Disclaimer:

Yeah. Not mine. None of it. But…I'm okay with that now….it doesn't bother me to admit it….yeah….I know I don't own MKR….and….I'm….okay….with that….. breaks down and starts leaking tears all over the sofa

Prologue:

GAH!

is blown backwards by the effusive review

…………

Well…that was….encouraging….Thanx!!!

NEWAYS!!! I'll try to edit the last chappy in a bit. Right now, I'm lucky I can even post at all. But I simply had to get this chapter out….it's my second favorite in the whole story…especially for those who like Lantis…oooh….he's so hot….

Yeah, well. That was a rambling sentence. Neway.

Story!!!!!

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Caldina rubbed her brow, her head feeling fit to burst. All around her, the same feeling of tense waiting pervaded.

Presea had come out of the room almost an hour ago now, which made it nearly nine hours since Hikaru had first come into the council room. The smith had seemed worried and tired, and just as grouchy from lack of sleep as the rest of them. She had only just sat down, ready to impart the news, when Umi and Fuu had come bursting through the doorway, followed closely by a frantic Ascot and Ferio. By the time the Magic Knights had been successfully calmed and some semblance of order had been restored, Presea was asleep. Caldina had tiredly ordered the children to leave the room and go to bed, which naturally they refused to do, and so more chaos had ensued. Calm had not yet been completely restored since then, for everyone's nerves were completely on edge and quite ready to explode.

They, namely, the Magic Knights, had finally woken Presea roughly, demanding news of their little sister. Presea had said that the Knight was alive, and that she knew nothing other than that Clef had ordered her out. This had hardly satisfied any of Lafarga, Caldina, Umi, Fuu, Ascot, or even Ferio's curiosity and impatience, and so even more people had started pacing. Right now, Umi, Ferio, and Lafarga held the floor, but Ascot was looking very agitated, and might be persuaded to join them shortly. Probably causing another fight that Caldina would be called on to quiet before they disturbed Clef and his patient.

Caldina rubbed her temples. Why can't they all just shut up!

Caldina scanned the room, looking again for potential hazards, and noticed for the fiftieth time that the only one who had not joined the general havoc was Lantis. He was still in the hard chair he had appropriated earlier, staring into space, apparently oblivious to everything around him.

And Caldina, with her perceptive nature, could almost definitely say why.

Not as though she had the chance to be heard, over the fight that had just erupted between Lafarga and Ascot as the pacers ran into each other. Caldina sighed and headed their way, sleeping powder at the ready.

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Why was he so worried?

Unfortunately, he still didn't have an answer to that. He knew he was worried, perhaps more panicked than he had ever been. But why?

Lantis sighed mentally, tired and defeated, unable to answer this recurrent question.

It wasn't as though he didn't know the answer. He could quite likely figure it out, given the chance. It was only…It was only that he wasn't sure whether or not he wanted the answer.

He abandoned that train of thought, unwilling to go where it led. Rather, he concentrated on the only other thing his brain could handle at this moment: Hikaru herself.

Right now, he could picture her. Not her, exactly, but more the feel of her, the look of her. He could be assured of the way she would react to something, how she would move in a certain way. He could sense the turn of her head in response to a call, understand the flow of her thoughts as she answered a question.

And it was this that bothered him.

He had never know anyone so intimately that he could nearly read their thoughts, not even Eagle. Certainly, he and Eagle had been close friends for many years, but even Lantis could not say precisely how his friend looked. After all, it had been some little time since they'd seen each other.

But Lantis knew that however long he was separated from Hikaru, he would still be able to say precisely how she looked, how her eyebrow quirked, how her mouth dimpled slightly, how her cheek was shaped.

He knew her so intimately. He knew every little detail about her.

Which could only mean one thing….

Lantis blinked, forcing the thoughts back into the back of his mind. He didn't believe what he had just insinuated, not really. He just…was fooling himself.

Lantis almost let out an audible sigh. He was certainly fooling himself. He had seen the way she looked at him when she had first talked to him, with that mixture of fear and hope in her eyes. He had seen how that same fear had never disappeared.

He felt like cursing himself. He was not naturally a demonstrative or soft person, and he was no good putting people at their ease. Rather, he tended to put them at their most defensive. No matter how much, or for what reason, he wanted Hikaru to like him, she would always be a little scared of him unless he did something he could not do.

Which put him at an impasse.

Because the only thing that would convince her that he didn't hate her was…

Lantis cursed mentally. He must have had more of a one-track mind than he thought, because it kept returning to that place he was not going to think about. And he couldn't seem to stop it, either.

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Midnight. And all was chaos.

There was Umi and Fuu, sitting close together but talking in voices raised to be heard over the cacophony. Ferio, sitting and standing alternately whilst he unsheathed and sheathed his large blade. Lantis, hands folded and near his mouth, sitting completely still in his chair. Presea, snoring in a corner. And Caldina, emptying the last bit of sleep powder over the weakly struggling Ascot and Lafarga.

Tension most certainly had reached an all-time high.

And it wasn't necessarily because of Hikaru's health, either. For Ascot, the most important and nerve-wracking thing on his mind was the Hug.

Yes, the Hug.

The Hug that constituted the one time he had voluntarily touched Umi. Even as he felt the drowsiness of the sleeping simple that Caldina had used on him, he blushed faintly as he thought of it. Of how perfect Umi had fit into his arms. How she had pulled him closer, and cried on his shoulder. His blush grew more pronounced, and he murmured her name before drifting off.

For Ferio, however worried about Hikaru he was, he was more worried about Fuu. He knew that since she had left 24 hours before, she had not slept or really eaten. She had bags under her pretty eyes, and worry all over her lovely face. The green-haired prince gnashed his teeth and slammed his sword back into it's sheath with an especially vigorous shove.

But for the rest of the crowd, especially a certain dark haired Magic Swordsman, their only thought was for Hikaru.

Except maybe Presea. She was asleep.

But she was probably dreaming of the fire knight, anyway.

If Hikaru had known that she occupied so many people's thoughts, and was causing them worry, she would have been quite distraught.

As it was, no one was sure that they would ever know how Hikaru felt again.

Because, after all, with such severe wounds…

And there was not one person in the antechamber who would finish that thought.

Creak….

The doors to Clef's chambers squeaked open, and slowly the white-haired head of the Master Mage appeared in the light.

He was obviously exhausted, and his face had an added weariness beyond that which was common, but there was a tired smile on his face, and a faint glimmer in his eyes.

The others, noticing suddenly that Clef was there, looked up from their various places in surprise and half-panicked question. Clef smiled around at them all, exhausted but exhilarated.

"She is going to be fine."

At once, a cacophony of sound erupted. Presea leaped up from her corner after having been awoken by Clef's entrance, and clapped her hands happily. Umi jumped up from her seat, giving a screech and running over to hug Clef. Fuu gasped and sat back in her chair, overwhelmed. Ferio, a huge grin on his face, snuck over behind her and picked her up, twirling her around and laughing as Fuu squeaked in surprise. Caldina had rushed over to grab Presea's hands, and together they danced around the room, laughing and smiling hugely at the world. They tripped over Lafarga and Ascot, who were just awakening.

Ascot looked around himself, bewildered.

"Wha---What happened?"

Umi laughed aloud and dropped to the floor beside him, her joy making her bold.

"Ascot! She's alright! She's alright!"

And then she enveloped him in a breath-taking hug. Ascot, still lost and wondering what had happened, froze for a moment, but then the truth of everything sank in. His arms came up slowly to encircle Umi, and in his eyes dawned delighted surprise.

Umi pulled back a little and laughed at his expression. He laughed with her, his laugh ringing out gaily after the solemnity of the last few hours. He watched Umi as she giggled, loving the way her eyes crinkled slightly, the way her lips puckered a little as she tried to keep from busting out in hilarity and relief. And the way her cheeks suddenly turned red as she realized their position, she half lying on him, he with his arms around her waist. She jerked back suddenly, blushing furiously.

But she was spared further embarrassment, for Caldina chose that moment to give up trying to explain what had happened to Lafarga.

"Lafarga! She's alright, she's fine, she-"

"Caldina, who---wha---"

And then he was silenced by Caldina's lips on his, and forgot what he was going to say.

Around the room, people gasped and froze for a second, but then cheers and clapping broke out, continuing 'til Caldina pulled back, grinning at Lafarga's bewildered face. Then everyone broke out into laughter, and Umi's face changed back to it's normal color in the light of Caldina's characteristic boldness.

Clef smiled tiredly at them all, but then he looked back into the chamber. His face froze for a moment, and then he fixed his smile back onto his face.

"Friends," he said, turning back to the crowd, "while I am as glad as all of you, we need to be silent. It is important that Hikaru gets rest, and our noise could easily have awakened Lady Debonair from where she is hiding."

The populace of the room settled rather quickly after that. The words Clef had spoken not only warned that Hikaru was far from well, but they had also reminded everyone that Debonair was still out there, trying to destroy their world.

So it was that shortly after Clef had spoken, all of those assembled had filtered out of the room, splitting up and heading off to bed, Clef deciding that he would sleep in the chamber they had just vacated. He would have slept in the chair beside his bed, beside Hikaru, and had intended to. But someone else had gotten there before him.

And however careful Clef was, he knew he could not make this one move.

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Time passed, then. Night, which had only fallen in earnest a few hours before Clef had come out, was now loosening it's hold on the sky, and the faint gray of day was beginning to be visible from behind the thick clouds. In the castle, time-keepers told those who would ask that the hour was just after four in the earliest morning. Day would break in two hours. But few would ask, for all through the castle, people dreamed.

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Lantis stared down at the pale form before him on the bed. He had slipped into the room in the chaos that had followed the news of Hikaru's survival, and because of the excitement, no one had noticed.

So now he sat in the soft chair beside Hikaru's bed, watching as the red-haired angel slept peacefully.

And in his mind, because he was tired and because he had no strength to fight them, strange thoughts played through his brain, each one striking true and deep within his heart.

She's beautiful.

Lantis nodded at that. That was a rather silly thing to think. Lantis had known the Fire Knight was the most beautiful creature on Cephiro the moment he laid eyes on her.

She's so strong. The wounds on her, some of them were already scabbed over when you found her. When you heard her cry. She must have been in great pain for much longer than she was shouting.

At the moment, as she lay on the bed with her face as pale as death and great bandages around her arm and ribs, she didn't look particularly strong. But Lantis knew that the moment Hikaru awoke, he would see her eyes glow with the power that was within her loving, caring, happy heart. The heart he held so dear.

She's still beautiful.

Lantis nodded a second time, never tired of hearing those thoughts. They were safe, for one thing. Thinking that a beautiful person was beautiful had no implications of any other feeling, especially not…

You love her.

Ouch. That one was a little more painful. While it was true that this particular idea had occurred to him some…oh, hour or so ago, the thought still made his heart beat painfully fast against his ribs. He knew that if he said he loved her, her caring heart wouldn't let her leave him, whether or not she loved him. And knowing that, knowing that she would only stay because it hurt him if she left, he could never say those words to her. The words that pounded so very fiercely through his skull. The words he had only just discovered still existed in this world.

Wow. You love her. L-O-V-E H-E-R. Incredible. Absolutely amazing. You love her. Love you her. Her love you-

Lantis halted that train of thought, refusing to get his hopes up. He would just live around her, loving her and not saying it, for the rest of his life. And then, when he died, maybe he would tell Fuu to tell Hikaru, because he could never say it.

Because the only way he could say it, was if she said the same thing to him.

And that could never happen.

Never.

So why are you envisioning the marriage right now?

Shut up, he told his brain forcefully. Just shut up.

Nya-nya-nya-nya-nya-nyaaaa…You wanna marry Hikaru…

His brain flung visions of Hikaru in a wedding dress, Hikaru holding his hand, Hikaru looking at him with love, not fear, in her eyes.

Hikaru and Lantis, sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes babies…

Lantis clutched at his head. Oh no. Don't even go there. Don't even think about going there.

Ooh! Ooh! Lantis is afraid! Laaantis is aaaafraid!

Lantis rubbed his temples, screwing his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the sound of his brain. It wasn't working.

This was going to be a very, very long night.

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HAHAHA!!!!! Poor Lantis. He tries so hard! And he still falls under the same spell…

Sooooooo? Enjoyed it? Room for improvement (isn't there always)? Tell me! Any review of any kind is more than just appreciated.

Don't worry. Debonair and Nova will show up again before too long. This isn't going to be just a sappy romance. Even though I love writing about poor Lantis.

Does Hikaru end up with Eagle(so hot!) or Lantis(so sexy!)? What about Umi and Clef? Or is Ascot the winner? And what about Fuu and Ferio?

Actually, never mind that about Fuu and Ferio. It's bloody obvious. I couldn't change that with…lots of persuasion or NUTHIN!

I love them….awwwww…..

Review! Thanx!!!!!!!