And we're back again, getting ready to kick off chapter four! Updating has been sporadical and I know there's no real exact time frame I use, chaptering coming up within a few days or a few weeks of each other, and I apologize but whenever I try and set a schedule something called life happens and it goes all haywire on me. So, to make up for that, I'm using as much of my break as I can to get you lots of chapters to keep you happy!

Now, go on and read this wonderfully prepared chapter, it would make me feel very special indeed.

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Holly walked up the lane of Allen's family's house; a huge two-story ranch that had taken place of the original one that was razed along with the town during the Wars Allen, Lili, Genki and Holly had fought in so long ago.

Rene and her husband used one of the side wings, his forge and her garden right beside it. A couple of the other siblings and their families lived there as well, Kenjou's mother and the rest of his siblings among them.

Holly nervously tucked a bit of hair behind her ear and knocked on the door, adjusting the strap of her pack as the noonday sun beat down on her from overhead. It had been awhile since she'd been here, and it her visits had never had this sort of purpose either. This was not something she was looking forward too.

"Hello?" said Rene, opening the door slightly. When she saw who it was, she flung open the door and darted out to squeeze the life out Holly with a rib crushing hug. "Oh!! Holly dear, it's been forever and then some since we've seen you!! Where's Genki, though? I don't see that young rogue about anywhere…"

"Genki is back at Lili's vale," said Holly, putting her hands on Rene's shoulders so she made sure she had the old woman's attention. "Oh, Rene, you don't know how good it is to see you too. But I have some news…and it isn't exactly good…"

"How rude of me," said Rene suddenly, seeing the tired lines on Holly's face and bringing her inside immediately. "Come on, dearie, first we get you some food and drink and a nice place to rest and then we'll hear your news. Who shall I get to hear it?"

"Your husband Jack, your self, and Kenjou's parents Meg and Tai," said Holly; gratefully sinking into the chair Rene had led her too. "Ah, I'm not as young as I used to be…"

"We never are, dear," said Rene sympathetically. "Looks like you ran, or rolled judging by those wheeled shoes your wearing, to death."

"Close enough," sighed Holly, tying her long brown hair out of her face and sipping the lemonade Rene set before her carefully. She removed her roller blades, setting them to the side so they wouldn't trip anyone. "Really, Rene, this is enough, you don't have to get me any food…"

"Knowing you, you haven't had a decent meant in days," countered Rene. "I'm making you a snack and that's that. Oh, and you are staying here for at least the night so don't get any ideas that I'm just going to let you roll off without getting a few good meals into you and a good night's sleep. I may not be able to monitor you younglings all the time, but I certainly can take care of you when you are in my home!"

"And I'm supposed to be a mother myself," grumbled Holly under her breath. "Rene, you're putting me to shame. It's a good thing my young ones aren't here as it is…"

"Are they staying with Coltia and her young man?" asked Rene, bustling about the large kitchen as Holly nursed her drink by the fire.

"As usual. They say it's good practice for the two of them," replied Holly with a shrug.

"And it is," replied Rene firmly. "Gives them an idea of what they're getting themselves into before hand, ne?"

"Very true," admitted Holly.

"Hey, you," said a familiar voice, Holly finding herself embraced by a thick set of limbs as she was almost lifted out of the chair by the warm embrace. "Been avoiding us, have you?"

"It's good to see you too, Jack," said Holly, getting herself free before returning the hug. "And I'm sorry it's been so long, at times it can't be helped…"

"Last time I saw your eldest young ones they were just becoming young adults," said Jack, taking a long pull on his pipe before blowing out a perfect ring of smoke. "What are they now…17? 18? Nearly grown and we've missed most of it."

"I promise, as soon as everything is settled once more we'll come and visit, as a family," said Holly, squeezing his hand before settling down in the chair once more.

"Settled down?" Jack's brows knit together in concern. "No more trouble, I hope…"

"Sort of…"

"Leave her be, Jack," admonished Rene, putting a mug of strong ale in his hands and ushering him towards the chair on the other side of the fire. "She'll tell her tale only once, and until then we must wait for the others to return."

"Would I be one of those?" asked Meg, walking in the door with a newborn baby girl in her arms. "Hello, Holly, long time no see."

"Long time no see," replied Holly getting up and giving her a gentle hug before turning her attention to the small bundle in her arms. "Oh…she's beautiful, Meg…may I?"

"Of course," said the proud mother, carefully putting her babe into Holly's arms. "Of all, I trust you to be careful with my little Keadi."

"Where are the other three?" asked Holly, absently rocking the baby back and forth from years of practice.

"Tilly is with Jackie at her work," said Meg with a grin. Her smiled widened a little. "Kagi and Kolin are together at the pond out back. Or at least that's where they said they were going..."

"They like to spy on that little girl who lives down the street, don't they?" said Holly, wrinkling her nose. "Little boys never change."

"Until they grow up, that is," said Rene, taking the baby from her and showing her the bowl of soup and bread that waited for her next to her chair. "Go eat, now. You can't start until Tai gets here anyways-"

"I'm right here," said Tai, running a hand through his short silver hair. "Holly! How are you? You haven't been here in forever, have you?"

"I'm fine, thank you," said Holly. She looked to Rene. "Everyone's here now, should I start?"

"Should we make ourselves comfortable before you do?"

"I don't know how long it will take," admitted Holly, taking a bite of the bread. "I do apologizes for the trouble, though, and that my visit is one of bad news…"

"We will anyways, then," said Rene, pulling up a chair. Tai did the same, Meg seating herself on the floor and nursing her child while leaning on her husband's legs for support. "And do not worry about your news, my dear, we will handle it as we do everything else in this world. Go on, dear, we're listening."

"Well, ok," said Holly doubtfully. "Let me start at the beginning. Genki and I were headed up from our hometown to go see Lili, as always, just after the twins had their 17th birthday like we do every year. The rest of the children we left at home this year, though, we had more important things to discuss like the pendants." Holly fished hers out of her shirt, looking at it as she continued her story. "Whether we were to pass them on to our eldest children when the time was right, or to find another who would use them instead. Allen went with us, though I don't thing he fully understood why we were going himself. And then, just a day's journey from it, Kenjou caught up with us and gave us the wonderful news of your baby girl, Meg."

"I insisted he go find Allen and tell him," said Meg, hugging the child gently. "And with this news you bring, it makes me fear it might've been a mistake."

"I don't know," admitted Holly. "But anyways, we got there and set up camp; Lili wished to speak with Allen and Genki so I took the young ones off to the side and began another lesson in herb lore when it started…" Holly wrapped her arms around herself, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks with every word. "There was a huge burst of light overhead and Lili shielded us from something…I'm not sure what, but it scorched all the vegetation around us to ash. Then, the sky went clear again and we assumed it was over…the portal to the spirit realms opened and sucked those closest to it, namely Allen, Z, Annie, and Kenjou…"

Meg gasped, as Rene turned as pale as a ghost. "The Spirit Realms…no…"

"Is that even possible?!" demanded Tai, rising to his feet suddenly. "No, that can't be, it just can't!"

"Unfortunately, it is," said Holly, putting a hand over her eyes as tears coursed down her face. "Don't give me that look, Tai, two of my children are in there as well. If there was something I could do, I would've done it but Zephyr told us we were going to have to wait until Lili could do something about it…"

"Then they are helping us?" asked Rene, her face drawn with a shadow of fear in her eyes. "Then there is a chance for them to come back, right?"

"It is not a deadly thing to be sent there," said Holly with a shrug. "I believe others have gone and returned before, it's just in light of all these strange occurrences that we have reason to worry…"

"Lili will find them," said Meg, slowly rising to her feet. "And she will bring them home. I have faith in her."

"As do I," said Jack, rising to his feet as well. "Holly, I am sorry for your loss as well as ours, and I hope you will accept our hospitality in staying with us until you feel yourself fit to travel again."

"I thank you," said Holly, accepting a hug from the old blacksmith before drying her tears on her sleeve. "But I must return tomorrow, there might be news that came in since I left, for it has been a week since…"

"I'm coming with you," said Jack, soundly clapping her on the back. "I may be just an old grizzled bear of a fellow, but my son's out there and I mean to help him in any way I can."

"You'd better keep up, old man," said Holly teasingly, giving Jack's hand an affectionate squeeze.

"Never know, might end up being the other way around," said Jack with a wink. "But since we're not leaving until tomorrow, and my lovely wife Rene has done some wonderful work on the garden, what say we go on a walk young one?"

Rene shook her head in amazement as she listened to Jack rattle on and on about the doings of the family and his young grandchildren, making Holly laugh and forget about her troubles and worries for at least a little while. He had an amazing knack with that, his spirit a bit rough around the edges yet still extremely sweet and gentle for one so large. She sighed as she leaned her head on her hand, watching them through the window before turning back to the task of cleaning the kitchen up once more. He would leave tomorrow, once more going to save a child of theirs who'd gotten himself into trouble. Everything would be all right, they would both return to her safe and sound and life would return to the way it had been before. Everything would be fine.

It had to be.

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Holly rolled out of bed before dawn, a wave of nausea washing through her as she barely made it in time to the outhouse in the back to empty her stomach of the food she'd consumed the night before. Someone with cool hands came and held her hair out of her face, rubbing her back until she'd exhausted herself of the ability to up chuck any longer.

"Are you alright?" asked Meg, handing her a glass of water to drink as Holly wiped her face on towel she'd somehow brought with her. "Something you ate last night? Or are you feeling ill?"

"It's just a child's way of letting you know they're coming," said Holly, leaning her head on her knee. "Ugh…this should've already passed…"

"Then you are with child? Again?" asked Meg, helping her to her feet in surprise.

"Yes, again," said Holly, absently rubbing her stomach as she smoothed her hair from her face. "You would think five would be enough, right?"

"Holly, I'm so happy for you!!" Meg gave her a warm, but gentle hug as she didn't want to send her off on another round of losing her stomach's contents. "Does Genki know yet? Does anyone else know at all, for that matter?"

"I suspected before we left home," said Holly. "But I wasn't for sure until I was on my way here…I think Annie suspected, she's the one who helps around the house in the morning but she didn't question my absence from doing my chores, thankfully, and just did them herself."

"Come," said Meg leading the way back to the house, you have to let Rene know before you leave or she'll never forgive you and then we have to get packed up so we can leave."

"'We'?" asked Holly, looking rather confused. "I thought it was just me and Jack…"

"If you think we're letting you go without more help than that, you're insane," said Meg, patting her on the back. "I'm coming too, and so are some of the others."

"But what about your baby??"

"She needs to spend some time with her grandmother," said Meg, her eyes sparkling in the morning light. "Besides, having goats milk for awhile won't hurt her in the least, she could stand to gain a few pounds after all."

"I suppose so…"

"There you are!!" said Rene as they entered the kitchen, Meg immediately escaping to the side so she could finish getting ready. Jackie stood by the table, dressed in her usual sturdy brown pants and boots with a short-sleeved blue tunic that matched her silver blue eyes exactly. Silver and blue hair and eyes seemed to run in that part of the country, though why no one was really sure. Jon was there as well, decked out in all black. Three broad swords leaned against the wall near the door, two swords beside it but before Holly could question who they might belong to her attention was diverted elsewhere.

"Are you alright?" asked Jack. "The monthlies or the baby giving you its wakeup call?"

Holly froze, looking at Jack with eyes wide with surprise. "How in the world did you-"

"You've got that glow all mothers get when they're expecting. Rene pointed it out to me last night, though I wonder when it was you were planning to tell us…"

"This morning, of course," said Holly, rubbing the back of her head nervously as she started to edge off towards her room. "Last night wasn't the time with al the awful things happening…I have to go get dressed though, so…bye!"

"Of course, of course," said Jack, watching with amusement as Holly darted out of sight. "That young woman's nearly forty and she still acts like she's 18 sometimes…how much I wish I were still that young…"

"You're not even sixty yet yourself," said Rene, whapping him on the shoulder with her oven mitt. "Be nice to her while you're out there, she's had a rough time of it, you know!"

"I know…"

Two hours later Holly stood in front of the house, Jackie and Jon beside her as Jack shouldered his pack and settled his broadsword beside it.

"Ok," said Holly, seeing all three of them were ready, "Let's go!"

"Wait just a moment," said Meg, coming out the door with a reproachful look on her face. "What's this about leaving me behind?" She had on traveling clothes and a samurai sword hung on her back, identical to the one Allen carried.

"And us too!!" said Tilly and a young monster Holly had never seen before. The 20 yr old girl carried a tai chi sword on her back, her short blue hair hanging in her silver eyes that were so much like her brothers that it was scary sometimes. The monster was a jell breed, a Clay to be exact with a pack on its back big enough for her and Tilly so she didn't have to carry one.

"Have we met before?" asked Holly, kneeling before the Clay.

"Nope!" she said, pumping Holly's hand up and down. "Nice to meet'cha! That name's Silvia, Silvia Clay to be exact but you don't need to know that do you? Fighting's my middle name and rescuing others is my game! So, where are the buggers, huh? Right here? Or right there? Or are you one of them and we just don't know it yet?? Hm…"

"Enough, Silvia," said Tilly, quickly putting her hand over her Clay's mouth in embarrassment. "Uh…sorry about that Holly. She refused to stay behind…and she is my monster, I raised her from a disk!"

"We're happy to have her along," said Holly, patting the monster on the head before heading back towards the front of the group. "Now, if that's everyone…" No one else came popping out of the shadows as the rest looked at her expectantly. "Then let's go."

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Genki sat silently under a pine tree, his back resting on the trunk so he had a constant view of the portal in case the kids and Allen did return sooner than hoped. A crust of dry bread in one hand and a pencil in the other, he slowly fed himself as a shape took form on the paper before him. It was a picture embedded into his mind forever, one that had changed his life ever since.

Holly lay with her hair damp with sweat, propped up by pillows with an exhausted but radiant look on her face. A child lay in either arm, a little boy and girl. It was Annie and Z, just moments after they'd been born and he'd finally been allowed in to see her. He'd been so proud…they'd agreed on the name of a boy or girl ahead of time, but hadn't realized they'd need to use them both.

"Theses are fine, health babes!" Henna had said, the local healer who'd come to help with the birthing. "A bit on the small side, but twins tend to be that way and it won't last long."

She'd been right, too. They'd shot up seemingly overnight; turning into the wonderful pair they were today. Was it really over 17 years ago? It didn't seem like it at times.

Genki thought about it for a moment, then put himself in the picture beside her; leaning in to kiss her on the cheek with one hand on the head of each of his children. His children. No one else's but his. He could still remember that day as clearly as yesterday, the day he became a father.

A shift in the breezes brought his attention back to the present, looking around expectantly for their messenger from the Spirit Realms. "Hey Zephyr," he said quietly, the strain of the constant fear of his children and no longer having his life mate to help support him having taken it's toll on the man.

"Hello, Genki," said Zephyr with a half-grin, nudging him in the shoulder with his nose. "You ok? You don't look so good…"

"My children are in another realm, and my wife gone telling their partners' family where they've gone as well. Would you be ok, Zephyr, if you were me?"

"No," agreed Zephyr with a sigh. "I would not. I'm sorry, Genki."

"It's not your fault, Zeph," said Genki, bringing the familiar green pendant out of his shirt and staring at it longingly. "I just feel…helpless. Look at me, I'm the Off-worlder, the Phoenix Boy. Yet, with all the power that I have, I can't even go save my children when it means the most."

"You have done what you could when you could," said Zephyr softly, putting a paw on Genki's leg. "No one can ever say that you did not give your all."

Genki laughed shortly. "What does that matter when my all is not enough?"

"Do you want my news or not?" asked Zephyr. "I came to help you save your children and friends, not help you pity yourself all day." He used the same paw that had been on Genki's leg to effectively knock him completely on his back. Leaning over him while Genki stared at the sky, he added, "Knock it off, Phoenix Boy. Friends have been in danger before, and you've been helpless just like now. I know it's a little different, but give me a moment here, ok? I come bringing news of a way you can help. Something you can do that might make a difference later on. Results won't be immediate: so what? You've learned to have a little patience, so use it. Help me with my task as Lili has asked you to, because it's that or going back to sulking around like a child and the Genki I knew all those years ago would've knocked me flat for even suggesting such a thing."

Genki considered it for a moment, his old light coming back to his eyes. "Thanks, Zephyr. I needed that." He paused for a moment, the lashed out lightly sending Zephyr sprawling on his back. "And you did get knocked on your back for suggesting it. So there!" Genki stuck his tongue out at him, like he was still 13 instead of closer to 31.

Zephyr just laughed and righted himself once more. "Glad to have you back, Genki."

"My pleasure, old friend. So, what news have you from my cousin-gone-spirit-thingy?"

"Well, it's kinda like this…" Zephyr went on how they'd found the four in the forest, their rescue and being brought to the abbey where they Guardians dwelled most of the time. That's where he hesitated ever so slightly, Genki getting an uneasy feeling in his gut as he did.

"What's wrong, Zeph?" asked Genki, looking at him suspiciously. "No one got hurt, did they? No ambushes or anything??"

"Nothing like that," said Zephyr quickly. "They're all fine, but Allen…he's the Chosen, Genki."

"The Chosen…??"

"He's been Chosen," said Zephyr quite simply. "And he's accepted the challenge of going through the trials and completing them to become the next Guardian of All."

That's when it hit Genki. "That means he's not coming back!"

"I know," replied Zephyr. "Anyways, Lili is taking the twins and Kenjou onto the portal, and they'll reach it in a few days at the most. Until then, I've been told to stay here and guard the portal with any who might be here."

"Guard it from what?" asked Genki, feeling all to confused with everything Zephyr had told him.

"I don't know," admitted Zephyr. "But Lili told me to guard it until she comes, therefore I will."

"Very well," said Genki. "I've avoided setting up any thing permanent, figuring that it would be only a matter of days before they returned…I see now I was wrong."

"You were optimistic," said Zephyr with a grin. "Come, let's get something in the way of a shelter before Holly gets back."

"Sounds good to me," said Genki, rising to his feet and looking about himself slowly. "Thanks again, Z, you…you're a true friend."

"I try," said the giant tiger, flicking his golden brown ears good-naturedly. "I know I fail at times, Lili reminds me of that often enough, but I do get done what I can…"

"And we're grateful for that."

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End of Chapter 4. They're not very long chapters, are they? Oh well, it is the quality, not the quantity, that counts. ^_^

Let me know if the quality is up to par! All it takes is a click on that little button at the bottom; you know the one I'm talking about. Please push it? Please? And then write something in it to make me feel good? Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar on top?? (Since I can't have much of it right now, I figure I'll give it to you in the form of chocolate bunnies I'm getting for Easter ^_~)

Much thanks, and much love to you all!

~Crosseyedbutterfly~