Okay, I don't own MKR. Maybe someday…
Previously
The other 2 couples stared at this, feeling helpless until Clef spoke up. "Wait, all three of you felt this?"
The girls nodded, not speaking, trying to stop their tears. Clef stood up & looked out the window. "I was afraid of this." he said.
"Afraid of what, Clef?" Presea asked.
Clef turned to them. "If all of you felt this, then Hikaru isn't the only Pillar. All three of you are."
Chapter 4
Everyone stared at him with opened mouth, wide-eyed looks. Finally Umi broke the silence. "All of us are Pillars?" She asked in disbelief.
Clef shook his head. "Not separate pillars, but one full pillar."
Fuu stared at him. "How does that work?"
Clef sighed. "Well, since it took all three of you to…grant Emerauld's last wish, you share the responsibility."
"Then why didn't you tell us when you found out Hikaru was Pillar?" Umi asked, eyes narrowing.
Clef put his hands up in defense. "I didn't think this would happen." Then letting his hands drop, he looked downward. "But it did & we have to deal with it."
Hikaru finally spoke up. "Clef, does this mean Cephiro needs it's Pillar…s back?"
Clef, looking up, sighed heavily. "Yes, Hikaru. I'm afraid it does."
A gasp covered the room as the girls exchanged glances. "Well, if Cephiro really needs us…" Hikaru started.
"I guess we could do it." Fuu went on.
"I mean, we did swear to protect this world even if it means becoming a pillar." Umi finished.
The girls nodded, then turned to Clef. "Guru Clef, we will become the Pillar."
"No." a terse voice rang out.
It took Hikaru a few moments to realize it was Lantis who had said that. Looking up, she whispered. "But Lantis…" He cut her off, not breaking eye contact with Clef.
"I will not lose you to the responsibility of the Pillar. If you decide to, I will not hesitate to follow in my elder brother's footsteps."
Hikaru stared at him, switching between feeling giddy that he would do that for her & sadness that she just might have to give him up.
Looking around, she noticed that look on Ferio's & Ascot's faces were the same. She looked at the girls whose eyes held the same emotions she felt. Finally, settling on Clef's face, she felt her heart lurch at his face. She knew he probably hated this as much as everyone else did, but he had to take responsibilities.
"Isn't there another way?" Ferio asked, trying to keep her voice calm, but even a deaf person could hear the tension.
Clef thought for a moment, then nodded. "There is, but it's very dangerous." He looked at the three girls. "You'll have to be extremely careful, you three."
"Four."
"Five."
"Six."
The girls were surprised when three voices rang out once more. Hikaru, once again, looked up at Lantis. To someone who didn't know him well, his face showed no emotion. But Hikaru had stared up at the face many a time & knew he was scared for her & was determined not to let her go without him.
Opening her mouth to started talking, she felt her heart lurch when he looked down at her. "I'm going & there's nothing you can say." he said firmly, but his eyes teased.
"Guess I can't beat that." Hikaru smiled at him, but felt glad he would be there with her.
Meanwhile, with Fuu, she was telling Ferio that it would be dangerous, but he interrupted her. "That's why I'm going with you."
Fuu stared into his yellow eyes holding so much love for her. Finally realizing she couldn't say anything to change her mind, she kissed him on cheek & giggled softly as his face changed to a bright red, making him look like Christmas.
Umi didn't say anything cuz her lips were currently covered by Ascot's. They didn't need to say anything, Umi knew she couldn't make him not come. When she didn't realize was that everyone was watching them.
"Even though this is cute, why don't we get back to business?" Caldina's voice rang out.
The two separated, then looked around as everyone laughed. Umi started laughing as well when she saw how red Ascot's face got. 'Even though he's changed a lot, he's still has bashful moments.' she thought
When the laughter died down, Clef motioned to the table. "Well, lets eat. We'll decide this tomorrow." He looked at the girls for confirmation. When they nodded, five chairs appeared & the girls got off the guys laps & ate their food in silence, each in their own world.
When dinner was finished, Hikaru smiled. "That was delicious, Clef. Thank you."
"Yes, Sir Clef. It was scrumptious." Fuu bowed.
"Thanks, Clef." Umi smiled at him.
Clef began to blush. "It's not problem. I didn't even make it myself. It's all magic."
The girls nodded. "Still, thank you." Hikaru smiled when she felt a pair of arms surround her waist. She couldn't resist. "Hello, Ferio…" she teased.
"That hurts, Hikaru." a deep voice rumbled in his chest, vibrating her head.
"You know I love you, Lantis." She turned & kissed him lightly on the lips. When he deepened it, they heard a cough.
Breaking apart, they began laughing nervously at faces; the girls had on 'Awww' look on their face & the guys had a 'Way to go, Lantis!' look on their faces.
"Well, as fun as making fun of our expense is, we need to sleep." Hikaru said, breaking free. "I need to talk to the girls." she told them.
The girls nodded, kissed their own respective boyfriends & followed the red head. Everyone watched as the door shut. When they left, Caldina sighed. "Those girls have way too much pressure on them." She began to tear up. "They're just so young." She turned to clutch on her husband's chest.
Lafarga held her close, not saying anything. Finally, she recovered & they turned to Clef. "Well, we might as well go to bed now." Caldina smiled weakly, still in Lafarga's embrace. They walked out together.
Clef nodded. "Good night everyone." He turned to go when he noticed the three men still standing, glaring at him. Holding in a sigh, he whispered to Presea. "Go to bed. I'll be there soon."
She nodded, kissed him on the cheek, said goodnight to everyone else & scurried away. Clef watched her go, smiling. Then he turned to the three men.
Hikaru was sitting on her bed, talking to her friends. "So, what are we going to do?" she asked, sighing.
"Well, we have two choices; either become the Pillar or we can go on this dangerous journey." Umi plainly said.
"As the Pillar, we'll have to give the guys up. We have to throw ourselves into praying." Fuu sighed.
"Or we can go on this dangerous mission where one or all of us could be killed or mortally wounded." Hikaru added, sighing as well.
"Not much of a choice?" Umi weakly joked, as the other two tried to laugh.
"Well, what should we do?" Hikaru asked again.
"What do you think?" Umi finally said, surprising Hikaru.
"Why do you ask?" the confused red head asked.
"Well, you were the originally Pillar." Fuu pointed out.
"Yeah, for like 10 minutes. Then I demolished the system, remember?" Hikaru told them.
"We know. We just don't know what to do." Umi sighed once more.
After a moment of silence, Fuu finally spoke up. "I personally don't want to give Ferio up. I'd rather go on the journey."
Umi nodded. "I agree, but with Ascot."
Hikaru giggled. "Obviously. You can't both be lusting after the same guy."
Umi pretended to think. "Well, Ferio does have a nice ass." She giggled as a pillow hit her in the face. "Fuu! I was just joking." Umi said, seeing her face.
But then Fuu's face broke into laughter as well. "He does have a nice ass."
"Fuu! Stop looking!" Hikaru giggled, causing Fuu to blush.
"Come on, like you haven't looked at Lantis'." Fuu shot back. "And Ascot's." She laughed as the other two girls blushed.
Laughing, Hikaru nodded. "Well, that's settled. We're tell them tomorrow." She stood up, her nightgown hitting her knees. When she realized no one was getting up, she turned.
"Um, Hikaru? Can we spend the night here?" Umi asked.
"Sure. The bed's big enough." Hikaru said, walking into the bathroom to brush her teeth.
"Thank you, Miss Hikaru." someone said (guess who!), getting up to change.
5 minutes later, all three girls were tucked into the big bed. Giggling, Hikaru whispered. "Night, guys."
"Night, Hikaru." "Good night Miss Hikaru." The girls closed their eyes. Hikaru smiled as she shut her eyes as well.
Dream mode
Hikaru was once again standing in the open field from her dream before. Except the wind wasn't blowing, but it was cold for some reason.
"Jeez, I'm cold." Hikaru hugged her arms to herself. Then looking down, she realized why. She was wearing a crimson dress with no sleeves that went down to her ankles. She was barefoot. She realized her shoulder length hair was now to the back of her knees. The most surprising thing of all was that she suddenly had angel wings!
"Whoa!" Hikaru shouted, turning to try & see them. She began running around trying to see them (you can soo imagine her doing that, too). Finally, giving up, Hikaru let out a huge sigh.
Then an idea came to her. "I wonder…" She bent her knees & jumped into the air as far as she could. She floated for a while, but came down hard, landing on her butt.
"That flying thing is harder than it looks…" she murmured, standing up & rubbing her bruised butt
"You're so cute, Hikaru-chan!" a voice giggled that chilled Hikaru to the bone.
Spinning around, Hikaru gasped. "Nova?" she exclaimed, staring at her darker half. She looked exactly the same. Guess even though Hikaru got older, Nova didn't.
Nova giggled again & leaped into the air, landing in front of Hikaru. "Hello, silly. I've missed you! Play with me!" She grabbed her hand & began pulling Hikaru.
"Nova, wait! Where are we going!" Hikaru shouted, as she felt herself being pulled by the other girl.
"A place where no one can bother us ever again!" Nova giggled, running faster.
Hikaru had trouble keeping up. "Nova, I'm happy where I am! Please don't take me anywhere!"
Nova stopped as Hikaru slammed into her. Stumbling a little, Hikaru blew a strand of her red hair up. "Thank you."
"You don't want to play with me?" Nova's cold voice asked.
Hikaru noted the change in tone & backed up a little. "Not right now, Nova."
"Well, then no one will play with you!" Nova shouted, creating her twin lances made of energy. Spinning around, she threw them at the started girl.
Hikaru barely had time to dodge. She rolled onto her knees & began breathing hard. "Nova, please listen!"
But Nova would hear none of it. The lances came back to her. "You never wanted to play with me! You were too busy with you boyfriend. What if I took him away? Then would you play with me?"
Angry that anyone would threaten Lantis, Hikaru stood up, flames in her eyes. "Don't you dare touch Lantis!" she shouted, running at the girl, creating her two-handed sword. But as she got ready to slash Nova, the girl jumped into the air, creating light beams.
"If you won't play with me, then no one will!" Nova repeated, throwing the beams at the red head.
This time, Hikaru didn't have time to dodge it. The beams hit her straight on. Crying out in pain, the red head dropped to her knees, seeing her dress barely hanging on (mind out of the gutter!) & her hair hanging loosely down in front of her.
Nova giggled her evil giggle again. "This is too easy. I'll be back & I'll bring reinforcements." She disappearing, leaving the red head to cry to herself.
"Why is this happening now?" Hikaru whispered as she automatically reached to grip the mirror pendant, she gasped when she didn't feel anything.
"Oh no! Where is it!" she cried, crawling on her knees, ignoring the pain. She felt the earth shake & began to panic. "What's going on!" she shouted, but she suddenly felt the ground under her disappear.
She felt herself fall slow mo into the cavern, screaming for someone to help her. She tried to fly up, but her wings were gone. She watched as the opening began to close, leaving her in forever darkness.
End dream
Hikaru shot up, heart beating 100 beats per minute. Her hand instantly flew to her neck. She sighed when she felt the pendant hanging by her chest. Finally calming herself down, she got out of the bed to not wake Umi & Fuu. "It was just a dream…" she told herself as she shuffled over to the mirror.
She looked into the mirror at her disheveled hair & grinned. "This is definitely sexy…" she said.
Suddenly, her image changed into Nova's! Hikaru's heart stopped as she shut her eyes, trying not to scream. Finally opening them, she looked to see herself staring right back, tears forming in her red eyes.
"I need to get some air." she murmured, grabbing a robe & walking out, barefoot.
She walked out to the fountain & sat down. Sighing, she glanced at the two lovers & smiled. "Hope you two are happy now." Looking downward, she began to play with the water, trying to clear her mind.
"Hikaru…" a soft voice spoke up.
Hikaru shot up, heart beating. It slowed when she saw it was Presea coming out of the shadows. "Hello, Presea." She smiled.
The blondish-orange haired, orange eyed woman nodded as she sat down. "Please sit." she motioned to the seat next to her.
Hikaru nodded & sat down as well. "What are you doing up?" she red head asked.
"I saw you come out of your room & followed." Presea explained, then she turned to the red head. "You know, he feels bad for doing this."
It took a few moments for Hikaru to realize she was talking about Clef. Shaking her head, Hikaru smiled. "We don't blame him, Presea. We understand he's under a lot of pressure to keep Cephiro alive."
Presea nodded. "I know, but we just feel…" She stopped & began twiddling with her thumbs.
Hikaru covered her hand with hers. Presea looked down at the red head & smiled. "Presea, it's not yours or anyone's fault. We want to do this."
Presea looked into the red eyes of the strong girl. "You know, you've grown up so much from when I first met you."
This shocked Hikaru. "What do you mean?"
Standing up, Presea continued. "You still have the gleam in your eyes. The one when you volunteer to anything even if it was dangerous. But there's something else in there, too. A type of sadness & regret." Presea stopped, bowing her head. "I just know it's because you had to come here." Her shoulders began to shake.
Hikaru instantly jumped up & gathered the woman into a hug. Even though she was still shorter, she did her best. "Presea, no. We're happy we came here. If we didn't, we wouldn't have meet the guys, or Caldina or you. Coming here makes us the happiest we've ever been in a while." The red head sincerely told woman.
Presea stopped crying &, pushing off of Hikaru, she smiled. "Thank you, Hikaru. You're kind." Turning, she grinned. "Well, let's get back before Lantis has the guards out looking for you."
Hikaru laughed, knowing damn well that Presea was only half-joking. She took one last look at the statue of the two lovers & followed Presea into the castle.
Unknown to both of them, a shadow was cast over the statue & an evil giggle was heard.
Okay, that was a little shorter than my other one, but I'm still happy with it. Please RR