Heya all! Sorry it took a while for this update. Hope it was worth the wait for you guys! Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Last Best Hope

The cold environment of Planet Ice offered the perfect sterile and static free environment for the Alliance's technology lab. Once talks had been reopened with the Empress of Ice, the lab and all its equipment had been moved from planet Rock to its present location. Quietly, and with great concentration, the lone survivor of Planet Tekk worked diligently to refine the new weapon that could insure victory over the unstoppable Beast. So many lives had been sacrificed to get them this far, and she dreaded the news that more had been lost in order to receive the last information needed. Such sacrifices, however, were necessary. Or at least that is what she kept telling herself as she soldered a last wire in place. Tekla stood back from the device with a small sigh. Now all she could do was wait for someone to bring her the news she wasn't sure she wanted to hear.

*******

"Zera, wait up." Pyrus sped up his steps down the hallway after leaving the conference room where moments later they had received the last transmission from the brave crew of the Bone scout ship. He had full intention of completing his first objective to go check on Femur, but first he felt that someone else may require his attention. He slowed his steps as Zera stopped in the hall and turned to him. "You sure you don't want some company when you deliver the data to Tekla?"

"No, thank you." Zera shook her head slightly, still clutching the small data chip in her delicate grasp. "This is something I feel I must do, alone."

"Zera, " Pyrus sighed slightly, but nodded. "Alright. I should go see how Femur is doing anyway."

"Yes." Zera lowered her head solemnly. "I do not think he will be quite the same after today."

"No, I don't think so either." Pyrus shook his head. "I never took his stories about her seriously, but I guess he really did care about her."

"Yes, I think he did. Well, I suppose we both had best be getting to those we need to speak to." Zera looked at him for a long moment before turning to go.

"Zera?" Pyrus watched her walk down the hall for a moment before calling out her name, causing her to turn back toward him.

"Yes, Pyrus?" Zera tilted her head slightly with a raised eyebrow.

"Zera…" He paused for a moment, wanting to ask if she would like to talk about her conversation with Tekla latter, but then decided now was not the best time to ask her to dinner. "Good luck."

"You too." Zera nodded with a strange look in her eyes, as if she was reading through the false ending to his sentence. After another moment, she turned down a corridor and headed out of site. With a long sigh, Pyrus turned in the opposite direction in search of Femur.

********

"So, the Alliance knows ve have reached the outer most sector of their pathetic domain?" Lamprey watched as the Beast ships returned from their battle with the scouting ship.

"Yes." Blokk nodded. "And they keep sending us appetizers." Blokk laughed as one of the drones walked into the control center of the Beast Planet.

"Report." Lamprey turned to the drone, her tendril fingers reaching out to take the data recorder from it. She looked over the recorder for a moment. "So, the scouting ship was here to gather more data about us."

"But why?" Blokk turned to her.

"Vhy do you think, you imbecile" Lamprey tossed the data recorder into Blokk's lap. She rolled her eyes as he looked up at her and shrugged his shoulders. "And zey vonder vhy I am in command."

"No body wonders because it isn't true." Blokk crossed his arms. "So…why collect the data?"

"To use it against us, you fool!" Lamprey raised her spiked tendrils toward him in frustration at his continued ignorance. She fumed in anger as Blokk shrugged at her again. "To make a veapon."

"A weapon against the Beast!" Blokk laughed loudly. "Impossible."

"Ve shall see." Lamprey took the recorder from her less than genius partner and looked over it through a heavy set scowl.

*********

The room was silent and still as Zera entered it. Her graceful movements added no sound to the calmness as her eyes looked at the various objects of the lab room. A small sound of a wielding tool brought her attention to Tekla who sat hunched over several devices. As Zera intentionally made a footfall loud enough to hear, Tekla raised her head from what she was doing. Tekla was surprised to see the Empress of Ice standing behind her with a data disk in her hand.

"Empress Zera." Tekla blinked a few times to make sure it was truly Zera standing there.

"Since when are you required to extend formalities of title to me?" Zera gave a nervous smile. "I shall call you Queen Tekla if I must."

"No, of course not Zera." Tekla offered Zera the same nervous smile.

"You look busy, as usual. I will not take much of your time." Zera glanced over Tekla's shoulder to view what she was working on.

"Is that the data?" Tekla pointed to the data disk in Zera's hand. Zera nodded and offered the disk to her. "Then mission was a complete success. Good."

"Almost a complete success." Zera shook her head in a sullen sigh as she downcast her eyes. "The scouting party will not be able to join us for the celebration."

"It is a great sacrifice they have made." Tekla nodded to Zera and set the disk into the computer consul beside her, allowing the computer to read and analyze the data. "Just one of the many sacrifices we have made in our battle with the Beast."

"Yes.' Zera kept her eyes focused on the floor in a melancholic stoicism. "So many have lost so much. It is only my hope that we will finally be able to make a justification for all the sacrifices."

"We will, Zera." Tekla gave the Ice Empress a small smile as she finally raised her eyes from the ground. Tekla marveled at how much Zera had grown both in presence and in maturity.

"I will let you get back to your work." Zera bowed her head politely and turned to go.

"Zera, " Tekla's voice caused Zera to pause in her footsteps. "You were right, you know." Tekla waited for Zera to turn back around. "All those years ago, it seems but a bad distant nightmare, but you were right."

"We were both right and wrong, Tekla, about a great deal of things." Zera gave Tekla a larger smile than before. "And you are right, it does seem like a distant nightmare, and perhaps we are best to forget it and look instead to the future."

"You are so much like your father, Zera." Tekla watched as her words brought a small tear to Zera's eyes. "He would be so proud of you, and I am honored to be your friend."

"Then, my friend, we will beat the Beast, all of us, together." Zera and Tekla stood in silence for a moment, each smiling to the other. All that had needed to be said had been said, and this time they would depart friends instead of enemies. After another bow of the head, Zera turned and left Tekla to finish her work on the last best hope for the future they dreamed of.

********

"Femur?" Pyrus called quietly into the dimly lit dinning hall of the Ice palace, hoping that he had finally succeeded in finding the disheartened ambassador.

"Hey, kid." Femur's greeting was soft and unenthusiastic from his seat alone at the dinning table. Before him lay a spread of ample food that he had left untouched. The hard knot in his stomach destroyed any appetite he would normally have.

"Don't mean to bother you." Pyrus stepped into the room and approached where Femur was seated. "Just came to see, well, if you were ok."

"Hey, you know me kid." Femur forced a smile to his lips. "Nothing ever gets through my though skin."

"And you were never good at lying, either." Pyrus sighed and sat down in front of his deeply troubled friend.

"At least not to you." Femur let the false smile melt from his face and shook his head. "I just don't get it , kid. All the good ones die, while slime ball cowards like me survive to hide another day."

"She was well aware of the risks, and you're not a coward, Femur." Pyrus frowned at Femur's words.

"So says you." Femur shook his head. "You just have no idea just how much of a coward I am, and have always been."

"You fought many times beside…" Pyrus's words were cut off as Femur waved his hand to the side to dismiss the sentence.

"I'm not talk'n battles this time, kid." Femur looked across at the one person in the universe that he was always able to be completely honest with. "I was a coward, and a fool." Femur shook his head again and looked away. "I let her go without a fight the first time, and now…this time there's no comin' back."

"We don't know anything for sure." Pyrus sighed deeply and tried to offer some sort of encouragement. After a few moments of silence, he knew that his words were not helping.

"Promise me something, kid." Femur broke the silence and looked up at the young Lord of Fire that sat across from him.

"Anything." Pyrus raised an eyebrow.

"When that gal runs into your life that turns your world upside down, don't make the mistake I did." Femur stopped for a moment as a rare hint of tears made its way into his deep red eyes. "Don't hesitate, not even for a second, to tell her what it is she means to you." Femur sighed heavily and jumped off his seat, leaving Pyrus in stunned thought. The short statured ambassador of Bone paused before leaving to room and turned back to the silent young king. "cuz before you know it kid, its too late." Femur shook his head and continued out the door.

*********

"Tekla?" Graveheart called softly into the lab room.

"I am here." Tekla's voice answered him and summoned over to the far side of the lab where she stood next to flashing metallic device.

"Any luck?" Jade placed a hand on her hip as she surveyed the object.

"I believe so, but it still must be tested." Tekla nodded to Jade and Graveheart as they came into view.

"I take it the only way to test this thing is on actual Beast Drones." Jade pointed at the object which resembled a gun energy cell.

"Your assumptions are correct." Tekla nodded and turned her eyes to the device. "Now that the prototype has been completed, they can be easily mass produced and equipped to any weapon."

"How exactly does it work?" Graveheart wasn't happy about having to run into battle with a gin that may not fire.

"Through study, we have learned that the Beast Drones are made up of pure void matter. This void matter is the direct opposite to pure energy. We have Only been destroying their containment units with our current weapons, not the void matter itself."

"Which is why the Beast armada seems limitless." Jade nodded to this piece of old news. "Dey just get reformed with a new containment unit and shipped back out to battle."

"Correct." Tekla picked up the energy cell and eyed its blue liquid as she spoke. "This will cause all weapons to fire a pure energy pulse at a frequency that should destroy the void matter itself, leaving nothing for the Beast to give a new containment unit too. At least, that is how it is supposed to work."

"Alright." Graveheart nodded to Tekla and Jade. "Lets gather the rest of the Alliance leaders in the conference room. We have a test run to make."

*********

"I expected no less." Pyrus nodded to the holo image of his captain of the guard, Ash. Ash had been put in charge of preparing the Fire fleet for the inevitable battle. She, being the daughter of the retired captain Blaze, had no trouble carrying out the job. Her battle knowledge and fiery spirit was much like her fathers. What separated her from her father was that she had no lust to speed blindly into battle. She understood the necessity of preparation, as well as the political side of war. Pyrus's choice in making Ash captain of the guard had time and again been proven as a good decision. "If I thought you were incapable of the job I wouldn't have appointed you."

"You honor me and you honor my family with your words, my Lord." Ash bowed her head slightly before returning her eyes to her king. "The fleet stands ready and at your command."

"Good. I will inform you as soon as I have word myself on when we will engage the Beast." Pyrus gave Ash a small smile in her eagerness to prove herself in battle like her father. Her mix of strength, spirit of Fire, and beauty had earned her the respect of those she commanded, despite the fact that she was Fire's first female Captain of the Guard. In the beginning it had caused some tensions among men who thought they were better suited for the task. It had not taken long, however, for her to gain their following by both displays of strategic wisdom and combat ability.

"My Lord, was there something more?" Ash questioned Pyrus after a few moments of silence passed by with out his dismissal.

"I'm not sure, Ash." Pyrus stroked his chin in thought for a moment.

"Something troubles you, my Lord." Ash had grown to know the look in Pyrus's eyes when something was on his mind. Ash loved looking into the inferno of her Lords eyes. She felt she could get lost in them were it not for her position and title.

"Ash, " Pyrus paused momentarily to look at her. She had been a trusted friend during the silent six years, taking the place that had been left when Zera lost contact. He had sought her council often, but wasn't sure this was something the Lord of Fire should be discussing. After a shake of the head and a small laugh in thought, he decided he was sick of formalities and longed for the informal discussions he used to have before he was instated as king. "If you were to have feelings for someone, but was unsure of how to proceed due to…complications, how would you take on the task of letting that person know?"

"My Lord, " Ash had to stop for a moment as Pyrus asked her the unexpected question. How she desired his words were secretly about her. He was now talking to her in a manner he hadn't for a long time. It was as if their rank and crown had been set aside momentarily, and she welcomed every moment. She fought back a smile before continuing. "You have found such a person?"

"I…yes…I think…but things are complicated." Pyrus himself was a little uncomfortable in this line of conversation.

"Complicated how, my Lord?" Ash pressed for more details, looking for any sign of to whom he was referring to.

"Lets just say that several things, including title, could pose a problem." Pyrus did his best to remain elusive in Ash's obvious search for clues as to who it was he was talking about. It never crossed the Lord of Fire's mind that Ash may believe it was her. His heart simply did not think about her in those terms. It took a void in his life for six years for him to realize who it was that his heart belonged to.

"I see." Ash thought silently as she chose her words carefully. It was a strange dance that she and her Lord were embarking on. "Well, perhaps you should simply tell her, and then let the rest come as it comes."

"You mean deal with the possible consequences after the fact instead of dwelling on them before they happen?" Pyrus had to smile. It was just like Ash to make the head-on approach suggestion.

"Yes, my Lord." Ash gave a small nod and waited to see what the Lord of Fire would do.

"Perhaps you are right. Why try and understand what will happen before it happens." Pyrus thought in silence for a moment.

"Title and other complications should never come between you and who your heart desires." Ash had to swallow hard the lump that formed in her throat as she realized she was a hypocrite who could not follow her own advice. A figure appearing in the doorway caused Ash to nod to Pyrus, letting him know that someone had entered the dining hall.. Pyrus turned his eyes slowly away from Ash, hoping whomever it was hadn't been standing there long.

"Pardon my intrusion." The Queen of Ice stepped slowly out of the shadowed doorway. "I passed by and heard your voice. I did not know you were in council with your captain of the guard." Zera paused a moment to look from Pyrus to Ash. "I will return later and let you return to your business."

"Empress Zera." Ash bowed her head in greeting after Zera looked her way. As Ash watched the exchange in glances between Pyrus and Zera, she understood what troubles Pyrus was talking about. The way her Lord looked at the Ice Empress gave away his deep secret. If it is one weakness the people of Fire possess, it is that they have trouble hiding their passionate spirit. The bright fire in Pyrus's eyes that sparked to life when Zera walked into the room was all Ash needed to know that her Lord had not been talking about her.

"Its alright Zera, Ash and I were just discussing the state of the Fire Fleet." Pyrus smiled when Zera smiled a nod, obviously happy at being able to stay. He reluctantly took his eyes off her and returned them to the holo image of Ash. "I will contact you as soon as I receive word."

"I await your call, My Lord." Ash bowed her head again, doing her best to hide the deep disappointment that welled up in her spirit. Her mind also raced with the implications of the possibility that her Fire Lord could possess such feelings for the Empress of Ice. It seemed a great impossibility, both politically and physically. She could never understand how one could be attracted to an insect. Since the alliance was made aware that the myth of fire killing ice was just that, myth, the relations between those of Fire and those of Ice had remained basically the same. Ash pondered over how a man of Fire's passion could feel an attraction for a frozen insect female. She came out of her thoughts even more troubled than before and gave a small bow of the head to the female of Ice that had managed what she thought impossible. After a look over her, trying to gain an understanding of how and why, she turned off the communicator to let the consequences take shape by themselves. Who was she to question her Lord.

"I did not mean to intrude." Zera remained a few feet from the table where Pyrus sat after the image of Ash disappeared.

"You didn't." Pyrus pointed to an empty seat across from him, asking her to sit down. "The discussion was over, and I believe I received all the information I needed."

"Good." Zera nodded and smiled at him as she took the offered seat. "I just wanted to ask how things proceeded with Femur."

"He needs some time to think." Pyrus paused for a moment to think himself. "He truly did care for Tibia."

"As hard as it is to believe, " Zera shook her head sullenly. "I think you are right."

"I don't think he will ever be the 'old' Femur again." Pyrus sighed and looked over the plates of food for a moment before standing from the table.

"It is sad, though, to think that it took loosing Tibia for him to change." Zera watched as Pyrus walked over to the dining hall bar and retrieved two glasses and a bottle of mineral wine.

"Yes, it is." Pyrus nodded to her as he retook his seat and set a glass down in front of her. He paused in conversation to fill their glasses, catching himself staring into her eyes for a moment as she seemed to look to someplace distant. The sound of the bottle being placed back on the table brought her attention back to the room around her. She took the glass in her delicate ice hand and looked at it as the light danced in its strange ice quartz liquid. Pyrus found himself looking at the colorful quartz reflection that shimmered across Zera's frosted skin. She seemed lost again in thought as he watched her amber eyes sparkle with the light in the room. He wanted to ask her how things went with Tekla, but he could not bring himself to break the pleasant nature of the silence in the room. He knew that the battles to come would leave little time for such silence. As a small smile followed by a muffled laugh came from Zera, Pyrus waved a hand in front of her eyes to gain her attention. His breath became lost for a second as she turned her eyes and smile to him. "What amuses you, Zera?"

"Oh, I just remembered something." Zera shook her head in another small laugh.

"What?" Pyrus raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Just something about a rematch I owe a certain flame headed young

Prince. If he is still up to the challenge, that is." Zera smirked mischievously at Pyrus, causing him to laugh before returning the same mischievous glance to her.

"I cant beat you now, just like I would have then." Pyrus felt the fire of his eyes grow, loving the return to the old competitions they used to have between each other over just about everything.

"Oh, is that a fact, lava breath?" Zera stood from her seat at the table after a sip of the wine. Her heart longed for a little child hood fun to relieve the tensions over the battles she knew to come. She had grown up so fast, and the spirit of her younger self jumped at the opportunity to be reborn.

"Anytime, frosty butt." Pyrus laughed and stood up to the challenge, downing his entire glass of wine in competitive spirit. He had always relished any time he could cast the heavy crown of King aside and simply enjoy being his age.

"Alright then." Not to be outdone by her opponent, Zera finished the last of the wine that was in the glass and stepped away from the table with a prideful smile. She unclasped a small tubular object from her belt and looked at the strong man of fire that stood before her. She too had grown in strength and skill, and would love the chance to beat him, again. Pushing a button on the side of the object, it lengthened to form a full staff, much like the one Pyrus used. She wondered if he sill carried the same one his father had given to him. A look of sudden surprise filled the Fire Lord's eyes as she brought the staff up in defensive posture.

"You still have it?" Pyrus eyed the staff with a small prideful smile. It was the staff he himself had made and given to her after she had first beaten him in their little sparing matches. The small case on her belt told him that she carried it with her always. A bit thrown off by this, he barely noticed as she tapped his chest with the tip of the staff.

"Are you going to stand there all day, your highness?" Zera mocked him and smirked as his finally reached for his own staff.

"And miss kicking your frosty butt all over this palace? Never." He brought his staff up defensively and winked at her. His smile widened as she spun her staff with grace and ease before returning the wink. She always had to outdo him in one way or another.

"Then come, my Lord." Zera beckoned him into battle with an unmistakable fire in her spirit. Raising her staff before him, she called out the finality he needed before the sparing could begin. "Come, if you dare."

*******

Deep within the pure crystal walls of the Ice palace was born something so dark and sinister it threatened to swallow the hopeful future of the alliance whole. The caretaker of this deathly creature, this plan, stood and watched from the dark corners of the palace corridors, listening and waiting for just the right moment to set it free. A small part of the true nature of this plan set a small spark of regret within his soul, but it was quickly snuffed out by the frost bite that the reality around him filled his mind with. It was all changing too fast. The world needed to stop and take a break, to slow down before it sent itself wildly spinning into chaos.

What was happening before his eyes troubled him greatly.

It was his duty to do what he felt was necessary for the good of the many, despite the sacrifices sure to come. Such sacrifices were part of war, and if these few were not made, then a great and unimaginable price would have to be paid. He would not stand idly by and watch this once proud place fall to dust around him.

He would be the savior of them all.

With the noise of footsteps echoing across the hall, a small smile slithered its way across his frozen lips, bringing a small bit of pleasure to the slow rhythm of his heart. So many things to accomplish in such a short matter of time. Brushing away the darkness of the plan that had been seeded earlier that day, he stepped into the light of the hallway and gave a small smile to the man who just might aid him in his greatest hour.

"Consul Shard, if I might have a word with you?" The soldier of Ice relaxed as Shard returned a smile to him.

"Of course, General Gala." Shard eyed the man for a moment and surmised something was on the man's mind. "What troubles you, General?"

"Consul, you asked me to report anything of possible consequence, correct?"

"Yes of course General." Shard nodded slightly as they kept walking down the corridor. "You know how I like to know what is going on in my palace."

"Well, consul, its about the Empress Zera and the King of Fire, Pyrus." Gala waited for Shard to think his words over for a moment, wondering when Shard had taken it upon himself to title the palace his. Then again, he did run many things of the palace, for now.

"Oh really?" Shard stroked his icy beard for a moment, a small smile of questionable meaning coming across his lips again. He raised his eyebrow and stopped in his tracks, turning to the General. "Do tell, General."

**********

It looked as though a great storm had entered into the dining hall, leaving behind a scattered mess of chairs, goblets, and silverware strewn about the place. The great hearths of fire in the corners of the giant glacial walled hall reflected the two dancing shadows engaged in a heated match that had grown far beyond a simple spar. Much more was involved in this great movement of body and staff. Each thrust, attack, defense, and fall spoke silent meanings between the two young leaders. Their eyes remained locked on the others as their staffs chipped away at the barriers between them. In one final movement, the dance was over, and it seemed as though the great Lord of Fire had won. In this game, however, there really was no such thing as a winner or a loser.

"Do you yield?" Pyrus looked down upon the misleading delicate figure beneath him, his staff pressing her wrists to the ground.

"Never. " Zera listened to her breaths as they quickened from the pace of the battle, and from the heat of Fire Lord who kept her pinned against the dinning hall floor. To show weakness in this moment might cause her to loose the grip she held tight on her emotions. The feeling of his warmth around her drove her senses to madness as she listened to the quivering rhythm of his breaths. "Never will I yield to you."

"Zera," A small look of disappointment at her refusal to yield to him appeared on his face and reflected in the unwavering gaze of the Ice Empress. He let loose the staff that pinned her wrists, and it echoed a small sound as it rolled across the floor and hit Zera's staff. The sound reverberated off the walls of the dining hall, breaking the sudden silence of the place. Where moments before there had been the sounds of a heated battle across the floor and tables, there now only existed the crackling sounds of the fire hearths and the breathing of the two young royals. He looked down at her as her resolve remained strong even after he had released her from the pinning of his staff. Slowly, his hands slid into hers as he lowered his face to better see the world that existed in her amber eyes. His voice was sweet and warm to her ears as it whispered in the silence of the hall. "Will you yield nothing to me?"

"My Lord," Zera paused to look into his eyes with an obvious longing as her fingers intertwined with his. Her heart pounded within her chest as she was drawn ever closer to the border of the place she thought she would never dare to venture. Perhaps it was the heat of the battle, the strange and intoxicating sensations from his touch, or the way he looked at her in this most fragile of moments, but her heart could no longer be silenced. With the shattering of her resolve, she crossed that line, never to look back. "That which I would yield to you, you already possess."

"And what is that?" He watched the shattering of her resolve as it appeared in her eyes. He knew of what she spoke, but his soul longed to hear it pass on her lips like the heart stopping call of a long caged rock sparrow who had just been set free. Her eyes softened, as if ready to break with tears, and one of her hands slid from his. She trailed its icy touch up his muscle throbbing arm and across his cheek as her eyes searched his for a reason to answer the question. The rhythm of his heart quickened until it felt like it might explode as she stopped her hand over it.

"That which I have yielded to you and know one else." She took his other hand from the ground, causing him to shift his weight slightly, his body now closer to hers than it had ever been. With a graceful movement, she placed his hand on the center of her chest, where her heart beat strong and true. The small wisps of steam that originated from where their skin touched added a dreamlike eeriness to the moment that they had each longed for. Their lips were so close to each other that she could feel the steam as it began to form between them. Her lips brushed his as she began to speak in a hushed tone. "Pyrus, to you…"

"Would King Pyrus and the Empress Zera please report to the conference room." The intercom voice shattered the moment like a rock to glass.

*********

"Thank you all for coming." Tekla stood before the gathered Alliance leaders in the conference room of Planet Ice. "The weapon I have been developing for some time now is ready to be tested against the Beast."

"I suppose a test run is in order, then?" Sternum nodded to himself. "I will be more than glad to make that run personally."

"Not without me you don't." Femur pointed at his brother in firm tone. "I have a score to settle."

"We all have scores to settle, dear brother." Sternum eyed his brother for a long moment, understanding that Femur was less than the cowered that he let himself be known as. "And I would be honored to fight along side you again."

"We all would." Pyrus nodded to bother Sternum and Femur, committing his own forces to the upcoming battle.

"Nice to see we all still have the fighting spirit." Jade commented. "It just so happens that we have found a gathering force of Beast ships along the eastern edge of sector Theta 3."

"This growing force is very large." Graveheart added in. "Large enough that we will need parts of all the Alliance fleets to engage in battle if we want to insure victory, whether this new weapon works or not."

"Very well. Then we will begin preparations immediately." Zera eyed the group for a moment.

"Will you be going with your forces, Empress?" Sternum raised an eyebrow at the Ice queen. He knew she was formidable, but never had he thought of her as a battle commander.

"No. The Ice fleet will be led by General Gala." Zera replied. "I will be staying here to insure the safety of the Alliance planets while their leaders are off destroying the daemons of the Beast." She took a moment to give them each a small smile, regretting having to miss the battle itself. Her eyes fell on those of Pyrus, knowing they still had some unfinished business. Her heart had nearly collapsed when that announcement had broken that moment between them. It had brought and unwelcome reality to their momentary fantasy world. War waits for no one. "Please, try not to have too much fun with out me." The group smiled and laughed lightly. "And be careful."

"As always." Pyrus winked at her from across the table before addressing Tekla. "Alright, Tekla, how exactly do we work this new device?"

************