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Koichi slowly opened his eyes as beams of sun shot through the window and irritated his face. He leaned up on the bed he had to share with Stephanie and slapped his face with both hands a few times. To his side lay Stephanie, still sleeping under the covers with her arms extended out across the bed. Koichi quietly slipped out from the bed so he would not wake Stephanie up. Over the last five months he had learned that it was not the best idea to suddenly wake the woman up in the early morning least he wanted to face the dire consequences.

He shook his head under the shade of the room as his feet touched the floor, and he began performing his daily stretches, warm ups, and cool downs near the bed. Koichi could remember the countless number of times he clumsily fell out from the bed in the middle of the night from tossing and turning or from Stephanie nudging him off on accident while they were still getting used to their training together. As he finished his daily start of the morning things he stood up tall and yawned, scratching the back of his head. He stepped up to the calendar that was set up along their wall and looked over it quickly.

"The fourteenth..." Koichi thought as he took a deep breath. He tilted his head forward and hit it once along the wall and thought, "Terrific. I didn’t get Stephanie anything at all." He sighed, "I can only hope for the best today."

Koichi started to sneak towards the door to the room to leave for the breakfast and an early start. He could already hear Lynn up in the kitchen from his room as she prepared the first meal of the day for everyone. Since Lynn had picked up her attitude and started helping out around Master’s house they had all been served with well cooked meals as opposed to the old bread, water, and milk on a daily basis. The sweet aroma had already rushed throughout the whole house, and it was dragging each able person out of their rooms one by one.

"Mmm, good morning, Son Koichi." Stephanie’s voice came out from behind Koichi.

Koichi’s shoulders stuck up and his head slumped down in shame as he heard the voice of the one he cared for. He turned around and looked at Stephanie as she lay in bed with a smile on her face for him. Her eyes sparkled under the sunlight as she squinted them from the similar irritation he was having in the same spot as he was waking up.

"G,good morning, Daughter of Green." Koichi greeted Stephanie with a slight bow of his head, "Happy Valentine’s Day."

He had given Stephanie the nickname ‘Daughter of Green’ for the green leaf-like paintings across the sides of her face under her bright red cheeks. The face paint marks on Stephanie’s face were somewhat of a special hereditary sign that had gone through her family. She was also going off the town to buy more paint mixtures to refresh them whenever they began fading away.

Stephanie began stretching out widely under the blankets and breathed in deeply. She yawned into the early morning sun, then looked at Koichi again with her head resting along her hands with her elbows holding them up along the bed.

"Leaving for work so soon?" Stephanie asked, "It’s a special day today. Don’t you want to wait for me?"

Koichi shook his head and said, "A special day where a lady makes herself especially pretty. One should not witness the transformation."

"Do as you will then." Stephanie said, waving her hand at him while she sat up from the bed.

Koichi nodded at Stephanie and left the room. When he closed the door behind him he leaned back against it and sighed quietly in relief. He had escaped the upcoming danger for the time being. Stephanie had cooled down a lot over the time with Koichi as he wrote in his journal in the last five months. He felt across his chest inside his shirt along the old battle scar from the two Crimson Cutter attacks that he and Stephanie preformed on each other, and Koichi stood up and began walking towards the kitchen in the direction of the sweet smell of food.

Celia was already sitting in the living room around the center circle in front of the fireplace with her plate of food from Lynn. Her head was resting to the side on her left hand as she slowly pushed around the food on her pate with her right hand using her eating utensils. She snapped to attention as her long ears picked up Koichi’s arrival, but Koichi had already seen her sitting there as she was before she could react. She quickly picked her fork up and cut out a piece of egg from her plate and ate it, watching Koichi walk steadily by her.

As Koichi entered the Kitchen area a pancake flew in his direction like a frisbee. He quickly gave his common react and brought his hand up to guard and catch the projectile before it hit his face. He looked at it for a moment as the extensive heat began transferring into his hands and burning him, and he began tossing it up into the air quickly in an attempt to cool himself off without letting the pancake hit the ground. Lynn rushed up to him with a plate and caught it as it flew up and down again in front of Koichi. She walked away and put it down on a near by counter and turned around to apologize. Koichi began blowing at his hands constantly as they burned with heat from the fire on the stove.

"Sorry Koichi!" Lynn apologized, "That’ll teach me not to try flopping pancakes up like professionals do."

Lynn was wearing a maiden’s dress that day. Over the time she had spent up on the mountain she had slowly been adjusting to the ways of life of the Old World people, but she could never forget the ways of her true home.

"Hot cakes." Koichi said as he rubbed his hands over his pants, "I wouldn’t worry about it, girl. I’ll just take that and another one with syrup."

He crossed his arms, holding them tight around his shirt to help the smaller sensations on his hands, and leaned against the back wall near where he came in. Soon enough Lynn returned the plate to Koichi with two more pancakes and a jug of maple syrup.

"My thanks to you." Koichi said as he took the plate and jug.

"You’re welcome!" Lynn said with a smile, "You know, you guys should really try other flavors of syrup, like strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, and the like. How about chocolate? But they don’t make any of that around here, do they?"

Koichi shook his head and said, "I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. Do you have breakfast for Master yet, by chance?"

"Ah yes!" Lynn said, snapping her fingers, "I was waiting for you or Stephanie to come out before I made it for him, but I figured you two were going to be a bit late today."

She winked at him, and she turned back to her cooking. Koichi shook his head in disbelief and let out another long sigh. He returned to the living room with Celia and sat down in his usual spot. Celia once again snapped to attention and began eating her food as Koichi approached as if everything was okay.

"You’re thinking about him again." Koichi said.

"Oh no, no I’m not." Celia said, trailing off as she gazed into her food.

"I’m up here." Koichi called out to Celia, waving his hand slightly at her, "Perhaps I should stop training together with Stephanie with your audience?"

"Training..." Celia mumbled.

Koichi shook his head slightly and looked away, "I guess we do end up doing some odd things during or after our work outs. That’s why it might be proper to leave you out of it."

He turned back and began eating his pancakes quietly. Lynn soon came out with a plate of sunny side up eggs with buttered toast. She nudged Koichi with her foot slightly until she had his attention. Koichi put his fork down, picked up the jug of syrup, and traded items with Lynn. He turned around and began walking towards Master’s room with his breakfast in hand.

Stephanie suddenly burst out of her room, wearing makeup and a special. Koichi stopped suddenly, keeping hold of his plate and not allowing the food to slide off. Stephanie glanced over Koichi quickly as she stood there for a moment in front of him, then she dashed by him and kissed him on his cheek. Koichi stood there in shame again as Stephanie disappeared behind him, putting his hand up to his cheek, then he continued on to Master’s room.

"I’m dead if she’s expecting something big of me." Koichi thought, "And the thought of living with one together is such a big decision. What if that’s what she’s hoping for?"

He shook his head and shuddered his body. He knocked on Master’s door and waited for a response. A loud hack and a cough was heard behind the door.

"Yes, come in." Master’s voice called out in a slow and shaken old tone.

Koichi opened the door and stepped in. Master was still in his bed, barely moving his body from old age. He moved his head slightly over so that he could see who was coming in. He opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, but he began coughing again. Koichi approached his bed and placed the plate of food on the low table next to him.

"Good morning, Master." Koichi greeted Master with a nod, "I hope this breakfast suits your needs this fine day."

Master breathed deeply, looking at Koichi without a word, then said, "Thank you, Son Koichi. And thank the friends you never knew you had for bringing such glory upon my lone house these days."

"Yes, Miss Lynn has certainly brought upon us." Koichi said. He looked away towards the door and said, "I guess we can survive through fighting, but not through cooking. She seems to be still getting used to raw monster, though."

"Monster flavor takes many moons and suns to get used to." Master said with a nod and he slowly moved his large body up to eat his breakfast.

"I would help you eat the food myself while you rested, but I have much more respect for you than that." Koichi told Master as he turned back to him.

"We have had many honorable and memorable times together as student and teacher, yes?" Master said.

"We have." Koichi nodded, "It pains me to believe you’re nearing your end. I’m personally glad you summoned up enough energy to stand and face that Ryan when he was around for the Christmas season so I could see you beat his cocky hide. I’ll never forget that moment, and I’ll always look back at it and laugh."

"We all have our ends, Son Koichi. Even the Guardians themselves, as legend foretells." Master said as he reached for his fork, "May those who work hard with dedication grow as strong as I have in my life and never let it go."

Koichi bowed his head slightly and said, "I only wish to become as strong as you are."

"I still have time left, so do not worry as much as you do now. You have many years to come, yourself. Let your life thrive in them and cherish what you have while you are at peace." Master told Koichi, "Now go and join your friends."

Koichi turned and began walking away, and said, "Five months together. They’re more than friends now, Master."

"You have learned quite well, and I am proud." Master muttered with a cough.

Koichi stepped out of the room and walked back into the living room. Lynn and Stephanie had taken their seats around the inner circle and had begun eating while Koichi was away. Koichi stood there in front of the living room for a moment and looked around at the group. He could still remember the time when Lynn sat too close to the fireplace one winter night and burned herself. Lynn’s eyebrows had been missing for a few weeks since that day, but they had already grown back since then. She made sure that she sat far enough away from the fireplace after that event.

Koichi sat down next to Stephanie as he did for the last five months and picked up his plate of food remaining and began to consume the rest of it. Stephanie leaned over and began whispering softly into his ear with a slight giggle.

"Hey." She whispered with a soft and sweet tone.

Koichi’s face turned red, and he fell his back with his arms up respectively. The pancakes and syrup slid off and splattered over his face suddenly. Stephanie shook her head with a slight smile over her, and Celia and Lynn looked at Koichi with a common surprised look over their faces. Koichi slowly came to his senses and looked around with the food on his face.

"Umm, I’m fine." Koichi said as he jumped up to his feet and ran for the kitchen for a towel. He tossed the pancake into the trash bag and put a wet towel across his face as he thought, "Come on man, get a hold of yourself!"

He returned to the living room with a clean face and sat back down next to Stephanie again. Lynn looked around at everyone and jumped up to her feet. She began walking around everyone, clapping her hands together with a bright face.

"Hey! Come on you three! Stop with the gloomy and weird faces!" Lynn exclaimed, "Today’s a special day! Today’s a happy day! Yay yay yay!"

"Your energy astounds me." Koichi told Lynn.

Stephanie shook her head and said, "I’m not gloomy today. You shouldn’t make generalizations like that."

Lynn stopped in front of Stephanie with her hands on her hips.

"Is that so, Miss Happy Pants Dress Lady?" Lynn asked with a smirk over her face. She stuck her tongue out, then said, "Well then let’s get that cheer spread through the rest of the house now! I feel like I’m living in a gray hole."

"She sounds pathetic!" Koichi, Stephanie, and Celia thought at the same time.

Lynn looked around the room and said, "You know, if this world had TV or something that’d be something that would fix us all up nice and fast!"

"What is this TV?" Stephanie asked.

Lynn drew her face closer to Stephanie, looking her deep into her eyes, and said, "You don’t know?" He stood back as tall as she could and said, "Do people around here live in caves or something?"

Total silence covered the room, and Lynn looked around across the three quickly.

"Do we look like we’re in a cave?" Koichi asked after several moments.

"Umm, no." Lynn replied. She turned around and sat back in her spot around the circle and said, "Well there has to be something we can do for fun!"

Another silent moment came over the group. Stephanie kept looking over Koichi with hopeful eyes as time rolled by.

"Any time now, Koichi!" She kept thinking to herself.

Koichi breathed deeply in and looked across to his right. Stephanie’s heart began to flutter, and Koichi stood up and turned slightly to the right. He passed Stephanie and approached Lynn quietly.

"I need to speak with you in private, Miss Lynn." Koichi told Lynn.

Stephanie gasped in shock with a small jump and thought, "No! Why me? Why Koichi? I wanted to love him today!"

"Hmm? Oh, okay." Lynn said, standing up.

Koichi dragged Lynn outside by her hand, and Stephanie fall flat on her face in surprise. Celia continued to sit still with her finished breakfast plate in front of her. She sighed at the whole situation as well as her own. Koichi directed Lynn outside away from the house a bit and turned around at her with a serious eye, and Lynn bumped back in slight confusion. Stephanie climbed up on top of the house to where she could spy on Koichi to look into the situation for herself.

"I have a very important question I need to ask you." Koichi told Lynn.

Lynn began giggling like a child and said, "Oh my, it’s much too early for that, Koichi! I’m afraid I’ll have to..."

Koichi cut her off and yelled, "That’s not what I’m trying to get at, damn it!" He cleared his throat and said, "Listen. I didn’t get Stephanie anything for Valentine’s Day."

Lynn gasped at Koichi in shock and said, "Evil, careless, brute, selfish man!"

"Ugh..." Koichi groaned. He shook his head and asked, "I just need to know what you would do, or people in your world would have done."

Lynn leaned back and thought for a moment, then said, "I dunno. They’d go get something cheap and fast, that’s for sure. Like a card and some flowers."

"Card and flowers..." Koichi mumbled as he looked around. He noticed white snow flowers growing around off the mountain trail as well as slabs of tree bark that looked like they were able to be written on, "Thanks."

Before Koichi could run far enough, Lynn reached out and asked, "Hey Koichi! I read that around these parts of the world the men get married and start families at a much younger age than where I come from. Are you going to, you know, ask her to marry you and all?"

Koichi stopped like he was stunned with his shoulders up and head down.

"Um, no. You see, I don’t think I can live up to it just yet." Koichi whispered to Lynn.

Lynn gave Koichi a light jab up at his chest and said, "Ah, come on. Don’t wait another year!"

Koichi shook his head at Lynn. He turned around and jogged off into the misty mountains to gather items. Stephanie watched Koichi disappear into the mountains and fell onto her back with a sigh.

"I wish I knew what was up with that man!" Stephanie said to herself.

"Maybe he’s just desperate." Celia said behind her.

Stephanie jumped in surprise of not knowing Celia was up on the roof behind her. She tumbled down along the roof and caught onto the side before she dropped off onto the ground. Stephanie climbed back up to the roof and sat down next to Celia.

"How did you get up here? This was supposed to be my secret watching place!" Stephanie asked.

"No it’s not." Celia told her, "I saw you up here all the time you took a break from Koichi."

"Okay, so it wasn’t quite a break." Stephanie said, "But at least I feel rested when I see him. Not like this, though."

"I heard that stalking is illegal in the New World." Celia told Stephanie.

Stephanie waved Celia off and said, "Oh please. If this is stalking then what are you doing?"

Celia slid out onto the roof and said, "I need a place to free my spirit, too. This is too much of a wait for me to take any longer."

"Old Joel’s going to show up eventually, I bet." Stephanie said, "Ryan just needs to open his mouth and say something right for once about something we want to hear." She put her hand on Celia shoulder and said, "Take it from me, though. Before Koichi entered my life I know I was about to try dating one of those guys down in town. That might have torn my life and training apart, though!"

Celia looked up into the sky and said, "I know, I’m about to consider that, myself. I need someone, and watching you and Koichi isn’t helping me at all."

Stephanie drew her hand back quickly in slight shock and said, "Oh! I’m sorry." She looked down and said, "Well I don’t know. If he doesn’t marry me..."

"Joel and I were married once." Celia said as Stephanie trailed off, "It was for fake, because my father wanted to clear me up with a man. Joel just appeared and carried me away, but he told me he wouldn’t keep the marriage going if I didn’t want to."

Stephanie inched up with curiosity and asked, "And?"

"Oh, I guess we dropped the thing, but Joel still stuck around and tried keeping me happy." Celia said, nodding her head back and forth, "Of course that’s easy to miss if you really knew him. Seeing you and Koichi together just reminds me of our times."

"So do you want to marry that guy then?" Stephanie asked, drawing her head back slightly.

"Maybe." Celia said, "After he makes up for all this time away."

"Oh... I wonder if Guardians grow gray hairs from frustration." Stephanie mumbled to herself.

Ryan walked along the streets of the city far out south in New World carrying three long construction beams along his shoulder. The workers all around him would always stop their work and watch Ryan in astonishment of the Guardian’s power. He brought the beams to a new building they were working on reconstructing, and he swung the three beams down from his shoulder into his arms. He looked up and began tossing up each beam one by one to the construction golems on the top. Ryan patted his hands together and crossed them across his chest with a wide grin as he watched the golems at the top do their work.

The construction workers had magic users bind their magic into stone and old building ruble to create the magical creatures known as construction golems. They were very strong and loyal to the workers, and they helped the workers carry the workloads around and put them together without large machines. They required no sleep, unlike humans and other creatures, and carried utilities from within their bodies to do such things as screw, hammer, meld, and perform other various construction tasks.

"Wow, sir! That was excellent as always!" One worker said as he came up applauding Ryan, "How much of your special powers did you put into that this time?"

Ryan looked down at the worker and said, "None. Anyone can do that, Franklin. You just need to work you physical attributes up enough so you can like heavy things like that. You just need to start small and work your way up, man."

"Wow! I mean, wow!" Franklin said in amazement, "You mean even I could leap over tall buildings in a single bound if I worked at it?"

Ryan tilted his head to the side like a shrug and said, "I can’t say for sure. The force of the jump and fall that you would have to put into the leaping bound might be enough to crush your skeleton. But if you want to try some day, sure."

Franklin jumped for join and ran around Ryan in large circles. Ryan chuckled and put his finger up, and Franklin lifted slightly off the ground and was set aside from Ryan’s path while he walked away for more work. As Franklin was set down he stepped up to the side of a building and looked up to the top of it. He began hopping up and down to see how high he could jump and how much work he would have to do to make it up there.

Ryan snickered softly at the young man and said, "Like a typical dreamer with acne all over their faces."

He shook his head at the thought. He passed by a decaying building and flew up to the top, and he removed a chunk from the destroyed mass. Ryan then turned around and floated towards the construction golems up on the top of various buildings and started tossing pieces out to them like food. The golems lifelessly reached out without looking and took their pieces of rubble and began to consume them slowly. Ryan floated back slowly in the air as he watched over the golems from up high, then he dropped down to the ground.

Ryan walked towards the city square to pay a visit to Joel. As he arrived he noticed there was a big crowd of workers that gathered around the area. Ryan ran up and looked around, pushing people out of the way. Joel had disappeared from his place of stasis.

"Where’d he go, guys?" Ryan asked them.

The crowd began bursting out in commotion, trying to answer Ryan all at the same time.

"He was here the last moment I saw." One worker said.

"I thought I saw a strange guy." Another said.

"There was something like a zombie moving out of town." Another worker blurted out, "I tried hitting it with my shovel, but it just blocked my swing and moved on."

"Yeah, he had lots of scars on his body and destroyed clothes." A worker from the back called out.

Ryan began jolting his head back and forth from his position, looking around for signs of Joel. He turned to the crowd and waved at them.

"I gotta go, guys. Thanks for letting me work with you all." Ryan told them. He turned around and clinched his fists together, saying, "This is big, man! It’s time to complete our adventure!" He leaped into the air and flew up high to look around, "It’s about time! I’m glad I don’t grow facial hair yet. Five months of putting up with that would have been annoying!" He began concentrating his powers around the area to search for Joel’s signal, "Awesome. He’s opened himself up again. This is perfect!" Ryan looked northward and saw a small figure inching slowly out of town, "I should have known he’d be heading that way of all places."

Ryan flew down towards the figure and was able to make out Joel. He floated close behind him for a while as he limped slowly outside the city like a zombie. Ryan flew ahead and landed down in front of him, but Joel did not stop.

"Hey man, where are you going?" Ryan asked.

"Celia... she’s calling me... I can hear her pains..." Joel muttered, "She needs me... I need her..."

"You plan on going out into the world like that? You’re looking like skin and bones." Ryan said as Joel slowly passed him. He put his hands out and summoned a bag of food for Joel, "How about some brain food to start your day?"

As Joel heard Ryan’s offer he stopped completely with his body perked up. He turned around and fell to his knees in front of Ryan.

"Food is good, yes." Joel muttered again.

"Look, and I didn’t even have to cast a spell!" Ryan laughed.

He sat down in front of Joel and placed the bag of food in front of him, which Joel slowly consumed eagerly at his low level of energy.

"Hey man, I can’t help but notice..." Ryan said as he looked over Joel, "You still have scars from five months ago."

"Five months?" Joel asked.

"Yeah, you didn’t realize it? I thought you were fully aware of how long you decided to take." Ryan said.

Joel shook his head, "No, I was busy in my subconscious destroying my Slayer transformation and putting Zareon to rest."

"That must have been some outer body experience, man." Ryan said, scratching his head, "I waited for you all this time for you to wake. Who knows what happened in other regions of the world we could have gone to in all that time."

"It was something I had to do." Joel told him, "I couldn’t let him break out and do it again."

Ryan crossed his arms along his chest and thought for a moment, then said, "Well I hate to have to say this, but some day we’ll have to get you to learn how to do it without losing control again."

Joel dropped the burger he had been eating and sat with a dumbfounded look struck across his face for a moment, then yelled, "Are you crazy?"

Ryan fell back from Joel’s yelling, then quickly sat back up and chuckled, "Woah, hey! I wouldn’t want to force you into any of this again like I was trying before. Actually, let’s just focus on getting you back together with Celia and meeting your two brothers."

Joel picked the burger back up and finished eating it. He stood up tall on his feet and let out a burst of energy. A surge of flaming electricity crawled down his body and into the ground.

"Sounds good to me." Joel said. He ran his right arm up around in circles as he warmed his body back up, "I can’t wait to see her again."

"Right! We’ll begin again right away!" Ryan said with a quick salute. He stood up and leaped into the air and called out, "But first I need to make a pick up!"

Joel watched in confusion as Ryan flew away at high speed. He turned around and looked back at the city that he destroyed and stayed in for five months straight and bid farewell. Ryan flew quickly across the lands north across fields, forests, and cities, and made it to the mountaintop house that belonged to Master. He stepped up to the door and knocked a few times. Stephanie approached from the other side and opened the door to find the tall blue man standing there.

"Oh, it’s you." Stephanie said.

Ryan grinned and rudely pushed his way through the door, saying, "Yup, it’s me again, man."

He searched around the house from the front hall, and Lynn came running out in delight as she heard Ryan’s voice.

"Ryan!" Lynn yelled as she jumped up to tackle Ryan. She caught onto Ryan and fluttered her eyes, "Did you miss me?"

Ryan lifted his hands up and motioned Lynn to be lifted up and off of him and said, "It depends on how you mean that."

Celia inched her head out from a corner in the back, then joined everyone in the gathering.

"Well, I have good news and bad news." Ryan told them. He looked around, counting everyone, and said, "Wait, where’s Koichi?"

Lynn popped up again and said, "He’s still out collecting... oop... umm."

She looked at Stephanie and backed away quietly.

Ryan grinned and shook his head, then said, "He can catch up later. But here goes the good news. Joel’s up and well."

Celia’s eyes perked up and she asked, "What? Where? What happened to him for five months?"

"I still can’t tell you yet. You’ll find out eventually, though, man." Ryan told her.

Celia gritted her teeth and began glowing with an aura of anger. She approached Ryan with a serious look over her face and began hitting him across his chest.

"No more games! I want to know now!" Celia yelled at him, "I’m tired of waiting!"

Ryan jumped back quickly and reached his hand out for Celia’s head and called out, "Gather all time... Stop spell!"

Celia suddenly froze in her place, unable to move, speak, or react. Lynn stood in front of Celia and waved her hand around in front of her face to check if she was awake.

"So was that the bad news? That you wouldn’t tell us what was wrong with the guy?" Stephanie asked.

"Nope, way off." Ryan said, "Bad news is you’re going to be minus one party member in this camp. I’m going to have to take Lynn away with me."

"What?" Lynn and Stephanie both asked in different tones.

Ryan nodded and said, "Pack your bags. We’re going to help you find a new home, after all. You might find a place you’d rather stop at anywhere along our journey across the world."

Lynn jumped joyously and shouted, "Yay! I’m going to get ready now!"

Lynn ran off down to the living room and towards the left to where her room was in the house. Ryan walked up towards the living room slowly and looked around for one last time. Stephanie looked closely at Celia in her trance and poked at her a few times to make sure she really was not moving. From the hall there could be seen several different sets of clothes being thrown out into the hall from where Lynn lived, and soon Lynn ran out in her little ninja-like outfit that Ryan got her. On the back of the belt on her pants she carried her two hoops as if they were her swords.

"So that’s all you think you’ll need?" Ryan asked Lynn as he looked over her small body.

"It’s all you ever seem to need." Lynn told him. She winked with a giggle and said, "Only I know how to bathe!"

Ryan stepped back, unsure of what to say in response, then said, "Err, hey! I’ve been keeping good care of myself the last five months!" He shook his head and said, "Ah, let’s get going, shall we?"

Ryan and Lynn left the building, leaving Stephanie and Celia alone by themselves. Ryan turned back and snapped his fingers, releasing Celia from the spell, then he turned back and lifted Lynn up by her waist and began flying off. Koichi was just returning from his trip out into the mountains in search of the perfect gifts for Stephanie when he saw Ryan departing. He dropped his jaw as well as his collection. He shook his head and ran for the house to find out what had happened.

"Celia, Stephanie, what the hell?" Koichi asked quickly

Celia stood there silently again, ready to burst into tears from the neglect and denial.

"Ryan came back and told us that your friend Joel is okay." Stephanie told Koichi, "He took Lynn with him for some reason."

Koichi lowered his head and said, "I see. I’m sure that one of us would have wished to go with him, but he had already pre-selected."

"I want to follow after them." Celia’s voice faded in with a few sniffles.

"I agree. Something must be done to catch up with those two to find out what really happened." Koichi said with a nod.

Stephanie stroked Koichi’s face with her hand, then rested her hand on his shoulder and said, "What do you plan to do about it?"

"I will ask Master." Koichi said, eyes lighting up with determination.

He slid under Stephanie’s hand and quickly made his way towards Master’s room, and Celia followed up after him. Koichi stepped up to Master, who slowly looked his way with a cough, and kneeled down before him.

"Master, I require your advice." Koichi said.

"The wind carries much of what you seek to know... And I see you wish to leave here once more to seek out your destiny." Master said.

Koichi nodded and said, "Yes, what might you have for us that could help us determine where to find Joel?"

Master closed his eyes and said, "My infinite wisdom has been my first and it will be my last gift to you, Son Koichi." His eyes opened slightly with a gleam of knowledge, "Seek my maps of the world and locate the city of Argund. It is a New World city far to the south west of here. It has been said to hold powers to unlock any wishes if you are able to defeat the guardian of the tower there. You are bound to cross paths with this Joel again there... And Celia... will be able... to recover from her sickness..."

Master’s voice faded out, and his eyes closed. Koichi stood up sharply in grief, and Celia looked over the old man. She put her hands over Master and emitted magical waves through him.

"He’s still alive." Celia told him, "Just... barely... He needs to rest more frequently."

Koichi nodded in agreement and said, "Then let’s depart and hope for the best to come here while we’re away."

He patted Celia’s shoulder and turned around to leave, but Celia stayed in front of Master. She began waving her hands around in a rolling motion around Master.

"Hasfana... Inchanto... Wexniar..." Celia began chanting. She then pointed her fingers out at a point over Master and called out, "Protecto!"

A flash of light sparkled from her hands over Master’s body, and Celia began to continue her chanting. As the first flash came Koichi turned around in curiosity, and Stephanie began to poke her head in and watched what was going on inside.

"Nerectsa... Jin... Lozans..." She jolted her fingers forward a bit, then back, and called out, "Sustainshi!"

Stephanie sneaked behind Koichi and leaned on him slightly and whispered, "What’s she doing?"

"I don’t know." Koichi whispered back, shaking his head.

"Zizuon... Kwunsh... Marragin..." Celia chanted some more. She waved her hands out over Master one last time, "Lifeha!"

She stepped back a bit, then turned around and shook her head.

"Well, I cast several spells over Master in order to sustain his aging in time for as long as I can." Celia told them, "We’ll see how long this keeps him going. He’ll be sleeping for a long time, though."

Stephanie dropped her head on Koichi’s shoulder as Celia walked out passed them, and Koichi turned to her and embraced Stephanie tightly in a hug. Tears rolled down Stephanie’s cheeks as she mourned for Master’s state of condition, smearing the makeup over her face. Koichi brushed up her face with one hand, catching her tears before the dripped onto her dress, and he patted her back with her other. Koichi reached down and kissed Stephanie on her neck before he let her go and walked away to leave with Celia. As Koichi passed Stephanie she shook her head behind him in disbelief.

"Look after him and take care of yourself while I’m away, Daughter of Green." Koichi said softly as he walked away.

Stephanie ran up behind Koichi and threw her arms around Koichi’s body, holding him back from leaving, and said, "But what about us? Today?"

"I’m... not ready yet." Koichi sighed.

Stephanie let her grip loose from Koichi, and Koichi began walking away again.

"I’m crying as well, for the first time in many years." Koichi said, not showing his face to her.

Stephanie dropped her shoulders and turned around to look at Master. It was then that Koichi and Celia set out on their long journey to find Joel and the city of Argund. Koichi found his old fighters gloves and claw, and he reattached his long sword once again after five months of rest. As Koichi walked down the mountain path away from the house on top of the Koorychan Peaks he did not turn and look back over the once-glorious site. He could only look ahead at what would come for the future.

Much farther down in the south, Ryan had touched down back where Joel had been waiting for him. Lynn hopped down from Ryan’s grasp and began dancing around Joel. As Joel looked over the excited young woman he was able to remember the feel of a smile as it stretched over his pale face. He extended his arms out and picked Lynn’s small body up from under her arms.

"Oops! I’m too old for piggy back rides!" Lynn laughed, "You really didn’t age at all since we last met. Wow!"

He tossed Lynn down onto her feet and the three began their own long journey northward towards Traquo again. Valentine’s Day has had it’s ups and downs for everyone overall, and it had also marked the return of the long pilgrimage towards family, friends, and destiny. The rest of the long day passed over them all suddenly as Joel, Lynn, and Ryan traveled gleefully together up the road and Celia and Koichi traveled down the world in search of answers and more questions.

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