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"I don't understand...where did that transformation come from?" Valin thought aloud.
"Wherever it came from, Asahi-chan, you shouldn't have had allowed yourself to stay there without at least calling me. You could have killed yourself!" Okashi reprimanded Asahi who lowered her head with shame.
"Well, I was tired of Valin doing everything for me," Asahi said, gazing at Valin who did not notice. "I know now that it is my battle because Hydra is after the Heart."
"Which brings up another question," Valin interrupted. "What happened to the Heart?"
"I'm not sure...but they said that the Heart and "the Trilogy" would appear with a "Third Soldier"," Asahi explained.
"What's this Trilogy..." Okashi asked himself.
"Cygnus must know what is happening and what Hydra trully wants. She must know what the Trilogy is...but how does one find her?" Asahi thought aloud, reclining on the couch. "She just appeared during the battle."
"So many questions...so many questions," Valin said, yawning from beside her.
"I'm tired...let's go out for ice cream!" Asahi suggested, standing up and stretching.
Okashi hung his head as Valin stood up in agreement.
"Oh how pretty the city is during the evenings," Asahi smiled widely as she took a bite from an ice cream laden spoon.
"So many lights...but it blocks the true lights of the stars," Valin commented.
"That can't be helped. I'm sure that the stars are envious of the city's brilliance," Asahi nodded knowingly.
Valin grinned as suddenly, all the lights in the city disappeared, the sky suddenly sparkling with hundreds of stars. Asahi gasped in wonder and amazement.
"Valin-kun!" Asahi scolded playfully as the lights returned.
"At least the most beautiful of the stars is here with me," Valin whispered softly, continuing to look up.
Asahi turned away and looked down at her spoon, unable to say a word as the faint beating of her heart began to grow louder.
Valin cares for me...like I care for him...
"Valin-kun...I was just thinking," Asahi began, looking up into the sky as well, a bright smile lighting her features. "Between those centers of light lies the world of my childhood...where I come from...lying peacefully in a velvety darkness. A world known as Eterna...it's a strange thought."
"Strange only if you don't understand," Valin smiled, looking down at her from his tall height.
"I'll return to that world one day...I'll have to, won't I?" she asked, sighing. "But what if I don't want to..."
"You trully don't have to if you don't wish to. You only need to seek out another one who will take your place...an heir. But Asahi...when you return, the eleven mages will once again return...when that time comes...I will finally return a true mage..." Valin's profile stood dark and proud against the backdrop of different, illuminating lamps. "Even then, I must return once my mission is complete. My life, as you know has already spanned hundreds of years...I can't stay alive without Eterna..."
"Your mission is to be with me," Asahi said suddenly. "That's what you said."
Valin smiled, "If that were true...if that were only true..."
"If there is no other way...I'll go to Eterna and stay...That way...our kingdom no longer exists only in our dreams..." Asahi whispered turning toward him.
Valin wordlessly placed a soft caressing hand on her cheek and gave her a long, passionate kiss before smiling at her. "Don't leave happiness for my sake," he said, as he pulled back.
"You are my happiness," Asahi smiled, her cheeks flushed and her heartbeat echoing in her ears. "As long as you stay by my side...I am content where I stand."
Asahi sat on the roof of her condo, watching the city with a light heart. After the long, seemingly endless moments of emptiness she had endured at least two weeks before, the warmth that filled her soul at that moment overwhelmed her senses. She sighed without trully hearing the sound that escaped her slightly opened lips.
"Asahi-chan, how was your evening walk with the mage?" Okashi asked, carefully studying her.
"Lovely, Okashi...absolutely beautiful," Asahi smiled broadly.
"You must stay away from Valin-san," Okashi said suddenly, perching himself beside her.
"What do you mean?" Asahi asked, turning toward him with a frown.
"A strange aura is surrounding him...his powers are fluctuating between great strength and great instability...something is wrong with him...but he won't let you know," Okashi said, clearly agitated.
Asahi stared, her hand over her heart and her eyes giving a lustrous glare of tears. Her whole body quivered for a moment before she let her hand drop to her side.
"When did this happen..." she whispered.
"Ever since Amaterasu's power began to abate the strange, abandoned air around Amaterasu has been present in Valin. He conceals his sudden weakness so well that it is rather surprising. Until this evening, I didn't feel that it was necessary to tell you because he swore me to secrecy," Okashi's solemnity frightened her.
"No...no...," Asahi mumbled under her breath. "No! You're lying!!"
Before Okashi could say anything to stop her, Asahi had already reached the stairway that led to the building's interior.
"Asahi-chan! Where are you...Asahi-chan!" Okashi cried, spreading his wings and frantically trying to open the door with his talons.
Asahi raced through the streets of Tokyo, the lights of the city blurring into a blob and disappearing with her tears.
Valin...Valin...why didn't you tell me?!! I thought...
"Apollo..."
A voice froze her on her tracks.
"Hydra!" she whipped around and looked at the senshi that floated behind her just as she reached the park.
"You can't do anything more..." Hydra stated coldly. "That mage now belongs to the Lady."
"No! Stop it! I swear...if you harm him!" Asahi screamed savagely.
"You can't do anything. You're too weak to even understand what's going on around you. The siege is almost complete. The only reason why I'm here to speak with you concerns the Swan Soldier," Hydra floated down to the ground.
"Leave Valin alone..." Asahi whispered, raising her hand to the air.
"Hmph," Hydra frowned.
"Apollo Light Generation! Make up!" Asahi shrieked, only to be greeted by silence, sending Hydra into gales of laughter. Strangely enough, her laughter was soothing and musical.
"You can't even transform properly," Hydra giggled between laughter.
Asahi looked down at her hands in surprise.
It's gone again??!!
"Now...about my proposition. Cygnus seems fond of you...too fond, if you ask me. Tell me...where is she?"
"I don't know," Asahi answered bluntly, drawing back from fear of Hydra's temper.
"That Mage...such a pity...finally finding a love after at least seven hundred years of nothing but hardships...only to lose her..." Hydra snidely remarked.
"No...wait...can you do anything to help him?!" Asahi asked desperately.
"Maybe...but first, I must know where Cygnus is...then maybe we can discuss details..." Hydra said, once again beginning to levitate.
"No...wait!" Asahi protested.
Hydra's smirk vanished an instant later, leaving Asahi to frantically make a decision.
I don't want to betray Cygnus...she saved me from Hydra once...but I can't...I can't abandon Valin...
Asahi, now calmed by her meeting with the senshi, sat down on the cold concrete sidewalk, her hand still to her frenzied heart. She felt a drop of water fall on her head, slowly at first, a downpour began. She sat staring at the patterns the splashing water made by the light of a streetlamp for at least an hour before she reached a resolution. She got up slowly and walked toward Valin's apartment.
Valin was awake, staring at the projection of Amaterasu, his eyes clearly absorbed in meditation. A hammering knock on the door awakened him and he quickly shuffled toward the door and unlocked it to find Asahi standing in his doorway, drenched from the lashing rain. A phantom of angered sadness dwelled in her golden eyes.
"Asahi-chan..." Valin began, apalled at how Asahi looked.
"You didn't tell me," Asahi accused him, her voice a cracking whip in his ear.
"Asahi-chan...please...come in..." Valin murmured, at loss for words.
Without hesitation, Asahi walked into his apartment and turned to glare at him, "What is this that I hear from Okashi?! You know more than you've ever told me!"
"Asahi-chan...understand...please. If you had known the effects of Amaterasu's current condition, you would have felt worse about your transformation. I was going to tell you as soon as I could...but I didn't want..."
Asahi's harsh tone cut him off, "You wanted to treat me like a child because you were afraid I was too fragile to handle anything..."
"Asahi..." Valin began again.
"Maybe you are right about my fragile state...but don't you see?! I don't want to stay fragile for the rest of my life!" Asahi thundered.
"I didn't want to see you broken, Asahi-chan. That day when you told me of your duties...I didn't want it to continue..."
"No...I have to learn! That's your true mission here with me...you said you'd teach me!" Asahi blazed as she walked toward the door with heavy strides, jostling the coffee table as she did so.
The door slammed close behind Valin just as a small frame fell from the table and a shattering sound echoed throughout the apartment. Valin stood staring at the broken glass that surrounded the face of the smiling child that was once Asahi.
"Well well well," Hydra appeared to Asahi just as she reached the street.
The rain had now been reduced to a few dripping droplets that continued to make lovely patterns on the wet pavement.
"Leave me alone," Asahi grumbled, racing the other way.
"You can't run from me...I hope you know that. You know that saying...hmm...what was that? You can run but you can't hide? Yes, I believe that's it. Well, you can't do either in this case. I am everywhere..." Hydra said calmly floating behind the fleeing Asahi.
"Fine!" Asahi lashed out, facing the senshi. "You want me dead?! Take me! Come on! I dare you!"
Hydra looked at her with a frown. "Surely you don't think that I would do such an evil deed. Well, at least before I get what I want."
Asahi's eyes narrowed before she turned around and began to run again.
"You had your chance..." she muttered.
"I wouldn't think about giving up just yet..." Hydra said, looking at the sky knowingly.
"Ahhh!" a scream shook the silence of the night, freezing Asahi.
"I can't help her..." Asahi grumbled, continuing to run.
I can't help anyone...not without my transformation...
"Asahi!" Cygnus' voice admonished her as the soldier appeared before her.
"No...get out of my way!" Asahi bristled.
"Cygnus...there you are. I thought that I'd lure you here with the use of a demon. Obviously, it worked. I believed that Asahi was somehow a conspirator, but I see now that I was wrong. In either case, I want this settled. The Lady is becoming impatient and I'm sure you yourself are tired of this. I tried to take you from here...so that you need not see this..." Hydra declared from behind Asahi.
Cygnus' eyes narrowed and she tilted her head, "Your demons are getting weaker. That last one lasted for only a second before it was annihalated. Let's see if you've gotten better."
With a beam of light, Cygnus' sword appeared in her hand only to be mimicked, once again, by Hydra.
"A duel to the death," Hydra said, raising the sword to her forehead, then whipping it to the side as a sign of honor.
"Naturally," Cygnus agreed, doing the same.
Asahi still stood between them and Hydra wrenched her arm and threw her to the side just as Cygnus jumped up to attack. Asahi fell onto the concrete, her head hitting the sidewalk's step.
"Oohhh...," Asahi moaned.
I want to transform...I want to transform!! Eterna...please...give me a transformation...I need power!!
"Aaargh...Apollo...Light Generation!" Asahi shouted as a light twinkled on her chest. "Make up!"
The two other soldiers jumped back just as Asahi transformed.
"Hmph...now she can transform..." Hydra grumbled.
"You won't take this dimension as long as I live," Apollo shouted as she appeared.
Hydra's mouth twisted into a snarl as she realized that she was outnumbered.
Guess I'll have to steal an advantage...
"Mage of Aquarius!!"
Apollo's eyes widened.
"Release your power! Pawn of the Lady Medusa...give forth the devastation!!" Hydra commanded, her hand raised to the air.
"Valin!" Apollo cried in a panic. "Apollo Starlit! Sonata!"
The light knocked Hydra to the ground, her hair flying about her just as a loud crashing noise resounded throughout the city. Apollo looked up in time to see a huge energy beam coming from where Valin's apartment stood.
"Valin-kun!" Apollo screamed.