[Authors Note: Forgive me if most of the information is wrong. I've only seen a few episodes from the second season. So if someone died or came back to life. x.x I wouldn't know! But, enjoy the story! Please R&R it would make me really happy! If you have any suggestions or questions email me at: Usaako13@hotmail.com . Thanks and I hope you enjoy it!]

[Yes, I got this idea from my science class x.x Thanks Ms. G. ^________^ Anyways, while you read this chapter keep in mind that Cephiro and Alantica aren't quite the same thing. And again if you have any suggestions that will help me spice up the story, give me! Give me! =D Enjoy!]

Chapter 2 - INFATUATION

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The beautiful green meadows, the yielding blue ocean, and the untainted sky of Cephiro were suddenly reinstated with dark pastures, a contaminated ocean and smoky gray skies. This was Alantica, so revolting and repellent. How could anyone come here or just live here? It was horrible. How can a world like this be so close to a world like Cephiro? Didn't the inhabitants that lived in Alantica care? Obviously not.

Hikaru Shidou gasped as she brought a hand to her mouth as she gazed at the horrible world below her. Her eyes were wide opened as she spotted a large smoke cloud coming their way. She didn't hesitate for a second. After all the science video's she'd seen that year, she knew those things were up to no good. Quickly she pressed the communicator.

"Umi, Fuu?" She gulped still fixed on the gigantic cloud floating towards them. There was something inside of it.

"Wow, Hikaru. This place is horrible." Umi Ryuuzaki's voice cried over the intercom. "How can people walk around with gross stuff all over their clothes? Ew, ew, ew!" Umi whined.

"How can people live in such filth?" Fuu Hououjii's voice asked.

None of them were aware of the cloud. Hikaru squinted her eyes to see what was inside of it. Of course! It was a storm cloud. Storm clouds were extremely dangerous things especially for things that fly, like their Rune Gods. They were made of lightning, thunder, and rain. But this one was different. It looked as if a volcano had just erupted, for this one had ash and smoke gathering in the center. Ash could shut their Rune God's down, ash was not good.

"U-Umi, Fuu." She panicked. "Do you see that cloud over there? It's heading our way. It's a storm cloud and I think we should better land before it comes any closer." She looked down ignoring the hideous things below, the storm cloud would be much worse. She blinked trying to find a clear spot to land their Rune Gods.

"Woah, that thing's huge. But are you sure it will harm us? I mean it's just a cloud, we'll go right through it, won't we?" Umi asked.

"No, no, Miss Umi. That is not an ordinary cloud like we see in Cephiro, this cloud is much more dangerous. It holds lightning and heavy rains. Miss Hikaru is right, we need to land, it would be much more safer." Fuu replied back.

Umi sighed, "If you say so. But where do we land? I can't see a thing from up here."

"LOOK!" Hikaru shouted pointing at a large meadow just a few yards from the cloud. "If we fly fast enough I'm sure we can make it to that clearing." Hikaru was desperate, time was running out.

"But Hikaru, it's so close to the storm cloud, what if we get hit by lightning?" Asked Umi.

Hikaru ran her hand through her hair bangs panicking even more. "That's why we have to be quick and safe, Umi."

"Miss Umi, we have no other choice. There aren't any more clearings anywhere. That meadow is quite large for our Rune Gods to fit. Even if there were other clearings, we most likely wouldn't be able to fit in them." Fuu countered, a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Alright, alright. But please, let's be careful!" Umi yelled.

Hikaru wiped her sweaty forehead with her arm and focused both on the cloud and the meadow. If they flew fast enough they would be fifty yards from the cloud and about eighty from the ground, meaning they would have land fairly quickly. She gripped her control stick tightly and inhaled deeply.

"God speed, girls." She whispered mostly to herself and tilted the control stick forward pressing the power button. She looked at the mirror next to her and smiled as she saw the two besides her. The cloud was about 500 yards and closing.

Soon it was 300 yards. then 200. and finally 60 yards. The sky became darker because of the smoke and harder to fly because of the potent winds. It felt as if she was Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz floating next to that storm cloud. And then the lightning came. It struck down below igniting a tree on fire. Hikaru gulped and suddenly came to a halt. She was so stupid for coming this close to the cloud.

"HIKARU! What do you think you're doing?" Umi shouted her voice cracking from the static.

"Yeah, Miss Hikaru, why did you stop? The cloud's right there, we might get hurt!" Fuu shouted.

Hikaru shook her head. Her heart was beating quickly in her chest. She licked her lips and closed her eyes for a split second. She was panicking, she couldn't panic now, not when she and her friends were in mortal danger. But she had to, there was no other choice, she couldn't back down now. She looked at Umi and Fuu's vexed faces and forced a grin telling them it would be all right. Slowly she started landing her Rune God.

Hikaru bit her lower lip as the wind tried to take her back up but she tried willing herself to go down. Nothing happened. Hikaru sighed; of course, they were no longer in Cephiro. As much as she willed herself to do something, it wouldn't happen. This wasn't Cephiro, this was Alantica. She clenched her teeth together and pulled down on the control stick tapping the buttons rapidly. Hikaru smiled, it was working! In a few seconds she would be on land, safe and sound.

Suddenly, the cloud hovered over them and a booming noise filled the sky. Hikaru continued lowering herself down along with Umi and Fuu behind her. A lightning bolt came shooting down unexpectedly next to Hikaru. She swerved to the side quickly but another came down barely hitting her. She looked behind her, they were having troubles too. The ground wasn't too far away, she could make it, and she knew she could.

She could hear Umi and Fuu's gasps on the intercom. "FUU! UMI! Be careful! We're almost there, just hang tight, guys!" She coached.

And then before she knew it, she had landed. She wiped her forehead sighing and smiled at Umi who had just landed. She blinked and looked up finding Fuu still battling the perilous lightning bolts.

"Umi! Fuu's still up there!" Hikaru shouted pointing at Windom.

Umi growled. "My Rune God won't start! Something's wrong! C'mon Celes!" Umi begged.

Hikaru too realized her Rune God had shut off. There was no possible way of communicating with Fuu. She furrowed her eyebrows as tears started to form in her eyes.

And then it all happened at once. Fuu's Rune God got struck by lightning and it tumbled down quickly landing with an enormous pound.

Hikaru's eyes widen as she leaped out of her Rune God followed by Umi.

"FUU!" They shouted. Silence.

"FUU!" They tried again. No one came out, no one responded. There was no possible way of getting inside Fuu's Rune God. They had to talk to Clef. Yes, Clef was the only answer, he knew everything. But wait, where was Makona? Makona was supposed to be with them. Hopefully they didn't leave him.

"We have to find Makona." Hikaru's eyes widen.

Umi rolled her eyes. "No, we don't."

Hikaru glared at Umi through her tears. "WHAT!? You hate him that much that you want to leave him out to die? Umi, how could you?"

Umi laughed and grabbed Hikaru's shoulder. Hikaru gazed into Umi's soft and tranquil eyes. "Hikaru, settle down. Makona was with me all that time. He's fine. He's scared out of his wits, he wont come out."

Hikaru sighed and smiled at her apologetically. "I'm sorry, Umi, I'm just really stressed and scared for Fuu. What if she's"-

Umi placed a finger on Hikaru's lips. "Don't think like that, Hikaru. I bet she's just knocked out, she's exhausted. Besides, it hit her Rune God, not her."

Hikaru nodded and wiped her tears away with her hand. Despite the fact that Umi had many annoying questions, she was a very good friend. Umi was always there when they needed her, like a shoulder to lean on. She was one of those people who would listen and understand. She was rare, that Umi. And Hikaru was glad to be with her.

"Puu?"

Hikaru and Umi grinned and turned around seeing Makona. His hair was matted everywhere and his eyes had swirls in them. He hopped out of Celes and walking dizzily towards them occasionally bumping into a rock or burned tree.

"Puuu." He blinked a few times and hopped in Hikaru's arms. He nuzzled her chin happily.

Hikaru hugged him. "Makona! I thought you were gone for good! Umi took care of you didn't she?" She smiled at the tiny creature but then set him down. "Makona, Fuu's trapped in her Rune God. We don't know how to get her out, we don't know if she's okay or not. Can you please help us?"

Makona stood there for a second and then leaped into the air. "Puu! Puu! PUU!" He shouted and landed back on the ground. His red orb on his forehead glowed dimly in the dark atmosphere. Hikaru and Umi watched in awe as a red beam shot towards Windom. It opened the top and suddenly pulled Fuu's limp body out of the Rune God. A red light surrounded all around her as it slowly lowered her to the ground. And then Makona's light vanished.

Umi and Hikaru raced over to Fuu kneeling down next to her. Umi patted Fuu's cheek. "Fuu, wake up, Fuu!" Makona bounded over to them his eyes and ears drooping sadly. There was no way to heal her for Fuu was the healer. Hikaru bent over to check her heart, it was still beating. She smiled relieved.

Umi wiped her forehead and looked around. "Wow, it looks worse than before."

She was right. The grass was dried and dirty; the air was swarming with bugs and smoke.

Makona leaped away and closed his eyes, the orb glowing once more. It suddenly made the shape of the Magic Knight's cover.

"I don't think we, especially Fuu should breathe this air. We should go inside." Hikaru suggested.

Umi nodded and grabbed her legs while Hikaru took hold of her shoulders and they hoisted her inside the small room. They laid her down on Fuu's green and soft bed and sat down on theirs exhausted.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

-+-+-+

"FERIO!?" Hikaru and Umi gasped.

Ferio grinned and gave them both a thumbs up. "Yeah, that's me."

Hikaru blinked. "What are you doing here? Did you follow us?"

Ferio laughed. "Of course not. I came here on my own." He raised an eyebrow. "Did YOU follow me?" He asked softly.

Umi growled. "NO! We didn't no follow you, we came on our own as well." She scoffs and crossed her hands.

Ferio rose a hand assuring. "Okay, okay, sorry for asking." He peeked his head in and looked around biting his lower lip.

Umi pushed his face back outside annoyed. "What are you looking for?" She asked tapping her foot and sighing.

"No one." He added quickly still sort of looking in. He blinked, "No one really."

Umi rolled her eyes and smiled mischievously. "I said WHAT are you looking for, not WHO are you looking for." She laughed softly and touched his nose, "You like Fuu, don't you?"

"No!" Ferio laughed nervously.

Umi raised an eyebrow still grinning slyly. "So then why did you give that talking thing to her and not Hikaru and I?"

"Uh. Well." He scratched his head still laughing. "Because, I only had one and-uh. she was the person closest to me, yeah that's it!"

Umi turned to Hikaru. "See, he likes her, I know it."

All Hikaru do was roll her eyes at the two. "Fuu's in bed. She got hurt on the way here." She said softly not knowing how Ferio would take it.

Ferio's eyes became concerned. He pushed passed Umi and Hikaru and into the house. He spotted her quickly and kneeled down next to her holding her hand. "Fuu. Please wake up! Fuu!" He turned over to Hikaru and Umi his eyes gleaming with tears. "What happened?" He demanded.

Hikaru lowered her head and sat down on her bed explaining what happened. A moment later Ferio grew silent and stood up. He quickly took a small glass bottle out of his pocket and opened it.

Umi and Hikaru looked at him silently as he slowly opened Fuu's tender mouth and poured a bit inside. He closed it and placed it back inside his pocket and turned to Hikaru and Umi. "That was a healing potion I got from Emeraude. I carry it everywhere and only use it in special occasions. Like now." He sat down on the ground leaning on Fuu's bed and sighed. "She should be in full health by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Ferio, you are really a good friend." Hikaru smiled softly. "Now tell us how and why you got here." She brushed a strand of red hair away from her face.

"I came here because Clef told me to come. He said that other people would be joining me, but I didn't think it would be you three. I came here to save Presea and see if anything strange was going on." He answered.

Umi nodded. "We're doing the same thing, except, we don't know where we are. When did you get here?"

Ferio cleared his throat. "I got here three days ago, so I know perfectly well where everything is. I found a map a while ago in the forest, that's where we are." He pulled a small paper, which had been folded up. He traced his finger up until he found a drawing with trees. "That's where we are, The Serenity Forest."

Umi laughed softly. "Serenity wouldn't be the name. It's horrible here."

Ferio nodded and placed the map away in his pocket. "I know, especially compared to Cephiro."

Hikaru blinked. "So did you find anything out yet? About Presea or Lafarga?"

He nodded and looked her deep in the eyes. "I know where they are keeping here. But it's too dangerous for even I to walk into. If you think the forest is bad, the machinery fields are much worse."

"Machinery Fields." Hikaru mouthed. "So that's where she's kept." She stood up her fists clenched into a ball. "We're going to get her even if it's the last thing we do, right Umi?"

Umi nodded and she too stood up. Ferio just shook his head slowly. "You can't. There's no way."

Umi blinked. "Can't we get in with our Rune Gods?"

"Yes, but"-

"So there IS a way!" Hikaru shouted. "Ferio, you don't understand, we HAVE to save Presea."

He nodded. "Then I will help you."

-+-+-+

He got up and turned around smiling at Fuu sleeping silently. Like a Sleeping Beauty, he thought to himself and brushed her cheek. He yawned, tired himself and brushed her soft brown hair away from her eyes. He looked back seeing If Hikaru and Umi were watching. They weren't they were too busy discussing plans for tomorrow. He chuckled to himself softly; they were so clueless of what went on out there. They didn't know the dangers that could happen. They may be Magic Knights, but they weren't immortal. Thank God he was there to help them. Without his help they would most likely be dead. He silently took out the jeweled communicator and opened Fuu's hand. He stuck it in her hand tightly and kneeled down next to her ear.

"Whenever you need me," he whispered softly. "Just use this, I love you." He smiled and kissed her cheek. He looked back again, they were still discussing. He sighed and brushed her soft cheek again. Suddenly Fuu's eyes fluttered open. She opened her mouth a bit to say something but he placed his finger on them.

"Rest, Fuu." He whispered.

Fuu's eyes widen. "Ferio?" She gasped.

He nodded and kissed her forehead. "Rest my dear," he instructed again.

She blinked as she noticed the communicator heavy in her hand. She smiled as tears began to form in her eyes. "I missed you." She answered softly holding the communicator to her heart.

"I missed you too, but right now is not the time to talk. Please go back to sleep." He said soothingly. "I promise, tomorrow when you have all your strength back we'll talk."

Fuu nodded and yawned holding his hand and nuzzling it. She kissed it slowly and closed her eyes back in her deep sleep.

Ferio smiled warmly and got up. "I love you too, Fuu." And walked over to the door.

"Ferio?" Hikaru stood up blinking.

His heart started to race, what if they DID see him? He cleared his throat, "Yes, Hikaru?"

Hikaru smiled. "Would you like to stay inside here, I don't think sleeping outside would be very.healthy." She asked.

"No, no, I'm fine, Miss Hikaru." He yawned and suddenly his eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. He slowly walked over to a small corner and laid there for the rest of the night.

-+-+-+

Presea scowled at the men. "Let me go! I hate it here! Why do you think I left?" She demanded.

The men laughed as one stepped foreword tilting her chin to look him in the eyes. Presea tried to take her head away but his grip was too strong. If only her hands were free. They were chained up so she was useless. She growled and spit in his face.

The man chuckled. His eyes filled with peacefulness. "Presea, please, behave yourself." He smiled and smacked her.

She gasped as she held her burning cheek and growled. She tried getting up and punching him but the chains kept her still. She yelled loudly while the men still laughed. "Yamoto, if you keep this up I swear I'll kill you with my own two hands." She barked.

"Presea, stop this nonsense." He grinned and took a few steps back. "You know perfectly well that you are meant to be here. To be with me, now do what you're told and stop lagging. Presea, my queen, together we shall rule Alantica and make the best weapons in the universe."

She growled at him. "In your dreams!" She looked at the small piece of metal that she was working on wishing she could throw it at him. She bit her lip to keep her tears at bay.

Yamoto walked closer his long robe flowing gracefully behind him while the rest of the men walked out of the chamber. He grabbed a key out of his pocket and freed her from the chains. "Don't you dare try anything stupid, my dear." He said eyeing the metals. He kissed her cheek and left the room leaving Presea in pure anger. She picked up a piece of metal and threw it at the door frustrated and leaned on the wall sobbing softly.

Yamoto's walked back inside. "Presea, I want three long swords by tonight." He smiled and left.

Magic Knights, Presea plead, please help me.