Disclaimer: Magic Knights Rayearth and all characters pertaining thereto are copyright CLAMP. "Gilligan's Island" is copyright Sherwood Schwartz and whichever TV network produced it. However, this story is copyright Raye Johnsen, because I came up with the situation and all events myself. No infringement of existing rights is intended; please inform me if there are any, and I'll give credit in this disclaimer. Please don't bother suing me, you'll only be wasting your money, I don't even own my own computer. Many thanks to Dave Hsing, who came up with the original idea.

They're talking about Presea and the others in the past tense, and saying how they couldn't possibly have survived.

That isn't true. Presea's alive. I know. I'm her identical twin sister. If she were dead I'd feel it. I felt it when she broke her leg when we were eleven; she felt it when I fell out of the tree and got a concussion when we were thirteen. I would have felt her die.

I never thought we would ever be separated. It's driving me crazy. I never realised how big a part of my life she was until after she was gone. When we find her, I'm going to shake her till her teeth rattle for scaring me so.

Yes, 'when'. I won't write 'if'. I won't. She isn't dead. She's just lost, and we will find her.

I'm just glad Innova's here. He keeps my spirits up and my temper down, especially when I have to deal with one of those idiots who seem to think my sister's dead. He's been a real tower of strength. I can't believe I once thought he was too old for me, and just a pretty face. He's kind and loyal and really sweet, and has so much to say, and is just so lovable -

Oh, who cares? Not like anyone else's going to read this anyway. I have a major crush on Innova Alicorn, and if I'm not careful, I may fall in love with him.

I can't believe that the cyclone changed course though. It was almost like it was aiming at Presea's boat. But that's impossible, right?

The voices drifted away over the breeze, and Lantis sighed. From his perch in the tree, he had an unrivalled view of the entire island. Nobody could see him — who would look for him on a branch thirty foot up a tree anyway? — so he couldn't be grabbed for any unpleasant chores, it was lovely and warm, and the branch was broad enough that he could take a nap in perfect safety.

"Have you seen Lantis?" Zagato asked Eagle, wiping his face. "We're having fish and broiled vegetables."

Zagato gave Eagle his best I-am-older-than-you-so-show-me-some-respect look, and with remarkable forbearance replied, "No."

Eagle wandered back to the short-wave radio. Presea hadn't even noticed him leave. Eagle had to admit, that was a bit disconcerting ...

What am I thinking? She's just a girl. If I'm here or not, or if she's here or not, doesn't matter, does it?

"<hisscracklecracklesqueewoop> ...ies, repor... <queequeesqueep> ...ill noth... <hisssquackleweeweewee>"

"Could be! Let's keep trying!" Eagle, forgetting all else, bent over the shortwave radio set.

She glared at the bushes which continued to refuse to spit out the tall, black-haired boy.

She gave up and began stacking the branches again. I need help here! How'm I ever going to build a decent signal fire if he refuses to help? I want to go home, I want a working sewage system, I want running hot water, I want a change of clothes, I want soap, I WANT TO GO HOME!

Oh boy, am I going to have a word or two to say to Mister I-don't-want-to-do-that big blue puppy eyes Lantis Shields. He's not going to run out on me again! He's going to do his fair share if I have to chase him with a stick!

"Should be. You've got that much, I've filled this" — hefting a large basket onto his shoulder — "and with what Fuu and Ferio have collected, I think it's enough."

Ascot looked back. "Well, she's nice. I've never gone wrong with what she's told me before."

"She gets mad. But you get mad when I disobey you, too. Nobody likes it when others remove themselves from their control."

"We have to chill the fruits in the stream before we can serve them, so we'd better go so we've got time. It isn't important, Umi."

"When you took me up here, for starters. What would have happened if I'd said 'no'?"

"I like doing what you want most of the time anyway, Umi," Ascot said consolingly, patting her arm. "I said it wasn't important. Now can we get these peaches back?"

Umi was unusually silent almost all the way back. Just before the turn that would lead directly to the huts, she said, quietly, "But, if you had to choose, between me and Emeraude, who would you pick?"

"Umi, if I ever have to pick sides — there's only one side I can ever guarantee I'll be on. And that's my own."

Dinner had been eaten quietly, despite the usual groans of "Fish again?!". Zagato had pulled Lantis aside, demanding, sotto voce, where on Earth he'd hidden all afternoon.

"Just don't do it again. And WASH YOUR FACE!" Zagato had yelled after his brother's rapidly retreating back. "Oh, why do I even bother to try ... Now I sound like my mother ..."

Aska had taken to washing up like a duck to petrol. Sang Yung had begun to dread the times it was their turn to do the dishwashing.

What made it worse was that Aska didn't know how bad she was at it. She actually enjoyed dipping the crude wooden dishes in soapy water and rubbing at the food remnants. Sang Yung had gotten into the habit of taking the dishes to "rinse" them and rewashing them.

About the only good thing that came out of it, in Sang Yung's opinion, was that it put Aska in a good mood. She would dip and rub and sing to herself, and for a few short minutes, forget all about Nova and the other girl's tricks.

For Nova had not given up her dirty tricks; far from it! She had simply changed her materials. Apple-pie beds were daily occurrences. Unexpected ditches and matching puddles a body length up the path happened far too frequently for coincidence. Nobody had yet let Nova near the cookpot, which was undoubtedly good news for everyone.

Aska had kept up with her entertainment of Thwarting Nova; but she and Sang Yung had been joined by Hikaru, Lantis, Fuu, Ferio, Umi and Ascot on the daily round. It really wouldn't be long before the girl was stopped by the adults. Sang Yung hoped, anyway. He sighed and "rinsed" another dish.

Presea wasn't in the radio shed with Eagle this evening. She had, instead, chosen to walk along the beach.

What do I think I'm doing? she asked herself as she kicked at the seawashed pebbles. That radio's not going to work, not if Eagle and I work on it for the next hundred years. It was a miracle that it worked for those other castaways, and miracles don't hit twice. Maybe Hikaru's got the right idea, working on that signal fire.

She hadn't told anyone about her connection with her twin, that allowed them to share physical sensations and sometimes tell what the other was thinking about. The ability had always struck her as being redundant; they were always together, so there was no need for it. And even when they weren't together, 'knowing' Puresea was happy, sad or angry had never meant anything except whether she should be prepared to offer congratulations, sympathy or cope with a major explosion when her twin walked in the door.

Presea sighed. Being the submissive twin had its advantages, but it also meant that she had never been forced to stand and decide anything more major than class choices or daily clothing for herself. Puresea had always been there to take charge.

What would you do now, Big Sister? Presea thought. She had been able to tell from Puresea that the search for them was winding down. The outside authorities were losing hope — and carefully hidden from herself if not her twin, Puresea was too.

Don't write me off, Big Sister! I'm coming back! Presea had willed to Puresea, but their connection, tenuous at best, was not able to carry that. If Puresea had felt more than a flare of certainty that Presea was still 'out there', her twin certainly couldn't tell.

No, I can't tell anyone else about this. We're having enough trouble keeping the peace as it is. If they knew there's a good chance we'll never be found, everyone else would lose morale, and we'd collapse in a screaming heap.

Eagle. Yet another thing Puresea couldn't decide for her and that she had to handle on her own. Presea stopped walking as she thought about the blond boy.

Intelligent, interested in mechanical stuff too, generally all round fun to talk to, and let's not forget drop-dead gorgeous, Puresea certainly wouldn't. But I'm not Puresea, and I don't know what to do! I've never felt this way before!

A holiday romance. That's what it was, what it had to be. And all it had to be. It would end when they were rescued.

STOP THAT! You're trying to decide about EAGLE! You know, cute guy, really good with engines if not so hot with radios, with the really yummy amber eyes who actually appears to LIKE YOU BACK! Are we going to be the Ice Queen forever, or are we going to make a move?

But what can a girl do to suggest to a boy that she's interested and might welcome a few advances, without actually pushing forward and making a declaration which might be unwelcome? Especially on a deserted island where the usual methods of gauging interest are completely out-of-place, even if they happen to be achievable?

After all, he has never acted romantically. He asked me to dance because everyone else was dancing. We got that tour of the Engine Room as friends. We're friends.

Presea stumbled. Her first thought was "Oh no, Nova again?!" but there was no mud or puddle ahead. She'd just tripped on a naturally-occurring stone.

And then she saw it. A beautifully-formed, completely intact conch shell, about the size of a man's clenched fist. The colours looked beautiful, gold and bronze and white in the all-drenching moonlight which normally bled all colour from everything.

She picked it up gently, carefully inspecting it, but it was completely uninhabited. Presea smiled as she ran a gentle finger over the delicate markings.

Oh, lucky! I'll give this to Eagle as a paperweight! I'll be able to tell from his reaction how he feels, and he'll be able to tell that I like him, and if he just likes me, it's a friendly gift, so the friendship's okay! Oh this is so lucky!

Clutching the shell gently, she ran up the path into the clearing between the huts ...

"You're wrong! We need the signal fire and the radio!" Hikaru was shouting. "I won't accept that the radio's enough! Have they found us yet? No!"

"If I'm in charge, you do as I say, and I say that the fire is unnecessary and you should be helping us down here with -" Emeraude started, but Hikaru cut her off.

"Helping with what? Keeping the place tidy? I don't accept your reasons, Emeraude! And I don't accept your leadership either!"

Presea felt the fragile peace shatter as she stared, unnoticed, at the two women — for Hikaru was not a girl in this battle, nor younger than Presea — as they stood facing each other in the firelight. She saw the figures of the other thirteen people slowly begin to move, placing themselves around the fire, aligning with one or the other of the two in this battle for dominance.

Zagato placed himself behind Emeraude, touching her shoulder gently. She reached up and held his hand for a short moment, then both let their hands fall.

Staring at his brother, his eyes unreadable, Lantis slowly walked to stand directly behind Hikaru. Like his brother had with Emeraude, he rested his hand on Hikaru's shoulder, but when Hikaru took his hand, he did not let hers go.

Presea's hands unconciously clenched, shattering the shell she still held into razorlike shards.

The tension was shattered as Presea almost stumbled into the firepit, nursing her bleeding palm.

As everyone fell all over each other in order to assist Presea (and get away from the ugly scene which had been developing), Hikaru's glance caught Emeraude's.