SR: xX Once again, I apologise for the lack of action and the shiftless plot in this chapter. It sucks this one. Ah well, you win some and you lose some. I didn't even come up with a good title though! Read it. Review it.

For Better or Worse?

Mariah spat blood onto the floor as she stumbled down the dark castle halls. She was starting to think that maybe Kevin was right in thinking this was a bad idea. She forced her feet to obey her and continue their agonising journey to the dungeon.

Clutching her knife tightly in her hand Mariah slowly pushed open the heavy wooden door that separated the rest of the castle from the clammy dungeons. Slowly, with painstaking effort she descended the damp stairs. Even with her ungainly manner she was quiet and barely noticeable as she pressed herself against the wall.

Ahead she could hear the distinct sound of a cell door being swung open. Voices, no doubt belonging to Set and Tala.

"Hurry it up outlaw! We don't have time to spare." Hissed Tala. Someone tell him why he was helping Set again? Oh, that's right, to help Rei. Curse Rei, curse him!

"I'm going as fast as I can! Christ it's not like I want to be here y'know." Set snapped irritably. He was dearly trying to hold his temper seeing as there was no way he would be able to carry Ozuma and still get out of here undetected. He needed Tala.

Mariah cursed silently as she realized that the voices were getting louder and therefor closer. Here she was, half-dead and pressed so tightly to the wall one might have thought she was trying to somehow go through it. She stiffened her entire body and held her breath as their forms came into view. If they walked by her then she could take them by surprise from behind.

It was not to be though. Once within fifteen feet of Mariah, Set stopped in his tracks and stared directly at her. Judging by the lack of swears and threats though he didn't recognize who was trying so hard to not be seen.

Tala was also staring now and judging by his murderous look he knew who was standing there.

"Mariah…" He drawled. "You might as well stop trying to hide…" The pink-haired girl in question cringed slightly before stepping into the middle of the corridor effectively blocking their path. Curses flew out of Set's mouth and Mariah raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is that anyway to greet a lady?" She questioned.

"You're no lady!" Set countered. The argument would have progressed if it weren't for Tala who silenced them both with a couple of well-aimed insults.

"Shut up the both of you." He glared at Mariah. This posed a problem of mass proportions, if they started any sort of scuffle down here then the sound would echo out and stood a chance of waking someone. He'd be hard pressed to just explain away what was going on. They couldn't just leave Mariah here either though, she'd sound the alarm before they'd set both feet out of the castle.

"Guess you're coming with us." He said and lunged forward to grab her wrist, nearly dropping Ozuma in the process. Mariah would have matched her speed against Tala's any day but she was hurt and didn't have the time to step out of his reach. She hissed angrily at him.

"Co-operate and we'll let you go once we're out of here. Fight us and you'll end up dead." Tala growled. He just couldn't risk Mariah waking anyone up. He shoved the she-fighter roughly into Set's grip. "C'mon let's go."

Set scowled at Mariah who just scowled right back before pushing her forward. "One sound out of you and you're history." He muttered and Mariah threw him a murderous look over her shoulder.

Climbing up the stairs proved to be a difficult task for all three of them and by the time they reached the top they had to rest for a couple of minutes before pushing forward through the door and into the main castle area. Tala took a moment to think about his escape route before starting off to the left motioning for Set to follow.

"When I get free, and I will get free, you're both in the line of fire." Mariah hissed venomously at her captors who both shot her warning glances that she was making to much noise.

More noise was created though as something bowled into Set's back causing him to trip forward and push Mariah away from him. "What the hell?!"

Mariah spun on her heel in time to see something run at Tala and smash into him as well. The redhead tumbled forward and sent himself and Ozuma sprawling on the hard floor.

"Run Mariah!" The small thing screamed and she instantly recognized the voice to be Kevin's. That was all he got to say though because Set grabbed him by the back of his tunic and hoisted him clear off the ground. Using strength origined to years of training the outlaw threw Kevin into a wall. The small boy hit said wall with a sickening sound before crumpling into a heap on the ground.

Mariah's scream echoed off down the halls. Her bright eyes were fixated on her friends fallen form. 'He hit the wall to hard.' She thought. 'To hard.' Everything caught up to her then and she doubled over heaving up whatever her body had left in it.

Set gave her a shocked look for a moment. He felt a little bad about what he'd done. He hadn't meant to use so much force. He took a small step towards her but a hand on his shoulder stopped him from going any further. The neko-jinn managed a quick 'uh-oh' before he was spun around.

Straight into Kai Hiwatari's fist.

The outlaw reeled off clutching his face before just slumping into a sitting position. He, just like Mariah, was feeling the toll of the day rip his energy away.

Barely giving Mariah a passing glance Kai dragged Tala upright by his hair before dealing him a blow to his temple. The shot was effective and Tala went out like a light.

The entire world was spinning for Kai and he was finding it hard to focus on anything specific. The last coherent thing he noticed was that there were a lot of footsteps heading their way. Then, he just surrendered to the calm darkness of unconsciousness.

Kyle appeared just in time to catch his falling brother. He frowned slightly and quickly took in the scene. Kyle was known for being quite intelligent and he did his reputation justice by figuring out what had happened in three seconds flat. He began issuing orders to the guards that had arrived.

"Return the two outlaws to their cells…Captain Tala as well." He added as an after thought. He passed his brother off to one of the guards. "Take him back to his quarters and make sure he stays there this time." He gave his brother's unconscious form a worried look. He cared dearly for his family even if it didn't always show and he didn't want Kai to hurt himself by getting into more fights.

His attention swiveled to Mariah as the neko-jinn gave a sob by her fallen friend. She was a mess. Her hair was ruffled and tears were racing down her face.

"Kevin, get up. Please get up…" She whispered. Kyle looked around and nearly jumped for joy when he saw Tundra walking briskly down the hall. She was in her night attire and her hair was down but she still held that same air of authority and capability that practically glowed off her during the day.

As she walked by him she didn't issue any of the formalities normally required when in the presence of royalty. When it came to treating her patients though, it was she who was in charge.

Reaching Mariah she basically dragged her away from Kevin. The girl's eyes had a far-away look in them that didn't bode well for her. Tundra glared at the growing red spot around Mariah's stomach. Robert's wound had reopened itself.

"He hit the wall to hard Tundra…" Mariah whispered. Gritting her teeth Tundra hollered for two guards to take Mariah up to the infirmary. The girl was clearly in shock because she didn't seem to notice the blood staining her shirt.

Two guards made to take Mariah away but she began screaming and fighting them as they dragged her away. Thinking quickly, Tundra pulled out a vile from her pouch and forced it to Mariah's nose. A dazed look crossed her features and she allowed herself to be carried off.

Tundra turned her attention to Kevin. The boy had a nasty wound on his head but looked fine in all other aspects. That head wound though…it was a lot like the one that was keeping Johnny in such a perilous state of health.

"Guards, take this boy to the sick bay. I will be up shortly to see him and Mariah." She said before turning to face Prince Kyle who awaited her report.

"Well?"

"Sir, I can't say if either the boy or Mariah will survive their injuries. I got a quick look at the others present and they seem to be all right. One of the outlaws looks like he'll need some minor treatment to his face though." She said. Kyle just nodded.

"Then you'd best be off then, you've got your work cut out for you." He stated and the healer offered him a sad smile.

"Yes, so do you. Your father will be looking for answers and he'll be turning to you to get them. Best of luck my lord." She said and then ran off down the hall towards her realm of the sick. Time was of the essence.

Unknown to all those present a blond boy faded back into the shadows and limped off intent on getting off the castle premises.

Max threw a saddle over one of the horses and quickly did it up properly. Limping slowly he opened a small door that led into the fields surrounding the castle. Clambering on he gave the horse a quick click with his heels and sent it into a canter.

The cold night air stung at his face and he squinted his eyes in an attempt to shelter them from the driving wind. 'What am I doing?' He thought. This wasn't going to look good on his record in anyone ever found out.

Max slowed the horse to a stop at the edge of the forest. Max glared at it as if it were his enemy. Somewhere inside there was a band of outlaws who could and would kill him.

And he was going to go see them.

Dismounting his horse Max stumbled off into the dark foliage. He valued his loyalty to the Royal Family but he couldn't stand the though of Rei being killed. To hell will with the other two!

Shifting bushes and dodging tree branches Max picked his way forward. Banging his head against a low-hanging tree branch he wondered where it had been two seconds before. Then he realized that it hadn't been there two seconds before.

He blinked as he finally noticed the brown haired girl in front of him holding a staff in front of her like a weapon. Great…

"Uh…hi?" Max tried. The staff lowered itself slightly and the girl gave him a suspicious look.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"Well, I'm Max and I'm one the warriors from the castle." Max said trying to sound cheerful. Her grip tightened on that stick of hers and she looked ready to strike him with it. Max waved his arms in front of him in alarm. "Whoa, hold it! Are you part of that group of outlaws? I really need to speak to all of you about two of your members."

Hilary's eyes sharpened ever so slightly as she eyed the other. He seemed like he was telling the truth but he could just be good at hiding the truth. Set and Ozuma hadn't been around for days now though and they needed any help they could get on their whereabouts.

"So what if I am part of the outlaws? What makes you think that I'll take you to the camp? How do I know that you won't just bolt the minute you know where we are and tell your rich friends?" She demanded. Max just grinned.

"I'm not in any shape to be running around the forest at night. I can barely walk through it." Here he gestured to his leg and Hilary nodded once. Good enough.

"Follow me." She said and turned around walking away. Heaving a sigh at her cold edge Max hobbled along behind her.

SR: And there you have it. My trash chapter. I think I'll have Set and Rei meet in the next one if only to hold onto what few readers I have left. Maybe some Kai getting kidnapped? Meh, who knows with me. Review! Show me the love.