John was right. When we told the soldiers about the "slayers", some went to the bathroom and some were so angry they punched the wall which left quite the dent (That'll be coming out of their paycheck…)

"So, are we still going to fight them?" Asked one

"Unfortunately, yes, though I hate the thought of killing fellow Unitarians" (Unitarian, being what I call my people, not the denomination) "We will fight, but if anyone of them surrenders, we'll take them as a 'prisoner'. Once they're in jail, we give them a few choices if they were forced into the army. They could live out their normal life, or join the Skyforce and fight against them. If they choose neither or originally a slayer that won't change, then they'll stay in their cell until the day they die. Regardless, we'll treat them with care and hospitality, three meals a day and that kind of stuff. Any questions or concerns?"

The meeting lasted for about an hour, though, some weren't too keen on showing the slayers any kindness. I reminded them (and myself) that Jesus told us to love one another and bless those who curse us. Since everyone was a Christian, they understood that pretty well, though I could tell that a few of them wanted to stab a slayer in the face, and I can't blame them, especially when it came to a few dragons.

As I was flying home, I began to ponder to myself. There was something wrong with Maria… ever since I adopted Seiya, she's been angrier than before and when I'm with Cheryl, she's even more! I had a hunch but why would she be jealous of a kid? I already warned her of the consequences if she mistreated the poor little guy, he already had one traumatizing experience, he doesn't need another. Once I warned her though, she acted like a six-year-old and pretty much threw a tantrum and screamed like a banshee, I'm surprised I'm not deaf yet.

For the past few months, Maria was also sneaking out quite often during the night. One night, I was walking downstairs to have a glass of water until I saw her silhouette, I responded by immediately stopping and watched what she was doing. After she unlocked the door and went outside, I waited a few minutes and then began to follow her. I was a good bit away so when she turned back, so couldn't see anyone, but I could see her. I followed her up to the walls to which she evaded any patrolmen and managed to go outside the walls and apparently managed to dodge the spotlights. As those months went by, I grew increasingly suspicious but I didn't let anyone know as it could have caused some sort of panic and/or riots or something like that. That last night I saw her carry a large pack and I had a pretty good idea what she was doing too, though that wasn't confirmed until that day.

It was evening, Seiya was done with his homework so we were playing a fighting game that was pretty much super smash bros. We were deep into our game, almost equally matched and I was not going to let Seiya damage my character even more and his final smash meter was full to the brim and mine was only halfway. I tried to play it safe, dodging, blocking and using ranged attacks and it was all well and good until I heard Seiya's stomach growl, he took that one second of me being distracted, got too close and immediately initiated his attack. My character was blown far out of the platform, the screen then shouted "K.O!" and I let out a defeated sigh. "Good game Seiya. Want some popcorn?" I asked.

"Yes please, just the way I like it." He accepted.

"You got it, to the victor go the spoils," I said as I went into the kitchen to mix the spices and pop the popcorn. As I was mixing, I heard someone come downstairs but I assumed it was John going out to train the troops.

"Um… hi… wanna play a match?" I heard Seiya's trembling voice, I then remembered that John has been in the base since five in the morning! Meaning that we were alone with…

"D-da-AAHH!" He screamed.

I immediately dropped the bowl and let it crash to the ground as I ran to the living room and what I saw scared me to the bone, I was horrified. Seiya was bleeding profusely from his underbelly, bawling his eyes out. Standing behind him was Maria with a slayer's mace, who seemed to have had a psychopathic grin. I desperately searched for a red crystal in my pockets but there was nothing, however, there was a glass jar of reds right next to her, once she realized what I was looking at, she smashed the jar along with the crystals to bits. If Seiya was the one who smashed them, then he would have been healed but it only affects the last living person it was touched by but since it was a steel mace that hit it, it didn't affect anyone. I then knelt down and started to put some pressure on his wound and shouted: "What's the meaning of this!?". She stood silent, I reached my radio but she quickly whipped her pistol out and shot it out of my hand.

"Oh, there'll be none of that." She declared.

"Why are you doing this!?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked, it obviously wasn't. "I'm in love with you, I have been nothing but nice to you but you pay more attention to your 'son' and Cheryl. How do you think that makes me feel? You barely notice me!"

"I do notice you but I was never into you, and now I know why! First, you almost try to kill Jane, then you stab me in the chest. Afterward, you then act horrible to Seiya and now try to kill him! Admit it, you were happy when your sister died! Because then you would think that you would have a chance with me! Well, you don't! Especially because of this! I hate you!"

Again, she stood silent. "...How dare you… How dare you! I have been nothing but nice to you, I supported your stupid decision to reclaim Warfang, instead of you going alone that day, I joined you so you wouldn't get hurt and came out without a scratch. It would have been better if you died along with that stupid dragon!"

"Now I see your true colors… You've been hostile to any girl that even came near me. When I try to go out with Cheryl, an apparent 'random' accident happens and some sort of pipe breaks or the oven breaks down, so I have to stay and fix it. Now I know what caused all those malfunctions. No one in the right mind would fall for you, someone must be brain dead if they like someone with an attitude like that."

She stood silent a third time and then spoke. "Well... If that's how it's going to be then fine! Maybe if I erase Seiya, Cheryl and the rest of your precious dragons from the equation, you'll finally notice me!" She swung down the mace but before it touched him, I turned into my dragon form and used my tail to catch it by the handle "Now that you mention it a second time, I have noticed you. I've noticed that you're bat guano nuts!" I wrenched it out of her hand and threw it behind the couch, making a loud thunk. I then slammed my tail into her stomach, sending her flying and crashing into the TV. I almost let my anger overtake me but as I walked to a now unconscious Maria to enact the finishing blow, I remembered that my son was dying! I turned into my human form and ripped my shirt to wrap it around him, acting as some sort of bandage. As I reached for the home phone, I heard a flatline, the phone wasn't working; Maria must've snapped a cord or something beforehand.

The only thing that came to my mind then was taking him to the hospital myself. I transformed again and began to desperately fly him to the nearest hospital. Once I arrived, I practically barged through the glass doors, desperately requesting a doctor. I was helped almost immediately, primarily because of my status but also because of the nearly dead hatchling I was holding. I followed the rushing cart where Seiya was put on and informed the doctor about what caused the wound.

I then waited outside for what felt like an eternity, worried for him, wondering if I was too late and if there was anything else I could have done until the doctor finally came out.

"How is he?"

"He sustained a near devastating wound, just a few more inches to the right and his lungs would have been punctured. If he managed to bleed a bit more then we would have lost him." Is the condensed version of what he said. He gave me a larger explanation of what happened to him but long story short, it's a miracle Seiya didn't die. He then explained to me that he was fine and in good condition to be taken home, though he may have wanted to explain a bit further. I opened the door and saw Seiya resting on the hospital bed and the nurses made way for me.

"Hey, bud…" I carefully nudged him but he made no response.

"He's still under the effects of the anesthesia, he'll wake up in a bit." assured the nurses.

I sighed in relief as the nurses went outside of the room. The place where he was hit was good as new, the scales that were ripped off were healed which was most likely the doing of a good red crystal. The clock said that it was nine at night, I couldn't believe my eyes until I looked out the window where it was pretty dark outside. Then again, it was sunset when I brought him in. I took a seat and must've dozed off as I didn't remember Seiya waking up and tugging at my hand. When I opened my eyes, joy overflowed me and I hugged him as tight as I could, saying inconceivable things through my blubbering. After everything was said and done, we finally flew home; Seiya never even winced at flapping his wings.

Some things were cleaned up but the bloodstain on the carpet was still there, at least the TV was replaced though Maria was nowhere to be found.

"What happened here?" Asked John who was on the couch. I whispered to Seiya to go to his room and I kept walking. "Hey." I felt a firm hand on my shoulder "Tell me, what happened here?"

"Or what?" I snapped "Will you also betray me just like the rest of your siblings!?"

John had an incredibly confused look on his face "What? No! I would never do that! I just want to know what happened here."

"What do you think!? Who do you think happened!? You're bloody sister happened! That's what!" I shouted.

"Maria?" He wondered.

"Of course Maria! Who else has been bothering Seiya ever since he got here!?"

"But how? What did she do?" He asked.

"Take a look behind the couch and you'll see!"

He had an even more puzzled face when he looked. "What… exactly am I supposed to be looking for?"

When I looked, there was nothing left except a few bloodstains. "Do you really not know what happened?" I asked.

"Obviously not."

I sighed and proceeded to explain "Sorry for snapping at you earlier…" I finished.

"No, no, it's fine. You just went through a horrible ordeal… I just never thought she would be capable of…"

"Murder? You do remember she stabbed me in the chest before, right? That was about three years ago."

"...Fair point… Though she was aiming for her own sister… which makes it look much worse…" He sighed "I just wish she told me about this, maybe I could have helped her somehow that didn't end up in how it did. While I scolded her in how she treated Seiya, I suppose I should have asked her about why she was doing that. I will take part of the blame but still… I can't believe I'm related to that mess. Our father would be very much disappointed in her"

So would he be in most of the rest...I thought "I should really hire a royal guard" I sighed "I can't let this crap keep happening…"

"Yeah you should, we should also stay vigilant. Maria knew quite a bit of information on our tactics and weapons."

"She'll be detained when we see her but if she resists, and she probably will in a violent way, then we may have to take drastic decisions. As far as I'm concerned, she betrayed us and I have a sneaking suspicion that's she's joined the slayers. She couldn't have taken the maces we're storing as they were all still there, so that narrows it down."

John sadly nodded "Well… I'll see you in the morning…"

The next morning when I woke up, I checked my door; for the first time in forever, it was locked.