"I hope you understand that there's no turning back now, Edward."

If only he knew the actual weight behind that statement...

"I suppose it's time I told you more about me and the organisation I work for." The stare from his cold brown eyes softened, revealing a much wearier man. Edward focused intently on Dr. Maxis, but his mind desperately struggled to be elsewhere.

"I am the head scientist of a group known as Group 935. An organisation that works along side with the German military. While we do not concern ourselves so much with politics, we do assist the German military in return for funding our research. We are currently a small, but an ambitious group of scientist," He smiled. "And I think you are exactly what I am looking for."

Edward arched his brow at the man, but remained silent. "If I say what I'm looking for, I fear that I might limit you to focus on those desired areas when I know that you have so much untapped potential."

Edward nodded. He didn't care what he agreed to or what Dr. Maxis had in mind for him. If he had remained in Heidelberg, he would more than likely be arrested for Desider's death and if he wasn't imprisoned first, certainly the people who had captured him before, would do it again. Edward could only assume that the unknown group was the Illuminati that Desider mentioned- despite how little sense it would make for an ancient political group to want anything to do with Edward.

The young man ran his fingers through his hair. How was it that Dr. Maxis could provide him with so much more information and yet still be so elusive? Why did the Illuminati warn him about a group of scientists...unless they possessed something they feared?

"Is something troubling you, Edward?" Dr. Maxis inquired. Edward hesitated to respond, knowing that now was certainly not the time to share his true thoughts. If he could focus the older man's attention more on speaking rather than listening, the Edward knew he could be left alone to his thoughts and give polite nods in response to the man's one sided conversation.

"Other than the purpose of funding, do you believe that by assisting Germany in political matters- despite remaining neutral- that they will help Group..."

"Group 935."

"Er- yes, Group 935. Will it help Group 935 pursue their actual agenda of improving the human condition?"

A subtle glimpse of concern wrinkled the man's forehead, but his expression returned to its usual stern yet emotionless gaze. "I'm no psychologist, but even I know that it is unhealthy to obsess over politics," Dr. Maxis paused and gave himself a reassuring nod to continue his statement. "But I do trust that the Emperor and his people will do what is best for the motherland and her people will strive and we will continue to lead the world with being the most advanced in technology, which will one day allow us to improve the human condition." Dr. Maxis, smiled slightly feeling satisfied with his answer. Honestly, Edward was hoping for a longer reply and he would be able to avoid the silence that was slowly setting in between them, but he was too fatigued to interrogate the man any further.

"Now, might I ask you a question?"

"Proceed." Edward gave a less than enthusiastic reply.

"What caused you to change your mind about coming with me?"

It was the one question that Edward desired to avoid most. It was his first day with his new boss and he was already telling nothing, but lies. The young man clasped his hands together in his lap. "I wanted the opportunity to work and gain personal experience before graduating from University." It wasn't entirely a lie. Before all the chaos, that was in fact the reason Edward wanted to accompany Dr. Maxis.

Edward yawned and rubbed his eyes. He was so exhausted from yesterday and the unstimulating ride in the carriage certainly wasn't helping.

Without any warning, Dr. Maxis removed his tweed jacket and tossed it to Edward for him to rest his head on. "Rest for now, we have a long journey ahead of us."

Days had passed since the fire had destroyed the small Heidelberg pub. Now, it sat in a pile of ruin and ash. The floor had caved in, crushing the underground paths and the small room that Bastian had used as an area for torture.

The pub owner argued furiously with the fire brigade that he hadn't left any lanterns burning, but locals remained skeptic until the charred remains of a body was discovered.

"His identity has yet been released to the public, but the body of what appears to be a young male has been discovered in the remains of the pub, says Officials. It is too early to claim if foul play was involved, but locals claim that the victim was not alone around the time of the incident. If you have any knowledge that could possibly help the Police reach a conclusion, please come forth."

The Circle glared at Bastian as the large man finished reading the newspaper article. "According to Adam's investigations, Desiderius Thibaut and Edward Richtofen are both missing. Their dorm appears untouched and Ludvig Maxis is gone as well." Engelbert leaned over the table and yelled at Bastian in a threatening voice. "Maxis, Richtofen, and Thibaut are missing! A cadaver is discovered in the burnt remains of OUR rendezvous point- that ONLY Desiderius would know about!" He harshly directed a finger at the broad shouldered man. His face was bright red and he spat as he spoke. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PREVENT ALL OF THIS! DESIDERIUS SHOULD BE HELPING US KEEP AN EYE ON EDWARD SO THAT HE DOESN'T ASSOCIATE WITH THAT DAMN MAXIS, SO THAT HIS PRECIOUS GROUP DOESN'T PROGRESS!"

Bastian stood before The Circle, unmoved by his furry. Fear is simply being weary of approaching the unknown and Bastian was certain that this conversation would lead him to a well known friend that he had worked along side with for so many years...

Death.

"However, you're not entirely to blame. Adam was the one who foolishly recruited Desiderius," Engelbert removed a pistol from his pocket and aimed it at Bastian. "But I personally made certain that he would no longer be of concern." He cocked the gun.

"This is more than likely Edward that people claim to have seen Desiderius with. If Edward is arrested for Desider's death, then we will have absolutely nothing. At least, if Edward is with Ludvig, we can always force him to be our spy." The man to Engelbert's right suggested.

The man who sat to his left adjusted his glasses before he spoke. "On your average day, I would say that just about any man with dark hair and basic university attire, such as a white shirt and black pants could have been accompanying Thibaut...especially with a confession.

"You don't find it eerie that Desiderius and Edward happen to go missing the day a body is discovered in a burned down pub?"

"A body was discovered. Not two." The brunette man lazily grinned to himself as he puffed on his opium pipe.

The dirty blonde haired man adjusted his glasses as he skimmed over the news paper. "They left all of their belongings."

"They eloped." He chuckled.

"They did not."

"Then Ernest finally snapped and killed our beloved Desiderius and he escaped into the night to find his next victim. Now, shut up and smoke your pipe."

The young man with dirty blonde hair removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes with his palm.

"It bothers me as well." The older man finally admitted. "But I know there's nothing that I can do. So, I make the best of it and ignore the truth." He lit his roommate's opium pipe and gave it to him with a smirk.

"Well, I suppose we might as well assume the best since nothing is definite." The dirty blonde haired man returned a slight smile before taking a deep drawl of his opium pipe. "So, why would two non homosexual men elope together?"

"You don't know that! Homosexuality is illegal! They wouldn't tell anyone- especially you." The brunette added under his breath. "So, to travel lightly they left all of their belongings."

"Then how do you explain the burning of the pub?"

"What about it?! Things burn down all the time!" He raised his arms out defensively. He could see the disappointment in his roommate's face for his lack of an explanation. "But if you must know- and I'm only telling you this because no one ever tells you anything..." The older man inhaled on his pipe for dramatic effect. "As the two were eloping, they passed the bar where everyone was having such a good time and everyone was drunk. So, when Desiderius announced their engagement, everyone got happier and even drunker and they had a huge celebration! Except there was one guy who was pissed about it entirely. Despite how angry he was, he stayed at the pub, just to yell all kinds of obscenities at Edward and Desiderius. While everyone was dancing and being merry, a fire broke out! Everyone escaped except for that one man who was too busy yelling and swearing at the crowd to even notice the place burning down! And it was that man's body that the police discovered."

"...You're an idiot."

A/N: I'll come back later and list the quotes and the facts and I'll try to list them on days that I do update, so no one thinks there's an update and it's a chapter fix or whatever. Right now, I just want to focus on updating because the research is killing me.

Lately, I've been wasting time on pointless research that I don't think I need right now (like spending four hours trying to find a German map from 1910 showing train tracks, then discovering that Heidelberg to the nearest train station was 104.000 miles (167.3717km) and the average horse travels at 4mph (6.43738kmh) then it would take them 26 hours to reach the nearest destination. HOWEVER, the average horse can only travel 20 miles per day (32.1869km), so how many stops would they need to make in between?
NONE. Because this is supposed to be a little before 1914 (for age reasons), so they wouldn't be heading towards Metz, France at this time.)

As always, thank you for reading.