A/N: Okay, I admit, last chapter was spit out a bit fast. Oh well. Anyway. No notes to response on the last one? Amazing. Mostly because I haven't GOTTEN any responses to the last one. Oh well. No biggie. Okay then, recap. Aftermath of Akatsuki and Yurika breaking up, stuff, and other stuff… and then finally made it back home, er… when home equals Somenolenthe. ^^;; Okay, easy enough. This time, what do I see here? *checks whiteboard* Rumiko and Meg do stuff with signatures, relationship stuff, Hikaru's first lesson, teaching, that is… more relationship stuff, and angsty stuff… and then something that will be very predictable, but very shocking. Whee! Okay, since we know what happened and what's going to happen, let's get started!

~*~

Megumi gnawed on her lip as she watched Rumiko kneel before her from her perch in her bed-chair, make a prayer motion, and begin chanting odd words that she had no idea what they meant. It was unnerving enough seeing the man of her dreams, literally, on his knees before her. It was another for him to be praying for her and casting a spell on her. But the next incident threw all the others out the window, like yesterday's trash.

A slight silver flicker was seen at his hands, draining slowly towards Meg. She had never actually seen the colors of the crew's magics, as everyone else had, but now she could see them plainly, as they faded into her vision slowly. She looked at her own hands, but there was nothing. She could feel a tingle all over her body where there was silver light, but it was when there was a tingling on her face and behind her eyes that she was sure something was going on.

Rumiko opened his eyes and stopped chanting. He stood slowly, letting his magic flow back into the stores in his own body. "Can you see, now, Meg?" Megumi knew he didn't mean physically see, since she hadn't closed her eyes through the whole thing. Why would she not be able to see? No, she knew he meant magically see; which was getting easier by the minute. She nodded. "You had this silver glow about you, but it's gone now…" she trailed off as she looked into the room. "Wow," she whispered. Rumiko's one room house had seemed a little bland and boring before, but now it was BEAUTIFUL. Lights of all colors danced around the room, as if locked in place and wanting out, but not wanting to leave. As if they were parading around, showing themselves off, and wanting to stand out from the crowd, but not having enough energy to do so. Megumi turned to Rumiko, still in awe of the spectral light show that seemed never-ending, and probably was. "And you see this all the time?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Megumi glared at the copy mage, and he winced under her gaze. "How could you get sick of it? It's so wonderful…" Rumiko sighed. "Ever tried sleeping and seeing those? It's like sleeping in the sun. It's a wonder how your crew mages can sleep on your ship. It's ten times brighter! Not that they seem them all the time, as I do, but that is my plight for being Magus's Calm." He sighed again. Megumi rolled her eyes. "Enough pity party, all right? You're right, the silver ones are getting a little bright, is there anyway to tone it down?" Rumiko nodded. "Just force the lights with your mind to stop glowing so brightly." Megumi nodded; sounded easy enough. She closed her eyes for a moment and willed the light to tone down. She immediately imagined a light bulb, at first very bright, then being turned down. When she opened her eyes again, it worked. She grinned at Rumiko, who winced again.

She narrowed her eyes. "Why do you keep doing that?" Rumiko walked over to the sink and picked up his silver-backed mirror, and held it in front of her face. Megumi gasped; her eyes were glowing with a silver light. She glanced at him. "Why don't you tone it down, as well?"

"Doesn't work well with spells and magical acts that have just been cast. The brightness of the spell tells how old they are. It took you a while to realize that the lights in here are pretty bright, but that's because they aren't very bright, no matter how annoying they can be. They're a few days, or at most, a few weeks old. But spells that have just been cast are horrendously bright and don't fade with concentration as well as ones that have weakened over time." Megumi nodded. "Makes sense."

Rumiko clapped his hands together. "Well, since you've seemed to get the hang of dimming and seeing, let's get started checking for signatures, all right?" At Megumi's nod, Rumiko's pale hand wrapped around her more flesh colored wrist. 'An odd contrast,' she mused, 'as if I'm not the naïve one here.' To her surprise, he led her towards his fireplace, the very place that served as his stove.

"The fireplace?" Rumiko nodded. Megumi raised a purple eyebrow at him. "And why is it blue? Shouldn't it be red, from Jun?" Rumiko sighed and shook his head. "This is your first try. Touch where you see blue and try to let go of your thoughts. Things about a certain person will pop up, and THAT is their signature." Megumi nodded and complied, placing one of her small hands on the brick.

It was difficult trying to empty her mind. Things that had nothing to do with people came up, such as the fact that her blanket that she slept with was still in the wash, and Rumiko still hadn't had lunch. Instead, she decided to think about blackness, darkness, the night. She imagined the blackness, and focused on it, letting it become something her mind could reach easily.

She felt the edges of her mouth go up as blue flowed into the black. It held the same light as the magical indicators all over the room, and on the brick she know touched. She let the blue flow over her vision; she already knew it would be bad and mess it all up if she focused on it. Instead, she let it flow, until it seemed to take a solid quality.

Dark blue hair, a brilliant color unmatched through the whole ship. Sure, Jun and Sayuri had dark blue hair, but theirs was much darker. Only Junko's was the same in color, but hers was far too short. This person's hair was long, very long. Even her bangs were long. They covered one side of a lovely, elegant, pale face, covered on crimson eye and let the other fend for itself in a world of pain.

"Izumi," blurted out Megumi, immediately. Rumiko nodded, smiling. "Perfect. What did you see? The incidents when she put out my fire by tipping the kettle over?" Megumi shook her head. "No. I saw… her hair, and then her face." Rumiko thought this over. "Hmm. Perhaps, since it's someone you know, the signature is capable of showing itself in one's identity in appearance or something related, instead of the incident in which the magic was put there. Impressive." He pointed out an area away from the fireplace, on the table. It was dark, as if burned, but there was an overhanging of red. "Try this one."

Megumi put her hand on the spot and found the blackness in the back of her mind again. As she waited for the magic on the table to seep into her inner vision, she slowed her breath, as if she were about to go to sleep. Sure enough, the red flared in, and she was taken away by a memory, but she was sure this wasn't her memory.

Pain. Absolute pain. Pain that could not be comprehended in a few words. Hurt by one's own parents, the people who were supposed to love him, but did not. They did not strike him physically, but mentally and emotionally. He was never good enough, no matter how hard he tried. But his father found his poems, sad poems, morbid poems, and, in more recent years, love poems. His father called him a pansy, told him he'd never amount to anything, that writing was a waste of time. Why should he bother? Red, red, red. Red was a good color. It was the color of the fire that burned his papers now. Fire was his friend. He had never been burned, but he was careful, because fire was a friend with a bite. Red was a good color. He laid his razor, his small razor that his parents hadn't found in the search of his room, on his arm and struck. The hot sensation of the red blood was ecstasy. It was a release to the pain they caused him. No one would hurt him if he had blood and fire. Everything about him screamed blue, blue, blue. His family name, his hair, his eyes. But blue didn't comfort him, help him when he needed it. Red was the way, the perfect way to happiness. Red was love.

Megumi's eyes popped open and she covered her mouth with the hand that was digging into the table. "Oh God… How horrible…" Rumiko prompted her, "Well?"

"Aoi Jun." With her blue eyes still shining at the edges with silver, her tears were unable to be hidden. She wiped them away, however. "It was… horrific, Rumiko." Rumiko nodded slowly, thoughtful. "You experienced one of his emotional memories, didn't you?" At Megumi's nod, Rumiko sighed. "Well, it's without a doubt. You are psychic. Extensively so. But…" Rumiko sat down at the chair next to hers, and held one of her hands in his pale one. "Meg, do you realize that you have to use your ability to help people?" Megumi nodded. "Of course!"

"Foolish girl, think first! What you just experienced may be one of the weakest of intense visions you'll get with this job. Are you sure you're up to it?" Megumi bit her lip. "Don't you think I could think about it first?" Rumiko nodded furiously. "Certainly. You don't even have to make a decision at all. But it would be in… the world's best interests." He added under his breath, "Not to mention mine."

Megumi heard it, nonetheless. "Your best interests? How so?" Rumiko blushed, knowing he'd been caught. "Meg, I… I…" For once, the arrogant, stubborn copy mage was unsure and speechless. Megumi smiled softly. "I see." Her hand, the one that had touched the table, the brick, now touched her right eye. "What do I see, Rumiko?"

Rumiko's breath caught in his throat, but he cleared it. "Nothing, for copy mages do not carry a signature." Megumi shook her head. "I see someone who has haunted my dreams since before we found that the Jovian Forces were human. Someone, who I was sure was so many people, but they weren't. Someone who was only one person, and the one person who had the ending of the dream before me, the one person who can connect with me on so many levels… I see you, Rumiko." Her hand left her eye, and went to his shoulder. Pulling him closer, she breathed out, "Do you see me?"

Finally, Rumiko kissed Megumi, and she wasn't upset at all. Neither was he, for that matter. It was something they had been hoping would happen for a long time.

~*~

After lunch was another matter in its entirety. After all, Hikaru had never taught anyone to do anything in her life, let alone ten people she knew to do something she knew tons about. You have to admit, it sounded pretty easy. But actually standing in front of these people in the cafeteria, or rather, sitting on the ordering counter in front of these people, all seated, was when the sheer chore of this task was shown into the light. Nevertheless, she had promised Rumiko she'd do it, so she'd do it. She adjusted her glasses and looked over who needed what done. Two names stood out from the list: Gai and Itsuki. She had heard Itsuki was working on her control, but Gai hadn't had much work done to him at all. Most everyone else was either halfway through control, or they had already moved on to common knowledge and integrity.

"Gai-chan, Itsuki-chan, it seems that the two of you are somewhat behind, aren't you?" The two of them groaned, but Itsuki kept her comments to herself as she opened her violin case. Gai, however, wasn't as smart. Running a hand through his now shoulder-length hair, he rolled his eyes. "Damn, we've been caught! Amano-sensei's gonna keep us after school!" Hikaru shook her pen at the man. "Don't tempt me, Gai. I may do just that. I'll have you reorganizing my manga, anime, AND my CDs if you don't keep your comments to yourself!" Gai shrugged. Ryoko smirked at her lover's childhood friend. "Do keep in mind that Hikaru has a million CDs." Hikaru wrinkled her nose at her. "For your information, it's a thousand, hundred, seventy-seven CDs, and I'm busy here, not making small talk!" Shoving her glasses up her nose, she hid her face with her clipboard to keep from laughing. She was trying her hardest to be the stern teacher, but it just wasn't working out.

Gai, not needing to be armed with anything, was to be handled first. Hikaru had seen both Rumiko and Inez take their students one-on-one, and knew that the rest of the class would just amuse themselves while waiting. Or practice. Whatever came first. Hikaru took Gai over to a side of the cafeteria where, if he missed, he wouldn't hit anyone. Then she scampered off to bother How Mei. "Oh, Miss How Mei~?" she asked, singsong, and she barely had anytime to duck before the package of coffee filters shot out of the kitchen. "There you go, Hikaru."

"Thank you!" she picked up the package and opened them up. She lifted only one of the papers and held it as she told Gai what he was to do. "Okay, I'm going to throw these in all sorts of directions, and I want you to zap them. Sound good?" Gai raised his eyebrows. "Well… won't they catch on fire?" Hikaru nodded. "Yeah, but not as bad as you'll think. Paper towels go up pretty fast, and these are much smaller and thinner. It'll be more of them disappearing than frying, okay?" With the first flung filter, the air around them became a battlefield, the filters versus the lightning, and the slight breeze from the vent, or from Hikaru, caught in the middle.

Twenty of the twenty-five filters were utterly destroyed, while the other five lay on the ground, untouched by Gai's magic. The said man gripped his knees, panting as if he had run a race. Hikaru was pleased with the results, but not the effects. "Oh, Gai, you're out of shape! You need to learn how to pace yourself, not mention not use as much energy on simple things like this." As if to demonstrate, Hikaru beckoned a finger towards the floor, as if calling the filters to her. The air in the room changed; instead of flowing down, it blew up, pushing the papers up to where Hikaru could easily pluck them from the air. Stacking them together, she glanced at Gai. He seemed a little surprised. Hikaru smiled. "And I'm not panting like the bitch I am, either, ne?" Gai glared at her. "Fine, so we know what I have to work with." Hikaru shooed him off. "That means I'm done with you. Next!"

As Gai stomped off, very obviously mentally whipped by the petite redhead, Itsuki could not hold in the smile of amusement as she skipped over with her trusty violin. "That was great, Hikaru. Really. Total bitch-slap." Hikaru giggled. "I suppose so. Now, I heard from Ryoko that you've been trying to catch up on control, right?" Itsuki nodded. Hikaru continued, sitting down into a chair. "That's actually pretty impressive. Not being lazy and actually doing homework. Anyway, let's see how far you've gotten." Itsuki gave her a nod, then a bow, before standing straight and resting her violin under her chin. She paused and took a deep breath, then began to slowly play the same song from the talent show. Hikaru paid close attention, but was surprised when she heard all of the background music for it, because no stereo or anything was playing, besides the girl before her. The song wasn't too long, but Hikaru was also surprised to find that her head wasn't being messed with either; Ryoko said that's what Itsuki was capable of doing, and it had intrigued the wind mage.

Itsuki finished and pulled the violin from her chin. "Well?" Hikaru clapped. "Amazing! And I don't just mean your performance, since you already know you kick ass on it. But no, your grip on your magic was so awesome! In fact, you made other music come in and play at the same time, instead of fiddle with my mind!" Itsuki was a little surprised with that; Rumiko made the impression that that's all her magic could do. When she voiced this, Hikaru dug into her pocket case pinned to her uniform. She pulled out an old, dingy, green paperback book and glanced through the pages. "Yeah, this is it." She looked up. "In this book, a girl goes from working mostly with wind, to mostly lightning. It could possibly be, "she put the book back into the silver box and closed it, "that your magic has evolved into something less offensive and more useful to you, ne?"

Itsuki nodded; it made sense to her. "But I'm under Magus's sign. Isn't He the God of Minds, or Magic or whatever?" Hikaru shook her head. "He's the God of Spirit. And this could mean those under him could look into another's spirit, effect their spirit, imitate it, stuff like that. But music IS a product of spirit. In that case-"

"It can easily do many things; effect people, entertain them, enlighten them, inspire them, lots of things." Itsuki nodded. "I wasn't happy when I effect Ryoko, made her fall into a daze. But if my magic has evolved and is now capable of doing other things…" she looked genuinely happy, but her expression grew dark. "Don't we have to stand up to Magus soon? Would this less offensive tone work against him?" Hikaru shrugged. "I'm not even sure if ones under him would be capable of harming him in anyway." Itsuki frowned. "Damn. I wanted a piece of the action."

~*~

Omoikane was fully ready to walk Ruri to bed after the lesson with Hikaru, despite the fact that it had ended late afternoon, near dinner. What he didn't expect was for her to be completely and totally awake, not worn out in the least bit. He blinked several times to figure out what had happened. "Ruri-sama? Do you need to go to bed?" Ruri shook her head at her robot. "No, I feel fine." One thing was different, there was a sense of pride in her voice, something Omoikane had never heard from her before, especially directed at herself. "Are… you all right?" Ruri nodded. "I finished, Omoikane, according to Amano-san."

Omoikane's eyes grew bigger, and he clamped himself to her pale arm. "Oh, Ruri-sama! I'm so happy! Are you really finished being trained to be a healer?" At her nod, he squealed. "I'm so proud, Ruri-sama!" Ruri smiled slightly at her oldest friend, but said nothing. Omoikane still hugged her arm, rubbing his head like a cat on it from time to time. "I haven't been this proud since you were put on the Nadesico, Ruri-sama," he whispered, the cheeriness mostly gone from his voice, which was shocking, but quite sincere and serious.

"WE were put on the Nadesico, Omoikane," corrected Ruri. She had been working with him for some time before they were dispatched back to Nergal. Closing her eyes and settling on the memory, she smiled slightly again, leaning her head on his. "Do you remember when I was first brought to meet you, Omoikane-chan?"

Omoikane grinned; it had been the happiest day of his short life. He had been created only a few months before, to be one of the most advanced computers ever made, capable of learning, even feeling. He had been sent to a couple who were to receive a girl from a remote school in Scandinavia. The whole operation had been strictly confidential; the records were later destroyed entirely. But, after the girl had gotten there and received a nanoinjection, she was soon learning how to control the difficult machine. Ruri connected with Omoikane like anyone would, but it was Ruri herself that made Omoikane show his true personality as a computer to her. They had soon become good friends, and they accomplished all of their tasks quickly, connecting mentally and emotionally, as no other user and interface had before.

He also remembered their initial meeting. The conversation wasn't very long, but it spoke volumes. Ruri had been evaluating his information structure when his personality couldn't take it anymore; he had to talk to this person. "Hello, person, what brings you here?" There had been initial shock, then a reply. "Who are you? How is it that you're talking to me?" Omoikane had mentally shrugged; Ruri had actually seen shoulders do the action, but no actual person. "I don't know, I just can. I'm Omoikane, the computer you're using. I don't know who you are, but you're amazing!" Ruri's eyebrows had knit. "I am Ruri, the user. Will you allow me to use you in the ways my instructors desire?" Omoikane had agreed immediately; he didn't can what he had to do, as long as he got to watch this amazing "Ruri" do things he didn't even know he was capable of.

Omoikane glanced up at Ruri, who obviously wasn't waiting for an answer. But he supplied one anyway. "I'd never forget that, Ruri-sama."

~*~

A pale hand ran up the unnaturally, but equally, pale arm, and down again, clasping with the limp hand that lay there. Izumi squeezed Inez's hand, as if expecting a response, but expectedly getting none. Izumi sighed in response to Inez's lack, and raised their clasped hands to her face, the side that was always covered by her bangs, the side that seemed to cry the most, the side that showed her true emotions. "Can you feel me, Inez? At all?" Izumi knew Inez wouldn't say anything to answer, but she rubbed her face against the Martian's hand anyway. "This is who you affected so much. Me. Izumi. Your lover. And I miss you. Horribly. Please come back."

There was no response. Izumi was not surprised. "Magus didn't do this to you. Well, He did, but I caused it. Hikaru and Ryoko know, but at least they are kind enough to not be upset with me. Bad Luck has struck again. Whoever says third time's a charm is a asshole who needs to be dragged out into the center of town and chopped into bitty pieces." Izumi smiled coldly, as if she knew it was true, that she was the cause of Inez's illness. "I guess I signed the deal at that beauty pageant, huh? I must be Death's favorite living customer. I bring all those I say 'I love you' to him. Well, I'll try to spare you, Inez. I won't say I love you. I feel it, but I'll keep quiet. You're too close to his reach, no reason to make him reach for you." Izumi wasn't truly aware that she was babbling. "Inez, you… I won't let you die on me. I… We need you, you know? The Explanation Lady? Rumiko and Igadosu aren't doing very good jobs of explaining things. You have to wake up to prove them who can do it better. Please, Inez? You were always there to explain everything there was to know, scientific or magical. It was like you knew what was going to happen. But you didn't foresee this, did you? Or did you?"

Izumi fell silent and settled for studying Inez's face. It was frightening seeing the woman who made herself seem superior to everyone around her look so frail, so fragile, so limp. Izumi actually noticed how often Inez wore makeup, because Inez's lips looked foreign, pale as they were, and the rest of her face was just as pale. Or maybe it was the sickness. No, the sickness only affected her mind.

"Your mind, Inez… when you come out of this, will everything in it be okay? Will you remember everything? Will you lose something? Aqua, who knows what kind of shit can happen to you when someone probes you like Magus has." For the first time since they arrived in Somenolenthe, Izumi felt tears well up in her eyes again. Inez's mind was what attracted her so, the intelligence of the woman shaping who she was, MAKING her superior. She admired the Martian because of her extensive knowledge, and it was Inez's own hunger for the thing that drew her to Izumi, sensing that the girl was brilliant, but didn't like to show it often. If Inez lost that, wouldn't Izumi lose Inez?

The door behind Izumi opened, and she turned to see who stood there. Rumiko and Megumi. Izumi wiped her eyes calmly. "Something for you?"

Rumiko had been a little in shock at the scene. He knew Izumi and Inez cared a great deal for each other, but he expected Izumi to be holed up somewhere, not visiting their patient. He cleared his throat. "We need to start seeing if we can open the box, Izumi. You understand that you need to leave."

Izumi nodded, the old gleam coming back to her visible eye, the one that showed all the time when she was punning to hide her emotions. She stood. "Of course. You would want to open her box, wouldn't you?" she joked, her best friend's sexual knowledge influencing the pun. She giggled insanely, which made Megumi's eyebrow twitch. Izumi excused herself from the room, still snickering.

Rumiko watched the blue-haired woman let herself out. He turned back to Megumi. "Has she always done that?" Megumi nodded. "She was calming down with them, but she must be in the mood to be weird and annoying. It wasn't fun listening to endless strings of puns over the communication channels."

Rumiko shook his head. "No, I mean… hiding behind the jokes?" Megumi could not answer. She tried not to get involved in the pilots' drama, after she lost interest in Akito. Rumiko waited a few moments for an answer before deciding to leave it as is. He took Izumi's chair and sat down. "Shall we begin?" Megumi nodded, happy that they were away from dangerous topics, and pulled a chair to the other side of Inez's bed. "What do I do? I mean, this isn't exactly colored places on walls."

Rumiko nodded, lifting Inez's limp hand in his. "Put your hands on her head. Fall into her mind and follow my lead. You'll understand when we get in." With that, he closed his eyes, his inner self falling willingly into the silver mass of his magic, coating his body before going into Inez's, standing by the dark green mass, waiting for the appearance of Megumi's magical self.

Megumi placed her hands on Inez's head, which had started to glow silver, and closed her eyes, watching the silver and green swirl into her black vision. As it separated, it looked odd. It wasn't a memory, a vision, or anything. It was something that was happening now. There wasn't much to be seen, but she did see a great dark green blob, and Rumiko's figure standing near it. Rumiko seemed to be completely and totally silver, but not as bright as Megumi would have expected. Rumiko nodded his head, and it seemed that he spoke to her with his mind as he reached a hand out to her. 'Okay, Meg. This is Lady's magic. We have to pass through it to get to the trap. Take my hand and I'll lead you to it.' Megumi nodded and grasped his hand, surprised to see that her own body was black as night. Without walking at all, Rumiko pulled Megumi into the dark green mass, and after some time, out of it, into a place that seemed a lot like the Boson tunnels; colorless and colorful at the same time. Megumi turned to Rumiko to ask why it was that way, but he answered before she could voice the question. 'Lady Ai is in sync with the TST Calculator. She has the ability to Teleport. All mages' minds are in this fashion, to indicate to Magus's Rage mages that this person is a mage.'

'Wouldn't they tell by the magic on the outside?' thought Megumi, unaware that the thought was transferred to Rumiko. He answered, 'No. I'm Magus's Calm, a copy. I get to the magic first, so I can copy it. I'm only here because I'm using raw power, and you're here because you're in sync with me.' Megumi nodded, but was suddenly blinded by a horribly bright silver light. Shielding her eyes, she realized that it was in the shape of a box. They had made it.

Rumiko let go of her hand. 'Okay, just like at my house, dim the light so you can see better.' Megumi whined. 'But all I can see is silver!'

'That's all you will see. Magus's own magic will not dim, but anyone else's will. Tell me where you can see darker spots, preferably a big one, and I'll go in to see if I can work around it.' Megumi nodded, and closed her inner eyes. When she opened them again, she could see distinct spots in the bright silver cube. They still glowed silver as well, but much less so, almost seeming purple or gray instead of silver. Megumi mentally pointed them out. 'There, there, and there. That's one's the biggest one I see, though.' Rumiko scrutinized them through his own magical vision. 'All right. I'm going to go for the biggest one.' Without another word, Rumiko's magical self floated to the dark bruise in the box and reached out with his hand, composed of his power, towards it.

And was promptly swallowed by the escaping strands of bright silver that reached out from the box. Megumi's jaw dropped. Losing her concentration, she bounced back to reality, the physical world to see Rumiko slump over Inez's body, his limp hand losing grip on Inez's.

Unable to scream, Megumi panicked. She believed Rumiko to be trapped in Inez's mind. She slapped her hands on the Martian woman's forehead and looked for something, anything that would remind her of the Ninlandish man. Nothing. Not a trace. Hands trembling in fear, she lifted them and held her head in them, unbelieving of what had just happened.

'Darkness. No, light. Bright silver light. So bright, it's dark. I'm alone. I can see my magic from here, but I cannot reach it. It's held out of my grasp like a treat for a hound. A trapped toy?' Megumi's tearing eyes snapped up and she sat up immediately. She had caught a thought from Rumiko. 'He… he's in his own body. But how? He…' She lifted his head from Inez's stomach, removing his glasses. His amber eyes were half-lidded, and obviously rolled back into his head. She pushed his eyelids down to cover the gruesome look, and set his head down in a more comfortable position. Quietly, ignoring her own emotions about the scene, she walked over to his side of Inez's bed and lifted him up by his shoulders, nearly toppling over as she tried to support his weight on her petite body. Settling for dragging his feet on the floor, she pulled him to a bed next to Inez's, and finally got him on it after some huffing and puffing. Unknowing of what else to do, she set Rumiko's glasses on the table beside the bed, and pulled some of his hair from his face. Then she connected with Ruri. "Ruri, I need you to come to the infirmary." The confused look on Ruri's face voiced her thoughts, but the pale princess asked them anyway. "Has something gone wrong, Miss Rainerd?" Megumi nodded. "Rumiko has fallen the same as Miss Fressange, Ruri." Ruri barely blinked and answered before the window was closed. "I'll be right there."

When Ruri's face was gone, Megumi sank into the chair that a responsive Rumiko sat in just minutes before. With all the more important tasks finished, she was finally able to give in and cry. And cry she did.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: I am so frickin evil, aren't I? ^^ Well, how did it go? Well? I have to say, I was happy with the way this one went, for a change. A little longer than expected, but that's okay. Okay, what do we expect next time? Well, there will be a jump in the timeline, for one. Anything else can't be told. ^^ Why? Because next chapter is the start of the climax, dummy! That's right. We're hitting the beginning of the climax. Keep in mind the climax isn't quite as long as you would expect from me, only about two chapters, or less. But that's okay. Yeah. So, as always, stick with me and all will go great! Reviews equal Inflated Egos, and Inflated Egos equal Faster Chapters! See you next time!