A/N: Thanks everyone for your support!!! I feel a lot better now!!! XD

XP

Farah and Alzik finally came out of the storage room, both flushed slightly, a blush which only got worse as me, Keilic (who hadn't left yet), and Aizira all grinned knowingly and sinisterly at them. "I see you two made up quite thoroughly." I said, and Keilic busted out laughing.

Aizira, however stood up, put her hands on her hips, and exclaimed, "Alzik you slut!!! I thought you said you would wait until you were married!!! How could you do this!?" She demanded.

I busted out laughing, I was laughing so hard I actually fell to the floor. Alzik buried his face in his hands, and Farah looked between him, Aizira, and me questioningly. "What?" She asked, and now it was Aizira's turn to bust out laughing.

"It's an inside joke, ignore them." Alzik told her with a groan.

"Oh let me tell you the story!" I said, brightening up at once.

"NO!!!" Alzik exclaimed frantically.

Farah looked over at my father, who had a rather weak smile on his face, and she raised an eyebrow at him, "Prince? What happened to you, you look, different."

There was a pause, and then Aizira, Keilic and I all busted out laughing, "Farah, that's, not, the prince!" I gasped, hitting the table with my fist.

"Oh my gosh I'm sorry!" Farah exclaimed, looking around, "But where is he!?" She asked.

"Um…well, something happened while you and Alzik were in the back there. He made Kaida angry, she left, and now he's trying to find her. This is actually Kaida's father." Aizira told them.

Both jaws dropped, and Farah's eyes went wide, "Y-you are!? But, but I thought…aren't you from another world!? How can your father be here!?" She exclaimed.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. We don't know." I answered, frowning. "My mother's here too, I forgot to mention, apparently she's in Egypt."

"At least, I hope she's still there." Father murmured, pulling off his wig and sighing at it.

"Well, that seals it. Red hair, he has to be her father." Aizira said. "Hm? What's wrong with you?" She asked Alzik, who had looked away from my father, a very hard expression on his face.

"Nothing." He said, coldly, but his eyes flickered over to Father's face, and I remembered what I'd told him that day. Apparently, he wasn't going to forgive my parents so easily either.

Which made me wonder…how was the prince, whom I had opened myself up to far more than anyone else, going to react himself?

"Ah, well," Keilic said, breaking the tense silence that followed this. "I'm going to go find my cousin, I'll be back." And he left us there.

"Could you excuse us for a minute?" I asked, and Father nodded.

"Of course." He answered, his eyes going to Kassima, who was in the corner playing with a doll I didn't quite recognize. He went over to her and bent down to speak to her. She immediately wrapped her arms around him however and snuggled up to him.

I turned to Alzik and walked over to him. "So you're just going to forgive them, just like that?" He hissed at me, taking my arm in his hand and whispering so the other two couldn't hear.

"Yes, I am. They didn't have a choice, Alzik, it wasn't their fault. Sabrielle herself helped me see that. He does love me, they both did, but they were never allowed to let me know." I said.

"But afterwards? What about when you got control? What about then, hm? Did they love you then? You lived alone for most of your life, you said so yourself." He hissed.

"Alzik, I hated them. I hated them a lot, and I wouldn't forgive them. They didn't know what to do, I didn't give them much of a chance to put things right, so they just let me live my life alone. They supported me, in my own house, yes, but they did it. I can't say I completely forgive them both, but I'm willing to do it. Alright? Is that good enough for you?" I asked him.

Alzik looked me in the eye, and then he sighed, "Yes, I suppose it is." He muttered. Then he straightened up and turned to approach my father. "Hello, my name is Alzik. You have a very fine daughter, I'll tell you now. She's strong, she's spirited, she's eccentric, she's arrogant, temperamental, too smart for her own good, a cunning little b(beep), an excellent faker, and she's got a nobility of spirit that one only sees in stories. She's like a sister to me, and you would be proud to have her as your daughter if you knew only half of the things she's done." He said.

"Oh wow, Alzik!" I exclaimed, shocked, "That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said about me…I think I'm going to cry!" I exclaimed, giving a theatrical sniff.

"Oh shut up!" He exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not entirely sure whether I should thank you or hit you." Father told him, and I started laughing.

"Oo! Hit him hit him hit him!!!" Aizira exclaimed.

"Thank you!" Alzik cried to the ceiling. "It's so nice to know that you're on my side, Aizira!" He said sarcastically, but both Aizira and Farah laughed.

Father allowed himself a chuckle as he fixed his wig back on and picked Kassima up again. "I wonder if Keilic's found the prince yet." Aizira mused.

"Yeah, he found him." I answered, "And they're coming down the hall as we speak." I said.

Aizira grinned, "Princy's nervous isn't he?" She asked, snickering evilly.

"Oh yeah." I answered with a smirk. "Okay everyone, straight faces!" I said swiftly, turning around and fixing myself in a firm position, my arms crossed over my chest, leering at the door, just as the Prince came through.

Keilic stepped aside, and there was a very tense silence as the prince looked at me, cringing slightly at the look on my face. He opened his mouth, but then he frowned, looking hard at me, and said, in a deeply incredulous voice, "You're not even mad anymore are you!?"

We all busted out laughing. "No, not really, I just wanted to make you squirm." I answered, wrapping my arms around his neck and giving him a small short peck on the lips, "You can make it up to me later though."

Father cleared his throat loudly, "Exactly how is he going to make it up to you?" He asked me suspiciously.

Oh crap. Come on, Kaida, think of something quick, "Hair!" STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!! (A/N: I LOVE YOU SANNE-CHAN!!! XD)

"Hair?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah! He, like, brushes my hair for me." I answered innocently.

"I do? I don't remember—" I stamped on his foot, "Ack! Yeah, I do!" He said swiftly, wincing. "Um, who is this, by the way?" He murmured in my ear. I whispered a hurried explanation to him, and his eyes widened, "Your what!? But why—how—?!"

"We don't know." Aizira cut in. "But we're all pretty much in an agreement that this isn't normal." She said.

My heart dropped as, without unwrapping his arms from around me, the prince turned his eyes slowly and coldly towards my father, and he said, in a very chilling voice, "What right, do you think you have, to even claim her as your daughter?"

"Prince, wait, he—"

"No!" He snapped, pushing me behind him, and taking Kassima right out of his arms, "Go find another room to play." He told her, and she did so without a word. "I want to hear this, I want to know how you can stand there, how you can muster the utter nerve to stand there and claim to be her father!" He snarled.

"She told you." He said in a dead, hollow voice, looking away from the prince. It wasn't a question.

"She's told me a lot, she's told me enough. How can you even show her your face!? You disgusting pile of filth!!! I should kill you for this! You never loved her, and you still don't! You're just pretending to so she can get you off this ship, aren't you!?" He demanded.

"Prince, no, that's enough!" I exclaimed, taking the arm with which he had raised to strike my father, and holding him back.

"That's where you're wrong." Father said, turning back to face him, "I do love her, I always loved her, I—"

"THEN WHY!?" He roared, his fists in the air.

"Prince, stop!" I ordered.

"NO!" He exclaimed, "He had a choice, didn't he!? And he chose to save himself the pain and let you deal with it all! He doesn't love you!!! He never did!!!"

"Of course I love her!!!" Father yelled back, standing up straight so that he was eye level with the prince, "But if I let her know, if I showed her any of it, if I even gave her an ounce of affection, it was her mother who would suffer for what I had done!!! And if it was her mother? It was I who would suffer! They would have killed Sunako if I so much as held her!!! You talk about pain!? Try watching your own child suffer from the moment she was born, and having to stand there and do nothing! NOTHING! What could we have done!? How could we, mere humans, have fought against those devils, hm? You don't understand, they can't be killed, they can't be defeated! Nothing hurt them!!! I remember, I remember one day, one day when she had tried, only 8 years old, she tried to kill herself! Kitchen knives and blood all over the floor, too much blood for her to be alive, but she was still alive! I found Sunako there, lying in the midst of it, sobbing so hard she lost her voice from it. She wanted to commit suicide herself right then, but I wouldn't let her. Now I wish I had, it would have saved her the pain of it. Those demons were making us suffer too, perhaps not as much as her, but it was enough!!! It was enough!!!"

"But what about afterwards?" The prince hissed through gritted teeth, "You could have made things right, you could have come back, you could have at least let her know that you—"

"I didn't give them the chance." I said, and the prince turned to me, his face was white, and his expression surprised, but I looked at him evenly, "Don't you remember what I was like when we first met? It was worse even before that. Remember, how even though we'd become close enough to be considered friends, I wouldn't let you so much as touch me? It didn't take long for me to accept you as a friend, because I was starving from a complete lack of friends, but it took a while, didn't it? It took a long time before I would accept you as my lover, as my fiancé. I've changed, Prince, I've changed a lot since then, and that change was for the better, certainly, but back then…I would never have forgiven them. But I've forgiven him now, I've forgiven them both. And that should be enough for you."

He sighed, "Alright…" He murmured, wrapping his arms around me tightly, "Alright, I'll forgive him…for you." He whispered, softly enough that only I could hear it.

I hugged him back and we broke apart. The prince turned to my father, and held out his hand, though rather reluctant, and my father took it. A few of the others sighed with relief.

"How much do you love my daughter?" My father asked after a moment's pause.

"More than anything, more, even, than I love my own country. I would die for her." He said without any hesitation.

Just as I would die for you. I thought to myself, but it might be a bit too sappy to say it out loud.

"You have any idea how jealous I am of you right now?" Aizira muttered in my direction.

"Mine." I said firmly, grabbing the prince's arm. "Can't have him, sorry." I said, grinning as Aizira gave a theatrical sigh.

The prince laughed, "Hey, isn't this suppose to work the other way around?" He asked.

"Why? Trust me, Prince, you've got nothing to worry about loosing me to another man." I answered, "I'm not exactly the kind of girl that other men just fawn all over. I mean, looks are one thing, but I am a b(beep) when it comes down to it. Not as much of one as Shahdee, but still, all things considered."

"Bah, their loss, my gain." The prince said, kissing me on the cheek.

"Well, I gave Tsugara a few orders a while back and I want to make sure they're being followed. Wanna come with, Aizira?" I asked.

"Do I!? You have to ask?!" She exclaimed, jumping at the chance.

"You're just going to leave, just like that?" Father asked, looking rather disappointed.

"We have three days, at least, until we reach Egypt. Trust me, by then you'll be sick of me. Oh, and you two better not have any more life-threatening love spats, one child is as much as we can deal with right now." I told Farah and Alzik.

"KAIDA!!!" Alzik exclaimed, going red, but Farah started laughing, and she wrapped an arm around Alzik's neck (the prince looked away).

"Alright, we'll keep it to a minimum." She assured me, causing Alzik to smack himself in the face.

"Now I know why I fell in love with you! You're just like them!!!" He cried, pulling on his hair.

The rest of us busted out laughing, in fact we were still laughing as the two of us stumbled out of the rooms.

XD

We headed over to Orzan first, found him in his room, and knocked on his door. He let us in and poured us some hot tea, which I spiked myself with a bit of rum, and we sat down.

"I found my father." I told him abruptly.

Orzan choked and spewed out some of his own tea. "W-what!?" He exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Y-your father!? Here? On this ship!? Where is he?" He asked.

"He's in our rooms right now, with the prince, Keilic, Alzik, and Farah." I answered, and I sighed, "I found him in the bottom parts of the ship, working as a dreg. They were going to kill him…" My face twisted in anger and I swallowed the rest of my drink in one gulp. "So if you want to meet him, you can, but setting that aside, how are the crew? Suffering from Cabin Fever?" I asked.

He sighed, "I suppose you can call it that. These rooms aren't exactly the most comfortable, they're feeling stuffy down here, but they don't dare go out and try to get some fresh air." He answered.

I thought for a moment, "How many are there, in total?" I asked.

"Including the captain and myself? Around a dozen." He answered.

"Right…let's see…I'm thinking I could give them a sort of talisman to wear, to show that they're under my protection. Then they can go out and get all the fresh air they want without being afraid of the cultists. Perhaps a ring, or a bracelet, or a necklace of some kind. A ring would be best, it'd be easier to steal a necklace than a ring." I mused, fingering the golden band that was on my own hand. "I'd want to put an insignia on it, but what should it be? I'd prefer it not be the 'destruction' character…"

"What about the 'creation' one?" Asked Aizira.

"Or all three, if it'll fit. But where are we going to find a ring-maker?" Asked Orzan.

"I can make them myself. Just let me think a moment…yes, I think I've got it." I said, and I conjured up a thick gold ring from my sands. All three characters were set into the band, they'd be hard to miss like this. "There, what do you think?" I asked, handing it to an amazed Orzan.

"I think it's just one surprise after another with you, Kaida." He answered, staring at the ring in awe. "This is real gold, and you just made it? Just like that?" He asked.

"I…I guess I did." I answered. I'd never really thought about this ability before but…that gold was real, and I just made it, I 'created' it…perhaps there was more to these symbols than I thought. Or was I simply summoning the material from an unknown source then shaping it to fit the image I wanted? That could also be a possibility. "I've just…been able to…ever since…" Ever since Kaileena went back to her own world, and I became the Empress of Time. Was this another part of being the Empress? Kaileena crafted an entire fortress on that island, she'd crafted the sand monsters, even Shahdee, and those ships, all out of nowhere.

"Creation, destruction, harmony." I murmured to myself, fingering the ring, "I create, I destroy, but where's the harmony between the two, I wonder."

"That, is not something that I could tell you. Perhaps the gods of Egypt may be able to answer your questions." Orzan told me, though I knew he was skeptic. Persia didn't hold much store by the workings of gods, not nearly as much as the Greeks and Romans did, and likely not as much as Egypt either.

I sighed, set the ring on the table, and created about 11 more. "They can wear them on their fingers or around their necks, but I'll want them back once we're safely in Egypt." I said, turning to leave.

"Of course." Orzan said, "I'll personally make sure they're all accounted for."

"Don't I get one?" Aizira asked with a pout as we left the cabins.

I laughed, "Sure." I said, making a smaller, slimmer one for her to wear. She seemed happy with it, and put it on her middle finger (I had to resize it in order to make it fit good), and we left to go harass—er, I mean, check up on Tsugara and the rest of the ship, as well as make sure they know not to mess with anyone with my ring on their finger.

But something was bothering me, I felt like there was something out there, something that I couldn't see, that it was just beyond my reach, but I simply couldn't grasp it, nor could I quite grasp the fact that it was even there to begin with. But as I tried to get a firmer grip on it, it slipped through my fingers, like water, and all I could remember was the fact that I had felt like there was something missing, and that feeling was gone, even though I knew in my mind that it should still be there, that I hadn't figured it out.

But even that seemed to be slipping away from me.

As if someone, or something was purposefully keeping this out of my mind…

And I suddenly realized that Zasalamel…was probably as close to a true god as it was possible for a person to be in the human worlds. And fear, cold and freezing, gripped me hard, so that I had to stop time in order to keep the rest of the crew from seeing my weakness.

He was controlling everything, wasn't he? He could even tap into my mind and keep things from me that he didn't want me to see. And whatever he had planned, whatever it was that he was secretly working for, I was going right along with it. He didn't intend to kill me back there! He knew, he knew that Sabrielle would appear to save me, he was counting on it, he wanted her! But why? What was the reason!? What was he doing!? What was he planning!?

I had the sick, twisted feeling that, too soon, I was going to find out.

XP

Rhea: Feeling better, but no time for an FAQ right now, there is NOTHING to eat in the house, it is 10 am, and I'm HUNGRY, I haven't even had breakfast man!!! So yeah, gonna go get something to eat, AND go shopping for GROCURIES! But thank you all for your support and such, I know some of you have not been very happy with me for making you wait three days for the next chapter (grimaces) But, you know, if you kill me then you'll never get another chapter! Heheheheh. Until next time, ja!