"But Igneous told you to stay here!" Nana objected as she watched Alice turning the knob of the front door.

Careful of the baby she held in her womb, Alice threw the door open and hurriedly rushed down the front steps. "I don't care," she said bluntly as she started down the street towards the castle. "I'm not going to let him get hurt." It was clear that she wasn't going to be swayed.

Still, though, Nana felt like she had to try. The sensation of trying to follow Igneous' orders was odd, even alien, but the woman rushing to the man's aid was carrying the miracle of life within her. Such a thing could not, under any circumstances, be lost. So, cupping her hands around her mouth in the shape of an O, she gave it one last attempt. "What about your baby?" she called out, in a panicked voice, to Alice, who was already halfway down the block.

Without turning around, Alice replied, "Nothing is going to happen to my baby or my fiancé!" She continued on adamantly.

Nana raised a hand in protest, but said nothing as she watched Alice speedily slow-walk down the lane. In that one moment, the bat +Anima felt completely, absolutely helpless. Lip quivering, her arm slowly fell down to her side as she stood on the porch and didn't make any attempt to go forward. "B-but…" Nothing else would come out, try as she might.

Husky hadn't even lifted a finger to stop Alice. He'd merely sat on the small couch, arms folded in his lap, staring at the floor and paying no attention to Alice's worries. When she'd abruptly gotten up, the boy's expression hadn't wavered. Now, however, he slowly got to his feet and turned his head upwards to look around the empty room. Out of the corner of his eye, Husky noticed Senri leaning up against the wall in the entry hall. Moving away from the couch, the fish +Anima found himself putting a hand gently against the wood paneling of the corner. Slowly moving out into the entry hall, he saw Nana's body, standing straight up and shivering. Eyes softening, he asked her in a gentle voice, "Nana, are you alright…?"

Her head whipped around to face his. Husky could see in her eyes concern, indecision, and an overriding confusion. The girl looked close to tears, but she was holding her composure together, even if just barely. "Of course I'm not." Nana sniffled in. "She's just…running out there and she won't stop." For the first time that she could recall, she wanted nothing more than to reach out to him and let herself be wrapped in his arms – however, she had to resist that urge. Instead, she asked worriedly, "What am I supposed to do…?"

What sort of answer could there possibly be? Husky had no way of replying to Nana's question – Alice was being irrational, Igneous was being stubborn (as usual), and everything was going all wrong. It seemed like there was only one thing that the boy could do to calm his friend's frayed nerves. Moving towards her, he put his best smile upon his face, one that made Nana even more nervous. She tried to move away, to be free of Husky's smile, but couldn't.

Once he got to the bat +Anima, Husky put his arms around her and brought her close to him. Nana's cheeks flared with red coloring, almost as though they'd been colored that way by a crayon. Her eyes took no notice of the boy holding her – they stared, like they were hanging agape, at the ceiling. Nonetheless, a wave of comfort flowed through her body.

Eyes closed, Husky told her, "Then there's only one thing we can do. We have to follow Alice and make sure she doesn't hurt herself."

And after that, Nana, for reasons she couldn't quite understand, she felt better; perhaps because she was about to go help someone. But at the same time, she felt scared; perhaps because the words had meant something personal to her, and she didn't have the courage to utter those three words she desperately wanted to tell Husky.

Three words she would probably never be able to tell him.

Before she could even contemplate them, Husky had let go of her and was out the door, as was Senri. Nana was left standing on the front porch while her two friends were already out on the street, trying to follow Alice's trail. And, for some reason, the bat +Anima couldn't help but see herself being left behind by everyone who had cared for her. To be left living in the past while everyone else flew by… Nana sighed – perhaps it was impossible to love Husky…

"Nana, you coming?"

Blinking, Nana peered out into the road to see Husky waving at her. He didn't have a cute smile on, nor was he very enthusiastic about having to remind her to hurry up, but… A happy grin inched its way onto the girl's face. Maybe not impossible…

When the three +Anima finally caught up with Alice, she was breathing heavily and resting her head against a dirty brick wall. The alleys had swallowed her up and painted her face crimson. As footsteps came nearer to her, her eyes flashed over to the three children; a soft smile adorned her lips when she did. "I was wondering…how long…it would take…" she said slowly, taking large gulps of air into her lungs between every few words. She gently patted the ground beside her, motioning for them to sit down.

None of them did, though. With stormclouds brewing overhead, they wanted to be ready to run to shelter.

"It's a bit hard…to run with…a baby…" Alice explained, and weakly laughed. "I was…out of breath…pretty quick…" After that, a wave of silence swept over the four. Not a word was spoken, not a grunt uttered, not a single sigh was sighed.

That was why it came as such a surprise when the piercing scream of a woman filled the night air. "Help! Please! HELP!" it screeched, the tone shaking and tears almost visible through the sheer volume and fluctuation. All four of them in the alley turned their heads quickly; where was that voice coming from?

"HeLP!" The unknown woman's voice cracked in the night air. It was frenzied, and there could be no doubt that whoever called was in serious trouble, and truly needed what she was screaming for.

Nana turned to Alice, who was still very red in the face. "Wh…what do we do…?" the little girl asked. What could she do?

Alice grunted a little as she tried to lift herself up with help from the wall. "We…we go and…help... whoever…" She sighed and collapsed back to the ground, catching her breath and not wanting to move at all. But she lifted a hand and pointed in the direction of the screaming. "Wel…well…go…!"

Nana glanced to where the screaming was. "But I can't just leave you here…"

Husky sighed. 'Girls can never get anything done,' he thought to himself, irritated. Stepping forward, he nodded to Senri. "Pick 'er up and take 'er with us." He glanced over at Nana. "C'mon, we're gonna go see what this is all about." However, as Senri helped Alice to her feet, helping her along with his shoulder, Husky thought to himself, 'How do I get myself into these situations…?'

It was perhaps three or four blocks away that the four found who was yelling for help. Senri, Husky, and Nana immediately recognized her. "Rose!" Nana called out, rushing over to the fox +Anima.

Rose had slid herself under the cover of some lopsided cardboard boxes to shelter herself from the cold. It was still difficult for her to move after having been hit so hard by Zeke. Using her elbows, she'd slid herself over, and had begun calling for help. "Ahh…! You three…!" Her voice, even when it was low like it was at the present moment, was raspy and clearly tired.

All three +Anima, and Alice, sat down by her. "What happened to you?" Husky asked, small traces of concern in his voice. "You were fine last we saw you."

Rose nodded a bit weakly. "Yes, but that was before…" She looked up at Alice. "…Who are you?"

Alice put a hand in front of her mouth momentarily. "Oh my…I forgot t'…to introduce myself…" She extended the hand forward. "I'm Alice, fiancé of Captain Igneous." There was a small bit of pride in the way she said this.

Rose stared off into space for a moment. "C-Captain Igneous…" Suddenly, she burst into life, clutching at Alice's outstretched hand with both of her own. "Please…! You must take me to the Captain, he has to know!"

"Slow down…!" Husky told her. Rose continued to quiver for a moment before calming down to where she could listen. "Now tell us what the Captain-" He absolutely despised using Igneous' actual name. "…needs to know."

Rose took a few deep breaths. "Well, I sort of…broke into the castle and set off the alarm…"

Nana gasped. "Rose, what were you thinking…? …So that's what triggered the alarm…"

Rose waved a hand in front of Nana's general vicinity so that she could continue. "Yes, yes, but that's not it. I escaped the castle with something I'd stolen – the blueprints of the castle itself." She didn't even bat an eyelash at the other four, whose jaws had all dropped in disbelief that she would do such a thing. Rose continued her story, saying how she'd meant to give it to Zeke a few days later, but he'd surprised her. She told them that Zeke had made it clear he was planning to attack the castle, and take the capital of Astaria.

All while he was listening to this, Husky's head was boiling. His hands were curling into fists; his knuckles were turning white. Right from the start… From the beginning, he'd known Zeke was no good. And Cooro had trusted him, and now Cooro was gone, and…

And why were tears forming in his eyes? Why was he getting so emotional whenever he thought of Cooro? Covertly, as not to be seen by the likes of anyone, he wiped the tears away before they could fall.

"Zeke…? The nice one we met that was Cooro's friend…? He's really a bad guy…?" Nana was ovicing what Husky was pretty much thinking, though he considered it a bit slow. She had only just figured that one out…?

Rose nodded. "Yes, and I have to get to the Captain and warn him so that they can prepare defenses! Zeke and his company are ruthless – if they launch a surprise attack, the castle will most definitely fall!" She tried to get up, and made it a good distance before she hissed in pain and lowered herself back down to the ground. She rubbed her ribs before trying again. This time, she managed to push herself upright, and her body fell back against the wall, leaning. "C…Come on…" she muttered to herself. "Be strong, you hafta make it back there…"

Husky and Nana looked at each other, then at Senri. Soon, the bear +Anima found himself helping two people along on their way to the castle.

"Hurry it up! I want people tracing her footsteps! I want her caught within the hour! I want what she took back now!" Igneous was making his soldiers run around endlessly, securing the castle and doing a check of every single storage area to find out what Rose had stolen.

The captain touched a finger to his bottom lip, which was still bleeding – a small bit, but he was bleeding all the same. His other hand curled into a fist. 'I swear, the moment I find her I'm going to make her regret ever stealing from this castle AND attacking me.' For now, he stared at the floor and leaned a foot against the marble walls, every so often barking out an order to no one in particular.

His mind was racing so much that he didn't even notice a guard coming up to him, with a group of five lagging not too far behind him.

"Captain?"

Catapulted out of his thoughts, Igneous turned to him, his eyes flashing indignantly. "Yes?" The word was almost forced out of his mouth.

"You have visitors, captain. They say they have something to say about the theft." And before his captain had the chance to say anything at all, the guard scurried away. So Igneous was left standing in the middle of the hall, quite dumbfounded, with five people in his midst, all of whom he hadn't yet noticed.

It wasn't until he turned that he saw the group there. Igneous began to look away, then did a double-take and threw his head back over to face them directly. The first person he saw was, of course, his fiancé. "Alice…!" he exclaimed in something between a hiss and a yelp of surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay home and look after the baby!"

Alice shook her head, though she was still being supported by Senri. "I'm not going to just…let you run into things by yourself." She held up her engagement ring. "This is a promise I made to you, that I would be there to help. And I intend to keep that promise."

Igneous' entire face went the color of a ripe tomato. He shook his head, trying to get his normal color back, and noticed Husky and Nana. He grimaced. "What are you two doing here, with your Kim-Un-Kur friend, too?" That's when he looked to where Senri's left arm was, and who else he was supporting.

It was an intense momentary staredown between the captain and Rose. As soon as he regained his senses, Igneous pointed out and yelled, "You!" He wasted no time pulling out his sword and pointing it at her.

Husky had seen this happen before – Igneous was always quick to pull out his sword and use it. He'd done it when Nana had tried to talk to the captain through a tent. So the fish +Anima threw himself in front of Rose, his arms spread wide to his sides. Husky didn't say a word, but merely stared at the captain with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Get outta my way, kid!" Igneous used his superior adult strength to forcefully throw Husky away from Rose. The boy hit the ground with a thump, but recovered quickly. His eyes immediately darted up to the captain, who was bringing his sword back, ready to thrust.

"Igneous, stop!"

Igneous put a small burst of energy into his arm to thrust the sword forward, but stopped himself. The sword trembled for a moment, and then dropped to the floor. It wasn't Husky who had shouted, but Alice. She'd shrugged Senri's hand from her shoulder, and put herself in front of Rose. And it had been more than enough to cause Igneous to stop his attack. However, he was still mad as hell.

"What are you doing, Alice?" he asked, irritated. "Are you aware that you're protecting a woman who stole from this very castle?"

Alice nodded, not moving an inch.

"Then why the hell aren't you getting out of the way so I can punish her?"

"Because she wants to help!" Alice answered back, her own voice rising. "She knows what she did was wrong, but she can explain, and besides that, she has a warning for you!"

There was clearly rage in Igneous' eyes, and it was clear that he wasn't liking his fiancé's stance on things. But he stood down and, after muttering a few choice words to himself, said in a clearer voice, "Fine. Let her talk."

But Alice remained in front of Rose while the +Anima spoke, lest what she said send Igneous into another fit of anger. Rose cleared her throat. "I-Igneous-"

"That's Captain to you."

"Yes. Captain. I stole a very detailed map of the castle – a blueprint, I guess. And I was on my way to deliver it to someone when he attacked me and stole it from me. And now he's planning a siege of this castle, to try and take over the country's capital!" She pushed her head over Alice's body, putting all the honesty that she had left into her eyes.

But Igneous scoffed at them. "And you expect me to believe you? Sorry, but I make it a point not to trust thieves."

Nana extended her bat wings and flew up into the captain's face. "But she's telling the truth! Zeke took Cooro away from us!"

Chuckling, Igneous brushed past the bat +Anima. "Or vagabonds." However, he stopped as he saw that Alice hadn't moved a muscle. She was still staring at him with those defiant eyes. "..Oh, come on, Alice. Not you too. Don't tell me you've been tricked by this thief."

Alice shook her head. "I haven't been tricked at all. I believe this young woman – we found her screaming for help in an alley. Maybe you've forgotten how to look at someone and know they're telling the truth, but I haven't…. Take one look at her, then look me in the eyes and tell me she's lying."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Igneous looked at Rose's eyes. They were so large, so vulnerable, so full of truth…. They weren't at all like the eyes of the cunning thief who had stolen the castle's blueprints. It was as if he was staring at a completely different person. For all the time he spent examining Rose's eyes, not a thing in their light betrayed them.

Grumbling to himself, he closed his eyes and turned around. "Fine. I'll go get the other soldiers and tell them to stop searching. Instead, I'll get them and some reinforcements and start fortifying the castle for this Zeke you keep talking about. If he's going to come at us, we might as well meet him head on."