Hey again! I'm updating this story (obviously), which means I've finished the chapter following this. BUT! I shan't be updating again until I finish chapter 6 SINCE chapters 4, 5 and 6 all in the same time period (within the eleventh month before Akzeriuth (kinda like chapters 1 and 2)) and I want to make sure that they don't break their own facts. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter.


Gathering of Courage

~11 months and 2 days before Fall of Akzeriuth~

The waterfalls surrounding Grand Chokmah flowed almost tauntingly as Lythia walked through the city. Nearly a month had passed since she and Nephry had spoken to Fon Master Ion and she still hadn't told Jade that she was his "dead" sister. She couldn't for she was still afraid of his reaction, neither did she know what to say to him. She had been nine years old when she had run away, now, almost twenty four years later, she felt like it was too late to even try.

With that depressing thought in her head, she sighed and stopped, letting her hand rest upon the door of the Malkuth Military Headquarters, where she had been heading. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the person whom which her worries were centred approach her from behind.

"Well then, Major Lillian. I'm surprised to see you so deep in thought that you let your own emotions get the best of you."

His voice cut deep in Lythia's mind as she let her mind analyse the voice. It was light-hearted and tinged with faint concern.

"Colonel Curtiss," she said quietly, turning to face the man. "I hope you'll forgive my slip in composure. I am just trying to find a solution to a problem that I've had for a while."

Jade's crimson coloured eyes didn't give away any emotion, for which, Lythia was grateful. She didn't expect his next words though, a rare show of affection that always threw her in for a loop.

"If it is a problem I can help you with, by all means, tell me," he offered with a small smirk that held a fondness to it that Lythia had never seen before. "I can't have someone under my command unable to perform their duties."

Lythia stared at Jade, surprised, before she started laughing, being the only thing to stop her from crying. It was truly ironic that it would be Jade Curtiss of all people that offered to help her with her problem. The man in front of her frowned, and Lythia forced herself to stop laughing, succeeding mostly.

"I highly doubt anyone could help me, Jade," she replied around faint laughter. "Nobody knows me well enough to do so."

"That is no fault of theirs," Jade pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "Lillian. It's obvious to tell that the name isn't yours."

With a smirk, Lythia noted the suspicious tone that her brother's voice had taken.

"And you haven't been able to discover who I really am, have you?" she asked. She stopped laughing then, pulling up the walls that she hid her emotions behind. "There is nothing for you to find, Emperor Karl the fifth made sure of that fact."

Jade's eyes seemed to sharpen at her change in demeanour. Lythia mentally slapped herself for doing that. Such an imperfect soldier she was, and how annoying her habit of quickly hiding her emotions was. Jade opened his mouth to say something, but paused, flicking his eyes behind Lythia.

"It appears that we have an audience," he said, causing the blonde haired woman to turn to see Emperor Peony standing in the doorway behind her. His blue eyes were staring at Lythia with exasperation, but when he spoke his words where directed at Jade.

"Really Jade?" the man asked with a smile. "Did you really have to make Lillian fall back into military mode when I need her to be normal?"

"I thought this was normal for her," Jade stated with a smirk. Lythia let out a light growl, surprising both men, as she brushed past them, walking back towards the city. Behind her, Lythia could hear Peony scolding Jade. She didn't pay much attention to what was being said, but one thing stood out like a flare.

"All your comments to her will come back to bite you one day Jade," the Emperor said quietly. "She will find the one thing to say that will break you, and I predict that she is the only one who can. I hope you are prepared for when she does."

Jade's next words cut deep at Lythia's heart.

"There is nothing anyone can say that would 'break me' as you felt so inclined to put it."

Quietly, Lythia muttered her acceptance to the unwitting challenge that she had been thrown. She ignored everything after that, simply focused on getting away from the two men determined to talk about her. She decided to go back to her rooms in the palace where she could think freely.


"I hear that Jade got adopted into the Curtiss family."

"Why do I care, Peony?"

"Because he's your older brother."

"My brother is not that boy that is now Jade Curtiss."

"Yes he is, Lythia."

"Stop Peony. I don't care. I don't care about Jade, and I don't care what he does."

"…. What made you this way Lythia?"


~11 months and 1 day before Fall of Akzeriuth~

It was vaguely annoying to Lythia to have Peony following her through Grand Chokmah as she headed towards a place on the other side of the city. It wasn't anywhere in particular, just a small bookshop where Lythia frequented. As she entered the store, the bells on the door tinkled and the blonde haired woman could see the greyed hair of the shopkeeper in the back.

"Ah, my Lady, my Lord, welcome," she greeted. Lythia smiled fondly.

"Hello Maxine," Lythia replied. "How are you today?"

"I am well my lady," the old woman replied. "Please, look around. I'm always happy to do business with the royal family."

Peony sent a smug look at Lythia, which Lythia met with a glare. The blonde woman let out a laugh.

"Maxine, you know that I'm only the adopted daughter of our former Emperor," she said, going to look at the shelves of books. "I'm not royalty."

She flashed a feral grin at Peony who was spluttering behind her. The shop was filled with laughter from the two women, as they shared their mirth at the Emperor's expression.

"It seems, my lady," Maxine started with a smile, "that our Emperor Peony doesn't share your sentiment."

"He wouldn't," Lythia sighed; pulling one of the leather bound books off the shelf. "He's very fond of my presence, my Lord Brother is. That reminds me, how is your granddaughter Arya? My handmaiden will be stepping down soon, and Lord Brother is making me select my new one. Arya might only be ten, but she is a hard worker and very polite, so I wanted to offer her the chance to gain that position."

Peony decided to interrupt right then, having seemingly regained control of his shock. Lythia could tell that he was struggling not to call her by her name and remember that she was called Lillian around Malkuth.

"Lillian," he said. "The youngest of the girls who applied is thirteen, and that is the youngest that any girl has been for handmaidens of the Malkuth Empresses and Princesses."

Lythia held up her hand to silence him. Her eyes had closed and Peony somehow wished that he could see what resided in their deep violet depths.

"You, Lord Brother," she murmured, "Let me have the choice to invite one girl of my choosing to attend the trial period. Arya is the girl I choose. If that is alright with dear Maxine."

By the time Lythia and Peony left the bookshop, they held several books on various topics in their hands, and they were followed by the black haired granddaughter of Maxine, who had been allowed to participate in Lythia's trials for a new handmaiden. The young girl was happily skipping beside Lythia, holding her small bag of personal items that she was taking with her to the imperial palace. Lythia was giving her instructions as they walked, and Arya was listening intently. When they reached the palace Lythia called a maid to take Arya to her quarters where the other girls would be gathering. Then she turned to Peony.

"I need to tell Jade the truth soon," she said quietly. "Fon Master Ion is right, I need to speak up before I do something I regret."

"Tonight then," Peony replied, his eyes danced with a mischievous gleam. "I'll drug him with sleep tonic and then you can do what you used to when we were younger and braid his hair while he sleeps."

Lythia looked stricken. She opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced when Peony pressed his finger to her lips.

"Tonight Lythia," he said. Lythia nodded, and watched as Peony walked away, before walking to her rooms.

There, a maid was talking to a group of about nine girls, Arya included. Lythia stood in the doorway watching them before clearing her throat to gain their attention. The girls all looked in her direction, gasping as they saw who had entered the room. Arya jumped up immediately and asked if she could take the books from Lythia's hands.

"Thank you child," Lythia said softly. "Please place them over near my window. I'll be looking at them later."

As Arya did as Lythia requested, the ward princess of Malkuth spoke to the room, telling the gathered girls what she expected and how long they would be in the palace for. She told them the duties that they would be required to complete each day and then imposed a curfew for them to follow. Then she got to the first test.

"There is one thing I must tell you all, which many in the Malkuth empire have worked out," she said, her voice growing grave. "Lillian isn't my real name, nor shall I be telling you my name for some time. If you cannot work with me after this information then please leave."

Five of the nine girls slowly stood up and left, leaving behind Arya and three more, whom looked like they came from the middle class houses. Lythia sighed, knowing that she would have to expect more reactions like that, and potentially more than that, when she finally told the truth to the citizens of Malkuth. Oh how she hated being the princess. She addressed the remaining girls, sending them off with the maid to meet her current handmaiden.

With a sigh, Lythia walked to where Arya had placed the books, picking up one that was written in Ancient Ispanian. Walking to the desk that sat in the corner of the room, she picked up the worn book that Emperor Karl V had given her when she had first entered the castle. Placing the two books next to each other, Lythia wrote on a sheet of parchment notes on the fonic artes described in the text, waiting for Peony to come to drag her to Jade's office in the military headquarters, where he would inevitably be.

Sure enough, several hours later, one of the girls, Serill, if Lythia remembered her name, knocked on Lythia's door.

"Lady Lillian?" she asked softly. "Emperor Peony is here to talk to you. Shall I let him in?"

Lythia looked up from her pages of work, to assess the girl before her. She looked to be about fifteen years old, and had red hair. Sighing once again, Lythia stood up.

"No, its fine child," she replied, walking past the girl. "Thank you for informing me. I'll be out for a while. Please tell the rest of the girls that they are finished for the evening. I won't be back before your curfew."

Lythia frowned as Serill nodded and walked off, but didn't comment on the fact that the girls should have been told that the Princess' handmaiden was meant to accompany her everywhere. It was better that she and Peony were alone as they went to Jade's office.

"Come Lillian," Peony's voice trailed from behind her. They left the palace without a word and made their way to the Malkuth Military Headquarters.

"I fail to see the reason behind doing this Lord Brother," Lythia snapped irritably. Peony visibly flinched at her voice.

"Lythia," he said, stopping. "Nephry has said this, I know that Fon Master Ion has said this, and now I shall say it. Stop. Just stop avoiding the truth. Stop denying your blood tie to Jade. He is your brother! Stop denying it and let me see the two of you smile for once!"

A crack rang out. Lythia's eyes widened as she touched her fingers to the red mark left on her cheek from Peony's hand. Her head dropped.

"I can't stand the way you both look at each other as though you're in pain anymore," he murmured, anger and frustration spent. "I won't spend another five, even ten years dancing around the truth."

"Forgive me, Peony," she whispered. "You are right."

They stood in silence for a minute before Lythia's eyes seemed to take on a childish gleam.

"So what am I doing precisely?" she asked mischievously. Peony grinned and held up a hair brush and a couple of hair ties.

"As I said earlier," he replied. "You'll play the same prank that you used to play on him when we were younger. While he's sleeping, you will go and braid his hair, as intricately as you like, and then his hair will be untameable in the morning. I'll go in there and give him some coffee laced with sleeping tonic. He won't even notice you there."

"Won't he blame you though?" Lythia asked. Peony shook his head.

"You'll tell him the truth when he comes and confronts me tomorrow."

With that the Emperor and his adopted sister, slipped into the office of Jade Curtiss, and participated in a prank from their childhood.


MWAHAHA! *coughcough* Sorry about the end there. Peony didn't mean to slap Lythia (I made him do it! xD). He was getting agitated and Lythia, being military (and Jade's little sister), wasn't really going to respond to just words.

Anywho! As you might guess - Lythia will be telling Jade the truth in the next chapter! That is all I'm saying there on that topic. I hope you have been paying attention to the flashback conversations that are becoming a thing. And paying attention to everything that has been said by all characters so far; most of it has been important.

So Jade is about to be pranked by Lythia and Peony. This should end well! ^.^

Thanks for reading!

~Icetail of WindClan - Meta-If~

Unimportant Notes:
Meet Arya - Lythia's future handmaiden. She will become important later - After she officially becomes Lythia's handmaiden. Kudos to anyone who can guess why each of the other girls leave. I'd say pay attention to each girl's actions, but they won't get much important stuff written about them until Chapter 6. More Kudos to anyone who knows where I got Arya's name from! See you all next chapter!