In Lina's dreams, all five of her children were alive and whole. Luke sat on Dianna's lap as she read aloud while Min, Attie and Pomona played jacks, each of them brimming with signs of life and health. The sense of surrealism was strong as Lina watched them, but while in the grasp of the dream she could not figure out why. When she woke up she realized it was because Luke's time had never overlapped with Dianna's. But then if events had not occurred as they had, they wouldn't have had Luke.

The sadness weighed heavily on her heart as laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. That no one had woken her was a good sign. It likely meant that Attie was still stable at the least. The bed shifted a bit as Gourry put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her to him for a tender kiss. "Hey." He said.

"Morning." She replied, though her voice didn't sound like her own.

"Why don't you lay in a bit, and I'll get breakfast ready and wake the girls." He said as he placed his hand on her forehead.

"Huh?" Lina said.

"You just look so tired, like you need a bit of a lie in. You must have picked up that bug from the girls. I can get Di ready for your sister, and I don't think your folks will mind if I bring Min and Attie with me today. They're usually pretty good at the store."

Lina closed her eyes as she recalled the time when Dianna, Min and Attie were little and had contracted the flu, and she had worn herself out caring for them. Why had his mind latched on to that time? Did it matter? Because whatever the reason, she couldn't bear the thought of dragging him to the present. It seemed cruel to force upon him the reality that they now lived in a world where one of their daughters was dead and another severely injured. She quickly grabbed him and held him so he couldn't see that she was crying, and did her best to keep her voice steady as she said, "I think they're going to sleep in a bit this morning, so there's no rush."

"I need to talk to you." Lina said as she cornered Rubia while everyone else filed out of the dining room after breakfast to see Attie.

"What is it?" Rubia asked.

Lina looked over her shoulder to make sure that everyone else was far down the hallway, and then she whispered, "What is it like, being a copy?"

Rubia smiled slightly, "What's it like not being a copy?"

"Huh?" Lina said.

"This is the only existence I have known. I don't remember anything from the original Rubia's life. Halciform never could understand that."

"I see." Lina said quietly, "What was it like when you first came into awareness?"

"Confusing." Rubia said, "But I learned quickly."

"Are you-" Lina started, and then she stumbled a bit as she tried to figure out how to ask her next question. "Are you mad that you are a copy?"

"No," Rubia said, "It's a struggle, certainly, but think of all that I would have missed if I hadn't been here."

"Gourry and I may never have stopped Halciform." Lina said.

Rubia put a hand on her shoulder, "What are you wanting to ask me?"

Lina closed her eyes, and then pulled her necklace out from under her shirt and opened the locket, revealing the blond hair that lay within. "I always thought of Halciform as a warning of what happens when we don't accept death. But it's so easy to say what you would do when you haven't gone through something. And I miss my daughter so much and I just want her back more than anything. Even if she doesn't remember, it would be like she developed amnesia, wouldn't it? She'd still be Dianna, but with a clean slate."

Lina hadn't meant to sound so desperate but she couldn't control it even as she hated herself for sounding as though she was begging. Yet as Rubia clasped her hands, Lina could tell from the look in the other woman's eyes that her hopes were about to be dashed. "I wish I could help you, Miss Lina. But Dianna has been dead for years. So that bit of hair has been decomposing for that long, and you've been handling it as well. There's no way we'd get a workable sample to make a copy with from it."

Lina bit her lip and nodded, "It was silly of me." She managed to croak.

"Not silly," Rubia said as she squeezed her hands, "Hope is a powerful emotion."

Lina walked into Attie's room and saw Sylphiel and Min undoing Attie's bandaging as she slept. Lina approached the foot of the bed and asked, "How is she?"

Zelgadis looked up at her, but if anyone wondered why she and Rubia were late to the gathering they kept it to themselves. Instead he said, "She was in a lot of pain, so I put her under a sleep spell. She should be out of it for about three more hours."

Lina watched as Sylphiel furrowed her brow as she examined Attie's burns. To Lina's dismay, it appeared as though they hadn't healed at all. If anything, they looked worse!

"Am I imaging it, or…" Min said as her voice trailed off.

"What?" Zel said.

"Are the burns spreading?" Gourry asked.

Lina put her hand over her mouth as Sylphiel said, "Miss Rubia, do you have a quill?"

"Yes, why?"

"So I can mark where her wounds are and we can track them to see if they are spreading or not." Sylphiel explained.

"But how are they spreading?" Lina asked.

"This is one nasty spell." Sylphiel said by way of explanation.

"That's all you can tell me?" Lina spat.

"I'm sorry, Miss Lina." Sylphiel said, "I plan to go down to the guild and do some research once I finish dressing her wounds again."

"I'll join you." Min said.

"Thank you."

Gourry grabbed her hand as he watched as Sylphiel, Rubia and Min dressed Attie's wounds once more. "We need to talk about what to do should the worse happens." Rubia said softly, "I don't think her body will accept a skin graft. If anything I worry that this is slowly killing her."

Lina closed her eyes as the thought once again arose that she could not go through this again. "Make a copy." She said.

"Mom?" Min said in shock.

"Make a copy. Have it ready in case we need to imprint her memories into it. Zel can do that." Lina said. "I'm not losing another child."

Min looked torn, "But what if Attie recovers? What will happen to the copy?"

"Attie will have a twin born thirty-two years after she was." Lina said decisively. "We'll take care of her."

"But what about that copy's consciousness that we'll just smother with Attie's?" Min asked.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Rubia said, "In the beginning I was a blank slate."

"Seconded." Zelgadis said. "Besides, that transfer happens as the copy is still developing. It was the scariest thing I'd ever done, but I was desperate to get out of that body. And Attie will not be able to survive in this one for much longer if this keeps up."

Min looked at Gourry, who hadn't tipped his cards either way. After a few minutes he said, "Do it."

"Shouldn't we ask Attie?" Min said hesitantly.

"Ask her if you want, but I'm going to insist Rubia move forward with this." Lina said. "Or do you want to lose another sister?"

"No." Min said decisively as she wiped tears away from her face.

"I'll just take a sample." Rubia said quietly, "It will take some time for the copy to mature enough to implant the memories. Hopefully she'll hang on till then."

Attie cried out as she woke up, causing everyone to gather around her bedside as Zelgadis grabbed her hand. "Where does it hurt?" he asked.

"Everywhere." She gritted, "That means something bad that it hurts this much, doesn't it?"

"It's going to be okay."

But Attie was not consoled as she said, "I don't want to die."

"You're not going to die." Lina said firmly, "We've got avenues we're pursuing, you are not going to die."

Attie cried for a few moments, "What do you have planned?"

Lina closed her eyes, "Nes should be here soon, and Min and Sylphiel are at the guild doing research. And if none of those pan out, then we're going to make a copy, and use the spell Zelgadis created to move you to that body."

"What?" Attie cried, "There has to be a better way!"

"Not unless you want to die." Lina said.

"But it will be like I did!" Attie said, "This body…" She stopped for a moment to collect herself as the pain became too much. "This body will die. Will I really even be me in another body?"

"I wondered the same thing." Zelgadis said, "And I'm still me, and happy to be out of a cursed body."

Attie squeezed her eyes shut as they heard the doorbell ring from the foyer. Rubia left to answer it as Lina said quietly, "Perhaps it would be best if I put you under a sleep spell again?"

"What if I don't wake up?" Attie asked, "I can handle the pain."

"Mr. Gourry," Rubia said as she came in followed by a man that Lina had never been so happy so see, "He says he's related to you."

"Nes." Gourry said as he went to hug his great-grandfather before quickly leading him to Attie's bedside, "You have to help Attie."

"What happened?" Nes asked, seemingly unperturbed by Attie's heavily bandaged state.

"Xellos hit her with some sort of fire spell." Lina explained, "The wounds haven't been healing, if anything they've been spreading. And she's in a lot of pain."

"I've never seen it, but I heard about this spell Xellos used during the Kouma War." Nes explained, "Even after the flames are extinguished it continues to slowly burn its victims alive. There's a spell to extinguish it. I'll perform it now."

"Thank goodness." Lina said as Nes started chanting and gradually Attie relaxed as the pain ebbed away. "Is that a spell that a human can do?"

"Yes," Nes said, "I'll teach you once I heal Attie, which I will do now that the fire is quenched."

Lina watched the empty place where Attie's arm once was as Nes started chanting a new spell. Yet it did not regrow. Was the damage too much? She felt nervous when Nes put his hands down and calmly asked Attie to remove her bandages, and then she felt her knees go weak with relief when she did to reveal that her skin at least had regenerated. There were faint hints of scars and her hair would have to regrow, but compared to the alternative, it was better than they had been expecting. "Can I have a mirror?" Attie asked.

Rubia gave her one, and as Attie looked at herself, and Lina could see that she was doing her best to contain her disappointment, "I guess it will have to do for now."

"Can we do anything about her arm and foot?" Lina asked.

"Yes, Uncle Milgasea taught me a spell to make a prosthetic. It will work just like her old ones." Nes smiled a little, "I can even put some gems in the prosthetic, boost your fire power a little."

"Really?" Attie said as she brightened, her concerns about her appearance halted, "Well, I was a bit down about these scars but the extra fire power will make up for it. Please tell me my hair will grow back."

"In time."

Attie smiled in relief, "Good, I'm not liking the bald look."

Rubia added, "Considering how lovely it was, I'm glad to hear it will grow back. You and Min really lucked out."

"My other sisters did as well. We got great hair thanks to our Dad." Attie said as Nes started crafting her a new arm.

"Did Dianna look a lot like you and Min?" Rubia asked.

"Yes." Attie said, "She was the tallest, but not even by a full inch. And her hair was straight like Min's, mine is the only one who grew out wavy. Other than that we could have been triplets."

The group chatted amiably as Nes worked, and Lina marveled at how the mood of the group had changed so drastically with his arrival. As always he brought hope and healing when he arrived. And perhaps they could even rope him into this new fight with the Mazoku race. Having a golden dragon at their side would be a big asset.

Finally Nes stopped and set an arm and a foot on the bed, "What do you think?"

"Wow, they look so real." Attie said.

"You won't even notice the difference." Nes said, "Here, I'll help you attach them."

Nes helped her put them on, and Lina wiped her eyes. It was such a relief to see Attie with her limbs again. No one would know they weren't real by just a casual glance at them. And she could still pursue her dreams.

"Let's try them out. Slowly." Nes said as he helped her out of the bed.

"It works just like my old foot. I even have a bit of feeling in it." Attie said, stunned.

"You want to go test the fire power in your new arm?" Zel asked.

"You're on." Attie said with a smile, "Just, give me a minute to get in something other than bandages."

"Don't overdue it." Lina cautioned.

"Yes, Mom." Attie said with forced patience before she went and threw her arms around Nes, "Thank you."

"I'm glad I can help."

Attie pulled away and then went over to hug her parents before she turned around and ordered, "Everyone, out of my room."

Lina shook her head as she filed out with Gourry and the others, and then once they were in the hallway she grabbed Nes and gave him a big hug, "Thank you for my daughter." She said as Gourry came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"She's my great-great granddaughter. I would have hated to lose her as well." Nes said.

"I'll take Attie to the testing grounds at the sorcerer's guild, and we can surprise Min and Sylphiel while we're there." Zelgadis said, alluding to the place at the guild where sorcerer's practice their big spells.

"And then we can decide what to do about Nigel." Rubia said.

"Rubia," Lina said, "What about the copy we were making?"

"Oh," Rubia said, "Really at this stage it's just purifying the sample. Making a copy is a long process just to even set up."

Lina nodded, "Scrape it, then. And tonight, we'll discuss Nigel."