Mystel sat with his legs dangling over the ledge he was sitting on. He peered down at the people below him. They scurried about frantically and went in all different directions. Classic movements. The people here were always busy with something. Never had much time to just sit around and ... be.

Mystel closed his eyes and images flashed before them. His ears were open to all the crackles of burning and those screams that were never echoed. Taunting. He gripped his hands into fists and listened. How much of a monster had he been to have done such a thing? Children. Immature little children who wouldn't have even done damage had they fought. The blond could rasionalize all he pleased, but he couldn't bury any truth. Those children had died all because they had wanted to kill Trisault's Guard Commander. To kill Kai Hiwatari. So all those deaths were just a pointless loss.

He found it almost difficult to breath. The smell of burning flesh filled his nose and the thoughts that their blood poured into his palms... it wasn't human.

"Closing your eyes will only trap the troubles in your mind." A pair of long legs stood beside him and sat down.

Mystel peeled his eyes open, glanced and looked away. "You could fall, my Lord. Height is not suited for you."

Hiro smiled. "Nonsense. If I fall, you can take my place. You have my word."

Despite the honor in that simple statment, Mystel couldn't even bring himself to smile. Hiro's faded as well. He pressed his finger into Mystel's jaw repeatedly.

"It is uncommon for you to be without a smile and laugh. Since this war has been declared, you have lost all esctasy of life. A token for your wonders?"

Mystel didn't answer immediatly. Nor did he really want to. "You may keep your token."

After a moment of silence, Hiro sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Mystel, as an old friend sitting here and not the High Lord of a Nation Clan, I would recommend you talk about what you see is not fit. Your sanity slips with ever second of lockdown."

Mystel snorted, but far from his hearty laugh. "Mingming mentioned you'd say something along those lines. Of course this was after she attempted to use my own words against me."

"I see her friendship has failed to make no impresion on you. She seems to know us better then we do ourselves." Hiro smiled.

"Should you not be preparing yourself?" Mystel wondered aloud. He didn't mind Hiro's company, but right now it was aggrevating him.

Hiro waved at him, pushing the words away from his being. "I've plenty of time. Haven't received a message; no updates so I suspect they haven't arrived yet."

"Not that it would be a much of a big surprise if they did."

Hiro sighed and put up his hands. "Alright, I can see my presence is starting to get on your nerves. I'll leave and let you ponder on my final words. We are your friends, Mystel and we care whether or not you go under."

His tall frame got up and turning on his heels, he left. Mystel couldn't help but gaze out into the sky. 'How much longer is this going to last?'

.:VwV:.

Mingming looked up as Hiro entered the throne room. "He kicked you out, didn't he?"

"I left." Hiro looked up, his eyes etched in worry. "You were not lying. Something is truly bothering him. It is suprising to say the least that he refuses to say anything."

The spy nodded. "He's always so talkative, isn't he?"

"He is like you. Can never shut him up."

Mingming sent a glare to the grinning Hiro. She placed her hand on one hip and looked back at his empty throne. "I suppose so."

Settling himself down into the chair, he glanced down at the papers Mingming had laid down before him. When he saw the content, he let out a groan. "I couldn't run from these, could I?"

"Good try though, my Lord. You have to sign these and you need to start thinking about the wedding plans."

"Cannot we just do something simple? We are in the middle of the war-"

"The quicker this gets completed, the better; yes. But the bigger the event, the larger the impact. You know this, my Lord."

Hiro sighed, resting his chin on his closed fist, placing his elbow on the arm of the chair. His eyes took in the wall beside him a moment before glancing back.

"Yes, alright. But it must be done quickly. I suppose I truly can't avoid this so best to get it out of the way."

Mingming froze. She paused a long while, took a deep breath and relaid a calm voice. "Not to sound rude, my Lord but this is marriage you speak so ill of. It may mean next to nothing to you, but you've not considered Lady Judy's feelings in this matter. I suggest you take the situation with more care and respect. Your additude is ... pardon my choice of words; disgusting. This marriage is a proclamation of allies and the people need this. We need this. Your current additude is only sinking our hope."

Hiro sent her a small glare. "Not pardoned. And my additude has nothing to do with the situa-"

"It has everything to do with the situation. If your people are angry with your actions, how much more likely are they to follow your commands? If you were to send them off into a battle they knew they could not win, how likely do you think they would commit suicide to see our nation fall? Think before you act, my Lord. Our lives are in your hands and your beginning to treat us as pawns."

Hiro opened his mouth to snap back, but Mingming didn't give him a chance to speak. "Being a ruler gives you no right to do with our lives as you see fit. We all help you in this war for the thought of peace. If we did not, we would revolt without a second of hesitation. So choose, my Lord. Would you rather us fight for you, with hope in our heart or would you rather us die for you, cursing your name as we move to join Sister Moon?"

The bluenette hated it when Mingming got riled up. She always gave points that you couldn't object to. She gave you no option to sneak out of. Always blunt and to the point, Mingming really should have become an adviser then a spy. She wasn't fearless when it came to countering Hiro's thoughts; she was smart and so she acted on that instinct. And somehow, she always managed to make him see through her eyes.

.:VwV:.

Miguel dropped Travis down from his back, panting for air as he bent over on his knees.

Kai pushed his finger into his back. Miguel glanced back, his eyes resting at first on the sleeping Brooklyn, then Kai. "Don't stop. We need to keep moving."

"Captain Hiwatari, we can't keep going. Were all tierd, weak and broken. We need a moment to rest." Miguel commented.

Travis rubbed his head and bum, sore from the impact and sat up, blinking his eyes open from the sleep he had been settled in. He glanced over at Mathilda, who was still resting peacfully in Miguel's hair. If anyone noticed he'd woken up, they showed no sign.

"We have to keep moving. I understand how hard this is on you but my job is to keep you alive-"

"-only to send us to an early grave. Captain Hiwatari, I can see it in your eyes that you know how wrong this is. You don't want us to be here, but your tied by duty to train us. Have you no sense of what this is doing to us?"

Kai paused a moment, closing his eyes. He replied, the orbs still covered. "Of course I do. But Miguel, do you know what the penalty is if a soldier turns away from their post and runs back toward safety without an order?" His eyes peeled open as Miguel waited for a responce, shaking his head.

"Death."

The blond's eyes shot open. "D-death? But tha-that's utterly inhumain."

The captain bit back a growl he knew was escaping. "Try having to explain that to the Council every war meeting and having it shot down at each chance. We've all had to sacrifice to go for our goal. I've lost my closest friend and greatest rival to a hanging, so he could save what he believed he could. I just pulled my best knight from a corpse pile that shouldn't have been there in the first place. I've left my wife and two boys at home, who don't even know if I made it to the camp in one piece. Every piece of my life has been torn apart by duty, but this was the situation I put myself in. Now I have to live with the concequence because as far as I can see, there are no joys to this position."

A large pause. "Would you leave if you could?" Travis questioned.

Miguel jumped a bit in surprise, turning his gaze to him. Kai kept his eyes forward, watching the other boys rest at a far, but safe distance.

"I did once. I'd do it again if this war wasn't upon us."

Travis stood up, brushing the dirt from his pants. He clenched his gloved fist, staring at it a long while before Miguel tapped his fingers. He laid out his finger carefully, placing a stone from the ground into the center of the leather. Travis stared at the stone with a questioning look, the action earned Kai's attention as well.

"Mama told me once that your life is like a pebble that rests in your palm. You can choose to keep it, or throw it away. You can treasure it or sweep it under the rug. You can even choose to shatter it or give it to someone who will keep it dear. But either way you choose to use the stone, it's your choice and no amount of pressure can tell you otherwise."

Miguel looked up at Kai, bringing Travis' hand closer to him, pulling the lost boy forward in surprise. He offered the pebble up to Kai, who paused before circling his free arm around Brooklyn to take it in his fingers. He examined it, noticing nothing special of it. No shine, no particular shape; it was rough and small.

When Miguel didn't say anything, Travis spoke up what he guessed Miguel was pondering on. "It's your pebble, Kai. Not ours." Travis honestly had no real idea of what those words meant, but by the way Kai's expression faded and Miguel gave a small smile of appreiation, he'd caught a mark.

"Your mother is a wise woman, Miguel. I wish I would have known her 17 years ago, then I could have choosen a different path."

Miguel smiled at hte compliment. His mama meant a lot to him and her words always meant the world to him. "But would you have even listened to her advice?"

Another pause. Kai clenched the stone before slipping it into his pocket. "No. I probably wouldn't have."

.:VwV:.

Anko ducked under a branch, breathing in the cool air that circled her. It felt so nice to get out of the direct sunlight. She felt much better now that she had eaten, was rested and cooled.

Tala said he'd spotted smoke a while back of their travels and suggested they follow toward it. It may be a town, most probably industrialized. The thought of fresh water and something that didn't taste like it'd been marinated in salt brought pleasure to her mind. She pulled at her light blue ponytail, flinching at the sick feeling of damp hair against sweaty skin. She wouldn't have minded a bath around this time, but the cool wind that had shown up not that long ago was a great joy.

According to Tala, they were on a small isnland that was part of the main land of the Kotan island. It was complicated geography so she stopped Tala's explination when he started on about the Kotan Island properties. All she really wanted to know was if they had food and water and if they had the same coinage system they had.

"Up ahead. I can smell the smoke. Though it smells more of camp then town."

Anko groaned, wanting to fall to her knees but kept going. "I hope its a town. We've been walking for days and I'm exhausted."

"You wanted to come."

"Don't start up with that. I'm too cranky right now to argue with you properly."

Tala raised a brow from behind her. There was a proper way to argue?

"How do you even know if the cave is on Kotan Island?"

"It's where it was last seemingly reported. It's our closest chance."

"Tala, have you ever thought about how much of a stupid journey this is?"

Tala didn't respond. Anko sighed. Figures. Was Tala really the type of person to just run into things head first? She thought he was smart, thats one reason she had so much confidence in this trip. Were they really running all around the world just to find something that might not even be real?

"We've got no actual leads to a place that isn't in this dimension, in a cave that moves constantly and has never been found by anyone before. If they did, they never returned alive. What makes you so certain that this place even exist, Tala? It could have just been an old folk tale someone made up to tell their children so they could follow false dreams."

"I don't believe that's true. It's possible but no literate. I refuse to concider it"

Anko stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Well you should. Now we could very well be lost in a foriegn country with no sense of where were going."

Tala stopped and looked down at her. He could see she felt lost at what he was doing, but she showed no real signs of wanting to turn around. "There has to be a clue."

Anko folded her arms. "A clue?"

Tala nodded. "Like a pirate had when he buries his treasure. A map or some sort, or a code. Some form of a clue that points to where this should be."

A groan escaped her lips as she stared her green eyes intensly at the redhead. "So you want me to believe that there has to be some form of a map that points to this thing and that we should be able to find out something to its direction by running around here and picking up clues?"

Tala nodded. He frowned at the amused expression that spread over Anko's face. "I fail to see the amusement."

Anko patted him on the shoulder, turning around and walking forward once more. "You have a lot of growing up to do."

.:VwV:.

They had gotten off the boat only a day ago and they were now waiting paitently at the inn for the carriage to arrive. Lady Judy was really getting the welcome wagon. Everywhere she went, people came up to her, praised her and thanked her before being pushed back by some guards she had aquired.

Alex failed to see what was so great about this, but Raul sure did. He bowed to everyone he passed and tried to keep Alex focused. He explained a few things to her, but Alex still had difficulty stringing them together.

Finally the carriage came. Raul opened the door and took Judy's hand as he helped her into the wagon. Alex was starting to find it amusing at how gentil Raul was around Lady Judy and how she had him on a leash. Either way, she followed in after Judy; Raul still being curtious and holding the door open for her.

They sat down on the same seat and Raul finally came aboard. Turns out that Alex's very 'next-to' presense bothered the Lady so she had to sit across from her and next to Raul. Judy was starting to really tick her off, but she let it slid. They were her only chance to find Tala now that they were on the Kotan Island.

"Is the seat confortable, my Lady?" Raul questioned.

She nodded. "Yes, it is. Thank you Raul."

"No thanks required, my Lady. I am always at your service."

Alex snorted and watched as the door was opened once more, now filled with a man carrying Judy's belongings. He lifted them up and threw them onto the seat.

The seat that was Alex. As the suitcase came flying toward her direction, she managed to jump out of the way in time to dodge it. She flew foward a bit and pressed her palms to the opposing wall as he put in the last of the bundles around them. Alex pushed herself away from the wall and glared at the man as he tipped his hat to Judy and then to Raul. He never even gave notice to Alex.

"Excuse me! Can't you see I'm sitting there? You coudl have at least given me warnin-" But the man had already closed the door. Alex went to step forward, ready to really yell at the man when Raul gripped her wrist and stopped her. She looked down at the grip and paused a moment. It was faint, but Alex could see traces of blue fire once again licking his fingers. It had incircled her wrist as well. It gave her a stratle, so she pulled away reluctantly and glared.

"He can't hear you so just sit down now. Your bellyaching is giving me a splitting headache." Judy rubbed her temples.

Alex scowled her and sat down on the suitcase that invaded her seat, seeing no other available places to put it. She could have thrown it at Judy; it was her suitcase after all, but Raul seemed to have caught the idea before she could act and grabbed hold of the luggage.

"Why must you honestly be so prissy?"

Judy examined her nails before looking out the window. "I'm afraid I don't possess the answer you are wanting to receive."

.:VwV:.

Author's Note: Alright, so exams just ended and now its on the summer break! Whoot! I'm trying to keep my mind on updating this story, but I've been so distracted that my ideas are all over the place.

Either way, thanks to those who reviewed last chapter and those who read it. Your words mean so much. Thank you dearly.

Review, please!