Character List:

Meg Aomori – 13 years old – Cleric

Sean Everard – 14 years old – Fighter

Ciel Clawrence - 15 years old - Ranger

Alice Everard - 19 years old - Dragon Knight

Lia Kaji - 47 years old - Archmage (Fire/Poison)

Isabelle Alfort - 21 years old - Corsair

Xin Jian - 21 years old - Hero

Minna Sukoyaka - 18 years old - Bishop

Ivan Alfort - 21 years old - Corsair

Dante Kyudo - 22 years old - Bowmaster

Cedric Windsor - 23 years old - Shadower

Eternus - ? years old

Krylin - 28 years old - Dark Cleric

Mytsu Arai - 17 years old - Dawn Warrior

Ada Diskenths - 20 years old - Hermit

Mary Kelley - 24 years old - Paladin

Froid Hermes- 35 years old - Archmage (Ice/Lightning)

Kaito Shinrai - 22 years old - Marksman

Saya Shinrai - 20 years old - Bowmaster

Aegis: Fragments

Chapter 22 - Trust Me

"The more you protect him, the more it's apparent that he is what I'm looking for."

Lia backed away, protectively holding her son in her arms. "Don't you dare!"

"Your husband...he fought back against me. I can't have my amplifier rebelling against me, now can I? Tell me, did he ever mention to you the power that the Kyudo line has?" Xeros asked, stepping forward with his Agares Bloody spear in his hands.

Lia eyed it warily as she stepped back, holding up her Evil Wings staff defensively.

"Ah, I assume he didn't!" the purple haired spearman said with a chuckle. "What a shame! And here I thought that he would be protective of his wife and son!"

"You killed him! You killed him while he was trying to protect Dante!"

Xeros threw back his head and laughed. "Do you really believe that? I think it's obvious that he let himself get killed. Just so that he wouldn't have to become my amplifier. He just wanted his son to take his place. Oh...but don't worry, if you hand over your son quietly, I'll leave you and Henesys alone."

"Liar."

"Hm?"

"Liar!" Lia swung her staff and shot out three fire balls at the dark warrior. Her red eyes were brimming with tears as she shot out more fire demons towards Xeros, who easily blocked all of her attacks with a simple swing of his spear. "Alec would never abandon me. More importantly, he would never abandon Dante!"

"Do you really think so?"

Seeing as how her attacks weren't working, Lia tightly held Dante in her arms and she knew that she needed to get away from him.

She held out her staff and a glowing green book appeared before her. "Poison Mist!" she shouted and at that moment, the green book exploded into a toxic cloud of poison.

Lia quickly covered her son's small nose with the cloth that he was wrapped in as she fled the scene.

The tattered photos felt so delicate in her hands. Lia gently stroked the faded ink and the small wrinkles on the surface. She couldn't see them, but she still kept them for some reason. They gave her just that last connection to her past life.

Knock. Knock.

The knocking at the door startled her slightly. Lia quickly got up to her feet, went over to the desk, and shoved the photos into the drawer, unaware that one had fluttered loose and had fallen to the floor.

"Come in," she called out.

As soon as Dante stepped in, Lia recognized him by his body heat and footsteps.

"Oh, Dante!" she exclaimed, rushing over to him. "Did everything go well with Alice?"

Dante smiled a little and shook his head. "Somewhat."

"Somewhat? If you don't mind me asking..."

"I decided to put some distance between us. It's for the best, especially with the battle coming up. We'll be distracting each other."

"I see."

Dante looked away for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He finally faced Lia and said, "I know that I must be asking for too much, but could I ask you for a favor?"

"Hm?"

The archer leaned his hand up against the wooden door frame and whispered, "could you please stay by Alice's side?"

Lia cocked her eyebrow up suspiciously, wondering what he was trying to say. "Of course I can, but why all this all of a sudden?" She heard Dante let out a soft, sullen sigh before answering.

"I don't think I could be the one to help fix Alice this time."

"Well," Lia softly laughed as she went into her room. Gently, she motioned for Dante to join her and the archer followed without much resistance.

"It sounds like you really like her," the fire mage remarked, looking over her various herbs growing in small pots.

Dante felt his cheeks turn a slight pink. "I do-" His speech faltered when he saw Lia reach out to him and gently cup his cheek.

Lia giggled and went back to tending to her plants. "I see you're blushing. Both of you are very innocent with your feelings for each other."

He blushed even harder, embarrassed that Lia pointed out his blush.

"You should help her."

"Huh?"

"When the invasion is over, you should make amends with her. I'm sure she'd want you to fix her rather than me." Lia turned around and smiled warmly. "A respectable man would make the woman he loves happy in the end, no matter what. I'm sure Alice would want a respectable man by her side. Right, Dante?"

What Lia said made sense, but Dante still had his lingering doubts. "I just don't want Alice hurt because of me."

"You'll just need to trust her on that."

"What do you mean?"

"She's survived this far, hasn't she? You must give Alice more credit than what you're giving her. Inside of her is a beautiful, resilient flower just waiting to bloom." Lia reached out and gently pinched at one of the leaves of her herbs. She smiled fondly down at it and said, "she needs respect and trust from you so she can grow. So don't worry about her. She knows that being with you will bring pain, but Alice trusts you and now it's time for you to trust her. Hm?"

Dante looked down at the floorboards in thought. He had believed that all this time he was doing all the things that were best for Alice, but once again he had been proven wrong. He needed to trust her, not protect her.

"I understand," he whispered. Dante smiled at Lia. "Thank you for telling me all this." He then joked lightheartedly, "maybe I should come to you for advice more often."

Lia laughed. "I wouldn't mind it at all."

"Well...I should probably get going. Thanks again-" Dante stopped when he heard something light crunch underneath his foot. Curiously, he looked down and saw an old photograph sticking out from underneath his boot heel.

He bent down to pick it up and his red eyes immediately widened in shock.

"Is something wrong?" Lia asked, tilting her head slightly.

"N-No, nothing at all. I just nearly fell over," Dante said with a slight laugh. He quickly excused himself from her room and walked down the hallway. When he was a good distance away from Lia's room, he stopped and looked down at the old photograph in his hand.

Dante felt his mouth drying up as he muttered softly, "impossible...why is this...?" His red eyes stared at the two people in the photo, a man and a woman. The man looked amazingly similar to him and the woman looked eerily familiar.

"It can't be..." he whispered, his hand trembling as he moved to cover the woman's eyes with his finger. It was Lia. His mind raced as he slowly flipped over the photograph. Was Lia...his...

The black haired man felt his breath hitch in his throat when he saw the two names that were scribbled on the aged photo.

Alec & Cecelia

Dante fit the pieces together. The names, the resemblance of the man in the photo to himself, the resemblance the woman in the photo had to Lia, the way he felt so at ease around Lia even though he barely knew her, the way she treated him with sudden gestures of care and kindness...

He suddenly felt overwhelmed with shock with the conclusion he came to and he staggered a bit on his feet. Dante held his hand over his mouth as he leaned back against the wall.

"My parents...my mother..."

He was talking to her casually just a while ago...

"Lia...is my mother...?"

"Hey, Kaito...I wonder if we'll win in this game of hide and seek?" Saya asked her brother as they both calmly walked through the forest of evergreens.

Xin grit his teeth as he hid behind a tree.

"Why aren't we moving? They'll find us!" Mytsu exclaimed. She gasped a little when Xin held her tightly against him while holding his hand over her mouth.

"I only want what's best for you, Princess. Please trust me and stay close. I promise that I'll keep you safe and alive," the warrior whispered, earning a quick nod from the blonde.

"But," Mytsu moved his hand slightly so she could speak. "What about Sean and Meg?"

"They won't kill them. I'm sure Froid will find them when he gets here. These two only want you dead."

"But-! AHH!" Mytsu cried out in surprise when the tree trunk just above their heads exploded and shattered into a million pieces.

"Follow me!" Xin exclaimed, grabbing the princess' thin wrist. He led her deeper into the forest, dodging the occasionally arrow that made it near them. When Mytsu began to fall behind, Xin stopped and quickly apologized before scooping up the small girl in his arms.

The blond princess squeezed her eyes tightly shut and buried her face into his shoulder as he ran through the forest.

"Please stay here," Xin told her, stopping near a small crevice.

Genuinely afraid for her life, Mytsu quickly shook her head. "Th-They'll find me! And then they'll-!"

"Then I'll leave you with a promise, Princess. I will come back for you and I'll get you to Nackt's palace safely. So, please don't come out and stay in there."

Mytsu pursed her pink lips together and finally decided to follow Xin's instructions. She slipped into the crevice and sat there in the darkness, curled up into a ball. Before Xin could leave, she shouted out, "if you don't come back, I'll make sure my father hears about this!"

Xin chuckled and pulled out his Doombringer. "Yes, Princess." Without another word, Xin rushed off back into the evergreen forest.

However, he frankly wasn't sure at this point if he could make it back. These two archers were amazingly skilled. It surprised him back when he casted a magnet pull spell on them and they managed to break out of it just before he could land a strike.

They weren't supposed to be taken lightly.

"Oh? It's just you?"

Xin whipped around and saw the red haired girl behind him. He remembered that the boy she was with called her Saya.

She pouted a little, kicking the snow with her red boots. "Where's the princess?"

"Think I'd tell you that freely?" Xin asked, narrowing his blue eyes at the bowmaster. He widened his stance and tightly gripped his Doombringer. "I'll give you a chance to run away while you still can."

"Is that a warning?" Saya asked, giggling. "Hey Kaito! I think this guy might be a better challenge than the platoon leader!"

"Platoon leader?" asked Xin, perplexed for a while before realizing they must be talking about Froid.

"He got so easily fooled by our puppets!" Saya laughed, clearly amused with the whole thing. "You'd think that a platoon leader would take notice of that!"

Xin turned a little when he heard the man, Kaito, come up behind him.

"Don't spend too much time gloating, Saya," Kaito gently reminded her. "We still need to find the princess."

Saya crossed her arms over her chest and let out a sigh. "Fine, fine." She reached around behind her and released her Red Arund from its hold. A smirk drew itself across her face as she asked, "we'll ask one more time. Where's the princess?"

Without warning, Xin rushed forth towards the red haired girl and their weapons clashed for a brief second before the girl lept back to avoid him. Xin's Doombringer crashed into the snowy ground where she once stood, creating a small crater.

"So that's your answer..."

Xin turned around and swung his sword to attack Kaito. His sword sliced cleanly through the man, but it was only a puppet. Pieces of hay rained down on him as the real Kaito lept down from the tree branches above.

Just barely, Xin raised up his Doombringer to block the overhead attack. He heard the heavy crossbow arrow bounce off the flat side of his sword and felt the weight of the man pushing down on him briefly.

The marksman kicked off from Xin's sword and did an agile flip backwards before landing on his feet.

"You're quite fast for a warrior, aren't you?" Saya exclaimed, sounding as if she was absolutely excited with what she had discovered.

Xin set his jaw and rushed forth to attack again. He skillfully swung the heavy black and white broadsword high over his head and began his aggressive attack against the two archers. However, all he struck were their sturdy weapons.

Seeing as how he was only wasting his energy, Xin gave one last swing of the massive sword and slid back on the slick ground from the force of the swing. He panted as he stared at them, anticipating their next move.

Saya smiled at him and then at her older brother. "Kaito? I think he wants us to start attacking now."

Kaito remained silent, but Saya reacted as if she had received a verbal response from him. She giggled and brought up her bow.

"You should have just told us where the princess is."

Before Xin could react to dodge their attacks, the stream of arrows began to rain down on him. Xin brought up his Doombringer and used it as a shield and it worked- to some extent.

He winced when several sharp arrows scraped past his bare arm that wasn't covered in armor. Some arrows met his other arm, which was luckily covered in steel armor.

The arrow stream eventually stopped, but when Xin moved his sword to the side to peek out, he widened his eyes and quickly rolled off to the side in order to dodge the incoming attack. Immediately, a dart-like arrow flew past him, barely missing him, and shot through the tree behind him.

Xin watched as the large evergreen swayed and then fall with a thundering crash to the ground. He turned his attention back to the two bowmen, especially keeping his attention on Kaito.

The marksman had the power to land a deadly blow in one hit and Xin wasn't sure if his Doombringer could withstand a blow from him. He had to be exceptionally careful around him.

He stood up onto his feet and planted the tip of his sword into the soft ground. A blue aura surrounded his body as several runes circled the ground around him. They produced a circular pattern beneath his feet and spun slowly.

"Oh? Are you finally being serious?" Saya asked him, grinning.

Xin stood his ground as the circular pattern disappeared. He brought back his Doombringer and kicked off from the ground, rushing towards them in a blink of an eye.

The ends of his long black vest fluttered near his knees as his sword plunged into a tree, barely missing them as they jumped out of the way. Xin quickly pulled out the sword and jumped up towards Kaito.

He swung the heavy Doombringer and brought it down upon the marksman, who blocked the attack with his Fire Raven crossbow. However, Kaito was no match for Xin's strength as one combo symbol appeared on the warrior's right hand.

Still airborne, Xin hit the marksman two more times, all of them landing on the Fire Raven before the last strike broke the weapon and sent Kaito hurtling down to the ground.

"Kaito!" Xin could hear his little sister exclaimed from behind them.

Kaito crashed into the ground, spewing blood from his mouth from the incredible impact. By now, Xin's combo was partially done with three more symbols appearing on his left hand, and both of his legs.

"You bastard!" Saya shouted, running up to Xin.

With his senses and strength heightened with the combo, Xin whipped around and did an underhanded swing of his Doombringer to meet Saya's bow swing.

The two weapons met briefly in a screeching clash before Saya cried out in pain when the impact proved to be too much for her. She backed away just as the last combo symbol appeared on Xin's forehead.

Saya held her injured arm in pain as she staggered on her feet.

"Your bones are probably shattered. It would be wise for you two to retreat," Xin said, turning back to look at her fallen brother.

The red haired woman glared at him through her bangs. "This isn't over!" she shouted.

Xin saw her disappear before him and then heard her reappear behind him, kneeling down next to Kaito. She brought her brother into her arms and then they both disappeared in whirl of purple magic.

The warrior let out a soft sigh, knowing that those two must have been Krylin's trusted soldiers.

The blue combo circles disappeared from his body as he slid his Doombringer back into its hold on his back. The fight was over for the time being, but he had suspicions that they might return soon...possibly with reinforcements.

Xin ran through the forest, going back to the crevice where he had left Mytsu.

"Princess?" he asked, peeking into the dark crevice.

He felt relief when he heard her answer back in a haughty tone. "About time you came back!"

Xin chuckled as he held out his hand to her. He helped her out and remarked, "you're quite the spoiled princess, aren't you?"

Briefly forgetting the fact that she hadn't put up her nice princess facade, Mytsu blushed and crossed her arms over her chest.

The swordsman saw this and chuckled again. "I won't tell anyone if it's for your public image."

"H-Huh?"

Xin winked and placed his index finger over his lips. At this, Mytsu blushed harder, partly because of how he was treating her like a little kid and...

"Of-Of course! You better keep it from everyone else!"

Her heart skipped a beat when he laughed in amusement. "Yes, Princess."

...partly because he looked rather charming for a mere knight.

"You're getting better at healing," Xin told Meg, who was healing the small injuries he received from his fight with Kaito and Saya.

"Really? I've been practicing everyday!" Meg exclaimed happily.

"It shows!"

Everyone had gotten back together again. Luckily, no one had sustained any serious injuries, despite the sudden ambush.

Froid walked up to Xin and looked down at him. "It's really a relief that you didn't get any serious injuries from fighting them. They're really a formidable pair."

"Who were they?"

"The Reconnaissance doesn't know?"

Xin laughed lightly. "We only know our assigned targets. All the other knowledge is carried by you platoon leaders."

The archmage furrowed his brow in thought and knelt down in front of the warrior, meeting him at eye level. "They're siblings, Kaito and Saya Shinrai. From what the Aegis knows, they're considered one of Krylin's most trusted inner circle. If I was her, I'd have them as close to me as possible. Their skills are amazing as bowmen, perhaps even outdoing our bowmaster platoon leader, Dante."

"That might be true, but from what I've seen while fighting them, they're only strong as a pair. Separately, they're easy pickings. Although they may be excellent assassins, they still have one major flaw."

Xin thought back to when he had fatally injured Kaito and Saya had rushed in to help him without thinking.

"All done!" Meg exclaimed, gently touching Xin's now completely healed arm.

"Thank you Meg," he said with a sweet smile. "At this rate, you'll become a high class priest in no time."

Meg blushed at the compliment. "It was nothing."

All three of them stood up and Froid looked towards both Meg and Sean. "Well, it seems like our work here is done. Hope you two aren't too traumatized with what happens in the Aegis on a daily basis," he said with a light chuckle.

Sean responded with his own lighthearted, awkward laugh. "At least we're all okay now." Truthfully, he couldn't wait to get back home to Orbis. It unnerved him to be in this constantly dangerous environment.

"I'll escort Princess Mytsu to Nackt's palace," Xin stated. "Don't worry about a thing," he told Froid in full reassurance.

"I thank you." Froid gave a slight bow of his head. "Have a safe journey."

"You too."

"It's unfortunate that there was a breach in security." Athena pursed her lips in thought. "I never would have imagined that Mary was a spy. I had run enough background checks on her and her extensive history, but I suppose that wasn't enough. Krylin helped cover all of the bases."

"So what happens now?" Dante asked. "You gave my platoon the task to invade once the first wave manages to take back Ellinia. Am I still going without a martyr?"

"I'll give you further instructions once your platoon reaches Ellinia."

The archer seemed to have a expression of distaste as he said, "I think Alice would be best as my martyr."

"Are you still persistent about that?"

"Yes. We work well together-"

"You two are in a relationship."

"Not anymore."

Athena raised an eyebrow in question. "I still won't allow it. You still harbor feelings for each other. It will get in the way." She narrowed her eyes at him and asked curiously. "Are you sure your feelings for her are gone? I'll only consider it then."

Seeing as how this was getting complicated, Dante let out an annoyed huff and muttered, "forget that I mentioned it." He sharply turned away and walked out of the room. As soon as he closed the door behind him, Dante leaned against it and squeezed his eyes shut.

After learning that Lia was his real mother, he wanted nothing more than to break all ties with her. Supposedly, the last tie that remained was Alice being her martyr.

Dante clenched his teeth, starting to grow more angered with this fact he uncovered a week ago. He remembered how casually she had spoken with him and her simple, motherly gestures towards him.

"How could you be that calm when you abandoned me?"

Feeling the need to walk it off, Dante pushed himself off of the door and strode down the halls. He needed to let off some steam, perhaps training would be the best-

"Oh, Dante? What a coincidence seeing you here!"

Dante stopped in his tracks when he saw the one person he didn't want to see standing in front of him. It burned him up inside when he saw a bright smile on Lia's face as she greeted him.

"Did you finish up your business he-?" Lia faltered when she felt Dante brush past her roughly. She stood there perplexed at how he had ignored her.

Something inside of her chest ached painfully with how he acted towards her.

Lia bowed her head sadly, but she reminded herself that he was probably under a lot of stress with the upcoming invasion. Trying to cheer herself up, Lia nodded and whispered, "that must be it...nothing else."

However, something inside of her, very deep inside of her, said otherwise.

He narrowed his red eyes at the target ahead of him as he pulled back his bow.

Dante released the arrow and watched it hit the tree, completely missing the target board. He let out a frustrated growl and dropped his Dark Arund onto the ground carelessly. His body glistened with sweat even when it wasn't all that hot and when a cool breeze blew past him, it failed to cool him down.

He took off the leather fingerless gloves he wore and threw them to the ground before taking a seat on a large rock in the secluded training area.

His red eyes went to stare at the dozen or so arrows that had all either missed the target completely or that were embedded in the outer edges of the board. Gritting his teeth, Dante pulled out an arrow from the quiver that lay against the rock and threw it. It flew a few feet before plunging down into the ground.

Anger and frustration built up inside of him and he had no idea how to get rid of it. Training his archery obviously wasn't working at all and it only served to frustrate him even more.

Dante closed his eyes and laid down on the rock, using his arm as a pillow. It wasn't long before he heard some noises and the strange feeling that someone was watching him. At first he had thought it was Lia, thinking that she had followed him out here in worry, but he was proven wrong when he opened up his eyes and saw a familiar pair of blue eyes staring down at him.

"What are you doing?" he grumbled at Alice as he sat up.

She jumped back a little, surprised that he had suddenly woken up. "I was just worried about you..." she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. "I saw you earlier leaving the council building and you looked mad. Well...madder."

"That's not even a word, idiot."

Alice turned a slight pink in the cheeks. "Well sorry for caring about you! I'll just go then-''

"No wait-" Dante sat up a little and held the back of his neck awkwardly. He was angry, but for some reason, seeing her felt like a break from everything else that was happening in his life. "Uhm, s-stay," he stammered out.

Alice blinked in surprise. "If I stay here with you...people might get the wrong idea."

"The only people crazy enough to come out all the way here are you and me. Besides, everyone's busy with the invasion."

"Then why aren't you? Ada told me even Cedric's busy drawing up battle plans for his platoon," Alice inquired, taking a seat on the rock beside Dante. She tilted her head slightly to look at him and she began to wonder why he was angry in the first place. "Do you need help?"

"Huh?"

"With battle plans or something. I was good with battle strategies when I was in the Academy. My instructors told me I could become a platoon leader if I really wanted to-" Her cheeks flared with a blush when she heard Dante snicker. "It's not funny! It's true!"

Dante's laughter escalated, much to Alice's displeasure. She stared at him angrily as he tried to calm himself down.

"I'm glad you're feeling better at my expense, stupid Dante," she grumbled sourly.

He held his hand over his mouth and chuckled. He faced her and said, "I just couldn't tell if you were trying to lend me a helping hand or if you were just bragging."

"I wasn't bragging! Or at least I wasn't trying to! And I think I could make a great platoon leader! I just thought you were stressed over that, so I wanted to help you!"

Dante smiled at her and placed his hand on top of her head. "You're incredibly honest, you know that?"

Alice blushed and muttered, "I was just saying what needed to be said."

"Well...even if you tried to help, there's nothing else left to do. My platoon is just "back-up" for another platoon's first strike. Not much planning to go in to that."

The spearman felt him removed his hand from her head and she looked up at him curiously. "Then...something else is bothering you." When Dante didn't answer her, Alice frowned a little. The way he was keeping things from her was starting to get on her nerves.

"Huh? Hey-!" Dante exclaimed when he felt Alice grab his wrist. He was roughly shoved down onto the slab of rock with both of his arms pinned down. He stared up at Alice for a while before he shouted, "what the hell are you doing?"

Alice glared at him. "I hate how you think you could decide everything for yourself!"

"I don't-!"

"You do!" she shouted, tightening her hands around his wrists. "Ever since I met you, you decided things for yourself. What about me?"

"I decide all those things because I want what's best for you."

"Stupid! This is why you're stupid, Dante! Maybe I never wanted any of those things!" Alice trembled above him as she held back tears and frustration. "When you told me to find another guy, when you told me to forget about you...I never wanted to do any of that!"

"Alice-"

"I never said anything about it until now, because I always thought that you were right. But now...things are falling apart, don't you see it?" Alice asked, her eyes welling up with tears. They fell from her eyes and down onto Dante's cheeks.

"Even with this invasion I don't want to separate from you, Dante. We might be distracting each other and Krylin may play upon that weakness, but that'll just mean that we need to be stronger right?"

Dante stared up at her, realizing that what she was saying was true. All of it was true. The past few years, he had decided everything for her and decided what was best for them, never really asking what her opinion was or never really letting her decide anything.

"So please, don't keep things from me when it's obvious that you're in pain. I'm here! If you need help, I'll be more than glad to help! And if I can't help you on my own power, then we can always work it out together!" Alice sniffled and leaned down. She touched foreheads with him and whispered, "I just want you to trust me. I'm not so helpless like you think I am."

Dante remember what Lia had told him. Trusting Alice was the best thing for him now. She was his best ally.

He closed his eyes as he lay there underneath Alice. "I will," he whispered.

As if those were the magic words, Dante felt a soft kiss on his lips. When she pulled away, Dante slowly opened up his eyes and looked up at her with a half-lidded gaze.

She leaned down again, her long blue hair curtaining their faces. "Then...this first thing...can you trust me when I say this?" she asked softly.

"Yes."

"Please love yourself more. Don't ever leave me alone again because you wanted to protect me. You're worth more than that."

Dante widened his eyes for a moment, before he relaxed them and smiled gently. "Is that an order, Miss future platoon leader?"

Alice giggled softly as she released one of his wrists to wipe away at her tears. "You bet it is. And don't joke about that. I'll become a better platoon leader than you. Just watch me." She leaned down to touch foreheads with him again as she smiled.

The black haired man cupped her cheek and kissed her lovingly. Dante pulled away just slightly and smiled. "I don't have any doubts about that."

She reached up to place her hand over his and hold it there against her face as she gazed down at him with a soft look. "Just trust me. That's all I want from you." Alice closed her eyes and deeply kissed the man trapped below her with great passion. She coaxed his mouth open with her tongue and she played with him thoroughly, despite being inexperienced.

It was as if something led her - drove her - to act so assertive. Perhaps it was her drive to save him from everything that has happened to him. She wanted to help him after all of the pain and suffering he went through. Not help him as a lover, but as a woman that wanted to protect the man she cares for.

When they pulled away, they both panted from the intensity of the kiss.

Dante caught his breath and gently tucked a lock of loose blue hair behind her ear. "I'll tell you then. I'll tell you everything."

"The plan went through flawlessly, Your Majesty." Mary stated, kneeling down on one knee in front of Krylin.

"I knew you could come through for me, my sweet." Krylin giggled and brought up the paladin's face. "You really do look like the little wench. It seems like the good doctor did an excellent job. Who knew that Dr. Everard would use her own daughter as a test subject?"

Mary smirked haughtily. "She was so easy to break. I found it hard to believe that someone that weak and naive is who I was created from."

The necromancer chuckled before walking off. "Well, in due time, Dante will be mine once more and I'll gain his body to use. Something about his blood beckons me to take it. That's why no one must get in the way when he arrives in Victoria Island on the day of the Aegis invasion. Mary-"

"Yes?"

"On that day, I want you to separate them. You make sure that you crush that little wench. I want her dead. She'll only hinder my plans."

Mary stood up onto her feet and bowed. "Of course, that can definitely be arranged. Me and that weakling are on completely different levels after all."

"And Isabelle?" Krylin asked, referring to the blond gunslinger that stood beside the necromancer's throne. "It seems as though the doctor is cooperating with the Aegis in the present time. We can't let them recreate a perfect warrior like you. Especially in numbers that match an army."

"What do you want me to do?" Isabelle asked, dutifully willing to follow Krylin's orders.

"I think it's time that Dr. Everard takes her leave. She served her purpose well for creating such obedient beings like you and Mary, but she is of no more use to me now. Find her and kill her...and make sure that filthy traitor, Ivan is the one to go down in blame for the good doctor's murder."

A/N I was going to upload this during the server maintenance or whatever last night, but I was too tired. LOL

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, despite it being shorter than my other chapters.~ But I just thought this was a good place to stop it.

As always, please leave a review. It really means a lot to me and all the support actually gives me more drive to finish a chapter sooner. So, a lot of reviews will make me release the new chapter a week earlier. If not, then I'll be updating this every two weeks ~

Stay cool, bros