God. Dammit. Everything had been going so perfectly for Rose…that is, until she accidentally activated a trip alarm in the treasure vault. Within minutes, soldiers were swarming into the room and she'd had to escape through the vents. She only barely fit into the small crawl space, and had to push forward with all her strength just to move – it might've been the most uncomfortable thing in the world. Grunting, she pushed closer and closer to a light source.

Things weren't all bad, though. Before making a hasty escape, she had nabbed the map of the castle that Zeke wanted. And that, of course, brought her to the next issue: Zeke. The conniving +Anima was the sole reason any of this was happening. She was still hitting herself for being led on by him. Ha! As if he could ever feel anything like love – he was too shallow to have a heart, let alone the ability to use it. But that didn't change the fact that she'd let her guard down, and as a result, Pinion had been kidnapped.

"Hang on, Pinion," Rose muttered softly. "I'll set you free in no time."

When she reached the source of light, she found it was another ventilation trapdoor. Provided no one was down there waiting for her to drop, she could escape the tiny prison she wormed her way through. Upon careful inspection, she decided that the coast was clear. Using her mouth, she unscrewed the screws holding the trapdoor in place far enough so as to force the thing open.

The one thing she hadn't considered, though, was that said trapdoor would have no hinges. So when she headbutted it, it went crashing to the floor, colliding with a loud bang. "Damn!" she hissed almost silently as she (quickly as she could while remaining silent) lowered herself out of the vents and dropped about twenty feet to the floor.

A sharp pain shot up Rose's legs as she landed. But this was no time to be slowed down by a small pest like hurting; there were infinitely more important things at stake than how she felt. And at the present moment, she knew that if those matters were going to be resolved, she had to start running away; no matter how hotly her legs burned as she raced away from the spot where she'd landed.

Not but a few hallways away, the sounds of frenzied shouts entered Rose's ears.

"She has to be here somewhere! There's no way she could've escaped the castle!"

"Men, split up and search every nook and cranny of the castle until you've found that rat! You two, go guard the drawbridge and make sure no one gets by you!"

"Yes, sir, Captain Igneous, sir!"

Rose swore she could her heart pounding against her chest. Captain Igneous was in the castle?! Hadn't the children said that he wasn't, and that they were going to visit him? Why was luck never on her side? The cat +Anima laid her free hand over her breast, attempting to slow her quick, sharp breathing – the circumstances, at this point, were moot. The only thing of importance was that she was inside the castle, and she needed a way out pronto. And those armored footsteps getting gradually closer and closer weren't helping things.

As long as she was unsteady, she would be unable to employ her skills of a thief. Putting a hand to her forehead, she pushed the hair out of her eyes and slumped back against the wall. No problem, all that was required was a minute or two to think things through… It proved to be easier said than done. At every clank of metal upon the floor, her heart dangerously skipped a beat; at every shouted order, a million sirens went off in her head. It was as if all the nerves in her brain had decided to get shot at one time – unbearable.

She couldn't do it. Rose's grip on the map was tightening and tightening, to the point that large wrinkles were being formed in the parchment. Sweat was cascading down her brow. Her entire body rattled violently. There was absolutely no way she was escaping; to use the old saying, she had a snowball's chance in hell. Sighing through hurried breaths, Rose made up her mind.

But just as she was beginning to lean out from her hiding place, the vision of her younger brother entered her view. 'Pinion…' Immediately, Rose ducked back into her save crevice; if she let herself be caught by Igneous and the guards, any chance of ever seeing her little brother again went out the window. Even if just for the sake of being his big sister, she couldn't let him down. How would she be able to live with herself, provided she was granted life after being apprehended trying to steal from the royal treasury? No, there had to be a way around Igneous, and she had to find out – failure wasn't an option.

Where to start? Rose sighed and resigned herself to the truth: she had no clue where she was. Being lost in a castle was one thing; being lost in a castle you're stealing a map from was a completely different situation altogether. In the first scenario, getting caught meant a pat on the shoulder and a friendly smile; the second scenario heralded a set of irons and, if luck remained her opposition, a nice trip to the gallows. Cringing at the thought, Rose told herself not to psyche herself out, and that she wasn't going to stare down the gallows pole; not then, not ever. But the question still loomed over her head like a dark cloud: where exactly was she, and how was she going to get out? The guards still hadn't found her, but she was aware that they weren't dumb – in no time, she'd be discovered.

Only one thing could be done.

Listening intently, making sure that there were no clanking steps around her, Rose got up and bolted from her shadowy hiding spot. She wasn't even registering her loud, clumsy leaps and her breath, noisy and heavy as she gulped in all the air she could. If she had, she might've taken the time to fix all these things.

But she didn't. Intently, almost stubbornly, she continued on at full throttle, wishing that the exit could come. The twisting halls of the castle produced almost a tunnel effect, where she knew the exit was there but she didn't seem to get any closer. 'Please…' she thought, closing her eyes and praying. 'Please…All I want is to see Pinion again…'

Her eyes were closed, as were her ears, so she didn't register something right in front of her – something she collided with quite forcefully, sending both sprawling to the floor.

A searing pain spread throughout all of Rose's body. She gasped out, her eyes shooting open and taking in the scene before her. It was not one she wanted to see – in fact, it was most likely the very last thing she wanted at the moment. Lying on the floor, mere feet from the thief, was Igneous, a look of annoyance on his face. His eyes were closed, and Rose could've easily used that chance to escape. Unfortunately, she didn't. All she did was sit there in disbelief, as though suspended in a stupor.

Moments later, Igneous opened his own eyes, and his met those of the thief. Both stared at the other for a few seconds, blinking rapidly and trying to digest what was happening. When a scowl began to wash over Igneous' features, Rose scrambled to her feet, finally desperate to continue her escape.

Igneous was faster. By the time Rose was just getting her balance, he was already up and one of his hands was wrapping around her wrist. With a furious grunt, he shoved her up against the nearest wall, grasping her other wrist with his free hand. He put both arms, one still clutching the map with the grip of a condor's talon, above her head as he leaned in close to his captive. Rose wished nothing more than to get away from him, but had nowhere to go and the captain's face was getting extremely close to hers…

Actually, that was giving her an idea…

"I'm going to lock you away for a long time," Igneous whispered to her while making sure she noticed the malice in his voice. "You and every other disgusting +Anima like you…"

Rose blinked once, telling herself that she absolutely had to do that in order to get free. Breathing deeply, she put on her most innocent face and asked quietly, "Igneous…? Why do you have to be so mean…?"

It caught the captain offguard. He stared at the girl, who started stretching her head out, so close to his that he could feel her breath. "Wh-wha…?"

"I'm already yours. I won't fight…" she told him with a promising tone. Her eyes stared into his, willing them to close and asking his mouth to lean into her own. Igneous was confused in all senses of the word – wasn't this +Anima supposed to be an arrogant thief? But she was getting closer, ever closer…

What about Alice…? What would she think, but the +Anima's lips were coming so close, he could almost feel it, and secretly…maybe…perhaps…he wanted it…Her lips were parting ,and he could see her tongue, swishing around from cheek to cheek and-

Rose internally smirked; he'd fallen for it. Closing the distance between their lips, she bared her teeth and bit down on the captain's lower lip. Wasting no time, she jerked her head back, effectively ripping Igneous' lip from his face.

Screaming in pain, the captain released her. Rose took the opportunity and ran away as fast as she could. Seconds later, the shocked cries of displeasure arose from where she'd made her escape; only a minute later, she heard Igneous' voice yelping and screeching, "Stop her, STOP THAT ANIMAL!"

There was almost a thunderclap as, simultaneously, a dozen armored soldiers began to sprint after the fleeing thief. Unfortunately for them, however, Rose had reached the drawbridge and taken the two lounging, nonchalant guards by total surprise. Smiling confidently, triumphantly, she leapt across the moat and continued running into the confines of the capital city and the sheltering shadows of its colossuses.

Not until she was leaning against the brick wall of some building did she truly let it sink in: she'd won. She had outwitted the guard of the royal castle, and escaped with the map. In only a day or two, she was going to be reunited with her little brother, and life would be back to normal; with the exception of visits to the royal castle. She had a feeling she wasn't exactly welcome there anymore. Once again, she brought the map to her face; it was going to be well worth it.

That was when something struck her in the middle of her back. With a short gasp of pain, Rose crumbled to the ground, pain propelling up her spine for the third time that day. The map fell from her grip, and a moment later, a sleek hand picked it up gingerly. Grunting and exerting a large amount of effort, she rolled herself over and stared up. There was Zeke, smiling like a maniac and holding his prize with the protectiveness of a mother holding her newborn child. His eyes scanned over the fallen +Anima with a mix of great joy and sarcastic pity. "Thank you for retrieving this for me," he told her with a wink. "Couldn't have done it without ya, Rose."

"Zeke!" Rose breathed out in surprise and agony. "What are you doing here?!"

"Why, getting this map, of course," he said. "My plans can't very well be put into practice without this."

"Where's Pinion?!"

A sly grin overtook the smile that was on Zeke's face. "Oh, dear me, what am I to say? You see, he's locked up right now."

"Zeke!" Rose shrieked, trying to get to her feet but finding herself unable to. "Zeke, what do you mean?! Give him back to me! I got you your map, now give him back!"

But the gray-haired boy shook his head, having to use much effort to not break down laughing. "Rose, are you really that dense? I never planned to give him back in the first place. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Poor, poor Rose…You got duped again."

"What do you want with my little brother?!"

"Ha! This proves that he holds great leverage over you – I think I might have to employ him as blackmail again. That, and he really is a cutie; hell, if I play my cards right, he would make a beautiful and loyal underling."

Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing – she had gone through everything to get the map for Zeke, and she'd done nothing but play into his hand .And worse yet, he was insinuating that she would never see Pinion again. "So that's it, then?!" she asked him, voice rising in pitch. "You're just going to play him, use him, like you do everyone else?! And then throw away friendship and love when they're not useful to you anymore?!"

Zeke finally cackled. "Glad you're finally getting the picture!" he laughed. Somewhere in the distance, there was a clap of thunder and a jagged bolt of lightning lit up the sky. "It's called pansexuality, love." He daintily put a few free fingers against his chest. "Although I must tell you, I think I've met the girl of my dreams. She's smart, she's cunning, she's quick, and she's everything, she's my dreams come true…" He stared into Rose's eyes, and she felt that glimmer of hope resurfacing.

"…And she's not you." Laughing crazily, Zeke waved a final goodbye to Rose and hopped into the shadows. He was gone, and Rose was left by herself, lying in an alley, unable to move.

Another flash of lightning came, and rain started to fall to the ground. In a matter of a few minutes, Rose was soaked and chilled to the bone. And she was absolutely miserable. She needed help, she needed help…"Please!" she exclaimed. "Please, someone help me!"

But what were the chances anyone was going to hear?