Disclaimer: I own nothing

'Thinking'

"Speaking"

SPELL/ABILITY

(********) = Scene/Location/Time Change

Chapter 10: A Royal Pain.

The dust had begun to settle as the sun finally sank below the sky's rim. The room was ruled by silence at the words the young boy had just uttered. The boy held no anger in his voice as he said it, but his friends still felt a chill.

Seeing the confusion he quickly explained, "We aren't going to kill them."

The older boy sighed upon hearing his friend's reassurance, "For a second I thought we had lost you to some unseen darker side of you."

"You really scared us Saito." The fiery haired girl added.

"You guys really think I'd do something like that." Saito responded crestfallen at his friend's opinion of him.

"Blame your own word choice." Leon said with a slight laugh,

"Fine, fine." Saito huffed still disappointed in his friends.

"So what are we going to do anyway?" Sienna asked the group.

"Well," Saito began, "once we get our name out there people will surely come to finish the job. Right?"

"Yeah," Leon replied confused at where his friend was going, "what's your point?"

"When they do that we'll have them stripped of their land and title and sent to prison." Saito said.

"You really think they'll go along that easily?" Sienna questioned her friend.

"No," Saito answered honestly, "If the resist then we'll fight. I'd like to avoid death, but if they leave us no other choice…"

The boy was cut off a tall blonde boy as he spoke, "Excuse me for interrupting, but would you please tell me who you are exactly."

"That's an easy one." Saito said as the four held up their hand to reveal the silver marking of the Tristain Royal Family, "We're The Strays."

"So you really did join Henrietta…" Louise said meekly.

"I had intended to travel," Saito replied indifferently, "but things came and I decided it would be for the best if I joined them."

"So you work directly for her highness." The blonde boy said, "Pardon my rudeness, I am Prince Wales of Albion."

"I'm guessing Wardes escaped with the letter?" Saito replied ignoring the man's introduction.

"That would be false…" Wales said not making I contact with a confused Louise.

Saito raised an eyebrow, "That was a fake then?"

"Not on purpose." Wales said sheepishly, "That was a letter to a friend of mine."

The young dark haired boy suddenly found himself disgusted with the noble, but he held back his venom as he spoke, "By friend I'm guessing you mean lover."

"That would be correct." Wales said avoiding the glares of all the women in the room.

"So you were cheating…" Sienna said coldly not breaking her stare.

"Gross." Aria said glaring equally as coldly.

"I have the real letter right here." Wales said pulling it out of his back pocket.

Saito walked up to the man and took it trying his hardest not to punch the man as he spoke, "I'll let her know it's over."

"I understand," Wales said not seeming to regret being found, "could I ask you to retrieve the letter though?"

"No." Saito replied shortly leaving the man dumbfounded.

"What?" the man shouted, "Aren't you supposed to serve nobles?!"

"No," the dark haired swordsman said not looking back, "I serve Henrietta."

Saito stopped and offered his hand to Louise, who had fallen after the summoning, and helped her to her feet. The girl couldn't find the words to express her confusion. As she was led out of the chapel the undignified cries of Wales could be heard from within. Saito handed her off to Sienna as Aria reluctantly transformed into her large fox form.

"You're going to want to hold on tight." Sienna advised.

"Sorry Zero Louise!" the familiar voice of Kirche shouted, "With Leon and Saito there isn't enough room!"

The dragon then proceeded to lift itself off of the ground and fly off. Aria followed keeping pace with the massive creature almost effortlessly. They neared the sky ship docks and Louise wondered if they'd take another air ship.

Sienna turned around to shout to the pinkette, "You're going to want to hold on tight."

The girl tightened her grip now worried and called back, "Why? Aren't we boarding a ship?"

"No, we aren't." the fiery haired girl replied.

"You don't mean…" Louise started incredulously.

"It'll be fun." The young mage replied with a grin as they neared the island's edge.

Before Louise could respond Aria took a leap of faith over the edge. The decent felt magnificent as Aria used hot air to keep their fall at a survivable pace. Louise screamed in terror as Sienna shrieked in delight reminded of the roller coasters she had always wanted to try.

As the fox spirit dropped faster than the dragon Saito moved up to Tabitha. She turned curious as to what the young boy had wanted. The others in the group failed to notice because they had been taken by the scenery they hadn't been able to enjoy on the way there.

"Would you mind dropping us off somewhere?" Saito asked motioning towards Leon.

"Are you not headed back to her highness?" Tabitha asked confused.

"I have to pick something up…" the boy said vaguely.

"The letter?" Tabitha asked with the hint of smile, "I thought you only worked for the princess."

"It's for her…" Saito said blushing knowing Tabitha already knew why, "I told her I'd make sure she'd be able to make her own decisions."

"You're weird." The bluenette said flatly, "It's interesting. Ok tell everyone. Where are we dropping you off?"

"At the inn, where we first met up with Aria and Sienna, they probably returned for Fouquet." Saito replied

"Would they be that naïve?" Tabitha asked.

"They probably think we're on our way back to the castle." Saito said, "Now is the best time for us to catch them."

"What about Sienna and Louise?" Tabitha asked.

"I haven't told them," Saito explained, "I had Louise travel separately in case she had a tracker on her."

"I applaud your cautious approach." The bluenette told the boy genuinely.

Saito nodded and turned to the others as Tabitha moved to tell Sylphid about the direction change. The others listened intently as Saito provided a plan. The group nodded in agreement.

"When did you become this cool?" Kirche asked forcing Saito into a hug.

"I don't know what you mean." Saito replied confused as he pushed Kirche off of him.

Leon remained silent wondering the same thing. As he looked at his kohai he wondered to himself when Saito had grown up. The boy who had once picked a fight with anything that didn't meet his taste now thought things through. His best friend was slowly changing before his eyes.

'I guess he doesn't need me watching over him anymore…' Leon thought sadly.

'He'll need you more than ever soon enough.' The voice of Lelah said in his head, 'As you two pursue those who wronged our families Saito will be pulled towards darkness. You need to keep him himself.'

'Easy for you to say,' Leon thought bitterly, 'You're dead.'

'You stopped questioning voices in your head?' the voice teased in his head.

'My partner is an immortal wolf pup, I'm currently riding a dragon, I just watched gremlin gizmo appear from a dark portal, and I this all started when I fell from the sky. I've learned to stop questioning things.' The boy told the voice.

'Haha, you've always been like this. Do you want to know why you can't get a girlfriend?' the voice asked laughing lightly.

'Because I didn't know my first one was dead.' The young bladesman countered stubbornly.

'You aren't going to let that go?' The girl's voice said sadly.

'I already have.' Leon thought after a moment. He felt a presence leave and the voice didn't respond again.

"Hey," Leon spoke to his friend, "I think I'm ready to hear what happened when we get back."

"Yeah…" the boy said softly, "I think I am too."

(…)

Hey everyone. Sorry this is a short one and it took a while. I'm currently being overwhelmed by school and other activities. I'll do my best to keep the amount of content I post up. I promise I will keep posting this story. I might not post as frequently as during the summer, but I will continue to post. Sorry again. I hope you guys are enjoying. Stay tuned for any updates. - Lion