All three knights stood back to back as the fauna of the forest slowly paced toward them. Ren steeled himself and took his knives firmer in his fists. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Kakeru draw his sword then shake his head. Yasuo and Kakeru looked at each other and then without speech or gesture, they took off. Ren stumbled as a hissed "What the hell?" escaped his lips and he ran after them.

They ran for a long time before Ren even tried looking back. Kakeru looked back too and they stopped as they saw that no animals were chasing them. All three of them stood panting in the middle of the path as Ren glared at his comrades. "So," he gasped, "what was that?"

"I don't know about you," Kakeru replied between breaths, "But I'd like to put off fighting that girl's animals as long as possible. Maybe until we've figured out a plan of attack. Or if we can talk to her and explain what happened, maybe we won't have to kill any cute little forest creatures."

Ren lowered his head and nodded in agreement: it was a good plan, well thought out and do-able. He had underestimated Kakeru. He wouldn't again.

"So you think she'll come after us again?" Yasuo asked. Ren coughed, hiding his disdain as he lowered himself to the ground. He hadn't underestimated that one.

Kakeru answered his friend, "Remember Lantis said there were other kids in the palace with Clef, other than that Talon kid? This girl has to be one of those students."

Ren hadn't remembered that, "So if this girl's working for Clef, why do you think she'll let us talk her into not fighting?"

"She's a little girl, Ren. She can't possibly be in league with Clef." They were all sitting on the edge of the path.

"What do we do now?" Yasuo asked, "We can't just wait for her to come after us."

Kakeru stood up, "I guess we keep going, we have to get to the Spring of Eterna some time."

Ren stayed sitting, thinking as the other two stood to leave. Yasuo started off, but Kakeru waited for Ren to stand. He looked out, off the path into the forest as he said quietly, "Kakeru . . ." he trailed off then smirked cynically with a little laugh. "It takes a lot of balls to say something like that, 'we have to get to the spring some time.'" Kakeru laughed tugged at Ren's shoulder urging him forward. As they walked Ren continued, "I, uh, I made some assumptions about you, about a lot of the people I've met here. But I was wrong about you." He looked down and said fiercely, "And I'm not afraid to point out my mistakes. I was wrong and I'm sorry."

Kakeru turned his head to try and look in his eyes, "It's okay, man. I made assumptions too, we all do. But does it make you think maybe you were wrong about other people too?"

Ren laughed, "Yeah, probably. I don't think so about him, though," he gestured to Yasuo, walking serenely ahead tossing around some kind of nut he had picked up.

"I think Yasuo will surprise you then. He's not tough like you or me, certainly not like you, but he has a big heart. And hey, it's the land of the will, right? Look at what Hikaru accomplished here."

Ren laughed, thinking of Kakeru's sister, but he soon sobered, "Well, you haven't been wrong yet, so I'll think about it."

Umi laid on the bed in the room that had been allotted to her and Kakeru. She sighed glancing at her rapier in the corner. She hadn't wanted this again. All she wanted was a quiet life with Kakeru at his school. There was a knock on her door and she sat up as she said, "Come in."

Ascot entered, and Umi jumped up to take his hand and pull him toward the bed. As they sat down she said, "Ascot, I'm so glad it's you. I've wanted to talk to you, but I haven't had the nerve to search you out."

Ascot grinned, "I haven't been hiding, Umi."

Tears came to her eyes as she burst out, "Oh, I know, Ascot. I'm so sorry, I've been avoiding you, I know it but . . . I'm so sorry I hurt you and I didn't mean to."

"Whoa, whoa, Umi. I'm not accusing you, I was just teasing. And I know you're sorry." Ascot regarded her with pity, "Umi, I'm sorry, about everything."

She looked horrified, "Oh God, Ascot, this is in no way your fault. I . . . Ascot you have to know that I only . . . Kakeru never would have had a chance if I hadn't given up all hope of ever coming back here."

"But you would have been waiting for Clef anyway," he smiled but there was still pain in his eyes.

"Oh," she lowered her gaze, "Ascot, I never meant to hurt you, I just didn't understand. When I realized how you felt, I was just . . . sick . . . at the thought, that I caused you so much grief. I'm so sorry."

He took her face in his hands as he looked in her eyes, "I know, Umi, and I forgive you." He kissed her lightly on the forehead as she whispered, "Thank you." She leaned into him and they embraced like the old friends they were.

She pulled away a few moments later to smooth her hair and wipe the tears from her face. They both stood, and she said as she took his hand, "Please don't misunderstand, though, Ascot. I do love Kakeru, more than I think I ever loved Clef."

Ascot smiled at her, "I know. I have seen you two together. And I know he loves you, so I can be content, knowing that you're happy."

"Oh, Ascot!" she cried happily and threw herself on him, "Why is it that people here are so good to me when I don't deserve it?"

He laughed as he set her back on the ground, "You deserve it."

The three men peered wonderingly at the Spring of Eterna. "This has to be it," Yasuo concluded, "It still doesn't look like much though."

"I think we have to get to higher ground," Kakeru said as he began to climb the small crag of rock surrounding the paper-thin line that was the spring. When the three of them were on top, gazing down at the placid pool below them they realized the true wonder of the place that would give them Escudo.

"We have to jump into that?" Yasuo asked skeptically.

"Yeah," Kakeru breathed.

Ren sighed, "Well, gents, we know how this works. Let's just do it." And he stripped off his jacket and jumped in.

"Ugh, not even a bye your leave," Kakeru joked as he and Yasuo stared at each other, and he jumped in after, leaving his friend to yet again bring up the rear.

The thing about this quest to find Escudo and the rest of it, Kakeru mused as they plunged into the two dimensional pool, was that they knew precisely what was supposed to happen. Kakeru didn't panic as he saw his companions disintegrate next to him. He knew that they were simply going to their respective tests. He sat back and let the force moving him take him where he was meant to go. He watched as the ground rushed up to meet him and managed to fall out of the ceiling and land in a crouch smoothly on the cave floor. Too bad no one was there to see his extremely cool feat. Anyway, it had to be a cave if anything else. The walls were curved and the floor made of some kind of red stone with white and yellow swirls imbedded in it. He looked ahead to where he knew a figure would be standing to do battle with him. He knew it would be someone he loved, but when he saw her, it dawned on him that this would still be tricky. Umi stood before him. She was wearing the same blue dress that she had come here in. It could very well be her. None of the people that had appeared before the girls seven years earlier could have been the people they seemed to be. But Umi was in Cephiro, it was possible that she could somehow have been brought to the spring. The figure Umi or not, attacked him.

"Water Dragon!" she screamed. The water hit him like a ton of bricks, throwing him across the cave and against its wall. Still, Kakeru hesitated, in a world where anything was possible, Umi could very well be being forced to attack him. The others said nothing about the assailants speaking. Kakeru stood up and faced her again, "Umi!" he called to her. He felt like a fool, if this really was just a trick of the pool he was wasting his time. But he wanted to be sure. How could he be sure? As he debated all this in his mind, his fiancé continued to pummel him with magical water attacks.

Yasuo forgot completely about the story the girls had told until after Ren and Kakeru disappeared. He forgot entirely until he landed on his backside on the floor of an emerald green room. "Oh, yeah. A test," he muttered as he stood up, rubbing his ass. He turned, saw her, and groaned, loudly. Good thing it wasn't really her or she would have sprinted over and backhanded him, screeching the entire time about how many years they've known each other, or how much she cares about him but still can't stand him, or something. We'll he couldn't stand her either and she knew it. Aoi didn't attack right away as he expected her to. And he was distracted for a second because she appeared wearing the gown she had on the night they went to her father's anniversary dinner. He was a big company head, thirty years working for his corporation, so they threw him a big party, everyone was invited, family, friends, daughters' longtime boyfriends. Why was she wearing that gown? He guessed it was because he always liked remembering her like that, with her hair in curls down her back, and the heavy velvet skirt that trailed uselessly yet elegantly behind her. That was the last night before things got ugly again, they always got bad and then good again, but that was the last really beautiful memory of her. She attacked. Well, she really didn't do it was more of a force in front of her, a wind that sent him sprawling. Stupid! He was just standing there, waiting. He wished out his saber and rushed her. He was looking forward to it; he hardly ever got a chance to really hit her when she deserved it. But as he swung, his blade cut through air and she disappeared, swoop-backed evening gown and everything.

Ren watched calmly as the others left him and rolled neatly when he hit the floor. He stood in the blue cavern, took it in with an eyebrow raised, and turned to see who it would be before him. He scowled at the girl in the wheel chair. It was cheap making him attack his sick sister, but then it wasn't really her, he knew that for certain. He summoned Caldina's daggers and stabbed through the air, before the shade even had a chance of striking him.

How could he know if it was really she or not? It was using her magic and it spoke. Why was this so goddamn difficult? The girls' test was downright stupid, why should he have to be faced with this unanswerable question. And that was just it; it was unanswerable. Kakeru screamed his frustration, called his sword and sprinted at her. He stopped dead, because when his fingers touched the figure she vanished. He let out a dejected sigh, all he wanted was to grab her, he hadn't even made up his mind whether it was really she or not. Well, it obviously wasn't and he felt like an idiot for even considering it. Then, to dig the knife in harder and even wiggle it around a little bit, when he materialized next to his companions, in a room empty of everything except for three crystals, obviously Escudo, Ren peered at him derisively and asked, "What took so long, chief?"