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Three years… It has been three years since she had left the strange world where dragons and animal people weren't just things found in fairy tales... Three years since she left behind the young king whom she had grown to love. It was like wondrous dream, and in some cases, nightmare, that she would keep in her heart always…

Kanzaki Hitomi was now eighteen years old and fresh out of high school. She had taken her college entrance exams and now as she waited for the results, she had to figure out what she wanted to study in as a career. Her grandmother had always told her that her heart would lead her on the right path, if she stopped to listen… But whenever she tried to, her mind would always wander off back to the past and remember a pair of intense yet sensitive brown eyes under a mop of messy black hair.

"Hitomi, in times when you need to make hard decisions, your heart is your best council. The decisions you make can be the best thing you've ever done, or the worst, but if you let your heart decide, you will never go astray," her grandmother had told her.

"I wish it really were that easy, grandmother…" Hitomi sighed. Hitomi had changed a bit in the three years since she left Gaea. She had grown out her dusty blond hair to a little past shoulder length and had gained her more womanly curves. What hadn't changed was her dreamy green eyes and ability to tell people's fortunes.

"Hitomi?" a soft voice called from the hall. Snapped from her daydreams and ponderings, Hitomi turned away from gazing out her bedroom window and looked up as her bedroom door slid open and her mother stepped in.

"Hmm? Yes?" Hitomi looked up at her mother as the older woman gave her a searching look.

"Hitomi… is something bothering you? You've been very distracted lately, and I keep finding you zoned out and in your own little world," Mrs. Kanzaki frowned at her daughter.

"I'm fine, just have a lot on my mind, with the entrance exams and all," Hitomi supplied as a logical excuse. If she told her mother that she had been dreaming about a young king of a country called Fanelia, which wouldn't be found on any map, at least none of Earth, her mother might think she was letting her imagination get too wild, else the stress of the exams were making her break down. Either way her mother wouldn't believe her in any case; she didn't when Hitomi had told her all about it when she first got back from Gaea. She had listened politely enough, but she seemed to think Hitomi was just dreaming. "Did you need something, mom?"

"I've been calling for you, when you didn't answer me I came to see why. Yukari's on the phone for you," Mrs. Kanzaki still regarded her daughter with a concerned gaze.

Hitomi stood up, "Oh! I best go see what she wants then!" Hitomi fled her room and her mother's gaze; it bothered her when her mother looked at her like that. Once in the living room she picked up the phone receiver where it sat on the table next to the phone base and put it to her ear. "Hello, Yukari-chan? What? Really? Yeah sure I'll met you there in… ten minutes? Alright!" Hitomi hung up the phone and went to get her purse.

"Yukari! Amano!" Hitomi found them waiting in the subway station. Uchida Yukari and Susumu Amano turned and waved as Hitomi approached. Hitomi had run all the way to the station with only pauses to wait at crosswalks, so now she stopped to catch her breath.

"Gee, Hitomi, kept us waiting long enough," Yukari grinned as she teased her long time best friend. Yukari wore her red hair longer now, pinned back with a clip. She was going to work towards a career as an agent and manager for idols. At least that was what she had told Hitomi yesterday, but sometimes it was hard to tell with her energetic friend, she might very well change her mind tomorrow or half way though college.

"It is good to see you again, Hitomi," Amano gave her a smile. Amano was as handsome as ever, although he had cut his mossy brown hair since she last saw him. He used to be her high school crush before her adventures in Gaea and he moved abroad. But now looking at him… whatever she had felt for him before was long gone. She had expected as much before she even saw him again.

Yukari was another story, if the way she was looking at Amano was any indication of her feelings for their sempai. "Amano! It's been so long! I haven't seen you since you moved away," Hitomi smiled at her track team sempai in return. "How long are you visiting?" Yukari had been keeping in touch with Amano though emails, so Hitomi knew that he was attending a university abroad.

Amano nodded, "A couple of weeks. I'm on break and thought I'd come visit family and friends with my parents. Yukari insisted we get together for a day while I was in town. She can be quite persistent and persuasive."

"Hey! It's not like I broke your legs and dragged you here," Yukari protested good-naturedly. As Hitomi watched them, she half wondered if they remembered anything at all about what happened. Things had been strange with how she went to Gaea. Both times Amano and Yukari had been there, but if they remembered anything they never mentioned it.

Hitomi smiled, "Lets get something to eat and you can tell us all about school and your life over seas."

Amano nodded, "Only if you tell me all about the team after I left. I hear from Yukari you won a few meets while I was away..." The three of them went to catch the train.

Hitomi had spent most of the day with Yukari and Amano, but then she made up an excuse to head home; her motive being she wanted to give Yukari a chance to be alone with Amano for a while.

She walked into her families' home, pausing just inside the door to slip off her shoes and set them aside.

"Hitomi?" Mrs. Kanzaki called to see if it was indeed her daughter.

"Yeah, I'm home!" Hitomi called back as she headed toward her room.

"Your father called. They're going to late getting back from your brother's tournament, so they are just going to stay at a hotel and be back in the morning," Her mother explained. "It'll be just the two of us this evening; have you eaten?"

"Yeah, I grabbed something with Yukari and Amano. I'm going to take a shower and finish some of those school forums," Hitomi called back as she slid her door open and went into her room. After getting out fresh clothes and laying them on the bed, she changed into her bathrobe and headed out of her room and into the family bath.

"Hitomi, when you're done in there, do you want any help with your paperwork?" Mrs. Kanzaki called though the bath room door.

"No mom, I am almost finished with them, I just need to…" Hitomi froze her eyes going wide as suddenly the bath room spun around her and she was suddenly in a totally different place.

"Could this… be a vision…?" She had them upon occasion, but since she returned to Earth they were much more rare and no were near as lucid or vivid as they had been when she was on Gaea.

Turning she found herself staring into a pair of bright violet eyes. She couldn't see the thing the eyes belonged to, but they glowed with their own light. Despite the eerie and unnatural nature of these eyes, Hitomi found herself drawn into them. Something lay deeply inside of them; a deep pain, understanding, and resolve. The violet eyes then seemed to turn their gaze to the side and following them she found herself looking at a lot more eyes; all different colors, but these were full of menace and wildness; revenge and wrath.

Hitomi gasped as something in the darkness drew closer and jaws seemed to reach for her to gobbler her up in one bite. In flashes she saw things, Fanelia, rebuilt since she last saw it, but then it was engulfed in flames that burned in different colors. The memory of Fanelia burning the first time returned to her, the smell of blood and smoke. Suddenly her vision was full of white feathers filling the air. Van…?

"Hitomi! Answer me!" Hitomi blinked back to reality to find her mothers anxious face hovering over her.

"Mom?" Hitomi felt a little disoriented, but all right. What was that that she had seen? Why would she have a vision of Fanelia burning? And what were those eyes?

"Are you alright? You stopped talking and didn't answer so I came in to find you staring unblinking at the floor. You wouldn't answer me or move… I don't even know if you were breathing!"

"I'm sorry mom… I must have blacked out…" Hitomi smiled at her mom to try and reassure her she was all right. This wasn't the first time Hitomi had had a vision around her mom, but they were usually quick flashes of things like someone tripping nearby or flunking a test.

"Bah! Are you sure you're all right?" when Hitomi nodded, her mother sighed, "Finish up your bath, then we need to have a talk." Mrs. Kanzaki left the bathroom so her daughter could finish.

"Talk?…" Hitomi frowned after her mom; she didn't much like the sound of that.

Hitomi entered her room to find her mother waiting for her sitting on her bed. In her hands was a dusty old shoebox. "Hitomi… I have been meaning to give this to you, your grandmother asked me to give it to you on your 18th birthday, but I'd forgotten all about it until I came across it while cleaning earlier," Hitomi's mother handed the box over to her.

Unsure of what this was about, Hitomi slowly opened the box, inside she found sheets of paper, an envelope, and some really old looking photos. She recognized a few of the people in them as her great grandparents on her mother's side. Why would her grandmother want her to have this stuff when she turned eighteen? Shouldn't it have gone to her mother, and then Hitomi when he mom passed them down to her?

"I don't understand, why would grandmother want me to have some old pictures and some papers?" Hitomi looked up at her mother as she sat down on the bed next to her.

"Look inside of the envelope, Hitomi," Mrs. Kanzaki instructed, watching her daughter.

Frowning Hitomi reached in and withdrew the envelope. Setting the box to the side, she carefully opened it and drew out the folded pieces of paper inside; a she did so a small white feather fell out and made Hitomi's breath freeze in her throat. Although the feather was aged, it still gave the faintest impression of a glow. How could that have gotten in there?

Watching her daughter's face intently, Mrs. Kanzaki didn't miss the shock and recognition on Hitomi's face at the sight of the feather, "Read the letter Hitomi…"

With shaking fingers, Hitomi straightened the sheets of paper and found her grandmothers writing. She skimmed the first part then looked over at her mother, "This looks like a story, a fairy tale even, rather than a letter..."

"That's what I had thought at first as well, but read farther, it may make more sense to you then it did to me," Hitomi's mother told her as she continued to watch her daughters.

"'Long ago, on another world, not to far from our own, there was a grand place called the Atlantis'," Hitomi stopped for a moment remembering something that happened three years ago, "Um, oh yeah," she continued reading it aloud, "'The people who lived in this wondrous place were powerful and wise. They altered their bodies and gave themselves large feathered wings that made them seem like Angels of legend that we know here on our world. Atlantians were a peaceful people, but they were far more advanced with terrible power, and this helped in their destruction. Their power grew beyond their control and in the end it destroyed them…

As Atlantis fell, a handful of the Altantians escaped with the help of time and space manipulation and came to be here on Earth, while others to our unseen sister planet, Gaea. These refugees lost much of their power with the lost of their home, and now they had to fade into the populations of Earth and Gaea. Without a homeland, and not wanting to be reminded of what they had done to themselves or of the loss of Atlantis, they took on the a new name of Draconians.

Three such refugees escaped here to what we know as Japan. This small group was made of a mother, a father, and their infant daughter. Here on Earth the three took up lives as ordinary people. They took on Japanese names for themselves and adopted the Japanese culture and lifestyle. The girls' parents eventually passed, their life spans shortened by the loss of Atlantis. Their daughter went on to find and marry a human man and give birth to a daughter of her own, which she named Yuri.

Yuri grew up knowing nothing of her Atlantian heritage, for all she knew she was an ordinary Japanese girl. But then shortly after Yuri's father was killed by accident at his work, she began having strange vision that came true. When she asked her mother about the visions, the now middle aged woman had no chose but to tell her daughter the truth about where they had come from. When her daughter didn't believe her story, the woman showed her wings. Finding out she was not a normal person devastated Yuri and she didn't know how she was to accept it. She went out that night with some of her friends to a festival hoping to clear her mind of it all. But on her walk home, she was engulfed in light and next thing she knew she was pulled into the sky.

She found herself in a strange place she had never seen before. Before she could panic, she realized she wasn't alone. There was a man there, dressed like something out of a history book. His name was Leon Schezar.

The man with short, dark blond hair and mustache was surprised by her sudden appearance but he tried to talk to her anyway. Before she could really get to talk to the man, the same light took her away again. Yuri was back in the woods near her home. She wasn't sure what had happened, but walked home quickly before anything else strange could happen.

She avoided her mother and went straight into her room. She sat there for who knows how long, wondering who the man with blond hair was, what had taken her to that strange place. She stood at her window and looked out, then the light appeared again, when the light faded she was back where she was before, Leon lied on the ground nearby, battered, beaten, and bloody. She asked what had happened, as she had just seen him, and the man gave her a small pendent in return. With more questions than answers, Yuri was suddenly returned back to Earth once again.

Afraid of this continuing she went to her mother and told everything of what had happened. Her mother in turn, told her that is must have been a shift and she had been token to Gaea, the planet the Atlantian's had created where things like Magic could still exist. Shifts were rare and the likeliness of them happening to Yuri again were doubtful.

Yuri put all of it from her mind and tried to go back to living a normal life, but she was still plagued by foreseeing dreams and visions. Yuri made the best of it as she could, and continued on, finding a way to manage them and still live her life. She grew into a woman, fell in love with a nice man, and started a family of her own.

When she gave birth to her daughter, Yuri decided not to tell her of her heritage, for she knew how disturbing it could be to find out… hoping that her daughter would not develop the ability to see glimpses of the future. To her relief, her daughter did not seem to show any signs of having the powers of foresight and visions or any other noticeable Atlantian traits. So time pasted and Yuri's mother passed away from age, and more time pasted and Yuri's daughter married a nice human man and started a family of her own.

They had two children, a girl and later a young boy. Yuri didn't think much about the past, not until her granddaughter started having visions like her own, saying things she couldn't possibly know of even at a young age. Knowing she could not ignore this, Yuri went to her granddaughter and gave her a pack of tarot cards and the pendant that the man Leon had given her,'" Hitomi stopped and looked at her mother. "There is only one paragraph left."

"Read it," Hitomi's mother urged gently.

"'My dearest Hitomi, I am Yuri, and you are that granddaughter. You are an Atlantian descendant, although you are more human; the Atlantian blood tends to be dominate. Your visions are powerful, maybe even more so then my own. Your mother has never truly found her power, though she too has the Atlantian blood. I am sorry I did not live long enough to tell you all of this in person, I am sure you have many questions. I have seen that you are destined for great things, things that will affect both Gaea and Earth. I have foreseen that you will be washed away to Gaea more then once and in the end, you will not return here to Earth. All luck to you my dearest, and may you find your wings.' That's the end," Hitomi looked at her mother.

"I think my mother was a little confused near the end," Hitomi's mother joked, although she gave Hitomi a searching look.

"No mother, I have already been to Gaea! I helped Van and Allan and all our friends defeat the evil Zaibach Empire that was trying to destroy everything! Grandmother was not crazy. I already knew about grandmothers meeting with Leon Schezar, he was Allen's father. But if she was telling the truth, I've got Atlantian blood… just like Van…" Hitomi trailed off.

"Hitomi? If you are right, and what your grandmother said is true, then you weren't supposed to come home," Hitomi's mom pointed out.

"Maybe I am meant to go back," Hitomi jumped up from where she sat; suddenly feeling a surge of energy and hope, "back to Van and Fanelia and everyone!" Could she really see him again? See them all again? Even that annoying cat Merle!

"Hitomi, do you really want to go back there?" her mother gave her an intense look. "I heard your stories before three years ago, and it sounded dreadfully dangerous…"

"Mother… I'm done with high school now, and I have been so lost, trying to figure out what I want for the future… I don't really want to go to a trade school or university… I don't see any future for me here…" she looked her mom in the eye, "Yes, I want to go back… Back to Van, Allan, and even Merle... back them them all…" Hitomi dropped her gaze, it wasn't that she wanted to leave her family… but her heart was telling her that going back would be right.

Hitomi's mother was silent for a long moment, then with a sigh, "Alright then." She stood up and walked to Hitomi's closet. Hitomi at her blinking as she watched her mother drag out her duffel bag and started packing things into it.

"Mom?" Hitomi moved over to her.

"We need to make sure you are packed," Her mother said mater-of-factly as she put some of Hitomi's clothes into the bag. "Can't have you suddenly whisked away by some magical pillar of light without being well prepared for it…"

"Mother, even if I could go back, who knows when it would happen," Hitomi knelled down beside her mom, feeling concern and worry at her behavior.

"Hitomi, your grandmother was wrong…" the middle aged woman paused in her efforts, then looking over at her daughter beside her, "I was not spared the burden of seeing things others cannot. When you went to Gaea the first time I sensed it… and last night I foresaw a beam of light take you away from me… As it took you away, you called to me, saying I didn't need to worry, you were going where you were needed." The woman's eyes were darkening with moisture, and Hitomi realized her mother was trying not to cry, "I see now that I can't stop destiny."

"Mom…" Hitomi started.

"I'll explain to your father and brother the best I can," Hitomi's mother returned to packing, putting an extra pair of sneakers into the duffel bag. "It's almost time, you should get dressed and grab anything you might need or want to take with you," Mrs. Kanzaki stood up and headed out of the room.

Hitomi stared after her, she had so much to process after this night of revelations… But she didn't have time to stand around, steadying her resolve and started moving about her room. Dressed into the cream colored blouse and the blue jeans she started packing.

Picking up framed photos from her dresser, she paused to stare at them for a moment… If her mom was right and she was leaving tonight, then she wouldn't be able to see her father and brother again… Or even Yukari and her other friends here either… This threatened to bring tears to her eyes… She added the pictures to the things she was packing into her backpack.

In a few minutes Hitomi's duffel bad was full of clothes, a make-up bag and bag of toiletries and other things she might need in it. She packed plenty since many of those things weren't found in Gaea, or at least not like this. She wasn't sure what she'd do when she ran out of some things; she would just have to adopt the way Gaea's women dealt with those issues.

In her backpack she had her framed photos as well as a photo album, a school year book, a first aid kit, a pad of paper and a few pens and pencils, some of her favorite books, and her tarot cards. She decided against bring anything electronic… there was nowhere to recharge batteries on Gaia…

All packed, Hitomi went out into the living room and set her bags by the door. She moved over to her mother, who was leaning over the kitchen counter. Hitomi caught the sight of tears on her cheeks before she was noticed and her mother straightened up and turned away, wiping her face on her sleeve, "You might want to make some calls to say goodbye."

"Mother… I want to go, but I'll miss you and dad, and Yukari and my other friends…" Hitomi said, moving over she slipped her arms around her mother and hugged her.

"Hitomi, you're needed in that other world, something is going to happen, and without you the whole place might fall…" her mother looked at her with a stern expression, "That evil if left unchecked, may very well make its way over here to Earth as well. If you stay, we might all end up in danger, but if you go, you can help stop the evil and save us all," Mrs. Kanzaki hugged her daughter fiercely then. Hitomi was left wondering if her mother was trying to convince her, or convince herself…

Hitomi was a bit surprised either way by her mother's words. Before her last time in Gaia, Hitomi would have argued that she couldn't do anything to help anyone. But after everything that happened, she knew she could very well try anyway. Stepping back from the hug, she tried to give her mother a reassuring smile, "I'll do my best, mama."

"I know you will," Mrs. Kanzaki gave her a watery smile, then sniffed and moved off, "I should pack you something to eat to take with you…"

"I should call Yukari," Hitomi moved back to the living room and picked up the phone. She dialed Yukari's cell phone since she doubted her friend would be home yet. After a few rings Yukari answered, "Hey Yukari, it's me. How's the 'date' going? Sure, sure it's not a date… Going to go see a movie huh? Well I hope you have fun… I just wanted to call to say… thank you… for what? Well for being my friend, my best friend, for all this time… For all the good and bad times we've shared… No I'm not dying or anything, I just wanted to say those things since I don't think I've said them enough… You go have fun now… goodbye Yukari…" Hitomi hung up the phone with a sigh.

Yukari frowned as she closed her cell. What was that all about?

"Yukari, is something wrong?" Amano asked, looking over at her from where he sat on a park bench.

"That was Hitomi, she… didn't seem herself…" Yukari bit her lip, worry twisting in her gut, "I'm going to call her back." She opened her cell back up and hit the speed dial for Hitomi's home phone. She stood there, arm hugged around her waist as she listened to rings. She got the answering machine. She hung up and turned to Amano, "She was just there! Why wouldn't she answer?"

Amano stood up and moved over to her, concern starting to show on his face as well, "She seemed fine earlier."

"Can we swing by her place on the way to the movie? I want to make sure she's all right. I won't be able to enjoy myself unless I know for sure…" Yukari pleaded.

Amano nodded, "Of course, let's go." With that they set off to head toward Hitomi's house.

"What is it?" Hitomi asked as she looked up to see her mom looking at her.

"You've become such a beautiful young woman Hitomi, I am just sad that I won't see your wedding day," Hitomi's mom tossed her, her jacket.

"What do you mean?" Hitomi caught her jacket and put it on, giving her mom a suspicious look.

"Nothing. So who called a moment ago?" Mrs. Kanzaki changed the subject.

"Yukari was trying to call me back; I think she might be worried… I tried not to sound weird when I talked to her, but I guess it's hard to fool someone who's been your best friend since grammar school," Hitomi sighed.

"Come on Hitomi, it's time to go outside. You wouldn't want to miss your ride," Hitomi could tell by the quiver in her mom's voice and bittersweet smile on her face that her mom was trying not to cry again.

"Mom?" Hitomi gave her mom another look, this time worried. Her mom just ushered her to the door, where Hitomi slipped on her tennis shoes. As soon as she stood up her mom handed Hitomi her backpack, then once that was on, her duffel bag strap on her shoulder. Hitomi again looked at her mother.

"Come on," Mrs. Kanzaki slipped on her own shoes and walked outside, heading around to their backyard. Hitomi hesitated then followed her outside. Hitomi's mother looked up into the sky.

"Mom?" Hitomi asked again, worried about her mother, she was acting like she couldn't wait to get rid of her now.

"It's time Hitomi," Hitomi's mother looked at her as a bright white light came from the sky and hit right where Hitomi was standing.

"Mom!" Hitomi cried as she started getting pulled into the sky.

"Don't worry Hitomi! We'll always be with you! Never forget us! I love you!" Hitomi's mother waved and Hitomi could see tears in the woman's eyes again. Hitomi could see now that her mother was doing what she thought she had to. She was putting off her feelings and she didn't really want Hitomi to go, but she thought that she must. She had been rushing because she knew she wouldn't be able to let go of Hitomi otherwise.

"Yukari!" Amano pointed at the pillar of light. Together he and Yukari rushed the last bit of distance to Hitomi's house, the light was behind the house. By the time they got there, they found Mrs. Kanzaki looking up at the sky as the light faded from view, back into the sky from which it came.

"Hitomi!" Yukari cried, but she already knew that her friend had been taken away again.

"She's gone, Yukari… gone to where she needs to be," Mrs. Kanzaki said softly, tears still in her eyes.