I took the lifter to the bottom floor with Liris. She didn't say anything until we reached the ground and heard muffled cries of pain.

I looked over at Liris, who had her eyebrows lowered. She stepped out of the lifter and followed the sound to Reone's room. That's when we heard the first scream.

Liris's wide eyes were pinned on me. She lifted a hand to knock on the door when Reone screamed again. Flinching, she withdrew her hand and took a step back.

I took in a breath and opened the door.

Reone was on her bed, biting down on one hand as she squeezed her eyes shut. Her stomach was enlarged, even bigger than Mahiru's was before she gave birth.

"Oh my," Liris said, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Get a maid," I told her, stepping into the room.

"No!" Reone said, pulling her hand away and reaching out to me. Blood streaked down her fingers were her teeth had torn through the skin. Tears filled her golden eyes. "Please."

Liris and I exchanged glances. I pressed my lips together. Liris' eyebrows pinched in a worried expression. Then, she lowered her eyebrows and nodded.

"Lock the door."

The next hour was a complete blur of muffled screams and red smears. The next thing I remembered was Liris wiping the last bits of blood from the light wisps of white-blonde hair atop the head of the newly born Star Child. Then, she wrapped the baby in a light yellow blanket.

The maids outside had given up on knocking a while ago. Liris said they had probably left to find the master key.

I stood in the corner as Liris walked over to Reone and held the child out to her. Reone's eyes were shut, but her breathing was heavy. The baby cried, the shrill screams filling the room. Reone's eyes slowly opened and landed on her child.

She smiled.

Liris gave her the baby. Reone wrapped her arms around her child.

"It's a girl," Liris said.

"She's beautiful," Reone said. Her smile disappeared as tears rolled down her face. She looked up at Liris. "The maids are going to be here any second, aren't they?"

Liris' face fell. She nodded.

Reone gulped, then held the child out to Liris. "Please, I can't do this."

Liris took the baby as it began to bawl again.

Reone turned her back to them.

Liris walked over to me. I couldn't help but stare at the child in her arms. Despite her face being contorted into an ugly cry, there was an angelic beauty to her. I took a step closer to them. Liris' big red eyes were turned on me.

"Can I?" I asked.

Liris nodded, adjusting her hold so I could take her. I reached out to her, then hesitated, before awkwardly scoping the child out of Liris' arms. The blanket was soft and warm against my skin. The baby was surprising light in my arms.

She didn't stop crying, but she didn't seem to be fighting against me either. This definitely was Reone's child, I thought with a smile.

Then, she opened her eyes and I saw my own magenta irises staring up at me.

And for a moment, we just stared at each other.

"We should give her a name before the maids take her away," I said.

"A name?" Liris asked. "But Star Child don't have names."

"Maybe they should," I said.

"Okay, well what do you want to name her?" Liris asked.

"I don't know," I said. Then, I laughed a bit. "Honestly, I'm really bad at coming up with names."

I looked at Reone, but she didn't move. Her covers were pulled above her head. I turned back to Liris.

"You wouldn't happen to have any ideas, would you?" I asked.

Liris put a finger to her chin. She studied the child in my arms. "What about Collette?"

"Collette?" I repeated the name. "It's pretty."

"I think it suits her," Liris said. She pushed a stray strand of hair from the baby's forehead.

"Collette," I said, watching the child's face and trying to picture it. "Yeah, it does."

"I mean, everyone's just going to call her Star Child B 387644, but we'll know," Liris said.

"Yeah." I nodded. I held her tighter. "Well then, hello, Collette."

"It's good to meet you, Collette," Liris said.

The door opened. Maids rushed in and immediately ripped Collette from my arms. I barely had time to register the warm leaving my arms and she was gone.

Just gone.

The maids tended to Reone and lectured Liris. They didn't say anything to me. So, I just stood there.

I couldn't do anything. Reone looked miserable. Liris nodded, her shoulders hunched as she refused to meet anyone's eyes.

Finally, a maid came up to me to "kindly" escort me to my room. I tried to say something to Reone before I left, but they shuffled me out before I could. What would I even say? I'm sorry? I'll get her back? All of my words felt empty.

I just went along with the maids.

Breakfast the next morning was strange. Mahiru didn't say anything. In fact, she barely touched the eggs the maids had prepared. Reone had a smile on her face, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. She talked with prep, but every now and then, her sentences would drop off at the end and she would get a panicked expression before smoothing it over with another large grin. Liris ate slower, or at least, she wasn't shoveling the food down her throat so she could leave. Every now and then, she would meet my gaze before quickly looking away.

Mirei was the only one who was no different. That is to say, she ate the meal quietly with a blank expression.

There were only a few more days until the first week was over. I didn't want to think about next week. Mirei could not look more uninterested in me, and I had already told Liris I wouldn't touch her. Not to mention, I still had no idea where the Star Children were being kept. And now, I had two of them.

I nearly choked on the egg in my mouth as the thought crossed my mind. Did I seriously have two kids? Me?

I gulped down the eggs, trying to push any that thought. The eggs didn't sit well in my stomach after that.

I spent the rest of the day exploring the castle, but almost immediately got lost. I screwed up backtracking and ended up in the kitchen of the castle, which took up an entire floor. I was so turned around that by the time I got back to the Maiden's court, which was apparently what it was called, it was nighttime again.

I was going to head straight to bed when I thought of Reone's pained smile this morning. A wave of guilt washed over me. But what could I do? Apologize? It didn't seem appropriate.

The guilt sat in my stomach like bad eggs.

I walked to the lifter and took it down instead of up. I walked over to the yellow door and knocked.

There was no answer.

I sighed. The bad feeling in my stomach only seemed to grow. "Reone?" I said, barely above a whisper.

Still no answer.

My shoulders hunched. I took a step away from the door. My head turned to look at the red door next to it. Mahiru was still miserable this morning. Maybe I should update her.

I took in a deep breath, turning away from Reone's door. I walked over to Mahiru's door, knocking softly.

"Come in," Mahiru's tired voice called out from the other side.

I opened the door, letting light pour into her dark room. Mahiru sat up on her bed, shielding her eyes.

"Itsuki?" she asked.

"Hey," I said quietly. "Sorry to wake you."

Mahiru shook her head. "I was awake. Can't sleep."

I stepped inside, shutting the door behind me. The darkness swarmed around me, covering every inch of the room.

"Did you find anything?" she asked.

I turned to the sound of her voice and shook my head. I blinked until I could make out the shape of her bed.

"Oh," she said.

I sat down next to her. The bedsheet shifted as Mahiru brought her knees to her chest.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Not really."

I tried to see her face. The colors were muted. I could barely make out her figure. She wasn't looking at me.

"I'm going to find him," I said.

She didn't move.

"You don't believe me?"

"No, I just...I'm tired."

I let out a breath. "Yeah, I'm tired too."

"Are you giving up?"

"What? No. I'll look again tomorrow. And the next day, and the next day, until I find them."

"And then we can go back home, right?"

I bit the inside of my lip. I still had no idea how to get out of this place, much less back home. I forced a smile on my face.

"Yeah, then we'll all go home together."

Mahiru turned to me. I could see her face now. It looked so delicate. I was almost scared to touch her skin in fear that it would break. Still, I shifted my position to wrap my arm around her. She fell into my embrace.

"Can you stay with me tonight?" Mahiru asked.

"Sure."

Mahiru laid down. I put my head on the pillow next to her.

She shut her eyes. Her breathing slowed. I felt myself drift into unconsciousness, and I let go.

The next day, I took the lifter down to the main floor, ready to attempt the castle again. When I stepped out, motion caught my eye. I turned and saw Liris walking towards the entertainment room. Her long, black hair followed her. Strands of it flew up as she bounced. I couldn't help but watch.

"Hey, Liris, I've been meaning to say..." I said, but my words got caught in my throat when Liris spun around on one heel, pinning those big, red eyes on me.

I blinked a few times. She tilted her head, causing a few pieces of her hair to slip over her ear on fall on her rosy cheeks.

"I just wanted to say thank you, for that night," I said.

"Oh, you're welcome," she said in that soft voice of hers.

"I was really impressed," I said. "I didn't know you were so good with kids."

"Yeah," she said. Her eyes drifted to a point beyond. She bit her plump, pink lips.

My mouth shut, a gulp rolling down my throat.

Then, suddenly, she wiped her head back to look me in the eyes. "Can we talk? Privately?"

"Uh, okay?"

She turned around, taking a step towards the lifter. Then, she looked back at me and nodded to the hall.

I said nothing, following her into the lifter as it took us to the bottom floor. It landed, and Liris stuck her head out to look around. A maid smiled at us as we stepped out. Liris gave her a polite nod. I opened my mouth to greet her, but Liris grabbed my hand, shooting me an almost panicked look. No, it was a look of urgency.

Hand in hand, we walked to her room. My cheeks began to burn as my mind swarmed with questions. We still had a while before we had to do anything...and I really did not get the impression that Liris wanted to do anything like that.

But here she was, leading me by hand to her bedroom.

She let go of my hand to shut the door. Then, she turned the lock.

I tried to calm my beating heart when her big, red eyes turned on me.

"I heard you talking with Mahiru last night," Liris said.

I blinked. "What?"

Liris turned away sheepishly. She tugged at a loose strand of her hair. "Last night, when you dropped me off at my room, I saw you go into Mahiru's room and got curious. So, I kinda overheard your conversation."

"Oh," I said.

"But it's okay!" Liris said, turning back to me suddenly. "I won't tell anyone."

There was a determination in her eyes that surprised me. I tried to think back to my conversation with Mahiru. What exactly did was she talking about?

"Actually, I want to help," Liris said.

"Help?"

"Help you find Ushio and Collette."

My eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes! I have a plan, but I'm not sure if you'll like it," Liris said. Her eyes sparkled as she spoke. She frowned at the end of her sentence, hesitantly watching my face for a reaction, but that sparkle never faded.

"Okay?" I said.

"I have a friend who works with the Star Children. She can get us into the academy, but we have to find it first," Liris said.

"Okay, how do we find it?"

Liris smirked. It was the same grin that she wore when I saw her talking to the prince. It was a strange expression to see on the face of the girl who was so scared of me only a few days ago.

"That's where my plans come in," Liris said. She took a step towards me, her smile growing. "Think about it, the only time anyone goes to the academy is to drop off the Star Children."

"Yeah?"

"So, I was thinking, if you could sleep with Mirei, then three days from now, when the maids are busy with the birth of the new Star Child, we could sneak out," Liris said.

My eyebrows furrowed. She spoke so casually like she was asking me to pick up bread at the store. I tried to push away the feeling of dread in my stomach. "Okay, so we sneak out, but how do we find the...academy?"

"Well, once we're out, we hide and wait for the maids. Then, when they come out, we follow them to the academy! Then, we wait for the maids to leave the academy and my friend can get us in. It's full proof!" Liris said, balling her hands into fists and holding them above her puffed out chest.

I bite my lip. "I don't know, what if we get caught."

"You'll be fine," Liris said, her shoulders falling a bit. "They can't touch you. You could kill someone and they would just shrug."

Somehow that didn't make me feel better. "Then why can't I just go to the academy?"

Liris frowned. "They won't tell you where it is. They don't tell anyone. Except for the people who are selected to work there, like my friend."

"What about you? Won't they punish you?"

"Not too severely. After all, I'm still a Maiden. I'll just play dumb, probably get off with a warning."

"It feels a little slimy to sleep with Mirei just to sneak out."

Liris waved her hand. "Mirei doesn't mind. This is just a job to her."

"But how do you know that?"

"She told me. Before you came," Liris said. Then, she looked away from me. Her shoulders fell completely, and she went back to tugging on her hair. "I was really scared when they told us they found the new Visitor. Mirei, I don't know if she was trying to cheer me up or what, but she told me to get over it and 'do my job.' She'll be fine."

I frowned. "You really want to do this?"

Liris looked back up at me with wide eyes. "Yes. Please, I must repay your kindness."

"You really don't have to."

"But I want to," Liris said. She took another step closer to me and grabbed my hand. Her skin was soft and warm. She smelled like vanilla cookies. "Please."

Slowly, I nodded. "Okay, sure."

Liris' mouth broke into another smile. "Yes! Let's go find the Star Children!"

I broke from Liris' grip and turned to the door. "Let me just go update Mahiru-"

"Wait!" Liris grabbed my hand again.

I looked back at her. Her eyebrows were withdrawn, her eyes wide. She looked like a scared deer.

"You can't tell her."

"Why?"

"We can't risk the maids finding out."

"Mahiru won't tell anyone."

"I know, but she wouldn't have to."

I turned around to face her, pulling my hand back. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Mahiru's really depressed right now because of the situation," Liris said.

"And?"

"If the situation changes, then she might cheer up."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"If you tell her that you're going to find Ushio and then she starts acting happy, the maids will know something is up. They'll be on watch. We can't risk that."

I pressed my lips together. My mind buzzed with responses, but none of them were solid.

"You want to see your children, right?" Liris asked.

My breath was caught in my throat. I gulped, then nodded.

Liris' face softened. "I know you want to tell her, but you have to trust me. And besides, think about how devastated she would be if you told her our plan and then we got caught. Think about how much happier she'll be if you tell her after the fact."

"Okay, I won't tell her," I said.

Liris smiled at me. "Good. Then, let's do this."

A/N: Sorry this chapter is a little late! I went on a vacation and ever since have been having trouble finding motivation to write, much less edit. I could really use some feedback! It really gives me inspiration to write!