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"Ayane, my darling, where were nowadays?" Damerius smirked with an air of grace as he walked down the long marble steps from his throne.

She looked up with a pale face, "Sorry, I just took a short trip. But I'm back now, where is my father? Is he well?"

The Fire Lord shook his head, "Always getting straight to the point as usual..." he waved his hand "Why don't you go and see how he's doing hm? You haven't seen him out of bed in ages,"

Ayane's brown eyes seemed to glitter, "Father? You mean he can walk again?" She quickly ran toward Damerius, "When did this happen?"

He smiled and slid his hand around her waist, "Why, just two days ago. It was a pity that his own daughter couldn't even see his improvement, I'm afraid his eyesight is still very poor though." Damerius frowned and held Ayane closer, "You feel hotter than usual, are you ill?"

She held back a cough, "I'm fine... take me to my father." Ayane nervously walked away from his arms. He smelled like sulfur.

Damerius sighed, "I'll have my servant escort you, I have some business to take care of," The man from before came and bowed, "This way," he murmured.

Ayane looked back nervously as she began to walk away, when he had business it usually meant he was going to kill someone. "Please don't kill today my lord," she gasped out as she coughed.

He waved back a hand as he walked back up the steps, "Your father is waiting," behind his back he pulled out his scythe.

He brushed his bangs away from his handsome face. "Ah, I knew I had some uninvited guests... who are you? What do you want?" Darmerius pulled out of his robes, leaving him in his armor. In his right hand was his scythe, he didn't want to set it off just yet. 'There's an odd aura around these people, he wasn't even sure if they were human.' Then he finished his walk down the stairs, "Where's the other one? I know there was more than one,"

"So why are you here? It's not very nice to barge into someone's home," Darmerius said, his patience was growing thin.

Ayane began to come into a series of hacking coughs and she leaned against the wall. Her escort sharply turned his head, "Intruder," he left her side and rushed down the hallway to the Father's room. She finally calmed down and took deep breaths. "W-what? Intruder?"

Damerius supported his head with his hand in thought. "Doll...? Well, you definetely have the beauty of one...,"

Ayane looked up in shock as they began sprinting down the hall. "Wait, you're Blackfeather's father!" She was very grateful for the broken collar, the weight just put more stress on her already weak body.

"But I just would hate to let my precious Ayane go, it took me a very long time to convince her to stay with me." He brushed his bangs away from his eyes, "What can you give me that Ayane doesn't have? Hmm?" He spun his scythe around in his hand, walking closer to the girl.

When they passed by the throne room Ayane's father gave a weak moan. Ayane gave a sad look to her father, "You're going to be alrig, wait!" She looked up to the king, "Where's Blackfeather?!" Her memory shot back to earlier where Darmerius left her to the escort. She gasped and tried to turn back, "Where's Blackfeather?!"

Ayane started to cry as she attempted to keep herself calm. "Don't do anything stupid!" she cried. Somehow she was also afraid of something else... something she didn't want to admit.

The Fire Lord's mind began to spin, his conscience screaming at him. He grunted, "Is Ayane really worth all this trouble? Why do you wish to give up yourself, especially a princesess nonetheless, for someone who isn't even royal? Who isn't famous? Is she really worth it?" He kept walking toward the doors.

Darmerius glared at the door and stopped in his steps. "A pretty little dragon princess under my control?" He sharply turned around, "And to think someone of an element of shadow could have good friends." In his hand is still had his scythe, but instead of attacking he snapped his fingers. A young maid dashed to his side, "Yes my lord?" "See to it that the princess is properly equipped and at home, she is mine now." The maid bowed and clappsed a thick collar around Blackfeather's neck. Then she began to scurry down another hall, beckoning the dragon to follow her.

Somehow she couldn't stop crying. What in the world was wrong with her? Blackfeather wasn't going to die, she knew that. But what was this horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach? Ayane held her father closer to her, "We're almost out," she whispered. Even though she knew her father was under a trance. In fact, nothing seemed to snap him out of it, not even weapons, spells, auras, cries for help, nothing worked.

Her nimble fingers carefully planted white roses and lavender around her house. Planting was the only thing that helped her to keep calm, and to forget about her father's situation. Ayane's eyes glittered with determination. "I'm going to save Blackfeather," she whispered to her flowers. She planned to train as hard as she can, starting in two days.