“…And then the big guy asks if my hair tastes like strawberries, so I take his spatula and throw it at his face!” The princess had been recounting experiences since the group had began travelling back from Gnash, the various members taking in her humorous tales and incidents.

“I hope he didn’t end up eating you like he did me.” The archer was a tad disappointed to see the princess ignore her, but she figured she was too fixated on returning home.

“Well there it is,” Eric pointed to the gate, “home at last. Maybe now we can get some peace around here.” The group entered the gate, but Matthew stayed behind when he felt a tug on his shirt.

“Matthew, could I talk with you?”

“What do you need, Elizabeth?” The knight was hoping whatever she had to tell him was short, but he knew it didn’t matter. They were home and nothing was going to stop him from taking a “staycation” as Brain called it.

“I just wanted to thank you again.”

“You’re welcome, but you don’t have to keep thanking us. Stopping and preventing this from happening is our job.”

“Well, still, I thank you for rescuing me, for keeping the peace,” the girl turned around, her back facing the knight. The princess began to laugh in a rather peculiar way, one that made the teen uncomfortable. “And, for being a massive sucker!”

The boy watched as the princess began changing shape, now appearing as his sister. “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” Turning back around to face Matthew, the smug grin on the girl’s face made him sick to his stomach.

“Lucy?! What did you do with the princess?”

“It’s Lu-“ The girl stopped herself, “Er, never mind. She’s fine; she’s still in the tower. Speaking of, I have a proposition for you, brother.”

“What could you possibly want?” The knight was quickly running out of patience, hardly able to bear this slap in the face, but he listened none-the-less.

“I’ll take you to the tower, no tricks, no surprises, and you can take your friends too! You just have to promise that you’ll fight me one-on-one.”

“What if I said no?” The knight could see his sister’s smug grin grow wider. “Then we’ll take her far, far away. Some place you’ll never find.”

Figuring he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, he humored her. “If I win, will you give us the princess?

“I’ll hand you her if you fight me. Win or lose. When we fight, we’ll finally see who’s better.”

“I don’t care! I just want to bring the princess back.” Matthew sighed, not in the mood for charades. “Fine, whatever, we’ll follow you. When and where are we meeting?”

The knight watched as his sister’s smug demeanor melted into a nervous laugh. “I didn’t think that far ahead actually. So, I’ll just stick with you.”

“I’m not letting you cause trouble.”

“I won’t, I promise. It’s not like my envy power is always on.”

“Okay fine. But if I win that battle, you have to promise to stop causing trouble, okay?”

“Hmph fine. Will you force me to live with father again?”

“No, like I’ve told you, I wouldn’t let father do anything more to you. If I win, you’ll live with aunt Shelly.”

“Oh great, so she can yell and be disappointed in me instead. Let’s just go.”

The two walked in town, Lucy transforming back into Elizabeth behind her brother’s back. As the pair met with the rest of the group, Matt’s grimace had killed the brief excitement on the other faces.

“What’s wrong Matt? We’re home, we got the princess, we won!”

“This isn’t the princess.” Before the dragoon or anyone else could question him, the girl transformed from a pink haired princess to a tall, lanky girl in a hoody.

“Surprise! It’s your girl, Lucy.”

“You. You! I’ll kill you!” In a blinding, homicidal rage, the mage rushed at the young girl, only to get slapped to the ground by her leader. “What the hell Matt?! She tricked us! I don’t care if she’s your sister, she deserves to get beaten.”

“I mean I don’t think she deserves death, but she should pay for her crimes somehow.”

Matt could see Eric’s statement was the consensus among the group, but the knight remained steadfast. “She’s told me she’d guide us to the tower. If we don’t follow her, the sins plan to take Elizabeth somewhere else.”

“And you believe her?! She’s clearly pulling the wool over your eyes again!”

“Jess, I can tell when someone’s lying.”

“Can you? I seriously doubt that if you believe her.”

The mage and knight stared at each other, each furious over their own belief and each other. From the side, the other four simply watched, unsure how to intervene and not wanting to be in their crossfire.

“You know, he’s right.” Lucy had gotten the two to brake the stare, everyone’s attention now on her. “If you don’t want to follow me, I’ll just leave. I’ll tell the sins and we’ll head off for who knows where.”

“Let’s get this straight: you want us to fight you guys, and if we win, we get the princess?”

“As long as you fight us, win or lose, you get the princess.”

“That sounds too easy. What’s the catch?”

“There is no catch. Truth be told, we don’t really know why the princess is with us or what we’re supposed to do with her.”

“Then why kidnap her?”

“Because Jade told me to. Jade is that shady guy I met. Recently he just disappeared on us, so I guess it doesn’t matter what we do now.”

“If all we have to do is fight, then fine, we’ll do it. Just tell us when.”

“No, you tell me when you’re ready. The sins want a fair rematch, we don’t want you guys being in bad shape. That’s one reason I’m still around. Don’t worry about the princess either, she really is being fed well and entertained daily.”

Leaving the girl to herself, the six huddled into a circle. “What do you think about tomorrow?” “Tomorrow?! Really Matt? Way too early man! Let’s make it the day after tomorrow.” “I agree with Brian.” “I agree with Eric.” “I think you’re an idiot for trusting her, but I guess I have no say in matter, so I agree with Adriana.”

Breaking the circle, the knight relayed the agreement, with the others parting ways.

“Who is she, and why is she following us home?” Lucy had pointed at the archer, who looked at the knight. The couple laughed at the question.

“That’s Sarah, she’s my girlfriend.” The archer waved, the sister simply tilted her head. “And here I thought you didn’t like women.”

“Well, don’t tell Jessica I said this, but, she’s kind of crazy. And Adriana has claimed Eric since before I knew either of them, but even then, I’m glad I met Sarah.”

“Wait, where are you going to go? Your father was really angry when he learned about what you did!”

Lucy waved off the archer’s concern, transforming into her tall devil form. Before her witnesses, she melted into the ground, becoming a shadow that snuck through the crease in the front door of the house. Matthew and Sarah simply looked at each other, both trying to collect themselves and act as if nothing happened.

“Dad, Mom, we’re home. I’ve got good news and bad news.” The knight was relieved to see a familiar scene, his father reading the paper, his mother making food in the kitchen. Unusual was his father putting the paper down, standing up, and walking over to the two.

“Do tell. I assume the bad news is that you were fooled, as I doubt any bad news would be worth mentioning otherwise. Still, tell me the bad news first, I would like to hear it in full.”

Matt was a little unsettled by how well his father could assess the situation on a hunch, yet he was also a tad envious. “Alright, you’re absolutely on the bad news. We didn’t get the princess, but what we did get is directions to the tower. We’ll head out in two days, directly for that tower. Even better, the sins agreed to hand over the princess as long as we fight them. If we win, I’ll get my sister to stop this nonsense once-and-for-all.”

The father reached his arms around his son, the latter embracing his father’s praise. “Son, if what you say is the truth, and I have no doubt that it is, you have done better than words can express. I had feared you were still woefully unprepared to face adversaries that had pushed your team back so easily, yet now you have them on the ropes, and everything seems to be going your way. You are no longer a prodigy, you are a hero. As for your brother Luke, I know your aunt can raise him well. I have one question for, however.”

“What is it?” Matthew tilted his head, genuinely unsure where the conversation could be heading.

“What do you plan on doing afterwards? Not just in the short-term, but in the long-term?” The man say down, the teens joining him.

“I was thinking of moving to Umbro, maybe.”

“But Umbro is worse for being a fighter, remember?”

Matt felt like an idiot when he remembered her words.

“Well, maybe I won’t be a warrior forever. I don’t know what I’ll do, but I do think all this fighting has burned me out. Sorry if that bothers you, dad.”

The man closed his eyes, but he smiled wide. “It is no trouble at all. It’s your life, you do with it what you will. Whether in Lumina, Umbro, Pyora, Kelluse, or some other continent and country, the world needs more and more metal crafters. What of you, Sarah?”

Sarah let out a tiny gasp, having lost herself in the conversation. “I’ve never thought about a life beyond fighting.”

“That’s fine, you’ve still got your whole life ahead of you. I’ve found that even later in life, there are still many different things I’d like to do.”

As plates filled the table, the conversation came to an end. Instead of shifting his gaze toward the archer eating everything on the plate, including the plate, his mind drifted to what his sister would be eating.

‘How has she survived out there? She mentioned food. Maybe one of them is a cook? Has to be the case. But where do they get the food?’

Putting away his plate, Matthew went to the hall, a feeling of intuition taking over. Checking the room on the right, there appeared to be nothing, but the teen proceeded inward, closing the door behind him.

“Phew, thanks Matt” Lucy rose from the floor, a half-eaten apple in her hand, “I thought it’d be suspicious if I closed the door. By the way, you did a fantastic job cleaning my room.”

“Where did you get that apple? Please don’t tell me you stole it.” One look at the girl’s face told the truth. “Lucy…”

“What? Do you know how much food gets throw away? It was gonna go to waste anyways, so why not?”

The knight sighed, “Look, never mind that, just stay out of sight.”

Matt watched as the girl sank back into the ground, the door opening behind him not a second later. “Matt, what’s going on?”

“Lucy was just here. Don’t be surprised if she suddenly pops up again.”

“I mean if she startles me, I don’t think I can help being surprised. Please tell me she’s not sleeping in my room.”

“Well technically it was her room, so…”

Matt regretted many things about himself. Tonight, it was his honesty, as it earned him a spot on the floor while his girlfriend slept snug in his bed.