The city plaza was a cacophony of sounds; the distressed citizens all speaking amongst each other, discussing the threats, the politics and the cruelty of the demon lords who were intently attacking their kingdom at large. When Arvin walked in they parted, allowing the group to harmlessly be at Cloudia's side. The young girl's eyes lit upon the sight of Lui. She rushed in — the hope of him being still in her hold driving her mind. Lui frowned, stepping back from her with an eyebrow raised. So this is what it had been like the past few hours?

"...what?" Cordelia muttered, her now steel gaze on Lui. The latter wasn't intimidated, he was furious, confused. There were more questions than answers for everything that happened.

"Cordelia..." Arvin's exasperated voice spoke. "What did you do?"

The girl crossed her arms, stepping back from Lui and the rest of the group. Free and Lui shared a glance as she clenched her fists. "What do you mean?"

Arvin grabbed her elbow, forcing her to look at him. "You went back to her, didn't you?" He hissed, voice dripping with desolated, grieving anger. The kind of anger of being left behind, never notices despite his best efforts to be seen. The grievance of an unrequited lover.

Cordelia pushed him back, her pale eyes narrowed. "No."

"Don't lie to me. You hypnotised one of the guests Sasha sent us. We'd be grinded to dust if they didn't help us today. You're tearing this kingdom apart."

She clicked her tongue, "Speak for yourself. It's your incompetence. If you had been good soldiers-" She stopped, meeting Arvin's glare. The cut through tension lasted for a good few minutes.

"You did hypnotise me," Lui stated, crossing his arms. Cordelia didn't meet his eyes. "And that almost killed Shu, do you know that?"

"I wasn't trying to-"

"I don't care," Lui growled. "I don't care what you had in mind before doing such an uncivilised thing. But the enemy knew about it," Ice crept up his arms, forming blades on each of his fingertips. The crowd was silent, listening to the exchange intently. The soldiers stiffened, drawing their blades as Lui pointed his arm against her throat. "How did they know?"

Arvin had his arm hovering over the hilt of his sword.

"How did those bastards know I was hypnotised and that would make Shu an easy target? "

Cordelia looked genuinely perplexed. Her face betrayed no fear for the ice blades pressed against her throats. "I don't know," She screamed. "I have no idea what you're talking about! Fine, I hypnotised you, but my intentions didn't go farther from there."

"How dare you-" She seethed, "Accuse me of betraying my own kind, citizens and kingdom?"

Lui drew his hand away as Arvin gestured at the soldiers to lower their weapons. They shared looks, obliging to the command. Free rubbed his temples, "She sounds genuine enough. Besides, she's just a girl with an infatuation, Lui. There's no more to it."

Cordelia's cheeks flamed, "It's not an infatuation!"

Free raised his brow in sarcasm. He had never been crude or ironic with a woman, but Cordelia had crossed a line he couldn't forgive. Besides, there's no time for personal relationships and favours in war. Everyone is out there to kill, have revenge, feast on blood. It's a matter of killing or being killed.

"There's something more to this," Ruway walked over to them. "Because if she's telling the truth that means there's a spy among your ranks. Someone you know leaking intel to the enemy quarters."

"Or..." Arvin started, "It's one of the high-rankers."

"What do you mean?" Orochi asked, crossing his arms.

"There are three men working for the Demon lords named high-rankers. They are powerful enigmas. It's said they could just witness someone and read everything about the person in a matter of time. Those are tales and rumours, but-"

"There's no smoke without a fire," Free completed. "We are in the dark when it comes to their ranks. We need more information. We need someone on the inside working for us." Free looked over his shoulder to the crowd dispersing, the soldiers beckoning them to leave.

"There is-" Arvin started when his eyes stopped over something behind them. Lui and Free turned in unison to see Shu standing behind them, Valt holding onto his elbow.

"Shu..." Lui started.

Shu frowned at him, his gaze slipping to Free and back to Lui. He looked back at Valt who dropped his hand and sighed. "I told him," Valt said, "I told him about the hypnotising thing."

Lui took a step forward with his hands up in surrender, "Gods Shu, I'm-"

Shu interrupted his apology, placing his hands on each of his cheeks as he stole Lui's lips in a kiss. The latter froze in surprise for a moment before embracing his familiar warmth. Free smiled, sharing a glance with Valt who let out a relieved breath. This was the best outcome they could hope for after everything happened. When they parted, Shu held onto Lui's cheeks. He smiled. "I thought you'd be mad."

Shu shook his head and that's when Lui noticed the haunted look in his eyes. The wild perplexing fear. "Whoa whoa, Shu." He slipped his hands over Shu's, bringing them in between them, caressing his skin. "What's wrong?"

"Something's coming," Shu whispered. "I can feel it."

Lui looked over his shoulder to Free. The blonde shook his head as the White Tyrant blinked. "What's coming?"

Shu shook his head, his hands trembling under Lui's grasp. Arvin frowned. "I'll tighten the security," He said, his eyes still on Cordelia who watched the pair with raw fury in her eyes. He didn't want to leave the group in case she succumbed herself to another tantrum.

Ruway, sensing his dilemma, grabbed his spear. "You stay, I'll go." He nodded once and Xander followed him out of the City Plaza towards the gates.

Cordelia groaned, "Are we really going to exhaust our soldiers further just because he-" She gestures at Shu who finally looks up, noticing the girl standing by the podium. "He's just delusional."

Maya chose the tensed moment to step into the square, her face in a grin. "Commander Ben is arriving, your highness," She cheered, oblivious to the surroundings.

Shu twitched, ears ringing as his throat dried out. His heart thundered against his skull. The whisper of the words of that man echoed in his ears, singing with every pulse in his body. Was he finally being driven to madness?

The citizen's half hearted cheers stormed the kingdom. They obviously respected this said commander but they were too late for the battle. Lui held Shu close as footsteps crowded behind them. Shu turned as the feeling clogged his throat, cutting off his breath. His eyes passed the deep rose hues and stopped upon emerald orbs staring back at him with the same untamed connection.

"You-" The stranger started, his voice ringing in his ears as all hell broke loose. Shu lurched back, wheezing. Startled, Lui wrapped his hands around Shu's waist as the latter clutched to his throat falling to his knees.

"Shu!" Several voices cried out and the albino could hardly distinguish them from each other against the hot white pain bursting through his throat. He doubled over, tasting the iron in his tongue before retching. Fresh blood coloured the marble city square, contrasting against the brilliant white.

"Someone call a medic," Free yelled. But even as he called out he knew it would be fruitless. This was an illness that perplexed the medical world. They came looking for answers only to be sucked into a spider web of questions and Shu only seemed to be getting worse.

The emerald eyed man crouched in front of Shu, "Give it back to me," His voice was hoarse and scratchy, as if he had not used it in ages.

Shu raised his eyes and shook his head, spitting out the words with great discomfort. "I... I don't know how ... to."

He placed his hand on Shu's shoulder and the pain slowly started receding. Shu gasped for breath, inhaling greedily as the pain came to an eventual stop. The stranger smiled and only then Shu noticed the two puppets in each of his hands; brown and blue and the blue one started to talk. "That's a first."

Shu slumped back to Lui in pure exhaustion, wiping his lips from the back of his palm. "Who are you?"

"Ken," The other man, presumably the commander, talked. "Your voice- You-"

Ken grinned as he spoke through the brown puppet, "I know. It's been so long."

Cordelia walked over to them, her grace diminished by the brisk way she carried herself in her fury. Before she could speak, Free sighed, "Let's take this inside. We're parading all royal secrets out here in the open. It's not becoming for any of our reputations."

Cordelia didn't protest. In fact, she seemed relieved as she barked a couple of orders to the servants about the management of the newly arrived troop before storming towards the canoe waiting for them on the banks of the lake. Shu pushed himself forward, frowning. Ken reached out a hand which the albino graciously took, pulling himself up from the dirt ridden marble plaza. "Thank you," Shu mumbled.

Ken nodded, "You're welcome."

Lui fell into a step beside Shu wrapping one arm around his back, supporting him. Shu didn't shy away, he was exhausted. The mysterious man's powers shifted something in his body, it seemed to have altered the very core of his whatever ailing him. "Are you sure you want to go ahead and talk about everything now?" Lui asked as they followed them through the forest towards the palace. "We can rest and then continue."

Shu smiled, shaking his head. His mind wouldn't rest until he had answers. "No. I'd like to have some answers."

Lui nodded, "But if you-"

"I'm fine, Lui," He assured as they reached the strategy room. Cordelia didn't arrive, and none of them questioned her absence. Arvin nodded at one of the commanders who made a beeline to the door, in search of her, Shu assumed. Once they were sitting around the long mahogany table, Ken cleared his throat.

"I'm Kensuke Midorikawa," He introduced himself through the blue puppet; it turned out even the two had names of their own; Keru and Besu. Valt, despite the sombre mood, took great pleasure in this unique magic Ken used to express himself.

"So," Free asked, "Since when did you have that?"

"He was diagnosed when he was four," Ben answered for him, his fingers playing with the silver dagger in his hand. "Came out of nowhere. We tried many medicines, none of them worked. He used to have violent episodes before though it's mostly dampened down now."

Ken nodded, "What about you?"

Shu considered him a long second before answering. "Two. I've had this since I was two. Is yours the same as Honey's?"

Ken shook his head, talking through Keru. "She mostly sees things, in my case, it's my taste. Sometimes I can taste blood in my mouth for days or I just can't breathe. It's similar yet quite different. What about you?"

Shu shared a glance with Lui who nodded. He narrated his symptoms. The visions, the chest pains, his lungs feeling as if they would explode. He watched as Ken's face went from pure concern to horror. He shrugged, "That's it."

Ben frowned, "That's different than theirs. Are you sure it's connected?"

Zac answered that question. "We're quite sure Shu's illness is connected to this continent but it does seem like his nature of the sickness is bizarre than what you've met with."

"It's like a mixture of Honey and Ken's symptoms," Arvin said, "Isn't it?"

Shu paused, thinking about his statement. It did seem like a mixture of their symptoms. It's as if Honey's and Ben's sickness are only partial from what he was feeling. Was it possible there was an entirely different meaning behind this? "Wait," Keru interrupted, "Jin and Lain, they also have this same thing. Do you think we're all connected?"

"Who's Jin and Lain?" Valt questioned.

"Some people we know from the tribal villages up to the north. We have trade connections. We figured all these scattered cases must be a forgotten illness that most of the citizens must have developed a protection for," Arvin Explained. "But now, we're not so sure."

Shu rubbed his temples, "No, it's not something random," He confirmed. "This is probably selected and well-planned."

"What do you mean?" Free asked, crossing his hands as he leaned back on his chair. "Or, what actually happened?"

"That man," Shu said.

"The high ranker."

Shu nodded at Arvin. "Whoever that was. He said something," Shu raked his brain to remember the exact words but couldn't. His mind was a blank slate except for the faint echo of this humdrum voice beating against his ears. "About some fallen angel," His eyes darted around the crowd, "I know this sounds nonsensical but,"

"No," Besu said, "The fallen angel is a legend. It's the earliest legend in our history books. What else did he say?"

Shu shrugged, "Can't remember. He just clenched his fingers and I blacked out."

"As in controlling your pain?" Arvin suddenly asked as Shu nodded.

"Exactly like that."

The commanders paled as they glanced at each other. "Shit," Ben ran a hand through his hair. "Shit. What the fuck is he doing in here?"

"What?" Lui questioned, breaking his apathetic silence. "What's wrong, who is he?"

Ken was staring at the floor as Shu noticed the faintest tremble in his limbs. Shu shivered. Arvin slammed his palms on the wooden table before taking a deep breath. "It's no high-ranker," He said, his eyes zeroing on Shu. "You've been visited by none other than your highness, Hyde."

"One of the demon lords who are wreaking havoc in this continent." Besu shook in Ken's hand. The air stilled in the room as the words sunk in. Shu clenched and unclenched his wrists. Didn't it make sense? Didn't it actually make sense that those two are behind this ailing he had been cursed with since he was young? The angel, Shu thought. "That legend," He asked, his brain whirring to life as he started connecting parts, but the puzzle was filled with too many missing pieces to make sense.

"What about it?"

"Tell us what the legend is about," Free asked, sharing a glance with Shu. "We might be able to make sense, or at least try."

The three Aquarians stared at each other before finally coming to a unified conclusion. Arvin sighed, rubbing his face. "Well, it starts like any other story, once upon a time..." 

A detailed map of the dark continent! Credits goes to ChanChanovo!

Tysm for this! It looks so amazing <333