In the back of the carriage with a blanket laid out to catch any loose parts that might move out of place, Rocket had dismantled one of the strange devices that he had brought along with him when he joined Otto. Rocket enjoyed building things: this was the first thing that he had learned about the Raccoon on their journey.

Despite walking upright and showing a vast intelligence, Rocket was not a Demi-Human. He was some kind of magical super smart actual raccoon that someone had made this way. Otto didn't quite get what had been meant when all of this was explained to him, but he did know that Rocket was in denial of the fact that a raccoon is what he was.

As Rocket preferred it that there was nothing like him anywhere in the universe and there never would be another one.

"All these things you make, the gun and the other stuff—you just dreamed them up one day?" Asked Otto.

Rocket was still going through his stock of parts and cleaning them, trying to get them fitted together. "I base them on things I seen, some of which I stole. And then other ones I imagined them up all smart like," Rocket said.

"He's a liar." Kate Bishop's voice cut through their conversation with a very matter of fact aura about it. "He modified a gun he had with him already and some of this stuff he makes he just gets lucky and it comes to him—nothing to do with being smart."

Kate was a woman that Otto had guessed was about his age, though she seemed to treat him like a child at every opportunity.

"It's not a lie and it's not luck. I can build all this shit because of my Divine whatsit," Rocket said.

"Here we go with this again," Kate said.

"It's real! My Divine Protection of Forge," Rocket explained. "Let's me make all this shit," he said waving his hands around over the assortment of parts for his gun. "And let's me make all them goofy trick arrows you're carrying."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I don't considering tying an exploding magic rock to a stick to shoot it at someone a new invention," Kate said.

"Then you do it yourself!"

"You've got smaller rodent hands though."

"I ain't no rodent."

Otto forced a chuckle. "Oh yeah, this is all very entertaining," he said. "But haven't we done this exact same argument before?"

This divine protection that Rocket had was only just now coming up, but it made sense. There were some weirder ones out there and some that seemed downright useless. Otto had one himself and it wasn't something that the user had to be taught to use or be made aware of. From the day you could understand, you just had it there and it was a part of you. Even easier than walking or using your own limbs you just had this understanding of it.

Rocket went back to raking his fingers through the parts that were laid out in front of him, searching for whatever it was that he had to put back in place next. "Look, Otto, there's a reason why no one asks you to pick the conversation topics. Because you're boring."

"Well, in my being boring Mister Rocket, I avoid the brunt of the trouble out there," he replied.

"Tell that to those bandits we saved you from. Or the mabeasts that we had to murder our way through. It seems like you've got pretty shit luck," Rocket said.

Kate shrugged. "We did travel from the edge of the country almost back to its center—it's not like we just came a short way."

In the distance the capital was visible now, Lugnica's capital was so spread out and far reaching that the edges of it could be reached well before you came anywhere near the center. Even now they were miles from reaching the city, but the castle on the distant hill was visible and the red and orange and brown tops of the houses and buildings formed a kind of sea of color that blanketed the landscape.

"Have you ever been to the capital, Kate?" Otto asked.

"About six months ago we passed through there. At the time there was a pretty weird uproar. Things seemed sort of shaky," she said.

"A lack of a leader and a barely functional economy will do that to a place," Otto said. "Why, the value of this oil changed so quickly that I couldn't unload it before the price tanked. At least if things keep going like they have been, I'll probably be able to turn a profit again."

"Haven't we already had this discussion before," Rocket mocked him. "Here you go with this goddamn oil story again," the raccoon said flicking his paw in Otto's direction.

Otto chuckled to himself. "I guess you got me there," he said.

Kate smiled up at Otto and then looked at Rocket. "I'm really hoping that when we get into town we can find a few of the things that we had been looking for so that you can finish your little crafting project."

"It's not a crafting project. It's going to save our lives…if someone remembers how to label grenades with sensible colors," Rocket said glaring at her.

They moved for a little while longer down the stretch of road until some buildings came into new nestled between two of the rolling hills. Otto slowed the Ground Dragon to a trot. "There's a trading post here, we should probably stop and get some rest." Maybe he could talk someone into buying his grossly overpriced oil. There were times where outside of the large cities the price of commodities wouldn't drop fast because no one realized they had dropped yet.

The buildings for the trading post had some carriages between them, there were even crates of something in the street stacked up. Otto let the Ground Dragon roll to a stop and looked back at Kate and Rocket.

"Looks like this place is completely vacant," Rocket said.

Otto hopped down off of the seat where he steered the cart from and went around to check the doors of the shops and the small inn. No one was inside and the food and things left on the table seemed to have just been dropped where it was being consumed.

There was one grape laying near a plate and wilted from its time sitting in the elements. Otto walked over to the table and lifted it to feel it in his hand. The waxy skin on the thing and the way that the juice seemed to leak through where he touched it told him it was rather old, at least by foods that had been left out standards.

"Looks like whoever was here in your trading post got out of dodge, quick," Rocket said. He was standing in the doorway, hefting another weapon that he had made. "Don't worry, Katie's watching the cart."

"Where is everyone—it's the middle of the day?" Otto asked.

He walked out of the side door and into the stable. There were carriages loaded with supplies, some of the food had been sitting for too long to be saved and, if no one was going to take it, some of this needed to be delivered to the capital. He rifled through some of the carts looking for any clue about what happened.

One carriage was empty, the straps to the sacks sliced open like whatever was here had been stolen. In another cart he found some crates marked with the logo of the Hoshin company. Anastasia Hoshin was a major player in trade, anything that she was moving down the roads would be dear to her and if she were missing it she might be grateful if it were returned.

The thing was Otto still had to wonder what happened here.

"Hey kid, did you know the people that ran this place?" Rocket asked.

Otto thought for a moment, but he couldn't really remember having seen anyone here. Surely this place had to have had staff or others he interacted with. He had seen other merchants here and made friends with others passing through, but when he thought about the counter or the stable attendant no one came to mind.

"I don't think so," he said uneasy, knowing that must have sounded strange. He was so unsure of the words himself. You've been here over a dozen times. How could you remember no one?

Rocket grimaced from the open door of the stable. "I don't like how this looks. There's no blood, no sign of attack…"

"Someone took the load of this cart, but it could have been left empty when it got here. It would be weird to leave the packing and cut ropes in there like this," Otto said.

"We should get the Hell out of here before we get disappeared too," Rocket said.

"Hold on, I think I might have found a way for you to get a hold of all the rare materials you want and for me to make a little extra silver," Otto said.

"How's that?"

"Well, if you want to tag along, I'd like to try and return Anastasia Hoshin's missing property. I'm sure she'll be at least a little grateful," Otto said.

Rocket nodded. "I don't know who this Hoshin broad is, but sounds like it's worth a try."

The sun beat down on the path back to Roswaal's manor, though only when you stood in the dead center of the road where the tree's shadows held no sway. In the shade at the fringes where the grass threatened to overtake the dirt the shade was cool and the wind that swept through the woods was brisk enough to chill the sweat on Peter's brow as he walked with Puck and Emilia.

They had been in town for a few hours, Emilia choosing to slip into her cloak that made it harder for certain people to spot her and tell who she was. She said it was a type of Metia that Roswaal had given her to avoid arousing too much suspicion among the townspeople (somehow Petra had seen through it though).

"My, that really was a longer walk than I expected," Emilia said smiling as she looked over at Peter. "But it's good to get out and walk around with just you like this—and you Puck."

"For sure," Peter said. He smiled at Puck, though he wondered how much of that night did Puck know about. Had he known about everything that happened when he was in the crystal or did Emilia have to tell him. If it was the latter, would she do it.

"So, was this a little one month anniversary outing?" Emilia asked.

"Ann-anniversary?" Peter gasped.

Emilia stopped, bending to look at her with a strange curiosity in her eyes. "Yeah, it's been one month since we first met and I believe that's grounds for a little celebration. Hence this outing, that's what I thought that we were doing."

"Emilia, ahem, anniversaries are something that are usually done by couples," said Peter.

"Pete's right, Lia. It would be a little weird for him to do something like that with a woman he wasn't in a formal relationship with."

"Well, we're formally friends," Emilia said. "So there."

The three of them walked on a little further and the gates of the manor grew closer. From this distance Peter could spot the dark shape of what looked like a Ground Dragon drawn carriage. It might have been that the other two didn't notice it at all, but he was the first one to speak up.

"Someone's here," Peter said.

"Hm, Roswaal didn't mention expecting company," Emilia said.

"Maybe he wasn't expecting it, we should be on our guard," Puck said.

They made their way up the long cobblestone path to the manor to find an older gentlemen wearing a steward's tuxedo with crisp white gloves standing beside an ornate wooden carriage. The gentlemen's hair was pulled back into a short ponytail that was cut with a meticulously sharp implement and the back lacquered panels of the carriage were so polished and reflective that Peter could see himself and the the back of the man in them.

"Forgive me, my Lady, for leaving my carriage parked in front of your mansion," the old man said with his hand pressed to his chest and he bowed. There was a dignified way about the way he spoke and though he was probably three or for times Peter's age there was this proud energy brimming from him.

Emilia bowed back gracefully. "It's quite alright Mister Wilhelm," Emilia said.

Peter reached out his hand. "Uh, hi Mister Wilhelm—I'm Peter Parker, sir," he said.

Wilhelm gave him a warm smile that crinkled the skin at the corners of his blue eyes. "It's nice to meet you Peter Parker," he said.

"Did you come alone because of some emergency or was this just a cordial visit?" Asked Emilia.

"There is a bit of a matter that the attendants inside need to alert you and the Margrave to. I will let them iron out the details and explain things as it is not my place," he said with a bow again.

Puck zipped around Emilia's head and dipped back into her hair. "If to need me, just remember. I'm here."

She nodded and then Peter walked her back to the house.

"Thank you, Mister Wilhelm," she said as they walked toward the stairs.

"It was nice meeting you, Mister Wilhelm," Peter said.

Peter stopped at the first riser of the staircase going into the house to take Emilia's hand and make sure that she got up fine. She wasn't wearing difficult to walk in shoes or anything of the sort, but they had walked a long way and the last thing she needed was to trip before there was important business to be done.

As he did this he saw Wilhelm peek around the side of the carriage and watch them. When he caught Peter noticing him instead of turning away or trying to cover for looking, he just shot Peter a knowing nod.

Inside of the house Ram greeted them. "There you two are," she said. "There are emissaries waiting for you," she said.

"Emissaries?" Asked Emilia.

Ram nodded. "I believe it concerns the Royal Selection."

Peter rubbed the back of his head. "This might be kind of private," he said. "I might just go out and make sure Mister Wilhelm is alright—"

Ram caught him by the arm. "As Miss Emilia's guardian it would be pertinent for you to be with her in case there is some unforeseen threat," said Ram.

Peter jerked his arm out of her grasp, rubbing at the spot where she had pinched him. "You could just use your words, you know?"

Emilia snickered lightly. "I could heal it if you want, but she is right, Peter. I need you with me."

Ram led them to a sitting parlor that was tiled and had a spares set of book shelves lining one side of the room. There was a table with a mirror sat up on it in the dead center, Peter wondered if this was one of those speaking mirrors that she had mistook his cellphone for. Another table, this one nearer to the door, had what looked like lab equipment mixed with timers, books, and writing implements.

In the center of the room there was four lavish maroon chairs, a pair of two seater couches across from each other and then a pair of single seaters in a matching pair opposite from each other with a table and candelabra in the middle. The chair that was facing the door was where Roswaal sat with Rem standing at his side with her ands pressed to her lap.

The moment that Roswaal spotted them entering there was something strange in his smile. He pointed his gloved hand toward Emilia and him. "Ah, here they are now."

A woman with a brown curtain of hair hanging over her face was in the chair directly across from Roswaal, the chair with its back to the door. To that woman's left and Roswaal's right was a familiar face.

Ferris stood up from his seat and clapped his hands together, the frills of his blue and white dress danced from the movement and his ears twitched side to side. "Meow-now, look who it is," Ferris said.

"Miss Emilia, Peter, come and greet out guests," Roswaal said.

When the woman across from Roswaal turned and stood up, Peter froze. His instinct was that this was some kind of trick, so he reached over to stop Emilia by pressing his hand into her stomach.

"Oh fuck!"

Maybelle Parker dropped the thin stemmed glass that she had been drinking from her hand and it would have clattered to the floor and shattered, but Peter was just quick enough with aim just deft enough. He webbed it at the bulb of the glass and snatched it up into his hand to catch it out of the air.

"Excuse my mouth, oh Peter! Peter how could you be?"

He was already running into May's arms, hugged her tight, swinging her around in his arms.

"May, what are you doing here?" Peter asked. "How did—"

"I've been here for a year and this is the first I have heard anything about anyone like you," May said.

Peter was tearing up. "A year? I just got here a month ago and—and Steve Rogers is here with me too."

"Miss May? I take it you know Pete here?" Ferris asked.

May turned to Ferris, pushing her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose. "This is my nephew, Peter."

"Oh, May," Peter looked back to Emilia. "This is Emilia—she's the Royal Selection Candidate."

Emilia bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you Lady May, I have heard a lot about you."

"I guess we both found our way into important entourages," May said. She walked over to Emilia and when Emilia reached for her hand May pulled her in for a hug. "Oh, you are just the prettiest thing, look at you."

"Oh, this is fine," Emilia said. Peter had to figure that she was still used to people being afraid of her.

May turned to Peter. "She looks like one of those princesses from those horny video games you used to play."

"May, let's not do that—let's um…let Emilia go."

Roswaal laughed. "I think that what Peter is trying to say is that we should get back to the business at hand, we can take time for catching up with refreshments after this."

Ferris was holding his hands up in front of his chest limp so that they dangled like a cat's paws when it was standing up. "D'aww, I had no idea that we were bringing Peter here such a special treat," Ferris said. "He and I met some weeks back," he glanced to May to say.

Peter took a seat on the two seater couch with Emilia next to hi and kept looking over at May. How could she be here and how could she have been here for a full year. Really, he assumed that he and Steve had appeared at the exact same time, but there was no telling with that at this point. And there was no reason to think that this world and his own didn't have some sort of time dilation or that the forces that had brought him to this world weren't capable of bringing someone to this world earlier or later in the timeline as needed.

The force that brought him to this world…

He found himself remembering that dream, the time where Satella had been more controlled and vocal about things and the time that she had been locked in combat, seemingly with herself.

The gist of the conversation around him was clear enough, there was an important meeting in the capital that involved important news for the Royal Selection candidates. Apparently, May had gotten herself in with someone who was working with the candidates. He didn't really hear any explanation of that.

When the details were ironed out about them making their way to the Royal Capital of the Kingdom and there was finally a lull in the conversation, Peter spoke up. "Excuse me, everyone, can I ask a question?"

"Go on, Sweet," May said.

"You hardly have to ask for permission at this point, Peter," Emilia said from his side as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I, actually yeah, I just wanted to ask is it okay if I go to the Capital to find some of the components I need to make my web fluid?" Peter asked.

Roswaal stared at him. "You're accompanying Miss Emilia to the capital along with myself, Rem, and Captain Rogers," he said.

"Captain Rogers…" May said the name as if it triggered some memory in the back of her head. "Steve Rogers is here too?"

At the mention of Steve's name, Rem clasped her hands in front of herself. "Indeed he is," she said. "He has been of great assistance to all of us here—uh, um, Peter has too, of course."

"Thanks for the explanation, Rem-Rem," Peter said.

May made an odd face. "Oh, okay," she said. "I wonder now—I thought that the three of us were the only ones."

"Three?" Peter asked.

May looked toward Roswaal. "Sorry for the interruption, but this has relevance to the matter at hand: James and Sam are here too," she explained.

"Who?"

"Oh, right the one with the metal arm and the one in the bird suit. They have been working with Lady Crusch's Camp also," May said.

"Wait, the Winter Soldier and Falcon are here?" Peter said, just grasping what she was meaning.

Roswaal wrestled the control of the conversation back. "Lady Crusch, despite being an opponent in the Royal Selection Process, is gracious enough to help us out here with some things and that is why Miss May and Ferris came. An official messenger would have been far less personal and we would like to remain on good terms with Lady Crusch, whoever may take the throne."

There was something of an exaggeration in the tone Roswaal took in this moment, a kind of overbearing showmanship like he was playing things up for the guests.

"This trip to the capital should be a quick one, it will only be a few hours of our time that we need spend on the actual engagement. We can leave in the morning, spend a day getting settled, and then deal with business the next day and return the following morning," said Roswaal.

Emilia nodded. "That should give us plenty of time handle anything around the actual selection news and plan accordingly to any sudden changes," she said.

"And Miss Parker, if you would like to travel with us so that you could visit with your nephew…"

"Old Man Will is going to be really upset that your'e gone," said Ferris.

"Ferris, I'm actually pretty sure he won't, but if I agree to go with Peter and the others tomorrow do you think that you and Will can handle things?"

Ferris raised one arm and curled it to make his bicep bulge as much as he could manage. "I'd pity anyone who managed to run and me and Old Man Will out there on the road," he said with a chuckle.

"You don't mind me coming, right Peter?" May asked.

"Mind? I'd love to have you along," Peter said. "I'm sure that the others would love to get to know you too."

Emilia smiled. "That sounds delightful."

Peter looked at her, wondering about her odd choice in words just as Roswaal spoke up.

"I too find the prospect of talking to your suspiciously attractive Aunt to be of interest," Roswaal said.

"Well, I would say that settles it," May said.

"I love you…" the voice came from all around him and sounded like that of Emilia, but he could tell by now that there was a subtle difference between her tone and that of Satella. He couldn't respond to her now and with how no one else reacted to anything out of the ordinary, he was finally sure that they did not hear her too.

Though he thought that Rem twitched and glanced in his direction, though it could have been for some unrelated reason or just a coincidence.

Satella had told him that she had summoned him and that she had given him gifts—did she mean his Aunt and the others from his own world? He was pretty sure that there would be no easy way to talk to her and, even if he could, it would be harder getting a straight answer out of her.

Ferris rose from his chair and stretched his arms up high above his head as his ears twitched. "Well, I guess I better go and give the news to Old Man Will," he said

Even Peter was having a hard time getting it into his head that there was a literal cat Demi-Human that he knew now and that they looked exactly like people always drew them.

"It was nice seeing you again Miss Emilia and you too, Peter," Ferris said as he headed for the door. The large bow tied in back of his dress flopped as he walked. Then he turned back with a wink and said. "If you're lucky we might run into each other again."

There was silence in the room for a moment, Rem bowed to Roswaal and went to see the guest out. Peter wondered if since Ferris was working with another candidate for the Royal Selection there was some worry about espionage. Then he had to ask himself what one would even hope to find in that kind of situation.

With his hands spread out to his sides, Roswaal let out an exasperated sigh. "There is much to do tomorrow—" he said. "I had otherwise made arrangements and I would trust that you could go alone, but you lack the backing of a knight and not being nobility yourself there might be trouble," Roswaal said dragging the final word out.

"The kind of trouble that Captain Rogers and Peter can't deal with?" Asked Emilia.

"It's clear that they don't understand our customs, but perhaps you can tell them something of it on the way there tomorrow," Roswaal got out of his chair and went for the door. "By the way, Emilia, could I speak with you in private for a moment."

"Yes, Lord Roswaal," Emilia looked back at Peter and May as she left.

The moment that they were probably out of earshot May whispered just loud enough so that she could be sure that Peter heard. "So this is Lord Roswaal? I had been told that he was this wild man who had orgies with half-humans," she said. "Frankly, I just came out here to see it for myself."

Peter snorted with laughter. "I really missed you, May," Peter said. "And Lord Roswaal is alright, he's a bit weird but he treats the Demi-Humans on his staff like people instead of animals."

"Where were the Demi-Humans, I just saw the two maids," May said.

"They're both demons, Emilia isn't staff, but she's a half-elf," said Peter.

May nodded knowingly. "A silver haired half-elf with purple and blue eyes—those that know about the other candidates are really interested in why she's running."

Peter's mood darkened. "If Emilia had any relation to Satella I would know by now," he had forgotten that he even said the name that some say he shouldn't.

"You've been here a month, Peter?" Asked May.

"Yeah, as of today actually."

"Well after a year of being around these people I can tell you despise the idea of your friend there. Even if she's lovely and does well with some people, there will always be that very vocal minority and they're the ones who are most likely to try and take matters into their own hands."

"You mean like an assassin?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, Peter. That was the point I was making," May said. For a long time Peter stared at her with this flat expression, trying to will the information straight into her head. He held his gaze and expression for some time before she clapped her hands together.

"You didn't!" Aunt May said.

Peter nodded enthusiastically. "That was, like, day one here. I fought this crazy Black Widow type assassin lady. She had like an endless supply of these, I guess they were like, Breath of the Wild lizard men knives? She actually stabbed me really good and then Captain Rogers busted in and punched a hole in her chest, like all the way through her!" Peter said making a punching motion.

"And Emilia and Puck, Puck's her spirit although he's also kind of her dad, they were firing these ice dagger like: foom-foom foom-foom." Peter made the motions with his hands out in front of him the way Emilia did often times when she cast a spell.

"Whoa, and what did you do after she died?" May asked.

"She didn't even die, she just grew her heart back and now she's got this crazy crush on Captain Rogers," explained Peter.

Aunt May nodded, her eyes rolled up and to one side as if she was thinking about it. "I know he's a fugitive and all, but that just makes him hotter," she said.

"May!"

She pushed Peter in the chest. "Don't worry, I'm not going to go off smooching your friend."

"We have to find a way to send you back. Just you," Peter said throwing his hands up.

"Just me, aww," May said as she chased after him out of the room. "Could you at least send Steve back with me?"