A/N: My apologies for any grammar and spelling errors. I haven't done much editing.

Blackness had erupted in the distance, enshrouding the palace. Yami could see the ominous form on the magically summoned model of the city. He could also see the pinpoints of light representing his friends, his comrades, his family, moving toward it, toward the fighting, which had only intensified around the dark shape. He squeezed the arms of the chair in which he sat, feeling impotent with his injuries. He knew the battlefield was no place for him, not now, not in this condition, but his helplessness made him squirm, which only made Owen cluck in disapproval.

Still Yami thought he should do something if he could. And his instincts told him the solidified darkness was the key.

"Send all of our forces toward the palace. We need to know what that is." He pointed at the dark shape. He watched as the mage tracking the changes in topography screwed up his face in concentration, a deep frown on his lips.

"I can't see what's inside, Sir." The mage's voice was tense, strained.

Yami took in a deep breath and sighed.

"Marx, get Charlotte." He stared at the dark spot on the table, leaning forward as much as he wounds would allow. He wanted to get right up on the image, to see if he could get some sense of something, anything that would help them.

The Wizard King's aide blinked a couple of times as he looked at Yami as if he barely understood the command. A look from Yami spurred him into action.

"Right. Of course."

In a few short moments, Charlotte's face shimmered before him. She seemed distracted, though he could understand why and did not blame her in the least.

"Do you see it?" He asked, sparing them both any unnecessary pleasantries.

"Yeah." Her face was stoic. She hid her fear well, he thought. She always had. She turned her head toward something Yami could not see in the projection.

"Any ideas?"

"The portal is still open. If we can get inside..." She didn't finish the thought; she didn't have to. Yami had wondered if she would recognize the danger. He should have known better than to worry. He shifted again as a shooting pain spread through his body.

"Charlotte, you do what must be done. I trust you, just be careful."

She gave him a sad smile, her face shimmering as blue as the roses which grew from her magic.

"I love you."

"Yeah."

the image cut out and Yami sat back once more, drumming his fingers against the arm of the chair.

Charlotte led the charge through the portal, but unfortunately had to leave some of Yami's squad behind to cover their backs. Elves were closing in, defending the entrance to the shadow palace and trying to block their approach. Several of the Black Bulls had volunteered to stay behind. The witch with the threads, Vanessa if Charlotte recalled correctly, had insisted they would all be fine as long as she was there to protect them, but Charlotte was still worried. Vanessa's fate magic was powerful, useful, and might very much be needed within. Yet she had insisted on guarding the people. Nozel had caught up to them, as had the youngest of the Silva clan and a couple of Vermillion maniacs.

Charlotte blinked in surprise to see a spirit accompanying Fuegoleon and to see his wound not so much healed as accommodated for.

"I feel a sinister energy coming from that... thing." Nozel said, looking up at the shadowy mass.

"Whatever it is, can't be good." Fuegoleon agreed.

"Let's go kick the ass of whoever did this." Mereoleona cracked her knuckles and sneered at the darkness, before grabbing Asta and hurling him toward the shrinking portal.

"Why did you bring the peasant?" Nozel raised his eyebrow at the lioness.

"If there is a head honcho responsible for all this, and one who can stop it all, he's going to be inside, and the little shit's anti-magic might be the only thing able to convince them to stop."

"We can't let them finish what they started." Charlotte summoned a swirl of briars and took off to the portal. Several other followed suit, leaving the majority of the Black Bulls assisting the mage corp members arriving to defend the people.

Yami watched as Charlotte's mana presence disappeared from the map.

"They're gone."

Yami wanted to punch Marx for the comment, but he knew it wouldn't help, and would only make Owen restrain him if he tried. He sighed instead, and stared at the black spot on the magical map which now encapsulated everyone he held dear. His skin ran cold and his hands shook. He felt a wave of nausea and he didn't know if he was going into shock or if he was just too worried.

"Take deep, slow breaths," Owen warned from his shoulder, but Yami could only feel panic as he thought about what might happen inside the darkness.

"I hate being cut off."

"You hate being kept out of the fight." Owen corrected. "Not that I blame you, not with Charlotte being..."

Yami shot him a look of warning.

"Charlotte being what?" Marx asked from Yami's other side.

Yami rubbed his eyes. The stress of the day was already too much for him. He didn't have the energy to fight to keep their secret.

"Charlotte's pregnant."

Despite the constant dull pain, Yami could feel the shift in the aide's ki.

"Well, that's certainly interesting." Marx has somehow managed to keep his voice from showing his surprise.

"And unfortunate." Owen added as he placed a hand on Yami's shoulder. "She'll be fine."

"Yeah. She's the strongest person I know." Yami smiled. "Must be why I fell for her."

Charlotte found herself alone once they had crossed the threshold of darkness that wasn't darkness. What had seemed like a great black void when they had approached had been a cacophony of light and sound once they had entered it. And now she found herself alone in what looked like a corridor. The walls reminded her of the dungeons she had delved into as a young member of the Blue Rose Knights—pale stone walls, rough in texture, cracking in places, but otherwise well kept and a marvel of engineering. But the mana permeating the place was different, more intense and sinister somehow. She tried to focus, to find the pinpoints of mana which were her comrades, but she felt blinded, as if she had stared at the sun and was now trying to discern shapes through the light.

"Hello?" she called out to the air around her. Only her own voice answered her, distant, faint as it echoed down the hallway. She closed her eyes, trying to hone in on any recognizable source of mana among the flood she felt washing over her senses. She had heard Yami mention something called ki before, in passing anyway, as a way to ascertain ones surroundings without the use of mana. She wished now she had asked him about it when she had had the chance.

"Guess I'll just have to figure it out as I go. Or ask him later." She began to pick her way through the rubble which marked her landing point. "If there is a later."

She picked a direction and moved forward trying to stretch out with her senses. She could detect a glimmer of more highly concentrated mana in the direction she traveled. She moved toward it, sight unseen and too mana-blind to know if it was friend or foe. But as she moved, she started recalling memories of this place, as if she had walked these halls before. The glimmer grew more distinct as she walked toward it, though it did not grow more familiar. If anything it seemed more alien now than it had when she had first detected it.

The glimmer of mana, and the being creating it, did not seem unfamiliar, however, even though the mana itself felt like nothing she had experienced before.

She stepped into a room. The ceiling of the narrow hallway flew away into a high domed vault. And on the floor, sprawled on the stone, lay a person. The clothing was familiar—he wore the robe of the Golden Dawn, she could tell that much from the entrance. The face seemed familiar too, though she could not place it. The man did not stir at her approach. He was either unconscious or...

"Why would they kill one of their own?" She knelt next to the man, noting the distinct point to his ears and the deep colored markings on his face-blood red against his pale skin. She touched his forehead; he was still warm but he did not respond to her. As she watched, his chest expanded slightly before falling, once, twice. The breaths were shallow and spaced too far. Charlotte examined him, looking for noticeable injuries, but could find no obvious wounds, no signs of blood loss. But she could tell as his breathing grew weaker and weaker, he would die without the help of healing magic.

"It's like something cursed him... or..."

She stretched out her senses once more and the sense of mana was clear—or at least more clear than it had been. She could feel various strong mana nexuses in the distance, but one spot in particular made her shudder. The mana she sensed felt sick, twisted somehow. Unnatural. Her lip curled in disgust and she felt sick to her stomach. She looked back at the man over whom she had crouched. Her comrades were too far away to help him. She touched his forehead and muttered a prayer of safe passage though she was not certain if it was for the dying man at her feet or for herself.

Charlotte stood and steeled herself before stepping over the man and striding purposefully toward the twisted, unnatural mana ahead.

The room she entered held far more than just the sickening mana she had sensed. The feeling had so overwhelmed her, though, she had not been able to sense the others, despite knowing they all had extensive stores of mana. Well, all but one.

The group of magic knights—two Golden Dawns, including the rising star it seemed, as well as Yami's 'No-Magic brat' were facing off against a creature the likes of which she had never seen with her eyes. She had only imagined beings like the one before her now in her nightmares. A pair of the others—possessed like she had been, she wondered-also stood to confront the demon as best the could. One of them, the one she had fought in the cave, had fallen, though he still tried to stand. The Golden Dawn girl was also there. She had helped save Yami's life after... Charlotte shook her head at the memory. She knew it had only happened at most hours ago, but it already felt like a lifetime had passed since then. She rushed over to the fallen copy mage and began healing him. Charlotte wondered where she had found the mana to keep going.

Charlotte felt herself on the verge of collapse as she watched the dark sickening creature move to attack the knights and elves arrayed against him. The spell his Yami's boy, but he used his anti-magic sword to deflect it into a wall. The stone crumbled -no disintegrated- where the spell had struck. Charlotte could see nothing but swirling darkness beyond the room.

The room filled up with a swelling gust of wind accompanied by a blinding light. She had to cover her eyes as she looked for the creature she had dubbed the enemy. The presence had moved closer to the trio standing resolutely against it, but they stood their ground, fending off the attacks as they came. Charlotte watched the interplay as the battle raged on.

They needed help.

The trio, despite their efforts, inched further and further away, closer and closer to the wall. The being was closer now and a wave of nausea hit Charlotte hard. She could not control the vomiting, though she tried to hold back.

"Charla!" a strange, yet somehow familiar voice said during battle. The voice was strained, pleading and came out of a face whose eyes were wide with fear. The name he yelled, directed at her, was also familiar, buried deep in the recesses of memory to where she had pushed the other mind.

"I'm Charlotte." She answered between the coughing and retching, as much to convince herself as to tell the other of his mistake. She had never felt so sick, not ever, despite others having complained about morning sickness with their pregnancies.

The darkness moved closer, filling the room and she steeled herself, fighting through the tipsy-turvy feeling in her belly. The child within was still too small for her to feel, but her womb tightened in a way which brought the entire situation to the forefront of her mind.

She would fight to protect this child; she would fight to live. Her grimoire sprang to life and she pulled her briar whip from it. The vines solidified into a blade studded with blue roses, but the blade itself held a core of darkness she had never felt within her magic before. Unlike the presence in the room, however, the darkness she felt pulsing within her own magic was warm, soothing. It reminded her of the cave and Yami's kiss. And she knew he was fighting with her, through her, somehow.

She charged in, moving close quarters with the young man Yami had called his 'no-magic brat'.

"Captain Charlotte!" The boy called out, slicing through the air with his large blade. Charlotte gasped as he cut through the arc of the sludge powered by darkness reaching out for her. She echoed his cut with a slice or two of her own. She sighed, relieved that this new power coursing through her was able to react to the otherworldly forces pushing back at them.

"I've never seen your magic work like that before, Captain Charlotte."

Charlotte was amazed the boy could take the time to talk in a fight like this. She was amazed still that he had seen through the subtleties of her magic to notice the difference. She had not noticed the difference until this moment. She sliced and hacked with her sword as if it were a machete. Her movements lacked the finesse with which she usually fought. She could feel the darkness reaching, seeping into her, attacking her magic at its core.

"Don't let it touch you." She warned the boy as another fighter joined the fray. He too was wielding a sword, a black blade like the boy had. His white hair and sad face seemed familiar—once again like a memory of a dream from the being who had controlled her body until recently.

"It can't hurt him." The newcomer's voice was gentle yet firm, so similar to Julius when he had to actually focus o the job. "He's... different." His clear eyes met hers briefly before turning back to the fight. "But you... you fight with another."

As swing of her sword and a glance toward him. Wind gusted around them, and light erupted from all sides. Magic trying to push back the creeping darkness before it turned into a surge.

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" She had a sense of familiarity with the man, no, elf, she told herself. The other spirit who had taken control of her knew him, respected him. Despite what she had done to Yami, Charlotte felt compassion for the spirit which had died within her. The vague sense of loss she felt, the understanding of the bleakness of the situation, she had because of the spirit, because of Charla. She could never forgive the spirit for what had happened to Yami, for the threat against their child...

The child...

Charlotte pulled back from the conflict just a moment as panic rushed over her. She focused her magic detection abilities on to herself and tried to block out the overwhelming despair pushing in on her from all sides. The tiny knot of mana within her belly shone strongly. She had been able to feel it as distinct from herself for the last few days. Now she could feel it working instinctively to save itself, to save her. The child's mana blended with her own, having taken the cue, she guessed from the incident earlier where Yami used her magic as a corridor for his own. She could feel the darkness of it, the warm, comforting darkness spinning with her own, cutting through the sickening negative mana, just as it dissolved her own.

She fell back to where the young Golden Dawn ingenue had adopted his blended form and stood desperately trying to used his winds to push back the vileness spreading through the chamber. He too had the appearance of an elf—pointed ears and facial markings, yet unlike the others, she did not recognize him.

"This isn't working." The dark haired young man said, his voice cool but strained.

"We have to keep trying." The white haired elf on his other side answered as he peppered the mass with arrows of light.

Charlotte tried to ignore the goings on around her and touch the energy within. The small knot of mana pulsated. She could now sense Yami's mana within it, as well as her own. The elf had said she did not fight alone. She could feel her lover bolstering her from within. His magic was well suited against the otherworldly adversary. She would have to tap into it somehow, through this connection they had made. The elf spirit who had controlled her had opened her eyes to so many possibilities, to the threads of mana which connected them all.

She took a deep breath, surprised at how it came out shaking as she connected through the threads. The mana flowed through the barrier separating them from the world outside, connecting her to him through the life of their child.

"I'm sorry." She let the tears she had held back through the fight start to flow as she grabbed hold of his mana and pulled it into the fight.

Yami watched the events unfolding in the streets and sighed in relief as slowly, but certainly, the magic knights and the royal guards regained control of the situation. Elves were defeated, either fallen in battle or taken prisoner as the human forces gained the upper hand.

But his relief was short lived as he felt a shot through his heart. He touched his chest out of instinct, but could feel no wound, no blood, at least nothing that hadn't already been there. He turned his attention back to the black mass blocking off part of the city. A wave of dread washed over him. Something had happened.

The sense of Charlotte's mana brushed him, as if she were somehow reaching out through the darkness for him. He could not feel her ki, but she had managed to break the opacity of the barrier, at least for a moment. He wanted to know what was going on to make her reach for him. He could not tell what she was feeling. Was she scared or hurt? Yami's heart raced at the thought.

A streak of light erupted on the map model, coming in from the distance and heading straight to the barrier of darkness.

"What is that?" Marx asked as both of their attention zeroed in on the new arrival.

Yami shook his head. He felt a pull or a tug in his chest.

He closed his eyes and succumbed to the force pulling him away.

"Oh Shit!" Owen's voice echoed in his ears as his head lolled to the side and he lost consciousness.

Charlotte felt Yami's magic flow through her as she pulled. She channeled it through her sword, hoping against all odds she would be able to replicate even half of his skill. The sickle of dark magic arched through the air, striking the mass squarely. The boy—was Asta his name? Close enough-spun quickly to look at her wide-eyed for a moment before he returned to the offensive.

The mass was overwhelming them, pushing them back toward the wall. Some of the otherworldly material had scarred the elves, yet Asta remained unscathed, moving through the tendrils like they were water.

A brilliant light broke through like a lightning strike and pierced the mass. Part of it dissolved when the light touched it. When the light faded and she could see once more without blinking, three more individuals stood in the room—a young man and woman, and a creature which could only be described as a devil. The new arrivals faced off against each other. The elves, but not the one with the black hair, the unfamiliar one, clustered near the couple the beam of light had deposited in their midst. Asta rushed to her side.

"That was Captain Yami's magic. I know it."

"I..." She looked in his wide green eyes, trying to find the words to explain what had happened, though she wasn't exactly sure what had happened herself. She hadn't even fully expected it to work, but it had and now she felt drained, weak. She watched as the new arrivals, along with the elves, were fighting to stop the malicious being. "It was, but I..." She shook her head. Her knees gave out from underneath her and she fell to the ground.

Or she would have had the young man not used his body as a crutch for her and gently lowered her to a sitting position.

"Nothing should be able to get through the barrier." The dark-haired elf boy said from her other side. He looked at her with thoughtful golden eyes before glancing down at her belly.

Charlotte nodded. She wasn't sure how, but it had happened.

"I think the child served as a link between us, between these two worlds." She placed her hand on her belly. She wished she could feel the movements of the developing being within her. She could barely feel its mana now. Charlotte's heart raced with worry and new fear.

"Wait, child?" Asta looked from her to the dark-haired elf boy. "What child? Yuno?"

"Not my child." The dark haired boy—must be Yuno-looked back to the ongoing battle.

"I know it's not your child, but, if you're..." He waved his hands, flustered, uncertain of what to say to get his point across. "Why are you even here?"

"Because Yami couldn't be and because if we don't stop this, there will be no future for our child."

Charlotte could see the gears turning behind the green eyes of the young man as he worked through the twists and turns of events.

"Asta, we need to stop this thing." Yuno's voice was firm, calm, and collected. His voice reminded her of her own at times. But his voice also seemed very distant.

"We can't just leave her." Asta's voice seemed far away as well, and Charlotte felt her vision going black.

Too much, it had all been too much.

She waved for them to go back to the fight, wanting to tell them to stop the coming doom, to win at all costs for their own sake, and for the sake of the child she carried, and for all children to have a future.

But her voice would not come as the blackness took her.

A soft blue light surrounded him when Yami opened his eyes. He knew he had been sitting up last he remembered, but now he lay prone, on his back. He looked up to the ceiling through the pale light at the stones fitted neatly together arching above him. He tried to sit up, but his body would not respond.

"Don't make me restrain you." Owen's voice was amused as the older man moved into view. He had a smile on his face. "You're still healing."

"What happened? Why am I in the hospital?" Yami's voice cracked. He tried to swallow, but his throat was dry.

"You passed out in the war room. Your body couldn't take what you were trying to put it through."

"I was just sitting."

"I mean the stress of... everything."

"I should get back there." Yami croaked as he tried to sit up once more. Owen's magic slithered around him, holding him down.

"There's nowhere to go. It's over. I don't know how, but minutes after you lost consciousness, the blackness faded. Everyone started coming to their senses and it was over."

"Oh."

"Anti-climatic, I know, but probably for the best. I don't think the city could have taken much more."

Yami tried to sit up again as he remembered what he had felt moments before he passed out.

"Charlotte." Panic rose in his voice. He had felt her reaching out to him, asking for help. He had no idea how he had felt the connection with her, but he had. None of it was verbal, none of it was anything more than a vague feeling of worry and desperation. He had never denied her when she needed help and so he had given her what he could.

"She's fine. She's exhausted, but everyone is."

"Where is she?" He struggled to sit up.

"Dammit Yami, you need to rest. She needs to rest."

Yami glared up at Owen. The doctor sighed and released his binding spell. Yami regretted the movement as soon as he started to sit up. Everything ached and he felt far weaker than he had thought possible.

"You've lost a lot of blood and your mana was siphoned away during the fight. I'm not sure how, but it was and as far as I can tell, that's what made you pass out."

"I'm fine." he croaked. "Where's Charlotte?"

A young healer held out a cup for him. Yami glared at the young man, who flinched under the intensity of the captain's gaze.

"First, drink." Owen commanded with an authority of his own. Yami tried to snatch the cup from the assistant, but his movements were sluggish and weak. When he took the cup, he found he could barely grip it in one hand. He grunted as he supported it with both hands and brought it to his lips.

"Your strength will return in time, Yami. You need to be patient." Owen flinched at the fire in the foreigner's dark eyes as Yami looked up at him.

"Don't make me ask again." His voice teetered on the edge of madness.

"She's in the other room. But you can't go in there."

"What?"

"No one can, not without the King's permission."

"What do you mean? Why? How long was I out, Owen?"

The doctor took a deep breath and grabbed a chair. He pulled the wooden seat to the side of Yami's bed. Once he was seated, he looked Yami square in the eye.

"She's been arrested. Everyone who turned into an elf has."

Yami gripped the sheet covering his legs in tight fists.

"Everyone?"

"Yes."

"What about you? I heard you had turned too."

Owen scoffed and looked down at his ankles. He moved his legs and Yami could hear the rattle of chains.

"The only reason I'm not in prison is because I have a use. But I am under guard. The entire hospital is." He looked at the door.

Yami followed his gaze and noticed two royal guards standing beside the doorway, dark armor blending in with the dark stone walls.

"What the hell happened?"

"Is he awake?" Marx poked his head around the doorway. The guards shifted stances to block entrance before noting the newcomer and allowing him to pass. "Ah, yes, good." Marx strode purposefully through the door to Yami's bedside.

"The King has been wanting to meet with you. He has been most... impatient regarding your recovery."

"Why the hell does the King want to meet with me?"

Marx blinked at him once and then twice.

"Because you're the Wizard King."

"No."

"But Julius himself appointed you to the job. We have documents saying as much."

"But I don't want to be the Wizard King."

Marx crossed his arms over his chest and screwed up his face in thought. After a moment, he looked up at Yami once more.

"There are means of abdication from the job, but they will all take time. And time is one thing we don't have right now. The fighting might be over, but the country is now in survival mode. So much has been destroyed, or damaged, we will have months of rebuilding, and that is assuming the people don't start fighting among themselves. Resources are lacking and in our weakened state, the Diamond Kingdom has seen fit to start amassing soldiers on the border."

Yami laid back down and closed his eyes. Marx continued prattling on about the state of the nation, while Yami hoped sweet oblivion would take him once more.

"So we need a Wizard King. And Julius thought you would be the best person for the job."

"What about Nozel? Or Fuegoleon? Neither of them turned into elves and they're royalty. I'm sure the people would take to them better than me." He did not bother opening his eyes.

"No doubt you are right, but like I said, these things take time and we don't have that right now. So we're stuck in this situation, whether we like it or not."

Yami sighed.

"So what does the King want?"

"To discuss the trial arrangements for all of the traitors. His words, not mine." Marx was quick to point out.

"Trial? He's going to put them all on trial?" Yami looked up at Marx and then over at Owen.

Marx shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He rubbed his hands along the front of his robe and chewed on his lip.

"The King... he, um, he wants them all executed."

Yami bolted upright, his eyes wide as he grabbed at Marx. He felt all color, all warmth—what little he had-drain from him as his blood ran cold. Executed? All of them? Hundreds, no thousands of citizens had turned in the event, and the King wanted them all dead? To brand them all traitors? For something over which they had no control?

"What?" he bellowed. Yami glanced at Owen and noticed Marx would not meet the doctor's eyes, not even in sympathy.

"I'm just the messenger, Yami. If you want to do something about it, you need to convince him."

Yami forced himself out of the bed. He winced with each movement but pulled himself upright. Once on his feet, his head swam and he choked down a wave of nausea. He didn't like it. Not one bit. He had no idea why Julius would trust him with such a burden, but he would do what he could to make his mentor proud, to prove he hadn't made a mistake. And he would do what he must to keep the King from the path of insanity on which he seemed set.

"You're damned right I will."

Yami tried to walk confidently to the door, but found himself stumbling. His legs were wobbly with disuse and his muscles were weak. Marx and Owen, both moved to help him as he teetered to one side and nearly fell, but he caught himself before going down completely. His rage, his worry gave him the strength his muscles currently lacked. He would indeed give the King a piece of his mind, and a piece of his magic and blade if need be, but first he needed to see Charlotte. He needed to know she was alright, to see with his own eyes, to touch her with his own hands. He needed to know, too, how his squad, his family had fared in the chaos. He had every confidence in their abilities, but sometimes luck runs out and a single moment can shift the fate of battle.

"First, though, where's Charlotte?"

"You can't see her, Yami." Marx said. "She stands accused. She, like the others, are to see no one."

"I will kill you where you stand if you keep me from her."

"She's two floors down, in the third room on the left." Owen said from his seat on the chair. His eyes met Marx's for the first time since the aide's arrival. Yami looked at him and nodded, both in thanks for the information and appreciation for his defiance of the injustice facing them all.

He stormed down the stairs as much as his body allowed. People must have felt him approach because they all seemed to scurry from his path. But before he could reach the room where he had been told Charlotte was held, a voice called out to him.

"Captain?"

Yami froze and turned slowly toward the chipper, lyrical voice. Wide blue eyes stared at him through a shimmering gold barrier.

"Luck."

"Captain, do you know what's going on? The soldiers came and took me and Gauche, and a bunch of other people too. The others were just standing around confused after everything was over, but they ordered us to all go with them."

"What happened to the rest of the squad?"

Luck shrugged.

"They only asked Gauche and I to go with them. Do you know what's going to happen to us?"

Yami swallowed hard as he looked at Luck's trusting eyes. The young man had struggled to connect with the squad, with the new family he had been offered. Telling him would be difficult, Yami knew, but denying him the knowledge would be akin to betrayal.

"I don't know much. I just woke up apparently. But from what I hear, there will be a trial. The King... He wants justice for the kingdom. He wants to speak with me about it, or so it seems. I'm not entirely sure what he thinks justice will look like, but the rumor is that he," Yami looked down at the ground. "He is open to execution as a possibility."

The words tasted sour in his mouth. He could not, would not let the King take revenge against people who had no choice in their actions. Yami looked back to Luck's eyes, certain he would see shock on the younger man's face. But Luck met him with the same innocent, cheerful expression he always wore.

"We did attack the kingdom's citizens."

"But you weren't you at the time." Yami countered, trying to build his argument against the King's decision.

"True. And yet, I have memories of doing it. The memories are like looking at an image in the newspaper, or like watching yourself in a dream, but I have them. I remember the anger, the hatred the other me felt. I have their knowledge of the subtleties of mana. I have their memories—of sorts. But they are distant, like I was an observer, but from far away."

Luck furrowed his brows together momentarily, as he thought.

"But those memories, those actions, they aren't yours."

Luck smiled. His cheerful disposition returned.

"But someone has to take responsibility, don't they, Captain?"

Yami opened his mouth to argue. The spirits who possessed them were now gone, destroyed... somehow. One day, Yami vowed, he would find out exactly what happened. But with the spirits gone, he believed the responsible parties had been dealt with, they had received the consequences of their actions. Punishing the people who had merely served as hosts would do no good. He would tell the King as such and hope he listened.

"I, I'll talk to you later, Luck. Once I know more."

Luck smiled as Yami nodded and turned down the hallway once more.

But would the King listen? Would he see reason? The question nagged at him as he approached the heavy wooden door where Owen had said Charlotte was being held. Unlike the room where Luck was imprisoned, a guard stood outside of the tightly closed and locked doorway. The man stood up straighter as Yami approached, as if he were puffing up in an effort to intimidate. Yami scowled in return.

"Open the door." Yami demanded.

"I have orders to..."

"I don't give a fuck about your orders. I am, apparently, the acting Wizard King and I told you to open the damn door!" Yami's voice echoed off the stone walls. The guard shrunk back from sound and he fumbled with a ring of keys as he struggled to comply.

"Yami?" Charlotte's voice sounded small and muffled through the heavy wood.

The door creaked opened and Yami pushed past the guard and into the small, dark room. Charlotte stood like a beacon in the darkness as he entered and embraced her. He pulled her tightly against him, relishing in the feel of her in his arms.

"You're alright?" He looked down into her clear blue eyes. He caressed her face and ran his fingers through her loose hair.

Charlotte nodded.

"I'm alright. We're alright." She stressed and Yami felt an unrealized tension release from his shoulders as he pulled her into his arms once more. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest.

"I was told you were still too injured to walk."

Yami squeezed her slightly, but as tightly as he could.

"I'm fine."

"I put a whole in your chest and almost shredded you with my briars from the inside."

Yami chuckled.

"Yeah, that sucked."

"You should be dead."

"I don't kill easy."

Charlotte pulled away from him just enough to look into his eyes.

"No. You don't."

She kissed him softly, linger near his lips for a moment, her eyes closed as she basked in his presence.

"But what are we going to do?" She settled her head against his chest once again.

Yami took a deep breath and kissed her on the top of her head. He was still wading through options, trying to see what possibilities lay before him.

"I mean, I've heard the whispers, the talk of treason. I know what the penalty for treason is. I..."

"We'll figure it out. I promise you, we will."

She squeezed his waist, pressing her body against his briefly before rising up on her feet to kiss him again. This kiss was longer, sensual, but also scared. As he met her eyes once more, he could see the fear hiding behind the cool exterior. He had promised her they would figure it out. But he had no idea exactly how.