"I ran to the market and got you this, princess~!" Kit shouted, running over. "Here! The blue paints you asked for."

Mira caught them and stuffed them into a bag she packed to carry her painting supplies. "Thank you, Kit! I didn't think you'd make it back in time."

Kit held up Ash's spear. "I just did some gliding to get there. Damn, this thing nearly killed me and nearly sliced someone else in half!"

Ash took the spear from Kit's hands and slammed it on the back of its head. "Kit."

Kit grinned at her. "I'm sorry, but I woke up late and Mira wanted her paints and it was just sitting right there!"

"Die."

"Eeeek!"

Before Ash could skewer Kit and roast him over an open fire, a trumpet signaled the departure of the carriages and the troops.

Ash dropped Kit and picked up Mira's painting kit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wolf offer to held her carry it, but she ignored him and loaded the heavy package on the back section of the carriage without a problem. Then she pulled Mira into the carriage and pushed Wolf inside as well.

The blue haired king looked around, confused. "Sergeant Ash, aren't you going to sit inside the carriage?"

Ash shook her head. She climbed onto a horse expertly. "Kit and I will flank the carriage that the majesties are in at all times." Through the other window on the other side of the carriage, Kit waved.

Ash then looked around and raised a hand to signal that it was clear. "There's three ranks of troops, the two horses Kit and I are on, and this carriage... As well as five other horses that carry other luggage. It's going to be a three-day trip, but in cutting down on rest we can make it in just two days. I hope we don't have to camp- that's only when someone takes ill or the weather turns for the worst."

Kit chuckled. "Ash always does this before travel. Makes a list of people and animals in her head, makes sure nothing is missing at every moment, always asking where anyone is. It's almost a disorder!" The carriage began to move, and the horses started to calmly trot to the North Bridge.

Ash's head went this way and that, making sure nothing was left behind, and then that there weren't any shadows. "I am not particularly worried about any thieves in this area. We don't have many. If anyone needs financial aid they could work for the castle for a time and we'd pay their debt off... It's the shadows," she muttered.

Kit pulled a flower from his pocket and handed it to Mira over Wolf's shoulder. "Here, my princess. Something I picked up."

Wolf suddenly dropped his cool gaze and grinned unabashedly. "Is that a bluebell?! How rare! Where did you find it?" He exclaimed, his eyes sparkling. "Kit has a talent for going into the forests, avoid the shadows, and come out with delicate flowers that grow only in certain conditions." Ash informed him.

Mira looked at Wolf and then at the bluebell. "You're a bluebell!"

Wolf blinked. "Eh?"

Mira laughed. "I'm a rose, you're a bluebell!"

Ash chuckled.

Mira pointed at Kit. "He's the dirt," Kit winced, "That beautiful flowers grow on," Mira finished, winking at Kit. Ash smirked at Kit. "I told you your hair was dirt-brown."

"It's golden-brown," Kit retorted, "Besides, if we were all gardening supplies, you'd be ash!" Ash raised an eyebrow. "How original. What a wonderful play on words, Kit."

"Black ash," Kit said, "one that comes from burning flowers!" Ash pretended not to be hurt. "Oh, please. I bet your dirt is drier than my ash."

"You know, wood ash is sometimes good for helping plants grow." Kit, Mira, and Ash all looked at Wolf, who had said the last statement. He fidgeted. "Just something I realized when there was a forest fire."

Mira handed Wolf the bluebell. "Here. You can have it," she said, blushing.

Kit looked away. Ash watched as he went off to talk with other soldiers. She glanced down at where Mira and Wolf was, then let the curtain fall. "I'll give you guys some time alone," she said, smirking a little, and trotted off, ignoring Mira's tiny "Wait!"

After some time, they crossed over the North Bridge and there was no longer a beautiful river view to look at and comment on. The silence grew long and thick. Mira licked her lips and turned to Wolf.

"I... Want to get to know you more." She said. He smiled at her, indulgent. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

Mira immediately perked up. "Do you like sweets or salty food?"

Wolf laughed. He could see where she was going. "Salty," he said, just for the hell of it. She visibly drooped. He chuckled. "But sweets are fine."

She perked up. "Okay! Do you like chocolate, caramel, vanilla... Which type of topping?"

"Fruit."

"Oh." She nodded, mentally putting together a recipe. "What about a base... Cookies or brownies? Or cake?"

"Cake."

Mira paused for a moment and raised her eyebrows at him. She looked at him for a long time, and then said, "What type? Red velvet, vanilla, chocolate?"

"Vanilla." He said.

Mira tilted her head and looked at him. "You're being completely honest, right?"

"Yes, I swear!" Wolf said, wondering why she'd question him on being honest with pastry preferences.

"What kind of fruit?"

"Uh... Strawberries?"

"Gimme another type."

"And... Melons."

"Sprinkles?"

"No."

"Cream?"

"Yes."

Mira twitched. "Do you liked cream?"

Wolf grinned crookedly. "Yes, I actually do, a lot."

Mira reached down and grabbed a box that was sitting under the seat. She opened it and pulled out a plate of vanilla cake, with freshly cut strawberries and melon balls on it, with a generous plop of cream.

Wolf was taken aback. "Wow! Did you guess what I would like as you were baking-?"

Mira shook her head. She peered into the box, looking at all the different types she had made this morning. "This cake was made for someone else. She has the exact same tastes..."

Ash pulled open the curtain. "Mira, I'm coming to tell you that there's going to be a bumpy road ahead, this part hasn't been fixed in ages... They should have gotten it done a long time- is that my vanilla strawberry-melon cream cake?" Ash glanced at the cake in Mira's hands, clearly enticed. "You remembered!"

Mira laughed. "Of course. You are famous for loving honey melons and putting too much cream in your coffee."

Wolf looked away. He couldn't stare are Ash for too long without feeling something get stuck in his throat. "Give the cake to her," he whispered to Mira. "I lied. I actually allergic to melon. You have to get it out of here or else I'll get a rash and sneeze."

Mira's eyes widened and she quickly handed Ash the cake and the box of the others. "Go pass them out, okay?"

Ash nodded, already swallowing a juicy cut of melon. "Okay, princess."

As she left, with her horse on a quick trot, Wolf felt a tiny nervous laugh well up in his throat.

Melons were his favorite fruit.

Ash finished handing out the rest of the pastries and then tossed the box to Kit. "Last one is for you!" She yelled to him.

He gave her a thumbs up and pulled his nut-covered brownie from the box, folded the box up, and tossed it in a trash compartment tied to a strap on the side of his horse.

She turned her horse back around and trotted towards the carriage, nodding to the soldiers as she passed them, who were polishing off cookies. She licked cream off her fingers.

She pulled the curtain up and peered inside. Mira slept with her head on Wolf's shoulder. Ash looked at her fondly.

Wolf looked at Ash's softened face and felt something catch in his throat. Before Ash could see him, he closed his eyes.

After a few moments, Wolf heard the curtains swish closed. He waited until he heard Ash's horse trot away, and then he opened them again.

He reached up and ruffled his hair, and sighed. "Goddamn."

This was bad. This was really bad. Goddamn that woman for being so sexy! And then at the right time, she'd let her guard down and captivate everyone around her...

He looked down at the innocent face of Mira. Love came with time, right?

Wolf turned his face away and looked at the curtains. All he had to do is ignore Ash and focus on the beauty he had right here, and this feeling will go away, and maybe even transfer to Mira. It'll be all good. He can't be in love with a sergeant! Let alone a friend of his fiance! It wouldn't work out. Not in a million years...

Right?

Three Days Later...

Wolf was jostled awake when the horse kicked a rock. He sat up, steadying Mira's head with the crook of his arm. He held her carefully as the carriage rumbled on a rocky path. Once the bumps stopped, he settled her head back down on his shoulder.

He pulled the curtains back. The gray light of the time before dawn trickled into the carriage. He stared outside, his mouth open. The sky was clouded, but even through the thin light he could see the destruction.

In the Umbra a huge cloud of shadows was advancing.

Wolf felt his jaw go slack. It was enormous! By the density, it was also containing extremely large numbers- the black was so deep Wolf couldn't see through it and into the forests beyond. He poked his head out the window and waved Ash over.

Her horse tiredly walked over. Ash murmured to it, saying that rest was close. She looked at Wolf, staring into his eyes. His heart sped up, but he controlled it and composed himself.

"I-it's bad," he stuttered. "It's a hell of a lot worse than what they described in the letter!"

Ash nodded. "We passed through more than a few destroyed towns on the way here, your majesty. It's really... Roughed up."

Wolf felt Mira's head shift on his shoulder. He turned around. Mira raised her head and saw the blackness hovering over the forest. "Is that...?" She whispered. Wolf nodded, and her eyes widened. "By all of Gemma..." She said.

Kit appeared on the other window and grinned as Mira. "The castle's in sight!"

Wolf turned his gaze to where they were heading to, and saw his home that he had left just a mere week ago.

How could all this happen in one week?!

The door to the North castle sung open slowly, and the caretaker stepped out.

A strikingly handsome, bespectacled man with spiky orange-yellow hair stepped out. He pulled a silk handkerchief from his neatly dressed suit and wiped his green-rimmed glasses with it.

He put them back on, glanced at Wolf, and bowed deeply.

He waved some servants over and whispered into their ear. They led the new troops to separate barracks.

Then he turned around and surveyed the people that were left. Mira, Ash, and Kit all stared back at him. Kit looked at Ash and raised his eyebrows suggestively. Mira nudged Ash with a finger, suppressing a giggle. Are all the men in the North Kingdom HOT? Her eyes twinkled at Ash's, who sighed. Behind them, servants unpacked their stuff and sent them off to their respective rooms.

The hot guy cleared his throat.

"Welcome back, my lord." He said. He distributed maps to the three foreigners. "My name is Cura, and I am his majesty's personal butler."

Wolf pinched Cura's cheeks and pulled. "Don't give me your calm hotel welcome! What in Gemma happened here?! What's this giant blob of shadows stirring up in the forest?!"

"I would hardly call that a blob, you majesty," Cura stated as clearly as he could through stretched cheeks. "A blob is a word that is commonly defined as 'a drop of thick liquid,' but these shadows are mist-like, and have one of the thinnest densities ever found in Gemma..."

Wolf let go of his cheeks. He walked past him and led everyone in. "Everyone, in my office immediately! We have to propose a counterattack."

Cura rubbed his cheeks. He looked around, and waved a few guards over to close the door.

He noticed Mira looking at him, and raised his eyebrows. "Good morning, miss. I suppose you are the lovely Queen of the south?"

Mira blushed. "Yes," she said, smiling. "I suppose my reputation precedes me."

"No, not at all," Cura said without mercy. He nodded his head to Ash. "I've never heard anything of you before, but I've heard of the notorious shadow-slaying Sergeant, and by simple process of elimination, you're the only other really important female, although counting you as 'really important' might be a little..."

Wolf pulled a depressed Mira away from Cura. "Ignore him. This guy does not have a heart, so don't take his comments to yours."

Kit grinned. "Ah, I supposed you don't like the royals, eh?" He said, hugging Cura with one arm. He leaned on Cura's shoulder. "You've probably heard of me, right?"

"I have no idea who you are. If you are a servant, the kitchen is that way- it says so clearly on your map."

Kit tilted his head and turned into stone.

Cura studied him. "On the other hand, it seems that you are wearing a soldier's armor. I'm sorry- the barracks are that way." He said, pointing.

Kit cracked.

Ash picked up Kit-statue and walked up the stairs, following Wolf to his office, completely ignoring Cura.

Cura spread a large map, marking the castle with a blue crown, then switching to red ink and scratched an 'X' red ink in all the destroyed towns. Then, with a dotted line he drew a layout of the land lost back to the forest.

He then switched to black ink and scratched out a a large black 'X' over where the huge cloud of shadows were, and then pointed to a spot that was further North of that 'X'. "This is where the cloud used to be, but since a week ago it had moved quite a bit closer, and the attacks have gotten greater in number." Cura said.

Ash nodded, and admired his swift handiwork. In a mere minute she had attained the information she needed.

Wolf studied the map. "How could we ever defeat that cloud? Its size- we wouldn't have enough men and women in all of Gemma even if they were all trained soldiers!"

Ash and Cura looked at him. "It's simple- split it up." They glanced at each other after the mirrored syllables were uttered.

Kit blinked. He glanced at Mira, who was surprised as well. Mira opened her mouth. "Hey, Cura, do you like melon?"

Cura titled his head. "I am not particularly fond of nor pleased with its taste. Why do you ask?"

Wolf averted his eyes and stared intently into the map that he was holding.

"Anyways," Ash said, "I think we should go into the forest, draw out a small number of shadows at a time, and defeat them by fives or tens at a time so we don't lose any fighters."

Kit pulled the curtains open. "How long would that take? Look at the cloud! How many do you think is in there?!"

Cura shook his head. "You think it's a lot but it isn't as much as it looks like. The shadows like to group together to make their mist look darker. I'm guessing that there's only about 200 in there..."

Kit huffed in disbelief. "You say 200 like it's a small number."

Cura looked at Wolf, then Ash and Kit. "Well, from the rumors, I'd say that 200 is nothing for sergeant Ash and her partner- what was your name again?"

Kit's eye twitched.

"I propose another idea in addition to the one I formerly proposed- that we gather snipers and shoot the cloud from afar, and try to take out as many as possible even before getting close." Ash said.

Kit nodded. "That's an idea I like."

Far away, an alarm began to ring. Ash got up and ran to the window. From over her shoulder, Wolf could see that a large chunk of the cloud was peeling itself away and advancing to the castle.

Cura opened the door to the office and shouted at a bunch of soldiers that were just about to knock.

Ash opened the window and jumped out (making Mira gasp in surprise), activating her spear's glide function just before she hit the ground.

Kit followed her and leaped out the window, but instead of going to the ground he shot a grappling hook from once of his guns and climbed to the top, where he set up three different guns and began to pick off shadows one by one.

As shocks and explosions were heard, Wolf took Mira's hand and pulled her into the hallway, away from the window. Cura closed the window with a firm click and followed them out.

Wolf led Mira to a seat on the hallway, kissed her on the cheek, and then ran right out the door with a sword he pulled out of a rack hanging over the fireplace.

Mira sat there blushing warm with guilty happiness for a second, and then her blood ran cold when Cura ran past her shouting a single message to the servants.

"Sniper Kit is down! I repeat; SNIPER KIT IS DOWN! Send backup to the top left tower immediately!"