*Hey everyone, I just started a new fanfiction, but I'm not going to post it until I'm finished Rubies and Gold and maybe Always With Me. It's…well…I'd rather not give it away, you'll just have to wait and find out! ^.^ Hope you like this new chapter. I finally figured out what I'm going to do with this story so yey!*

Chapter Three: Changes

She was screaming in her dream, screaming in anguish. Her friends were staring in horror as the long, twisted blade drove into her flesh again and again.

Hikaru began a spell, and Fuu pulled back on her bow and aimed at Umi's attacker, but he opened a hand and magic sent them both to the ground.

"All I ever asked was for you to love me! Then you turned around and stabbed me in the back!" he was screaming at her as she struggled to get away.

"Clef!" she called, and blood burst onto her creamy lips. She coughed up blood, and her attacker's hands began to tremble as he dropped the blade. "Oh Umi, my darling, I'm so sorry," he showered her face with tender kisses, cradling her dying form in his arms.

"Guru," Fuu was sobbing as he walked from the forest and onto the scene, "She's dying."

"How?" Clef's eyes widened in horror, but his question didn't require an answer because his eyes fell upon the holder of the dying girl. "You," he whispered and held out a hand. The man let Umi's fragile body fall limp to the ground.

In an instant a burst of red magic met a burst of white. Eventually the white overtook the red and swallowed its bearer.

Unfortunately, it came too late for the Water Knight.

Umi woke in a cold sweat, but after she realized it was only a dream she fell back to the bed. Still, sleep did not come until a long time after.

§§§~~~

The Magic Knights of Cephiro set off the next morning with more direction and help than the original Knights had experienced; the Knights of fiction. Their new ovum gems on their hands and their armor on their bodies made them feel safer. They were equipped with three sturdy horses, provided by Clef with a little help from Mokona, and two able and intelligent guides. Well, maybe one intelligent guide, Umi would think to herself several times over the course of the next few days. These guides were Ferio and Lantis, and they both knew every nook and cranny Cephiro contained…or so it seemed.

Two days into the journey Ferio looked around him and nodded, as if confirming something. "Yep," he said softly and nodded one final time.

"Yep what?" Umi asked irritably after plucking yet another bramble out of her long blue hair.

"We're lost," he announced, and Umi's jaw dropped as Fuu shook her head disapprovingly.

"How long have you thought we were lost for Ferio?" Umi demanded, clenching her fists.

"About a day or so," he answered.

"And why did you fail to mention that?" she gritted her teeth and tried to contain her rage. Fuu and Hikaru braced themselves because if this was the Umi they had read about Ferio was in for it.

"Well I had to be sure first," he responded plainly.

Umi threw her hands up, then ripped them down again in fury at his stupidity. She muttered under her breath and turned.

"Umi-san, please be patient. We can't be that lost can we?" Fuu asked, and Umi exploded.

"That lost? We're in the middle of nowhere in another world! Our only guides don't know where we are, yes-we're that lost!"

"Well, we better get un-lost then. How do we go about doing that Lantis?" Hikaru turned and looked at the man who had spoken only several words in the last few days and even then they were only addressed to Ferio or Hikaru when he was first spoken to.

"We go back the way we came," he answered, and everyone turned and looked back toward the forest they had just wandered through, but it was gone.

Umi's jaw dropped, and Fuu adjusted her glasses. Hikaru looked around, confused, "Didn't we just…" she started.

"Yes," Umi answered.

"Is it…?" she began again.

"No," Umi responded.

"Ah," Hikaru nodded as the three Knights slowly turned to look at the two Cephiran inhabitants.

"Well it hasn't done that in awhile," Ferio seemed perplexed.

"In awhile?" Umi demanded, getting hysterical again.

"The last time it did that was when Clef came to be the Master Mage almost 700 years ago," Ferio explained, and Lantis shook his head.

"The power of the Mages' is shifting."

Ferio nodded, "I must go to see the Guru straight away. Lead them on Lantis."

Lantis nodded, "Ride hard my friend."

"Wait, what's happening?" Fuu questioned, stepping forward as Ferio mounted.

"A lot, I'll try to explain everything when I get back. I will see you soon, dear Wind Knight," he winked and kicked the horse into a gallop.

Fuu smiled stupidly and nodded.

"What do we do 'till then?" Hikaru questioned Lantis, looking far up just to see him.

"We move on, he knows the way to the Water Temple. No time can be spared now," he answered in his low voice.

"Oh," Hikaru looked to the other two and smiled. "Let's go then."

§§§~~~

For two more days they traveled with the small creature Mokona in two. By this time, he had already made a great enemy in the water Knight and a great friend in the Fire Knight.

They were sitting around a dim fire, talking and laughing when the Master Mage of Cephiro appeared in front of them, Ferio by his side, both were mounted, much to the Knight's surprise. Hikaru stared up at them for a long while, still slightly stupefied until Clef began to speak in a harsh whisper. "Put that fire out, tack up your horses and leave everything you can. We must reach the Water Temple tonight."

"What? Why?" Umi demanded.

"For your own sake stay silent," Clef snapped. "Do as I say and we may be lucky and his spies haven't reached this far yet."

"Who are you talking about? What's going on?" Umi stepped forward, but Clef's eyes flashed as he reached out for her hand and opened it with a word, then pointed toward the fire and said a few more words. A small Dragon spiraled from her fingers and doused the flame. She stared in shock as the darkness immediately set in.

"Move," he released her, and she pulled away, more afraid of herself than of him.

"How…?" she started.

"There is no time, get going," he cut her off.

She nodded and fumbled with the girth buckle that she could barely see as Fuu, Hikaru and Lantis did the same.

"Has he returned Guru?" Lantis asked in a hushed whisper.

"To reclaim what he believes is his," Clef answered almost as silently, but it was carried to Fuu on the Wind, and she looked up.

"What is his?" Fuu asked, and Lantis and Clef looked over to her but disregarded her question completely and spoke lower.

"Lantis, do you know you're going the wrong way?" Clef smiled almost mischievously at Lantis who lowered his eyes and shook his head.

"The…forest…moved…" he muttered, and Clef chuckled softly and let it go.

"We weren't that lost Guru, I would've had it sorted out in a day or two," Ferio grinned at Fuu as he rode up to the others, his hand resting lazily on his saddle.

"Arrogant," Clef smacked him with his staff, and Ferio shouted and rubbed the back of his head. "I swear…"

They were all quickly mounted and galloping toward the Water Temple. The closer they got, the louder the noise grew in Umi's head. It was a combination of the crashing waves and an eerie, high-pitched scream. Was it a cry? What was crying? The waves began to grow softer the closer they got. The crying got louder and higher, until it was almost a constant noise and the waves were completely drowned out. She felt a small knot in the back of her neck that slowly ran down her shoulders and up into her head. When she moved her head in the slightest it exploded inside, and she could barely stay seated. Everyone noticed her growing distress, and Clef's eyes grew weary and clouded. He knew they would never make it, but he knew he couldn't transport her there. The strong magic meant to protect her might harm her in the end. Instead he pushed them harder and faster until the splitting in Umi's head erupted, and she could no longer move. She fell from the horse and rolled onto the ground.

Every muscle in her body tightened and seized up until she was left lying helpless on the ground. She couldn't stand or speak or do anything but lie there, crumpled on the ground and listen to the crying in her head. The high-pitched never-ending cry. She began to mutter and sweat, but she couldn't understand what she was muttering.

"Servo mihi, parco mihi, exhibeo mihi careo caliga."

"What's wrong?" Fuu demanded as she dismounted and bent down to Umi, Hikaru hovering close by her side.

"What is she saying?" Hikaru questioned.

Clef shook his head, "It is a foreign tongue, one from your world, but I know it only from the olden days when the worlds were one."

Fuu stored this bit of information, and her eyes shot from Clef to Ferio but she didn't ask the question…yet… "It's Latin."

"Yes, it means, 'Save me, spare me, deliver me from darkness,'" Fuu and Clef said the last verse in unison.

"What darkness?" Hikaru's eyes narrowed. "What's going on?" she was trying not to get frantic, but she didn't know what was happening to her companion.

"He has her then, it's too late," Clef stood and looked around, and Fuu felt a darkness on the Wind, as Hikaru's heart welled up and grew hot and heavy. She didn't understand the feeling, but she could tell something bad was going to happen…soon.

"Let her go Silvius," Clef ordered into the darkness. "She is a changed person, free from your hate. Let her have her life."

A figure materialized out of the darkness, a sick smirk was on his lips, and Umi screamed when she looked up and saw him. It was the man from her dreams. She scrambled back and into Hikaru's feet, who slowly helped her up. The crying had stopped, as if it had given up being saved. It had stopped abruptly, as if choked.

"Your time has ended Clef, bow to the new Master Mage of Cephiro," he held out a hand, but Clef raised his staff, and the spell was countered.

"You will never have Guru Clef's position! Not so long as we're alive," Ferio's voice was a low, warning growl, but it made Silvius' smirk grow.

"My brother," he bowed to Ferio who scowled and felt a sickness grow in his stomach.

"We were never brothers," Ferio spat back at him.

"What makes you say that?" Silvius sounded innocent, almost hurt, in a mocking way. "We were the same. We shared the same sentence for the same crime. Just because you came back in shining armor with your flag raised as the new Prince of Cephiro doesn't mean that you can say we weren't the same, that we weren't brothers. Isn't that right Lantis?" he turned his eyes toward Lantis who stayed silent but glowered. "Isn't that right my brother?"

"Enough!" Clef boomed, seeing Lantis' grip on his sword tighten. He knew Lantis would never stand a chance when faced with Silvius, and would not see one of his friends hurt. "Be gone from here you demon!"

"Oh come on Clef! You can't tell me you wouldn't do the same thing that I did! You were just never given the opportunity!" Clef's eyes darkened with Silvius' words.

"That was a long time ago, we were both very young. You chose the wrong path though Silvius. You could have come back and redeemed yourself. You could have chosen the way of light and been welcome in the palace. You were the one who chose to stay on the path of deceit and trickery," Clef held his staff out as he spoke, making sure to keep everyone behind him.

"Is that so?" he laughed, and his eyes darkened. "Is that how it was Clef? Is that what I could have done? And what? Come back into the palace with her eyes, constantly, watching," the last two words he said with venom and an insane anger as he glared at Umi. "Even now, those eyes," he whispered and stared at her so intensely, that she had to turn away. "I could never live under those eyes, so I went away and became the person that you had turned me into. Even though you don't remember, you have the same eyes. You wouldn't forgive, so I turned into the person you always thought I was but wasn't. And here we are again, under the same sky. Your eyes are the same but your body is empty and hollow. Did you ever wonder why you wake up crying in the middle of the night, Water Knight?" his twisted eyes swung full force on Umi. "It's because you're missing a part of you. All of you are, but you most of all. You swore to me and then turned around and stabbed me in the back. I was the more deceived. Well I won't make the mistake again. I'll kill you once and for all and spite that damned Dragon that you care more for. Spite you that you care more for!" he raised his hand, and Umi closed her eyes.

*I'm almost finished the next chapter for Rubies and Gold. As for Always With Me, I've started, but don't know if I'll be finished this weekend. It's Spring Break yes! I'm so excited! I'm going to try and update everything. After Spring Break though I'm going on vacation for a week, yes after Spring Break, meaning two weeks of no school. So I don't think I'll be updating for a week after Spring Break, gomen nasai.*