Darkness. Sweet, ice-cold darkness. So inviting, so comforting.

If she stepped forward, she would enter it. She would enter the wonderfully desolate shadows. Oh, how she wanted to. Reaching out, she could just barely touch it. Only a bit further, and she'd be swallowed up in it.

She moved to step forward, but cast a glance over her shoulder in hesitation. The wide, cranberry eyes of the Magic Knight were behind her, wide with curiousity.

"Where are you going?" the braided girl asked her, her eyes kind. "Why are you leaving?"

But the Magic Knight would not stop her. She wanted --- no, she needed the darkness. It would make her cold, alone, and calm. So calm, so comforted. She turned away from the Magic Knight, moving forward slightly and reaching out her fingertips.

She touched it, the glorious shadows. It was icy beneath her fingers, icy and wonderful. Closing her eyes, she stepped into the darkness, feeling the wonderful chill sweep over her, the frightened call of the Magic Knight muffled by the blackness: "Presea!"

Her eyes flew open with a small gasp. Presea found herself staring up at the ceiling, a cold sweat causing her nightclothes to stick to her back uncomfortably.

The woman sat up slowly, pressing a hand to her forhead. A dream... a chilling dream. Such ebony darkness she had seen... had entered, by her own will...

No, she wanted to shake the creepy dream, not remember it more. Presea climbed out of her bed, the cool floor feeling nice underneath her bare feet. She crossed the room, picking up a brush from the dresser and pulling it through her long blond hair, gazing at her pale reflection. She realized that her hands were trembling slightly, a side affect of the chilling dream. Presea set the brush down again, took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

After a moment of quiet rest to shake the vague, creepy feeling left by the dream, Presea dressed and set out to see whether the girls from another world had awoken yet. The broad, empty halls seemed spookier than they ever had. She mentally slapped herself. Stop it, Presea, you're only freaking yourself out.

Reaching the door of the room where the girls had stayed, Presea knocked lightly and called out, "Hikaru? Fuu, Umi?"

There was the sound of footsteps before the door opened, revealing Umi, dressed in the clothes she had been wearing when they arrived the previous day. "Oh! Ohayo, Presea. Want to come in?"

The blond woman nodded, stepping into the room as Umi stood aside, closing the door behind her. Fuu standing behind Hikaru in front of the mirror, braiding the short girl's hair for her. They were both also wearing their clothes from before.

"Good morning," Presea said to the two of them, standing behind Fuu as she finished with Hikaru's hair. "How did you sleep?"

"Well, Presea-san," Fuu replied. "And you?"

"Fine," the brown-eyed woman lied. Her sleep had not been peaceful, but she preferred to keep that to herself. "Ano... wouldn't you like to change your clothes?"

"We don't exactly have any clean ones, Presea," Umi replied, flopping down in a chair nearby the dresser. "It's not like we brought anything with us."

Presea snapped her fingers. "Easily solved!" she said, crossing the room to the opposite wall. She slid back a door that the girls had noticed before but not acknowledged, revealing a spacious closet full of clothing. "Take your pick."

"Wow, Presea!" Hikaru poked her head inside the closet. "There's so many clothes!" She flipped through them, then whipped a hanger out. "Oh, you should wear this, Fuu-chan!"

"It would look cute on you," Umi agreed, observing the simple, jade-colored dress.

Fuu accepted the clothing as Umi held it out to her. "Well, there are plenty to choose from, Umi-san, Hikaru-san." She smiled. "As Presea-san said, take your pick."

Presea watched in amusement as Umi looked through the different hangers of clothing, sporadically pulling one down to show Hikaru with a "This one?". Even when Hikaru had chose a knee-length maroon skirt, her blue-haired friend continued flipping through the outfits. At long last, Umi pulled a hanger off, holding the pale, butter-colored dress in front of herself and questioning, "Does this look okay?" Her three companions nodded quickly, relieved that her seemingly endless search was over.

As the Magic Knights changed into the fresher clothes, Presea sat down on Fuu's bed, cross-legged. "Have you tried to return home yet?"

"Hai," Hikaru replied, pulling an off-white shirt over her head. "When we first got up, once we were awake. It still isn't working."

The chocolate-eyed woman sighed, unfolding her legs and standing back up as Fuu finished brushing her hair. "Would you girls like to go to breakfast? It's a little late, so most everyone has already eaten, but we can go down and there'll still be food."

"Okay!" Hikaru replied, and they followed Presea out of the room and down the spacious hallway.

As they walked, Umi questioned, "Ne, Presea, have you seen Mokona today?"

She shook her head. "No, I only just got up, too. I'm sure he's waiting for you girls --- he hasn't seen you yet on this visit, and I'm sure Mokona misses you all." She stopped as they reached a pair of tall doors, indentical to all the others in the maze of hallways. "Here we are. Let's go in." She pulled back one of the doors, opening it with a prolonged creaking sound.

The four stepped into the warm kitchen, sniffing the delicious scents that lingered in the air, coming from the ovens and stoves. "Ne, Waemi," Presea said, tapping the shoulder of a girl who appeared about thirteen or fourteen in a pale blue apron as she passed. "Could we get a late breakfast?"

Waemi smiled, tucking her shoulder-length, raven-black hair behind her ear. "Of course, Presea," she aswered. Then she peered around the woman, spying Umi, Hikaru, and Fuu. "Oh! Are you the girls from another world?" They nodded, and Waemi grinned, dashing around Presea to shake their hands. "Oh, it's an honor to meet you, really! I didn't even know you were here! Are you visiting?"

"Ano... Sort of," Hikaru replied, smiling. "It's nice to meet you, too, Waemi."

"What're your names?"

"Hikaru," the redhead replied.

"And I'm Umi, and this is Fuu," Umi added.

Waemi grinned again energetically. "It's so great to meet you! I'll get you some fresh kymarle!" She dashed off, her tan skirt billowing behind her, screaming, "Nobyre! Nobyre! You'll never guess who's here!"

Presea laughed softly, shaking her head. "That's Waemi... Come on, girls. We can sit in the dining hall."

"Actually," Fuu said quietly, "may I request that we eat in here? It's much warmer and more comfortable than the big dining hall."

The blond woman smiled at her. "Of course! There's a room to the side where the kitchen workers eat. It's nice and cozy in there. Personally," she continued, leading the girls over to a door on the far wall of the huge kitchen, "I like eating in here myself. I don't get to often, but it's so much nicer. The dining hall is awfully big and drafty." There were a few rows of long tables surrounded by chairs in the room, and she gestured to one near the wall. "We can sit here."

The four sat down in the wooden chairs, and Umi looked around the small room, smiling. "It is nice in here. I wouldn't mind eating here every day."

"You could," Presea said. "Nobody would mind, and the kitchen workers would love your company." She smiled. "They might protest and say you'd be lowering yourselves to eat among them, seeing as you're Magic Knights and all, but I know they'd enjoy having you around."

"Well then, I guess we'll eat in here," Hikaru said with a smile.

A minute or so later, Waemi came into the room with another girl who looked her age, a little shorter with a long flaxen braid. They were carrying two plates each as they came over to the table.

"See?" Waemi whispered as she set the plates she carried in front of Hikaru and Fuu. Her friend stared with wide green eyes as she set the other two plates in front of Umi and Presea.

"I'm Nobyre," she said quietly. "It's very nice to meet you."

Fuu smiled. "It is nice to meet you as well, Nobyre-san."

"Oh, no, just Nobyre!"

Hikaru grinned. "It's no use. Fuu-chan refers to everyone politely."

Nobyre and Waemi were both grinning from ear to ear in delight. Someone bellowed for them to come back, and they bid farewell to the Magic Knights, waved a goodbye at Presea, then dashed back into the kitchen.

Umi smiled. "They seemed awfully nice," she said, picking up a hot cake made of whitish bread with honey drizzled on top, biting into it. "Mm..."

"Try the kymarle," Presea suggested, motioning to some kind of meat spread with a yellow sauce. "It's very good."

Hikaru picked up her fork, slicing a piece off of the soft meat and bringing it to her mouth. She chewed it, then swallowed, beaming. "Oishi!"

Trying the kymarle also, Fuu nodded in agreement. "It is very good."

"Told you so." Presea smiled, lifting one of the honeyed cakes to her mouth.

"Oh, it smells wonderful," Fuu sighed, sniffing a small white and yellow flower. She was standing out in one of the flower gardens surrounding the castle, Ferio by her side. He was showing her the different flowers that were being grown by someone named Hamen, the tender to the garden they were in.

"This is a kasihele," the amber-eyed prince continued. He picked one of the pale viridian blossoms and turned to Fuu, tucking it behind her ear. He smiled, adding, "It goes well with your clothes."

She smiled back at him, the sunlight dancing off her emerald eyes. "Kasihele... I'll have to remember that," she said softly.

"I'm glad you're staying for a while," Ferio said, brushing a strand of golden hair away from her face and letting his fingertips rest on her cheek, "even if it isn't by choice."

"Now Ferio," she reprimanded playfully, "you know that I'd gladly stay here even if not by choice."

"Suuure..."

"Ferio!" Fuu laughed, squirming as he grabbed her in his strong arms. "Let go!"

"Nope! You're aaaall mine!" Ferio laughed too, pulling her into a tight hug. He tripped over the bottom of his long cape as the blond girl continued to squirm, causing him to fall back and crash into a bed of azalea-like flowers. "Kuso... Hamen won't be happy about this." He grinned at Fuu, who had fallen half on top of him. "Hello, beautiful."

"You flirt." She smiled, leaning down and kissing him lightly. "Now you smell nice." Fuu rolled off of him, lying down on her back in the flowers beside Ferio. "So... You say that Hamen-san won't be happy that we are messing up the flowers?"

He grinned. "Screw Hamen. Being with you here is worth the yelling I'll get." He found her hand, twining their fingers together and gazing up at the bright blue sky. "You're so amazing... You helped make that blue sky."

"In a sense, perhaps." Fuu squeezed his hand. "But I'd almost rather have it stay stormy if it meant erasing all the pain it caused me." She clamped her other hand over her mouth. "Gomen nasai. That sounded very selfish."

Ferio rolled onto his side, propping himself up with his elbow. He slipped his hand out of hers and pressed his finger to her lips softly. "Shh... Don't remember things that cause you grief. Instead, look at the present, and be happy." He titled his head to one side. "For me?"

She smiled. "Anything for you." She shook her head. "You know, you sounded like a fortune cookie there."

"What's a fortune cookie?"

"Never mind, Ferio... Never mind."

Hikaru scuffed her foot in the grass. "I'm getting kind of worried..."

"Don't worry, hon!" Caldina reassured, her arm around the short girl's shoulders. "Lantis's okay by himself. I'm sure he's fine, where ever he is."

The braided teenager averted her eyes, staring down at the grass beneath her feet. "But I still worry..."

The Chizetan woman smiled. "I'm tellin' ya not to worry, and I mean it. He's okay, I know it." She looked up, blinking with bright blue eyes. "Look, it's that powderpuff."

Hikaru lifted her gaze, and a white, bouncy object came into her field of vision, crying "Puu!" and bouncing towards her. "Mokona!" she cried, opening her arms as the creature leapt into them. "I missed you, Mokona!"

"Puu puu!"

Hikaru smiled, hugging the fluffy white thing to her chest. "It's good to see you, too. You haven't been around."

"Puu."

"We're stuck here, Mokona. We can't go home --- nothing works." She looked down at Mokona, who was still grinning. "Well, you don't look worried."

"Puu puu-puu."

Caldina shook her head. "How can you understand that thing? All it does is 'puu'."

"I understand animals easily."

"Is Mokona an animal?"

Hikaru laughed nervously. "Ah... I dunno." She looked at the rabbit-eared creature. "Are you an animal, Mokona?"

"Puu-puu, puu puu."

"Well?" Caldina asked, her hands on her hips.

The cranberry-eyed girl laughed nervously again. "Ano... He... says he's hungry..."

"Well, doesn't that figure." Caldina shook her head, her cotton candy-colored ponytail bouncing from the movement. "You're jus' a li'l ball of puff, ain't ya?" she asked, poking Mokona. "Nothin' more?"

"Puu."

It was close to sunset when Lantis reappeared. Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi had already eaten dinner with the kitchen workers --- much to their delight, especially Waemi and Nobyre --- and the rest of the inhabitants of the huge building were nearly finished with their meal in the dining hall. The Magic Knights had been on their way back to their room to get to bed early, so they wouldn't be late for breakfast again in the morning.

Passing the huge doors that stood at the front entrance to the castle, Fuu glanced out one of the circular windows at the door's side and gasped. "Hikaru-san, it's Lantis-san!"

"Lantis? Is he okay?" Hikaru rushed to the window, letting out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good, he's all right."

She waited with her friends inside, standing by the window as the door opened slightly and the tall, dark-haired man stepped inside, his footsteps echoing through the halls. As he quietly shut the door behind him, he noticed the three girls standing at the window. He turned to them, noting the expectant look on Hikaru's face, and asked, "Yes?"

"Are you okay?" she asked softly, although she had already confirmed to herself that he was. The redhead stepped towards him, looking up at him in worry. "You've been gone a whole day's worth..."

Lantis knelt down in front of her, bringing himself to eye level with the short girl. He rested his hands on her shoulders, responding, "I'm fine."

Hikaru's eyes filled with happiness. "I was worried about you!" She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tight. "Don't do that again, okay? Don't just vanish without a trace. I didn't know if you were all right or not."

He smiled slightly, resting his hand on the back of her head. "I assure you... I'm all right."

"Awwww..." Hikaru glanced back over her shoulder, only to see Fuu smiling and Umi, who had "Awwww"ed, grinning at her. A slight blush crept across Hikaru's face, and she released Lantis from her embrace.

"Ano... We're going to be in Cephiro for a while, Lantis," she explained, tugging on her braid. "We... can't seem to be able to get home. We don't know why."

Lantis's expression faltered for a moment, but only an instant. Then he said, "Well, I hope you have somewhere to stay. I'd be the one worried if you didn't."

Hikaru smiled. "No, we're staying here. It's okay."

He nodded. "All right. I'll see you tomorrow, then." Lantis smiled at her warmly, then stood back up and headed off down one hall.

As the redhead stared after him, she heard Umi mutter, "He must really like you, Hikaru. I don't recall ever seeing that guy smile."