Calmer of the Storm: Woops! It's been a loooooong time…

Cody: No kidding…

Calmer of the Storm: I'm sorry! I'm just a major procrastinator!

Cody: -whistles-

Calmer of the Storm: -glares- Alright…on with the story…

Hikari was a slightly edgy as the day grew old. The day before, Takeru had come and told them the plan. It was getting close to the time when they were supposed to meet, and they would finally be out of there. But there was a feeling in her spirit; a feeling of dread. She told herself over and over again that it was only nerves, and that everything was going to be alright.

A few moments later, Yolei burst into her room. Hikari immediately looked at her, a look of question on her face. "What is it?"

"Hikari…he's coming! Sir Guy is coming! There's no way you're going to get out of here without being noticed. I heard that he's got something in mind…I hear there a ball or something tonight. You're expected to be there. I heard that if you're not…he'll hunt you down! He also said that he's found the location of the others, of course he thinks it's Robin and his 'band of merry men', but that's beside the point!"

Hikari's heart began to race. "Alright…calm down…" this was mostly for herself; she was even more nervous now. She placed her hand on the other girl's shoulders. "How do you know all this?"

"I work in the kitchen, remember? I can hear what is going on outside. I don't think he's lying."

The two girls stared at each other for a while, as if searching for an answer in the other's eyes.

Yolei spoke after a few moments. "What are we going to do?" her voice was small and timid, the girl was obviously losing hope.

Hikari broke the stare, and looked towards the balcony. "Meet them in the garden as planned…tell them what's happened. Figure something out, if it's a ball, then I'll be in the main room most of the night. Maybe I can get Sir Guy drunk or something…I don't know how that will go over, but I suppose it's worth a try."

The other girl nodded. "I have to go now then, he was on his way up."

A loud voice and footsteps could be heard from the hallway. The two exchanged a frantic look. "Go, Yolei, find the others. I'll figure something out." The girl nodded, and left the room. She did so in a manner that would seem not urgent at all, as if they were only conducting regular business.

Before the man entered the room, Kari rushed to the window and closed it. She turned just in time to see the man enter the room.

"Hello my dear, too cold for you tonight?" he asked, in reference to her having closed the window.

She managed a smile. "I'm not really wearing much in the way of warmth, anyways. And besides, you know how I am, sensitive to the cold and all…"

The man nodded. "Yes…"

An uncomfortable silence followed; at least, it was uncomfortable silence for her. She waited for him to say something.

"As you may have heard, but I am having a dinner tonight, in honor of our wedding."

Hikari tried to hide the shock. "O-oh…Well, I knew there was a ball tonight but-"

He cut her off. "Like I said, you will be my bride…If your precious Robin decides to show up, he's got another thing coming. Besides, you'll be happy with me. And I would like it if you wore that red dress I gave to you a while back." He turned to leave. "I shall see you in half an hour." Sir Guy left the room.

Hikari sat down on the bed, breathing quickly. This was something she had not expected, not in the least. But now…there was no escaping it. The girl flopped back onto the bed. "Please let everything work out…Marion and Sir Guy aren't supposed to get married…and I don't want to die…" she prayed quietly.

After lying there a few more minutes, she got up. In truth, she had no clue what dress he was talking about. However, it was worth a look. She opened the doors to the giant armoire, and looked through the dresses. There were lots of them, dresses that she would do anything to bring back home with her. Soon, she found a red dress, the only one in there. She winced lightly as she looked at it; it wasn't exactly the most decent thing ever. It was very low cut, and very tight. She was not sure she would be able to breathe in it.

Other than the fact that it didn't exactly cover everything, it was a rather beautiful dress. It laced up with red ribbon at the back, and there was ribbon tied at the front. The torso part of the dress was red velvet. The skirt was a lighter red in colour, and the puffed short sleeves were white. A collar of sorts went around the neck, and a golden pendant dangled from it. The collar too was crimson velvet. She found matching shoes, and managed to do her hair up in an elegant fashion. With a sigh, she looked herself over in a mirror, and made her way downstairs.

Yolei rushed down the stairs as soon as she was out of sight. She had to make it to the garden; she knew that the others would have seen Hikari's signal. She had no clue where they would be; she just knew they were waiting for them. She looked for the spot, and stood there. Yolei looked around to see what she could find in the darkness…but she saw nothing. A wave of panic swept over her. Had they left already?

Takeru ran a hand through his hair. "What are we going to do now? Obviously something's wrong…I just don't see what could have happened…"

Yamato wasn't paying any attention to him.

"Yama? Hello! Earth to Yamato!" he said.

His older brother still didn't respond. He seemed to be looking at something. "Hey, TK, does that person over there look familiar to you?" he said after a short while (much to the younger Ishida's annoyance).

Takeru looked, and saw what his brother was so intent on. "Yeah…it looks like Yolei!" he said, suddenly getting excited.

"Calm down…we should go get her. Wait here." He instructed.

"But…" he couldn't continue, for Yamato had already moved off.

The violet haired girl let out a gasp of surprise as someone came up behind her and touched her shoulder. She almost began to cry as she saw who it was. "You have no idea how happy and relieved I am to see someone I know!" she said as she gave him a crushing hug.

Yamato suddenly became rather uncomfortable, and peeled her from his body. "Alright…but uh…let's meet with the others."

"The others are here?" her eyes widened. "Is Ken here!" She asked, wide-eyed.

He nodded carefully. "Uh, yeah, he's here, which is why-"

He couldn't continue because the girl had fallen into hysterics. He sighed, and grabbed her arm. He pulled her into the place where Takeru was still waiting, but not before he gave a signal. It was for them to gather and meet deeper in the forest, where they would not be seen.

It was only a few minutes before all of them were assembled. At the sight of her boyfriend, Yolei lost it again. She attacked him, giving him an even bigger hug than she had Matt. Being the patient person he was, Ken only held her and allowed her to get it all out.

The others had to wait for her, for she was the one they all needed to talk to.

After a short while (though, it was too long for the others in the group), Yolei had sorted herself out. While she wouldn't go too far from Ken's side, she was ready to talk. "There's a ball tonight…" she started.

The group was around her now, some listening more eagerly than others. Cody was leaned against a tree, passively listening. Mimi had perked up at the mention of a ball, and even Sora became slightly interested. Takeru was on the edge of his seat, so to speak, for the whole time since the girl had got there, but one would only attest that to his feelings for the girl still trapped inside the castle. Even Davis was paying attention to the whole thing; he sat quietly beside Taichi, who was just as edgy as Takeru was. Yamato was the only one, other than Cody, who was relatively calm.

"It's in honour of…" She struggled to say it, for she knew what the reaction would be. "…of the wedding."

Taichi narrowed his gaze. "And what wedding would this be?" he asked.

"Well, the one between Hikari and Sir Guy, of course…"

Just as she suspected, certain members of the group did not like what they were hearing. Well, none of them did, but there were a few that acted out upon their reactions more than others.

"What! You're telling me that my little sister is getting married?"

"Well, apparently so, but not for another week, I hear. There's just a big party tonight. It's the reason she couldn't meet you out here."

Taichi muttered beneath his breath.

Yolei's face suddenly became very serious. "You can't just storm in there and get her like I heard you did Sora. They are expecting something to happen. They are counting on the fact that Takeru, or Robin Hood as he thinks, is going to come for her. He knows that you want her back, and he'll do anything to stop you. He claims to know where you guys are hiding out in Sherwood forest, and I have no doubt that he's already searched out the place and found that no one is there. If that's the case, then he knows that we're in the vicinity. The guard will be extra tight tonight, and I'm certain that he will not let Hikari from his side, much less his sight."

"But we're running out of time…" It was Cody that had spoken up.

They all turned to him.

"We have to make things right before it all falls apart, right? Now, if I've got things right, that doesn't give us a lot of time. If circumstances were well, we would have a week, but they're not. If we don't get Hikari out tonight, we aren't getting out of here at all. Your hiding spot has been found out, and I don't think that that dogs can keep them from the church for very long. It's only a matter of time before they're suspicions that I've been helping out are confirmed."

There was a thick silence that fell over the group. What the boy had said was true; they did not have a lot of time at all.

"So what do we do then?" The quiet voice came from Mimi.

Despair seemed to settle in on them. None of them had any idea as to what they were doing. Hikari was trapped inside, and the guard count was probably increasing by the second.

"She said something about trying to get him drunk…" Yolei added, trying to bring in a ray of hope.

Takeru shook his head. "He won't buy it, I'm sure he won't. He's not stupid. I've never met the guy, but if he's found out where we're hiding and he knows we want her back, then there's no way that he's going to fall for that trick…it's one of the oldest in the book."

Silence fell again.

Just then, Sora spoke up. "Sir Richard."

"What?"

"Sir Richard. Is he not a knight that still serves the rightful king?"

"I though Richard was the king…" Davis said.

"Yes, he is, but there's another man…I'm sure he could help us out. It wouldn't be tonight, but I'm sure we could get there in no time, for if I'm correct, then his estate is not too far off. I'm certain that he'd go for it, Sir Guy is more like a thorn in his side than anything else."

Takeru nodded his head. "I say we go for it, but we need to give Hikari a signal…she knows that we're here, and she probably assumes that we're going to get her tonight. We can't just leave her with no hope, for she'll be waiting the night."

Taichi nodded. "Yes, I should have to agree. She's a smart girl, but I don't want to leave her with nothing do hang on to."

No one in the group objected.

Takeru then stood. "Alright…if they're expecting me, then they're going to get me."

Yamato grabbed his wrist. "Wait, Takeru, if you go rushing in there, you're going to get yourself killed. The alarm will be raised, and the rest of us will be killed as well."

The younger boy thought this through. "Then go to the path, and I'll meet you at the edge of town. You'll be out of harms way, and I'm fast enough on my own."

His older brother gave him a stern look.

"Don't worry, I have a plan. No one will even see me."

He knew that he had to trust him. "Alright…" he let go. Takeru bounded off across the garden and headed to the other side of the palace.

Yamato looked at the others, and then stood. "Alright Sora, lead the way."

Calmer of the Storm: Yep! That's it for now, folks! It's not a -huge- cliffy, right? I've just got to sort the ideas in my head a little more…I'll try my hardest to get another chapter out this summer, but I'm only home for two weeks the whole time, and the other times I have no access to a computer.

So, until next time!