I'm back once more! Severe warning, I have a fuckton of exams coming up, so the next update is probably anywhere between 1-3 weeks away. Please be patient, and I'm sorry for the inevitable delay. As it happens, the next chapter is about half-finished already, but it's shaping up to be a long one, so yeah.

RECAP:
- The bounty hunters and pirates have arrived at the rebel base on Nyma, and have been taken captive by Octavia's soldiers
- Arthur is still very sick, and Matthias is still injured (my poor babies)
- A legendary resistance fighter, Ayshe Kartal, has returned to the resistance, and is not happy about Yao's imprisonment
- Tino and Elizabeta have been told about Yao's physical condition.

NAMES (Again, just in case):
Nelia Domingo: Peru
Ali Ghafoor: Afghanistan
Ayshe Kartal: Ottoman Empire
Ines Jakolin: Slovenia
Romeo Bianchi: Seborga

Also, Emilia is finally back this chapter (now that i've remembered she exists, lol)

Again, this shitty story now has an equally shitty tumblr, so just search up "huntingthestarsandetc" in tumblr and you should find it.

Please review, guys! It fuels my creative juices!

Resistance Headquarters,
Draak-Zafi Forra, Nyma
25th Maarch

Francis was woken up the next morning by having a yelling woman thrown on top of him.

He thrashed around in a frenzy, confusion and alarm overtaking him. It took a moment more of yelling and him accidentally punching whatever was in reach before his mind caught up to the situation, and he realised that the woman was Tori. He went still, shock coursing through him at the sight of her, before his gaze flew around the rest of the cell, only to that see Gilbert and Roderich had similarly been tossed into their midst. He blinked, then gave a yell of joy and hugged the equally perplexed woman still slumped over his legs. Tori was stiff as a board for a minute before she realised that the person underneath her was Francis, and promptly reciprocated his hug.

"What the hell?" he heard Matthias muttering in confusion. He could see the others reacting with bemusement as well, with Antonio's jaw actually hanging open in shock when he spotted the other three. Francis could have sworn that he saw Arthur and Alfred holding hands as they too sat up and looked around, but chose to ignore it as he instead focussed on the joy of having their friends back. True, it wasn't as ideal a situation as they had hoped, but it was better that they were all now together again.

He couldn't help but smile when he saw Gilbert throw himself over Berwald to hug his sister. Louise, normally taciturn and grave, looked close to tears as the two slumped down against the wall together, speaking in frantic Incandan. Members of Arthur's crew grinned in delight and all scrambled to hug Roderich and weasel the story out of him. Tori looked relieved beyond measure when she spotted Feliks.

"Oh, thank god!" she exclaimed, rushing over to hug the blond. "We didn't know what had happened when they dragged you away! I thought I heard you guys' voices last night, but I wasn't sure…" Feliks grinned as she finally detached herself from him, performing a mock salute.

"I'm in good condition, don't you worry." He said as he brushed a lock of her dark hair behind her ear. Francis saw Tori blush, and raised an eyebrow. Feliks had clearly gotten smoother.

His musings were interrupted by a surprised exclamation of Gilbert's.

"What in the system has happened to you?" The albino was speaking to Arthur. Francis felt his fists clench unconsciously. He looked around. Tori and Roderich's attention had also been effectively captured by the captain's deplorable state. Tori looked a little stunned, sympathy writ on her features. Roderich, however, looked pale, eyes faraway. The dark-haired man seemed to shake himself a little, though he still looked very uncomfortable and – Francis was more surprised by this than anything – a little sad.

"Nothing." the stubborn pirate muttered, straightening a little. "I'm fine." Gilbert raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing a word. The man clearly decided that the inevitable argument wasn't worth it, however, and turned away to resume talking to his sister. Arthur seemed to relax a little, and Francis saw Alfred place a hand on the small of his back. Francis repressed his slight shudder when he saw the action. He didn't know why it caused him so much discomfort. He and Arthur had never been close in that way, and he certainly didn't feel that way about him right now. He forced his thoughts in a different direction. He'd been relapsing more since they had begun their journey with the pirates. Arthur brought bad memories with him, and Francis loathed the idea of losing progress because of him. He had worked too hard to let that happen.

He twitched away when he felt someone touch his arm, and pointedly ignored the odd look he received from Berwald, who quickly retracted his hand. The taller man, evidently having recognised Francis' discomfort, raised an eyebrow at him. Francis brushed him off.

"I'm fine." He muttered, pointedly looking away. Berwald wasn't convinced, he could tell, but the other man didn't raise the issue further, for which Francis was endlessly grateful.

They took the opportunity, now that they were all reunited again, to catch one another up on what had happened. In the madness which had enveloped last night, Feliks had never actually explained much of what had happened after they'd been kidnapped. Their stories of their encounter on Galee sent a shudder down Francis' spine, and he smiled more genuinely than ever at Gilbert, shocked at how close he had come to losing his friend, without even realising it. Gilbert grinned back, clearly not entirely sure how they had survived, either.

Their stories about the rebels they had been captured by were somewhat comforting. None of them sounded particularly malevolent or twisted. Recalling the reaction of the pirates' old prisoner – Elizabeta, he believed her name had been – was proof enough that not everyone around here was bent on trying them for their 'crimes'.

Tori, Feliks, Roderich and Gilbert seemed equally fascinated with their stories of attempting to track them through the systems, their journey to meet and plan with Vash, and their disastrous trek through the Sulig Mountains.

"You guys actually got captured by a fucking mountain tribe." Gilbert said, throwing his hands up dramatically. "Incredible."

Matthias grinned. "Yup. What fun that was." Gilbert shook his head, half-disbelieving but grinning like a maniac. They filled the next few hours with more chatter about how they had all ended up here, before their conversation turned a little graver.

"What do we do now?" Antonio asked. Vash scowled at his question.

"I don't know about you, but I never intended to get captured." He glowered at them all. Matthias glared right back.

"Well you promised us that the rebels were sensible. That they'd make the exchange and leave us alone." He retorted sharply. Vash rubbed at his brow.

"They have been in the past. Even the Colonel we came here with promised us that they wouldn't make a big fuss of it. Clearly, something bad has happened?" Alfred looked at him, confused.

"How do you figure that?"

Vash straightened a little. "Well, for starters, the mere fact that we are being imprisoned rather than just being allowed on our way is a clear indicator. Colonel Jakolin, and the Lieutenant seemed convinced that the whole exchange wouldn't be a big affair. I've dealt with the rebels in the past, and they are sensible people, at least most of the time. The kidnapping in the first place would have been a ploy to get money out of us, nothing more. They have no real specific qualms against us, or at least, the guy I've dealt with before hasn't." Before any of them could speak, he was continuing on.

"That subordinate who objected against us being imprisoned is another clue. Evidently, there's some disagreement on how we should have been dealt with. That woman who ordered we be thrown in here clearly has the power to override a decision that might have previously been made. Also, everyone seemed so on edge while we were walking through camp. They all looked distracted or worried." He shrugged, folding his arms. "Clearly, some major change has happened, likely in the last few days or weeks, judging by how the Colonel wasn't aware of it. It's likely some sort of leadership change, which also explains the contrasts in their treatment of us."

They were all silent for a moment, staring open-mouthed at Vash. Roderich was the first to recover, closing his mouth and blinking in surprise.

"You…that's…very perceptive, of you." Vash inclined his head ever so slightly, looking supremely unimpressed even by his own deductive reasoning. Any further conversation was cut off, however, when they heard the sound of clapping from behind them, and froze.

"You know, if you weren't a union-aligned criminal, I'd ask you to join the resistance here and now." They all spun around. A woman stood behind the barred door, smirking at them. When they stared at her inquisitively, she sighed and raised the large wicker basket she held in her hands. "Breakfast for all of you pathetic shits." Francis blinked. He had been wrapped up in the conversation, but realised as she spoke how incredibly hungry he was. Feliks was staring out of the small barred window in their cell with a raised eyebrow.

"It looks like it's almost mid-day." He commented mildly. The woman frowned slightly.

"I know. The person on-duty is a little…let's say forgetful." Her tone was casual enough, but the concern laced in her eyes made Francis pause. Evidently, there was something else at play here. His mind was quickly turned elsewhere when she unlocked the door and stepped inside, offering them the basket. After seizing his own share of food from inside, he took a moment to observe her.

She was Fynknian, that much was obvious, and had very fair skin, hair so pale it looked white, and dark grey eyes as a result. Her hair was long, and had been braided on the left side of her head, with the rest hanging free. She was fairly pretty, he supposed, if a little off-putting from the glower on her face. She was wearing a white singlet, black pants and a dark blue jacket with the sleeves rolled up above her elbows. Her feet were adorned with worn-looking brown boots. Looking at her, he could see at least three knives strapped on either her belt or her thighs, and guessed that she could probably have far more hidden on her person.

Just as he was thinking that she looked familiar, Yael's face shifted into a scowl.

"I remember you," she said, "you helped to kidnap our friends." The woman tilted her head to the side, leaning against the bars.

"I did, yes." She raised an eyebrow. "What of it?" Yael scowled at her, but didn't respond. Feliks, who had also been observing her closely, nodded a little.

"Oh, yeah, I remember now. Your name is…." he trailed off, evidently thinking. "Kari?" the woman grinned.

"Nice memory you have there." She said. Her amusement quickly faded from her face, however, and the troubled look returned. She swept her eyes over them, before they landed on Arthur. "Oh, that's right." She muttered to herself, twisting and seizing a bucket she'd had sitting behind her and handing it to him. "Kindly try not to throw up everywhere." He accepted it meekly, not offering so much as a word of argument. Francis frowned. The Arthur he knew hated conceding any sort of weakness, and hated accepting help from people, especially strangers. But this…and how he had let both Francis himself and Alfred help him yesterday? That was out of character. Clearly, whatever he was sick with, it was severe enough that the stubborn pirate, for once, was accepting his own limitations.

Kari let her eyes linger on the pale man for a moment before she turned to observing them all again. She raised an eyebrow when her eyes landed on Alfred.

"Shit. So, it is true, then. You guys really have a hell of a resemblance." Alfred stared at her, perplexed. Francis himself was also baffled. What in the system was she talking about?

Upon seeing their confused and muddled expressions, she gave a short laugh, turning her attention to Feliks. "I would have thought that you would have let slip already." Feliks looked shocked, and a little pale. He looked away as Alfred turned to him, looking bemused.

"No-one was really in the mood to hear about it last night." The blond murmured, frowning.

Kari shrugged. "Explain it if you want to." Without another word, she turned and exited their cell, firmly shutting and locking the door behind her.

All eyes were on Feliks and the other three. The blond sighed, rubbing his eyes wearily. Alfred looked apprehensive.

"Feliks? What was she talking about?" he asked, a definitive note of panic in his voice now. Feliks sighed.

"There's a rebel fighter here, one of the guys who kidnapped us, who looks really similar to you. I know you had a brother, so that's who I assume he is. His name's Matthew, if that helps at all." Alfred had looked wary and guarded from Feliks' first words, but at the mention of the name 'Matthew', the blood drained from his face.

"It could be someone else," Alfred finally said, looking deeply shaken, "I don't know why you would think this guy is related to me." Feliks frowned, leaning forward.

"Al, when I say that he looks similar to you, I mean insanely so. He's the fucking uncanny valley edition of you, if you were blonder and had purple eyes."

"And much more attractive." Gilbert unhelpfully added. Alfred shot the albino a quelling glare, which made the light-hearted smile fall from Gilbert's face as he leaned back, frowning. Alfred seemed to have trouble processing the very idea, and Francis saw Feliks' frown deepen when Alfred started to shake his head.

"No, stop it. Stop lying." He muttered at them, looking more and more incensed. "My brother died when I was 10. Stop trying to get my hopes up, okay? It's not helping. I've dealt with the whole thing already." Arthur, still seated next to Alfred, hesitated before slowly placing his hand on Alfred's arm.

"It might be a bit to take it, but it could be true." He said, looking wary. "You shouldn't dismiss it as a lie so quickly." Alfred harshly jerked his arm away from the pirate, glaring at him as well.

"Shut up, you don't know anything about it." He snapped. Arthur's expression hardened.

"Not this case specifically, no, but I've been around a little longer than you have." He retorted. "You aren't an expert on everything."

"Neither are you!" Alfred said, voice rising in volume. Arthur flinched away a little at the noise, but didn't speak again. Huffing angrily, Alfred moved to the other end of the cell, sulking. Francis could see Feliks shaking his head slightly. Whether or not they were telling the truth, which Francis was fairly sure they were, based on the words of the Fynknian woman, Kari, that conversation had not gone very well.

Emilia glanced around curiously. Matthew had called for an emergency meeting not long ago, sending the message to only a few select people. She wouldn't lie, she was quite surprised by some of the people she saw. Granted, she didn't know a large plethora of people within the resistance, much less who was loyal to whom, but there were certainly a few unfamiliar faces. Hopefully, Matthew knew what he was doing by gathering them all here.

She recognised several of them, of course; Elizabeta, Tino, Kari, Nelia and Ali were very familiar to her. The others; Vladimir, Kristian, Ayshe, Ines and Romeo, were not, and she had to be introduced to them. Kari introduced her under the moniker of 'Laila', as usual, so she assumed that whatever the purpose of this meeting was, it wasn't anything to do with her and Lukas specifically.

She turned as her brother entered the small clearing alongside Matthew, grinning at them both. Though Lukas returned her smile, Matthew looked drawn and worried. Her happy mood disintegrated a little, concern replacing it.

Matthew looked around, seemingly checking that everyone he had asked along had shown up, or perhaps that no-one else had tagged along. He sighed, and Emilia tensed. This wasn't going to be good news, she could already tell.

"Ok, everyone's here. First off, thanks for actually showing up." Emilia supressed a giggle when she saw Ayshe giving him a sombre salute, standing at attention. Some of the tension was dispersed, and Emilia was relieved to see Matthew smiling at the older woman's antics before he continued. "I was going to also ask Mohammed to come, but I don't know how is he with bending rules, or even if he's as loyal to Yao as we are." Ayshe nodded, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, good decision. Their history has been a little rocky." Matthew nodded in acknowledgement, before speaking again.

"Now, you guys might know this, or you might not. Last night, the friends of the four prisoners we took arrived here to pick them up in exchange for the bail that was set for them." He sighed, hanging his head. "Octavia had them all arrested and thrown in prison for the supposed crime of holding Elizabeta prisoner."

Emilia glared at nothing in particular, but said nothing, waiting for Matthew to go on.

"According to the procedures meeting I just overheard, her plan is still to weasel more money out of them, and then have them executed in the next fortnight or so."

Ayshe made an alarmed, angry noise, looking dismayed, but didn't comment.

"Now," Matthew said, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I personally don't like how Octavia has been running things around here. We all know that Yao is no spy. The real traitor is actively working to continue sowing dissent among our ranks. If we don't put an end to this, Yao could be wrongfully convicted, and everything that the resistance has struggled to build could be destroyed again." They all looked down.

"So, what do you suggest?" Ines chimed in. Matthew bit his lip.

"We need to find the real spy before Yao's trial. If we don't, evidence could be twisted around to make him look guilty, and one of our best leaders could be executed."

"But his trial is only in four days! How are we meant to find the spy in our ranks before the 29th?"

"We can do it." He said. "So far, we've been trying to find the spy by looking at people's backgrounds, their connections and needs. If we want to find this person, we need to really get inside their head." As he spoke the last few words, his gaze landed on Lukas. Emilia saw her brother give a small, barely perceptible nod. Matthew looked away.

"I know it might be hard, and there aren't that many of us, but we can do it, I know we can."

Emilia silently counted them all. There were only thirteen of them in total. Not very many to stand against an established order and track down one traitor in an organisation made up of millions, but hey, they could work with what they had. Besides, the majority of the people here were unaware of how she and Lukas could help. Their powers would definitely give them an edge over those already investigating the case of the spy.

"Alright, this sounds like it could be fun." Romeo Bianchi said, grinning. "What shall we do first?"

Matthew grinned. "I was hoping for suggestions." The young Syhvvanian's grin stretched even wider.

"I think, while we look for the real spy, that we buy ourselves as much time as possible. Our efforts will be worth it more if we can definitively establish that Yao isn't the spy. It could be hard. Octavia will be pulling all the stops to try and get him convicted and put this whole thing to rest. We need to make it as hard for her as possible to do that." Ali said after a moment of deliberation. Matthew cocked his head to the side.

"What do you suggest?" Ali shrugged.

"We can't directly interfere with evidence, since it'll only cast suspicion on us. What we can do is unnerve them. Make them lose confidence in their own arguments. If we distract them well enough, they won't be able to focus on the case, and they won't argue their point as well." Emilia stared at her mentor.

"You are much craftier than I give you credit for." She remarked. Ali grinned at her, ruffling her hair a little like he normally did after an afternoon training session.

"I take pride in it." He said.

"Brilliant idea, but how would we actually accomplish it?" Tino inquired. Emilia thought for a moment, before it occurred to her.

"We already have a way to distract her!" she exclaimed. "Those prisoners – she's planning to have them killed. Even though the trial is her major concern right now, I'd say they're also taking up a decent amount of her attention. She wants them dead because they took Elizabeta, and because they could spread secrets about where our base is, right?" Matthew nodded, gesturing for her to continue. "Well," she hesitated, "what if we make her believe that they've gotten free somehow? She'd be so worried that the trial would take a backseat."

Nelia, who was standing on her other side, gave a great whoop and dragged her into a one-armed hug. "Yes! This is why we should increase our Fynknian population!" she said, beaming. "You're all too damn useful." Matthew was also nodding, smiling at Emilia confidently.

"That…that could definitely work." He said, already seemingly thinking out the details. "We couldn't actually just let them go, though. We'd have to keep them somewhere else until the heat dies down, or Yao is back." They all nodded, before Kristian chimed in.

"There's a disused storage container way out in the outskirts of Draak-Zafi," he said, "It's not far from Yao's. We could keep them there until the trial is over." Matthew was nodding again, clearly getting excited over their budding plan.

He held his arms out to calm everyone down. "Okay, okay. That could work…This could actually work. We'd need to do it pretty soon, though, if we want to make any sort of difference. Not tonight; we haven't got nearly enough time to plan this out and do it right." He bit his lip, looking around at them all. "What about the night of the 27th?" they all nodded, and Matthew clasped his hands together. "Okay, the 27th it is. We'll need to start working through the details, then." He seized a Cell from his pocket, and jerked his head at them. "Ayshe, Elizabeta, Tino, Ali, we'll start working out the basic machinations of this. Vlad, Kristian, Lukas, you guys need to start stocking up on supplies, like food and ammunition." They all nodded.

"Kari, Ines, Laila, Romeo, I need you guys to try and get any information that you can about the trial." They all nodded. "Anything could be helpful, so keep your ears open. We'll tell you all about our plan once we have it finalised." Emilia nodded.

They all dispersed, bidding farewell to one another. Emilia's thoughts were racing as she walked away. Her attention was caught only when she felt someone sling an arm over her shoulders. Looking up in surprise, she relaxed slightly when she saw that it was Kari.

"Everything will work out okay, don't you worry." Kari said when she spotted the concerned look on Emilia's face. She nodded.

"Yeah, I hope so." She murmured. Kari sighed, stopping in her tracks.

"I meant to tell you…" she trailed off for a moment, "…Vlad knows." Emilia looked at her in confusion.

"What? Knows about what?" Kari glanced around before bending down a little.

"He knows who you and Lukas are." Emilia froze, immediately feeling panic rise inside her. Kari must have seen some sign of it in her eyes because she squeezed her shoulders. "He won't say a word, trust me. I've known Vlad for years. He would never spill a secret like that." Emilia barely felt comforted by that, but didn't comment, choosing to nod mutely. Kari sighed again, drawing her into a quick hug. "I promise this whole thing will be over in a few days."

Emilia nodded again, leaning into Kari. She'd spent so much time training with Ali in the last few weeks that she had hardly seen her brother, or anyone else for that matter. She liked training, really, though it had taken a few lessons for Ali to get her to stop calling him 'Mr Ghafoor'. But she had almost forgotten what it was like to be held like this. Lukas had never been overtly tactile, but he had still shown affection. She supposed that she had been a little starved of that in the last few weeks. Kari grinned at her when they separated.

"Why don't you take the afternoon off? You've been training pretty hard with Ali, from what I hear." Emilia grinned.

"Seriously?" Kari nodded.

"Yup. Captain's orders." Laughing, Emilia bid farewell to the older girl and set off through the trees. Their plan was insane, and would most likely get them all arrested or put on trial themselves, but maybe, just maybe, it could actually work.