"I didn't take it though."

Akko was trying to defend her own name. Merrill and Maril both glared at her. Akko gulped. She didn't take it. It wasn't her fault. Diana showed her the necklace and that was it.

"Come on Akko, we know you did. You were the last person to see it and now it's missing from it's spot. It has to be you."

Akko felt her bottom lip start to quiver as she could feel the tears start to fall. She was backed into a corner and had no way to prove her innocence.

"What is going on?"

All three heads turned to a grumpy Diana who had her arms crossed.

"Diana, Atsuko stole the necklace." Diana raised an eyebrow at that.

"What necklace?"

"The one your mother had commissioned for your future marriage with Louis. She must of been jealous of it and took it."

"I did not." Akko stomped her feet in frustration. "Diana showed me it and then placed it back. After that, I don't know what happen to it."

"Well, it's not there now. You had to have taken it. I know you want to marry Diana but that doesn't give you the right to take something that clearly doesn't belong to you. You are a thief and a liar."

Maril got right into Akko's face. Akko couldn't stand the accusations anymore. She ran. She wanted to run and find her mother and take her away from this awful place. She ignored the cries of her best friend.

All Asuka could do was hug and comfort her daughter as the carriage pulled away back to the kingdom.

Diana hummed a happy tune as Beatrix trotted along the road. She was almost home. She was just going to drop Beatrix off at the stables and then kiss Akko deeply when she saw her. The moment she stepped foot into the castle, she felt like something was off. She didn't know what it was. She climbed up the stairs to reach her and Akko's bedroom. The room was empty save for the black wolf taking up most of the bed. The wolf shot up and tackled Diana and began licking her face.

"No. Stop. Stop. Okami off."

Diana looked around, hoping for Akko to come out somewhere. When she didn't, Diana decided to look for her. She walked down to the garden to see Sarah examining a breastplate in her hand.

"Hello Diana." Sarah waved at her

"Sarah, you know where Akko is?"

"No. I'm sorry."

"What's wrong with the breastplate?"

"Nothing is wrong with it. It was in the brushes right here."

Diana raised an eyebrow at that. It was strange that it would be laying in a brush, almost as if someone had tossed it there to get rid of it. Diana felt the hairs on the back of her head stand up. There was something wrong.

"Sarah, I'm going to find Akko."

Diana didn't give the red head a chance to answer as she raced back into the castle. She climbed the stairs, two steps each with Okami keeping pace with her. She reached Lottie's room and pounded on the door.

"Lotte, are you there? Where is Amanda?"

Lotte opened the door for Diana. She was shocked to see the assassin.

"Diana, you're here? Akko has been worried sick about you."

"I know and I will apologize to her when I see her. Where is she?"

Amanda came up behind Lotte and swung an arm around the maid.

"Hey Dia. Akko is seeing Andrew right now. A guard came to take her to him." Lotte gave Amanda an odd look

"Akko is seeing Andrew? Andrew isn't here right now. He left like a week ago to go to his cottage."

Diana felt a shiver run down her spine. Panic set in and she began to mentally kick herself for leaving Akko.

"If she isn't with Andrew then who is she with now?" Amanda looked at Diana.

"Come on. We are going to go find her now. Okami, sniff."

The wolf had a scent trail and was running towards the fields away from the castle. Diana urged Beatrix on with Amanda following close by. Diana prayed that would make it on time.

Akko wiggled at the binds on her wrist. She quickly glanced at the man who had kidnapped her. He hadn't said a wordq after he had taken her. It was a simple kidnapping really. He had marched up and pretended to be a guard taking her to Andrew. She knew something was wrong when they started down the wrong path to the normal meeting room. The assassin soon had grabbed her hands and covered her mouth with his hand and told her to remain silent and act normal. It was easy for him to slip her out the back and onto a horse. He soon ditched his stolen armor in a random bush some ways away. She soon was unceremoniously picked up and dropped onto the cave floor.

The man had a fire going at the moment. Akko sighed as she leaned her head against the rock, which was freezing cold to her back.

"So, did Blackwell hire you this time? Obviously you haven't killed me so you must be here to kidnap me and take me to his kingdom."

A dagger was flown dangerously close to her face. Akko yelped in surprise.

"Silence, your majesty. I don't want to hear a peep out of you. I will kill you eventually. I just want Andrew to suffer a little bit longer." Akko looked her kidnapper with a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Not another word from you."

The man sat down across from and pulled out a journal along with a quill and an ink pot. He began silently scribbling on the sheet. Awkward silence filled the cave walls, save for the occasional drip of water from the rock formation above. Akko's eyes kept falling to the dagger around his waist. It had several in the belt but she noticed he carried no sword on him. She noticed that he had a simple brown leather vest and trousers, with a large patch on his right knee. Maybe she had been around Luna Nova too long to recognize that this man was not a normal assassin. She briefly imagined Diana in her all black outfit and that adorable hood that hide her face.

The man soon stopped his scribbling. Akko peeked one eye open to peer at him. He looked like he had been crying. That piped Akko's attention.

"Where you crying?"

The man shot his eyes up. Any tears that where originally in his eyes were gone. His whole face went beet red.

"What did I say about talking?"

"Sorry." Akko mumbled. He stood up to his full height. He had soon pulled a dagger out of his belt and held it close to her neck. Akko grimaced against the cold steel of the blade. He pressed it tight enough that a sliver of blood dripped down her neck. Just as quick as he had got up, he sat back down. He looked away from her. Once his attention was elsewhere, Akko fumbled with the dagger hidden in her hands. She tried to cut the ropes around her wrist. If she could keep him distracted, she could break free and escape. She could fight her way out if she had too.

"You aren't like the other assassins I've had to deal with." His eyes shot back at her. "Why are you keeping me here if you aren't going to kill me?"

"I want revenge." That sent a shiver down Akko's spine. She remembered the cold stone stare of the Diana in the past. "Against you and against your husband. I will take away something from him like he took away from me."

"Why? What did we ever do to you?"

That was the wrong sentence to say to the assassin. He slapped her across the face.

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU DAMN WELL KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"

"I haven't done anything that I know of. So please, enlighten me on what I could of done to have your irate."

The man sneered before stomping over to his side of the fire. Akko watched him as she continued to slowly slice through the ropes. Her face still stung from the attack.

"What the hell did I ever do to this guy? I never get out of the castle hardly and when I do, no one knows who I am save for the Mary and Avery. And what did he mean by what my husband had done. Oh gods, Andrew what did you do?"

"What did my husband steal from you?" Akko questioned him, hoping that she wasn't going to get another slap.

"My wife."

Akko looked up at him. Her jaw had dropped before she slowly closed it.

"Your wife? What did I do to your wife?"

"She was your personal maid. She assisted you around the castle. Washed your clothing and sheets. Even fetching your food."

"My personal maid is Lotte and I know she isn't married."

The man glared at her. He got up abruptly. Akko prepared herself for another attack. Finally, the binds around her wrist came undone. He stormed over with a dagger in hand. He moved quickly, grasping her throat tightly. She clawed at his hands. She sunk Diana's dagger into his hand. He screamed in pain and let her go. She gasped a bit for that much needed air.

"You bitch, you just stabbed me! How dare you."

"You tried to kill me. I think I had every right!" Akko shouted right back at him

"You killed my wife. I think I had the fucking right too." Akko's eyes widen at that.

"Your wife is dead?" Akko tried to wrap her mind around the new information. She couldn't figure out what she had to do with his wife's death.

"You should know. You ordered her death."

"I what!? I would never order someone's death. That's not me."

"Bullshit. I call lies. Her friend told me the queen ordered her death. You are the queen so it was you. You match the description I was given."

He clutched his hand tightly and just sneered at her again. Akko held her dagger out to defend herself in the event he tried to attack her again.

"I may be queen but I don't abuse my power like my husband. I don't even like the man."

"My wife is dead because of your selfishnesses." The man dropped to his knees.

"What happen that caused me to want to kill her?"

"She accidentally spilled some wine onto your expensive sheets. That's what her friend told me. You flipped out and had her condemned to death for that minor inconvenience."

Akko felt cold. It was the necklace debacle all over again. She was getting accused of something she didn't do. She looked at the poor man who was crying over his wife.

"I never would have someone sentenced to death. I would never. It wasn't me. It couldn't have been me. It wasn't me. I didn't do it. It's not my fault." Akko sobbed out. Memories of that day were brought forth. She reminded running out on Diana and refused to speak for a week after the incident. Diana's cousins finally did apologize after a week but she was never told what happened to the necklace. Akko still felt hurt that Diana never did defend her from their accusations.

"You killed her. My wife is now dead because of you."

"I didn't kill her. I didn't know her. My personal maid is Lotte."

"You are the queen. The king would only listen to the queen."

"Andrew listens to Chloe. I'm just inhabiting his castle and is meant to have his future heir. I'm nothing to that man. You kill me and he won't say a single thing. He doesn't care. No one cares about me. Even Diana has ran off." Akko curled up her knees close to her chest. She looked over at the man. He was attempting to wrap his hand up with a shirt. "Here, let me help."

She got up and took the shirt out of his hand. She wrapped it around his hand tight. He was silent the whole exchange.

"Who is Chloe?"

"The king's true queen. I'm sorry about your wife but I would have never done that to anyone just for a simple accident like that. Hell, I do that all the time. I'm a klutz myself so I know how accidents happen."

"I did watch you trip a few times and spill things when I was observing you. I got mad because I couldn't understand why you could do that and then let a maid die for the same thing."

"Never. If I had heard about what had happen, I would of had someone save her. I know my husband can be quick on the draw with having people be sentenced to death. He has done that a few times with a few of the servants. I've had to save them myself when I heard. Chloe is the same way."

"You don't have purple eyes." Akko turned to glance at the man with confusion. "I heard the queen had purple eyes and brunette hair. You have bright red eyes. They are gorgeous. I never noticed them till now."

"How did you never see my eyes?"

"Your back was always turned to me and when I was escaping with you, I just focused on the back of your head. You aren't the one I'm after." The man bowed his head towards her. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to harm you. Revenge clouded my thoughts. Please forgive me."

"What's your name? What was your wife's name?"

"Ben. Her name was Elizabeth."

"I forgive you Ben. It's not the first time I have been accused of something."

"I'm so sorry. I almost killed you. I harmed you."

"Please, let's put that past us. You just wanted revenge for Elizabeth's unjust death. Look, I don't blame you. Am I mad? No. Am I a little shaken? Yes. Am I mad at Chloe and Andrew? I am beyond frustrated. I just wish there was more I could to do to prevent something like this from happening again."

"You are a fair queen. I wish you truly had power and not him. The Hanbridges have never been good rulers. I've always wanted to leave this place but we could never afford to leave."

"This kingdom has always been in rough times. I've seen the people suffer myself."

Akko turned to stare out the cave entrance. They sat in a comfortable silence.

"Who is this Diana you mentioned earlier?"

"A…childhood friend." Akko kept it at that. She could feel Ben's eyes on her but she ignored him. She didn't want to talk about Diana. Did Diana run away from her? She was scared that is why Diana was so late. She said she would be back in a week. It has been two weeks now and there wasn't even a word from her. Akko felt upset that she may have driven Diana away from her forever.

"Please forgive me. I'm so sorry about this all. I was going to kill you and then deliver a note to the kingdom letting them know what happen. That's what I was writing. Now, I don't know what to do."

"Run away. Get away from the kingdom. Don't stay here. You don't have anything here for you anymore."

Ben stared at her with shock.

"What do you mean?"

"Rip the note up. Burn it. Then go home and grab your things and leave. It's not worth it to stay here. You wanted to leave, this is your chance. I will make sure no one knows what has happen here. You will not be punished."

"Your majesty, I… I don't know what to say. Thank you. I will."

Akko smiled at him. If she couldn't save his wife then she was sure she could save him. A black blur soon speed by her view and tackled Ben to the ground. He screamed as he attempted to pull the beast off. Akko could stand in shock before she jumped into action.

"Okami, down boy! Down!"

She grabbed the fur around his neck to get him off. Ben slashed his dagger up. Okami whimpered in pain, finally letting go of Ben's shoulder. He grabbed his injured shoulder and tried to get up. Despite the wound, Okami turned his attention towards Ben and growled.

"Okami, down. No boy. Stop. Please." Akko pressed his head into her chest to calm him. It worked as the wolf whined and rubbed Akko's cheek with his nose. She cupped his cheeks and looked into his eyes and then looked at his wound on his right shoulder. It wasn't deep but was bleeding.

"That's my boy. Good boy. You came to save me? Wait, how did you even know I was here?"

Akko heard the familiar sound of a sword getting pulled out of their sheathe. Akko quickly turned around to find the woman she had been missing for two weeks standing over Ben. She held the katana over his heart. Ben looked up at the assassin before closing his eyes as in defeat.

"Diana stop. Please don't kill him. He didn't do anything." Diana turned around. Akko had never seen such anger in her blue eyes. Was it directed at her?

"He kidnapped you. I don't think he is all that innocent."

"Please spare him. He didn't do anything wrong. It was all a misunderstanding. Please."

Akko gripped Diana's arm. Diana took one more glance at Ben before sighing.

"Fine. If you wish. Let's get you back to the castle."

"He needs medical attention."

"As you command."

Akko didn't like how Diana said that. It felt like it was reminiscent of their rough beginning. Akko stood there as Diana and Amanda helped Ben up and wrapped his shoulder up. Okami came up and rubbed his head along her stomach. She rubbed his ears.

Soon, they were on the road back to the castle. Diana steered her horse down as Akko sat in the saddle. Okami limped along, occasionally whining till he got head pats from Diana. Amanda steered Ben and her horse towards the town to get him some medical attention after Akko made Amanda swear not to harm him.

The rest of the trip to the castle was silent the whole time. It was as if Diana had reverted back to her old self. That made Akko upset that she may have just lost Diana when she was just getting her back. Okami was quick to leap into the bed when they got back to the room. Diana wiped the blood around his wound on his shoulder and then gently wrapped it up. She scratched his head as reward.

"Good job boy. You find Akko. I'm going to buy you the biggest piece of meat I can."

Diana got up and turned to stare at Akko. There was so much anger in her face. What had Diana found out that made her so upset? Akko was scared but knew she would need to talk to figure out what had happened despite fact that she could lose her lover. She, however, was not expecting Diana to grab her face and kiss her. She wasn't complaining though. She grabbed the back of Diana's head tightly to deepen the kiss. When they pulled away, Diana was crying.

"I almost lost you today." Diana whispered before pulling Akko into a tight hug. She rested her head in the space between Akko's neck and shoulder. Akko ran her fingers through her hair.

"Im here now."

"I'm so sorry I was late."

"You arrived in the nick of time. What happen to you? Why were you so delayed? How did you find me?"

Akko pulled Diana gently by the hand and sat down on the bed.

"Okami did. We figured out that you had been kidnapped. Actually, Lotte said that Andrew wasn't in the castle and it dawned on us that the guard couldn't have taken you to him when he didn't summon you."

Diana took Akko's hand into her own and kissed them before looking at her.

"Akko, I finally saw your parents after so many years. I actually had snuck into my home to see I I could find anything. I thought we had knocked out all the guards. We didn't. One attacked me and dragged us back to the kingdom to be executed. Got this while I was there fighting him."

Akko saw the fresh new scar on her right cheek, intersecting the old one to make an off-sided x. Akko tenderly ran a finger along the new scar.

"How did you escape?"

"Your father let us go. He actually give us a room to stay. There was answers I wanted and I got a few interesting details while I was there. Did you know our mothers were lovers? My father was just some sailor. Your mother was the one who wooed my mother."

"Wait, our mothers were in love?" Diana nodded.

"And I found out who had ordered the assassination on my family."

Akko briefly remembered the necklace indecent and Diana's originally accusations that she had something to do with her mother's death.

"Who was it?" She was scared for the answer.

"Paul Hanbridge." That was not the answer Akko had been expecting.

"Paul Hanbridge had your parents killed? Why?"

"Because, our parents did it." Akko was confused. "Akko, we were going to be married. Your parents and my mother had the whole marriage ready for us when we were to be of age. We were finally going to be happy together. But Paul didn't like that and threatened to have my family killed if your parents didn't agree with his demands. He had my mother assassinated because they refused. He wanted money and power."

"My parents knew and didn't stop it."

"They couldn't stop it. Paul was ready to start a war if they tried to intervene at all. Akko, your parents felt like they were as much to blame as Paul. It's why they may have seemed distant. They felt guilty."

Akko leaned her head into Diana's shoulder. Diana pulled her closer. Diana kissed the top of her head.

"Why did you look so angry though, back at the cave and just now?"

"I was angry at myself. I thought I was going to lose you. I'm sorry. It was never directed at you."

Diana pressed their foreheads together. Akko noticed the katana leaning against the nightstand. It was a pure white one compared to the old black one Diana had carried around. Akko recognized it. It had been a gift from the Kagaris to Diana.

"I remember that katana. My father had that made for you."

"I grabbed it when I was in my house because I knew I wanted it. I also grabbed this too. I'm sure you have some unsavory memories about it."

Diana pulled out a cloth that was wrapped up. She undone the cloth to reveal the necklace. The very one Akko had been accused of stealing. She looked up into Diana's eyes.

"I thought this was stolen?"

"No. It was meant to be a gift to you for our marriage. I asked mother to make this for you then had her hide away for safe keeping. I'm sorry you got called a thief and I never did anything to stop it. It was originally my wedding gift to you. I just didn't want anyone to know. I want you to have it now, if you want?"

Akko nodded. Diana clipped the necklace around her neck. She cupped Akko's cheeks and kissed her again. It tasted like heaven to Akko. She felt relief that Diana was still in love with her. She actually started to sob. Diana just held her as she cried, rubbing small circles in her back.

"I'm never leaving you again. I missed you both so much," Diana whispered in her ear.

"Good, cause Meiko and I missed you."

"We are going to be a family. You, me, Meiko, and this little one." Diana laid her hand on Akko's stomach. She rubbed the baby bump. Akko saw so much affection in her eyes.

"That's all I ever wanted."

Diana dipped her head in for another kiss. Akko grabbed her hood and tugged her down onto the bed. Akko wanted all of Diana at that moment.

Akko thought it was adorable how excited Diana was to see Meiko again. She also knew Meiko was going to be excited too. The little girl had been missing the assassin as well so Akko was dying to see Meiko's face when Diana greeted her instead. Okami waited patiently by the door, tail wagging in excitement. Diana wrapped her arms around Akko's waist from behind and preceded to kiss her neck. Akko giggled at the feeling and relaxed in her arms. The door opened and Diana untangled herself from Akko's arms. The two had decided to at least keep their relationship a secret from most of the castle inhabitants save for a few maids, like Lotte. They were thinking of surprising Meiko on her birthday with the news. Meiko came out and the moment she spotted Diana, her eyes grew wide before running to her. Diana bent down and easily picked her up. Akko stepped into the room to let them speak.

"Diyana, you are back. You came back."

"Of course I did. I made a promise remember. Plus, I couldn't ever think about leaving you or your mother."

"I love you."

"I love you too, my little dragon."

Akko felt happy as she watched her daughter and Diana interact. Diana would be a good mother to Meiko and her unborn child. Akko placed on a hand on her stomach. Diana watched her with a smile on her face as well.

Once Meiko was placed in bed, Diana took Akko into her arms as they laid in together.

"I'm happy to have you in my life Akko."

"I'm happy to have you in my life. I'm so much more happier with you."

"And I will make sure you stay happy."

Akko settled her head onto Diana's chest as she began fall asleep. The slowly, rhythmic beating of Diana's heart eased into a deep sleep. One last thought hit Akko's mind.

I wish to marry you Diana. After all these years, I still want to marry you if you will have me.