December 7, winter, year 36

It's just… horrible. When will it end?

Her awakening was abrupt, nearly sending her flying out of the large bed as she ran from the dreams that pursued her. Trembling and gasping, she covered her face with her hands, trying to deny what she had seen.

Skye reached out carefully, and drew his shaking wife close, holding her carefully. This had been the second time in as many nights she had woken up frightened, but there was something more to it this time.

"He… got them," Claire's voice was a bare, frightened whisper. "He got them both!"

"Who got them? Who got whom?"

Tear filled blue eyes looked up into worried sea-green, then Claire hid her face in Skye's shoulder, sobbing softly. In a way, that was answer enough, the person with the soul-stealer had struck again, and had killed again.

But who had been killed? Was it someone Claire had been close to? This wasn't the same type of terror she'd had on that first night so many months ago. It was close, but there was more sorrow than fear this time.

He soothed her as best he could, running his hands along her back, through her hair. Slowly, Claire's tears dried up, her breathing eased back into a sort of normalcy, and she rubbed at her own eyes.

"Skye…" he voice was soft, serious. "I know who's doing this. But I don't think you're going to like it."

"Tell me anyways," his voice was gentle.

"Toshihiro," Claire's voice caught slightly. "He… he killed Hikari and Suiren."

Skye felt the blood drain from his face. Suiren wasn't that big of a deal, they had no strong allies to repel. But Hikari's home had ties to the Rain's Palace and the Storms palace. They did too, in Kaemon's marriage to the Rain's Princess Akahari, but Storms… Those troops could easily take on and out the combined armies of Tranquility and Serenity Palace.

"I… I think Hikari knew I was there, somehow," Claire continued softly. "She made sure to say his name… I think he killed Suiren first for failing to hold onto you, and then Hikari because she was going to tell us."

Skye flicked from thought to thought, slowly piecing it together. Toshi had always been overly jealous of the attention that he, Daisuke and Akio had always received. And then Skye himself had been granted leave to.. well, leave, giving the younger prince time to seethe, and focus on the 'unfairness' of it all.

"I might even be able to prove it," she whispered.

That returned his attention to the present with a snap, and he looked down at the blonde woman in his arms.

"Hikari… I can still feel her," Claire's hand lightly touched her chest. "Just a fragment, that knife got almost all of her. But she wrote in a journal… or rather, spoke into a crystal. It has everything that happened. If we can get that…"

"Toshihiro will have to face his punishment," Skye finished grimly. "Do you know where it is?"

"…vaguely," Claire raised one shoulder in a half shrug. "If I'm quick I could probably get it before they realize she's been killed. Then it's all a matter of timing."

Tears had been replaced by an aching sorrow, and a stubborn determination. Skye knew that look. It was similar to the one she had on her face when she'd decided that she was going to work on the farm until she got to big in the belly for her job. Nothing and no one would change her mind.

"Just be careful," Skye said, letting her slip from his grasp. "Don't get caught."

She smiled wanly, pulled on a robe over her pajamas, and gave him a soft kiss to the cheek. Even taking five minutes to get dressed would take too long, soon enough a patrol of guards would find the two bodies, sprawled in the decorative fountain like the king had been.

She slipped out the door, leaving Skye alone with his thoughts. The former prince worried, and hoped that Toshihiro wouldn't run into his wife.

Claire wound her ways through the halls to the rooms where Hikari had been staying. Her maidservants slept late since the Princess normally wasn't up in the early hours, but the rooms were connected so her search would have to be performed quietly. There would be too many awkward questions if she was found.

The room was, thankfully, free of an over-abundance of stuff. It was much easier to search without the fear of knocking something over, or stepping on something that would make a loud noise.

She checked the obvious places first, the wooden carved boxes on the desk—only regular jewelry—the shelves, under the bed, an so on. Under the bed was the hardest, her stomach wasn't getting any smaller…

Finally she found the rainbow hued crystal under Hikari's pillows, and let out a sigh of relief. Cautiously she touched it, and was rewarded with a small, illusory form of Hikari, who looked as though she was harried.

"I don't have much time, he's going to be after me next. Claire, if you find this, the password for getting the other entries is…"

The small illusion let off a burst of words that sounded like one of the spells that Winnie used.

"I am so sorry Claire… I hope that this makes up for the foolishness that I caused."

Her voice cut off, and the figure popped like a soap bubble. Claire cradled the crystal to her chest, and did her best not to cry. In the end… Hikari had been a true friend. She had known, and she had given Claire the key to Toshihiro's downfall.

She took several deep breaths, and sidled over to the door out. She had to run this back to Skye as quickly as possible. They needed to make plans.

Skye's relief was palpable as the blonde slipped back into their room, and pulled her into a close hug before she could even get out a word. She let him, and he held her up as she trembled in reaction to the adrenaline that had been flooding into her system ever since she'd woken and known what to do.

A low, eerie wailing noise started in the middle of it, and soon Claire and Skye were surrounded by their nervous, unhappy children.

"What's going on?" Mirei asked, clinging to her mother's robe. "That noise is scary!"

"Scary," Meredith agreed, also holding onto Claire's robe. "An loud!"

Jamie felt that he was too old to be clinging to his parents, but that didn't stop him from stepping closer to them, Alan from grabbing his father's leg, nor Lauren from resting a hand on her mother's shoulder.

"It's an alarm," Skye replied, shivering a little himself. "It means that something terrible has happened on Palace grounds. The noise means everyone's confined to their quarters until such time as Mother sees fit to let everyone out again."

"What about breakfast?" Lauren jumped slightly as the noise started again, a little louder.

"Postponed until we're released, I'm afraid," Skye gave his children a calming, rueful smile. "But I'm sure it won't be long. These sorts of things never last. Who's up for a story?"

He released Claire, who was by then capable of standing on her own, and ushered his children next door. The blonde took only a few seconds to hide the crystal under her own pillow before she joined them.

They whiled away two hours before a chiming noise started echoing through the walls, and Skye let out a quiet sigh of relief. This lasted only a few minutes as the next noise after the 'All-clear' was the sound of fists meeting the door.

Claire continued to read as he excused himself. She still felt on edge for stealing the crystal, and couldn't help but wonder if she was to be discovered already. Skye's face, when he returned, was grim.

"Dad, what's going on?" Jamie practically pounced on his father for the information.

"Princess Hikari and Princess Suiren… have been murdered," even knowing beforehand, it was still a sobering thought. "Since Daisuke still isn't officially the king, I have to leave you all for a short while to sort this out."

"Be careful," Claire looked up at him, blue eyes worried. "Please?"

He bent, and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"Of course."

In turn he kissed or hugged all of his children, then left. Claire let out a soft sigh, then turned to Lauren.

"Let's order breakfast," she smiled. "No use trying to puzzle this out over an empty stomach, no?"

Skye's told me he'll be busy almost to Toshihiro's birthday, and that I should take the crystal to Kaemon, who'll copy it and give it to Akio. And from there things should progress pretty rapidly.

I can only hope… I can only hope that this will end.