SR: Booyah! Sorry it took so long. Make me feel good and REVIEW, seeing as my little typing finger has been worn to the bone.

"Wake up!" The sharp voice sliced through the fog that floated around in Kai's mind. Rough hands shook him forcefully in an effort to speed up his trip to the waking world.

"Sngh, what the hell do you want?" Kai muttered as he focused his eyes on Kano's larger form. He would have cursed at his brother if it hadn't been for the urgent tone of voice and look on his face.

"We have to go. Now!" He said as Kai sat up in his bed. Memories from his brief encounter with Tala and the others earlier in the week clouded his mind as he thought that maybe they'd tried to run away again.

'No, that's not possible. They're under to heavy of a guard for them to try and run.' Kai thought. He swung his legs off his bed and watched his brother who was pulling out his normal clothes.

"Get dressed. We have to go." He hissed as he went over to Rei and shook the raven-haired boy awake.

The neko-jinn all but hissed at him at the rude awakening. Amber eyes flashed dangerously but quickly glazed with confusion as Kano undid the chain around his ankle.

"Can you walk?" He asked urgently and Rei nodded. "Good, get up." He ordered.

"Kano! What is going on? You come and wake me up at this unholy hour and now you unshackle my slave. An explanation please?" Kai demanded as he did up his belt and checked quickly to make sure the sword was in its shieth.

"The castle is under attack from troops sent by Aldera. Now, let's go. The both of you." Kano replied.

Kai's eyes widened slightly. Aldera? Why the hell had Aldera attacked them? The two countries rarely communicated with each other and had never fought against each other. Then another thought struck Kai: They had been caught completely unawares!

"What of all the others? Where are they?" He demanded.

"Don't know, don't have time to worry about it. We are to leave the castle grounds and relocate to the forest."

"We're running away? I refuse!" Kai stated. He'd never run from a fight in his life and he wouldn't start tonight.

"Do you honestly think I want to leave? Father has ordered us to leave. Now move!" Kano yelled and pushed both Kai and Rei out into the hall. "We may need to fight our way out so be on the alert. Aldera troops are all over the castle."

A fire burned in Rei's eyes. This was what he was alive for. What he had trained for. A funny sort of friendship had arisen between him and Kai or at least a mutual respect. He'd help Kai get out of here. Kano too.

The three young men moved quickly through the dark castle halls. Sounds of fighting drifted from all directions and Rei was expecting to see a troop of guards at every corner they dared to turn.

They had perhaps been walking for about two minutes before they collided with a small regiment of soldiers. The black and orange uniforms signaling them to be the enemy.

Before the Alderians had a chance to understand what was happening Kano had his sword out and through the stomach of the closest soldier. Kai himself was not far behind in having his weapon out and he locked blades with a large fighter.

Rei, lacking the advantage of having a pointy object to fight with, was targeted by several of the smaller framed soldiers.

"Heh, he'll be easy. Doesn't even have a knife to 'im." A tall gangly one sneered." He moved in closer to Rei and grabbed him by the front of his worn out tunic.

"Uh, I don't think so." Rei bulled forward pummeling his fists into his opponent's stomach. Cracks could be heard as Rei threw all of his weight and strength into his punches. He watched as the young fighter crumpled to the floor coughing up blood. He then turned his feral eyes on the rest of those in front of him before launching himself into them.

Heads cracked, blood ran and bones broke as Kai, Kano and Rei wreaked havoc on their enemy. It wasn't long before they'd floored the lot of them.

Breathing hard they continued towards their goal of getting out of the palace. Rei looked at the two brothers for a moment and noticed that all though they were breathing hard they both looked more alive then they usually did.

Fierce pride and strength hurricaned in their blood and they had every intention of doing their country and family name justice.

Shrieks from around the corner caused all three to break into a run and get to the source.

Arriving on the scene they were greeted with a grisly sight. Shakin soldiers, their soldiers, littered the floor and several women in nightgowns were the cause of the high-pitched screaming.

The three fighters went unnoticed as the Alderian soldiers moved in to finish off the wailing women. Kai was about to move in when all hell broke loose.

Mariah and Tundra hit the scene. They were a force to be reckoned with as they let their anger and hate fuel their actions.

Mariah's knives and daggers glimmered in the pale moonlight that shone through an unshuttered window and Tundra's bag was like a weapon of mass destruction.

By the way she was dropping soldiers with it Kai thought it would be safe to bet that she'd replaced the herbs and medicine that normally stayed in there with bricks.

A growl from beside him was all the warning Kai got before Kano tore off into the fight dealing death to whoever came within striking range.

Rei rolled his shoulders forward before spiraling into the fray boxing anyone he could catch.

Before, Kai could get a good shot in the whole thing was over.

"Kai, Kano, Rei!" Mariah exclaimed as she wiped some blood that was dribbling from above her eye. Tundra merely bowed.

"Mariah, you shouldn't be up." Kano chided. "You're still recovering."

"Right, fat lot of good it would have done me staying in bed and waiting to be mauled by a round of soldiers." She retorted and then grinned.

"She has a point." Tundra chimed in.

"Who cares?" Rei asked. "We're just asking for trouble if we stay here. Let's go." He said. The small group of ladies who had been shrieking just before seemed to have taken off for somewhere they thought would be safer.

"He's out of line but he's right." Kai drawled.

The group, now larger by two, returned to the daunting task of escaping this war ground. They tore down halls and crossed large rooms until finally they found themselves in the throne room.

Rei looked around; the area was covered with bodies of both sides. He heard Tundra gasp softly and Kano let up an eloquent string of curses.

"Damn them all to hell." Mariah seethed as her anger boiled. "And when they get there, I hope they suffer." A quick murmur of agreements was all she was given before Kano urged everyone towards the large double doors that led out into the courtyard.

Kicking the doors open they were greeted with what could only be described as complete and total chaos. Shakin soldiers cleaved Alderian soldiers in two as they tried desperately to regain control of the situation. They were failing badly.

A flash of red caught Rei's eye and he though it at first to be Tala. It wasn't though, this boy had green eyes and he had a smile on his face as if he hadn't just killed a living person.

"Who's that?" Rei demanded as he gestured at the other.

"Brooklyn…he's in charge of the Alderian army." Mariah whispered quickly.

"There are a ton of soldiers between us and the gate. How're we gonna get out of here." Kano exclaimed.

"The good old fashioned way." Kai muttered with a smirk on his face. He placed his sword directly in front of him and charged into the nearest pack of soldiers. Kano launched a tirade of curses at Kai before following his lead and dropping a soldier with a crack from the hilt of his sword.

"Alright, let's do this." Mariah yelled and threw one of her knives between the shoulder blades of an enemy soldier.

Rei and Tundra both groaned before throwing themselves into it.

Later

Kai alternated his glare from Alderian soldier to Alderian soldier. Most of them cringed as it hit them. Normally, they would have made for the hills except for the fact that he was on his knees with his hands tied behind him. Any Shakin soldier who was still alive was in the same position.

They'd fought with all they had but they'd still been beaten.

Brooklyn marched up and down the lines of the Shakin survivors. This, in his opinion, had been a colossal waste of his time. Why couldn't the King have left this stupid job to one of the lower ranked soldiers? Oh well, the look on Kai's face was priceless.

"Alright, let's get this over with. In case any of you are wondering, there's still fighting going on in the castle but it's a very small amount. The King and Queen along with their second eldest are being held captive in the King's Chambers." Brooklyn let his eyes sweep over all those gathered, victors and vanquished alike. Then he winked one eye towards his shoulders. "But enough of the boring stuff. We have two princes, the head healer and one of the King's highest advisors at our feet. What are we going to do with them?"

Some of the Alderian soldiers began nudging each other and grinning.

Brooklyn leaned forward and grabbed a handful of Rei's hair and hauled him upright. "Alright, let's see, you don't look like anyone important. Name and rank?" He asked.

"Rei. Slave." Rei muttered as his face turned an interesting shade of red. The Alderians took off into tucks of laughter.

"You're a slave?" Brooklyn asked laughing. "I saw you out there, you were fighting hard. Why? If these people have enslaved you then why fight for them? Tell you what, swear loyalty to me and my army and I'll have you made into a Captain. You fight well enough for the position and it's better then cleaning someone's shoes. What do you say hmmmm?"

Rei's amber eyes swept over Mariah, Tundra, Kano and finally they landed on Kai. Kai had done his best to make his life miserable so why was he having such a hard time turning on him. Kai deserved to die. So did Kano and Mariah for that matter! Tundra didn't really do anything wrong to see him but that was the way of war. Innocent people died.

"No." The word left Rei's mouth before he could properly shove it back down his throat. Brooklyn's green eyes hardened and he slapped Rei across the face.

"Are you stupid? Why stand by them in servitude when you can stand by me in glory?" Brooklyn demanded. The good-natured smile had disappeared and had been replaced with a scowl. Brooklyn pulled out his sword and held it to Rei's neck. "Last chance."

"No." Rei repeated firmly and saw Kai's bewildered look out of the corner of his eye.

"That's it, you die." Brooklyn hissed.

"No way dude, Rei still has to polish Kai's boots before he goes." Came a cool voice.

All eyes turned to the left to land on Tyson and two score guards. For as long as he'd known Tyson, Rei hadn't seen the boy in his uniform and he had to admit, it gave Tyson an air of professionalism. The blue and white uniform looked like it had been created just for him.

He drew his sword and Brooklyn pulled his sword away from Rei's neck to point it at Tyson.

"Please don't waste my time. Just surrender because you know you can't beat me." He said slowly and Tyson just laughed.

"Beat you? Aw man, I wouldn't dream of it. There's a reason it took me so long to get here though. I had make a quick pit stop in the dungeons." Tyson said.

Brooklyn's brow crinkled in mild confusion. "Excuse me?"

And then Tala Ivanov arrived. People got knocked out of his way as he charged Brooklyn. Brooklyn didn't even have a chance to react before he Tala was on top of him.

Alderian soldiers charged and were quickly halted in their tracks as Tyson's soldiers engaged them in combat.

Tyson ran behind Rei and cut the rope from his wrists. "Get Kai and the others out of here. Me and Tala'll keep them busy for a while." He murmured.

Rei nodded and went over to the others who had just had their hands untied by different soldiers. "Tyson says to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving, my family needs me here." Kano said.

"We won't do them any good if we're locked up in the dungeons or dead Kano." Tundra stated. Kano looked like he might argue but then decided against.

"Alright, let's go." He said and gave everyone a shove towards the main gate.

They had just gotten to the main gate when a silver-haired Alderian soldier stepped in front of them. His ponytail swished angrily behind him as he took on an offensive stance.

'Damn.' Kai thought. 'We don't have time for this.' He had barely finished the thought when Set tackled the soldier to the ground and rendered him senseless with a well-aimed blow to the temple.

"Loser." Ozuma jeered as he appeared next to his leader.

"Let's go!" Kano roared. They all complied with his order and took off running into the open field. "To the forest. Move."

They ran full sprint until they reached the forest and had gotten a few meters inside. Then they all stopped to catch their breath.

"Rei." Huffed Set. "The minute I can breathe again, I'll kill you. Same to you Mariah." He threatened and was replied with a snort from both.

"I missed you to brother." Rei said scaldingly. He was happy to see his brother again. No need to let anyone know that though.

"Shut up, the both of you." Kai grumbled. "We've got bigger problems to worry about."

"Tch, your country is your problem." Set said frostily. "I'll just take my brother and Mariah and be on my way." He grabbed Rei's wrist in one hand and Mariah's in the other and proceeded in dragging them back towards his camp. He got maybe three feet before Kai took firm hold of Set's ponytail and pulled sharply.

"Uh, Mariah and Rei will go with you if they want to go with you." He said and gave the ponytail another sharp tug.

"I'm staying to help Kai." Rei said firmly and Mariah nodded in agreement. "I don't care if he's treated me badly. There are other people, like Tala and Tyson, who don't deserve to be hurt. I'm staying."

"Fine! Then I'm staying to." Set said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"What? Why?" Rei demanded.

"'Cause you're my baby brother and you obviously need someone to watch over you. All baby brothers do." Set replied flatly.

"Amen to that!" Kano replied. "Listen, they way I see it is that we're going to have to get along with each other if we're going to be fighting alongside each other."

"Hn, agreed." Ozuma said. "I vote that we put all differences aside until this mess is sorted out." A murmur of consent flowed to him from all those gathered.

"Set, do you have your outlaws anywhere around here?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, just a ways up." Set affirmed. His outlaws were loyal to him and they would be only too happy to give him a helping hand.

"Then let's get going." Mariah said while clapping her hands together. She looked like she was in rough shape but so did everyone else. "We're the country's last hope so we've got to get started right away."

"Follow me." Set said as he began walking back towards his camp.

A short walk found them standing in the middle of the outlaw camp and being stared at by the thirty odd fighters present.

"Uh hi…" Rei said. "Some of you may know me…" Mariah shoved past him.

"And you all know me." She grinned. Shocked looks passed from Rei and Mariah.

"Mariah!" Hilary shrieked and threw her arms around her friend. "It's been so long."

Quick introductions were made all around and the whole story was told to the camp as Tundra and Suma tended to all the injuries. Once everything was explained the outlaws confirmed that they would help.

"Alright then," Rei said. "New game."

SR:…creeps away I apologize for taking so long in updating but I love you all. Er…REVIEW and have a nice day. Notice the lack of comments. Tch, I'm so out of it right now.