Chapter 2: A New Cause
Fuu stormed out of the library. She had known Cephiro wasn't the same now but she had no idea that monsters had been tormenting the country even more than when they had been fighting to "save" Emeraude. She couldn't really justify her anger at Presea but she felt that if she had told them, they could've been out fighting for the people all this time they had spent just moping around the castle. She also had the inkling that Presea hadn't been totally honest about everything else.
"Hikaru! Umi! We have to go," Fuu found the two lounging in the garden. Fuu told them about the book of Cephiro's recent history she had found in the library.
"Then we have to pull out of our depression and continue fighting for Cephiro," Hikaru said, rejuvenated by the thought of a new mission.
"It'll be just like before," Umi said also feeling uplifted.
"But how could Presea keep it from us? Don't you think that was an awful thing to do…." Fuu was cut off.
"We can't worry about that now. She probably had good intentions in her heart. Now, all we can focus on is exterminating these new monsters," Hikaru said.
Fuu wasn't convinced. She was shocked at how lightly Hikaru had brushed it off. Holding a grudge was one of Fuu's flaws and she knew it so she tried to put it out of her mind.
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Later, as the girls started to leave the castle, Presea ran up behind them yelling. "Wait."
Fuu glared back coldly, "Don't ask us not to go. Our minds are made up."
"Fuu!" Hikaru gave her a look that said, "Shut up."
"I'm sorry about Fuu she's just shocked about the level of problems Cephiro has been experiencing. What is it?" Umi asked.
"I don't want you to go out there unprotected. There is one thing can do for you."
"How can we trust you. If you didn't tell us the whole truth about Cephiro's state what else have you told us that's false?" Fuu said suddenly enraged.
"FUU!"
"I'm sorry Hikaru, but this can't be the same person we met the first time we came to Cephiro!" Fuu, herself, didn't understand this feeling of anger she had against Presea. Presea had always been their friend before. Fuu kept telling herself that this was not rational, but she couldn't control it.
Presea looked up at them through a tear stained face. She slowly lifted her arm and pointed at a tapestry on the adjacent wall. The picture on the tapestry quivered and changed into a door. Then, without warning, Presea ran away down the hall with her face buried in her white dress.
"Fuu, I can't believe how you are acting. This isn't like you," Hikaru said rather vehemently.
Umi didn't say anything. She didn't want to admit it, but she seemed to get the same vibe of lies and deception from Presea. She thought that perhaps Hikaru was too immature to understand it.
Without a word, Fuu walked over to the tapestry and opened the door. The door opened into a narrow spiral staircase surrounded by gray stone walls. The three girls descended to what seemed like a dungeon. The room at the bottom of the stairs was filled with weapons and armor. The walls were covered in pictures of knights and heroes from Cephiro's past. Fuu thought that all of these people must have had to go through the same pain they had on their first trip to this land of will.
Something shimmered in the air above them. The pile of old junk gave way to a small pedestal. Everything else seemed dark, but this column glowed with power. The girls walked over to the pedestal. Each placed their right hand on top of the column in a gesture that wouldn't have been foreign to a baseball team working up their spirits before a game. The column glowed and in togetherness the girls received the magic gloves and armor that had been with them through some of the hardest moments in their lives, but were they really together in their hearts?