§Hey Guys! Um...not to be a downer or anything, but, well...I didn't get any reviews last chapter for this story, and very few for my other. I dunno if you're all mad at me or something and refusing to review, but I'm really really sorry for the delays. I can promise you at least another chapter of this, another chapter of my other story and the beginnings of something new if you'll just review! Com'on I'm giving you puppy dog eyes here! Please! I thrive on reviews and right now I'm in a dryspell. Even if they're mean! I don't even care! Pretty please? Okay, well, enough of the begging, on with the chapter.§

Chapter Seven: Possession

Prince Caldar rose his weary head and rolled his cramped shoulders, prying one eye open gently only to slam it shut once more. Oh mercy, he thought frantically, I have a body, but it's not mine. So I…so I?

Yep, his mind answered him, you did.

Panic-stricken, he began to dig through his stolen body for any source of the boy who he'd accidentally stolen it from. When he found nothing, his worst thoughts became reality. He and the boy had switched places. He hadn't intended for that to happen; he'd simply wanted to protect him from his father!

Caldar's first thought was to return to his cell and offer the boy his body back, and he would have done just that, except for the two things stopping him. One was the fact that he didn't know how he got out of his cell in the first place, let alone how to get back in. The second was that he knew his father would simply steal the body and kill the both of them given half a chance. But his father knew him too, he would expect Caldar to return for the boy, and that would keep them both alive until he could come back with help. In the meantime, Caldar couldn't return, and his father couldn't kill the boy because he knew Caldar would feel it and only an idiot would come to retrieve a dead spirit.

Slightly more cheerful, he ventured to open his borrowed eye once more, and he was met with a storm of color that would have blinded him if the light wasn't artificial. Even with more enlightened eyes the light stung his mind that had lived in darkness for thousands of years.

After the pain receded slightly, he dared to open the other eye and take in his surroundings. He was in a large, comfortable feather bed, covered in silk sheets and a warm down comforter, all of which felt blissfully real. Everything was totally solid, from the colorful tapestries lining the walls to the brightly dancing flame on the quickly melting candle on the sturdy oak table next to his bed. He sighed happily and would have gladly melted into the pillows to enjoy the newly realized beauty of the world, except someone beside him was stirring.

"I was afraid you'd never come out of the darkness," said a weak but extremely knowledgeable voice to his right. "I thought I'd have to go in there and drag you out by the scruff of your neck," by the rustling of cloth, Caldar guessed the man was moving, and the room slowly began to brighten. The new scent of burning candles made him sneeze, which almost made him weep in joy. He'd been in that cell so long he'd forgotten what if felt like to have an actual body. "How many times have I told you that you can't just throw yourself in harm's way like that? No matter how hard you wish it, you cannot go gallivanting in there and save them; I don't care what you feel for Umi."

"Umi?" It somehow seemed appropriate that that would be the first word he would actually speak in thousands of years.

The man spun on his heels and loomed over him even though he could only be a little over four feet tall, "Who are you?" he boomed, despite his child-like form. "You're not Ascot." The small man raised a giant white staff in a defensive posture, ready to banish him if he had to.

"Please, don't," Caldar struggled with the words; Cephiran seemed to have changed slightly since he'd last heard it spoken, and his mind fumbled for words that would make sense. "I want to aid – to help – you," he offered, but the man didn't lower his staff.

"Where is Ascot? What have you done with him?" he questioned instead, eyes narrowing angrily.

"I – it is a long story," he sighed. Ascot? That must be the boy whose body he'd taken, and he was the Water Knight's current lover? Well, that would explain what he was doing poking around his father's cell. For a moment, jealousy ravaged his heart. Why shouldn't he keep this body and this body's lover? Umi was his true love; he'd condemned himself to thousands of years of purgatory for her, and even if she was only a reincarnation of his Umi, she was still his love deep down. This boy, however noble his intentions, could never possibly love her the way Caldar did. He might be stupid enough to die for her, but would he face something worse than death? He thought not, since he had only said the Magic Knights were his "friends".

Those thoughts are not only unbecoming, they make you sound like your father, his conscience spat at him, and he shuddered and silently agreed. This was a different time and a different place, this girl was only a piece of his memories of Umi, not the real thing. His time was past, but he could still make sure his father faced the same passage of time.

"By the Will of Cephiro," the man mumbled and finally lowered his staff, "you're speaking the old language, from the time when Pillar and King worked together. Just who are you?" the man had mercifully reverted to speaking the old language which had been abolished with the last great King. Most of it was the same, but some of his phrases were strange. Almost everyone but a few scholars and the Master Mage had completely forgotten the existence of the language.

Caldar sighed again, already weary with the weight of what was to come, "Perhaps you should sit down…"

"Hey boys!" Hikaru called in a burly voice as she stepped into a room full of all the soldiers she had gathered.

"Why did you bring us here?" someone whined.

"What if the Lady finds out? She won't be happy," someone else mentioned, and the tension in the room immediately increased.

Hikaru just sent them a charming smile, held her hands to the door Umi was supposed to enter at and answered plainly, "You might want to make an exception my fine lads…"

Umi took her verbal cue from Hikaru and sauntered in slowly, taking long, graceful steps so the nearly translucent skirt she wore parted and revealed her slender white legs.

The minute she stepped into the room, all questioning ceased, and Hikaru smirked to herself. Now all we'll have to do is keep them distracted, wait for Fuu-chan to draw her sword, send these guys home and go beat the bad guy, or girl, in this case. This will be as easy as pie. Well, when Umi's baking at least, maybe not when I am…

As they'd expected, it didn't take long for the men to get rowdy, hollering, getting a bit too close for Umi's comfort. Maybe I should have toned it down some, she grimaced, but had to focus on her disguise. This was how it was, and at least they hadn't gotten violent…yet.

As if on cue, someone grabbed for her skirt which would have ripped easily in half if it hadn't been an illusion. Instead, he grabbed the leather of the knee high boots she was actually wearing, "Hey!" but before he could voice his discovery, Umi rolled to ground level and threw her foot out beneath him, knocking him to the ground. She approached slowly, seductively, sauntering toward him while he struggled to get up. "You," he whispered softly, and she put a finger to her lips and shook her head, reaching down and touching his lips with hers, so delicately it couldn't even be considered a kiss.

"You wouldn't want anyone to hurt me now, would you?" she asked softly in his ear, and he shook his head and backed off. That, of course, had more men trying to grab her, and only Hikaru's frequent shouts kept them away. Hurry Fuu, she begged in her mind, sweat dripping down her brow from concentration and worry. Please hurry.

Fuu wandered the halls aimlessly, holding fast to her disguise, sneaking around corners and hiding in the darkness. Fortunately, her plan and Umi's costume had the halls pretty much empty except for the few female servants Mala had in her service, which Fuu found to be very few indeed. That in itself was typical, which put hope into the Wind Knight's heart. So far, she'd been able to predict every move Mala would make just because the villain was so much like every other villain she'd ever read about. If she had been a different person, she would have let her giddiness get to her, but she wasn't, and she forced herself to keep a level head and continue looking lost.

"Excuse me, mam," a very harried and distraught woman rushed forward and curtsied in front of Fuu. "You wouldn't happen to be one of the three scouts that were here to inform My Lady of certain…events…would you?"

Fuu's eyes narrowed, so Mala knew she was in the Palace and what she was to look for, but she wouldn't confront her herself. She wanted to play on her turf then? Fuu gave the woman a blank expression and shook her head, "No, I only travel alone," she responded simply, and the woman curtsied quickly and went back to her search. "You might want to try down that way though; most of the guards are having some…entertainment."

The woman smiled and thanked her, heading in the direction she had pointed. Good, Fuu told herself, at least that'll send her home as well. I just wish it didn't have to come with pain. They're going to wake up wounded, I hope Umi and Hikaru know that and don't play too hard.

As soon as the woman was out of sight, Fuu concentrated and changed her disguise, adding more silver to her muddy brown hair and broadening her shoulders while shortening her stature. There, she grinned triumphantly. This is almost more handy than magic, but I know that I'm going to run out of energy before too long. Better make this quick.

Fuu thought long and hard, so Mala knew they were still here, but she wanted to fight on her own ground. The only way to balances that would be to hide someplace where Mala would be sure to find her, but only if it was she who was looking. Somewhere open, where there was nothing Mala could use against them except her mind. Somewhere like…a throne room. Her eyes widened in realization, of course, that was where they had to fight, and she happened to know there was one, because in her dream Mala had been tapping her fingers on a throne. No one would guess Fuu would manage to get into the throne room without permission; no one except Mala. And when she came looking, Fuu would be ready. Nodding to herself, she closed her eyes, thought hard and long of the throne, on which Mala had sat in her dream, took one step forward, and found herself in a huge, gilded hall. The ceiling seemed to stretch into infinity and even the marble pillars were jewel encrusted. The celestory windows allowed for the maximum amount of light without making the room a target of invasion, and besides the pillars and a large throne at the front of the room, it was entirely empty, which would force people attending Mala to stand. It was exactly what Fuu would have expected from a woman like her, so she wasn't surprised when she found it.

She approached the throne which was made of solid ebony and lined with every gem found in her world or Cephiro. It was terribly gaudy, and she knew if Umi was here, she would have wrinkled her nose up in distaste. It took Fuu an awful lot not to do it herself. Instead, she took the right course of action, skipped up the few steps to the throne and sat down, facing the only door into the room, grinning widely. Now, to wait…

Ascot woke with his entire spirit aching. He wondered at that. He was almost sure he would have awoken with pained muscles or an angry headache, but there was nothing of the sort, only an empty longing, as if he'd been bereft of something dearly important. Odd, he thought to himself and looked around. Then, fear crept into him, he wasn't in his palace rooms, in fact, there was nothing in this place that made him believe he was in Cephiro at all. There was only darkness, and when he looked for his trembling hands for some comfort, he found there was nothing there except a green and brown flecked orb.

"Ah, so you've finally awakened," Ascot turned his "eyes" to the noise and barely made out the black energy ball from his dream.

So, he reasoned grimly, it wasn't a dream.

"I suppose you're wondering where you are," the ball went on with a superior air that grated on Ascot's gentle spirit. No one should hold himself as high as this man did, and it annoyed him that he would. Clearly, neither of them were in a predicament that boasted much pride, since neither had bodies, and Ascot found it hard to believe a man with such inbred haughtiness would ever opt not to have a body or to wither away in darkness with no one to see him for that matter. "Well," the man continued, "you're in my cell, and I presume my son stole your body." He said it with so much matter-of-factness that Ascot had to examine him closer to make sure he was serious. No one half serious could put something like that so lightly.

That was when he realized that the reason he could distinguish the black figure at all was because there were little flecks of gold in it, warring with the black that Ascot now saw as insanity. Gold, so the brown flecks he had seen in the other man's energy must not have been brown at all; they were gold as well. Father and son, he told himself, reaffirming what the man had already said. He moved backward at the realization: gold, like Ferio, gold, the symbol of royalty, a father and son in a cell, the color of royalty burning in their spirits. Then this must be King Taro,Ascot concluded grimly, and I'm in for a lot of trouble.

Fuu had only been sitting in her newly acquired throne for a few moments when Mala entered, obviously perturbed. She leaned back and waited for her enemy to notice her, allowing herself a second of congratulations on finally getting the upper hand over her despised rival.

Mala shut the large oak doors to her throne room with her mind and then turned, only to lock eyes with the Magic Knight of Wind who was sitting comfortably on her throne, one leg over the other, disguise shed, knowing eyes smiling, hands resting casually on the arm rests of her seat of power. Mala's ego flared, how dare she? That little…feelings of anger churned, but she forced herself to keep an outward calm. Anger was a weakness, and they both knew it. Mala saw no reason to let the Wind Knight know she was anymore than disgruntled.

"Ah, my clever little Wind Knight; I expected something like this," Mala cooed, coming forward slowly, making sure she didn't seem the least bit concerned. But inside, she was calculating. Where were the other two? This was clearly a trap, but how did it work?

Fuu smiled but made no move to get up from her seat, "I'm sure you did," she parried. Fuu was as deft with words as Umi with swords and Hikaru with magic. She would play the game, and she would win.

"So tell me lovely, where are your pals?" Mala stopped and let a small sneer slip through her pleasantries.

"Touring the palace with your men," Fuu snapped, curling her face in mock rage.

"Ah, ah," Mala twisted a finger and took the bait, "Don't let that get to you, or you might fail my Test. So...the other two were caught, but that doesn't mean you can't be Tested. You know, I always admired you Fuu; you were always intelligent, and underappreciated. Hikaru the strong Pillar, Umi the illusive beauty, and you, quiet, soft-spoken, no attention getter, but ever-present, and you never seemed to care. But I know, deep down, you're envious. You have all of Umi's angst with none of her grace and all of Hikaru's passion with none of her spirit. I know all about getting the short end of the stick Fuu, trust me," Mala had neared the base of the throne when the sword appeared in front of her. "And I also know something about remedying it. Take it Fuu, take it and help me, help yourself become what you've always dreamed."

§I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but the title isn't really mine. We played this piece of music in band like two years ago called "Legend of the Sword" it was a piece in three movements about Excalibur, there was a theme for Merlin, Arthur and the Lady of the Lake, and it was an incredible song. If any of you are in a band I'd highly recommend you asking your band instructor about ordering it. It's really a simple piece, but it's got a lot of power when it's played right . Well, that's my plug! Review and I'll see you soon!§