Peach was half a hundred pages from finishing the book in her hands when the world went silent and black. She set the tome aside and got up to see what had happened, but she already knew. She could not mistake that uneasy feeling for anything else. Even so she made her way to the galleries to look, half hoping she would be spared of seeing her fears taking form.

They had. The sun still shone, dimly so, but its light had only malice, and when it hit Love's eyes, she had to look away. A droning sound filled the world, so soft that it went almost unheard, but when Peach noticed it, her head hurt. Somehow that noise did not seem to be coming from anywhere.

Everyone stood still, staring, as though they were trying to understand what was happening. The answer came to Love with no effort. It was the black sun of the Bad End Kingdom, the sun that shone over Märchenland just a few years before. It never rose and it never fell. It stood in the night sky alongside the moon that shone brighter than the sun itself. The nights, sometimes, were more filled with light than the days.

Peach remembered that all, though she had tried to forget, wanted to see her dreams free of those terrible images that haunted her. She wished she had never been taught the lesson she learned when she marched against the Bad End Kingdom. Pierrot was a monster who led a realm and legions of abominations, and the Precure Kingdom was righteous, justified… yet what righteous army burns cities to the ground, sacks their ally's capital? Fabul had been taken by the Bad End Kingdom, but when Beauty and her soldiers marched inside, the city looked safe enough. When she walked out, the city was in ruins. Their enemies had evil hearts but the Precure Kingdom was rotten as well, their souls more black than white or grey. If all sides were wrong, where was Love to stand? Best to forget it all. Best to let it all die.

And then she noticed she was looking at the dead sun again. Her hand was grasping at her blade's hilt. Why? She did not know. She did not mean to do so. It was the sun, she had no doubt, it was the Bad End Kingdom's foul magic. When Love could see Operetta in the horizon from her warship, she could see the sun high above it, black and terrible, an ill omen, but she paid it no mind. Yet soon she realized that something had changed. She was quick to anger, quick to be enveloped by sadness, quick to say cruelties. She hurt Buki, she remembered. When Buki said she was worried about Märchenland's fairies, Peach told her it was the people of Majorland she should worry about. Why did she say that? She never wanted to, and to this day the guilt still stung whenever she remembered it.

Miki had been changed as well. She had grown proud and full of rage against Reika. Justified, perhaps, but it was so unlike Miki, always full of grace and wit, to wish death upon someone. After that, she had no doubt that the Bad End Kingdom's sun played tricks on even the most resolute minds.

So Peach found herself unsurprised when she looked to her side and saw Marine's delicate hands making a circle on Moonlight's throat, squeezing, nails digging in.

"You and Momoka are the same," Marine said, but Moonlight didn't even resist, "the two of you hurt your sisters… You are the same…"

Love thought she saw tears pouring from Moonlight's eyes, but she did not waste her time looking closer to make sure. She pulled Marine away from Moonlight, and made her look away from the darkened sky. For a moment her eyes seemed black and empty, but it was a sight so fleeting that when it was over Love was not so sure she had seen it.

"I…" Marine looked around, perplexed, sea blue eyes straying like waves as she tried to make where she was, what had happened. She turned back to Moonlight, and looked down at her own hands. "Yuri, I did not…"

Moonlight took lazy steps towards the edge of the balcony. She was still looking up, Love realized, and leapt forward to grab Yuri by the arm and take her inside as well. She looked as confused as Marine.

"You weren't there," Peach said, more to herself than to the two girls, "you had no way to know."

"Know what?" Marine asked, but Yuri looked like she had already understood.

"It's the Bad End Kingdom. Somehow, I don't know how exactly, they have returned. When they invaded Majorland, they brought an endless night with them, and it looked exactly like it does right now," she pointed to the inky skies.

"W-What I did," Marine's hands laid low, as if she tried to keep them away from her, "w-was it because of… that?"

Love nodded. Marine was dismayed, and though Moonlight tried not to show any terror, her flickering eyes betrayed her. Peach did not blame them for their fears; she herself was terrified as well. Love thought of Setsuna, and felt her fears close in on her until she could hardly breathe. The thought of Setsuna all alone in this world of darkness wounded her heart far more than the cruel sun's whispers could.

She ran her eyes across the battlefield, now silent but for the sound of falling rain so far below them. Rain, with not a cloud in sight? It fell black and thick on the gallery's railing. That was ink, Love noticed. The lands reclaimed from the Bad End Kingdom were often covered in it, she remembered, but she had never seen it fall down from the skies like this. Love dared not touch it, and commanded Moonlight and Marine to avoid it as well.

She kept looking, waiting for change, waiting for noise. The dark ink joined together in great puddles that bubbled abominably. When the noise came, at last, Peach covered her ears so she would not hear it, her hands pressing so firm against her ears that she felt as if she would crush her own head. Even so, she found no silence, no solace, only that horrid buzzing sound that came from nowhere.

But even that was better than listening to the wailing and shrieking that came from the battlefield. Men and women alike cried loudly, and Peach could almost feel their pain. When they stopped crying, soon came the cackling, the shouting, the fluttering of dark wings. Blobs of ink began to join together and things emerged from the pools, grisly things. From so high up above it was hard to tell what they were, but Peach already knew. They were the dreadful monsters of the most fearsome tales known to the world, and they were at the Aegis' gates.

She rushed downstairs, feeling her heart so heavy with worry that she thought it would bring down her whole body. She ran so fast that she lost her balance half a dozen times as she made her way down, but she had no time to lose. Were she not fast enough, soon there would be no time for any of them, not anymore.

Kumojacky and Westar stood ready in front of the gate, glimpsing the monsters outside through the glass sun of the gate. It was not glass, Peach repeated to herself, it was magic, do not fear. She could not believe her own words, and feared.

"Everyone!" She shouted to whoever could listen. "Come! Come now!" She heard steps behind her, people approaching, but she did not look back. "We all must stand and fight! It's not the Precure Kingdom that's at our gate. It is something far worse, something merciless, something inhuman. They'll rush in looking for blood, your blood! Well, they'll only get our blades and arrows instead. Come now!"

They came, she could hear it. She drew her blade with one hand, and made a fist with the other. She shouted again, without thinking what she said. It did not matter anyway. Shouting made her forget her fears, if only for a passing moment, but they kept coming back, and nothing could make them go away.

Nothing but her voice. Peach did not believe it when she heard it, but when Setsuna spoke again, louder this time, and put a hand on her shoulder, she could not doubt it was real, and she smiled, lips curving so quickly into such a great grin that it almost hurt. She looked back.

"Love," said Passion, with Berry and Sunshine by her side. Even now her voice was so calming to Peach, her eyes so beautiful to look upon, to get lost in. "Love," she repeated, and though the tears she broke into were born of joy, they rent Love's heart all the same.

"Don't cry," Love dropped her sword on the floor and her words began to shake, "or I'll cry as well," she approached Setsuna, running trembling fingers on her face to wipe her tears, in vain. Her hands clang to Setsuna's shoulder as they pulled her closer, and their faces touched as Love felt the tears rush down her cheeks. Her own, and Setsuna's.

"I'm sorry," Setsuna sobbed, and Love did not let go of her. "Can you forgive me, a silly girl who did not know what to do?"

"There is nothing to forgive. I don't blame you for leaving, I just love you for coming back, as I knew you would," is what Love wanted to say, but the words couldn't come out, and she just bawled harder. Setsuna caressed her hair, and through her timid tearful smile, Love could see that she understood, even without words.

They let go of each other, though Love's grasp lingered for one more moment. She did not wish to be apart from Setsuna again, not anytime soon.

"This…" Love said, noticing something. A chain around Setsuna's neck, thin and red, the deep red she saw in Setsuna's eyes. Love softly clasped it and pulled a small red clover hidden beneath the crimson fabric of Passion's dress. It felt like crystal in her hands. "So you have it still…"

She nodded smoothly, and Love could not help but smile. She looked down at her chest, and saw her own clover, pink and scraped. She wore it most hours of the day, and even her most cautious care was not enough to prevent it from getting a little damaged. Just one week before, when she had taken it off to go to bed, it slipped from her hand as she set it on her bed table, and fell down on the hard stone floor of her quarters. She feared it damaged, as it seemed quite frail, but she sighed in relief when she saw that it had only gained a scratch.

Something was at the gate, hitting it with great strength. Sunshine was the first to step towards it.

"Were you not to be atop the Aegis, with the great mirror?" Love asked, remembering when Itsuki mentioned her duties not too long ago.

"The Aegis' mirrors need the sun, and the sun is dead," she said, clenching her hands into fists. Sunshine looked back at Love. "Well, not quite," she smiled sadly. "I'm not dead yet. So come on, let's fight. It just would not do for you to make such a rousing speech and not be among the first to meet the enemy, don't you think?"

"It would not," Love said, approaching the gate as well. Passion and Berry followed her closely. Between each blow to the gate, there was a tense silence, and Love could hear her companions' breathing, so fast. They were afraid, she could tell. Love listened to her heartbeat, and knew she was afraid as well. She was afraid of losing Setsuna just now that she had returned, and Miki as well, and Itsuki, everyone, even that frail girl who always seemed too afraid to fight. Time had created bonds between them, like vines, and the thought of anyone at the Aegis being hurt made Love's heart ache.

"How strong is this gate, anyways?" Soular's voice came from behind, indulgent as always, as if everything was a joke in the end.

"Against humans, or against monsters?" Sunshine asked. She said something else, but the smashing sound at the gate made her words go unheard.

"Was it this bad, then?" Soular asked again, this time directed at Love. "When you fought at Majorland, I mean."

"It is always bad," Love said. Her arms were shaking a little, she noticed. She held her blade with both hands so it would not fall. "But this time-"

For the last time, the beasts outside rammed the gate. Then, for a while, there was silence. The defenders exchanged confused glances among one another, and waited. Love knew the Bad End Kingdom would not give up.

She looked at the gate another time. How odd, Peach thought. Was it always tinted orange? No, it could not be, it was steel… Then orange turned brighter, and Peach's eyes widened. No, she thought. It could not be.

"Run!" She yelled as loud as she could, and then louder still, until she felt her throat about to rip open. She had no time to explain, and she only hoped that they would listen to her. For the most part, they did. Sunshine hesitated, but Love pulled her away, as far away as she could.

"What is wrong with you, Peach!?" Sunshine shouted, wrestling herself free of Peach.

Dragon, Love would say if her throat did not hurt so much. She wheezed, and pointed at the melting gate. She looked around, and though everyone around her, from the Cures to the soldiers guarding the Aegis looked scared out of their wits, it was only Miki who knew the true terror of dragon fire.

A hole was melted into the gate, growing larger and larger, until there was more hole than gate. When there was nothing but molten steel burning an orange so bright Love thought she was staring at the sun, the beast slowly slid its head inside. Its eyes were red and huge, terrible to behold, its fangs short but sharp and strong. Its lengthy neck was all covered in hard black scales, and its head was long as well, looking much like a blade, with a pointy nose in the end. It opened its jaws wide open, and from deep within its throat came a red glow.

Peach did not need to yell this time. Everyone ran to the sides, crouching, finding somewhere to hide. Peach threw down a large stone statue, and hid behind it alongside Sunshine, frail shelter as it was. Love could not bear to look at the flames coming from the gate, but she did so anyway. They caught one of Marigold's spearmen, a poor soul who could not run away fast enough.

The entire corridor that led to the gate was consumed by bright flames, and Love had to avert her eyes from them, lest she be blinded. A young man by Soular's side was not so wise, and she could see it as the brown of his eyes turned to white. It did not look like he had even realized what had occurred to him. He just kept staring at the flames with his dead eyes.

And then he began to scream, all of them shrieked, even Soular, who Peach had never seen showing much of a reaction towards anything. He was crying, clinging to the wall as close as he could, and trying to get even closer.

The heat began to hurt Peach, though she was as far from it as she could be. She felt trapped in her own body as the fire tried to embrace her, caressing her face, charring her eyebrows with its wicked kisses. She looked at her own hand in horror, and she could see all of her veins, boiling on the inside. She screamed in pain, but that only made it hurt more.

Setsuna, she thought as she screamed. She could not see Setsuna. Please, she prayed, please let Setsuna be safe…

A moment later, the fire stopped, and Love took a quick breath, and looked around again. She saw her, thank the Heart. Setsuna looked half a corpse, shrinking on a corner, weeping in terror. But alive, Love thought with relief.

"Is it over?" Sunshine was the first to rise.

"No," Peach struggled up, holding on to Sunshine, "it just began," she said as she heard steps from the corridor.

Peach looked at where the unfortunate man was caught by dragon fire, but there was nothing where he stood but some cinders flying around and a vague ashen silhouette on the wall behind him. Just like Majorland, she recalled. Nothing burned half as hot as dragon fire, not even Solaris' suns. It could melt through almost any material, and the slightest spark could instantly ignite a man. When dragons came down from the sky during the Bad End War, they left no corpses in their wake, only ashes, and sometimes less than that.

All who fought beside her were shaken, she noticed. They looked more like they were about to run away than fight. Though the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder, no one seemed to care. Soular still wept, Passion was crouching down, hiding, trembling violently. Berry was clawing at her own face, and even Kumojacky was a shell of a man, staring at nothing. They would not fight, Peach realized. Fear had taken over them.

Love knew only she could free them. She closed her eyes, and called herself an idiot as she stepped forward by herself, standing between the coming horde and her companions. A dozen horned ogres came rushing in, holding clubs and axes and swords. Peach's own blade looked quite tiny in comparison, but she pointed it at them anyway.

She was the first to meet them in battle, but not the only. Sunshine and Passion were at her side, still terrified, but fighting all the same, as if inspired by Peach. Westar was next, and his huge hammer terrified even Love. Kumojacky was by his side, too, eager to fight.

An enemy soldier swung a mace at her, but he was too slow, and she leapt to the side before sticking her blade on his enormous chest. Ink began to ooze from his wound, and he fell. Another club came crashing down on her, and Peach held it with her free hand. It took all of her strength to not let go, and with Passion's help, she tossed the beast against the hurt one by his side.

"Get down!" Soular shouted, and Peach obeyed. A flurry of arrows came from behind, all of them finding a beast to pierce. One by one they fell to the floor, but they did not die. Slowly their bodies turned into the ink their wounds bled, until there was nothing of them but the sticky black on the floor, and even that was soon gone, fading into nothing as quickly as it appeared.

They kept coming, and it seemed like there was no end to the enemy legions. Wolfmen holding long spears and crossbows rushed in alongside cackling witches and vampires. One of them almost bit Peach, grabbing her arms with his bony fingers, and pulling her close to his hideous fangs. A quarrel from Soular's crossbow took him before he could do so, but it was close.

Yet they kept coming, more and more, tirelessly. Whenever Peach's blade sunk deep in the heart of one of their soldiers, the Bad End Kingdom sent two more to take its place, each one shouting, fighting with all their energy, while Peach found found each of her punches to be a bit lighter than the last, each swing of the sword a bit slower.

By the time her arm was hurt and her body was bruised all over, the enemy showed no sign of relenting, and they had been pushed away from the gate. Sunshine was panting, and Kumojacky had taken Berry's place so that she could rest for a moment, and he swinging around that huge sword of his, but that did not seem to intimidate the invaders or quench their blood thirst.

"I'm out of quarrels!" Soular shouted. Go get some more, Love wanted to say, but she knew their storerooms were not so close. If they even had any bolts left, that is…

"It's no use," said Berry. "We can't fight here."

"Where else can we fight, then?" Love asked, taking steps back as their last defensive line was overran. If they stayed there they would be outnumbered, true, but they would be outnumbered wherever they went. Retreating would only delay the inevitable.

"She's right," Sunshine leapt back, and commanded half a dozen spearmen to come and hold off an ogre whose armor was tough steel. "There are traps in the corridors," she said, but did not sound convinced. "We'll pull back for now."

Peach grunted. She wanted to stay and fight, but she would not do it by herself. But perhaps Sunshine was right. Maybe the narrow corridors of the Aegis would be easier to defend. A line of spears would prevent anyone charging at them, and bowmen behind them would only make their defense stronger. Still, if they ran away, there would be no one to defend the galleries but Marine and Moonlight…

She took a moment to breathe, but only one. Her sword felt heavy on her hand, so she sheathed it. Fists were enough for Sunshine and Berry, so why not for her as well?

"Blossom must be at the great atrium," said Sunshine. "When I last saw her she was taking Pine to the infirmary."

Buki… When that horrid furnace started to burn at the galleries, Buki was helping the soldiers run away and take cover, but in the end she herself was burned. It had not been too bad of a burn, as Buki escaped quickly, but even so the flames were at her face, very close to her eyes. It was Sunny's work, Peach knew it. She would pay for that, for harming her friend.

Sunshine led the retreat, and she made sure no one stayed behind. Peach and Passion helped her; a wounded girl with a cracked helmet limped as she held on to Passion's shoulder, and Peach made sure no monster got near anyone who was hurt. The three of them were the last to leave, and they ran to a corridor that led to the main atrium. As their enemies gave chase, Sunshine snapped her fingers, and walls of light appeared between them and their pursuers, stopping them on their way.

"They will not hold on for long, but they'll need witches to get through, and that will give us time, I pray…"

The corridor was long, and on its walls were many mirrors. The figure that Peach saw reflected was not a pleasant one: all over her body were stains of blood and ink, and all over her was sand and dirt.

The barriers did not last nearly as long as Sunshine had hoped: when Love looked back, they were gone, all of them, and a ghastly beast blitzed towards her, so fast that she could hardly think of resisting. It almost looked like a phantom, a cloak flying through the air, but it was covered by vines and roses of vibrant colors. Purple and orange, cyan and emerald, all of them so bright that they looked like they were burning. The beast shrieked like a banshee, but it had no mouth to shriek, and it did not have only one voice. No, Peach realized when the thing clung to her, the fabric of its cloak enveloping her face. A hundred voices cried at once, and beneath them all, shed could hear her own crying. The darkness began to take her as she tried to pull the thing away, to rip the cloak to shreds, all in vain.

"Pink Forte Wave!" The weeping suddenly stopped and Blossom's voice was all she could hear.

As the pink blast hit the specter, its cloak melted to nothing, and a hundred roses fell on the floor before quickly wilting. For a second, the world was tinted pink, and its colors only came back after Peach blinked.

"Come!" Blossom urged, yelling from the atrium, and Peach listened. She did not look back again. She did not want to see how many were coming.

Blossom and Sunshine closed the atrium's door. Blossom pointed her Tact at it and whispered soft words. It shone dark pink, and something thumped against it with a loud noise, but the door held on.

"Are you all unharmed?" Blossom asked with those anxious eyes of her, tears of worry that she failed to hide streaming down her cheeks. She was thinking of Marine and Moonlight, Peach realized. They were still at the galleries.

"Unharmed? No," said Peach. Now that she had a brief moment of calm, her wounds began to hurt even deeper. "Only alive."

"Your arm-" Blossom put a hand on Sunshine's arm, but she cringed. "I'm sorry."

"It doesn't hurt when I punch, at least, and that's what matters," Sunshine chuckled, but nobody else laughed. Berry and Passion stared at the door. It did not budge, but despite the magic in it, it did not seem to offer much protection.

Passion sat down, and Peach stood by her side. She held Setsuna's hand, slippery with ink.

"I wish we could be together in a better time," said Peach. "Since we met, we've had no end of trouble, haven't we?"

"Yes," Passion said, holding tighter to Peach.

"When was the last time we were able to rest and enjoy ourselves?" She asked, bitter. "At Lapis, just after you became Cure Passion? Before that, Labyrinth had you in chains, and after that, Beauty ruined everything. That was the last time we were truly happy, was it not? The only time, perhaps."

"No," Passion closed her eyes. "I am happy now. Despite the pain, I am happy to be by your side, happy to be here, fighting to protect what I love. I am happy. It is difficult, yes, but you taught me I had to fight for my happiness so that I could find it it even in difficult times. I found it," she got up, and her face was so close to Love now, "and it is with you. I will not forget that, never again. Don't forget that either."

Yes, that was right. What a fool she was. How could a Precure ever not be happy to fight? If she fought for what was right, no matter what it took, no matter how much it hurt, it was worth it, and that was the Precure's goal. It should make her happy. Peach made herself smile for Passion, and she smiled back. When Love found her at the ruins of Silver Moon, a poor, sad thing, she had not dared hope that she would ever smile like this, but now she did, and it was beautiful. Even if everything else was gone, Love would fight for that smile.

"What do we do now?" She said, her pain not stinging quite so sharply, the world not weighting so heavy on her shoulders.

"Sadly, without the sun shining brightly, our mirrors won't work," Sunshine lamented. "That was my hope at first, when I thought it was just the Precure Kingdom we would fight, but then this happened. I should have been more prepared…"

"You had no way of knowing. It's not your fault."

"So we'll have to fight?" Berry asked, and Kumojacky was quick to agree.

"It will be dangerous, too dangerous," said Soular.

"It'll be dangerous no matter what, and cowering here won't make it any less so," for once Westar was the sensible one.

"That might be true, but going out there would be suicidal," Soular retorted. That was true as well, yet what choice did they have?

"Not if we do it right," a booming voice came from the other side of the atrium. Only Sabaku could make himself be heard from the opposite end of such a large room. He stepped closer with Sasorina and Cobraja at his side. "I am late, I apologize. So the gate has been breached?"

"And not by ordinary soldiers," Sunshine said, and she explained all they had seen, all they had fought.

"I see," the worst part of talking to Sabaku was his mask. Peach found it unbearable to be unable to see a person's face, to see what they were thinking, if what they heard pleased them. Under the mask, Sabaku was a mystery. "so Beauty is monstrous enough to have the forces of the Bad End Kingdom serve her?"

"I don't really think those monsters serve her…" Said Berry.

"Doesn't look like anyone could make them serve, really," Peach said. They were mad with anger, and did not help one another in their fighting.

"Regardless, they are our enemy, as is the Precure Kingdom. We must destroy them."

"The Precure Kingdom is not our enemy!" Peach spoke out. She almost laughed at her own words, after all she had said before of the Precure Kingdom's cruelty, but she said the words anyway. "I know it, in my heart I know it, it is only the Bad End Kingdom that's behind this. If we find out the truth, then perhaps we can make sense out of this."

"Before we find the truth, though, we have to fight our way out of this," Berry reminded her. "I don't think there's a diplomatic solution here."

"No," Sabaku looked up, at the glass ceiling of the Aegis' great atrium. High above, the black sun stood unmoving, cruel. A great roar came from the skies, and Peach's legs began to shake.

There was another roar, and this time the room trembled. What little light still shone was gone as the sun was covered by that terrible winged horror. The dragon's wings were long and they flapped slowly. A shadow covered the atrium, darker and darker as the monster drew nearer.

Everyone shouted and cursed as the magical glass broke in countless pieces all over them. Peach looked above, and she could see what she thought was a smile on the dragon's jaws. It opened its mouth, ready to kill, to turn them all to ash. Its face was covered in flames as an inferno took the room. Loved looked at Setsuna one more time. There was no escaping this, she knew, so why not be happy for one moment before dying?

Death felt so strange. In fact, it did not feel much different from living at all. A bit hot, but it was not too bad. And at least Setsuna was still with her, which might be the most important part, in truth. Why was she still looking up? Look at me, Setsuna, Love meant to say, but then she looked up too.

They had not died. The sun shone above them, and it came from Itsuki's hands. The whole room was filled with light as a barrier kept the flames at bay. The fire shrieked louder than a thousand screams, but Sunshine held on despite its violence. She fell to her knees, but her hand still pointed up, her shield still protecting everyone from the fire. Blossom held her close as Sunshine yelled from the exertion, not letting go, asking her to be strong, and Sunshine was oh so strong.

The flames stopped, and Sunshine's barrier broke like glass, fading into nothing as the pieces fell slowly like leaves on the breeze. The dragon wailed, and where the black sun was a moment before, the true sun was shining once again, as if its light tried to reach out to Itsuki, and there was no more sadness in these blue skies.

Ink rained from the dragon's body, and holes opened in its thin wings. It flee away haphazardly, almost falling, crying. Beyond the locked door, Peach heard more screaming.

"It's the mirrors," Sunshine said, getting up. "They're working again."

It only lasted a moment, as darkness fell over them again, and the Bad End Kingdom's black sun reigned the skies one more time, but that moment was all they had prayed for. All that was left now was victory.

Peach drew out her sword, and Passion did the same by her side. They nodded at each other. Slowly the others joined them, with weapons in hand (except for Sunshine and Berry, whose weapons were their hands). The spear in Blossom's hands seemed a bit too big for her, but Peach trusted her. She was not the most dangerous fighter, but she fought anyway, and to Peach that was what mattered the most. Blossom pointed her Tact at the door, and nodded to Peach. That was it, then. It was time.

Peach led the charge, their last charge. Screaming, she was the first to meet the enemy, alongside Blossom and Sunshine. They shouted with her.

She cut her way through them; the mirrors' magic had wounded them, and they could hardly put up a fight. When they did manage to hit her she felt no pain, and kept on fighting. There was no escape for the enemy in the narrow corridors, and soon enough Peach found herself at the gate, and then beyond that.

There were so many of them, Peach thought when she saw the enemy's black masses, yet she felt like she could take on anything. And she did. A witch warped behind her, trying to cut her in the back with her long talons, but Peach was too fast for that, and one quick slash turned her enemy to ink. A werewolf lunged against her, but was stabbed before he could reach her, and at the same time, a gnome trying to stab her was tossed away. Blossom pierced through two vampires with a single blow, and a third meant to swarm her by turning into a cloud of bats, ravenous and dark, but a blast from her Tact got rid of them.

Passion and Sunshine fought together, their backs against each other, and no foe could withstand them. Berry battled many enemies at once, and Peach's heart froze when she was almost stricken down by an ogre's greatsword, but Sabaku parried the blow, and the two of them defeated the monster with ease.

All around, the Precure Kingdom and Majorland's soldiers were down on the rocky ground, crying softly, agony in their faces. They were victims, all of them, not enemies. This was how she found Majorland's people during the Bad End War, Love recalled. She cursed them for that.

From the galleries, arrows rained down on their foes, driving them back, and Peach gave chase. Did they have a commander, or were they all mindless beasts, killing for the sake of killing? Peach could only wonder, until she heard commands being bellowed by a huge red ogre, bigger than all others. His arms were as thick as tree trunks, and the club he carried was as large as two men, perhaps even larger.

She remembered him. It had been a while since she last saw him, but she remembered. Akaoni, one of Pierrot's trusted generals… But no, it could not be. She saw him die. She saw it…

Peach had no time to think on it, as she heard that shrieking again. She looked up, and saw the dragon again, flying with difficulty, in pain. When it saw her, it came swooping down, landing next to her all at once, its great weight shaking the earth, knocking Peach to her feet. It plunged its claws into the brown soil, and roared.

The sun shone again, for a single moment that soon was gone. Peach jumped on her feet, and sunk her blade between the beast's eyes. A flimsy flame erupted from its mouth, but by then Peach had jumped atop its head, stabbing again and again and again. Above everything, the sun flickered yellow and black, yellow and black, yellow and black, and whenever it shone, the monsters shrieked.

When the beast was dead, eyes still open, Peach turned to Sunshine. She was trying to end it. Sunshine's eyes were closed, and her hands were on her heart. A light came from her, and when it shone, so did the sun. But that would not be enough. Blossom put her hand on Sunshine's chest as well, and prayed with her. The sun burst alight one last time, so warm now, and darkness did not follow it this time. The soldiers stopped crying, and they began to get up, one by one, confused.

There was one thing left. Peach called out for Berry, and together they ran towards Akaoni, ignoring all else in their way. He seemed to pay no mind to two girls as small as they were, but when Peach was at his head in a single leap, and her blade was in his eye, he could not help but notice that.

And he screamed, flailing wildly. His club caught Peach, knocking her to the ground, and it hit her again, pummeling her into the rocks. No, not rocks. When Peach looked again, what once was sand and stone had turned green and soft, and Love felt the grass on her fingers. Sunflowers great and small began to sprout from the soil. Blossom and Sunshine… So this was what Precure magic could do, Peach admired. She would have admired it much more if Akaoni did not hit her yet again, making her arms crack in great pain. Above, however, she could see Berry wrapping her arms around the ogre's neck, pulling it down to the ground, where it collapsed atop its own soldiers. A hail of arrows took him down, turning him into ink as well.

Peach struggled to get up, as her arms hurt too much for her to use them for support, but Berry helped her up, and let Peach cling to her shoulder. All around, they were victorious. Majorland and the Apostles and the Precure Kingdom fought together, and the Bad End Kingdom was no match for that might.

Peach walked amidst the field of sunflowers, gently blowing in the wind. The battle had only just ended after its rage burned so terribly, but Love felt oddly calm. In the distance, a pillar of fire rose into the skies and then moved away from the Aegis. Is that you, Sunny? Are you running away like a coward, defeated? Love laughed, even though she shouldn't, even though it hurt.

Even when it was setting, the sun seemed to shine brighter than usual. Peach welcomed that. By sunset, most of the three armies were now inside the Aegis, or in front of it, in makeshift camps. Winning a battle was easy, Peach reflected, that was why she was so good at it. What came after was the hardest part; feeding thousands of hungry mouths, calming down warriors drunk with battle who were still looking for fights among themselves, tending to the wounded, to the dead. Too many had died, too many who did not need to die. None of them needed to, Love thought sadly. Yet even that was not what Love feared the most.

What she feared was having Sabaku and King Mephisto in the same tent, for negotiations. What was there to negotiate? As far as she knew, they were allies, or at least they should be.

"I cannot forgive this!" Mephisto slammed his fist on a table so hard that it almost broke in half. Then he whined about how his fingers hurt. "We were used by that filthy queen…"

"Now, father-" Princess Ako had tried to be the one in charge of this meeting, but her father would not stay inside the Sunflower Aegis, and insisted on coming. Now Love understood why she wanted to keep him away.

"This is maddening! Curse her, curse them all! And curse the Bad End Kingdom as well… We've been used all along."

"As far as we know, Beauty, Sunny, March, Peace and Happy are being used by the Bad End Kingdom as well," Peach insisted on saying each one of their names. Erika insisted that Peace was innocent, but none of them were.

"Heh, they were fools," Reina said. If Love regretted something about this battle, it was freeing Marigold from the royal tent, where she was being held. She had done nothing but insist that she had won this battle, and demanded the glory she so deserved. "Look at the size of our army. We can take them on. We should take them on!"

"We certainly can," Yuri agreed. "Most of their army has defected, after all."

"But is Reika really our enemy?" Love asked. Once again, she could not believe the words pouring out of her mouth. Maybe she should have talked to Tsubomi before this meeting, to ask her to say this in her place. No one would find it odd if she did.

"What do you mean?" Yuri asked. "Do you think the Bad End Kingdom is controlling her, in some way? I doubt it. I think she just chose to ally herself with Pierrot."

"Peace said something…" Erika said, and for the first time, she was not being awfully loud about it. She seemed thoughtful, sad. "She said they could not control it."

"It?" Mephisto asked, and turned to Hibiki and Kanade. "You mean…"

"Like when Sunny's clothes turned black?" Hibiki asked, and Rhythm nodded.

"She also got really nasty," Hummy said from atop Ellen's shoulder.

"Sunny was a fierce foe," Kanade said, "but we were five, and she was one, so when the battle was lost, she had to run away. We fought for so long, and she never tired, and with the help of those monsters, she outnumbered us greatly. Still, when she saw there was no way to win, she escaped, rising into the sky covered in flames."

"That was her, no doubt about it," Peach had seen the same.

"Well, as I was saying," Erika rose her voice, annoyed, "Peace said they cannot control it. I did not understand it very well at first, but now I think I do. Somehow, the Bad End Kingdom has taken control of them."

"But how?" Yuri asked, and Erika just shrugged.

"But they did not seem different until now," Tsubomi said. "Reika and Nao did not seem changed…"

"Do you think so?" Miki asked. "Reika was definitely different. Sometimes she'd grow angry, cruel."

"Sometimes," Ellen repeated. "But not all the time. I was a spy for them, for a while," she said with shame, "and Miyuki sent me many letters. Sometimes she asked me about my day. Would you believe that?"

"That seems like something that Miyuki would do," Tsubomi almost smiled.

"And yet Miyuki was also the one who had Pierrot murdered," Love said. Pierrot and all of his allies, in fact.

"In some of her letters, though," Ellen continued, "she told me I was not working hard enough. I gave her information on Hibiki and Kanade's," she blushed, "problems, but she always wanted more. And she used them for terrible things."

"A girl who will ask you about your day on one letter and then have someone killed on the next," Sabaku pondered.

"It doesn't make sense, does it?" Melody asked. But not making sense did not make it any less true, Love thought.

"They can't control it," Erika said it again, more to herself than to the others. "Just like me when I looked at the black sun. My heart felt so hurt, and I could think of nothing but things that pained me, even though they should not be painful anymore," she looked to Yuri, who shook her head, as if telling her not to feel any guilt.

"So it is definitely the Bad End Kingdom's work that changed them," Berry said. "I should have never had any doubts about it. This change came when Reika approached Pierrot, after all, through Joker."

"We have no way of knowing the cause, not yet," Princess Ako said. "We must ask them, and I doubt they'd be willing to share any knowledge with us. And anyways, they are far away now."

"Someone close to them, then?" Ellen suggested. "Their fairy, Candy?"

"If she has an ounce of sense, she's headed back to her home now," Kanade said. "Reika herself said they did not need Candy anymore."

"Oh, that's a pity," Ellen said. "I don't know what to do, then."

"Finding out the truth is not our first priority," the princess said, and Love agreed to that. "What do we do now?"

"We strike," Reina was the first to say. "Oh, that foolish Alice would tell us to be careful, to be patient," she spat. "No, we have to be swift!"

Everyone seemed to ignore her, and pondered their options. Unpleased with that, Marigold rose and wandered around the large tent.

"We definitely must fight," said Yuri. "We have the advantage now."

"L-Let's wait," Tsubomi argued, clearly saddened she had to disagree with her close friend. "Everyone is tired, hungry, hurt. We cannot be hasty."

"Well, the Aegis cannot hold and feed so many soldiers," Itsuki said. "So we must act soon. Beauty must be holed up in the Palace of Smiles or at the east, like Marigold said. First of all, we should try to move the armies to a place where they can be fed."

"This need not be open war, though," Setsuna finally spoke out. Love had wanted to hear what she had to say, but she had been quiet for so long. "A few of us can go to the Palace of Smiles and face Beauty, learn the truth, and solve everything, hopefully."

"Maybe, but, as I said, we cannot keep so many soldiers in the same place for so long. They'll grow hungry and angry, and they'll want to go home."

"My soldiers' home is across the ocean," Mephisto said, angry. "They cannot return until this war is won, and it turns out that the war they came to fight was wrong."

"I'm sorry, father," Ako said, whispering something in his ear. She was already a small girl, but by his side, she looked smaller than a child. "There is no easy way out now. We have thrown the dice, and we will go to war. Majorland will, at least."

"Oh, well," Itsuki sighed. "I guess we must follow? The Precure Kingdom's army doesn't have a single leader, so I guess it's up to each one of you.

"House Tsukikage will fight, definitely," said Yuri, and that seemed to inspire the others to do the same.

"It is decided, then," Ako said. "There are, however, a few more matters…"

"What are those?" Peach asked, and saw Ako's face become uneasy, followed by Hibiki, Kanade and Ellen. Mephisto was still just angry.

"When she ran away, Sunny said something," Hibiki started.

"She looked at us with a gaze so cruel I could not help but look away," Kanade said. "Before she ran, she told us this was a hollow victory. You have won back the sun, she said, but only for today. When the sun rises again tomorrow, it will be darker still, and then there will be no miracle to save you. She said we will all die, and the evil sun will burn us to a cinder, and she'll laugh as she watches."

"She's welcome to try," Yuri said, defiant, but the others were afraid. Yuri did not need the sun, she was the beautiful moon, but the others were not quite so brave.

"What does it mean?" Erika asked. "Will this happen again?"

"We can only hope not, that she was lying, that it was an empty threat," Ellen said. Hummy shivered.

"The next sunrise, huh?" Said Marigold from the other side of the room. "So we'll get one night of sleep, at least," she laughed and was ignored once again.

"And there is one more thing," Ako's voice was wary. "With Sunny gone, we checked her tent. We found maps and letters, but not much of it was of any use. She had maps of the Precure Kingdom, of course, but also of Majorland, and even of the Trump Kingdom."

"A bit odd, yes" Miki said, "but is that all?"

"No," Ako turned her face to a corner of the tent, and slowly pointed a finger at a small chest there. "We found this as well."

"What is it," Love got up and approached the chest. As she lifted it, it began to shake a little.

"We didn't open it," Kanade said. Love carefully set it atop the table in the middle of the tent. "We were afraid."

"Wise," Sabaku said. "It could be anything."

"A trap?" Itsuki wondered. "Can you disarm it, Tsubomi?"

"M-Maybe I can," she said, not sure at all of what she was saying. "If it is a trap."

"It's locked, but we should be easily able to bash it open. Or, at least, Loved should," Setsuna smiled, and Love laughed.

"But should we? Who knows what's inside…" Said Kanade.

"It's shaking, so we feared it would be some sort of monster," Ellen said, "or some creature made of ink. I don't know. I was afraid."

"It can't be good, if Sunny had it," Love said. Still, they had to know. "I'll open it."

No one disagreed with her, though Tsubomi and Kanade looked anxious. When she put a hand on it, a splinter hurt her. She was not Peach, only Love, so it took all her strength to break it. Slowly she removed the top half. Her companions stepped back, held their breath, and even Love found herself afraid of what she might find inside. What she saw scared her even more.

It was no monster. It was a fairy, small and weak, starving and terrified.