Mimi leaned over the edge of the balcony but was careful enough to avoid puking on Yolei's body. Once she had lost those fluids and solids, she shakily fell to her knees as she tried to refill her lungs with air. She could hear the fighting still happening behind her and she wished it would just stop, someone was dead and they were too busy in combat to actually notice. It was just cruel, no matter how abrasive or boorish Yolei was; this was a kind of death, no living being deserved.

"Please…No more fighting…" the princess sobbed into her knees.

She felt like she was sitting there for hours and when she finally opened her eyes, she realized that she had passed out. She found herself in her bedroom chamber, inside of her castle. At first, she thought that it was all a bad dream but then she found that she was still in her ball gown.

The doors to her chamber opened and Sora entered. "Mimi…You're awake."

"Sora…" Mimi looked out the window and saw that it was still dark outside. "Sora, what happened? Did I pass out at the ball? Did everything happen, happen? Is Yolei…?" She didn't want to finish that last question and it was clear that neither did Sora.

"You should just rest for now" Sora told her.

"Yolei…She's dead…Just like Michael is…"

"It wasn't your fault."

She knew it wasn't but so far, the only two victims of Ken were connected to her in some way, it almost felt like she was cursed. "Sora…I want you to promise me that you will stay alive. Stay away from that warlock at all times."

The seamstress blinked, wondering in amazement how the princess could still be concerned with her safety over her own. "Of course. But I'm more worried about you."

"I'll be fine" Mimi replied. "The worst thing that can happen to someone isn't death you know, it's losing the people you care about."

"Mimi…"

The princess's own words struck a chord as she realized something else. She pulled herself out of bed and grabbed her handmaiden's shoulders. "Sora, were there any other victims? Did anyone else…die?" The look that Mimi was giving her was a strong signal that she wanted an honest answer from her.

Sora shook her head quickly as she could until it felt like her head would snap off. "No one died but there were a lot of people who suffered injuries. The village doctor, Joe, checked out everyone to make sure they were okay. The princes were lucky enough to escape with only a couple of bumps and bruises. Noriko's only got one lethal gash on her left thigh but she'll survive to say the least. The wizard lost vision in his right eye after it was stabbed. But the worst is for Davis, we didn't really need Joe to diagnose what was wrong with him."

Now Mimi was worried. "Let me see him."

"I can just tell you –."

Mimi cut her off. "Sora, I want to see my knight. Bring him in here but…First; I want you to tell me a few things. What's going to become of the duchess's body and what is the status of Ken?"

"Ken escaped but not before suffering serious damages from the warriors and the wizard so I doubt we'll be seeing him any time soon" Sora replied. "As for the duchess…It seems that her servants have the choice of being ordinary villagers or asking another royal to stay with them. Kari already asked us and Tai already answered for you by allowing her. I hope you don't mind." She got a nod of approval from the princess so she continued on. "As for Yolei's funeral, it's in a week, we're expected to be there to pay our respects."

Mimi bit her lower lip to prevent the tears from spilling. "Of course…Now…Sora, please bring Davis in here so that I may seem him."

"Yes, milady" Sora bowed as she left the chamber.

Mimi sighed as she walked over to the window and looked out of it. She was impatiently waiting for her knight to come in so that she could dispel the anxious feeling that something horrible happened to him. Although, judging by Sora's expression earlier, there was no doubt that some terrible did happen. She just had to be prepared for the worst, meaning if Davis came in being carried by her other knights because he broke multiple bones. That was the worst thing that could happen next to death she supposed.

The sound of wood banging on the stone floor consecutively approached her chamber and with each bang, it became progressively louder. It perplexed her to a point until she heard Davis's voice huffing in exhaustion.

"You wanted to see me, milady?" asked Davis.

'Did he break his leg so he has to use a crutch?' Mimi wondered. It would explain the wood banging on the floor consecutively as if he had been walking. It wasn't as bad as what she had imagined so that was good. She turned around and gasped in horror at the reality. "Davis! Your leg!"

Davis' left leg was gone; it looked like it was completely chopped off at the knee. It was professionally wrapped up in white bandages and he held one wooden crutch to keep his balance. The princess had been expecting broken bones, not the horror of a missing leg.

"Yeah, I know it looks bad but I'm doing okay" Davis said, forcing out a chuckle. He couldn't fool the princess; she knew he was still in pain. "The doctor said it was a miracle that I learned to balance myself on this crutch so quickly."

"Davis…" Mimi breathed after a long moment. "This is my fault. I could've taken another knight with me instead of you and you got hurt because of it."

Davis shook his head as he felt himself losing his balance so he used the wall to support him. "No, it's not your fault. I was the one who insisted on going with you. It was my own foolish and selfish desire to see Kari that pushed me to go. And besides, you couldn't have known that Ken would show up there. None of this is your fault."

"But still…"

"Don't beat yourself over it" Davis continued. "You're the princess, your people look up to you. If your subjects start to see you losing your calm head then they'll start to panic as well. You're a strong maiden, and that's all you need to remember at the moment."

"Thank you Davis" she nodded. "It's ironic. I asked to see you because I wanted to make you feel better but it became the opposite." She felt her eyes drawn to the missing leg so she just had to pop the question. "How does it feel?"

"Honestly? Awful" Davis admitted. "I've found a new respect to veterans who fought in wars and came back with missing appendages. But that's not the worst of it…"

"It's not? Then what is?"

"What's worse than missing a leg is simply knowing that I won't be of any use to you anymore" Davis chuckled. "How am I supposed to protect you if I can't even stand without using one of my hands? My duty as a knight in your court was to protect, and now, I have become obsolete."

"You know that's not true."

"Well what use am I to you with only one leg?"

Mimi took a long time to think about it before figuring out an answer. "I heard that you have a taste for cuisine, why don't you join the kitchen? If you do really well then I can promote you to head chef. But I apologize in advance if you feel you're not putting in enough effort for me."

Davis smiled though. "That would be great; I'd love to assist you in any way possible. Besides, I make some pretty noodles, I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

The princess smiled in response. "Yeah? Well, I'm excited to try them. You can start tomorrow, and I think I'll just ask for your specialty for lunch."

"Then I'll make a special batch just for you."

"I look forward to it."

The now former knight and the princess soon parted ways after bidding each other a 'good evening'. It wasn't much, but it certainly helped Mimi feel a little better, conversing with one of her servants as if nothing bad had happened. She just hoped that they would be able to enjoy the little peace they had for a time. Now there was just one other thing to do.

'I still have to see Izzy tomorrow.'

-X-

Davis stumbled out the back door of the castle which connected to the kitchen, it was his first day on his new job and he was pretty good at it according to the other chefs. He just needed a break now and then; he wasn't used to the intense heat the kitchen could get up too at times. It wasn't nearly as hot as it was when he and Tai had to go into the volcano to slay the village terrorizing dragon.

He was getting better at keeping his balance without his crutch which was a good thing. Last night, he was actually leaning over several times while talking to the princess and if it hadn't been for his crutch, he would've embarrassed himself by falling on his face. That probably wouldn't have reassured Mimi in any way that he was okay.

He heard a splash coming from the creek a couple of yards from the back of the castle and he decided to walk towards it. He grabbed his crutch and slowly limped towards the sound and he soon found the princess's newest servant washing the clothes there.

"Kari, you're working already?" the former knight said.

Kari looked up and almost dropped the dress she was holding in her hands. "Well, I wanted to be useful to the princess since she was so kind to take me in after what happened. And besides, it helps me get my mind off of certain events."

"I understand what you mean" Davis nodded. Being a knight meant a lot for him and being able to protect someone made him feel needed, losing his leg shattered that part of him. He had to say, he was lucky that Mimi could find another purpose for him inside the castle so quickly. "I'm really glad you're here, you know."

"…Thanks" Kari muttered.

He noticed that she was doing the exact same thing that Mimi had last night. Her eyes were constantly being drawn to the missing leg and he could probably guess what she was thinking.

"You know that this isn't your fault right?"

She shook her head. "I ran back in there because I wanted to help my brother and then Ken targeted me with that attack. And you…"

"I protected you."

Kari stopped midway in their escape when they saw the duchess fall from the second floor balcony. It was a mortifying sight but the thought that it could happen to her brother was far worse. She pulled herself out of TK's grasp and ran back inside the castle quickly being followed by the prince.

"Tai!"

"Wait, Kari, it's dangerous to go back in there!"

TK said that but he wanted to get back inside too, Kari wasn't the only one terrified for her brother. He was wondering about the condition of his own. The two got back into the ballroom soon enough and they found that the battle had reach intense heights with Ken pushing back all his opponents.

Tai was caught in a stalemate at the moment, his sword against Ken's dagger. Unfortunately, he had gotten in the way of Izzy lightning bolt which he was forced to hold lest he hit the knight.

"What do you think you're doing, are you trying to get hit?" Izzy shouted.

"Huh?" muttered Tai. His distraction was enough for Ken to push him back.

"Now!" Izzy threw the lightning bolt at the same time Kari ran towards her fallen brother. Ken wasn't dumb enough to stay in one place though; he used his dark energy to extend the dagger and started charging towards Kari. The bolt of lightning crashed into the floor and now the handmaiden was in danger.

Neither TK nor Izzy would've been able to make it in time to push her out of the way but Davis was close enough to get in the way. He tried to use his sword to parry the attack but the dagger wasn't aimed for his body, it was a feint and instead cut the lower part of leg clean off of his body. The knight fell down onto his back and released an anguished scream as he was grabbing onto his thigh. Kari had collapsed to her knees and she was paralyzed in complete fear when she saw the blood spurting out from his leg.

By this time, TK and Izzy got to them. TK grabbed Davis's sword and stared using it against the warlock with some assistance from Noriko. Izzy stayed with Davis, determined not to have someone else die so he used his magic to stop the bleeding at the very least.

"Kari, got out to the village and get Joe here, now!" Izzy ordered.

Kari was still unable to move so Tai got up and pulled her out of her trance. "Listen to me Kari, if you go and get the doctor back here as soon as possible, then there will still be a chance to save Davis. You have to go!"

His little sister stiffly nodded before running out of the ballroom and out of the castle in a hurry. By the time she had gotten back, the warlock had vanished and Davis had passed out from all the blood loss. Joe bent down beside Davis and immediately started treating him, the others would wait and they were all willing to wait.

"It looks like there's not much I can do" Joe muttered. "He'll live but unfortunately, I can't do anything about the missing leg."

"Can't we just build a wooden or metal one for him?" Noriko suggested.

"We can ask the village blacksmith" Joe shrugged. "But an artificial leg is going to take a lot of time to make, it could take weeks or even possibly months. I'll go to him as soon as I've finished treating the rest of you and ask him to build one."

"Thank you Joe" Kari said. When he went over to treat Izzy's eye which has apparently been cut after Kari had left, she sat down next to the knight's side. She grabbed his hand and placed it against her chest as she cried for him. "Why did you have to go and do that for me?" she whispered.

Davis's eyes fluttered open for a moment. "Don't cry Kari, it doesn't suit a lady such as yourself. I'll be fine."

"But why did you do it?"

"…Because I love you…"

Kari looked away; she had never felt so guilt in her life. "That doesn't mean you have to put your life on the line for me. It was just reckless! Do you have any idea how I would've felt if you died trying to protect me?"

"There are things far worse than death."

"…Like what?"

Davis limped towards her and touched the top of her head. "How do you think I would've felt if the maiden I had fallen for were to die? I would've killed myself for not being able to protect you. That's why you should be happy that I only lost a leg. It could've been worse, you could've lost me or I could've lost you."

"Davis…" Kari sniffed. "I'm sorry…"

"I told you, you don't –."

She shook her head. "Not about your leg. I'm sorry I can't reciprocate your feelings towards me."

"I don't care about that" he chuckled. "All I care about is that you're safe and happy. So if you love someone else, then I will be just fine as long as you're happy with him."

"Thank you Davis…" Kari smiled. "You're always there for me when I need it, aren't you?"

"I try" he shrugged. "So…I hope you don't think this is prying into your personal life too much but is there someone you're in love with?"

The first person to come to mind was TK and she knew that he was the one Davis was referring too. "To be perfectly honest, I'm not quite sure. I think that the prince may be in love with me but I'm not sure if I feel the same way towards him. I guess since I've never been courted by anyone before, I don't know what love feels like just yet."

The only reason a lady as fair as Kari had never been courted by someone before was because they would always have to go through Tai and his criteria first. None of them ever got past his approval. But Kari didn't know that.

"Love is definitely a complicated emotion" Davis sighed.

"Can you describe it to me?" Kari asked.

The question caught the former knight off guard but surprisingly, the answer came very easily to him. Perhaps it was because he was speaking to the very person he felt love towards. "I guess…Love is a feeling when reality becomes better than your fantasies."

"Then it'll be impossible for me to know" Kari sighed. "With that warlock running around, reality isn't a very nice place, is it?"

"No it isn't" Davis agreed. "But I guess what I meant was…When just talking to the person you feel attracted to is better than imagining your perfect soul mate kissing you. Simply put, you'd rather feel the real affections from someone rather than the affections of a perfect person. Because the real person, is perfect to you no matter what."

"In that case…I don't think I'm in love but maybe someday…"