Chapter 24

The battle between Nova and the magic knights had heated up. With Nova using Lantis' powers, they were backed into a corner. Debonair's minion was unstoppable.

'There has to be a way to stop her,' thought Hikaru. 'But I can't fight against Lantis.' She had already wounded him once..she couldn't live with herself if she did it again.

Nova gave an evil laugh. "What's wrong, girls? Am I too much for you to handle? I thought you were capable of much more than that. I guess not."

Umi growled..Nova's arrogance was getting on her nerves. But at the same time she had a point. She was the one who had the upper hand. "Laugh it up, harpie! But we will be the ones getting the last laugh!"

"Is that so? Well it remains to be seen if you have what it takes to defeat me! Flame Arrow!"

Hikaru countered with her own Flame Arrow attack, but it just collided with Nova's.

"Mind if I join you girls?"

The three girls glanced up. It was Eagle. For the first time since this second time in Cephiro, they were glad to see him.

"No, not at all," said Umi. Hopefully he would be able to make Nova squirm. Just then, another Autozam battleship arrived..the NSX.

"Not just Eagle."

"I know that voice," mumbled Hikaru. One of Eagle's comrades, Geo, whom she had also met when Eagle kidnapped her. She wondered if Zazu had come, too. It looked like the army of warriors had just increased. Not that she minded. She and her friends needed all of the help they could get.

"Geo, what are you doing here?" asked Eagle.

"I should be asking you the same thing. Did you honestly believe that Zazu and I would let you throw your life away? If so, you're more of an idiot than I thought."

"That's right," agreed Zazu. "We couldn't let you fight such a tough battle alone."

It was clear to Eagle that his comrades were not taking no for an answer. "Well. I see you two made up your mind."

"You got that right."

Nova was incensed that the battle had been interrupted. "Not you guys again. Well, no matter! Since you want to get in my way, you will die along with Hikaru and her friends! Take this! Lightningball Come Forth!"

"Shield on!" The lightning attack dissolved.

"Hey Eagle, isn't that Lantis' attack?" asked Zazu.

"It is."

"I thought so." Something puzzled the little boy. "Then how come this girl is using it?"

Before Eagle could answer, Hikaru explained, "Nova had kidnapped Lantis and is now using him to destroy us."

"Oh." He was glad that he and Geo showed up, otherwise Eagle would have been destroyed by his old friend.

Eagle recalled the moment he and Lantis had battled Nova for the first time, and Nova was taunting Hikaru about falling for Lantis. Come to think of it, Hikaru had seemed to have a high opinion of him. That was it! She would be able to get through to him. "Hikaru, try calling out to Lantis for me."

"Huh?" The young teen wondered what good that would do.

"You'll be able to reach him because of your love."

"Okay." She still wasn't too sure, but decided to give it a shot anyway. "Lantis! Wake up!"

Lantis stirred, but wasn't fully conscious. The voice calling out to him sounded familiar, but everything seemed foggy.

"Don't give up, Miss Hikaru!" urged Fuu.

"LANTIS!"

Nova laughed again. "Call him all you want..you're just wasting your time!"

Umi was beyond fed up with Nova. "Don't listen to her, Hikaru. Keep calling him until he wakes up!"

Hikaru nodded. She shouted his name a few more times, and he finally opened his eyes. Now he could hear clearly. "Hikaru," he groaned.

Nova heard this, and was stunned. "He actually woke up? But how can this be?"

Hikaru reached out her hand, to help him out of the Rune-God, and both of them were electrocuted.

Nova's shock turned into disgust. "That does it! I will kill all of you in the most painful way!"

"Oh yeah?" asked Umi. "Just try it!"

Hikaru knew her friend meant well, but she was tired of all of the banter. "Let me deal with this. After all, Nova is a problem that my own heart created."

Umi didn't believe it at first, but after the battle with the monsters, she was used to the idea. "How so?"

"She is the part of me that couldn't stand killing Princess Emeraude."

"That's right," confirmed Nova. "It was Hikaru who gave birth to me, but Mother Debonair raised me. She taught me what I could do to show Hikaru how much I loved her."

Hikaru thought something was fishy about the stuff Nova used to say. Lady Debonair had been feeding her lies. 'I knew it!' It was time to tell her "alter-ego" the truth. "That's not what I want. I want to protect everyone I care about."

"What? But Mother Debonair told me that it would make you happy if you died with everyone you cared about."

"Debonair is only using you to satisfy her own selfish goals! She will turn on you sooner or later!"

Nova was absolutely dumbfounded. Could it been that the one person who she trusted with her life had deceived her? No. She refused to believe it. "It can't be true! Mother would never lie to me!"

Lantis decided to use this as an opportunity to break free. "Eagle, use your FTO to attack this Rune-God."

Eagle had major doubts about that order. Unlike him, Lantis had a long life ahead of him. "I can't do it! If you die, Hikaru will be devastated! She loves you with her whole being."

"Who said I want to die? I will not choose a future of dying with the one I love just because I can't be with her. I plan to escape when you attack."

Eagle was relieved to hear that. Very clever plan. He did as Lantis asked, and just as he said he would do, he freed himself from the Rune God.

Lady Debonair saw all of this, and she was very angry. She decided to confront the upstarts personally. She appeared outside. "Blast you! I was so close to achieving my ultimate goal! You little pest!" She shot her strongest attack at Eagle, intending to kill him.

Geo, realizing what was happening, scooted in front of his comrade in the NSX and intercepted the attack using the barrier. The villainess' anger grew. "Curse you, little vermin!"

While the Autozam fleet was dealing with Debonair, the magic knights decided to launch an attack on Regalia. They combined their forces. "Spiral Flash!"

The colorful energy sphere produced a large dent in the rouge Rune-God. Nova was horrified by this. She started to panic.

"My Rune God isn't strong enough to win! Mother Debonair, help me!"

Debonair, who was still miffed at having her plan thwarted, looked at her adopted daughter with scorn. "You are useless! You will die along with these stupid humans!" She decided to retreat for the moment.

Nova felt like someone had just knocked the wind out of her. She couldn't believe her adopted mother just said that. 'Could Hikaru be right about Mother Debonair?'

Hikaru was feeling a mixture of relief and pity over the course of events. She was relieved Lantis was all right and that Eagle survived. She felt sorry for Nova because Lady Debonair had turned on her. But she was glad that Nova now knew the truth, and although she felt like she had a right to be angry and bitter for all the pain her shadow had caused, she knew that wouldn't make the situation better, only worse. No one deserved to be used as cannon fodder. She walked towards Nova.

Lost in her despair, Nova took out her anger and frustration on Hikaru.

"Flame Arrow!"

Hikaru walked through the flames as if they were nothing. It was like she had a new power.

Nova attacked again, and this time Hikaru counterattacked. She easily overpowered her alter-ego. Taken by surprise, Nova stumbled backwards. Hikaru walked up to her, and gently stroked her hair. That was something she didn't expect.

"I know the truth about you, Nova. You are a part of my heart," said Hikaru.

"I looked everywhere for you, but I couldn't find you. Mother Debonair found me, and said she would stay with me forever, and that she would always love me as a daughter," said Nova.

Unfortunately, Lady Debonair was lying to her. Hikaru apologized for Nova being all alone. Hikaru pressed Nova's hand against her heart.

"Can you feel the heart beating in my chest? It tells me I want to be with the people I love alive. I think I would like to love myself now, even the parts of me that have a hard time forgiving myself," said Hikaru, hugging Nova.

"What about me,Hikaru? Would you want to love me, too?" asked Nova.

Hikaru nodded. "Come back home." Nova nodded, and went back inside Hikaru's heart.

Clef had been using his powers to support the castle. Sierra was extremely scared for him. He couldn't go on like this. She decided to try to get Alcyone to tell her where Lady Debonair was just one more time. And she would ask more earnestly, too.

"Alcyone, please tell me where Lady Debonair can be found. If Clef keeps supporting the castle in his condition, he'll die!" said Sierra.

Alcyone looked at Sierra, and frowned. Something wasn't right here. It seemed like she had put on a facade for quite awhile.

"It can't be. You're not Presea, are you?"

Sierra was startled. She didn't expect Alcyone to figure it out, for not even Mage Clef knew who she was. She had come dangerously close to revealing the truth once, but that was all. But now it was time to tell the truth about her identity, since the sorceress saw through her disguise.

"How did you..you read my mind, it seems."

"I recalled Presea telling me once that she had a sister," said Alcyone.

"You are correct. I am Presea's twin sister, Sierra."

"Why are you pretending to be Presea?"

"I wanted to spare the magic knights the pain they felt when my sister passed away. Also, I wanted to help Mage Clef by leading him to believe Princess Emeraude's wish she made as the pillar had come true," explained Sierra.

"I see...you are in love with Master Clef," said Alcyone.

The expression on Sierra's face showed that she was. She envied Sierra's strong will and determination. She was willing to do anything for the man she loved, even if it was meaningless.

Just then, Hikaru, Fuu and Umi entered the room.

"Alcyone, please tell us where Lady Debonair is. No one died, but there was a close call, and I'm afraid that next time we won't be so lucky," said Umi.

"And if you can't win?" asked Alcyone.

"We will win...for the sake of saving Cephiro, we'll make sure we win."

"Even if the odds are against you.. it is for the sake of the one you love," said Alcyone. She hated to admit it, but she admired the magic knights' tenacity. She finally saw how they were able to defeat her so many times. Well, she saw no reason to live on. She didn't think she had anything left.

"Lady Debonair is..." began Alcyone. All of a sudden, some black smoke surrounded the ice sorceress, and began to engulf her. The three magic knights and Sierra gasped.

"It can't be! Is it because she was talking about Debonair?" asked Sierra.

"It's all right! You don't have to tell us," said Umi.

But Alcyone made up her mind to die. She went on to tell the magic knights that Lady Debonair was inside Cephiro's alternate realm. The smoke had almost completely swallowed her at this point. The magic knights were teary-eyed at such a sight.

"It's all right. This is the fate I have chosen for myself. There's no need to cry. My life is nothing but a waste," said Alcyone. With that,she was gone.

"Goodbye,Alcyone," said Umi, softly. The magic knights left the room, and prepared to go to Lady Debonair's castle.

'Be safe, girls,' thought Sierra. She left the room,and went to residential headquarters.