Atia woke and found herself stark naked in an alarmingly comfortable bed. A soft breath tickled her neck in a gentle rhythm, and a strong arm held her close. She closed her eyes when the memories of the night caught up with her. And then she had the most despairing feeling in the world - she was completely alone.

During the night she had tried to flee her immediate mind and contact them, but he had followed her. He had taken her back, then made her watch as he cut all of their links.

She was utterly alone.

The thought brought tears to her eyes, and she wept silently.

As she did, she felt a weak pulse of a thread in her heart. Someone hadn't been cut. As she tried to make contact with her, she recognized Ocean. She smiled a smile of genuine happiness. She opened her heart, and the thread soared back to life. She had underestimated him the first time, but she wouldn't again. She would let Ocean come to her.

Exhausted, she fell back to sleep.

*

Even with Amara sleeping on the floor beside her, Diana curled up in her arms, the giant wolves as a golden retriever and a black lab laying on her legs, and Rini on the other side of her, Trista could not go back to sleep. The tears wouldn't stop coming, her heart wouldn't stop hurting. Though many times she thought she had no more tears to cry, the loneliness she felt always made them return. She had no energy left to sob and no longer bothered to wipe her sore eyes. She sniffed, stifling a whine of despair.

The golden retriever that was SunChaser shifted, lifting her head. Still you cry, my friend. You should sleep. It's almost time for the sun to come up.

"I cannot."

The dog silently crawled up to lay on the other side of Trista. He's not going to harm her. Lady Autumn was correct in that.

"I'm not afraid of that."

SunChaser set her chin on the woman's shoulder, then shuddered as she felt Trista's pain. You're lonely. It hurts you, doesn't it?

"More than you could ever imagine. I've never felt this alone, not even while I guarded the Time Gates. I could always feel them with me. Now...there's nothing. I don't know how we became connected like that, and I don't know how to connect us again," she whispered.

Ocean said you'd all be together someday.

"It'll never be the same. It never can be. It won't be in the future. I've been to the future, and not one of them is there. Something bad is going to happen, SunChaser. What if Atia never comes back? What if Ocean and Sky can't get home?"

Don't think like that. You have to believe in your heart that someday it will happen.

*

Michelle laid awake, staring at the ceiling. She could not shake the voice from her head. She knew that voice better than she had known the twin's. It confused her. She rolled over to her side and watched the prince and princess sleeping. At least they were safe. Her eyes closed.

*

"Michelle?"

She starts. She cannot see anything. "Who are you? Where are you?"

The woman that the voice belongs to doesn't seem to hear her. "Michelle, you have to tell Trista that I haven't lost Atia." As she spoke, her voice grew blurry and seemed to echo as though she is disappearing. "Daughter..."

*

Someone was shaking her awake. Michelle flew up, staring at a sleepy-eyed at Amara. "...wake up." Seeing her awake, she said, "You kept hitting me, so I figured I'd wake you up so I could sleep."

"Sorry," she apologized quietly.

"Something's bothering you, Michelle."

"Amara...I think that woman was my mother."

-*-

"What am I supposed to do here all day?" Atia asked, watching him get up.

"There's a closet over there - I think there's some things there you can wear. I really don't mind what you do - keep in mind, if you try to contact them again, I will kill them." With that, he pulled out a suit suitable for a ruler.

"Where are we? What are you here?" Atia inquired, confused.

"We're in the main capitol of the...Negaverse, as you now call it. I'm the emperor here, and for the time being, you're my empress. But watch your back, love - not everyone here likes the idea of a Silver princess in the castle, none the less as ruler." Sebradon turned and faced her, suited up. "Well, what do you think?"

Atia smiled. "Very nice. You've certainly made a cozy place for yourself here."

"Ah, yes. Well, I've had quite awhile to do so." He pulled his sword out and examined it, polished a few rubies on its hilt. "I must go now, but I'll see you at dinner. Oh, before I forget. Outside the door are five maidens that will be as your personal hand-servants as long as you are here." He winked and strode out, closing the door behind him.

"Hmph." Atia got up and picked her black dress off of the ground, then held it up and stared at it. Pretty as it was, she couldn't wear if for a month. She walked over to the closet and gasped. They looked just like her dresses from the Silver Millennium! She flew through them until she found her favorite - the one she'd worn at Lia's wedding. She hugged it tight, then poked her head around another door. A bathroom. "A shower never hurt a person," she muttered, hopping in and gingerly laying the dress over a rack.

Once washed and smelling of lilacs, she put the dress on and sighed. She could remember that day as though it were yesterday. "Hell, I never thought I'd wear it again," she whispered, pulling on a pair of black heels. She walked back through the room and had her hand on the door when a thought made her pause. There was a pale flash of light, and a staff roared into being. It had a shining black and silver rod with a silently burning ball of orange flame at the top of it. The flame didn't touch the staff, and an invisible clear globe surrounded it. A pair of silver wings protruded on the uppermost part of the staff, and ancient inscriptions covered it. She opened the door - and found herself face-to-face with her servants from the past.

"Princess!" one of them cried, falling to her knees in a bow. The others followed her lead.

"What are you five doing here??" she whispered, almost afraid.

"He captured us and brought us here," another answered.

"We never expected him to bring you here," a third said.

"He's not the brightest, giving me my old onterauge," Atia smiled. "Come on, girls. I'm afraid you'll have to show me around."

The five girls showed their mistress around, pointing out different things and laughing, as though they were back on Saturn and not in the Negaverse. When they got to the kitchen, she poked her head around. "Girls, who are these people?" she asked, leaning back around. "Why do they look different?"

"They are the castle slaves, m'lady," Niatra replied. She was bold with a blunt attitude. "Lord Sebradon captured from a nearby planet called Opao. They're quiet in nature and not very resistant. That's why he captured them."

"Do they speak our language?"

"I don't think so, princess."

"Ah. Well, I'm starved. Do I just...go in there?" she asked uncertainly.

The second, Kal, giggled and gently pushed the princess into the room. "It's just like home, princess. I think he planned it that way."

Atia laughed as they followed her in. The sound made most of the dark-skinned people to look up at her. She smiled and held her right hand palm-side up. "Hello." Only, it wasn't in her language - it was in the Opaos'. "My name is Atia. I'm supposed to be Sebradon's bride - but don't worry. I'm not like him and I apologize for anything rash he's done. He...hasn't always been like this." Her smile momentarily faltered.

"Welcome, princess," a middle-aged woman said, grinning a little. The others smiled greetings, then went back to their tasks. "I'm afraid you've caught us at a bad time; we're preparing for a feast, apparently in your honor."

"Me?" Atia looked taken aback. "Oh." She made a little face of amusement. "What's your name?"

The woman smiled. "I am called Fala."

"Princess!" the first girl tugged on Atia's arm. "What are you doing??"

"I'm talking," Atia replied easily. "I know how to speak many languages." She turned back to Fala. "Tell me honestly. How does he treat you?"

The dark-skinned female before her hesitated. "He works us, but he provides shelter and food for us. The field workers, they're not so luckily. They get beat a lot. We get treated better than a lot of the others."

"Hm. I guess I better get what I came for before I get you into trouble. Um, do you have any food lounging around? Nothing special - I'm famished."

"Of course, m'lady." Fala led her to a bench and had some beef, meat, cheese, and wine laid out for her. "I'm sorry, princess, but I must return to work now." She made a bow, then hurried the other way.

Atia wolfed down the food in a matter not very dignified for her status, then drowned the cup of wine in a single gulp. "Oops..hic!...damn hiccups!" she muttered, putting a hand over her mouth. "Now what...hic...do we...hic...do?"

"First, we get rid of your hiccups," Kal said with a gentle smirk of fondness. "Then we'll see."

Even with her friends the maids, Atia felt strangely alone in this new world.