Cyrus stood next to Roxie on the branch outside Dom's hollow, watching the the wispy strands of white cotton as they slowly but visibly moved, high in the azure sky. The sun felt warm on their feathers as it hung high in the sky, casting its colorful rays on the grassy field in front of them. And then there was the breeze, how the both of them relished it. Combined with the beautiful sights and warm weather, it reminded them of a typical summer day back home.

Peridot City, Illinois. Just a few hours north of Chicago, it was the perfect place to call home. Cyrus and Roxie were sure anyone would say that or something similar about their hometown, but you had to be there. The crime rate was low, the homes were affordable, and the people were great. Downtown there was the high school where Cyrus and Roxie spent most of there teenage days. On the east side was where they would spend there time with Zeke and Arden just walking around the city, window shopping, talking about their days, and getting Dairy Queen on Fridays. They really missed those days, when life was more simple. Now they were hiding out in Rio while on the run from an evil organization. In the forms of birds, no less. They also weren't quite sure how that came to be.

"It's kind of funny," Cyrus said out loud.

Roxie turned her head to look at him in confusion. "What is?"

"How us, two teenagers, not two years ago had a normal life. Then just like that, we're flung into a world of magic and heart hungry monsters while hiding out in Rio de Janeiro. As birds no less!" Cyrus exclaimed, the corners of his beak curving up into a smile.

It did don on Roxie how insane their lives had gotten over the past two years. First they get kidnapped from their home in the middle of a school day, then they have their memories erased and replaced with false ones, then that mechanism slowly fails over time. Then they have to escape one of the most well guarded places they'd ever had the displeasure of working for, and now they were hiding out in Rio.

"I guess you're right about that," she agreed, giving a small laugh. "I would also like to know how we're birds too."

"I wonder if we'll ever find out," Cyrus trailed off. He shook his head, letting go of the thought. "Wanna go look around?"

"Sure."

So they flew into the city, just the two of them, to go sight seeing. Since they arrived at this world, they hadn't really had time to themselves to spend time with each other, or to scope out the landscape of their world. This came in handy in previous worlds when they had to escape from their employers. Repeatedly.

They loved taking flight, albeit the first time it felt a little weird. The feeling of the air against their face, supporting them. In a way, it was like swimming through the sky. Roxie would know. In high school, she was a part of the Peridot High Varsity Swim Team, or PHVST. She was the Captain after all. Which was weird. She figured since she was a fire elemental that she would have a personality based around her element, kind of like Cyrus did. He was calm, collected, and decisive. When he wanted to be anyway.

Back in elementary through middle school, kids would always pick on him because of his 'weird white hair', among other things. It used to get to her brother then, but he stopped caring once they got to high school. Like her, he was interested in sports. Through elementary and middle school, the both of them played Rec. League Soccer, but once they got to high school, swim team started to interfere with that. So, Roxie stuck with that, having liked swimming better than soccer. There was just something easier about swimming back and forth and diving in different ways than kicking a spotted ball into a goal. Cyrus was ok with it. After all, Arden was on the same team as him freshman and sophomore year.

That was actually when they met Zeke and Arden, when they got to high school. Roxie was in a separate advisory from Cyrus, in a separate unit in fact. Zeke was in Roxie's first period Algebra 1 Enriched class while Arden was in the same advisory as Cyrus. The both of them shared their first and third class periods and, just like Roxie and Zeke, settled on having lunch together. Zeke and Arden, already having been friends for a while had planned to eat punch with each other in the first place. Then they just decided on tagging along with Roxie and Cyrus.

And that's how all of them met. It was crazy how the years flew by, discarding the fact that their lives were anything but normal now. Cyrus wondered if it still would've gone that fast had that one day never happened.

"Hey," Cyrus heard his sister say to him, breaking him away from his thoughts. He looked at her, tossing his head to the side to get the red head feathers out of his face.

"You ok? You've been silent for the entire time, I got a little worried," Roxie stated concernedly as they soared through the noon sky.

"Yeah I'm fine, just some high school memories and reminders of other things came up," Cyrus replied giving her a small smile of comfort. "Stop worrying Roxie, we have nothing to worry about now, so don't give us anything to worry about."

She glared at him jokingly. "Screw you."

After flying for a little while longer, they opted to land on the left arm of the Christ the Redeemer statue and rest. From their they could see the entirety of the city, from its beautiful parts to its not-so-beautiful parts. The white hotel buildings looked very welcoming from a distance, and the two siblings could see themselves vacationing to Rio someday. Sure, it had a bad crime rate, but with their skills they'd be fine. Maybe they could come back here once their lives calmed down, if that ever happened at least.

David flew through the air over the city in his blackbird form, thinking on where else his targets could have gone. The sun was shining bright as ever, warming his back as he flew, glinting off the ocean below him. The wind felt good against his face as it seeped through his feathers, keeping the sun from overheating his body. It was with the help of all of these factors that aid his thinking. This was his ideal thinking environment, when he could just think to himself.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance?" A familiar voice spoke in his head.

Well, there goes my ideal thinking environment, Dåvidé thought to himself. He even went so far as imagining in it plummeting through the sky and making a 'smack!' as it hit the ocean. And then it would drown.

"What do you want Nightingale?" He asked impatiently. His weapon spirit and him had a great battle partnership. Outside of that, Night, Umbrus' nickname for Nightingale, was a pain to talk to. Much less receive advice from.

"Like I suggested, perhaps I could be of assistance in finding your targets," the weapon spirit proposed, a slight smile audible in his voice.

Dåvidé sighed. At this point, he was open to anything really. He'd scoured the city from a ground and aerial view at least ten times over, and he hadn't come up with the slightest lead as to where the Hoffman siblings might be. So advice from his irritating weapon spirit didn't seem like the worst thing in the world.

"Alright fine, let's hear it," Umbrus huffed as he perched himself atop a nearby building.

"Well you know how you turned into a blackbird to make another aerial run of the city instead of using a Vanish spell to conserve your magic?" Nightingale started.

"Yes?" Umbrus replied, confused as to where Night was going with this.

"Well you also remember how I can force you to change into a blackbird, or any other bird for that matter?" Night stated, audibly stifling a giggle.

"Yes, I remember," Dåvidé stated through gritted teeth. Every now and again, Night decided to play a trick on Dåvidé and turn him into a random bird. At the most random times as well. He was just thankful Night didn't do that while he gave his report to Gwynivere back on Luciferia.

"Where are you going with this, Nightingale?"

"I'm suggesting the weapon spirits of Cyrus and Roxie forced them to turn into animals of some kind. They're still in Rio, that much is true. So I suggest you pull out that Elemental Signature Reader tool of yours and look for what animals they've turned into," Nightingale spoke in Dåvidé's head, before going quiet once more.

Why didn't I think of that? Well, he thought to himself, at least he stopped talking.

"I heard that," Night said. "And you're welcome."

Dåvidé let out a frustrated growl before using a Change spell to turn back into his humanoid form. He pulled out his Elemental Signature Reader, or ESR, and his visor. He hadn't gotten his visor updated with the latest software recently, so that's why he was still stuck with the ridiculous looking attachment. With the attachment, it looked like you attaching another lens bar to the first lens bar. It looked ridiculous in Luciferia at least.

Once he put his visor back on, he walked up to the edge of the building and tapped the ESR to turn it on. He looked all around the city, picking up occasional blips of light blue and amber spots. He recognized those signatures as ones of Water and Earth. He honestly had no idea who those signatures belonged to. It appeared his Angelic friends were on the hunt for Cyrus and Roxanne as well. Great.

"Focus Dåvidé," Nightingale commanded, drawing the General's attention away from the Seraphimians and back onto the targets. This was one of the rare occasions, besides battle, where Umbrus didn't mind hearing Nightingale's voice.

With a new smile, Dåvidé said "Thank you Night."

"Of course," Nightingale replied understandingly. Dåvidé didn't need to be thinking about Aqua and Terra right now. Night understood that. He did enjoy crossing many of Umbrus' boundaries, but he knew not to cross the boundary and mock those who Dåvidé held dear.

So he resumed scanning the city, ignoring the blue and amber blips with the help of his weapon spirit. And just when he was about to give up, he noticed something on the right arm of the Christ the Redeemer Statue. Two dots of different colors, both different from the blips of amber and light blue that peppered the city.

"Enhance," he commanded the device, having it zoom in on the right arm of the statue. Once it did, he gave it a second command.

"Now move half a click left." The device did as it was told, moving it's focus until General Umbrus was looking at two Scarlet Macaws, one surrounded in a white coloring, the other surrounded in an orange coloring. The one on the left with blue eyes, the one with the white coloring must've been Cyrus. The ESR showed him as being an Ice Elemental. So the bird next to him, by power of deduction, must've been Roxanne. And the ESR showed her as being a… Sun Elemental.

Dåvidé stayed quiet for a few seconds before taking off his visor. He wiped his purple eyes before putting the device back over his eyes, and taking another look at the two siblings. Cyrus' signature came up as white, just as it did before. Then he turned his attention to Roxanne. Her signature, it lit up orange just as it did before. So, he wasn't seeing things. Either, the old piece of equipment had malfunctioned and written off a Fire Elemental as something wrong, or Sun Elementals weren't as extinct as either race thought.

He would figure that out later. Until then, he needed to make contact before the Seraphimians did. So, Dåvidé used another Change spell to transform back into a blackbird, and he set off for the Christ the Redeemer statue.

"I wonder how things are going back home," Cyrus said aloud, catching his sister's attention. It'd been 2 years since they'd seen or heard anything about Peridot City, and Cyrus had gotten himself into one of those moods again. He missed his home, and he'd do anything to go back, and he knew Roxie felt the same way. But she was always stronger than him, more positive and motivated. She was the force that held the both of them together, even in the times when it felt like he was ready to fall apart.

Roxie knew that he always needed more motivation to push through these tough times. When she heard him say that, she knew immediately knew how he was feeling. Missing that normal life of going to school and seeing friends, going out places and having fun, and spending time with family. Which reminded her of their mom.

Gwynivere O. Hoffman was the strongest person she knew, the most loving, caring, understanding human being on the planet. She was always there for her children. She was at every soccer game and swim meet, every orchestra concert and speech and debate competition. She was there when Cyrus' sophomore silver-sect soccer team won first place against Wayne. WAYNE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Cyrus had blocked almost every single ball kicked his way, being the best goalie that he was. And she was there when Roxie tied for first place in her drama speech competition. She was so unbelievably nervous for that competition it wasn't even funny. The night before it she hadn't gotten any sleep, she was running mainly on caffeine and sugar, and when they got back home, she collapsed on the couch in exhaustion. It wasn't that she wasn't prepared for the competition; she was. She just didn't enjoy the aspect of getting up in front of a large group of people. But of course, her mother was there to save the day. She was there in the audience, smiling back at her daughter as she'd walked on stage. She even mouthed 'you got this.' That was enough for Roxie. But enough of that. She was rambling inside her own head. She focused back on reality, where she saw a blackbird coming in to land next to them.

"Hey, you guys mind if I rest here?" The bird asked in his deep voice, landing a little to the left of Cyrus. What struck Roxie as interesting were his purple colored eyes, not just the fact that his eyes were that color, but the way they watched her and Cyrus. It was the kind of look someone got when they see someone they knew. But perhaps she was mistaken.

"Sure, go ahead," Cyrus replied.

"Thanks. Nice day today huh?" The bird commented, turning his head away from them and looking out over the city.

"Well we are in Rio," Roxie replied dryly.

"Yeah, right."

This might be harder than he originally thought. He'd have to build a friendly relationship with these two, then slowly reveal who he was. That was easier said than done. He was over a thousand years old while these two were nowhere near a hundred. The only real friends he had were from Gwynivere's inner circle. His best friend of course was his Tether, since he'd know her the longest. Dåvidé had only befriended the Queen once he assumed the rank of General Commander.

Then there was the Queen's guards, Blake and Mary. He'd met them on one mission the Queen tasked them with. They were to clear out all the Heartless, savage soul-devouring shadow beasts, from a Beta World. But that was a story for another day.

"You okay?" A voice asked him, breaking him from his thoughts. He turned to see it came from the Queen's daughter. "You disappeared for a second there."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Dåvidé assured her, giving a smile. "Just spaced out for a second."

"Well, we were going to head over to a friend's place if you'd like to join us," Cyrus suggested, the corner of his beak turning up into a half smile.

"Sure," Umbrus agreed.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Roxie assured him, flapping her wings and taking off, her brother in hot pursuit. Umbrus quickly followed.

The summer air was warm against his feathers as the three of them flew over the city. He'd never been to Rio. He figured it might be a good vacation spot, as many other places on many other worlds were. The weather was warm, there were sights to see, restaurants to eat at. He had many destinations on his bucket list, after having visited so many worlds. But that was for another time. Right now he had to focus on the task at hand.

He followed the two teens as they flew into a fruit market, passing by stands of coconuts, guavas, starfruit and other exotic fruits as they did. As they lighted down near what looked like a pile of boxes with a tarp thrown over it, Dåvidé took in a breath. As he did he noticed the air was filled with the scent of different exotic fruits and car exhaust. He also noticed as they were flying through the market a few shipment trucks, each carrying wooden boxes filled with different fruits.

"It may not look like much, but here it is," Cyrus stated, spreading out his wings as if he were in retail and was trying to sell a crappy house.

"I'm gonna be honest here," Umbrus stated bluntly. "It looks like a pile of boxes with a tarp thrown over it."

"Looks can be deceiving David," Roxie said as she walked through a slit in the tarp.

"Especially with this," Cyrus added before following his sister.

Dåvidé could only follow, pushing aside one side of the slitted tarp and entering the space. What he found on the inside surprised him. He had entered a sort of birds-only club. There was samba playing full blast, a crowd of birds not too far away. He spotted Cyrus and Roxie off to the left, Cyrus' wing wrapped another bird. The three of them, the siblings and Cyrus' beau, Umbrus assumed, were with two other birds. One of them a cardinal, the other a yellow canary.

"Well, this was rather unexpected for me," Dåvidé stated after walking over to the two siblings, ducking as another bird flew over his head.

"David, so glad you could join us," Cyrus stated, his wing still wrapped around the Army Macaw he was with.

"Well all of this certainly was unexpected," Umbrus replied, looking around at all the birds dancing, flying around, or just generally socializing. There were all kinds of birds in this place. He saw, Scarlet macaws, Army, Green-Winged, he even saw a Spoonbill dancing on top of one of the many wooden boxes in this place. Just when he thought he'd seen it all.

"And Cyrus forgot to introduce some friends of ours," Roxie stated, causing her brother to make a face at her, to which she just winked. She raised her wing and gestured to her friends. "David, this is Nico, Pedro, and Dominic."

"Hello," David said with a wave of his dark wing, smiling as he did so.

"'Sup," the cardinal greeted with a nod of his rose red head.

"Hey," the canary greeted with a tip of his bottle cap hat.

"Nice to meet you," the army macaw greeted. "So how long have you known this handsome bird and his sister?"

"Quite frankly, we just met," Roxie said with a sheepish laugh.

"Oh, well then we should get you three acquainted," Nico suggested.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Dåvidé said.

"By dancing of course!" The cardinal and canary shouted in unison.

Dåvidé didn't like where this was going. He didn't dance. Period. Jessaine knew this perhaps even better than he did. She wasn't really a dancer herself, but could pull it off pretty well when she needed to, or so he was told. The only exception Dåvidé made to dancing was when he had the opportunity to do it with his Tether. The only time when dancing was okay was when it was with his Tether.

But, this was about bringing the Queen's children home. Yes, he knew that Cyrus and Roxanne were Gwynivere's children, as she had given this little piece of information to her trusted Inner Circle. Jessaine, Blake, Mary, Dåvidé all knew it. That's why this mission was so important. So that the two teens could be raised properly, on their home world. It was also vital because of their powers. Ice, the elemental signature Dåvidé had read from Cyrus, was a rare element on Luciferia. It was more common that Angels had dominion over this power. And he could definitely see why it was vital to retrieve Roxanne. The Sun element was one of two Hybrid Elements, the other being the Moon.

Sun mixed the fearsome power of Fire with the powerful technique of Photosynthesis, a common technique utilized by Nature elementals. But that wasn't it. These rare Elementals had complete command over Light, a Seraphimian staple element. That was a versatile element in its own right. Roxanne had so much potential, jump started by the training she received at Organization XIII, though he was sad she, her brother and their friends had to go through that.

Moon deserved an explanation as well. An element kept alive by one person, it was a powerful one, just like Sun. Gifting it's user with a fierce intellect, a Berserker attack technique that rendered it's user nearly invincible, and immense energy, the one person gifted with it was far more powerful than anyone he knew realized. Perhaps even more powerful than Simon Aldrich. This man was a high-ranking member of Organization XIII, one of the 'Nobodies', as they called themselves. Multiple Demons and Angels had approached him and offered him a place in both races' ranks, all encounters ending in bloodshed and few of either race making it out alive.

But as Dåvidé thought to himself, he realized he was getting way off topic. He needed to focus on the more pressing issue of the 'dancing' these birds wanted him to partake in.

"Let's get started then! Who's gonna dance with who?" The cardinal stated.

"Do you really have to ask?" Dom stated as he pulled Cyrus close, staring down at the blushing younger bird.

"I'll go with David," Roxie stated, wrapping her wing around the taller blackbird, who tensed up.

"Looks like we're all settled then," the canary commented.

Umbrus heaved a small sigh. This was gonna suck.

Roxie took his right wing in her left, and he wrapped his left wing around her waist. They stepped in time with the music, Umbrus occasionally twirling her around or leaning her over while supporting her back. It wasn't bad, he supposed, dancing with the Queen's daughter. The awkward feeling he got from dancing with her slowly faded, and it started to show, his moves becoming more confident as he danced. And it appeared that Roxanne picked up on this, leading him into more complex moves, and against all odds, increased the fun. Dåvidé was actually having fun dancing. He smiled, and so did Roxie, as they purposefully lost themselves in the dance.

A couple hours later, the sun was going down. Dåvidé said goodbye to the Hoffman siblings as they flew off with that green bird, Dom they called him, to his hollow for the evening. As they did that, once they were a safe distance away he used a Vanish spell and flew after them. A great number of streets and dark alleyways later, they were out of the city. As it turned out, this beau that Cyrus had lived on the outskirts of the city. That was good, especially in combination with the tracking spell he placed on Roxie while they were dancing. Now if something bad happened, he'd be able to find them.

After acting like a stalker enough, Umbrus went to a separate edge of the city and Changed back into his Demon form. He then opened up the Void Stream and targeted Luciferia, and stepped through. He opened the Stream directly into the Queen's quarters, where he saw her relax at the sight of him. Gwynivere went from sitting up straight and looking all prim and proper to slouching on her throne and shedding the royal façade. She folded one leg over the other and rested her head on one hand she propped up on her armrest. Her brown hair streaked with orange and white was back. Looks like she didn't like the silver hair as much as she thought she would.

"Hello General. Any updates?" She asked him boredly. She'd been sitting on her throne basically all day, and though it was very comfortable to sit on, she was very tired. As Queen of Luciferia, there wasn't really much to do all of her days except give commands and listen to updates relating to those commands. For example, she'd give an order to a squadron of Demons to take out a growing number of Dream Eaters on a certain world or to wake up a certain world or to get rid of a Heartless in another world. That might sound like much, but it really wasn't. She missed her days as a field agent, fighting off the threats she just listed. Darn her older age and greater power.

"I've made contact with your children, and have not encountered either of the two Seraphimians on that world," Umbrus reported.

"That's good to hear," Gwynivere said wistfully, letting out a sigh of boredom.

"If it makes you feel any better Gwen, your children are happy. Despite being on an unfamiliar world, Cyrus and Roxanne seem to be making the most of it. Hell, Cyrus even has himself a boyfriend by the looks of it," Umbrus soothed her with a smile. And it seemed to work as a smile lit up her face as she sat up, more attentive.

"Please Dåvidé, tell me more," Gwynivere commanded her top General and dear friend.

"Well, I don't know much, but I do know that Cyrus' boyfriend, I believe his name is Dominic, is housing the two of your children," Umbrus started, summoning his scythe to lean on as he regaled the Queen. "They seem happy as well, as there is a, umm… club for birds we'll say which is located in the city's fruit market that your children like to frequent. There's dancing, singing and drinks to enjoy in said club. Nonalcoholic of course."

"Intriguing," Gwynivere replied, her cheeks creasing as she smiled more, her white teeth showing.

"Though much to my dismay, a few friends of theirs decided dancing would be a good way to get to know your children when we entered that little club," Umbrus stated, his pale cheeks turning slightly rosy.

"Is the 'Dark Fortress' himself getting embarrassed?" Mary chimed in, tipping her sunglass visor at the General with a smile, eyeing him with her foggy blue pools.

"You shut up, Cherub," Umbrus pointed to the Queen's guard without looking at her, shedding his blush like a second skin. "You know how I am with dancing."

"I'm Dåvidé Umbrus and I don't dance," Blake's helmet spoke in his voice as the green-lettered caption typed itself out on his facial visor.

The Queen broke out laughing, as did Mary while Blake crossed his arms and snickered, leaving the General, who simply smirked and rolled his eyes. The Queen's laughter rose above the other commotion, the light toned yet rich sound of joy being one of the most beautiful noises in the room.

"Says Two Face over there," Dåvidé responded.

"Alright you three, calm down. We're all adults here," Gwynivere stated, attempting to be the voice of reason in the room.

Mary just burst out laughing again, as did Dåvidé this time around.

"Oh Gwen, all of us may be thousands of years old, but we're certainly not adults," Mary laughed, releasing a great exhale as she removed her sunglasses to wipe tears from her eyes. "Oooooh dear. Wow."

"I swear, you three are like the other three children I never had, dear Lord," Gwynivere smiled as she leaned back in her throne, placing her hand on her chest as she caught her breath. "Can't remember the last time we laughed that hard."

Umbrus stayed silent for a moment as he remembered the last time the four of them laughed that hard. "I don't know about you three, but I certainly can."

"Oh do tell David," Blake spoke, without his helmet doing the work for him.

"You guys seriously don't remember when we shoved Jessaine in front of that GIGANTIC horde of Heartless?" Dåvidé's voice cracked as he was barely able to contain his laughter.

"Oh my God! How could I have forgotten that?!" Gwynivere shouted and slapped her armrest a few times before losing it.

"And how we flew away to watch it from a distance? How it looked like a scene straight out of Scooby Do?" Mary laughed, holding her hand against the wall so she wouldn't fall to the floor while laughing. She even clutched her stomach she was laughing so hard.

Blake joined in on the laughing, his laughter genuine yet much more controlled as he placed a black gloved hand on his facial visor to hold his head up. "And when she learned it was your idea Dåvidé? Good Lord she was so freaking pissed!"

"Her hair caught on fire, she was so mad," Umbrus wheezed, taking off his visor to dry his watering eyes. The four 'adults' continued laughing like that for a good five minutes, Gwynivere was even curled up in a ball on her throne while she laughed.

"Damn. That really makes me miss the old days when we were just field agents," Gwen sighed longingly after they got their acts together. "Everything was just so much more fun back then; the time we got to spend with each other. Oh man."

"Well, Jessaine and I are still kind of field agents," Dåvidé reasoned. "And you still have Blake and Mary to reminisce with."

"She actually kind of doesn't. You really don't know how much work Gwen has to do everyday Dåvidé. It's really kinda sad, since you can see how much it kills her sometimes," Blake spoke, with his helmet this time after a few coughs.

"Especially when tensions are so high between us and Seraphimia," Mary sighed. "You have no idea how many Angel vs. Demon fights there've been recently. A good number of our operatives are gravely injured from the more powerful Angels they encountered. It's incredibly frustrating."

Blake and Mary, being in the same room as the Queen forty eight hours a day, fourteen days a week, (Luciferian and Seraphimian days were twice as long as Earth days. Same with weeks), knew far more about the political situations and tensions that were going on between the races than Dåvidé or Jessaine did. And the situation, as of that moment, was poor. It wasn't very good at all. There were more and more scuffles between squadrons of Demons and squadrons of Angels. That meant more and more Demons were getting heavily injured and taking off work to recuperate in the infirmary or at their homes. It's like the Seraphimians wanted the Luciferians to declare war. Perhaps it was one of Raethons' machinations against them. It was hard to tell with how little they knew.

"Any war threats from the Illusionist himself?" Dåvidé asked the Queen after his brief moment of deep thought as he looked up at her.

"No. All wireless communications with the Seraphimians were cut off straight after we escaped their assassination attempt," Gwynivere reminded her General Commander, arching a brow at him. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just with all of these unprovoked attacks on our lower level operatives, it seems like they're trying to provoke us into declaring war on them," Umbrus observed, gauging from the last few dozen squadron fights, the Angels seemed to be poking the bear then fleeing, and repeating that process.

"I've noticed that too, but it's certainly going to take more tan what they're doing to ignite a war," Mary said, leaning against the wall with her arms folded against her chest.

"I second that," Blake spoke, his voice getting gruff from overuse. It appeared his voice was healing, but he still had a while to go before he could talk normally again. It showed as he coughed a few more times before clearing his throat

"Well Dåvidé, I think it's time you left. And please report back to me every week to let me know how my children are doing," Gwynivere commanded Dåvidé.

"Of course, my Queen," Umbrus replied with a nod of his head, then opening the Void Stream and leaving.

"I really wish he would just refer to me as Gwen," she sighed.

([A/N]: Hi to anyone who reads this junk. I'm not dead. I'm finally getting off my rear end and writing again. And this story is a year old, and I wanna get to rewriting Nature of the Storm. And fair warning, stuff's gonna get real within the remaining chapters. The next two will involve time skips, the second one smaler than the first. But yeah, needed to get that off of my chest. See you guys soon •_•)