Disclaimer: *grabs a can of bug spray* Persistent people! Leave us alone!

I hate traveling by magic. It's so damn scary! Rekino thought to herself. Her eyes were pinched shut and her fists here clinched at her sides. She didn't want to open her eyes due to the fact that she might look down and see nothing but clouds, which scared her to death.

'Lady Wildfire, you can open your eyes now' Blaze said to her.

"But I don't wanna! Don't make me open them!" Rekino cried out.

"Rekino, we're on the ground. It's okay," Flash said to her Japanese friend.

"It is?" Rekino asked.

"Yes, it is, sweetheart," Rowen said.

"Okay," The raven-haired lady opened her amethyst eyes and came face to face with a nice looking tree, well to the others. Rekino saw the most horrid thing in her life. A tarantula spider was weaving its web in front of her. It stopped and noticed the human in front of it. Rekino's eyes twitched; she was paralyzed. She sent a message to Ryo. Bro, it's a spider! A big spider! Help me!

"Ryo, what's wrong with her?" Flash asked.

Ryo sweatdropped, "There's a spider in front of her," He moved from his spot and walked over to his sister. He saw what she was looking at, "Holy crap! That's a huge spider!"

"I KNOW!" Rekino screamed in his ear, "That's why I can't move…AH! IT MOVED!" The Warrioress found her movement and jumped into her brother's protective arms, "Move! Get it away!"

Ryo held his sister and started to back away from the insect. He was now at least five feet away from it, standing next to Rowen and Hana. Ryo put Rekino down on the ground and he saw her jump into Rowen's arms, "Damn Rekino! You've fought against life and death and you're afraid of a spider."

Rekino shot her brother an evil look, "Not just any spider! A TARANTULA SPIDER! Those things can kill you if they bite you, and I don't wanna be bitten! That's why I never like Dais, other than the fact that he worked with Talpa, but still!"

Hana jumped in, "Back off of her, will ya? We're in Germany, it's time to go and look for Thunder!"

"Chill, Hana. Let's not rush into things," Sage said, "You never know what this country has in store."

'Halo's right. You eight can't just go charging in there without a plan. I suggest that you find somewhere to stay and get some rest.' Blaze said to the group.

"Blaze is right," Scorpio piped up, "Thunder's my best friend, but I don't want to charge into the castle and demand him back. They could charge us with treason or something

like that."

Flash nodded her head, "All right. Let's head out of these woods and find someplace to stay."

Everyone nodded and Ryo looked at Rekino and Rowen. His sister was still in the arms of the Strata warrior, "Uh sis, are you going to walk?"

"Nope."

Ryo raised and eyebrow, "And why not?"

Rekino looked at her brother, "Spiders…" She cringed and shuddered.

Ryo sighed, "Baby."

Rekino looked at her bother, "Slut."

"Booty Slave!"

"Turd dumplin!"

"BITCH!"

"I am a bitch. B is for beautiful, I is for intelligent, T is for tough, C is for caring, and H is for how hard I'm going to hit you the next time you call me one!"

"Someone get some help!" Annelise screamed. She ran over to Lila's side and tried to help wake her future son-in-law up. The two queens tried gently slapping Thunder in the face.

Princess Bianca snorted, "You guys are so not doing it right. Here," She got up from her chair and walked over to her mother. She scooted in between them.

"Daughter, what are you going to do?" King Damien asked.

Bianca smiled, "You'll see father," She closed her eyes and leaned towards her future husband's lips.

Thunder woke up about the time Bianca was an inch away from his mouth. His eyes widened and rolled out from under her just in time for him to see the princess lock lips with the floor, "What in God's name were you trying to do?! Give me a heart attack?!"

Lila gave a sigh of relief and helped her son up. He dusted himself off.

“Well, boy, thanks for the show,” Thaitus said to him. Thunder stared at him, almost dreading what he was going to say next. “But I’m rather disappointed you did not let the beautiful princess kiss you. You will have to get used to it sooner or later.”

Thunder cringed and looked at Bianca. She smiled almost too sweetly at him. He looked back at his father. “I don’t understand. I’m not even into dating yet, and you want me to marry?”

The king’s eyes narrowed. “And who said you were ever allowed to date. I don’t know what influence those Americans have put on you, but you better damn well get out of it right now! You are marrying Bianca a week and half from today, and that’s final!”

Thunder’s eyes narrowed just as well. “And what if I refuse?”

“I’m the king and your father, you have no choice but to obey me!” Thaitus said.

“You may be my biological father, but you did not raise me! You aren’t as kind as I thought you would be. I’ve met some people who could teach you a world of manners and understanding!”

Thunder’s face was suddenly slapped hard again by Thaitus. The king and queen of Italy were frowning deeply. Bianca was silent, just watching. They were much in shock, but said nothing as the king of Germany was correcting his son.

“You will never speak to me that way again,” Thaitus warned in a low breath.

Thunder rubbed his cheek, glaring at his father. It was the second time that day in just a short time that he had been slapped, and in the same place. Without another word, he spun on his heel and quickly left the room, bursting through the doors, startling the guard outside, and storming down the castle halls.

Lila sighed again. Although she was grateful to see her son, she wished, they would have just left him alone. She was about to excuse herself, when Thaitus said, “Don’t go after him, Lila. He must learn that kind of behavior will not be tolerated.” He turned to the royal family of Italy. “I’m sorry you had to witness that. He is not used to the royalty that he is of, being raised by commoners.”

“Quite alright,” Damien said.

“Yes, we understand. We can expect him to be more focused for the wedding?” Annelise asked.

Thaitus nodded. “It will be ready. I am hosting a ball in three days at 8:00 in the evening.”

“We will be there,” Damien promised.

Bianca curtsied. “I cannot wait to dance with your dashing son, your majesty,” she said. “Other than his emotional outburst, he looks simply divine. A fine catch in my eye.”

The warriors were all traveling through the city of Berlin, trying to find out where the castle was, and trying to make plans. They passed many people who eyed them, and some asked where they were from, and were told. Most people left them alone.

“Ok, we need to find a place to stay,” Flash said. “That way we can rest up and get started on getting Thunder.”

“Right,” Rekino said, glancing around. “But where?”

They all looked around. That was a good question.

“We’d have to stay at a hotel,” Sage said.

“The problem is finding a hotel,” Rowen said.

“That’s easy. We just look,” Ryo said.

“Something tells me that won’t be easy,” Scorpio said. “Germany’s a huge place.”

“I’ll say,” Rowen said.

“Ro, please don’t start telling us how big right now,” Ryo sweatdropped.

They kept on walking searching for a hotel or something. Finally Flash stopped a man walking his small dog. “Excuse me sir, can you tell me where a good hotel would be?”

“Ah yes,” the man said in his thick European accent. “You can find a great hotel called the Hotel Lindenufer Berlin.”

“Can you tell us where that is?” Hana asked. By now she was tired, and there was only a few things on her mind. Get rest, find Thunder, get Thunder back, go home, and another thought which was so quiet she barely heard it herself.

“Yes.” The man then told them how to get there, and they thanked him, and started off in the direction he had told them to go.

In about twenty minutes they made it to the hotel. Flash took out her major credit card and paid for everyone’s expenses to stay there. They were shown their rooms which were to separate suites, one for the men, one for the woman, both attached to each other, separated only by a single door.

“Ok, you guys, we should rest up and get something to eat, then go on from there,” Rekino said.

“Right,” Ryo nodded.

“Hey, Flash, where is Blaze?” Sage asked.

“He teleported to somewhere. Probably a forestry,” Flash said. “He’ll keep himself hidden from the locals.”

“Oh,” Sage nodded.

Everyone then went to explore their suites. They would rest up, then eat, then go from there.

Amaya, Kento, and Cye arrived home to find Mia asleep on the couch listening to the radio. They shut the door lightly and Kento put a finger to his lips, which meant for everyone to be quiet. They all nodded and Amaya quietly walked over and pulled out a blanket. She walked over to Mia and covered her up. The French Guardian smiled and made her way into the kitchen. They saw Josephine sitting at the table looking through a photo album.

"Hey Cuz! Whatcha looking at?" Kento asked rather loudly.

"Shh!" Amaya said and clamped a hand over her boyfriend’s mouth, "You don't want to wake Mia up!"

Kento nodded his head and sighed. His girlfriend sure was controlling. He looked at Josephine again, "Whatcha looking at?" He asked in a low whisper.

Josephine sweatdropped, "Just some old pictures. Wanna join me?"

Cye smiled at his lover; "Sure," He pulled up a chair beside her and started looking at the pictures, "Oh man, those were taken back when we first met you four."

Josephine smiled, "Yeah. There's the one of Rekino and Ryo hugging after we got out from Talpa's control. There's the one of Kento and me. Geez, you sure have lost a lot of weight, Ken."

"Speak for yourself," Kento muttered under his breath.

Josephine shot her older cousin a dirty look, "I heard that, Godzilla. I'll get you back," She recomposed herself, "Now, moving on…"

Amaya pointed at one of the pictures, "That's the one we took after the war in your family restaurant, honey. There's your Uncle Chin!"

"WHERE?!" The two Hardrock warriors shouted at the same time.

"He's not here; he's in the picture," Amaya stated, "Quiet."

"Sorry, you scared us for a minute there, Mya. Ain't nothing scarier than that man. He'll talk your ears off," Josephine cringed at the many memories of having to sit through one of her Uncle Chin's boring stories. She turned the page, "Mia and Ryo's first kiss. I can't believe we actually got them hooked up."

Cye smiled and wrapped his arm around Josephine, "Yeah and look at where they are now."

"Oh Fearless One's about to be a father. Man, it blows my mind even thinking about that," Kento said. He jumped from his seat when he heard a scream. It was Mia.

"That was Mia," Amaya said.

"Guys! HELP!" Mia screamed again.

In no time, Josephine, Kento, Amaya, and Cye all ran into the living room to see Mia holding her stomach and crying out in horrible pain. The floor looked like it was wet with some kind of water.

"Guys, something is wrong with the baby! I'm going into premature labor!" Mia screamed again. Cye and Kento were at her side instantly. They helped her off the couch, "Call the hospital!"

Josephine panicked and started to hyperventilate. Amaya help steady her, "There's no time!" She screamed, "Jo and I will go and start the jeep. Kento, help Mia out to the car. Cye, you get some Advil."

"Why Advil?" The British Torrent Warrior asked. His brown eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Mia screamed louder.

"No questions!" Amaya screamed.

Everyone set out to do the task they were assigned. Josephine and Amaya went out to start the jeep while Kento escorted the screaming Mia and Cye got the Advil. This was going to be a long night; however, how were the going to tell Ryo when he was in Germany?

<><><>

Rekino sighed heavily. She tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep. Something kept plaguing her in that back of her head. She knew something was wrong, but what? Was it Mia? Thunder? She didn't know. Without another thought, she got out of bed. She decided that she needed to talk to Ryo or Rowen about this. She pulled on her night robe and slippers. She walked down the hall quietly as not to wake the others.

She opened the doors that connected to the two suites and saw her brother and boyfriend sitting their chatting. She was about to interrupt them, but Ryo asked a question that seemed to intrigue her.

"So Ro, when are you gonna ask Rekino to marry you? You've been dating, oh, almost two years now." Ryo asked. He was waiting for an answer, as was Rekino. She was watching from the behind the door, which was cracked.

Rowen sighed, "That's a good question, Ryo, and I honestly don't know the answer. I love Rekino with all my heart, but I don't honestly think I could marry her. I don't love her that much to marry her," He panicked when Ryo shot him this glare, "I mean, I love her, but I don't love her enough to marry her, like I said before. You get what I'm saying, don't you?"

Ryo put a hand on Rowen's shoulder, "Bro, if I you weren't a part of the team, I would kill you. I just hope you don't plan on telling my little sister that. She's set that you two are meant to be and will get married."

"I know. I don't want to hurt her, but I've never got the chance to tell her. She sort of scares me with how affectionate she is. She's always touchy feely and I'm not real use to that," Rowen said, "Before you say it, I know we've been dating for a long time, but it just irks me in this weird sort of way."

Ryo sighed and gripped Rowen's shoulder very tightly, "Like I said, Strata, you better be glad you're a vital part of this team, otherwise you'd be a dead man walking. Just don't hurt her. You do and you're mine. Ronin Warrior or no Ronin Warrior."

Rekino pinched her eyes closed and help back her sobs. She closed the door lightly and slumped against the wall and softly cried. She couldn't believe that Rowen said that about her. She buried her face in her hands and let the wet tears flow. Nothing was ever going to be the same again. She gathered what little pride she had left and stood. Her fists clinched tightly at her side. I will never, ever, ever forgive him for this. What he just said ruined it all. Rekino walked into the kitchen and turned on the light. She went through the cabinets and found the hot chocolate she had brought with her on the trip. She remembered her mother always made this for her when she was upset. She grabbed a pot and some milk out of the fridge. She placed in on the counter, and, before she could pour it into the pan, she clutched her head in pain.

'I know. We were just looking at pictures and all of the sudden, BAM, her water broke. We're at the hospital with her now. It looks bad.' Josephine replied with panic in her voice.

Rekino gave an inward sigh of relief, 'She's only two months premature. I wouldn't worry so much. She and the baby will be fine, if those doctors don't fuck it up!'

'REKINO!' Amaya screamed at her friend, 'No cursing!'

'Gomen nasai!' Rekino said quickly, 'I'll tell Hana as soon as possible. She's asleep right now. It's nearly five in the morning where we're at.'

'Crap! It just turned dark over here.' Josephine replied.

'I wish I could be there, but I can't. We have to help Thunder. Tell Mia that I love her and I wanna see my niece or nephew soon!' Rekino replied to the others, although, in her heart, she was very sad.

Rekino let go of the connection and fell to the floor in another sob of tears. First, the one man she has ever loved told her brother that he didn't want to marry her and now, her best friend is going into premature labor. The bad part was, Rekino wasn't even there to help Mia through the pain. She tried to hold her sobbing back from getting louder, but she couldn't. She hit the floor in anger.

"Why? It always has to happen to the people I care for? I'm driving them away!" Rekino said angrily, but in a low whisper.

Thunder had made it back to his bedroom and he wasn’t very happy. He laid down on his bed, and buried his face into the pillow. He didn’t sob this time. Instead he held them back and let his anger take over

Why was this happening? he wondered. Why did he have to be the lost son of these people? He was a lot happier just being who he was, not what he was. And to top it all of, he had to marry a complete stranger. It couldn’t get any worse.

‘Don’t jinx yourself, Thunder,’ he told himself. He stayed on his bed in that position for a long time, before he finally got up and walked over to a window and looked out of it. Figures there were guards. He let a sigh out and rested his head on the windowsill and closed his eyes. Then suddenly he opened them. What was that? No, it couldn’t be. So soon? He raised his head up, eyes wide. Indeed he could sense Flash, Scorpio, Shades, Ryo, Rowen, Rekino, and Hana. They were somewhere in the country. They came to save him!

He glanced at his watch. Five a.m. There was no way he’d be able to send a message to them now. They’d all probably be sleeping. Except… maybe Rekino was awake. He crossed his fingers and was about to connect when the door opened….

Thaitus stared at his son with a censorious look. “How dare you embarrass me in front of the king of Italy!”

Thunder frowned deeply. He had never been yelled at like this before. The only ones who had before, had been enemies. He wasn’t sure what to say or even what to do. So far he had been slapped twice, and his face was still stinging. He was certain it would be bruised by later that day.

“You are incredibly lucky that the king is willing to wait and see how you come through,” Thaitus continued.

“Is it my fault I am this way?” Thunder finally spoke up. “I was a lot happier just living with my grandparents and being with my friends in America.”

“And look how you turned out! Like a commoner! You are no commoner. You are the crowned prince of this country and one day you rule it. And you have no choice about it!”

“That’s one thing I like about America,” Thunder said, his eyes full of anger. “At least you can have choices.”

“And that’s why the country is so corrupt,” Thaitus retorted.

Thunder glared down at the floor, wanting this conversation to be over. Finally to his relief, the king said, “Get some sleep. You’re going to have a big day today this afternoon.” And without another word, he left, closing the door behind him.

Flash was sound asleep, but she wasn’t sleeping well. She kept tossing and turning in her bed, obviously having a dream. In the dream she saw a long castle hallway. It was completely void of any human activity. She walked down it, keeping her eyes and ears opened. The wind blew in through the opened windows, curtains fluttering in the air. She heard a noise and turned around quickly, but there was nothing there. She resumed her normal position and held her breath, continuing to walk down the hallway, her footsteps echoing down the hallway. She heard her name.. “Flash.”

“Who’s there?” she called out, her eyes still searching.

“Flash.” The voice became more clearer as she walked on.

“Who’s calling me!” she demanded. “Tell me who you are!”

The voice only repeated her name again and again. Then she came to the end of the hallway and gasped. There was Thunder with a miserable and almost frightened expression on his face.

And Flash woke up with a start.

In the nearby bed, Shades continued to sleep on, having no idea that Flash had just woke up. She was a deep sleeper and didn’t like to be awakened. Those who did wake her often ended up with a broken jaw or arm.

Flash took a few minutes to compose herself and looked at her watch. It was 5:30 a.m. It was way too early for her to be up right now, but she couldn’t fall back to sleep. Oh well. She got out of bed and headed for the dresser where she had put her clothes at. She grabbed a pair of light blue jeans and a baby blue sleeveless turtleneck sweater, a pair of underwear, and her bra, and a pair of thick puffy white socks. She took all of her clothes and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

In the kitchen Rekino sat at the table, more like slumped over it. Her eyes were red from crying and she had seriously thought about killing herself, but had fought against the temptation. There were too many people who depended on her.

She had no answer to that, only her tears could offer her comfort. One thing was for certain she would never forgive him for this.

She decided to get something to eat to settle her upset stomach. She searched the cupboards and found a box of crackers and sat back at the table, nibbling a few, her eyes still shedding tears.

In the next suite, Ryo sat at the round table in his own kitchen, deep in thought. Though he and Rekino weren’t twins, he could feel her pain. And now he was very worried about her. He was angry at Rowen as well. Why of all the times now did Rowen have to do this? He let out a sigh and drank more of his tea. So much was on his mind right now he wasn’t sure how to handle it all. Everyone else was asleep so far. Including Rowen. Damn him. He let out a sigh. He needed to clear his head or do something.

The kitchen door suddenly opened up and he raised his head. It was Scorpio. The young boy looked at Ryo sadly, then grabbed the hot tea.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked Ryo.

“No. Too many things on my mind,” Ryo replied

“Yeah,” Scorpio nodded as he poured himself a cup of tea. “Same here.”

“We’re going to get Thunder back,” Ryo said.

Scorpio stirred some sugar into his drink. “You sound like Flash,” he said with a small smile. He joined Ryo at the table. “It’s funny. In the three years since I’ve known Thunder, I would have never thought he was a prince. I knew he came from Germany, and he told me about his parents on the boat and of the military and how he had been kidnapped by this scientist of some kind when he was only eight years old, but that was basically it.”

“Rekino and Mia discovered it last year at school while in History class.. What convinced them was that birthmark of his.” Ryo said.

Scorpio nodded as he sipped his tea. Now to think his best friend was being forced to live in some castle now. Why couldn’t they have just let him decide on whether he wanted to go or not? Why was life so complicated, choices not given to those, and why couldn’t this just be a dream? But it wasn’t. It was all very real and there seemed to be no ending to it at all.