Shortly after Ferio had taken Fuu inside to quickly recuperate, Hikaru and Umi had donned their armor. Now they stood facing Presea, a miniature army with no desire to fight.

Presea hadn't made any move to attack yet. She was standing twenty strides away, a horrible, hateful scowl on her face. She was radiating with hostility, and with the stormy magic they had seen her use, both Magic Knights knew she could cause a lot of damage.

"But why?" Umi murmured so that Presea couldn't hear. "What happened to her to make her want to kill us?"

"Fuu-chan said that Presea seemed like she was having a... a bad headache before she disappeared," Hikaru said, her tone thoughtful. "Maybe it's some kind of mind control." She was ready to say more, but didn't get a chance, because Presea chose that moment to begin stirring up the sky.

The puffy white clouds overheard churned, growing darker as Presea held one hand up, her palm flat and her fingers splayed. The increasingly gray clouds turned an inky black; a low, ominous rumbling drowned out what Hikaru had been beginning to say as lightning flashed. Beyond the churning sea of dark clouds, the sky remained blue and calm, but over where the three stood, the sky was threatening.

Presea narrowed her fierce eyes.

Umi screamed as a bolt of lightning shot down from the stormy clouds and struck her, her powder-blue hair whipping around her face from the wind that had started up as her body went rigid, then collapsed. She supported herself on one elbow on the grass, gasping and trembling.

Hikaru bit her lip. The fight had started. If she hesitated, she and Umi would die. She had to put her feelings aside. There was no way she would let Presea kill Umi or Fuu. But what if it came down to...

No. There was no time for "what if"s. There was only time for action, no matter how heartbreaking it might be.

"Flame Arrow!"

Having gotten her strength back and her armor on, Fuu hurried down the hallway in long strides, scowling in frustration. She was near the door when she spun around, nearly shouting, "Stop following me!"

Ferio, Ascot, and the Knights' five younger friends from the kitchen, who had all been with her while she rested and were now trailing behind her in worry, came to a halt, startled. Lantis hovered behind Yeiry and Nobyre with less visible but still obvious concern.

"But Fuu," Ferio protested, "we're worried..."

"You're going to get killed! Stay inside!" She turned around, continuing down the hall.

Another growl of thunder sounded as Fuu pulled one of the doors open, coming out onto the landing. Presea, Hikaru, and Umi stood beneath a minature storm, Umi looking shaken, Presea nursing a burn on her forearm that had seared through her black shirt and glaring venomously at Hikaru.

Fuu took a deep breath, then looked over her shoulder at the group that had continued to follow her. "Go inside," she said, her voice grave. "Now."

Ferio caught her upper arm in his hand as she turned to go. "Fuu, what if you need me?"

"Ferio---"

"I'm not leaving," he said, finality in his tone.

Her viridescent gaze remained locked on his for a moment; then Fuu reached up, touching his cheek lightly with her fingertips. "Be careful," she whispered.

"I promise." Ferio kissed her lightly, then added, "You be careful, too."

"I promise." Fuu glanced over her shoulder nervously, then looked back to the five younger girls. "You girls go inside, at least. You have no way to protect yourselves."

Larumele lifted her chin. "We aren't afraid, Fuu-san."

The Knight shook her head. "You lie, horribly, Larumele-san. Please... I don't want you hurt. This isn't your fight."

Fuu spun on her heel, hurrying down the stairs, already upset at herself for lingering and not coming to the aid of her friends sooner.

The blond Knight raced towards Presea, praying silently that the woman wouldn't notice her. "Green Tornado!"

Presea was thrown to one side by the fierce winds. A wave of guilt swept over Fuu, but she pushed it aside and began to run over to her friends. She hadn't taken two steps when Presea reached out, snatched her ankle, and yanked the Magic Knight to the ground.

Getting to her knees, Presea whipped a short-bladed knife from the jewel on her glove. She pulled the girl up, wrapping her arm underneath Fuu's arm and restraining her with a hand on her shoulder, and brought the knife up swiftly. It hovered in front of Fuu, and Presea narrowed her eyes at the other two girls.

"Nothing is going to stop me from killing you," the chocolate-eyed woman said, her voice brimming with anger. "Do you hear me? You'll die!" In one motion, Presea brought the knife back and rammed it into the blond girl's middle.

"Fuu-chan!" Hikaru screamed, her teary voice mingling with Ferio's as he also cried, "Fuu!"

Presea grinned her bitter grin as Fuu collapsed, the knife still stuck in her middle. The blond woman pulled out a sword to take its place, resting the tip on the ground. "Anyone else care to---"

She was interrupted as Waemi broke free from her friends, who had been restraining her, and raced down the steps and across the grass, screaming, "Fuu-san!" She ran for her friend, and as she passed Presea, the woman lifted her sword and emotionlessly ran the blade through Waemi's chest.

Fuu, lying on the ground right in front of Waemi, let out a choked scream. Expressionless, Presea slid the sword out of Waemi, and the girl's lifeless body fell to the ground.

One of the young girls on the stairs screamed; Umi turned away from the scene and threw up in the rich grass. The storm that Presea had created had cleared away by now, and warm sunlight touched Waemi's body. Fuu, having managed to pull the knife from her stomach, reached out with a hand that shook and touched the young girl's dark head. "Waemi-san," she managed, her voice trembling more than her hand.

Nobyre screamed. She kept screaming, even when Hedaimo clamped a trembling hand over her mouth to shush her.

Larumele had thrown up like Umi; Yeiry had her hands over her mouth, all the color drained from her face, murmuring, "Oh God, oh God, oh God..." Tears spilled out of her coffee-colored eyes, and Larumele, also crying, reached over and took her friend's hand. They clasped their shaking hands together, their tears turning to heavy sobs as Nobyre continued to scream hysterically behind Hedaimo's hand.

Ascot stepped over, gently touching Larumele's shoulder. She didn't know him well, but the comfort was welcome. She and Yeiry fell into his embrace, sobbing into his summoner's robes. Nobyre finally stopped screaming, but instead began shaking so badly she could barely stand. Hedaimo slipped an arm under her friend's shoulders; Nobyre leaned her head on Hedaimo's shoulder, Hedaimo leaned her head on Nobyre's, and they both finally began to cry.

"How could you?!" Hikaru had wiped tears away from her eyes, and now anger had settled in their place. Waemi, who she had eaten with every day, who had been there and helped in preparing Hikaru's seventeenth birthday party, who had teased Larumele about her crush on Kujin daily, was dead. At Presea's hand. The sight of the redness sliding down the blade of Presea's sword turned Hikaru's stomach, whether from sickness or anger or both she didn't know. "How could you do such a horrible thing?! How could you kill her, Presea? Why?!"

That's right, whispered the familiar voice in the back of Presea's head. It is horrible, isn't it? You could've let the poor girl worry over the Magic Knight. Just because the Magic Knights are terrible, that doesn't mean their friends are. But you're too twisted to see that.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Presea screamed, the sword slipping from her grip. "Shut the hell up!"

Above her head, the storm clouds that had disappeared began to swell again, but in a more condensed space than before. The lighting was more frequent; the thunder was more of a sharp cracking sound than a rumble, and it was fiercer, more dangerous. The black clouds churned and boiled, building up a deadly storm in result of Presea's vicious anger.

Tears stung Hikaru's eyes as she took a step back, but the stormclouds kept spreading, soon threatening to cloak the entire sky in blackness. The storm was no longer brewing --- by now it was boiling, churning and flashing and sending cold, roaring winds down, whipping her braid in her face as Presea continued to stare at her, her eyes afire and her face twisted in a scowl of pure hate.

With a bloodcurdling scream, Presea snapped her arms forward. The inky clouds swept down from the sky, twisting around one another with a hellish, wailing wind as they funneled down between her hands and shot out, still cracking with lightning and thunder, speeding towards Hikaru. The redhead shrank back, covering her face with her arms, waiting for the rushing storm to rip the life from her body.

But it didn't. All Hikaru felt was a fierce wind speeding past her on both sides; hesitantly, she lowered her arms and opened up her eyes.

Lantis was standing in front of her, his sword drawn. The blade cleaved the storm, sweeping it off to both sides of them, but it was obvious by the way his arms slowly moved back that he was struggling, and that Presea's storm was too much for him.

Hikaru's chest suddenly felt tight; the tears that had stung her eyes spilled out, and she lurched forward, throwing her arms around his waist. "Lantis, stop!"

"Let go!"

"No!" she shouted over the wind. "Stop it, you're going to die!"

"Hikaru, let me go!"

"No!" She could see his arms above her head trembling with the force. "Please, Lantis!" He said nothing, only gritted his teeth and dug his feet firmly into the ground as Presea let out another scream of rage, heightening the intensity of the storm. "Lantis!" For some reason, the shakiness of her voice frightened her. Oh, God, this is real. He really might... "No! Damnit, Lantis, don't!"

The vicious, cold wind whipped his hair over his dark eyes as he turned down to look at her. His brow was furrowed with concentration, but Hikaru's eyes met his, and she knew.

"NO!!!"

Hikaru saw his lips form the words, too quiet to be heard over the wind, before the tired muscles in his arms gave out.

She was flung back as soon as Lantis's arms went limp against the raging storm. She managed to twist her body so her weight fell upon her shoulder instead of her neck, but the sharp pain in her body wasn't enough to draw her mind from that one thought, the one thought that scared her more than any other.

When the furious winds died, Hikaru slowly pushed herself up from the grass. Her head hurt, and she was dizzy, but when she could focus well enough, she immediatly looked up for him. She wanted him to walk over, pick her up, ask her if she was all right, but she knew deep in the darkest corners of her heart that it wouldn't happen, would never happen again. But if she could only...

"Oh, God." A trembling hand flew to Hikaru's mouth as fresh tears spilled out onto her cheeks. Her gaze was focused on the spot where he should have lay, lifeless, but he wasn't there. "Oh, God, no!"

She was running on shaky legs now, running to the spot where he had stood relentlessly to protect her. Hikaru collpased to the grass, grabbing at the air where his body should have lain. But there was not body, not anymore. Whether it had been ripped apart or incinerated or something else she didn't know, didn't care. He was gone, really gone.

"Bakayarou!" Hikaru fell to her elbows and knees, hot tears dripping off her face into the grass. She had nothing now, none of him left. Lantis's body, even though it would have been dead and cold and still, was still him, even in death. She had only wanted to touch him once more, to make sure... But she couldn't.

Warm, foul-smelling vomit splashed her arm; Hikaru realized it was her own. Her stomach lurched again, but she swallowed against the upheaval, slowly rising to stand on trembling legs. Umi ran over, asking her something, but Hikaru tuned her out. All she saw was Presea.

She had killed him, that ruthless, hateful creature standing over there with a slight smirk upon her lips. She had killed him, and she was smiling.

It wasn't Presea. Presea would never, never have done such a thing. And even if she was, Hikaru didn't care. She wanted her dead. She wanted that bitch to die a painful death as penance for her sin, and even that wouldn't be enough.

Violent rage like Hikaru had never known exploded in her chest; she swung her sword out, running for the faceless blond woman as fast as her tired body would go.