Though Hosshiwa had guided them across the land without a moment of silence, always commenting - and usually complaining - about everything on her path, when Yuko and Hime finally reached the immense plains wherein General Oresky's countless Choiarks had gathered in extensive camps, Hosshiwa had finally grown silent, and had taken to only sighing and mouthing complaints that she never gave voice to.

It was like she did not want to be there, for which Yuko could not blame her at all, as she herself would rather be anywhere else. This had wrong written all over it. An order from Mirage, however, could not be lightly refused, so once Nagisa had handed Yuko and Hime her letter, their path had been decided. As she overlooked the army of the Choiark from the distance, Yuko asked Hime for the letter again.

Princess handed it to her, still neatly-folded and pristine, despite being read by Hime over and over. The rose seal was broken, but the marks of its wax remained. The seal wasn't even necessary, in truth: Mirage's handwriting was distinctive enough that Yuko could never mistake it for anyone else's. Again she reread the letter, as if hoping that there was something she missed.

For the eyes of Princess Himelda, the very first words said, even though Hime had absolutely no problem with reading the rest of the letter alongside Yuko.

You are likely aware by now, but the Precure who have returned from Trump have brought us greatly worrisome news. Not all of it is a surprise to us: that the Selfish still fester in Trump and that the Bad End Kingdom has a tight grip on Märchenland, we already knew, even if the extent was still beyond our knowledge.

What was a shock, however, was learning of the continued existence of the accursed Blue Rose. They are still far from regaining their full strength, from what I've been told by Cures Black and White, but I will not afford them the chance to grow. Throughout history, when given the chance, fools have always flocked under the banner of the Blue Rose. I will not give them the chance this time.

I will need your help for this, however. The affairs of the Red Rose keep me busy. You, however, are in the perfect position to help our beloved Rose, the Rose which has always been close to the Blue Sky Kingdom, even though it offered no help during the Axia Crisis.

Forgive me for sounding cynical and manipulative, but as princess and future queen of one of the oldest realms in our world, your support and hard work would grant my project of vanquishing the Blue Rose some much-needed legitimacy. My hatred of the fallen Rose is well known; even though this project is entirely necessary, I cannot risk being seen as if I am using the Red Rose and its resources to further my own goals. I am not willing to risk a schism in our ranks. We ought to remain united in these trying times, so if you take the mantle of leader of this campaign against the remnants of the Blue Rose, you would be doing the Precure a great favor, one that I cannot describe. The Red Rose has been good to you in the past, I must remind you. It has helped you with your training, and ensured that a place in our ranks would be guaranteed to someone of your station.

"I hate this," Hime had told Yuko when they first read the letter. "She makes it sound like the only reason the Red Rose accepted me as a Precure is because of my blood. Because of who my parents are."

"I'm sure she didn't mean it that way," Yuko tried to calm her down. "It's easy for things to come off as wrong and insensitive when written down so formally. Keep reading."

Though we do not know the location of the remnants of the Blue Rose, they will, sooner or later, reveal themselves, I have no doubt. The biggest concern is our lack of Precure to seek the false Rose's hideouts, and to destroy them. I do not judge it wise to spread ourselves too thin trying to stop the bleeding of wounds like the Blue Rose. However, any time we waste is time that the remnants can use to gather support of the remaining populace through deceit. In a starless night, all roses look the same, or so the saying goes.

But I will take measures to prevent the blooming of the Blue Rose and, at the same time, contain the advance of our foes. Some may call these actions overbearing, but with your support, I have no doubt that they will be accepted.

"So, she's gonna do something bad and will have us take the blame?" Hime asked.

Yuko couldn't think of a way to twist those words into something kinder, so she just nodded and told Hime to proceed. The princess was getting uneasy by then, but there was no running away from this.

You may be aware of the mercenary captain calling himself General Oresky, and his legion of odd beings called the Choiarks. I must have him by my side, not only so that our Rose can count upon his resources, but also to prevent any of our enemies to enlist him. I'm all too aware of the dubious morality of doing so, of simply setting them loose to hunt down the members of the Blue Rose, but if you are the one leading this mission, then I am sure that you will stop whatever excesses a band of mercenaries could perform. You are a good person, Hime, and that, in the end, is why I feel so confident in entrusting this to you.

Shamefully, however, I have no idea of General Oresky's whereabouts. For a brash man with a large army under his command, he is surprisingly difficult to find. So I must burden you with this as well. Locate General Oresky and negotiate with him so that we can put an end to this Rose before we must dread its thorns.

It seemed almost fortuitous how Hosshiwa had arrived so soon before they received the letter and had so conveniently mentioned her dealings with this so-called General Oresky. Still, when the two of them thought about it, Hime and Yuko couldn't come up with any reason for why this could be foul play and not merely a coincidence. And though the methods proposed were not entirely agreeable, Mirage had proved herself worthy of trust again and again with the way she steered the Red Rose to safety, so Princess and Honey smothered their fears and decided to do as they were asked. Even if the threat of the Blue Rose was overblown (and that was a very real possibility), there was no denying that just staying in Last Light and the Phoenix Tower and waiting for things to get better would not be a good idea for long.

Convincing Hosshiwa to take them to Oresky was surprisingly easy: though she played coy at first, it soon became clear that she was doing so only to try and get the princess of the Blue Sky Kingdom to beg. The notion seemed very appealing to Hosshiwa, but as soon as Hime made it clear that she would not do so, she decided to agree, swearing that she did so out of the kindness of her heart.

The three girls set out the next morning, accompanied by a host of Choiarks who carried their (mostly Hosshiwa's, in truth) belongings. Yuko found it hard to understand why someone would need so many things, but kept her mouth shut so as not to question the girl who was offering them her time like this. She bid goodbye to Kanade and Seika first, and promised that when she returned, she would cook in their places for a whole month to make up for leaving. They only laughed, and promised it as okay, but, still, Yuko felt a pang of guilt for not being able to help.

And so, they followed Hosshiwa as she took them north, then east, then south, then back north as she realized that they took the wrong turn at a crossroads, wasting almost an entire day. The Choiarks seemed tireless, but Hosshiwa insisted on resting as often as possible, and always had her helpers carry a chair for her to plump into whenever she felt exhausted, which was once an hour, at the very least.

It soon seemed as if north was the right way all along, as their journey took them to the very south of the Blue Sky Kingdom, on the divide between Hime and Yuko's home and the neutral lands held by the Precure. They were still weeks away from the capital, their true home and the northernmost point in the continent, its shores lapped by the Crystal Ocean. Still, realizing that she had returned to the Blue Sky Kingdom, even if only to its outskirts, filled Yuko with a faint sense of longing.

Once Hosshiwa remembered the way, reaching their destination was easy enough. As they approached Oresky's camp and the tops of its numerous tents became visible in the distance, they began to notice the commotion and constant movement of Choiarks all around, not only in their encampment but also in the nearby woods and streams, wherein they gathered lumber and fished. Though the forests seemed engulfed by sinister mists that betrayed the same darkness that fell upon all nature and the rivers took unnatural, sickly colors, the Choiark did not seem at all bothered by the taints upon the world. Yuko found that more than passing odd, but she kept the doubts to herself. She decided to just mention it to Mirage when she had the chance.

When at last they reached Oresky's army, the Choiarks turned to stare at them in confusion, even hostility, but when they noticed Hosshiwa's presence, they calmed down and went on their duties. For the first time, then, Yuko felt glad to have Hosshiwa with them, if only because it helped them avoid any possible confrontation or questions. Hosshiwa's finger pointed them towards a great tent in the center of the camp, and at once Honey understood that they would find Oresky there.

Beneath the sky thick with clouds the masses of the Choiark extended ever onwards, seemingly unending. Their numbers were almost terrifying, but odder still was their incomprehensible nature. They were not human, that was clear, but the Choiark back at Last Light never spoke any words that Yuko had been capable of understanding. She couldn't tell for sure whether or not they could not speak her language, or if they were unwilling to do so. Regardless of what it was, it made them difficult to approach, and impossible to trust. Yuko really hoped that Mirage understood what she was doing.

Oresky's pavilion cast a large shadow, and the tent itself practically yelled "look at me": its ornate structure was painted in countless colors and adorned by all manner of symbols: dragons in gold, bats in grey, eyes in red, clouds in white. It aimed to impress, but Yuko found it little more than tacky. It certainly didn't paint a kind picture of what sort of person this General Oresky might be.

Yuko was the first to enter, and it seemed to give Hime the courage to follow her. The tent was lit mostly by torches and the occasional Orb of Lux that Yuko was certain had been stolen. Treasures lay in piles all around, scattered in disarray. If it was meant to look glorious and impressive, then it failed; to Yuko, it looked just like a hideous, careless mess.

In the midst of the pavilion, seated by a large painted table, was General Oresky. Dressed in military garb, he almost looked imposing, but when he lifted his face to look at his visitors and not at his maps, his eyes seemed entirely devoid of confidence, somehow. When he began to speak, however, and his voice thundered, seemingly rumbling the tent with words filled with enthusiasm, he more than made up for that.

"What do you think you are doing here?" He said, pointing dramatically. "Why have the Choiarks not stopped you? This is-"

"Shut up, Oresky," said Hosshiwa. Her indifference only seemed to make him raise his volume even further.

"You are to call me General Oresky, you little-"

"You're not a general," she said with a smile that made it clear that she was - or, at least, she thought that she was - in control. "All the badges you got were of your own making, Oresky. Is that a new one, the purple?" Oresky hid it with a hand, flustered. "I think I have given you the money to get that one, so in a way I own it."

"W-What is your business here?" He deflected the subject with haste, if not with tact. "These girls… Is this-"

"Yes," said Hime. Yuko knew there was no hiding it, but wished that Hime would not have to reveal her identity and station. "I'm Princess Himelda, heiress to the throne of the Blue Sky Kingdom."

"Princess?" He smiled. "Don't you mean queen?"

"I know what I meant," she said, firm. Yuko sighed in relief, glad to see Hime standing up for herself.

"Then what is your business here, princess? Last I saw, you don't have a kingdom."

"She is here on behalf of the Red Rose," said Hosshiwa. Hime could have certainly explained that on her own, so Yuko found the interruption needlessly rude.

"Ah, so this is what it is…" Greed made him smile. "I will need some more information, however. I have to know what I'm getting into."

Hime and Yuko, together, explained as much as they could to Oresky, making sure not to reveal too much. The general tried to grasp the number of the Precure in the Phoenix Tower, but the two Precure did not reveal that. They also concealed the existence of the Blue Rose; though Hime almost mentioned it, Yuko quickly cut in and said something vague instead, that they meant to fight enemies. Oresky seemed suspicious, just like Hosshiwa, but they didn't question them. They must have understood that they would be unable to get a peep from Honey and Princess.

"I see," Oresky said when Hime and Yuko had finished their tale. "Perhaps I should thank Hosshiwa for the exposure, hm? What with her bringing you to me. Anyways, I'm certain we can find a happy agreement for all of us. I have the army that the Red Rose needs to deal with its… Enemies, and you… What do you have to offer to me?"

Hime gave Hosshiwa a pleading look, and the woman's eyes began to twitch. It had become exceedingly clear to Yuko during their journey that Hosshiwa's generous demeanor was only a lie.

"Really?" Hosshiwa asked. "Fine. But you'd better tell Mirage how much I helped you," she said, then turned to Oresky again. "I still have my absurd amounts of money. Actual currency probably won't do you much good, but there's still the gold, and-"

"If that is all you can offer me, then I'm sure I could find a better deal elsewhere. The Selfish or the Bad End Kingdom don't seem to be doing too well, so they might need my services. You'll need something better than that if you want me on your side. Perhaps…"

"Do you have anything in mind?" Yuko asked. Again she saw the greed in his eyes, and it disturbed her.

"You," he spoke to Hime, "princess of the Blue Sky Kingdom… You understand that choosing to back the Red Rose is a great risk, what with the state of the world and the strength of all of the enemies of the Precure. So it must be worth my while, and you can offer me something I desire."

"Which is?"

"A pardon," said Oresky. "Permission to return to the Blue Sky Kingdom, when it is restored in case of the Red Rose's triumph. I must be made a general, of course, we can't forget that, and I want a title of nobility. A high-ranking one. A duchy, perhaps."

"There are no dukes in the Blue Sky Kingdom," said Hime, but that didn't seem to faze Oresky.

"Ah, so it would be only fitting for me to be the first. Those are my terms, then, Princes Himelda. I recommend you do not delay in your decision. I may become busy very soon, and you will regret passing on the opportunity, as well as-"

"I accept your terms," Hime said, suddenly. Yuko did not find it wise; she felt like there was still some room to haggle. Still, the princess of the Blue Sky Kingdom was probably not too used to doing such a thing, understandably.

"G-Good!" Even Oresky seemed surprised at how easy it had been to get her agreement. "I, uh, I should get a contract then, and-"

"Oh, stop lying," said Hosshiwa. "You don't even have real contracts. Why, I don't think you are even literate."

"Quiet," he blurted out, and Hosshiwa only laughed in response. "I'll need to talk to you about the money, too."

"Ah, right," she said, then sighed. "I am not parting with a single coin past what is absolutely necessary, though. You know that."

"Right, right," he said, snapping his fingers at one of his Choiarks, who quickly returned carrying a heavy book. A ledger, Yuko recognized, having seen one like that in her family's restaurant, but this one was much bigger and unnecessarily ornate. "I do have operational costs, though, and the Choiarks won't march if they are not satisfied, and-"

"You two," Hosshiwa suddenly turned to them. "Perhaps you might want to go outside. This man and I will probably be here a while."

That was not a very subtle way of telling Hime and Yuko that they were unwanted there, but the two were quick to agree that they did not wish to be there in the first place. As such, they left just as Oresky began to mention an infinitude of numbers while Hosshiwa yawned in an infuriatingly fake and loud manner.

Outside the pavilion, the Choiarks regarded them with curiosity, their eyes shrinking and swelling, directed at the Precure. Though Yuko was weary of them when they first arrived at Last Light, she now found them almost cute, in their own strange way. She had a hard time telling them apart in the beginning, but eventually she learned that the Choiarks of Last Light did have a few differences; their appearances were nearly identical, true, but they all carried themselves in their own way, and even though Yuko did not know their names - or if they even felt the need to have names - she could tell each one apart from all the others.

She had never seen so many of them so close together, though. It was quite uncanny to see hundreds of Choiarks, nearly perfectly similar, all in the same place. Some minutes later the Choiark had returned to their affairs, as if the novelty of the two Precure in their camp had worn out. Hime looked very thankful that no one was staring at her, and leaned against Yuko as the two of them sat down by a tree.

"Do you think it's wise, Hime?" Yuko asked after a moment.

"Hm?"

"To give Oresky what he wants. There's a reason he was removed from the Blue Sky Kingdom's army and exiled. Laughable as he is, he is not a very good man."

"I know that," said Hime. "I'm not gonna give him what he wants. His position in the army, his stupid duchy, he's not getting anything. I just told him that so that he would help us."

"Oh, I see," that caught Yuko off guard. "I did not think you were lying. You do not strike me as the sort of person who would do that."

"I have lied before, Yuko," Hime said with a strange emphasis that Yuko nearly questioned, but before she could, her princess was already moving on. "We're doing the right thing, aren't we? This is what the Red Rose needs, Mirage told us. This doesn't really feel right, though."

"Well," said Yuko, "sometimes the right path can feel wrong. The best decisions are not always the ones that seem good at first, or easy. I would know," she thought back on her parents' decision to quit their day jobs so that they could focus on their own business. "If the right choices always felt simple, or pleasant, then why would people do wrong things? Things are not that easy, Hime."

"Ah," she said, looking down at her own feet, avoiding Yuko's eyes. "You… You must be right. But even so… Even so I really wish it were easy…"

Yuko tried to take her hand, but Princess refused, and just looked away, silent. Honey would say something, but Hime's quivering eyes showed that right now, words would do little good. Something troubled her, and if it was something that she could not tell even Yuko, then it truly had to hurt. Cure Honey listened to her own words, then, and gave Hime space and silence, even though it felt wrong, even though her heart urged her to keep pushing, to intrude. Yuko trusted her own heart, but, as with everything else, not entirely.

When Hime looked at her again, Yuko only smiled. Perhaps she could do more, but she did not think that Hime needed more. In a time of doubt for her like that, perhaps all she needed was not to be told what to do, to have everyone comment on her choices, but simply to have someone by her side supporting her. In that moment, Yuko swore she would always be that person.


The blades crashed against one another, shrieking as they met together in constant parries and clashes. Reika's began to crack, its ice rent as it hit Makoto's Holy Sword. Beauty's legs hurt, bruised and strained, for even though the two Precure used weapons without edges, fit for practice, they still had weight, and when they struck, they hurt badly.

Their swords locked in a long standstill, with neither Sword nor Beauty willing to step away and risk a quick lunge from their foe, ending their duel. And then, just as Reika knew what to do, Makoto proved herself just as quick-witted; she pushed Reika's blade away, parried the counter-attack by sweeping her sword upwards, catching Reika's, and pointed her weapon at Reika's chest, its blunted tip touching Reika's body. Then, with the result decided, the two of them let of their weapons. Reika's melted away as it fell, and Makoto's turned into soft wisps of light.

Makoto looked on ahead, in the direction Nozomi and Iona had gone for their scouting, but Reika knew it would still take a while for them to return. As they awaited, she and Makoto had decided to resume their spars, which had been interrupted when they left Last Light. As Makoto drank water from her bottle, Reika summoned another sword. Her palms were so sore that she barely felt the cold, so sweaty that the handle nearly slipped, but she held on to it, and called for Makoto's attention.

"Again?" Cure Sword asked. Reika nodded. "Alright. It won't end much differently, though."

"It will," said Reika. Makoto meant no offense, but Beauty wanted to prove her wrong all the same.

They took their positions, just a few meters away from one another. Reika took the first step, and Makoto walked back in response. Beauty knew that Sword would wait for her to strike. She had to be decisive, or else the counterstrike would be swift and she would almost certainly be unable to parry. Beauty watched how Makoto reacted to her movement. If she fought the way Makoto wanted, Cure Sword would win. A feint would not surprise her, and even when she tried to strike at Makoto repeatedly until she found an opening, the chance never came.

So she had to finish it quickly. She spun the ball of her foot to the side, sliding to the side of Cure Sword, weapon pointed at her, and lunged.

Makoto parried; in response she tried to stab Beauty's stomach, but she lowered her weapon just in time to block the attack. She leapt back to avoid Makoto's next strike, staying just out of reach. But Sword was too fast; soon she was at Beauty again, bringing down the blade with both hands. Though Reika's sword met Makoto's, her opponent struck with such force that Reika fell to the ground, and her sword landed next to her. Makoto pointed hers at Reika's throat. Reika clenched her fist, tearing off some of the grass where she collapsed.

"You were right," said Reika, grabbing Makoto's hand, who helped her up. "It did not change anything. I had no chance. I guess there's a reason you're called Cure Sword."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," how can I not be? "If you could use your magic, I'm sure we would be evenly matched. Hell, I wouldn't bet on myself winning. Not that we'd fight, mind you. Why do you feel like you have something to prove?"

"I have to be strong," Reika admitted. "I have to be for when I reach Märchenland. If we must fight when we get there, then I cannot afford to lose. I can't."

"Reika…" She did not want to look into Makoto's eyes, for fear of seeing pity there, but what she saw was more heartfelt. It made her feel better, but only a little. "You won't be alone at Märchenland, you know. No matter what, we'll be by your side. Nozomi, Iona, Yayoi… And myself as well, of course. We haven't known each other for that long, but, well… I can call you friend, right?"

"Of course you can," she said, and sighed. "I know I won't be on my own. But I'm afraid. I lost Akane at Trump, because I was too weak to do anything to help her. I…"

She said no more. She didn't want to lay all her burdens on Makoto. She was a friend, yes, but even so, to Reika it felt wrong to confide to anyone other than Yayoi and Nozomi.

"Why would you take the blame for that the Selfish did?" Makoto asked. Reika didn't answer. "If you want, we can keep training."

"I do want that. I was proud of my skill, but you… You are amazing, Makoto. I feel like I have so much to learn from you."

"You flatter me," she said. Reika wondered how Sword looked like when it was Marie Ange who praised her. It was difficult to imagine Makoto blushing. "Truth is, I really only have one important technique," Reika urged her on. "This might sound odd to you, but… You have a rhythm."

"What?"

"When you fight. You have a rhythm in your movements, in the way you swing your sword. After all the times we sparred, it became easy to understand it."

"A rhythm? Am I predictable, then?"

"I wouldn't say it's exactly that… See, I told you it's odd. To me it's natural to turn your movements and fighting style into song, in my head. It's not perfect, of course. It's slow, as I need time to understand my enemy. But it's there. Everyone has a rhythm, a melody. If you understand it, you can't lose."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Reika. Makoto smiled, and picked up Reika's sword by her feet, then gave it to Beauty.

"Shall we keep going?" Makoto asked.

Reika wiped the sweat off her brow, shielding her eyes from the sun. She looked into the distance one more time, and could see two little dots in the distant plains, their pink and purple easily distinguishable from the white of snows. Dream and Fortune were returning, and soon it would be time to continue their march to Morgenluft. To Miyuki, to Candy, to all that had been lost. Reika could not lose, would not lose, not once she got there.

She stepped up towards Makoto again, sword in hand, trying to understand what a person's rhythm even could be. It did not matter, in the end. She just had to be strong enough to save her home, skilled enough, smart enough. Each step she took towards Makoto was answered with a step back from Sword. Was there a rhythm in that? She could not tell, but she had to do something. Reika lunged against Makoto, springing herself with the tips of her toes, reaching her in a long leap. When she saw the sparkling sword rise to deflect her blow, Reika knew that, once again, Makoto would predict her move, would defeat her, so with nothing to lose, she brought her sword down with all her strength.

And Makoto's blade shattered. With a breaking sound, it became countless points of light, and then they faded. Frost dripped into Makoto's body in cold droplets as the tip of Reika's sword poked at her chest. Makoto smiled, proud, but Beauty's face showed nothing as she tried to understand what it was that had made her feel so strong just now. And then she realized what it was.

It was her frustration, her anger, everything that she had buried inside her, all the fears that had been growing since she started the journey to Morgenluft. Reika didn't know if it was wise, or even if it was healthy, but if that was the way she could find the strength to save her home, well, that was a price she was very willing to pay.

Reika made sure to greet Nozomi and Iona with a smile when they arrived, but they could not do the same, for the news they brought were not too encouraging. They had sighted a band of soldiers from the Bad End Kingdom scouring the plains ahead; the area was far too flat and barren for them to be able to hide, so it was soon decided that they would have to take a detour towards the ancient forest sooner than they expected.

"I don't like this," Reika said, when everyone had gathered to hear their next move. "I don't know all of the woods, only the road to Morgenluft. I didn't expect it to be unprotected, but I had hoped that we would be able to drift away closer to the main road."

"It'll be hard for us to find our way like this," Yayoi reinforced her point. "It's a huge forest, and straying from its main road will surely get us lost."

"But following the road could get us killed," said Reika. "Iona, Nozomi. Do you think there's a chance we can fight our way through?"

"A chance? There's always a chance," said Nozomi. "But if you're asking how likely it is… Doesn't seem too smart to me."

"Right," Iona agreed. "They've got a pretty good position out there, right at the main road. Sneaking past them is not a real option. The plains are way too open for that. Fighting them…" She seemed to be considering it, but Reika did not know if that meant she should feel hopeful. "Ah, I don't know. They'll see us approaching for sure, they'll be able to prepare. Our numbers are pretty good, since all of us but the fairies are Pretty Cure, but…"

"But?"

"We can win, yeah," said Iona, "but the odds of all of us escaping unscathed don't seem very good. Perhaps if-"

"We're not doing it, then," Reika declared, forceful. "No one is getting hurt, no one is sacrificing themselves, do you understand? We're not losing anyone this time. Not this time, damn it."

"Reika…" Nozomi stepped closer, and Beauty allowed her to take her hand. Nozomi's was strangely warm, despite the cold winds blowing around them.

"We never thought it would be easy, convenient, or that it would go according to plan," she said. "We turn east now, then. Afterwards we try to find our way in the woods, and the path to Morgenluft."

"The Fairy Lights will guide us," said Yayoi. She had the utmost faith in that, just as Reika did, even if the others wouldn't understand. They were not from Märchenland, after all. They knew they could trust the Lights.

"The forest can't be that dangerous, either," Coco spoke out. "The magic of the fairies should keep most evils at bay. The fairies of Märchenland always worked a stronger magic than the ones around the rest of the world."

It was decided, then, even if no one necessarily liked it too much. Nagisa and Honoka counted their supplies once more, making certain that they'd have enough for their trip that had suddenly become longer, and they seemed satisfied with what they saw, and confident. Reika wished she could feel some of that confidence. Even thinking of how she finally bested Cure Sword did her little good. It was one time, one out of dozens. When fighting the Bad End Kingdom at Märchenland, she could not count on chance. She remembered when she still fought alongside all of her friends, when things were so much simpler. She remembered Joker, the fiercest of the generals of the Bad End Kingdom, whom she had twice engaged in bitter duel, and twice their battles had ended inconclusively. He would be waiting at Morgenluft, Reika had no doubt of that, and she would have to be stronger than she was when she fought him before.

Those times, she had only risked her life. Now, it felt like much more was at stake.


Rikka squinted to try and read the words upon the old, dusty book in her hands, turning its pages with utmost care so that it would not fall apart in on her hands. It was no light reading: on the leather of its cover, words written in gold spelled out Histories of the Blue Rose. Though its oldness smelled so strongly that Rikka could not stop sneezing, constantly requiring Raquel to bring her tissues, she was ecstatic at the prospect of finally learning the old lore of the Blue Rose, knowledge she would have been denied by the REd Rose.

It took a great effort to read on, however, to understand the book's archaic prose and meandering sentences that went on for whole pages without pause. The difficulty frustrated her: she always enjoyed the challenge of learning, but so far all she had done was struggle to understand the author's introduction. It was dense, unbearably so, so despite all her knowledge, Rikka feared that perhaps this was simply above her. Still she went on, telling herself that if Aguri had figured it out, she could, too.

Then again, Aguri was half of Marie Ange, and from what Rikka had seen and heard of Regina, it certainly seemed that Aguri was the gentler and wiser half of the princess, the half that had helped Rikka sneak into the Relic Atheneum, the hidden library of the royal palace of Trump. Ange had even told her which books were the most interesting, and showed her some of the relics of the kingdom. Rikka could see Ange's kindness in Aguri, sometimes.

She wondered if it was wrong of her to think so, to think of Aguri as Ange when she was her own person. Sometimes it was hard, though, so she understood why it was that sometimes Cure Ace sought isolation. Having one's own identity so uncertain and so torn had to be difficult.

For the past hour, Rikka had heard no sound but that of the pages turning, so when the temple was filled with the noise of windows being violently opened, she had to hold back a yelp of startlement. It was deep into the night, so she kept hers closed. For a second she wondered what it could be, but decided it was likely nothing and chose to focus on the book instead. Not even a minute later, though, her concentration was again broken by loud footsteps upon the wooden floor.

She reached for the door, but before she could do so, it was already opening, and Aguri was behind, her eyes shining with an unusual excitement. Rikka had seen her happy mine times before, of course, but now she was positively gleeful.

"Did something good happen?" Rikka presumed that was the cause for Aguri's enthusiasm.

"Oh, yes," the girl said. Untransformed and young, she looked almost like a child who had gotten a new toy. She could not imagine Aguri ever caring about something like that, though. "Come with me, Rikka. You'll be quite happy as well."

Rikka nodded, picked up Raquel and, carrying him on her arms, followed Aguri through the cramped corridors and the short stairs leading down. Diamond felt a bit of pride at being able to locate herself so well in the temple; most of its rooms were so similar and there were so many of them that for the longest time it felt like a labyrinth to Rikka, and only recently had she grown used enough to it to not get even slightly confused when traversing the place.

Aguri pointed to an open door. Rikka walked in, and saw Moonlight by the wall, staring up at something. She was smiling, not her usual weak smile but a large one, truly happy. Her hair was still rather short, but her bangs were a bit longer and messier than usual. She didn't seem to notice Rikka's entrance, as if her heart had been captured by whatever it was that captivated her. In the center of the room, an altar had been set up, and upon its very center stood a vase wherein a blue rose bloomed, gleaming a pale azure light.

"What is-" She began, but Aguri interrupted.

"Come here," Yuri invited her, "and look."

Rikka stepped up gingerly to Yuri's side. She stared high above, just as Moonlight did. Raquel complained that he could not see, so Rikka extended her arms upwards so that he could get a better view. In the sky, clouds were shifting, almost fluttering. They hid the moon and the two stars, but she could see their faint glow. She did not understand what it was that so enthralled Yuri's eyes, until she looked away, and saw another light, far from the twin stars and the moon.

"A-Another?" She barely found the breath to speak. Not just from the surprise and the joy, but also because the starry sky always made her think of Mana. For once, though, the stars shone bright enough to make her sorrows go away.

"Yes," said Aguri, "another star at last. And one that we do not owe to the Red Rose. Once you have admired it enough, come here."

Rikka did not wish to look away, not any time soon. A new star was a sign of hope, one that was always desperately needed. It was a promise of light and of a better future, a reminder that their fight was, despite the pain, completely worth it. Still, Rikka wanted to know what it was that Aguri was talking about, so she forced herself to leave the window and approach the altar.

"What's this?" She pointed at the rose. She had never seen its like; blue roses were extraordinarily rare, so uncommon that they were seen as harbingers of miracles.

"It is exactly what it looks like," said Aguri. Yuri approached, too, standing just behind Rikka. "A blue rose, one that blossomed thanks to the power of our champion. She has contacted us at last, and thankfully she brings us good news."

"The champion of the Blue Rose…" Rikka had never seen her, but heard about her from Aguri from time to time. Kurumi, a girl who had once been a fairy, stumbling upon a blue rose in bloom… She certainly seemed like an exceptional person.

"Now," Aguri turned her back on them and enveloped the rose with her hand. Its light became brighter, filling the room with wisps of blue. She whispered something to the petals, and kissed the rose. After that, she stepped away, and Rikka awaited to see what it was that would happen.

She heard a voice, then, and though at first she thought it was coming from the rose, it seemed to be all around the room, and also in her own mind. She understood that searching for its source would be in vain, and paid close attention. It was a girl's voice that she heard, a voice full of pride.

"Aguri," it began. "The deed is done. The Bavarois Kingdom is free, and its Starlight Flame is lit. Nightmare has strengthened their defenses and their grips on the fairy kingdoms, hence my difficulty and delays. But it is done; look to the skies with hope in your eyes.

Queen Bavarois has promised us her full support as well. Her realm will once again fight with the Blue Rose, as it did during the Axia Crisis. Maybe it's time for you to begin looking for allies elsewhere, too. I have visited the village of Last Light, refuge of the Cures of the Red Rose, and I'm confident that there are Precure there who may be swayed to our side.

As to the prince of the Palmier Kingdom, I have not found him. I fear he is in Nightmare's hands, but all the agents I have questioned didn't know of his whereabouts. It won't deter me, though. I will keep searching for him, and when I find him, I have no doubt that the Palmier Kingdom itself will join our cause. I will reach you again should I ever have any news."

The light died down slowly, and the blues left the room, allowing the silver moonlight to shine its paleness through the window once more. Its gleam lit up Aguri's face, revealing a huge smile on her lips, almost childish. She was a child, Rikka reflected, she was just very good at hiding it.

"She must have practiced that speech, you know," Aguri remarked. "She is usually not nearly that formal."

"So she did it…" Yuri ignored the quip, as she usually would do. "And we have one of the fairy kingdoms offering us their support…"

"Yes, things are finally looking up," said Aguri. She stepped up towards the altar, and her fingers played with the blue rose's petals.

"But what does this mean for us, though?" Rikka asked. "The Bavarois Kingdom is very distant, and it's never been the most powerful of realms anyways. Igniting a Starlight Flame… That's great, don't get me wrong, but I wonder… Is that enough?"

"Of course not," Aguri said at once, and though she remained the same, her eyes suddenly were like Ace's. "This is only the beginning, my dear Cure Diamond. I may have failed to strike down Regina, and Trump brought us nothing but pain, but we have endured, and we will keep fighting."

"That's very good, but do we even have a plan?" Asked Rikka. We are always arguing, always studying, but we have very little to show for it."

"So far," said Aguri. "But we will act soon. Trying to get the Crown was bold, but it would have paid off if we had managed to do so. As we could not, we will have to proceed slowly. There are many cities and villages around that are still occupied, even if under the control of the Selfish. Further south, Märchenland lies subjugated, and the Blue Sky Kingdom to the north is in ruins, with no one laying claim to it. Slowly we can free these cities, earn their support, show them that while the Red Rose grows crops and does their fancy ceremonies, the Blue Rose fights for the future of the world. A different future than the one the Red Rose has in store."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that we will not simply replace the Red Rose. Cure Mirage steers the Red Rose through the same path it has always followed. Domination and stagnation disguised as stability, control over all lands, masked as protection. You don't believe the Red Rose's lies anymore, do you? Before the Axia Crisis and Blue's exile, all kingdoms enjoyed great autonomy. There were wars, yes, and struggle, but they had freedom. The Red Rose calls itself a peacekeeper, but their goal has always been to stifle all freedoms so that they could maintain their control over all."

"And you would change that?" Rikka asked. She doubted it would be as simple as Aguri spoke.

"There must be change," said Aguri. "If the Red Rose has its way, this war the Precure are fighting will lead only to restoration of the status quo. They may think they struggle for the fate of the world, but what they defend are the institutions that are the key to their power. They are not saving the world, they are only making certain that it remains as it always was, and that it follows their plans. But you have learned what the Red Rose has done before the Death of the Stars. Things cannot go back to they way they were, when the Precure made the world their plaything, thinking they always know best."

"Do you think those are Cure Mirage's intentions?" Rikka asked.

"Mirage…" Aguri closed her eyes, and furrowed her brow. When she did so, Rikka had come to learn, it meant that she was trying to recollect something from when she was Marie Ange. It was not always successful: her memories, Aguri said, often came in pieces. "She is loyal to the Red Rose. Fiercely so, even, and has always been know for such positions. I don't know if she's a bad person or a good one, but she is our enemy. I don't think she would even consider cooperating with our Blue Rose, no matter how bleak things became."

"Such stubbornness…" Said Yuri. "She truly is a fitting Rosehearted for the Red Rose."

"It's fine," said Aguri. "Better this way, really. The Red Rose can never be our ally, anyways. By now it's clear that we cannot coexist. Hatred keeps the two Roses always blossoming apart, ensuring their vines can never entwine. The best we can hope for is that we may convince some of their Precure that our cause is righteous. It's not proper, of course, the Blue Rose has always accepted only the chosen, but perhaps in a time like this, we ought to be adaptable, right?"

"We were not chosen," Rikka remarked. "Not by gods, by fate, by a magical flower. You seem to have no problem with us."

"Oh, but I've already told you. Perhaps it was destiny that guided you here. After all, isn't it such a coincidence that you stumbled upon the perfect place for me to find you? Perhaps you were chosen, and you just never realized."

"Chosen by whom?" Rikka asked, skeptical. She was not too willing to put great weight into coincidences, no matter how unlikely.

That made Aguri grin. It seemed as if that was exactly the question she wanted Rikka to ask.

"Surely you've noticed that things have been happening lately that have not happened in ages. The scission of Ange's soul giving birth to a Precure. The blooming of a blue rose in the wild, after a thousand years passed without one being seen. Pray tell, have you ever wondered what happened to Blue?" Rikka shook her head. It had never been something she had given much thought to. "I have. We are told that he is gone, exiled, but… Where does a god go, when he is unwanted? I've wondered that, sometimes… Perhaps he has chosen to return to the world that he had protected for so long."

"He has been awfully quiet if he has," Rikka said.

"Indeed. Like I said, I am only wondering. Maybe the connection between my heart and Regina's has made me more willing than most to believe in fate."

"Regardless of the truth," Yuri didn't sound too interested in these higher mysteries, "our path now is clear, isn't it? The three of us can't fight both the Red Rose and the Precure's enemies. So we do need to get as much support as we can."

"Right," said Aguri. "I have gotten in contact with a Precure who might be of help, but she has been quiet as of late. Until I hear from her again, our next course of action is to ensure that the people of the Trump Kingdom - and of neighboring lands too, of course - offer their support to our Rose. We have to prove ourselves worthy of their trust."

"We ought to move soon, then," said Rikka. "The quicker we do it, the best."

"True, but we're in no great hurry. The Red Rose surely has great concerns right now, and I strongly doubt that Cure Mirage would be stupid enough to lose sleep over three girls in a small temple. So we don't have to fear the Red Rose yet, at least."

Rikka looked at Raquel on her arms, and smiled as she saw that he seemed entirely convinced of what Aguri said. Rikka believed she had the right idea, of course, but she didn't share the certainty that their triumph was certain. She had tasted bitter defeat at Trump, and did not want to suffer that pain again.

Soon enough, Yuri bid them goodnight, saying she felt sleepy, and Aguri said she'd look for Ai and go sleep, too. Rikka said she would go to bed soon, too, but she had no such intentions. Instead she rested her elbows upon the windowsill while her eyes focused on the night sky. As she admired it, Rikka found it difficult to think too hard on the days to come, and it became so easy to forget her doubts. In a corner of her mind she knew they could not be brushed aside, that they were still there, that she would have to confront them.

Until then, however, until she tasted success or failure, she had the new star to look upon, a star had not been paid in blood, and though her future was clouded with uncertainty, hidden behind mists, Rikka could at least look up into the sky and know that those lights would not go out any time soon, and that no darkness could last forever.


Iona was the first to step into the darkened woods, and whereas all others hesitated, she stepped into the ancient forest with no delay. It was not because she was not afraid, of course; she was just as scared as all others. Someone, however, had to take the first step, and it fell upon Iona to do so.

The others followed her soon enough, and Yayoi walked in such a fast pace that after a minute, she was already ahead of Iona. Reika urged her to wait and to not stray too far, but she didn't appear too interested in listening. Peace stared at everything around her with a familiar awe, eyes full of recollection, mouth half opened as if about to say I remember this…

"It doesn't feel different," said Yayoi, who then looked at Reika with a gaze that asked for confirmation.

"Yeah," she said. "It doesn't feel like the Thornwood, cursed and twisted," that wasn't great comfort to Iona, though. The forest still gave her the creeps, and she felt like there was life around her, life that she could not see, but that certainly saw her. Did Reika not find this place scary? From the way she and Yayoi spoke, it seemed as if they found this place perfectly safe.

Safe or not, however, it was still extremely easy to get lost in these woods; the trees here were so ancient that they had grown unbearably massive, their trunks so thick that they blocked the Cures' passage, forcing them to squeeze through the narrow spaces between them. Their long branches twisted together in dense skeins, and to Iona they seemed endless, extending upwards until it became too dark to see them. If this was how this forest looked like normally, Iona shuddered at the thought of seeing it cursed.

Reika and Yayoi guided them, and somehow they seemed able to find their way. They were mostly silent, save for their muffled footsteps on fallen leaves and fluffy grass, but from time to time Beauty spoke up to explain something.

"This forest has no true name, you know," she began, "at least not to the people of Märchenland. For the longest time these woods were home to fairies, the entirety of their kingdom. As they knew nothing of the world beyond the treeline, the fairies never really saw the need to give the forest a name. It's said that instead they were more preoccupied with naming individual trees, hidden ponds and glades, and so on. As a gesture of respect to this tradition of the fairies, when they became part of Märchenland, humans left it untouched, unnamed. It is only the forest."

"Why did the fairies leave, though?" Makoto asked. The question was in Iona's mind as well.

"You recall the curse of winter that I mentioned, right?" Everyone nodded in response, so Reika continued. "It reached this forest, too. Buried it in snows so deep that all the fairies had to keep moving higher and higher up the trees to escape the frost. But all the greenery wilted, all the fruits and flowers began to die, and the fairies depended on those for nourishment. Darkness fell on their woods, and only the Fairy Lights survived. The fairies began to die, and so they had to leave their ancestral home. They were helped by humans, and soon formed Märchenland by their side. The forest became a place of pilgrimage, but they never lived there again, even after the snows thawed out when the long winter ended."

"That…" Nozomi said, then seemed to put all her effort into thinking of a proper word. "That is really sad."

"There's no helping it now, though," said Yayoi. "It was a long time ago," she drew out the word long in an oddly cute way. "It's so far in the past that there's no one to be saddened by it anymore, so it's best for us not to be, either."

That was a really positive way to see things, one that Iona wasn't sure she agreed with, but whatever kept them going without burdening them with worry or sadness was probably good, so she nodded, smiling, and continued to follow Beauty closely.

Dawn tried to pierce through the thick cover of the canopy, but the foliage and tangled branches devoured all sunshine save for a few dots here and there that only occasionally caught Iona's attention. There was not too much to be seen around, anyways; the deep greens all blended with the darkness, the only color around.

They ate lunch in the middle of the woods, though there Honoka and Komachi did not dare start a fire, so their meal was an unappetizing goop. Iona didn't mind that too much. She knew all too well how unreasonable it would be to expect good food every day in the wild, so it didn't bother her. She did miss the warmth of a fire, though, especially when snow fell in piles from the branches and collapsed on top of the Precures' head. It certainly made Iona understand why Märchenland's winters were considered a curse.

Makoto sat next to Iona to eat, and though Fortune tried to ignore it, she could not avert her eyes from the red marks upon her fingers, so bright they almost looked like fresh blood. Makoto noticed the stare, as she clenched her fist and put her hand away, concealing it behind her back.

"What's that?" Iona couldn't let it slide. Sword was hurt, that much was clear.

"Nothing," she avoided the subject, just as Iona had expected. Iona continued to stare, though, so Makoto just sighed. "I've been practicing a lot, that's all."

"Until your fingers bleed?" She asked. "That's not okay, Makoto. You and Reika are going too far if you're hurting yourself like that. Her legs are pretty bruised, too, don't think I haven't noticed. Why do you do this to yourselves?"

"We have to, Iona," at last she opened up, and spoke with frankness. "Even if it hurts, it's our duty to fight, and to be prepared to do so."

"Even if it hurts? I don't even need to tell you what you sound like. For your fingers to be like that… How hard were you even holding your sword?" She took Makoto's hand. Surprisingly, she did not resist. "Your palms, too…" She ran her finger across its lines, and Makoto let out a pained grunt when Iona touched the cuts upon her hand. When Makoto closed her hand, her nails were not only dirty, but cracked. "Fighting will hurt you even worse than this, but training? If you two keep pushing yourselves like this, you won't be able to fight at all. You'll lose before our enemies can even strike a blow against you."

"You speak as if you're any better," she said harshly. "You seem so stressed and tired all the time. You and Nozomi always leave for hours, and when you come back, the two of you look exhausted."

"I guess that's true," Iona sighed, "but we're not hurt like you and Reika are. If you do get hurt, then at least don't hide it. I must have some gauze and bandages on my bag, since Honoka insisted we all brought some. If you had just come to me…" She let go of Makoto's hand. Sword put both hands on her lap, and looked down at them. She giggled, then, to Iona's confusion.

"You worry too much, Iona," she said. "When we met you really didn't strike me as the sort of person who worried so much about everyone."

"I-I don't worry about everyone," Iona didn't understand what exactly Makoto was implying here. "Anyways, the offer is still standing, if you'd like."

Makoto nodded, so Iona reached into her bag. Its contents had, regrettably, become a great mess, but as Reika and Coco were nowhere near finishing their meals, she was able to search with no hurry. She patched up Makoto's hand as well as she could; she could not find scissors, so the bandage had been rather poorly cut, torn by her own hands. Still, when she was done, Makoto did admit that it made the wound hurt a little bit less.

When everyone was done eating, their journey resumed. No matter how much they walked, their surroundings never seemed to change. The snow had made everything blend together in vast whiteness, with only silhouettes to help tell the trees aparts, and the bushes scattered along the ground, the slippery rocks time and time again nearly brought someone to the ground.

The most unnerving thing, however, was the silence. No sounds of life came from anywhere, and neither did the sound of distant running water, or leaves rustling to the wind. Even their footsteps made no sound now that the snows seemed even deeper. The only sign that they were not frozen in time were the shifting points of light coming from above, fading as dusk approached, until sunlight was gone, replaced by moon and stars that were nearly impossible to see.

"Ah," a small voice said just behind Iona. It was Glasan, so quiet that Iona was just barely able to tell it was her. The fairy shivered, which Iona found odd, as until now she had only minimal complaints about the cold.

"What is it, Glasan?" Iona asked. The other Precure stopped, too, suddenly worried, and looked at the fairy with curious eyes.

"I feel… Something. Something odd," she completed. "I… I don't know what it is, but…"

"I feel something too," said Davi, her ears perking up. "Something drawing me, something warm… Coco, do you feel it as well?"

He nodded and put a hand to his forehead. His fingers trembled, and when he tried to take another step, he tumbled down and fell with his face on the snow. White smoke puffed around his body, and when it receded, he was a small fairy once more, buried in snow. Nozomi quickly picked him up, and held him against her chest.

"Mipple? Mepple?" Nagisa asked hers and Honoka's fairies, safely resting inside their Communes. Though they could not move, they did not avert their view from what kept the fairies so enraptured.

"Could it be…?" Reika's eyes were fixed in the distance, in the direction the fairies seemed to be staring at. "Is it the Fairy Lights that you feel, perhaps?"

"Maybe," said Glasan. "It feels like… I was gonna say it feels like it's calling me, but it's not quite it. Rather, it feels like moving towards it is the right thing to do. It makes me ill to even think of avoiding that presence, whatever it is. I want to go see what it is. No, it's making me want to see."

"That doesn't sound very safe," said Honoka. "Are you certain that the Fairy Lights would do that? This does not seem like harmless magic."

"The Fairy Lights are very old magic," said Reika. "I would not be surprised if it played tricks with our minds, especially with the minds of fairies."

"I hope you are right," said Honoka.

"Regardless," Nozomi spoke up, "that seems like our best bet. We're kind of lost here, aren't we?" The way Reika looked away and avoided an answer seemed to prove Nozomi right.

"We follow the fairies, then?" Komachi asked, and no one had any alternative to offer, so it was decided that they would investigate whatever it was that had so strongly drawn the fairies' attention.

Glasan and Davi floated on ahead of the others, while Coco remained on Nozomi's arms, only occasionally grumbling that he wished he could levitate, to keep up with everyone. His fur had lost its shine and its color, Iona noticed, though perhaps that was a trick of the darkness.

For the longest time the Precure walked in the dark, following the fairies. Glasan and Davi no longer even responded to the calls of their partners, so enthralled they were by the power that drove them forward, calling them, siren-like. It made Iona start to feel uneasy, too. She had no intention of doubting Reika and Yayoi's certainty, but to see Glasan like that made her wonder if this was such a wise idea. She found herself wondering if Maria would have allowed this, or if she would have trusted her own intuition instead of the light of an old spell. Well, thought Iona, I'm not my sister, and so she continued walking forward.

Above, the darkness was smothering, but, straight ahead, there was a distant light. Reika asked the fairies if that was they were seeking, but they did not answer. Instead, they hastened their pace, and the Precure made sure to do the same. There was something strange about those lights, for distant as they were, when Iona's eyes hung upon them, their brilliance was blinding, as if they shone right in front of her.

"Those are the Fairy Lights," Beauty declared, almost proud. "There is no doubt about it. We are on the right path," her voice overflowed with hope, "and soon we'll be at Morgenluft. Do you see them, Yayoi? Do you see them? We will soon be home again."

Yayoi nodded with weak enthusiasm, but her eyes were bright with anticipation, reflecting the lights they gazed upon. The space between the trees began to widen, making way to a glade wherein the lights grew brighter, closer, stronger. Though nothing indicated it, that radiance left no doubt that these were the Fairy Lights that Reika so often spoke of.

Iona's eyes grew with wonder as she gazed upon the lights, whirling and dancing in hypnotic circles. Those lights were, as Reika had said, older than even the most ancient of realms, and even after so long, their light remained dazzling. Though Iona stared at them for long, entirely focused upon them, she could not tell the color of the Fairy Lights, nor its shape. To her eyes they gleamed in all colors at the same time, but also in none. They were white light, and red, and rainbow and black and colorless all at the same time, and they spun around as orbs, as pillars, as points of light with no exact location, everywhere and nowhere.

Iona understood, then, why her sister had told her that ancient magic was only good for causing migraines.

"There," Yayoi extended her hand, pointing at the lights. A more careful inspection showed Iona that the Fairy Lights guided her eyes to a small path between tall trees. As she stared, her eyes drifted away against her will, pulled by a strange sway.

"Freaky," Nozomi said what Iona - and, presumably, everyone else - was merely thinking.

"We know the way now, at least," said Honoka. "And we can locate ourselves. Now we turn east, I believe?"

"Right," said Reika. "It's where the Fairy Lights tell us to proceed, at least."

Iona would have hoped for something with a little more certainty than following the guidance of some old magic, but as Beauty seemed to trust them, Iona did the same.

No one, it seemed, could find the will to keep going. Iona's eyes were entirely captivated by those wondrous lights, and when her gaze briefly drifted from them and into everyone else, she could see that they too could not help but look at it, try to understand it, and admire its unnatural beauty. They all did it, all but Nozomi, who, instead, looked directly above, into the night sky, at-

At stars. The distant treetops made it difficult to see, so Iona at first thought her eyes deceived her, but as she continued to look, following Nozomi's stare, she counted stars, but not two of them, as was usual. They were three, instead.

"A-Another one…" Said Nagisa, as if it hadn't been noticed by everyone else. "So there are more Precure out there, perhaps?"

"Yeah," said Iona. It was the logical answer. To think that they were not the only ones fighting, that even outside of Last Light there were still Precure trying to bring back their stars… It suddenly made her feel so determined that success felt like a certainty.

"What star is that, I wonder?" Komachi asked. She rose her hand, then closed it, as if trying to grasp that star.

"Hm…" Honoka took a good look, measuring the distance between the lights with a finger. "Ah! That star is part of the Fleur-de-lys constellation. You can see that because of its proximity to that star," she pointed at the one right next to it, "and how the third star is further from the two. The Fleur-de-lys constellation is connected to the Starlight Flames of the fairy kingdoms of the west: Palmier, Bavarois, Doughnut, Montblanc and Crepe. You and Reika had lit the Flame of the Doughnut Kingdom, so the fact that the new star is so close to that one… The Flame that was lit has to be in one of the nearby lands. I don't know for sure, I'm afraid. It's almost certainly not a Flame from Palmier or Montblanc, those. Those two kingdoms have many Starlight Flames, all close together, yet we only see one new star."

That was a pretty astute deduction, Iona had to admit. Those were lands dominated by Nightmare, though, weren't they? Iona had a hard time imagining that there could be a strong Precure resistance there.

"It was Kurumi," Nozomi said without a trace of doubt. "Kurumi was the one headed there. I'm sure it was her."

"It's not impossible," said Reika, "but we can't know for sure."

"I hope it was her. She was looking for Nuts, too," when she said that, Coco lifted his head at once. "Do you think she found him?" Nozomi directed the question at him.

"I… I don't know. I want to think she did, but I don't want to be disappointed if I'm wrong. Besides, we won't be able to return to Palmier for a while now. We'd need full support of Cure Mirage and the Red Rose for that, and I don't know if she's willing to risk so much so soon."

"Wait," said Nozomi. "I just remembered… Kurumi might be with the Blue Rose, no? She did say she was the champion of the blue rose, or whatever."

"Rikka…" Makoto's words came out pained. "Rikka was loyal to the Blue Rose, too. Are… Are there more of them out there? Is the Blue Rose returning, is that what's happening?"

"I hope not," said Yayoi. "We don't need the Blue Rose anymore. They are a thing of the past, before the Precure understood that it's not right to reject people for not being special."

"S-Should we be worried?" Asked Komachi.

"Regardless of whether or not she is with the Blue Rose, or if we should worry about it," Iona remarked, not even understand too well who this Kurumi person was, "the fact is that she lit a Starlight Flame. That's all that matters right now, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Nozomi. "That's all that matters. And that's what we need to do, too."

"Morgenluft has at least five Flames that I know of," said Reika. "Maybe more, even. We have to get there. Let's stop wasting time."

And so they continued onwards, and despite their long journey, finding out that not only were they on the right track, but that another star had returned to the night sky was enough to fill the Precure with vigor, driving them forward as if they were not tired at all. Iona didn't even feel like sleeping, and wouldn't be surprised if the others shared that sentiment.

"We are nearly there," Reika said after some time had passed. Iona breathed a sigh of relief. "If it were day, we would be able to see the sunlight shining in between the trees, far away, but since-"

A ruffling sound behind them silenced Reika, and made all the Cures listen carefully. They ceased as soon as they stopped walking, but Iona had definitely heard something, and so had the others.

"Did you…" Nagisa asked no one in particular. "Was it one of you who did that? Did anyone step on something, or-"

The sound returned, louder this time, and the shadows amidst the woods began to shift. Iona couldn't tell how distant they were exactly, as the darkness made that difficult to estimate, but she knew they were dangerously close, whatever they were. The noises grew louder still, more numerous, hard to tell apart. But they were threatening noises, there was no doubt about that, and Iona had to act soon.

"Can we fight here?" She whispered.

"In such close quarters?" Reika shook her head. "Not without knowing our enemy. We're not getting careless now that we are so close."

"What do we do, then?" Asked Yayoi, but before anyone could speak, the shadows rushed forward, swiftly and violently, and at once the Precure knew to run. In a moment they all transformed, filling the forest with light for a second, and they rushed towards the outside.

Makoto and Reika drew their blades, and, alongside the others, they began to run. Black and White were the fastest of them all, quickly outspeeding the rest, but Mint and Peace did not stay far behind. Light surged from Iona's fingers, and she blasted their pursuers, but that seemed to do little to stop their advance. The shadows began to take the form of wolves, of beasts with sharp claws and sharper fangs, growling as they chased their prey.

One lunged against Iona, knocking her to the ground. She fell with her face on the fluffy snow, unbearably cold. Her arms shook, unable to find solid ground, and a hot breath blew on her. Idiot, she told herself for so easily falling, for so easily staying behind. Something clutched at her hair, pulling, and there was something cold at her nape.

"Beauty Blizzard!" Reika's voice filled the woods, and though the cold grew even more extreme, the weight preventing Iona from moving was gone. She began to get up, and someone took her hand, helping her rise. Nozomi, who smiled at her.

"Come on!" She said, pointing ahead. Makoto was running, further from the three, carrying Coco with one hand and a sword with the other. Iona nodded, and ran alongside Beauty and Dream.

The three were closely linked by their grasped hands; a necessity in such a cramped place, where the spaces between the thick trunks were so narrow that only a person could pass them at once. Everything around them was a blur as they sped past the forest, with no end in sight.

A figure bolted through the air towards Iona; a wolf, his body so enveloped by the dark that he was like a shadow, with only his green eyes shining to reveal his face. As he leapt, his body shifted from wolf to man, long claws pointed at Iona, but a strong kick to his stomach pummeled him against a tree, and he stopped moving. Still more pursued, restless.

Reika quickly let go of Nozomi, and when Iona looked again, she had a sword in each hand, slicing apart the trees to their sides. When the Precure were past them, they began to collapse ruinously, thundering as they battered against each other, branches cracking and falling. Flurries of snow rose high and reached far, blown by the impact. Iona looked back, and the shadows were now gone, stuck behind the fallen trees. Relieved, she could feel her heart pound a bit slower, and she could see the outside now, the plains ahead of them. They were out of the forest now, and finally free.

Or so Iona hoped, but as soon as she stepped out of the woods, she was proved wrong by the spears pointed right at her face. Monsters of all sorts held them: wolves and demons, witches, golems, and some that she had never known. The rest of the Precure had surrendered as well, as Iona could see Honoka and Nagisa untransformed, their hands tied, being guided by some of the demons.

"So," they were greeted by a tiny girl, whom Iona was tempted to call a child, but she suspected that things in Märchenland were not so simple. "I'm afraid you girls aren't quite as sneaky as you hoped you were."

She spoke in a playful tone, but her eyes were quite serious. She did not look dressed for battle as the rest of the soldiers were: instead of heavy armor she wore the silk of a black dress, and her purple hair so elaborately styled gave her the aspect of a noblewoman, not of a commander.

"You're quiet," she complained. "It's not going to do you much good, you know? You ought to cooperate. It will be better for you."

"The Bad End Kingdom is not worth such trust," said Reika. "We had reached an arrangement, just before the Death of the Stars… And yet you attack us, even after we tried to understand you?"

"Why are you so quick to judge us?" The girl asked. "Goodness, you Precure sure love to presume the worst of people… Look," she dismissed her soldiers, and stepped up to the three Cures, whispering, "trust me when I say that I am on your side. Why should you trust me, you'll ask… Well, I know you, Reika Aoki. Miyuki has told me about you."

"Mi… Miyuki?" Reika seemed about to shout, and barely contained herself. "Who are you? How do you know Miyuki?"

"My name is Nico," she said, "and I'm a good friend of Miyuki. A childhood friend of hers. Has she never told you about me? That doesn't surprise me. We had grown really apart for so long, and only recently were we able to get closer again. But I care about her, and I want to reach her."

"Reach her?" Reika asked. "Is she being held hostage, a prisoner?"

"Not quite," said Nico. "It's a bit of a complicated situation. I was close to her for a while, but now she's… She is difficult to contact. I can't get to her, but you might be able to, if you are all Precure, and friends of her, you and Yayoi."

"Reika," Iona said, almost angry. Nico was tricking them, Iona was sure of it, and she did not enjoy being made a fool of. "Will we trust this girl? Have you ever even seen her?"

Somehow that made Nico smile.

"To put it simply, you don't really have a choice. You are prisoners now, and I am duty-bound to take you to Morgenluft, to the Queen, and to Cure Happy."

"The Queen?" It was Nozomi who asked now.

"Things have changed," said Nico, "but not quite everything. The Bad End Kingdom rules these lands, yes, but it did not entirely dishonor the deal that had been arranged. The royal family still holds the throne, the Precure are still welcome, the population is still free. The difference now is that those you once called monsters are also allowed to live in the cities of Märchenland."

"That's what we had been fighting for," said Reika. "A peaceful agreement. But how did-"

"Leave the questions for later, Beauty," Nico dismissed her, "when we are on our way to Morgenluft. For when we can be alone. Until then, all I need from you is your promise to help me get to Cure Happy. If you can promise me that, then I promise you will get to Morgenluft with no difficulties. If you cannot, well, though I have nothing against you, many of the denizens of the Bad End Kingdom despise the Precure. If it were up to them, you might spend the rest of your days in a miserable little prison in a cave somewhere. What do you say?"

That was hardly a choice, of course. Iona couldn't help but find it very unnerving how Nico had to threaten them despite the fact that the Precure had no reason to refuse to go to Morgenluft. It was suspicious, very suspicious, but before Iona could even raise an objection, Reika was already answering with a haste that was entirely uncharacteristic of her.

"Yes! Yes, take us to Miyuki, please!"

The girl smiled again. By Iona's side, Nozomi seemed troubled as well, and the two shared their worries with a quick stare. Reika, on the other hand, seemed ecstatic, grinning madly, as if the prospect of finally meeting her friend again had made her forget all reason. Iona had never seen Reika like that, and, right now, she wished she would never have to do so again.