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Chapter 4: Rags to Riches and Vice Versa

Ian, the knight, felt oddly strange as he walked the halls of Phantom's floating castle. Something had gone from him; something important to him, but not to others. He continued down the path to where the pawn Gido was held, horribly mutilated from the effects of Chimera and her ÄRM's powers. After this, he would begin training to become a knight ranked Chess Piece, and destroy Chimera for what she had done to his girlfriend. He knew that it was Chimera's doing immediately, and despised her entire body for this act.

He reached the end of the long hall, and was stunned to find the door askew, with a slight imprint on the door of a bandaged hand, and it seemed as if someone had been knocked into the door. There was definitely a struggle here, between Gido, and Phantom…

"What the...?" Ian questioned. Gido was gone, and he knew that Phantom had taken her somewhere...

BUT WHERE? He needed to know if she was alright. Considering it was Phantom he was talking about, odds were not in Ian's favour. He fell to his knees, and started sobbing.

Ginta appeared first, followed by Snow and Alviss together at the same time. Snow ran to Ginta and they celebrated another training gate successfully completed. As they were jumping for joy, Nanashi appeared, his hands placed behind his head in his trademark position. The girls squealed with delight as they saw him return. Dorothy and Jack simultaneously returned, with Dorothy running towards Ginta as soon as she spotted him, knocking Snow out of the way as she went.

"Oh, Ginta! I missed you so much! Did you miss me? Are you stronger now?" Dorothy riled question after question at Ginta, giving him absolutely no time for an answer.

Jack turned away. "Why do you care about me, Dorothy?" he sobbed as he sulked.

Gaira greeted them all, as did the dog Edward, Snow's assistant. Belle seemed happy that Alviss was back, and greeted him with a hug.

"It's good to see you're all back in one piece, and I can sense that you are all stronger than before. Excellent work. You should return to bed now, and get some rest; I would say it is safe to assume that the War Games will continue tomorrow." Gaira stated. The sun had already set, and there were lanterns around the groups of people that had remained to see the warriors return. This included the group of girls which Nanashi had already snuck off to and started a conversation with. There was a dark haze around them all, caused from the darkness of tonight. Snow shivered. Ginta cuddled with her.

"Are you alright? You seem cold..." Ginta asked.

"Something feels bad in the air. Something is coming... but I don't know what or when..." Snow seemed confused. "Maybe I should have some rest, it could help." She took off to where she would sleep that night. Ginta yawned, and went off to his own quarters, dragging Babbo along with him. Nanashi rapidly tired and sluggishly picked himself up and away from the girls he had been chatting with, as they also took off to bed. Dorothy became bored and left the area as well. Jack, seeing no reason to stay, followed after Dorothy and separated at the end of the corridor. Edward ran after Jack after he finally realised that he should be off. The only ones left now were Gaira and Alviss, with Belle by his side.

"Gaira… do you really think that we are going to win?" Alviss asked. He had turned off to go to the bed chambers, and it had crossed his mind many times since the start of the competition.

Gaira sighed. "We will find out sooner or later, Alviss. Focus on the competition ahead, and keep your head in the games." He took off to the sleeping quarters, and all was silent and calm. Few days were to be like this again.

Phantom's steps echoed throughout the castle as he walked through the hallowed, dark halls. Following him was the newly appointed knight, taking everything in and registering it in his elaborately calculating mind.

"This is the castle of the Chess Pieces. We all live here, sleep here, but the action is below us. The live link is how we can see the action, and as a knight, you have full access to it at all times. I do enjoy watching Team MÄR, and you would enjoy watching your sister I would assume." Phantom chuckled, predicting the question that would arise.

"How would you know about her, Phantom?" the knight questioned.

"Being top knight makes me quite close to the queen and through this I learnt several facts, one of which that Snow is your sister." He grimaced.

Here they passed two other knights: Candice and Ash. Candice blushed as she saw Phantom walking towards her and from this, Ash was the first to speak.

"Who may I say this boy is?" Ash asked. "Don't tell me you've started to recruit children now!"

"No." spoke the knight. "I am the queen's stepson. I have returned to the Chess Pieces to destroy my sister, Ash. Can you remember me?" A small smile crossed his blank face.

"No way… you can't be. Really? Then welcome back! It's good to see you here." Everyone could tell from his voice that Ash would be smiling under his skull mask.

"So this is the queen's stepson? What rank did he get?" Candice smirked. "Probably rook, right?"

"No, I'm a knight, thankyou very much, Candice. You may find yourself knocked down a few pegs if you doubt my abilities." He shot an evil glance at Candice, who looked stunned and shocked, and maybe even frozen from the look.

"We'll be on our way then. Candice; Ash; goodbye." Phantom turned to continue through the castle, leaving Candice freaked out and Ash resisting the urge to chuckle at her.

Ian had heard that Phantom had returned to the castle, and had brought the queen's stepson with him, who had defeated Lamn and gained the rank of knight. He had also apparently killed a pawn, rook, bishop as well as Lamn. "It must have been Gido! That monster… that hideous, disgusting creature… He'll rue the day he crossed my path!" He left to find Peta and begin his training. He now had two enemies to kill: Phantom and the knight.

Snow slept in a state of chill. She had felt cold before, but this cold was more evil. In her dreams, she saw a teenager. Black haired with streaks of ice through it and blue eyes dull like stones. A breeze blew past and she felt cold. So very, very cold. Cold heart, cold body, cold soul. She felt attached, and soon there was a weapon in his hand. An ÄRM, of crafted ice, with three glinting red stones. She felt herself being drawn closer, closer, until she could feel his icy chilled breath. I am coming for you Snow. You are doomed. You will not survive. Then the dagger pierced through her and she awoke screaming. The teenager's face was familiar. She knew that he was evil. She knew she would see him again. She knew he would find her. But she didn't know who he was. She hoped she would when they met face to face.

She shuddered at that thought.

"Are you OK, Snow?" Dorothy asked, as she burst through the door. "I heard you scream. Did you have a nightmare?"

"I'm fine. I just feel a little chilly, that's all." She shivered at the thought of the teenager. The blank expression on his face, the dagger, all seemed to press on her like bitter frozen wind. Dorothy shrugged and left the room. Snow slipped back into bed, and tried to sleep.

Ginta was having a nightmare too. A teenager was beating up several people in turn. Then he saw Ian's face, crying for some reason. These images were quite strange, and the teenager seemed to be very good. He awoke to find it was morning, and the skies were bright on a new day of battles.

Phantom had shown the knight around, and had left to watch the battles. He asked if there was somewhere he could go to fix his tattered clothes, and Phantom told him where to go. As he was sewing the cuts caused from the blizzard he struggled through, a knock came at the door. He told the person they could come in.

"Sorry to intrude, but are you the queen's stepson?" the stranger at the door asked.

"Yes I am. And the door is creating a draft, so hurry it up." He was sewing the shirt he was wearing, and hadn't put his other one back on, so he was at the moment shirtless. The draft was not the only thing making him uncomfortable: he just wanted the person gone as soon as possible.

"Then you must be my stepbrother!" the person exclaimed.

"WHAT?!" He stopped the sowing and turned to face the person at the door, who looked nothing like him in anyway. "Who are you and how are we related?"

Phantom couldn't wait to see what the Team MÄR crew had in store for him today. He had thoroughly enjoyed their battles so far, and was wondering what would be coming next. "Surprise me Ginta."

(Foot Notes: Don't you just love being left on the edge? I don't think this is much longer, but I don't think they'll get any longer till I get his name out and the fights start.

Happy Reading! VOA!)