This is a story I've wanted to finish for a long time, but college puts a serious dent in my writing capabilities, and so I've pretty much abandoned it. But no longer! I've revamped the story, edited it, and suited it for my newer style of writing. It's been a few years since I last worked on this story, and you'll probably be able to tell by the later chapters that my writing style has changed somewhat. Anyway, enjoy! I plan to finish it very soon!

Disclaimer: I do not own these puppets. Unfortunately.

Notes: This follows the story line of Rayearth pretty much, Cephiro and Earth are still two separate worlds. Fuu, Hikaru, and Umi are all about 22 or 23 in this story. Clef, much like Ascot in the series, has decided to revert to his original form, or even his OAV form, because its far more delicious. Also, a few characters in this story are a bit OOC, like Hikaru and Clef, and Fuu to some extent as well. Hikaru and Fuu are a little more fiery, and Clef is a bit less patient. Eagle is alive and the Knight are aware that Sierra is in fact Sierra and not Presea.

I've also incorporated a few things from the OAV into the story. For instance, the Magic Knight's mashin's are often referred to as deities, and all three girls have their ovum gems embedded in the backs of their hands.

Enjoy, I'm very excited about this story, I have a lot of good ideas for it and I can't wait to finish it. Read and Review!

CHAPTER ONE: The Day Shift

It was a beautiful day in Cephiro… sitting out in one of the palace courtyards, Umi observed the bleeding colors of the sunset sky with a sense of detachment, and happiness at returning to her true home.

"Umi-chan, I'm so glad you've come back to us!" exclaimed an excited Caldina as she pulled her blue-haired friend into a tight hug. Her veils and jewels floated and glistened in the evening light, as did her olive skin, skin which Umi had always thought was so beautiful…

Fuu, Queen of Cephiro, sat beside Umi on the edge of the fountain staring out over the courtyard with a smile on her face. "I'm glad too, Umi," she said.

Umi smiled as Fuu enclosed her hand in hers. "Your baby is so beautiful," she said, watching the small boy of two playing idly on the stones before her. "I'm sorry, Fuu-chan… I know it's been hard with Ferio away in war…"

Fuu nodded and smiled at her young son, who had looked up from her play and began watching the women.

"How is Hikaru's pregnancy going?" Umi asked politely.

"Oh, she's in her fifth month, I believe." The Queen grinned. "She's so tiny, her stomach doesn't seem to fit her body anymore." The two women giggled together.

Umi stirred in her sleep. The feeling of the dream very suddenly changed.

"It's been so long since you've seen Clef, hasn't it?" said Fuu.

Umi's felt her chest tighten, felt her hand being squeezed by Fuu's. "I don't care about Clef…" said the girl, feeling flustered and hot.

Fuu stared unblinkingly. "Oh, Umi-san. That's a lie, and you know it."

"Fuu, I—"

"It's not a secret, you know," said the Queen. "We all know what you're hiding."

Umi was becoming feverish. "Hiding?" she repeated hoarsely.

"It's obvious."

"I'm not… hiding…"

Fuu released her hand.

"Everyone knows. Everyone knows your little secret and you can't stop him…"

"No," Umi groaned, feeling her body grow hot. Something inside of her wrenched and she screamed and clutched her belly. Fuu merely watched as the blue haired girl tumbled off of the side of the fountain and onto the hard ground below, clutching herself and wailing. Her hands were covered with blood and when she raised them to her face she screamed and screamed and screamed. Everything grew dark.

And then she heard Fuu whisper with a dreadful, almost evil finality. "You can't hide it for long."

"Not for long…"

Umi awoke to find herself sitting upright in bed, covered in a fine layer of sweat, breathing raggedly as if she'd run a marathon. The blankets lay thick and tangled around her legs, damp with perspiration. An all too familiar knife of pain shot through her abdomen. She grimaced and hugged her knees. Cramps.

The blankets around her legs were growing hotter and more uncomfortable by the minute, but Umi could hardly move under the bloody-damned curse of her womanhood firing up in her stomach. A heating pad would have been nice if Umi didn't already feel like she was a few inches from the sun. Am I ill? she wondered, pressing a palm to her forehead. No fever… but she still felt like hell. Ever since Chiharu had come those cramps had been horrible. Oh, god damn her uterus to hell…

She reached up blindly through the dark to pull the chain for the fan, swearing she'd go down to the kitchen and make a Midol paste out of every last pill she had and just inject it straight into her stomach… and then, of course, realizing that only rabies shots went in the stomach and it would hurt and… and, well, it was just a crazy idea… She kicked the nasty blankets away from her leg and leaned forward to rub her aching feet. Those long hours at the hospital were really starting to take a toll on her. She hadn't gotten home that night until after midnight. Poor Lena; Umi would make sure to treat her to a fancy lunch or something soon just for the amount of time she spent babysitting Chi.

It had been a long time since she'd thought of that day in Cephiro but she did remember…did remember Fuu's children. But strange, she dreamt that Hikaru was pregnant. Hikaru was never pregnant, at least not to her knowledge. Pillar, it had been so long now… that whole world seemed completely alien now. For all Umi knew, Hikaru could have had twelve kids since she'd been gone. She had no contact with that world whatsoever. Umi chewed her fingernail. That was a bad one, she thought to herself. Certainly she'd dreamt of Cephiro before, nearly every night, and often, the dreams turned bad, almost nightmare-like. But this one… well… it was one of the worst yet…

The young woman groaned and pulled her blankets back. Oh, yes. That voice… And again, the chilling voice of Queen Fuu floated through her head. Umi shuddered.

Suddenly, a small voice floated in from the hallway outside. "Mom?" it said. A rattling and pulling sound, followed by the telltale squeak of the door opening and the knife-shaft of light that pierced the darkness of her bedroom told Umi that she was obviously not the only one awake in the house. A tiny blue head popped into the doorway.

"Mommy?" again.

Umi rubbed her eyes and peered through the darkness at her daughter, four years old now, god time had gone by so quickly…she smiled at her little girl and held out her arms. The child obeyed and padded across the carpet to her mother, climbing over the edge of the bed.

"Hi sweetie," Umi cooed as she caught her baby up in a small hug. She began to stroke the child's her soft blue hair, only a shade darker than her own, and with a hint of ocean-green. "Is it morning already?" she asked.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," said the little girl into her mother's chest. Umi looked over at the clock. The clock read 4:30. Wa-a-a-a-ay too early.

"Chi, it's still too early baby, morning isn't for a few hours, why don't you go back to sleep?"

"I don't wanna go back to sleep," said Chiharu in her small baby voice.

Umi sighed. "Well do you want to sleep with me until breakfast time?"

"Okay…" said the baby as she snuggled up into her mothers arms. Umi patted her head and kissed her soft hair, then lay back on her pillow and struggled to go back to sleep. The baby kept squirming in her arms and whimpering, but that wasn't what was keeping her from sleep. It was that voice… that horrible ominous voice…

"You can't hide it for long, Umi, not for long…not for long…"

Umi balanced the cordless phone against her shoulder and looked at her watch. "Can you be here at 8:30?" she asked the phone. Her regular babysitter and one of her best friends, Sao Lena, laughed and assured her that she could. Umi nodded and opened the refrigerator. "Well I'm feeding her right now so you won't have to, and I'll have to leave at least by 8:45…"

"Mama, breakfast!" said the little girl from her high chair.

Umi switched the phone to her other ear and popped the small waffle out of the toaster and put it on a small plate. "Lena, I'll need you to bring her to the park today, if that's all right, she hasn't been in a while and she loves to go, or you could bring her to the zoo, I could give you my zoo pass…" she spread butter onto the small waffle and reached for the syrup. "I'll be home early today because I wanted to take her to that new kid's pizza place they just opened on the other side of town and—"

"Mommy breakfast!!" Chiharu urged her mother again.

"Okay baby, okay…" Umi poured a little syrup on the waffle and quickly began to cut it into tiny pieces. "Hold on…" she said into the phone. She placed the plate in front of her daughter and smiled. "Better?"

"Yes."

"Alright…" Umi continued. "Well I'll definitely be back for 4 o'clock and so you don't have to feed her dinner, I gotta go though, so, remember, I packed all her things and I'll see you in a few. Bye!"

"Mommy, you done?" asked Chi through a mouthful of waffle.

"Yes baby, eat all your waffle." Umi smiled and moved behind her daughter, fixing her silky hair. "Guess whose coming to see you today." Chi muffled something between bites and shrugged her shoulders. "Well," Umi began, "I just talked to Miss Lena and she's gonna come play with you today while I goes to work!"

"Miss Lena!" Chiharu exclaimed.

"Yes ma'am, and she might take you to the park today, or maybe to the zoo! Would you like that?" Chiharu nodded and ate the rest of her waffle while her mother stroked her hair. It was knotted and tangled, typical of any four year old, but strikingly beautiful nonetheless.

She had always thought Chi had such beautiful hair, long and silky and perfectly straight, like her own, but with a hint of curl around her face. The color was like her own, just a bit too green to be inherited from her side of the family. She pulled a few strands through her fingers and sighed. "Chi, how did you get your hair color, honey?"

Chiharu, busy with her breakfast, did not understand her mother's question and therefore ignored it. Umi smiled and smoothed out the blue-green strands when she noticed something strange. She parted Chi's hair slightly and peered down at the roots. It looked as if the hair was slowly starting to change colors. She'd heard that baby's hair sometimes did that, as they grew older. The hair was turning bluer at the roots with no more hint of green, similar to Umi's. Almost, but not quite. A bit too blue, or maybe too dark?

Actually, Umi thought it's almost lavender…

Her eyes widened. Lavender.

"Must you go, Ferio?"

The King of Cephiro snuggled closer to his wife and buried his nose in her neck. "Yes, love," he whispered huskily.

Fuu pouted her lips. "But you've only been back for a month. Do you really have to leave tomorrow? So soon?" She put her arm around her husband's shoulder. "What will the children think?"

"They're four and six. I think they'll handle it well enough."

"You know, Gwynnie always misses you so when you leave. She wakes up in the night crying for you."

Ferio sighed. "I know that." He exhaled and began to gently kiss Fuu's neck. "I'll miss you…" he whispered.

Fuu turned to face him. "I'll miss you too, love…" She kissed his cheek and rolled away from him to climb out of the bed. Slipping on a robe, she made her way across the room to the bookshelf. "I keep this, you know, to help me in the lonely nights when you're gone."

Ferio watched her pull a small object from an ornate box on the bookshelf. He smiled. It was the communicator he'd given her when they'd first met.

"Yes," Fuu said, "I still keep it."

"I knew you did," Ferio said, reaching for her. "You never throw anything away."

"Don't tease," she giggled, sliding back into bed. She clutched the communicator closely. "It doesn't work anymore."

"Oh?"

"No," she sighed, snuggling close to her husband. "I often speak into it when you're gone, but you never reply."

Ferio wrapped his arms around his wife. "I no longer keep the receiver. I don't need to. I can be with you any time I want now."

"Then why do you have to leave me?" Fuu said desperately. "Why can't you send Lantis or Lafarga in your stead? They're both equally powerful mage knights, and loyal to you as no other men are! Your children cannot live without a father, Ferio!"

"Hush, hush love…" he soothed. Fuu buried her nose into his chest and blinked back tears. "You know I'll be back as soon as I can," he said, wiping her eyes with a thumb. Fuu sighed and allowed Ferio to kiss her. Her complaints would do nothing. They never did. She decided that she'd enjoy having this night with him. Ferio pulled Fuu closer to him and kissed her passionately, and she let him love her, and she was happy.

"Hello?" said a voice from the hallway. Sao Lena stepped into the hall when no one answered her and she sighed. "Umi-chan, I'm here!"

"Lena!" Umi shouted from somewhere inside the house. "I'm fixing my hair, come on in!"

"All right!" Lena shouted back. She closed the door behind her and entered the spacious living room. She dropped her purse onto the sofa. "Where's my Chiharu?" she said loudly.

A hyper screaming little girl flew into the room and wrapped herself around Lena's right leg. "Lena! Lena!" shouted the four-year-old happily. Lena bent to pick the squirming child up and laughed.

"Hi sweetie, good to see you too!"

Chiharu giggled and continued to repeat the taller woman's name and clutch at her neck.

"Lena, you're early!" Umi said as she entered the living room powdering her nose. She smiled and hugged her friend. "Thanks so much for coming today, it's a huge relief. I hate to leave the poor baby in that day care."

"Oh, it's no problem, don't worry about it, me and Chiharu always have so much fun, right sweetheart?" Chiharu giggled and nodded. Lena watched Umi pack her things for work and shifted Chiharu's weight from one arm to the other. "Long night last night?" she asked.

Umi groaned. "Oh, you have no idea. I think I was on my feet all night. All night! And a patient refused to let me give him a shot and I had to involve the head nurse and eventually the doctor, and oh, it was a nightmare."

"You look tired."

The blue-haired woman shrugged it off and grabbed for her purse. "Well, the B-A-B-Y woke me up at 4:30 this morning wanting breakfast."

"Mommy, what's B-A-Y?"

"Nothing, bebz," Umi said quickly. She stood up, straightened her uniform and gave Lena a tired smile. "Thanks, Lena."

Lena smiled in return and held Chiharu out for her mother to grab. Umi took her daughter in her arms and hugged her tight. "I'm off to work, ok Chi? I love you."

The little girl began to fuss. "Mommy, stay!" she whimpered. Her face grew red and she began to sob.

Umi kissed her small forehead. "You be a good girl today, ok? Will you be a good girl for Miss Lena?" Chiharu sniffled and pouted her lip, but nodded in submission.

"Good girl." She kissed her forehead again and set her down. "I'll be back soon, okay doll?" Umi looked up at Lena and smiled. "Thanks again, Lena, this is such a huge help to me."

"Oh, you can call me anytime, I have my new night job now so I'm free all day!" she shooed Umi out the door. "Now hurry or you'll be late. Call if you need anything, bye Umi!"

Umi waved as she rounded the corner to make her way towards the train station, conveniently located very close to her house. Umi disappeared and Chiharu stood next to Lena in the doorway, shouting her good-byes. Lena smiled and scooped the little girl into her arms. "Come on, sweetie-pie." She said. "Let's get you cleaned up and go to the park!"

"Park!" Chiharu repeated excitedly. Lena giggled and brought the baby inside, shutting the door behind her.

Late, as per usual, Umi nearly sprinted up the long, cement walk to the hospital emergency entrance doors. She worked the very stressful job of being an ER nurse. She ran through the automatic doors and came to a stop in front of the ER main desk. A plump, brown-haired woman behind the desk was giving her a reproving look over the rims of her sparkly glasses.

Umi smiled nervously. "Only two minutes late this time, Oshii-san," she said.

Oshii-san looked at her watch and sighed. "I suppose it doesn't matter today anyway, we haven't had anyone in all morning." She raised her eyebrows and began to shuffle papers on her desk. "No one at all this morning."

Umi leaned against the desk to take off her shoe. A rock or something had found it's way in there. "It must be a record," she commented.

"Mm," replied the desk nurse.

At that moment, the automatic doors slid opened and several EMS boys rushed in carting a small boy who was clutching his mouth. "Got a bleeder, doctor!" they shouted.

Umi threw her purse over the desk. "Just put it up for me!" she shouted at the desk nurse before running to fetch the doctor.

Such was the busy day of Ryuuzaki Umi.

A very distressed Hikaru paced around in the main hall in front of the most powerful mage of Cephiro. "I don't understand it, Clef. And you know I don't like it. And quite frankly, I don't even think I believe it. I mean, it's been four years. Why can't we go back?"

Guru Clef, exasperated, put his hand on his forehead and sighed heavily. "I've told you, Princess, the portal is closed…"

"That's a lie!" Hikaru shouted, taking the Guru aback. "It must be open! How can something that huge just disappear? I've seen the books you keep in your chambers! Now what is it that you're hiding from all of us?"

"Hikaru, please…"

"Silence, Clef," said the redhead menacingly. "Shut you mouth and listen to me—"

"You dare to presume—" Clef began, rising from his chair.

"I said enough!" Hikaru shouted, balling her fists. "You gave me my magic Clef, but it is stronger now, stronger even than yours. I'm not technically the Pillar anymore but I am Princess underneath Fuu, and granted by Fuu I have power over you! Don't dare cross me, Mage!"

Clef was aghast. Never, ever had Hikaru spoken to him in such a way. He didn't even think she was capable of such venomous words…

Hikaru sighed and turned away. "Why does this always end in a shouting match between us?"

"Princess, what's wrong with you? Are you ill? What--"

"Clef, please leave me be!" Hikaru wailed with her face in her hands. "Oh I'm so sorry. I'm sorry! Something's happening to me and I don't know what it is! I've been feeling so strange and I'm overly emotional all the time! I think I'm pregnant or something and I wanted to go back to Tokyo and raise my child there…"

The Master Mage of Cephiro took his youngest pupil into his arms and began to console her, all memories of anger forgotten.

Hikaru sobbed. "I'm sorry Clef. I'm just so upset. I don't know how to tell Lantis, and we're not even married yet…"

Clef stroked her unruly hair. "I'm sure he'll be delighted, Lantis has always been very fond of children. You'll be very happy together as a family."

"But…"

"Shh…" Clef hushed the small girl, and he allowed her to weep into his chest for a while. He just kept stroking her hair and whispering encouragements into her ear.

She quieted eventually. Slowly, Hikaru pulled herself out of Clef's arms. She sniffed and turned her face away, embarrassed. "I-I think I'm going to go lie down. Ja ne, Clef." The small girl quickly turned around and exited the hallway, leaving Clef to brood over what had happened.

'Ja,' he repeated to himself amusedly. 'Even after all this time, both Hikaru and the Queen use their native tongue. Well… anyway…'

There were definitely more important things to think about.

'Like the Fire Knight being with child…'

The tired Mage allowed himself a sigh as he slid into his chair. He really was too old for all that nonsense. Somehow, Clef couldn't bring himself to think of the mechanics of Lantis and Hikaru… well… size and…

…anyway…

But what would it mean for Cephiro for Hikaru to have a child? It could have repercussions. They couldn't be casual about that sort of thing. And then all of that Tokyo nonsense. Perhaps Hikaru had brought up the subject of her old home because she wanted to return. She wanted to raise her child there…

But how could Cephiro lose another Magic Knight?

And what if she did return? What if she never came back? Just like—

Her.

­­­

Umi sat in a small chair, head tilted back and eyes closed, soaking her feet in a large bowl on the floor. She sighed heavily. Gods, that felt good.

Her feet were killing her. She was getting used to being a nurse now, always being on her feet, but the hours still killed her. She'd heard somewhere that nurses have horrible varicose vein problems as they grow older from always being on their feet. Umi scowled. She didn't particularly like the idea of her pretty legs being riddled with ugly-looking veins.

'Damn nursing job.'

A knock at the door brought her out of her daydream. Umi blinked her eyes at the floor doctor, Doctor Akagi, who was standing in the doorway, smiling.

"Tired?" he asked.

Umi nodded slowly and stared at her feet, which were beginning to wrinkle in the warm water they rested in.

"Long day," he said, "the kid with the broken ribs is still in the ICU. They're saying that an infection is taking over his lungs. He might not last the night."

Umi nodded gravely. "Is my shift almost up?" she asked.

The doctor grinned. "Actually it's been up for almost 10 minutes now."

Umi rolled her eyes. "Of course."

Doctor Akagi laughed and threw his nurse a towel. "Go on home, Umi, go take care of your little girl."

Umi plucked the towel out of the air with a smile. "Thank you, doctor," she replied. He exited the room, and Umi pulled her feet out of the water and bent over to dry them with the towel. They were very wrinkly.

"Oh, baby, please don't play in that mud, you just had a bath."

"I won't get dirty, mama," said the little blue-haired girl.

Umi sighed, unwilling to argue with her daughter. "All right, sorry," she said into the phone. "Really, Lena, I appreciate you so much, you know that, right?"

Sao Lena laughed from the other end of the line. "You've been my best friend since college, Umi. And you've been there for me in all of my own times of trouble. Why wouldn't I do the same for you?"

"I'd just hate it if you thought I was using you as a place to dump my kid when I need to work."

"As if I would ever think that, Umi. If I had a problem with it, I'd say so."

Umi sighed. "I know."

"What's Chi doing right now?" asked Lena.

"Playing in the mud like I asked her not to!" she said loudly to the girl playing in the yard. "She just had a bath, now she'll be filthy."

"She's a kid, Umi. Let her play."

"Yeah, yeah. Well listen, I'm gonna put her to bed soon. I'll see you in the morning?"

"Of course. I gotta get back to work now. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"All right Lena, ja ne."

"Ja!" replied Lena, hanging up the phone.

Umi leaned back in the white wicker chair she sat in underneath the backyard porch. It was early evening now, and she had Chiharu had both had their dinner and their baths, and Umi was exhausted from work, and Chiharu was as energetic as ever. Naturally.

"Please, Chi," she said again. "Really now baby, don't get dirty again, I'm not giving you another bath. Why don't you come sit with mommy and look at the birdies?"

"Birdies are sleeping, mama." (Baby talk. Cute.)

Umi began to retort, and then settled back with a giggle. Hell, the girl was smart. She closed her eyes and listened to the light sounds of laughter from her daughter and the gentle buzzing of locusts. The evening air was cool and moist, and luckily it was the wrong time of year for mosquitoes to come out, so she could sit in perfect comfort without being bothered by the elements of nature.

'But it's in quiet times like these that I start to remember…'

The young woman put her hand to her forehead and peered out through slit eyelids at her daughter. Every bit the image of herself right down to the eyes. She smiled and watched Chiharu walk around the backyard and bend over clumsily to pick little flowers. She really did look like him…

Ok, Umi told herself. I still haven't decided whether or not he really is the father. Sure, she really does look like him, if you look at her the right way, but then again I was with other men at the time. Or, actually, one other man that I never told him about, and that was before that messy rejection that I don't care about anymore!

When Umi looked back up at little Chiharu, she focused her attention around the shape of the little girl's eyes and mouth. She had small, pouty lips and a slight curve in the shape of her eyes. Yeah, there was no mistaking it, she looked just like Clef. Her blue eyes were same shade, right down to the hints of green around her pupils. The little girl practically had 'Guru Clef!' written all over her face. Umi shook her head. No way could she be Ascot's.

She sighed and looked down at the back of her left hand. There, as had always been since she returned, was the familiar triangular scar. It was barely visible to anyone else, but Umi could see it very plainly. She closed her palm and frowned.

"Baby, it's almost time to go inside!" said the young woman after she glanced at her watch. "Almost bedtime."

Chiharu dropped her flowers and was about to put up a fuss, but Umi gave her a stern look and the child stopped herself. She'd always been a good, calm baby. Not much of a fusser, never very colicky. She definitely didn't get that calm nature from her mother. "Mom, are you thinking?" asked Chiharu, who suddenly appeared at Umi's feet.

Umi reached down and pulled her little girl into her lap. "Yeah, I was thinking." Chiharu seemed to consider her next question very carefully, and then looked like she'd resolved not to ask at all. Umi brushed it aside. She smiled. "Bed time for little girls."

"Okay…" replied the baby, pouting her lips. She laid her head on her mother's shoulder and began to pick at the small fluff particles of her sweater. "Fuzz…" she muttered.

Umi slowly rose from her wicker chair with her baby in her arms. She gently rubbed the child's back and walked inside the house. "Do you want some milk before you go to bed, baby?" The little girl shook her head slowly and continued to pick the fluff off of her mother's sweater. Umi smiled and walked slowly through the kitchen, through the living room and down the hall to Chiharu's room.

"What pajamas would you like to wear to bed, Chi?"

"Unicorn pajamas!"

"All right." Umi walked over to the dresser. She dug around in the top drawer for a moment and pulled out a pair of pink and white pajamas with small unicorns dancing all over them. She held them up for her daughter to see. "These?" she asked. Chiharu nodded her head.

After dressing her, Umi put Chiharu down for bed. She tucked the blankets around the small blue-haired girl and smiled. "All snug?"

"Story, mama?" Chiharu asked sleepily.

Umi smiled and pretended to think very hard. "Mmm, alright, I suppose, but only a short one, okay?"

Chi nodded and snuggled underneath her blankets.

Umi leaned back in her rocking chair and put her hands behind her head. "Do you want to hear the story about Princess Hikaru and Princess Fuu?" The little girl nodded again. "Well," Umi began, "There's a land very close to this land, and it's called Cephiro."

"Ceero?" Chiharu repeated.

"Cuh-fee-ro," Umi said slowly. "Well, in Cephiro, the people all live happily because their two princesses, Hikaru and Fuu, are kind hearted princesses and keep the land in order."

"Are you a Princess too, mom?"

Umi stopped rocking to think for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. "In the story, I used to be a princess, sweetie. But that's just make-believe." The little girl just listened intently to her mother, and Umi continued. "Before the two girls were princesses, they were warriors who protected the land. And in the story, mommy was a warrior too." She lowered her voice a bit, almost afraid to talk of such things. "All of the girls had magical powers given to them by the Master Mage of Cephiro."

"Mage?"

"The Master Mage was the most powerful man in Cephiro, next to the three girls. He had very strong magic."

"Mom had magic?"

"Yes sweetheart, I had magic too."

"But only in the story?"

Umi nodded. "Only in the story. But one of the three princesses left because she fell in love with the Master Mage, and she wasn't allowed too. She was cast out of the land because she had broken sacred law, gone against the will of the Creator, and…" Umi stopped and looked at her daughter, who stared at her with wide eyes. The young mother closed her mouth. 'She doesn't understand anything I'm saying…' She cleared her throat, and continued the story in a way that the child would understand. "One of the Princesses left because she betrayed the Master Mage, and it made her sad, so she left." Umi smiled as the baby girl began to close her eyes. "The other two princesses didn't want her to leave, but she had to, and the other two princesses were very sad. Eventually, Princess Fuu became Queen Fuu because she married King Ferio. Princess Hikaru remained a princess and probably does to this day. (Though I wouldn't know it.) They all lived happily ever after, and so did the banished princess, even though she had been exiled from her world."

The baby, who was almost asleep, mumbled to herself, "Mom, you was sad when you was siled?"

"Exiled. And yes, baby, I suppose I would have been sad. But it's just a story." She smiled. "The End."

Chiharu turned over and yawned widely. "All done, mom?" she asked.

"All done."

Umi rose from her rocking chair to tuck her daughter into bed. She pulled the blankets underneath the little girl's chin and reached for a large stuffed brown bear, which Chiharu slept with every night.

"Socks!" the baby shouted.

"Oh, sorry," Umi said quickly as she rushed to the dresser and pulled out a pair of pink socks. "Better?" she asked. The baby nodded. Ever since Chiharu was about 2 years old, she absolutely would not, could not sleep without socks on. Umi forgot nearly every night, and the baby always yelled at her for it.

Umi kissed her sleeping child's forehead and exited the bedroom, turning off the light and quietly shutting the door behind her.

Once outside in the hall, Umi leaned against the bedroom door to listen. Sometimes Chiharu would cry when Umi left the room. But no, tonight, Chiharu had already fallen fast asleep, and Umi retired to her own bedroom with a sigh.

She closed her eyes as she lay sprawled out on the bed. She needed a man. Chiharu couldn't be raised without some sort of father figure. There were cute guys out there, surely Umi had not lost all of her male-snatching abilities?

'Yeah right,' Umi scolded herself. 'What guy would want to date a girl who has a four year old daughter? That's a lot of baggage.' She sighed and rolled over to bury her face in her pillow. 'I don't want to think about that now. I'll think about that tomorrow.'

She sighed into her pillow and allowed herself to drift off into sleep, with her light on and her shoes still laced around her feet.

Princess Shidou Hikaru sat impatiently staring into a crystal mirror, waiting to see an image, any image that might appear. This was the mirror that could see anything the heart desires, or so said Clef before its magic was suddenly spent. Perhaps it had been the great disturbance caused by the destruction of the underside of Cephiro, Hikaru thought. But really, it could have been anything, because whatever it was, the thing still didn't work.

Hikaru groaned in frustration. She had been gazing into the mirror for over an hour now. She knew it didn't work, but maybe, just maybe, her will could get it to work. And then she'd remember that she'd abolished the Pillar system, and she'd slam her fists onto the table.

"This is so frustrating Lantis!" she exclaimed to her tall lover who stood behind her. She hung her head and whimpered. "It's not fair…"

Lantis pulled up a chair next to Hikaru and sat close to her. "You still search for the Dragon Princess in that mirror?" he asked quietly. Hikaru nodded her head. "You know, if you can still feel her life force, then that means she is alive and well. Why do you worry so?"

Hikaru leaned back in her chair and tilted her head up to the ceiling. "I can feel it… it's always been strong. It's still strong."

"You and the Queen both worry too much, Hikaru."

"Lantis…" Hikaru said smiling. "You don't have to call Fuu 'Queen' or Umi 'Princess' or whatever, you've known us all for many years, they're just Umi-chan and Fuu-chan."

The tall Mage-Knight shifted uneasily in his chair. "I am a knight."

"I am too!" she argued playfully. "I have your status too, Lantis. The people of Cephiro just chose me to be Pillar, and that's the only difference. But now Fuu is Queen, so I went back to Magic Knight status."

"As part of my duty, I must address those of higher authority with respect."

"Oh, Lantis," Hikaru sighed. "It's just Fuu and Umi! Please refer to them that way. Fuu feels very uncomfortable when you talk to her like you're a robot."

"A what?"

Hikaru smiled. "Nevermind." She rose from her chair. "Tomorrow," she said determinedly.

Lantis also rose from his chair and stared down at Hikaru. His brow furrowed. "Tomorrow, what?" he asked.

Hikaru held her chin high in the air and flounced past Lantis towards the door.

As she was about to skip through the door, she turned and said over her shoulder, "I'm going to try to bring Umi back, Lantis."

Lantis watched the small girl flit out of the room and frowned. What was she on about? Bringing Umi back? No. That was impossible... the veil was closed. Couldn't be opened. It was closed forever now.

Wasn't it?

Umi smiled guiltily at her best friend, who stood before her in the doorway, holding her blue-haired child and grinning. "Are you sure you don't mind babysitting again, Lena?" she asked.

The blond woman shook her head and laughed. "Umi, just go already." She held Chiharu on her hip and smiled. "It's not a problem."

Umi thanked her friend while hopping on one foot to tie her left shoe. "I gotta go," she said quickly as she pecked her daughter on the cheek. "Bye baby, bye Lena, have fun!" Umi dashed out the door and turned the corner, disappearing again from view with her daughter shouting good-bye's to her as usual.

Lena stood in the doorway smiling. Umi was such a wonderful mother. It was true, Lena would rather die than see Chiharu in a daycare. She looked at the little girl in her arms fondly and began to stroke her long hair. "What pretty hair you have, Chi," she said. She looked at the hair for a few more moments when she noticed something different. Her eyebrows hit the ceiling.

"Oh, Chiharu, baby!" she exclaimed as she gently fingered a few strands of the girls hair. "Look at your hair, look at the roots! They're starting to grow more blue! Isn't that nice? Now you can have hair like Mommy's."

The little girl played with the buttons on her caretaker's shirt and did not reply, not being particularly interested in subjects such as her hair color. Lena smiled and carried the child into the house, closing the door behind her.

Queen Fuu sat on her High Throne inside the Grand Hall of the palace, legs crossed, chin in her hand, and eyes narrowed. She was staring at the pacing form of her fellow Magic Knight and princess, Shidou Hikaru. Fuu rolled her eyes to the ceiling and sighed gustily.

"Now, you want to do…what exactly?"

Hikaru stopped her pacing and approached Fuu's throne. "You heard me!" she cried. "I want to bring Umi back. She belongs here, not in Tokyo!"

Fuu held her best friend's gaze for several moments. She knew that Hikaru was completely and totally serious about what she wanted to do; it had been discussed many times before. But they had already searched all alternatives possible to open the portal, and every single attempt thus far had failed.

And yet here Hikaru was, ranting on about it like it was the easiest thing to do in the world.

Fuu pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut. "She does belong here, Hikaru-san, but please. You know she can't get back. We've been through this all before."

Hikaru, who had her hands behind her back, was smiling wickedly. "I found a way," she said quietly.

Fuu raised an eyebrow. "Karu-san…"

Hikaru pulled her hand out from behind her back and tossed a thick book onto Fuu's lap. Fuu stared at its thick leather cover. "The Chronicles of Earth and Its Mysteries," she read aloud. She lifted her eyes to Hikaru. "Was this in the library?" she asked.

"No," the redhead replied, "it was in Clef's office."

Fuu began to riffle through the pages of the book. "What was Clef doing with a book like this?"

Hikaru shrugged. "Dunno. Perhaps when we arrived all those years ago, he wanted to learn more about our world. This book must have been written centuries ago. He was just lucky enough to find it."

Fuu frowned. "Why didn't I know of this earlier?"

"Well, Clef's been keeping it in his office, and since no one really goes in there, I guess it was just forgotten. But I found it."

Fuu held the pages down and stared at one particular chapter of the book with wide eyes. "Hikaru-san, this is—!"

"Yes!" she exclaimed. She pointed to the top of the page. "Look there, it's information on the portal and how to open and close it at will!"

The Queen leapt from her throne holding the book in her hands. Her eyes were beginning to glisten with tears. "Oh my god, Hikaru… do you realize what this means?!"

The redhead raised an eyebrow and grabbed her queen's wrist. "Of course I do, silly, that's why I brought it to you!" Hikaru laughed and dragged the Queen bodily from the room, slamming the door behind her.