It was close to midnight. It had to be. The sky was dark, cloudless, the stars shining brightly as a full moon hung in the sky. But the three who desired that sky most could not have it. The spirits, Rayearth, Windam, and Selece sat in their beast forms, watching each other in silence. Selece lifted his head to the blackness around them and hummed a tune the others didn't recognize. They assumed his knight had once sang it in his presence and it had stuck with him. Though it was true that Windam was the songbird of the three, Selece had a nice voice and his partners enjoyed listening to him.

Rayearth was half the size of his two partners; it seemed to fit being as his knight was much smaller than the other two. It was strange how even before their knights arrived, the three spirits reflected them very well. Selece was very withdrawn and was only open with his knight as well as Windam and Rayearth. Much like Umi could be. Windam was very friendly unless he was threatened, and usually very polite and proper. Exactly like Fuu. Rayearth himself was friendly, he thought so anyway. He talked to Selece and Windam very openly, and had begun to do so with Hikaru and Mokona as well. Selece silenced and stood and Windam gave an aggressive beat of his four wings. Rayearth leapt to his feet and growled loudly. A female centaur, the horse half of her body a pure white, walked alongside a black hyena-type beast. The three looked slightly shocked then took up fighting positions.

"Sora and Diablo." Selece hissed. The two were silent. Though the spirits technically had no gender, Sora was the only one of them who would have been considered female. Diablo glared at the three spirits, particularly at Rayearth, the one responsible for his initial death. Sora put a hand on Diablo's shoulder and the spirit calmed a bit, but never broke his gaze from the fire spirit.

"We have returned under the grace of Cephiro's new pillar, who has used a great amount of will and strength to pull back those who's lives should not have been lost during her battles." Sora said. The three looked at each other. This meant that Emeraude and Zagato were alive as well.

"Has peace been made between the knights and the princess and the sol?" Windam asked politely, hiding his aggravation at seeing the two. Sora nodded. Windam returned the nod.

"Then peace will rest between us five as well. We must follow the decisions of those who have awakened us. That is our duty." Windam said, the last sentence to remind them that they were not beasts of free will, simply guards provided to aid those who had been born for them. Then there was the light. They were sure that their knights were summoning them, but sadly that was not the case.

"THAT IS NOT DEATHSCYTHE!" Duo shouted for the tenth time at Wufei, who stared up at the mashin Diablo.

"It's black. Deathscythe is black." Wufei reasoned.

"THAT IS NOT DEATHSCYTHE!" Duo shouted again. Diablo looked at the five boys, then at Sora. Sora was staring at the boys as well. Windam though was the first to make a move. Sensing the heart of each boy, he moved to look at Quatre, seeing him as the most like Fuu, his own knight.

"Do you know where we are?" Windam asked. The five boys froze in silence, and turned slowly to look at the mashin. Duo's jaw dropped.

"HOLY CRAP IT TALKS!" Duo shouted, jumping behind Wufei. Wufei, who normally would have said something mean to Duo, just stood. Quatre, who knew he was the one being addressed, stepped forward, shaking.

"Earth... In Ireland to be exact." Quatre said. The boys had gotten instructions to go there, but had not been told their mission. It supposedly was to have been told to them upon arrival, which it hadn't. Windam and Selece looked at Rayearth, knowing he had for a short time been to earth with his knight, Hikaru. Rayearth shook his head.

"This does not look like the place we were in." Rayearth said. Selece looked at Wufei.

"How do we get back to Cephiro?" Selece's voice was demanding.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. What did you do with Nataku?" Wufei's voice was just as demanding. Selece growled.

"I do not know of the Nataku you speak of."

"LIAR! INJUSTICE!" Wufei shouted, causing Duo to jump and scramble behind Heero, who rolled his eyes.

"Where are our Gundam?" Heero asked in his cold voice.

"We do not understand what you speak of." Diablo said, his voice low and angry, similar to Heero's own. Sora nodded as the five shifted back to their beast forms, causing Duo to scream again and scramble on behind Quatre, who had scrambled behind Trowa. Though Rayearth and Sora were smaller than the rest, who were still the same size as they had been a moment ago, they were still at least three times as high as the boys.

"Our Gundam." Quatre said, looking up at the great emerald bird, "Sandrock, Heavyarms, Deathscythe, Wing, and Shenlong."

"Nataku!" Wufei corrected angrily.

"Right, Nataku. My mistake." Quatre said. Wufei scoffed.

"We do not know anything of what happened before we arrived here. We do not know the whereabouts of your 'Gundam'." Windam said. If he'd had fingers, he would have made a gesture much like quotation marks when he'd said the word Gundam. Quatre nodded this enough to satisfy him. Trowa was silent, watching the five beats that had only moments ago been something like living Gundam. Wufei has resumed arguing with Selece and Quatre now discussed with Windam possible explanations for their problem. Heero and Diablo just glared at each other. Trowa could tell they'd make fast friends as soon as one of them decided to blink. Duo was now getting on famously with Rayearth, with whom he was discussing how amusing fire could be, if used for certain purposes. Sora watched Diablo and Heero. Trowa decided he would speak with her. She seemed sensible enough.

"What are you five?" Trowa asked. Sora looked at him and took a step back.

"Spirits." she answered. Trowa was unimpressed. This was not enough of an answer. Sora sensed this and tried to come up with a more thorough answer. "We are somewhat like living armor for our knights. We protect them and give them advice when they need it. We are suited to our knight and our knight alone." Trowa raised an eyebrow behind his unibang.

"Sure as hell doesn't seem that way." Trowa looked around at the others. As he'd suspected, Heero and Diablo were talking calmly with each other now. He wondered who had blinked first. Quatre and Windam's discussion had evolved into a nice chat about unimportant things. Duo was riding Rayearth around, both laughing. Wufei and Selece were silent now, but seemed to finally be enjoying each other's company, and, to Trowa's surprise, Wufei began to stroke Selece's nose.

Sora nodded again and glanced at Diablo. Trowa could tell that Sora and Diablo held some kind of bond and were separate from the other three. He could tell that the bird, the dragon, and the wolf held a bond, but it was nothing like the one that Sora shared with the hyena that was talking to Heero.

"My name is Sora by the way." she said softly.

"They call me Trowa Barton." Trowa responded, "That's Heero. And Wufei. And Quatre. And that idjit's Duo." Trowa pointed at them all in turn, and Sora's eyes followed his hand.

"His name is Diablo. His knight and my knight were in love. It caused tragedy." Sora said, looking towards Diablo. That explained the bond Trowa had felt. "That is Selece, and he is Windam. And of course Rayearth." Trowa looked around, following Sora's gaze. The two talked for some time about the others, about what pasts of theirs they knew of, and of the tragedy they'd both seen.

"Who is Nataku?" Selece finally asked. The question had been bothering him for some time now. Wufei looked up at Selece.

"Nataku was the name my former wife gave herself, the name I gave to my Gundam in her memory, for had she not died it would have been hers to pilot." Wufei said softly. Selece knew this was a delicate subject and chose not to respond. Love was Windam's thing. He was the one who had seen Fuu fight for her life and the prince's. No, he did not know what to say here. "Have you ever been in love?" Selece blinked as Wufei posed this question. He shook his head.

"I have never had anyone to be in love with. I have only been awake again for a short time now. All that time has been spent either fighting or waiting to fight. I have no other purpose." Selece said. Wufei nodded.

"I see. Tell me about this knight of yours." Wufei said. Selece looked upward.

"Her name is Ryuuzaki Umi. Her name means sea of dragon blossoms. Her powers are based on speed, her magic type being water. Her patience wears thin easily, unless it's her friends trying her patience. She's developed a tolerance for them. She's very close with Rayearth and Windam's knights. More than once she's abandon a battle to tend to her friends." Selece said, looking longingly at the sky, missing Umi greatly. If he'd ever felt anything like love, it would have been the emotion he held for her. Not true love, like the love Wufei had felt for Nataku, but the love an older brother feels for his sister. Like Kakeru, Masaru, and Satoru's love for Hikaru. Despite his initial dislike of the Chinese pilot, Wufei was starting to grow on Selece. And Selece had begun to grow on Wufei. A bond was forming where no one thought one would.

"So you're from the desert? My knight fell in love in a desert. It was before she'd awakened me, but her soul and mine are linked, and it is a cherished memory." Windam said cheerfully. Quatre smiled. Windam was very pleasant company. He was apparently very fond of his knight and the prince of the place he called Cephiro. Quatre enjoyed the stories Windam told, and Windam greatly enjoyed telling them. Quatre looked at the other four spirits.

"So which one of them has the prince as their knight?" Quatre asked.

"The Prince does not have a spirit mashin. Only the ones summoned from this world and the two they were destined to kill have spirits. It is in the legend." Quatre blinked. Kill? Windam… killed? That didn't seem right.

"Please, explain further." Quatre said. Windam preened his feathers on his front left wing and tried to think of an explanation that made it simple. Nope, none to be found. Windam sighed. It would be the long version then.

"Cephiro is supported by its Pillar. She may pray for her country and nothing more. The Pillar cannot take her own life, and no one from Cephiro may harm the Pillar. The Pillar alone is given the power to summon knights from another world if she feels she can no longer support Cephiro. She alone is given the power to summon knights from another world to take her life." Quatre gasped, but Windam continued. "The three knights must overcome trials and revive three spirits, Selece, Rayearth, and myself, to become Magic Knights and destroy the Pillar and save Cephiro. Our pillar, Princess Emeraude, the one to whom Sora is the knight of, fell in love with her attendant Sol Zagato, the knight of Diablo. Zagato as well fell in love with Emeraude. But they could not be together because Emeraude was not allowed to love anything but Cephiro." Quatre frowned.

"That's just wrong." Quatre said. Windam nodded.

"Yes I know. She did not see the possible alternatives available to her. She loved Cephiro, but she loved Zagato more. So she summoned Hikaru, Rayearth's knight, Umi, Selece's knight, and Fuu, my knight, to kill her. Those they met along the way were all connected to Princess Emeraude, the prince being her younger brother. My knight felt a deep sadness when she learned this fact, that she had killed the only family of the one she loved." Quatre blinked. He felt a sudden great sympathy for Cephiro's former princess.

"Only family? No mother or father?"

"No one had ever known them to be around." Windam said. "But after Princess Emeraude died the leaders of several outside countries tried to take the post of the Pillar and our knights were summoned again. Hikaru became the Pillar and wished to eliminate the system after falling in love with Sol Zagato's younger brother, Lantis." Quatre nodded. He understood perfectly well why the system has been eliminated.

Diablo had just told Heero the same story, though seeming to tell a bit more of Zagato's side. How Zagato had thought it was wrong of Emeraude to have to pray only for Cephiro, and how Clef had framed him, telling the Magic Knights that Zagato had kidnapped the princess when her knew perfectly well that she'd locked herself away. Heero nodded.

"This Zagato was a loving man." Heero said in his cold voice. Diablo nodded. Heero thought for a long time about his own emotions. Would he fight like that for someone? He'd fought to protect the colonies, but did he have one person he could give his life for like that, risk it all just for the sake of one person's happiness? He didn't think he was that selfless. He looked up at the hyena. Heero sighed. Diablo looked at Sora.

"She is Emeraude's spirit mashin." Diablo told Heero. Heero nodded.

"I thought I could sense a bond between the two of you that you did not share with the others. You do not seem to have any bond with the others at all." Heero said.

"Sora and I are different from them. They have been our enemies untill now. Zagato and Emeraude made their peace with the knights, and we have done the same. As Windam said, it is our duty to follow on their decisions." Diablo said. Heero raised an eyebrow.

"I though you said that Zagato and Emeraude were dead." Heero said, now unsure that he had the story right. Diablo nodded.

"They were for quite a while, but the current pillar, Rayearth's knight, Hikaru, used a great deal of her soul's energy to restore them to the living, bringing us back as well." Diablo said. Heero nodded, he never misheard things.

Rayearth leapt into the air and Duo laughed, "This is so cool!" Rayearth landed and nodded.

"It has been many, many ages since I've been able to run free like this." Rayearth said, shaking himself, nearly knocking Duo off of his back. Duo blinked.

"Why's that Rayzilla?" Duo asked. Rayearth laughed at his new nickname.

"I was put into a sleep for several thousand years to await my knight. Once she had awakened me my purpose was to fight and wait to fight. And that's what I've done." Rayearth explained. Duo folded his arms across his chest.

"Bummer. Why'd you have to wait so long?" Duo asked.

"No one knew how long it would take before Princess Emeraude would call the Magic Knights." Rayearth said. Duo didn't understand and Rayearth told him the legend in its entirety, and for once Duo paid attention the entire time. When it was over, Duo had begun to cry.

"THAT'S NOT RIGHT!" He shouted. Rayearth nodded and sat.

"I know. But it is all in the past now. The system is eliminated. The tragedy will never occur again." Rayearth assured him. Duo nodded a bit, still not happy with the concept of a pillar system. But the peace that Rayearth had described inspired him to fight harder for peace in this world. He knew that when the others heard of this legend, if they had not already, they would be inspired in the same way to fight for that peace.

Bonus Scene:

"THAT IS NOT DIABLO!" Zagato shouted for the tenth time at Emeraude, who stared up at the Gundam, Deathscythe.

"It's black. Diablo is black." Emeraude reasoned.

"THAT IS NOT DIABLO!" Zagato shouted again. Clef tapped Wing's leg with his staff.

"Why doesn't it move?" Clef asked. Fuu stared up at Heavyarms.

"Oh my. His arms must be very heavy." She said. ((VERY sorry about the pun!)) Umi looked up at Nataku; somehow feeling connected to it. Ferio jumped onto Sandrock.

"Maybe they're like Eagle's robot." Ferio said. Hikaru whined.

"I WANT RAYEARTH BACK!"