Thank you for the reviews. I don't own MKR…le sigh.
Previously
"We're gonna die!" Umi shouted, trying to hold her skirt down.
"Don't say that!" Hikaru yelled, hair whipping all over the place.
"Well, what else are we going to do! Float down!" Umi shrieked as the ground came up extremely fast.
Chapter 2
Trying to stay calm, Hikaru couldn't help but want to scream as her two friends were. 'I don't want to die!' a voice screamed in her head as she squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the ground.
If she hadn't have closed them, she would have noticed her hair growing longer as it flowed in the wind haphazardly, a crimson dress replacing her uniform & a pair of angel wings sprout from her back.
Her eyes changed from squeezed shut to lightly closed. The wings slowed her descent as did the other two, who had changed also. The three of them lightly landed on their feet, but before they opened their eyes, a bright light consumed them & the wings & the dresses disappeared.
Once the light disappeared, the three of them fell softly to the ground, unconscious.
Hikaru heard faint mumbling & uttered softly. "Lantis…" The mumbling ceased & Hikaru lightly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a pair of deep blue eyes staring down at her. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, shooting up & knocking the owner of the blue eyes back.
Hikaru blinked once, then twice. "Oh my God, I am soo sorry!" she bows, head in pain.
The owner of the blue eyes rubbed the head. "It's OK, I'm fine."
Hikaru looked up to see a little girl rubbing her head. Hikaru smiled at her face, then looked around at her surroundings.
She looked to be in a wooden house. With the red eyes alert, she scanned the room. She looked at the people standing in front of her; it appeared to be a family. A mother with golden blond hair, a husband with ebony hair hugging her, a little boy about 8 with the same hair as he father, staring at her & the little girl from before with a head full of gold.
"Hello, I'm Hikaru Shidou." she introduced herself.
"As in, Magic Knight of Fire Hikaru Shidou?" the son asked in shock.
Hikaru grinned. "The same. And these are Fuu Hououji & Umi Ryuuzaki." She motioned to her still sleeping friends. "Fuu-chan, Umi-chan, wake up!" she shook them, trying to awaken them.
"5 more minutes, Mom…" Fuu mumbled before opening her shining emerald eyes. "Miss Hikaru, where are we?" she asked her friend.
Ignoring the Miss part, Hikaru shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure."
"You are in the village, Miss Magic Knight of Fire." the mother explained.
"Please, call me Hikaru." she insisted.
The little girl, recovering from the head butt, jumped onto their bed. "Did you really fall in love with Lantis & Ferio?" she asked, eyes gleaming.
The two girls laughed. "Yes we did…" Hikaru faltered, not knowing her name.
"Marise." she offered.
"Hello, Miss Marise. It is very nice to meet you." Fuu greeted the blond headed child, causing her to turn beet red.
"Can you guys keep it down…?" a murmur from under the covers surfaced as a irritated Umi sits up. "Some of us are trying to sleep."
"Not our fault you're a light sleeper." Hikaru teased.
"Shut up." Umi teased back, then turned to the family. "Um, where are we?" she asked, confusion showing in her eyes.
"In the village in Cephiro." Fuu explained.
Hikaru turned back to the family. "Are you the ones who saved us?" she asked.
The family looked shocked by this. "Well, Rinji here found you three while playing in the forest." the father explained, motioning to the son staring at them with huge brown eyes.
"Thank you for saving us, Sir Rinji." Fuu thanked the boy whose faced turned as beet red as his sister's.
"It's OK…" he murmured, trying to hide behind his father, but Umi went on.
"No, we really mean it, Rinji. If you guys didn't save us, we might be dead right now."
Rinji blushed even more, but his father surprised them all. "What do you mean, dead? We found you unconscious in the woods."
Hikaru nodded. "And if you didn't heal our wounds…" But she was interrupted by Marise.
"But you didn't have any wounds!" she shouted, eyes gleaming.
The three girls were taken aback. "None at all? Not even a little bruise?" Hikaru squeaked out.
The mother shook her head. "No, you were just unconscious…" she rattled off, worried for the girls pale faces & shaking bodies.
"But how…?" Fuu wondered out loud, checking for something to signified they had fallen 1,000+ feet onto a hard ground.
"We feel 1,000 feet from the sky. How can we have no bruises or cuts at all, let alone broken bones?" Hikaru wondered as well.
"Hey, I don't really care how. I'm just happy we're alive." Umi laughed.
The girls nodded, smiling. "Good thinking, Miss Umi." Fuu complimented.
"At least we know there's something in that blue head of yours, Umi." Hikaru teased.
Umi gave her a teasing look. "Better watch your back, Shidou. I'm still taller than you."
"But not as fast!" With a jump up, Hikaru sprinted across the room & out the door, hair fluttering the wind, her laughter carrying back to them.
"No fair! You got a head start!" Umi complained, laughing as she jumped out & ran after her.
Fuu & the family sweat dropped as they watched the two girls run around until Umi jumped onto Hikaru's back & they rolled down a hill.
"Fine, you got me…" Hikaru laughed, barely able to breath.
Umi was having trouble too as she pined her down. "See…told you…" she giggled.
"Are you two quite finished?" a familiar voice asked.
Umi & Hikaru both looked up to see a man with purple hair & green eyes, smiling above them.
"Guru Clef!" The girls shouted, jumping onto him & knocking him over.
"OK, I'm happy to see you girls also. But where's Fuu?" he asked, getting up.
"Right here, Sir Clef." Fuu smiled, walking down the hill, followed by the family.
Clef wiped himself off as the girls got up as well, giggling. "How have you three been?" he asked, smiling.
"A little bit of everything." Umi said, looking around. The other two were trying to be subtle, but Clef noticed.
"Looking for three men, girls?" he teased, causing the girls to got beet red.
"Um…no of course not, Guru Clef." "Nope, not at all." "You must be mistaken, Sir Clef." three different answers flew from the girls, each turning even more red by the second.
Clef couldn't help but laugh at their awkwardness. "Well, lets just say there are 3 very angry men back at the castle."
The girls calmed down & Hikaru spoke up first. "Um, Guru Clef, why aren't they here?" she asked, twiddling with the mirror pendant.
"There were all needed at the castle. When you girls came, we heard the screams from a mile away…" he paused as the girls giggled nervously. "…But it was during a important meeting that none of them could miss." he finished.
"I understand why Ferio had to, but why did the other two?" Fuu asked, head titled in confusion.
"Lantis is the leader of the palace guards now…" Clef started, but Hikaru interrupted.
"Really! That's great!" she squealed in happiness.
The 3 watched the happy girl, but Umi frowned. "Wait, isn't that Lafarga's job?"
"Well, he's currently on his honeymoon with Caldina…" Clef started again, but was interrupted by Umi's squealing.
"They got married! And we missed the wedding! No fair!" Umi pouted, but couldn't keep the smile down.
"When did they wed?" Fuu asked, happy for her friends.
"About a month ago. In fact, they should be getting back today." Clef answered.
"OK, what about Ascot?" Hikaru asked, finally calmed down.
"He's Cephiro's chief summoner." Clef simply said, not wanting to be interrupted again.
Umi grinned. "Really! That's great!" she gave the same answer as Hikaru, but didn't squeal this time.
"So how is everyone?" Hikaru asked, eyes sparkling with interest.
"Like…Presea?" Umi giggled, watching Clef's face changed to red.
"She's just fine." he cleared his throat, trying to regain his dignity, but the girls began giggling. His face turned even redder, causing the girls to giggle even more.
Finally, recovering, he stood up tall & addressed the girls respectively. "If you three don't want to see them, I'll just leave…" he turned to go, but was stopped by three pairs of arms grabbing his outfit.
"No, we're sorry, Guru Clef." Hikaru apologized, hands still clutching his shirt.
"We are sorry, Sir Clef." Fuu added.
"We were just teasing." Umi finished.
Clef pretended to think, then seeing the faces of the girls, finally gave in. "Fine, lets go."
"Thank you Guru Clef!" the three chorused. Then they turned to the family. "Once again, thank you for helping us." Hikaru bowed.
"It was very appreciated." Fuu went on.
"We'll never forget it." Umi finished.
The three girls came back up & smiled. "Bye!" they waved as they linked arms & began following Clef.
After about 10 minutes of silence, Hikaru finally broke it. "Clef, do you know why we're here?"
Clef hesitated. "I'm not sure, but I think I know…"
The girls waited patiently for him to go on. When he didn't, Umi opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
"Welcome back, girls." Clef simply said, motioning to the castle. The girls mouths fell open & their eyes widened.
In front of them, stood the castle. But what really astounded them was the beauty of it. Being gone for 3 years can have that effect on people.
They took in how the sun glimmered on the castle windows, how the wind played with the trees, causing flowers to fly away in the wind. They listened to the birds chirping the familiar song only heard here, they smelled the salt air from the ocean & felt at how the sun warmed their faces.
"It's…" Hikaru started.
"More beautiful.." Umi continued.
"Then we remember." Fuu finished.
Clef smiled at their faces. "Why don't you three explore a little? We'll meet back in the throne room." With that, he walked towards the castle, leaving the three girls to explore.
"I can't believe we're back…" Hikaru's hand instantly went to the mirror pendant. As she clutched it in her hand, she let the tears fall down her face. 'I hope he remembers me.' she thought.
"I know. It's unbelievable." Fuu smiled, playing with the earring. 'Hopefully, I'll find the other one soon, as well as my heart.'
"It's been a while." Umi played with her ring. 'I want to find him soon to tell him how I feel again.'
Hikaru let go of the pendant & bent down. She put her hand to the ground, but what she felt, she didn't like. "Guys! The land feels…sad…" she tried to explain. The girls looked at her with blank looks. "Just touch the ground." she ordered.
Exchanging looks, the girls bent down as well. Fuu placed her hand down, then gasped as well. "It's feels like it's in pain, like something's hurting it."
Umi shut her eyes to keep the tears from flowing. "It feels like it's…dying." she softly uttered.
"Dying? No…" Hikaru let her tears fall. 'Cephiro can't die. It's my home, where everyone I care about is.'
"Is that possible?" Fuu asked, her tears sliding down her cheeks as well. 'I have to do something. This is Ferio's land & I won't see it die!'
"It feels like it." Umi said, but she felt tears hit her hand as well. 'I hope I'm wrong.'
Wiping their tears, the girls exchanged looks, then nodded. "We'll go find them, then meet back at the castle?" Hikaru made sure.
The two girls nodded & they walked off in different directions.
Cephiro dying? Can it be? That's not the twist, either. Please RR