*Yuko*

"Yuko okay?" Nori asked, sitting next to her on the back porch of Serra's house as she bit on her cookie. He had taken Xime to one of the many guest rooms to rest. Whatever attack she had used to close the portal, it had drained her completely.

Yuko tried her best to smile. Her heart felt shattered, but Yuko had to be strong. Yuko didn't want to make Master and Rosa sad. Nor did Yuko wish to take away the baby's dad from him or her.

Nori raised an eyebrow at me.

Yuko lowered her head and clenched her eyes closed.

"Yuko can't lie to Nori..." Yuko mumbled. "Yuko's sad to see her master go, but Yuko knew this day would come. If not for that rude Blondie, Master and Rosa would've been dating anyway. Yuko kept fighting, but her chance was small."

Nori stroke the back of Yuko's head. "At least you went for it. I... Nori thinks that I might end up the same. Xime still likes Sir Serrano."

Yuko's ears twitched as she heard steps. Opening her eyes, Yuko turned to look at the door, but no one was there. Hopefully it wasn't Master who had overheard. Yuko didn't want to guilt trip him.

The steps though felt light. Could it have been a girl?

"Hmm?" Nori said, standing up. He slid the glass door open.

"Seems you found me," Rosa said, blushing as she clung to a tied curtain.

"Rosa," Yuko said, forcing a smile. It being her was just as bad as if it were Tetsu.

She fidgeted. "I was looking for you."

Yuko tilted her head. "Yuko?" She grumbled. "Yuko means me."

"Nori will leave you two to talk," Nori smiling. "Will guard the door."

Rosa smiled. "That won't be necessary."

"Okay. I'll go see Lady Ximena instead. Call me if you need Nori."

Rosa cooed. "You might be bigger, but you're still the same adorable kid I met."

Nori blushed. "Nori's not a kid! Nori's the same age as you!"

Yuko snickered. "Princess is teasing you."

Nori lowered his head. "Nori knows, but Nori doesn't like it." He sighed. "Nori lost his cool..."

Rosa giggled. "Not as bad as I do. You're among the most composed members of our team, alongside Etsuo and Nico."

Nori blinked. "Etsuo?"

Rosa frowned. "He's going to help us with the demons, so a least for a little while, we can be Team Tetsu once again! Minus Roa." She looked straight ahead. "Saying his name, I almost feel like he could pop up at any moment."

Yuko laughed. It was easily to imagine Roa showing up, scowling and demanding to know why she, Nori, and Yuko were talking about him.

Nori chuckled and turned around. "We probably should stop talking about him before he shows up and scares us to death," Nori said before running off.

Yuko turned to look back at the princess. "What did you wish to talk to Yuko about?"

Her smile faded as she walked over and sat down next to Yuko. "Thanks a lot, Yuko, for being so kind," she said, rubbing her stomach. "But, I could raise this child by myself."

Yuko shook her head. "Yuko doesn't want to separate a father from his child. While different as Yuko's died, Yuko knows how it feels not to have one. As does Master."

Rosa looked away. She was probably thinking how it was because of Master's father than Yuko couldn't have hers around.

Yuko patted her hand. "It's fine. No need to feel bad for Yuko." Yuko turned away. "Like Master said before, Yuko has to make her own life separate from him."

"Why did he say that?" Rosa asked.

Yuko pulled her hand back. "Master felt like Yuko was relying too much on him. Said that instead of making Master's dreams, Yuko's dreams, that Yuko should come up with her own."

She smiled. "Think he's right. It's fine for you to want the best for him, but you also need to look out for yourself, making an identity that's your own."

Yuko lowered her head. "Yuko wonders how to do that." She closed her eyes. "While Yuko gave him up, Yuko still wishes to be by his side, even if it's not the way Yuko would've liked."

Rosa patted Yuko's shoulder. "You really do love him, don't you?"

Yuko opened her teary eyes and nodded.

The princess sighed. "Seeing you like this makes me scared to see Hyosetsu."

Yuko tilted her head. "Why him? Does Sir Hyosetsu love Rosalba?"

Rosa face flushed. She straightened her back and release the air she held in. "Yeah. He actually confessed to me at Huang's place. I turned him down and said that we could be friends, but I think that he might've held a sliver of hope. Now I have to cut that sliver..."

Poor Sir Hyosetsu. He seemed like a lonely but nice guy. He helped Yuko with her wound. Yuko glanced at her injured knee. She still had the piece of cloth that he had torn from his clothes to stop her bleeding.

Yuko unwrapped it, her wound was gone now. Not even a scar remained despite how bad it had looked back in the tower. Maybe it was because he had covered it in ice prana when putting it on her.

Rosa sighed.

"Wait, is the princess still going to fight?" Yuko asked.

Rosa scratched her head. "My weapon allows for me to fight without needing to move. I can do so from a safe location, plus I can form barriers."

Yuko smiled. "A very handy weapon."

She smiled. "Yeah." She raised her right arm, staring at the ruby beaded bracelet. "That said, I wonder if it you might be able to use it."

Yuko blinked. "Yuko?" She grumbled. "Me!"

Rosa chuckled. "No need to try too hard, you'll get use to it eventually. Nori still struggles, but he's gotten a pretty good hang of using first person."

Yuko sighed. "Yuko feels left behind... Nori grew so much! While Yuko is still small."

Rosa patted Yuko's head. "You're average for your age and height. You only look small because you're in Zionia, not Xeleria."

Yuko smiled. "True. Master and the rest look like giants! Even Rosa looks tall compared to the people of the world of Yuko's ancestors!"

Rosa sighed. "Hopefully, I can grow taller like Hideo did." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, yeah, you. According to Serra, his uncle said that you and Nori were 'pure-bloods', yet you were able to use Azar's angel tool."

Yuko stared at her right hand. "Oh, yeah. That is strange."

"I wonder if it's because of me."

Yuko tilted her head once again. "The princess?"

She nodded. "Since we're doppelgangers."

Yuko blinked. "Wouldn't that mean that the princess should be able to use magic because of Yuko?"

Rosa laughed. "True..." She scratched her head. "Maybe I am mistaken, but it was the only conclusion that I could come up with."

She wasn't wrong about that. Yuko had no idea how she could use an angel tool and yet lack an ounce of angel blood. Unless, mean cat man performed an experiment on Yuko to make it so that she couldn't remember. But, if that were the case, Nori probably would've let Yuko know about it.

Rosa held her right arm toward Yuko. "Put your hand on it. Maybe my theory will work."

If it did, Yuko would be able to better help Master and the princess wouldn't need to risk herself like Queen Saya had done in Xeleria.

"Okay!" Yuko said, nodding. She reached out for the bracelet, but before Yuko could, it let out a scarlet light.

Rosa gasped as she looked around. A field of flowers that continued into the hills in the horizon surrounded us. "W-where are we?" She blinked. 

"This place looks similar to the area around Master's university," Yuko said, turning around several times. Actually, some of the hills reminded Yuko of those of the campus grounds itself.

"Yeah, it does look like it!"

"I also wish to know where this is," a voice called out. Yuko and Rosa turned to look at one of the hills. A blue haired girl sighed as she stared down at the two.

"Ocarina!" Rosa said.

She jumped down. "Did you two summon me here?"

"No, we didn't," Yuko said.

Rosa gasped. "This must be the doing of the necklace! It must've summoned Ocarina as she's our doppelganger!"

"But Harmonica isn't here," Yuko said.

Ocarina gasped. "Harmonica?"

"Yeah, not sure if you met her at the games in Kyuu Seishin, but she's one of us," Rosa said, smiling.

"This place is so pretty," a voice called out.

We gasped and turned to see Harmonica. A short blond haired girl strode behind her.

"Akari?" Rosa said, eyes wide.

The girl tilted her head.

"She does look like her, but shorter," Yuko said.

The girl furrowed her brow at them.

Harmonica patted the girl's shoulder. "Eina, calm down."

Rosa gasped. "Eina? But... that's the name of Akari's dead sister..."

Eina raised a hand to her chin in confusion. She grabbed Ocarina's hand and started squabbling on her palm.

"She says that she isn't dead, that she fused with me," Harmonica said with a weak smile.

"Fused? How?" Rosa asked.

Harmonica sighed. "That's a long story."

Ocarina stepped forward and narrowed her eyes at her.

"Uh, is something the matter?"

Ocarina walked around her. "Sister?"

Harmonica gasped. "Sister?"

Ocarina looked away. "Sorry, it's that you reminded me of my big sis. Her name was also Harmonica."

"Wait, are you Ocarina?"

Ocarina looked up and smiled. "So, you do remember me?"

Harmonica touched her head. "No, but that name flashed before my head along with a little girl asking me to spar with her."

"That's me! I wanted to have a fencing match!"

Rosa smiled. "I'm not sure what's going on, but it seems that we united a family."

Yuko laughed. "Yeah!"

"Which is nice and all, but I would really like to know where we are. I need to go pick up Jason from school soon," a blond haired woman said as she strode over to us. A tall blue haired woman and a petite white-haired girl followed her. The two seemed... familiar for some reason, but where had I seen them before?

"There's more?" Ocarina asked, turning around.

Rosa swung her hands behind her back and smiled at the trio. "Hello, I'm Rosa and this girl beside me is Yuko."

Eina smiled and moved her fingers around, making strange signs.

Harmonica laughed. "She says that she's Eina and is glad to meet you. I'm Harmonica and the girl with the pout is my sister it seems."

Ocarina crossed her arms. "Name is Ocarina, sis."

The younger looking of the two blue-haired girl smiled. "Nice to meet you, I'm Akira."

Rosa, Ocarina, and Yuko exchanged glances. "Akira?" the three said in unison.

"Y-yeah?" She pulled her hands back toward her chest. "Why do you seem so surprised?"

"You must be the wife of Shin!" the trio said together.

Eina tilted her head.

Harmonica laughed. "Yeah, the three do sound like our triplets."

Akira beamed at the mention of Shin. "Yeah! That's me. Wait, are you three allies of Shin?"

Rosa and Yuko nodded. "Yeah!" the two said together.

Ocarina chuckled as she put a hand on her hips. "You could say that, yeah. Shin talked a lot about you. He isn't much for words, but he seems to miss you too."

Akira blushed and turned away. "I see. T-tell him that me and the baby are just fine."

"Eh? You're pregnant too?" Rosa asked.

Ocarina blinked. "Too? Who else is pregnant here?"

"I am," the other blue haired girl said, raising her hand up. "That said, I'm surprised that you know, Rosa."

The princess laughed nervously.

"Oh, right. The name is Seok Shin-Ae," the other pregnant one said.

"Seok? Are you the sister of Seok Korgermu?" Ocarina asked.

"Yeah, that's my little brother! How is he? Hope that he hasn't been a handful. Know that he can be tough to handle. Had hoped that getting married would've helped, but it seems it hasn't caused him to mellow out yet."

"Nice, you all seem to be connected to one another, except me. So why am I here?" the blond woman asked, frowning. She was kind of scary.

"You don't have family participating in the war?" Shin-Ae asked.

"What war?" the woman asked, crossing her arms.

We all exchanged glances.

"Where are you from?"

"Me? I'm from a far flung world away from the capital of Xeleria."

"How nice," Ocarina said.

"Anyway, can you who brought us here please get me back home? I'm very busy. Like I said, I have to get my son from school."

"Can't his dad do it?" Ocarina asked.

The woman sighed, raising a hand to her forehead. "No, and I rather he not. Nothing good will come from Jason interacting with that deadbeat father of his."

We all exchanged looks again. Was her husband a doppelganger of the guys we all knew and loved, or someone else?

"Well, we would love to, but we aren't exactly sure how we all got here in the first place," Rosa said, spreading her arms.

The woman sighed. "I see..."

"Uh, so what's your name?" Harmonica asked.

The woman took a deep breath. "It's Koraline. Now, let's spread out. Maybe there's some kind of portal back home somewhere in this place."

Yuko closed her eyes and felt something coming down. Yuko glanced up and saw a man dressed in white and black robes descend from very high in the sky. His skin and hair were as white as snow just like the non-black parts of his clothes. The man's golden eyes were like those of Master's family.

"Skah?" Rosa asked. "No, you're not him..." She gasped. "Wait, are you my guardian angel?"

He nodded as he hovered an inch off the ground.

"Are you the one who brought us here?" Koraline asked, turning around.

"Sort of. Rosa seeking to lend my angel tool to Yuko triggered a chain reaction, summoning all of you here."

She glared at us. "So, we were caught up in their mess after all."

Yuko stared at her scowl. Her voice, it was filled with bitterness. Was it because of her failed marriage? But, how could one of Master's doppelgangers make one of Yuko's unhappy? It had to be someone else, right?

Koraline scoffed. "Life isn't a fairy tale, kid," she whispered, looking away.

Yuko gasped. Had she read Yuko's mind? Or were Yuko's thoughts communicated to her by our shared soul?

Rosa lowered her head, eyes sad. Yuko sensed... fear. The princess wasn't the only one giving out the vibe, the other girls all had downcast eyes. Were they afraid to end up like her? No, Master wasn't a deadbeat! He wouldn't disappoint Rosa! The same went for Eri, Feng, and Shin toward their respective wives.

"Yuko," Rosa said, smiling at her. The other girls smiled as well.

Koraline sighed. "How full of faith you are."

Rosa's angel smiled slightly. "Well, Yuko here is the Keystone of Faith."

"Keystone?" everyone said in unison.

He snickered slightly. "My, my, you really are one being. Within Yuko is an amazing power. Actually, within all of you, each representing a different attribute that humanity longs for. Be it Rosa with love, or Ocarina with hope."

"What's mine?" Koraline asked.

"Yours appears to be freedom. Fitting, for someone so headstrong. Nothing can chain you. However, said freedom can sometimes cause trouble when it comes to interacting with others." He glanced at Rosa. "Just like how intense love for all can come off as naïve. Not that I see it as necessarily bad, as long as one is vigilant."

She smiled slightly. "I'll keep that in mind. Now, mind taking us back?"

He eyed Rosalba. "Yes, but as soon as Rosa passes her test. The rest of you are free to join, if you so wish. After all, all of you combined are the wielder of Caelio!" Seven drones appeared behind his back. "Rosalba, your trial has begun!"

Rosa smirked. "Great! Was waiting for this."

Yuko stepped forward. "Yuko got the others into this too, so Yuko will join!"

"I didn't, but a battle sounds nice," Ocarina said with a wider smirk than Rosa.

Rosa glanced at the two. "Thanks, Yu, Oca! Now, let's take him down!"

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this chapter ^^! Surprised to see Ocarina and Harmonica after so long? Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**