Gods, I love Elise so much. It took me until three nights ago, when she reassured me about my looks, to realize just how deeply I am in love with her. I started making a point of letting her know how much she means to me… and last night, whew, gods last night I gave her plenty of attention and I'm pretty sure it was morning by the time I finally gave in. Elise was completely and utterly satisfied by the end of it. "As long as this doesn't happen too often," She admits, "I had to ride my horse today." Even then, I could see her shiver every time her horse hit even a moderate bump.

Raven was flushed red nearly the whole time that day, she knew what was going on, but she kept her mouth shut about it. "Hey, Elise…" Hadronix started at one point, a smirk on her face, "This makes you a dragon rider, right?"

"Sis!" Raven scolds her.

"Gods, could we not discuss such topics while we are marching?" Xander asks.

"I think it is cute, since this especially shows that they are growing into quite a beautiful pair of women." Camilla winks at me.

"It's so cute that it's disgusting…" Selena adds.

"Jakob, your thoughts? It's just you, Phoenix, Sakura, her retainers, and Azura." I goad them.

"Hmph." Is all that came from Hana as she stares holes into me. Subaki merely stays silent while my Hoshidan sister simply turns a brilliant red and grips her staff tighter.

"I… uh…" Azura starts, "I forgot what this is all about." She look away, the red on her face contrasting the blue around her.

"I will not be a part of this… lewdness." Jakob scoffs.

"I'd share my thoughts… but Selena can express the words better than I can…" Phoenix smirks as the retainer's face starts matching her hair.

"You… perverted dummy." Selena crosses her arms with a scowl.

"Guys, just be glad Niles wasn't here for this…" Elise brings up, "I don't even think the Dusk Dragon could silence him if he heard this." She guides her horse so it is trotting next to me, "So, what did you think of the names last night?"

I smile, "A few stick out, like Kana. What about you?"

She hums, "Aphrodite for a girl," She starts, "Hermes for a boy, but it's your choice, obviously."

"Our choice." I quickly add and she raises an eyebrow, "Elise, he or she, or even they won't have a father... I mean, what I want to ask is if… you'll be the second parent with me." My heart starts racing.

A heavy flush covers her face, "Wow… I never thought you would actually ask that." I can sense the hesitation, "Not now, at least, I would have thought you would wait until after the war ends for that."

A feeling of hurt washes over, but it's gone just as fast, "Then… if I asked after the war, then you would say yes?"

She smiles, the blush never leaving her, "Absolutely Yasei, I would love to!"

We stop our marching on a flat spot on the mountain that separates Hoshido from Nohr. The Bottomless Canyon is peaking from some of the cracks in the ground. It isn't as bad as directly in the middle, where there is an entire section of the mountain missing, and where rickety wooden bridges swing with the wind. 'And where Gunter fell…' Here, by contrast, the ground is stable, and those cracks are few and far between each other, in addition to their size, you would have to be about the size of a mouse to fall in one of them.

"Rule number forty-seven, section A, subcategory H2; just because it looks safe, doesn't mean it is safe." Hadronix says out of the blue.

"Sis! Don't say stuff like that." Raven cowers.

"If you keep frightening Lady Sakura…" Hana starts.

"You know, Hadronix, I am starting to think you are making up those rules… who labels things like that anyway?" Xander asks.

"You think so? That I'm bluffing?" She is smirking like she always would.

"Yes, actually, you are bluffing. Even the most esteemed scholars here do not get that specific."

Camilla nods, "Our dear Leo is the most organized person we know and even he wouldn't do such things."

"Anyone else? Maybe make this a bet? I'll put in ten gold pieces right now." She tosses ten coins on the ground in front of the campfire, far enough to where it won't heat up. Xander tosses in his own ten coins. "Anyone? Going once, twice…"

Big sister shakes her head, "I'll pass."

"I refuse to take part in any of this foolery." Jakob scoffs.

"I…" Sakura starts, "I th-think you're lying." She pulls out her gold.

"Lady Sakura!" Hana chides her, "I would suggest against taking part of…" Sakura throws her coins in before she finishes.

"I'll admit, I'm doubtful." I say as I place my bet in. 'Besides, I can smell the lying coming off of you.'

"Lady Yasei? You too?" She gasps. "Ancestors, even my liege doesn't trust me."

"If big sis is betting against you, than so am I!" Another ten from Elise and the rest stay silent.

"Once… twice…" She pauses for dramatic effect, and silence follows, "Alright." She reaches into her pocket and my heart drops, 'Could she have actually been serious? And she was lying about something else? Maybe a gadget was interfering...' , "And the answer is… according to Rule number four, section O, subcategory r, exception ku, is… nice job, you called correctly." She giggles, "I had you guys going, to." She pauses, "Oh, and when you grab your coins, don't stray too close to the fire, or Bethy might greet you… unless you want to call that a bluff, too." The smirk never leaves.

"That won't work twice, Hunter." Xander grabs his portion, "See? Nothing."

"Yea, nice try, missy." Elise grabs hers.

Subaki reaches over and grabs Sakura's for her, "Here you go, Lady Sakura." He sounds… distant. 'Gods, I think that is the first time I heard him talk.' He is probably that way because his daughter decided to stay in Hoshido while his wife was murdered.

I shake my head, "You are just…" I barely catch Hadronix clicking her tongue twice, and when I grab my share, I see eight eyes made of pure flames staring right back at me… the tips of its legs are on fire, molten flames drips from its fangs… and all of these flames are this paradoxically soothing light purple color… and it would be soothing, if it wasn't for this one detail… " SPIDER! " I scream as my wings form and leap back several dozen feet, landing without a single bit of grace on my back, heart pounding in my chest. I hear Hadronix laughing her ass off, "Not. Funny. Hadronix." A silence follows, 'Oh…'

"Eek!" Elise screeches soon after. Thankfully, it seems her cry of terror distracted everyone from my blunder.

I force myself to get up, and the spider… no, the demon is still there. Gods, even Xander looks unnerved. "Everyone, meet my third and final pet, Bethy. Bethy, you already know everyone here… two chitters for hello." Bethy chitters twice. The molten flames dripping from its fangs.

"How did w-we never n-notice it..." Elise starts.

"Her." I slowly start to make my way back and circle to my little sister's side, eyes trained on the thing the whole way.

"Her before?"

She shrugs, "She lives in flames, so she's moved into the campfire when it gets lit, and leaves before it gets put out. As for visibility, she has a custom made stealth field that acts like Ruinad's Spirit Walk." She starts cooing at the demon-spawn, "Who's a deadly pyroarachind? You are!"

"Th-this is the sp-spider that n-nearly k-killed Sis…" Raven informs us.

"And it was worth all of the two seconds of agonizing pain." She smiles.

"Gods, what is wrong with you?" Jakob asks.

She shrugs, "I dunno, I suppose all of my near death experiences caused me to lose any fear of death. I mean, this is one of the spawns of Beth'tilac, the Spider Queen in the Firelands. Strongest one, too. I think Bethy here took out nearly all of the other hatchlings and since there were only a few to feed, rather than dozens, that one batch of pyro arachnids is the most dangerous ones she ever gave birth to." She clicks her tongue twice and the fire-demon returns to the flames and goes invisible. "It's kind of morbid, too… since that was her last clutch before she was murdered."

"That's great and all, but where is she after the fire gets put out?" Elise asks.

"With me. She also makes a nice heater. So if the air around you suddenly becomes heated, well… either you are flushing really badly… or Bethy is next to you…"

"I see," Camilla says, though I can tell she wanted to bring something else up, 'Probably about how that demon scared the life out of me..' "How deadly is she, really?"

Hadronix stops and thinks, "Let's see… Oh!" She looks around and grabs a hand-sized rock, "Bethy…" The fire-demon returns, "Show off your venom." She places the rock in front of it and Bethy secretes some venom… which burns through the rock. Hadronix glances at Camilla as Bethy once again, returns to the campfire.

"Not bad." Then Hadronix removes the rock and points at the hole in the ground.

"Her molten venom will keep burning as long as it's there, so this hole might go several dozen feet down." I shiver, 'Gods… I'm surprised that Azura or Sak…' Oh, Those two have passed out.

"Now dear, with that out of the way…" Camilla starts, "Don't ever do that to my sweet Yasei again." She glares at Hadronix, Divine Axe in arm's reach. "If you weren't her retainer…"

"Understood." She simply replies.

"Yasei, care to tell us what you called Hunter earlier?" Xander asks, ' Oh, I was hoping all of that made them forget.' Hadronix shoots me a quick look and I mutter a 'sorry'.

"Hadronix…" I squeak out. "She's Raven."

"Hadronix, Raven," He repeats, "And would you two care to tell why you kept that a secret?" The hunter looks from person to person, then seemingly past all of them, "Hadronix!" The Crown Prince repeats. "Answer me."

Two short and sharp whistles come out of her and she pulls out four small devices, 'Gods woman, what are you doing… it isn't a good idea to anger him.' The already wary Xander now has his Divine Sword unsheathed in response, "One dozen steps in the four cardinal directions, drop these on the ground." She whispers to the bird… Spirit Eagle.

"I won't ask again."

"Your status as a retainer is about to mean nothing soon…" Camilla adds.

"Please answer him, because I can't do anything if he orders something." I plead.

"We're from a different world," She starts, her eyes never leaving the area past them, 'Gods… look at him!' Finally satisfied with whatever she was looking for, her eyes lock with Xander's, "And it's usually a good idea to keep a low profile while in an unknown place."

Her answer seems to have caught him off-guard, "Another world?" He scoffs. "Raven, was it?"

She shrinks back, "Y-yes, m-mister… I m-mean Cr-Crown Pr-Prince Xander?" His gaze is causing her serious distress, with the way her voice squeaked out and her breathing sounds rough. 'There is fear, but… her eyes are also darting to the spot where Ruinad went.'

"Lotus can make Saizo's invisible trick look like child's play." Hadronix's words click in that moment, 'Lotus must be here…' I tense.

"Big sister? Love?" Elise asks.

"Lady Yasei?" Jakob calls me out, "Are you well?" I take a breath and nod, 'I can't tip her off, I can't tip her off...'

"It's a r-really l-long st-story…" Raven starts, 'Were they still talking? I never even noticed,' The monk shivers, "S-Sis can ex-explain it b-better."

"Very well, Hadronix?" Xander crosses his arms.

"An ancient and powerful enchanted artifact discharged when Sis picked them up and a vortex sucked us up, where we woke up in Hoshido." She tilts her head at Raven, "It's those two half-moon blades."

Raven slowly removes them and shows them off, "Impressive," Phoenix finally speaks up, "Those blades are practically overflowing with an intense magic… but it's dormant. May I?" She reaches out.

The monk glances at Hadronix, who nods, "S-Sure." She, too, reaches out. "I don't know…"

"DOWN!" Hadronix tackles Camilla, and my retainer cries out in pain as a quiet pop sounds out, I could barely hear it, within the next second she is already back up and is holding a small metal object, it looks like a pipe with a handle, there is a small trigger right behind her finger. The Hunter's entire body is tensed as her eyes scan the area, she is holding a small egg-shaped object in the other hand, it is colored a deep-blue.

Siegfried is pointing at Hadronix, "Don't move." He commands.

"She would have died." Hadronix replies, "I saved her life." The arm holding the pipe trembles as I see blood pouring from her shoulder. Her eyes are still darting the area around us.

"You are close to breaking our patience, girl." Camilla's axe is now in hand.

"I'm the only one with a reasonable chance of countering Lotus," She calmly states.

"What nonsense are you spouting now?" Xander scoffs. "It seems my sister has a knack for bringing in questionable units." I tense up.

"Crown Prince Xander, let me move." It comes out as a request, but something tells me she will regardless of his answer.

"Put those devices away, first." His sword never falters as she does as requested, then she calls out Ruinad's whistle and the Divine blade is now on her back. "If you do even one more thing."

"If I stand here and explain it now with weapons trained on me, we will all get picked off." She replies, "Please, let me work this out."

The next few seconds were a blur, I hear Elise cry out in pain and within the next second Camilla loses her grip on her axe, a dagger embeds itself on Xander's free arm, and finally Raven squeaks out. "S-Sis!"

Behind us stands a creature like what Raven was drawing on her paper, in fact, she looks exactly like how Raven and Hadronix were drawn, at least from the fur, face, and eyes. She is wearing an exceedingly skimpy outfit, a tattered red vest and really short red shorts is all she has for clothing. She has a white patch of fur on her exposed chest, 'Gods, I can even see her bra,' One sword is at Raven's neck, while the other hand sports a pipe like Hadronix's.

The sword is what is drawing my attention, however, it is curved and the center of the flat side is golden, both the handle and hilt have spikes adorned on it and there is a small skull in an open spot on the hilt and on the side of the blade away from Raven's neck. "Yes, you should have let her do her job." She speaks up as the rest turn her way. "Long time no see, Hadronix." She smirks.

"Who are you?" Jakob scowls as he readies a dagger.

"Back off." Hana unsheathes her katana while Subaki and his Pegasus are beside Sakura.

"Lotus." The hunter replies. "Still can't let go of a grudge, now can you?" Her Sis squeaks as the blade bites into her neck, just enough to cause a nick.

"This is the 'Lotus' you spoke of earlier." Xander states, "A… bear?"

"Does it matter what I am?" She spits back. "See, here's the thing, I got a nice contract to fill out," A grim smile crosses her face, "And he is shelling out a large amount for my services."

Camilla seems to have recovered enough to wield her axe, "You will…" That deadly expression covers her face, the same one when fending off the Hoshidans who attacked me all the way back in the Bottomless Canyon.

"Big sister…" I start.

She shakes her head, "I have had it."

"Take a step, she dies." Lotus warns.

"I don't..." She scowls.

"Get Sis killed and I will drop you." Hadronix voices out. 'What is wrong with you? You're in enough trouble as is!' "You aren't the only one protecting someone treasured. Lotus, what are the terms?"

"I get Yasei, you get Raven." My heart slows, 'Why me?'

"Absolutely not." Camilla snarls. "You won't lay a finger on my dear Yasei."

She actually laughs, though it sounds hollow, "You wouldn't want to deny my request, princess, it would be treason."

A tense silence follows, "You are merely an intruder, an infection that must be removed." Xander states. "To even consider yourself as royalty is laughable at the best."

"Don't move an inch, girl." Lotus whispers as she reaches into her pocket, while somehow also still holding the pipe, "Here, I think you'll like to see who signed it." She holds out a paper, before letting it fall to the ground.

Xander shares a look with each of us, his sword is still out as he reaches out and picks it up, "Release these targets of their lives and the agreed sum of twenty-thousand gold is yours," He starts, "Silas, Kaze, Orochi, Hinata, and Hayato are listed, but checked off." He pauses, "The rest are; Takumi, Ryoma, Sakura, their respective retainers, Yukimura, and…" He stops as I can sense a rage boiling in him.

"Big brother?" Elise asks, her voice is weary.

"...Yasei?" He shares a look with me.

"Aw, come on, you didn't read the best part. Now, who signed it off?" Lotus pushes.

"This had to have been forged," He sounds worried, "He wouldn't, either the signature is forged, or you added my sister."

"Xander?" Camilla asks.

"King Garon. This is father's signature." The entire camp stills.

"It is as real as the situation here," Lotus smirks, "So, hand her over."

"Over my dead body." Camilla states.

"Hey, Lotus." Hadronix starts, "I've made a new nice set of friends, haven't I?" Several glare at her for a second. "Something you seem to lack."

"I don't need them." She replies in a cold manner.

"Perhaps," Hadronix slowly lowers that pipe, "But if you keep giving the cold shoulder to everyone, you might find yourself burning on the inside…"

"Wha…" Lotus screams out in pain as Bethy appears from out of seemingly nowhere and lands a bite on the Rogue. The demon-spider backs off before she was slashed by her, Raven runs off to Hadronix, then Ruinad swoops in and picks the spider up, flying off out of Lotus's range. The assassin's sword pulses a sinister red and black color, "You're running out of tricks, girl." She pulls out a small white pebble and drops it on the ground, a thick cloud of smoke covers the area.

"S-sis…" Raven is trembling as she hugs her.

"Thank the Celestials she didn't know about Bethy…" She pauses, "But now she does," She looks at each of us, "I do apologize for my abrupt, dishonorable, and rude behavior, but there is always a reason to what I do. I can only ask for both your forgiveness for any harm caused, and trust when I do make these choices." She gracefully bows.

Xander seems to have calmed down, "Tell us the rest, and I'll accept it." Camilla nods. Xander glances at the paper and his brows furrow, "This isn't the real one, father would keep the real contract in a sealed room… I need to know if," He sounds doubtful, "It sounds so absurd."

"Nyx said the same thing," I bring up, "Back at Fort Jinya, she told me about being a traitor to Nohr and about a bounty or something on me." The cloud of smoke has finally dissipated and I can see several holes in the ground, which I assume is from Bethy's venom, the demon-spider is probably the only reason we're alive. 'I don't know if she's here or not, but…' "Thank you, Bethy… you still creep me out, though." But still, 'If Bethy's venom is that potent, how did Lotus survive it?'

A/N: "Why would Camilla and Xander not take action against Hadronix sooner? It's because the hunter is basically me, right?"

Nah, just making a point on how much control she has already established, akin to how much control Phoenix has over Yasei.