Yep, can you believe it? I updated two count 'em, two stories in two days. I'm really going out on a limb here guys, but this chapter is very quality, and this story is moving through my head now so I can at least promise another chapter within the next week, seriously, I think. Um…if you forget what this story is about, well, basically there's an evil woman (Mala) who rules a sort of dream world, and she wants to break back into Cephiro to take revenge on the Magic Knights, especially Umi. Mala used to be a Pillar when the Pillar and King worked side by side. She fell in love with the King, but the King and his son both loved Umi, so she got all pissed and wants to kill everyone. In a last attempt to save the Magic Knights, the Prince locked himself and his father in a cell in the dream world and now the cell is breaking. Mala wants the Knights to accept evil swords, so she can use the three against the King and Prince when they escape. Fuu, Umi, and Hikaru are all headed to her palace in the dream world when this chapter starts. Hope that sums it up enough so you won't quit on me! Arigato!

Chapter Six: Escape

"Is there something strange about this whole situation?" Fuu asked timidly, and Umi and Hikaru looked at her curiously. They were hiding behind a bush only twenty yards or so from the front entrance to the glimmering palace that was even tackier up close. It was so bedazzled in gems and gold that they could barely stand to look at it for fear of receiving a severe headache if not some temporary or even permanent blindness.

"What?" Umi inquired, "Besides the fact that that palace is made entirely of gold and it hasn't been torn down to be smelted yet?"

Hikaru stifled a chuckle, but Fuu shook her head succinctly, "There are no guards. Clef said that we would surely face challenges on the road, but there are no guards to her palace. I…that doesn't sit right with me," Fuu wasn't one to falter, and the fact that she did made the hair on their necks rise.

"Maybe she just assumes that the palace is its own guard, I mean, it's ugly enough, even if it is solid gold," Umi commented in a tone that suggested she wasn't entirely joking.

Fuu was about to scold her on her fashion awareness at a time like this when it occurred to her, "Maybe the palace is its own guard," she murmured to herself, and Hikaru cocked her head curiously.

"Fuu-chan, it's not that ugly."

"No, no, no," Fuu waved the response off and looked back at it. "It must have some kind of trap set up for anyone that tries to enter, that's the only reason she would leave it unguarded. Even if this is her world, I doubt she would be that trusting of the people her evil mind corrupts."

Umi nodded; she had a very good point, not even the most arrogant of villains became any good by being stupid. And Mala had told them herself she was not stupid.

"So what do we do?" Hikaru asked the very question that was on Umi's mind, and both turned to look at Fuu who had become the momentary leader of the small party.

"We test the waters, so to speak," she answered. "We've learned that we can manipulate her world to some extent, right? Well, what if all three of us concentrate on something that would try to penetrate her walls. But it has to be something simple; something that all of us would know what it looks like so that we're sure to create the same image."

"What about a crow?" Umi suggested, shrugging her shoulders in a casual way, but even that simple gesture was performed with grace that Fuu envied. "They love shiny objects; I'm sure they'd be more than willing to enter her castle, and they're small, so no one inside would really take too much notice."

"Excellent idea," Fuu looked to the other two who nodded, and all three concentrated as hard as they could on the image of the small black bird that they'd seen hundreds of times in their world and Cephiro. When the image was solid in all their minds, they pushed it forward with a small amount of energy, and the bird flew from the bush they were hiding in and immediately directed itself toward the glittering palace. The three smiled triumphantly and waited.

The bird glided carelessly for sixty feet until it was shot out of the sky by two bolts that pierced each wing. It screamed helplessly before it spiraled to the ground, and the three released the image from their mind, sparing the bird the pain of death, and it disappeared without a trace, forcing the guards that had been hidden just inside the palace walls to come out and examine the place where the bird should have fallen.

"Disguises," Hikaru whispered, and Fuu nodded her agreement.

"But no weapons," Umi warned; taking a closer look at the swords fastened to the guards' hips. "I'm afraid our swords might think they're being clever."

Hikaru wanted to protest that they would be vulnerable, not to mention noticeable, but she could see the sense in Umi's point, and Fuu assured her that they might just be seen as spies who hid their weapons as well as their secrets.

So, once again, the three girls imagined themselves in the guards' uniforms, minus the weapons. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in rough brown breeches, a black silk shirt and a scarlet tunic embroidered in gold. All three had altered their features to be more masculine, Fuu had removed her glasses, and all their hair had been shortened and toned down to a muddy brown so they didn't bare any resemblance to their past selves. Once all three had given each other inspections, they stepped from the protection of the bushes, holding hard to the image of their disguises.

Umi looked disgustedly down at the tunic she wore, her eyes darting warily around her, "I should just post a sign on my back that says, 'Shoot me, please,'" she scoffed, and again almost startled a very unprofessional giggle from Hikaru. Fuu just sighed and smiled slightly; leave it to Umi to think of something like that in a foreign world.

As they neared, the guards caught site of them and all conversation stopped. The closer they got, the harder they clung to their disguises, knowing that was the single thing that kept them from immediate death or discovery if they were forced to call their weapons to defend themselves.

When they were within speaking distance, the guard on the right saluted them and waved them to enter, "The Lady is in a right pert mood, hope you have some good news for her," he called to them, and Umi smiled a coy smile that, if she had not been in a man's body, would have been supremely seductive.

"Oh, I think we'll have some news that the Lady will find extremely interesting," she assured him, and he grinned back.

"The business that brings us here is very urgent, where may we find the Lady now?" Fuu ventured to ask, and the man on the left looked behind him carefully and then inched forward to whisper the location in Fuu's ear. She nodded and thanked him, her expression grim.

Once they were in the Palace, Umi and Hikaru hurried to hear what Fuu had learned, and she relayed the message softly, "He said that she was meditating and asked not to be disturbed unless it was particularly pressing. He said that we'd find her in her study."

"So where's that?" Hikaru shrugged her shoulders helplessly, and Umi shook her head.

"Well, in everything I've ever learned about castles, the monarch's chambers are in the direct center of the castle, that way they are the farthest away from any possible attack. They'll probably be on the second floor with a hidden staircase leading away for attacks, so our first goal is to find the steps and our second to find the center."

They agreed with a silent nod and began their stroll around the castle, trying to look as if they somehow belonged there.

"You three," a deeply masculine voice growled from nearby, and the three turned slowly, carefully, nonchalantly.

"Yes?" Hikaru piped up, using her most innocent and natural voice.

"Where are you three going?"

"We were looking for the Lady," Fuu picked up smoothly, giving him a measured stare-down.

"She's said not to be disturbed," the man boomed, but he was not a guard and carried no weapons, instead, he was wearing some sort of livery that Umi found even more visibly appalling than the guard uniform she was sporting.

"We have most important information to bring her," Umi stepped up, and added for his ears alone, "about the girls."

The man apparently knew who she spoke of, and he nodded, "Well, she's in her chambers right now," he gestured casually in the opposite direction. "You'll want to go up the stairs and to the left. It's the second door on the right."

"Thank you," Fuu bowed her head, and he smiled, pleased by her subordinate behavior.

"In fact, I was just heading there myself, I'll take you," he offered, and the three thanked him again and followed, their hearts filled with glee. They had never expected it to fall into their hands like this.

But what if she knows? The nagging thought ripped through Umi's mind. What if this is all a trap? She must know about the spell, she must know we'd try it. She must have been waiting for three girls, or three guards, or three anything, to fall into her lair. What if…? She closed the voice off and pulled a picture of her uniform tight around her, as if it could be used as a shield to what they were about to face.

Fuu fell behind the man, hanging just far enough back so they wouldn't be overheard but not so far that it looked shady, "I think we're being set up."

Umi sighed in relief and nodded, Hikaru doubled her action.

"This has been too easy," Hikaru confessed all their thoughts, and the two nodded in simultaneous agreement.

"And her study is a little too personal for my taste," Fuu grimaced, pretending to be admiring a nearby tapestry as she passed, not looking as if she was talking to either of the two. Umi and Hikaru mirrored her action.

"So what do we do?" Umi asked, and Fuu grinned and closed her eyes, concentrating very hard on something. She stopped dead in her tracks, and the other two stopped as well, so the man guiding them turned around, just as bewildered as Umi and Hikaru.

In another second, she pulled herself out of the self-induced trance and turned to the man, "I'm very sorry, but we're going to have to leave. One of my agents just contacted me and said there was something else about the story we were to bring to the Lady, and I will not report to her with anything less than the entire story," she apologized, very genuine seeming. It took Hikaru and Umi all they had not to gape in surprise. Instead, they just took postures that seemed very casual, as if this happened all the time and prayed that the man didn't know more about them than they thought. If Mala was as smart as she said she was, she wouldn't have told anything more to her men than she was expecting a pair of three agents, and they were to be escorted to her immediately. They wouldn't know any more or less, so when three guards appeared to them, they would be directed to her chambers. But, if three girls had appeared, the effect would have been the same, her orders would have been generic, to ensure her power as a commander, and make sure everyone knew that she was still in control enough to keep her orders secret.

The man looked at them curiously and then nodded, "Wouldn't want to provoke her with half the story," he admitted earnestly, and they thanked him and headed back the direction they'd come from. As soon as they were out of his sight, they ducked into a dark corner and began to confer in hushed whispers.

"I have an idea," Fuu told them quickly, "but we'll have to do it quickly, because that man will surely alert Mala of our presence."

Umi and Hikaru nodded, and Fuu took a deep breath, closed her eyes and sighed.

"We're going to need to split up, that way she won't find any one of us, and she won't know where to look. I'm going to act as a decoy to distract her…"

"No way Fuu-chan."

"Fuu!" Umi and Hikaru scolded together, but she stopped them with a hand.

"Come on, listen, this is the best way. I'll act as a decoy and distract her, disguised of course, wander around the castle, looking like I'm lost. She'll find me, and I can hold her off long enough, so you two can get the vital part done. You'll be able to tell when things get desperate if I call my sword or use magic. Now, you two will have to get rid of all the guards."

"All of the guards? But we came here for Mala, and you won't be able to fight her alone, I don't like it," Umi protested, but Fuu shook her head, and for a second Umi saw through her disguise to the Fuu she loved and trusted with all her heart.

"But all three of us won't be able to handle her and all her creatures. It's not like you're killing people Umi-san," Fuu explained. "These people are all lost in dreaming to her. When you get them down to the kill stroke, simply order them to picture home, and they'll go back to their families in Cephiro, I think. It's more as if you're…freeing them. She'll have to force them to fight you; their old selves know that we're the Magic Knights, and that'll take a lot of strength. It'll distract her from me, and that'll keep her busy until you get them all, and you can come to my aid."

"But how are we to do this?" Hikaru's eyes were loaded with the worry all of them felt.

"I'm not sure," Fuu admitted. "I just know that's what we'll have to do, to save all of them and ourselves."

"I think I can handle that one," Umi grinned and called up an image in her mind, so that her guard uniform changed and twisted, and Fuu and Hikaru could only step back and stare in awe.

It was Umi, they knew it was, but she had changed. Her long blue hair was the same length, but it was curled and fell down her back in lavender waves, and her ocean blue eyes turned to a dark purple. The outfit she wore was hardly an outfit at all. Her whole body was wrapped in a soft blue silk that covered only what was necessary. Her lithe form twisted and silver chains dropped down over sensuous hips while she moved with such grace that her motions seemed to melt into one another. Hikaru paled in awe, Fuu turned green with envy for a split second, because not all of that was disguise.

"Distracting?" Umi jested, and the two nodded, breaking out into smiles.

"And…" Hikaru stood and changed her own appearance to that of an older guard, taller, thicker, with black hair just turning silver and hard, cold blue eyes that didn't seem to fit Hikaru at all. "I think I can arrange that there's an operative inside them."

Fuu nodded her approval, "Now, when you've finished your half, picture me as hard as you can, the real me, and step forward. I think that'll take you to Mala and me. Then…well, then we see what comes."

The other two nodded and all three put their hands together before stepping back to give one another a last glance, and then Hikaru and Umi slipped out of the darkness, headed in one direction, while Fuu gathered herself, took a deep breath, and headed in the opposite, praying that her plan would work, for all of Cephiro.

"What do you mean they left?" Mala shrieked, and the man cowered in fear. His Mistress angry was not what anyone wanted to be faced with.

"I-I d-don't know M-My Lady, they simply s-said they h-had to obtain th-the rest of th-th-the story, a-and th-they left," he stammered, panting and sweating profusely. The sight of him sickened her to the point where she found it hard to be in his presence any longer. They were all cowards and weaklings, every last one of them. She curled her face up in distaste and drummed her fingers on her throne.

"Very well," she hissed, slamming him into the ground with her magic, refusing to listen to his dribble about a family back in Cephiro. "Get out of my sight."

He did a quick bow and fled as fast as his fat feet would carry him.

"Worthless," she growled and turned toward her crystal. "All of them worthless, and the seals weakening. Soon that damn Prince will be loose and his father, oh, his father," the thought of her love made her blood heat up and rage fill her all at once. It was an awful combination of hate and lust that poured through her. Oh, she would have her revenge on him; she simply had to be patient. The Magic Knights couldn't have left her domain, the Master Mage would have warned them of that. No, no, they were here, somewhere, and on her turf, she'd make them take the Tests. In her mind she was already devising them; the worst would be for that little blue haired bitch that had dared defy her. Oh yes, it was just a matter of time now, a sick smile curled onto her once beautiful face, and she laughed to herself. The laugh started as a soft chuckle, but it crescendoed into a hateful cackle that racked the halls of her empty throne room. She just had to be patient; the little rats would make themselves known, even if that damned Wind Knight was leading them. They had to slip up eventually, and when they did, she'd be ready for them.

"Umi," he whispered and reached a hand out in the darkness, trying to reach the gates that would open for him. He knew if he just pushed hard enough the seals would break; and he'd be free. He could warn her. But, a voice deep inside warned him to be careful, if you escape your father will as well. He wants what you want. That thought sent shivers down his spine, so he pulled his hand away. Could they really face his father and Mala? Before, once before they had been able to, but now…he looked at the wreck that had once been King and scowled. No, now they could never stand up to them both. His father had sold his soul in his last dying breaths for the magic that would save him; the magic that his son had, and he never possessed. No, he thought to himself, it would never do to let that man loose upon the world.

"Stupid boy," he hissed as he approached the shapeless ball of energy that had once been his cherished son. "Wasting all your magic to save that girl, you could have used it to save us. You always were so foolhardy. I should have done away with you the minute I discovered you were competition; she would have born me the sons I needed to secure my reign."

He wanted to strike out his father, verbally, mentally, magically, anything. If he had still had his body, he would have, but there was no use in trying; he would only beat him back with his magic. How much longer would his spirit last here? He knew he was crippled; he was hanging on with every fingernail. Should he just let go and finally let his battered soul find the peace his body had possessed for thousands of years? Why should he be forced to linger here, like this? He was of no use to her now, she wasn't even the same girl he remembered, but…No, he refused to let himself think like that, she doesn't have the same body, but neither do I. Her eyes assure me her spirit is still there, and that's all that matters. No, I will have to keep pushing until she's safe, then I'll fade away.

"Well, now, that's interesting, very interesting," his father whispered in the darkness, and he had to debate with himself as to whether or not he would ask first.

"What?" he finally decided to snap viciously.

"It seems," the ball of energy that was his father towered over his meek form. "That your Magic Knights entered Mala's Palace and then simply disappeared. She's very distraught over the whole thing, despite her outward calm. This is good news indeed. With Mala out of the way, I'll be free to take the Magic Knight of Water at my own leisure. There will be nothing in my way, not the Knights, not the Master Mage, not even Cephiro."

"You're wrong," his voice dripped with hatred for the man that had raised him. Never once in his life had he felt a drop of compassion or concern for or from this man, and he didn't even think of him as father. To his father, he had always been another pawn to be manipulated in the same way he manipulated all his other underlings. "There are things working against you that you'll never understand because you'll never have them."

"There is nothing that I can't or won't have, my son, that's the thing you never understood. You think things like love and friendship will stop me, but you're wrong. There is nothing that power and influence can't buy," he said it with such calm sincerity it sent fire through his veins. How could anyone believe that?

Instead of fighting back, knowing the brutal punishment that would come of it, he simmered in his own anger and bit his proverbial tongue. This, of course, caused the man he had once called father, to laugh maliciously and turn back to his "lock picking".

Umi my love, he thought desperately, please be swift, please be strong.

"Any news?" Ferio asked anxiously when Clef entered the dining hall, looking worn and strained at best, ready to faint at worst. Clef simply shook his head before collapsing into the nearest chair at the head of the table, waiting for Presea to serve him a glass of fruit juice which he downed quickly before he spoke.

"No, they're still safely dreaming," he answered, then bit back his words. Safely hadn't been the best choice there. While the Magic Knights' presence had vanished from their bodies, their bodies still lingered in Cephiro while their minds roamed freely throughout Mala's dream world. The last Clef had checked, which was a few moments ago, they were still unconscious but breathing.

"And anything that happens to them in that world, will affect them in this?" Eagle asked weakly, needing to hear it one more time to believe it. Not his Hikaru, she could survive anything. She had survived everything!

Clef nodded, and Eagle's eyes dropped instantly. He didn't want to consider the possibilities, "All we can do now is pray and wait."

"And eat," Presea glided into the room, followed by Caldina, both carrying huge plates of food. They set them on the table and waited for those in the room to gather round. After everyone was situated, Presea took count and looked around curiously. "Where's Ascot?"

"Still missing," Lafarga answered quietly.

"He's been gone as long as the Knights," Clef observed more casually than he felt.

"I'll go find him then," Caldina rose, but Clef stopped her.

"No, he's my student, and I fear that he may be in a place too dark for you to penetrate," Clef rose heavily, but with no Ascot there to urge him to sit he stayed standing. That in itself was unnerving. Ascot would never abandon his duty to his teacher easily; there was something sorely wrong.

Ascot turned in the darkness. Where were the voices coming from? Who was arguing? He could hear them as if they were right next to him, yet he couldn't find them. What was going on? Where were these confounded people? He was almost positive they were talking about Umi, but why couldn't he reach them?

He had the vaguest awareness that he wasn't entirely there. When he looked down to his hands, he found that he had none; he was a glowing green and brown ball of energy, simply hovering in the darkness with no destination and no purpose. He was helpless…again. He gritted his teeth, or…would have, just like he was helpless to help the Knights? Just like he was helpless to fight Mala? Just like he had always been helpless. That last thought nagged at him, an itching wound that never quite healed properly. He'd endangered them so long ago, and even if Umi thanked him now, he could have done so much more to help them to heal. He should have simply spoken up, if he had…But ifs and buts were no use to him now, and he knew it. Maybe, maybe here he could be of use, if he could just find a way to talk to these creatures, whatever they were. He would force them to take him to the Knights, and they would come out, with or without Mala, just so that they came out. Princess protect us, he thought breathlessly and resumed his search for the voices that had gone quiet while he'd been berating himself.

"Sh…someone's coming, do you feel it? Someone's penetrated our seals," the voice that sounded through the darkness was half mad, Ascot was sure of it. There was a fanatic obsession in his voice, an obsession that he lusted after blindly. Where was he? Could he seriously get help from a half mad man who was trapped in darkness? He was ready to call it quits and leave when he realized that these might be people that had been trapped by Mala herself, in the dreamlike world that she ruled. What if they could simply lead him to Mala? That thought was terrifying and exhilarating. Wherever Mala was, the Knights were, and he could help them. He knew he could, if he could only get there!

The other voice grunted in pain, as if he'd been recently attacked, and from the grunt, Ascot could tell the man was much younger, and probably much saner. That was a hopeful thought.

"Who are you? How did you get here?" the first voice bellowed, and Ascot's ball of light jumped back when he saw it.

There were two balls of light there, one was a deep black that blended in easily with the nothingness, so that Ascot would have stumbled upon it and still not seen it until it made itself known, but the other, much weaker ball, was a glittering green and brown, much like his own.

"I…I'm apprenticed to the Master Mage of Cephiro, Guru Clef, I came here of my own free will searching for the Magic Knights of Cephiro," Ascot announced unsteadily, not sure he would have a voice without a body, but his voice resounded true throughout the nothingness, and he almost shied back just from the sound of it. This is odd, he thought to himself. I'm missing some of the puzzle. I know it.

"The Magic Knights?" that seemed to have pricked an interest in the first man's voice, and even the other green glow appeared to brighten a little. "What do you want with the Magic Knights?"

"They are my friends, and they're in trouble. I want to bring them home," he answered unsteadily. Who was this man, and how much could he trust him? Best to stick with the basics;Ascot coached himself, schooling his tongue. "Where am I exactly?"

"Well, that would be the most interesting of questions," the first voice laughed a laugh that was most certainly mad and made evil thoughts creep down Ascot's spine. "Why don't you come closer, and I'll explain?"

"No!" the voice that was clearly that of the green ball exploded, and before Ascot could do anything, the light had broken onto him and filled him up, knocking him from the darkness and back into the real world, the sound of the first voice echoing painfully in his ears. The last thing he remembered was waking with Clef by his side, worried; yet, the words that fell from his lips were not his own…

"Jesus, what's the reason for these scars that will never heal, hearts that no longer feel, eyes that can no longer see?

And Jesus, what's the reason for this child that will not survive, with all her dreams inside, could she mean nothing to thee?

And Jesus please tell me if you can recall, just where you were when this sparrow did fall?

Jesus what's the reason every tearisn't weighed the same, could you have died in vain, if we have short memories?

And Jesus would you then come down from your cross, return every nail and say we are lost?

And in the dark we speak, this silent company, with each hope that arrives and fades from memory

Still after all this time, our loss you won't concede, for in the dead of night, rumor is, your hands they still bleed…"

Savatage, Poets and Madmen, Rumor