Lilja had only two regrets in her life. One was getting her ex-boyfriend's name tattooed on her back. She never had it removed, unfortunately, so it was still there, half-faded and unreadable and one of life's biggest embarrassments. Removal hurt more than the tattoo, she heard. She hated him and she hated the tattoo.

The second was watching her son being torn out of her arms and doing nothing about it.

Lilja glanced through her mirror and saw Phil in the doorway. Without makeup, she looked normal, somewhat pretty. She had expected Viola. "Sorry, I don't remember your name, but what are you here for? I already told Viola about Eve and Sundance. I can't tell anyone anything I don't know."

Phil crossed his arms. "That's not why I'm here. Do you know where your partner is?"

"Viola, you mean?"

"Is she not your partner?" he countered.

Lilja smiled, unoffended. "Not at the moment. I think she stepped out."

"Do you know when she'll be back?"

"I have not been counting down the minutes, no."

Phil frowned. Lilja didn't look like she cared. She turned back to her mirror and started rubbing on foundation. "Unless you have another reason to disrupt me, please let me know. If not, you may leave. I need to finish my makeup."

"Why are you like this?" he asked, talking with mind and not his head.

"Why am I like what?" Lilja retorted, glancing at him through the reflection again. Her eyebrows were raised, penciled on. "I'm me. I'm not like you or anyone or anything else, I'm simply myself. This is the new world. I don't have to get you to like me. I don't like you but I would never have to tell you to the face." She gasped and covered her mouth. "Did I just say that?"

Phil closed his eyes and sighed. "I'll let you finish up."

"Thank you."

As Phil exited the room and closed the door, Lilja turned around in her chair and looked over at the window. Viola peeked out from behind the curtains, looking guilty. "I feel horrible." she said.

"When you've lived as long as I have, you won't."

"But I haven't! Right now, I feel horrible for lying to people that have put their trust in us…the people we've deceived."

Lilja frowned. "It's a game, Viola. You should know better."

Viola shook her head, unable to accept the truth. "But…but–"

"I can't comfort you. I don't know how to, actually. I'm not your mother and you are not my child." Lilja replied coldly. "Don't expect me to treat you like one. Move on or don't. I can't make your choices for you."

"Lilja–"

Lilja grabbed her eyelash curler and went back to work, silent. The conversation was over.

"Sundance is here." Resh informed, pointing to the blood stains on the bridge with her foot. "Or was here, actually. His scent is still here but it's very faint."

"Maybe he and Eve were taken hostage after they lost." Phil suggested, shrugging a little.

Lilja rolled her eyes. "I doubt it."

Viola shook her head. "It was so stupid of them to go alone."

"But they already did." Lilja sniped, walking to the middle of the bridge. On further examination, she identified more stains of blood, dried into the wood, and the acrid smell of rot. It was a wrecked landmark. The castle must've been beautiful before the invasion. "I think we should separate to cover more ground, break into two-people teams."

"That would be dangerous." Amera said.

Resh nodded. "If we're separated, we'll run into more danger."

"What's dangerous is moving forward as a group. It's like running into a gun fight with a knife." Lilja fired back. "Not that I would know a thing about that."

"Fine. What do you suggest we do?" Kyo asked.

Lilja smiled, a villainous, sociopathic smile that she knew no one liked. "I thought you'd never ask."

"Eve and Sundance have escaped. I don't know where they are." Ophelia instructed as she walked into the room, looking for Caleb. He was staring outside the window, disinterested. "Caleb, are you listening? You've been acting like this a lot. We need to get moving."

Caleb glanced at Ophelia but only briefly. "Do you really think I care about their pathetically planned escape?"

"Should we go looking for them?" Ophelia asked, walking behind him to see what he was seeing. She saw the bridge and the stretch of green lawn and the water. An occasional bird chirped. There was nothing eye-catching about the background. "Finish them off early?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't feel like moving."

"That's it?!"

"They can't get too far. Plus, there's a mamodo at almost every post. If they try to leave here, which I can guarantee you that they won't, they'll be caught by, at least, one of them." Caleb explained, rolling his eyes like it was the type of information everyone knew. "Use your head, Ophelia. You need to do it more to live."

Ophelia blinked.

"They came here for a reason." he said. "Don't forget."

"Please, they only have half their energy." Ophelia answered arrogantly. "They are nowhere near our level."

Caleb nodded but didn't reply. He looked as unaffected as before. "Just keep on your toes. I'm not saying you have to listen to me but it's always the preferred method. People have been in a lot of trouble for not doing so. Don't worry, you don't have to respond to that." he said, walking around Ophelia, who stared at him, confused. "It's not meant to be responded to."

"What do we do, then? I don't like sitting around like this."

"You'll know when I know."

"It looks like this castle was put through a hurricane." Lilja said, stepping over a chunk of rubble, which must've fallen from the ceiling. All the walls and floors were cracked. The windows were broken. The ceilings were collapsed and sunlight slunk in through the crevices. Ancient architect permanently ruined. "No contradicting statement, Kamikatsu-san?"

"Nope," Ishimaru replied, rolling his eyes.

"Do you know where we're going?" Chainz asked.

"Why would I?" Lilja countered. "I've never been here before. I wish I had, though. This architecture can never be recovered."

Viola walked in silence next to her partner, watching around them for potential danger. She looked nervous. Lilja had not said a word to her since they split into groups–Amera and Resh and Itosagi–Viola and Chainz. It wasn't anything like a union but they were forced to settle.

"And why are you so silent?" Lilja muttered to her partner. "You look like you have something terrible sitting on your conscience."

"I'm fine…"

"Would you like to remind me on what we spoke about earlier?"

"Yeah, I know…I–I hear something." Viola said, lifting her gaze to Lilja in alert. "Someone's coming. Someone's coming. Someone's coming for us."

"It is nothing we can't handle." Lilja advised.

Viola clutched her hands in front of her, looking terrified. "But I'm so scared…"

Chainz lifted an eyebrow at her. "You're scared? Maybe you shouldn't have been in this battle."

"I agree."

They all turned to the sound of the voice. It was Kage and his partner, Hiro, standing at the far end of the hallway. Neither of them looked any different from their previous battle. Kage acknowledged the four of them with red eyes dark with disgust.

"Look who it is, the mole and the coward. I didn't think either of you girls had it in you to show up here." Kage admitted coldly, looking between Viola and Lilja. "Especially after what you've done."

"The mole?" Ishimaru repeated as he and Chainz shared a suspicious glance.

Viola looked away, confirming the truth in the fact. Lilja remained silent and opened the chartreuse book in her hand, shining. "You came down here because you expected us. I hope you expect your book burned, too. I'm in the mood for a battle. Make it entertaining."

Kage smirked and gestured to his bookkeeper, who already had the book open in his hand.

"Kuraza!"

"This isn't looking so good."

"What isn't? What do you mean? Are you okay? You're okay, right?"

"No."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" The voice was genuine but the face was not.

"No, there's absolutely nothing you can do to help. As a matter of fact, there's nothing anyone can do to help. Some people can't be fixed. Some people are diagnosed by self-proclaimed professionals and have to live with incurable diseases the rest of their lives."

"Why are you talking like that?"

"It's just something I've heard."

So there goes another chapter. The next one is going to longer with the battle, of course. Everyone has separated into teams on Lilja's word and they have taken off to look for Eve and Sundance. Lilja may or may not know what's going on. Does she know more than she's letting on? Meanwhile, Ophelia is eager to fight but Caleb is preventing her from doing so. Why is that? There'll be more revealed in the next chapter.

I've been inspired by the Clannad OST as of late. As we go further, I'll tell what songs I see with what scenes. R&R!