Once deep into the woods covered by the night, Xander feels it safe to discuss what happened to him, “I need to tell you guys all I have learned. The current king, he is the one responsible for the massacre of my village, including my parents. What makes it worse is that he is also my grandfather”.

“Hold on, are you saying you’re royalty?” Kali asks, that being the main part of what she took away from what he said.

“I guess, yeah, but that doesn’t matter,” Xander tries to get back on track.

“Sure it does, that means Xander can just become king and we don’t have to deal with that other guy,” Kali disagrees, trying to cut Oswald and Alwin out of the equation.

“Nope, Xander can’t be king, we’ve got too many things to do,” Kayde dismisses Kali’s notions.

“Anyway, I met that guy too, he’s a scary one, he has a bunch of technology from my master, he can even see me while I’m invisible,” Kayde shudders, disgusted that anyone could see him while he is like that.

“More importantly, we have some new friends to introduce you to, well before that there is something more important,” Kayde raises his wrist showing Xander his new bracelet.

“Okay…” Xander looks at it not sure what’s so important about a bracelet.

“With this, I can talk to animals, so Fore and I have been talking to each other, it’s been really cool. The person who made it is called Lunette, we are headed to her lab right now,” Kayde adds.

“You mean your girlfriend?” Kali jokes.

Kayde ignores Kali completely unfazed by the jape; “She’s been making all these useful inventions for us like the rings we all use to change our appearance”.

“Oh,” Kayde realizes something.

He leans in close to Xander to warn him, “Hey, Lunette made a ring for someone that makes him look like Gwendolyn. Make sure it’s actually her before you… you know”.

“Yeah… I’ll be careful,” Xander thanks him uncomfortably, not sure why that is something of immediate importance.

“The other two new friends we made are priests. Not bad priests though, one of them is Alwin. He’s kind of lazy, but overall he’s a good person, and then there is Oswald, who I’m trying to get to be the next king,” Kayde tells Xander about the other two they have been working with.

“What makes you sure you can trust them? They didn’t stand out too much, but I remember them among the people who were implanted with the Scientist’s technology,” Xander is hesitant to trust, understandably, after all he’s been through.

“We’ve been through some stuff together, I trust them,” Kayde assures him.

“I’ll have to see for myself,” Xander notes, not willing to fully trust a former priest anymore, after the Juliana incident.

They arrive back at the mossy hovel of a laboratory.

They knock on the door before entering; “We’re back,” Kayde announces them as they step inside. Lunette jumps up from a chair, while Oswald and Alwin remain on the couch.

“Hi, you must be Xander, I’m Lunette! Everyone here has told me a lot about you,” Lunette takes a moment to introduce herself.

“Yes, it is nice to meet you as well, the others told me about you on our journey back here. Thank you for all the help you have given us,” Xander thanks her.

“Oh come on, it was nothing,” Lunette pretends she doesn’t enjoy the accolades.

“Actually, I should be thanking all of them for being my test subjects,” she adds, oddly cheerful.

“Okay…” Xander responds, finding that more than a little weird.

“Xander, it’s been a while,” Oswald interrupts them, trying to sound more serious than before due to his new responsibilities. Xander stares back at him, making a face Oswald finds very disconcerting.

Xander continues to look him up and down, studying his looks and finding them unnerving.

“It’s creepy right, he looks just like you do, well like you did. You put on some muscle since then,” Kayde comments, knowing exactly what Xander is thinking.

“I know… are we sure they didn’t clone me or something while I was in there, he looks just like me,” Xander agrees, continuing to inspect Oswald.

“It doesn’t stop at his looks, he acts how you used to as well,” Drakthar piles on, furthering the joke that is making Oswald feel uncomfortable.

“Maybe he’s trying to imitate you?” Alwin can’t resist adding to the words at his friend’s expense.

“Okay, can we stop? I’m my own person,” Oswald has finally had enough.

Gwendolyn who had been silent up until now notes, “You know what, he is a lot like Xander when I first met him”.

Lunette, not having the social grace of knowing when not to push a joke too far, interjects, suggesting, “Hey Gwendolyn, this seems like a good opportunity for you. Have you ever thought about a threesome?”

Xander and Oswald both cut Lunette off saying, “alright that’s enough,” at the exact same time. The room bursts out into laughter, no one able to resist the coincidence of the both of them responding in the same way at the same time, except Drakthar - he’s above that shit. Xander, not liking the direction this conversation took, grabs Gwendolyn and leads her outside.

While the others continue to chuckle, Kayde tells Lunette, “Maybe that threesome comment was a little too much for a joke”.

Lunette looks back over at him confused, “What? It wasn’t a joke, I was serious”.

Outside Gwendolyn finds her tent within her bag of holding and throws it at Xander. He catches it easily despite not expecting it to come flying towards him.

“Why do I have to set this up? Aren’t there rooms inside?” He questions, not seeing why he has to go to all this trouble.

Gwendolyn sighs, thinking they were past the stage where he’s completely oblivious, “There are only two rooms inside, Lunettes and the main one. Are you telling me you’d rather us sleep in the main one along with everyone else?”

“Okay, I get it. I’ll get right to it,” Xander understands immediately and begins to dutifully pitch the tent.

From inside Oswald glances out the window and notices a sight he finds odd, Xander setting up a tent. He turns to Alwin to ask, “Why are they sleeping out there, won’t it get cold?”

“Dude, you really are naïve. Think about it, they haven’t seen each other in nearly half a year,” Alwin tries to enlighten him.

“I don’t see what that has to do with the weather,” Oswald notes, still not getting it.

Alwin rolls his eyes, “No, you idiot”. He leans in and whispers something extremely dirty into Oswald’s ear, making sure to make it more over the top than it had to be.

“Okay…” Oswald turns around walking away from the window to go about his night.

The next morning the rustling beside Xander wakes him up. He opens his eyes to see Gwendolyn getting out of bed.

“Oh, hey sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” Gwendolyn apologizes noticing him open his eyes.

“Where are you going?” Xander asks as he watches her squeeze back into her pants.

“Kali and I usually do some hunting in the mornings,” Gwendolyn explains, throwing her hair back over her shoulders and start tying it up into a tight bun.

Xander starts to get up from underneath the blanket, “Hold on, I can come, too”.

“Nope, girls only, you get some more sleep, you deserve it,” she pushes him back down, delivering a kiss while doing so.

“Alright if that’s what you want,” Xander lies back down enjoying the view above him.

“It is, thanks Xander… it’s good to have you back,” Gwendolyn smiles at him while snagging her shirt that was hiding near the edge of the tent. She slips it on and heads outside to join Kali.

“Oh hey, there you are,” Kali comments as she sees a grinning Gwendolyn exit her tent.

“We ready?” Gwendolyn asks.

“I have been waiting here,” Kali notes, having been there for a good five minutes already.

“It’s really good to see you so happy again, I thought you might have become incapable of smiling,” Kali comments as the two of them begin to walk deeper into the woods.

“No, that’s not true… but thanks, obviously I’m much better now than I was,” Gwendolyn admits.

“So… how was it?” Kali gets down to business.

“Is there any sex better than I haven’t seen you in half a year sex?” Gwendolyn responds with a chuckle.

“Oh come on, don’t hold it over me, all I ever get is post-training, emotionally detached, he doesn’t really care about you sex,” Kali’s tone shifts.

“Not that it’s bad or anything, it’s just all I get,” she quickly adds after Gwendolyn gives her a look.

They turn when they hear a gunshot, watching as a bullet travels through a nearby squirrel’s head. They follow the path of the shot back to Lunette holding her rifle.

“Sorry about that, I couldn’t help but overhear your earlier conversation,” she comments stowing her weapon and gathering the squirrel.

“The best kind of sex…” Lunette starts to think about it.

“I wouldn’t know yet, but I’ll probably find out fairly soon,” she comes to the conclusion after thinking about it for a few seconds.

“Oh, I’m sorry, have you never…”

“No, I’ve done it hund… a lot of times,” Lunette interrupts, answering Kali’s question.

“I don’t get it, what are you going to find out soon?” Kali asks confused by what she meant earlier.

Lunette stands next to Kali and wraps an arm around her, “I got a glimpse of something truly extraordinary”. Not explaining what that sight was.

“What? You can’t just not explain now,” Kali tries to get it out of her.

“Nope, I don’t,” Lunette disagrees before walking off into the woods.

The three of them eventually make it back to the hovel covered in moss, seeing all the others awake and discussing their next move.

“Now that we have Xander back we need to start thinking about the endgame,” Kayde begins.

“I have an idea, but it’s risky. Very risky, there is someone I can talk to within the military, but I don’t know how sympathetic they will be to our cause,” Xander tells the others.

“Who exactly is this person? And how would they help us?” Kayde wants further details.

“Well I’d try to get them to support Oswald as the next king, you know after we off the current one. As for who they are, that would be the head of the entire military. He is old buddies with the man who took me in when I was a baby,” Xander explains his relationship to the current leader of the military, commander Volkov.

“Yup, do that. Great plan, should have told us sooner,” Kayde agrees instantly, wishing he knew about this guy earlier.

“To be fair, it was always part of my plan, but you know things happened,” Xander points out, he was captured before he could do anything.

“Anyway, I’ll take Gwendolyn and the two priests with me to meet with him. I might as well introduce him to the one he is going to be backing. The rest of you should start scouting around noting the patrol patterns of the royal guard, they are the ones in the over the top white armor. If the plan works and the military supports us, we will only have to fight against them and whatever’s left of the Purity,” Xander starts to layout the plan.

“Sounds good to me, let’s all get ready to head out,” Kayde agrees instantly, glad Xander is back to help him with the plans.

“Hold on just a second you guys, before anyone goes anywhere, I need to create disguises for Xander, Oswald, and Alwin,” Lunette slows them down.

“What do you mean I already have one,” Alwin points out, slipping on the ring that makes him look like Gwendolyn.

“Yeah they are looking for her too, genius, that isn’t going to work,” Oswald reminds him. Alwin, never one to let an opportunity to embarrass Oswald pass, leans towards his friend and in as sultry a tone as he can muster, whispers directly into his ear, “What’s wrong? Don’t you think I look pretty?”

Oswald pushes him away, telling him, “Come on man”.

Lunette begins to get to work after the others bring her back people around the same height as Xander, Oswald, and Alwin. Oswald wakes up one morning seeing that only Kayde, who is at the table cleaning one of his rifles, and Alwin, who is still asleep on the couch, are in the room with him.

“Where is everyone?” Oswald asks rubbing his eyes.

“Training I think, it’s something they do a lot. And by a lot, I mean way too much,” Kayde informs him, finding his own friends’ drive unnerving at times.

“They are incredible people, aren’t they?” Oswald notes, knowing he could never be like that.

“Nope, just idiots who don’t have anything better to do, anyway, don’t worry about it soon you’ll be the one everyone is calling incredible,” Kayde dismisses Oswald’s compliments towards the others.

Oswald doesn’t take what Kayde said seriously. He goes over to Alwin and smacks him awake.

“What the hell man?” Alwin tries to get him to stop.

“Come on, we are going to go train,” Oswald demands, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

“What? Train what?” Alwin asks as the two of them get out the front door.

Kayde sighs after the two of them have left. He opens up the front door and looks outside to see the two of them disappear past the tree line. He looks to the side to see if Fore is with the other wolves, but he is not.

“He must be training in his own way, as well,” Kayde sighs before heading back inside.

“Hey, where is everyone?” Lunette asks, having made her way out from the back room.

“Out… You done?” Kayde asks, surprised that she left her room.

“I’m close, I just needed a break,” Lunette explains, taking a seat on the couch.

“You know, I don’t thank you enough for how much you help us out,” Kayde takes a seat next to her.

This causes Lunette to perk up, “You know there is a way you could thank me for helping”.

“I know you want to study me again, don’t you?” Kayde rolls his eyes assuming that is what she wants.

“I still want that, but for now, I’ll settle for this,” Lunette leans in kissing him right on his metal cheek.

“You know I can’t feel it if you kiss there, you’ve got to do it here, if you want me to enjoy it,” Kayde explains, before pressing his lips against Lunettes.

“Yes… I should have thought of that,” Lunette notes, straightening her already perfectly straight glasses.

“Anyway, I should get back to work… maybe after all of this, you’ll finally let me study you,” Lunette gets up and goes into the backroom, accidentally slamming the door behind her.

Meanwhile, in the woods, Kali approaches Drakthar after wrapping up hunting with Gwendolyn for the morning.

“You know I was thinking… since Xander’s back, you don’t need to be so depressed all the time, so… can I spar against you like how we used to, instead of just cutting up trees today?”

Drakthar looks down at her hesitant face, he can tell she will be gloomy if he refuses and he’s subconsciously been tired of seeing her in such a despondent state all the time.

“Alright,” he agrees, causing a smile to erupt onto her face.

They head towards a clearing Drakthar created himself after chopping down numerous trees in the time they’ve spent here waiting. Once they reach it, they see Xander on the other side of it, cutting into a tree himself with his sword.

“Oh, hey guys, is this where you guys usually train?” Xander stops after noticing them.

“Yes,” Drakthar responds bluntly while nodding.

“Well… I’ll get out of your way then, it’s not like these are the only trees in the forest to practice on,” Xander sheaths his sword and starts to walk away.

“There is no need to get out of our way,” Drakthar tells him, blind to why Xander would want to give the two of them some space.

“I know, I just prefer to be alone when training,” Xander lies, just trying to get away at this point.

“Fine,” Drakthar grunts, confused by why Xander made such a fuss.

“Should we get to it?” Kali asks, pulling her sword from her holster. Drakthar nods, detaching his axe from his back and holding it towards her.

Their training goes on for hours, exchanging blows at a pace far more rapid than half a year ago.

“You’ve gotten better,” Drakthar observes after they decide to wrap up training due to the sun going down.

“Thanks, you too,” Kali half-heartedly replies, thinking to herself how much stronger they would be if they had been training together the entire time.

“It was fun… training together again,” Kali comments on their walk back to the lab.

“It was, I’m sorry that it didn’t happen sooner,” Drakthar shocks Kali by apologizing.

“It’s okay, I understand you were down about losing Xander, Gwendolyn was the same way, not to say I wasn’t, but not to the same degree. Anyway... I’m just glad everyone is back to how they usually are, you know?” Kali starts to ramble.

“Me too,” Drakthar agrees bluntly, the typical Drakthar-like response brings a slight smile to Kali’s face.

The next morning they split up into groups before heading into the city. All disguised with Lunette’s technology, except Lunette herself, they walk through the front gate.

The others split off as Xander, Gwendolyn, Oswald, and Alwin head towards the military offices within the city.

Before they get close, Xander stops them, “When we get there, let me do the talking”.

They walk through the front doors and are immediately questioned by a soldier, “State your business here”. Xander looks back at the young man’s fresh face and figures he probably just got this post recently. He smiles on the inside, thinking this will be easier than he thought it would be.

“Yes, we have come here to see commander Volkov, tell him his friend’s stray dog has come to him in search of shelter,” Xander tells the soldier.

The man looks back at him confused, “The commander doesn’t have a dog”.

“No, it’s his friend’s dog… look, just tell him what I told you okay, he’ll understand,” Xander gets slightly impatient with this kid’s obliviousness.

“Okay fine, but stay here, don’t go snooping around or anything,” the soldier tells them before walking away.

“I feel like I’m now inclined to start snooping around,” Alwin comments, feeling a compulsion to never do what he is told.

“Don’t,” Xander tells him, not wanting this to go south this early.

They wait, looking at the pictures of old guys on the walls while doing so. They see the same fresh-faced soldier return with a surprised look on his face.

“Well I talked to the commander, the four of you can follow me,” he waves his arm, signaling them to follow.

“He’s waiting for you in there,” he opens the door, letting them inside. The four of them walk in to see a regal-looking man with greyish white hair with a similarly colored beard staring back at them. Standing at the edge of his desk is a young woman with ashy brown hair and a stern face. She looks annoyed, possibly because an important conversation she was having with the commander was interrupted.

“You’re not who I thought I was meeting,” the commander comments, seeing the four somewhat nondescript individuals enter his office. Xander pulls off the ring revealing himself to those present.

“Well, you’re still full of tricks, aren’t you lad?” The commander starts to laugh. The others follow suit, removing their rings as well. The commander takes a closer look at them, only recognizing Gwendolyn out of the three.

“Ah, and you’ve got the woman everyone is after with you. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he nods at her.

“So what have you come here to discuss with me?” The commander gets down to business.

“I’ll be more than glad to tell you once she has left the room,” Xander looks towards the woman at the corner of the desk, not trusting her with any of this information.

“That isn’t going to happen. You see today is my last day as the commander. I’m retiring. Avesa here is taking over tomorrow, so whatever you need to say to me you can say to her as well,” commander Volkov explains.

“Then I guess she is the one I need to talk to,” Xander notes as he turns his attention towards Avesa.

“I am Xander, I…”

“I know who you are, a traitor to this empire and I am disgusted commander Volkov has even allowed you an audience with him,” Avesa shuts him down, not wanting to even hear an explanation from someone she has already judged as an enemy.

For a moment Xander had given up, pondering if he should take this chance to flee in order to formulate a different plan at the failure of this one, but before he can do such a thing commander Volkov speaks up, “Calm down Avesa, let this man speak, he is not what you claim him to be”.

“Well go on, say what you came to say,” commander Volkov urges Xander on.

“Yes, of course. I came to introduce you to him,” he gestures back towards Oswald, who takes a step forward.

“This is Oswald and I would like him to be the next king of this empire,” Xander gets to the gist of it.

Avesa’s harsh expression changes as she begins to laugh, “You want him to be king? I’ve never seen a king that frail before”.

Xander doesn’t let her laughter deter him, continuing with what he came here to do, “Commander, we both know this nation is being manipulated by those in power. We have sat by and watched, as families have been torn apart, soldiers died and citizens being persecuted for far too long now. All I am asking you is to help your people, help us break this cycle”.

The room falls silent, Avesa’s laughter no longer filling it. No one dares to speak up until they look to commander Volkov and a single tear starts to come from his left eye. They all look at him, confused as to why he has become so emotional.

“You are exactly like him… you might not have been blood, but you are Waltz’s son. It almost feels like he is standing here before me begging me to do something like he did many times. I let my friend die before he could fix the nation he loved, I ignored him at every turn... but now I can no longer sit by and let things take their course. At least, that is what I would say if I was still the commander, but life is full of regrets and you have just stormed in here and reminded me of my biggest right as I will no longer be able to do anything about it”.

“I am sorry,” Xander feels compelled to apologize for pushing Volkov into this state.

“No! Do not apologize to me; I am the one who will apologize to you. I am sorry, but there is no longer anything I can do to help you,” Volkov tells him, angered by Xander’s apology when he is the one who has done the other wrong.

Volkov turns his head to look at Avesa, his words clearly meant to sway her into helping the man before them. Everyone else in the room follows suit and every eye is now trained upon Avesa waiting for her response.

She clears her throat before speaking up, “I am moved by both your and the commander’s words… I cannot pledge my men towards your cause… but I will not stand in your way either. If your side comes out victorious, I will help this man anyway I can to build an Empire my predecessor and your mentor would be proud of”.

Xander cannot believe what he is hearing; this is better than he could have imagined, “Thank you, he will need all the support he can get”. Avesa turns to look at Oswald and he smiles back at her nervously.

“Yes, it seems he will,” she agrees upon a second glance.

“Thank you for your time, I’m sure we will speak again after Alexandros is dead and this is all over,” Xander tells them before preparing to leave. As they slip their rings back on and head towards the door they notice Alwin asleep in the corner of the office.

Oswald frantically goes to his side and tries to shake him awake, thinking maybe Avesa will pull her support after seeing something so disrespectful.

Alwin groggily awakens, “Oh hey… how are you? Wait… where are we again?”

“How do you not remember?” Oswald asks, shocked his friend could forget such a thing.

Before Alwin can respond, Avesa spots what is going on and comments, “What a lazy man. Who are you in relation to him?” She asks as she points at Oswald.

Alwin looks up at her and then back over at Oswald, “I’m his friend… and his chief advisor of shut-eye”.

Avesa’s face starts to turn red with anger, “This is serious business we are discussing here, how could you be so disrespectful as to sleep at a moment like this?”

Alwin smirks back up at the furious woman before him, “I was tired and hey, I didn’t want to come here, they just dragged me along”.

Oswald has had enough of Alwin angering Avesa; he decides to put his hand over Alwin’s mouth and begins to guide him out of the room.

“Thank you for your time,” he tells Avesa and Volkov as he walks through the door.