The first thing Roa did upon returning back from the cave was to take a nice and long shower to cleanse his body of all the dust.

"That felt so good," Roa said as he out of the bathroom. He stared at the spacious room, which only had a king-sized bed in the center as well as a window-sill bed. He had allowed Etsuo to take the big bed while he took the one by the window.

While he could've had a room of his own, he didn't like being separated from Etsuo. He was the only one around he could afford to trust. He was never sure as to when their secret could be uncovered. If it came down to a fight, he would rather have Etsuo by his side. Even if it were a battle that neither could win, he preferred to fall alongside him.

The raven-haired teen walked over to the bed, where a pair of fresh clothes awaited him along with a letter written by Etsuo himself. "Rosa and I left this pair of clothes for you. You were taking so long in the shower that I decided to go on without you and have dinner with the others."

Roa crumpled the letter in his hands. So much for being there for one another. What a selfish guy. He could have afforded to wait a bit longer. It's not like we need to eat every day.

He sighed and took the clothes from the bed and quickly put them on. He smiled as he checked himself out in the mirror. "Looking good, Roa." He blushed as soon as he said that.

Oh, dear God of Darkness, I am starting to sound like dad!

He ran out of the room only to be struck by the most unexpected, yet mouth-watering smell. "What are they eating?" he asked as he made his way for the stairs.

"Hey, Roa!" someone called out to him. He spun on his heels and saw Reno running from the farthest hallway. "You haven't eaten either, huh? Smells like they're making cookies."

"Cookies?"

"You don't know about them?" the fiery red-head asked, tilting his head.

Roa shook his head. "I haven't had any, but I think my dad mentioned them once or twice."

"Hehe. I've had them a few times myself, but never have I smelled any like these," Reno said before wiping drool from the corners of his mouth. He averted his face. "I mean, we better go check them out."

Roa chuckled and ruffled the boy's crimson hair. "Quit with the manly act. It doesn't suit you."

Reno slapped his hand away and ran off. "Idiot!" he yelled, his face red.

Roa chuckled and descended the stairs.

"Such a big house," Reno said, eyes wide as he looked around the place. "My uncle sure is loaded."

"Your uncle?"

"You didn't hear? The duke is my uncle."

"Ahhh, is that why they didn't tie you up?"

Reno shook his head. "No. I am to help the crown in return for my freedom, else I would be in prison for several years." He scoffed and pouted. "Imagine me, becoming a dog of the monarchy. I can't believe my parents accepted it so easily."

"Surely they had their reasons," Etsuo said as he walked out of a silver archway with a bag of cookies in hand.

"Hey, where did you get those?" Roa said, running over to him. He sniffed the cookie in his companion's hand like a horse would sniff a sugar cube. He took a bite of it, causing Etsuo to let out a scream. Roa devoured the whole thing and even licked the crumbs off of his hand.

"Roa, your manners," Etsuo said.

"Gross," Reno said. "You're a dog or horse or something?"

Roa snickered. "Kind of, the latter, not the former. One of my aunts is, though."

Reno raised a hand to his mouth and chuckled. "You're so weird."

"So delicious," Roa said, stepping back from Etsuo. "Give me that bag!"

Etsuo narrowed his eyes and stepped back. "You know, you could've asked nicely. If you had, then I would've given them to you, but now I won't. If you want some, go get your own, but first, eat your dinner."

"Alright, alright, mom," Roa said, rolling his eyes.

Etsuo smiled as he removed a crumb from his cousin's lips. "You're such a messy boy, what would you do without me?"

This time Roa was the one who rolled his eyes. "I can say the same thing to you."

Etsuo simply grinned. "Well, try not to be too surprised before eating, okay?" he said before heading upstairs.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That reminds me, I still need to check up on Suzuki," Reno said as he followed Roa to where Etsuo had come from. The eyes of the two widened as they saw a sizeable white-clothed table filled with all kinds of food laid out in porcelain plates. The last time Roa had seen such food was at Hyosetsu's party, but none of it had interested him then, but this food did.

"Hey there," Tetsuya said, smiling awkwardly. He seemed to be out of it. Out of everyone, he was eating the slowest.

"You alright?" Roa asked as he took the seat across from him.

Rosa shifted uncomfortably. "He's just a little tired," the princess said, trying her best to smile. She turned toward Tetsuya as he ate a cherry tomato slowly.

"You know, you won't ever be a strong enough knight to protect the princess if you don't eat well," Roa said as he grabbed an empty plate from the center of the table. He watched as Tetsuya began to speed up his eating.

"Woah, slow down there, you're going to choke," Serrano said.

Tetsuya slowed only a little as he gulped down chicken leg after chicken leg.

Roa smiled. He grabbed a bit of everything he could get his hands on, from slices of turkey to deer hamburgers.

Rosa giggled as she watched them gobble down their food.

Serrano put down his fork as he finished eating his main dishes. He reached for a handful of cookies from the plate between Roa and Tetsuya.

"Hey! Sabe zome of dose for me," Roa mumbled as he munched down on his burger. He watched in despair as Serrano took half of the remaining cookies. He gulped quickly. "Hey, what did I just say?"

Tetsuya grinned. "You are dealing with the cookie monster here."

"Cookie monster?" Roa said, giving the cousins an odd look.

The princess stared at Serrano in awe as he bit down on cookie after cookie.

Serrano's face reddened as he noticed her staring. He put back some cookies on the plate and ate the remaining ones slowly, drinking milk in between intervals to help wash them down.

Roa snatched his own handful and bit down on one like a hungry beast. "So good! Who made these?"

Tetsuya pointed at himself. "I did. Sort of ended up making more than I thought, but luckily there's a lot of us."

"You did? Huh, I didn't expect you to be the cooking type. Then again, gramps is the same way."

"You mean the 'strongest guy in all of the multiverse'?" Serrano asked, giving him a skeptical look.

"Yup! Shocking, eh?" Roa said before munching down on another treat.

"Nothing shocking about that if you ask me," Tetsuya said with a stern look as he crossed his arms over his chest. "A true man should be capable of cooking and fending for himself."

"Woah!" Reno said, eyes blazing. "For real? You gotta teach me! I wanna know everything!"

Tetsuya chuckled. "Alright, I'll teach you when I can. It'll actually be good practice for when I become an actual teacher. Though giving cooking lessons is different than teaching literature, but they still share things in common."

Roa glanced at Reno. "Hey, if you learn how to cook, can you make me some of these?"

"Uh, sure," Reno said, nodding as he smiled widely.

"Nice to see you all getting along," Kuroshi said from all the corner furthest from the living room. He crossed his hands and leaned his chin against them. "Camaraderie is good. It helps build bonds. Those bonds, in turn, will make you fight harder for one another."

"The philosophy behind the Seven-Hills of our era," Eiji said, nodding.

Reno glared at him as his appetite dropped. "Such pretty words, coming from a murderer."

Eiji grimaced.

Neither one of his parents nor Hideaki said anything.

"Hey, pay him some respect. He's one of the strongest in all the land!" Hideo said. He sat beside Eiji himself.

"That I do not argue against, but that doesn't make him any less of a murderer. And how can you stand up for him when that guy killed our kind?"

Hideo gasped. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Reno, calm down," his mother said, sighing. "I know that it's hard, but for now isn't the moment to argue."

Reno returned his red eyes back to his plate and began to eat once again, this time tearing through his food like a mad dog.

"What did he mean by he said you killed our kind?" Hideo asked, turning his head toward Eiji.

Eiji crossed his hands together and put his chin against them. "He means—" he was about to say when Kuroshi interrupted.

"You shouldn't heed your cousin's words too much," the creator of the five angel tools said. Unlike the others, he hadn't eaten anything.

Hideo looked at his aunt and father, who seemed like they wished to say something but couldn't.

Eiji pushed his seat back. "Thanks for the meal. I better start heading back to the capital. I need to deliver my report to them as soon as possible." He glanced at Kuroshi. "Will you be coming with me?"

"No, I'll be spending the night here and head out with Rosa and the kids."

"The kids?" Tetsuya asked. He looked at Yuko and Nori, who were happily dipping their cookies into their glasses of milk.

"Yeah, I'll be taking them back with me now that you can activate your shield. Plus, I need to check on Yuko's health. Rosa told me about how she had pushed herself the other day."

"Y-yeah, she did," he said, lowering his head. He forced a grin. "It'll be for the best."

"If you want, I can lend them to you for a little longer. Yuko can help you learn how to use Agnes."

"I would love that!" he said without hesitation.

Kuroshi smiled. "Alright, then they can stay with you for a bit longer."

"So, will you and Etsuo be accompanying us too?" Rosa asked as she watched Roa gobble down a whole turkey leg, bone included. She grimaced at the sight. "Uh, did you just?"

"Hmm?" Roa said, tilting his head. "Did I just what?"

"You ate a bone!" she said, pointing at her neck. "How did you—"

He leaned back on his seat, continuing to give her a confused look. "Can't everyone do that?"

"I can," Kuroshi said, chuckling. "But for most here, eating the bone whole is weird."

"Seriously? Bummer. The bone tastes really good. Hopefully, you got some more of this food where we're going."

Rosa laughed nervously. "Y-yeah, we do."

***

[The Next Day]

Roa stared out of the window of his guest room. The sky was set ablaze as the sun rose over the grassy plains in the distance. Seeing the hues of orange, red, and even purple reminded him of when he and Etsuo first arrived on Zionia. Though, back then, it had been the sunset. Since then, they've had no contact at all with the third member of their expedition squad.

"What's on your mind?" Etsuo asked, glancing over Roa's shoulder.

Roa closed his eyes. "I'm worried about what Satoru is up to. It has been over a week now, and yet no word from him."

"I thought that you wanted us to do this without him tying us down," Etsuo said, stepping back and jumping into the comfy bed. "You're thinking the same as me, aren't you? That Satoru is up to no good."

Roa nodded. "We should go back north to check up on him as soon as we can."

Etsuo sat up. "Oh? What makes you think he's still there?"

The raven-haired young man scoffed as he got up from the window-sill bed. "Call it a gut feeling if you must, though honestly, it's more of a gut-wrenching sensation."

The snow-white haired youth looked down. "Honestly, I feel it too. Satoru will likely make his move soon."

"Yes, we have to make our move as well. We have already gained the princess' trust as well as that of her companions. I am sure you've noticed by now, but it appears that that the weapons Rosa has been distributing serve a certain purpose."

Etsuo narrowed his eyes. "Yes. It appears that we have been helping our enemies in more ways than one. You even went ahead and aided Rosa against the rebels."

"I had to. Like I said before, she's our ticket to infiltrating the palace. Though I'm surprised that you, who offered to help several times, stood back while Tetsuya fought that red-haired woman."

Etsuo grinned. "I wanted to see if being in danger would awaken his shield. It appears it has."

Suddenly the two jumped as there was knocking on the door.

"W-who is it?" Etsuo asked as he stood up from the bed and rushed to the opposite side of the spacious room.

"It's me, Tetsuya."

Etsuo opened the door. "Hey there."

Standing next to Tetsuya were Ximena and Serrano. "I am just here to let you know that we're going back now. Thanks for having taken the time to train me."

"Hey, show it to me," Roa said. "I want to see how your shield looks like."

Tetsuya sighed and held out his right hand. "Agnes, activate." All four spectators watched in anticipation for a good minute, yet nothing appeared.

"Why?" Tetsuya asked, moving the bracelet close to his face. "Why won't it work?"

Serrano put a hand on his cousin's back. "Calm down, you'll get it to activate again. You simply need to keep at it. You managed to get it to activate within two weeks. I'm sure that within another two, you will be able to do so again."

Tetsuya lowered his arm back down. "Maybe..."

"Tetsu!" they heard a voice call out. Tetsuya turned around and saw Rosa running over to him, something in her hand.

"What's up?" he asked.

Rosa stretched her arms out, offering him the book in her hands. "I almost forgot to give you this."

Tetsuya took the book into his hands and gasped. "Wait, this is—"

"Yeah, it is an old copy of The Origin. I thought that you might enjoy reading it, uh though the language is kind of hard to understand given how old it is."

The shield knight grinned. "I can probably understand most of it. My pa has several old books like this one, which I used to enjoy reading as a kid."

"You read them as a kid?" Rosa said, shocked. "Neither Setsuko nor I could read the one our father made us read, and that was when we were pre-teens!"

Tetsuya rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. "Well, it's not like there was much to do on the farm during the winter." He smiled at the book. "Reading was one way I passed the time. Thanks so much, you made my day."

Rosa lowered her head. "I-I'm glad to hear that."

"Someone has a crush!" Roa cooed.

The princess shot him a fierce look. "I-I do not have a crush on him!"

Roa put a hand on his hips and grinned impishly. "No need to lie, princess."

"S-shut up!" she said, turning around before she ran off.

Tetsuya raised the book up to his face.

"A-are you blushing?" Serrano asked.

"No, why would I be?" Tetsuya asked, turning away. He suddenly bolted off in the direction the princess had gone.

"Seems little Tetsu is finally growing up," Serrano said, chuckling as he chased after his cousin.

"Let's go! We got a lot to do," Roa said, walking out of the room. For now, I must do what I can to make our plans come to fruition. Satoru, whatever you're up to, we won't let you beat us.

***

[Meanwhile- Grand Crater]

A gray cloaked figure stared at the bubbling ground and snickered as the jelly-like substance gathered around a yellow crystal floating several feet in the air. The permafrost covered land shook violently as more and more of the tar colored material shot out of the ground. The now-submerged stone lowered until it was six feet from the ground. Red eyes appeared on the 'head' of the liquid as arms, legs, and a torso began to take shape.

"Master," the thing asked as its head began to develop more human-like features. It fell to one knee and lowered its head. "What does he whom I was tasked to help wish for me to do?"

The figure looked at the horizon and saw a town not too far from where they stood. "Destroy that place. Leave no one alive, you hear? Men, women, children, it doesn't matter. Obliterate them all!"

The thing nodded its head. "Your will shall be done, Commander Satoru. If I may ask, what will you be doing in the meantime?"

Satoru raised a hand to his chin. "Hmm? Interesting. I didn't think you would ask so many questions."

The thing bowed its head lower. "Pardon me, commander. I spoke out of line."

Satoru chuckled and waved his hand. "No, no. Do not apologize. I actually like that you aren't a mindless blob like the components I used to form you. As for what I'll be up to, well, let's just say that I plan to check out more of this universe. You see, after two weeks, this icy wasteland has grown boring. I need new sights. When you've destroyed that town, head to the next until this whole area has fallen to our control. Within a few weeks, more of my colleagues will arrive. I desire to show results."

"I see. I shall do as you command," the thing said as it rose from the ground and rushed toward the city.

Satoru snickered as he watched his creation race off. "Still a little wet behind the ears, but hopefully it will evolve into something more worthy of serving me." He raised his gray eyes toward the equally gray sky. "It won't be long now until we see each other again, doves. I will show you that my methods are efficient ones. All in these cosmos shall soon bow before the name of Satoru Zettai!"

**Solar Note: Thanks for reading :). Don't forget to vote ^_^ What did you think of Dan? Think part of him is missing? Or think it's something else? What about what Satoru is up to?**