Willow was the first person to wake up. Besides her lay Luminita, and on the opposite end of her massive bed was Javier. She was in what was technically Luminita's room, but it still felt like Marcel's. For starters, his stuff was in there. She and Luminita discussed moving it, but Luminita wanted to keep some stuff for his memories sake. What exactly was yet to be decided.

She got out of bed and put some clean clothes on in the bathroom. At the risk of sounding insensitive to recent events, she looked like death. Strained eye bags, dry hair, the works. Her mother would probably have a lot of words if she could witness her, but luckily they wouldn't meet for another while.

Before she left, she looked at Javier. For someone who used to be such a crybaby when they play fought as kids, he was doing pretty well. No signs of crying in his sleep either. She knew what he was thinking. 'If I cry, Luminita cries too, and nobody wants that' She didn't envy his position in the slightest. If she could say anything, it was that the spear being broken and the guy inside it just walking around somewhere else meant her family was safe for the time being.

She stepped out and descended the grand stairway to the kitchen.

"Morning, Willow." The chef asked from inside the kitchen. "Any idea what you want?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll just grab some cereal."

Willow waltzed into the kitchen, poured a bowl of chocolate cereal, and looked out the window at the walls. Couple patrolling guards, each trying to look busy as they walked. Seemed to be less than the last few days, which was good. Everything around here seemed to be getting back to some sense of normalcy.

Until the screaming started.

The guards started yelling and some grunts were heard. A moment later, the door swung open and a young man was heard yelling something. He locked eyes with Willow as she took a final bite of breakfast.

"What's his deal?" She asked through squinted eyes.

"He broke into the castle walls. We don't know what for. We're detaining him for questioning."

"Leave him in the living room, I'll deal with him."

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"Yeah." Willow nodded. "I could take him. Besides, I'm the only queen awake right now, so I get final say."

"You're a princess of a different nation."

"And I got approval, trust me. Dump him in the living room."

The man was sat in a leather armchair across from Willow's in the empty room. He kept glancing at the TV to their left, and Willow shook her head. Nothing was breaking the silence, especially not the trash that was on during a Sangaria morning. The man didn't exactly look capable of any real damage. Scrawny and short, with slicked back blonde hair. The type that screamed 'guy who'll go on to sell medicinal scams to random old people in twenty years.' Made sense considering he was wearing the same blue suit of the Zeus cultists.

"I'm gonna need a name from you." Willow asked as she grabbed a notebook and pen.

"Uhh, Sebastian Ardelean?" He said quickly.

"Got it." She nodded, jotting that down. Could be a fake name, but she had reason to believe he was telling the truth.

"So, what compelled you to try and break in?"

"Well, uh…it's…Miss Luminita. Surely even a woman like yourself can see her beauty. Her royal demeanour, her elegant style. It's surely not a crime to see a woman in that regard."

"Breaking in to admire it is, actually." Willow replied, jotting down 'creep and weirdo' into the notebook. "That is, if that's the actual reason you came in."

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"It was to see Luminita as she awoke!"

"Yeah, I don't think she wakes up for another hour. Hour and a half, maybe."

"That seems late for a queen."

"She was a med student before that, so I guess she's catching up." She shrugged. "But anyway, I have just a small hunch that you're not as into her as you're making out to be."

"Why, that's…preposterous!" Sebastian yelled. "She's the most beautiful person I've ever laid my eyes upon! From the moment I saw her coronation on TV I knew I had to have have her!"

"Okay." Willow said after a long sigh. "First off, the beauty sleep upstairs isn't finished yet, so pipe down. Second off, I find it awfully convenient that a man with the Zeus cult falls in love hard enough to breach the castle walls the day after I tell them to leave us alone. And for you to do it in full uniform at the crack of dawn, no less? I mean, who wears a suit at this hour? Surely your boys aren't that strict."

"Look, it was the only clean clothing I had-"

"Here's what I think's going on." Willow interrupted. "You show up here with the intent of getting arrested, so that tall doofus can collect you, offer his formal apologies, and then have another crack at talking us into doing whatever he wants."

She walked across the room, leaning forward in front of him with arms crossed and a smug expression on her face.

"Am I correct here?"

Sebastian's mouth started moving as he tried to figure out some kind of excuse. Willow got up and grabbed him by the shoulders, slowly guiding him to an old bathroom. No windows, no air vents to escape from. She shoved him in and locked the door with a key a guard fished out. After an hour both Luminita and Javier were both awake and filled in on the situation.

"So, what do we do now?" Luminita asked.

"Your ship." Willow shrugged. "I'll let you figure it out."

"Well…it's not a good idea to put him in prison." She mumbled. "It's what the Zeus guys want. But we also can't just let him get away with this."

"Also, I can't imagine a trial would be a good use of resources." Javier added.

"And it's not like we can just call another Zeus guy in to collect him. Bastards are counting on that." Willow said with a sigh and a throw of her head to the ceiling.

"Okay, what if we check the phone books? Maybe he's a recent convert doing this as some kind of initiation, and we can get a relative to pick him up."

One flick through a phone book and some records later and his family tree was firmly rooted in the Zeus cult territory. So that was a bust.

"Okay." Luminita sighed, wiping some morning gunk from her eyes. "How about we split the difference? We call the Zeus guys, let them know what happened, and then they collect him outside the castle walls. Then we go back in before they try anything and we'll work out where to go from there. Sound good?"

"Sounds alright to me." Javier nodded.

"I think it's a great idea." Willow replied with a thumbs up.

So the plan was made. The Zeus guy sounded extremely surprised when he got the news. He was a good actor if nothing else. And within a few minutes, him and two shorter assistants were in front of the walls. Willow was behind Sabastian and Javier was in front, in case he tried anything.

"And I'm once again so sorry for what my underling had done. It's just…he had a difficult life. His parents left him on our doorstep when he was born, and he'd since had a tough time adjusting to social norms. And sometimes he…lashes out in ways like this. So I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive him."

Javier listened to that. Sebastian had to be in contact with his parents. Unless the cult had some weird separation ritual, he was one hundred percent lying.

"Well, it's not like he did any real damage." Luminita said reluctantly.

"Now, while I have your attention, would we be allowed to discuss-"

"Fuck off." Willow sighed.

"Understood." He nodded slowly as Sebastian returned to him. As he turned around, Willow noticed him turn his head into his coat, whispering something into it. She turned around, and a flash of light was seen out of the corners of her eyes for a brief second. When she turned around, a figure was seen on the wall surrounding the castle for a brief second, before they casually dropped down.

Willow quickly grabbed the collar of the leader and slammed him to the ground while his two cronies ran. She put his hands behind his back and walked him back into the building. Luminita was about to run back inside, but Javier quickly took hold of her shoulder to stop anything stupid happening while Willow led the march to the building.

"Okay, mister cultist." She whispered, trying her best not to let the rage and saliva building up in her mouth release. "You are going to explain just what's going on."

"Why, I was approached after your rejection and offered a collaboration. Create a distraction, and he'll have the means to take over the country, with the church as the ruling power."

"Who was he?" Willow asked, tightening the grip. "What's his name?"

"He didn't say. He was a blonde man, said he wanted to catch up with you."

Willow flicked through her memories of what blonde person would want something to do with her. Her or any of the other two. Well, there was the obvious one, but that one was stupid. It wasn't a possibility at all. He had to be the type of delusional lunatic Sebastian was making himself out to be.

They continued through the outside of the castle, trying not to trip over the dead guards. Luminita was hyperventilating while Javier was trying his best to stop a full blown panic attack, but he was sweating, trying himself not to break down.

The door opened, the footsteps echoed through Willow's head as she made her way to the throne room. She opened the door again, and there lay a man casually sitting. He was blonde, looking at the four of them with his chin resting on his hand. The dagger of Roperia was embedded into the side of the throne.

"Well guys, looks like it's been a while." The man announced as he rose from his chair. "But I'm guessing you guys remember me?"