Chapter 32

Solara woke up. It was the middle of the night. She looked for Babbo, finding him snoring quietly next to her pillow. Despite her exhaustion, Sol knew she wasn't going back to sleep. She got out of bed, careful not to wake Babbo.

She padded out the room and down the hall barefoot. Coming to the balcony, she walked to the edge and sat down sideways, her right leg hanging over the side, her left leg stretched out straight, her back propped against the pillar. She stared out at the deep blue-black sky dusted with stars. She didn't notice Belle winging by, on her way back to Alviss' room after getting a drink of water.

Belle noticed her though. She hurried back to Alviss' room.

"Alviss. Alviss, wake up." Belle poked his cheek.

"Huh?" Alviss blinked blearily. "What is it, Belle?"

"Sol's upset."

"Huh?" Alviss sat up, more awake.

"She's sitting on the balcony by herself. I think she's really hurting. You should go talk to her,"

"Belle-"

"and I think you should tell her." Alviss' eyes widened as he blushed.

"Belle-!"

"She needs you, Alviss. Go. Go!" Alviss jumped up and ran out of the room. At the entrance to the balcony, he stopped. Belle hovered next to him. "I'll go to her room and make sure Babbo doesn't panic." She flew off.

Alviss swallowed hard. God, he was so nervous. More than he ever had been for a battle. He took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Sol."

Sol turned her head. Her eyes were dull and flat. "Alviss."

Alviss swallowed again. "May I sit?" Sol moved her left leg, propping it up. Alviss sat down facing her. She looked back out at the sky. He didn't know what to say, so he waited.

"I feel like I failed." Alviss' eyes widened. Before he could ask why she said, "I couldn't stop him."

"What do you mean?! You did stop him! He left and he didn't take any of the ÄRMs!" Alviss protested.

"He got bored. I didn't stop him. He stopped himself. I feel so… useless." A tear ran down her face, glittering in the moonlight.

Alviss felt that tear like a stab to the chest. Alviss didn't know what to do. How could he make her feel better? Then he noticed her left hand was draped over her knee. He hesitated for a second, then took her hand. She looked at him. He took a deep breath, then slid his spiritual energy against hers.

Her eyes focused as she inhaled sharply in surprise. She opened her mouth, but no sound emerged.

"It's funny, in a sad way, that it was you who left me. I never thought it was your fault. Yet, it didn't change the fact that you took all the sunlight with you. Suddenly, I was living in an eternal night. Combined with Phantom giving me the Zombie Tattoo, I almost lost the will to live. Gaira trained me, telling me I needed to fight back. And Belle gave me a kind of nightlight. I'm grateful to them, but it wasn't the same.

"Then, I used the Gatekeeper Clown, and you arrived. My eternal night shattered as the sun suddenly appeared. I was blinded and confused. I treated you horribly. I can't tell you how sorry I am. I didn't know who you were. When you fused back together, I realized who you were. It hurt to know that you didn't remember me. But, in the end, it didn't matter. I was infatuated with the girl you were. I fell in love with the woman you are. Then, now, and for the rest of our lives, you will always be my sunshine."

As he spoke, Sol had changed position, but hadn't pulled her hand away. Now, she pressed her forehead against his. "I didn't recognize you, either. When I fused back together, my memories of you weren't fully restored. Yet, I felt like I knew you. It confused me. But, like you said, it doesn't really matter. I admired the stoic little boy you were. I've fallen in love with the man you've become. You have always been and will always be, my strong knight."

The two sat together like that for a while. Then, Alviss noticed that Sol was starting to doze off. "You still need to sleep." He stood, pulling her up with him. Her expression said she didn't want to separate. He smiled. "Don't worry. I'm never leaving you again." She smiled.

His room was closer, so they went there. She climbed into the bed, moving up against the wall. She looked up at him. Her amethyst eyes were luminescent, and the moonlight turned her hair into a river of fire across the pillow. Fighting his nerves, Alviss slid in next to her.

Sol clearly wasn't nervous because she immediately cuddled into his side. Putting her head on his chest, she quickly drifted off. Alviss smiled. To him, she even smelled like sunshine. Holding her to him, he too slid into his dreams, which were once again brightly lit by her beautiful smile.


"I've just returned… my queen." Phantom bowed to his beautiful pink-haired monarch.

"So I see. How was my old homeland?"

"I'm sure it was a very lovely place… before we got there."

"And do you have anything to show for it?"

"No ÄRMs. But there was something else…"

Diana's eyes glittered with excitement. "Something different? Something new? What was it?!"

"It was Solara!" Phantom smiled. "Sheer dumb luck! I was thrilled!"

For several moments, Diana simply stared at her oldest Knight. Spotting the gory mess that was his side, she looked away. "She injured you. Impressive."

Phantom giggled. "The kid's getting stronger – maturing with every fight! It won't take much longer for the fruit to finish ripening."


"Really?! You too?!" Ash asked another Knight, surprised. "You're going to be in the War Games tomorrow?"

With long brown hair, wearing a leotard, fishnet, buckled boots, and a beret, the Knight with a white mask that had red patterns around the eyes, barked, "That's right. I can't let that bitch – Solara – get away with this!"

"You shouldn't get made at a kid." Ash chirped. "Kids are cute! "

"I don't care if she's a kid! Hurting my Phantom is unforgivable!" she shrieked.

Ash crossed his arms. "Nope. I'm the one fighting Solara. I won't give that up!"

"Then you'd better kill her!"

"Hmm. I don't know if I can kill a child…" He looked over at the third Knight in the room. "And you… we know who you want to fight!"


"Alviss! Sol! Wake up!" Alviss woke to a quiet, but urgent voice.

"Huh?" The sky was just starting to lighten, the sun not even visible on the horizon. He blinked a few times as he became aware of Sol's head on his chest and Belle hovering next to his head. "What is it, Belle?"

Sol stirred against him. She lifted her head and looked blearily at Belle.

"Babbo's awake. I told him Sol was here with you to keep him from panicking, but now he's really mad. I told him you'd never do anything inappropriate, but it didn't seem to mollify him." Alviss turned bright red while Sol just blinked. "You need to get up! He's on the way here and if he sees you two like this, he's going to flip! Hurry!"

Alviss moved to get out of bed, but Sol was partially on top of him and didn't move. "I don't care. It's stupid early. Lock the door and I'll deal with him at a more reasonable hour." Belle opened her mouth, probably to point out that Babbo was going to yell. "And you can inform him that if he wakes me up, I will hang him from the fifth floor flag pole."

Alviss bit his lip to keep from laughing as the half-awake Sol blandly threatened her ÄRM. Belle looked at him and he nodded to say he agreed with her. Belle winged her way over to the door and locked it as Sol pushed Alviss back down and resumed her previous position. He smiled again as they drifted back to sleep.


Belle left the room through the window and quickly circled around to hover in front of the door. She could hear Babbo coming down the hall, and from the sounds of people, she could guess that he woke up at least some of the team members.

"I'll brake that insolent boys ribs! How dare he take advantage of Solara!" the kendama ranted.

Dorothy, Nanashi, and Alan were the ones who had apparently been woken by Babbo's raving and were following him. "Come on, you useless ÄRM. You can't tell me that Alviss, of all people, is suddenly gonna start behaving like this perverted blonde." Dorothy groused.

"Hey! Are you saying that I'm a bad mentor?" Nanashi sulked.

"Really? You're protesting Alviss not acting like you, not that she called you a pervert?" Alan was exasperated with all the drama.

The group spotted little Belle hovering in front of the door. "Get out of my way, fairy! I'm going to-!"

"Solara stated that if you wake her up, she's going to hang you from the fifth floor flag pole." The jaws of the three humans hung. They hadn't actually thought that Sol was going to be in Alviss' room. Babbo flushed. "I will say to you again, Alviss would never do anything inappropriate, unlike Nanashi. They are sleeping. Now, why don't all of you go back to sleep. You do have to fight tomorrow."


Sol woke up slowly, enjoying the sound of Alviss' heart under her ear. She looked up when she felt his fingers sliding through her hair. "Good morning."

Alviss' hear sped up at the sight of her drowsy smile. "Good morning."

She hummed in pleasure as she rubbed her cheek against his chest. "What time is it?"

"Time to get up, I'd say. We do have a battle today."

"Bleah." Alviss chuckled when she stuck out her tongue in annoyance. She sat up and stretched. When she felt Alviss go still and silent, she turned to look at him curiously.

Alviss was sitting up and staring at her arms, exposed by her sleep shirt. Without thinking about it, he started tracing the tattoo with his fingertips. "…why…?"

"Alviss," Sol took his hand, causing him to look at her face, "don't blame yourself. This was my choice. I wanted to help you. I won't tell you not to worry about it. I don't want you to, but I'm realistic. Instead, I'm going to ask you to trust me. I'll destroy Phantom. That's what you brought me here to do, right?" She smiled softly.

Alviss closed his eyes for a moment, then kissed her hand before giving her a watery smile. "You're right, I'm going to worry. But… I do trust you… and I'll be right here with you. I love you, my sunshine."

Sol smiled brightly. "I love you too, my knight." She kissed both his cheeks, then the tip of his nose, and finally gave him a soft peck on his lips, making him blush.


"Where you really in Alviss' room?" Snow asked Sol, eyes wide.

Sol went mildly cross-eyed with annoyance. "Yes. Why is everyone having a fit about this? We didn't bloody do anything! We went to sleep!" Having had an argument with Babbo already this morning, which she ended by threatening to throw him out the window, she was a little short on tolerance.

A slight distance from the girls, Nanashi, Jack, and Alan were poking at Alviss, who was blushing and protesting that nothing had happened, and laughing at Babbo, who was sulking.

Dorothy was simply observing everyone, but when Sol moved to stand next to Alviss her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped.

"What's wrong with you, witch?" Alan poked her shoulder, and the others looked at her.

"You… Your…" She didn't know how to bring up what she was seeing. Had it always been there? Why hadn't she noticed it before? The Elder hadn't even noticed it! He surely would have said something if he had!

"Dorothy?" Sol waved a hand in front of her face.

"You said you didn't do anything last night!" Dorothy yelped.

"We didn't." Sol sounded exasperated.

"Th-then why are you linked?!"

Sol and Alviss blinked. They looked at each other, then back at Dorothy. "Linked?"

"There's a spiritual cord between you! It's wound deeply into both of your spiritual energies! If it's not from last night, how come I've never seen it before?!"

Sol tilted her head. "Cord?"

Alviss frowned, thinking. "…!" He flushed as he thought of something. "Um… I-it might be from… when we were kids…"

The entire group looked surprised. "Kids?!"

Sol looked at him. "My memories of then are still fuzzy and fractured. Given that they were the connection that I was split on, I don't think I'll ever truly get those back. So, I'm not sure what event you're referring to."

Alviss bit his lip, then whispered about the time after his mother died in her ear. She tilted her head. "I… think I remember when you're talking about… kind of. It's not… clear… but… yes, I think I remember it. What does that have to do with anything?"

Looking mildly embarrassed, Alviss quietly said to her, "I had dozed off against you, but you never pushed me away. So when you started disappearing, I ended up sitting… inside you, for lack of a better term. Do you remember that? The feeling it caused?"

She looked down as she thought about it. When she looked up, she looked both confused and startled. "I… I think so. It… kind of felt like… electricity crawling through my veins."

Alviss nodded. "It felt… odd when you weren't there after that. When you disappeared entirely, it bothered me a first, but… it wasn't long after that that Phantom gave me the Zombie Tattoo. The distress of that, on top of losing you and Danna… I kind of forgot about it. If I think about it, it was always there, but I learned how to… ignore it. I think part of the reason I didn't recognize you was that… the feeling of you not being there didn't fully go away even when I was with you. Not until you fused back together."

"I'd like to say it bothered me to not be near you, but… I don't remember. I know it didn't after I encountered Phantom. Or… maybe it did. I may have simply thought it was part of the feeling of missing a part of myself. Which is true." Alviss blushed slightly at that.

The two were quiet for a while. Then Sol said, loud enough for the others to hear, "If the bond is from back then… why didn't Dorothy see it?"

Alviss shrugged. "Maybe it wasn't really there while you were split?"

"Maybe… but I fused back two days ago. Why didn't she see it then? Why didn't the Elder see it, for that matter?"

The two were stumped. Then someone tugged on Sol's sleeve.

"Snow. What is it?"

"May I offer an idea?"

Sol blinked. "Of course."

"Maybe it wasn't visible because you two hadn't… renewed it? It's been a number of years since you two even acknowledged it, right?"

Sol looked up as she thought about that. "I suppose that makes sense. It wasn't being used, so it… faded." Snow nodded.

"Yes, that makes sense." Alviss agreed.

Dorothy frowned. "I suppose so." She wasn't really satisfied with that answer. Not because it was unreasonable, but because it meant that it was always there, she just hadn't noticed it.

Nanashi nudged her with a grin. "Annoyed you didn't see it before, eh?"

Dorothy bristled. "Spiritual bonds are really rare, ya know! Why would I be looking for something that normally wouldn't be there?! Since it was faded, of course I wouldn't see it!"

Nanashi smiled. "I know that. Just making sure you did too."

The statement pulled Dorothy up short, and she blinked at him, bewildered.

"Hey, mysterious disappearing bonds aside," Alan cut in, "how did you two know each other as kids?!"

Alviss blushed with embarrassment, remembering that he had never gotten around to telling Danna, or anyone else for that matter, that he knew his daughter. Sol just looked at Alan blankly. "I told you I've dreamed of MÄR since I was little."

"That doesn't explain how you know Alviss!"

Sol glanced up. "Uh…" She looked at Alviss. Now that they were thinking about it, neither had ever asked how Sol had been able to come to MÄR Heaven when she was asleep. She hadn't had a body here, as proven by the fact that she simply appeared and disappeared.

Finally Sol shrugged. "I appeared in MÄR when I was asleep. I met Alviss when I was… four? Five? Four. Right?" She looked at Alviss, who nodded. "Before I met him, I showed up in random places. After I met Alviss, I always showed up near him. Except for that last time. …maybe Phantom or the Orb sensed me and interfered… I don't know."

"Wait, wait, wait! You're telling me, that you were showing up near Alviss during the War Games?!" Alan was shocked.

Sol blinked, then looked at Alviss, who had ducked his head. Alviss cleared his throat. "Um… so, I hadn't originally realized that Sol was Danna's daughter. So I wandered away from everyone when Sol showed up because I didn't want her near the fighting and aggression. When Danna finally told us his daughter's name, I decided to stay near the camp because I knew that Sol really missed her dad… but… Sol didn't show up that night." He looked at her. "That must've been the night…" he winced as Sol grimaced. "Sorry, Sol."

"I'm not mad, Alviss." When he looked up at her, she smiled softly. "Obviously, I know now that you knew Daddy then, since you stated that you were part of the Cross Guard all those years ago. And you wanting to keep the little girl away from the violence…" an amused expression quirked her lip and eyebrow, "well, I'd never told you that I'm a berserker, so you had no way of knowing that I was the most violent thing you interacted with, neh?"

That made everyone laugh.


So, for those who want to know, my thoughts are that Solara was sending her spirit to MÄR. In her sleep, she was focused and thus 'solid' so interacting with things and people was fine. But as she was waking up, her focus on MÄR was deteriorating, so she became ethereal. This meant that when they were four and Alviss tried to grab her hand, his hand passed through her spirit. Her spirit was then attracted to the spirit that it recognized. The bond did occur when they were eight. Whereas when they were four, it was only a brief moment on the edge, Alviss was sitting directly in the middle of her spirit for at least a full minute. This allowed their spirits to mix, creating a bond between the two. It grew more solid as they spent more time together but faded when they didn't. However, it won't go away unless it is directly severed.

They hadn't touched spiritual energies since Solara had fused back together, but when Alviss deliberately touched his to hers, the bond reawakened. Thus Dorothy was able to see it.