Hikaru: When I saw this part, I hella busted up laughing. Go Arche!

Chester: Hikaru owns nothing.

Word could not describe just how tired Cress became. Traveling through an insanely tall tower, battling monsters and looking for the statues that play music in order to open the stupid doors to the next level . . . not to mention the times when Mint or Klarth kept getting caught between monsters when he was already busy keeping himself alive. Gah! What use is a healer or a summoner if they can't take care of themselves?

Thanks to the occasional pincer attacks by the monster valkyries, nearly half their supply of gels and bottles was gone.

The resting place of the Summon Spirit of Light lay right before him, and Cress would be forever damned if a measly little faerie would stop him now.

But over two hours battling monsters, playing musical statues, and stair climbing never dulled Klarth's enthusiasm one bit.

"Amazing! A faerie, a legendary faerie survived the war of the ancient civilizations!"

Lousy summoner.

The faerie in question, Artemis he called himself, huffed up indignantly.

"Hmph. It'll take more than that to wipe us out!"

Cocky little blighter . . . does that "more" include being stabbed with the Gunghir lance?

Cress sighed. At this point, he was just too damn tired to fight any more.

"Um . . . we need to see Luna. Is there a way we can convince you to let us in?"

The faerie considered, and had no qualms whatsoever about drawing it out as long as humanly possible. Finally, when Cress had taken to tapping the head of his lance on the stone floor steadily, rhythmically, like a heartbeat, the faerie decided.

"If that pink-haired girl there . . ."

Arche evidently had been daydreaming, for when the faerie mentioned her, she sharply glanced up from the cobblestone floor.

"What?"

Artemis buzzed over, those transparent wings of his looking more like quick blurs of whit-blue, like a mess of paint.

"If you just kiss someone, anyone, I'll let you through. Like me, for instance . . ."

Cress quit tapping the floor. From a feminine point of view, faeries (including Artemis, he grudgingly supposed) were pretty damn cute. Just a peck on the cheek, and that would earn them a right to go see Luna about the pact. Hell, if Arche or Mint won't do it, then Cress would.

But instead of grabbing the little faerie, Arche walked up to Cress, her small hands already found themselves perched on Cress' shoulders.

"Uh . . . A-Arche?" Cress burned mightily.

Arche only shrugged.

"Well, we need to get through to see Luna . . ."

At this point, Mint shoved Arche off Cress, flustered.

"Arche! You can't!"

Cress almost said "why not?" but one glare from Klarth told him that shutting up would be the wiser course of action. The swordsman obliged.

Another voice, different from a human's, but not the same as the faerie's boomed from the stone chamber beyond.

"Artemis! Enough mischief!"

Arche immediately backed off, suddenly frightened. Mint remained close to Cress. Was that a faint tinge of red on her face . . .?

Cress mentally sighed.

Women.