"WHO CAME UP WITH THIS BRIGHT IDEA!!!" yelled Umi as the five companions crouched in a makeshift tent as rain and wind squalled around them.

"Don't YELL!" screamed back Clef and Emerria at the same time. They could barely hear themselves think from all the noise. The clearing they had settled in had been suddenly drenched in a downpour and the weary travelers had been forced deep into the forest. The thick canopy had protected them from *most* of the rain, but the intensity had caused many of the branches and leaves to fall, along with some rain.

"We haven't had any rain since the pillar system was established. I wonder why its starting now..." Clef mused to the others as they all huddled together.

"Her time is growing shorter. If we do not find her within the next few days, the land will crumble and whatever is left will be dead and the storms will come forever." Emerria rambled as the rain beat against the tent. "She has no control anymore. She cannot stop the rain. We may have to brave these showers."

Clef sighed. He had watched Emerria grow more and more despondent overnight, and when morning broke, she was silent and grouchy when she wasn't talking about the spirit. When she *was* talking about the spirit, she was like an apocalyptic oracle in direct link to the spirit. And since the rains had started, he hadn't been able to keep her quiet.

"Eme-chan?" said Hikaru softly. "We will find her." Hikaru looked even smaller in the dark crowded tent.

"I know, Hikaru." Emerria said in a soft voice. Suddenly, she walked out of the tent into the rain.

"EMERRIA!!!" yelled Clef as he saw her dissapear through the downpour. "COME BACK HERE!!!!"

"Does this mean we have to go out there?" said Fuu.

"Yes." Clef stood and followed Emerria out the tent door. Ignoring his quickly sodden robes, he followed the faint shadow of a figure ahead of him as it continued walking. He began to run towards the figure in the rain. As he came closer, he saw that Emerria was breathing heavily and her cloak was burdening her body.

"This is the last trial, Clef." said a voice in his head. "Be mindful of her, and watch over her." He watched her her trudge into the forest. "Guide her, and care for her." In the distance, she slipped on a patch of mud and wet grass. Clef broke into a run towards her, and did not hear the voice's last words to him. "Love her, Clef, with all of your heart."

As he reached her, he grabbed her arm and began to help her up. "Eme-chan...." he said softly. "Where were you going?"

"I really don't know." she said as she hugged him tightly. "She is calling me, drawing me closer to her; She is taking over my body." Emerria began to sob into the folds of Clef's wet robe. "Is this *me*?" she cried. "Is this who I really am?"

"I trust you." Clef said into her ear. "You have to trust yourself. Accept yourself." He gently kissed her on the cheek. "Eme-chan, if she is a part of you, *let* her in."

Emerria sighed as he let go of her. "I can feel her within me....I can feel her power coursing through my veins."

"We have found her..." said Clef to the Magic Knights who were standing about ten feet away. "We are the ones who must help Emerria reach the final trial.

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