"You know this girl?" one of the armored guards asks.

"I've had the misfortune of meeting her before," Kiku's mother replies. "I make a point not to interact with street rubbish."

The guards laugh nervously. I, on the other hand, do my best to hide my terror. The mere presence of this woman saps the strength from my knees. Hungary eyes the pinch faced woman with disdain. She shifts her footing on my shoulder and ruffles her reddish feathers impatiently.

"Do not let her get to you, Elizabeta," my partner warns. "You are stronger than she is."

Kiku's mother seems to notice the phoenix for the first time. "The elders informed us of your...change in spirit animal alignment, but they did not say you could manifest one." Her expression turns to one of scorn. "You're not worthy of such a majestic creature. You agree, don't you?"

I flinch away from her words. Somehow this woman knows exactly where to prod to expose a weakness. Years of playing politics must have honed this ability in her, and she's very aware of it. A sharp smile appears on her lips.

"Yes, I know all about you. Anyone that is on the council knows. Moving from family to family because you are a misfit, a scourge on society, it's pathetic." Her smile fades. "And then you stole my son from me."

"H-he ran away!" I exclaim. "From you! He hated you!"

"Don't act like you know my son!" she shrieks, the mention of failure on her part sending her into a frenzy. "You filled his mind with silly ideas! You two!" She points to the two guards at the front of the pack. "Get her!"

The two armored men run toward me, but they're stopped by tongues of scorching red flame. Hungary beats her large wings to create more fire, which pushes guards further back.

"I can't hold them off like this forever," she tells me. "The house will catch fire. You must fight."

"I...I don't know..."

"Be strong, Elizabeta," the phoenix says in my mind. "You are capable of winning this battle. You must overcome your fears."

She stops fanning the flames and folds her wings back. We make eye contact, and she fades away. An encouraging warmth pulses from the tattoo on my chest, and I know it's her trying to encourage me. The guards charge once more as soon as the flames die away. Their spears give them a longer range, but they're limited by the space in the narrow hall. I easily slip under their weapons and knock the first unconscious with a hard kick to the head. The other whirls around to face me, but I've already aimed a blow to his nose with the handle of my silver dagger. It connects and sends him stumbling backward. One last kick to the chest drops him to the ground.

I face the pinch faced woman with a new determination. I'm done being afraid of her intimidation. There are worse things that I'll have to face than a controlling mother.

"You've changed," she murmurs thoughtfully. "Never mind. I will have you tell me where my son is."

"He has a name," I practically spit at her.

"I have no interest in repeating old conversations," Kiku's mother says in a no nonsense voice. "I know my son's name, I gave it to him myself, but it's not one to be used by just anyone. He is a member of the elite class, and should be treated as such."

"Kiku is a person! He should be allowed to make his own choices!" I shout.

"He is too young to make his own choices! That became clear when he ran away with you."

"Because of you," I say accusingly, dangerously. "You made him miserable-"

"I did what was best for my son!" A hint of insanity shadows her features. "I was going to make him the greatest Honda this family has ever seen!"

"That's not what he wants," I tell her. "He doesn't care about money or position."

"I am his mother! I know what he wants, not you!"

"Mother?"

I whirl around to see Kiku standing behind me and Gilbert running after him. "I'm sorry, Lizzie!" the Bear pants. "He wouldn't...leave...without you. He ran back here...when I...wasn't looking."

"See! My son would rather be here than with riffraff like you!" the woman practically shrieks. The armored guards shift nervously at the new arrivals. Kiku's mother glances at them. "You're all dismissed. Your services are no longer needed."

"What about our payment?" one of them asks.

"You and you men hardly performed the task I hired you for," she tells him. "You will be payed, but the payment will be reduced by half."

"That's not what we bargained for!" Unhappy murmurs come from the other men.

"I said, you are dismissed."

"Not until we get our money!"

The situation suddenly takes a turn for the worse when the guards decide to take matters into their own hands. They lower their spears and point them at Kiku's mother. The woman backs away, but keeps her chin up defiantly.

"It would be a shame to have to get our weapons dirty," a man in front says. "I suggest you pay up."

"I refuse."

Everything next happens so fast it's hard to follow. The guard raises his spear to attack the wealthy woman, and at the same time, a dark blur rushes past me too fast to see clearly. A loud crash of metal colliding rings in the air. Kiku stands in front of his mother with his gleaming katana raised to ward off the armored guard's attack. Silence fills the air as we all wait to see what happens next.

"I advise you all to leave before I personally show you out," Kiku tells the guards in a flat voice.

The men exchange looks, unsure of what to do. Kiku takes advantage of their indecision to deftly twists his weapon to disarm his opponent. This makes up the guards' minds, and they leave without another word. The Eagle lowers his katana and carefully sheaths it.

"I knew it. I knew it!" the pinch faced woman says triumphantly. "You would rather be here with your family than with those ruffians!"

Ever so slightly, Kiku edges away from the woman. "I'm sorry, Mother, but I cannot stay here."

"What?" The crazed smile on her face falters.

"What you said is true. I would like to be with my family, but you are not my family." He turns to look at me. "Elizabeta is my family, as well as Feliciano, Ludwig, and the others."

"You would choose them over your own mother?" The woman turns her angry gaze at me. "You brainwashed my son! You've taken him away from me!"

"Elizabeta hasn't done anything!" It's unusual for Kiku to raise his voice, and it seems to startle her. "It was my choice to leave! I want to be in charge of my own life! I want to live how I see fit, not how you or Father think I should!" He sounds confident, but he's shaking with fear. He's never stood up to his mother like this before.

The woman's face morphs from shock to anger. "You ungrateful disgrace! Is this how you repay my love?"

"It was never love," Kiku replies. "Love for your status and power, perhaps, but never for me. You never loved me."

"Get out of my house," his mother growls.

"Gladly," I say. I grab Kiku's hand and pull him away from the pinch faced woman. "Let's go."

Gilbert runs along side us as we head for the open window. The other three are waiting for us with worried expressions. Feli smiles widely when he sees us coming, and the other two relax. We jump out the window, and our group takes off into the night, ready to get as far away from the house as possible.

We decide to leave Aquilarumni that very night. "No point in putting it off," Ludwig had said. I couldn't agree more.

The moon is high in the darkness above us, which means we have at least half the night left to sleep. Ludwig, Gilbert, and Feli put up our tents once we reach a clearing a safe distance from the capital city. The last thing we need is for people to find us. Lovino is on first watch, and Kiku and I sit together under a tree in silence.

"The Eagle Temple is only a few days away," I say after a while. "We're almost done." The Eagle just nods, and I give him a sideways glance. "What's wrong, Kiku? I know there's something on your mind."

His big brown eyes flicker to me for a moment before focusing on something in the distance. "She told me to leave."

I was afraid of this. Kiku has always turned away from his parents, but they've never turned away from him. How is he going to handle this rejection? "It's alright, Kiku. You've never needed her anyway. Not once did she have your best interest in mind. It'll be just-"

My pep talk is drowned out by the sound of him laughing beside me. It's starts off quiet but quickly increases in volume until he's shaking from head to toe.

"It's over." He says between fits of laughter. "It's finally over! She finally let me go! I'm free, Elizabeta! I'm free."

I can almost see the chains of guilt and shame unshackle themselves from the laughing Eagle. His expression is carefree and undaunted for the first time since I've met him. He's faced his personal demons and won. The sounds of his laughter fades away, but his vibrant smile does not. I feel his pinky link with mine and I hold onto it tightly.

"I'm glad, Kiku. I'm glad."

He closes his eyes and leans back against the tree contently. I envy the peace he must be feeling right now. One of the Eagle's biggest challenges is over, but mine is yet to come. My mind wanders to the progress I've made in my journey, and the tremendous task still ahead of me.

An eerie cackling fills the air and echoes off of the trees surrounding this clearing. Shadows seem to converge in one spot and rise from the ground to form a solid figure. Kirkland's red eyes mock me from beneath his cloak's hood. I try to jump to my feet, but my body refuses to respond.

"Hello, love. Fancy meeting you here." The shadow handler takes a few steps in my direction. "Getting yourself into more trouble I see."

"What do you want?" My body might now work, but my mouth seems to move just fine.

"I want nothing more than to make you suffer," he answers nonchalantly, as if he answers in this way all the time.

"Go ahead and try," I challenge.

"Be careful what you wish for, love." Kirkland waves his hand in front of his face. When he pulls it away, Kiku's face stares back at me from under the hood. "I can hurt those closest to you."

My eyes widen in horror as the shadow man takes on another face. This time it's Ludwig's. "I can exploit every fear and weakness you possess."

I blink, and he's wearing Feli's face. "I can crush every speck of happiness in your soul."

Kirkland looks away from me, and when he looks back, it's Lovino staring at me. "I can sever your bonds of family and trust as easily as tearing a blade of grass."

I try to avert my gaze from the terror in front of me, but my head still refuses to move. The shadow handler snaps his fingers, and his entire form takes on a new shape. One moment I'm looking at him, the next, I'm staring horrified at Gilbert.

"Do I scare you love? Good," Kirkland says. The words are his, but the voice is Gilbert's. He takes a few more steps until he's directly in front of me and crouches down to eye level. "I can rip your heart apart. I can make you watch the life fade from his eyes a hundred times until you beg for death yourself. I can break you beyond repair."

I scream. I close my eyes and screech as loudly ask can. Whatever it takes to stop the words and images from filling my mind. Something grabs my shoulder, and I jerk away from it in fear.

"D-don't touch me!" I yell. My eyes fly open on instinct, and I see Gilbert still crouched in front of me. I quickly slap my hands over my ears so I won't have to hear any more of his poisonous words. "Stop it! Leave me alone!"

"Lizzie!" Gilbert pulls my hands away from my head. "What's the matter with you, Lizzie?"

I stop struggling and stare at him in confusion. "Y-you're not Kirkland?"

"No," the Bear says with a shake of his head. "You fell asleep sitting here. It must have been a dream."

"Just a dream..." I murmur in relief. I lean my head back against the tree and laugh in a soft, tired sort of way. "Just a dream."

Or was it? My head snaps back up at the thought. Ever since I started this quest my dreams have never really been my own. I can't even remember the last time I dreamt about something that didn't include someone invading my private slumber. It's possible it really was Kirkland despite the fact I was dreaming.

"Lizzie."

"Hmmm?" Gilbert's voice pulls me out of my own thoughts.

"You look like you could use some sleep. Come on." He pulls me to my feet and kisses my lips gently. I want it to last longer, but fatigue forces me to pull back before I fall asleep in his arms. "Let's get you to your tent. Kiku's already inside."

The Bear helps me walk to my small tent. I murmur a quick goodnight punctuated by another kiss before slipping inside. The interior of the tent is already warm from Kiku's presence, and I feel my consciousness slowly slipping. A blanket has already been laid out for me, so I quickly slip under it and huddle next to the sleeping Eagle. My breathing slows and my mind wanders. Images and sounds from the dream replay themselves as my thoughts grow hazier and hazier. One phrase plays repeatedly until it feels as if it's been permanently ingrained on my mind.

"I can make you watch the life fade from his eyes a hundred times until you beg for death yourself."

The voice is so real that it feels like it's being whispered into my ear. Suddenly, all the sounds and images stop, and I'm allowed to be blissfully enshrouded by the calm of sleep. My slumber remains thankfully dreamless that night.