~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With Belief as our Power and Love our Strength

Going underwater brought the Magic Knights out of their trance. Hikaru held her breath, then let it out in a surprised gasp as she realized her clothing had vanished when she had plunged under. Then she was again shocked as she realized she could breath underwater, and curled up in a ball around herself, looking around.

"Hello?" she called out.

"Hikaru?" Umi’s voice replied. "Hey! What happened to my clothes?" she shrieked.

"Umi? Hikaru?" Fuu inquired. "I can hear you, but I can’t see you…"

"I can’t see much of anything," Hikaru admitted.

"Where are we?" Umi moaned.

"I knew that!" Umi replied. "Hikaru, you don’t have to tell me—"

"I didn’t say anything," Hikaru said.

"You didn’t? Fuu—"

"It wasn’t me."

"Oh, this is too weird!" Umi cried. "I hate being naked!"

"Who are you?" Hikaru asked.

"What do you want?" Fuu added.

"What are you talking about?" Umi demanded.

"The son of Cressida," a different voice replied. Miata, the Byrde of the Forest of Song. "But there are other things to deal with. You remember when Guru Clef taught you how to feel where your magic is?"

"How did you know—" Hikaru began.

"Never mind that now. Just feel where your magic comes from, and wrap that feeling around you. Unless, of course, you prefer to be naked."

Hikaru did as she was told, and felt the warmth of fire around her. It turned into a dress that shone with the intensity of flame. Umi found herself in a garment that flowed like a restless ocean, Fuu in one that seemed to drift like the breeze.

"Rayearth!"

"Selece!"

"Windam!"

The Mashin were created to destroy the Pillar—now that they have done this, what is their purpose? Miata recognized Aurora’s distaste for the Mashin in her thoughts, and shivered. She didn’t like what was going to happen next one bit.

"Time for the last test," she said.

"Now what?" wondered Hayase. "What the hell is going on?"

"Don’t ask me," Ferio said, and Ascot echoed his sentiments. The three of them looked at Clef.

"I remember Miata went there the first night we came to this forest," he said. "The Crystalline Cathedral is on the other side."

"WHAT?!?" the other three men gasped.

"You knew where this damned cathedral was all the time, and you didn’t tell us?" demanded Ferio.

"No, I didn’t!" Clef replied quickly. "Miata blocked my memory…but it all came back to me last night. But…back then I was taller…"

"This is no time to moan about your lost height!" Hayase shouted. "What is going on?"

"Hayase. Ascot. Clef. Ferio." A voice called each name, one by one. They looked up to see a specter of Cressida floating over the still lake.

"Hayase," she began. "You were brought to this world against your will. I have the power to send you back to Tokyo now, if that is what you wish."

"But--I can’t go back to Tokyo now!" Hayase replied.

"Hayase, what do you want?" Cressida asked.

"I want to fight beside Hikaru," he replied after a short hesitation. "We made a good team when we worked together. I want to be with her in Cephiro!"

"Ascot, what do you want?" Cressida asked.

"I had just found Umi, and now I’ve lost her again," he replied. "I want to make sure she’s safe, and I don’t want us to ever have to be separated again!"

"Clef, what do you want?"

"I want to know what’s going on," Clef said. "I do remember everything Miata told me now, and I remember you, Cressida. I have given magic to the Magic Knights, and they have done what they were fated to. I know that Ferio, born of both Pillar and Human blood, is the only one who can open the Cathedral.

"But why? What will happen when this Crystalline Cathedral is open? What will it accomplish?"

"Where is Umi?" demanded Ascot.

"Beneath these waters," Cressida replied simply. "Seek her, if you believe that you can save her."

Ascot rushed into the water, and Hayase looked down and sighed. "I have to go. I have to save Hikaru!" He also plunged into the lake.

"Miata…" Clef murmured.

"Go to her," Cressida said, and the Guru obeyed. She turned to look at Ferio—her son. "Ferio...what is it that you want?"

"To forget who I am," he replied. "I’ve lived a lie all my life. I want to know all of the truth—and then I want to forget it, and live the way I want to. Not as a prince, but as a simple human being."

"Ferio, are you really so unhappy with yourself?"

"Does it even matter? I’ll never be good enough for—" he cut off.

"Fuu?" Cressida asked softly. Ferio looked away angrily.

"You can’t keep this from me any longer," he began to shout, turning to look back at his mother, "so don’t try to evade the question. Who is my father?"

Cressida sighed. "Soon enough you will know," she said. "I will make sure that you meet him. But now, you must choose. Will you run away, or will you face who you truly are?" She disappeared.

Ferio was the last to plunge into the water.

Please, make the right choice, Miata prayed silently, watching the three girls in their Mashin. They are no longer needed. Remember that.

Oh, please, Miata thought at the voices of the Cathedral, give it a rest.

Miata could feel Clef coming close to her, and reached out to him. He took her hands and she pulled him beside her.

"There is one more thing I must do," she said. "And then, we will go to the Cathedral."

"Miata, I love you," he said. She smiled.

The Magic Knights and Mashin waited.

Your enemy approaches, the Mashin said as one.

"What?" Umi gasped. "But I don’t see—"

Hikaru held her sword out in front of her. "Be ready," she said. "I don’t want to be caught by surpri—"

"Ferio!" Fuu cried suddenly. There, drifting in the water, was Ferio. He didn’t look conscious. "Ferio…" she reached down to lift him back out of the water, to where he could breathe.

"What? I can’t!" she cried.

Now Umi caught sight of Ascot, who also seemed unconscious. "Ascot!" she cried out. "Ascot, please, say something! Hear me! You’re all right, aren’t you? Ascot!"

You must kill him, Selece said to her. He will cause you nothing but pain. He already hurt you deeply, when you believed that he was dead. Why endure such fear, such pain, such uncertainty? Kill him, and you never need worry about him again.

"Hayase! Wake up, please, Hayase!" Hikaru begged Hayase’s unconscious body. "Please, I’m sorry I said so many cruel things to you, just wake up!"

Kill him, Rayearth said. It was not so long ago that he was no more than a nuisance. He will become one again, an annoyance, a distraction from your duty. You will fight with your friends beside you—what do you need Hayase for? Kill him, and do Cephiro a favor.

Hikaru screamed. "I will not!"

Miata felt all this occur and braced herself. Now was the critical moment. Her heart pounded within her chest, and she gripped the magic of the Forest of Song, waiting.

"Killing Ferio-san will not make me pure," Fuu cried. "I cannot destroy these bonds to others! Love is what makes one strong, not loneliness! I could not have lived without the love of my two best friends, Umi and Fuu! And though my love for Ferio is not the same kind of love, it still makes me strong! We help each other, and do things that I could never accomplish on my own!"

"I worry about Ascot because I care for him," Umi cried. "we must take care of each other, so we can live without fear. Without him, I would feel more fear and uncertainty, and I could not fight with my whole heart for Cephiro, knowing what I had lost. I will not live without him!"

"I know that I didn’t get along with Hayase at first," Hikaru cried, "but now he has matured, just as I did when I first journeyed here. Now we are both so strong that when we are together nothing can stop us. I love my friends, but I love Hayase too, and I would never, ever hurt him! How could you ask me to do such a thing?"

"Don’t you see?" another voice cut in. Miata. "The age of the Pillars is over. Devotion to a cause—or even an entire world—is a wonderful thing, but what makes this world wonderful is the fact that we are all individuals within it. With belief as our power and love to give us strength, we each find our own way through our lives. The choice between duty and love should never have to be made by anyone. The pain felt by Emeraude—Cressida—even myself—should never have to be endured again."

--We are no longer needed,-- one of the Mashin said.

"Miata, what are you—" Clef began, and then, everything went black.

No more need for the Forest of Song, Miata thought as she manipulated several strands of power. No more need for the Mashin, a voice that was more Aurora than Miata added.

Miata let loose her magic. The Mashin disintegrated, leaving the Magic Knights intact. She used her magic to place them—and their three men—on the shore. Now each wore different clothing, chosen by the magic of the lake itself—clothing in the style of the time when the Crystalline Cathedral had been open. She and Clef stepped out together, and Miata knew that she once again wore the Byrde’s dress. Now, she accepted it.

Clef gasped at his first view of the Cathedral.

Hikaru awoke and wondered why she had become unconscious. She rolled over to see Hayase lying on the lakeshore beside her. "Hayase!" she gasped, crawling over to look more closely at him. It was strange—on this side of the lake there was no snow, or wind—the weather was as pleasant as it had been in the Forest of Song. "Hayase, are you all right?"

He coughed and looked up at her. "Hikaru!" She threw her arms around him, weeping with happiness.

"Where are we?" Umi wondered. "Oh no, Ascot!" She started for the ocean, but then saw him lying on the sand, his chest rising and falling slowly with his breath. She sat down beside him, and his eyes slowly opened. "You’re all right?" she asked him softly.

"I’m fine," he said. "Umi—may I kiss you, please?"

Umi blinked, then leaned slowly down to him, presenting her cheek. He leaned around to kiss her mouth.

Ferio and Fuu awoke facing each other.

"Are you all right?" wondered Fuu.

"I’m fine. Are you?"

Fuu nodded. "I—I want to say—"

"I’m sorry," they finished as one, and laughed at themselves.

"It’s finally almost over," Fuu sighed, sitting up. "We’re out of the Forest of Song, anyway."

"There is no more Forest of Song," Miata interrupted. "At least, there is no more magic to hold it to my power. I used its magic to destroy the Mashin."

"You destroyed the Mashin?" the three girls gasped as one.

"I couldn’t have done it if they had fought me," Miata replied with a shrug. "But they had no more purpose, so they could be destroyed."

"Still, that must have taken an amazing degree of power…" Clef said. "Miata, I have always known you were full of surprises, but this is one of the least expected."

"Now, I can get into the Cathedral on my own, but I can’t take any of you with me. Only one born of Pillar and Human blood can open the doors to all the people of Cephiro, and bring about the Return of the Priests and Priestesses who sleep there. Ferio, are you ready?"

"Ready as I’ll ever be," the green-haired swordsman replied, trying to hide his apprehension. "It seems I have no choice."

"Then we’d better go," Miata replied. "There’s the Cathedral." She pointed, and they started towards it.

"Not so fast," a voice behind them shouted. Miata looked over her shoulder to see Camaro and Camry—each carrying a laser-gun.

"Cephiro will be ours, Princess," Camry added. "Resistance is futile." He giggled, and Camaro smacked him.

"Ignore this nitwit!" he cried. "Surrender now or else!"

"To the Cathedral! Run!" Miata shouted, and Camaro and Camry opened fire.