Chapter Fourteen:

Claws as Long and Sharp as Yours

Hakuryuu's revolt, Judar's frightening new powers, and their killing Ren Gyokuen could only result in one thing: war.

And in the midst of all of it were Sousei and Suisei unable to escape the capital.

Ceara was beside herself with anxiety and fear. There had been no word from them or concerning them from any of the refugees that she'd talked to as they arrived from the capital. The chaos that had ensued also made it impossible to smuggle information in or out. Even Shika remained at a standstill with none of her sources answering her calls. Her panic grew exponentially everyday and soon she could no longer sleep nor eat properly, preferring to spend her time working with the military or intelligence in order to rescue those who still were escaping from the eastern parts of their country.

It kept her informed and involved, something that Kouen was refraining vehemently from doing. Ever since the whole convoy returned from the summit meeting, he had refused to talk to her. In his place, Seijin had told her everything in detail about what had happened; he told her all about Alma Toran and how their world came to be and also about Rakah. But whatever threats or lack thereof he'd given, she didn't care for. Whatever that man could do could not be as bad as the fear that clawed at her insides every second and intoxicated her every breath at the thought of Sousei and Suisei trapped in the capitol where Hakuryuu now reigned.

The sweetest boy she'd known now a man that found no qualm in killing his people or destroying his own country.

And with the crisis their country was currently facing, Ceara knew that there were more important matters to attend to than what they would surely consider her whims. As things stood, though, she desperately needed help. Even after eight days of nonstop work to figure out a way—because surely there must be someway to reach them—she was starting to run out of options and, little by little, out of hope. She couldn't handle this alone.

Not this.

And like the past eight days, for the one hour she had to eat or rest during the day, she would go search for Kouen to talk; to see if they could figure something out to get to them. And as she stood outside the meeting room, its entrance blocked by guards that refused to let her in, she continued to fume and let her anxiety drive her back and forth in front of the door. Thankfully she was alone since Seijin and Parisa were out working as well, helping however they could with the situation they had at hand. But that didn't mean that she didn't have those that still nagged at her to stop.

"My king, please," Beleth pled. "You must rest. You will kill yourself from exhaustion at the rate you're going."

"Not knowing will kill me first, Beleth," she replied not caring that the guards overheard her talking to herself.

"You have to sleep," Marbas reminded her, annoying her that much more.

"No, I have to find them!" she hissed, effectively shushing them both. Thundering footsteps got her attention and made Ceara turn to her side to find Kouen's household members rushing towards the room. Despite the opportunity she saw, she couldn't keep up with them to sneak into the room. The guards kept her at bay outside but Ceara knew that whatever they had to say was important. Instead she chose to augment her hearing using Beleth to clearly listen to whatever his household would say.

An imperial edict...from Hakuryuu?

And it held weight. Hakuryuu vowed to strike down Kouen, 'the traitor.' And what was worse, he had declared that anybody who opposed him would be executed. Ceara shook to her core at hearing that.

Sousei and Suisei were smart enough to not go against it. Even if they didn't agree with it, they would follow Hakuryuu's orders to stay alive. But even then…

I can't tell if Hakuryuu will trust their word.

He knew them. He knew where their alliances fell and what the Reizei were known for. They took care of their own first and foremost. And if Hakuryuu got the slightest hint of betrayal from them... Her legs almost gave way underneath her at thinking the worst outcome.

Ceara had been so lost in her cynicism that she hadn't noticed either Seijin or Parisa calling out to her after having found her frozen in place. But even their voices drowned as the doors of the room were pushed opened and the people inside began to file out. Seeing his aloof expression hiding what she could tell was distraught after eight days finally broke through her and made her act out on her distress. Stepping out before him, Ceara didn't allow for him to move a step further as she placed herself firmly between him and his way.

"En, I-I can't find them. There's been no word," she told him, feeling the emotions that had been piling up in her for the past week finally coming out making her stutter.

"Them?" she overheard one of the household members say.

Kouha answered them, "Sou and Sui."

Just hearing their names broke her apart. After a week of doing nothing but worry and work to find them during every hour of every day, she had left herself no time to deal with how she was dealing with it. The simple mention that Kouha made got let those emotions loose as her tears began to fall. Reaching out, Ceara could only hold onto his arms and lean her head against his chest as she cried.

"I'm scared for them, En," she whispered between sobs. "I-I don't know what H-Hakuryuu—I can't let this happen again. Please, y-you've got to help me bring them home. I-It's not safe for them there."

The feeling of his hands on her shoulders was familiar and even a tiny bit calming but as he pulled her back to meet her eye-to-eye, his words were everything but. "I know it isn't but there is no time."

"N-No time…?" she repeated baffled. Ceara tried to undo his hold on her but when she couldn't she resorted to raising her voice instead. "How can there be no time? I can't do nothing and let them die there!"

"They won't."

"You can't promise me that!" she yelled, trying desperately to undo the grip on her shoulders but the energy from the sudden anger that came had already left her. In the end, despite how much she hated it, she couldn't do much other than beg. "Please...don't do this. Help me."

Even through the tears that still came and stung her eyes, Ceara could see Kouen's unwillingness in his crimson gaze. The simply glance told her what she didn't hear, what he didn't dare say.

"There is no point in searching for two civilians amidst a war."

Ceara knew that what she was asking for was near impossible to do. But she had trusted that him, out of anybody, would be able to do the impossible. He'd done so before. But now all he gave to her in response was silence. That was enough to crush whatever hope she had kept alive thinking he could help her.

"Seijin. Parisa," he called, his voice somewhat lower than normal.

"Yes."

"Take her back to her room. Get her to rest. And don't let her leave for the remainder of the day."

"Of course," Seijin replied before taking her from Kouen. In spite of feeling their hands touching her body, Ceara couldn't fathom that it was her they were hauling away. She was so dissociated by that point that she hadn't even noticed how fast they got her back to her quarters. It was like she wasn't in her own body anymore. She couldn't even tell when or what Parisa got her to drink.

It tasted bitter.

But even whatever medicine she'd given her couldn't undo the panic that didn't let her rest peacefully. Her mind flooded with ideas, whatever she could think of to help. But her mind was muddied from the medicine and whatever she thought of left quickly and without a trace.

As much in chaos as the country was now, Ceara couldn't fathom it being in anymore pandemonium than her mind. But as much as she tried fighting it, it ended coming over her and settling her mind into a half-awake, half-asleep state. It felt odd and disgusting, like being submerged in thick water that made her breathing and heart beat slow to a painful pace.

It felt like days had passed when she could finally breathe on her own accord. It'd only been hours but enough to let the day waste away into the late evening. Frustrated about the lost time, Ceara snatched the pillow from beneath her and threw it across the room as she sat back against the headboard of her bed, curling into herself as she wept.

So much hope placed onto him for nothing. After days of nonstop work, Ceara had hoped that if all of it amounted to nothing, then she could trust Kouen to have an answer. Just like he always seemed to have. But that felt wrong somehow.

When did I place so much trust in him?

It wasn't hard to find the answer to that question. The more she thought about it, the more excuses she came up with. The idea of the companion, the scrupulous treacher, and the passionate man she had found stood out the most. Without knowing, he had become an important pillar to her almost as strong as the twins were. Letting herself get to that point had been a mistake.

Kouen had an obligation to his people and country first and foremost. She was neither as Ceara of Eriu. And as such, despite how bitter the thought made her, she shouldn't expect his help anymore. Not in this time of crisis.

I'm on my own on this.

Furiously, she wiped at the tears that stung at the corners of her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself and to think straight about what to do now. The logical part of her pleaded her to rest seeing as it was already late to do anything today. The other part of her that drove her brain to that edge told her to work—there must have been something she missed. Because of the sleep she got from Parisa's medicine, the latter won the debate. But staying in her room wouldn't help. Changing quickly, she snuck out of both her room and the palace that early morning, thinking that perhaps some of the officials from the capital had some way to contact the it.

Balbadd at those early hours of the morning, though, was rather quiet. Only the merchants, dock loaders, and the ship's crew were out at those hours. And by the time dawn had colored the sky above the city, Ceara had talked to everybody she could think of that could hold any sort of information. All for naught. Anybody with access was either lying or was scared about whatever they had seen. Even telling them who she was and why she was asking didn't help her get any answers. But a part of her understood that they were scared about what the imperial family wouldn't tell them, what they refused to admit to their people. Even with Hakuryuu's imperial edict having been kept under hold from the public, she knew that gossip had gone around about it. People were aware and that put fear in their minds.

And she couldn't deny that she wasn't part of that fearful crowd. Many of their loved ones were in Rakushou and they were in the same boat as she was, unable to contact their families or loved ones. And before she realized it, they began to plead her for help. All at once with that, she saw herself in them again, asking for help that they knew or felt she wouldn't be capable of giving them.

Did I know he would deny me?

She thought so. At least somewhere deep inside, Ceara had known Kouen wouldn't help. That thought alone solidified her mentality that, at least where this was concerned, she was truly on her own.

The last place she went to search for any kind of information was the orphan house simply because she thought it the less likely to hold anything at all. By the time she arrived, the morning was well on it's way and the streets were full with busy people going about with their lives, some hiding behind fake smiles and others simply oblivious to the threats.

"Lady Reizei!" The current matron of the house, a young widow and mother of one of the kids in the house, called out at seeing her coming towards the doorstep she was currently cleaning.

"Hello." Ceara could only give a tight-lipped smile as she came closer and entered at being invited. Some of the children that she had seen on her last visit almost two weeks ago left their toys to run to their matron and her to give some cheerful hellos that somehow managed to get her to smile a little. "How is everything here?"

"All right considering how understaffed we are," she replied frankly. A small boy trotted over to her and got her to pat his head before he went running off. The two of them had the same pretty eyes.

"How's your son?"

"Growing healthy and educated." A smile came to her lips as she turned to Ceara. "We have you to thank for that."

"That's not true," Ceara retorted with a chuckle as her nose scrunched. "We all work hard to make this happen. It's because of you and those who work here that your son is doing so well. You've worked hard."

"And this would have never happened had you not created it in the first place." Another of the caretakers came over and called for the kids as their playtime ended. They groaned in unison but said their goodbyes before trotting away further into the building. "Here, we're safe, my lady. And that's something we have you and their highnesses to thank."

Being reminded of that delusion of safety, Ceara asked her if she had by any chance gotten into contact with anybody from Rakushou or if there had been any word from the refugees she or others were housing. Expectantly, the young woman shook her head. "I'm afraid not, my lady. We have received refugees but none have said anything they haven't told his excellency or the military."

"I see." Of course there wouldn't be. At least she couldn't say she didn't try everything. Giving her a meek smile, Ceara bowed before thanking her for her work like she did every time she had come around to visit them. "I hope you and your son keep doing well."

"Thank you, my lady. I hope you and your family are well, too."

Me too. Keeping that comment to herself, Ceara excused herself before going back outside to the boisterous crowd. That struck her as odd, though, especially the volume. The morning had been loud but not this loud. Ceara pulled the hood of her cloak over her head to keep the sun rays away from her eyes as she entered the crowd to see what was getting them so rowdy this early in the morning.

"Is this—"

"It's a memorandum from Rakushou!"

What?! Heart beat racing, Ceara pushed through to make her way until she came to be a few heads behind where the large parchment had been hung. But even from that close, she couldn't read it very well.

"B-But is it true?"

"It has to be! Look who wrote it."

"But then that woman—"

An abrupt noise from above got all of their attention before, from one of the rooftops, somebody haphazardly tossed out stacks of loose parchment into the air and let them spread through the crowd. Ceara got lucky to catch one with a slight jump and unwrinkled it as more shocked voices started to raise all around her.

And just from reading the first line of the paper she understood why and felt even sicker than she had ever thought possible.

No. This can't be.

But it was.

At that instant, Ceara couldn't keep from running away from the crowd, letting the parchment fall from her hands, to make her way back to the palace.

This is beyond idiotic.

They shouldn't be here. They shouldn't have given up. They should have fought.

And yet he still heard Masami's quiet sobs the night after the revolt happened. "We can't win. What matters now is that we're alive and to stay that way."

Didn't feel like it. Sousei reached up with his right hand to his brow where bandages covered over his left eye and then to his arm where a sling was placed to keep him from injuring it any further. Despite how much he told them, neither Suisei nor Masami believed that he felt better. But after eight days, Sousei was sure that his wounds were more than healed and properly scarred but humored them by wearing the sling and patching the cut on his brow.

The recovery had been under much stress, however, seeing as Hakuryuu had taken over Rakushou with a frightening speed. It was something hard for him to understand since he knew for a fact that the majority of Kou, a staggering 80% at that, were more inclined to follow his highness, Prince Kouen. But Sousei doubted that he could do the same seeing as they were under house arrest by the emperor's orders. Whatever he had done to his troops, he didn't seem intended to do to them for whatever reason. They had allied themselves with him to keep their heads for the time being but he doubted it was their alliance that stopped him. Sousei was sure that the young emperor knew their exact intentions. Thankfully, Hakuryuu allowed them to live but ordered their current imprisonment until he decided what to do with them.

And for eight days they had followed that order...until Masami broke it a few hours ago.

"Are you in pain?"

Sousei gave his older twin an assuring smile, one both knew he didn't mean. "No, Sui. I've told you before, I'm fine now."

Suisei nodded solemnly and scooted closer to him as they sat on the bed the three of them now shared in what used to be Masami's old quarters. Despite his clemency, Hakuryuu didn't appear to have any trust in them to give them each a room. Hospitality aside, however, Sousei couldn't complain. He'd spent most of his life sharing with Suisei and Masami had left them the bed to sleep in the antechamber instead.

"Do you think he'll kill her?"

There was no lie he could tell her that would calm the anxiousness in either of them. So he didn't. "I don't know."

Certainly Masami had done something neither of them expected her to do simply because there was no need for the world to know. Sousei didn't know how but Masami had found the time in the past eight days to write a memorandum, one that she somehow managed to spread not just within the Kou Empire in the east but also towards the western plains, including Balbadd.

And in it Masami had written what she had told them the night before they left Balbadd about how Ceara of Eriu had spent over a decade posing as their sister, gaining favor to exact her revenge against the empire that stole everything from her.

A lie.

But if he couldn't prove what he knew to his own twin, there was no way he could disprove what a whole mass of people would think.

Even before Masami ever told them, Sousei had had some kind of inkling. Despite being so young, he had been a bright boy, one that paid attention well to everything around him. From his young age, he'd picked up on certains nuances about his family that distinguished them from how they acted and who they really were. The one of their father's foul moods that made him harass their mother or of their mother's drunken fits to cope with the abuse or even of Masami's rebellious tendencies that got her to sneak out late at night. All of these uncharacteristic things about his family—things about them that no one else in the world saw—were things he caught onto and had engraved into his memory.

And when young he'd caught onto his sister Kohaku's fixation with the world. He recalled her talking nonstop about what she would do once she was old enough to travel: the places she would go, the people she would meet, the things she would do. A fixation that had completely disappeared after the fire to their estate. Instead, after that tragedy, she spoke with a much quieter voice, saying that she wanted to go with them to the seaside.

Overnight she had changed from an overtly cheery girl to a much more quietly passionate one. From that point on and for the years that followed, Sousei had never felt things to be quite the same. At the time he had blamed it on the fire but his unease never settled and always lingered at the back of his mind. It wasn't until after he obtained Beleth's household vessel that he found out why. The spirit of the household that had bonded with his sword only ever spoke to him twice in his life: once when he came to nested on his sword and then a few months after when he had been struggling to achieve any real progress with mastering its powers.

It told him that Beleth had chosen him in order to have him before another took him. It told him that Sousei had began showing signs of a splendid household member but for two metal vessels simultaneously. It was when it refused to explain further that Sousei felt compelled to search the meaning of what he'd said. At that point in time, no other but his sister had a djinn anywhere near Shika and she had only just captured Beleth.

There was no other djinn. Or so he'd thought.

It had been one night after the attack that had left her throat disfigured and voiceless—a night that up to this day he didn't know whether to call lucky or unfortunate—that he had been training with Sakhiba Shafarat out in the woods when he heard her weeping and found her talking to something.

It was the small specter of a young girl, one he recognized well as his older sister, Kohaku. Sousei had been so taken aback by the scene that he couldn't move or say anything and inadvertently continued to watch. That woman, Ceara, was speaking with a hoarse voice, incessantly apologizing to her over and over and calling the phantom 'Kohaku.' Sousei never knew what she was apologizing for but heard Kohaku forgive her while saying that Murmur accepted her decision. That she could choose to no longer wield him as her djinn if she so wanted and he wouldn't hold it against her.

"They waited much longer for king vessels to appear. He's willing to wait a few more years for you."

The small Kohaku had come down to hug her just before it evaporated into bright flecks of green that vanished into thin air. And from his vantage point, Sousei had caught the sight of the small hairpin, the one that he'd seen his sister carry only after the fire. One she explained away by saying it belonged to the young vassal that had served her and that had died in the fire.

It was the same hairpin that he'd seen her hold out to show them that night in Balbadd. It was the prove that Masami had spoken about and one he knew about himself. Sousei never understood why he had never said anything to anyone and simply kept up the charade. He never understood himself for that decision.

Perhaps a part of him had wanted to think what he'd seen was a lie.

Perhaps a part of him had wanted for it all to be a lie.

After all, she had been a kind sister to them. She had taught them how to live, how to fight, how to survive. And above all else, she had loved them.

But a part of him had broken when sh—when Ceara had admitted to everything. All at once, he'd turned into a little boy again and was facing the reality of what happened during that fire. He'd lost his sister; they all had. And it'd ripped opened the wound that he had fooled into nonexistence after what he'd witnessed in the forest.

Sousei had lied to himself for years about it, doing anything and everything to keep that lie for his own sake. And in one night she had torn his makeshift reality into shreds. But even despite the grief and anger he felt, he couldn't keep himself from loving her. She'd grown with them and had given them nothing but love and sweet memories.

As things stood though, he couldn't bring himself to choose on whether he hated her enough to forsake her or loved her enough to forgive her.

"Souchi." The small sobbing caught him off guard and got Sousei to turn to Suisei while she wept, tears streaming down her cheeks and eyes beginning to turn puffy and red. "I miss her." At saying that, she bit her lip and frowned before burying her face against his arm. "And I hate myself for it."

"Don't," he muttered, taking his arm out of the sling to soothingly stroking Suisei's back like their sister always did when they were scared. "I miss her too."

"Why do we?" Suisei cried, turning back to speak normally as she pulled away from his hand and body. "I can't understand. After what Sami-nee said, after every lie, why do we care still?"

"Because we love her, Sui," he admitted with a small smile. His hand reached out and brought her head forward to let their foreheads touch. At doing so, he felt the drops that fell from his chin and found himself crying without knowing it. "She took care of us. She loved us."

"She lied to us…" Suisei muttered but Sousei could tell that she was trying her hardest to convince herself more than him. She needed it to be true just like he had. It had always seemed much easier to hate than to forgive, after all.

"Did she?" he asked, choking a bit at remembering words he finally understood. "Because...she may not have been the sister we were born to. But Sui, I think...she's the sister we welcomed into our lives."

Suisei couldn't keep her tears back anymore as she threw herself at him to cry on his shoulder. And as he held her as she cried, he accompanied her in their joint grief. Perhaps Suisei was having trouble still understanding being as family-bound as she was, but Sousei felt he was slowly losing the fight Suisei was fighting so hard against.

He did love her. He loved them all as his family. Despite their wrongdoings, despite their flaws, he loved them all the same.

And now Sousei realized he made a grave mistake by returning to Rakushou and leaving her behind by herself. Especially now when Masami had published such an outrageous lie. But that brought him back to his initial point: he had no prove to the contrary. He only had Masami's word on what Ko—Ceara's real intentions were. But he had a hard time believing that the 'woman that had killed Kohaku out of revenge' would plead for forgiveness to the same young girl so heartfeltly.

No, there was something strange about this all. And he would find out what.

"Souchi?" Sui's soft call came to deaf ears as Sousei stood from the bed and began searching the room. "What are you—"

"Prove."

"Prove?"

"Masami told us that Ceara of Eriu had held her under the threat of harming us so she would serve her. But I don't believe that."

"You think Sami-nee lied?"

"I don't know." Finding nothing in her drawers, he moved onto the closet that although mostly empty still had some of her old belongings that hadn't been moved since their arrival a year ago. "But I don't think she's telling us the whole truth either."

"Y-You should just leave it alone, Sou."

The small quiver in Sui's voice caught his attention and got him to turn towards his sister who now cowered and curled into a small ball on the bed. Her sudden fear and anxiety caught him by surprise and he focused his attention on her as he approached her.

Suisei was almost never this restraint. She was always the truthful one—unless it had to do with her sneaking around the house through the pathways and tunnels she'd found or made. During their childhood, their parents had always scolded her for doing it but she never stopped even then. She liked going about unnoticed and pranking others. Only when she saw really bad things would she come back to him in tears, telling him about everything she'd seen.

Everything except for that one night. The night that she told him those same words. And all at once, he felt like they were thirteen again, him holding her as she cried herself to sleep afraid about whatever she'd witnessed.

"Suichi, why should I?"

"Because…" She suddenly buried her face against her knees. "No, I can't tell. I promised not to."

"Promised?" Sousei repeated. Out of the blue, he reached out and grabbed her shoulders, holding her closer to meet her eyes as she tried averting them in vain. "Did you promise Masami not to tell?"

Suisei shook her head and covered her ears. "I didn't."

"You did." Sousei pried her hands away from her ears before whispering, "Tell me. What did you promise not to tell?"

"Don't make me, Sou."

"Suichi. I won't let anything happen to you. Whatever she said to you—"

"I don't want to end up like that."

"Like what?"

"Like Haku-nee…" By that point, she was sobbing again as if she had remembered something most awful. "I-I saw her hurting her through the pathway walls. I saw and s-she found me."

The abuse? "You knew?"

"She told me that Haku-nee had done something bad. And that if I was a good girl that nothing like that would happen to me."

"Since when?"

"A-A-After they came back...from Haku-nee's first mission."

After her first mission...from which she'd returned from with her throat slit and no voice. Forgetting about Suisei's secrets, Sousei couldn't keep his mind from working on its own with this information. The abuse that started after that mission, the same mission where her throat had been cut, and Masami's severe cold treatment after it all. She must've found out the truth that day and done something...he didn't want to believe her capable of doing. But he'd seen her do worse.

Frankly, though, it explained a lot—from among them why Masami had suddenly turned to cold and hateful out of the blue—it certainly could explain why she would be lying now.

But still...this was all speculation. Pretty damn good work if he said so himself, but at the end of the day nobody would ever believe him with no concrete evidence.

That thought driving him, Sousei left Suisei to continue searching every nook and cranny of the room. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for or what would count as proof but looking was better than doing nothing. In a panic, Suisei scrambled from the bed towards him as he came to the closet's upper shelves and began pulling at his arms, pleading for him to stop.

"No, Sui," he said, using his better arm to keep her away and searching the shelves with his other one. "We shouldn't be lied to. We deserve to know who's lying and why."

"What good is it going to do now?" Suisei cried bitterly. "She lied to us and Masami is screwed up. Both of them did horrible stuff but we chose to go with Masami. We abandoned Haku-nee. And nothing we do will make any of this better."

Sousei stopped at that and turned to her with a serious expression on his face. "You're right. Nothing will make it better. Nothing we find will return us the real Kohaku just like nothing will change the fact that Masami isn't the best of people. But it can give us a chance."

"...chance for what?"

"To choose what we want to do from now onward. And whatever that choice is, even if it's not the best one for the family or for them, it has to be a choice that we can live having made." A wry grin came to his lips as he finished his small speech. "Because I know that if I leave things be as they are now, I won't ever live in peace with myself."

That seemed to keep her thinking for a while and allowed him time to search unhindered through the shelves. But there wasn't anything. At least nothing he could find right away.

"Behind it." He turned to Suisei as she stood a few feet behind him, her tear-stained face becoming one a bit more determined as she pointed up. Walking forward, she stood on her tiptoes and jumped a few times to knock at the far wall of the upper shelves.

The noise it made. It was hollow. Stepping forth to stand beside her, Sousei reached over easily and knocked at the walls hearing a distinct low sound that suddenly changed as he tapped the wall Suisei had knocked on. Pushing on it hard did nothing and it wasn't until he gave it a firm punch that a small piece of the wall broke off and fell back into the crevice.

"Shika's estate and Rakushou's palace have similar structures," Suisei told him as she wiped her face with her forearm. "Masami kept a lot of her things in one of these back home."

"You did search every square inch of our house, didn't you?" Sousei asked as he felt around the fairly large hole they'd uncovered.

"I liked knowing my own home," she retorted before leaving from his field of view. He was starting to get frustrated that he couldn't find anything until Suisei placed something before him. Looking down, he spotted the small footrest that gave him the few inches necessary to be able to see over the shelf. Sharing foot space, each set a foot on the small rest and lifted themselves over to see a small gray box to the far corner of the hole. Taking it out, the two sat down on the floor and emptied the box finding nothing but papers.

"Parchment?" Suisei called, looking at a couple at a time in her hands.

"Letters," Sousei corrected her as he looked at one in particular then at another and another. And they were all addressed to the same person: Cael of Eriu. Sousei waved at a couple of memorandums that they had gotten ahold of a few hours before and that they'd left on the bedside table. Without a word, Sui went to get them and brought them back for Sou to start comparing some of the things he'd recalled from the published paper. "Cael of Eriu is the supposed older brother that Ceara is trying to avenge."

"Why does Sami-nee have letters addressed to him?"

"Not just to him. From him, too." And as he skimmed through the numerous letters, Sousei was quickly noticing a clear pattern. "They were lovers."

"What?" Suisei spat out in disbelief.

"Look." He pointed out at a good amount that told of how they missed each other, how they couldn't wait to see one another, or the things they would do when they did. "There's no mistaking it."

"But—" Suisei grabbed one of the ones he held and looked at the small date written on it "—these were sent during the time of peace. Just before the expansion further west started. Wasn't Sami-nee already engaged by then?"

"Yes, to Prince Hakuyuu."

"Did she have an affair?"

"They weren't married yet. And a lot of these date further back to before their engagement." Sousei said, garnering that information from the letters as he began to arrange them in whatever chronological order he could. "But these show that she knew Ceara's older brother. In her memorandum, didn't she say that the Eriu family had served as mere foot soldiers and hadn't been anybody of importance?" Sousei only nodded as an answer. "Then how did they meet?"

"Father's battalion?"

"Not likely since no soldier ever got close to our fami—" No, one had. "Father's right-hand man."

"What?"

"The soldier that was father's right-hand man. He's the only one I can think of that ever had any contact with us."

"He was Cael of Eriu?"

He had to be. It made sense then how they knew each other. But it didn't make sense as a whole. Picking up the memorandum again, he read through it, taking every word in as he did. If he'd been Masami's lover, why would she be defaming him, and more to the point, his little sister?

She isn't.

"She's using him as an excuse."

"What do you mean?"

"Masami is using Cael's death as an excuse for Ceara's actions. She claims that after he died, she disappeared for those three months where she captured that djinn, Murmur, so she could avenge his death."

"We can't disprove that, though. She disappeared, remember? Only Haku-nee would know what really happened."

"It's true that we can't know but we can prove that Masami knew about Ceara's disappearance and had been searching for her during those three months," he said, raising a specific letter that didn't fit in with any of the others. It was a letter responding to what he assumed had been one from Masami. It was from the refugee camps that were established in the Eastern Isles and they were informing Masami that no girl by the name of Ceara of Eriu had come to them. "If she knew of Ceara's existence then and had been searching for her, she'd done it out of concern."

"Concern for the little sister of her late lover," Suisei finished understanding what he meant.

"Why would she search for the little sister of someone she claims to have never known?"

"Let's find out," Sui replied, quickly going through the letters that she gathered around her.

With a nod, he told her to go through each letter carefully to see if there were any others aside from the love letters. If Masami had found out anything about Ceara during those three months but said nothing after she came back to their household then it had to be because of something. If they could find anything else that contradicted Masami's memorandum, it would do to connect more dots.

It could work.

They could find out the actual truth.

They just needed time to piece it together.

"We made a mistake by letting her leave Balbadd."

Kouen couldn't agree more with his brother. "It's too late to change anything. What's done is done."

"And now the people are expecting answers."

Imagining that situation only brought him a headache. These parchments had been spread all over Balbadd in the matter of a few hours after first light and their content was more than ludicrous.

It told what it deemed to be the truth of who Reizei Kohaku was and how she had lied to all. It told about a child conquering a dungeon, using it to kill the actual Kohaku and how this child postulated herself as her double in order to avenge her brother's death by the empire's and the Reizei family's hand. It told of how Ceara of Eriu threatened Masami with harming the twins if she didn't do as she told her. It even cast doubt of why she had began her personal projects: how the orphan houses were only raising the children to gain the profit from the government and how the memoirs were being used to keep a watchful on eye on those who knew her or her family. And to top everything off, it even mentioned them by name as knowingly sheltering a murderer without promising any sort of retribution for the Reizei Family or those that she had harmed.

Everything was a meticulous fairytale that had been concocted to fool those who knew nothing. Those who didn't know the truth as they did.

It had been Kouha who had brought it to their attention that morning. Being the only one that hadn't been mildly informed because of his absence, he'd been disturbed by the contents but was taken away by Kougyoku so she could explain some of what she knew after leaving the memorandum behind. And just a few minutes ago, his own household had come forth with concerns that the soldiers and a large portion of the citizens had come with to the soldiers posted before the palace entrance. Some wanted verification on the accusations which he assumed were the people she had the most contact with; others were merely angered over the news that such things were being allowed to happen under their watch.

Some had some sort of axe or another beside them while others held theirs at the ready to strike no matter how dull their argument, but mostly everybody wanted to be given a reason to grind it.

"Do you think she's seen this?" Koumei asked as he looked out the window to the outside were some people still stood—mostly soldiers or people of Kou that had gone to Balbadd—even after the guards kept constantly dispersing them.

"I don't doubt it. As such, it won't be long before she bur—"

The doors of the meeting room suddenly burst wide open as Ceara stormed into the room not caring for the household members that threatened to get her out. Kouen gave them a dismissive wave of his hand and allowed her to stomp her way to them.

"You said no one else would find out," she exclaimed, her cheeks flushed profusely darkening her fair skin.

"Miscalculation," Koumei told her. "That Hakuryuu has control of Rakushou left no way for us to monitor her actions."

"That's why you shouldn't have trusted her to leave." As infuriated and anxious as Kouen could see she was, he watched her as she began pacing the room unable to keep still. "Now the people know and it's chaos out there."

"What the people know or don't doesn't matter," he clarified. "It won't affect anything."

"That would be true if we were talking about you or Koumei or Kouha. The same doesn't apply for me." Going over to the window, she gave the outside a glance, her own gaze turning dark as she motioned her arm out to show him. "Look at them. I have spent more time socializing and connecting to these people than you. They put loyalty in other than just the name I had; their loyalty was to the person I postulated myself to be. I was the general's daughter that cared for and looked after the working class. With that illusion broken, everything I've worked with them to accomplish will break down."

The idea of that seemed to hurt her as she brought her hands up to her chest. "The orphan houses won't function when the volunteers working them don't believe in me. Neither will the memoirs when the soldiers stop giving their accounts. None of the things I've built can function without their trust. All this work for them will tumble down because of this and it'll hurt so many."

Frustration got the best of her as she groaned and buried her face into her open hands. "I told you. People like her don't need a damn reason to hurt others. They just do it for the sake of harming them, to make them hurt just as badly as they are. And it won't stop..."

Out of the blue, she ran across the room towards the exit. Uneasy about her words, Kouen turned to her and spoke with a stern voice, "Where are you going?"

The question made Ceara stop as her hand came up to the handle of the door. "To try and find a way to fix this." A slight glare over her shoulder his way made him wary of what those words could mean. But it certainly gave him a hint of what she'd say next. "Because I know damn well nobody else will." She slammed the door behind her as she left, leaving Kouen bitter.

There was no doubt now for him that she was still quite resentful about before. It had been hard to deny her before especially because of how desperate she had appeared. Kouen had felt some remorse at denying her his help but he had more important things to handle with what extremes Hakuryuu was taking. Now, however, the same unease that had planted itself weeks ago grew from what she had said.

She won't do anything. She can't.

Kouen had to remind himself of the egg that he planted in her. Surely, with it there, she couldn't possibly do any harm no matter how angry she was at what was happening. Frankly, though, he couldn't say he completely disagreed with her reaction. This was only adding unnecessary troubles and it indeed made him incredibly irritated.

"My brother and king." Kouen lifted his gaze to meet Koumei's as he stood before him. "We must assuage the soldiers' reservations. Especially those of the Southern army."

Calming the rage and uneasiness of their soldiers came first. And there was only one way they would do that with any positive outcome. "Let's go."

"Correct me if I'm mistaken but there would be no merit in mentioning what she's told us, correct?" Koumei asked, already knowing what Kouen had in mind to calm the soldiers.

"Right." Kouen thought over things quickly as they headed out of the meeting room. Once out, he ordered his household to gather the crowd at the barracks for answers before leaving for said location. "We need only mention our intentions with how we will use her for the subjugation of the west."

"And if they demand imperial punishment?"

"I won't give it." It was the one thing he would refuse to give them or anybody else. "Her powers are a necessity. They will accept that as fact."

Koumei nodded and kept up with him as they neared the barracks where a crowd would surely form before long. "As you say."

After giving up and suffering so much for their sake, a single parchment filled with Masami's lies had destroyed it all. People were angry, they were anxious, and they wanted the truth. And like everybody else they would want restitution for what she had done. But what baffled her most was that they believed Masami's words over her actions, over all the good she'd done.

Lies. That's all they are.

The sudden thought made her stop in her manic pacing as it repeated in her head. That's right. All that had been in that memorandum were nothing more than lies Masami fabricated. Ceara knew that after this, her credibility was beyond broken. But even so, there was no use in her fighting this with the truth. Doing that would only hurt her more now that something as ridiculous as Masami's lies were out there.

No. To beat this, there was really no need for her to say anything. To fix this, all she needed to do was for Masami to retract what she wrote. Most of it had been lies. And being the one who had written them in the first place, only Masami's words would matter the most in changing any of them.

She needs to tell the truth.

Ceara had suffered through enough pain and suffering caused by her. Stupidly enough, she had believed before that so long as the only one getting hurt was her then everything would be fine. But now, Masami's actions had hurt others. People that had nothing to do with them or their fight. And if Masami could do this without a qualm of who or how many she was hurting in the process, then she could do anything to anybody. In the end, Masami had to tell the truth to fix this.

And if she didn't, then I will make her.

Out of the blue, a terrible headache started at the side of her head. It was one that had been there for days now and had been but a mild pounding at the back of her head. Now, it blew into a full-blown ache to the left side of her head.

Biting down her lip to ignore it as best she could, Ceara changed into clothes that would be better for fighting. Although the royal blue, white and silver robes flowed like any other she'd worn before, the trousers she wore underneath gave her plenty of freedom to fight. Lastly, she settled her metal vessels in their rightful places—tying the pouch with Murmur's broken vessel at her side—along with Suisei's and Sousei's household vessels. As she pulled up her hair to a bun at the back of her head, letting the longer strands fall freely behind her, her eyes lingered off to the small carnation hair comb that she'd set aside.

Kouen's present. Ceara got into the habit of wearing it ever since he gave it to her and that day wouldn't be any different. She held onto it as a reminder of what she had promised herself after the twins left Balbadd. No matter who or what, Ceara would do anything to protect them. And it appeared she would have to make true on that promise sooner than she hoped to.

Solo missions had never been her favorite. She hated having no one to fall back to. This was no different and it actually disheartened her because of how perilous a task it was. To retrieve all three, she would have to infiltrate Rakushou and safely get them out. From what limited intel she garnered over the past eight days, Hakuryuu had done away with his mother with a small army, one that would have grown larger with Rakushou's troops being taken. But normal soldiers were the least of her troubles. Only two factors really mattered to her.

One was Hakuryuu. If it came down to it, she could very well deal with him. Despite being fellow metal vessel users, Ceara knew that Hakuryuu's Zagan held no light against the combined powers of Marbas and Beleth. The ideal scenario would have been to negate his powers with Murmur but because of Masmai—again—that argument became mute. But she outnumbered him where power was concerned.

The second one, though, would easily make her own powers seem meager: Judar. The magi was the real problem that hindered what could be an moderately simple task. Ceara had no idea how powerful Judar had become since they last met but from Seijin's account, there would be no point in going by herself to fight both the magi and his king's candidate.

But I won't be alone.

"Rakah."

"Yes, my dear?"

Eerie was all Ceara could think of as she turned to see Rakah standing behind her only a few feet away. The wide smile that spread across his face made her uneasy for a brief second before she addressed him. "I'm going to go after Masami and the twins to bring them back to Balbadd."

"Really?" Rakah chuckled somewhat amused at her claim. "The twins I get. The hag, though?"

"The lies she's spread won't stop no matter what I say." She secured her feather pen well in the folds of her ruqun before turning to face him. "But if she recants, things can still be salvaged. The pain she's caused can be reversed."

"You believe that?"

I have to. But she didn't voice what small doubt she had, instead choosing to ignore his comment and continue. "Winning a fight against Hakuryuu when Judar's by his side isn't feasible for me. You said if I ever needed help that I should call for you."

Rakah smirked at hearing this. "Never said it would be free, though."

"You want my seal, right?" The way his lips curved up on one side told Ceara that perhaps this wasn't the best way to go about this. All the same, though, she knew it was the only way to fully convince him to support her. Seijin had explicitly told her about what Rakah had said, done, and what his aims were from what he said at the summit. And she had something that he wanted. If so, then she had the upper hand in all this.

And frankly, the faster they got this useless barter over with, the sooner they could leave and get Sou and Sui to safety and rid herself of Masami's shadow for good. Whatever she had to give in exchange—whatever this 'seal' was—she would easily do without if it meant reaching those goals.

Waving her hand dismissively, Ceara scoffed. "Then you can take it if you help me against them."

"That's not how things work, dear." Rakah walked closer after saying this, closing the gap between the two until there was a breath's space separating them. The smirk never disappeared from his face and neither did Ceara's uneasiness but his eyes brightened as he explained further. "I'm a broker and your powers can't be given so casually. You want my help, then pact with me."

Ceara raised an eyebrow at his words. "Pact?"

"A vow or commitment if you will from both of us," he explained with a shrug of his shoulders. "You name your terms, I name mine, and we shake on it. Simple, right?"

Her terms...

Because Ceara knew exactly what she was giving herself to, she took a longer moment to think exactly how to word it. Returning with the twins and Masami was a must. But she knew that asking for just that would be too lenient with Rakah. After what Seijin told him about the strange yet powerful magic that Rakah was more than capable of, she knew that she couldn't leave a single loophole with this man. And finally, after a minute, she mustered the voice to speak her terms.

"I want Sousei and Suisei back here safely, along with Masami."

"Absolutely."

"And—" she spoke up before he had any chance to say anything more "—I don't want those I love to be harmed in any of this; enough people have already been hurt. We will only fight if I say it's absolutely necessary and no other time. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," he said with a smile. "And in exchange, you vow on your life to bestow upon me, Rakah Azeri, the original gift you carry?"

"Original gift?" she asked, confused.

"Or seal." He gave a nonchalant shrug. "Really no difference in either except for the name. So—" Rakah took a step back before reaching his hand out to her with a gleam in his eyes "—do we have a deal, Ceara of Eriu?"

Her gut hurt from how much it screamed at her not to do this. But this was what needed to be done in order to save Sousei and Suisei. And if she had to carry the burden of using this person despite the danger, then she would.

"Yes." Without any more hesitation, Ceara took his hand in his and saw him grin briefly before a blinding light shone for a split second as three rings burst from Rakah's arm. The rings of dark light hovered over their joined hands before shrinking into place and marking both of their hands and forearms. As he undid their grasps, Ceara tried but failed to recognize the letters that were engraved against her hand. It didn't burn, didn't even hurt. It just left a strange sensation across her arm. But it wasn't the only one.

Out of nowhere, her mild headache from before intensified without warning making her grab at her head. It was a horrible pain that began running from her head down her spine and throughout her body. It quickly drove her to the point that she had to lean against the wall to keep herself standing.

"Let me." Ceara lifted her gaze as best she could to Rakah as he reached out his hand and placed it against her head without warning. A click of his tongue told her it wasn't anything favorable. "It's a pesky bird."

"Bird?"

"Egg that hasn't hatched yet, actually. By the looks of it, it won't let you proceed with this." Rakah scowled for a second before his smile returned. "I can negate the effects of it for a while. Not for that long but it'll give us enough time to do what we've compromised on." The pain intensified by the second and Ceara could do nothing but nod in agreement. "Then allow me."

A soothing sensation came over her a split second after he said that and after a few moments of feeling it, it took away the pain from her head. Not only did it take away the pounding headache but also the heaviness that had plagued her body. It made her feel lighter for some reason.

"Now, shall we?" Ceara lifted her gaze to Rakah as she let go of her head. The look on his eyes was predatory but it didn't feel that it was against her. No, when she looked at him, the predatory look changed; it became gentle suddenly. She didn't know which was real or if both were fake but it didn't matter. All was set and once she was successful, she would deal with the repercussions of what dealing with him meant.

"Let's go."

A shuffling from behind the doors separating her bedroom and antechamber caught her attention a brief second before her doors forcefully slid open as Seijin strutted in. Ceara hadn't noticed he'd been there or for how long, but it seemed he'd heard enough to know. Anger marred his youthful face as he passed a glare to Rakah before shoving past him to reach Ceara.

"Stop this, master."

"Jin—"

"You mustn't do this. It won't help anybody and much less yourself."

"You're wrong, Seijin," she told him sternly. "This must be done. I have to protect them and right the wrongs Masami has caused. This is the only way to do this."

"There's always another way." His anger vanished as concern etched on his face. "You taught me that. There are still things we haven't looked into. There must be something other than this that we can do."

"Try all you want," Rakah said, coming up to stand by Ceara's side. "She's already made her choice."

Without saying a thing, Ceara left Rakah's side to close the gap between her and Seijin. The boy smiled as she showed him a similar warm gesture. Reaching up, she brushed strands of his golden hair behind his ear before cupping her hand against that side of his head.

"You're a good and smart boy, Seijin," she said tilting her head to the side while smiling. "Which is why I know one day you'll forgive me for this."

Beleth.

The snap of her fingers so close to his ear caused the augmented sound to travel faster than it would have otherwise. The vibrations reached in a millisecond and Ceara saw the immediate effects of it as Seijin's eyes glazed over before he fainted. She caught him in her arms and hauled him over to her bed to lay him down.

Rakah whistled loudly as he followed behind her. "Cruel much?"

"I don't know what exactly he heard. But whatever it may have been, he would've run to Kouen the second we left," she explained, brushing the hair away from his sleeping face. She pursed her lips in regret but knew that it'd be better for them both if Kouen knew nothing of this.

Knowing him…

Ceara didn't let the thought wander far. She had more important matters to think about. Turning to Rakah, she pulled out Beleth's metal vessel before nodding off towards the back of her room.

"Let's leave before anybody else comes."

"Awake, child. You must warn them."

...who are…

"Awake, Industria, and stop Caritas before she falls as Humilitas has."

Seijin shot up from the bed with voice echoing in his head and gasping for air. Frantically looking all around, it took a solid second for him to remember what happened and why he'd been laying in his master's bed.

"Which is why I know one day you'll forgive me for this."

"Damn." Jumping out of the bed, Seijin ran out of the room and gasped at the sight of the outside. The sun had been bright out when he got to his master's room. It as clearly starting to be the afternoon now. An hour or maybe more he'd guess was how much they'd been gone for.

An hour. How much could they have traveled in that time?

With whatever Rakah's powers were and his master's djinn equips, they could very well be crossing the Tenzen Plateau that very instant. There was no time to waste. Without caring who or what tried to stop him, Seijin ran until he burst through the door where the Kou princes were holding meetings still.

Ignoring the confused or shocked looks that Prince Koumei, Prince Kouha, or their households were giving him, Seijin focused on the one person he knew could stop his master.

"She's gone."

Prince Kouen's brow furrowed at hearing this. "What?"

"My master. She left with that man, Rakah, from the summit." His hands become fists from the frustration of being unable to stop any of it. "They're heading for Rakushou."

"Rakushou?!" Prince Kouha exclaimed before turning to his brothers. "Is she insane? She won't be able to hold her own against both of them."

Prince Koumei frowned as well as he thought over what Seijin told them. "Having that magician, Rakah, might give her an edge but…"

Seijin couldn't help his concern at hearing all the negativity but he was quickly shaken out of it when Prince Kouen's voice came over the room. "How long since she's been missing?"

"A-A few hours I think," Seijin muttered and coming closer to explain further. "She knocked me out when I tried stopping her this morning."

"You what?"

"She what?"

He ignored the outbursts from either of the youngest princes and continued telling Prince Kouen what he knew. "They made some kind of agreement. It's how she got him to agree to help her. She said she'd bring them back."

Silence came over the room with Seijin's last words. He was bitter that there wasn't much else to tell them but it appeared that the eldest prince already had something in mind. Sadly, it wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"We'll leave her be."

"W-What…?" Seijin stammered incredulous about what he'd heard. "Y-You can't be serious."

"There's no point in dealing with her insubordination. Her and Alibaba are both foolish to think they can deal with Hakuryuu by themselves but we cannot concern ourselves over a few stray soldiers with everything else that's happening," he said with a tired sigh to his words. "Return to your post, Seijin. That's an order."

Anger and panic surged through him and without knowing, he let them take him. "She trusted you. How can you just let her go like that?"

"Watch you mouth, Seijin!" Ri Seishuu spoke from his place with the rest of the household members.

Seijin stood back, ignoring him and giving himself space. "Master would've never gone as far as asking for that man's help had she had any here. You forsake her when you all are the ones she trusted most. And now she's given up something that none of us know anything about to a complete stranger."

"What do you mean?" Prince Kouen asked.

"Whatever power that he has," Seijin told him, "she does too. He wants it. And she's going to give it up in exchange for his help."

And none of them had any idea of how destructive any of it was. The small display at the summit held nothing to what Seijin feared that man was capable of doing. Aladdin said so himself, if his master chose to follow Rakah then they had to do everything in their powers to stop her.

"Let me go after her."

"Absolutely not," Kouen replied.

"Aladdin warned me about not letting this happen," he explained fervently. "But I did. We all did. If a magi was concerned because of the certainty that this would happen, then I'm afraid his other concerns might be valid as well."

"Aladdin said that?" Prince Kouha asked.

Seijin nodded, regret and shame coming over him at the thought. "He said that I should take care of her. To keep her away from Rakah. And If I couldn't then to stop her in anyway possible. That magi feared something like this happening."

Now it has and I couldn't stop her.

"My brother and king." Prince Koumei's sudden call to his brother made Seijin lift his gaze to see Kouen rise from his seat.

The piercing gaze of Prince Kouen came down on Seijin as he asked his question. "You swear this is all you heard?"

"Y-Yes," he stammered, feeling somewhat disturbed by the sudden change of tone. "It's what Aladdin told me before we left the summit."

Prince Kouen clicked his tongue and ordered his household members to leave the room, take Seijin with them, and watch over him so that he wouldn't do anything stupid like his master. The boy struggled as Ri Seishuu and Kin Gaku took him away from the meeting room and the three princes of his country. The same ones that were leaving his master out to die.

But it was hard to deny to himself that he didn't have any fault with her leaving either. He'd told her everything about Rakah except what Aladdin had told him. Seijin thought he'd be able to convince her if he tried. He thought if anybody would listen to him, it'd be her. And he thought that he could save her from whatever Aladdin spoke of.

He hadn't. And now none of them would.

It had to have happened now when that same morning Kouen had found out that both Alibaba and Aladdin were missing from Balbadd. Both he and Koumei suspected where they were headed, and after interrogating them, Alibaba's household had confirmed that Rakushou, and more to the point, Hakuryuu was their goal.

Kouen could fathom why the two of them, the bleeding hearts they were, would go to confront Hakuryuu despite what he'd done. He knew that it could happen, never thought it actually would.

And now another of his concerns came true yet again. The one he least wanted to leave and put herself in harm's way because of stupid and hurried decisions was the one that placed everything on the line to save those she thought needed saving.

Undoing his crossed arms from in front of him, Kouen reached out to the hilt of his sword, the metal ornament that dangled freely touching his fingers. How come the egg hasn't hatched when she's already gone this far?

"Interference, my king," Phenex admitted. "And I can tell that it's the same magic that negated my powers when you hatched the other egg in Reizei Masami."

So it had been Rakah that did it. With the kind of magic he'd demonstrated at the summit, he wouldn't doubt the man powerful enough to stop his djinn's powers.

"They're both foolish beyond belief, thinking they can stop this with their powers alone," Koumei said aloud, bringing his attention back to his brother. A few minutes after Seijin and their households left, Kouen had sent out Kouha to assure themselves that Parisa wouldn't attempt anything after finding out where Ceara left to as well. That left only himself and Koumei in the large, empty council room.

Koumei grimaced at some thought before he spoke, "Miss of Eriu more than Alibaba. The moment she sets foot onto Rakushou, it is likely that Hakuryuu will attempt to take her head as a general that follows under your command. Not only that but by attacking the capital that's now under Hakuryuu's regime, he will use it as an excuse to fortify his edict."

"I know." Kouen could see how that could be so easily twisted. By attacking Rakushou, Hakuryuu would say it was an attack against him that proved his words right. It wouldn't matter for what reason she was going there in actuality. There could be more dissonance caused by her than there would be by Alibaba's presence at the capital.

"I must say, despite what was said, my brother and king, I believe our best option would be to sent someone to stop her before she kills herself and we lose a valuable asset to our military or worse, this causes a wider scope of discord," Koumei added pensively.

"I know."

"You should go after her."

The suggestion made Kouen scowl at Koumei from how ridiculous it was. Before he could say that, though, Koumei continued. "I comprehend how foolish what I'm suggesting is but if she intends to go, there are few who can truly stand in her way. Neither Kouha, Kougyoku, nor myself can stop her by ourselves. She outnumbers us in power. Only you can stand on par where djinn are concerned and can easily subdue her."

Turning to Koumei, Kouen tries to understand where this was coming from. Koumei was never one to say such outlandish things, much less when he himself saw how insane they were. But as Koumei sighed and tilted his head, Kouen knew that he wasn't done speaking just yet.

"If it'll be better, I'll accompany you so that the trip is as short as possible," he proposed while rubbing the back of his head. "We can leave Kouha and the rest of our household members behind to take care of Balbadd for a few hours. No one will know where we've left to. It will be fast with both of us to stop her."

"Why are you so adamant about going after her?"

"Because I don't want you to regret having let her go when you could have stopped her."

For a second, Kouen couldn't think of anything to say. Regret. He surely had much of that surfacing nowadays. With Hakuryuu, with his family, and now with her. And despite how much he wished he could deny it, Kouen knew Koumei was right.

If he didn't do this, he knew for a fact he would regret it.

"This is absurd…" he muttered under his breath, unable to believe he was actually considering what Koumei told him.

His brother gave him a smile before coming up to him. "It is. But I know you will do worse if I don't help you now."

"I wouldn't."

"Maybe in different circumstances, I would believe you." Koumei kept his smile for a brief second before nodding to himself. "But as things stand, I dare say this would have been the first time I would see you do something as equally unreasonable as she has. After all, people tend to do the most unreasonable kind of things for the people they love."

Kouen pondered over his words for a second. His brother could really be a cheeky little smartass when he wanted to, even with him. But that didn't take away the fact that he was right. That was something Kouen couldn't deny to neither of them.

He had already let Hakuryuu fall. That was the one mistake he would allow himself to make.

"Inform Kouha and arrange for our departure in five minutes. I want to get this over with as soon as possible."

"Of course."

Koumei did well to prepare everything for their swift departure in under those five minutes. By the time everything was set, Kouha was standing back with the rest of the household members, including Seijin, as Kouen and Koumei stood at the ready. Obtaining the most current location through Phenex's untouched egg, the two had precise coordinates for the teleportation magic circle the latter casted with Dantalion.

"I'll take care of things here," Kouha assured them with a confident look.

Kouen opted to not say anything and occupied himself with thinking instead. Koumei was the one that answered him and offered some reassurance to their little brother. "We'll return shortly."

He only saw Kouha nod before he called Koumei so they could leave. Both equipped swiftly, Kouen choosing Astaroth, before both stepped through the magic circle that took them away. The plain they landed on after exiting was one Kouen recognized as being the plains that separated their country.

"There." Following the line of Koumei's pointing, clawed finger, Kouen caught sight of a blur of red and white alongside one of gold rapidly approaching them before the two figures halted before them.

Ceara glared their way, clad in Beleth's equip, while the blonde man, Rakah, hovered by her side. The circlets of green light vanished from her hands and feet, leaving only the ones on her staff as she scowled.

"Move aside."

Kouen didn't waste any time either. "You're returning with us."

"No," she snarled.

"You're an idiot for making a petty deal with someone as shady as him for something that doesn't matter."

"They may not matter to you." His eyes wandered to the tight hold that she took on her staff. "But they're all I have and I won't let Hakuryuu or Masami or you put them in harm's way. So if I have to deal with Rakah then I will."

It's then that Koumei stepped into the conversation. "You don't have to do this. They're more than capable of surviving. I doubt they would be foolish enough to put themselves in danger. "

"What they do won't matter," she told him, "not when the people wanting to harm them won't care. All this harm that Masami has dealt to myself and others who have nothing to do with us stems from a hatred that she spreads like her own personal poison. I won't let Sou and Sui be hurt because of what she's chosen to do, nor will I allow innocent to suffer because of her lies. I will put an end to both by making her recant."

"That's illogical," Koumei refuted her straight away. "Her recanting won't fix anything. The truth is already out in the open. No matter what you do now, things cannot go back to how they were."

Ceara frowned at the same time a pulse of vibrations swept across the fields. Kouen's eyes lingered on Rakah as he came to her and leaned closer to her ear. "You were right. They don't understand."

Out of ire and pure annoyance, Kouen aimed his sword toward him, sending the white dragon to attack him. But with a swift movement of her own staff, the rapid trajectory of his attack stopped as it crashed against the sound sphere she put up around them. The smirk that Rakah gave him infuriated him all the more.

"Unlike you, I won't let this propagate any further. Not when I can do something to stop it." Ceara twirled her staff to lay it parallel against her arm, the rings making the softest of noise as they rung above her head. "I will save them and you won't stop me. And if I have to resort to fighting you, then so be it."

She didn't let them attack first.

Dashing through with Dajij 'Aghlal, Ceara shot straight to them. She had expected them to move to avoid her attack but to her surprise only Koumei stepped aside but only due to the energy that exploded outward when Kouen took her attack head on. His sword brandished before him, Kouen didn't move an inch, instead blocking her dash with his sword.

Shoving herself off of him, Ceara slowed herself a second to hear him move. The flurry of flames blazed through the air as they shot at her, but she quickly raised her own staff to scatter the particles around her and dissipate the fire away.

Kouen wielded his sword again but instead of attacking her, he shot a flurry of red to his left. Ceara didn't understand why until she saw the portal that had appeared beside him a split second later.

I didn't hear it?

Those things didn't make a sound. Too late she felt the scorching heat at her back and turned ready to take the hit or defend herself if she could, but the attempt itself became unnecessary when a small black sphere popped into existence between herself and Koumei's exit portal. The black sphere sucked in air with a speed and force that threatened to pull Ceara towards it but it's strength took priority against the flames that came out and took them in. The sphere imploded and collapsed but nothing came after; it just disappeared.

"Don't sweat it, dear. I've got your back." Glancing to her right, Ceara stared at Rakah's back as he faced Koumei's direction. Flaunting his arm where a bright yellow insignia appeared, he smirked while gazing at her over his shoulder. "I'll handle the little brother and support you when and however I can. You deal with his imperial highness."

She didn't bother thanking him. Instead she spun in midair and without warning sent numerous wind sickles out towards him. Kouen took them all, striking each one of them down with ease, and it gave her enough time to rush at him. He was faster to defend himself, though, and parried her strike, angling the grip on his sword to bring her closer.

"You don't want to fight this—" he said calmly, as if the fight wasn't wearing him down in the least "—not against us."

"I don't," she confessed, her grip on the staff tightening even more and turning her knuckles white. "But I won't leave Sou and Sui where that evil lurks." Shoving herself off knowing she wouldn't move him an inch, she shot up skyward instead before using Dajij 'Aghlal on her staff only, concentrating the vibrations to a much higher point where she could no longer hear them. Kouen followed to attack but with his momentum bringing him towards her, Ceara dove down just as he was about to reach her and struck down with her staff, forcing him to catch the attack fully with his sword.

Both their eyes widened at hearing the distinct cracking of metal from the concentrated vibrations against steel. Kouen got her to fall back quite a distance when the white dragon burst out from behind him, snapping its jaw at her.

He glared at her as he ran his hand across the blade now slightly cracked from the edge. "They made their choice and it was to leave you." He swung out his sword and white and blue flames spat out at a much higher intensity and much faster than before. Reacting on instinct, Ceara brought up her shield but noticed how fast it began to crack from the sheer force of his attack. "You have no right to deviate them from that."

More cracks appeared as the fire continued to scorch against her defenses but she held her staff steadfast. "They don't understand what kind of horrid person they chose to leave with. All she's done is gain power to destroy me for what I've done and has caused nothing but havoc in her wake. And if it's to bring that same evil to an end, then I'll do the same. I'll garner those same monsters to bring me closer to what I want."

In spite of the raging inferno ravaging against her, her ears caught his voice sounding slightly enlightened, "You're using him."

Just like I know he's using me.

She wasn't an idiot. Ceara knew that just as Masami was a person without redemption, Rakah wasn't a saint. He had threatened to kill her at the summit and she knew there was nothing good from pacting with him. But as badly as he wanted what he did, she wanted what she did just as much. And if using him as much as he was using her was what it took to bring them back, then she would let herself be used.

"I won't back down. I have nothing left to lose except them," she shouted at him, bringing back her staff and letting the sphere around her weaken. "So even if you all hate me for it, I will continue to protect them against what threatens to harm them." With a full swing, she brought the staff back down against the sphere and broke it herself, letting the flames shoot outward and back towards him as she took the recoil of her walls breaking.

Out of breath, Ceara watched from afar as the fire disappeared, leaving the sight of Kouen unharmed before her eyes. She clicked her tongue already having guessed that just hitting back his own attacks wouldn't do much against him.

Sound wasn't working. All she could do was keep him at bay with it.

Without undoing her equip, she called upon Marbas and switched them, her body turning to that of the small child with her fangs bared. Settling back against her hind legs in midair, she sprung forth with her claws fully clad in dark energy that crackled everything time he parried them with his sword. As agile as she was in such small form, though, a few of her attacks landed, ripping through the skin of his arms or chest. All the same, though, such close fighting brought her into greater proximity of his flames and burned her arms and legs as she continued to attack.

Pushing her away from him, Kouen followed suit and undid Astaroth to turn to Agares' equip. "If this is how you intend to protect them, then I see why they chose to leave you." Ceara couldn't help the anger that boiled through her at hearing him say that.

In a frenzy, she launched again but was significantly slowed as pillars shot out from the ground impeding her way. Her claws dug into one of the many pillars that rose, the energy breaking it in half and letting the top crash down against the plains.

Climbing up to the pinnacle, Ceara eyed the terrain for a second when no other pillars came out. From her vantage point, she could see Koumei and Rakah fighting, bolts of lightning and what looked to be spears of ice shooting one after another at the former. Dantalion's powers were well suited for a ranged match though and she could see how he was faring well by simply returning Rakah's attacks back at him. What she didn't see between the rising stalagmites was Kouen; he was hiding from her.

Hide all you want.

Ceara flared her nostril and took a huge breath that took in her surroundings. Initially, she smelled nothing but grass and dirt and fumes from what the lightning singed. But after everything else, she caught the scent of spices and earth different from the one they were on, along with the slight hint of vanilla.

There. Concentrating the magoi into her hands, the energy molded itself into larger claws as she pivoted in time to catch Kouen's frontal attack, their hands colliding against one another at impact. The dark energy clashed and crackled around them but quickly dissipated as the two negated each other, sending them both back against the pillars he'd created.

"Just leave me be!" she shouted, one of her claws digging into the pillar. "This doesn't concern you!"

"Wrong," he called back hovering up to stand at the pinnacle of his. "You are of concern to me. And we will be bringing you back to Balbadd, conscious or not."

There was an obvious threat there. He was overconfident and she could tell why. Kouen hadn't expended as much magoi as she had. Even when the two had changed equips in the middle of the fight, hers had run out sooner with how many large-scale attacks she'd used and from the hours of traveling on Beleth's equip. She could already feel the grip on Marbas' equip slipping.

I need more magoi.

Good thing Rakah's limited magic coincided with one of hers.

"We'll see who that ends up being," she snarled at him. Forcing herself to change, the child turned to her fully grown woman-form as she hauled herself up to stand at the apex of her own pillar. Tilting her head to the side, she called out loud as she could, "Rakah!"

With a mere glance over her shoulder, Ceara caught how Rakah disappeared briefly from view, avoiding the redirected ice spears from Koumei, to reappear by her side. "You called?"

"I'm running out of magoi."

He smirked before he reached out to touch her back. "Then let's do something about that, shall we?" A strange sensation came over her just as a dark purple light glowed behind her. Despite not being able to see it, Ceara knew the seal that had appeared behind her. It was the same one that he'd called upon to use the Strength magic that allowed him to fly. And it was the same one that now gathered the corresponding rukh, the intensity of it pulverizing the pillar she was standing on from the excessive gravity. But instead of feeling that same pressure, Ceara felt her body revitalized as the rukh hovered around her, her ears humming as she felt a good portion of magoi coming back to her.

"This is all I can give you from magic that wasn't originally mine," he whispered under his breath just a few seconds before he made the seal above them disappear.

His support was limited but there was something invigorating about the magoi that coursed through her now. The rukh about her felt livelier somehow. And with what magoi she'd recovered, Ceara felt that she could very well finish this if she did it right. "Can you immobilize them?"

"Sure. The little brother for a good minute. Him for like eight seconds maybe."

Good enough. "Do it." Bouncing off from the pillar's apex, she turned about and shot past Rakah towards Koumei who stood at the ready for them. Readying her claws, she kept her aim at the ready, her arm pulled back to attack, but feinted the second she saw a blur of orange and white fly past them letting her know Kouen went to protect Koumei.

Perfectly predictable. "Now!"

"You got it, my dear!" Rakah called out as a bright royal blue seal appeared beneath them, connecting to one at the palm of his hands. "Thalg Hajar," he murmured, his breath a puff of white from the cold that suddenly appeared around them. Before either Koumei or Kouen could move far enough from it, ice rapidly grew out and crawled its way up to hold them in place.

Kouen didn't waste a second in using Astaroth to burn it away but Ceara was faster and already began casting her Extreme Magic.

"Answer my call, great beast of yore. Eradicate with nature's ferocity all that which threatens your holy lands: Sharisat Alttabiea!"

Taking the magic and focusing it on only her feet, she turned them into rigid talons of black gemstone and took their weight and the intensity of the gravity she carried to propel her down towards them. But as she traveled, she saw the bright light of another Extreme Magic being casted.

"Spirit of Terror and Meditation, thou who gives power to kings, bring forth the great hellfire that judges the earth: Astor Inqerad!"

In the split second before her own attack landed, the white dragons that emerged from beneath swallowed her whole just as her talons made contact with the ground, shattering everything in the surroundings of the impact. As the gemstone broke off from her talons and she landed on the broken ground beneath her, Ceara struggled with the white flames that engulfed her. Like a python strangling her whole body, she felt the scorching touch of their scales as the twin dragons spiraled around her, tightening their grip. Beyond the flames, she caught the glimpse of Koumei and Kouen, both wounded from her own magic, fighting Rakah back as he fired off bolts of lightning to keep them at bay.

Wounds but only those; hers kept growing as the flames licked her entire body. Sharisat Alttabiea wasn't long lasting like Astor Inqerad. The flames weren't going to vanish. But as her mind struggled to fight against the pain to think of someway to break away from them, it froze and came to a different notion.

The notion of how impossible and absurd it always seemed for her to fight against Kouen. The fact that she had never been able in the past which lowered her hopes of winning now. Although she thought she had held her own against him well enough on this fight, the disparity between them had always been obvious. For an instant even, she believed that with Rakah's help she might actually have a chance that put the odds in her favor. But it hadn't.

There was no mistaking that Rakah was extremely powerful but his strengths were limited. Kouen had proven to have some limitations but unlike them, he was able to force himself past them and overcome them. Ceara never had a doubt that were pure raw power was concerned, she couldn't hope to surpass Kouen. This had only proven everything she feared.

I'm not strong enough.

But she had to be. For them. If she didn't defeat Kouen and Koumei now, Ceara wouldn't be able to reach Rakushou. If she couldn't reach Rakushou, then Sou and Sui would be left there to await whatever malice came over them. She couldn't allow that to happen.

I can't lose them.

All of a sudden, a strange burning sensation coursed through her, one that held nothing against the white flame dragons that tightly curled around her body. This scorching feeling coursed through the inside of her body, leaving a cool sensation wherever it went. All at once, it concentrated on the left side of her chest and around her shoulder. Grabbing at it, Ceara spared it a glance and saw through the flames a bright jade light glowing from her bare shoulder and chest just above her heart.

An eight-pointed star marked the margins of the seal and a small diamond over a smaller circle centered it.

"If so, then this is yours now," a soft voice whispered in her mind, "the Silver Echoes of this world."

"Echoes…?" she repeated under her breath. At doing so, she felt a pain that wracked the insides of her body; ungodly brisk vibrations originated from her very core and hastily left her body when she screamed from the pain they gave her. The vibrations caused by that yell casted magic she felt too similar to Beleth's as it forced the particles of air around her to be blown away, giving no more fuel to the white dragons and dissipating the Extreme Magic from her body.

The injuries from both Astor Inqerad and the strange sound magic that was casted rendered her to her knees as Marbas' equip vanished from her, leaving the echo of a soft hum coursing under her skin. Barely seeing it, Ceara watched Rakah throw a sharp lightning that struck in front of the two brothers and gave him enough leeway to make it to her before she fell completely forward.

What in the world…

"You released the seal," Rakah whispered against her ear as he held her up by her waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Using those powers hurts you more than it ought to right now, but this is good."

"H-How?" she panted, unable to understand what he meant. Using her Extreme Magic had exhausted the source of Strength magic Rakah had given her. She had meant to incapacitate them with Sharisat Alttabiea as much as she could but it hadn't worked. Now she felt how she was running dangerously low on magoi.

"Equip Beleth."

"I-I can't." She couldn't fight anymore. The bitterness of knowing and admitting that caused small tears to begin forming at the corners of her eyes.

"If you were ever willing to trust me in anything, do it on this," he insisted, his hold on her hip tightening as he said it. With his other hand, he reached to the feather pen and placed it in her hand. "Equip Beleth."

Somehow, his determination fueled her own and gave her the mind to concede. If I have to die, then I'll die fighting for them.

"Spirit of Vainglory and Champions—"

"My king, don't!"

But she ignored his pleas. "Dwell within my body."

The familiar warmth of her equip coming over her body soothed her for a second before she stabbed the end of her sound staff against the ground. An instant later, though, she felt the full toll of equipping with her magoi so perilously low. But it didn't last for long. Her ears hurt from the wings she heard fluttering around them and it amazed her to hear so many rukh surrounding them. That wasn't what shocked her most, though. What did was how almost immediately Ceara could feel her body less exhausted as magoi somehow restored itself from nowhere.

"...what?" she breathed and stood straight, amazed at how easily she could do so now.

"The Silver Echoes; their original gift was that of sound upon the world. Rukh that corresponds with sound magic will easily flock to you, entranced by the beacon you hold."

"Is that what I'm hearing?" she asked unable to believe the gentle flutter of their wings enveloping her like a warm cocoon.

"Yes," Rakah replied. His head tilted to the side as he came to face the two brothers that came strode forth from his last attack. Ceara could see they were injured but still not as much as she had been a few seconds ago. At least they could still hold their equips when she had lost hers. But with this she wondered who truly was better equipped now. "It's your original gift, Ceara. Use it to empower the metal vessel you conquered."

There wasn't enough time to reply or question his advice seeing as Kouen, fully equipped in Astaroth still, flew off towards them at a staggering speed. Stepping back, Ceara lifted her staff readying to cast a wall and heard the fluttering become erratic once more, her body hurting again as sound seemed to tear inside of her. Biting her lip to ignore the pain that wracked her body, Ceara did her best to concentrate what she could on her staff before sending of sickles of sound at him. These were different, though. They weren't just straight slashes of sound; the slashes were undulating erratically as if they could barely contain their shape from how rapidly they were vibrating.

Kouen took them in stride, though, striking them down as they came but at doing so the sickles broke apart, exploding into a barrage of overly high-pitched noise. The cacophony being so near him made Kouen stagger back as he grimaced and covered an ear with one hand, blood coming from the orifice as he retracted his hand.

It worked.

I can subdue them now.

Extreme Magic. The magoi that coursed through her was enough, she could tell, for one more hit with Beleth. Although not completely offensive, it would encase them, and she and Rakah would be able to head onward to Rakushou. And seeing as the sun was quickly beginning to set, Ceara didn't want to waste anymore time than they already had.

"Keep them away from me, Rakah."

"Roger that." Spreading both his arms out, the white seal with the gust of wind at the center appeared at his palms before whirlwinds formed and spread around them like a protective tower.

Aligning her staff parallel to her body, Ceara let the rings lay gently against her forehead as the sound echoed in her ears along with the fluttering of wings.

"My king, refrain from this. You have done enough."

"He's right. We can leave now. Don't do this!"

"I'm sorry, Beleth, Marbas. But I won't let anybody get in between me and those I love and have vowed to protect." Her hands held tightly onto the staff as she lifted it to stab it against the ground, making the casting circle for her Extreme Magic appear beneath her feet. "Grand champion of pride, lay waste upon the conquered and let your mighty warcry surrender them to their knees."

Breaking through the whirlwind barrier that Rakah had created, Ceara dashed straight ahead at Kouen and Koumei who had been but feet away trying to breakthrough it. Raising her staff, Ceara readied her aim but was slower to strike by a fraction of a second as Kouen brought his sword across her chest first, flames erupting and deepening the wound. Choosing to neglect the pain and how her body screamed at her to stop, Ceara continued her initial trajectory and brought her staff down against the floor.

"Sijn Altanafur!"

A small sphere of concentrated vibrations formed in the split of a second where her staff impacted the ground before it expanded into a dome around them. The ground beneath them pulverized as the dome formed, and Koumei and Kouen both dropped to their knees as those same destructive vibrations started messing with their brains and balance.

Ceara stood before them exhausted but unaffected by the cacophony that was starting to make their ears bleed.

Dull it, Beleth. Just enough to incapacitate them but not enough to hurt them anymore.

Beleth didn't respond but did as he was told. Ceara felt as the pressure from the vibrations was slightly lifted still strong enough to keep them on their knees.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, genuinely meaning her words, "but I have to do this." Giving them her back, Ceara stepped out of the dome's area to meet Rakah on the other side.

"Why don't I feel more tired from using Extreme Magic," she asked aloud as he came up to her.

"The seal," he offered, placing his hand on her bare shoulder. Ceara followed his arm up to her body where she could see the deep green seal that was imprinted on her flesh shining even through the deep gash across her chest and the veins around it pulsating and bulging disgustingly. "It will always fill you with magoi; one that works with sound magic to be precise. Can you fly?"

Simply thinking it made the green circlets from Dajij 'Aghlal appear around her ankles and hands. Sound magic; so long as the seal kept refueling it, she could fight. Even against Hakuryuu and Judar.

"Good. But before we go—" Rakah pointed behind them to her dome "—let's get rid of them."

His suggestion made her brow furrow in confusion. "Sijn Altanafur will hold until I'm out of range. By then we'll be at Rakushou. There is no need."

"I disagree," Rakah scoffed while glancing at the two behind her. "They've come this far to bring you back. There's no telling what else they'll try to do to stop you."

"No," she firmly responded. "I won't kill them."

A glint came over Rakah's eyes as he raised his arm, the bright yellow seal appearing again. "Then allow me."

"You touch them and I'll retract my end of the bargain." Giving him one long, stern look, Ceara gave him her final word, "We are leaving. Now."

Rakah's grin changed to a scowl at hearing that and he glared her way. "I've always hated your bleeding heart."

The phrasing of his words puzzled her but she didn't have time to ask what he meant when agony without comparison ruptured her head getting her to scream and fall to her knees. She was so distracted by the pain that she lost focus of her equip and let it fall.

"Sorry, my dear. They might not be that much of a nuisance to you but they have been a great one to me. Especially the older one." Rakah took her chin in his hand, lifting it so she would meet his gaze, and smiled just as sweetly as he had before. "I'll let Phenex's little bird deal with you for right now while I deal with them. And then I'll get my reward."

"Y-You c-can't—" she groaned through gritted teeth. "Our deal—"

"Is done," he called, spreading his arms out gleefully. "Our deal was to bring Sousei, Suisei, and Masami back to Balbadd safe and sound." He chuckled as he made his way towards Kouen and Koumei, the dome that had encased them no longer there but having left lasting effects as they struggled to stand. "Never once did you say that you had to live through any of this."

Ceara tried to push herself up and stop him but the pain from Phenex's powers only increased the more she fought against it. A second wave of that torture struck her again but she bit her lip this time to keep from screaming, tasting blood in the process.

Phenex's powers—a life djinn.

Murmur.

But there was no answer. The pain grew tenfold as she called out to him again, her head feeling ready to explode. Through the pain, though, she could still see Rakah standing before them and raising his hand above his head as the bright yellow seal shone from his arm.

Anger and desperation driving her, Ceara tried again to stand and fight but the few steps she got only landed her a few feet closer before she fell, this time falling face first on the ground from the agony. The small silver comb fell into her field of view as it tumbled out of place. Tears blurred her vision but she managed to reach out and touch the silver piece and grasp it in her tight grip.

It baffled Ceara how she could think of nothing more than saving Kouen and Koumei from Rakah after fighting so vehemently against them. If she truly wanted to save the twins then what Rakah suggested was the better option. She should be capable of doing whatever it took to save them. Yet the thought of them dying turned her stomach and tore her apart even more.

Despite all the things she did and said, Ceara now realized that she couldn't have been more indecisive or weak about her resolve.

"That's not it. You're not weak. Just blind." For some reason she heard the soft voice of a child—of herself—in her head. What was more, she could even conjure the image, imagined or not, of that child, stark blue eyes wide and full of a compassion that contrasted harshly against the solemnity in them. "Look at what you've done and what it's caused. All that you built has crashed to the ground and instead of searching for a way to fix it, you let the despair of it consume and blind you. And because of it, not only did the people you care about get hurt, but you have also hurt them yourself in the process."

"You will never be able to do as Masami and Kouen have done," the little girl said with a stern tone. "You can't harbor those monsters within you, and the answer to why is simple."

Her words struck a part of her that Ceara had been neglecting that whole time. The part that told her how wrong all of this was and the same one that told her that she could never do it if this was her approach.

I...can't do it. I can't do...as they do.

No matter how much she tried hiding her remorse and pain behind a rightful purpose, Ceara knew from the bottom of her heart that she could never justify doing all this wrong for what she wanted. Kouen had been right after all. What she wanted was to control what the twins chose—to control them—and even when it pained her for them to be there, Koumei hadn't been wrong either when he said that they were smart and capable enough to survive.

Ceara's eyes focused from their blur and caught the sight of brightness that hovered over Rakah's head. The two were so hurt and unstable from her attack that Rakah felt secure enough to garner as much power as he could on the one attack and it showed. The lightning that was gathering above his sealed arm looked powerful enough to pulverize anything.

Panic swept through her like ice, freezing her completely and making her grip on the comb tighten, the teeth of it painfully digging into the palm of her hand.

At the sight, everything that had happened up to that point flooded her mind. All Ceara had done—all the hurt she'd caused and kept causing out of her own selfishness—suddenly made her sick. She didn't want to be that type of person. She didn't want to fall like that. And most of all, she didn't want anybody else to suffer for the mistakes she made.

"They will survive," the child assured her. "They always have. And despite what you have done, you will too. You all will live and learn from what's happened. After all…" The soft voice that had been speaking to her all that time suddenly became deeper and much more masculine. It was Murmur's. "I chose you because you remind me of a very special person. One who, like you, loved so innately and wholeheartedly that it borne in her a desire to protect."

"That's what I want—what I've always wanted. To protect them. All of them."

"Then just keep that promise, little one," he told her. "No matter who they are or what they do, whether they abandon you or curse you to the depths of hell, you love them all the same. So long as you do, you shall be there when they need you and know well enough when to let them and yourself grow alone. Your protection will never be far off—like a parent who martyrs for their children so shall you for them for you love is just as whole, innocent, and strong."

"I don't want this mistake to hurt them, Murmur," she confessed as she struggled to take a knee and lift herself from the ground while ignoring Phenex's magic.

"I know." A bright light shone from her side and it took her by surprise when it shot up to the carnation hair comb in her hand, embedding the eight-pointed star on the flower. "Which is why I'm here, little king, to help you right your wrongs. Let's stop this broker and keep your promise to your little brother and sister."

"Right." Without a word, she called upon Murmur's equip, his magic and Phenex negating each other and ceasing the pain that stopped her from moving.

Forcing herself to move beyond the toll of using another equip, Ceara launched forward but did so a second too late. Rakah's arm struck down and guided the lightning to its target. Kouen didn't miss a beat and despite his unbalanced footing, stepped forward in front of the sharp and lean bolt that struck cleanly through the right side of his chest. He didn't take the hit for nothing, though. The bolt went cleanly through him missing Koumei and Kouen took the opportunity after the attack to slash at Rakah's midbody just as Ceara reached to hack at his neck with her scythe.

Rakah's body, though, seemed to disappeared in the fraction of a second it took for the two of them to attack. Skidding to a stop next to Kouen, Ceara glanced forward as Rakah's faint silhouette started to quickly refract in and out of view a few feet away from them.

"H-How imprudent of you, Speirr." Like his body, his voice sounded distorted. Like it was cutting from a faulty connection. "I was h-helping you."

"No, you were helping yourself," she corrected and frowned. "Just like I was. But I'm done dealing with you and your treachery and lies. I'm keeping my reward."

"Like h-hell you are," he chuckled, staring at both of them with a glare before it quickly changed into a wide grin. "B-But I'm a pa-atient man, C-Cea—" Ceara could barely understand him as his image began to refract even more than before, his voice distorting even further as well. "D-Dea-th has d-done us par-rt pl-lenty of times. I-I will wa-it f-for as long-g as it t-takes."

Without any other warning, his image refracted completely until it finally vanished like it had the many times before. After undoing her equip, a small pressure lifted from her arm at that same moment. Reaching up and rolling back her sleeve, Ceara watched as the strange markings from before that had formed after they pacted erased themselves, vanishing like dark fog into the air.

"His contract broke," Murmur hummed in approval and gratefulness.

Because he hurt Kouen. He promised me that we would only fight when I deemed it necessary and that nobody I love would be harmed. By harming him that last time, he did both.

Sighing in defeat, Ceara turned to the brothers that now stood before her, both still fully equipped despite their wounds with some more severe than others. For a moment, she turned to Koumei deciding that it'd be best to address him. "We should go back and get you two treated."

"We will," Koumei agreed but the scowl didn't disappear from his features. "But you won't be coming back without there being consequences, though."

Ceara hung her head at hearing this. "I know."

At this point, I don't expect any different.

Thinking back on everything, she saw how many mistakes she had committed, what they had cost her, and those she had harmed by blinding herself to the effects. A regret struck her at glancing over her shoulder to the east where Rakushou was; she hated that she wouldn't be able to secure anything where Sousei and Suisei were concerned, but at this point she couldn't do much except believe in them like they all reminded her to.

"Ceara of Eriu."

Ceara turned to Kouen at hearing him say her name so sternly and detached. This wasn't the man who had trained her, the one she fell secure with, nor the man that she just now—regrettably—accepted she loved. This was the General Commander of their army, the governor of Balbadd, and the First Prince of the Kou Empire. "You are hereby detained and will return with us as a criminal under the charges of treason against the Kou Empire, the attempted murder of the princes of the Imperial family, and for military desertion."

Harsh but just was all she could think of. A small chuckle escaped her at the irony of what was happening. She'd fought so hard to get here and now she was giving herself up like nothing.

It's for the best.

Raising her hands with her wrists together, Ceara gave Kouen a small, grim smile. "Just promise me you'll make sure they're all right, okay?"

A/N:

Gosh, I've felt horrible the whole of today. And what's worse is that I don't know why. Maybe the lack of sleep finally hit me mentally. But hopefully sleeping in early for the rest of the week will help me with that.

That said, I almost didn't upload this today. I wasn't feeling up to proofreading but somehow I got through it and it made me feel somewhat better (-w-) I don't know if playing League will lift my mood or not but I'll see about it.

What did you guys thinks about this? Despite all the action that happened, I didn't think this chapter would end up shorter than my usual count (odd). But 18K is still good, I suppose. FYI, the original plot I had written did not have this whole fight in it. I actually had to do it adlib and writing without having to look at something for reference really freed me and reminded me of the old days when I used to do that cx But I really liked how it ended up coming out :)

Now Ceara fucked up and well, she gonna pay for the stupid things she did. Too bad she didn't listen to anybody that told her 'don't be stupid, stupid.' But that's that. And a lot of other little secrets came out too. Let's hope the twins find everything they can to refute Masami's words. And speaking of them, what do you guys think will happen to them now that Ceara won't go after them? Or even what will be Masami's or Ceara's punishment at Hakuryuu's and Kouen's hands respectively? So many questions but I hope they keep you occupied until the next chapter c:

Real quick, let me thank the wonderful people that have Followed and Favorited since last time:
-tinybean98
-Crimson. Haven

And for those who reviewed that I couldn't reach:
- Esmee: It is so much information. *throws confetti along with this chapter* Have some more! And yeah, Noe is the woman that Ceara met that time (technically not the same one but let's leave that as that for now cx) And let's hope I mind read you well this time! xD And tell all of Holland hi from me (0w0)/

For now I'll leave it at that. Lots of sleeping to do today and lots of studying to catch up with tomorrow. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next update!