*You might already know this but I'm writing a manuscript hahaha, yeah I know. Actually it's already written. Actually it's a series of what's going to be seven books, and I have three completely finished. I was looking into publishing, which is ridiculous because I have no money at all whatsoever, and I realized that I didn't even know if people like my style. So I decided that I'd ask people who have read some of my work, and I was curious. Any corrective criticism is welcome and compliments are always enjoyed *grins* but more than anything I need some serious feedback because lately I've been really confused about my writing. Thanks a lot, oh by the way! This is the next chapter!*
Chapter 7 The End of a War, and the Beginning of One
When they landed in Cephiro the boys looked around them in wonderment as they walked through the huge white palace.
"I didn't know anything this beautiful really existed," Brian breathed in wonderment, "And this was hand-built?"
"Hand-built?" Clef seemed confused.
"They have magic here," Umi told them, "They just imagine it there, Will it so, and it happens."
"That's so cool!" Zack shouted, "I want a pretty girl in a long white dress to come out of nowhere and bring me a gift," he grinned, "Like that?"
"Like that," Kojishi laughed, "Except you have to actually need it, so that your heart longs for it so much that it appears."
"But I do!" he whined, and right on cue Persea ran up to them.
"Guru, Prince, Guard," she bowed to the three men, "Magic Knights," she bowed to the other six, and left the three newcomers feeling slightly out, except for the pure amazement on their faces, "What's with them?"
"This is Persea, our Master Craftsman," Fuu introduced them, "Also already taken."
Persea blushed, "How did you know anything Fuu-hime?"
"You can't put anything past me, even Satoru cracks sometime," Fuu smiled sheepishly as Hikaru's mouth dropped.
"You…and…?" she pointed.
"Sh…Fire Knight," Lantis silenced her, "A bit protective of your overprotective sibling?" he laughed when she glared.
"No! Just surprised, I mean wow! Congratulations on winning him over!" she shouted, and Persea blushed and got back to the matter on hand.
"This is not fair," Zack muttered, "Next time I'm asking for a single girl in a white dress to give me a present. Hey wait a second where is my present?!"
"These," Persea clapped, and six swords hovered near each of the newcomers, "Are for you."
"That's more like it," Zack admired the sword in front of him. It looked like a traditional long-blade, like one he had seen in a medieval movie, except this one was real, not fake. It had an orange tinted hilt with a Dragon's flame wrapped around it, and a Sun carved towards the top of the hilt. Underneath the hilt, on the butt was a shiny thing that looked like a scale with a ray of Sunlight wrapped around it.
"Wow," Jake whispered as he picked up the sword that was in front of him; it was shining, stainless steel, stronger than any metal he knew of and sharp. It was thin, but strong, like the sticks in the park that Mizuuma and he had fought with. The hilt was fit as if it was made just for him, and it had a stream of Water next to a Lightning bolt wrapped around the it. There was an engraved Storm cloud toward the top. On the butt of the hilt was a feather with a lightning bolt running through it.
"These are beautiful," Brian admired his as he picked it up. It was longer than the others and wide, with a heavy look to it, but when he picked it up it was like a feather, "I don't understand."
"Every weapon of Cephiro is sealed with magic," Ferio explained, and Brian's eyes widened.
He looked back it with new respect, as he traced the vine that twined around the hilt and back around over and over making it sturdy. He touched the rose that was carved at the top then looked at the butt and saw a horn with a vine wrapped over it and looked back to the craftsman, "And you made these? How?"
"I danced for them," she answered simply, and turned back to the other three who had just gained swords, "And for the new Magic Knights, each I have learned has come with a new talent, and so have your swords."
"What do you mean?" Mizuuma asked; she could feel something was up.
"I have created your swords like those of the original Magic Knights, pardon me," she added to them, "Only better."
Umi huffed a bit, but then smiled and nodded, "They'll need it."
Persea grinned and continued, "For the Knight of Earth," she looked at Fuuchou who picked up her sword and examined it.
It was long, but not quite as long as her mothers, and extremely intricately carved with vines and small blossoming flowers carved into not just the hilt but the actual blade itself. The hilt was tinted deep green and had white daisies along the bottom and top.
"Your sword when touched by anyone else will grow rose thorns and scar the hands of the person. When you're holding it and Will it so it will enable you to heal with the touch of it upon another person's flesh."
Fuuchou's eyes widened, "Arigato, Persea-san."
"Wish we had one of those when…" Umi stopped, and Persea turned, deep hurt in her eyes; she shook her head and turned back to the girls.
"For the Knight of Sun…"
Kojishi turned her sword in her hand, weighing it, testing it, but it was perfect, flawless. At the tip of the blade was a beautifully carved Sun, and its rays illuminated all the way down the blade ending right where the hilt began. The hilt was golden colored and had a Sun at the far left-hand corner that spread its rays across the top of the hilt.
"When touched by anyone but you, Kojishi, it will become one with the Sun and burn anyone that touches it. With your new title came the gift of strong spells, and with this your sword now has the power to combine itself with your spells, making them stronger than they ever could be on their own."
"Arigato Persea-san."
"And last but not least, the Knight of Storms."
Mizuuma just stared at the sword in her hand, not completely believing it was there. It was like a fencing sword in every way possible. It had a narrow strip of Water intertwined with a lightning bolt that chased its way down the sword, to the hilt. The hilt was purple and black and had a Storm cloud on the top with rain that pelted down the hilt.
"When it is picked up by anyone but you it will call upon your power and use the gift of Storm to strike down anyone that touches it. You were given the gift of intuition Mizuuma, one of the rarest bestowed. With this gift you will have the power to call your sword to you, and it will have the gift that only two other swords ever had, the gift of speech."
"Arigato Persea," Mizuuma mumbled and looked at the sword, "But may I ask? Does the sword start out ignorant of the world, or will it be of use to me, to have a voice?"
Persea laughed slightly, "The sword knows as much as you want it to my dear."
"Okay…"
"Why do our swords have the same symbols as theirs?" Brian asked, and Persea smiled at the three, as if just noticing them.
"That, is a very good question. Each of you three has a hidden destiny; you three are destined to be the protectors of the new Magic Knights. And so as protectors, you will watch their every movement, guard their every step until they need protection no longer."
"Woah woah woah, wait a second, hold on there," Jake put out a hand as if trying to stop them from a lecture they weren't going to make, "You just handed us swords that we've never used before and put us in a foreign world and deemed us protectors? We don't even know how to use these things let alone how to protect someone with them. How can you trust us?"
"It seems that you don't trust yourself; it makes you all the more worthy," Persea smiled, "It will come in time; everything," she looked at Ferio, "Comes in time."
He looked down, "That's a lesson hard learned isn't it?"
The other two men in the room nodded and looked away, "Yeah…"
"Enough of all this noble talk, I'm hungry!" Kojishi informed them, and they laughed and headed toward the breakfast table.
"Fuu, Hikaru, Clef, Lantis, Ferio; we need to talk," Umi told them, "Now."
They nodded and followed her to Clef's studies, and left the others to fend for themselves at the breakfast table.
§§§~~~
They found Zagato and Emeraude in the library, and invited them to join in the conversation, which they quickly did.
"We should also speak to Ascot, since he said he noticed the attacker," Fuu told them, and Clef closed his eyes and called for the boy who came to him right away.
"Guru," he bowed and closed the door behind him.
"We need to talk about this thing, and what we're going to do," Umi started it plainly, "First, Ascot, who is it? How did you recognize him?"
"Her," he corrected, and their eyes widened, "The attacker is a girl. Her accomplice is a man, but he is only a good swordsman and a mild magician; she is the one who wielded the blade."
"Who is she?" Clef asked, and Ascot looked away.
"An old friend," he answered, and Clef didn't like that look.
"Yes?"
"One of your students Guru."
He grimaced and closed his eyes, "Who?" he managed to choke.
"Hebi," he answered, and suddenly Clef's eyes snapped open.
"Oh God, then it suddenly becomes clear doesn't it?" he whispered, and looked at Ferio and Lantis, "You conveniently left that part out didn't you?!"
"We thought it would be better if Ascot told you," Lantis admitted.
"And we were afraid you would act like this, in front of the children, in front of Umi," Ferio said softly, and Umi's eyes narrowed.
"What is this about?"
"She was…" Clef didn't know how to explain this gently, "She was…"
"Don't tell her," Ferio shook his head, "Because she already knows, trust me on this one, when she comes back, Umi will understand."
"Oh great! More secrets! Because we know how far those got us last time!" Umi shouted and wanted to storm out, but they really needed to talk.
"Who she is is not important, how to defeat her is," Emeraude regained peace.
"You're right," Umi muttered and looked down, refusing to meet Clef's eyes.
"Those swords, the ones the girls got, they're much stronger than our own. It may be possible to pull it off, and there are supposed to be more Rune-Gods," Fuu answered, remembering what they had learned.
"Right, and we don't have to kill the sword," Hikaru added.
"We just have to kill the person," Lantis finished.
"So we destroy her, and get the sword, seal it in a safe place, never to be seen or heard of again," Ferio ended it.
"Well that's a rough sketch, now, how are we going to get her to come to us?" Lantis inquired.
"Oh she'll be back, trust me," Clef grimaced, "Because she has a mission, there's something she wants, in this castle. Two things actually, two things she needs to get from this castle, and so she'll be back."
"But we won't be here," Fuu said quickly.
"We won't be here?" Umi questioned.
She shook her head, and they could tell she was working something out in her mind, "Remember the legend of the three cities, how they're all like strongholds?"
"Yes but…" Hikaru began, but Fuu stopped her.
"I suddenly understand what we're dealing with, and in order for us to stay safe, and her to stay out of the game we have to not be here, so we'll be at our designated cities. If we split up we'll be harder to find."
"But if we split up we'll also be easier to destroy," Umi told her, and Fuu shook her head.
"She can't take us on separately. Don't you remember how the Dark Blade is used? It takes the very Darkness from you. If she were to take us all on separately she wouldn't have any energy, any Darkness, for it to feed on anymore after the first one of us. She needs us to all be together to pull it off."
"But we can't hide from her forever," Clef told Fuu, and Fuu nodded.
"No, we can't, you're right," she answered, "But we'll wait until she goes back to the castle again, and we'll meet up there and trap her; she'll have nowhere to go, and she won't be expecting us to come to her like that. She'll have expected us to be back by then. We'll catch her right then, and she'll be off-guard, it will be our game; she'll have nowhere to run."
"You're brilliant!" Hikaru shouted, and Fuu blushed.
"No, I just think like a General's daughter," she muttered, and Hikaru smiled.
"Brilliantly."
Fuu shook her head, "We should tell the girls, and everyone. We should leave tomorrow."
They nodded and set out for breakfast.
§§§~~~
The three girls dueled with their new swords, as their fathers watched and critiqued their work. The Earthlings sat by the fire as they learned of the end of what they called World War II.
"We sent out bombs, we being the Americans," Zack added, "Nuclear missiles, never before used, and we sent them to Japan to retaliate from Pearl Harbor. There were two, they bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was something that no one had ever seen before; it was extremely deadly. It wiped the two cities off the map, but Hiroshima was the worst, the most people were killed. The radiation let off from the bomb reached for miles. People were killed years later after a long struggle with Leukemia. Some of them are still living in D.C."
"You see after we bombed Hiroshima and made peace with Japan we felt badly for what we had done," Brian's voice was mocking the American's stupidity on their own act, and realizing it years later, "And we offered to rebuild the city. We gave free medical treatment to those who suffered. That's one of my friends, the one I learned the words from. I went to the hospital one day and talked to some of the people. He had been in Hiroshima when it was bombed, the day of the bombing, they had just moved there. His entire family was killed, except for him. The Leukemia will kill him, but he's been lucky."
"As for the Germans, Hitler killed himself. He took the easy way out. The Jews took his body and drug it around the street, in a grim victory, and then they burned him, and burned his ashes, and burned the ashes of the ashes, until there was nothing left of him. Germany gave the countries back their land. He left six million dead people in his wake, six million lives taken in those ghettos, concentration camps, and death camps. The Russians and Americans liberated many of the camps, but they found that most of the people had been burned while alive, and then the camps torn down so that no remnants of the Nazi's remained. A lot of them were punished for war crimes, but not enough," Jake was spiteful.
"And so there was peace restored, and a victory for the Americans, and life went back to normal for a time," Zack concluded.
"Oh," Umi, Fuu, and Hikaru were silent.
"It was much different," Umi whispered, "Living through it; you would have no idea."
"I was at the bombing of Hiroshima," Fuu whispered, "My family had just moved there, when the bomb exploded. I was in the forest. My sister Kuu was at home; she went to look for me and all she saw was the cloud of orange smoke. We were both sent here, luckily, before it could harm us."
"I was burned alive in my home for being a Japanese-American, my brothers were shot in Normandy, off the coast of France," Hikaru said quietly, "I can still smell the smoke though, even though we were all saved."
"My mother and I were sent to a Japanese Internment Camp," Umi's voice was strained, "And we both starved to death. I can still feel the pain of the lack of food, the way your stomach just gives out, quits trying, and the rest of your body just sort of follows. What happened to the rest of the Japanese in the camps?"
"They were let go and given a letter of apology," Zack answered.
Umi closed her eyes and tried not scream at the outrage, "That's ridiculous."
"That's the American government."
"This man," Fuu turned to Brian, "This friend of yours. Why did he move to the city?"
"He was a General in the war I think," Brian answered, "But he's decided that his ways were wrong, now, after he found out just what was really happening, after he was unbrainwashed."
"Oh my God," all three whispered, and Fuu just stayed completely still, not daring to breathe.
"Does he have a name?"
"I just call him General, but his last name is Hououji," Brian shrugged.
Fuu screamed, "Kuu!"
"Fuu? What's wrong?" her sister rushed in, looking worried.
"Father's alive; he knows him," Fuu pointed at Brian, "He's at a hospital in D.C. dying of Leukemia."
"Oh my God," Kuu whispered, and Clef noticed and quickly summoned her a chair.
"You're his daughters?" Brian inquired, "The ones who were killed?"
"But we weren't really," Fuu told him, "We were sent here, and an image of our bodies remained."
"As soon as this is all over we'll go to D.C. and see him, tell him we're okay; he deserves at least that," Kuu told her sister softly, "Even after what he put us through."
"He's changed," Brian informed them, "I'm sure he'd apologize for whatever he did if he had the chance."
"We should get some sleep," Clef told them, ending the long silence, "We have a long day ahead of us."
They all quickly agreed and headed to bed.
§§§~~~
"My father, alive, I always though, assumed, he was dead," Fuu walked around their room as she got ready for bed, "And what do you make of this boy Brian?"
Ferio wrapped his arms around her from behind which made her smile, "I think strength runs in your family," he kissed her neck, "And I think Brian is in love with our daughter."
She turned, and he kissed her; she smiled, "Ditto, but aren't you going to be protective?"
He grinned, "I don't have to be; Fuuchou's doing that all on her own."
"But he seems to genuinely care, a lot more than all these Foreign Princes. I want her to marry for love, not contract, but she pushes him away, like he's all the others," Fuu frowned deeply.
"Well Fuu, I do believe you turned me away a few times in your youth, and see where we ended up?" he pulled her close and kissed her hard.
"Just a couple," she said softly.
"A couple hundred," he laughed, and they settled into bed.
She snuggled close to him, and sent a gust of Wind at the fire, and it sizzled out.
§§§~~~
"In all her years I've never seen Kojishi that taken with a boy," Lantis informed Hikaru as they readied for bed.
"Yeah I noticed that too," Hikaru admitted, "What do you think?"
"I think that he should be careful where he steps, especially now that he's her Guardian, that worries me."
Hikaru giggled, "You don't have to be like that you know. You could give him a chance; he's young, you were young once."
"Yes, but I wasn't a young Earthling," he growled, "No offense," he added to Hikaru, "But they're different, they're not trustworthy."
"I think they are," Hikaru told him.
"You think everyone is," Lantis shot back, and Hikaru smiled.
"I think you need to learn that."
"It hasn't rubbed off yet, I don't know that it will," he took her hands, "Whatever happens in this war, I will always love you."
"Don't go sounding like Yukito on me," Hikaru begged, "Nothing will happen, to either of us."
"This is war, it's not a guarantee, I just wanted you to know."
"Sh," she put a finger to his lips, "No more talk, let's just go to sleep."
"Okay."
They crawled into bed and a few words from Lantis doused their fire as Hikaru got close to him, and he wrapped his arms around her.
§§§~~~
"Another war," Umi sighed as she flopped onto the bed and spread her arms out.
"And it's taking its toll on you," Clef said quietly as he walked into the room.
"Yeah it is," she muttered and thought about him.
"Don't do that to yourself," he pulled her eyes back out of the darkness, and she smiled and tried to apologize, "Don't apologize either, you don't need to. Umi," he sat next to her and stroked her hair, "I know you love him, I don't care, but you need to let the pain go. Remember the good times, not the last day. Please."
"I've tried, but it still, it still gets to me sometimes, now more than ever because I don't ever want to see that with you or Mizuuma, or Hikaru or Fuu or anyone."
"And you won't," he assured her again.
"It's hard to believe that."
"She's strong."
"But she's inexperienced," Umi countered.
"She'll get experienced, real fast, and she's got a lot of people on her side, plus that boy Jake is supposed to be her Guardian."
"I don't trust him," Umi muttered.
"He saved her from that place once; he'll save her again."
"Maybe…"
"I'm sure of it, now try and get some sleep, we all need it, and you most of all," he kissed her forehead, and put out the fire with his hand before she put her head near the nape of her neck and said goodnight before she fell asleep.
§§§~~~
"Magic Knights!" Fuuchou screamed when they were finally alone, "This is amazing!"
"I can't believe it!" Mizuuma was jumping up and down on Fuuchou's bed.
"Wow…I mean…wow…us," Kojishi was still stunned.
"I can't wait to learn spells," Fuuchou grinned, "And try our new swords out, it's so cool what they can do!"
"I know!" Kojishi shouted in response.
"You three are going to wake the whole palace up," Persea informed them as she walked into their room.
They quickly stopped, stood and bowed, "Gomen nasai Persea-san," they all muttered apologies.
"It's okay," she smiled and winked.
"What are you doing here?" Mizuuma asked; she could feel a presence next to the door.
"Showing the new recruits to their rooms, order of the Guru," she answered and smiled that dazzling smile again.
Kojishi laughed nervously, and was about to go and shut the door, but the three boys walked in.
"Duty relieved, we'll do it," Mizuuma offered, and Fuuchou smacked her.
"I'm not sure your father would appreciate that," Persea said nervously.
"I'll take the heat, I insist," Mizuuma persisted, and Persea nodded and turned.
"Arigato Storm Knight," she muttered and turned.
Mizuuma couldn't help but break out in a smile, and the three boys looked at the three girls as they jumped.
"Magic Knights! AH!"
"Okay, we're okay," Mizuuma assured them as they walked from Fuuchou's room.
"That's always good to know," Jake joked, and she glared.
"This place is so beautiful," Zack whispered.
"I've never seen so much color in one building," Brian added, "Everything is beautiful, breathtaking, and we've only seen a few rooms."
"Have you ever seen the gardens?" Kojishi inquired.
They all shook their heads.
"Well you have to see the gardens," Mizuuma told them, "They're the most beautiful thing in the whole palace."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Brian muttered and glanced at Fuuchou.
Mizuuma and Kojishi snickered as they led them toward the gardens.
"Guru Clef made them a long time ago," Kojishi was like a tour guide, "And then, just recently," she grinned at Mizuuma, "He added a section full of blue and purple flowers for Umi-san and Mizuuma-chan."
As they reached the gardens they were met with an assortment of every kind of flower they knew and some kinds they had never even dreamed of. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful, pure art. And right in the center was a beautiful stone fountain that bubbled with water.
Mizuuma immediately dropped to the fountain and let her fingers slide across the water. They all thought she looked just like her mother when she did that.
Zack bent down to touch a marvelous red flower, but Kojishi stopped him, "Don't," she ordered firmly, and he stood again.
"I wasn't going to pick it."
"A lot of the flowers in here are used in Guru Clef's strongest spells. If you touch certain ones there's sudden death, painful slow deaths, an eternity of solitude trapped in your brain, I could go on," Fuuchou responded.
"Oh," Zack touched his fingers, and thanked Kojishi softly.
After they had walked around the gardens and seen its full beauty they decided it really was time to sleep and took them towards their rooms.
"These three," Fuuchou pointed, "See you in the morning," she added, and they turned and left the three as they went back to their own rooms.
"Guys," Mizuuma said softly as they went back to their rooms.
"Yes?" Kojishi and Fuuchou responded.
"I'll miss you, don't do anything stupid and get yourselves killed okay?"
"We'll miss you too," they both responded.
"And we won't hurt ourselves, let's make a pact," Fuuchou suggested, and they stood in a circle, "We promise never to get killed or hurt in this battle, and no matter how far apart we are we'll always be best friends."
"On the names of the Magic Knights," Kojishi added, and they laughed slightly.
"Storm," Mizuuma put her hand in.
"Sun," Kojishi put her hand on top of Mizuuma's.
"Earth," Fuuchou was last, and when it was complete they pulled away, and their gems were glowing.
"What?" Fuuchou whispered.
"We've gotten stronger," Mizuuma responded, though she didn't know how, but there was a knowing in her eyes that they couldn't deny.
"Okay…" Kojishi sounded a bit nervous.
"Time for bed," Mizuuma turned and walked into her room, "See you in the morning."
"Hai," they nodded and each said goodnight before they went to sleep.
§§§~~~
"A Water Knight, a Storm Knight, one of the Sacred Guardians, Selece, and a Master Mage head for Aquacity, and you're worried about someone getting killed. The thing you should be worried about is getting attacked for help and miracles and such," Yukito appeared for her again.
"You always were charming," Umi said sarcastically, "But in case you don't remember, this is a war, and I don't know what we're up against."
"But I do," Yukito said quietly and looked down, "And you're perfectly capable, trust me on this one."
"The way you say that," Umi said softly, "Who is she? Why won't Clef tell me? Why does Fuu seem to understand? I'm confused."
"You will know in time," he said quietly, and she shook her head.
"Has there ever been a time when you said that that something terrible didn't come out of it?" she muttered, and he shook his head.
"And there probably never will be."
"Oh thanks a lot," she looked down, "I miss you."
"I know."
"I wish you hadn't died."
"But so much good came of it," he tried to bite his tongue, because he didn't want it to be like it was, but it was, and he loved seeing her happy.
"But so much good could have come of you staying alive too."
"No," he shook his head, "Clef wouldn't have been happy."
She looked down, "I wouldn't ever want that."
"I know, that's why it's good."
"I guess…"
"Umi why can't you remember the good? Why do you have to remember the battle? I wish it all away on you. I wish you didn't have to see it."
"I remember the battle because it reminds me that I can't ever be that blind again. I won't ever let anyone hurt like you did, I'll be more aware," she responded.
"You couldn't have saved me," he tried to take away the pain he had seen building in her eyes for years.
"Yes, I know, but I don't believe that."
"You need to, you need to believe it and let me go, because I'll never be able to come back and take it away, take it back."
"I know."
"You wouldn't want me to," this almost made tears leap to his eyes, and she shook her head.
"No that's not true! It would just be complicated, why are we talking about this like it's actually going to happen? You're gone, and I know I have to let the bad stuff go. But seeing you, it's hard."
"Would you like me to leave?"
"No!"
"Well then…" he laughed slightly, "You're confusing."
"Are you coming with me? To Aquacity?" she questioned.
"I go with you everywhere, I always have, but on this journey I may be going with Mizuuma."
She sighed and nodded, "Be gentle with her, she's new."
"Okay," he laughed and vanished.
*I finally figured out why Umi and Clef are my favorite couple! Besides the fact that they're perfect for each other, but I'm sure some would argue otherwise, and that would make an interesting debate for some. Anyway! I think it's because they're challenging, not like with Hikaru and Lantis who have obvious emotions for each other. It's because Umi and Clef both basically hide themselves behind different things, and it's hard for their characters to have obvious emotion. It's because it's a challenge, and I like disturbances and depressing stuff sometimes. Just thought I'd say that. So to any Ascot fans it's not because I don't like him (because honestly I think he's adorable) it's just because it's easier to make it depressing with Umi and Clef and have it cuter at the end. Hm…interesting…*
Tori:
"You're a jewel upon my chest
Warming my heart with your kisses
A peaceful way to rest
Fulfilling my life long wishesAnd silently you're watching me
Stroking my cheek with your hand
Your eyes are deep yet filled with tears
I've never seen so much love in a man
Rubies and Gold
Star of my moonlight
Warmer than roses in spring
The kingdoms were sold
To hold their beautyWell
I'd sell my life away
Just to say I held their heart in my arms
There's strength in my soul…"
~Tori Amos, Rubies and Gold, Unreleased