Rekindle the Stars

by teawithmugi

The world has fallen, and the Precure were defeated. Caught by surprise by a massive attack from all their enemies at once, they had no choice but to run and scatter all over the world. Even so, the Precure will not let the world fall into darkness: though the light of the stars is gone, the Precures' hope still shines on. (AU involving all seasons up to Hugtto.)

21. The Jaws of the Serpent

The Palace of Bronze was so densely packed that its walls and floor were wet with the sweat of thousands who had come to see the festival. Itsuki was lucky to have found herself a spot on the backstage, helping Miki, but even when she stepped into the stage during the brief intermissions and took a glance at the grandstands, the sheer amount of people in there was unbelievable. There was no room for moving, and heads were often bumping against each other. Still, there was no real commotion amidst the crowds, and, despite the inconvenience, the onlookers seemed content with the spectacle.

First of all was a performance by a renowned group of magicians who lit a great fire in the middle of the stage; as the embers rose to the sky and the air was filled with smoke, dozens of doves flew from it, upward, before they too burst into flame, then disappearing in the wind.

Next came popular bands that performed traditional songs with admirable skill. Itsuki found herself tapping her foot to the rhythm of their melodies, and afterwards, she regretted the fact that she didn't know the names of any of the songs. She would like to hear them again, if she had the chance.

Each new spectacle was heralded by Baron Salamander, from high up in the galleries, who rose his hands high, causing the onlookers to cheer. He never said anything, oddly. The rumor was that he wore the mask because his face was so horribly deformed that he could not even communicate properly, anymore.

After that was the fashion show. She helped Miki with her outfit, a violet dress with a skirt that was rather short from the front, but had a curiously long train that dragged along the floor. Itsuki wondered if this was current fashion; unlike Erika, she had never been too good at keeping up with trends.

Miki's presence filled the runway, and all eyes were drawn to her. She was so confident, so natural, she captured the hearts of all those who watched, including Itsuki. She wished she could have this sort of confidence; she had taken part in a similar fashion show, once, and she had done well enough, but it took a great deal of effort to conceal her embarrassment, to ward off a blush upon her visage. Still, when she saw the way people looked at her, she did not feel ashamed as she feared she might.

With that finished (and congratulations shared between all models that took part), Miki stood by Itsuki's side, after she had changed into something less ornate, and they awaited for Elena to do her part. Soon the backstage was empty, save for the two of them. Silently they gazed upon the stage, now prepared for some obscure ball-throwing sport. Itsuki almost found herself wishing that the Apostles would have held a martial arts competition, but martial arts had no place in today's festival, it was said, as it was a form of art wish such honorable history that it deserved a day dedicated only to it.

"You're shaking," said Miki. Her long fingers gently held up Itsuki's quivering hand. Her palm felt sticky.

"I guess so," she said. She didn't want to admit that she was scared, but of course there was no hiding it. "It's our lives we're risking."

"We always risk our lives. That's what it means to be a Precure."

"That's true, but we always have an out, so to say," Itsuki argued. "We always have people watching our backs, providing us support. Just the two of us, though… Sure, Elena will help, but she will be pretty distant. It really is dangerous."

"We can't give up on hope, no matter how difficult it may be, though."

"I know that. I didn't mean I was giving up. I'll see this to the end. Whatever end that may be. But…"

"You can't help being afraid, right?" Miki smiled. It was a beautiful smile, full of calm and, it seemed to Itsuki, of wisdom too. Of all the people she could be stuck with in such a distant place, Miki was probably one of the best, Itsuki thought.

She held on to Miki's hand; her warm touch made her feel calmer, though her heart still hammered, hurried by fear. Fear was a shameful thing, for the Precure were meant to face danger with bravery, free of hesitation, and yet, somehow, it felt freeing to express it so openly, to not have to conceal it. As Itsuki felt her hand, she realized that Miki feared, too.

Potpourri feared, too. The poor fairy was almost crying, and whenever she saw the spectacle move closer and closer to the duels, she grew even more anxious.

Wheels pierced through their silence as a pair of Apostles dragged a trolley into the room. From it emerged a bramble of blades of all lengths and thicknesses, poniards and claymores, rapiers and bastard swords. Some were more exotic, fit for more obscure styles, such as the forked swords of the Bad End Kingdom, and the chainswords of the Garden of Light.

Swordmasters poured into the room: some were from distant lands, refugees from countries that fell with the Death of the Stars, while others were simply adventurers, travelers in search of a challenge, and the Desert Lands were one of the few regions where civilization had not yet crumbled. Many participants, of course, were Desert Apostles, such as Kumojacky. Elena was the last to step into the backstage, the youngest of the challengers, and the smallest. Next to some of the others, she was only a child. The participants took their blades, most choosing weapons with great reach, and one even chose a scythe that Itsuki was certain was not a practical weapon at all. Elena picked a rapier, examining its weight by balancing it on her hand. Content, she approached Itsuki and Miki.

"Sunshine," she said, giving a cordial nod that Itsuki returned, then did the same to the girl by her side. "Berry."

"Please be careful, Matador," said Miki. Elena replied with a proud smile.

"I am the very soul of caution," she said. "My entire life, I have never allowed an enemy to strike me, not even once."

That was true; she was a renowned tournament fighter. What was also true is that whenever she felt like defeat was certain and she would be unable to parry or dodge, she would yield while her opponent was in the middle of their blow. Ergo, she had never been struck.

"Even so," Miki insisted, "stay safe. You'll be right in the middle of a dozen Apostles when we…"

She didn't put it to words. Though Miki had done much to plan the deed, she was not at all fond of their treachery. If it worked, Itsuki wondered what the Precure would think of them. If there were any Precure left. It was a disquieting thought.

It doesn't matter what anyone thinks of us, Itsuki thought, suddenly. There was no one to judge them, no one they had to impress, no standards they were being held up to. When she thought that, Itsuki felt free of a burden. She needed only care about what she felt was right, to follow the course her heart revealed to her. All her life, she reflected, she had been expected to be things she was not, but no longer.

"We'll take Miwar," she said, knowing that there were no Apostles nearby to hear them: they had gone into the arena now. "We'll keep fighting, no matter what stands in our way."

The other two nodded; Elena left them once an Apostle came and warned her that the games would soon begin. The duels were only to first blood, but Itsuki remembered the huge swords she had seen, and she had to wonder exactly how much blood that involved.

Sunshine and Berry were left all alone as the assistants left in a hurry so that they could find seats for themselves, if there were still any. Their hurry was such that they left the trolley unprotected, which made Itsuki and Miki's job all the easier. The two let go of each other's hand, and each took a sword. Itsuki chose the simplest she could find, a cutlass with clouds on its hilt. Before anyone could possibly return to the backstage and catch them, they began to run.

"Come, Potpourri," Itsuki called her fairy, who took the form of a silken cape, thin and light.

Then, Itsuki felt herself filled with the warmth of the sun as golden light enveloped her and her summer dress faded away, replaced by the pleasantly cold fabric of her uniform. Her shoddy ponytail came undone as her hair lengthened and divided into two long twintails that almost touched the floor, and her sandals turned into tall white boots.

Being Sunshine made her feel light, full of joy. She felt like a completely different person, that whatever Sunshine did had no relation at all to what Itsuki Myoudouin could do. No, it was more than that… When she was Cure Sunshine, she could do the things that Itsuki never could, be what she was too afraid of being.

The walls were sandstone all around, and the halls and corridors were all empty; even the palace guards had foregone their duties so that they could enjoy the festival. Itsuki could hear them, though; they were cheering, encouraging their favorites.

When she passed by windows and arrow slits, Itsuki could catch glances of what was going on in the battlegrounds; Elena had been the first to fight, and she dueled Kumojacky. It made Sunshine's heart beat faster, fearful, as Kumojacky was one of the best fighters among the Apostles.

Matador danced around him, making the best out of her superior speed, but whenever Itsuki looked again, he was growing closer and closer to her, and when he swung his blade at her, Itsuki thought it was the end for her, as an attack that ferocious would surely kill her, but she leapt to the side and poked at him. Afterwards she rose her rapier, showing its crimson tip. The crowd gasped, and then they applauded her. Kumojacky was their favorite, but the way Elena had turned the tables had earned her their admiration.

Didn't earn us enough time, though. There will be more games, of course, but Itsuki knew that there was always the chance that a guard who was particularly fond of Kumojacky would stop watching, frustrated, and would see them.

And then what would they do? Yes, that was right. It didn't matter if they were found out. They would not give up just because they were sighted by guards. No, she had said it: they would see it to the end.

Staircases appeared in front of them, and Itsuki knew they were closer to the galleries now. The cheering grew louder as they neared the crowds, and when Sunshine and Berry finally reached the glass door that led to the balcony wherein Salamander watched the competition, they didn't hesitate: they kicked it open, sending shards flying all around.

There, they did not find Salamander, defenseless; half a dozen soldiers shared the balcony with him, and they pointed spears at Itsuki and Miki. They were waiting for us. Itsuki took a step back, and felt something; more Apostles just behind them, now surrounding them. Leading them was Cobraja, a card between his fingers (or, knowing him, his own photograph), and, behind the guards, Hadenya, the executive from Nightmare.

"It was a brave attempt," Cobraja said, "I'll give you that. Well, either brave or stupid. Either way, lay down your weapons."

They did as they were bid: the only other choice was dying. There was no way they'd even be able to reach Salamander. When Itsuki looked at the arena, she caught a glimpse of Elena being escorted away by guards, though she struggled as they dragged her off the battlegrounds.

"How did you know?" Itsuki said, trying to look defiant, but all she managed was a defeated glare. "We were careful…"

"Not as careful as you should have been. Or rather, as you would have been if you had any experience at all with subterfuge. Did you really think you had fooled us? That we just took your words and plans at face value? Do you think so lowly of us?" Itsuki couldn't tell if he was mocking them or if he was really offended.

"We thought-"

"Of course I understood what you had planned. Three Precure gathering with weapons nearby? Of course it was clear to me what you might have planned. Salamander isn't even here. We decided not to take any risks, in case you really were trying what we suspected."

The man who she thought was Salamander stepped up, and walked closer to Itsuki. He removed his mask, and beneath it was a face she had never seen. He was grinning, full of smugness. Itsuki would have been annoyed by him if she didn't feel so damn stupid for thinking it would be easy.

"Will you just talk or will you arrest them?" Asked Hadenya. "The games need to go on. You people need to see blood, it's all you can understand."

"Of course," he said, and gave his guards a signal with his hand. He didn't seem to pay any mind to Hadenya's offense, so Itsuki presumed it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Unlike Matador, Sunshine and Berry didn't have to be dragged away; they knew very well there was no resisting this. They had misjudged their skill, and taken a great risk. They failed, and the risk did not pay off. Itsuki could only hope that the rest of the Precure would be luckier.

"Girl," Hadenya said, suddenly. Miki looked back, but Hadenya dismissed her. "Not you. The other. Your name is Cure Sunshine, right?" Itsuki nodded. Hadenya's lips made a cruel smile. "Look," she put her hand on Itsuki's face, and forced her to stare at the sky, through an open window. The sun was, of course, a red blot, an ugly thing. "You may want to take a good, long look at this, girl. At your precious sun. You will never see it again."

---

Putrid water ran downstream into a wide and deep pool that stank of garbage left to rot. Iona presumed that, indeed, this pitiful lagoon was used by the Selfish to dispose of trash and waste. Its waters seemed thicker at points, almost bubbling. Filth had turned it into an ugly mixture of green and brown. On its muddy shores, darkened by slurry and leachate, rats nibbled at something Iona couldn't quite recognize. She didn't want to, either.

As she followed Dream and Beauty further east, along the stream, Iona had the impression that she had heard the distinct sound of shifting waters. But it could not be, the water here was almost completely stagnant, moving ever so slowly. Still, she followed the sound, her sole guiding hope right now.

Shacks had been built all along the brown waters, their colors blending to the stream thanks to the poor wood of their foundations. As the island of Trump had run out of usable forests long ago, the populace that could not afford to buy what they needed from sawmills beyond the Amethyst Sea were forced to use parts of houses older still. The shacks leaned to their sides, almost collapsing upon the rush. That did not seem like an unusual occurrence: often, Iona had seen long and pointy splinters drifting along the current. As she passed by those miserable houses, Iona could almost feel herself being stared at from above, but she did not know where she should look, as all around her were windows beyond count. She did not care enough to seek out the watchers, anyway. Most likely, they were curious inhabitants of this area, not the Selfish.

In the distance, she could see the ring of palisades that circled the district, just past the water. Fording the stream would be in vain, it quickly became clear as Iona took a better look. The Selfish had accounted for that, and guarded palisades and watchtowers had been set all over the perimeter. There had to be a way in, yet Fortune could not find it, nor Dream or Beauty.

They moved further into the slum, deeper into its cramped trails. Something - or rather, someone - caught Iona's eyes: a woman, kneeling by the water, legs darkened by grime. She was putting her hands on the water, and with them she held something that Iona could not recognize from so far away. It was more than a little suspicious, so she called Reika and Nozomi to get their attention and the three approached the woman.

"Good afternoon to you," said Iona to the woman, raising her hand in a wave.

"H-Hello," she said as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't. Perhaps she was; Iona pressed the issue.

"Washing clothes on this dirty stream?"

"Just throwing some trash away," a lie, Iona knew from her tone.

"What kind of trash?"

"Garbage."

"Right," she said, stepping close to the woman, who shied away. She had something on her arms, something she was holding close to her chest. A bucket, it looked like, but Iona could not see what was inside. "I think not. I think-"

"Iona!" Reika said, strict. "You will scare the lady. We can tell her the truth. Perhaps she can help us."

"Will you trust someone you don't even know?" Reika was no fool, but she was too trusting of people. She always expected them to do the right thing, if you did good to them as well.

"We need to trust someone. Here," she showed her hands to the woman, as a sign that she carried no weapons. Iona knew it meant nothing, as she could invoke her swords at any moment, but it seemed to tranquilize the startled woman. "We are Precure. We are looking for a way in."

"What for?" She didn't deny that there was a way to enter.

"To open the gates from the inside," said Reika.

"We have more Precure waiting outside," Nozomi explained, "but they can't beat the Selfish on their own. We need more, so we're going to free the Cures trapped there."

"Hm," the woman paused, thoughtful. "Right. There is a way, yes… But you must not tell the Cures inside that it was I who told you, alright? They…" Again she paused, as if trying to decide which words to use. "They are not too trusting, what with everything that happened. They would never forgive me if they learned that I revealed an entrance to the district…"

She approached the bucket towards Iona's face; inside it was dried food. It did not smell bad at all, but it was most certainly not a meal. It was barely enough for them to survive.

"They try the best to live with what they have inside," she said, "and there are little areas there where you can grow some vegetables, but it's not nearly enough. So every day I send them some food."

"How?" Iona asked. "It's one thing to smuggle food, but people-"

"Well, that neighborhood was always so poor that it never had proper sewage, so the populace had to improvise their own system. By which I mean they dumped everything down a hole they cover with a grate, until it reaches the river," she pointed at the brown water. "The stream is always drifting, so I just place the bucket on the waters, and wait. Sometimes I poke it with a stick to make sure it floats in the right direction."

"So that is our way in?" Asked Reika. Nozomi didn't look forward it to it, either, her face losing its color in nausea. The woman nodded, and handed them the bucket. Iona took it; it was surprisingly heavy.

"I should not be trusting you," the woman said. "And yet… I've spent months looking over my shoulder, months watching my mouth so I wouldn't say anything I shouldn't… It gets painful, after a while. I want to trust again."

"You can," said Nozomi. Brave words for someone who looks like she's about to throw up, thought Iona. Not that she was looking much better herself.

She was the first to put her foot on the murky stream; it was deeper than she had expected, as the cold thick water reached past her shins, almost stopping at her knees. The feeling made her want to retch. The river was syrupy, and chunks of things Iona couldn't recognize bumped against her legs. Whatever they were, they felt meaty.

She walked slowly, trudging through the filth, with Beauty and Dream following close. Whenever Fortune lifted her foot to take another step, she saw that her leg was brown, too covered in the sticky grime.

If Iona looked down, she couldn't even see her submerged legs, as the water was too dark for that, its surface a layer of trash and sewage. There was no way this stream wasn't tainted by a dozen horrible diseases. It wasn't only disgusting, but dangerous.

As the woman had promised, though, a way in revealed itself; an opening on a high crag, the only area of the district where no Selfish kept watch. Iona understood why: crossing the waters to reach the bluff was challenging enough, but ascending it was even harder. Or at least it would be, if not for the hole that had been carved on the rock.

The passage was short and narrow, so Iona had to crouch and wedge herself through it. Even so, she could feel the rough rock rubbing against her arms, scratching them. Sounds of life came from above, beyond the rocky ceiling; they were directly underneath the district wherein the Precure were trapped. At the end of the path, sunlight shone through a grate on the ceiling.

Iona lifted the grate with no trouble, and squeezed herself through the hole, followed by Reika, then Nozomi. Fortune looked at her surroundings, and realize that this was the ugliest place she had seen, and not simply because of the cockroaches running along, scuttling everywhere, or because of the houses falling apart, each made of a dozen different types of wood, hastily and poorly put together. No, the most terrible things were all the people around them: people who were barely alive, their faces blemished and marked by famine and disease. Among them were children and elders, somehow in a sorrier state than the rest. All of them banded around the three girls who had just arrived, sunken eyes filled with dark curiosity. Iona felt herself surrounded by a hundred Manas, except that, for these people, starvation had not been a choice. Their eyes all met Iona, and something about them filled her with dread.

Then she saw the Precure amidst the populace. Iona had not noticed them at first, as they too looked like spectres, their clothing stained with filth, and full of holes. They did not smile when they saw their arrival. They stared at Fortune, Dream and Beauty as if the Selfish themselves had come into their hideout.

---

Even now, the palace of Trump was the city's most treasured jewel, and not even the Selfish King's shadow could dim its grandeur. It looked just like Mana remembered, to her relief. Its gardens were still sweetened by the scent of flowers from all over the world, and its stained windows still depicted millennia of Trump's history. Something in the city had not changed, at least, and it made her happy.

No, she realized as she examined it more closely. It did change. It was not the smell of flowers that she felt, nor were born from petals the colors that she had seen; on the brown soil, only fruits grew. The smell was pleasant, but it was not as it had been before. She walked past a bush of strawberries. It did not seem that different from roses, to tell the truth. But roses were poor sustenance when compared to these fruits, so it was no wonder that they were gone. Trump had to do what it could to survive.

The Selfish King stood next to the palace, at least twice as tall as it was, but, thankfully, he was completely still. Mana felt fear's grip choke her when she looked up at the master of the Selfish, so she avoided him, even though he knew he was actually the least of threats here.

The gates of the palace were well-guarded: past the drawbridge, two Selfish, aided by Jikochuu, made sure no one could enter. The only other entrance was a door to the side, close to the kitchens, whereby servants walked inside, and supplies were brought. It was not considered proper for a cook to use the same gate that a princess might, though Marie Ange never quite cared about that kind of proper.

"So," Honoka said from behind a bush, as Mana was returning. "Any way to get through that door?"

"It's pure metal," said Mana. Three inches thick, she remembered Rikka mentioning it once. It would be much easier to try to enter the palace by breaking through the walls than that door. "We could try the walls, but-"

"I'd rather not alert everyone that we're there," said Nagisa, and Mana agreed. By now she could not deny it any longer: she was not fit to fight. Black and White were weary, too, and had not rested in a while.

"I think I-"

Footsteps from behind interrupted her, and announced Makoto's arrival. Odd, how she had already arrived, and yet Mana could not see Rikka anywhere. She was glad to see Makoto, at first, but when she took a better look, her heart tightened. Blood had splattered on her clothes, and it was clearly not hers. Her face seemed utterly defeated. Mana stepped towards her, and saw that her eyes were red.

"Mako-"

"I'm fine," she said, then feigned the frailest smile that Mana had ever seen. "You were going to ask that, right? How I'm doing. I'm fine."

"Liar," Mana remembered when, long ago, she had not yet earned Makoto's trust, when she would never say what bothered her. She felt a needle on her heart to think that Makoto didn't even trust her, anymore. "You can lay your troubles on me."

"Can I, truly?" She had meant it as defiance, but Mana only nodded. That seemed to catch her off-guard. "I… I failed. Again. I always fail. Everything I've ever done and ever was…"

"Don't say things like that," said Mana. "You are no failure, if you are still fighting, then-"

"You know," her words were acid, "at a certain point, we have to admit that fighting stops meaning anything. Trump is gone, and its people, and the princess with them. I've broken all my oaths. And my hands…" She looked at them with mild disgust. "I've killed so many Selfish. Sometimes it's all that keeps me going. "Death, not life… I failed as a Precure, too, the way I failed as a knight, as a protector of Trump. You tell me to keep fighting, but all that will do is hurt even more people."

"Shut up, Makopi," Mana's arms enveloped her. "You are not a failure, much less a bad person. The world may be wrong, and full of injustice… But you are a good person. A good friend. And in such an unjust world, you are a treasure."

Makoto pushed Mana away, not without gentleness, but she did it all the same. Mana just stared at her, eyes welling up.

"I… I'm sorry," she said at last. "You think too highly of me. You have too much faith in things, Mana. All it ever does is hurt you. You say the world is full of injustice, but you don't seem to realize that. You still seem to think that gentle words will solve everything, that your good deeds make a difference. They don't. Things will only get worse. The world will hurt you if you let it, and you… You almost seem to welcome that. Mana, are you-"

She held Makoto's hands before she could finish her words. Mana took a deep breath; her lungs were hurting now, and she wheezed.

"You are talking nonsense," she said. "It's like you've forgotten everything you've learned. Come on, now," she pulled Makoto away, while Nagisa and Honoka stared at them in confusion. "I'll help you remember."

Mana brought her closer to the palace; they crossed the small wooden bridge together, the waters of the moat almost completely still. The guards walked into place and blocked their way.

"H-Halt!" Said the one on the left. His eyes were drifting, and his face bore clear marks of sleepiness. "You're not supposed to get through this gate, it's off limits."

"I know that," Mana said casually, "but someone was clumsy enough to lock the servants' door! Now I can't get to work!"

"You work here?"

"No, silly, I work at the fishery, I'm just taking a shortcut through the royal palace," she said, drawing laughter from the Selfish who was more than half-awake. "Yes, I work here. Me and my friend. It's her first day."

"Right," said the one on the right, doubtful. Behind him, a Jikochuu was stirring. Mana knew she'd have to say something convincing. "What's your work?"

"We're librarians," said Mana. "I need to teach her the proper organization of the Relic Atheneum," the man was shocked at those words, as Mana knew he would be. That library was known only to those who had access to Trump's palace and its secrets. Just knowing that it existed had been, once, a symbol that you had earned the trust of Trump. Of course, now the Selfish could just scour the palace and find it, but even they had to know its importance.

That's what Mana counted on, at least. The fact that she was not being attacked was, she assumed, proof that she was right. Her suspicions were confirmed when the two men looked at each other, bedazzled. They clearly had no idea of what they should do.

"I've never seen you," said the sleepy one, pointing at Mana.

"You don't look like you see much of anything," Mana struck back, putting her finger on his almost shut eyes. His companion laughed again.

"She's got you there!" He said, then cackled, though perhaps it was a bit generous to call that sound laughter. For a second he sounded as if someone had cut his throat. "Look, we haven't been given any instructions about what to do when you arrive, but I don't want to get in trouble…"

"Thank you, kindly," said Mana, smiling. Makoto reacted only with a curt nod, but the Selfish paid it no mind.

The palace was still as Mana remembered, even its smells, and she ran her fingers over the walls, and they still felt the same. The floors were stone, elaborately patterned, and the walls were emblazoned with crests and coats of arms, with tapestries and oil paintings of the landscapes of the Trump Kingdom. Everything was just as Mana remembered, save for the portrait of Marie Ange that was supposed to be next to the door that led to the ample throne room; it was gone, replaced by a painting of Regina. Mana had never seen her, but she had heard enough, and the portrait confirmed all the tales. A petulant child, her visage a threatening fusion of the smug, juvenile smile of a spoiled teen and the wicked, fearful grin of a tyrant who did nothing but hurt others.

"Right, the kitchens," Mana pointed out their destination to Makoto. She was still pouting, and seeing that Ange's portrait was gone did little to ease her sorrow. Mana didn't know what to say. She didn't think there was anything she could say that might alleviate Makoto's pain. All she could do was not let her isolate herself, like she wanted.

The two knew the way perfectly, and they walked past by the soldiers unquestioned, barely noticed. The Selfish were fierce in battle, but they were not fit to stand watch. It was boring, and the Selfish quite despised everything boring. Most of the guards here, then, were more focused on counting their own fingers than actually guarding over anything. This, of course, would change when the Precure actually reached the Starlight Flame: there would be a fight then, and most Selfish lived for that.

The kitchens smelled of flour and sweets of all sorts. It was not an unpleasant smell, though it hung heavy in the air, intoxicating. A man and a woman worked together on a tower of candy, carving it with knives into a shape that was not yet very clear. Mana recognized them, though she didn't know their names. They used to work here during better times. Mana let out a sigh of relief. These were friends of Ange, of Trump's rightful royals.

"Oh?" They noticed them immediately. "Makoto, is that you?" She nodded. She lived in the palace, so she was much more familiar with its other denizens than Mana could ever be. "Who's this girl?"

Of course they don't recognize me. I wouldn't recognize me.

She gave them her name, and they, like everyone who met Mana, expressed their shock at her appearance, asked if she was eating well, and asked all sorts of questions that Mana had tired of answering. She was always being questioned as if she had committed a great crime.

"I heard you were being quite a thorn on Lust's side," said the woman. "Bel's too, for that matter.

"I certainly hope I can cause Bel the same problems I have caused Lust."

"So tell me, what about those poor Precure trapped inside that miserable little neighborhood? You're north now, past the Bridge of Hearts, so have you freed them?"

"No," said Mana. Makoto had no idea at all of that. "Not yet, I mean. There's over a dozen Precure working to free them, now. Once we have them on our side, and all the Precure of Trump are united again, we can beat the Selfish."

"Thank god," the man said, then covered his mouth. One should not speak of god when near the Precure, everyone knew that. "Things have been really hard with Regina here. We got lucky, you know. We were spared because Regina likes the same kinds of meals that Marie Ange does," does, he said. Makoto noticed that too, and grimaced. "Well, that and candy. Outrageous amounts of candy. She told us to start making candy for her, so that once she returns from the southern war, she can have a lot of it to eat."

"Well, let us hope she won't return so soon," said Mana.

"That is a hope I have every day," the woman said. "Regina… Well, you see, she has this obsession… She's consumed by the desire of having a friend."

"Friend is what Regina calls her toys," the man explained. Mana had almost felt sorry for her, for a moment.

"That's a good way of putting it. She is not very careful with her playthings. She has some fun with them for a while, but in the end, she always makes Jikochuu out of them. Worse than death. If you die, at least it's over. As a Jikochuu, not only is your suffering eternal, you also bring pain to others. I'd rather die."

"We got an assistant, a while ago, shortly before Regina marched out to war. He was not very competent, but he was a nice boy, always reliable. However, one day, he had the misfortune of tripping in front of Regina, and having a really bad fall on top of a poor old servant woman, who couldn't even get up after she fell. Regina found that all very outrageous, and decided she wanted to befriend the boy. Have you seen the Jikochuu at the main gate?" Mana nodded, though she hadn't paid much attention to them, truthfully. "The boy is one of them. Don't know which, exactly. Doesn't matter."

The stories about Regina were true, then. Mana had always wondered just how much she could trust in the words that were spoken about her, cursing her name. They, after all, could have been fabrications, as the Selfish had no lack of enemies. Mana had almost hoped so. Whenever she could, she would rather believe that people were not all terrible.

"She's terrible," she said.

"A monster," Makoto was even harsher. "There is one rightful princess of Trump, and it is not Regina."

"Actually," said the woman, "talk is that Regina isn't even a real princess… Er, I mean, she's not the daughter of the Selfish King. He's clearly not human, and until the day that Trump fell, no one had ever seen him… Or Regina."

"That is true," said Makoto. "Jonathan had investigated the Selfish and their covens, and had a fairly decent understanding of their leadership and structure. They always spoke about their Selfish King and his many names, but I don't recall Jonathan ever mentioning a princess."

"What does that mean, then?" Mana asked.

"Hard to say," the man shrugged. "Maybe Regina is just some urchin the Selfish found and crowned princess so that they could pretend their vile king is a true monarch. Maybe she's nothing at all."

"Maybe it doesn't matter," said Mana. "I'd love to learn the truth about her," that was no lie, "but right now we have other business."

While Makoto conversed with the cooks (they were beyond relieved to see her, and Sword herself sounded almost happy, thankfully), Mana looked for the door, so that Nagisa and Honoka could join them. She knew they would need the help of Black and White. Makoto tried to hide it, but she was not in a very good state, physically. Captivity had robbed her of much of the strength she used to have, but, thankfully, not of her wits.

A lever rose the heavy doors upwards, until they were concealed in the ceiling. It did not feel very safe to Mana; if the mechanism malfunctioned (and that was quite likely, given that the door was pulled up by mere chains), there was a very real risk that the steel would collapse while someone was entering. She did not want to imagine it, but, thankfully, Nagisa and Honoka entered the palace unimpeded. When Mana pulled the lever again, the door descended slowly, soundlessly.

The Cures gathered at the kitchen, bringing an end to Makoto's conversation. The fairies left their Communes, floating meekly. They too were getting tired, as they shared their power with their partners. Fighting was very demanding of both Precure and fairy, but having someone to grant you their magic made it a fair trade.

"The Starlight Flame now?" Nagisa asked. Mana nodded.

"Everyone is else is doing their best," she said, "so we can't lag behind. Things will be hard for them, but once they look up and see a star shining…"

"That will give them the will they need to keep fighting," Honoka smiled. "And to us, too, I would hope. We are not done. Not yet."

"Everyone?" Asked Makoto. "So the rest of the Precure are still out there?"

"Your former companions are now fighting with Beauty, Dream and Fortune," said Honoka. "They are fighting to free the Cures trapped in those slums, past the river."

"Finally," said Makoto. "I wanted to do that long ago, but… Well, we never had a good enough plan."

"You have Beauty to thank for that!" Said Sharuru. "Oh, and Honoka too," she said, flustered, but Honoka was still smiling, not caring about receiving credit or not. "Everyone, actually."

"Mostly Beauty, though," Nagisa admitted.

"What do we do, then?" Asked Davi. Makoto's eyes were fixed upon Mana.

"You have the amulet I gave you?" Mana showed it to Makoto. "Good. We will reclaim whatever it is that Ange kept in her safe. She… She knew she would die, did she not? When she ran to fight the Selfish King. She told us to leave her. I should not have listened. I should have fought with her. I would have protected her."

"You would have died," Mana said gently.

"A knight should die with her liege, should she fall."

"That is very honorable," said Mana, "but your death would have done nothing. You would just be a corpse. But now you are alive, and you can make a difference. Will you? Or would you rather let revenge and sorrow poison your mind and spend the rest of your life either thirsting for blood or the love you can never have?"

"I…" She looked shaken. Mana had not meant to be so harsh. It was unlike her. "You cannot make me give up on my vengeance," she said, eyes full of sadness. "But… You are right. I have to move on. I… I just don't know how."

"That's alright," said Mana. "Someday you'll learn. Even if takes a long time."

Honoka coughed, almost discreetly, and the two turned to her at once.

"Will you two get Ange's safe, then?" She asked.

"We will," said Sword. "You get the Starlight Flame?"

"We'll try," said Nagisa. "But you two try to reach it, too. We might be late."

Mana took Makoto's arm, and began to run. The fairies returned to their Communes, and for a second, Mana felt strong again. Finding her way around the palace was easy enough, and the two of them could easily dispatch the few Selfish sentries on their way. Odd, thought Mana, I expected many more. Maybe they are elsewhere.

Sometimes, when Mana passed by a window and looked outside, she saw complete darkness, the bleakest night she had ever seen, but soon she realized that it was at the Selfish King that she was staring. After that, she avoided windows.

Countless flights of stairs were between them and Ange's bedroom, and Mana nearly slipped on the red carpets on the way. Some of the corridors were darker than others, where the lamps were broken and the torches had gone out, but even in the brightest paths the two cast long shadows that obscured the distance.

Ange's bedroom, contrary to what Mana had expected, was not marked by an ornate door or anything that revealed the nobility of the one who dwelled within. It looked like any other door, plain dark wood, smooth to the touch. Makoto, however, assured that it was the place, and stepped inside.

Mana had never seen Marie Ange's quarters, but she doubted that they used to be quite so barren. The tiles had been mostly torn, and the walls were full of holes, but the oddest thing was how there was no furniture left save for a few chairs on the corner, poor chairs of frail wood, one of which couldn't eved hold up anymore. And, stuck to the wall, was a safe, just as Makoto had described. On the floor, under it, were hammers and drills and even blood, but the safe had no discernible marks on it surface.

Makoto extended her hand, and Mana gave her the key. A spade-shaped hole was filled perfectly by the amulet, and once it was placed, the safe's metal door became a soft blue fabric. Makoto reached inside, and found only a small journal.

"Is that the princess' diary?" Mana asked.

"Might be," said Makoto, "or just something she felt I should read," she opened, and skimmed a few pages, but then closed the book. "It can't be so urgent that we need to read it right now," she said. "Let's keep going."

"Right," said Mana.

They went down another set of stairs, afterwards, back on the path to the easternmost tower of the palace, the one that would lead them to the rooftops, to the Starlight Flame. Makoto showed the way, and Mana followed. She used all the strength she had not to fall behind.

The palace was immense, a humongous building of countless paths and corridors, and it took a denizen of the castle, like Makopi, to make sense of it. From what she had heard, Heaven's Hand Castle in the heart of the Blue Sky Kingdom was even worse, and songs from Majorland eternalized the tale of Queen Dione, who was lost inside her own castle, and, unable to find her way out from the maze, starved to death. Stories like this made Mana wonder if royal blood gave you a taste for the labyrinthine.

As they delved deeper into the palace, Mana's ears grew attuned to distant sounds: footsteps far away, and rushed. They were becoming closer as she and Sword hurried their pace, until, at last, they were so close that Mana knew they were right next to them.

A girl cut the corner in mad haste, and at once Mana smiled, and nearly bumped on her, falling breathless on her arms. When she recovered, she looked up, focused on the girl's face.

"Rikka?" Mana was glad to see her here, but also confused. She seemed to be in quite the rush. Soon Yuri appeared right behind her, running as well.

"I didn't think you'd get here so quickly," she said. "How did you get in?"

"Through the gate," she said, laughing, but Rikka was not entertained at all. "So did you two also find a way to sneak inside without the Selfish noticing?"

As she said that, Mana looked at Moonlight again, and saw that, behind her, a mob of Selfish screamed and bumped against each other, shoving one another to the side as they tried to reach her.

"Evidently not."

Light flowed from Yuri's Moon Tact, blasting her pursuers away, and Sword leapt to her side, to help her keep the Jikochuu at bay. While the two fought them at close range, Mana and Rikka assisted from afar. In the end, the corridors were in complete disarray, its walls almost falling apart, and pieces of the ceiling had fallen, trapping the Selfish underneath rubble.

Makoto went to Rikka, to embrace her, but Diamond seemed a bit slow to retribute the gesture. Mana had expected Rikka to be happy to see them again, but now she seemed troubled.

"I've been wondering what had happened to you all," said Makoto. "No word of Alice?" Rikka shook her head.

"The Selfish took her," said Mana, "and that was the last we've seen of her. That was a long time ago, though…"

"She might be a Jikochuu, by now," said Rikka. It was what Mana was thinking, but she did not want to put it to words. "No, she almost certainly is one, at this point. At least I hope so. If she's a Jikochuu, then she can be saved. If not…"

"Don't say it," Makoto snarled. "Don't."

"Makoto, wh-"

"Look," Mana said, before tempers began to flare, "I think we have a lot we need to talk about, but we're all a bit busy in the moment, aren't we? We need to go light the Starlight Flame now. It's probably heavily guarded, so we'll need to-"

"No," said Rikka. "I…" She looked behind, to Moonlight. Yuri made a short gesture with her head, but Mana could not tell if it was permission or denial. "I have something else I must do here."

"I don't understand."

"I… May not have told you the truth at all times, Mana," said Rikka. Her eyes avoided Heart. "I'm not here to light a Starlight Flame, or anything. I… I came for a different purpose."

"What for?" Asked Makoto, voice full of suspicion.

Rikka inhaled for the longest time, then sighed.

"I'm here to get the crown."

"W-What crown?" Mana still didn't get what she meant.

"The crown. The Eternal Golden Crown. It's here. I need to get it."

"Here?" Asked Makoto. "I've never heard of such a thing. Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," said Rikka. "I… I learned it from someone I think I can trust. To a degree."

"Who?" Mana was curious.

"I can't tell you," she said. "You don't want to hear it, either. You would hate me if you know the truth."

"I wouldn't," had Rikka forgotten everything about Mana, already? She could never hate Rikka. "I swear I wouldn't. I trust you must have a good reason not to tell me, right? I trust you more than anything else, Rikka," she said, taking her hand, but Rikka still seemed distressed. Mana wished she knew how to help.

"I hope you mean it," said Rikka. "I truly do. But I'm afraid anyway."

"It's fine," said Mana. "I'm afraid too. So, is this the reason you came to Trump?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'll help you look for it, then."

"M-Mana…"

"Don't say you don't need help. Help is always good. And I want to give it to you. Makopi will help us too, right?"

"I can't possibly leave the Crown where the Selfish can find it so easily," she said. "It is a great treasure of the Precure, after all. It was Ange's, but… Yeah."

"Then let's waste no time," said Mana. "You know the way to the Crown, right, Rikka?"

"I do," she said with certainty. "We are looking for a broom closet that hides the Crown's secret room behind a false wall. I've already examined the ones on the floors above the one we currently are. There can't be that many left."

"Then let's get moving," declared Mana. Saving Trump, lighting a Starlight Flame, finding the legendary Golden Crown… Mana had never even dreamed to be in the middle of such great events.

It was now Rikka's time to guide them, though she argued the directions with Makoto ever so often. Yuri and Mana walked right behind them, carefully watching the proximity, always listening to the sound of enemies coming, though, admittedly, just Moonlight was probably enough for that task. If she failed to notice something, Mana doubted that she herself would.

The servants' quarters and closets were always easy to find, but none held the secret they sought, only brooms, squeegees, rags and bright liquids in clear bottles and flasks. Every time they walked away, empty-handed, Makoto would question if Rikka was truly certain of what they were looking for, and Rikka would, invariably, say that she was. And then she'd promptly fail again as the next room they investigated proved itself a dead end, as all the others.

Diamond herself showed absolutely no doubt, though, even if she was only pretending. She had not explained how she had learned of the Crown's location, so it was no wonder that Sword was doubtful, and even though Mana would always believe her word, she would like to know who or what had given Rikka and Yuri such assurance.

A new room appeared before them as they kept going, strangely uninterrupted by the Selfish. They had now reached a less frequented wing of the palace, wherein its libraries had been built, and that included the Relic Atheneum. So our lie to the guards at the door was not all that bad, she thought, almost smiling. She did not like to lie, even if she had to.

It was not the libraries they were looking or, however, but a simple closed of frail wood that had lost its colors long ago, and was now a pale yellow that crept close to a sickly white. From its rough surface, countless splinters jutted out of the unpolished wood.

"This has to be the one," said Rikka. "It has to," she repeated.

"I hear someone coming," said Yuri. Mana had heard nothing. "I can probably handle them on my own while you investigate."

"Watch the area," asked Diamond, "we're going to take a look here," Moonlight consented with a nod, and Rikka opened the door.

Mana followed her inside. There, the smell of dust was close to unbearable. Cobwebs wrapped around the brooms and tools left behind, ignored by the Selfish. It did not surprise her that they would be averse to the menial work of sweeping, but Mana did find herself rather shocked since, as the palace was still pristine, the Selfish must have used magic to keep it that way. That struck her as amazingly lazy, using such powerful forces for such a banal purpose.

Rikka's hands felt the walls, in look of a sign that this was where they looked. As she watched her tap the stone, Mana could hear the sounds Yuri had mentioned. Someone was coming. Rikka realized that too, and, between pants, said she only needed to find the right spot. A yell made its way to her throat when she found it, but Rikka restrained herself. What appeared to be hard stone withdrew deep into the wall as she pushed it, without even using much strength. Mana and Makoto helped her move the false wall until it receded completely and fell, revealing it had been only a small surface outwardly adorned with some stones. Beyond them now was a short corridor, a straight line of stone bricks on its floor, ceiling, and walls. At the end was a plain, spacious chamber, almost empty, except for the small plinth on its very center. A tiara rested atop it, shining in bright gold.

Before they could even think of investigating, however, Yuri let out a scream of pain. Jikochuu had surrounded her, three of them, huge, vicious-looking ones. Born of Precure Psyches. Yuri had managed to block the assault of the two creatures that came from her sides, but the one in front of her was pummelling her violently to the floor.

Diamond and Sword's eyes hesitated, glued to the Crown, but Heart was quick to run to Moonlight's aid. She knew there wasn't much she could do, not like this… But she could do something.

She picked up tools and trinkets left behind on the closet and threw them at what she presumed were the Jikochuu's eyes. It had to bring its hands to its face so that it would not be blinded, and that gave Mana the time she needed to ready her Love Heart Arrow, and aim a bolt into the beast's chest. Freed from that threat, Yuri struck its two foes again, shields of silver glass shattering and blasting light on the Jikochuu.

Sword then came, eager to fight the Selfish, just as Mana expected, and feared. She threw herself on the Jikochuu with no concern to her own well-being, ramming her own body against theirs, letting herself be cut by their claws and blades if that meant she could get close enough to get a hit in on them. Arrows made their way through the air, finding the huge bodies of the Jikochuu, but these weren't Mana's; Rikka was fighting, too.

The Selfish's monsters were fierce, though, and showed no sign of stopping. The combined efforts of Moonlight's Silver Forte Wave and Makoto's Holy Sword were enough to subjugate a Jikochuu that had collapsed to the floor, but just as they were giving each other a gesture of respect, the largest of the Jikochuu, a creature with four wide arms that could barely fit in the wide corridors, took Yuri by the arm, from her back, and tossed her far away, through a distant window. She was sent so far that Mana couldn't even see it when she crashed, she only heard the sound of breaking glass. The lumbering beast then started to run, bringing down everything on its path, causing the entire palace to shake, leaving Heart, Diamond and Sword alone with the last of the Jikochuu.

It was far smaller than the others, almost the size of Mana herself, save for its hands; though their size matched those of a human's hands, its fingers were great shining claws, ten long scythes. As if to strike terror in their hearts, the Jikochuu scraped the floor with its blades, leaving long lines where it cut the ground. The rest of its body was slender, almost girly, but the comically large eyes of the Jikochuu, near its nose and lips that were almost like a girl's, made its face look eerily inhuman.

The Jikochuu that had once been a Precure struck at Mana too fast for her to react, and its claws drank the red of her blood. They had only scratched her stomach, but the wound hurt as if she had been torn open. When the Jikochuu lunged again, crimson droplets were flying all around, splattering on Mana's face, but this time she managed to evade it. Sword could match its speed, but never managed to land a stab on its body. The monster danced all around, whirling its weapons as it did so, preventing Makopi's approach. Only Diamond's bolts had any success in hurting the creature, and, even so, only occasionally, as the Jikochuu was so agile that it had managed to cleave her quarrel in twain as it was still midair.

Heart joined Diamond, attacking from a distance while Sword ensured they could fire freely. Makoto was so graceful that even now Mana could not help but admire the way she moved, the way her clothing flowed behind her almost rhythmically. The Jikochuu let out a horrid shriek, its face now unrecognizable, the entirety of it pierced by crossbow bolts. Makoto sunk her blade into its body, and, for a moment, it stopped moving.

Just as Mana was thinking of purifying it, though, it got up, suddenly, dashing madly towards her. It was almost gone, and it knew it, but this Jikochuu seemed driven by spite. It could not keep fighting, but it could at least kill one of them, and it chose Mana. In the instant it took for it to reach her, Makoto or Rikka hadn't even managed to sketch a reaction.

The beast's claws were upon her, longer than her arms, ready to shred her, but as they neared her body, orange glass surged between the two, and when the monster struck it, its talons shattered into little pieces, yet the barrier stood, sturdier than any shield. Mana's heart skipped a beat. She recognized it at once.

When she looked behind, it did not surprise her to see Alice. Rikka let loose one last bolt on the Jikochuu, freeing its Psyche, and turned back as well. It was hard to tell who was the most shocked person there.

"Alice…" Only Makoto found the words to break the silence.

"Y-You…" Alice's legs trembled. "I thought you were… No… No, I've gone mad, it can't be… You are dead. That's what I was told…"

"Well," Mana limped closer to her friend. She did not understand what was going on, but now it did not seem the time for questions. "You were lied to. We're here. And now you're here too."

"Why are you here?" Alice asked; her tone seemed wrong, almost pained, but Mana couldn't say for sure.

"We are looking for a few things," said Mana. "Marie Ange's safe, which we have already found. A Starlight Flame, atop the palace. The Eternal Golden Crown."

"The Crown?" Alice's face contorted into something ugly. Mana tried to get even closer, but now Alice stepped away from her. "Why?" She was not speaking to anyone in particular, Mana realized. "Why them? Of all people…"

"What are you talking about?" Asked Rikka.

"Why do you have to be in the way? You, who I thought dead… I had given up all hopes of ever meeting you again, and yet… And yet I meet you, but like this. I…" She couldn't finish her phrase.

"You're here for the Crown too, aren't you?" Rikka asked, and Alice simply nodded. "And you are getting it for someone else?" She nodded again. "For whom?"

"Eternal," she said. The word felt like a punch to the stomach. Why would Alice work with their enemies? She was no traitor, Mana was sure of it, so she must have her reasons, and yet that only made it even more painful.

"We won't let you get it," said Makoto. She pointed her Holy Sword at Alice, but it seemed to hurt her most of all. "It does not belong to Eternal. We will be taking it to the Red Rose."

"We will not!" Rikka let out. "I will not. Something as vile as the Red Rose has no right to the Crown."

"Who, then?" Makoto lashed out, and Rikka realized she had said too much. She sighed.

"This is why I did not want to talk," said Rikka. "I'm so sorry, Mana. I already told you that you would hate me for this, but… I'm taking the Crown to the Blue Rose. Either that or I'm destroying it. I honestly have no idea what to do," admitting that drove her nearly to tears, "and I don't know what's right anymore, because everything seems wrong. I won't be letting you take the Crown," she said, lifting her Love Heart Arrow, pointing it straight at Makoto's heart.

They were all ready to fight, all but Mana. Their faces were devastated, their hands shaking, and yet they all seemed utterly certain of their path. Figures appeared behind Alice, but she told them to stand aside. She was crying, but her fists were ready to strike. Mana felt her legs give in, but she stood up, clinging to the walls. Only she could end it, she knew. But she didn't know how. Other people were coming, right behind Alice, but Mana couldn't even find it in her to care. She only stared as her friends pointed weapons at one another, their expressions an agonizing cross of sadness, despair, hate, anger.

For so long she had hoped that Alice might have survived, that Makoto would still be safe, that Rikka would find a place where she would not be hurt… For so long she dreamt that they could meet again, but now she wished she hadn't. It would not have hurt so much. She rose her own Love Heart Arrow, but did not know who, if anyone, was her enemy.

---

They were found by the trapped Precure while they still stank of things Nozomi didn't want to name. She had hoped that, perhaps, they would greet them with gratitude, they would appreciate that they came to free them from the Selfish, and would offer to fight by their side.

Instead they pointed weapons at them, and dragged them across streets so narrow Nozomi had to turn to her side so that she could fit. No matter how much Dream, Beauty and Fortune protested, the Cures here doubted that they were their allies. Nozomi tried to give them the bucket full of food they had brought, but the Cures looked at its contents with suspicion.

"Question them," said the one who was clearly their leader. Nozomi had seen her, once, at the Phoenix Tower. She was Cure Satellite, one half of the Wonderful Net duo, but Nozomi didn't remember her being this rough.

All around, people were staring at them. Their judging eyes cut Nozomi, full of spite, believing the accusations at once. What accusations exactly, Nozomi could not tell. The Precure here called them Selfish, but Nozomi could not think of any reason they might have for that.

"Where do we take them?" Asked Bolt to her partner Satellite.

"The keep," she said. "We'll have privacy there."

The other nodded, and continued pulling Nozomi by the arm. Reika simply accepted it, and walked, obedient, but Iona was more resistant, and three Cures were needed to restrain her. In the end, though, she too followed.

Nozomi caught glimpses of the measures the people here had gone to survive: every patch of dirt she saw, even the smallest, had all been appropriated to cultivate meek, tiny fruits. Only with the help of magic could they grow in such poor, tainted soil, and Nozomi could tell from the faces of the Precure that even such relatively simple magic strained their famishing bodies. Nozomi found herself thinking back to Last Light, and it looked positively idyllic in comparison.

It was almost night, but the streets were bright enough, lit up by a few stray torches and, in far greater number, Orbs of Lux, spheres of mirrored glass where a single point of light was reflected endlessly, countless thousands of times, until light was all around it. They were one of the most ingenious creations of the Precure.

Soon enough they reached their destination, the largest building in the area, as well as the ugliest. Half of its walls had collapsed, and no one had bothered to pick up the pieces, and a huge chunk of the roofs had been torn away to make room for the most mediocre terrace to ever disgrace the lands. It, at least, would provide the Precure with a good view of the surrounding areas, so she could understand its purpose, but she doubted that it had ever done them any good.

The keep was a cramped building, half meeting hall and half warehouse. The Precure here had little food, but ample stocks of other goods. Nozomi couldn't understand the usefulness of most: upon the tables were piles of bars of metal and tools, fabrics, and bottles of medicine. On the ground were shards of glass. A man was inspecting the medicine, and hurried outside when the Precure declared they had things to discuss.

Nozomi was seated forcibly atop a barrel. Its hard surface filled her legs with pain, and her behind too. She would have preferred to stand up, but given the way the Precure were staring at her, she thought it was wiser not to make any sudden movements.

"Who sent you?" Cure Bolt asked roughly, at the three girls, and didn't wait for an answer. "Marmo, I'm sure of it. Is she still insisting on this? We will not fall for it."

"We are not Selfish," said Reika as she had been saying since they were found. Bolt and Satellite did not seem any more inclined to believe her.

"Oh?" Satellite put her face right next to Reika, her lips in a dark smile. "I understand. You think we will kill you if you admit you are a Selfish. Have no fear of that, we are not savages."

"You are at risk of death, however, if you don't admit it," said Bolt. Her eyes had sunken into her emaciated face. It did not even look like a face at this point; it was more like a thin mask of skin trying to fit on a head too large for it. She made Mana look healthy. "Just admit it, say what you know, and you don't get hurt. You must have information from Marmo, right? That information could very well buy your lives."

"Do we have to say it again?" Iona blurted out. "We're not Selfish. We're trying to help you."

"The last girls who promised to help us also said they weren't Selfish," said Bolt. Nozomi couldn't tell if her tone of voice was sad or angry. "We believed it, then. They brought us food we so sorely needed, just like you do now… For a week they lived with us, they went through the same hardships we did, so we trusted them."

"Their gifts were poisoned," said Satellite. "Quite literally, I mean. The food they gave us… It nourished us, but it made us feel weaker. I ate it all, as I had not tasted real food for so long, but every morning I would struggle to find the strength to rise. And when they decided we would not be able to stop them, they tried to open the gates."

"Did they manage to?" Nozomi asked.

"They were close. So close," said Bolt. "But even weakened, we are still Precure. We are at our strongest when we are at our lowest, when the night is darkest we shine our brightest, and when despair's hands wrap around our throats, we can make miracles. So we stopped them."

"Those words…" Did Reika recognize them? That did not surprise Nozomi. "Empress' writings, aren't they?"

"A cultured Selfish?" Asked Satellite. "Yes, you are correct. Few care about Empress' writings, outside of the Precure. Now you, my friend," she put a bony finger on Reika's nose, almost playfully, but her face was too full of anger to not be threatening, "you are a cut above the rest of the Selfish. Yes, Empress wrote those words on the Starstone Tablets. There's an interesting story behind that. Do you know?" She turned to Nozomi, suddenly. She shook her head. "Do you, Bolt?"

"I love that story. I've been thinking of it a lot, given our current situation. So," she said, condescending, "there was this Precure known as Cure Empress. You might have heard of her. She was many things, but mainly she was wise. While Priestess and Magician were out doing trivial things like uniting the entire known world under the Precure Dominion, Empress starved herself nearly to death and wrote her thoughts into some tablets of fancy stone. She said that she felt pure while she was fasting. Now, we've been starving for a while now. Do you feel pure and wise, Satellite?"

She slammed her fist on the desk next to Nozomi, shattering it into pieces.

"Not at all, no. This has been, in fact, the worst thing I ever lived through. All thanks to you Selfish scum."

"Is there a point to this?" Asked Iona. She'll get us killed someday.

"The point is," Satellite started, "we are very, very thankful for what you have done to us, ruining our lives and destroying our stars, and who knows what else you've destroyed elsewhere. You keep saying you are not Selfish. If you are… Well, I think we should thank you for all you've done."

"What… What have you done to those Selfish agents that have come before?" Nozomi asked, but she thought she didn't want to know.

"You should perhaps stop worrying about their fates, and concern yourselves more with yours," said Bolt. "We're done with the niceties. It is more than you ever deserved."

"So many of our friends were lost, thanks to you," Satellite's voice dripped with disgust. "If you ever leave, be sure to tell Marmo that if the Selfish want to get rid of us, we'd much prefer it if they just smashed through the gates and killed us all, rather than tempting us with false hopes, like you."

"But we-"

"That's enough. If you want to get out, you'll answer us. How many Selfish are there outside?"

"Many, but-"

"That's not an answer," Bolt's face was right in front of Nozomi's, suddenly. "How many?"

"We really don't know!" Nozomi shouted. "We're not what you think we are! Look, I know you've been betrayed before, by girls who claimed to be Precure, and I know you've been suffering, but please, listen to us!"

They said nothing. They were listening. Nozomi could only pray that they were taking her seriously.

"We really are friends. We've come from the Phoenix Tower, or rather, from a village close to it. We call it Last Light, and it's our little attempt to… To live. To have some normalcy. To not give up to all this madness around us. We want you to go there! Please, believe me. We've found the Cures in the southern part of Trump, we led them through the Bridge of Hearts, and now they're all outside, just waiting for us to give them the signal to attack the Selfish at the gates, keeping you trapped here."

She paused to catch her breath, and, fortunately, the two were still listening.

"Me and Reika," she grabbed Beauty's hand, "we've been fighting together for a long time now. Even if you've never seen me, are you certain you don't recognize her? Please, please, try to remember… Reika Aoki, Cure Beauty, you might have seen her with Akane, with Yayoi…" She tried to remember the other names that Reika had told her. "With Nao and Miyubi."

"Miyuki."

"Miyuki! I know it's been a while, but if you can remember her… Then you'll know we're speaking the truth, right?"

"I don't remember her," said Bolt. Satellite shook her head too, but their voices were different now. They want to trust me. They want to believe my words.

"What of the other one?"

"I'm Iona Hikawa," she said. "Sister to Maria Hikawa, Cure Tender. You must know her."

"Yes," said Satellite. "I… Well, I won't say she was my friend, or even my mentor, but when Bolt and I first came to the Phoenix Tower, she gave us some advice, and, more importantly, a smile. We were surrounded by unfamiliar people from all over the world, so we felt so alone, but Tender helped us…"

Iona closer her eyes, and after a burst of light, her Precure uniform had faded away, and her hair had fallen down her shoulders, heavy and dark.

"You… You do look remarkably like her," Bolt admitted. "It's almost uncanny. What happened to Tender?"

Iona bit her lip. She awaited for so long in silence before responding that Nozomi could almost hear whispering outside the keep.

"She's gone."

"Gone. What do you mean?"

"Gone."

"I'm… I'm sorry, then. If you really are her sister," said Bolt. Her eyes seemed uncertain. "But other than looking like her, what proof do you have of that?"

Iona mentioned having Maria's Pretty Change Mirror, but Nozomi knew that was not sufficient proof. There was nothing upon it that marked it as belonging to Cure Tender. Iona tried, anyway, and, of course, the two girls did not believe it.

"I… No. I don't believe you. I can't," said Bolt, almost apologetic. "If you are lying…"

"I want to believe you. I truly do. And yet… I can't. Marmo's agents were just as convincing as you are. Ah, Bolt…" She stepped back, and her partner put an arm around her. "I believe them. It's happening again. I'm such a fool… Marmo truly has the most convincing agents."

"But we are not-"

"You don't understand," said Satellite. "We cannot trust you. No matter how much you want to, as long as the possibility exists that you are our enemy, we cannot believe in your words. We almost doomed everyone when we were deceived. The people trapped in here with us… They are our responsibility. At this point, our lives are worth very little. But the people we must protect…"

"They're still worth fighting for. It would be selfish of us to put their lives at risk because we were fools enough to fall for Marmo's trick again."

"Please," Nozomi insisted. She had gotten so close to convincing them… "It's not a trick. We really are-"

As she was speaking, her words were muted by the call of a horn, a loud, lingering sound. The noise hurt Nozomi's ears, even as she covered them with her hands, gesture imitated by those around her. There seemed to be no end to the sound, droning on and on and on. It was not a war horn, Nozomi knew, she had heard the call of the ceremonial horns of the Palmier Kingdom, and ordinary horns could not make a sound like that, nor could human lungs maintain it for so long. Bolt and Satellite climbed the ladder to the rooftop, and Nozomi followed. From there, she could see a hundred Jikochuu bellowing beyond the walls. The Selfish were knocking their weapons on the ground, and, in front of them, Nozomi could see colorful dots moving to the gates: the Precure.

"You did not lie?" Bolt asked, incredulous. "They really are here."

"Too soon," Reika's voice trembled with worry, "We did not give the signal, not yet. Akane should know better."

"Maybe the others have gotten too eager?" Asked Nozomi.

"So you were telling the truth, but it doesn't seem to be worth much, given the lack of discipline of the Precure down there," Satellite scoffed. "Not waiting for you, just rushing headlong against the Selfish… Even the way they run show us their unreliability…"

"The way they run?" While Reika spoke, the Jikochuu ceased their cacophony, and Beauty was yelling. She lowered her voice, and continued. "What do you mean?"

"No formation, no organization at all! It's like they are running from something, in terror, not to the gates!"

"That's because they are," Iona pointed behind the Precure: a great legion of Jikochuu pursued them, and the Cures were caught between their chasers and the Selfish guarding the gate.

"No," Reika yelped, "no! She can't be here already, she shouldn't be!"

She. It was Regina that she meant, even Nozomi knew that. Among the Jikochuu were many Selfish, humans among monsters born of stolen hearts, and, in front of that army, was Princess Regina. There was no mistaking her, even from so afar. She carried a long spear, and its sight filled Dream with fear.

All they could do was watch as the Precure outside the walls tried to find a way out, some trying to disperse, others making a desperate attempt at reaching the gates, but all failed. The sea of Selfish and Jikochuu swallowed them, leaving them no escape as they were flanked and surrounded from all directions. Reika kept screaming, pleading, eyes scanning the horizon in search of Akane, but there was no stopping it now.

Screams filled the world before being abruptly interrupted as, one by one, the Cures were defeated. They're all dead, Nozomi thought, but soon she realized she was wrong. The Selfish were not so merciful.

The bodies of the Precure were all perfectly still, save for their violently pounding chests. The Selfish approached them and, though they were too distant for Nozomi to see the process, they were using their dark magics to extract the Psyches from the fallen, and, then, to corrupt them. Jikochuus born from the Psyches of Precure… It made Nozomi shiver.

The Psyches rose high, wings fluttering, and then burst into black smoke that spread and took different forms, and from nearly twenty defeated Precure, nearly twenty Jikochuu came to life. Some were great beasts, fierce and gigantic, while others were slender and delicate, with long wings sprouting from their backs, but one look made it clear that they were more dangerous than the ordinary Jikochuu. They sounded their call again, joining their voices to the rest of the monsters in repugnant discord. Then they grew silent, and it was the end.

Nozomi looked at Reika, whose eyes were seeking her. She fell on Nozomi's arms, but didn't even cry. When it was over, she was making no sound at all.

But it's not over, Nozomi realized to her great terror. The Selfish were still marching, inexorable, and now towards them.

---

Mai thought of Saki as she returned to her bed, hoping to dream of her again, praying she could understand what it was that had happened between them, what that connection had been. Saki, Saki, she kept telling herself after she closed her eyes, but it only made her restless, and the anticipation kept her from sleeping. This was the third time she tried to fall asleep, and she had even gone to bed earlier tonight, yet again, so that, perhaps, she would have more time to be with Saki. She failed, and when she opened her eyes again, she did not feel tired in the slightest.

Choppy was already asleep, and Mai envied her for that. She wondered if her fairy was connected to Flappy as well, in the way she was connected to Saki. The fairies had never mentioned it, but, then again, Mai and Saki certainly didn't know it either.

Frustrated, she got out of bed again, and returned to her books. Earlier, Mai had gone to Mirage to ask her for guidance, to tell her of what had happened, how she had reached Saki in a dream. She had feared that Mirage would not believe her, as she, admittedly, had absolutely no evidence of what had happened, or at least no undeniable evidence.

"I see," was what Mirage had said before she retreated into her thoughts. She didn't seem to really understand what had happened, but Mai was glad that she was being taken seriously. "This must have some relation with the fact that you need Bloom to transform."

"Yeah," that seemed clear enough. And yet, she had never heard Honoka or Nagisa mention something of the sort. "It's not common, right?"

"Not at all," said Mirage, getting up. She walked towards a long but low bookshelf (tall shelves always frustrated the quite short Mirage), and examined some of the volumes there. "I have heard of something like that before," she said, running her fingers across the books. "It's not a well-studied phenomenon, as it is, as I've said, very uncommon, and probably deeply magical in nature."

"But it has been studied?"

"Strictly speaking, no," she said, "at least not in the sense that any scholars have done any research on the matter. After all, it is such a rare occurrence that it is comparable to studying dragons. It is something that only happens once in centuries. But yes, it has happened. And has been described, to an extent… Ah, here," she took a book from the shelf, and then, in a second thought, the three tomes next to it. She began placing them atop her cluttered desk. "This one," she said of the first, "is a memoir written by Cure Summer, who was partner to Cure Winter."

Cure Winter had been the Cure who tried to incite a schism two hundred years before, in her attempt to bring the Blue Rose back to life. She had failed, but many had followed her, and it was said that even the Trump Kingdom meant to back her up when she started a war, but her rebellion was vanquished and she was slain by Summer, her own partner, who, in doing so, lost all her powers as a Precure. Mai knew that it would not be a pleasant book to read.

"There she mentions the connection between their hearts," said Mirage. "She is rather vague about it, as the book is primarily about her later days, and her life after renouncing her powers. But maybe it'll be of interest to you. This," she put another book on the table, "is a study on Precure partnerships, the ones like yours and Black and White's, among others, the sort of partnership that requires the two to be together so that they can transform. There have been cases of partners who have been able to transform despite being miles away."

Miles away… Mai and Saki were considerably further apart than that, but if the possibility existed…

"The other two are rather esoteric dissertations on the nature of hearts," Mirage continued, "and not particularly well-written ones. The Precure have, historically, been very unclear about the meaning of a heart. It is sometimes synonymous to soul, sometimes it is something else entirely. They might still interest you, given that they touch upon the subject of a heart connection, as they call it."

"I will look into it," said Mai.

She took the books from the desk, careful not to disrupt Mirage's layout: there was a great deal of objects atop the polished wood, not only books but also crystals, a candle that shone a strange fire that darkened its surroundings, and an ornate hand mirror, its handles made from the wood of balsa trees, with spiral engravings, mark of the traditional woodworking technique of the long-gone Harmonia. Mirage used the mirror to try and make sense of a tome written entirely with reversed words. By its side was another book, the one that Mirage had been reading most intently when Mai entered the office; Examination of Enantiomorphs. Mai had no idea what that meant, and presumed that it required Mirage's full attention, so she thanked her, and left.

The books, in the end, had been of no help at all. She had only skimmed, of course, but even so none of what she saw was of use to her. It was guidance that she needed, right now, not theories and academic blabber. If Honoka was here, she might have helped her make some sense of it, but she was far away, at Trump. Eventually she gave up on understanding, too frustrated to go on. She just wanted to see Saki again, now that she knew she could reach her. But how? No one said how. No one knew what a so-called heart connection even meant, how it worked, how to reproduce it, and, worse, Mai's situation seemed entirely different from the experience of others. As she got into bed and pulled the sheets over her face, praying for sleep, and for Saki, she felt more lonely than she ever thought it was possible to feel. Not just because of the absence of Saki, but because absolutely no one understood what exactly had happened to her.

Sleep never came. I will not get up again. I will sleep. Yet she didn't. The more she told herself to sleep, the more awake she became. She focused on everything around her, on all the sounds beyond the door, the walls. The halls of the Tower were still alive, she could hear it. If she fixated really hard on the world above, Mai could even hear the whispers of the Starfire that burned atop the Phoenix Tower, day and night, undying.

The moon shone through her window. She hadn't even bothered closing it. She had the foolish hope that, perhaps, an open window would make it easier for her to reach Saki again. It did not. Nothing was helping. Her desperation grew as the night lingered on, and by the time the moon had covered itself in a shroud of thin clouds, and the winds grew colder, Mai began to wonder if what she had seen had not been, indeed, merely a dream.

Maybe her life before the Death of the Stars had been a dream, too. Everything she loved from back then was gone, now, far beyond her reach, even her memories were being enveloped by a haze, so who was to say that those things had ever even happened?

She got up, despite telling herself she would not. Sleep was, clearly, not a possibility right now. It was not that late yet, she told herself as she opened the door and stepped outside. Ayumi might still be awake.

There was no response when Mai knocked on her door, so she had to be elsewhere. Even now, it made her smile. Ayumi, at least, was not alone. She had other friends. She was happier than most.

She went downstairs, then. Mai had grown used to the long spiral stairs of the Phoenix Tower, constructed around the statues of its founders, so she didn't even tire anymore, when making the descent, though of course making her way up was still exhausting.

She saw no one on her way; all corridors were empty, and no one shared the stairs with her. Indeed, as she neared the Tower's ground level, she heard the sounds of dozens of voices struggling to be heard in the midst of the others.

The Cures of the Tower were gathering around the entrance, discussing something. Not only the Cures, in truth; Namakelder was among them as well. Mirage had chosen to free him from his prison, in exchange of his service and information, and he had been quick to agree with the arrangement.

Ayumi was with Orina, discussing something. The two held brooms, so Mai presumed that this night they were the ones responsible for cleaning the main hall. There wasn't much to clean, truly, but sometimes dust would get inside through the open doors and windows. Mai came closer to the two, and asked what it was that was troubling everyone. Orina just pointed to the doors, and quickly Mai understood the cause of the commotion.

Cure Lovely had returned, and not in a good state. She was a complete mess, her clothes in tatters and her face painted dark red with dried blood. She had went to the east with the Bomber Girls, to help them with their mission, but Mai couldn't see them anywhere. Megumi was fraily clinging to the heavy stone door so she wouldn't fall, and her legs were shaking.

"She says she needs to see Cure Mirage," said Orina. "I say she needs to see a medic. Look at her arms," she said, and Mai looked. One was blue with bruises, the other red with open wounds.

"Is no one going to help her?"

"We tried," said Ayumi. "She won't let anyone near her. The poor girl is pretty seriously shaking…"

A commanding voice surged from behind, ordering the Cures to make way. It was Mirage's voice, though her appearance didn't quite match her tone. She was still wearing her oversized nightgown, and Mai hadn't been the only one surprised by her tired image.

She rushed to meet Megumi, and to put a tender arm around her. They whispered muffled words, and when they were done, Megumi rose her head to stare at the other Precure.

"Mirage said I should tell you what happened," said Lovely. "I… I was supposed to help the Bomber Girls reach their destination. I had to scout ahead to know they could proceed safely. They were carrying a lot of supplies, so it was hard for them to move as quickly as they could."

Mai was already fearing the worst. They had been told of the Red Rose's ambitious plan to free the Cures in the city of Trump, and how the Bomber Girls would hinder the progress of Regina's army, so that they could not return. If they failed, if Regina had defeated them and was now on her way to the capital… That would be the end for the others, too. Dream and Beauty, Black and White, and Cure Fortune too…

"Was it Regina?" She had to ask. Megumi shook her head.

"Worse. I had moved ahead of the three to take a better look at the surroundings, and when I returned to them, to report what I had seen…" Mirage urged her to keep going. "They were gone. They were trapped inside mirrors. And then the Precure hunter attacked me," she pointed at all her wounds. "I thought it would be my end."

"Did you defeat him?" Asked Harper.

"No," she shook her head again. "All I could do was run. I was lucky to escape, to outrun him. He lost my track as I entered deep within a forest, but I almost died there, too. There were… Things in the forest," she said. Mai felt a chill, and she heard shudders all around. "Dark things."

"You need to be taken care of," said Cure Mirage, guiding her with a friendly hand, accompanying her slow, painful steps. The crowd opened to grant them passage, and when Megumi stepped next to Mai, the extent of her wounds became extremely clear. It truly had been luck that she had managed to escape.

Mai couldn't decide what was the worst part of it all. All the news that Megumi brought were hideous; a hunter of Precure on the loose, unpunished, and he had managed to defeat three of them, and almost a fourth… That was nearly as grievous as what Lovely had said. Dark things lurking under the cover of dark leaves of tall trees… The Thornwood was bad enough, it and whatever curse had befallen it, but to hear her fears confirmed, that no matter where they went, there was no escape from atrocity, from pain…

That is not the worst, she realized only when the Precure dispersed. Only Ayumi and Orina were with her, calling out for her, but she didn't hear them. If the Bomber Girls had not even reached their destination, that could only mean something: Dream, Beauty, the others… They would all be stuck inside Trump, caught between the occupiers and Regina's army. They were dead. She knew it then. They were dead, and the last hopes of the Precure, too. Saki would have told me not to give in to despair, not to let it devour me, but…

But Saki wasn't there, and Mai despaired. They were gone; everyone and everything was gone. Her mentor Honoka, her friends, her brother, her mother and father… All gone, and so distant now that they might as well never have existed at all.

---

Akane.

Nozomi and Iona dragged Reika back to the keep, then through its corridors, to the doors that led outside, and, all the while, Reika remained almost perfectly still. She barely looked at her surroundings: wide-eyed, she stared at nothing, and the images of the Precure being surrounded appeared before her again and again.

Akane…

"Reika!" It was Nozomi's voice calling out to her. She almost couldn't heard it, just as she could hardly feel Iona's hands on her arms, guiding her. Her legs were moving without her mind giving the other.

When she looked again, she was in the middle of a dirty street, now filled with people who anxiously looked in the direction of the gate. Above, the skies were paved in ebony, and all around torches were burning, Lux Orbs were glowing, moths gathering around them. The lights dazzled Beauty.

"What should we do?" A young man approached Bolt for guidance. "Do we run?"

"It would not be safe to run," said Bolt. "The only way out is through the sewers, and the path is too narrow, so it would be dangerous if many people tried to leave."

"You can't expect everyone to stay, not with the Selfish coming!" Said Iona. "Did you not say you must protect these people?"

"The Selfish are not coming for them," said Satellite. "They come for us. It is the Precure they want, we who have troubled them for so long now. It is us they want, so if we surrender…"

"Don't be naive," said Iona. "Do you think the Selfish will bargain with you? You cannot be serious. You would not be sacrificing yourselves. That would be suicide."

"What other option do we have, then?" Satellite yelled. "Tell me, since you are clearly so much smarter than we are! There's no way out. If we fight, then the Selfish will be angered, they will raze this place to the ground, and its people with it. But if we give ourselves to the Selfish, then there may be a way out for them. Not for us, but for them."

"Don't do it," Nozomi pleaded. "Reika, please. Tell them they're making a mistake. Tell them what you think."

"Ah? I…" She was hearing them, but couldn't pay much thought to their words. It was Akane that she saw, it was Akane whom she thought about. "I don't know what I think. I…"

Nozomi and Iona gave them a look of surprise and dismay, and Reika realized just how much they had come to trust her judgment. They need me. Just as I need them. Without Akane, and with everyone else so distant, those two were all she had.

"We can't stay," Reika said, gathering her thoughts, "but we can't abandon the people here, either."

"Yeah," it had been Nozomi's desire, too. "You're with us too, aren't you, Iona?"

"Of course I am," she said, headstrong. "We'll find a way out for everyone."

"Are you deaf or daft?" Asked Bolt. "I told you there is no way out but the sewers."

"We will make a way out, then," said Nozomi, full of a defiance that made Reika's heart beat with resolute urgency.

"You will only risk the wrath of the Selfish," said Satellite, spiteful.

"Open your eyes," said Nozomi. "Do you think the Selfish will do what? Negotiate with you, accept your terms, tip their hats in courtesy as they turn back and leave? You'll throw your lives away if you open the gates."

"You are still Precure, you and the rest of the Cures trapped in here," Reika rose her voice, making herself heard by all the Precure. "The Red Rose needs you, now more than ever. We don't have many Cures at the Phoenix Tower. We have come here to save all the Precure of Trump, to bring them back, so that we could keep fighting. We need you, all of you."

"They need us too," said Bolt, opening her arms, gesturing at all the people under their protection. "We have promised to keep them safe, to not let the Selfish harm them. We must not fail. We will wager our lives on this. Do you think the Red Rose or the Phoenix Tower matter to anyone but we the Precure? Do you think that there is where we can do the greatest good? It's here! Here, in Trump! Trump and its people need us, and if they need us to give our lives for them… Then we shall do so."

"They will make Jikochuu out of you, you know," said Reika. "Once you fall, you will become the monsters that have ravaged Trump."

"That may be right," said Satellite, "but we are left no choice. We-"

"You do have a choice," said Iona. "Always. You can stay with us. I have not told you how I lost my sister. She gave her life for a friend. It was very brave of her to do so. I know it is a gesture of love to suffer in the place of someone you care about, and yet… Her sacrifice could not save the Blue Sky Kingdom. All over the world, Precure have sacrificed themselves," she said, looking at Nozomi. Reika didn't know that Dream had told Fortune about Cure Mint. She did not think they trusted each other enough for that, but it made her happy to know they did. "And we still lost. If you open the gates, you won't make a difference. You'll be just a few more martyrs, and there's no lack of those. If you fight, though… If you fight, we can find a way out."

"Do the right thing, please," said Nozomi. "You'll be taking a chance either way, no matter what you do. But if you fight, then at least your fate will remain in your hands. And if we lose, we lose. But to fall without even fighting… Surely you are better than that."

"We will lose," said Bolt. "And yet… Yes, there is a certain appeal in going down spitting on the face of Princess Regina."

"If you will fight," said Satellite, "then we will, too. You are right, the three of you, though it pains me to admit it."

"What's our plan, then?" Asked another Precure, from behind, her voice full of energy despite her weakened body. Others voiced their thoughts, too, all enthusiastic, eager to fight.

"The sewers are too risky," said Bolt, "it would take too long for everyone to get past, and we'd surely be caught. But there," she pointed to the north, where the destitute shacks extended on and on, "we can bring down some of the walls surrounding us to clear a path."

"That way everyone can escape," continued Satellite. "The problem, though, is that the Selfish will be right behind us, and it'll do us no good to get out if we just get caught a moment after."

"We'll keep them busy while everyone evacuates," said Reika.

"Good luck with that," said a Precure with a hoarse, tired voice. "All that's standing between us are the gate and those walls, and trust me when I say that the Selfish could have brought them down a long time ago, they just preferred to starve us out rather than go through the trouble of stamping out our resistance."

"Their hope was to make us suffer so much that thoughts of betrayal would become rather tempting," explained Bolt.

"All the same," Reika said, "if the gate is all that's protecting us, then we must make the most out of it. I… I think I know how."

She stepped up closer to it, and readied herself. It would take a great deal of strength, she knew, but it was their best hope.

Beauty thought of winter, filling her heart with blizzards and then, eyes closed, focused on the gate, the walls, on the image she had of them, and overflowed her thoughts with cold. Frigid winds blew all around, biting her skin, but while she heard shivers from those who surrounded her, Reika herself felt warm, as she always felt on cold days. It was a pleasant, familiar warmth. When she opened her eyes, tiny crystals of ice were melting all along the ground, and the walls and gate had been covered by a thick layer of frost.

"This should give us some relief, and some time," she said. The rest of the Precure had nodded, but amidst them she saw disturbed eyes. Winter's heart and all that. She knew that many saw the cold as an ill omen, given the ill repute of so many Cures who had wielded such powers in the past.

The Cures then began their work, guiding the populace to the north, where the walls were at their thinnest, according to Satellite. Reika stayed at the wall to maintain its icy shell, while Nozomi helped lead the evacuation and Iona led the Cures who would bring down the northern walls and fight off the Selfish that there kept watch. The streets were packed with people, all running away in desperate fear, almost trampling one another, but Dream's efforts ensured that no one was hurt and that the citizens moved around safely.

Booming sounds came from beyond the gate, and chunks of ice were torn away with the impact. Reika remade them as well as she could, but she was all too aware that it would not last long. It only needed to last long enough. She put her hands on the wall, to strengthen the bond between her and the target of her magic. This time she felt the cold, and her palms hurt. Segments of the ice were longer than others, and they dug into her hands, but Reika held on to the wall of ice, healing the wounds upon its ice, even when it hurt, even when it strained her body. She held so tight that her palms had started bleeding, and she could feel vibrations shake her barrier, causing to tremble, but she kept holding on, praying that what little time she could buy was enough to save everyone.

The footsteps behind her quickly became deafening as a hundred people fought for space, and screams rose every time the Selfish propelled something over the wall; the Jikochuu threw large boulders, and Selfish mages bombarded them with their vicious magic, but the Precure down below countered them with their own powers,

And yet, the Selfish did not throw all their strength against them, Reika knew that. If they really wanted to, they could cause great destruction, but they seemed to restrain themselves. They want to turn us into Jikochuu, too.

Often, people would fall down as they ran, but Nozomi was always there to help them up, to urge them to keep going, to tell them they could do it, even when they protested that they were scared. She was trying her very hardest, and Iona too, no doubt, so Reika stood her ground even as the vibrations threatened to bring her down with their violence. Even for her, the cold was becoming unbearable; her hands had gotten purple, and she could see the perfect contour of her veins. Her teeth chattered so wildly that she had trouble answering Bolt and Satellite when they spoke to her, when they said that Iona had made a way out, that the people had begun to run away. They sounded almost triumphant, but when Reika looked behind again, there were still hundreds of people nearby, confused, scared, far from the exit. And cracks had begun to appear on the ice.

The banging on the wall stopped, for a moment. It brought Reika no relief; she knew the Selfish would not give up so easily. Fear swelled up within her.

"T-T-Try to hurry," she managed to say, shivering. "I fear that-"

Something hit the wall again, now with a shockwave so mighty that it almost tore it in two, and sent Reika flying away, collapsing on a bunch of people, knocking everyone down. She struggled to get up, legs trembling, and watched as something stirred within the ice, something powerful trying to pierce through it. Bolt and Satellite stared at it with fearful curiosity.

"Get away!" Reika yelled to anyone who would hear. "Get away, get away, don't stay near the wall, it-"

Bolt and Satellite were the next to be sent across the street as the wall of ice exploded with a great impact, sending shards of ice everywhere. Reika blocked the ones that were about to hurt the populace, and though most of them crashed into insignificant icicles when they hit her, one dug deep into her arm. She screamed as she saw it, but was soon silenced when she saw the Selfish entering through the demolished gate. Bolt and Satellite were also rising in awe-struck silence.

In front of the Selfish and Jikochuu was no ordinary commander, no general of their forces. Princess Regina herself led them, her face bright with smug satisfaction. Her face was fearsome enough, with the way she looked at the people in front of her as if they were less than bugs, and the white bandages that obscured half of her aspect, but what was truly terrifying was the weapon she carried.

Black smoke rose from the tip of her spear. Looking at it filled Reika with fear, though she could not tell where exactly it came from. It's just a spear. Even so, her heart was beating fast to the rhythm of dread, and it took all her strength not to run away.

"Is that…" Bolt seemed just as terrified.

"Yes," said Satellite, her legs shaking. "God preserve us. That's the Glaive."

The Glaive? It wasn't possible. And yet, according to Mana, Ange had been its last wielder… If Ange had been defeated, then the Selfish would surely be happy to claim one of the Sacred Treasures. Reika had no idea of Regina's abilities, but she knew that no one wielding the Miracle Dragon Glaive could be beaten in single combat.

"What… What do we do?" Bolt said, helpless. She avoided Regina's gaze. Or rather, she avoided the Glaive, that dread presence that filled the surroundings.

The princess took a few steps into the ruined district, stepping upon the muddy puddles without a care. The citizens closer to Nozomi were still running away, but the ones directly in front of Regina, on the street that led to the gate, stood paralyzed. She giggled.

"I'm back," she said. "The mice have been very troublesome while the cat was away, haven't they?" There was something very odd about the way she spoke. Reika could not tell if her playful tone was sadism or childishness. That only accentuated the fear, that and the spear, darkness pulsating from its blade, ceaselessly. "Such terrible subjects you are. You should have been at the gates of the White Bridge to greet your princess. Haven't you learned any respect? It was a long, difficult war, and I was looking forward to your cheering."

No one said a thing. Reika tried to look all around for a way out, but the roads were all cramped. She saw Nozomi on the rooftops, where she would shout directions to the people below, but now her gaze fixed upon Regina.

"You know," the princess said casually, greedy eyes focused on the scared populace, "this war has really drained our forces. I brought ten thousand Jikochuu south, and only a hundred remain now. I was told to be careful, not to use up all our resources, but it seems I failed. We have been severely weakened, and my royal father would be furious to hear his army is gone. Luckily," she said, smiling, "today we're having conscriptions."

She pointed her spear at the frozen citizens; the dark light enveloping its blade grew darker, and the lights coming from the Orbs of Lux were all devoured by it. A thick beam burst from it, and Reika leapt away immediately, jumping towards the rooftops, where she landed by Nozomi's side, while Bolt and Satellite jumped away from the darkness.

The others, though, were not so lucky. The black enveloped her bodies, and when it died down and the lights were shining again, all the people on the street had blank look on their face, and their chests grew hollow; from within them came out Psyches, hundreds of them, their wings making a painful cacophony as they flickered. Regina said some words and, all at once, the Psyches were filled with darkness, and dark smoke came from them. When it receded, the streets were filled with Jikochuu of all sorts. Vultures took flight, squawking, flying in arcs overhead, ready to strike, simply awaiting the order of the Selfish.

"Finish this quickly," said Regina to the man next to her. He wore the uniform of the Selfish, but his demeanor indicated that he had risen high among their ranks. "I want to go home soon."

He nodded, and gave the order for the Jikochuu to strike.

Someone screamed out "run!", but that of course was entirely unnecessary. As soon as the Jikochuu began moving, madness reigned and kindness was soon forgotten as the people overflowing the streets fought one another in search of space, trying to stay away from the invading Selfish. Nozomi and Reika tried to bring back some order, but it was too late. Even the Precure had abandoned their duty and joined the despairing masses. Bolt and Satellite, still staggering, tried to maintain some peace, but they too were not very successful.

Iona stepped up to them, leaping from a distant building in a long jump. She was clutching at her chest, out of breath. She was about to ask what had happened, but she only needed a glance to understand.

"We are screwed, aren't we?"

"Oh, yes," said Reika. "Most certainly. How are things at the northern walls?"

"The people are starting to get out," she said, "but this place is packed, and it's hard to get everyone to cooperate."

"You two," Reika shouted to Bolt and Satellite, below them. "Can you take care of the evacuation?"

"Yes, but-"

"Good," she said. The two Wonderful Net Cures made their voices be heard by all, showing everyone the best path to reach the exit, and making sure no one got hurt. They were hurt, but still full of strength. Reika knew she could count on them.

And she knew she could count on the two girls next to her. Iona's eyes widened with shock as she saw the wound on Beauty's arm, but Reika tried to shrug it off. She had greater worries now.

"Come on," she said. "A few minutes. That's all we need. Then we get out of here, too."

"No problem," said Nozomi, confident. Reika had no idea where such certainty came from, but it was intoxicating. She only felt this way when she was with all her friends, all together, and yet… Somehow the feeling was more intense, now. "I hope you can keep up, Iona."

"Keep up?" She smiled. This was not the Iona that had once hated them as they made their way to Cure Egret. No, it wasn't even the Iona of few days ago, before they even reached Trump. "I'm the one who should be saying that."

They jumped off the rooftops, falling on the dirty cobble of the streets, making dust rise and spread all over. I am not the same person I was, either, she realized, for good or ill. Frost covered her heart, but now it made her stronger. Ice kissed her palms, gently now, as she invoked her frozen sword. She thought of Akane. I will save you. I will save everyone. Not now, but I will come back for you. I will, I will, I will!

She lunged and slashed at the first Jikochuu to come close, chopping the beast in half; a vulture swooped down to peck at her, but as it neared Beauty's eyes, Fortune was already airborne, her leg hitting the bird on its gaunt chest, propelling it towards the other Jikochuu. As she fell towards the muddy path, an ape-like beast was striking at her with a huge fist, but Dream caught her on her arms before she hit the ground, and protected her from the Jikochuu's fierce blows. Then, Iona was on the move again, whirling around too quickly to be hit by any of their foes, always with Nozomi by her side, watching her back and driving away anyone who approached her.

From above came heavy gusts, brought by the incessant flapping of the vultures' wings. They were seeking the escapees, Reika realized. She let go of her sword, laying it down on the ground, and chose her bow instead, though as she had neither time nor focus to strengthen her magic, its limbs were thin, and melting. But it was enough for her purposes.

She retreated behind Nozomi and Iona, and let loose ice-tipped arrows. Even with their bodies pierced, the Jikochuu did not relent, insisting on giving chase, but the frost spreading through their bodies brought them down with their weight. Whenever they crashed to the ground, their wings twisting apart, startled yelps came from the running populace, but they kept running away, following Bolt and Satellite. Just a few minutes. Just a few more…

The moments dragged on, though in no way at all it felt slow: the Jikochuu were all in great rush, faster than one would expect for creatures of their size, and Reika could not afford to miss a single shot, yet she could also not afford to take the time to aim. Her fingers ached from the repetitive motion of nocking her arrows against the bow's thin and frail string. She had to do it quickly yet carefully: she was quite well practiced in conjuring her weapons with her magic, but she had never needed to do it so hurriedly, such a poor job. She could feel the bow melting away on her hand, cold water seeping through her fingers. Beauty could no longer see Bolt and Satellite, and the people they escorted, but she could still hear them, and knew they were not too distant yet. How much longer do we need to last?

Dream and Fortune, too, struggled. A great mass of Jikochuu tried to make their way past the two, but were all held back. Nozomi and Iona now fought together at a perfect choke point, the entrance to a street that was little more than a sloppy alley, with Reika right behind them, but it was only a matter of time until other Selfish found an alternate route. And if they were caught from behind…

We won't stay here long enough for that to happen, she told herself, hopeful. She rarely looked back at Fortune, at Dream, as she knew she could trust them to do their job as she did her own, but ever so often she would take a peek at them, out of concern, and each time she did so, they were bleeding from a different spot. Reika had to fight back the urge to make a stand by their side, as she had to stop the winged Jikochuu from threatening the evacuation. Her heart pounded as if being hammered, and hurt just as much, not just from the stress but from the strain of fighting all day, of relying so much on her magic: it was one thing to conjure enough ice to make a sword, but to create a hundred arrows was much more demanding. Magic had been far stronger and effortless when the stars still shone, but now all that Reika had was a lone light, and her own strength. They are not enough.

The string was torn apart as she let loose one last arrow at the last Jikochuu. It snapped on her face, hitting her right underneath the eye, cutting open the skin. The arrow missed its mark, by far, and the rest of the bow melted away. The vulture was so close to the populace now, swooping down. I will not fail. She took the sword next to her feet, and chucked it in the general direction of the Jikochuu but, of course, it missed. A surge of lightning illuminated the distance, and a long forked bolt streamed upwards, striking it. Yes, that's right. Bolt and Satellite are fighting too. The Jikochuu burst into black tatters, and its Psyche sought out its body, but Reika knew that was no comfort. Regina would just corrupt them again.

Reika let out a long sigh, though she knew she could not allow herself even that, not now. She turned to her two companions, still fighting together. The Selfish gave them a moment of respite, calling away their Jikochuu. Only a moment, of course, but to them, that was more than they ever expected.

The princess walked out from amidst the Selfish, with two men by her side; one, a scrawny-looking man in a cheap, ugly suit, and a top hat that awkwardly hung over his head and seemed about to fall. The other, a portly man who always kept his mouth open, though he said nothing, revealing teeth filed into fangs. It was his strong arms that scared Reika, though, those long, heavy things.

"Now you three," she said in the tone one would use to a friend, "you are strong! Wow! You're making my soldiers look like complete losers! Then again, I guess that's what I get when I use the Psyches of starving bums… Maybe you'd be more adequate Jikochuu, hm?" She waited for an answer that never came. When she realized that, she pointed the Glaive at them, and Reika felt her knees shake. "Stop ignoring me!" Her anger was that of a child who couldn't get what she wanted. She scratched the bandages on her face. "Fine. Leva, Gula. You two have been dead weight for a while. Deal with them or you're the ones who'll taste the Glaive."

Their faces betrayed no hint that they felt threatened, but they did as they were told, anyway. Fortune and Dream took on fighting stances, again, but Reika just grabbed them by the collars and dragged them away. Look at you! It's madness to keep fighting! They seemed to realize her thoughts, and continued to run.

They were not fast enough, however; their bodies had grown tired, weakened, while the Selfish on their trail were still eager, agile. They were right behind. Reika knew there was no outrunning them.

"Hold on to me," said Nozomi, her voice panicky. "Now! Just do it!"

Reika put her arm around Nozomi, and Iona held her with both hands in a tight embrace that reached Beauty. They stood still as the Selfish drew nearer, but, oddly, Reika felt no fear at all. She felt at ease, being so close to Nozomi. Reika trusted her; she knew what she was doing, so how could she be afraid?

"Shooting Star!"

The world disappeared, and the wind devoured Trump, the Selfish, everything. So many colors mixed together, whirling in long lines tinted a soft pink. A moment later, Reika could see again, the broken down buildings near the walls, now shattered into splinters. Everything was spinning. When she looked at her friends, they too looked dizzy, Nozomi most of all. She could not see the Selfish anymore when they looked behind, only a line of razed houses where they had passed.

"Good job," Reika meant to say to Nozomi, but her words came out a confused murmur. She walked out through the fallen walls, where hundreds of people gathered.

Satellite rushed out to meet them, while Bolt was giving out directions to the populace. She was smiling. It made Reika feel almost safe, though she knew there was no safety in this damned city.

"You made it. We got everyone out, thanks to you."

"What are you going to do now?" Asked Nozomi. She had to repeat herself before she was understood.

"Disperse," she said. "You'll tell us to come with us, but… Well, with Regina back, the people of Trump will need us more than ever."

"I understand," said Reika. Her head hurt too much for her to argue. "We all need to hurry, then. Our fighting is far from over."

"Right," she nodded enthusiastically. "We're telling the people to just scatter around Trump, where they won't be targeted," Reika took another look, and saw the group had begun to divide, pouring into Trump. "So that's it. We'll be going too, so… Goodbye to you all. I hope we can meet again, but, well, that does not seem all that likely."

Reika agreed silently, trying to compose herself. She had wounds all over her body. It hurt so much, now that the fighting was done, if only for a moment. As soon as Satellite was gone, blending into the night's darkness, Beauty fell to her knees, closed her eyes, and let out a long, agonized cry. She was not one to do so, and no doubt Iona and Nozomi would be surprised, but she had to do it. She had to let out all her frustrations, her fears, her anger and her pain, all out in a scream. Akane had told her that it was cleansing. Reika couldn't remember when it was that Sunny had said that, but she was wrong. It did not make her feel better at all. The feeling of loss and failure refused to let go of her.

Failure. Yes, this was all just a failure. Everyone was counting on me, and I failed everyone. The shame of returning to the Phoenix Tower empty-handed, with news that things were worse than when they set out nibbled at her heart, in short but painful stings of pain. All the confidence that had gotten her through the fighting was gone, now. I failed Akane, too.

At last, Reika got up. She could barely stand, yet she had to. The Selfish would get there, soon, even if they searched the slums for them, first. She was not done, not yet, she had not been defeated.

"Let's get out of here," she said. "Black and White must be at the palace, with Heart and Sword, if they managed to free Mana's friend. Rikka and Yuri will be there, too. If we are lucky and set out now, we can, perhaps, get there before the Selfish do."

And if we don't, we're doomed, we and all the others, and the last hopes of the Precure, were the words she left unspoken, but all too clear.

"Then what?" Asked Iona. Reika didn't have a confident answer to that, only guesses.

"Then we find a way out," she said, simply. "The palace is right by the Amethyst Sea. With luck, we'll find boats so we all can leave."

"With luck," Iona scoffed. "The palace is also right by the Selfish King himself, you know."

"Are you saying we should just abandon everyone?" Nozomi asked.

"Of course not!" Iona was defensive. "Look, we have almost no time. Things have gotten quite out of hand for us, and we have no way of knowing that the others are doing much better. If Heart is lingering at the Swordspire, if one of them isn't there, and we have no way to wait for them… What do we do? Do we leave without them, then?"

"Well, Reika said as she started walking, "I suppose that's what Nagisa meant when she spoke of hard choices we must make."

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So that was a pretty bad delay. I hope it was worth the wait, though! Also, I'm pretty sure there won't be any other chapters this long, haha...