"He's dead, Sultana." Tohma answered, his voice ringing through the room.

"NO!" Shuichi screamed, forgetting that he was supposed to hate his new suitor. "You're lying!"

Mika cast a shocked glance at Shuichi, but immediately returned her attention to Tohma.

"This could be anyone's shirt, you don't know that it's his!" she screeched, trying to find any excuse to discount Tohma's claim.

"I overheard some…dark conversation." Tohma replied, putting his fingertips together underneath his chin and sighing.

"Go on." Mika ordered, convinced that she'd find a hole in Tohma's explanation. If she didn't, everything would be ruined.

"They were talking about the parade, you know, the one that Prince Eiri arrived with." Tohma said slowly. He quickened his cadence when he saw Mika's face, however. "Anyway, they were talking about finding him in the streets and…well…"

"SPIT IT OUT!" Shuichi yelled at Tohma. He had left his pillar since the beginning of Tohma's story and was now standing next to Mika, looking crazed.

"That's where I found the shirt. They had it. I brought them in for questioning, of course, as that's my job, and they confessed to killing him. I had them executed immediately."

"Then they must have been lying." Yuki snapped from the now-open doors of the throne room. He and K had been listening intently on the other side of the door, waiting for the perfect moment to burst in.

The entire room went silent. Tohma gaped at Yuki, at a complete loss for words. Mika leaned forward and looked from him to the bloody shirt, trying to figure out what had just happened. Deciding that nothing but the fact that Eiri was alive mattered, she dropped the shirt and started smiling like a kid at Christmas. Shuichi, on the other hand, squealed some incoherent noise that sounded a lot like "Yuki!" and threw himself at the masquerading street rat.

"I…what…huh?" Tohma stuttered, absorbed in the shock of the moment. He couldn't believe what he was seeing; Caspian had never before failed in assassinating his mark.

"Run out of clever excuses?" Yuki asked curtly, not at all pleased about his role in Caspian's grand scheme. He gave Shuichi, who was now wrapped around his middle, a quick hug and then tried to detach himself from his clutches.

"Tohma." Mika said, a snarl apparent in her voice. "What the hell is going on here?"

"I…don't know…" Tohma answered in a hollow voice. His entire world was collapsing. He hadn't even considered that Caspian's plan would fail. He glanced around the room in a hopeless despair, wondering how Mika would kill him and if Caspian would get away in time to save himself.

"You're not dead again!" Shuichi said, not bothering to contain his obvious happiness. In the rush of emotions connected with Yuki's second death and sudden arrival, he had forgotten that he was supposed to hate him.

"I'll deal with you in a minute." Mika snapped at Tohma, who was quivering on the floor and pulling clumps of feathers out of his boa. "What's your deal?" She directed at Shuichi, who was still attached to Yuki's waist.

"He had a change of heart." Yuki answered, not trusting his disguise, and head, to Shuichi.

"Apparently." Mika responded, raising her eyebrows but nonetheless looking pleased. "Does this mean you choose him?"

"Don't answer that." Yuki whispered as quietly as he could to Shuichi, who still had a goofy smile plastered across his face. Sure, he was happy now, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to spend the remainder of his days with the hyped-up maniac.

"Dunno." Shuichi replied, his spirit slightly dampened by Yuki's words.

Mika stared at Shuichi for a while, her head looking like it was ready to explode. She had no patience; Tohma had used it all up.

"Fine. We'll discuss this later." Mika finally said, sighing and shaking her head. "Tohma. Your turn."

"Huh?" Tohma asked in a high-pitched voice. He stood up shakily and tried to hide the pile of feathers from his boa behind him. "You need something, milady?"

"Don't start that mess. You can't play dumb now, Tohma." Mika said, crossing her arms and glaring at Tohma. "Now, what's going on? You owe me an explanation."

Tohma looked from Yuki to Mika, trying to find a way out of this mess. If he tried to run for it, the taller retainer might tackle him, not to mention getting past Yuki and Shuichi. And if he lied, Mika would surely see through it and his punishment would at least double. Deciding that it was immediately safer to spin a lie and try to out-smart the street rat and his crew, he cleared his throat and hoped for the best.

"I must have heard the culprits wrong…maybe they were confessing to another murder, I don't know." Tohma answered, throwing up his hands and trying to look perplexed. "I thought the shirt was his, it looked the same."

"I see three issues with that. First, you need to get your hearing checked, obviously. Second, you're no longer in charge of dealing with crime; that's Tatsuha's responsibility now. And third, why the hell are you paying so much attention to other men's clothing?" Mika said, looking very satisfied with herself.

"He was important to you, I happened to notice what he looked like." Tohma said through gritted teeth. He ignored her first two points entirely. "I'm sorry I made the mistake, but those men that I brought in killed someone, they were guilty. I made the right call."

Mika nodded a couple of times and walked back over to her throne. She sat down and considered Tohma's explanation; it seemed to check out. He had made mistakes in the past, he was Tohma. The thing that wasn't adding up was how Prince Eiri was reacting; why was he so agitated about Tohma's mistake? And how had he known exactly when to burst into the room, and that the conference was even taking place?

"There are a few things that don't quite make sense, Tohma. Why were you scrambling to make excuses? If it was an honest mistake why didn't you just say so?" Mika asked. Then she turned to Yuki. "And why-"

"Because he's lying." Yuki answered, cutting Mika off and earning himself a glare from her. "He tried to kill me and now he's just trying to cover his tracks."

"You've got to be kidding me…" Mika whispered.

"No, milady, he's lying!" Tohma yelled, unwilling to lose the battle and his beloved head.

"That damn parrot tried to murder me." Yuki said, ignoring Tohma's outburst. "Go ahead, search the office. The entire place is covered in blood, feathers, and various weapons."

"Tohma." Mika said, unsure of what to do next. "Tell me this isn't true."

"It isn't true." Tohma chirped, thinking optimistically that Mika just wanted to hear a few empty words.

Mika stared at Tohma, feeling conflicted about what path to take. She could side with Tohma and tell the Prince that that was how Caspian made friends. She could tell him that she needed more proof, which she hoped he didn't have, and dismiss the matter entirely. In either of those cases, she risked insulting Prince Eiri and causing him to leave. At this thought, she glanced over at said Prince and saw that her idiotic stepson was still attached to his waist, a smile still in place though he seemed to have calmed down a bit.

Her last option was to believe the Prince and arrest Tohma. If she did that, he'd never forgive her, they were supposed to be a team after all. But, on the other hand, she couldn't lose Prince Eiri. Without him, the plan would never succeed. And she could always pardon Tohma later, and keep him hidden until she married off Shuichi.

"Tohma." Mika said, causing the room to fall silent.

"Yes, Sultana?" Tohma asked cautiously. He was unsure of his fate, and he knew it was far too late to continue his pointless lies. Yuki was looking murderous, and Tohma didn't know if he'd make it out of the throne room alive even if Mika sided with him.

"You're under arrest for the attempted murder of Prince Eiri. Guards!" Mika said, her voice ringing through the room. Several guards immediately jogged in from the entrance hall. Tohma was sad to see that his two accomplices had listened to him and were guarding some remote tower; they might have helped him escape. "And make sure you round up the parrot too."

"Yay!" Shuichi squealed, thrilled to see Tohma overthrown at last. He started to jump up and down, almost knocking Yuki over.

"Alright, that's it, let go!" Yuki said, renewing his attempts to pry Shuichi off of him. He grabbed Shuichi's arms and lifted him as high as he could, hoping that that would break his hold.

While Yuki struggled against Shuichi's death grip on his waist, the guards put Tohma's hands in irons and started to march him out of the room. As Tohma passed by the wriggling street rat, his eyes landed on something that renewed his hope for life; the lamp was attached to Yuki's belt. Soon as Yuki lowered his arms, the lamp was again hidden from sight.

"MIKA!" Tohma yelled, forgetting all senses of decency and using the Sultana's first name in his panic to tell her about the lamp. "MIKA!"

"I don't want to hear it." Mika snapped, closing her eyes and sighing as one of the guards walloped Tohma for his misnomer. "Get him out of here. Now."

"MIKA!" Tohma shrieked again, trying now to think of something that would shock Mika into listening to him without alerting the street rat that he knew about the lamp. "Darling! Please, don't do this!"

The entire room went dead still. Yuki halted his Shuichi-removal, K almost dropped the gun he was polishing, the guards loosened their grip on Tohma, and Mika looked like she was either going to cry or strangle Tohma. Shuichi, enjoying the reprieve, hugged Yuki again. It took him a few seconds, but then Tohma's words reached him too; he gasped and immediately released Yuki, clapping both hands over his mouth and widening his eyes to the popping point.

"Please?" Tohma said quietly, internally regretting his decision. He thought things couldn't get any worse, but then he remembered that Caspian wasn't there to embarrass him more than he himself already had.

"Dungeons. NOW." Mika said after quite a few minutes of tense silence. Tohma had tried to speak several more times, but looks from Mika had kept his mouth shut.

"NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Tohma yelled, deciding that he didn't care about alerting the street rat more than he cared about his own head. "HE HAS THE-"

"Shut him up." Mika ordered. One of the guards slapped Tohma, making him whimper. "Lock him in the high-security area, and keep your eyes peeled for that parrot."

The guards nodded and dragged Tohma, who was now screaming absurdities and attempting to bite his captors, out of the room. The doors slammed behind them, quieting Tohma's now-hysterical shrieks.

"I'm so sorry about him." Mika said, trying her best for a sincere tone. "I'm not sure what got into him…"

"Right, I'm sure you had no-" Yuki started, before K elbowed him in the ribs and took over.

"It's fine, milady. No real harm done. I was able to extricate…his Majesty from the bird's clutches." K answered the Sultana with a smile, pausing before Yuki's title to remind him to play his part.

"That's good, I'm glad he has such capable retainers." Mika replied, relieved that the Prince's retainer was so amiable. Prince Eiri looked like he wanted to punch something.

"I'm not sticking around for your meaningless banter." Yuki whispered to K before he turned on his heel and left the throne room. Shuichi stayed where he was for a few seconds before bounding after Yuki's retreating form.

"He's tired, had a long morning, after all." K said with a smile, trying to smooth over Yuki's behavior. They were going to have to have a long talk when he caught up with him.

"Of course, it's understandable. If you need anything, my servants will be glad to help you." Mika said, walking back to her throne room to resume her normal duties. "Please relay my apologies to your master again, I'm mortified by my vizier's actions."

K nodded, bowed to Mika, and left the throne room.

"Dammit." Mika muttered when the doors had closed behind K. "I can't believe him."

She and Tohma had been together for years, even before her husband, Shuichi's father, had died. She had always assumed that she'd marry Tohma once Shuichi was out of the way, but these days she wasn't so sure. He was consistently letting her down and for him and Caspian to try to kill Shuichi's last chance…she wasn't sure if she could move past it. Tohma most likely had some crazy reason or some unlikely excuse, but those wouldn't be enough this time. He had tried to kill their last chance. If Eiri didn't work out, Mika didn't know what she was going to do. If Tohma had succeeded in getting the lamp, the problem would have been easily solved. But seeing as he had dropped it in some god-forsaken place, she was stuck.

She sighed and got off of her throne again. She started to pace around the vast room, thinking of the arrest. Tohma knew better than to use her first name in public; he had never broken that rule before. It was bad enough that he had done that, but then to call her 'darling'…she couldn't understand why he had done that.

Thinking about the situation made her angrier by the second. She had never felt more disrespected. Everyone had stared at her like she was some kind of leper, to be associated with Tohma in such a way. Even though she was associated the feather-clad fool, it had never been revealed in public. She sat back down, trying to calm down, but she couldn't. Her hands were shaking and all she could think about were different ways of torturing and killing her ex-most-trusted advisor. He couldn't continue to be her vizier after attempting to assassinate visiting royalty. She jumped up from her seat and headed for the dungeons, intent on, at the very least, giving Tohma the filleting of a lifetime.

In her huff, it took her no time at all to reach the dungeons. She shoved the first guard out of the way, and pushed the next two down the stone stair case that led to where Tohma was being held. Deciding that it was in their best interest to flee, the guards that could still walk grabbed their fallen comrades and ran for it.

"Tohma." Mika said, having arrived at Tohma's cell. She crossed her arms and peered into the gloom, trying to spot her flamboyant accomplice.

"Mika?" Tohma replied weakly. Without the heat of the borrowed banana suit, Tohma was freezing.

"Just shut it." Mika ordered, in no mood for anymore of Tohma's blathering. "Sit down and listen to what I have to say. Interrupt and you'll leave this cell in pieces."

Tohma gulped and nodded. He was dying to tell Mika about the lamp, but he could've sworn that he saw smoke coming off of the top of her head and he didn't want to feed the flames more than he already had. He fought his natural instinct to yell 'FIRE!' and stayed quiet, intently staring at her head to make sure he didn't see any more signs of an inferno.

"How dare you use my first name in front of other people, Tohma, how stupid do you have to be?!" Mika spat at Tohma, her voice rising with each word until she was screeching.

Tohma thought about telling her about the lamp, but then decided it was better for his livelihood if he kept his trap shut.

"What are you, stupid? You exposed us! Now they all know!" Mika shrieked, spit flying and eyes popping. "YOU MORON!"

Thoughts about the lamp again crossed Tohma's mind, but at this point he was starting to get angry. He'd just let Mika work herself up and tire herself out before he gifted her the information that would send her over the moon.

"How can you be so careless? How many times do I have to tell you, if you're going to kill someone, don't let the bird help!" Mika said, now waving her arms and stomping around the dungeon.

Tohma twiddled his thumbs and stared at the ceiling. Mika had yelled at him before, and this time, no matter what happened, he had a get-out-of-jail-free card; the lamp.

"And why the hell were you trying to kill the Prince anyway? He's Shuichi's last chance!" Mika screamed, not anywhere close to ramping down. "WHY?!"

"Well-" Tohma started to say, thinking that Mika wanted his input at this point.

"QUIET!" Mika roared, rattling the bars of Tohma's cells and causing the abused vizier to almost flip over backwards in shock and in his haste to get away from the ravenous Sultana. "I'm not through with you!"

Mika continued to berate Tohma for half an hour, screaming until her voice cracked. She dragged up things that had happened ten years earlier and even made up a few to keep things flowing. Tohma sat down and watched her storm around the narrow hallway, content as long as she didn't get too close to his, now-considered protective, bars. When she had finally resorted to glaring and wheezing incoherent insults, Tohma stood up and brushed himself off.

"Umm, Mika?" Tohma asked quietly, not wanting to startle her back into a rage.

"What?" Mika gasped, her voice almost completely shot from unleashing years of frustration upon Tohma.

"I have some news."

"…"

"It's about…" Tohma considered saying 'our lamp', but knew from past experience that this would only reawaken the dormant beast of Mika's anger. "Your lamp."

"…what?" Mika said quietly, completely taken aback by Tohma's statement.

"I found it." Tohma replied slowly, still trying to keep Mika's temper from flaring. Bringing up the lamp had been dangerous enough given her anger over him losing it in the first place.

"You found it?" Mika repeated, unwilling to believe that Tohma had actually done something right.

"Yes. It's not lost." Tohma answered.

"Well, where is it?" Mika said, crossing her arms and looking skeptical. She figured that this was some last-minute attempt by Tohma to keep his head.

"Someone else has it." Tohma said quietly.

"Tohma. Spit it out. Where's the lamp, who has it?" Mika said in an impatient tone. She hated it when Tohma dragged things out like this. "Stop being such a drama queen."

"Queen?" Tohma said to himself, feeling hurt. He gave Mika a pouty look but quickly returned to his explanation; she had reached for a spear that was leaning against the dungeon wall. "The street-I mean, the Prince has it. Prince Eiri."

"And I suppose that was why you were trying to kill him?" Mika asked, completely unfazed by the news.

"I..what?" Tohma stuttered, startled by Mika's reply. He gulped and tried to mentally re-group to come up with a clever answer. "Yeah."

"Yeah? Tohma, you can't try to kill visiting royalty! You'll start a war!" Mika screeched, her voice immediately cracking.

"I know…"

"Then why did you try to kill him?"

"Your lamp." Tohma replied. Mika smiled wickedly, and Tohma started to get a little scared; she didn't believe him. "He has it! I saw it!"

"Sure you did. He doesn't have the lamp, Tohma. You just don't like him."

"That's not true!" Tohma squealed, running forward and grabbing the bars.

"Yes, it is. You don't like him, tried to kill him, and now you're just trying to save your ass from the chopping block." Mika said in a dangerous whisper.

"No, Mika…it's not…I swear…" Tohma said softly, starting to get genuinely worried.

"Stop lying." Mika ordered. Tohma tried to make another rebuttal, but Mika held up her hand to silence him. "Today's your lucky day, however."

"It is?" Tohma asked, unable to stop himself.

"Yes. You've reminded me of one of your more disastrous blunders." Mika said, backing up and leaning against the wall. "You lost my lamp."

Tohma stopped breathing, waiting for Mika to deal out his sentence. He couldn't imagine how this would end well for him now that she'd mentioned one of his biggest mistakes.

"And now you're going to go find it for me."

"I am?" Tohma asked weakly. Her idea of luck was sadistic.

"Yes." Mika said, walking towards the stairs. She paused, and glanced over her shoulder. "And Tohma, if you fail me this time, I really will have you killed. Guard!"

Tohma was stunned into silence; he was going to live. He sat there numbly while the guard that Mika had summoned unlocked his cell and escorted him out of it. He walked down the narrow hallway in a daze, his brain not completely registering what had just happened. He stumbled up the dark staircase and didn't start to take in his surroundings until after the guards had shut the doors to the dungeon behind him.

He shook his head, hard, trying to clear his head. He came to just in time to see Mika's shadow disappear down the hallway that led back to the throne room.

"Mika!"

"Tohma…" Mika said quietly, stopping in her tracks. "I thought you'd learned your lesson…"

"Sorry, milady, I just wanted to thank you." Tohma said quickly, his eye twitching. He'd already screwed up and he'd only been loose for thirty seconds.

"Don't, quite yet. Remember, you still owe me my lamp." Mika said, her voice turning dangerous. She made a slice across her throat with her pointer finger and raised her eyebrows. Satisfied with Tohma's terrified expression, she smiled and continued her trek to the throne room.

Tohma gulped audibly and nodded, scooting away rather quickly. He closed his eyes and did some deep breathing. Once he had calmed down, he tried to decide on his next course of action. Mika had charged him with recovering the lamp, but she refused to believe that Prince Eiri had it. Tohma sighed and ran a hand through his mussed hair. He had no idea what to do next.

"Well, when in doubt…" Tohma whispered to himself. He sighed again, muttered something about a 'stupid parrot', and set off for his trusty broom closet.

Sorry for the late update everyone! I meant to have this done sooner, but calculus is a royal pain in the ass. No nice words for that class. None. *sticks out tongue at calculus homework* It's nasty. Also, I apologize about the weird posting day, I didn't want to wait until the end of the week to post this seeing as I just finished it ten minutes ago. In other news, I'm up at KU visiting friends and it is SO pretty up here! Not that Wichita isn't pretty right now, but dang. Leaves everywheres! Yes, everywheres. As always, enjoy.

-Amaya