Chapter One: Endings and Beginnings

"It feels odd to be back here," Bleu murmured to Magus as they laid on their bed in their room in Guardia Castle. "After everything we went through, to be back where it all started." She took a deep breath and said the next words hesitantly. "Back home." It was a test, saying that. This place wasn't home to her, and she knew it wasn't to him.

"Yes, it is strange to be back here," Magus agreed. Bleu suppressed a sigh. She had known he would say that.

After several minutes of silence, she decided to test the waters again. "Magus, are you happy? Happy here with me?"

"Of course I am," he assured her, a slight frown on his face. "Of course I'm happy with you. Why wouldn't I be?"

Bleu shrugged slightly. "I... don't know. You just seem less than happy here."

"Wherever did you get that idea?" he asked, looking a little uncomfortable.

Bleu exhaled sharply. "Look, don't lie to me. I can see the truth in your eyes. You can't hide anything from me. I know that you're unhappy, I can tell. Now tell me, what's making you feel that way? Is it me, or is it something else?" She looked a little worried and slightly hurt.

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment as he shook his head. "Bleu, it's not you. It could never be you. It's just...." He paused, looking conflicted. "It's just that I don't quite feel at home here, in this time."

"In my time," Bleu said softly. "With me." She bit her lip, looking very unhappy. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to banish the tears that threatened to slip onto her cheeks. "Why do you love me? What is it that you see in me? Or do you even feel that way at all?" She could hear her self-loathing creeping into her pain-filled voice, still there after being buried and almost forgotten.

Magus frowned sharply. "Bleu, what's bothering you? There's something behind this. What is it?"

Bleu swallowed. "I... I just... I'm wondering if... you never really know..." She trailed off, gulping down the tears.

"Bleu, you're not making any... wait." Magus looked closely at her. "Is this about what happened with Skye and Setzer? Did their situation have anything to do with this?"

She nodded, the tears sliding down her pale face now. "It... it really bothered me. I realized that people don't really know.... never know..."

Magus sighed deeply. "Bleu, that's utterly ridiculous. Our situation is completely different. You know how much I love you, and that there's only you."

"Do you? If so, then why are you unhappy here?"

"Not unhappy," he corrected her. "Uncomfortable. I don't fit in. Not that I really do anywhere, but it's still a strange time to me. However, if this is where -- or should I say, when -- you want to be, I will be happy here. So long as you're there."

"But I don't want to be here," she said softly. "I really don't have anything here. I'd rather go somewhere -- or rather, sometime -- that you feel comfortable in, and start over. This isn't home to me. In a way, it never has been." She drew a deep breath. "In a weird way, it doesn't feel like it's really my time. I feel like a stranger in my own time." She wiped her eyes, and sighed. "When would you feel comfortable?"

Magus smiled wryly. "When do you think?"

She laughed. "Oh, 12,000, of course. Right?"

"Right." He gazed at her for a moment. "It's really fine with you?"

She let her breath out. "For the last time, yes." She smiled at him. He smiled back.

"So, you're really going, huh?" Rydia sighed. "I'll miss you three."

"I... I'll miss you, too," Bleu replied. It was the first time in years she had expressed such emotion towards Rydia. After they had discovered what she was, she had closed herself off from her and Daria, opening up only to Schala.

She felt a little guilty, just leaving Rydia like this, especially since the poor girl had been willing to listen to her when the discovery had been made, and had tried to make it up to her afterwards. But nothing could be changed now.

Rydia let out a sigh as she watched Bleu walk off to talk to Schala about something. It had been hard for her to watch Bleu slip away from her, becoming increasingly cool and guarded, after they had made the discovery about her. She had tried so hard to make it up to her, to convince Bleu and Daria to forgive each other, but to no avail. Now she would never have the chance to win her friendship back. Rydia drew in a shuddering deep breath as she struggled not to cry.

From her bedroom window in the castle, Daria watched as the three said their goodbyes to Rydia, then left. She knew she should have been there to say goodbye herself, but she just couldn't, not when they would think it was more of a good riddance coming from her. She had never had the courage to say it, but she was truly sorry for what she had done all those years ago. Now she would never have the chance to say it. She turned away from the window as she started to cry.

A few weeks later....

"Lot of books here," Bleu commented as she walked into the ruins of Enhasa's library, recalling with amusement that Skye had been here with Magus not too long ago. She smiled as she remembered her wicked conversations with her.

"Way to state the obvious," Magus said dryly. Bleu glared at him in mock anger. He laughed, and so did she.

"Mmm, funny," a smooth, sarcastic voice said behind them. They turned to see a young woman with curly black hair and bluish skin standing there. Bleu gasped a bit, for she bore a slight resemblance to her.

"Do you know," the woman continued as she took a few steps towards them, "that I had quite a time -- no pun intended -- finding you two? First in this world, then in that one, hopping from world to world and era to era. Honestly, don't you ever get exhausted with all that traveling?"

"Who are you?" Bleu asked suspiciously.

"Karina DuFarr is the name, and please don't ask me what my game is. I so hate that old line," she replied with a long-suffering sigh.

"Do you know what I hate?" Bleu asked, an edge in her voice.

"Frankly, I don't really care, but I'll humor you anyway. What do you hate?"

"You DuFarrs. Popping up out of nowhere, causing trouble and wrecking lives. I'm getting really sick of it." Bleu glared at her with obvious hatred.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down there!" Karina held up her hands as if to ward off an attack. "Don't misunderstand me based on what my nutso sisters did to you! I'm not here to attack you!"

"Oh, you're here to kill us, then?" Magus asked darkly, looking ready to go into battle.

"No!" Karina snapped. "No, no, NO! I'm not here to do either of those things!" She took a deep breath and let it out. "Look, just calm down and listen to me. I'm here to ask for your help. And while I'm here, I may as well also thank you for getting rid of those pains in the you-know-where."

"Our help?" Bleu repeated, confused. "What would you need our help for?"

"All the evil isn't gone, you know," Karina replied, a dark look on her face. "One last threat remains. Unfortunately, it is the biggest."

"What is it?"

"My father," Karina sighed. "Kezmet DuFarr. The most evil demon in existence. He is looking to reopen the gates between his world and this one."

"Reopen? They were open at one time?" Bleu frowned. "I've never heard anything about that."

"Neither have I... I don't think." Magus frowned.

"It was before your time, Magus. 12,010, I believe."

"Two years before I was born? How could I have not heard about it?"

"It was very brief, and very few witnessed it." Karina sighed again. "It went wrong, and a timegate was opened as well. There was a small disaster." She shook her head. "Anyway, he is trying to reopen them. This time, it would open up into the other worlds as well, the ones you visited on the adventure Katra and Ankara put you through. I can't let that happen. So I came to you to ask for your help. You must reassemble the group you traveled with, and come to my world with me to stop him."

"Why did you come to us first?" Bleu asked curiously.