Zephyr raised his glass.

"To a successful mission," he cheered. "It's long overdue, but after last times mistake I think it's worth it."

"Mistake is putting it lightly," Cecily commented, though she still tapped her cup of tea to his glass of juice.

"Yeah," Rei said, matching Zephyr and Cecily, "but this would be a lot better with actual alcohol."

"Agreed," Alma said.

The three guys raised an eyebrow at her.

She smiled, punching Orion in the shoulder. "I'm kidding. Don't give me that look." Her gaze turned to the others. "And I mean all of you."

She tapped her cup to Cecily's.

It's good to see them relaxed like this, Zeph thought. Cecily was as calm as she'd been from the beginning, but she was starting to smile and talk more. Turns out there was a little sass under that terrifying gaze. Orion was starting to open up, not to mention whatever was going on between him and the minor. Ugh, Zephyr would have to keep an eye out for that.

And Rei. Rei was becoming more open to the rest of them. Especially Cecily. He used to only be willing to befriend Zephyr but now that he'd been forced into these circumstances, he'd opened up a little. The prince was proud of his little conquest.

The mismatched group of professionals, plus one prince and one criminal which they rarely referred to her as, they were a real team.

"How about," Alma said, her eyes drifting over to Zephyr, "in celebration, I teach you some cool moves."

"You?" Orion replied. "So you got a few lessons from Cecily. You can't be that great."

"Alright," the little saint replied, "Then you can watch over us. If I mess up then you can show us both."

"Excuse me," Zeph cut in, "but I never agreed to this."

"Not like you were planning on saying no," Alma laughed. She grabbed hold of his and Orion's arms, dragging them as she skipped towards the door. As if just realizing that there were more people than her prince and assassin, she turned around. "You two coming of do I have to drag you out too?"

"We'll be out in a few," Rei said before turning to Cecily, "right?"

Cecily nodded her agreement.

Alma gave them that look for a second before nodding and dragging Zephyr and Orion out the door of the little bunker.

---

Reiko glanced over and Cecily who was, in tern, watching him with a steady gaze.

"Now that the kids are gone, wanna watch some T.V.?" Rei offered.

Cecily nodded, finally taking her gaze away from him.

He let out a sigh of relief. Whether he knew she wouldn't hurt I'm or not, her gaze was a heavy thing to be under. Not to mention, he never knew what the girl was thinking.

So, instead of dwelling on the hunter, he grabbed the remote. Clicking the little button, the television set flicked on, the news being the first thing to appear. Zephyr, the boring prince with maturity that sometimes rivaled his fathers, liked to keep up with what was going on with the outside world. Of course, it was a smart idea, but the news absolutely bored the foreign guard.

Unless it was talking about himself.

And today, it just happened to be.

'As of last night, Deslyn Reacher has vanished,' the nicely dressed news man said, holding a tablet between his finely trimmed nails. Ugh, show people. 'Witnesses say that, despite the bloody show given at Sie Wong's, the prince and his entourage continue to fight for the throne.'

Rei turned to Cecily, hoping to brag about his conquest while leaving out the part of him sitting around a prince while she and the assassin put on a show. He honestly still didn't understand why Zeph didn't send him in. After all, if anyone could put on a good show it was him. But, his thoughts all halted when he saw the look on Cecily's face.

She stared at the screen, her lips inches from the cup of tea and eyes wide. Nothing could drag her from her tea, besides, apparently, this.

So Rei was quick to turn his head back to the screen, just in time to see it.

---

"Alright," Reiko said, holding onto Zephyr's arm, "like...this."

Alma was walking around the two of them, observing. Orion didn't really know why, but Alma had quickly given up on teaching the prince, leaving the job to him.

"I thought," Orion said, kicking Zephyr's leg an inch apart from the other, "you were supposed to be doing this."

"Yeah," Alma said, stopping her little walk to gaze at Orion, "well, I never got to see you fight so I wanted to see it."

"You could've asked anytime, you know," Orion replied, forgetting about the prince almost entirely. "I would've taught you."

"I wanted to learn how to fight, so I asked Cecily because she can take you down in a few seconds. Because if anything happened, I wanted to make sure everything was okay. That everyone was okay. Including you. But...next time, I guess I'll ask you."

"Alright," Zephyr said, a little bile rising up in his throat, "alright, alright. That's enough for today. I'll leave you two alone, then, and don't come inside until...this is over."

Zephyr turned, shaking out the stiff posture that Orion had forced him into.

He bent down, reaching for the bunker doors, only for them to burst open in a flurry of red hair. The two were a topple of arms and legs as Cecily fell over him.

"Cecily? What're you-"

It was the first time he'd seen an expression as loud as this one on Cecily's face. It wasn't a smile or a smirk or anything he'd hoped she showed. In fact, as usual, he could hardly read her expression, but it was not good.

She quickly got up, not even allowing Zephyr time to comprehend the position they were in, and yanked him up with her.

"Cecily?" Alma asked.

Her and Orion had made their way over.

But Cecily wasn't focused on either of them. Her hands were firmly gripping Zephyr's shoulders and she was still wearing that nearly sympathetic face.

"You need to see this." She looked past him, at the other two. "All of you."

Her metal hand firmly gripped his arm, motioning for him to go inside. Only when he moved towards the door did she let go. But she didn't move. Instead, the hunter and the beast, all in one, watched the tree line until the other two were inside. Only then did she dare drag her gaze away.

Inside their little safe haven she was moving again, searching the rooms for whatever she was looking for.

But Zeph's eyes were on his guard. Rei's usually cheerful expression was somber, his eyes glued to the T.V. set.

"Alright," Alma said, pushing past Zephyr to move over to Rei, "enough of the games. Something's got you spooked and it's freaking us out."

Reiko stood, walking over to the trio while Cecily ran around in the background of Zephyr's vision. He wasn't concerned with her.

The only times he'd ever seen Zephyr make that face were on the anniversary of the Queen's death, the day Reiko's father died, and the day Rei learned Zeph would have to compete in these terrifying games.

Zeph's case was more terrifying than his fathers. Normally, the royal family would have a plethora of kids to play in these stupid games until one killed the last of the people on the list. But the King of this time had only one son. His wife, the one Queen he'd ever loved had died at childbirth. It was rare, with technology as modernized as it was but not impossible.

Since there was no other royals to take over the games if Zephyr died, the crown would be given to the next in the family. But there were no others. Zephyr's death would lead to war. It wasn't something he ever liked to dwell on let alone think about.

And now, Reiko was wearing that some expression once again.

"Sit," the guard said, ushering Zephyr to the couch.

The T.V. started playing as soon as Rei pressed play.

'Onto more breaking news,' the man said. 'The games have been deemed as finished after the assassination of the King. As per law, when the crown games are taking place, if the king has been killed without a proper heir the crown goes to the man or woman responsible. In exactly one week the entire country is welcomed to join in the coronation of the next King. Rosalynd Jessa.'

Zephyr's world froze. His father who'd raised him. Dead.

The prince- he was no longer a prince, could do nothing but stare as the screen moved from a picture of the palace, no longer his palace, to the weather like some slave trading woman was now their King.

Something grabbed his hand, drawing his wide eyes away from the screen.

Cecily. Cecily was wrapping him in a thick jacket while others ran in the background.

"We need to go," she said, her warm hand taking hold of his.

He looked up to meet her eyes and finally realized what he saw in them.

Pity.

Her voice held none of the emotion when she ordered him.

"Now."