The others and I regrouped near the castle. I thought maybe answers might come from searching the Evil Queen's castle. Hopefully, there was something that could point us in the right direction. We didn't find anything and it turned out to be a total waste of time. The queen was thorough, that's for sure.

Just when I thought all hope might be lost, I saw that Kiki was not her usual self. "What's wrong?"

"I can't be certain of it, but for a moment there, I felt the queen nearby. I think the dragon is protecting her. If that is true, it might be where we can find Mitsuhide and Amari."

"Then let's go there and check it out. I will try to summon a portal much closer to the mountain's base. I just hope it works."

Kiki gave me a nod.

Zen relaxed, but then clutched his sword. "Let's do it."

I closed my eyes and focused hard on where I wanted to go. The portal appeared and we entered it without another thought.

When we came through, there was an ice wall surrounding us. My mind told me it was a trap.

Zen seemed to have drawn up the same conclusion. "Stay alert, everyone!"

I saw an uneasiness in Kiki, which I assumed was her sensing the Evil Queen's presence.

We proceeded into the mountain with caution. But to our dismay, the only thing we found was Kat… Wait! KAT?! I locked eyes with the Kat in a dress. The girl had a frozen expression on her face. Now everything makes sense.

I threw my sword to cut the cocoon from the roof of the cavern dome. I used magic to guide it where I wanted the sword to go.

Once the cocoon was severed from the top, the gelatin came pouring out and set Kat free. Kat tried to steady herself, but her legs were still numb, like the rest of her body and she braced herself with her arms.

I rushed to Kat's side. "Are you alright?"

"That...depends… Are you a princess?" Kat's eyes locked with Zen's and she tensed right up, with her cheeks on fire.

"Of course she is!" Zen argued. "Why would you ask something so ridiculous?" Zen folded his arms.

"You have no idea, the things that I experienced in that… whatever it is…" Kat justified. "I was shown a hint of what the Evil Queen intends to do…" Kat still couldn't find herself looking at Zen the same way. Something about her supposedly bearing his child, made her incredibly uneasy.

"And what is that?!" Zen's urgency grew.

"You don't wanna know… Let's just say that she might be trying to prevent Miko from even being born."

Zen's face went sheet white. "What?-Why?-How?" He was clearly not handling these new possibilities well.

"She intends to rewrite the past." Kat gave a 'duh' response.

It wasn't that Zen didn't figure that out. "What does this have to do with Amari?" Zen was very upset with this possibility.

"She wouldn't tell me…"

"Where is she now?" Zen asked Kiki mostly.

"Sorry, Zen. I don't sense her presence here at all." Kiki answered regrettably.

Kat finally stood with me and Desti's help. "The Evil Queen has planned out everything to the detail. We have been playing into her hands this whole time."

"That's not possible." I couldn't believe that after everything we had meddled with in her plans, that she was orchestrating it all.

"She had anticipated every move we made. She also had told me that she has a spy in the camp. With Miko, specifically. If that is true, then she has known what we have been up to, all along." Kat updated.

I looked around me and saw the crystal formations around me that glowed in a multitude of colors. "What is this place?"

"A dragon's nest." Katsumi finally spoke. "That would be my guess."

"Then we shouldn't wait around for it to return." Zen looked in my direction.

It was too late and the dragon made its appearance.

It whipped its tail and knocked me out, before I could form a portal.

Desti picked me up into his arms. "What do we do now?!"

"It is defending its territory! We should get as far away from here as we can!" Zen urged. "I will cover you! Now go!"

We then left the cave with the dragon hot on our tail. When we got to the ice wall, the dragon had missed us with one of its dragon breaths and melted down the ice wall, enough for us to escape.

The dragon used its earth power to throw a boulder at Katsumi with such velocity.

Suddenly, Apollo jumped out of nowhere and tossed Katsumi out of the way. "Are you alright, Katsumi?"

Katsumi looked up into her rescuer's eyes. "I am now. But maybe we should save the celebrating til we get out of this mess."

"Agreed." Apollo stood up and offered her, his hand and then they joined the attack.

They all took their stance, when the dragon slammed his body hard against the ground and the earth started to shake.

They braced themselves, but it left them distracted.

Mitsuhide whipped his tail and Apollo was hit pretty hard.

Apollo was on the ground and suffering the pain, the best he could.

Kiki finally turned and summoned a portal. "I don't know where it leads, but any place is better than this!"

They made their way through the portal and managed to lose the dragon.

Queen Kiki returned to her dragon. "Looks like they took the bait." She mused.

Amari started to cry in her arms.

"What now? Not enough milk for you? Babies should come with instructions." Queen Kiki grumbled.

Mitsuhide snorted, which came as a blast of smoke. In his way, he was trying to tell her something.

Queen Kiki just scowled in response. "I don't see you making any effort. Maybe you should take a turn on baby watch. I can't wait to be rid of this nuisance."

Despite being a fierce dragon, Mitsuhide lifted the child in the air with his tail, ever so gently and rocked him to sleep. Then Mitsuhide smirked at Queen Kiki.

"Shut up." Queen Kiki could practically hear Mitsuhide's words in her ears.

We finally returned to camp after I came to. We were updated on Miko's condition and it was decided that she should be in the castle from which she was born. After laying her to rest there, we returned once again to the camp.

I found Beauty in a stall in the stables. How much I really missed my horse.

Beauty got very excited to see me and was rearing up in her joy.

I let her out and thought I would ride her, since Miko from this world wouldn't be riding her any time soon. I got on her back and we rode through the forest, while I tried to clear my head and refocus myself on the problem at hand. I stayed close to the camp, mostly because of how upset Father was when I left the first time.

Beauty seemed really happy to see me and pranced around like a yearling.

"STOP!" Deston rode up to me. "That is Princess Miko's horse. You can't just ride her!" He scolded.

"I am Princess Miko. Whether you face it now or later, she is locked in a forever sleep. It is time to move on. This fate was mine to correct. I think it always was."

"You're wrong about Princess Miko. Somehow, there has to be a way."

I noticed that Deston had a lot of faith in Miko. I couldn't fathom why, considering how little the two of them interacted.

Katsumi followed Apollo to the training area.

"Is something the matter?" Apollo finally asked, breaking the silence between them.

"You saved me back there. Thank you for doing that. But why were you even there?" Katsumi had to know.

"I… went because of Zen. I couldn't allow him to harm you, when he finally found out he had the wrong Kat. I admit, I wanted to see his face, but when I saw that you were being attacked by that dragon, I was glad I did."

Katsumi's face went red and she came closer to his side. "Wh-y…"

Apollo shook his head as if showing restraint, but then he gave it up and closed the distance between them. He then claimed her lips and didn't want to release her.

She fully accepted it and allowed the kiss to deepen further.

They pulled away from each other and Apollo looked into Katsumi's tender eyes. "It's 'cause you have a strange effect on me. I don't know what it is, but…"

Katsumi this time, took the liberty to claim his lips and they kissed far more passionately this time. "I think I do." Katsumi remained in his arms after the kiss.

He just smiled. "I guess this makes me the fool…"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because only fools believe that love is real and I think I am starting to believe it exists."

Katsumi's cheeks turned even more vibrant red. "Then I must be a fool too."

"At least I am not the only one." Apollo toyed.

"Let's be fools together."

"What are we doing? We are fooling ourselves to think that we are going to be able to stay this way… You're betrothed and so am I…" Apollo looked like a washed out puppy.

"Then let's not waste our time together." Katsumi kissed him again.

Apollo picked her up bridal style and carried her away. They nearly found themselves in Apollo's tent. "I'm a lord. I could provide a bigger dowry. Who's the guy?"

"I've never met him, but his name is Nosuke. What about your betrothed? Who is she?"

"I don't think the princess is going to be marrying me any time soon." Apollo didn't mean to be so pessimistic about it, but it is what it is.

"Then there shouldn't be anything holding us back." Katsumi continued to be taken by Apollo.

Apollo couldn't restrain himself much any more. "I have an honor to uphold. But there is no one I would rather be with…"

"I've never felt this way for another before either." Katsumi and Apollo felt like they were the only two people here. They started making out again.

Kat came across them and her face inflamed. "That is so wrong…" She was looking for Katsumi, with many questions she wanted answered, but Katsumi seemed to be a bit busy at the moment.

"What's the matter? Don't think he's your type?" Prince Zen teased, but was clearly tense. He was however grateful that his daughter wasn't in the question.

"Not even a little bit."

Zen returned to Shirayuki's side and Swethyna returned with some books in her hands.

"The book that I was looking for is still in the queen's possession. I found some books that may help, but you will have to observe them yourselves."

"Observe?" Zen asked curiously.

Shirayuki smiled at her husband. "Her books are enchanted. You should see them. They are very unique."

Zen took a book in hand and opened it. His eyes went wide, when he saw the images being projected off the pages. "What is this?"

Kat came rushing in, but she also froze at the sight of the images on the pages, being played out. "Prince Zen! I think we should focus on finding the Evil Queen's spy!"

Zen nodded. "I am inclined to agree with you. I just don't know how this can be accomplished."

Shirayuki remained thoughtful for a moment. "If I was an Evil Queen, who wanted to keep a constant eye on the lost princess, I would chose something or someone, that rarely or never leaves her side."

Wheels were turning in Zen's mind. "In our world, that would be Beauty, Miko's prized mare."

Kat's eyes grew wide. "Everywhere we have gone so far, she was riding Beauty. I would recognize that horse anywhere."

"Then we must go to the stables and find her." Zen prepared to leave.

Kat stopped him. "I will retrieve her." Kat left and then returned. "She isn't there."

"Where would she have gone?" Zen panicked for he was sure that he knew. "Miko! She must be out riding her!"