Matthew and Elizabeth made their way out of the tower, turning side to side to see the sins sitting around the entrance. It didn’t take long for the others to pounce the knight.

“Yo Matt, you look like a winner. Was it easy, hard, medium?”

“Brian, I need you guys to take the princess back to the kingdom.”

“You sure that’s the princess and not just Lucy in disguise again?”

“Unless she can duplicate herself, this is the real Elizabeth.” The girl waved, walking over to the dragoon. “It’s me alright. Both me and Matthew saw Luke run off crying.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just go.”

The dragoon wanted to argue, but the rogue pulled him away. Signaling the princess forward, the knight watched the group ascend the hill with the help of the winged sins. As they disappeared from view, Matthew shifted his attention to the other sins. “I hate to ask this of you, but I need your help.”

“What do you want, Baronia?” The large man approached him, his expression stoic.

“I need to find Lucy.”

“Hmph, and beat her up even more? As if!”

“She’s my sister, and I want to help her. I’m going to take her back to our aunt, someone who can raise her.”

The knight felt the anxiety return as he watched the sins gather together, discussing quietly. Gluing his eyes to his watch, he felt every second as if it were a minute, every minute an hour. In reality, they had only talked for two minutes, the haughty Hayley approaching him.

“Fine, I’ll look for her.” Transforming back into the seer, the girl closed her eyes, a fifth eye opening in the middle of her forehead. “Looks like she’s on top of the tower, alone.”

The knight sighed, thanking the girl before entering the tower and walking back up the many flights of stairs. On one of the bleachers, his sister sat, her legs crossed and head in her lap.

“Lucy, it’s time to go. C’mon, aunt Shelly is gonna take care of you.”

“I can take care of myself!” she shouted through a breathy voice. Bringing her head up, the knight could see her tears. “It’s going to be the same anyways, she’s going to yell at me and beat me.”

“Aunt Shelly won’t yell at you and she won’t hurt you. She’s the nicest woman ever, you’ll see.” The girl did not budge.

“I’m not leaving until you come with me.” Still, the girl remained obstinate. “You know, your friend helped me find you. They saw you crying. If you don’t come with me, I’ll make sure they all know about it.”

Drying her face, the sister picked herself up and shambled over to her brother, following him out of the tower. Once they reached the entrance, Lucy ran toward the sins, the other two having returned from helping Matt’s friends.

The knight sigh, kicking the dirt as he waited yet again for the sins to talk amongst one another, only capturing useless snippets of information. ‘Is this what people see when we talk?’ he pondered briefly, Lucy walking back to him with a more straight-laced expression.

“Do you need help getting back up dearie?”

Matt nodded at the succubus, “We’re taking the long way.”

Grabbing his sister’s hand, the two headed off into the forest, the brother looking behind him to see Lucy waving her friends goodbye. As he navigated, the knight felt his grow calm, the sounds of tree branches dancing in the wind filled his heart. The shady trees, the cool breeze, and the beautiful colors of nature were hypnotizing to the boy. Shaking his head violently proved futile, almost detrimental, as his consciousness began to fade.

‘”Matthew? Matthew! HELP!”’

With a jump, Matt woke up still standing, cold sweat beading his forehead. Panicking when he realized he was holding on to his sister, he spun around to see she was shadowing him. The girl simply tilted her head at her brother’s worried reaction, “What? I’m not going anywhere.”

Carrying on, the two could see the forest parting, giving way to open sky and a mountain trail, the sun setting. Racing the clock, the two made their way around the trail to see familiar hills, occasionally dotted with a tree. Arriving at a town, the two stopped in front of a small house, the brother knocking on the door.

The door creaked open, a tall, older blonde woman peeking through. “Matthew!” The woman threw the door open, hugging the young man, squeezing him like a grape. “Hey aunt Shelly. It’s good to see you again.”

“Who is this?” Shelly released the poor boy and looked at the small girl sinking behind her brother.

“It’s Luke, or Lucy now. You know, your niece. She needs a place to live, her ‘father’ won’t take her back after what she’s done.”

“What has she done?” Shelly raised an eyebrow at her nephew.

“Well she stole the princess of Lumina, stole some food, caused chaos, and beat up my friends.”

“I see. Well, I’ll whip her into an upstanding citizen, don’t you worry.” The woman peaked out, seeing the darkness overtake the town. “Come in, come in. I have a place the both of you can sleep for the night.”

“I shouldn’t stay. My friends are probably waiting for me back in-“ Matthew cut himself off when he felt his sister cling to his arm. “Okay, I can stay one night. I hope it’s no trouble.”

Stepping inside of the house, the two could smell a refreshing odor, akin to oranges. “No no, it’s fine. For my Nephew and niece, I’d sleep outside.” The woman went over to her couch, pulling off the cushions to reveal a bed underneath. “But, I have a guest bed, so that won’t be necessary. Are you hungry?”

The two nodded, the aunt rushing to the kitchen. “You two make yourselves at home.”

Matt went upstairs, Lucy following, seeing a bathroom and a bedroom. Besides the stairs, there was much the same, though a smaller bedroom. “Take a good look, this will be your home until you’re ready to move out.”

“Are you sure she’s nice? She sounded like she’s going to be just like dad.”

“It’s just an expression Lucy, and an exaggeration at that. She won’t hurt you, I promise.” He could see doubt written across her face.

“Dinner is ready!” Before he could get another word in, the girl walked off.

Starlight beamed in slices that breached the curtains of the house, visible in every bedroom. Using the little bit of light to guide her way, and the darkness to shroud her presence, Lucy made her way to the knight still awake.

“Matt, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“I want to tell everyone something.” The brother looked at her, taking his attention away from the reading material strewn across the living room. “Tell the princess I’m sorry. Tell everyone I’m sorry, it’s my fault all this happened. I shouldn’t have let Jade persuade me.”

“Tell me exactly what happened on the day you kidnapped the princess.”

“You see, it was a normal day. I was coming home from school, when this man wearing black, with long silver hair, calls me by name. He knew my whole name, he knew about me, and he knew I didn’t have mana. He told me that if I help him kidnap the princess, he’d make me stronger than you. Later that night, I convinced Elizabeth to follow me through the secret passage, and before I turned around to make sure she was there, Jade had already made her go unconscious. We then escaped by going through the sewers.”

“The sewers?!” Everything Lucy had said sounded insane, but this last revelation had Matt forget it was late and that their aunt was sleeping nearby. Quieting himself, praying Shelly hadn’t heard his outburst, “how did you get out?”

“We made several turns until we reached a wall. Jade took off a panel, and through it was a tunnel that went outside. There, we met a man named Monty. He’s fat and had a really crazy moustache and beard. And well, I fell asleep after that. The next thing I knew, I was in a bed in the tower. After a while, I found Jade and Monty, Jade offered me an orb that gave me these envy powers. When Jade told me about Wish Granter, the spear, he gave me ideas on how to use it. I thought about pranking the princess by pretending to be someone else, so I wished to be a girl. She didn’t fall for it.”

“That’s quite a story.” The knight was floored, unsure how to react to all this information. “Are you going to wish yourself back to normal?”

“Normal? If you mean a…no!” Matt tried to reach out to the girl as she ran back to her room. Putting his head in his hands, the knight sighed, letting exhaustion take him.

Matthew awoke to the aroma of eggs and bacon, the delicacy motivating the knight through the sore feeling welling in his sides.

“Good morning Matthew.” Shelly was making food, Lucy was already eating. “I thought I’d make you breakfast before you go.”

At first, the teen vacuumed up his meal, but a thought crossed his mind, forcing himself to slow his consumption. Taking in the house, he burned the structure and patterns in his mind. Glancing over at his sister, he could see she hadn’t slept well.

“Sorry about last night. I realize I step on egg shells a lot.” He got no response, the girl simply continued eating her breakfast.

Putting away his plate, the knight picked up his weapons, heading out the door. Looking back, Matt could start to see the entire town. The door to the house opened, his sister sprinting out, leaping at her brother.

“Matthew! I’m sorry about what I said yesterday, I don’t hate you.” She hugged him tightly, burying her head in his neck.

“I’m going to miss you Lucy.” The brother wrapped his arms around her. “Take care of aunt Shelly, and please don’t cause any more trouble.”

“I’ll miss you too Matt.” The two broke the embrace.

“I’ll come around every now and again, to make sure you don’t get into any trouble.” Ruffling her hair, the knight laughed as she headbutted his neckline.

Turning toward Branton, the knight began his triumphant march home, hoping his friends weren’t already there.

‘Good luck aunt Shelly, you’re going to need it.’