"Mom!" Eita yelled as we ran toward the crowd that had gathered outside of Setsuko's tent. Much to my surprise, Reno and Suzuki were here. Good thing that Hideo was busy planning the reconstruction. Else a fight would probably have broken out by now.

"Boys," Mom said, stepping toward us.

Serrano's eyes widened at the sight of a golden urn with an uncanny resemblance to Dad's armor, if it were melted down.

"Mom, why do you have Dad's armor? And why is it melted?" Eita asked, stepping back.

I stood still as a statue, bracing for the inconvenient truth. One I had dreaded for a while now. Eita probably knew it too, but refused to accept it.

Mom closed her eyes. "Your father is dead."

"What?" Eita asked, leaping toward her. "How? You were supposed to be in the capital."

"Yeah, but he felt that Osamu needed our aid so he rushed to his help while Miyu and I trained in Munil to get rid of our rust. Sadly, your father perished against the Monkey King."

Eita shook his head. "No, that can't be. He can't be dead!"

I placed a hand in his shoulder. "Don't you see the urn, Eita? Our old man is gone. Reduced to ashes."

Eita cried and grabbed the urn from Mom. "Dad! How could you have died? You are supposed to live for years to come!"

"I'm sorry," Osamu said as he and Miyu walked over to us. "Eiji, he took my place. I should've been the one brought back in an urn."

Rosa opened her mouth but didn't say a thing.

"It's fine," I said, glancing at the urn. "Think this is how he prefers to go, in the battlefield."

"I think so too, but that doesn't make it any better."

I nodded. It truly didn't, but it was his wish. Being one who loved battle, I could sort of understand my father. My ideal death was to go out in battle or at a ripe old age, surrounded by gorgeous people.

Eita hugged the urn and continued to cry.  Nothing that any of us said was probably enough to calm him down.

"Oh, Eita," Mom said, hugging him.

Eita said something but it came out as gibbering. The only thing that I could make was, " I miss him, Mom."

"I do too, baby. I do too," Mom said, patting him on the back.

I turned around and walked away.

"Eiichi!" Sabine said, running over to me.

"Let me be, I need to be alone," I mumbled, continuing on my way.

She raced after me. Everyone was at least courteous to give me some space. Though, most of them probably had no idea what to say. Most hated me to begin with, rightfully so.

I blinked at Sabine. "You didn't hear me?"

She gave me a feisty look. "Of course I did, but I am not leaving you alone! Don't you recall what happened the last time that I did that? That demoness almost got you!"

I sighed. "You got a point there, but Carlos dealt with her. So you don't have a thing to worry about." At least, for now. Who knew how long Anestarte will remain still. Push a demon away and it would return with company.

Sabine continued to follow me. Her same stern look remained.

Should I yell at her? Maybe that would scare her away. No, that would causing issues down the road.

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "Fine. You can follow me, but I don't know why you would want to spend time with me right now. Unless if you're into mopey guys."

"Wouldn't say I like nor dislike them," she answered, chuckling.

I smiled. She was an odd one. A lot like Rosalba.

"We should probably fine a nice spot," Sabine said, glancing around.

"For what?"

"To lay down and talk."

I scratched my head. "I don't really feel like it."

"That's fine. You don't have to talk. I just want you to relax. Stress isn't good for anyone, especially a knight in the midst of war."

Wonder if my old man ever felt stress during a war. He did have regrets. Did he dealt with those before he passed? The idea of going out with regrets wasn't a good one.

"Eiichi, protect your brother, mother, and the others," the words I heard while Hide ferried us in the sky echoed in my head. The one who had spoken them sounded like Dad, but no one was there. 

Could his spirit have transcended into Zionia for that short amount of time? Why would he speak to me instead of Eita, though? Eita was his favorite son. On the other hand, I was always the one giving him issues.

Sabine grabbed my hand and ran ahead, dragging me over to a tree on top of a tiny hill overlooking the campsite.

"What?" I asked, taken aback by her sudden action.

She sat down on the grass and motioned for me to sit.

Reluctantly, I did as she asked.

"Say, you don't remember your parents still, right?"

She shook her head. "No. I wished that I did, but they still haven't come back to me. Though, I did remember something. I have a little brother and a little sister."

I smiled. "That's good. Do you call what kind of relationship you had with them?"

Sabine put interlaced her fingers. "I think that we were close. Why do you ask?"

I leaned my head against the tree. "Wanted to know if you were distant with one of your family members." Setsuko, Tetsuya, and Hyosetsu could probably understand my situation the most. Especially the former two who had nearly lost the parent they butted heads with.

"You weren't close to Sir Eiji, were you?" she asked with furrowed brows.

I nodded. "Sometimes, I would think he hated me."

One of her eyebrows rose. "What made you think that?"

"He would often scold me about this or another. While Mom saw me as perfect, Dad seemed to see me as the opposite. It seemed as if I was nothing more than a failure." My eyes shifted toward the blue sky. "But looking back at his chastisement, he was only looking out for me. How I had been acting wasn't right. But I resented him for his attempts to correct me. Like Mom, I saw myself as flawless. My word was law."

"That explains you narcissism."

I flinched at her remark.

"Sorry."

I laughed. "No, you're right. I am a narcissist."

"Are you? I'm not sure if a narcissist would split themselves from people when he could hold their attention. Well, unless you're doing so to call more attention for yourself."

I laughed. "Who knows, maybe I did the latter and you fell for it."

Sabine leaned closer.

"What?"

"There's tears in your eyes. A full-blown narcissist would've been crying their eyes out by now."

I averted my eyes. "You're wrong, I only have something in my eyes."

She grabbed me by the head and leaned it against her shoulder. "It's alright to cry, Eiichi. You might've had some rough moments with your father, but you still loved him, didn't you?"

Tears formed in my eyes as I recalled how he helped my plan my flashy entrance for my eighth birthday party. Dad felt like an actual dad rather than a distant authority figure. If only we could've had more moments like those.

My tears stained Sabine's white blouse, but she didn't seem to care, patting the back of my head as if I were a kid.

I felt like crying out what Eita did to mom, but I didn't deserve it. Not after how I had treated him.

"It's alright, let your tears do the speaking for you," Sabine said as if she had read my mind. Sometimes, I wondered if she could. Or maybe what she could read were emotions.

I gripped her shirt and cried more until my tears stopped.

"T-thanks, and sorry for ruining your shirt," I said, letting go of Sabine. Her shirt had become so drenched that I could see through her sleeve.

She laughed. "It's alright. I can always get a new one later."

I smiled. "Yeah." It felt nice getting all of the pent up sadness out. Hopefully, Eita and Mom did too.

My eyes shifted to the grass. Eita, Mom, I had grieved, but Ei-ei and the others probably had no clue what had befallen our father. I didn't want to be the one to tell them. 

"What's wrong?"

I poked a daisy sticking up from the ground. "I'm just wondering how I'm going to break the news to my younger siblings. You saw how Eita reacted and he's the second oldest."

"I'll help however I can," she said, tsking my hand into hers.

I smiled. "Thanks."

"Eiichi!" Hideo yelled, running over to us. "I heard what happened to Sir Eiji!"

I blinked. "You're here? Thought that you would be having a fire fight with your cousin." Or did he not see him? If so, then I blundered.

"I'll take care of him later."

I laughed. "You gave up a fight with your cousin to console me? You must really care."

He averted his gaze and scoffed. "I'm only doing it as you were there for me when Dan vanished."

"Is he what one calls a tsundere?" Sabine whispered.

I nodded. "Yup!"

"I'm not a tsun!" He sighed. "Anyway, your mom needs to see you."

My eyes widened. "About what?"

"She would like your advise on who will inherit your father's angel tool. Right now it's still lost in the Xianian forest."

"They left without retrieving it?"

"The king said that he tasked one of our allies to get it. Once they do, they'll deliver it here."

"Then we should probably stay here for a couple more days before returning to Raiyama for the funeral."

"Yeah, and your naming as Grand Duke."

Grand Duke of Raiyama... I wanted the title for years, but never did I expect it would be this way. Thought that it would be after defeating my old man in a battle with the title on the line.

"Who do you think should inherit Capitolinus?" Sabine asked.

I liked Carlos, but part of me right now wished that I could succeed the old man's role. Eita or Borasco would have to fill it. Preferably the latter. Once we returned home, I planned to tell Eita to stay there. He narrowly escaped death at the hands of the fox.

"Borasco is my first choice, but I'm not sure if he is mature enough yet."

Hideo nodded. "Yeah. Your brother is a lot more grown up despite being younger. If it were up to me, I would pick him."

"Indeed, but he lacks battle experience. Something that Borasco has in spades."

"Is there another option?" Sabine asked.

I nodded. "My sister, Eika." Pushed myself up and walked toward the tents. "Anyway, if you excuse me, I have to go train."

I had to become stronger to fill in the void the death of my old man caused.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^**