On the other side of the portal they came through, Sonya and the others emerged in the throne room. They expected to find Arandia already there, with men ready to siege upon them. But the room was empty.

"Maybe I was wrong..." Edward thought aloud once he noticed. "I thought she'd return here."

"Does she have another lair somewhere else?" Cammy asked him. "Surely this isn't the only place she stays."

"She would have told us about it... she trusted us." Alexander answered.

"So now what? She just left, without a fight even..." Sonya asked the two brothers. "I mean... we don't even have a plan, do we? What? We just find where she is, and then what? Capture her? Kill her? What did she even want with you?" She paused, and just as Edward was about to say something, she looked at what he had clutched in his hand. "And then there's that. What is that?"

He held it up, and it was Cammy who answered. "It looks like a jewel Sonya. Weird... I used to take stuff like that..."

Alexander looked at her, quizzically. "What do you mean? You used to steal it or something?"

She grinned. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. It was awhile ago."

"Huh..." He smiled. "That's cool."

"It's a ruby. A family heirloom, I guess you could say." Edward told Sonya. "That look you had on your face earlier... what was that about?"

"Nothing... I guess I just thought it looked familiar, that's all." She quickly changed the subject. "What kind of family heirloom opens portals and shoots out beams of light?"

"You meet creatures from different realms... you've seen things with six arms, and men that spit out acid... what's strange about a magical ruby?" Edward asked of her. "We aren't anywhere near your world anymore. Just because we're human, just as you are, doesn't mean we don't possess in-human powers."

Sonya sighed. He placed the ruby in his pocket, out of view. "And we're not sure what she ever wanted with us..." He replied to her previous questions. "To be honest," he started, placing a hand absentmindedly on the back of his head. "We don't really remember that much. She had us under her control for awhile."

"And that's another thing..." Sonya declared, beginning to walk about the room, keeping her eyes on him. "You just seemed to 'come out' of her spell.... Why is that? You can remember that that ruby is some sort of family heirloom, but you don't remember why Arandia wanted you and your brother in the first place. Why do you remember some things, but can't remember others?" She asked, more defiantly than quizzically, however.

He sighed, clearly at a loss for words. "You have me. But does that really matter? I remember she killed my parents, and she's kidnapping warriors based on her own demented way of selecting them... isn't that reason enough for me-for us-," he explained, referring to all of them, "to end her tirade? You help your team keep evil away from the earth realm, you stop realms from opening up so that no one can get through, but do you even know why you do all of those things? Why you work so hard to keep creatures in whatever realms they belong and away from yours? You just do it because it's the right thing to do, you don't understand it one hundred percent. I need you to help, not necessarily understand why, just realize that it's important." He exclaimed matter of factly.

"My brother always loved to talk..." Alexander said, breaking the silence afterwards with a grin.

"I do those things because at first I was sneakily talked into it, and then forced into it. I was chosen by Raiden, a GOD not a pigheaded prince without a kingdom, and therefor I had no choice. But now I do have a choice, and I have decided to help... but that means I need the whole story. Not just bits of pieces that seem to make no sense, and I am not going to go through with this without a better reason than 'because it's important'." Sonya retorted back to him, ignoring Alexander's remark.

Edward sighed. "Fine. Your friend should be important enough." He answered her.

"I told my friends to stay away from that island...." Sonya started to say.

"Wow, I don't remember Arandia ever being stuck in one realm, confined to one island. She can go anywhere, just like you and I can with the proper means. And believe me, she does have the proper means."

"But she shouldn't know where the lair is, we've kept it hidden...."

"I'm sure she could find it, I'm sure she already has." He informed her. "We need to act quickly. We don't know where she is, but I do know that she will try and take your friend again. I can guarantee it. You need to go back-,"

"I just told my friends that I would handle it! I can't just go back! They'll ask me a million more questions than I've asked you. I can't go back right now!"

"Then how will we find out when she tries to attack again? You'll need to be there."

Sonya sighed, pacing some more. She couldn't believe he was even telling her this.

"It's the only way." Edward tried telling her. "Tell them as little as possible, if that's what you want. But it's the only way we'll find her." He waited for any confirmation, and when he saw her nod, he took the ruby out of his pocket and opened a portal with it. The portal would go straight to where she stayed with the others. She walked to the portal, but then stopped and turned around.

"Here." He searched in another pocket, and brought out another jewel. The same size, placed on a golden chain with no other adornments... it was a blue diamond. "Take this. I can trace it with mine, and we'll be able to find you."

Sonya didn't notice Alexander's gaped mouth as the diamond was tossed to her, and she briefly glanced at it before placing it around her neck, carefully concealing it from view. She knew exactly what it was at first sight, but before she could begin to ask herself more questions, she turned around and ran through the portal before it closed behind her.

"Where in the world did you find that?!" Alexander stammered as soon as she was gone.

Edward didn't answer his question. "I have two more where that came from." He turned around, and lead them out of the room.