Sieg didn't leave until the next morning, when someone came to tell him the Rave Master's friends were asking about him. The fight had ended before supper the day before and they were still tallying the prisoners. Haru tried to catch the messenger's thoughts on Sieg avoiding the battle, but abandoned the attempt when trying nearly made him miss leaving with Sieg.

The Hart mansion, which Haru had learned from mind snooping, belonged to Sieg's uncle, a man who was magically retarded but a genius at business, and who had taken in all of his relatives who found jobs that benefited time itself rather than something as trivial as the economy. It was much more alive than it had been the day before. The girls had discovered the pool on their own, and with Sieg hiding and his uncle on a business trip, there was no one to stop them from recruiting the staff (who were happy for the change of pace) to guard the pool from peeping boys while they tempted fate by skinny dipping. Maids were so caught up in their ninja-like efforts to keep guests and male coworkers alike from peeking into the pool room, that when Sieg rounded the corner and asked what they were doing, one reflexively swatted him in the face with a feather duster.

"Ah! Mr. Hart, my apologies."

"It's fine." Sieg blinked, then lifted a hand to rub dust from his eyes. "How are the Rave Master's friends?"

"Oh, well!" The maid straightened, hiding the feather duster behind her back as if it were evidence of foul play, and not a tool she'd been supplied to do her job. "The girls are all in better spirits this morning. Miss. Julia in particular has been doing well since the attack yesterday. I presume you were recruited to help clean up after that incident."

Sieg nodded. It wasn't lying if you didn't say it out loud.

"The boys are doing better as well. Aside from Mr. Musica. He hasn't spoken much since yesterday. Mr. Shuda and Mr. Let were concerned for him."

"He was a close friend of Haru's," Sieg guessed, recalling that Musica had been present before Haru had even confronted King. "He may be taking it harder."

"Well, I hope he cheers up soon," the maid said.

Sieg nodded again and walked past her. As he disappeared down the hall, she drew the feather duster back out and fell into stance to strike the next intruder who happened by. Haru waited a minute to see if she'd snag anyone else, then went to look for Musica.

He found his friend, along with Let and Belnika, in the living room. Or the entertainment room. Or whatever they called the room with the TV that encompassed the entire wall. Haru couldn't imagine Sieg using half the luxuries in his home. His uncle must enjoyed killing time. Or inviting lady friends over to kill time, perhaps. One of the couches on the opposite end of the room was heart shaped.

Let was listening to Belnika's horror stories about what it was like to be naked in a pool with Julia. For someone who was too upset over their friend's condition to speak, Musica was paying plenty of attention as well, although Haru forgave him for that. It was a tale worth hearing. Belnika skimped on none of the details, prattling it off so fast, so panicked, that she didn't seem to realize what exactly she was describing to two members of the male species.

She got to the part of the story where Julia and tackled her down, and Haru hummed his approval at her recounting of it. To his surprise, Musica glanced up at him when he made the noise, but quickly looked back to Belnika.

Had he heard that? Haru stepped closer and cleared his throat. Musica didn't look up.

Not one to be deterred by a small failure, he leaned down and waved a hand in front of Musica's face. Musica moved as if to grab his arm, but his hand passed right through. He turned the motion into a stretch before anyone else noticed something off.

"Musica?" Haru asked.

Musica ignored him.

Haru took a deep breath and leaned down next to Musica's ear. "Musica!"

This time Musica flinched, getting Let and Bel's attention.

"Is something wrong?" Let asked.

"Just need some fresh air…" Musica mumbled.

He stood slowly from the couch. Slow enough that Belnika decided it was fine to resume her story before he was firmly on his feet. Let returned his attention to Bel, and didn't notice the slight limp to Musica's gait as he walked out of the room and onto a balcony.

Haru followed Musica out.

"You saw me. Don't pretend you didn't."

Musica glanced back at him, expression blank.

"Why didn't you say anything back there?"

A pause, then Musica said, "What would that have accomplished, beyond getting me odd looks?"

Haru had to admit that was a fair point. If the others hadn't seen him, then it would look odd for Musica to start talking to him in public. But why could only Musica see him? And why hadn't he seen him earlier? Haru decided he didn't care. He had a friend to talk to again.

"I need you to convince the others that I'm alright… um… that I'm not brain dead."

"You sure you're not?"

Haru swatted at Musica, but his hand passed right through. "Please, Musica. And ask Sieg to try and find a spell that might have caused this. If he knows what's gone wrong then it should be easier for him to make it right?"

"Sieg?"

"He's back now." Haru paused, and decided to add a cover for his Dark Bring guarding friend. "He had to help the other sorcerers get things organized again after the attack."

Musica grinned. "Is that so? Alright."

He limped back into the room and, despite his claim to Haru less than a minute earlier, promptly turned around and asked, "By the way, where were you?"

Belnika and Let looked up.

"Who?" Let asked.

"Musica, are you feeling okay?"

"W-what are you doing talking to me?" Haru asked.

Musica smirked.

Let cleared his throat and stood up. "Musica, who are you talking to?"

"I'm talking to Haru." Let and Belnika gasped, which made Musica's smirk grow deeper. He held a hand out as if presenting Haru, making it appear to his companions that he was gesturing to thin air. "Can't you see him?"

"No," Let replied.

Belnika got up and hurried out of the room.

"Really? But he's right here."

"Musica, I think you might be… stressed," Let settled on. "You should lie down."

"I'm just fine." Musica turned to Haru. "Tell him I'm fine."

"Weren't you ignoring me earlier so you wouldn't look crazy?" Haru asked.

Musica shrugged. "I changed my mind."

Let put a hand on Musica's shoulder. "Please. Lie down."

"What's going on?" Julia, wrapped in a towel with her hair dripping, burst into the room. Belnika and Elie, who had at least hurried into now damp clothes, followed. "Belnika said Musica lost his mind."

"He needs rest. I think the stress from what happened to Haru is affecting him," Let reported. "He claims Haru is standing right next to him."

"He is. Haru, tell them you're right here."

"They can't hear me!" Haru protested.

"Tell them anyway!"

"Musica, what's wrong with you?" Julia demanded.

Musica turned to look at Julia and, with a dead serious look in his eyes, said, "I'm not Musica. I'm Elie."

Julia drop kicked him.

Musica stumbled back. The leg he had been limping on gave out beneath him, and he crashed onto the rug, where Julia kicked him twice more in the head before he went still.

"There. Now he can rest," Julia declared.

Let bent over to confirm that Musica was only unconscious as Shuda and Sieg entered the room.

"What's going on?" Sieg asked. "I heard there was a commotion."

"Musica went crazy," Elie told him. "Then Julia was all WA-POW!" She made a karate chop motion, which was not at all what Julia was all like. "And Musica's resting now."

Sieg nodded in feigned comprehension. Shuda sighed and picked Musica off the floor, then tossed him onto the couch.

-o-

Haru had hoped that when Musica woke up, he might be able to better explain what he'd meant earlier. He wasn't. He had no memory of the incident. He couldn't even say what had happened after the fight with Demon Card had ended.

"Julia must have struck your head too hard," Shuda said when Musica reported as much. "Memory loss isn't uncommon with head injuries."

Musica glanced to Elie, who smiled, oblivious to the implication. Sieg, who chose not to follow Mucisa's gaze, also missed it.

"Did I really claim I was Elie?"

"You said you were seeing Haru too," Elie told him.

Haru stepped so close in front of Musica that his leg was overlapping with the silver claimers. He waved his hands wildly, but Musica didn't react. So people could only see him during fits of temporary insanity? Lovely.

Pouting, Haru sat down on the heart-couch beside Musica. He needed to hurry up and figure out the rules of being a spirit. Lucia probably knew the trick to making people see him already. Haru still didn't know how he'd made the ground intangible. He could probably make Haru fall through the couch if he—

With an oomph, Haru fell through the couch.

Sieg glanced his way, but looked at Musica and Elie before he and Haru could form eye contact.

Was he…? No. That was silly. And even if he could see Haru now, he'd probably go nuts like Musica had. It would be nice if magic users could see him, but if they could, then it would make sense for Elie and Ruby to notice him too? Along with everyone else from the battle the day before...

Speaking of which, where was Ruby? Haru hadn't seen him all morning. If he didn't come soon, he might not get lunch. Or maybe the chef would give him the leftovers from everyone else's meals.

There was a chef. Hired yesterday, so it wasn't too awful, but Sieg still had the money to hire a chef. A very dedicated one, in fact. The man was taking personal orders from everyone and, to Sieg's credit, after getting everyone's requests he asked his employer if he'd like to help. Sieg had, apparently, mentioned that he would be willing to when hiring the man. Sieg considered the request and nodded, getting up and following the chef to the door.

"Sieg, were you injured in the fight yesterday?" Belnika suddenly asked.

Sieg paused and looked back at her. "What?"

"You're limping," she pointed out. "If it's bother you, I can try to heal it."

"Thank you, but I'm alright." Sieg gave her a reassuring smile, or tried to, at least. It came so slowly that you'd almost think he didn't know how to make the expression.

"Did you meet a tough opponent?" Shuda asked. "It's odd for someone to land a hit on you."

"I just got careless while fighting is all."

When no one else pressed, Sieg followed the chef into the kitchen.

Haru watched Sieg as he left. He did have a slight limp. Although there was no obvious damage to his left leg (that could be seen while it was completely covered by his clothes), it seemed as if it hurt him to put pressure on it. It was the exact same as how Musica had moved earlier, even though the silver claimer was walking around perfectly fine now.

And Sieg hadn't been fighting at all. Unless he'd been clumsy some time that morning, then there was no reason he should have an injured leg. The only person Haru could think of who was injured like that…

Was Lucia! Lucia who seemed a lot more adept with this spirit stuff than he was. Lucia who he knew could see him. Was Lucia body snatching his friends?

Determined to put a stop to… whatever Lucia hoped to accomplish by making his friends look wacky to one another, Haru strode through the walls towards the kitchen.

He found the chef inside giving instructions to Sieg. Patronizing instructions. This is how you peel a carrot type stuff. Lucia—if it was Lucia controlling Sieg—looked exasperated to have it explained to him, but held his tongue even when the chef told him that, whatever prebaked rubbish he heated up when he was home alone, he wasn't to in any way distract his new star employee from his art. Haru was tempted to fire the man on the spot, despite not being the one talked down too, the one employing him, or even someone the man would be able to hear.

Without being fired, the chef went to start making Elie's salad and Julia's soufflé (an order that Haru suspected had been made just to be difficult). Sieg, or possibly Lucia, set to work cutting carrots.

"You actually aren't that bad a cook," Haru observed. The slices weren't particularly thin or even, but whoever he was talking too, they weren't taking long to cut them.

His compliment went ignored.

Frowning, Haru crouched down and crawled around the counter, then slipped inside it. The sound of cutting, which echoed in the cabinets beneath the counter, turned hesitant, then returned to normal. Haru counted to thirty then sprang up from inside the counter.

The knife came down squarely between his eyes, and Sieg, who was definitely possessed by Lucia, jumped back, dropped the knife, and swore.

"I knew it!" Haru cried. "You can see me."

Lucia scowled and picked up the knife. He glanced over at the chef, who hadn't looked up at the commotion, then muttered, "My magic started picking you up earlier today," as he returned to cutting carrots.

"Liar."

"Why do you say that?"

"You don't know any magic, Lucia."

The knife froze. A glare to match his scowl formed on Lucia's face. "I think you're mistaken."

"No I'm not."

"I would know if I were Lucia."

"And you'd lie! I don't know what you did to your foot, but Sieg wasn't injured fighting. I was with him since you did whatever it was you did to the ground."

No response.

"Admit it! I won't stop talking until you do! I don't need air. I don't have to sleep. I couldn't eat if I wanted too. You can't touch me while you're in Sieg's body. How did you injure your foot anyway? Did you drop something on it? How long before you became a spirit did it happen? Was it your sword that you dropped? Are you clumsy? I bet you're secretly clumsy. You're really good on the battlefield for someone who trips a lot when no one is looking. What's the trick to hiding that you're—"

"Shut up! I'm Lucia, okay? You got it right."

"You have to answer my question too, or I won't stop. How did you injure your foot?"

Lucia thought about it a moment and decided that, since Haru wasn't going to be able to tell anyone else in the near future, not if he was counting on his possessed friend to tell people about him, then there was no harm in answering. "It's not my foot. It's my ankle."

"I didn't ask what was injured. I asked how."

Lucia shrugged, moved the carrot he was cutting so that it occupied the same space as Haru's chin, and resumed cutting.

"You sicko." Haru stepped out of the counter and stood next to Lucia. "So what do you know about this?"

"Not much. I only learned basic cooking because most people don't decide to join an evil army so they can cook for others."

"Did you really think I was asking about cooking, or are you just trying to piss me off?"

"Yes."

So it was the latter… or it was the former and Lucia was covering it up by pretending otherwise. Haru shook his head and gave up on figuring that one out. "We're both stuck as spirits."

"That would seem to be the case."

"Do you know why?"

"If I did, I'd have found a way to fix it, and be back in my body by now."

"You can't do whatever you did to get into Sieg to return to your own body?" Haru asked. Lucia shook his head, and Haru sighed. He'd really been hoping it was that simple. Although if it was that simple then Lucia would never answer his next question. "How did you get inside Sieg?"

Lucia fumbled with the knife, slicing Sieg's thumb open. He cursed and grabbed a piece of paper towel to wrap around the wound. "What?"

"How did you get inside Sieg?" Haru repeated. "You were inside Musica too, weren't you?"

"Musica?"

"The guy you were inside earlier."

Was that his name? It seemed like trivial information. Lucia decided to forget about it. "Why should I tell you?"

Haru shuffled his feet, a horrible thought striking him. "When you're inside of Sieg, do you hear his thoughts, or is he unconscious?"

"Unconscious," Lucia guessed. "Why would I hear his thoughts?"

"I hear peoples thoughts when I'm inside of them."

When Lucia stared too long, Haru wondered if he'd revealed too much. Lucia, however, had finished contemplating the fact that Haru was suddenly a mind reader and was now focused entirely on the all-important question of how many people he had been inside of.

"Lucia?"

"What is it, Glory?"

"How do you possess people?"

"The same way you read their minds."

"Oh." Haru's shoulders sagged. Between invading people's privacy and having a means of contacting the outside world, he'd much rather have the latter. And although it was good that Lucia couldn't glean the location of the final Sinclair Stone while he was in control of Sieg's body, it was still an issue that he was in control of Sieg's body.

"What are you going to do then?" Haru asked.

Lucia brushed the chopped carrots into a bowl and began to slice bell peppers. "Leave. The sorcerer's body is taller than what I'm used to, but it shouldn't take long to adjust. His magic will come in handy if I need to force my way back into headquarters too. Shakuma or Megido will recognize me and, if not, then Mother will, and that will prove my identity to anyone who might be able to return me to my body." He paused, then added, "Though since you can't even grab my shoulder, it's not like you can stop me now that you know."

"Speaking of knowing, do you know how to use Sieg's magic?"

Lucia froze mid slice. That was something he hadn't thought of.

"I'm sure it's a spell that did whatever this is to us, but everyone thinks I was hit with some magic attack that made me brain dead, and whoever found your body, they might not have noticed that magic is behind you not waking up."

Silently, Lucia acknowledged that it was almost a guarantee that they hadn't. With no proficient magic users in the castle at the time, it may not have occurred to anyone that a spell could be the cause of his coma, and there would be no way to verify it.

"Sieg can help us. If he knows what the spell really did, I'm sure he can figure out which spell it was that did this. If not, then someone in this town in bound to know."

"The people here can help you," Lucia corrected. "I maintain no illusions of them wanting to help me."

"They don't need to know they're helping you," Haru insisted, although it made his stomach turn to say the words. "Get inside of Elie and I'll feed you lines."

"I would love to be inside of Elie, but if what you actually want is for me to possess her then I don't see what good that would do. I couldn't figure out how to use her Etherion any more than I could cast a spell while controlling your sorcerer friend." Unfortunately.

"But if there's anyone who Sieg would think is channeling me, then it would be Elie. Enter her, tell Sieg what's happened, and he'll figure out how to fix us. Once we know the spell, it will be easier for you to get your sorcerer to straighten you out. And they captured a bunch of Demon Card men yesterday. You can take over one and I'll set him free so you have a cover to get back in."

"Sure you will."

"I mean it!" Haru insisted. "I don't want you returned to normal. I don't. But you taking over all my friends is just as bad." Worse, if he did stay in control of Elie long enough figure out how to create an Etherion apocalypse, but Haru didn't voice that idea, lest it grow on Lucia.

And he didn't have to. Lucia considered Haru's motive and found it to be believable. Especially because, although it might not have occurred to Haru, Lucia suspected he could get some devastating results by possessing the Rave Master himself. If he weren't so found of his own body, he may take over Haru permanently.

"Alright." Sieg's body went stiff as Lucia stepped out of it.

Haru took careful note of Lucia's footing, or near lack off. Without a body to support himself, Lucia could barely stand on his injured ankle. It might have been Haru's imagination, but it looked worse than before.

While it made his spirit-skin crawl to even think of it, he put an arm around Lucia's waste and said nothing while the blond scoffed and reluctantly put an arm over Haru's shoulder. No way in hell was Lucia going to make it all the way to where Elie sat without help.

-o-

Sieg had found himself standing in the kitchen, not sure when he'd gone from listening to reports of Musica's odd behavior, or what exactly he was supposed to be doing. The man he'd hired to help him prepare meals for a large group seemed to have regulated him to smaller tasks, and from the disgruntled look he got when he cleared his throat to ask what was going on, he suspected that it wouldn't have gone well if his main concern was what he was supposed to be helping to cook.

He finished chopping the vegetable in front of him and excused himself to go check in on the Rave Master's friends.

Musica was conscious, and being teased for his earlier behavior. Sieg had no memory of Musica coming too. That Musica had no memory of acting strange made Sieg anxious, but he kept a calm face as he sat down on one of the couches and asked about his own behavior. That Haru and Lucia had also chosen to wait on that couch until it was a good time to possess Elie was something he'd never know, nor would he ever be told about how Haru had scampered out of his way while Lucia mocked the Rave Master by hinting that he may take over Sieg's body again just to make him look like a nutcase.

To Sieg's disappointment (and relief) they'd noticed nothing beyond him being quiet.

Lunch came while Sieg was fetching texts to see if he had anything that might reference what had happened. Julia dug into her soufflé and Musica chowed down on lobster while Sieg held a sandwich in one hand and turned the pages of his book with another.

Now Elie had grown quiet which, given his own reported behavior and Musica's earlier that day, made Sieg worry that she might be next. But she just muttered that she was hoping Haru was okay, so they left her alone.

Everyone left Sieg alone too, once he became so caught up in skimming pages that he forgot he was holding onto a sandwich. The rest of the group cleaned their plates and headed down to the basement, where a footman, because the Hart family had one of those, had informed them that there was a bowling alley.

Elie cleared her throat and, when that failed, reached out and pulled Sieg's book away.

Sieg's eyes followed the text until the angle was no longer easy to read from, then looked up to meet Elie's eyes. "Is something the matter?"

"I need to talk to you."

"What is it?" Since there was nothing to distract him from his sandwich, Sieg took a bite after asking.

"I'm Haru."

Sieg paused mid bite, then slowly removed the sandwich from his mouth and studied Elie's expression closely before asking, "Are you now?"

"This is really important. I'm not sure how long I can stay in…" Elie cleared her throat. "I'm not sure how long I can stay inside Elie, so I have to make this fast. I need your help."

"Who was the first person you saw when I trapped you in Altearith?"

"My mom," Elie replied. After a moment she added, "I don't think you ever asked me that. That's a horrible question for identifying me."

"The important part was that you knew I hadn't asked." Which Elie had no way of knowing, if she was messing with him. "How are you controlling Elie?"

"I think it's her magic," Haru in Elie's body guessed with a shrug. Were they taking a second too long to respond? Sieg discounted it as his imagination. Or perhaps a delay in Haru's commands and Elie's reaction.

"So she got in contact with you from beyond the grave?"

"No." Haru looked flustered a moment after he said it. "I-I'm not dead! Honest!"

"You're… not…?"

"No. I don't think I am." He looked down, thinking about it. "My body is still breathing, I mean. Somehow my spirit was separated from it. I don't know how to return to normal."

"So you're not brain dead."

Haru almost cracked a grin before looking horribly offended.

"I see." Sieg rested a finger on his chin. "That does change the situation. I'll ask if anyone knows of a spell that can do that. If Miltz hasn't heard of it, I'm sure he'll know where to find the information."

"Who?" Haru glanced to his left, scowled in a decisively un-Haru-like way, then turned back to Sieg. "I think I'm running out of time. You'll look for the spell that did this?"

Sieg nodded.

"Thank you. I'll be waiting here if you have any news." Haru smiled an awkward, forced smile. Like he was trying to mimic Elie's upbeat grin but wasn't sure what it was like to feel the emotion necessary to look upbeat.

Then Elie went rigid, blinked, looked around, and asked Sieg, "Where did everyone go?"

Memory loss. Sieg suppressed a chill as he made the connection, smiled for Elie, and told her what he'd just learned.