Disclaimer: own nothing again!

Rikiya sat in the great hall, waiting for the person Winter had sent for. He had told him that the person he sent for would be the one who would accompany him down the fissure. He knew the task was nearly impossible to help someone else down the treacherous place, and that he was a bit frightened of the voice he had heard, but he would do anything to heal Summer.

Karl brought in not one, but three people. One of them was a girl in a priestess uniform, another a pink haired boy with a mask that seemed to be knocked out, and the third was Kuya.

"Don't mind these two; I offered to help them. They have nothing to do with the princess's situation." Karl pointed to the girl and what Rikiya assumed was her friend. The girl bowed.

"It is an honor to meet you all," she greeted. "I'm Snow Azumaya, thank you for having my friend and me." Summer nodded, sitting on her chair.

"Nice to meet you," she smiled. Snow smiled back. It was as if an instant friendship was born between them. They just spoke with their eyes and giggled a bit, like girls. Rikiya was a bit jealous of Snow.

"You haven't told me yet what you need me here for. Ku, ku, ku." Kuya scratched his chin, bored. Winter cleared his throat.

"We need you to gather more minerals that could be used in an antidote for sis," Winter told him. "Basically, we need you to cure her. Rein will accompany you to gather materials."

"I'm guessing I don't really have a choice and can't say no, am I correct?" Kuya asked, looking to the sides and seeing guards block every exit. Everyone nodded. He sighed. "Where am I going to gather these materials?" he wondered, knowing he had to.

"The fissure," Winter answered bluntly.

All color drained from Kuya's face. "What?" He asked.

"You and I are going to make a trip down the fissure. Don't worry, I'll make sure to help you down, and while we're down there we can find the thing you dropped," Rikiya tried to explain. Kuya shook his head.

"No. I'm not going down there," he refused.

"You don't really have a choice in the matter," Winter reminded him. "Mom would agree too," he tried to reason, knowing the two had some sort of connection.

"Well then, I guess I'm choosing imprisonment and death. I am not going down there," he stubbornly said again. Snow looked a bit confused.

"Are you afraid of going down there?" she asked, Karl and Summer started laughing. Summer stopped to break out in coughs. Rikiya immediately went to her side to try to get her to stop.

"You have to, Kuya." Rikiya glared at him. Even if he had to tie him up, he'd bring him down there. Kuya waited for Karl to stop laughing.

"Look, I don't care if the princess is going to die; I am not going down there. I hate that place!" he hissed. Rikiya looked at Karl. Karl had helped his injuries heal after the kidnapping incident, so the two were sort of close.

"Tie him up," Rikiya requested. Karl let go of the boy with a mask to let Snow fully support him.

"Gladly," Karl smiled. Kuya tried to dash away, but he wasn't the most physical of people from Ebilon. Karl managed to jump on top of him and bind his arms and legs down.

"Let me go! Ku, ku, ku!" Kuya yelled, struggling.

"No." Karl picked up Kuya who he found was a lot lighter than his squire Tama. "Get your things, Rein, before I attach him to you."

Rikiya, already having most things he needed packed into the belt he wore and some pockets here and there, answered, "Attach some compartments to him." Karl smiled and did so, being quite handy with putting things together thanks to playing with children's toys.

Rikiya turned to Summer. "I'll heal you, I promise," he vowed, bowing. Summer smiled weakly.

"Thank you, Rein." She smiled warmly. "Promise you'll return, all right?" she asked, her eyes filled with fright.

"I promise," he vowed. He got up and turned away. Karl was about to follow him with bound-up Kuya.

"Wait!" Summer ordered before Rikiya was out of the door. She got up out of her chair and rushed over to him, throwing her arms around his neck and planting a small kiss on his lips.

"Just in case something happens," she told him, looking into his eyes and blushing. Before Rikiya could ask her anything or kiss her back, she turned around and left. After realizing what had happened he erupted in blush.

"Earth to Rein, you have a mission to do." Karl smiled. "I see the princess has taken a liking to you, though," he teased. Rikiya turned redder.

"That or she had an incurable disease that she wanted you to be a part of so she decided to share," Kuya pointed out, unhappy so he wanted to ruin everyone else's happy moments. Karl and Rikiya both gave him an odd look. Having nothing to say, the two (or three) walked all the way to the edge of the kingdom. There was no silence between them due to Karl's constant teasing attitude about Summer and the kiss, and Kuya constantly trying to make things miserable. Rikiya was the only one who remained serious, thinking about the trip down to the fissure. Would he hear that voice again? Would he fall? Would he return? Would Kuya gather the proper materials? These questions whirled around in Rikiya's head.

"Turn around," Karl ordered, making Rikiya show him his back. He attached Kuya to him so Kuya's stomach was pressed up against Rikiya's back. "Sorry, but if I let him free he would refuse to go down there," he apologized.

"I understand," Rikiya nodded, wondering how much Kuya would hinder his climbing abilities.

"Oh~ my prince…. Just imagine where I would be if we both weren't clothed!" Kuya teased being creepy to try and make Rikiya realize how much he would ruin this trip. Rikiya had a shiver go up his spine.

"This is going to be a long trip…." He grimaced.

"Good luck." Karl smiled warmly to his friend/comrade. He glanced at Kuya who seemed to be increasingly nervous as he glanced at the fissure. "You'll need it."

"So…. How much of a risk is there of sudden combustion?" asked Kuya.

"None," answered Rikiya, wondering why he had asked that question. Kuya sighed; he was prepared to prove Rikiya wrong. Karl waved good-bye to Rikiya and left.

Rikiya turned to the edge of the fissure.

"Don't squirm too much or we'll fall," he instructed.

"You know, if I make it out of here alive, I'm going to tell everyone about you being the Klastiam Prince…" Kuya threatened. Rikiya swallowed nervously. He knew he couldn't kill Kuya or let him go because Princess Summer would be in danger.

"Do it if you have to, but only after we've finished…" Rikiya growled. Kuya began to sweat seeing that none of his threats were working. Rikiya began to inch towards the edge. He took his first step out and found a footing. He could barely hear Kuya whimper as he grabbed a hold of the ledge and began descending. A few more steps down and he felt that Kuya had stopped desperately struggling and was just frozen rigid. He snickered to himself, amused at how scared and terrified the jerk was of being here. He was terrified to enter the fissure, but for a different reason, and he managed to hide it better at the moment.

I'll be just like him, though, if I hear that voice again…. Ghosts… he grimaced to himself. They don't exist, Rikiya…. He shuddered, remembering that voice again from the last time he had ventured down. He couldn't afford to be afraid. Summer's life was in danger.

"I'm sorry…." Kuya's voice was barely a whisper, because it was so quiet. Rikiya almost thought the creeper was addressing him. He'd never heard Kuya say sorry or apologize for any of his actions. Honestly, he believed that the jerk didn't have feelings.

"Excuse me?" Rikiya asked, trying to find a new foothold to lower himself further down the ledge. It was much harder now that he was carrying extra weight. Kuya went silent again and his small amounts of discomfort seemed to quiet down. Rikiya had almost forgotten about him for a while as he continued his trek downwards.

"Rikiya…" Kuya asked, finally speaking, "if Queen Fall gave birth to Princess Summer, but was the accidental cause of her death, would you hate her?" Kuya asked, in a sort of fearful, childish question.

"Of course. Anything that hurt Summer deserves to die," Rikiya answered, wondering what Kuya was getting at. He finally decided that he should perhaps talk to the person on his back to pass the time. "Why do you hate this fissure so much?" he asked, seeing Kuya a bit vulnerable to share personal information that could be used against him. Kuya was silent for a moment, but finally answered.

"Someone very close to me, my friend… was pushed down here, and died." Kuya answered quietly.

"Someone pushed them off of the ledge and they fell to their death?" Rikiya asked, finally realizing why Kuya must have hated this place so much.

"Yeah…" he replied, "I swore…" He swallowed a bit nervously. "…that I'd kill everyone in the kingdom for pushing such an innocent creature like her down here…. That's why I want Klastiam to kill all the Ebilonians," Kuya admitted, weakened by his personal issues about the fissure.

"If it was only a few people who pushed her down why do you want to kill everyone in the kingdom? Isn't that a bit racist?" Rikiya asked.

"They hurt her so much because of me. The adults, the children…. All of them hated her. And it was just because she was close to me, an ugly jerk…" he whimpered, slowly. "If no one hated me she wouldn't have been dead," he answered.

"So they pushed her off because she spent time with you and because it would hurt you?" Rikiya asked, thinking that that was a bit cruel.

"Yeah. That and they thought that it was for the best and nobody would spend any time with me." Kuya replied.

"What else did they do to hurt her?" Rikiya asked, feeling as if he was Kuya's therapist.

"They butchered, tortured, molested her right in front of me and I couldn't do anything…" Kuya replied. "My parents were the ones who originally found out that she was being kind to me and I was taking care of her, so they told everyone else in town," he explained.

"How old was she?" Rikiya asked.

"Five when I met her, six when she died," he answered. "She died the same day I found her." Rikiya was silent for a moment, understanding why the creeper hated this place and was so emotionally unstable.

He quietly continued climbing, trying not to address the issues.