A/N: Just want to say thanks for your patience first. I know it's been awhile and I'm truly sorry. To be honest, things got hectic here. The teachers went on strike then after that they had to compress everything; 10 weeks of classes into about 6 weeks. Was not fun. My only remaining grandparent just passed away so I wasn't in the best of moods to be writing fanfiction.

Thank you to my reviewers: Macky, Shizuka-naTenshi and tear-drowned-angel. I'm glad you're enjoying the fic so far.

Chapter 7: Long Time No See

When the light faded away, Hitomi rose to her feet and dusted off any dirt on her dark denim jeans. She was grateful she had taken the day off of work. She had learned very well that traveling Gaea in a skirt was not the greatest idea.

She placed her hands on her hips and observed her surroundings. Where the hell did I land? She wondered. When her eyes caught sight of a road nearby she trusted her instinct to go follow it. At least she'd find some sort of settlement or civilization with ease.

"Now…" She looked in both directions, "Which way?" she ran a hand through her nearly shoulder length hair. "This would be a lot easier if I knew where I was…"

"You're just outside of Urthas." An old, familiar voice spoke.

Hitomi turned on her heel and smiled at the familiar face. "Rhum!" she said in a relieved tone.

"Never thought I'd see you again. Where you headed to?"

"Fanelia."

"Great!" Rhum exclaimed and howled to his hiding comrades. "We'll give you a lift."

Hitomi observed the small city in awe. Much had changed from her last visit; but that was expected. It's been almost twenty years, she told herself. Fanelia had completely recovered from the great Destiny war, which again wasn't too surprising.

Travelling through the city streets gave her strong sense of nostalgia. Even though seventeen years had past since she first set foot in the city, many of the building still had the same architecture. It looked the same but different.

Rhum and Hitomi parted ways after she made it into the castle with no trouble. She stood in the foyer feeling a bit nervous. She hadn't prepared or thought about what she would say. She fiddled with the rings on her finger as she waited.

"I thought Merle was pulling my leg." Hitomi turned around quickly to see a very grown up Van. He was no longer the scrawny young king she met and grew to know many years ago. His warm inviting eyes and untamable hair were the only visible features that hadn't changed. Thoughts and suppressed feelings flew freely through her mind. Maybe this was a bad idea…she told herself as she adverted her eyes. "What brings you back to Gaea?" He asked simply.

"I…" She looked at him and cursed herself for leaving in the first place.

Van chuckled at the fluster look on her face. "You didn't come back for me did you? It's a little too late for that-"

"No!" She said abruptly. "I figured you'd be married by now and having kids already." She paused to try and collect her thoughts. "My daughter is here on Gaea. I'm looking for her. I never got the chance or proper opportunity to tell her about this place."

"Oh…" Van said, "There haven't been any pillars of light…Perhaps she ended up Asturia."

"Damnit." Hitomi cursed under her breath. "I was so sure she'd end up here." She stopped and looked up at Van. How was she going to tell him? "Is there someplace we could speak in private?"

"Sure," he said and gestured her to follow. He held open the large wooden door to his study for her. Hitomi entered, debating with herself whether to be direct or indirect. "So what's so private?"

"Van," she said as she turned to face him. "Remember the last time I was here?"

"I'm a married man, I can't-"

"I'm not here for that!" She shouted angrily. "I took wedding vows for a reason too!" She took a deep breath to calm herself. "But you remember what we did." Van nodded, unsure of where she was going. "Well…you see…my daughter, Hikari, is a result of that." Van stood almost unfazed. Hitomi raised a brow. "Van, Hikari is your daughter."

"Are you sure?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes. You were my first and only until I got married. There was no one else. I never told her about you or Gaea. I didn't know how to approach the subject. Now she's here on Gaea because she wanted to find you, her father, so badly."

Van paced, running hand through his thick locks of hair. It was a lot to absorb in such little time. It was all unbelievable. All these years he had a daughter he never knew about.

"Van?" Hitomi said in a concerned tone.

Cadel waited somewhat patiently outside Hikari's room. How long does it take women to get dressed? He wondered.

"What are you doing?" he jumped at the sound of his younger sister's voice. "She's not in there." Cadel looked down at Julianne. She certainly wasn't like his other sisters. He could only wonder if the rumors about his thirteen-year-old sister were true. No one on either side of their parents' families had such brilliant blue eyes. He could only hope they were just that; rumors and nothing more. "Marla took her captive. I pity the girl."

Cadel shook his head. "Marla did what?"

Julianne giggled at the dumbfounded look on her brother's face. "The moment the poor girl got out of the bath Marla whisked her away."

"Damnit!" he cursed and ran down the hall. He burst into his sister's living quarters. "Marla! What sorts of torture are you-!"

"Cadel! You can't see her yet!" Marla shouted, jumping in front of Hikari to block her brother's view. "We're not done!"

Cadel's brow twitched as he approached. "Let the poor girl go." He said dodging Marla's flailing arms.

"Just give me five more minutes!"

"She's bored to death!"

Hikari tried to hold back her laughter as she watched the two siblings argue and fight. Cadel was right; she was growing extremely bored. She turned to look at her reflection in the mirror and almost didn't recognize herself. She pulled out a few of the decorative hairpins. Next she grabbed the moist towel from the vanity and wiped off most of the make up.

She glanced quickly at Marla and Cadel. Their arguing was becoming more heated and intense. Might as well make my escape, she thought before standing up.

She walked lightly past them to the doors out. She breathed a sigh of relief when she had made it to the hallway unnoticed by either of them.

"We're bonding! Hikari, tell him how much-!" Marla's eyes went wide and her jaw hung low. "Where'd she-!" She quickly checked every one of her rooms.

"Congratulations! You lost our guest!" Cadel laughed.

She ran both hands through her hair. "Mom is going to kill me!"

"Good luck finding her!" he shouted as his sister rushed out of the room. Shortly afterwards Cadel made his leave as well. Unlike his sister, he noticed Hikari slip away. He felt pity for any soul who had to endure his twin's undivided attention.

Hikari wandered aimlessly as she had no idea how to get back to her room. Every open door she came across she checked. One room caught her attention for two reasons: it's sheer size and the realistic paintings that hung on the walls.

She entered the gallery of art and was blown away by the quality of the works. From afar any of them could have been possibly mistaken for actual photographs. She felt her heart skip a beat as she came across a collection of paintings, which included her mother as a young teenager.

She walked up to the massive group portrait to get a better look at the faces. There was a raven hair boy embracing her mother. Beside him there was a very displeased cat girl. Her head titled to the side a bit as she noticed a tall man that resembled Cadel. She could only guess that it was his father in the painting.

"Ah to be young again." An oddly familiar voice spoke, startling Hikari. She turned to see an older man dressed in a deep blue rode with a gold and blue lorum wrapped around his body. "You must be Hikari." He said, not removing his gaze from the painting. "You're mother was a most interesting woman."

"Hikari!" Marla called as she wandered the hallway.

Hikari swallowed hard and looked fearfully at the door. "There wouldn't happen to be a secret exist or something?" She asked, unable to remove her gaze.

Dryden smiled and sighed before applying some pressure onto the wall beside the painting. "Follow the stairs down. They should take you to the main foyer."

"Thank you so much!" Hikari said and hurried down the stairs.

"Dad, have you seen our guest? She decided to go for a walk but failed to tell me." She lied.

"We have a guest?" he responded dumbfounded.

Hikari closed the door to the secret passage carefully. She let out a sigh of relief as she backed away from the wall. That was close…too close for my liking…

"How do you know about that passageway?" She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Cadel's voice. She placed a hand over her racing heart and turned to face him. Cadel was in awe at the fair maiden who stood before him.

"I…I ah….I think your father showed me. Or some older guy who looks like you. I mean some guy that you look an awful lot like."

"Tall man wearing a blue robe and a sash type thing?" Hikari nodded. "That would be my father." He offered Hikari his arm to link with but she gave him a confused look. "I think I hear my sister coming, we should probably get out of here." He said with a wink.

"Really?" Hikari looked over her shoulder. "She's fast…" Cadel held back his laughter and linked arms with Hikari.