There was no doubt that Hikaru was completely overwhelmed. Waemi's death had jarred her heart, which had only just mended from the suffering that had scarred it; Lantis's death had broken it entirely. And now, the sight of Umi, her best friend, lying in Ascot's arms, her pale face framed by wispy powder-blue hair that had been speckled with the blood that had sprayed from her throat... Hikaru felt positive her heart was completely shattered.
And, as if the fact that her heart had been broken into tiny, unmendable, jagged fragments wasn't enough, this dark-haired girl was insisting to Presea that Ascot was her brother. Her brother? Ascot didn't have a sister. He didn't have a family... Did he?
A dizziness swam through the redhead's mind, disorienting her for a moment. She dropped to her knees so she wouldn't topple over --- her balance was thrown off by the dizziness. Not for the first time that day, Hikaru felt her insides contract and heave violently. This time, Hikaru didn't care enough to fight down the rising bile.
Although the overwhelming feeling caused by the upsetting events that were being thrown at them constantly had affected Hikaru physically, the other Knight who remained alive was simply dazed. Fuu had already refused to believe Umi was dead --- although she knew her friend really was gone --- and she couldn't quite grasp what the amber-eyed girl was claiming. It didn't make sense. Nothing did.
"Your brother," Presea said slowly, giving Meline a cold, skeptical glare.
"Yes!"
"How can you tell?"
Meline turned away from her warrior; she knelt next to Ascot, resting her hands on his arm gently. "Hey... Ascot?" He didn't respond. "Ascot, look at me."
There was a hesitation on his part, but after a short moment, Ascot turned his head to her. Meline reached up a delicate hand, brushing his thick bangs out of his eyes. A smile found its way onto her face. "Yeah," she confirmed to herself. "I know those eyes."
"Me... Meline-san?" Ascot's eyes were frightened, hopeful, pleading, all at once.
"It's me." She immediatly pulled him into an embrace, her head against his shoulder. "Oh, my poor little brother... I'm so... so sorry..."
Ascot's breaths came unevenly. "Meline-san... Did you... Presea..."
"Yes, and... I really am sorry, Ascot." Her golden eyes weren't quite tearful, but had a wetness about them that hinted she was nearly crying. "I... actually, Cerise is the one who took your Farl Presea... but I did play a part."
"What did you do to her?" Ascot's voice trembled as he stared at his sister in disbelief.
"It was for Mother and Father." Meline grasped both of his hands in hers. "Ascot, it was the Magic Knights who caused them to die. You had already run away by then, you couldn't have known, but Mother and Father died because of the Magic Knights. Oh, Ascot, you can't understand how I hate them for that!"
"But Umi---"
"No, Ascot." Meline shook her head. "You're too close to them, so you can't see. But they're so..." She took a shaky breath. "I am sorry you were hurt by this. But I am not sorry the Magic Knight died."
He stared at her for a long moment of silence, his emerald eyes wide. Then he turned from Meline, gathered Umi gently in his arms, and stood. He stared down at his sister.
"You aren't my sister," he said gravely. "Not the sister I left."
Meline was on her feet in the blink of an eye. "You expect me to be the same?!" she shouted suddenly. "You expect everything to be like it was when they killed our parents?!" Her golden eyes were wild as she clenched her fists in fury, screaming, "I hate them!"
Ascot turned away, heading for the stairs again.
An enraged scream escaped Meline, tearing the silence that hung in the cool air viciously. She turned to Presea, her chest heaving with heavy breaths. "Kill them!" she shrieked, pointing at the two remaining Magic Knights. "Kill them both now!!!"
Presea turned her head to glance at Hikaru and Fuu. Her chocolate eyes widened in surprise immediatly.
Standing in front of the two Knights, tears streaming down their cheeks and fear causing them to tremble, but standing tall and proud with their hands joined, were Hedaimo, Yeiry, Nobyre, and Larumele.
"You won't kill Fuu-san and Hikaru-san," Larumele announced, her voice shaky but the emotion behind it strong.
"No... no more blood is going to spill today," Nobyre confirmed, perhaps with slightly less strength than Larumele, but her eyes were fierce and deadly serious.
"Kill them, kill them!" Meline raged. "I don't care anymore, just kill them all!"
Presea raised a hand gravely.
"Don't!" Cerise ran from where she had been standing the entire time, grabbing Presea's hand and lowering it. "Don't, Presea!"
Meline grabbed her little sister's arm, pulling her away from Presea. "Get out of here," she hissed, "or you'll die, too."
"Meline, we can't finish this," her pale sister insisted, her blood-colored eyes brimming with tears. "We were wrong!"
"I don't care if she kills you!" Meline screamed. "If you want to live, get out of the way!"
Cerise gaped in disbelief, then the disbelief shifted into realization. "You are," she said quietly. "Mama was right. You are crazy."
"Shut up!" Meline clamped her hands over her ears. "Presea, kill them!"
Cerise let out a fearful cry, dashing past Presea as fast as possible and running up the steps into the arms of Ascot, whom she had by now also realized to be her brother, as the blond woman gathered a miniature storm between her hands.
"Stop!" Hikaru shrieked at the four girls who stood, protecting them. "Don't do this!" It was just like when Lantis...
"We won't let her kill you," Hedaimo insisted, her voice full of tears. "Not while we can help you."
Hikaru turned to look at her companion, her cranberry eyes desperate. "Fuu-chan, do something!"
The blond Knight's eyes were more sad than Hikaru had ever seen them. "I've tried, Hikaru-san. I'm not strong enough to build up a protection spell."
Presea released the storm.
Hikaru experienced a terrifying deja vu as the violent stormclouds raced towards them, wailing and twisting in a tight funnel. "Yeiry!" she screamed. "Nobyre... Please, don't!"
She turned away, covering her eyes as the icy winds of the storm shot around the younger girls. Nobyre let out a small cry, dropping Yeiry and Hedaimo's hands to shield her face with her arms, but she, like the others, remained standing as the waves of thunder and snakes of lightning pressed against them.
Presea forced the storm on, feeding it more violent strength. Meline stood just beside her, her long, thin hair swept back from the wind. A grin had found its way onto her lips as the four teenage girls began to weaken under Presea's magic.
Her golden hair was whipping in her face distractingly, and her blood had by now dried on the front of her armor, but Fuu gritted her teeth against the remaining pain and lifted her hand. "Winds," she called, her voice lost in the roaring storm, "of Protection!"
Through determination --- and fear for the younger girls --- she had managed to gather her strength by this time, and the greenish, barely visible winds shot from Fuu's palm, wrapping around in front of the younger girls and reflecting the storm.
Relieved from their vigil, the girls collapsed to the grass. Hedaimo was doubled over in pain, and Larumele gazed at Fuu in apology. Her auburn hair, pulled from its pigtails by the storm, framed her pale face in messy waves as she mouthed, "I'm sorry."
"Ferio!" Hikaru shouted, motioning for him to come over. The prince ran down the steps, followed closely by Ascot. The two darted through the storm that Presea still fed more rage, slipping into Fuu's protective barrier. Ferio gathered Nobyre and Hedaimo in his arms as Fuu cried out, "Hurry!" Her shield was already weakening.
Ascot picked up the other two girls, and he and Ferio hurried back to the steps as Presea finally dropped her hands, killing off the storm. Fuu collapsed on the grass again, breathing heavily as her barrier thinned and disappeared. Hikaru knelt next to her, stroking her friend's hair with shaking fingers and murmuring words of comfort. "You did great. You did great. Arigatou, Fuu-chan. You did great."
Larumele was trembling uncontrollably. She had emptied her insides, and although the naseous feeling left with the vomit, she still felt sick --- sick to her stomach, sick at heart, sick in every way a person could be.
Now she was lying on one of the cots in the infirmary of the castle, her heart racing and her breathing as shaky as her body. The Chizetan woman, Caldina, was rubbing her back comfortingly, continuously asking if she was all right. She had promised to watch the girls until the medic came.
Larumele opened her eyes, gazing over at the closest cot. Nobyre lay there, her eyes closed in unconciousness, her face almost as pale as the nearly white-blond hair that fell in wisps over her eyes. Nobyre was in far worse condition that Larumele was, and the auburn-haired girl was afraid. Waemi was dead, and Umi. Lantis was, too, and although she hadn't even known the tall man, his death had shaken her.
She turned her head as the medic came in, followed closely by Guru Clef.
As the medic began to tend to Hedaimo, Clef sat next to Larumele, smiling in a forced way. "How are you, Larumele?"
"Not so good. I mean... I'm not hurt bad or anything, but..." She bit her lip, avoiding eye contact.
After a moment, Clef held out a small vial. "I made up a sleeping potion for you. You're in the best condition, and you'll probably feel better by simply getting some rest." He smiled sympathetically. "I expect you aren't tired in the least, but sleep will be best for you."
"On the contrary," Larumele muttered. "But I'll take it anyway."
Larumele swallowed the mixture, and her eyelids became heavy almost immediatly. She laid back down on the cot, closing her eyes. Clef rose to his feet, speaking something to her, but she had already fallen under the heavy sleep.
