As soon as they left the brothers' room, Arthur, Francis, and Lizzie started to explore the empty building.

Lizzie smiled warmly at Arthur. "You handled that very well, Arthur. Where's that shy boy I met a couple of weeks ago?"

The Omnes rubbed the back of his neck. "I just tried to take the fear and turn it into determination," he mumbled. "I may have come off as rude, though..."

Lizzie clapped her hands. "No, I think that's a wonderful strategy!"

"Oui, mon cher," Francis purred. "We could not have you cowering behind us every time we met someone, now could we?"

"Shut up, frog," Arthur muttered halfheartedly. "And stop treating me like a child."

Francis just chuckled.

"Hey, did you notice that bear?" Lizzie asked, deciding to change the subject.

"Must be Ludwig's companion, huh?" Francis agreed.

"I wonder where ours are," Lizzie frowned.

Arthur sighed. "I...I don't think Spirit or the others are coming back."

"Hey." Lizzie put a hand on his shoulder. "We just have to believe we'll see them again."

Arthur stared at her dully. "What's the point in believing, when you've already lost all hope?"

Lizzie scowled. "Hey!"

Arthur looked up sullenly. "What?"

The Bellator pointed at him. "With that crappy attitude, maybe you don't deserve him coming back!"

Arthur's face slowly got redder. "You know what? You're right, I don't deserve it! Every single thing that was good about my life is gone! My parents, my foster parent, Alfred-" He immediately snapped his mouth shut, eyes wide, and turned away.

"Who's Alfred?" Francis asked, confused.

Arthur pulled his hood up over his head and pushed ahead. He knocked into Lizzie in his haste, and she caught a glimpse of his face. His emerald eyes were full of rage and desperation.

As Arthur disappeared around a corner, Francis turned to Lizzie. "Am I the only one completely and utterly confused?"

Lizzie rubbed her forehead in thought. "I think we just found out the previous occupant of that forbidden room in Arthur's house."

"His brother, do you think?" Francis offered.

"That reminds me, how has your task of getting to know Arthur better been going?" Lizzie asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Bien!" Francis smiled.

Lizzie raised her eyebrow, unconvinced.

"Okay, okay, I've gotten nothing out of him at all," Francis admitted. "He hates me more than he hates everyone else, and that's saying something."

"Well, we know now that he probably had a brother," Lizzie encouraged. "That's a start."

Francis nodded, but then froze. He felt a familiar aura coming from behind them...

"Lizzie," he muttered through clenched teeth. "Don't look now, but there's a shadow monster behind us."

Lizzie clenched her fists. "Újra? Komolyan? We have to find those weapons, now."

They sprinted towards some stairs nearby, the sounds of a large creature unmistakably growing louder behind them.

"I think the weapons are in this room!" Lizzie guessed as she hurled herself past a corner and threw open the door.

"No, wait!" Francis shouted. He didn't know why, but he could sense that there were more shadow creatures in that room.

It was too late. Lizzie screeched to a halt in the doorway as several shadowy masses turned to face them.

"Go back, go back!" She darted past Francis and down another hallway.

"Was this place so big before?" Francis complained.

They reached a break in the hallways. "Left or right?" Lizzie panted.

"Left!" cried Francis immediately.

Lizzie gave him a strange look. "What makes you say that?"

"Because there's a shadow monster down the right hallway, now let's GO!" Francis said in a rush, pulling her to the left turn.

As they were running, Lizzie asked, "How did you know?"

Francis shook his head, increasing his pace. "I don't know, I can just...sense their auras, I guess?"

"Since when?"

Before he could answer, Francis cried out as his arm banged into a random pole placed in a rather unfortunate position in the hall. It throbbed, and suddenly, a blinding bolt of pain struck him. He stumbled and fell over.

"Francis?" Lizzie slowed and turned back. "Are you okay?"

He groaned. "My head..." As he clenched his eyes shut, a rough layout of paths appeared in his vision, with glowing purple blobs dotted among them. They appeared to be moving around in a set path, patrolling the same areas again and again.

He opened his eyes, confused, and Lizzie gasped. "Francis, your eyes!"

"Quoi?" he asked dazedly.

"They're glowing a kind of purpley colour," Lizzie said carefully.

"I can see the shadow monsters. They're patrolling the building..." he murmured.

Lizzie furrowed her eyebrows, and her averted her gaze from his eyes, because it was a little unnerving to see them glow with an ethereal light. Her eyes fell on the Docte's arm. "Whoa, since when was your arm bandaged?"

"Don't you remember? We were attacked, and the shadow thing bit me!" Francis said angrily.

"It bit you!?" the Bellator asked in surprise. "I don't remember that!"

"Well, it did, and it hurt! I was surprised that none of you even noticed!" Francis retorted.

"When I try to think of it, it just comes up blank..." Lizzie muttered. "But do you think the bite, uh, did something to you?"

"No time to wonder," Francis said grimly. "There is a monstre right behind us."

Lizzie cursed. "Come on!"

They reluctantly began to run down another hall. Francis closed his eyes again, and saw the layout of the corridors mapped out in his mind. When he opened them, the map was layered over his regular vision. The Docte had no idea how the heck this was happening, but he planned to use it to their advantage. Figuring out where they were on the map, he began to issue orders.

"Left."

"Right."

"Double back."

Finally, they reached a relatively safe corner. Francis sat down on the floor and tried to calm his breathing. Lizzie put her hands on her hips. "Okay, now tell me how you did that."

Francis tried to explain. "When I bumped my damaged arm, it hurt a lot, and then some weird map appeared in my mind. It showed me where the shadows were patrolling."

Lizzie examined his arm. "Can I take off the bandages?" she asked hesitantly. "I want to see the injury."

"One second." Francis examined the internal map. "D'accord, we're clear. Go ahead."

The Bellator carefully unwrapped the cloth from Francis' arm. As the wrapping fell away, they both gasped.

The bite marks were giving off a purpley-black mist that hissed evilly as it escaped. Francis stared at his arm in terror. "What's happening to me?!"

Lizzie backed away, unsettled. "I think the monster might have injected something into you when it bit you."

"You think!? Help me get these back on!" he snapped, struggling to wrap the cloth back around the wound.

Lizzie quickly wound the bandage back on his arm. "So, it gave you the power to sense shadow beings?"

"I guess... But only when they're around, I think," Francis murmured.

"Is it harmful to you?" Lizzie quizzed.

"I don't know! I'll just have to keep the bandages on." Francis hauled himself to his feet. "Can I ask you to keep this a secret from the others?"

"But-" Lizzie objected.

"Please. I don't want them to think I'm a freak or something," he pleaded.

"Fine," she agreed reluctantly.

"I might as well use this skill. I'll try to get us to the room with the weapons safely." Francis plotted a route in his head. "Follow me."

After several tense minutes, Francis finally grabbed the handle of an empty room. "The weapons should be in here."

"Can you see Arthur, Gilbert, or Ludwig? Are they safe?" Lizzie asked worriedly.

Francis shook his head ruefully. "Désolé. I can only see the shadows and the basic layout of the maze this building has become."

"Well, we should wait here for them. I wish there was some way we could send a message."

"Maybe there is!" Francis said excitedly. He closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He reached out to one of the shadow creatures.

"What are you doing!?" Lizzie cried.

"I'm trying to possess a shadow monster, pourquoi?"

"You can't do that!" she said incredulously.

As she was saying it, Francis slumped to the ground, unconscious. Lizzie caught him, cursing his recklessness. She dumped him unceremoniously on the ground, then decided she might as well examine the various weapons in the room.


Arthur had been searching for the weapons room ever since he had almost let his secret slip to his companions and had run away. He swore under his breath when he reached another dead end. "When did this building turn into a maze, anyway?" he grumbled.

He thought about what he had almost revealed. His foster mother, his birth mother's friend, had gladly taken him in when his parents died. She had a son named Alfred, and he and Arthur were just like real brothers. Until everything went wrong, of course.

Five years ago, Alfred had left for the town of Tragoedia, then called Captiosus, to study. While he was there, a shadow army overran the town and completely decimated it, as well as everyone in it. When the news had reached Domum, Alfred's mother had been distraught, and passed away from grief soon after. At the age of ten, Arthur was completely and utterly alone.

He spent the next five years in solitude, never leaving the house when he could avoid it. What was the point? If he made a friend, something bad would obviously happen to them, just like everyone else that he had known. By distancing himself from the population, he was making it safer for everyone.

But now, he was forced to go on this quest with other people, to be around them all the time. It was such a new and unknown feeling, and Arthur didn't really know how to deal with it.

Shaking away his thoughts, he rounded a corner and froze. A hulking, dark monster also froze upon seeing him, then growled menacingly.

"Seriously?" Arthur groaned. He whipped out his tome that was stored in his cloak and yelled, "Fusione!" The monster roared in pain as it began to melt. Watching it perish with satisfaction, Arthur turned around and came face to face with another one, this one wearing a strange mask of sorts.

"Ahh!" he cried, heart jumping into his throat.

"Eeek!" it shrieked.

Arthur quickly flipped through the pages of his tome to find a new spell, and raised his hand.

"No, don't shoot!" it panicked. Its voice was deep and gritty, but sounded kind of foreign.

"Why are you talking? You're not supposed to, because I'm about to kill you."

Arthur started the spell. "Bruci-"

"No, please! You really don't want to kill me!" it pleaded. "I'm-"

"Yeah, yeah," Arthur said, bored. "I don't usually talk with my prey."

"What are you, an animal?" it huffed. "As I was trying to tell you before, I'm-"

"Wait, wait, wait. How can you talk?" Arthur asked in disbelief.

"I'm about to tell you something important, but you keep interrupting me!" it said, annoyed.

"Well, I should just kill you right now! Be glad you're talking at all!" Arthur scoffed.

"Why are you always so infuriating?" it muttered.

"I'm not! Wait, how the heck would you know?" he demanded.

The creature swept its long, grotesque arms in an unmistakeable bow. "Your guide, at your service to lead you to a certain Francis Bonnefoy," it said, deliberately avoiding the question.

Arthur was silent for a second, then he burst out laughing. "Whew... That's a good one, monster. I don't know how you found out the name of my friend, but-"

He bit his lip, cutting himself off. Did he just call Francis...?

The monster looked amused. "Yes, well, your friend is waiting. Please follow me."

"Why should I?" he snapped.

"Do we really have to go over this again?" it sighed. "Look, let's just make this easy for both of us and get it over with. Follow me."

"I don't have any reason to trust you. I don't know how you can talk, but you're probably going to lead me into an ambush," Arthur spat.

"Pour l'amour des déesses! I swear, you're going to drive me insane one of these days!" it cried. Before Arthur could respond, the creature grabbed his arm and began to pull him.

"Hey! Let go!" Arthur cried, trying to tug himself away.

"No. You are being stubborn, so I'm going to take you there myself."

Arthur wrenched himself away. "I can bloody walk by myself, thank you!"

"So, are you going to follow me now?" it asked, pleased.

"I'm going to follow you, destroy the ambush you lead me to, then kill you," he grumbled.

The creature laughed. It sounded quite frightening in the mouth of the monstrosity, like strangled screaming, and Arthur couldn't help blanching at the sound.

Spotting him, the monster ducked its head. "Sorry."

Arthur merely gave it a contemptuous look and ignored it.


Gilbert and Ludwig had been living in the training building for practically their whole lives, but they still couldn't find their way to the weapons room.

"Gah! This place has turned into a freaking maze!" Gilbert growled.

"Patience. We'll find our way eventually."

"How can you be so calm, West?" Gilbert whined. "Isn't it strange to find your home transformed like this? Where is everyone else, anyways?"

"They went out," Ludwig answered. "Something about the Fortis museum of war, I think."

"Why didn't you go?"

"I had a feeling that I should stay in my room. Apparently, I was right."

"Well, I'm glad you did, I guess. It must have been my awesomeness."

As they doubled back at another dead end, Gilbert thought he detected a strange sound. It sounded like something big stomping on the floor.

"West? Can you hear that?"

"Ja. What is it?"

"I dunno, but I have a hunch." Gilbert recalled the encounter with the shadow at the river. Could it be...?

As he was shaking the suspicion from his mind, one of the very shadow creatures he had just dismissed the thought of came lumbering up to them.

"Oh, for the love of..." he groaned.

"What is that, Gilbert?" Ludwig asked calmly.

"That's a...well, we don't really have a name for it, but we just call them shadow creatures. You know, from the legend."

"And it's here to kill us?"

"Yeah."

"So we should leave the immediate area as soon as possible?"

"Probably."

"Then let's go."

"Gladly."

They both began to run in the opposite direction of the monster.

"West, where are the damn weapons?" Gilbert panted.

"First, let's focus on losing this thing. Then we can worry about finding our way."

After several turns through the maze of hallways, the sound of pounding feet fell behind them, and once they had rounded a few more curves, the noise stopped all together.

"Whew!" Gilbert exhaled. "I hope we don't run into any more of-"

"Brother, stop. You're going to jinx it," Ludwig sighed.

Gilbert grinned. "Nah. Me saying, 'I hope there aren't any more' isn't going to-"

As he was speaking, a monster with a strange mask pranced up to them.

"Eek!" Gilbert shrieked.

Ludwig smirked. "I will make sure to tell everyone about that later."

The albino coughed, embarrassed. "Whatever. What do we do now?"

"You follow me, of course!"

"West, who said that?" asked Gilbert quietly.

Ludwig shook his head. "It was not me."

The monster tapped Gilbert on the shoulder. "Didn't you hear me? I said, follow me!"

Gilbert backed away from it. "I think I'm going crazy."

'There's no way we're following you," Ludwig said scathingly.

The creature swept its arm out. "I think you will. I'd like you to meet my companion."

Silence. No one moved.

"Are we supposed to be impressed right now?" Gilbert asked, yawning.

The creature rubbed its head, an oddly human-like gesture. "He fell behind a little. He should be here any second now."

A faint voice echoed from down the hall. "Why do you tell me to follow you and then leave me behind?"

The monster nodded. "There we go."

Gilbert looked confused. "Is that...?"

Arthur stumbled into the junction they were all crowded in. "Thanks for nothing, you-" His eyes widened. "Gilbert? Ludwig?"

"Arthur?" Gilbert shook his head. "Wait, what's going on here?"

Arthur gestured to the shadow. "This thing can somehow talk."

"Yes, we got that," Ludwig said dryly.

"Where are Francis and Lizzie?" Gilbert asked worriedly. "You left with them, right?"

Arthur looked abashed. "I ran away," he mumbled extremely quietly.

"What? I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

"I ran away from them, okay?" Arthur snapped.

Gilbert raised his eyebrows. "What did Francis do this time?"

"No, it wasn't that. I just... I made a mistake, and I panicked, and I ran away from them. I didn't know I would get lost in this maze."

"So how are we supposed to find them?" Gilbert asked anxiously.

"This thing says that it'll lead us to Francis." Arthur scowled, clearly not believing the creature in the slightest.

"Now that I've found you all, can we get going?" the creature asked impatiently.

"Hold on. Why should we believe you?" Gilbert asked.

The creature held its head. "Oh, for the Goddess' sake!"


Francis groaned inwardly. He had been trying to convince these blockheads to follow him for longer than he would've liked to, and they were still suspicious! Granted, they were right to be, seeing as he was possessing a shadow monster, but he had given them enough reason to believe him by now.

"What do I have to do to convince you to just come with me?" he asked.

"First of all, prove you're not leading us to an ambush," Ludwig ordered.

Francis would have rolled his eyes if he was in his own body. "Okay. I'm leading you to Francis and Elizabeta, not an ambush."

"How do you know their names?" Gilbert asked.

"Because Francis sent me to get you!"

"You know, lesson one in child safety is to never follow a stranger that says that they're there because your parent sent them to pick you up," said Gilbert, smirking.

Francis sighed at the weird analogy. "How about you ask me a question, and if I can answer it, you follow me?"

Arthur considered it. "Any question?"

Francis nodded, and the three huddled to presumably come up with the hardest question they could muster.

If they don't come with me, I could just carry them all, he mused to himself.

"Okay," Arthur announced. "We've actually got three."

"Fire away," Francis said languidly.

"First is the easiest. How do you salute the Docte way?"

Francis put his hands behind his back and bowed with some difficulty. "How's that?"

Arthur scowled. "Like I said, that was the easy one. Question two: what are all of our surnames?"

"Arthur Kirkland, Elizabeta Héderváry, Gilbert and Ludwig Beilschmidt, and Francis Bonnefoy," Francis listed. "Did I get them all?"

Gilbert looked worried. "What are the chances it would know that?" he hissed to the others.

Arthur shook him off grimly. "Last question. How many family members do I have?"

Francis smiled sadly on the inside. "Arthur, you do not have any family left. Your mother and father died when you were little, and your foster mother and brother died soon after." Francis was kind of guessing that last part from the information Arthur had recently let slip, and he prayed it was correct.

Arthur looked stunned. "N-no one knows that..." He clenched his fists and glared at Francis, his eyes full of a murderous aura. "How do you know that?!" he screamed. "Have you shadow monsters been spying on me?!"

Francis backed up nervously. That escalated quickly... He really hoped he wouldn't be forced to reveal his secret.

Ludwig placed a calming hand on Arthur's shoulder. "It answered all the questions correctly. We have to go with it to honour our agreement."

Arthur whirled around. "You don't understand! I asked it that question because no one but me knows the answer, but it was right!"

Gilbert eyed Francis warily. "Maybe we'll find out why when we follow it."

Francis avoided looking at any of them. "Yes, we should go now."

He trudged towards himself and Lizzie. His map was enlarged in shadow monster form, and he could clearly pinpoint his own body in the maze.

Behind him, he could hear frantic whispering and could almost feel Arthur's glare. He decided that he shouldn't talk any more until they got there, just in case he let slip even more information to suggest that he was more than he seemed.

Once they finally made it to the hallway that had the weapons room in it, he turned to face his reluctant companions. "The weapons room is the door on the right," he said, indicating the door. "It's been a pleasure travelling with you, and have a nice day."

Francis closed his eyes and collapsed. He felt his consciousness rushing back to his own body, and the feeling of sinking back into his own skin. After wearing the ill-fitting shadow monster's skin for that long, it was a relief to be back in his own body.

He opened his eyes and saw Lizzie browsing weapons calmly.

"Hey," she said, when she noticed him. "Did you find them?"

He got to his feet with some difficulty, noting that Lizzie seemed to be over the initial shock at discovering his new ability. "Oui. They should be outside."

She showed him a polished sword hanging at her belt. "I scored this sweet sword and belt. I think I'm good for weapons now, though I might take a another, smaller sword just in case. What do you think?"

Francis was about to answer, but was cut off by a scream coming from outside.

"That's Gilbert's voice!" Francis said worriedly.

Lizzie sniggered. "Are you sure? It sounds like a girl."

Francis sighed. "Yes, I know. But, the fact that he is screaming probably means that when I released my hold on the shadow monster, it decided that it wasn't friendly and helpful after all. Which means-"

"That it's time for a smackdown," Lizzie finished, eyes blazing. She had a maniacal grin on her face.

She charged towards the door. Francis grabbed the first weapon he saw- a cutlass- and ran to join her.

Back outside, Arthur was holding up his tome defensively. "Some friend you are!" he yelled. "I knew this was a trick!"

Gilbert was still hiding behind Ludwig, who was scolding him for being a wimp while dodging blows from the creature.

Just as all seemed lost, Lizzie burst out the door dramatically and engaged the monster in combat. Francis stepped out after her and waved sarcastically.

"Hi, guys!" the Bellator said cheerfully as she dodged a swipe from the monster and returned one of her own.

"Your friends, here to save the damsels in distress," Francis smirked.

Arthur, Gilbert, and Ludwig all froze.

"W-what?" Gilbert managed.

"Lovely soprano, by the way, Gilbert," Lizzie chuckled.

"No way! The awesome me wouldn't make that sound! It was West!" he protested.

Ludwig gave his brother a disgusted look. "In your dreams, numbskull."

Francis laughed at the comment. No one really knew why.

"So that thing was a guide?" Arthur asked, confused. "But it's also a bad guy?"

Francis lazily cut the monster's arm as it swiped at him. "More or less."

"Could you just give me a straight answer for once in your life?" Arthur fumed.

"If you must know, I managed to convince this monster to lead you here. How was I to know that it would attack you?" Francis said, leaving the monster to Lizzie.

"You also apparently told it all of our full names and Arthur's life story, which nobody knows," Gilbert added.

Francis winced. "Did I?"

There was a wailing sound as the monster melted into streaks of purple and faded. Lizzie sheathed her sword and grinned. "Any more?"

Gilbert noticed her sword. "Awesome! Where can I get one?"

"Follow me, everyone," Lizzie chuckled and led them inside. Weapons of every kind lined the shelves.

"West, look at this axe," Gilbert said, pointing to a heavy-looking blade. "I beat the instructor in a fight with this once, remember?"

"You were quite adept at it," Ludwig agreed.

Gilbert picked it off the wall and swung it with ease. "I think I'm taking this baby."

Ludwig chose a slightly sharper looking, but smaller, axe. "I will take this one."

"You know what, I think I'm going to bring another sword just in case," Lizzie decided. She picked a slightly smaller, but still deadly sharp, blade off of a table.

Francis regarded his hastily chosen weapon. "I am becoming quite fond of this cutlass. I will keep it."

Arthur was browsing a bookshelf. "You have tomes here?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but no one ever used them, so they should still be at full charge," Gilbert said.

Arthur picked out a few and browsed them, sticking them in his cloak when he had chosen some.

"Now that we're all equipped, how are we going to get out of this building and to the Fortis temple?" Lizzie asked.

Francis gave her a glance that clearly said, stay quiet. "Follow me," he muttered, and slipped out the door.

"What is that bloody idiot doing?" Arthur raged. "He'd going to get himself killed!"

Francis poked his head back in the room. "Nice to see you care about me so much," he said dryly. "Now please keep it down and follow me."

"How do you know where to go?" Ludwig asked. "Me and my brother have lived here for years, and we still couldn't navigate the halls."

"No questions," Francis said slyly, and disappeared again.

Arthur quickly darted after him, followed by Lizzie and the two Fortis.

Francis led them through the halls, muttering to himself, looking as if he was watching something no one else could see. Once, he violently pulled them all into an empty room and insisted that they shut up. Everyone heard the oily stomping of a shadow creature outside the door a few seconds after he did this. The creature paused, but moved on. Francis kept avoiding his companion's questioning gazes.

Finally, they reached the front door.

"Here we are," Francis announced.

"Great. Now tell me how the bloody hell you did that," Arthur demanded.

Francis stared at the slowly setting sun. He didn't say anything.

Lizzie smiled at Arthur gently. "I'm sure there was an explanation, but we're all tired now. Let's get out of this city and make camp, and we'll decide what to do in the morning, okay?"

"Fine," Arthur snapped. He turned to Ludwig. "As our navigator, I expect you to plot a route tomorrow, once I tell you our overall plan."

"Okay," Ludwig said mildly. He didn't seem to be affected by Arthur's flaring temper.

"We should leave before the sun fully sets," Gilbert said nervously. "This city really isn't safe at night."

Ludwig's eyes widened. "We have to get out of this area right now," he said urgently.

"What is it?" asked Lizzie, seeing his panicked expression.

"I can see the instructor and the rest of the kids down the street," said Ludwig, deceptively calm. "When he sees Gilbert, he's going to punish him severely."

Gilbert blanched. "Okay, we're out of here."

He took off running in the direction of the city gates, followed closely by Ludwig, Lizzie, Arthur, and Francis bringing up the rear. It was rather hard for them to run full tilt without impaling themselves on their weapons, but they somehow managed.

Luckily, they were quite close to the exit, so they made it to the gate without too much trouble. Until, of course, they were just about to step outside.


Thank you to everyone who favourited, followed, and reviewed! I swear I had something to tell you here, but I forgot...so arrivaderci!