Umi slowly rolled out of the bed that she and Kakeru shared. She put on her dress from the day before, having nothing else to wear. Their room was small but comfortable with a large bed, a small bureau and a small, empty closet. It actually had a window, most rooms in the fortress didn't and as she gazed out onto the grounds she saw Lantis burst out of the forest, sword in hand with Hikaru right behind him. She looked back into the room and called, "Kakeru! I think something's . . ." As she went back to the window she saw that something really was wrong. A giant insect had hurtled out of the forest canopy and was heading straight for Hikaru and Lantis. Kakeru came to her side and looked out, "Holy. . . We gotta get down there," he started to go when he noticed she wasn't following. "Umi!"

She was staring out the window, head tilted in disbelief, "Kakeru, that's the bug, that's the monster that killed Presea. How could it . . .?" She looked at him.

"It doesn't matter, Umi. It's here and it's attacking."

She gulped and shook her head, "Of course, let's go." Kakeru grabbed the sword he had lent against the wall and headed straight for Hikaru and Lantis. Umi realized that she didn't actually have a weapon and so made her way to the armory.

Ascot had seen the insect fly up out of the forest. He stood transfixed. "Pagero," he whispered.

As Fuu made her way from Hikaru and Lantis, who she had just been talking to, she spotted Ascot. She knew the monster for who it was and what it was. She knew that Ascot had recognized his one time friend; she knew he needed help. She came up right in front of him, cutting off his view of Pagero. "Ascot, we all know who he is. Lantis said that one of Clef's minions has raised him from the dead. Can you control him?"

"Raised? Of course! But no, if Talon's raised him he's Talon's creature now."

"Alright," Fuu sighed, "We'll need your friends to help us Ascot."

"Right," he nodded and started drawing the star.

Every one was outside by the time Kakeru got to the yard. Hikaru, Lantis, Ferio, Lafarga, and a number of Ascot's monsters were fending off the beast but obviously not doing much damage. Caldina, Liesse, Corsica, and Fuu were herding the children that had been playing in the courtyard toward the fortress. As Kakeru raced toward the huge insect that Lantis had just fried with a lightning bolt he realized that he had no idea what he was doing. Was it all just slash and stab? Or was there another way of going about fighting with monsters? He really wished he had at least tried to play some of those RPG games his friends always talked about in school, but no, it was kendo all day everyday for the Shidous and now he had no notion of what to do.

Yasuo looked back as he followed Sierra away from the battle raging in the courtyard. She yelled back at him, "You can't help me carry them but at least you can help get the case open."

"I wouldn't be much help out there anyway," he called forward as they raced through the maze of the stone fortress, "I don't have a sword and I don't know how to use one."

"Don't worry, you'll learn quick enough," she said as he slammed into her back nearly knocking her over. She had stopped. "Here we are." They were in a large banquet hall with a long table in the middle with long benches on either side of it. They were standing about three yards away from the far wall. The wall had a large glass case on it. The case held three swords in it, crossed. "The Magic Knight's swords?" he asked eagerly.

"No," she answered, still short of breath, "Not anymore. Just swords made of escudo, now." She turned to him, "It is not the sword that makes the Magic Knight, Yasuo, it is the rune god. We need to get these to Umi, Hikaru, and Fuu. They're what killed the monster the first time and I'm fairly sure, being evolved now, that they will do it again."

"Right," he said and he stepped forward and smashed the glass with his bare fist.

Sierra wasn't in the armory. She's probably up there fighting, which is where I should be, Umi thought impatiently. She didn't have the time to stand still and "think real hard" so she just grabbed a random rapier and sprinted up the steps.

And of course she got lost. "Don't worry I remember where it is," she had said, Yeah but not how to get out of it. She heard a crash in the room down the hallway she was standing in and ran toward it hoping nothing else had decided to stage a surprise attack.

Sierra and Yasuo stood in the middle of what could only be a dinning hall struggling with some swords on the floor. "I don't know how I did this last time," she heard Sierra say.

"Do what?" Umi announced herself.

"Umi!" Yasuo cried, "Come here and get your sword!"

"What?" she said as she walked over. She drew in a breath as she saw what was on the floor. Her eyes widened as she knelt down to pick up her rapier. It fit in her hand perfectly, just how she remembered it.

"What are you waiting for? Go! We'll be right behind you."

Umi grinned recklessly as she dashed out the door, Yasuo, with her discarded sword in hand, shouting directions behind her.

As they reached the sunlight, Yasuo drew back and shaded his eyes with his forearm. Undaunted Umi kept right on toward the insect. The others drew away as she thrust and slashed at the undead creature. It wasn't enough. The creature fought back even harder. One of its back legs shot out toward its attacker. Umi didn't see it coming but someone else did.

"Winds of Protection!" Fuu cried as she ran foreword with her own broad sword.

Sierra dashed out of the fortress with Hikaru's weapon floating before her. "Hikaru!" she called and with a jerk of her hands hurled the sword toward her. Hikaru caught it and tore into the fray.

It was over in a matter of moments. The insect turned back into the earth from whence it came and left the three girls panting and leaning against each other and their swords. "Thanks for that, Fuu," Umi said as she patted her friend on the back.

Fuu smiled back, "I wasn't sure it was going to work!" All three of them laughed and soon they were surrounded by a mass of close companions giving hugs and pats on the back all around. The people of the fortress hadn't had a scare like that in months.

Delorian ripped the mask off and almost thrust it to the ground before he remembered that he would probably need it again. He didn't want it. He hated his power. It was wrong on so many levels. Clef always used to say, "I will teach you how to do this, Delorian, but you must never use it except in great need." Clef used to say that, but no longer.

Delorian sat, with his head in his hands, on the old fountain in the courtyard of the old residential quarters. He remembered being there, when the grass was green and the water flowed, while outside Cephiro crumbled. It was the reverse now. The palace may be crumbling at a much slower rate than Cephiro was then, but it was going to fall apart sooner or later. He wondered where he would be when it did.

He remembered when the Magic Knights had come there for the first time. Fuu had sung a song for them. Umi had chased Mokona around and made them all laugh. Mira had been there, and Talon. Even Sable had been there, though she was just a baby. They had loved the Magic Knights and now he condemned them all to fighting those girls, women now, because he just couldn't leave. Delorian just couldn't leave him.

Someone walked in. He looked up and then quickly looked back down. It was Talon. Talon would never forgive him for what he had done; he knew it. Delorian had seen the fear in his eyes when he gazed into them, when he held him and put the mask to his own visage. And so Talon's hazel eyes turned ice blue and Delorian was in control. He hated it; he never wanted to do it again. But how could he say no to Clef. To his master's view, so black and white now, it would be a betrayal, and it would never be forgiven.

Talon sat down next to him and said very quietly, "I know why, Delorian. I know why you did it. But I hope . . . I hope he doesn't ask you to do it again." He looked straight at Delorian now, "I don't want to be afraid of you." Delorian bit his lip, trying hard to keep from crying out. Talon was his best friend. With no other boys of their age group around and then being admitted to Clef's school together they had been like brothers. He couldn't do it again. He couldn't!

"He can what?" Umi exclaimed with disbelief.

"He can take control of a person's mind and body, and therefore their abilities," Lantis replied solemnly. They all were again in the gathering room. Well, not all. Caldina, Sierra, Corsica, and the three men from Tokyo were in the armory acquiring weapons to take on their excursion to the spring. In the gathering room were Lantis, Umi, Hikaru, Fuu, Ferio, Ascot, and Lafarga.

"But how does he do it, Sir Lantis?" Fuu asked.

"I watched him do it once," Ascot volunteered, "He needs a tool, a mask to help him, and it all has to do with the eyes. He looks into their eyes, and puts on the mask. There is a struggle of wills, I'm sure but it's a hard thing to see. When he has control their eye color will switch because he is seeing what they see, with the help of the mask, through their eyes."

"That's how you knew, wasn't it Lantis?" Hikaru said putting it together.

Lantis nodded, "Talon has hazel eyes." They all sat in silence until Liesse came into the room.

"Lantis? I . . . I didn't see him, but is it true? Did Delorian . . .?" She looked on the verge of tears. She could see the truth in all of their faces, "No!" she cried, "How could he? Why? He . . . he loves Talon! I . . . I love . . ." And Lantis strode over to her and she buried her sobs in his hard leather armor.