A.N: We apologize for the very long wait between the last chapter and this one, but life and work caught us, and we are running low on ideas. We would like to thank those readers that actually left reviews, and those that just read the fic. We hope you enjoy this chapter, and the next chapter shouldn't take nearly as long to get out, but we'll see what happens. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Before We Say Good Bye

Jena awoke the next morning to find a tray of some of the freshest fruit that she had ever seen sitting on the nearby nightstand. Alongside it were two notes with two roses.

*Then all of that was a dream…thank god. I don't want to know what would happen if I should lose them.* She thought, as she brought the tray over to her bed…not that she was starving or anything, but she simply thought it best that she read her mail. Gently she opened the first envelope, setting aside the red rose, and smiling at the fact that it was from Sesshoumaru, as she read.

Jena,

I know that last night was hard for you, and I promise from this day forward that I will always love you. However, my love, there is something that you must realize. I have every intention of claiming as my lifemate. And once done, such a thing can never be undone. We will each be bound to the other in life and in death, that what ever happens to one in turn happens to the other.

I have to tell you this…I should have told you this last night…but I just couldn't, I was wrong and selfish, my love. But no matter what, I really do love you Jena, always and forever. I know that it has been such a short time…but you have become a part of me… and I want you to know, love, I will have no other! So if, after all of this, you still wish to be my bride, then come to the party tonight and I will declare in front of everyone my undying love for you and make you my mate, my princess, my bride, my love.

I await your decision my beloved,

Sesshoumaru

* I will be there. Come Hell or High water, I swear by every thing I have ever held dear!* Her resolve firm, she placed his letter tenderly aside along with its rose, and as she picked up the next one, she noticed that attached to it was a white rose.

* Who the heck could this be from?* She wondered, as she turned the letter to see the name that was very neatly written across the front.

*InuTaisho? How strange.* Jena thought, as one of her first real allies had been keeping his distance for some odd reason, known only to him. Going through the same ritual as before, she carefully read his strange and frightening note.

Jena,

My soon to be daughter-in-law, I know you've been wondering why I've kept my distance these last few days. Trust me, youngling, it was not of my choosing, nor could it have been helped. Dearest Jena, promise me that you will always remember how special you are. My son is very lucky to have found a lifemate with such a pure and magical soulthat you possess. And I know that your life has been hard, and at some points even tragic. But before you take my son as your lifemate, you must know something. In part, it has to do with my absence. You must realize where you came from. No, I don't mean that realm of pain and misery you believed was a form of living, either… You must realize who andwhat you truly are. I have known that you were much more than a mere abused mortal child-lingfrom the first momentmy flesh touched yours. You were surrounded by a fortress of your own making and your own magic…that held fast against the world and wouldn't let you die even if you truly had wanted to…. However, Jena dear, while you were so busy keeping the world at bay, you missed the love of those closest to you. Your friends you may not know it but you have be come part of your there lives just as much as they have of yours…are you truly willing to throw all of that away…daughter of many worlds.

I spoke of another reason for my absence. You are the last of your race, Jena dearest. The last of your bloodline. Jena, you are the last Nymph Princess. Sadly, thus far all you've inherited have been sorrows beyond compare. Alas, Jena, I have one more woe that I must add to your already overburdened shoulders. I fear the worst is yet to come …for there is a legend among your people that says:

The Ice Queen has yet to fall, and the forgotten Princess has yet to claim her throne.

And the battle has yet to come to pass when our fallen Princess shall breath her last.

For the future will never realize her love, and the lies will burn the bridges to her past,

On that fateful day when our Princess-Queen shall pass.

I hate to burden you, but you are the closest thing to a daughter that I've ever had; and just in case our time is short, I want you to know that I loved you… daughter of my heart. However, when all is said and done, I hope you still can look upon us with love, and if necessary…………

Forgiveness.

InuTaisho

*That was odd.* Jena thought, as she realized that she needed to ask him what he meant in his letter. It was just too fantastic to be real...it was like something out of a bizarre storybook. A soft knock at the door drew her from her thoughts.

"Come in." Jena called ever so politely, and just as quickly, the door opened.

"Arachnie?" Jena asked, astonished. For up until now, she had never seen the spider-nymph leave her massive rooms. To say that Jena was surprised would have been the understatement of the year. For Jena felt honored that Arachnie had decided to visit her, instead of the other way around. If Jena had thought the woman was beautiful in the dim lights of her room...she was absolutely stunning in the brighter light of Jena's own. She was a good foot taller than Jena, with bluish silver hair that glinted in the sunlight piled loosely atop of her head with a smile that accented her face beautifully.

* God she looked like some one out of one of my history books…Dear lord she looks like 'Marie Antoinette!'*

"Good Morning, Jena dear, sleep well?"

"Uh huh." Jena said brightly.

"So let me go about fixing that hair of yours, child…the ball is in only a few hours now." Arachnie said, as she flashed the silver clip in front of Jena. It was plain, but held a remarkable elegance about it, and a crescent shaped sapphire was set in the middle.

"Arachnie it is beautiful!"

"That it is child…but what is even more beautiful was that your young lord had a hand in its creation. Well enough of this chitchat! Let me see what I can do about that hair of yours!"

"Um…okay..." Jena said, as Arachnie readied all of her eight hands. "…But first let me comb it through, it is horrible to attack it before it is combed…and quite painful, too!"

Arachnie sighed in disgust…did this child think so little of her!? "My poor, poor, child-ling, I've fought with materials far worse than mere hair. This will hardly be a challenge! And we must hurry now! Those infernal imbecilic savants will be bringing your dress along soon."

Jena sighed, resigning herself to letting the spider nymph have at her wild locks before she had her good morning tug-o-war with it, and prayed that just this once her hair would be merciful!

Hours passed like minutes as she watched her hair being spun in front of a large vanity mirror. This was the first time since her Journey had begun that she had a lazy day with no work, no demands, no responsibilities; and the world could go to hell in a hand basket as far as she was concerned, as long as it didn't disturb the moment. But with everything that had happened in the last few days she felt the desperate urge to talk to somebody. And the reluctant seamstress-turned-hair dresser was there and rather available.

"Arachnie?"

"Yes, Jena dear?"

"Have you ever been desperately in love?"

"Desperately?"

"Yes...desperately like you could deny them nothing…if they asked you for your very soul and than threw it to the ground you wouldn't think twice of it…like if you couldn't be near them that you'd die inside…"

"Yes child-ling I felt like that long before you where born."

"What did you feel like before you married him?" Jena asked, hoping that the seamstress would be willing to provide information with out prying. Luckily, the fates seemed to be smiling upon her.

"I…was nervous...but that is to be expected…I was excited…and terribly lonely all at once."

"Lonely?"

"Yes dear. I was lonely because I knew that I was leaving the family that I knew so well behind to start out on my own…And I wondered if I was truly ready. Do you know what got me through it?"

Jena shook her head. "No, what?"

"The love that I had for the one that I had chosen as my one true love. True love will always see you through the worst of storms…no matter how rocky they may seem at points, never lose sight of that love, for only then are you truly lost and alone. So the answer to your question of how I got through it, is as simple as the answer you hold in your heart…Jena, do you truly love Sesshoumaru?"

At that point, Jena nodded rather firmly, tears of love streaming down her delicate face.

Before they could say another word, a rather confused looking servant walked in. She was tall, and reminded Jena remarkably of the girl that she had seen a couple of nights ago in the stables. She was tall and stocky, where the girl from the stables had been short and petite with a lithe frame, and her features were cold and hard, where the others' had been polite and slightly shy. Before Jena could inquire further as to the woman's identity, Arachnies' voice cut her off.

"Where is her dress!? Haven't you imbeciles brought it up yet?!"

The woman look shocked…as if she wasn't used to being spoken to in that manner. "It will be here shortly! See madam, here the others come now."

"Bout bloody time!"

With that, the woman had left and a chill colder than that of death filled the air.

"Arachnie," Jena called to her new friend. "I don't like her. Not one bit!"

An expression of pure shock graced the woman's soft features…. This, coming from her delicate fragile granddaughter! The same one that was never, in all the time she had known her, bold enough to openly declare her dislike of someone…*Sure, I had felt the chill of dark magic in the air…But did she?* Arachnie wondered, as she held Jena's body in her arms…the girl was positively trembling.

"Why, dear?"

"She makes me feel cold…like death…like I lost the will to live...and to love…"

*Dear gods in heaven no….not now, not yet…please don't let the prophecy come to pass…she is all I have left…But she feels it…and it was the same feeling I had when the Guardian foretold her future at her birth…Arsheala…* "Than we must be cautious…" *No mistake about this one's powers…that chill is the after effects of exposure to great power…great evil power….* "Well that is enough of that now on to your hair." Arachnie said, as Jena allowed herself to slip into the realm of dreams and fantasies…giving in to the chill of magic in this sweet surrender.

Dream

A lone figure was crying by a nearby bush. Pieces of white stood out from her cloak.

[Flash]

**BOOM**

The figure raised its head from the cloak. Then, Jena saw its face: it was herself! Only, this Jena had a livid bruise on her right cheek.

*Dear God, what is going on here?!* She didn't have long to wonder before the figure took off. Jena's curiosity was piqued as she set off to follow this version of herself.

[Flash]

Jena was standing on the sidelines of the battle as her other pleaded with Sesshoumaru to run.

"Please...Sesshoumaru...if my love ever meant anything to you, please believe me! If you stay here, then you will die. Please beloved, believe me."

But what happened next brought Jena to tears, as she watched her lover strike the girl across the face again, causing the comb that had held her hair up to fall to the ground. It shattered upon impact, and caused her long, curly, golden locks to tumble freely about her back.

"Leave here, bitch, or I'll make what Reyouku did to you look like a holiday!"

"Please Sesshoumaru...don't...you promised...don't leave me...not like this."

"Oh, and would you prefer that I take your life instead.... I hate you Jena, and your very presence sickens me. Now leave before I forget my self...and you die a death befitting the filthy whore that you are!"

"I'm dead all ready."

She said in a voice she knew was too soft for Sesshoumaru to hear.

"Oh, there you are, Arsheala!" two cold voices called, as their figures emerged from the shadows. Jena recognized one of them as Neara, but the other was a mystery.

[Flash]

Jena couldn't see her other self, but what she could see was Sora, one of her best friends, actually transform into a giant, winged, Shadowcat only to be thrown hard into a nearby tree. Her blood pooling on the earth below.

Neara looked back at Sesshoumaru with eyes that expressed murderous rage and childlike joy at the same time. "So, dog-boy, have you figured it out yet?" She said in a singsong voice.

"Bitch! Why don't you just tell me so that you can die in peace!"

"Certainly, dog-boy. However, you shall be the one to die! Tell me, don't you find it ironic that the girl you pledged your love to never actually betrayed you?"

"Liar! Her scent was all over that cloak…"

"Really, you are such a simple creature, and here one would have thought that the Princess of Times' mate would have been more intelligent than that. Seems that we where mistaken after all…but than again what can one expect from some one who has filthy youkai blood running through their veins. That scent was created from a single strand of her hair, and here you are, vowing your eternal love to her one moment, and tearing her very soul to bloody shreds the next, only to find out that at the first test of loyalty…you shun her, tearing her still beating heart apart piece by bloody piece!" Neara laughed loudly. "You are a fool, Sesshoumaru and for that you must pay a fools' price! She never even betrayed you. That was me!" Neara continued to laugh cruelly as she took to the sky.

*Were those wings?* was the last thing Jena wondered before violently returning to consciousness.

"Jena what's wrong!"

Looking around, Jena was shocked to find herself in her room…*But it was so real* she thought, as she looked into the eyes of the elder.

"Nothing….and everything…." Jena said, as she allowed Arachnie to continue contending with her hair.

With that neither would speak again to one another…for little did Jena know that because they failed to see the cloaks disappearance, that simple mistake would cause an angel to fall from grace.