A/N: The previous chapter 3 I uploaded had a mistake in it so this is the edited chap.

When Setsuna, Al and Nekane treaded out towards the Colosseum the next morning to repair the place there was a thick fog that partially obscured everything from sight. Making her way through the debris with a tool-box of screw-drivers, bolts, screws, some metal plates and small spare parts in her hand Setsuna smacked right into something hard and concrete-a partially destroyed seat. Holding her throbbing nose she glared up at the seat. Someone bumped into her from behind.

"Oops, sorry," Konoka giggled.

Setsuna turned around in surprise. The girl was standing there in her sleeping clothes-a top that was tied at the middle and fluffy cotton blue pants that hugged her hips giving anyone with eyes a full view of the curves of her waist and hips. No other girl but Ayaka at this place besides Haruna had clothes would reveal that much of the stomach. For someone who had seen a ghost last night she didn't look like it. She was radiating happiness, standing there in a pair of rabbit slippers and her hair was wet. Setsuna caught a whiff of clean soap, shampoo, a fragrance like smelt like fresh, exotic fruit, velvet sheets sprinkled with fresh flowers and rich champagne. There was something that smelt like bubblegum and candycorn in there too. As Konoka moved closer, her hair waving in the wind Setsuna half closed her eyes as something else, another scent of lilies and scented perfume that reminded her of walks out among the streets in Paris and rich creamy dark chocolate ice-cream with chocolate chips that was five metres high dripping from the sides of the cone. Setsuna blinked. Whoa where had that come from? She didn't even know anything about Paris.

"Since you're here you can help me go fix Inugami first," Setsuna said, turning and making her way down the rubble-strewn terrain. "Watch out for broken robot parts and chairs."

As they made their way down, Setsuna heard the girl's footsteps treading the ground with light foot-steps. A piece of metal and debris was being nudged aside every so often. She barely made a sound. Spying Inugami slumped against a broken pillar through the fog a short distance away Setsuna stopped, waiting to see if it'd malfunctioned. If it was the programming would detect Setsuna as an enemy because they were within three feet of one another. Al was far away with Nekane working on one of the robots with jujutsu skills. From what she could see its face was caved in and one of its arms was missing, metallic sparks shooting off the joint. The chest plate was torn off revealing a jigsaw of hollow transparent fibre optic wires that criss-crossed over one another in a circuit. Its mechanical heart, seated in the middle and plugged to the sides with two thick copper wires on either sides had a tube of jagged steel jammed directly in the middle. Al knelt down and grasping the steel, ripped it out. Green energy squirted out in an arc. Nekane passed him a cloth which he used to cover the hole in the heart that the steel tube had left to stop anymore energy from escaping. After a moment he removed the cloth and opened the lid of a tool-box at his side.

Nekane knelt down on the other side, reaching over and taking a screw-driver out. Al rifled around in the tool-box, searching for something. It was a small copper metal plate with holes at all corners. He put it over the hole. It was too big to fit but Nekane drew some symbols in the air, shimmering green letters which were runes. The symbols sank down into the plate and it morphed, changing shape to fit into the hole. There was a whirring, clicking noise and the robot's eyes flickered, electric signals darting across them. Within moments the eyes had lit up glowing green before fading into green human eyes, artificial and a perfect copy of a human's. Setsuna set the toolbox down, kicking it open with her foot and set Inugami upright into sitting position. There was a creaking noise then the metal casing fell off on the legs and the plating of the chest compartment fell, clanging onto a piece of debris. The hollow fibre-optic wires that connected the heart to the sides were broken, holes in them. They'd been punctured. All the magic that had been put inside it had leaked out and dispersed. Setsuna put her hand over the wires. Her hand glowed and green tendrils of light seeped from her palm into the holes in the wires. The holes closed and soon, green lights were speeding, circulating through the wires like race cars. Inugami made a whirring noise then its eyes slid open but they were blank.

"What's wrong with him?" Konoka asked anxiously.

"Not enough energy," Setsuna muttered. She passed Konoka the casing for the legs and told her, "Put these back in place. If you push them in they should just slide in."

Konoka nodded and got to work. As she did Setsuna paused, her hand hovering over Inugami's chest to inject more energy into his systems. A memory of Konoka starting to cry came surfacing back in her mind. Something was wrong here. Setsuna had never been so quick to trust someone in her life. Now as she watched Konoka happily pushing metal plates and casing back into place and screwing them in with a screw-driver she wondered why. The story Konoka had given them had been plausible even if the circumstances were a little strange. Then why was it that there was a seed of doubt in the back of Setsuna's mind. Again she thought of the rose petals. She couldn't have imagined them. She was sure they were real.

"What were you running from?" Setsuna asked.

"Hmmm?" Konoka looked at her, confused.

"In the thunder-storm you looked like something was going to attack you," Setsuna said.

"I told you it was my friend the wolf," Konoka replied.

"Yes but-"Setsuna started to say.

"Can you show me around?" Konoka interrupted, somehow managing to still sound pleasant. "This place is huge and there's so many things here. I haven't even seen the parlour rooms and casinos and the second floor! And there's all the stuff on the third and fourth floors!"

Taken aback Setsuna didn't say anything.

"Please?" Konoka persisted.

Setsuna looked at the robot then to Al and Nekane, "I don't know Konoka I have to finish this and there's still-"

Konoka cupped her hands around her mouth and called over to Nekane, "Nekane can Setsuna take me for a little tour? It'll be really short!"

Nekane waved her hand signalling yes. Konoka turned back to Setsuna, beaming. Reluctantly Setsuna stood up, putting the tools back in the tool-box. Konoka took her hand, pulling her along gleefully. As they left Setsuna caught a glimpse of Al raising his hand, probably to draw runes to create a barrier to prevent Setsuna from leaving and Nekane putting his hand down and speaking to him.

As they ran out (well Konoka was running) Setsuna asked, "Where did you sleep last night? I asked Al but he wouldn't tell me."

"Ayaka's room," Konoka said. She glanced at Setsuna nervously, "So can I stay with you guys? I'll help you guys out."

"Uh...we'll see," Setsuna said lamely.

Konoka looked slightly disappointed.

"Don't you have a clan to go to? Family?" Setsuna asked. "Even if you ran away if you apologized they'd still take you back."

"I don't know where they are now," Konoka said.

They were approaching the main doors where the giant purple banner, hanging from the ledge at the top floor of the palace, rolled down. The white wing, painted in a symbol, on top of it seemed to gleam in the sunlight.

Setsuna sighed, "I'll talk to Al and Nekane. They're the ones that pay for this place."

"They do? How?" Konoka said, awed.

"Um well Nekane's family owns a large amount of money. They have a lot of businesses in the city and in places all over the country," Setsuna said slowly. "She's an aristocrat but she is quite eccentric. She was born a gypsy you see and no one else in the family was one so she sought out nearby gypsy clans to seek help about her growing powers. She spent the better part of her teenage years with the gypsies. That's where she met Al."

Setsuna pushed open the entrance, gesturing politely for Konoka to go in first. Setsuna closed the door behind them silently and twisted the handle so it shut. They were standing in the open foyer that led to the parlour rooms and casino. The stair-case was at the end which led up to the other floors with the chandelier in the middle on the ceiling which towered above them. Silently they walked down the hallway to the stair-case. Konoka was looking around, soaking in everything with her eyes. They passed the casinos, the parlour games.

When were halfway up the stairs Konoka asked, looking at her in confusion, "Where are all the other workers? This place is too much for all of you to take care of."

"A bard here takes care of them," Setsuna said.

"What do you mean?"

"She makes them and re-uses them," Setsuna said. A look of amazement crossed Konoka's face. Setsuna quickly looked away, clearing her throat, "Um I'll show you the casinos and parlour rooms."

Setsuna led Konoka up the rest of the stairs and showed her the parlour rooms and rest of the casino areas. There were only four areas, two for each because they were the ones that elite patrons paid for. The casinos were the largest with slot machines, electronic game machines and tables decked out with colourful turn tables which were for games like Blackjack or Russian Roulette and video machines for poker. Setsuna took her to her room. It wasn't in the plan but Konoka had insisted-sweetly of course.

Which made Setsuna nervous. But she blamed the way her nerves were jumping on the fact that a stranger was seeing her room. Setsuna pushed open the door, inclining her head and gestured. Konoka walked inside, giggling for some reason. Setsuna was startled into a smile, her nerves melting like honey from a jar.

Wait, what?

Setsuna shook her head then followed her inside.

"It's so dark in here," Konoka frowned, walking over to her closed window.

She pulled the blinds open and sunlight streamed through illuminating her room and the objects in a warm glow.

"That's better," Konoka said. "Oh Jack's down there!"

Setsuna crossed over to her standing by her side. Jack grinned up at her, hefting his sword on his shoulder. As Konoka waved down at him from the window Setsuna looked at her.

"Why aren't you scared?"

Konoka lowered her eyes, giving a little smile and said, "I was at first but when I thought about it Jack seemed harmless enough."

Setsuna looked at her, impressed.

"How did he become a ghost anyway?" Konoka asked curiously.

Setsuna hesitated. She didn't want to say anything that would scare her. She said carefully, "It was an accident involving an overload of magical power."

"From here?" Konoka glanced, surprised.

"Yes. He tried to stop magic from decimating everything but it didn't work," Setsuna said. In a softer voice she said, "We think he's still here because he has unfinished business otherwise he would have passed on decades ago."

Looking back out the window Konoka's expression seemed to have turned sad.

"You don't need to feel anything for him," Setsuna said gently. "It happened a long time ago. He wants to move on."

"But waiting for an eternity, isn't that pitiful?" Konoka said in a strange, wavering voice.

Setsuna smiled at her slightly which didn't reach her eyes, "We tried to help him but no one has been able to come up with anything."

Still looking troubled Konoka turned around and said, "Can I go to the bath-room?"

It was an odd request but Setsuna nodded, "Down the corridor just use my room."

"Thanks," Brushing at her eyes Konoka started to walk out.

"Wait," Setsuna said, starting to get up.

Konoka glanced over her shoulder at her, curious, "Yes?"

"…Nothing," Setsuna said. "Have a good shower."

Konoka smiled at her then left. Setsuna sat down on the ottoman, staring blankly at the wall. She didn't want Konoka to leave. It was a strange feeling, one she'd never felt before. It made no sense. She didn't even know the girl. What the heck was wrong with her?

"So she's made her mind to stay?"

If Setsuna hadn't been so used to Jack appearing out of nowhere she would've jumped so high she would've gone through the roof. Setsuna just nodded.

"Great," Jack said, stretching. "Listen up she's pretty get her to be in the opening act with the gymnast and shapeshifter."

"But isn't that a little dangerous for a gypsy?" Setsuna said apprehensively.

"Nah."

"She's not a gymnast," Setsuna said.

"You should have more faith in her kid. She's got some surprises up her sleeve," Jack grinned at her, showing pearly white teeth his eyes gleaming.

"And how would you know that?" Setsuna looked at him sourly.

"Got a little peek when she was takin' her shower. She's really somethin' y'know she bent all the way back just to get soap. Thought she was gonna snap her spine," Jack laughed.

Ignoring the fact that he played pervert Setsuna said, frowning, "How can she do that? She's a gypsy not a demon."

"Beats me," Jack shrugged.

At that moment a loud crash reverberated throughout the area, making the ground shudder followed by a scream. Dead silence filled the air.

Setsuna bolted out skidding on the carpet outside and raced down the hallway. The door to Nodoka's room was open and the purple-haired girl had stuck her head outside her expression somewhere between curious and worried.

"Setsuna, what was that?" Nodoka asked as Setsuna slowed to an abrupt halt, grabbing the doorknob for balance.

"Don't…know," Setsuna grunted. She glanced downwards.

Water was spilling out underneath the gap of the door seeping into the carpet. The door to the bathroom flung open and Konoka ran outside, terrified.

"T-T-T-T-T-There's s-s-s-s-s-something i-in th-there," Konoka stammered, swallowing.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing inside…," Setsuna trailed off as Nodoka's face suddenly turned nervous.

"Actually…" Nodoka said. "There could be something."

"Please don't tell me…" Setsuna groaned.

The door suddenly burst open at its hinges so hard it literally snapped off and flew towards them. Setsuna dragged Konoka down, covering her as well as she could to avoid getting flattened. There was a crunch of wood hitting the wall and the door spun off. She stood up and summoned her father's sword, Yuunagi to life. It flashed in her hand in a wreath of flames the same way it had when she'd called it when she'd wanted to use it to stop Jack. Before when she hadn't learnt gypsy magic she couldn't have done that since the sword had been broken anyway. Gypsy magic had brought it to her, pieced it back together and through gypsy magic she could make it disappear and summon it as she pleased.

"Whoa," She heard Konoka say behind her.

Setsuna didn't know what Konoka was saying whoa to. It could've been the sword trick or the human-sized fairy in front of her with blue skin, paper-thin transparent butterfly wings and pointed ears. She preferred to think it was the former. The fairy had an impish look on its face, its hands behind its back. The fairy pounced onto Setsuna before she could move. Setsuna toppled backwards, managing to raise her sword to block its clawed hands from gauging her chest. Konoka scrambled out from underneath her, summoning fire in her hand.

"Wait!" Nodoka said.

Konoka opened her mouth to argue when the fairy leaned forwards, planting a kiss on Setsuna's cheek.

"It's harmless," Nodoka explained as Konoka gawked at her, open-mouthed.

"It's one of Haruna's creations," Setsuna said making a disgusted face as it wrapped its arms around her.

"You mean-"

"Yes it's exactly what I was telling you about before. Haruna makes a lot of things and faeries...," Setsuna said. She stabbed the fairy in the middle. "They're one of them."

It dissolved into little silvers of paper but not before giving Setsuna a baleful look, its lips sticking out in a pout. Getting to her feet Setsuna held out Yuunagi making it disappear by will.

"Are you ok?" Setsuna asked.

Something flashed in Konoka's eyes that was too fast for Setsuna to make out. It almost looked like nervousness. Then Konoka was smiling pleasantly and nodding. Nodoka had already closed the door.

"What's the matter?" Setsuna asked.

"Nothing it's just…her life force feels strange to me. Where did she come from?" Konoka said.

"We found her in the woods," Setsuna said. "She was holding a book."

Somehow that didn't make Setsuna feel all that comfortable. It made her feel apprehensive and Setsuna suddenly thought she could be as bad as Haruna. Great, now I've got two crazy people in here. Setsuna thought.

"So you took them in like me?" Konoka said.

"Well yes-"

"Hey little missy!" Jack thundered.

Setsuna winced slightly as Jack materialized next to them.

"Since you're stayin' here you gotta prove your worth!" He boomed. The power of his voice alone made everyone's hair whip back.

"I will," Konoka promised.

"Great!" Jack laughed. He turned, starting to walk down the hallway with his hands in his pockets and called over his shoulder casually, "Have her do the opening act with Ayaka! They need an extra body!"

Konoka looked nervously at Setsuna who was glaring after Jack and said, "What does he mean by body?"

"Nothing," Setsuna said, pasting a reassuring smile on her face. "Come on I'll show you where you'll be staying."

"You mean the room that belonged to the person Avveruncus?" Konoka echoed.

Setsuna shot Jack a glare, wishing he hadn't mentioned that. Jack just grinned at her.

"Yes," Setsuna said.

She started to walk down the corridor towards the stair-case in the middle that would lead down into the floor underneath this one, taking Konoka's hand.

Catching the hint Konoka followed her, calling over her shoulder, "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight dear!" Nekane called fondly.

Setsuna led her down the stairs onto the second floor. She turned right and walked at a steady pace further down the corridor all the way down the back, passing luxurious, colourful parlour rooms with inside bars, booths with curved plush seats and tables, cool lighting in hues of blue and red and game rooms with pool tables, poker machines and stage shows inside with big glass doors with heavy brass handles.

"Your room's on the right further down," Setsuna told her, letting go of her hand and pointing towards a room on the right. "Don't worry about the mess."

Konoka started to thank Setsuna when the ceiling suddenly shuddered and an explosion rocked the floor, shaking bits of plaster loose.

"What's that?" Konoka asked curiously.

Instead of answering Setsuna walked further down, stopping in front of a metal door that had a cardboard No Entry sign literally engraved into the metal. The explosions were coming from inside. Something sputtered like a car engine stopping and starting.

Setsuna placed her hand on the door-knob which had a white paper charm wrapped around it and murmured, "Aperiere"

It was gypsyspeak for the word open. The charm had been a special trait that Setsuna herself had modified to make the enchantment work properly. The lock on the inside clicked open with a distinct pop and the door sprang open from the inside. It looked like a labatory of a mad artist. There were shelves lined with bottles of black ink, casements of feathered quills, fat tubes of water-colour and oil paints, glass jars with different sized brushes in them ranging from small, medium and large, piles of sketchbooks stacked up on top of one another, rolls of clean drawing paper scattered across the floor, boxes of lead pencils, two life-sized mannequins and an easel stacked up in the corner with a dozen sheets of paper pinned to the board. On the back wall was a massive board with notes scribbled on yellow notepad and rough sketches pinned messily to the board with thumb-tacks.

There was a cabinet at the side of the room with the labels like "machines/weapons", "animals", "myths", "costumes", "props" and "architecture" written in black pen on the front of the drawers. Since the cabinet was made out of glass they could see the untidy stack of papers in each drawer filled with unfinished drawings. Some of them were rough sketches while others were half painted. And right in the centre of the room standing behind a long metal work-table in the shape of a U was a girl in a white lab coat (which was already streaked with dried paint), with long green hair and wearing a pair of goggles that gleamed underneath the bright lighting of the room. There was a rocket on the table with the compartment open. Smoke was coming from the tail end. The girl had a metal glove on one hand while the other had a screw-driver which she was using to twist some knobs with frenzy.

"This is Haruna. She's in charge of costumes and props for shows!" Setsuna said having to raise her voice over the noise. "She's a conjurer and a mad scientist! Sometimes she works on the things she creates after she finishes creating them! She's the one I was telling you about!"

She stepped aside and took Konoka with her as a pocket-sized army tank rolled past their feet followed by about half a dozen others. There were even little soldiers in full camouflage inside, manning the machine guns installed at the top with their heads sticking out.

"Oh they're so cute," Konoka cooed, kneeling down to watch them.
As the machine gun swivelled to face Konoka Setsuna dragged her back up to her feet and said, "Don't touch anything."

"Why?"

"Well-"

"Yes!" Haruna whooped, "Full speed ahead!"

The rocket broke free, spiralling out of control. Setsuna ducked as it hurtled towards her. The rocket soared over her head, smashing straight through the door leaving a hole. As screams and yells from inside pierced the air Haruna slowly stood up, counting. The rocket zipped back inside. Setsuna yanked Konoka out of the way as it careened towards them. Skimming Haruna's work-bench and scattering ink and water-colours everywhere it crashed through the window. Setsuna ran towards the window with Konoka behind her. The rocket was veering upwards towards the moon. Haruna squeezed in, pushing their heads down with glee in her eyes as she watched the rocket's trajectory. The rocket exploded with a deafening roar leaving a toxic orange mushroom cloud silhouetted against the moon. After a very long silence Haruna whistled.

"That went better than I expected!"

"Haruna's also dangerous," Setsuna finally said.

"Setsuna!" Haruna exclaimed, slinging her arm around Setsuna's shoulder, "Didn't see you there boss. What's up? Got something you need to me to do? Costumes? Props…? A new Colosseum?"

"No," Setsuna slipped out from underneath Haruna, tugging Konoka aside, "I just wanted you to meet-"

"Oho! Who's this, fresh meat?" Haruna crowed, starting to grin. She seemed to ignore the rest of what Setsuna had said.

There were very few things in this world that truly scared Setsuna. Failure and defeat were two but Haruna shot up to the top of the list when she'd first met her over four years ago as a then skilled, talented but still new to her powers as a conjurer bard Haruna had struck a chord of terror in Setsuna's heart that had her up all night. Setsuna shivered. It was the way Haruna's eyes gleamed sometimes whenever she got an insane idea. Setsuna started to turn to Konoka and blinked. Konoka was smiling at Haruna, friendly and completely fine.

"I'm Konoka," Konoka chirped. She bowed her head to Haruna respectfully, "It's nice to meet you."

As Haruna studied Konoka, her eyes lighting up Setsuna pulled Konoka closer, gazing at Haruna warily. And that's when Konoka looked at her and sent her a mesmorizing smile. Setsuna forgot all about the wolf.

A.N: Hey readers! So it's been a while hey? Real life as usual got in the way. Next update hopefully soon depending on how busy I am! :] In the meantime enjoy and tell me what you think.