A very long wrap-up chapter for you. A lot of explanations are needed, as you can expect. Enjoy!

Chapter 14: Heart and Soul

Kiku woke up, dizzy and achy, and stared up hollowly at the ceiling above him. Still in Berlin, then – there were red, gold, and rose hearts winding around the ceiling. Groggily, he sat up, slowly recalling all that had happened. Something about Alfred running off to save Feliciano and Ludwig –

"Ludwig!" At once, Kiku shot straight up and made to move.

"Majesty, King Ludwig is recovering," said a familiar voice, and Kiku glanced across the room to see Niran hurrying towards him, and Bella on his side. Bella smiled, but she didn't seem as firm as she normally did. "He'll be fine."

"What happened?" demanded Kiku. "What's going on?"

"Relax," said Bella softly. "It's nine in the morning, Monday. You've been asleep since Saturday. You exhausted yourself, but you'll be fine."

"Ludwig and Feliciano?" asked Kiku.

"Jack Feliciano is fine," said Bella. "King Ludwig is recovering. They…" She took a deep breath before going on. "They were going to burn him. He has severe heat stroke, and there was something toxic in the coals, so he's having trouble recovering. The doctors aren't allowing visitors yet, but they seem sure that he will be alright."

Kiku stared at her for several long moments, unsure if she was trying to soothe him into accepting this as the truth, or if it really was the truth. At last, he sat back against a high stack of pillows, surprisingly tired.

"Can I get you anything, Majesty?" asked Niran brightly. "I'll send for your breakfast right away."

"Thank you, Niran," said Kiku softly. "And maybe a bath."

"Right away, Majesty!"

"Negotiations begin in an hour," said Bella, sipping at a cup of coffee. "Sadiq and I have been up all night trying to figure out what we want to say."

"Negotiations?" asked Kiku. "With the North?"

"That's right," said Bella. "We sent for representatives from Clubs and Diamonds, but we haven't gotten any reply from Diamonds. Isolation and all of that." She scoffed. "How are you feeling? The doctors say you should be alright to attend."

"I'll make it," said Kiku. He accepted the tray from Niran and took a big spoonful of eggs, suddenly starving. "Niran, that bath, and then I will need robes for negotiations."

"Already back in peace mode, I see," said Bella softly.

"You've never seen me in peace mode," Kiku reminded her. "This is 'out of immediate danger' mode." Bella smiled.

"It's good to see you're alright," she said. "Are you…?" Kiku winced, remembering that the last time they had seen each other, they had been in London, and Kiku had panicked. She knew all along too, and he figured that he should have been mad at her, but it was hard to be mad.

"Bella," said Kiku softly. "I know you weren't at fault, and besides, there are more important things to handle. What has been happening while I was asleep?"

"We sent for Sadiq – oh, I've forgotten, you haven't met, have you?" Kiku shook his head through a bite of toast. "Sadiq Adnan is the Minister. He arrived yesterday afternoon. He's the best at diplomacy. He and I will enter negotiations with you. The King and Queen of Spades are here as well, with their Minister – Matthew Williams, do you remember him? Anyways." She sighed. "With help from Spades, we were able to take back Berlin. General Meier's praises are being sung in the streets."

"Everything is alright?" Kiku asked, relieved.

"So long as we can make sure to intimidate properly in negotiations, yes," said Bella. "The Great North planned to force a surrender out of you by bringing all three monarchs to Berlin. In doing so, they brought all their important figures to Berlin, and that makes it so much easier to force a surrender out of them." She winked. "All the same, it would be best if we could guarantee that this never happens again."

"They want a warm water port," said Kiku, because for some reason, this was what he remembered out of his hectic period of stalling. "And trade."

"That's good to know," said Bella. She placed her empty coffee cup on the table beside him. "I'm going to go meet with Sadiq before negotiations. I'll send an attendant to fetch you ten minutes before the discussions start."

"Thank you, Bella," said Kiku. He wanted to reach after her and remind her how badly off they would be without her, but he couldn't find it in himself to say the words. She already knew – she wouldn't be doing this job if she didn't know.

Kiku finished another few bites of breakfast and slipped out of the grand bed, looking around his suite. It was three times the one he and Ludwig had been sharing in Venice, and it was entirely decorated in gold and crimson. Niran was waiting for him while setting out a rose, white, and silver set of clothes. Kiku approved this choice and sunk into the hot water of his bath. If he closed his eyes, it was any other bath – back home, one six years into the peaceful future…

It was funny how home seemed so far away. Kiku really was starting to accept this feeling of being alone and in a foreign place as being all the home he needed. Perhaps, in a year or two, this palace would seem like home.

Kiku laughed to himself.

"Is everything alright, Majesty?" asked Niran.

"Yes," said Kiku. "That's just the thing. Everything is alright."

It was a new feeling, the idea of daydreaming about a future in this castle. This would become his life. The past weeks had taken everything out of him, and now…they just had words and paper between the warring past and a peaceful future. It was all…over.

He wanted to stay in the hot water forever, but the clock chimed over his head, and Kiku dragged himself out to dress. Two hooded attendants met him at the door, and as they walked, Kiku asked Niran to tell him about the castle. The servant boy had been born and raised in Venice, but Bella had requested he be brought here to help settle Kiku in. Kiku was perfectly okay with keeping the boy on as a personal attendant – he really didn't need anyone else. Until he turned twenty-one, of course. Then the Joker could have a say in Niran's future. But what Niran had proven to be good at, aside from assisting Kiku in whatever he needed, was studying maps and architecture. Kiku wasn't surprised to hear that Niran had already memorized the hallways around the royal suites. The information was nice to know, and it oriented Kiku for the thick negotiations he was about to enter into.

Bella and a man Kiku hadn't seen before were standing outside the door to the meeting room. At their arrival, Bella turned with a characteristic smile.

"Queen Kiku, this is Minister Sadiq Adnan. He'll handle most of the negotiations, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," said Kiku, shaking Sadiq's hand. "I'm glad to work with you." Sadiq was significantly taller than Kiku, and he looked well-built for a man dedicated to diplomacy, but he also had a proud and charismatic glint to his eyes.

"Good to finally meet you, Majesty," said Sadiq with a bit of a wink. "We don't have much time, so we'll catch up on the plan during our first break. For now, I'll ask you to stay out of negotiations for the most part. You being directly involved in Saturday's conflict and all that."

Kiku was perfectly alright with that. He found, as they stepped into the doors of the meeting room, that he was more nervous than he had anticipated. His palms were growing moist – he wiped them off on his pants. There would be handshakes ahead.

Already in the room were Alfred and Arthur, sitting with their soft-looking Minister – Bella had just said his name, but Kiku couldn't remember it for the life of him. There were several other seats at the table, all labeled. To his surprise, Kiku found that there was a seat laid out for Feliciano, and some set out for both King Mathias of the Great North and Berwald. There were two other place markers for advisors from the Great North.

"Feliciano will be here?" said Kiku to Bella.

"I doubt he will be here until at least lunch," said Bella with a smile. "But he was invited to come. He has to rest, too."

Kiku nodded, although that eased his mind. He didn't know what he would do if the first encounter he had with Feliciano after Saturday's events was in the middle of an important conference.

To his surprise, the morning passed easily and quickly. They lightly discussed the surrender of the Great North, which came about at around 11, shortly before the lunch break. Not to his surprise, the most difficult obstacle in the way of peace was King Mathias, who still refused to acknowledge that he had lost this war.

He walked outside for lunch break after Bella and Sadiq, the latter of whom was already talking rather quickly about "the ignorance of the boy king" and "his incompetent advising staff." Kiku had to smile, and then he was intercepted by one-hundred-twenty pounds of a Feliciano.

"F-Feliciano!" Kiku detached himself quickly, his face burning from the contact. As if realizing that he had crossed some boundary, Feliciano stepped back. Queen and Jack stared at each other for several moments.

"I'm glad you're alright, v-ve…" said Feliciano, immediately dropping his gaze. Kiku opened his mouth, but he wasn't sure what words he had. It was as if his mind had completely fallen empty of intelligent thought. No – he wouldn't mess things up with Feliciano just because he didn't like confrontation.

"I'm glad you're alright," said Kiku in a soft voice. Feliciano looked up slowly. "I hope I didn't hurt you Saturday."

Feliciano smiled, but he had difficulty looking Kiku in the eye.

"Who, me?" he said with a giggle that broke Kiku's heart. "Of course not. Don't be silly, ve~!"

"Feliciano," said Kiku. Feli looked up bashfully. "I don't actually think any of the things I said. I had to keep you alive, and it was the only way I knew how."

"I know," said Feliciano, but the smile was slightly more real. He shuffled his feet, suddenly looking down. "I'm sorry, ve…I understand if you hate me."

"What?" said Kiku. He hadn't been expecting this. "No, Feli, I don't…"

Feliciano looked up this time, seemingly mustering himself up in the same way Kiku was. His brown eyes glowed with the prospect of failure and of rejection, and Kiku made himself stop short.

"I'm sorry I made Ludwig cheat on you," he said. Both men flinched as the words came out into the open. "It's awful of me to keep wanting him, but…ve…" He reached forward, but he didn't touch Kiku yet. There was a barrier between them, intangible, but they both knew it was there. Kiku prayed that Feliciano could somehow break it down with words and smiles, because gestures were too hard.

"I fell in love with Ludwig in Geneva," said Feliciano softly. He was staring at the floor, half lost in the memories of it and half wishing he could just fall into the floor beneath his feet. "I didn't want it to happen, because I knew Ludwig had to marry you, ve…but I did it anyways. I convinced Ludwig to have a relationship with me, at least for the years before you were to be married. But then this disaster happened, and we were sent to Venice, and you got married anyways. Ve, Kiku, I hated watching you get married. After that, Ludwig tried to ignore me, but I did it again, and I made him love me anyways, even though he was supposed to love you!" Feliciano hung his head, although Kiku couldn't miss the trademark Feliciano tears that were beginning to run down his cheeks. "You should hate me, ve. I would hate me."

"I don't hate you," said Kiku, because it was true. Ever since he had figured out the truth, he had imagined himself hating Feliciano forever. But it was Feliciano, and how could anyone hate him? "I felt a little betrayed at first, but there's nothing to be done."

Nothing to be done indeed. Feliciano smiled sheepishly, and Kiku found it within himself to smile back. He felt the barrier between them thin, and both men sighed in a simultaneous relief. Then Feliciano brightened, as he always did, and wiped his cheeks with his long rose sleeves.

"Have you heard about Ludwig?" Kiku asked tentatively. Feliciano nodded fervently.

"They won't let me in to see him!" he wailed. "I begged and begged, but the guards won't let me in." He pouted. "They won't even tell me what's wrong, except something about heatstroke."

"I heard the same thing," said Kiku. "Bella told me when I woke up this morning."

"You must be so tired, ve!" said Feliciano, bouncing along the hallway. He turned excited eyes up to Kiku again. "Ve~ you are so brave, Kiku! We should catch up during lunch and talk about what we've been doing since Tuesday."

"I would like to be on the same page again," admitted Kiku. Feliciano beamed. He didn't latch on to Kiku's arm, but Kiku felt that even if he had, there wouldn't have been a problem. He didn't know if he could ever forgive Feliciano for making him into a cuckolded fool, but then again, they had all been humiliated over the past week, all at the hands of each other. To be honest, he could probably forgive Feliciano without much effort, just as he hoped Feliciano would forgive him for the words that probably still bruised him.

X

By day six of the negotiations, Roderich and Vash had shown up from Clubs and Diamonds respectively. Both had brought three advisors and a bottle of wine each, and the dinner that night had been raucous. Kiku couldn't remember a finer meal, although he was still uneasy due to continually casting glances at the throne in which Ludwig should have been seated. Everything was going remarkably well with the negotiations, although he said that in part because negotiations with Roderich, Vash, Feliciano, and Alfred all at the same table had a potential to go south quickly. By no means were they close to a final agreement, but it was something.

He went for a walk after dinner, wanting to be free of the noise and light that came with a Four Kingdoms victory. There in the gardens of Berlin he found the one man he would least expect. Clad in a simple crimson robe and wearing black eyeliner and red hearts on his cheeks was Gilbert, settled on a stone bench near the exit of the gardens.

"Good evening, Majesty," said Gilbert when Kiku approached cautiously. "Any particular reason you came for a walk on the night before I wanted people to know I was here?" His comment was pointed, but Kiku doubted that Gilbert was surprised or irritated to see him.

"It's very peaceful here," he said. Gilbert nodded thoughtfully and shut his eyes, and for a moment, Kiku didn't know what to say or do. Then the Joker opened his eyes again and cleared his throat.

"You did well with the dice I gave you," he said. Kiku reached in his pocket to hand back the dice, and the Joker waved his hand away. "Keep them. They may come in handy someday."

"My magic connected with Peter's," said Kiku. "Does that mean that he'll be the next Joker?"

"If he so desires," said Gilbert with an ironic twitch of his eyebrows. "I do say, I wasn't expecting the next boy in line to be from the Great North."

"He has a Spades look about him," said Kiku. "Maybe he's adopted."

Gilbert laughed at this, but then settled into a thoughtful pose.

"I would have to begin his education immediately," he said. "The boy has promise in this position, and it is quite easily spelled out that I am supposed to choose him as my successor. All the same, I have doubts. I don't often have those."

"Often?" asked Kiku.

"Oh, every once and a while I stumble upon a candidate that is hard to place," said Gilbert. "I have to ask myself – now then, where can this person do an awesome job? And where will this person have an awesome time? The principles of awesome never lie."

Kiku didn't want to push the subject or seem nosy, but he was intrigued. Had he been such a candidate? Had Gilbert used his "principles of awesome" to sort out where Kiku best belonged?

"You are second guessing yourself again," said Gilbert without so much as a glance at Kiku himself. He was studying the moon, it seemed. "I would think that after this entire experience, you would have dropped the habit."

"I want to be good enough for Hearts," said Kiku.

"You are good enough for Hearts," said Gilbert very matter-of-factly. "You went down in the vaults, didn't you?"

"Yes, although it told me nothing," said Kiku in irritation. "There were symbols on the wall, nothing more. Nothing about the so-called Soul of Hearts."

"Don't mock the Soul," said Gilbert, his wrath flaring up as he glared at Kiku. "At the end of the hallway was your door. What did you see?"

Kiku paused, thinking back.

"There were three symbols in the door," he said. "In a triangle. On top was a rod – a scepter? On the bottom right was a flower. On the bottom left was a coin. At least that was my interpretation."

"Bottom right is a flower," repeated Gilbert. He waved a finger in the air as if he was about to recite a mathematical theory. "That represents the true Queen of Hearts. I suspect you have a flower-shaped item that you hold dear?"

Kiku opened his mouth to protest that there was no such trinket, and then he blinked as he remembered. The only thing he had bothered to take with him as a personal item was his origami flowers. The ones his father had made for him on their first days in Hearts, all those years ago.

"I thought so," said Gilbert smugly. "See, that's just it. That's why Hearts is ruled by monarchs I pick out. The Soul of Hearts is the monarchs."

Kiku stared at him, and Gilbert winked.

"The last line of defense, the real coronation, what have you," he said. "There is nothing inside those doors. Some monarchs have locked away horrible magical items over the years – for safekeeping. But yours will be empty. There is no Soul of Hearts. You are it."

"I don't understand," said Kiku.

"What is there to understand?" asked Gilbert. "You are what protects and creates this country, your Majesty. There is no way that you could question a magic like that."

The Joker slipped off his bench suddenly.

"If you'll excuse me," he said, "I'll just be going inside. Wouldn't want them to make a fuss when I show up unexpected in the morning, so I'll announce my presence now. Goodnight, Queen Kiku."

Kiku watched him go, knowing that there was an appropriate response he was forgetting to say. It wasn't until he was walking back to the palace himself that he realized what it was he had wanted to say: thank you. For all that the Jokers did, it wasn't like they heard the words often enough.

X

The Peace of Berlin was signed on Day 18 of negotiations. It bore the signatures of two Kings, two Queens, and three Jacks, plus five Ministers and seven Advisors. Kiku was one of the last ones to sign, along with Sadiq, who was reading the document over another time just to make sure it was all put together.

"Good work, Kiku," said Sadiq as he skimmed the terms again. "You were a real help in negotiations this time around. It's thanks to you that we got this agreement settled. If you hadn't done what you did on Saturday, this city would be in ruins."

Kiku didn't know how to reply to the string of compliments, so he just bowed his head.

"Are you coming to dinner?" he asked.

"Nah, I'll read this section another time," said Sadiq. "I'm sure it's all fine. It's just a weird policy of mine."

"I can send up a meal for you, if you'll be a while," said Kiku. "We really would be lost without you, Sadiq."

That sounded like enough of a thank you and a responding compliment. The Minister laughed a bit, nodding with his pen between his teeth.

"I wouldn't mind a platter. Thanks."

Kiku took his leave, asking a hooded attendant to send up a platter of that night's dinner up. He knew that he should be going to dinner right away, as that feast would be one to top the others. Because finally, there was peace, and it felt good. They all knew that this was the end, and after the Great North got together and shipped out, there would be little more that needed doing. They would have to rebuild, but Kiku wasn't entirely worried about that yet.

He made his way slowly down to the feast, trying to remember the details of the past 18 days, which were already blurring together in his memory. He supposed it didn't matter. The most difficult part of making the peace treaty was, unsurprisingly, arranging for Peter to be taken on as Gilbert's apprentice. As no one except Peter himself understood what it was like to be a young Joker, the arrangement was viewed by most as something of a hostage situation. Keeping Peter and raising him into the life of the Joker of the Four Kingdoms would keep the Great North in line. It was Kiku's biggest reassurance that there would be no more attacks from their Northern friends.

Besides, Peter himself was delighted with the arrangement. He and Gilbert made an awkward but compatible team already, and the boy's only real hesitation had been leaving his adopted family behind him. But there was an odd resilience within him probably amplified by the fact that he had such strange magic. He wasn't an ordinary boy, and Kiku was looking forward to housing him in Berlin the following autumn, when the Joker education brought him to study in Hearts.

When he walked into dinner, he was instantly met with an excited Alfred, who tossed an arm around him and led him to a chair.

"And here's our hero," said Alfred with a big, stupid grin. The table cheered, and Kiku's face burned. "Without this guy right here, we wouldn't have even started negotiations." There was cheering, and laughter, and Kiku forced himself to grin and bear it. You should want this, he told himself, but he slipped out of Alfred's grasp and tucked silently into his food at the first opportunity.

"Everyone got into the wine too soon," whispered Bella on Kiku's other side. "What took you so long?"

"I wanted to make sure of what I was signing," said Kiku. Bella smiled.

"Always the responsible one," she said. Kiku smiled sheepishly, but he was perfectly alright with that sentiment.

"I know the King of Spades is a little rambunctious," she said, watching Alfred hammer his fist on the table because of a new discussion about his favorite sport. "But he's right in that you really did pull through. You know that, right?"

"I did what anyone else would," said Kiku. "I was very lucky."

"From what I've heard, you were smart," said Bella. "Feliciano told me his side of the story." Kiku flinched – how could he forget what he had said and done?

"And you," he said, taking Feliciano by the collar. "You're just a stupid little slut, aren't you, Feliciano?" Feliciano whimpered. Kiku laughed, dropping him hard, and looked at the King of the North. "Majesty, if you will have me after all, maybe you'd be so kind as to let me keep this one?" He rolled Feli over with a foot to observe his horrified face. "As a prize."

Kiku found that he was still cutting into his veal, even though he was just cutting plate at this point. Bella reached over and stopped his shaking hands.

"I know it wasn't easy," she said. "Now you have to stop believing that you made those choices and realize that you saved the country."

Kiku took a deep breath and nodded. The words were easy enough. People kept telling him that he had done a good thing. But he had also kicked his friends to the ground, and he had made a deal with the King of the North, and he had tricked Berwald and all the other "enemy advisors" into going back on their own moral obligations, too. Had it been the cowardly way out? Had there been another way to stall for time, and would he have been able to do what he needed to do? Looking back, more paths seemed open to him. He could have taken the fall beside Ludwig and Feilciano and refused to do what the King of the North wanted. Wouldn't that have worked just as well?

Bella was right – he wasn't going to get anywhere if he kept questioning himself. He looked around the table. From Roderich and Vash arguing over the best cheese at the table to Alfred and the Minister of Clubs having a raucous debate on football, and Feliciano teasingly drinking wine and laughing at a joke the Minister of Diamonds had made…it was all right. Things seemed good, even if he seemed a little bit outside of them. The people around him were happy, and that was what he had always wanted anyways. Even if he felt sometimes like he didn't belong at their table.

Kiku pushed back from the table, smiling at Bella and piling fruit onto his tray.

"You sure you're alright?" asked Bella quietly.

"I want to bring some food up to Ludwig and tell him what's going on," said Kiku. He waved goodnight to Alfred and Arthur across the table. "I'm fine, really. Just not hungry right now."

"Okay," said Bella. Thanking her, Kiku took his leave, ignoring the attendants when they offered to carry the tray for him.

"Kiku!" Kiku glanced over his shoulder to see Feliciano running after him, another plate of cheese in his hands. "Are you going to see Ludwig? Ve, can I come?" Kiku nodded.

They had let them in to see Ludwig on Day 10 of negotiations, although Ludwig hadn't been awake much. His body was still in the detoxification stages of recovery, which meant that the King of Hearts had had many fevers and many coughing fits. But the severity of these had been decreasing, a trend that ran opposite to the increase of Ludwig's waking hours. Kiku hadn't seen Ludwig awake much, and even then, he didn't know what to say. He half suspected that Ludwig was trying to avoid having the inevitable conversation with him.

The two of them were let into the hospital by quiet attendants. To their surprise, they found Ludwig actually awake and sitting slightly up on his pillows, staring out the window by his bedside.

"Ludwig!" cried Feliciano, running towards the King of Hearts. Feliciano placed a kiss on Ludwig's forehead. "We brought you dinner."

"We?" Ludwig's voice still sounded exhausted. He met Kiku's eyes, and even in the low candlelight Kiku could see the blush on Ludwig's face. "Oh. Hallo, Kiku."

"Hello," said Kiku. "How do you feel?"

"Sore," said Ludwig. He accepted the tray of fruit and cheese from Kiku. "Thank you."

Kiku pulled up a stool, and Feliciano perched on the edge of Ludwig's bed. For a second, they all stared at each other, and then Ludwig cleared his throat.

"I heard that negotiations wrapped up today," he said. "Everything went well?"

"Yes," said Kiku. "I will bring you a copy tomorrow that you can read over. Feliciano and I signed for Hearts. It's a very good treaty."

"That's good," said Ludwig. Another silence came. Kiku was starting to get used to the silence, when Feliciano suddenly stood up.

"I'm going to…do something," he said. "I'll be back, ve~!" Then he scampered off without so much as a backwards glance, shutting the door behind him.

"Vell, as this couldn't get any more awkward," said Ludwig. He heaved a sigh, leaning back into his pile of pillows. "I'm sorry I failed you, Kiku. You must hate me."

"That's the same thing Feliciano said," said Kiku quietly. Ludwig shut his eyes as if bracing himself for the hurtful words. "I was angry at first, but I'm not any more."

Surprised, Ludwig turned to watch him, although he didn't seem to have the effort to say anything on the matter.

"I found out in London," said Kiku, staring at his hands, which were neatly folded in his lap. "I was angry and I was afraid, so I ran. I ended up going to speak to Gilbert, and he talked me into helping you." He swallowed. "There was a point where…I didn't want to help you."

"Why vould you?"

"I did want to help you," said Kiku. "Eventually. So I came, and that's what I did. And I'm sorry I said the things I said. I don't mean them."

"Don't lie," said Ludwig softly. "You meant them. You wouldn't have known vat to say if you didn't mean them."

Kiku, stunned, just stared at his hands. The accusation didn't sound blaming, but it was still there, and it stung.

"You said what you had to say to save Feliciano," said Ludwig. "But you're exactly right. I hold myself to high standards, and I let that all go. I am the one who should be apologizing."

"It's not your fault."

"How is it not my fault?"

The silence between them turned into a matching set of bitter chuckles.

"I'm not upset with you," said Kiku. "I didn't realize it until recently, but…you and Feliciano make sense. I just make sense as the Queen of Hearts."

"Yes, you do," said Ludwig. "And Feliciano makes sense as the Jack."

"And you make sense as the King," said Kiku. Ludwig found a laugh.

"I certainly hope so," he said. "Thank you for saving Feliciano. I know you hated saying those horrible things, but you saved his life. I can never make it up to you."

That was why Kiku couldn't be mad about all of this. It was easy to be frustrated or jealous, but he couldn't really blame Ludwig for having feelings and priorities that weren't precisely what the law wanted them to be.

"Ludwig? Kiku?" Feliciano reappeared another two minutes into their most peaceful silence yet. "Is everything okay?"

He returned to his perch on the bed and looked between them with wide eyes. It was clear that Ludwig was returning to a dazed state and would soon be asleep, but that was alright. They had talked out the big issue, and even if it wasn't all resolved, it would be fine. There they were, the trio of monarchs unexpectedly pushed into crisis, and they were all so different. Ludwig the proud, the brave, the mighty – now softened by love and finally understanding what duty meant. Feliciano the sweet, the cheerful, the refined – now visibly layered as someone smart enough to play the role of the fool but brave enough to make his own way. And Kiku. Kiku knew he had changed and acclimated, as he was prone to doing, but this time, for the better. He had dark things to make up for. This was true. But he had done something worthwhile with his life, and he knew that, so long as they were all together in Hearts, he could continue to make the most of the time he had been given. The three of them were broken, destroyed, and melted into their true, inner selves. But they were healing, and they could heal together, united, as Hearts healed, too. Maybe Gilbert was right – they were bound to Hearts in more ways than they had ever imagined.

"Yes," Kiku said at last, although it was quite likely that Feli's question had been forgotten in the light of their peace. "Yes, everything is okay."

Bet you've never heard a last line like that.

There is still an epilogue I tacked on to the end of this story, but this is effectively finished. If you have any thoughts on where we ended up 14 chapters after Kiku went to see the Jokers, let me know! I'm excited to hear from all of you on what you think is happening and what can happen next!

~Elsi