…

Previously:

Amu gets thrown back in time after getting hit on the head at her friend's wedding and meets Princess Fortuna. Fortuna is kidnapped and held hostage by a local gang, only to break free herself and recruit one of them as an assistant. She is then later reunited with her lover and Amu runs into a spirit, who brings her to a cave and explains a prophecy involving Fortuna. The prophecy was never fulfilled and now the disaster originally meant to happen during Fortuna's life is going to occur during Amu's.

…

Amu stared at Willow in horror.

"What do you mean the future is now my present?" She exclaimed, looking at the spirit as if she had three heads. "T-That's insane! How is Princess Fortuna's past connected to my future? This makes no sense!"

Shh, little one. Please. Allow me to explain.

"Yes, please, explain!" Amu looked on the verge of collapsing.

Willow waved her hand over the lake and the water rippled. However, both Willow and Amu were surprised when the previously crystal clear lake turned a muddy brown.

This is unfortunate.

"What?" Amu demanded. "What happened? Why did the lake suddenly turn all mucky like that?"

This lake…it is the looking glass of time, in a way. It can show one their past, present, and future. However…it seems the future is uncertain. Fortuna's past is colliding with your present, causing different paths to be revealed. How the future plays out is up to you now, it would seem.

"Me?" The seamstress was becoming paler each second. "I cannot do anything! I'm just a seamstress from a little village! The only major thing that has happened to me recently was getting into a fake engagement with the prince!"

Willow closed her eyes and turned back to the lake.

I see. I cannot show you the future, little one, but I can show you the past and how you are connected to Princess Fortuna. Or, since we seem to be short on time, it will be better if I just tell you.

Willow sighed and the lake turned back to its original form. She raised her hands and a new image appeared. Amu saw Fortuna and Yamada laughing as they shared a picnic lunch on the water. She was reminded of her first date with Ikuto.

Fortuna and Yamada were young, but they knew what love was. They loved each other so dearly; everybody in the kingdom wished them happiness. You saw for yourself, little one, how deep their feelings went for each other.

Princess Fortuna, although her mother was strict on her and was very vocal about her disapproval of Yamada, had essentially the perfect life. She was a beautiful, kind, and unique princess with a handsome young prince by her side to worship the ground she walked on. She was adored by her people and was more than willing to stand up for them in return. And despite all the riches around her, she was not spoiled to the bone.

Everything seemed absolutely right in the world for her.

Willow waved her hand over the lake and the image zoomed into the tower in the background where Jewels was watching the couple.

However, she was oblivious to the trouble brewing around her. Fortuna's best friend, Jewels, was terribly jealous of the princess. She wished she had men falling at her feet so her mother would stop setting her up with unpleasant suitors, and wished that her father had loved her enough to stay. But most of all, she wished her feelings for Yamada would be returned.

Amu gasped.

Oh, Jewels would never act on these feelings. She had a good heart; she would rather die lonely than ruin her best friend's relationship. However, seeing them act so romantic around each other…it did create a bitter taste in her mouth. She tried so desperately to ignore the savage beast of jealousy for so many years, but it grew harder and harder for each day.

The image changed to Jewels sobbing on her bed.

Then one day, she learned something that changed her life. She was messing around with her mother's storage in the cellar when she stumbled upon an old box filled with letters to her mother from her father. Some of the letters had been written recently. Outraged, Jewels had confronted her mother.

Jewels and an elderly woman, who Amu guessed was her mother, were arguing. Well, Jewels was yelling while her mother tried to calm her down.

Jewels' mother, Sapphire, had been keeping in touch with her estranged husband, Lucius, and had been hiding it from everybody. Jewels demanded to know why her father was writing to Sapphire and not her. Why was it a secret?

Sapphire then told her daughter something that made her sit down: Jewels' father had been a warlock. And because she-Jewels-was his daughter, she was a witch-or at least, a partial witch.

Amu covered her mouth with her hands as she sat down on a nearby rock. She wondered how it would feel to learn something as huge like that.

Jewels was in disbelief. Her mother explained that it was forbidden for a warlock to engage a romantic relationship with a human, nevermind have a child with them. He had stayed for Jewels' birth but left when the higher warlocks came close to finding out about his daughter. He wrote letters to Sapphire occasionally to check in and to find out if Jewels ever showed any signs of being magical.

Jewels…she was shocked beyond belief. She had immediately denied having powers and being a witch, calling her mother insane. Sapphire had listened for a few moments, seemingly conflicted. Finally, she took her daughter to the cellar and pulled out a small marble. Using the marble, she opened a portal and pulled Jewels through it.

There, in a cottage in a meadow, was her father. He was caught off guard and she nearly fainted, but they both sat down and talked. Eventually, Jewels believed what her parents were telling her but was clearly unhappy about it. She began sobbing and shouting about how they shouldn't have kept something so important from her. Suddenly, the cottage began to shake and rain poured down in buckets.

Jewels' burst of emotion confirmed her parents' suspicions; she was a witch.

"My god," muttered Amu. "W-Was she…"

The witch in the prophecy? No, that was Fortuna. Sapphire and Lucius were not the only parents who were keeping secrets.

Willow shook her head, changing the image to show Fortuna's parents talking with grave expressions on their faces.

Why humans always believe keeping something like this from their children will do any less damage is beyond my knowledge. In every situation, the children always find out the truth and are forced into the dangerous situation their parents tried to keep them away from anyways.

And Fortuna's parents were no different. They were well aware of the prophecy, which was revealed to them upon their daughter's first birthday. This prophecy was the reason they were so reluctant to let her leave the castle and have her go on those little adventures of hers. They tried their hardest for many years to prevent anything that could possibly put her in danger.

However, it was impossible. They were aware of the mine incident and knew that the doomsday from the prophecy was coming. They argued about whether or not they should tell Fortuna.

Fortuna's parents in the image turned to the door to reveal their daughter. She was soon sitting on the bed, shaking her head.

They were too late; she had just returned from the cave with Johnny, who had translated the full prophecy for her. She was too shocked to be upset at them.

She eventually told Yamada, naturally, and was relieved when he merely embraced and comforted her. In fact, the only thing he said needed to change was their wedding date. He wanted to marry her even sooner so that there was a light in the days of darkness that were approaching. She agreed, as did her parents.

The preparations were thrown together and everybody in the castle was working overtime to get the wedding done. Fortuna was too caught up in the whirlwind to recognize the obvious signs of distress from her best friend.

The image changed to reveal Jewels standing in front of Yamada's door, talking to him as she cried.

Unable to take her heartache anymore, she confronted Yamada and confessed her feelings for him. He obviously did not return her love and, although flustered and stunned, did do his best to let her down gently. Jewels knew what the outcome would be but it still broke her heart. She said she understood and was about to leave when Yamada hugged her, trying his best to comfort her.

"Sorry," interrupted Amu, looking skeptical. "Does he not know that him hugging her would only make her feel worse at that moment?"

No matter the species, males are clueless when it comes to crying females.

And yes, she did feel worse. She thought of it as a pity hug, that he pitied her. She became enraged, yelling that she didn't want him to look down at her. She let her emotions control her and she spouted words that she didn't mean at him. She insulted him, insulted Fortuna, and insulted herself. Yamada tried to calm her down but it was useless as the air charged with magic around them.

Finally, Jewels finished her rant and stormed away with the magic still heavy around in the air. With their creator gone, the magic went haywire and attacked the nearest living creature around. In this case, it was Yamada.

Amu's eyes widened. "No…oh, no," she whispered, shaking her head.

Willow looked saddened as they watched the scene play out in the water.

Yes…the magic had fed off of Jewels' feelings and used her own feelings against her as it attacked Yamada. He began to transform…into exactly what Jewels feared she herself was…a monster.

Yamada was dead; in his place was a monstrous beast with no human conscious.

Amu gasped upon seeing the beast that was now Yamada. The beast roared an ugly noise and the pinkette paled; she recognized the roar.

"That beast…" She said quietly, trying to steady herself. "It was the one who attacked everybody at Ran and Daichi's wedding."

Willow nodded gravely.

Yes, he-the beast-shattered the window and fled elsewhere. Soon, guards came rushing in with Fortuna only to find blood staining the glass and Yamada's crown lying on the ground. Everybody thought the worst.

Naturally, Fortuna was distraught and heartbroken. She sobbed and sobbed for days. All the people around her tried to comfort her but they knew it was useless. Even Jewels, who had figured out what had happened, kept her distance. In fact, Jewels was so horrified by what she had done that she threw herself off a tower.

And Fortuna was completely broken. She did not eat or sleep, only cried.

The image revealed Fortuna lying on her bed, sobbing as she clutched her wedding gown to her chest like it would magically bring back the love of her life.

Finally, one day, when Johnny came in and nervously told her about the most recent attack on a nearby village, he revealed that a monstrous beast had been the one behind the attacks. But a beast like that had to have a master, everybody figured. They blamed a warlock by the name of Drakon who had begun his reign of terror. He was the one to be ordering the beast that was once Yamada. His new name was Kikaloa.

Fortuna, upon hearing about Drakon, immediately stopped crying and vowed to end the warlock's reign. She recognized the name from the prophecy and that was why Johnny had told her about this attack. She began training as hard as she possibly could so that she could kill the warlock she had believed to be behind her fiancé's death.

Willow had the image changed to reveal the princess standing in armor, pointing a sword at the beast-Kikaloa-as flames danced around the ashes surrounding them.

Amu was almost sure her heart stopped. That scene was familiar.

"I've seen this before," she whispered. "I…when I was nearly poisoned, I had a dream about this."

Yes, I am sure you did. Sometimes when people are on the verge of death, they not only see their own lives, but also the lives of people before them.

Fortuna shouted at the beast, the words unheard but Amu didn't mind. She had already heard them.

Although she had tried her hardest to avoid it, the beast had destroyed everything in her once beautiful kingdom. All the people she knew were dead and she was the last one in the kingdom. Everybody else was either dead or they had fled.

Fortuna finally confronted Kikaloa in front of Drakon's castle, but she was no match for the beast. Oh, she had wounded it but it had struck back harder. She was left for the dead as it flew away.

Fortuna lay on the ground, her own blood staining the ground and the gleaming white armor she wore. Her eyes closed and her lips formed a name that was whispered into the flames as she finally went into an eternal slumber.

Amu had tears in her eyes as Willow stared at the lake.

The name that Fortuna had whispered…it was not the name of her beloved Yamada, but of another young man who had a special place in her heart. No, she did not fall in love with young Johnny. The name she whispered…it belonged to her son.

"Son?" Amu gasped. "I…what?" Willow turned back to her.

During a trip with Yamada a year before a war broke out in his kingdom, she became pregnant with his child. That was the reason she had been away from the castle; she was only just returning when you first saw her. She gave birth to a boy after nine months, hiding away in a small cottage in the woods with an older woman who helped deliver the baby. Fortuna, fearing the worst would come, entrusted the woman with her son, who she had named Tamaki.

The lake showed a young man laughing as he played around with his friends.

Tamaki grew up thinking he was a regular peasant and the woman who he had believed to be his mother never told him otherwise. It had been another wish of Fortuna's for him to remain oblivious to his heritage. He grew up and got married. It was only on his adopted mother's deathbed did she tell him the truth. He then told his wife, who told their children and grandchildren and so on.

Willow seemed to be conflicted, unable to find anything else to say. Finally, she sighed and made the image in the lake change. She would not look Amu in the eye.

Amu stared at the lake and the image, now with sound, revealed a woman going into labor. The fashion style was recent; she recognized the design similar to some of the dresses her mother had in the closet and that had belonged to her late grandmother.

"Push!" A wet nurse exclaimed, getting the towels ready for the child as the woman screamed in pain. "There, milady, I can see the head! Push again!"

The woman screamed again and then let out a sigh of relief as the sound of a baby crying rang through the air. There was blood everywhere and the nurses gasped as they realized what was happening. They rushed to help the woman, but she stopped them.

"No, it's alright," she said weakly. "My child…is he alright?"

"She is perfectly alright, milady," replied a nurse, pushing back a strand of the woman's sweat-soaked hair. "Would you like to hold her before…?"

"Yes, please," replied the woman. She smiled as she held her newborn daughter for the first and last time. "Oh, she's beautiful."

"What would you like to name her, milady?" Another nurse asked softly. The light in the woman's eyes was already beginning to dim as her lips parted and she whispered a name.

The woman closed her eyes as her husband burst into the room, looking terrified as he rushed to her side. He looked at his new daughter and then at his dying wife. He grasped her hand, tears in his eyes as she passed their daughter to him. He held her close to him.

"Willow!" He cried.

"It's okay, darling," she said, her voice so weak. "We both knew the chances of me surviving childbirth long before we conceived a child. Please take care of our daughter. I love you."

"I love you," croaked the man, choking back a sob.

A sigh left the woman's lips as she died and the nurses stepped back to give the grieving man privacy. The newborn in his arms began to wail again, as if she sensed the great loss she had just encountered.

The man looked down at her and began to shake as he held her close, trying to soothe her.

"It's alright," he whispered. "What's her name?" He asked the nurses.

A nurse stepped forward. "Milady wanted to name her after her ancestor." She repeated the name for him and he nodded, crying still.

Amu gasped, stepping back and falling over. She stared up at Willow in shock. The spirit still refused to meet her eyes.

It is time for you to go, little one.

Willow waved her hand again and Amu once again saw nothing but darkness.

…

Amu let out a shuddering gasp as her eyes flew open. She sat up quickly in her bed, ignoring the sharp pain in her head, and looked around her empty bedroom. It was dark outside.

She wondered if it had been a dream and then realized there was one way to find out.

The seamstress threw off the covers and, not caring that she was dressed in only a nightgown, raced out of the room to the royal library. The royal family was in charge of keeping track of all their ancestors' and villagers' family trees, after all.

Amu burst through the doors, running to the right section as her golden eyes skimmed over all the names frantically. Finally, she found the right one and pulled it off the shelf as she shredded through the pages.

Upon finding the name Willow, Amu gasped and dropped the book. She backed into a shelf, shaking her head in disbelief.

Willow's daughter had been named Midori Fortuna.

Amu's mother.

…

I don't own Shugo Chara!

Ah, I have been waiting to write this chapter for so long! In case it's not clear because I stink at writing sometimes, Willow is not only Fortuna's descendant but also Amu's late grandmother, making Amu the descendant of Fortuna as well.

I just…and it gets better! Or worse. Really, it depends on how you look at it.

Anyways, there's really not much to say. You can't really tell but I'm bouncing in my seat. A lot of things happened and are going to happen!

For example, I turn sixteen next week! The big one six! Not that I see what the big deal is. I mean, why is turning sixteen such a big deal? It's another birthday, although I do admit I am excited. But then again, I get excited over everything, especially birthdays because it's a day where I'm pretty much queen!

Also, I finished the Mortal Instruments series. City of Heavenly Fire though…I won't say anything in case any of you are reading the series but…whoa, man. That messed me up for sure. The ending and…ugh, I need someone to talk to about this! LIKE SO DESPERATELY.

And also, the first episode of Free! Eternal Summer came out yesterday and I just LOVE it. Actually, I think I was more in love with the ending theme than the actual episode but you know. Rin is an adorable fuck, I swear to god.

AND THE NEXT SEASON OF BLACK BUTLER BEGINS AIRING ON MY BIRTHDAY. THAT IS A GREAT GIFT.

You know what isn't a great gift? All of the summer assignments that I have to do, ugh.

Anyways…I hope you all liked the chapter. I appreciate the reviews; they mean a lot to me! So you know, don't hesitate to share any thoughts you have like what your reactions were, any suggestions or predictions you might have, or any mistakes if you spotted any.

Until next time!