Blood.

The life force of all living things.

After the war, no more blood was spilt and peace had befallen Hoshido and Nohr. Yet, blood still fell. It stained the drenches ground beneath Siegbert's hands as well as his tattered outfit. He held Shiro close to him as he ran as fast as his legs could carry. The son of King Ryoma had taken a critical hit, a poisoned drench arrow that was originally meant for the young cavalier. It had brought the spear fighter quickly to his knees; the added exhaustion of being held captive for several days didn't help the princes' situation. Shiro had told the blond the leave him behind, try to find a way out of this place, but Siegbert wasn't one to leave a friend behind. The heavy rain fall served as a natural cover as they traveled further from the ones that had captured them.

Completely drenched and drained, Siegbert stumbled across shelter. An old house that was on its last legs, yet still held strong against the howling winds and rain. The young prince dragged himself inside, where he deposited Shiro on the floor and forced the door close. With a heavy sigh, he slid down to the floor and looked at the unconscious hoshidian. Small scratches were scattered here and there on his body, his hair was a tangled and muddy mess and his clothes were tattered and beyond repair. The worst ones were the gashes on his chest and the broken arrow that was still lodged in his shoulder. Fighting his oncoming fatigue, Siegbert got to his feet and began work on finding the fireplace and bandaging their wounds. He sent a silent pray to whatever god would listen that his father or King Ryoma would find them soon.


Gaia was at her whit's end, both Ryoma and Xander were asking for updates about their sons, yet Gaia could provide no answers. There were no signs of them in Nohr, Hoshido, nor Valla and Gaia had suspected that Shiro and Siegbert were no longer in her realm. She had turned to the Astral Plains, Outrealms, and Deeprealms that stretched beyond her world. Gaia was deep in thought as one of her Vallite knights, trained by her husband Silas, read off their findings.

"Thank you. You are dismissed."

The knight bowed and left the throne room as Silas walked in. The former nohrian caliver took in the form of his distraught wife, her ruby eyes grew duller with each passing day that her nephews were not found. She stayed up until the early morn, staring out into the vast skies of Valla, hoping that if she stared hard enough she'd fine the answer to where the young princes where.

"Gaia," Silas approach the green haired queen "still nothing on Shiro and Siegbert?"

"The deeprealms turned up nothing as did the Outrealms..." She trailed off "Only thing left is the Astral Plains."

"Could they have been taken that far?"

Gaia sighed and stood up "It's starting to look that way." she heaved a deep sigh "The plains are never ending, it'll take us forever to find them. Unless..."

"'Unless' what?"

"I've made many friends during the war, friends that I can only visit in the Astral Plains." She turned towards Silas "I believe they can help, but you'd have to watch the throne while I'm gone."

Silas smiled gently "Anything for you." He wrapped Gaia in his embrace "Hopefully they'll provide help."

"I hope so too..." the Vallite queen buried her face in his neck 'Because if they can't, Shiro and Siegbert will be lost to us...forever.'