Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Really? A demon? Oh dear and here I thought he was a unicorn." And chuckled to himself. "Didn't want to stay for breakfast after that. Perhaps I should apologize to him next time I see him."

Elliot was gasping for breath, shfiting Yukie so he could cover his hand with his mouth. "Oh my goodness. Oh thank the gods. Oh. Oh dear." and kept on sniggering, tears beading at the corners of his eyes. Just the thought of Hasta prancing around. He couldn't take it!

Justin heard the first door slam open before seeing the Oliver burst through the kitchen door. "You don't need to worry! You stayed up late last night!"

Saegthin grabbed Oliver by the back of his clothes and held him. "Calm yourself. Wash your face and fix your hair over there in the sink before you touch the bottles." And looked at Leo, grinning as Elliot had to sit down finally. "So Oliver here is my new assistant chef."

"Oh gods I haven't laughed like that in so long." and looked at Yukie before chuckling. "What? Do I look funny when laughing?"

Kashi gave a squeak as he felt himself being pinched, raising his hips to try and escape before going limp again. "But it's working. The future is flitting in." and sighed, closing his eyes to absorb it. Tsume's steps were like a lullaby letting him doze off to a place between wake and sleep before opening his eyes halfway, future happening before them. "Humanity." but it was almost sighed out, kashi no longer having the energy for much else, focusing on what he was seeing. After a few minutes, Tsume walking to where Ipo was, tears started falling from his eyes. "It's changing..."

Ipo was inside the white room with its white furniture, President Guinevere writing something at the desk and staring at the gun.

"You're not going to pull the trigger." She said, entertained, getting up and walking around to him, her own gun in her hand.

"He gets killed because of you! You kill him! Why would you kill him you need him!"

"He's worthless now, sweetheart." She said, pulling back the hammer and aiming it at him, pressing it against the scratched spell. "I don't like useless things. I could make him obedient, make him love you. You'd like that, hm? Your brother finally loving you?"

With trembling hands he pulled back the hammer of his own gun. "He does love me. he just, gets annoyed with what I do."

"When I first laughed in front of the girls I scared them because of my teeth." and ran his tongue over the sharp canines before seeing Yuki suddenly smile and give a garbled coo. "Hey! That's it! That's exactly the noise daddy made." and chuckled again, moving his face closer to his and nuzzling him before kissing his head. "I love you so much!"

"I don't think I've ever seen you display so much affection, my liege." Though the chef hardly seemed to be seen outside the kitchen anyway.

In the background Justin nodded subtly in agreement. Even in Falia, well, he'd actually made a lot of facial expressions in Falia too. Justin just didn't expect him to do that back home. Maybe that's what made it weird.

The hare struggled to move in his drugged state, giving a whine and flinching, turning as though avoiding something. he would have closed his eyes but that never helped. "Put me down." he said weakly, moving before sliding onto his feet, carefully moving the bed sheet over himself and holding it. But he couldn't stop crying now, watching the floor start to sag and sink underneath his feet.

Behind him echoed the gunfire, turning around in shock before two more shots echoed.

A door opened, Ipo running out quickly, gun in his hand and surprised to see his brother and Tsume.

Guinevere moved out as well, pulling the hammer back and taking another shot which barely missed the male.

"Kashi! Kashi get out!"

"Ipo!" The hare took a step forward, reaching out to grab his brother and staggered.

Guinevere took aim again and shot, the bullet crashing through the spell hidden beneath Ipo's bangs just as he reached to grab his brother from falling. Another gunshot and that one graze Kashi's neck, blood squickly giving a squirt before starting to pump the quick dance his heart was beating.

"Ipo. Ipo. Ipo." he whimpered. It wasn't a wound to the chest, it wasn't him choking on blood, it was quick, he hadn't seen it. But that's what made it so much worse. "Ipo. My brother. Brother." and held the twin, the clone which wasn't bleeding. He felt hard, like porcelain, like clay. He felt like a doll. "Brother. Brother I'm sorry." his hand left his neck, holding the already cold body of his brother, eye wide with tears. His own fingers and toes were going numb, the cold feeling beginning to travel up his wrists and arms.

Elliot's blood froze in his veins before bubbling with rage, giving a snarl at the sound of a weapon. "Who the hell still has one of those?!" he roared.

Justin was very quick to take the baby, holding him carefully and hiding behind Saegthin.

"You have my word." And bowed, watching Elliot and Leo quickly rush out.

"Brother! Brother, Brother please!" Kashi begged, bloody hand holding the limp head. "Oh my gods please, please Ipo."

Guinevere grinned despite the pain in her shoulder and wing. "I wouldn't suggest it, servant." And then spoke louder so the Prime Minister could hear. "He shot me first, I was shooting in self-defense. It's considered anarchy for a servant to shoot his ruler."

"Guinevere!" Elliot roared as soon as he saw the white wings on the floor, Kashi pouring blood over his left shoulder and back, the bed sheet stained a deep red.

"I have people located within your entire country. You were gone and it needed some ruler." She said, seeing Alvaro come up from the other end of the hall. "If you kill me they'll attack and spread disease. I'm sure you two, Prime Minister, King, know what happened to the small country of Tiu'Rahk just east of here." and grinned, breathing through the bullet in her stomach. "They were too useless for this planet to grow, so I had to n** them in the bud."

"You do not deserve to live!"

"That is not your choice!" Alvaro snapped. Elliot had only heard about it in history books but the people that traveled into Nalaenir when the disease was spreading, that country was so small but held so many people had lost their homes, were sick with an unknown disease. The disease never spread in his country, only among the refugees. No one from that country survived.

He did not want his people dying the same way.

"The longer I lay here the more I stain your carpet." she said, sweat starting to bead on her forehead from the pain. "And he's releasing a lot of blood through your hand, Prime Minister Lewis."

Guinevere smiled at Leo, thoroughly entertained. He was too cute, puffing up like an angry rabbit. But the prince knelt down and dug his fingers into a wound that was too small for them. She bit back a scream, eyes widened in pain and back arching before trying to avoid it. He pulled them out, the Kaspian panting. "You are growing so deliciously violent, Leo. Keep it up and your dearest husband will seem like a pacifist compared to you." and the wolf was removed, Guinevere standing up and holding a hand to her stomach. The elders are hardly threatening to me, child. "You know very well what I did to mine." and looked at the king. "Sire, do you agree with this boy's and the Prime Minister's words? I can easily ignore them."

"war will start, Guinevere."

"You are not advanced enough to win."

"You and your fellow white-wings are banished from the Retian territories, the country of Nalaenir and the country of Falia. If we do see you, we will cause war. The technologies you have given us cannot be revoked."

"Understandable. I shall bid adieu now." and walked away, glancing at Kashi and Ipo with a grin before turning down the stairs and walking off.

Kashi was tired, the blood stopped but his entire left side nearly drenched in it. "He's not. He's still here. We can fix him. he's alive because he's still bleeding." but that was his own blood that he'd covered Ipo with. It was his own blood. he gave a scream as he was pulled away, struggling to reach his brother who was lifted up by Alvaro.

"Elliot, I'll need you for this, you three, make sure Kashi gets straight to bed. Find Heather, Lewis, she'll put him straight to sleep with her ability." but Kashi was already fading out. It was expected with that much blood loss. He was surprised he was still awake.

Elliot stood and followed his father out, looking at the doll, finding faint lines which meant joints, movement. Ipo had truly been nothing more than a puppet.

"I'll get the children when I'm done helping Father." Elliot said, looking back while walking. "Perhaps we'll be done at the same time and we'll pick them up." and chuckled weakly, looking at the doll his father was carrying before disappearing down a new hall.

"We're going to remove his eye." Alvaro said. "I'll need you to freeze it."

Elliot hesitated before moving the bangs. "He's not hollow." he said, seeing the brain. "But there's no blood."

"Necromancy, I'd imagine. Or some subset of it since all that was re-animated was the muscles, she used a doll's body." Alvaro's grip tightened on the hare. "We'll give him a proper funeral. Once the eye is removed."

Elliot nodded as they entered the room of the servant's physician.

"We need you to remove the eye." Alvaro ordered, placing the body down and looking at Lewis. "He has Tsume, at the very least. He won't be alone with Tsume. He just needs time to recuperate."

Kashi screamed, trying to remove himself and reach for his brother. Everything was a mess of color, blending and blurrying before becoming sharp and bright only to move again. "Let me go! Ipo!" He cried, "Let me go! You oaf let me go!" but there was nothing he could do, sobbing, too weak to try and escape, too cold. "Why are you doing this? He needs me. Tsume he needs me. Tsume please listen and put me down." He tried once more to escape as they neared Tsume's room, but to no avail and he just cried. No more words. Just tears, body cold despite the bedsheet. He cried himself to sleep in the man's arms.

"What..." Justin looked at Yuki, babe sucking the bottle hungrily, before back up at the Patheran. "What was that?"

"Just feed the baby, Justin." Saegthin said, continuing to cut fruit, face stern and listening.

"But what was that noise?" Saegthin asked. "I've only heard that noise once before and I still have no idea what it is."

"It was really loud." Justin murmured, but smiling as Leo called him brave. "They both ate a lot of food. They weren't scared at all either!"

Elliot waited as the physician removed the eye, Kashi's eye, from Ipo's body. He reached out, letting the ice form over it before grabbing it.

"Go get that put into Kashi." Alvaro said, standing from his chair. "I'm going to fetch Henry and send him into town for a coffin and tombstone."

"Shouldn't we ask his brother, first?" Elliot asked, carefully holding the seer's eye.

"He's in no mindset to make preparations, Elliot. Adam," Alvaro said towards the healer, "Go with Elliot to put it back in."

And the three walked out, Ipo's body being left with a maid who was crying. Alvaro found Henry and slowly explained what happened, the old man looking shocked, but he nodded, promising to bring the man to measure Ipo, shrugging on his jacket and exiting the room. Elliot knocked on Tsume's door. "We're going to be putting Kashi's eye back in." he said, the healer walking in, taking the iced eye from Elliot and walking to the hare.

The man removed the bandages from Kashi's head before opening the eyelids, He carefully put it in, ice melting and evaporating before it touched the hare. The light emitting from his hands as he covered the side of the face was a mint green, concentrating on re-attaching, checking to make sure it worked before going through the rest of his body and removing the drug. "His body is in a deep state of sleep. His eye will be sore for the next few days. I'll be back to fetch some medicine, but keep an eye on him, making sure both eyes move under the eyelids while he's dreaming."

Elliot moved as the healer left, looking at the teen sadly before looking down and walking out to the kitchen. "Hey," and managed a smile. Should he say it? Should he mention it? "Kashi has had his eye healed, Henry's going to town to fetch a coffin."

"For Kashi?' Saegthin asked.

Elliot shook his head. "For Ipo."

Justin looked absolutely heart-broken at this news. He didn't know them very well, but anyone dying, it hurt, everyone here was family.

"But, Ipo died trying to protect Kashi, so he died a very noble death." Elliot took the baby from him. "So right now, we need to focus on helping Kashi get better, okay?"

"I can take a gander who invented something like that." The colorful wings shifted in annoyance, moving the cooked meat onto a platter and pausing. "Did anyone know his favorite food?"

Justin thought a moment, trying to think.

"One of the maids might." Elliot said, smile faltering while looking at Yuki. "He spoke to them a lot. One of them might know his favorite food."

"Justin,"

The small boy nodded at the chef, turning off the water and drying his hands before going to find out.

"It'd be best if we retire to our room. I had some work delivered to the desk." Elliot said softly, looking up at Leo. "You need rest. Everything that could be done is done or being done as we speak." He kissed his cheek, nodding one last thanks at Oliver and the chef before walking out slowly.

Elliot held Yuki a bit longer, looking at the sleeping baby and gently whispering to him, arm lightly bouncing to keep him asleep before putting him in the crib, watching as they found each other before letting the crib rock. "I didn't think it was possible to love two people so much." he murmured, watching them move back and forth, curled against each other like puppies. "There is only one person I love more than them, and it's their mother." He looked at Leo and paused, seeing the look on his already sickly husband. "Leonard?" and walked over, stopping the chair from rocking. "Leonard, what is bothering you for you to look so rejected?"