Around a circle of Beheaders, Tomoe sat there, hands supporting her head. It hasn’t been more than fifteen minutes since they heard Alexander calling for Lady Aquamarine, the loud explosion, and after that, seen Lady Aquamarine and Daisy following Alexander right through the gatehouse, crossing the wall.

Tomoe found herself in a really similar situation like the one she was in that many years ago, in front of the hydra, or at least that is what she felt like, with the anxiety running through her muscles and dulling them each second it passed. The rain, falling with all of its might on top of her, robbing her of her awareness and strength.

In the circle, there were Bran, Lorelei, Amelia, and herself, for those who she personally knew. Just after they saw Lady Aquamarine go through the gatehouse, everyone sprung back and started to lay out a plan in order to take action.

A problem arose though. And with each second it passes, Tomoe’s mind started to drift away, her mind started to muffle the sounds around her. She started to move her body in a hyperactive fashion, with legs and arms constantly moving.

Gotta pay attention! What are you doing?

But to no avail, the control she is trying to reclaim is being lost to her, the rain dampened her clothes with sweat.

Her mother was still ok, that she was sure off. Yet, nothing assured her if she might be in the close future. Her own mother, the only one she knew since she was really little. One of the few that, Tomoe felt, she could still find peace with, and certainly the only one she could embrace and be embraced by, soothing her anxiety.

That person that since she was little has been a large part of her world, she willingly appeared in front of the enemy leader and now she is going with him.

Can’t have that… she will surely be killed…

What could she do? What could she do? And Tomoe continued to go on back and forth.

She knew what she needed to do, yet… it was really hard. As if her breath was being taken away, unable to breath, or like a large, bitter pill that she needed to swallow, and was failing, choking instead with it.

Suddenly, she feels a the palm of a hand against her back. Snapping out of the daze, she turns to her right, seeing Amelia right next to her.

“Lia… Thank you.”

Amelia nodded and smiled, saying “You’re not alone.”

Tomoe nodded back. She then noticed that the sounds started to get back to her.

Hearing the movement of a heavy object to the side, from the glowing wall, a piece of it moved like a door, only to reveal William coming out of it, from the room next to them.

“It is impressive that the Grand Castle has these hidden rooms, specially when they are really large.” Tomoe remarks.

Lorelei stands up, and turns to William “How is everybody?”

“We have a large number of civilians and Beheaders injured. Thirty-three deaths just right now.”

“We don’t have that many people available eh? At least we can plan with this in mind now.” Bran says.

“Strike teams? Just like before we entered the citadel.” Lorelei suggests.

“How many teams we can make?” Tomoe asks.

“I would advise against that.” William interjects.

Tomoe stands up, almost without thinking, but a gesture she has seen many times stops her from talking, the fast severe open palm gesture from William, indicating that she should stop her unreasonable behavior.

“We need to think of the civilians” William continues “We can’t go and leave them behind without protection.”

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“That much is a given.” Amelia says.

“Any plan do you have in mind then?” Lorelei asks.

“Well… I do.” Williams answers, walking towards Tomoe and giving her a small pill, a sphere in half, what William had left of the Burst he has in his hand that Daisy gave him “We can’t have people that are going to be a burden on the plan. Eat this, it is the only left I have.”

Tomoe takes it and eats it. Within moments, her Aura starts to pour out of her again, as a gentle river flowing.

“Don’t you have more?” Tomoe asks.

“Was the last one. Didn’t managed to get much from Daisy before splitting.”

“It doesn’t matter. Look at you Cotton, being like this would usually take you half a day in recovery.”

Playing with her Aura between her hands, Tomoe nods. Then, turning to William, she says “Thank you, William. I’ll use it well.” From the usual amount of Aura she has, she recovered a lot, but still, she has less of the half of the total Aura she has in total, fully recovered.

William just nodded.

“So, what is the plan you have in mind?” Bran says, having stood up too.

Sitting alongside the circle, William starts “Since a long time ago, I have been inspecting various… things, that surround the Aquamarine Port City. I did this on my own accord, while Lady Aquamarine… recovered, in order to be in shape again to guide the Aquamarine State. One of the things I inspected many times is precisely the Grand Castle.”

“Wait” Bran says, interrupting William, and then asks “How did you manage to enter the Grand Castle without anyone noticing?”

A slight smug appears on William’s face “It was in the middle of the night, and many did notice the Grand Castle glowing at those times. Don’t worry, we handled with them cleanly, and back then Lady Aquamarine didn’t ask any questions, at all, she… just gave me the permission. So, coming back to the plan,” William continues “in one of my many visits to the Grand Castle, I found about a method of transportation that allows covering great distances within the Grand Castle, and in other of my visits… that the Grand Castle can protect itself.”

“Defend itself?” Tomoe asks.

“Yes. So, the plan is as follows: We take a small strike team, go to these pathways, move towards the room that controls the defenses in the Grand Castle, and use the self-defense system to our favor to rescue Lady Aquamarine and Daisy.”

“That… sounds actually good.” Bran says.

“It has its risks.” William says “the Grand Castle will not distinguish us from Alexander’s troops. In the past we already have had loses thanks to this.”

“What about the civilians and… everyone that are here?” Lorelei asks.

“They will be fine as long as they don’t leave these secret rooms. For an unknown reason, the self-defense system never notices these secret rooms.” William says.

“So,” Amelia starts “Small team, reach the room that moves into action this self-defense system, wakes up the Grand Castle, reach Alexander while fighting the Grand Castle itself, rescue Lady Aquamarine and Daisy, and then turn back.” Scratching her chin, she adds “Sounds easy enough.”

Tomoe and Bran snorts. Lorelei chuckles.

“For you? Maybe.” Lorelei adds.

“We agree then to carry William’s plan?” Tomoe asks.

“Yes.” She heard from everyone.

“Perfect. Go and prepare, I’ll take care of organizing the Beheaders here. We leave in ten minutes.” William orders.