stabbed him hard into
shifting
consciousness. That was.. then the familiar
presences hed felt..
Catching his breath, he jogged lightly down the
hall, his heart
racing. Could it really be..? As everything
was.. the arrival of
THEM seemed so into place, he nearly slapped
himself in the forehead.
Coming to the great arching entrance into the
foyer, Ascot halted
soundly, and caught the words he was to say in his
throat. What WAS
he supposed to say..?
".. Umi-san..?" he responded to the voice that had
called, having set
eyes upon the taller, slender form of She. her
eyes were set, and
she scanned the walls of the Palace she'd come to
know so well from
her previous adventures in Cephiro, those bright,
glinting blue
eyes. Ascot spied the other two Knights not far
behind her.. they
were here.. were they here to bring order back
among the people..?
Their problems were far less complicated now...
and sheer force
wouldn't... But then he rememebred the man.
Could he be the threat
the Magic Knights were to oppose..? Ideas and
notions flew through
Ascot's mind, too many, too many to consider all
at once.
His mindset shifted back to the
fully-earth-clothes-clad girl whom
had called out through the halls of hte Palace,
and had brought Ascot
to attention. He knew... that.. Ascot swallowed
his voice as he
felt his heart skipped, and he was angry with it.
HE wasn't going to
be the bumbling idiot he was before, he wasn't
going to let his
emotions drive him as blindly as they had before.
Umi had found a
love in her for Clef before she had left... and..
she was happy with
it.. What sort of a friend would he be to step in
the way of it?
Not one at all.
"Magic Knights!!" he called out, shaking the
apprehension from
him, "You've come back!!" The thoughts of the
mysterious man flew
from his mind, rightfully so, and he simply
acknowledged that three
long ago friends had finally returned, and he was
happy for the
moment. A hesitant smile lit his face, and colour
rose to his cheeks.
"Prince Ferio, I believe the Magic Knights
really are here. I'm sure
that
you'd like to go greet them wouldn't you?" Clef
smiled warmly knowing how
much the young man must have missed Fuu. Fyula was
flying around happily in
the sky overhead the room everyone had been in
telling Clef how he had saved
the Knights just in the nick of time and
confirming it was really the girls
in his flapping around. "Zazu, Arista, if you'd
like, then please go out and
meet them yourselves," Clef offered. "They're
three very friendly girls and
I'm sure they'll be very glad to meet you."
In a slight wave of his hand, the slightly
ajar doors from the coming in
and out earlier opened all the way for anyone that
wished to go out and meet
Cephiro's new guests. "I'll stay here and talk to
Fyula since he's mentioned
a fourth passenger," Clef told them. But as happy
as he was with the
Knights'
arrival, the strangers words threatened to dim it
which he had to think on
as
well. Those were all right excuses from seeing Umi
right now. It's not that
he didn't want to see her and the others. But
there were more things so
common that even the wisest Madoushi in Cephiro
didn't know how to explain.
Eight letters, three words, one meaning for
eternity...
This was when Fyula started flapping around in
a change of happy temper
to a pouty one wanting him to come see them with
everyone else.
"It's all right Fyula, I want to talk to you,"
Clef smiled nervously
trying to get the fish to come back from flying
away to get petted by
Hikaru.
"Besides, we can't keep everyone standing in the
halls to talk. I'm sure
they'd rather meet somewhere else then this plain
room...Please tell
everyone
that I'll have some tea and chairs made in the
castle gardens by the
fountain," Clef asked of the others thinking the
throne room might have been
a bit too desolate. "I'll go soon and quickly fix
up a room for the girls as
well as for our other guests." Clef finished
referring to the people from
Autozam and maybe Ascot too if he was staying. The
thought of Ascot this
time
brought another thing to ponder on that he hadn't
really done when the
Knights weren't there, Deciding to think about
that among other things later
though, now that he had a few things to do, Clef
waited for the others to
make their decision before he left.
Fyula flew back and in failure of getting in
through the ceiling bumped
his nose. With an unhappy exhale he went around to
find another way to get
inside and flapped in greeting again at the girls
as he passed by to get to
Clef.
At the moment Hikaru felt happier than any other
time in her life. Being
here, in Cephiro...just thinking about it made her
smile widen. "Hi
everyone!! Thank goodness you're all okay, I was
getting a bit worried."
Hikaru said, "Anything interesting happen while we
were away?"
Before Arista could leave, three young ladies
entered the palace doors. She
tilted her head as many came to greet them. Even the
young bal that had
escaped her. They did not seem to notice her.
She observed them for a moment longer but then, she
felt her eyebrows lift
themselves as the fiery-haired maiden caught her
attention. Her smiling face
and her features. Then it hit her. The girl was one
of the ones engraved on
the walls only younger...
Arista then smiled amused at herself. So rude of her
to just stare at them.
She walked over, grinned, and bowed respectfully,
but warmly, to them.
"Hello," her voice, very much like a soft sweet
instrument, greeted them. "I
don't believe we've met before..."
"I'm Arista Celeste Vision, might i have the
pleasure of having your names?"
Nova could feel the happiness in Hikaru's heart when
she got the chance to see all her dear friends again.
For that, she was happy for Hikaru. But at the same
time, she felt a little hesitant to enter the castle,
knowing full well that some people may not forgive her
for what she had done in the past. As much as she
wanted to go inside, she could not gather up the
courage to do so and ended up leaning against the wall
outside the palace. She looked down to the ground and
said to herself, "Those people are Hikaru's
friends...and though I love them as Hikaru does, they
could never be my friends. Not after what I've done."
Then, she sat on the ground and buried her head in her
arms.
Ferio had stayed relatively quiet, or rather silent,
throughout the
conversation between the others. When Ascot suddenly
hastened out of the
room, he made no attempt to pursue the young Bal.
People had reasons for
doing things and he didn't have any right to go about
interfering. Not that
he had the chance to do so anyway. A few splitseconds
later, Madoushi Clef
summoned Fyula--for the Magic Knights?! It was indeed
those three girls,
tumbling out of the sky... Fortunately the giant fish
was there just in
time.
The prince felt his heartbeat quickening. Fuu was in
Cephiro. Eagerly, he
nodded when Clef addressed him once more and went to
greet the Magic Knights
along with everyone else.
For the moment, the fact that Fuu and her two friends
had returned to
Cephiro seemed to be all that mattered. He had missed
the golden-haired
Knight... It was incredibly nice to see the girls
again.
However... Ferio's face clouded over. If the Magic
Knights were back once
more, it must have some sort of reason. Something was
definitely up, or they
wouldn't be standing here...
Nevertheless, no time to think about that right now.
"Great to see you all again!" the young swordsman
exclaimed cheerfully,
flashing a grin at the girls. His gaze lingered on Fuu
for a little while,
then he turned his attention to include everyone else.
"How about we all go into the gardens to talk? It's a
lot nicer than
standing out here in the hall. Apparently Clef is
arranging to get some tea
ready as well. There are chairs to sit on too."
Ferio grinned.
"Arista...Vision? Wow, you must be related to Eagle!
I'm Hikaru Shidou. Oh,
and that tea thing sounds great too!" Hikaru
exclaimed. She turned around to
look for Nova, but didn't see her. 'Where is she?' she
thought. "Um, excuse
me you guys. I'll join you in a few minutes." Hikaru
said before running
back down the hallway and out the doors. Looking
around she saw Nova
crouching on the ground. "Nova? Why don't you come in
with me. No one is
going to blame you..." with that she went over to her
and pulled Nova into a
hug. "Let's go in!"
Nova hugged Hikaru back, but was still uncertain if
everyone could really forgive her. "How could they not
blame me, Hikaru? I did so many terrible things. I
hurt you and your two friends. I even hurt Lantis, who
you loved with all your heart." Then, tears began to
well up in her eyes. "No...they could never forgive
me, Hikaru. Not after all I've done."
"Nova, please don't cry...I love you, you're a part of
me. They won't blame
you. Come on, we're going to have tea in the garden.
You can start over with
a new slate." Hikaru pulled Nova up and took her hands
and smiled.
"Please come in with me."
Nova looked at Hikaru, still with tears in her eyes.
But she saw the cheerful expression on Hikaru's face
and smiled. Then, she nodded and said, "All
right...let's go, Hikaru."