Disclaimer: I do not own: Slayers or anything else that ends up on this story!

"You're eyes can deceive you… Don't trust them!" – Obi-wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker

Dear Phillip:

I'm so sorry! I tried to get to your ball but there seemed to be some sort of battle on the dance floor. For my safety your sisters insisted I go home. I suppose they must've had good reason! Things sure sounded quite out of control in there! I'm sure I could've handle things just fine but perhaps a sorceress of my ability would've been a bit out of place amidst such raucous partying. So I am forced to wait until you might have a moment to come down and visit me here at Orange Grove so I can give you your birthday present.

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Aurora

"Raucous partying? Is she crazy? I nearly died last night!" Philip hissed as he put the letter on the table that his beloved Aurora left in his father's care last night.

"Talk about backfire!" he paced the room angrily. His upset on the worrywart reps from PR had yielded an unforeseen side effect. With the image of the Seyruun royal men changed forever by Phillip's charm and good looks now every unmarried woman whether young or old (even a few guys!) wanted a piece of the action! He had spent the evening fending off bold advances and battling psychos who refused to give up their turn dancing with the prince.

"I couldn't even sleep in my own room!" he growled angrily. He'd been forced to escape out of his window using a levitation spell because a group of them had found a way past the guards and hid in various places in his room. They popped out when he realized there was someone hiding in his closet. He left them battling in his room and made his get away to his parents' room. The only safe place in the palace for him because not even the bravest among them would dare summon the wrath of the Great Stone King!

So he had spent the night on the couch in his parents' drawing room. He had woken though only after a few hours because he just could not rest knowing he'd been back for almost a week and he had not been able to see or talk to Aurora at all. His Seyruun inheritance showed as he paced the floor of the drawing room restlessly, occasionally re-reading the letter penned in perfect precise handwriting by Aurora, muttering angrily about the injustice of it all.

"Keep it down kid! Your mother's still sleeping," Zelgadis intoned his deep voice showing a hint of amusement as he emerged fully dressed in his travel gear from his bedroom. Instantly Phil quelled his anger. Dad's voice had that effect on him. Phil wished he could keep his cool at all times the way that his dad was famous for unfortunately his mother's side slipped in too often! Zel merely smirked in amusement but before he could say anything else Amelia emerged from the bedroom in her long sleeping robe wanting to know what was going on.

"Happy birthday honey," Zel said as he pulled his wife to him. Phil looked away shyly as mom and dad gave each other a good morning kiss. Phil added his own greeting glad that he had given his gift for her early and it wasn't wrecked by those crazed girls. Amelia laughed as she hugged and her son. Phillip was born exactly one day before Amelia's birthday.

"Well you can't go to Orange Grove on an empty stomach!" Amelia declared cheery yet still a bit sleepy as Phil expressed his desire to see Aurora. Zel sent the guard to call the servants to bring breakfast up. She and his dad exchanged an amused glance at Phillip's obvious impatience. She excused herself to go change and Zel left the room saying he'd go see if Gourry and Lina were up.

"You better stay here! Safer for all of us that way!" Zelgadis teased and laughed as he left. Phillip again found himself on his parents' couch alone muttering angrily about the injustice of it all. For a moment he wished he really did look like his grandfather. He was certain now that life would be simpler!

"…or at least safer! Aurora doesn't care what I look like anyway," he mumbled despondently. Aunt Lina and Uncle Gourry arrived with his father. Zel handed Phil Gourry's old travel gear explaining his room had been ransacked last night by "the girls" who were intent on having a souvenir. His clothes were all gone and his furniture was completely wrecked. Phillip groaned burying his face in his hands and Aunt Lina patted him on the back roughly.

"Look at it this way! You can remodel now!" she commented cheerfully trying to comfort him. Phil just rolled his eyes.

"Thanks Aunt Lina," he replied in a sarcastic tone that was just like his father's. Phillip excused himself as his mother emerged from her bedroom to go wash up and change. When he returned the servants were setting up the table which his mother, Aunt Lina and Uncle Gourry were devouring faster than the servants could set it. His father sat quietly at his desk away from the feeding frenzy and quietly signaled Phil to join him.

Quietly he ate some toast, some scrambled eggs with cheese and some fruit and sipped at his tea. He had never been able to indulge in the feeding frenzies like his sisters and his mother. It always robbed him of his appetite to watch them. It was why he had been so skinny growing up. He tried not to feel depressed as he glanced at Aurora's letter sitting now on his father's desk.

"It was safer that she was not there you know that right," his father said softly breaking the silence between them. Phillip nodded and smiled but before he could say anything Lina interjected from the table.

"HA! Safer for those psychos you mean! Aurora would've blasted them to smithereens if she had seen…" Lina's tirade came to a screeching halt with a soft "oops". Phillips eyebrows furrowed guiltily and he pushed his half eaten food away. He sipped quietly at his tea. Yes, Aurora was indeed a powerful sorceress. She was the youngest child of Laura Ingalls-Wilder his father's greatest apprentice and fellow chimera. She was a genius oft compared to Lina Inverse and her beauty, it was agreed throughout the land, rivaled that of the Greywords-Seyruun sisters but…

Aurora was blind…

One of the reasons he had gone adventuring with his father was because he had hoped to find a cure for her eyes in his travels. But before he left she had made him promise that he would be gone for no more than a year. That he would return to her then whether he found a cure or not! It pained him to come back home empty handed.

"She accepts the consequences of her actions and you should too," his father intoned gravely giving a firm reassuring squeeze to his shoulder. Amelia got up from the table and hugged her son.

"There was nothing you could do…you tried your best! She'll understand…" his mother softly added. Yes, Aurora had long since come to grips with her handicap but Phillip just couldn't let it go! Like the Greywords men before him he just had to go hunting for a cure that could not be found! He sighed dejectedly.

Brilliant as Aurora always was she had also been an arrogant show off, but she had always been the one person who treated him like a regular person with no special treatment for his lineage. One day some of the other children had teased her about her friendship with him so wanting to show off and shut them up once and for all she used a lightning spell too far above her level of experience. The flash burned her eyes and she lost control of the spell. Several of the children were injured including himself because he had to wade through the burning debris to pull her out of the ruined lab.

The injuries were not severe. All the other children suffered were a few minor burns and bruised egos since it was Phillip who dragged everyone out of the ruined lab where the incident took place. They called him a hero but he never felt that way. As a consequence Aurora was never able to see again and from that day Phillip had been her ever present companion.

She rarely went anywhere without him even after she had mastered her disability. No one dared to tease her again. It's been eight years since the incident. Phillip just couldn't wait to be near her once more. In Aurora's own words her blindness was a good reminder of the importance of humility and the virtue of patience. According to her it was a rare gift that allowed her to find her true strength.

"I just hate to come back empty handed," he whined as he drained the last of his tea. His father smirked mischievously.

"Oh not completely empty handed! The hidden safe was still intact," he said in a slightly teasing tone producing a little box. Phil knew it contained a delicate little bell charm he had purchased in Atlas City for Aurora on the way back. He smiled and blushed slightly as he took the box and put it in his pocket grateful that those hormonal psychos hadn't gotten to it. In the rush to escape from the rampaging psychos he had not been able to reach the safe.

"All right! Let's get going!" Zel announced. Phil immediately got up but before his father would cast the teleportation spell that was his trademark, he handed Phillip his sword. Phil frowned before taking it. This sword was made for his dad by his mom after they were married. She had called it the Heart of Justice. Father never let anyone touch his sword. He was rather ferocious in his defense of the sword!

"Why?" he asked incredulous feeling the power within the sword pulsating at his touch. He had longed to wield it but thought it wouldn't happen for many more years. He quickly strapped it onto his belt before his father changed his mind.

"Just for today… You just might need it…" Zel replied mysteriously and before Phil could ask anything else his father gathered all three of them and he cast the spell to send them all to the old Ingalls' farm in Orange Grove. As they disappeared Aunt Lina and Uncle Gourry – who were still eating! – promised to meet them later.

When they materialized they were in the front yard of the old Ingalls farm. The only one who lived there now was Aurora. Her grandparents had moved to the capital where Laura now lived. Laura was the head of magical defense instruction at the Saillune Military academy. Laura's brothers had their own farms in other villages and did rather well. Aurora's older brother had married Rinoa and Squall's youngest daughter. He lived now in Galbadia working with his wife as a gunblade instructor at the military academy.

Laura and Almanzo appeared at the front steps and formally greeted the king and queen wishing Amelia a happy birthday. Zel and Amelia smiled then they reached out their arms to embrace Laura and Almanzo. Laura had always been special to them and they often treated her like their own child. They had extended this treatment to her whole family. Laura explained she was in Orange Grove for the day visiting with Aurora. The two women had recently returned from a trip to Galbadia to visit Aurora's brother.

"Aurora is out in the fields! You know how much she likes to walk amidst the corn stalks," Laura announced with a smile. Phil blushed a little and looked away. It had been amidst her favored stalks that he had first kissed Aurora just before he left on his adventures.

"She already knows you're coming," Laura added as she led everyone inside. They walked through the house as Zel and Amelia inquired of Stephen – Aurora's older brother. Philip listened to none of it! He just wanted to get to Aurora. Seeing her again was all he cared about now! They walked in to the backyard as Aurora emerged from the corn field. Phil stood still watching her gracefully step into the backyard. The soft tinkling of the little bells tied to her wrists aiding her in navigating the backyard towards the group.

"Good Morning your highnesses," Aurora greeted elegantly bowing gracefully. Her brow furrowed in puzzlement.

"I thought Phillip would be coming too," she wondered aloud looking in the direction Phillip was standing in. That's when Phil realized how much everything about his shape had changed. Aurora can see with the sound waves of the bells she carries so she could see only shapes no specific details. So because he had changed so much Aurora would not recognize him until he spoke.

"It's me Aurora! I'm home," he replied quickly moving towards her. In his mind everyone else had disappeared. Her frown changed quickly to a smile as her hand reached up to touch his face.

"Phillip! You've changed so much!" she noted cheerfully running her hands through his hair and then and then back down to his face. He smiled softly and touched her face. The adults took that as their cue to leave them alone. Quietly, they returned to the house.

"Only on the outside…" he added softly and pulled her close to him. Aurora smiled at him as he pulled her chin up to kiss her…

Phil regaled Aurora with the stories of his adventures. She absolutely loved the sound of the new bell and Phil blushed deeply as she attached bell to the clasp of her cloak. She didn't care that he had not found a cure for her eyes. She told him she was just glad he had come back to her in one piece. She was glad to see he had managed to bulk up during his travels. She had always worried that he was too skinny.

"Well I was actually able to enjoy my meals for a change!" he laughed. Aurora laughed. She could understand. It must've been difficult to enjoy food at a table were everyone is acting like ravenous cannibals! She could never understand how Master Greywords was never bothered by it.

"What about you? Did you have any adventures while I was gone?" he asked and was surprised when Aurora smirked mischievously. She reached into a pocket in her robe and pulled out a small hour glass. It didn't seem extraordinary.

"As a matter of fact I did!" she replied with a sneaky little smile. She explained she had gone to a place where it was rumored that an ancient powerful Pharaoh from the Desert Kingdom had once experimented with time. Her and her mother found a hidden vault filled with Time Tokens. That is what the device was called.

"Almost all of them were destroyed though, except for this one. The temple had collapsed from some natural disaster and old age many centuries ago," she explained. It took her a while to decipher the hieroglyphs but she knew now how to activate the device.

"However it can only be used once! It can take us to any day we want but we can only remain for 24 hours," she continued. The magic would expire and they would automatically return to their own time. Phillip jumped out of his seat excitedly.

"This is great!" he exclaimed but as he began planning on using it to restore her sight Aurora giggled.

"I already know where we're going," she said in a sneaky little tone, smirking.

"You do? Where?" Phil asked suspicious. Her sneaky smirk grew worrying Phil. Though she had lost the show-off, arrogant part of herself, Aurora could still be quite the prankster.

"Do you have your sword?" she asked mysteriously still grinning.

"Yea and Uncle Gourry's old armor…why?" Phil asked puzzled. She giggled excitedly and extended her hand toward Phil.

"Take my hand…you'll see…" she replied still being mysterious and sneaky. Phil just shrugged and did as his beloved asked

"This is my birthday present for you Phillip…" she added softly. She chanted a few words in a language Phil had never heard and turned over the hour glass then they were surrounded by light…

A golden glow surrounded Phillip and Aurora and they disappeared from the yard as Laura and Zel watched from inside.

"You know where their going…" stated Zel. Laura nodded. She knew quite well, they had both met her during the spell after all. Since the day Aurora lost her eyes she had been obsessed with granting Phil his greatest wish: To meet his grandfather Philionel. She had studied time magic only to find its uses limited and unavailable to anyone with less power than a dragon. It wasn't until that old peddler in Galbadia City who had sold Aurora a map to an ancient pharaoh's lab, that she finally had a break.

"The day of the Great Battle of Saillune," Laura intoned with a worried frown. Zel put a reassuring hand on his apprentice's shoulder.

"They'll be alright," Zel assured her. He had after all seen both Aurora and Phil at the battle. He had seen them talking to Phil after the battle. He had spotted the crest on the sword on young Phillip's hands… a sword that Amelia did not create until weeks after they were married. He had not known what it had all meant until the day Phil died. Phil had suspected the boy in the battle to be Zel's grandson and revealed as much to Zel on his death bed. At the time of Philionel's death they only had daughters.

"I know," Laura sighed though as a mother, she couldn't help worrying anyway. Zel smiled. It had taken years to piece everything he had learned about the mysterious boy who disappeared hours after the battle together. He knew exactly what had happened but to avoid polluting the timeline he had kept this information to himself. Aurora and Phillip would be alright. They would return safely.

"How do you know?" Amelia asked worriedly. Zel wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"Trust me…" he replied smiling. Almanzo moved towards Laura and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind his petit wife. All four of them watched the yard and waited for their children to return…

When they did return they were holding tight onto each other. Tears glistened on their cheeks even though they smiled. They all hurried out to greet them.

"Well? What did he say?" Zel asked before anyone else could ask them where they went. It was obvious to everyone Zelgadis knew where his son and Aurora had been.

"Grandpa kinda figured out we were from the future," Phil answered contritely.

"But he didn't ask us anything and we didn't tell him exactly "when" we were from," Aurora quickly added. At that moment everyone noticed the change in Aurora.

"You can see!" Almanzo declared ecstatic. He and Laura hugged their child tight and stared at her face. She stared right back.

"How?" Almanzo asked amazed.

"The spell," replied Zelgadis simply. He explained since he had cast the spell he could remember the face of every person who had answered his call. Aurora had heard his call and – even though she had not been injured in the battle – she came to join them in the light. The spell healed her burned eyes. He had known for some time that somehow Aurora would find a way to send herself into the past.

"I knew Phillip was going with her too… the sword was a dead give away. That's how Philionel figured it out huh?" Zel concluded pensively.

"You saw him… you really, really, saw him…" Amelia added with a nostalgic sigh. A tear slid down her cheek as she leaned against Zel who held her tight. They all went back inside the house. As they sat in Aurora's cozy living room they recounted their adventure as tears streamed down Amelia's face. Amelia was shocked to hear of her long gone sister.

"Gracia was there?" she asked again incredulous. Zel nodded after asking Phil to describe the woman's outfit once more he added that he thought he had met her once too.

"She had the most annoying laugh. I put her out of my mind almost immediately. I think I might have even been quite rude… I'm sorry Amelia," Zel added regretfully. He had met her in a restaurant in Galbadia while working on the gifts he had made in the creation temple for Amelia's 21st birthday. She had insinuated herself onto his table and began asking questions about his work. Zel – ever the suspicious type – blew her off and stomped away.

"I'm sorry Amelia," he repeated squeezing her hand.

"It's ok. She made her choice," Amelia reassured him though she was glad to hear her sister was alright. It moved her to know that Gracia had actually been there too. Aurora and her mother got up to go to the kitchen once Lina and Gourry joined them. While Amelia caught her friends up on recent events Phillip pulled his father aside.

"Look what I found," Phillip began as he pulled from his pocket the little ring Zel had made all those years ago. Zel smiled.

"So that's what happened to it," Zel replied with a nostalgic smile. He picked it up and examined it. He walked over to Amelia and her breath caught in mid-sentence. She had always felt a little guilty for losing that ring. She was glad that it returned to her unharmed in the hands of her son. She smiled up at her boys.

"But you know I don't think this ring belongs to me anymore," Amelia added handing it back to her son glancing meaningfully in the direction Aurora had gone. He blushed slightly and getting a nod of approval from his father he made his decision. Aurora came back in with a fresh pot of tea, some snacks and a homemade birthday cake. With their hunger sated by palace cuisine Lina and Gourry did not demolish the snack dishes but didn't refuse the cake either. Eventually Phillip began to pull Aurora back outside.

Aurora stopped for a moment. She pulled a small velvet box from her robes and knelt in front of Amelia.

"I have not forgotten… Happy Birthday your highness," she said softly and elegantly offering up the small box. Amelia smiled as she accepted her soon to be daughter in-law's gift. She opened it and her saw a tear shaped crystal glittering in a blue velvet backdrop.

"It's beautiful…Where did you get this?" Amelia asked sensing the small item had a strong magic attached to it.

"Please touch it and you'll see," Aurora replied. Amelia did so and a bubble of smoke appeared in front of her. An image appeared in the smoke and Amelia's heart leaped.

"Goodbye kids! Peace, justice, happiness and love be with you both," boomed Philionel's image from the smoke-screen. His booming laughter filling the room in the silence that followed. The image ended and the smoke screen dissipated.

"Now there's a laugh you never forget," Gourry said softly. Lina merely nodded wiping a tear from her face. Amelia sobbed as she reached out to embrace the girl tightly. Aurora softly explained that any time she wanted to see the image she just had to touch the little crystal. Amelia was moved beyond words and merely nodded as Aurora continued explaining she had captured the memory within one of Philionel's tears. Amelia finally released sobbing softly and holding the small box close to her heart.

"Thank you," she managed amidst sobs. Zel wrapped his arms around his wife and gave his son a firm nod of approval. Phillip pulled Aurora away as their families remained in the living room. Amidst her beloved cornstalks Aurora would say yes to Phillip's proposal and accept the little engagement ring created by Master Greywords so many years before…

And they lived happily ever after…

The End