http://clampfix.fanworks.net/re-fix/cephiro1.txt </head><body><pre> This is a crossover between RayEarth 2 -- heavily towards the anime version as opposed to VoR which is heavily biased towards the manga -- and X. The timeframe is similar to that of RE2 but slightly different. Fuu. Cephiro 1999 ~ Willpower decides even the Destinies. Chapter 1 Hikaru Shidou sat there in her kendo doujou as she usually did, watching the little kids practice their skills. It was a small doujou, nothing like the doujous of the major teachings -- after all, it was a small family-run business. One would think that it was too small even to be family-run; but then, considering that there are only two instructors in the doujou, both not having nearly as much experience teaching as one teacher of a typical major dojo, it was understandable to be so small. Hikaru was the instructor for the beginning class, which consisted of mostly elementary-school aged children; and her eldest brother Satoru taught the advanced level classses. Hikaru's father used to teach the highest level classes, but he has not been seen in the household for the past 10 years -- ever since little Hikaru beat him in a kendo match. Their mother did not have any kendo experience, as well as Hikaru's other two brothers Masaru and Kakeru. Thus, it was up to Hikaru and Satoru to keep the dojo going until the father returned. Masaru, Kakeru, and Mrs. Shidou often worried that Hikaru would get injured. Hikaru always acted impulsively so she often got hurt. But to the relief of the family, she has never suffered a serious injury as of yet; Hikaru always concentrated fully on what she was doing at the time so even when she was acting on impulse, she was always careful at what she was doing. However, this was not the case for that day. Hikaru did not seem like her usual self since that morning. She kept daydreaming about something, but when she came back to reality, she forgot what she had just been daydreaming about. She started daydreaming again... "Shishou!" Hikaru started and looked around. Her students looked at her curiously, and bombarded her with questions. "Shishou, what's wrong?" "Are you all right?" "You look rather ill." At the word "ill", Kakeru dashed into the doujou. "Oh, my poor, sweet, cute little Hikaru!! You look REALLY ill!! I'm going to call a doctor!! You just lie here while I call..." Without finishing the last sentence, Kakeru ran to fetch the cordless phone. He decided to get the cordless phone because he wanted to keep a close eye on Hikaru -- close enough to say that the term "sister complex" had crossed Hikaru's mind many a time. Kakeru always tended to be somewhat overprotective of his only sister, the baby of the family. "Kakeru-niisama, there is no need. I feel fine now." Hikaru called after her older brother, as she heard the thumping of socked feet running across the wooden hallway. The thumping slowed down somewhat, but continued to head towards Hikaru. Hikaru could not help smiling at her brother's paranoia. Then she smiled to her students, who also started to look worried. "I am fine now, really." Hikaru tried her best to reassure her students. Most sighed in relief, but a couple still held a doubtful look. "But," Hikaru continued, "I cannot concentrate today for some reason, so today's lesson is over now. I know it's a little early for your lesson to finish, so if you would like to practice here for a while before going home, you are welcome." The students scattered about the doujou, some cheering that they could go watch the reruns of Dragon Ball or of Yuu Yuu Hakusho. Hikaru talked with these enthusiastic children about their favorite anime shows: Hikaru liked watching Yuu Yuu Hakusho because Yuusuke's Reikaijuu Puu looked like Mokona before Yuusuke's Makai blood showed through. As the children left, Hikaru thought about Mokona. Fuu. Umi. Clef. Presea. Ferio. Ascot. Caldina. Lafarga. "I haven't seen Umi-chan or Fuu-chan since I came back to Tokyo... I thought they would have been with me when I returned to Tokyo Tower from Cephiro. But they weren't with me... and I asked girls that wore Umi-chan and Fuu-chan's school uniforms, and they said they never heard of anyone named Umi Ryuuzaki or Fuu Hououji... I wonder if Cephiro and the Legendary Battle themselves were just dreams....." Hikaru sighed. Nobody would believe the things that happened at Cephiro; not even her dearest brothers. She sighed again, unsure of fantasy, reality, and where the line between the two is drawn. "Hikaru." Kakeru appeared through the door leading from the doho straight to the Shidou family's living quarters, with the cordless phone in one hand. He still had a very worrysome look. "Are you really, REALLY sure you're all right?" "Yes. Thank you for worrying, dear brother. I was just daydreaming and thinking about Cephiro again..." "Okay... if you say you're fine, I will believe you, Hikaru. Although I must say that it is very unlike you that you are daydreaming when you are giving kendo lessons... you always put so much effort into making sure that your students learn more than they need to know. And this Cephiro business.... I would like to believe you, but you can't give me any proof. You weren't gone for a whole month, although you said you traveled for a whole month in Cephiro. And you said so yourself that 'Fuu' and 'Umi' were not real people from Tokyo. Thinking fantasies is okay, but I think you might be slightly overdoing it. And that's not healthy, my dear Hikaru.... but because you are so dear to me, I'll let you dream about your fantasyland for the rest of the day. But if I see you looking even slightly ill later today, or you start talking about Cephiro ever again after today, I'm calling the doctor!!" and so Kakeru disappeared into the house. Hikaru thought about what Kakeru just said. "Maybe he's right. Maybe I'm just making all of the things that happened in Cephiro in my head, and that's why I'm daydreaming all day today. This is so unlike me... " AATCHOO!! "I better go back in and change, or I'll get a cold!" And so Hikaru thumped her way back to her room upstairs. She pondered what to wear, but she remembered that her school made all the students wear their uniforms anytime they left their houses except for Sundays.... and that day was a Tuesday. She wondered which uniform to wear, because she had two of each type of uniform -- the summer uniform and the winter uniform. Her mother made her buy two of each, in case one got soiled and needed cleaning. It was too cold that day for the summer uniform, so that narrowed the choice down to one of two. She looked at the two uniforms. One was almost brand new, while the other one looked rather worn. As she was trying to decide which uniform to wear, she unconsciously fell into another daydream. In the stupor, Hikaru decided to wear the new-looking uniform. The uniform that she wore only once, for it was the one that she wore that day -- when she was summoned to Cephiro to take part of the Legendary Battle. Although she wasn't sure whether the Legendary Battle was fact or fiction, Hikaru started thinking that that uniform had some special value and had not worn it since she came back. And she wore that uniform again. As soon as she finished dressing, Kakeru knocked on her door. "Hikaru?" Hikaru jumped out of her stupor and opened the door. "Yes, Kakeru-niisama?" "I was thinking, my dear.... and I came to the conclusion that you've been overworking yourself lately. So I want you to go take a walk and go relax yourself. Okay?" "Okay. I was thinking about taking a walk myself." "Good." Kakeru hugged his little sister, and gave her 5,000 yen. "Kakeru-niisama...! "Just take it, Hikaru. Think of it as a gift from me. Use it to relax. Maybe you can go to the Tokyo Tower and look through the binoculars. I remember you always used to do that when you were stressed out about anything...." Hikaru took the bill and carefully put it in her wallet. "Thank you, niisama." She placed the wallet in her pocket, along with a couple pieces of candy. She popped a piece of candy in her mouth, and decided to go to Tokyo Tower like her brother said. "After all," she thought, "he could be right and it might help me relax... but then, Tokyo Tower was where I was summoned to Cephiro...." Hikaru walked to the bus station and hopped on a bus. She swiched a couple buses before arriving at the Tokyo Tower. The 333-meter tower soon loomed above her. And she had another daydream..... Hikaru was already in the observatory area of the Tower by the time she awoke from the daydream. This time, she remembered what she saw. It was an image of Fuu and Umi. But they looked slightly older than when they were the three Legendary Magic Knights... "I wonder if the Tower is amplifying my imagination... or was Cephiro something that really happened? I'm not so sure of myself anymore....." Confused, Hikaru looked for an open binocular. She found one pair that was open. The pair of binoculars she was looking at during that field trip. The one that Fuu put coins in. "That wasn't a dream! Fuu-chan was here, and she put money in this binocular!" Hikaru thought, "But wait, then why didn't anyone from Fuu-chan's school know her???" More confused than ever, Hikaru put a couple coins in the binoculars. She looked in, and saw what she saw during that field trip -- that heartwarming family with the cute baby. Suddenly, a tremendous flash of light that shone through the binoculars blinded her. Hikaru then felt herself sinking lower and lower into the base of the binoculars... and soon she could no longer breathe. It was as if she was drowning in a pond. Soon, the discomfort was over -- and was replaced by a sense of freefalling. She carefully opened her eyes again and noticed that she was falling... and this falling sensation was familiar, although all she could see was an unnatural landscape of rocks and wasteland that also seemed somewhat familiar.... "Cephiro..." Hikaru whispered. As if that was the magical word, she suddenly started floating instead of falling. Her red and black school uniform was replaced with that of the flowing red robe of the Fire Knight. She gracefully floated down to the ruins. The ruins of the cliff where Fyula first took her along with Fuu and Umi when the Legendary Battle began. She looked around. Nothing but rocks and gravel. Cephiro had turned into a desolate wasteland where nothing grew. "Could this be the same Cephiro that I was fighting for!?" Hikaru gasped. "This is so.... different! I wonder what else has changed...." Hikaru thought for another moment. "Wait. Since I am wearing my official robe..." A familiar voice boomed above her, "Yes. Thou shalt don me once again, Girl from Another World." Hearing that, Hikaru wished for her sword. The ornament on her glove glowed a deep red, producing rays of red light. The light quickly formed the shape of a sword -- Hikaru's sword that only Hikaru could touch without emitting flames that could burn the skies of Heaven into a thousand shades of crimson. Hikaru held the sword in her right hand and pointed it high in the sky. "Rayearth---!!" Hikaru relaxed within her Mashin, looking towards the darkness that did not seem to end. As she watched the darkness, she saw a faint glimmer in the distance. It seemed like a building. "I think I will head that way... there seems to be some civilization over there...." As she flew towards the faint light, Hikaru started to have an idea of who caused this ruin. The more she thought, the more obvious it became... and the bigger her silent anger became. "I will get whoever did this in the end," Hikaru yelled, although she knew that nobody was there to hear her. "Many years must have passed in Cephiro since I was sent back to Tokyo.... I'm back, Princess Emeraude...." Fuu Hououji waved to her friend Umi Ryuuzaki to wait up for her for they were both headed for Clef's palace. The immediate area surrounding Clef's palace showed to the residents the power that the Will can create: the Will of every Cephironian and the two Magic Knigts kept the area looking green, fertile, and peaceful... much like the days that Princess Emeraude reined the whole country as the Pillar. Fuu and Umi were going to the palace for the daily teatime chat with Clef and Ferio. This teatime chat had become a daily ritual since Hikaru was returned to Tokyo, continuing every day of the six Cephironian years that passed since the Legendary Battle. Umi and Fuu have matured into beautiful women in the six years since the Legendary Battle; Umi with her long, luxurious straight blue hair now easily reaching the ground -- it took creativity on her part to keep it from dragging on the ground, for she did not want to cut it - and Fuu with her curly blonde locks reaching halfway down her back. They were somewhat mystified at first that their hair grew much slower than when they were in Tokyo, although all their other bodily features, like their faces, seemed to mature; they came to accept that it was one of Cephiro's mysterious features over time. "Please be careful," the maid called after the two Knights. Although Fuu and Umi told Clef that they could handle all the chores themselves, he would not allow the Magic Knights to do chores, and hired a maid. The maid was an average-looking woman, but she had the heart of gold. Both Fuu and Umi grew to like her almost instantly, and after her first day of work, neither Knight even thought about a life without the maid. "Bye!" Umi waved back to the maid cheerfully. A ring, a kind gift from the Guru himself, glistened on her left ring finger. As they crossed the grassy courtyard and entered the palace, Fuu mentioned to Umi, "I had a wonderful dream last night... a dream that Hikaru-san was going to be with us again." "Hikaru?" Umi asked back. "How I wish I could see her again. I can't believe that it's already been six years since we last saw her. It just seems like yesterday that we fought Zagato and Emeraude..." She paused in thought for a moment. "You know, Fuu, I've always been wondering ever since she went back... how did she get back to Tokyo? And why without us." "I never figured that part out, Umi-san. I wonder if our Hearts were not strong enough to go back... or I wonder if what they told us of the Legend of the Magic Knights was not the whole thing, and only one Magic Knight is allowed to go back to their original world.... and the other two must stay and defend Cephiro....." "In any case, I really miss Hikaru. She was really energetic, and she always kept us smiling." "I miss her too, Umi-san." The two Knights looked at each other and chuckled as they went into Clef's room for the teatime chat. The two couples were enjoying each other's company when a guard came in to speak to the Prince. "Your Majesty... A guest has arrived here in this castle. Shall I lead her through?" "Of course," Ferio nodded. He noticed Fuu was getting anxious. "Do you think you know who it is?" "Oh, no...." Fuu blushed. "I just had a wonderful dream last night." "Really? What was it about?" "It was about Hikaru-san coming back to Cephiro. To be with us." "That sounds very pleasant." "I just hope that it really happens sometime... I really miss Hikaru-san.... But what are the chances of that coming true..." At that moment the door opened, and the guard came in with the guest. The foursome froze, their faces showing disbelief. Behind the guard stood the Fire Knight, in her robe. </pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>