When everyone had regrouped only five people had been lost in all of the fighting. Two knights and three civil servants that were not of note enough for anyone to name them directly in front of Emilia. She had seen one of the bodies curled nearly split in half against a wall from where one of the puppet creatures had managed to corner it and explode. There was something familiar about the body, she didn't know where she had seen that kind of carnage before.

Sure, she had seen some violence and fighting in her time. People had come into the forest where she lived hoping to conquer or do violence or even try to sell her into slavery. There was never anything in Emilia that made her feel that she couldn't fight back to protect herself or others.

Seeing that body on the ground brought something back for her, she couldn't remember where she had seen this before. But she remembered a bloody body laying in a snowy field and she couldn't shake the sight from her head.

Now, standing in the hall with one of the bodies of the civil servants that she had found she took notice of the others around it. All of these bodies that had been part of that puppet grouping. There were too many to count strewn about the halls and the throne room as they exited, some of them barely had on clothes and just lay lifeless against walls and slumped over in corners.

No one was counting them among the dead and no one seemed all to worried to start looking at them like people. At least not that she could see in the immediate area.

"Miss Emilia," there was a confident, dignified tone to the voice that spoke her name. When she looked up a woman in a dress blue uniform with dark green hair was standing at her side with an unrelaxed posture that said she was ready for anything.

"Oh, Miss Crusch, did you need something?" Emilia asked. Crusch had been one of the few candidates not to outright throw slurs and hostility her way. She was also, if Emilia was being honest, the most likely candidate to actually win the throne.

"Seeing as how this place is in a state of disarray and guards from another part of the castle are coming to assess the situation, I thought it might be wise to have the days proceedings moved to my estate here in the city," Crusch said.

"It's understandable that there might be more going on here," Emilia couldn't stop thinking of the blood on the snow, why couldn't she remember. She forced a small smile. "Why, Felt hardly got to even say her piece."

Crusch nodded, though the change in her expression signified that she must have picked up on something. "I have something of a proposal to make…" Crusch said, "Though I will wait until we're away from prying eyes and wagging tongues to do so."

A proposal from Crusch, Emilia couldn't imagine what she would want from her. There was no reason for someone with her prospected to associate with a silver-haired half elf who had just spent the better part of the ceremony so far defending her right to enter the castle and exist, let alone serve as the next ruler of this country.

"Even with everything else going on, I would be foolish to not admit that I'm curious what you need to talk to me about," Emilia said. "But you're right, after everything is sorted."

Things had become even more confusing than they had been previously. Steve was now chatting with his two friends, another pair from Earth. One of them seemed to have the ability to grow wings from a Metia that was strapped to his back and the other had what Emilia had first assumed was an armored arm sheathed in some manor of bespoke protective metal. The more she watched him, the clearer it became that his arm was actually made of metal.

"Don't worry, I'm sure what I have to suggest is mutually beneficial," she said before walking toward the other end of the hall where Ferris was standing and talking to another knight.

To someone looking at the two of them side-by-side Crusch would appear to be the older of the two by a small stretch. She carried herself with the confidence of someone who was past her teen years and knew the extent of her ability. In truth, Emilia didn't know how old she was or when she was born. She remembers waking up in the forest incased in ice and Puck speaking to her. That was a little over seven years ago.

Lady Crusch had a history: being betrothed to someone in the Royal Family, being a no nonsense kind of noble who could see through a lie, and being intelligent and insightful on top of that. Did Emilia dare to look up to her opponent like this?

Emilia glanced up as Crusch left her immediate field of view, waving farewell as she went, to see Anastasia Hoshin a few feet away with her knight Julius—had they been there the whole time.

As if she noticed Emilia noticing her, Hoshin gave a faint smile before her face switched to a more neutral, unbothered expression and said. "Ah, I was told you had stayed behind to fight. It's for the best that whole thing is over," she said plainly.

"I'm glad you're okay too," Emilia said.

There was a ruckus where the hallway turned and she turned back to see Reinhard and Peter walking into view as several people began to chatter, more than likely about how the two of them had faired against all those puppets and the Inquisitor herself. For a moment, Emilia tried not to display how much she had worried about this. Then she turned and jogged to the end of the hall.

She was able to stop just short of throwing herself at Peter, she wanted to hug him tight and it wasn't like they had never hugged or touched before. This time the fact that she just felt that she couldn't burned in the pit of her stomach.

"You two are alright, thank goodness," Emilia said. She couldn't hide the excitement from her voice and people were just going to have to be exposed to that part of her.

Peter stared at her like he was about to say something.

"Indeed, though I have bad news to report, the Inquisitor escaped. It was my fault, really, Peter was trying to keep part of the tower from crumbling and I let her slip away."

Emilia shook her head. "Now Reinhard, it seems that all you ever do when you're around me is get down on yourself."

"My apologies, Miss Emilia," Reinhard said putting his hand to his heart and giving a small bow out of respect. "Where are the others? Where is Miss Felt?"

"She made her way out with Roswaal and the others down that hallway. There was a bigger group on this side so we stayed behind to hold them off," Emilia explained.

"I'm just glad you're okay," Peter started. "I mean, that you're all okay."

Reinhard smiled, as he went to walk down the hall where Emilia had indicated that Felt went, he waved back at them. "It was an honor to fight alongside you, Peter Parker. Miss Emilia, you stay safe."

He passed between some of the other knights who were present and it was Ferris who called out to him. "Mew-know, Reinhard, we never did get to properly finish letting miss Felt introduce herself or hear the full plan for what will be happening going forward."

Reinhard slowed his gait as he got alongside Ferris. "It's a shame too, I would have loved to hear what she had to to say."

"Oh, we're not going to have to wait too long, Miss Crusch has allowed for the rest of the event to moved to her estate here in the city…with reduced numbers of guests, of course."

Then Reinhard gave a little salute of acknowledgement and jogged off down the hall. "I shall regroup with you to get more detail," he said as he moved down the wrecked hall toward the opposite corner.

Peter stepped up next to Emilia and she glanced over at him, for the first time noticing just how smeared with dirt and ripped the clothes that he had worn for this ceremony were. His hair was a bit of a mess, far more so than normal. She turned, reaching for his head with her hand.

"Oh, you look like you went through a lot out there," she said. "Come here." When Peter been down Emilia used her fingers to brush his hair back into place

"Is my messy hair embarrassing you?" Asked Peter with a sly smile.

"No, I just like it better this way—if that's okay," Emilia said.

"Alright, we can keep it that way," Peter said.

Emilia was still enthralled with the small miracle that a boy like this would choose to talk to her and then would continue to do so day after day. For an entire month Peter had chosen to stick with her. It still hardly made sense.

Captain Rogers was walking toward them now, she supposed that he had been there for her too, but he didn't seem to be there in the same capacity as Peter. Or rather, they didn't share the same kind of bond that she and Peter did. On either side of him were the men that he had known from his home, as they got nearer she let out a little wave.

"I'm sure you know both of them," Emilia said to Peter.

Peter turned, locking gazes with them. "Not formally."

"Sam and James," Emilia said pointing to both of them in turn. "Sam is the one who can grow wings."

"Oh, I remember," Peter said.

Steve laughed.

"Have we, uh, met before?" Asked Sam.

Trying to speak through the laughter, Steve explained. "Do you remember the Leipzig-Halle Airport and that ringer Tony bought in to steal the shield?"

James's jaw dropped. "The kid in the pajamas with the sticky stuff coming out of him?" He said with a snap of his fingers.

"They're not pajamas…and the webs don't come out of me," Peter muttered.

There was some past here, it felt different from the past that Peter and Steve had together, but somehow a part of the same larger experience. It was more awkward, so Emilia deiced to say something to break the tension.

"Peter here is my knight," she announced proudly. "And Steve too." She added.

It was just then that Puck chose to fly out of her hair and zip around her head. He didn't say anything and instead flew down to one end of the hall. He hovered in the air over a group of the puppet bodies where they lay. James and Sam seemed to follow him with their eyes, but when nothing else was said about the situation they tried to push on.

"So you're another candidate for the throne, like Miss Crusch?" Asked Sam.

"I'm afraid so, though there is no reason that we can't at least be cordial," Emilia said.

"It's not even about that, I'm more amazed that Steve isn't even trying to get himself back to our world. And the kid too, there has to be something you miss," James said.

Steve sighed. "No one is giving up on getting home, but at the very least we made a promise. Margrave Roswaal has been a…gracious enough host," he said. Emilia guessed that there was going to be some animosity about the incident with the fire spell earlier. It only made sense.

"How long have you been here?" Sam asked.

"About a month," Steve said. "But we heard about you from May—she's Peter's Aunt."

"A month? So where did you get vanished from?" James asked.

"Wakanda, after Thanos did whatever it was that he did," Steve said.

"I was in space," Peter said. "I mean, I think it was some planet called Titan."

"So let's get this straight, one minute we're all fighting basically the same guy and then he snaps his fingers and we appear here, but almost a full year apart?" Same asked.

Emilia didn't really understand the circumstances of Peter's coming to this world. He had seemed to be very anxious about telling her and the things she was hearing now didn't make it any clearer.

The ranks of people in the hallway had further thinned out until it was just them and Crusch and, oddly enough, Anastasia Hoshin. She was near enough that some instinct told Emilia to keep an eye on her.

Puck zoomed past, his little body sailing through the air as he moved right past Sam and James.

"Excuse me, just checking on something!" He shouted.

Sam pointed up, his finger near his chin as he spoke. "Alright, does anyone else see this damn cat flying around or…"

James sighed. "I thought I was the only one."

"Oh, that's my fault—I can be a little forgetful," Emilia said. "That's Puck, he's a Spirit that I'm contracted with."

"I thought all Spirits were little lightning bug things," Sam said.

"Lesser Spirits are, but Greater Spirits can manifest in many different ways," Emilia said.

Steve chuckled. "See, you've been here a year and you didn't know that."

James started to laugh too. Emilia wasn't sure what was s funny about it. There was something of a mild discomfort that she had around being in the middle of this hall where so many of these bodies were. Maybe it was because she felt that there was already a smell, a stench like death gathering in the castle corridor or perhaps it was because every now and again she could swear that she spotted a woman with pale skin, laying on her side bleeding out in the hall.

She could never see the woman's face, but she was sure that her hair was short and light colored. It was some long forgotten memory or part of one, but she couldn't concentrate on it long. It was just enough to make her uneasy.

"Perhaps we should return to Crusch's Estate," Emilia said suddenly, it was only after she had spoken that she realized the others had been in the middle of expressing some thought.

Peter took her by the arm. "I can get Emilia home, no problem if you guys want to catch up," Peter said.

"You sure, Pete?" Asked Steve.

"Well, it would look pretty awkward with me swinging through town carrying Emilia and three grown men," Peter said.

"Nah, you're not carrying me. I can fly," Sam protested.

"You sure, offer's still on the table if you want it," said Peter.

"I'm fine, really. Thanks," Sam said.

Peter cracked a smile and then he looked to James.

"I didn't say no, so I hope you've got room for one more."

Despite Peter's threats, the trip back to the compound was a carriage ride with just the two of them and the driver. The sun, by this time, had reached the apex of its trip across the sky and was now on its way down, albeit still a ways from sunset. The two of them were sitting across from each other in the carriage, but the way that they were facing the light from outside was spilling through and hitting Peter in the face.

Emilia kicked her feet in front of her happily, it was odd to Peter that she was this giddy after all that happened, then again it might have been excess energy. He wondered if he should feel worse, had everything he witnessed just not hit him yet. Peter leaned to the side in his seat to keep the sun from hitting him dead in the face.

"The situation with the Wisemen was what had scared me the most only a few hours ago," Emilia said. "All of those people seeing me as some grand threat or the return of the Witch—it felt like the largest challenge that I would have to overcome."

Peter understood then. "You feel like the hardest thing you're going to do that day is some History test or talk to a girl you like—then the next thing you know some guy with a scorpion tattoo on his face blows up a bank and it puts things in perspective," he muttered.

"A scorpion…tattoo?" Emilia questioned his choice of words slowly as if they were rolling around in her head. "You're really weird, Peter."

He laughed. "I know. It was just a thing that happened Before." Peter had a habit of referring to the time before he came to this world as this great nebulous void. There was a lot there and everyone in this world had very little frame of reference for it. Emilia had a lot of her own problems with the Royal Selection, whatever Roswaal's deal was, and just everything else going on in her life.

Burdening her with all of the baggage from his life on Earth wouldn't be fair. At least that was what he had told himself. Then, sometimes he just caught her struggling to understand. She wanted to know more, she had questions that she probably didn't know how to phrase.

"Peter," she said in that voice that made his hair stand on end. It was different than his tingle, it was a good kind of tingle. That sounded a little gross. "You can sit by me if you don't want the sun in your face." Emilia patted her hand on the bench seat of the carriage next to her.

These carriages were more lavish than the ones they had used out by the village and Roswaal's house. The seats were plush, soft leather and there was a thick padded, tufted upholstery all over the walls. He guess in case there was a crash or someone were to fall that it wouldn't be a rough bump against the walls.

He grabbed hold of the walls as he moved to sit by her. "I just figured that I might smell like dirt or sweat—a bit of the tower kind of fell on me when I was holding that up and, um, well you know how it is…"

"You smell fine," Emilia said very enthusiastically. "I mean, sorry. I was sweating too, what with the questioning and all that the Wisemen were doing."

Peter looked into her big purple eyes with their light blue center. "It looks like you're sweating a bit now."

"Oh, dear," Emilia said, slapping her hands to her face. "Should I have Puck come out here and cool—"

Peter touched the back of his hand to her forehead pressing her bangs away. "Sorry, I don't know what temperature is hot for an elf…"

"Do I look hot?" Emilia asked, her hands still pressed to her cheeks making her voice come out slightly muffled.

Peter felt half of his mouth slip into a smile. "Is this a trick question?"

Emilia dropped her hands into her lap, pouting out her lips and puffing up her cheeks; they were red except for in the spots where her hands had been pressed hard enough to make the skin a pale white. "Now it feels like you're teasing me about something."

"I'm not teasing," Peter said waving his hands out in protest.

"Well, it seems like you've moved the subject on to some other secret thing."

"I'm not trying to," he replied.

"Tell me what it is, please Peter?" Emilia said. Then she added: "Now." And then drew a horizontal line across between them with her index finger.

"What's this?" Peter asked tracing the invisible line she drew in the air with his own.

"That's the bottom line."

Peter burst into laughter.

"Don't laugh at me!" Emilia said grabbing for his hands as if that were going to pin down his fits of laughter.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll play nice."

"You can start by telling me what that hot comment was."

"Are you sure you want to hear it?" Peter asked. "I'm not sure I want to tell."

Emilia sighed. "If it's really something you need to keep to yourself then I can understand, but there is so much about me I don't know. I have no last name and Puck is my only family. I don't even remember much before about seven years ago…"

"Yeah, I guess there is kind of a lot of secrets that you've kept from yourself. Not by choice," Peter said.

"What did you mean?"

"Okay, so back where I come from hot means—really beautiful, which probably isn't very professional of me to say, but I only thought about it because of worried you were about how you look. This beautiful half-elf girl with hair that looks like, like magic or something and with eyes I didn't even know were possible and people have told her that she's scary for so long that she believed it."

Emilia was quiet for a long while, the carriage turn and her weight slid against is slightly. When she spoke it was nothing to do with what he had just said, at least not as far as he could tell.

"What happened right before you came here? Is Wakanda another person you know from where you come from or—"

He cut her off. "No, no Wakanda is a country. I've never been there before, but…I fought their king one time," Peter said.

"You fought a king? Was he who you fought before you came here?" Emilia asked.

Peter shook his head and regret seemed to burrow into the middle of his stomach. "I fought him the first time that I met Steve in person."

"You and Steve had to stop him?"

He shook his head again. "Tony Stark, he's this really rich guy almost like a Margrave or Baron who makes a lot of Metia. He made a whole Metia suit and actually made my suits too. Well he introduced this kind of law that was supposed to make people like Steve and the other people on his team accountable to the government. Well, Steve and Mister Stark were both on this team. They kind of lead it and they disagreed about the law and it caused the team to break up. A lot of stuff happened, but Bucky, that guy with the metal arm got wrapped up in it. And the guy with the wings, Falcon, too. I wasn't there for most of it," Peter said.

"And then you got sent here?" Emilia asked.

"Well, some time later. I was fighting Steve at this…dock and that King was there. The fight kind of ended and things calmed down for some years. Then this guy shows up from another world with these huge machines that can flight in space and Mister Stark and I tried to stop him. He was planning to wipe out half of the life in the universe and I guess he succeeded," said Peter.

"So you and Steve were enemies before you met and then you got here and you decided to forget about that," Emilia said.

"It was more like a rivalry," Peter explained.

"This is way more complicated than I thought it would be when I asked," Emilia said.

"Kind of shocked that you believe it all," Peter said.

"It is weird, but at the same time it isn't the kind of thing that I would think you would lie about and, besides, it doesn't sound like something you could just make up," Emilia said.

For a moment, Peter expected her to ask about how he came here exactly. He thought back to reclining against Tony Stark on some distant planet with a purple sky brimming with red clouds over head as he pleaded in his last few moments for a second chance. He can remember the fear and not wanting to go. As he faded out of that world and into this one, the last thing he felt was the tears on his cheeks vanishing as that part of his face was unmade right out from underneath him.

A warm, damp hand enclosed around his as Emilia took his hand and interlaced her fingers with it. She did this without actually looking at him or saying anything and he was fine with that. If she said anything his worst fears could be confirmed: that she was doing this as a friendly gesture. For now Peter preferred to live in a world where she hadn't confirmed or denied any kind of affection for him other than the normal friendly kind.

Wilhelm rushed down the front steps of the estate house and down to the circular drive where the carriages would park to meet Rem as she returned with her arms filled with various bags and small boxes.

"Oh dear, when you said that you had some things to go and fetch you were hardly kidding," he said as he unburdened the most unstable of the load from her arms and clutched it tight so as not to break it.

"Thank you again, Mister Wilhelm," Rem said. "I didn't know exactly what it was that Peter would need in terms of quantity, but I figured it would be best to get as much as I could since the trip back could be somewhat troubling," she said.

Wilhelm nodded. "Indeed, there have been bandits and all manner of other dangers as of late," he said.

Rem smiled. "Between Captain Rogers, Roswaal, and Peter I feel like bandits might be in trouble if they run into us out there," she said.

The two of them ascended the steps together and entered the estate headed off to the kitchen down the hallway that headed west. "I fear that there might be something more dreadful in the area soon, though I am reluctant to say more," Wilhelm said.

Rem didn't respond and they made it to the kitchens without another word passing between them. As they began to put away the shopping that required it and sat the other bits aside for Peter there was a loud voice from across the room.

"Grandpa Will, did you go get shopping?"

Wilhelm glanced back to see Wade in his red and black skin tight suit, this weird kind of armor that he wore at times, standing in the side door to the kitchen. "I've intersected you, Mister Wilson that I am not your grandfather, please do not address me as such."

Wade hopped up onto the counter to sit and grabbed an apple-like fruit out a basket there. He brought it up to his face and examined it through his mask. Then he nodded. "Oh right, the mask is on." Then he tossed it back over his shoulders into the doorway.

"Who's the cute blue maid?" He asked.

Rem glanced back, her cheeks reddening, but she said nothing as she got herself a glass and filled it with water and took a drink before sitting it on the counter.

"This is Miss Rem and you are to treat her with respect. She is the Margrave Roswaal's in head maid," Wilhelm explained as he restocked the bread box.

Wade slid off of the counter and strutted over to Rem. "Miss Rem, well have I got a job for you…"

"I don't know what it is you're referring to, but it sounds vaguely perverted and inappropriate judging by the things that usually come out of your mouth," Wilhelm said. "How long did it take for your arm to grow back the last time we had to have a conversation like this?"

Rem glanced at Wilhelm and then at Wade.

"Perverted AND inappropriate," Wade said, pressing his palm to his chest as if he were offended by the thing being insinuated. He quickly relaxed his posture. "That's fair, my apologies, Miss Rem," he said patting her atop the head.

Rem looked back at him. "Are you one of Crusch's house guests?" she said taking him by the hand and dropping it back to his side.

"Not exactly, it's kind of like a live-in FWB situation. If I play my cards right I might even be Ferris's new step-daddy, I wonder if he's more of a Chuck-E-Cheese type of kid or Discovery Zone?"

Wilhelm had learned that Wade's ramblings were usually complete nonsense. Sometimes he even spoke as if addressing and audience that wasn't there. It usually petered out on its own.

"Hey, isn't it weird that the names of places like Discovery Zone aren't italicized anymore? I feel like they were earlier—probably because this story's gone multi-platform and it's too hard to figure out HTML on one site and rich text on the other, you know how it is."

"I don't think anyone knows what you're talking about," said Rem. "But it is leading me to believe we should get you to a sanatorium as you may be a danger to others."

"Nah, I'm no danger," he said. "I'm just trying to figure some things out."

"Where are Sergeants Barnes and Wilson? You're usually trailing after them like some spoiled puppy," Wilhelm said.

"They never came back, well, they never came back from checking out some Witch Cult hideout near the Palace. I'm not allowed to do anything in the city, you know because of the last time…"

Rem dropped an onion that she had been putting away at the sound of the words 'Witch Cult', though she quickly stooped down to retrieve it.

"Witch Cultists near the palace?" Wilhelm gasped.

Wade shrugged. "I'm sure that they're off getting their Nancy Drew on. Oooo, do you think this might be one of those Bucky-slash-Sam stories. Hmm, Mister Barnes, what that Vibranium arm do…" Wade plucked Rem's water glass up and attempted to drink from it through his mask but only managed to pour it all over himself as she watched.

Rem's voice shook a little as she spoke and he continued to waste all of her water. "Did either of them happen to say why there were Witch Cultists in the capital of all places?"

He lowered the empty glass from his lips. "Oh, there are Witch Cultists everywhere from what we've seen. They're like Baptist Churches in the rural South. Exploding rocks, spoiled food, a grown man named 'Morgol'—we haven't connected all the dots yet, but we can give up on answers right here and now since the chapter is almost over. I only get in at the very start or end of chapters. That's the pattern."

Something nagged at him and compelled him to check. Wilhelm went to the bay window of the kitchen and looked out toward the castle in the distance on the peak of the hill. He could see there was a column of smoke rising up alongside it.

"What manner of villainy has the Witch's group of mad disciples concocted this time?"