Keiryi's POV

Everything had been turned on its head. My father came back, but now he could be dead again for all I knew. Mother, who had always been my source of comfort, was so ill that she couldn't even get out of bed, and I was drowning in more confusion than I ever had. The headaches, the shifting, it had all started again. One moment, my hair was long and snow-white. Then it was a mixture of several shades of brown, then it was its usual thick red. My hands were changing in size, and I felt dizzy from all the change my body underwent in a mere hour.

Sitting there, in this enormous castle, I could feel the essence of those who had been here. So this was where my parents had met, hm? This was where they had met as demons, cold and ruthless creatures. Knowing this helped me comprehend why Mother could still love him. Though they'd both softened, they also had the demon inside them that needed to be suppressed. Such fierce, passionate love as theirs must have incurred their darker, more animalistic sides.

The walls here stared at me ferociously, daring me to try and break them down, to disobey everything my parents had told me. That was the feeling of this entire place...rebellion. In the midst of a world where humans and demons dealt with each other, my father had become a great thief instead, stealing his way to the top. And this place...In the midst of all the plants and earth that had attempted to cover it up, it stood strong as ever, a home waiting for its inhabitants to come back.

"Must have been lonely here," I said to myself, trying to break the silence. It was hard, when I had to talk to myself to do so.

"There used to be a lot more people here," a familiar voice said in the background. Dark in timber, I knew it from a time when fear had been my only emotion.

"Fehreil," I hissed, standing up to face him. After what he had tried to do to me, I was wishing I had worn a few more layers here.

"That's no way to treat a blood relative," he said sharply, and drew a saber that was still covered in blood.

"Remember the little ice maiden's daughter?" he said with a smirk.

"What did you do to Mikari!" I shouted, taking a step forward.

"This is all that's left of her," he stated deviously. "If you don't cooperate, you'll be the last to die. You and your father, dying together. Oh, but you'll be quite alone."

I gaped at his threats and tried to remember a technique my mother had taught me. Focusing my energy into the space before me, I thought, and a wave of thorns sprouted up.

"How pathetic," Fehreil said. "You children have no idea how to use your power. If you could only embrace the demon side of you, then you could be so much more powerful!"

My demon side was screaming to get out, but I was scared of letting her take control. Whenever I heard her in my head, she always sounded hungry, bloodthirsty, and ruthless. She would do anything to win, even hurting those I loved. "Can't you find someone else to have your kid instead of a blood relative?" I screamed. "Just die already!" That was when I folded over my consciousness, and I was stuck between my normal self and my demonic self...

Glaring white light filled my vision as I tried to determine what to do. It wasn't what I saw while my eyes were open, though; it was what I saw while they were closed. A girl wandered out of that horrid, blood-streaked castle, her golden eyes full of life. Sure as a shot, she ran down to the forest I'd been in earlier, which wasn't very far away. Nothing there attacked her, and thorns sprouted up to form arches, welcoming her home.

I followed, and before she was in the grove, the little girl turned to me and giggled. Her golden eyes sparkled, and her smile was infectious. "Do you want to come and meet...my Mommy?" she asked childishly. "She loves having company."

"What...what's your name?" I asked, shocked that she was talking to me like this. Most little kids I'd known had preferred to stay away from me, let alone carry on a conversation.

"I'm Kaiina," she said. "At least, that's the name my father calls me by."

"Pleased to meet you, Kaiina," I said softly, and took her hand as she led me onward.

The grove that we were headed toward was beautiful, and not quite so dark as it was in the present. Flowers pink, blue, red, and every other hue imaginable grew in this grove. Where trees now blocked the sun, it filtered in gently. "Such a place in Makai?" I said, confused. "But, I always thought Makai was dark, unforgiving."

"I am not of this world," a woman in the distance said with a smile. "With my power, I have forged this little pocket world. Fehreil's infiltration of the Plane of Luminescence was not complete."

She was beautiful, but in a different way than my mother. Her coloring and her structure barely mattered. It was the way in which she carried herself. Though not regal, she was confident of who she was, and she exuded the very essence of love and tenderness. Her words were as beautiful as any song, and her motions were graceful but efficient. Also, there was no sadness in her beauty, the one thing that had always kept my mother from shining her bright light.

Before I could ask who this woman was, the little girl beamed up at me, and said, "This is my Mommy. She's the g-g-"

"I am Rhia, the guardian of this grove," the woman finished, laughing as she scooped the child up in her arms. My mother had never done that for me as far as I could remember. "And this is my daughter, Kaiina."

"Nice to meet you," I replied politely, feeling instantly at ease with this woman.

"You are my daughter's child, are you not?" Rhia asked. "I have wanted to meet you for so long." Her warm, sincere smile was infectious, and soon I wore one too.

"Yes," I replied. "My name is Keiryi. How is it that you and Fehreil had a child, ma'am? You two seem so...so.."

"Different?" Rhia finished.

"Yes."

"Well, he deceived me, telling me that he loved me, and that he wanted me to be his queen. Honestly, it was nothing like the love your parents share."

"How did you know?" I asked. "If you knew they were together, why didn't you protect them?" Struggling not to lay all blame on this woman, I held it in, my rage and frustration.

"I am confined here by the one who gave me this child," Rhia carried on, and for the first time, I could detect sadness in her voice. "I was only able to reach Kaiina on a couple occasions, and after that, I was unable to get through. Ever since you were born, she's tried so hard to forget,"--at this point, Rhia began to choke up, and so did I--"but she was haunted by a memory. That memory of when they were all happy, and they didn't have to work for it...it just was. Her pain and her anger erected such a strong wall that I was pushed away, and I never got to see you grow, to see the childhood I missed with my own little girl."

For the most part, the younger Kaiina had been still and quiet, but now she looked up at her mother, adorably confused. "But Mommy," she said softly. "You're here with me now, and we don't have to worry about Father. We can stay here. We can be happy here."

"Let Mommy finish her story," Rhia said, and looked back to me.

"I am afraid that you cannot defeat Fehreil using the demonic side of you," she said. "You are human, so you fight for love. You are a demon, so you fight with unbeatable determination. And you are my descendant. Therefore, you fight with all the earth at your command. In order to defeat Fehreil, you must integrate these three parts of you. Don't let one take over the others, or you will not be strong enough."

I was about to walk away, and leave to fight my own battle, for my own mother, when Rhia called me, telling me to wait. "Remember one more thing, my child," she said. "Do not let your human side be lost. If you do, you have lost your one untainted motive. Demons fight for money, or power, which shifts at any time. I fought to protect the earth, which rebuilds itself in time. But you fight for love, to protect those who cannot be replaced. That is the beauty of being human. There is nothing more unselfish than laying down your life for the people who have loved you during its entire course. They are the ones who deserve your sacrifice the most. My child, if you defeat Fehreil, all those you know will be free. My spirit will be allowed to rest in Reikai without being confined to this dream world. Mikari could be the last casualty in this horrible war that is brewing. Use what you have, and search deep within. Only then will you be able to defeat Fehreil and save us all."

Kaiina came up and hugged me tenderly, smiling her beautiful smile at me. She was so healthy, so perfect. My mother, even when she was with my father, had always been somewhat undefed and worn out by all her problems. This little girl, though, enjoyed the full benefits of youth. Knowing that my mother had tried so hard to give me that fairytale childhood, I could only weep at how horrible she must have felt after failing. How horrible she must have felt when she learned that her own father was coming after us because of old promises she herself had made...

When I opened my eyes, my tail twitched behind my back, and my ears were perked up, their golden tips moving ever so slightly. Black hair tumbled down to my waist, and I glared at my grandfather with the emerald eyes of he who had caused Fehreil so much misery and so much failure. "Let's finish this," I said, and that was the beginning of it all.

A/N: Ha ha...cliffie. Evil. I know. The dream sequence was really fun, and I didn't want to show what happened in Ningenkai again too soon. You'll probably see next chapter though. Hope you like it enough to review, and 4-is-lovely, Yuki Amida, and all my other Midnight Rose fans, where are you! I have not yet abandoned you...come back! Oh, and thanks to Selena for the review!

Peace, Love, and Peace Out,

Miari