Hello everyone! So, I'm just minding my own business one day and I see that I get a new E-mail from Fanfiction. So I read the Email and I get 8 new reviews in a span of like 5 minutes. 8! It really surprised me for the fact the new chapter was up for a couple of weeks but like a lot of you said you didnt get the email saying I updated but I'm happy you guys finally got to read the latest one and I'm happy you guys enjoyed it :) Well anyways, I was going to update this chapter in like a week or so and update one of my other stories but I thought for a Christmas present Ill update this one :D OK I got a question for you guys. Which story will you guys like to see updated next? I'm thinking your own fate. But you guys tell me! Anyways thanks for the reviews, the likes, the favs, all that good stuff! We are finally coming to the climax to the story and hopefully it reaches your guys expectations! Love you all and happy holidays!

Please review!

Enjoy-

Death was the only thing that came to mind when winter rolled around. A month never felt so long. An eternity in snow and silence. No smiles were exchanged, no laughs were spoken out. The loss of Jonathan was toll that the whole sector took. His funeral was light hearted as his body was burned and his ashes scattered through the fields that were in between the Pedrosa Palace and sector 8. Nicki said he always said how he wanted that to happen because his journey to an amazing life started on that path. Rai never came to the funeral. But, Kimiko saw him show up a couple hours later after the ashes were scattered and he stood in that one spot for hours. He went back to that same spot every day for two weeks till the snow started to cover up the ashes to forever be lost in the winter snow.

Kimiko was out wondering around the outskirt of sector 8. She hasn't talked to anyone in the whole month. She did her duties in the morning and spent the rest of her days down by the creek that separated sector 8 and the path to the Dashi House. Dashi. The man hat had the ability to end everything. He was in charge of all the neighboring houses but chose to stay out of any internal affairs that the houses has with each other. As long as they followed the rules and codes Dashi laid out for them, he left them alone. If only Chase wasn't hiding within the shadows of the law. When the whole fiasco of the prince going missing and his accused murder, Dashi kept to himself. Kimiko saw him more as lazy then anything.

Kimiko sat on the hill that led down to the creak as she watched the water ripple from side to side. It was calming to see the water being blazed by the suns raze. She brought her knees to her chest and she laid her head on the top of them. She hasn't felt this depressed since the death of her mother. It was the same feeling in the palace as it was now. Mournful in a way you would say. Kimiko could recall walking down the corridors to still hear the maids cry over the loss of the queen. She remembered her father would lock himself away for days and only appeared when needed. Kimiko felt the similar loneliness she did back in the palace. While everyone mourned and kept to themselves, she was on the outside looking in. She was the outcast because she looked forward while everyone else stayed behind. She sighed as she thought of her mother. A beautiful woman she was at one point in time. Until she began to get sick. A sickness with no cure. A plague with no name. She would collapse all the time. She would grow weak and tired. But, there would be days where she could run up the tallest mountain but only to cough up blood later in the day. She was restricted to stay within the castle walls. Funny, the queen restricted to stay in her house. Because of the bizarre sickness that fell upon her, she was no longer able to bear children which left only Kimiko to be heir to the throne.

Kimiko thought back. She remembered walking in on her mother while she was in her room. She remembers her being on the floor grasping tightly onto her stomach and moaning loudly. As Kimiko got a closer look, she saw her mother having piercing red eyes. She remembered her mother screaming at her to leave immediately. Kimiko sat there with her fingers digging into the earth as she thought of that memory. She remembered seeing Rai like that. The piercing red eyes. The pain in his face. Kimiko's eyes got wide as she looked passed the creak to the large wall in the distant to Dashis home. Maybe Rai has the same sickness as her mother did. She felt a turn in her stomach. So much pain and so much suffering, what ever sickness it was, it was torture to live with. She shook her head quickly back and forth as she tried to redirect her thoughts to something else as she brought her body closer together.

"You'll catch a cold out here." A voice said behind her. She looked behind to see Rai standing there holding an extra jacket in his hand. Kimiko didn't even realize she didn't have a jacket on. He brought it down to her level and she greatly took it. He took a seat by her and looked out in the same direction she was originally.

"You know your gonna catch a cold if you keep coming out here." He said with concern. Kimiko looked at him. He looked tired. Like he hasn't slept in days.

"Its nice here. Its my first time being so close to the Dashi palace." Kimiko admitted

"I don't think it's anything special." He said as he lifted one knee up to put the crook of his elbow on as he leaned forward.

"Besides, this is the closest you'll get because of the river here." Kimiko looked at him confused. It looked like a normal river to her. Only about 5 feet across and not even 4 feet deep. But, she did take note the creak wasn't frozen. The snow was heavy so wouldn't that mean it would have froze?

"What's wrong with it?" She asked.

"It was enchanted by a witch. Dashi created this as a barrier against enemies. The water continuously stays warm even through the winter so people believe its safe. But, if they were to drink the water they would drown in their own internal water. Or if they step through the water, they would sink into the internal mud at would suck them up whole." He explained.

"how do you know that?" She asked.

"Back at the palace, the cooks would tell stories of this river while I passed by." He said. Kimiko shook her head in understanding. She looked forward again and wrapped the jacket tighter around her. It smelt like him. He smelt sweet. Like fresh air. She looked up to see him still facing forward.

"This is the first time I've talked to you in a while."Kimiko said. Rai looked at her and gave her a side ways smirk.

"I've just been trying to figure things out. Trying to figure out why John did what he did." He said coolly.

"It was an ambush and he knew it. I was suppose to die that day and he took my spot. What a shit of a friend I am for allowing him to go in my place." He threw a rock into the water and looked at Kimiko.

"Then be happy. Be happy you had a friend willing to allow you to live in sacrifice for his own life." She said.

"But I cant keep sulking over it. John would Kick my ass if he saw me crying like a baby." He smirked. "I hope Nicki can forgive me."

"She's alright. After a couple of hours she knew it wasn't your fault but she was too stubborn to apologize." She admitted. Rai went silent. Kimiko felt uneasy. Just looking at him made her feel like a rock landed at the bottom of her stomach. The bags under his eyes. His skinnier look. His dark skin began to fade it seemed. Too similar. Too similar to how her mother was. Everything beautiful and perfect about her disappeared. Same thing was happening now.

"Rai…are you feeling O.K?" She asked timidly. He looked at her and smiled.

"Yea I feel great."

'Liar' she thought. There wasn't anything she could do about it though. She couldn't force the truth out of him no matter how much she wanted to.

As the day continued on, They sat by the river talking about random topics. Anything to change the subject.

"I have a question" Rai said.

"Alright" Kimiko replied.

"You've been with us for a while, why do you still talk like a Royal?" He asked. Kimiko looked at him confused.

"are you saying I talk funny?" She asked. Rai giggled.

"No I would just think you would have gotten out of that habit already." Kimiko gave him a sneer look.

"Alright. You talk like a Royal then." Rai looked at her with a challenging stare.

"I do apologize Kimiko if I don't meet to your standards of speech but this is the close as I believe I can possibly get." He said. Kimiko could sense the mocking tone in his speech.

"You actually do it very well." She admitted.

"Old habits die hard." he shrugged. As they sat there watching the sun going down. Kimiko remembered the day when John was about to head off to battle.

Royal blood shall not be spilled for the life of peasant. Heathe these words for brothers no more."

That's right. Rai said that. That was a quote from the oath that stated that a royal would say that he will not fight for a peasant. She looked at Rai.

"That night, when he left, you stated a line from the royal scrolls. How did you know that quote?"

Rai looked at her in surprised and slowly looked away. He licked his lips.

"John...John was a cousin of the royal family. He took that oath and me and him became friends later on. When we decided to leave, we came up with our own oath to fight for each other and be there for each other. I told him that before he left to try and convince him that it wasn't the right choice to leave but I lost that battle." Kimiko nodded her head in understanding but shock then suspicion flooded her face.

"Wait, you said he was a servant boy like you."

"I lied." He said blankly.

"So wouldn't that make Nicki a Royal too?" Kimiko asked.

"No not really. I mean yea she is a technical royal but their parents died after she was born and John was left to take care of her so the King let them live in the castle but they had no immediate control over the Kingdom." He explained.

"Thats complicated. There was only my mother, my father and I and I didn't even know if I had any other family members. The Pedrosas sound like they have a lot of family members." She said.

"Yea they diffidently had a bunch." He said laying in the grass putting his arms crossed behind his head.

"Why did they make a huge deal on the prince disappearing? I mean, weren't there like 8 of them?" She asked. Rai opened his eyes slowly and looked up to see the trees moving back and forth from the winter air. The snow under him was melting slowly and he could feel the cold water touching his skin.

"There were 6 boys and 3 girls. The 3 oldest boys went into the army for the Dashi home against other families across the water. All which died. Then, there was the prince who went missing and is probably dead too. The two youngest boys were twins but had health problems when they were born and died shortly after they were born. The two oldest girls went in the military to help with medical but were caught in a bombing in one of their sites and died. All that's left is the youngest daughter who is still alive as from what I know but unfortunately since she is a princess she cannot hold up the family name and cant hold position as queen without a king. Just like your situation when you had to marry Chase because you couldn't keep the name." He explained. Kimiko took a second to function everything that she just heard. She felt sorry for the Pedrosas. They lost all their children and the young daughter isn't able to do anything. Now it made more sense.

Her train of thought was interrupted when she saw Rai jump up quick and held out a hand to her.

"Come on we've been out here long enough. Lets go back already." He said with a smile. She liked his smile. It was so warm and filled with so much hope. She gladly took his hand and they were off once again.

As they made it to the entrance of sector 8, they took notice of Nicki standing out in the front leaning against the entrance. Rai sped up just slightly and Nicki met him half way. They stood there awkwardly for a minute or so. Rai took a deep breath in.

"Nicole I'm-"
"Save it!" She yelled throwing up a hand to stop him.

"Its not your fault. I just-I just needed a reason, someone to blame. And you just so happened to be standing there. I'm sorry." She bowed her head to him. Rai stood there with a surprised look on his face and it quickly softened. He grabbed the top of her head and brought her in with a hug.

"Love you Nikki." He said. Nicki grumbled, not liking the affection he was giving off.

"OK ok I get it now can you let go!" She growled as she started to push back against his chest as he just stood there and laughed. Kimiko was happy to hear him laugh and to see Nikki being social again. John maybe gone, But time keeps moving forward and it gives people time to heal and to climb to better things.

"Well this is a sight." Said a voice. They looked back to see Clay standing there tipping his hat towards them.

"Hey Clay whats up?" Rai asked. Clay walked up to them with a big smile. Clay, what a character. His tall and broad structure just said everything about him. His messy blonde hair falling in front of his face down to his old dirty leather boots. Kimiko and Clay got along really well. Both being known for being a foreigner, it was nice for Kimiko to know she wasn't the only one a little different.

"Well I'm happy to see your feeling better then you were that's for sure." He said.

"Yea well it took time but I'm ready for anything." Rai replied.

"well good. Then you can handle something for me." Clay said walking back to the tower with a leading hand telling them to follow.

As they got to the top, Clay explained how they captured a prisoner from Chases army who joined up with Jacks during the raid in sector 5. Clay thought since he fought so well not to get himself killed, why not bring him in for questioning. So for the past month he was sitting in that room waiting for Rai. Rai was in there for about 30 minutes talking to the soldier. Kimiko felt a but nervous waiting outside that room for him. Rai wasn't well. Maybe it was a trap to kill him there. No. they searched him before they put him in the room with Rai. Maybe he was hiding something under his clothes. Kimiko shook her head trying to rid the random scenarios from her head. She jolted when she heard the door open to see Rai walking out first with a solemn face. Before she could question, she gasped when she saw a small yellow headed man walking out behind him.

"OMI!" She screamed as she ran over and grabbed the man and squeezed!

"You know this guy?" Nicki asked with a confused look.

"He's my father's adviser." She spoke in between gasps as she tried holding back her tears.

"What is a adviser doing here?" Clay asked. Omi looked up to Rai then to Clay.

"I came to tell you, you have trouble.