Dark Disturbances

Chapter 1 Return 

She was falling, all she could feel was the sinking in her stomach. Where was she? Was she dreaming? She looked below her but all she saw was darkness and an occasional blue streak. What was going on? She tried to scream but found she had no voice. She tried to reach out into that eternal darkness but learned that she couldn't move.

So I'm going to die? That was all she could think about, I'm going to die…

When she hit the ground she found that it was soft and springy, and she was perfectly fine, "What?" her voice was choked from attempts made to scream. She looked around her. Where was she? Everything was dark, but from what she saw she was in a forest somewhere. It was night here? But not where she had come from, in Tokyo it was still the afternoon…

Well I'm not going to do anyone any good standing here, wherever here is, she thought and began to walk in any random direction. She slowly began to emerge from the thick forest and saw between the trees a few scattered stars. She decided she had gone the right way. Well now all I have to do is find some town and figure out where I am, she thought happily as she walked out of the forest. When she did she was caught off-guard by the beautiful sky above her. There were stars everywhere and not a city light or car honking to be heard. The only thing she heard was the light rustle of leaves and animals in the woods and a babble of a nearby creek. This was nowhere near Tokyo.

She wasn't sure how to take this exactly, but she felt so carefree that she decided to make the best of it and walked across the field in front of her. She hadn't felt this happy in a long time…not since last time she had went to…

§§§~~~

"Fuu-chan! Where are we?!" Hikaru whined, and Fuu looked around.

"Hikaru-san we're definitely not in Tokyo anymore," Fuu informed her, and Hikaru sweatdropped.

"Arigato Fuu-chan," she muttered, "But where are we if we're not in Tokyo?"

"Maybe we should find a village and ask," Fuu suggested, and Hikaru nodded in agreement.

They walked in complete silence across the valley until they saw a figure emerging in the distance. At first they weren't sure what it was because it was deathly still.

"Fuu-chan?" Hikaru whispered as they slowly neared.

"Sh…" Fuu said quietly, and they quieted and waited for the creature to move. It was sill a far ways away, but they caught the glint of blue fur or…hair?

"Umi-chan!" Hikaru shouted running forward and grabbing the girl's waist. She was still frozen in her revelation.

"Umi-san," Fuu bowed to her as she too emerged.

"Hikaru, Fuu," Umi smiled, "So glad you're here too."

"Yes, but where is here?" Hikaru asked letting Umi out of the embrace she had just received.

"I'm not sure, but um…I think we're in…" Umi began.

"Cephiro," a low voice made them spin, "Welcome back Magic Knights we have been waiting."

"Lantis!" Hikaru threw her arms around him, "Don't scare us like that!"

"Hikaru," he said softly returning her embrace and then letting her down softly. He hadn't seen her since a year after the fight with Debonair. That was what three years ago? Yes, that was it, it had been two years since the portal closed then. They were nineteen but hadn't changed much. Hikaru was her same bouncy self, and she had stayed just as short only gaining an inch or so. Fuu had shed her glasses for contacts but that was basically all except for the fact that her hair had turned almost an orange color. Umi was still the stunning girl with the model like appearance and bad temper though she had quieted a lot since their last meeting.

"Lantis do you know why we're here?" Hikaru asked bluntly, and he nodded grimly.

"There is a disturbance in the folds between our worlds. We fear that Cephiro might fade out of existence completely. It's a long story, and it's best that you get back to the palace before we explain it all," even that short summary scared the three Knights to death. Cephiro fade out of existence? That couldn't happen.

§§§~~~

When they were finally taken to the throne room they found Ferio and a man they didn't know in a serious discussion. Lantis cleared his throat, and they both turned. Ferio broke out in a grin at seeing Fuu, and Fuu blushed.

"Magic Knights, glad to see you made it safely," the voice of the man was too familiar.

"Guru Clef?!" All three shouted at once. He had definitely changed. Now he was taller than Ferio, and his robes fit him perfectly as his staff came up to his neck. But the lavender hair and deep blue eyes were unmistakable. He looked amused at their stunned expressions but didn't say anything. His face was tired and worn.

After the initial shock Hikaru took the liberty of asking, "What's wrong Guru?"

"The Summoning Spell is a tiring one, that's all," he assured her.

"That's right, you were the one who summoned us," Umi looked to be in deep thought as she stared at the ground, "So please tell us, why were we summoned?"

He sighed heavily, and chairs appeared for them all.

"Cephiro is made of the will of the people here, this you all know, what you don't know is that Cephiro was made on others fantasies, people from your world. There is a dark force in Cephiro threatening to destroy those fantasies. We have to destroy it before it destroys Cephiro. If it wins then all the people on Earth will be left with no will, no hope, everything will become dark and unhappy. Cephiro will shatter, and Earth will be but a hollow shell left for this force to control. I have summoned you three, Knights from another realm, to seek out this force and destroy it," he told them. His voice was serious and tired. The worry for this country was overwhelming.

For a long time they just sat there stunned, Umi was the first to move, "We will," she stood, and the other two followed.

"We will fight to the ends of the universe for Cephiro," Fuu added, and Hikaru jumped up.

"For Cephiro and all the people in it! The people that we've come to love!"

§§§~~~

All three Knights sat in Umi's room trying to figure out what to do next.

"Where do we start?" Umi had her head sitting on her fists thinking hard.

"Well we have to find this force," Fuu began.

"But we also have to find out what it is," Umi added, and Fuu nodded.

"And then we have to destroy it," Fuu concluded, and Hikaru looked from Umi to Fuu as they nodded.

"So we start by finding out what it is. We have to find out its source, where it was first noticed," Fuu looked out the window over Cephiro.

"We'll ask who first sensed it and trace it to where it came from," Umi looked up.

"Okay," Hikaru nodded, "But can we do it in the morning? I'm tired."

They laughed and agreed as the two left Umi's room, and they all went to sleep thinking about their task and what they would do for Cephiro.

§§§~~~

"It was me," Clef replied when they asked who was the first to sense.

"As we thought," Umi answered, and he nodded.

"Where?" Fuu persisted, and Clef pulled out a map, "Three places actually."

They looked down at the map of Cephiro's borders.

"Here," he pointed to mountains in the north, "Here," next was the ocean in the south west, "And here," last was the forest in the south east. It made a perfect triangle around Cephiro.

"But we'll have to cover all of Cephiro that way," Umi whispered, "That could take months."

"We don't have that long!" Hikaru shouted.

"It won't take long with my help," Ascot chimed in, "With the help of my friends I mean."

"You'd do that for us Ascot?" Umi asked, and he blushed.

"Of course, I'd do anything for you guys, and for Cephiro," he added quickly.

"Well then we'll leave right away!" Hikaru jumped up ready for anything.

"You'll be needing this then," Persea brought them their armor, and it flew to them attaching to them.

They looked down at the gems on their hands feeling suddenly much safer.

"Rayearth, Celes, and Windam are all ready when you need them," she added, and they smiled.

"Arigato Persea," Hikaru grinned, and Persea smiled back.

"We'll be seeing you soon," Umi said confidently as they walked out of the castle never looking back.

"Good luck Magic Knights," Clef whispered saying a silent prayer.

"Oh they'll be fine," Caldina assured him.

"They have to be, Cephiro rests in their hands," Lafarga said, and they all nodded.

When they were outside Ascot summoned four creatures. The first was a marvelous jet black horse with dark black wings and blue specks in them. The second was another horse only with a pure white coat, a silvery mane, and an ivory horn. The third was a huge wolf with a black coloring on her face making it look like a mask and few blotches of black all over its coat, and the last was a giant eagle.

They were amazed at the beautiful creatures in front of them.

"Wow Ascot I didn't know that you could summon these kind of creatures," Umi complimented not realizing what she said, "I mean um…not that um…the ones I've seen are ugly or um…I mean…uh…" she put her head in her hands, "Gomen."

He smiled, "It's okay, I understand," he walked over to the creature that resembled a Pegasus. It was rearing, "Hey sh…it's okay," he calmed it with a gentle touch, and Umi watched intrigued. He led it over to Umi and introduced them, "Umi this is Noxala, Noxala this is Umi the Magic Knight of Water. You do know how to ride right?" he asked.

"H…hai," Umi nodded, and he smiled.

"Good, she'll take good care of you," he assured the Pegasus who snorted and threw its head in the air.

Umi smiled and pet it gently reassuring it with her gentle coos.

"Now, Fuu," he lead the Unicorn resembling animal over to her, "This is Argentum, Argentum this is Fuu the Magic Knight of Wind." Next he went to Hikaru and brought her the oversized wolf.

"Atervultus this is Hikaru, Hikaru is the Magic Knight of Fire." He mounted the giant bird as the others followed suit, "Ready?" they nodded, and he urged the bird into the air. Umi pet the Pegasus softly on its neck, and it jumped into the air. She was a little startled but the feeling of flight was wonderful.

Fuu clicked her tongue, and the Unicorn took off at a canter as the wolf Hikaru was riding followed suit.

They flew and ran all day, the two in the air only a few feet over the two on the ground. They didn't stop until they found a valley not far from their first destination and decided to settle down for the night.

"I'm hungry," Hikaru looked down at her empty stomach as Ascot walked back from watering the animals at a nearby stream.

"But we forgot food!" Umi moaned feeling stupid.

"No we didn't," Ascot shook his head and pulled out a small bag. He squeezed it slightly and out popped a small pink ball of fur.

"Mokona!" Hikaru shouted and the ball of fur jumped into her lap.

"We're going to finally see what it's made out of!" Umi shouted and grabbed him as Ascot lit a fire. Umi slowly walked over to the fire.

"PUU!" Mokona squirmed from her grasps.

"No, we cannot eat Mokona-san," Fuu said, and Hikaru nodded, "Then we would go hungry afterwards," she added, and Hikaru sighed as Umi agreed.

So they had a large dinner and the animals were fed as well.

"So Ascot what's the eagle's name?" Umi asked when they were just about ready for bed.

"Her name is Chrysizoncor," he responded.

"What a beautiful name," Umi smiled, and he blushed.

"For a beautiful bird," Hikaru added, and the bird shied away making them all laugh.

§§§~~~

She scowled at the fire, "Laugh all you want now, but soon it will come. I will be even more powerful than that damn Master Mage, and the blood of the Magic Knights will be on my hands."

"My Lady it is all ready," a male voice said behind her shoulder.

"Perfect, get ready because I'm coming after you first," she smiled as she pointed to Hikaru through the fire as it leapt onto her hands but didn't burn her, "You're so naïve; you don't even realize what you've gotten yourself into. What a shame though, so young, so innocent, but so powerful," she said in false sympathy, "Oh well." She threw a hand violently through the fire shattering it like she planned to shatter the Magic Knights and Cephiro.

*Yey! First chapter is finished not even a day after I finished my last fic! I have three things to say.

I was planning on having romance in some later chapters, with Hikaru/Lantis, Fuu/Ferio and Umi and somebody but I can't decide who. They're both cute so I need some feedback, Umi/Clef? Umi/Ascot? If you were extremely confused where I just pulled those names out of they're Latin. Noxala means Night Wing, Argentum means Silver, (in a lot of legends Unicorn have silver manes) (and the reason Fuu is riding a Unicorn and not an eagle is because my friend who happens to be exactly like Fuu is like me and loves horses so that's why no don't argue with me that's just the way it is. ) Atervultus means Black Face and Chrysizoncor means Gold Soul.

Please review until then ja ne!