An-This is the start of a companion piece for my other fanfic "Ice and Snow." If you have not read "Ice and Snow" you will not know the characters, but if you would like to read anyways all you need to know is that this is the final moments of a Pillar previous to Emeraude. It's full of run ons and fragments, forgive me, I took some creative license. It's a look into the past for a few OCs of mine, it will only be a few chapters, one for each OC.

For those of you who are readers of "Ice and Snow" if chapter nine, "A Painful Reality" made you sniffle a bit you better grab a tissue box now. Don't say I didn't warn you.

extra note-I did orginaly use 'Daddy' when i first uploaded but it seemed too informal and also this is set a long time ago and 'papa' seemed to fit better.

I do not own Rayearth, but Camry an Avalon do belong to me.

italics-means its a flashback.

:Silence:

"So far away from where you are
These miles have torn us worlds apart
And I miss you
Yeah, I miss you
And I wish you were here

I feel the beating of your heart
I see the shadows of your face
Just know that wherever you are
Yeah, I miss you
And I wish you were here

I miss the years that were erased
I miss the way the sunshine would light up your face
I miss all the little things"

It had been centuries, no in reality it had been millennium, since he'd seen her last, held her in his arms. So many years since he'd felt the warmth of her tiny body as it shook with sobs.

In reality he'd lost track of the passage of time, it was impossible to recall how long it'd been. So he didn't try anymore, he found it simpler to count the number of Pillars that had reined since her.

Seven.

There had been seven reigning Pillars since his Avalon.

Not counting the fire knight of course.

Even now he could still see her face, forehead wrinkled in agony, tears streaking her pale cheeks. Grey eyes dark like a stormy sky as her grief poured out endlessly. Her pain so deep, her despair so great, a heart so bitter that he could nearly taste it.

And even now.

His hands clenched involuntarily.

Every step. Every mirror. The pattern of the tile floor in the hallway. The gems incrusted into the heavily ornate doors to her throne room. The tremble from the thunder that seemed to shake the very foundations of Cephiro as the doors opened for him.

Everything. He remembered, remembered as if it had only been a day.

"Avalon" he nearly choked on her name as he swallowed the lump in his throat.

He remembered.

"Father" Her voice was as soft as he remembered, though he had not heard it since she had taken the throne, but it was somehow different as well. Strained, tired, tired in a way rest could not heal.

"I've summoned them." The sentence hung in the air.

"I know" he said softly. Staring at the broken girl that was his daughter he faintly wondered if he'd let her down some how. If he'd done something wrong that had caused him to fail in protecting her from this fate.

His child stared at him almost unseeing. She no longer wore her traditional blue gown and had changed to a grey dress, more a shroud than anything else.

Silence reined for a short moment.

"Papa…" Fresh tears welled in her eyes.

That was all he could take. He strode forward quickly stepping up onto the dais that contained her water mirror. To hell with formalities, nothing was going to stop him. He reached down and gathered her up into his arms. She had always been tiny, as a child he'd lovingly called her his 'little fairy'. Such a tiny thing, his little one.

She would always be his little one.

"Shh" he hushed her gently as she wept into his chest. Oh, how she cried so hard. The worst cries in all the worlds for she made no sound. Her sorrow was so great, her anguish so profound, that no sound, no human utterance, no wail was capable of conveying her agony.

So there was only silence.

He shifted her frail form so she was entirely enveloped in his arms and he held all her tiny weight. One hand gently stroked her soft brown curls.

Why couldn't it have been different?

Why did it have to end this way?

Little hands gripped at his tunic.

"I'm sorry, if only I were stronger. If only I could hold on…but I can't. I just can't." She gasped for words, "I just want it to end, oh Gods just make it end! It hurts too much to live…I don't want to anymore. I do not really live, I only exist." She had lifted up her face for a moment but now it dropped back into the warmth of his shirt. "Papa…I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry…" she murmured over and over again as tremors shook the ground and sky.

They were coming.

"You're not weak little one." He whispered gently, "You have never been weak. You were always so strong, so strong that we didn't see when you started to break. I'm the one who should be sorry, I couldn't protect you…"

A tremendous shutter passed though the castle as the Magic Knights shattered the protective barrier around it. Hurrying to a fate they too would soon wish they could escape from.

He crushed her to him, wanting to hold on, even though he knew he would have to let go. He felt the beating of her heart double as she closed her eyes tightly. As he felt the approach of a parents' worst nightmare he fought with the urge within him to stay, to protect her, as he had always done before.

"Papa…" she looked up to him once more and smiled just a little, once more just for him. "I love you papa, always." She gently pulled from his arms.

It took all his will not to pull her back, it took all his strength to fight against the instinct to not let go of all his heart wanted to protect. He reached out and brought his forehead to rest against hers. "Always"

She seemed to fight her own urge to run back into his arms, like the scared child she really was, before she could give in to it she turned and ran. Ran to her fate and didn't look back because she knew if she looked back she would run to him. She'd run to him and he would protect her, he'd fight them for her and he'd die for her.

And she couldn't bear that.

So she ran down the hallway to her Knights.

Camry watched her go, watched the most precious thing to him go…and never come back.

"Avalon…" hands clenched tightly.

"Please…" he whispered gently.

"be free."

And there was silence and nothing more.