"Actually, Arthur," Merial said, stopping him before he could leave the room. "Could you stay? We do have one more issue that I feel we could use your input on."

Arthur stopped and turned back around as Bairon and Mica continued to leave. Mica was of course happy to get out of there, she found talks of economics and other issues the council dealt with boring, although she was curious about the train that was supposed to be traveling underground. Bairon on the other hand found it annoying that the council sometimes listened to the opinion of a child in matters of how the continent was run, but it wasn't like he knew much about topics unrelated to military needs and operations.

"Of course," Arthur replied with a slight bow then stepped back to his position in the circle.

Merial looked to Virion, who was still looking over Arthur's list very thoroughly.

"Commander," she started, giving him an expectant look.

"Hmm?" He replied, looking up from the papers and catching her eyes. "Oh yes yes, I apologize." He stored the papers in his ring for later, and a brown folder replaced them. "Ahem. Arthur, around the time you left for your training with the Asura, we decided to take a census of sorts. Its purpose was to not only have an accurate idea of our population in terms of sending emergency supplies if needed or evacuation, but to also know the number of able bodied citizens if we ever became desperate for soldiers." He handed Arthur the folder. "We've continued this annually, and have been noticing a trend over these last few years."

"A steep drop in the number of children being born," Arthur answered as he flipped through several charts.

"Exactly," Virion replied, happy but not at all surprised he was keeping up. "Now tell me, what are your thoughts about this?"

"It's not really all that surprising." Arthur closed the folder. "We're in the middle of a war. So many men and women in the age range where they would probably normally be starting families are instead fighting. Even those with husbands, wives, or even lovers back home, when they do see them I can imagine stress from the constant combat, coupled with uncertainty of whether or not they'll live to see their children grow up, the idea of potentially conceiving a child is an idea they push back till after the war."

"And how do you think we can resolve it?" Alduin asked with a small smile.

Arthur noticed this and realized they were plotting something, but continued as he tried to figure out their goal.

"Win the war. This issue will resolve itself once a degree of stability begins to set in."

"But we have no idea when we'll actually win the war, it could take years," Buhnd added.

Even though Arthur could see his face, his beard hid most of it. The look in his eyes though told Arthur he was also in on this, probably at Virion's request. Arthur was now pretty confident he knew where this was going, but decided to keep playing along.

"Well, the only other way I can see that this could be turned around, would be to take a well known couple that has been highly involved in the war, and highly publicize them getting married. Make it into the event of the decade so to speak. Seeing them continuing on with their lives despite the war, will put many at ease and in theory be more open to the idea of having kids." Arthur appeared deep in thought. "Council members Glayder, if I recall correctly Kathyln and Lunaris are pretty serious."

"What?!" Blaine said with wide eyes with a combination of shock and disbelief, his wife mirroring his expression.

"Even though I doubt she'd be thrilled with her wedding being used like that, I'm sure she could be convinced and will ultimately be happy to be marrying someone she loves so much."

Everyone other than Arthur and the Glayders couldn't believe what had just happened right in front of them, how Arthur completely redirected their efforts so fluidly.

"A-Actually Arthur," Alduin said as recomposed himself. "Seeing as..."

"You actually were intending on using Tess and I since we're already engaged?" Arthur said, revealing he was already on to them.

"You already knew our plan didn't you?" Virion asked, tiredly as they weren't able to get this past him.

"None of you have a good poker face, I knew you were plotting something the moment I entered the room. The discussion just gave it away," Arthur replied nonchalantly.

"So wait," Blaine said as he was catching up. "You're not trying to get my little girl married right?"

"No," Merial said apologetically. "This was our attempt to get Arthur and our daughter to set a date sooner rather than later."

"Thank goodness," Blaine said with a sigh of relief.

"Although I wasn't entirely joking," Arthur said. "Kathyln and Lunaris are pretty serious, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was asking you for your blessings soon."

"Arthur," Virion said with a smirk, bringing his attention back. "What do you think? I doubt you even want us to use your wedding like this, but..." Virion made himself look as old and feeble as he could. "All I want is to see my precious granddaughter get married before I die."

"Old man, you have at least fifty more years before you should be worrying about dying," Arthur said with a deadpan expression. "Hell, knowing how stubborn you are, I wouldn't be surprised if you outlived everyone in this room."

"Hahaha," Virion laughed. "I don't know about that last part, but what do you say? We could have this wedding ready in two months tops."

"Two months?" Arthur questioned. "I'm kind of disappointed, I would have expected you could do better than that."

A few people chuckled at Arthur's comment.

"Oh I could have the biggest wedding this continent has ever seen ready in a week if I wanted," Virion said with an amused tone. "I was just trying to avoid any unnecessary stress for everyone, seeing as I would want my only grandchild's wedding to be nothing short of perfect."

"Well none of that matters right now," Arthur stated. "This isn't something I can decide on my own. Let me talk to Tess about it first."

"Of course," Alduin replied with an approving nod.

"And if she isn't, we still have Kathyln and Lunaris," Virion teased as he looked to her parents, earning him two sets of death glares.

—————————————————————

Arthur left the council very shortly after completing the discussion of him and Tess getting married so quickly. As he left the communication scroll Priscilla had earlier that the castle was supposed to contact went off, signaling they were ready with the supplies. Since he was already leaving Arthur took the liberty of hand delivering the scroll to Curtis so he could retrieve the supplies.

Arthur entered his apartment to see Tess sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, and both hands on Regis' back. In between his paws was Cadell's horn.

"They've been like that since shortly after you left," Sylvie commented.

"Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Nope. He's even been behaving."

"He knows when he can get away with goofing around. He knows this is important, so he'll take it seriously."

"So did they approve the mission?"

"Of course."

"Did you tell them how you were going to use fate against the other Asura clans?"

"Of course not," Arthur replied dismissively. "In their eyes the Asura are still our allies, and didn't you see how Virion still allied with them even after they destroyed Elenoir? No, there's no point telling them anything about the Asura, that loyalty they have won't break easily, and will only give us more headaches if we try."

After a few more minutes Tess' eyes began to flutter open.

"Hey Arthur," Tess greeted and stretched. "What time is it?"

"Almost lunch time."

"Really? It feels like it should be later."

Regis got up and stretched as well. "Well that was interesting."

"What was?" Arthur asked.

"We saw some of the scythe's memories," Tess finished.

"Sorry," Arthur apologized. "I should have been here. I had thought Regis would have been able to filter those out better."

"No it's fine," Tess replied as she crawled over to him. "Honestly I found it kind of interesting. He was a dedicated swordsman, I was able to experience him training. So if anything this was a perk. You said before I needed more experience to improve my own swordsmanship, so I feel like this will help a bit."

When she arrived she kissed him, then laid her head in his lap looking up at him.

"Well that's good. I'm happy you didn't get stuck with a homicidal maniac," Arthur replied as he stroked her head smiling down at her. "So are you done for the day? Or are you going to absorb some more mana from the horn?"

"Not sure, but I'm at least taking a break," Tess replied as she reached up, and pulled Arthur's head down so she could kiss him. "An Arthur break," she added after breaking the kiss.

He leaned back down and kissed her again. Soon Arthur was on top of her, their tongues swirling around together inside her mouth. Without thinking Arthur's right hand found her left breast and squeezed it through her dress. Tess moaned into the kiss, Arthur made a mental note of this for the future. She wasn't sure why she felt so compelled to make that noise, all she knew was that Arthur squeezing her breast felt good.

Tess' hands wandered up Arthur's tunic, gently going over his muscles as they continued. Arthur straightened up to remove his tunic, but stopped before he could pull it over his head and glared in front of himself with an annoyed expression. Curious what was wrong, Tess turned her head to see. Before them both was Regis with a lewd smirk staring at them.

"Don't stop on my account," he said wagging his eyebrows

"I know this is technically the kitchen, but it would be nice if we had a room with a door that closed for some privacy," Tess commented as Regis essentially ruined the mood.

"Why don't we go take a walk," Arthur suggested, his tone sounding disappointed. "There's something I needed to talk to you about anyway."

Arthur stood up, and reached down to pull Tess up.

"That sounds like a good idea," she replied as she was pulled up. Once up she gave Arthur one last kiss. "As much fun as that was, it was good that we stopped. My parents made me promise that we wouldn't do more than kiss till after we got married."

"Yeah, Gramps pretty much made me promise the same. Maybe that's why they're pushing things."

"What are they doing?" Tess asked.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Get your boots on and we can talk as we walk."

Tess quickly threw on her boots and the two walked out of the building, and started heading in the direction of a river that ran through the town.

"So what's going on exactly?" Tess asked as they walked.

"I don't entirely know why they're doing it this way, but they are trying to use our wedding to essentially boost morale across the continent."

Arthur then proceeded to explain everything that was said after he was asked to stay.

"Does that make sense to you?" Tess asked. "Could our wedding really help with everyone's morale?"

"In theory, yes. But they would need to draw so much attention to it that even the Alacryan's in Dicathen would know it's happening."

"Wouldn't that be kind of dangerous?"

"Obviously safety precautions would have to be put in place. Probably every Lance would have to be there, with most of them providing security, and the venue would have to be well stocked with guards as well. I would assume we'll get married in Elenoir, so that would take care of most of the risks."

"Then I guess the next question is, do you want to get married that fast? I mean, I kind of expected you were going to want to wait till after the war."

"Originally yes, I would have wanted to wait. But," Arthur wrapped one of his arms around her waist and held her a little closer. "After losing you, and thinking I'd never get you back, two months feels more than a reasonable amount of time to wait."

"Are you sure," Tess clenched her dress. "Sure that you're not saying that because of me?"

"Well of course it's because of you."

"What?!"

"I mean, I proposed to you so clearly I want to marry you, so why wait a long time?"

"No! I mean you're not saying this because you know I want to get married right away right?"

"So you want to get married right away too? You know Gramps said he could have a huge wedding ready in a week if we wanted."

"Too soon. I need time to find the perfect dress, I want all my friends there. There's too much to get done that fast."

"Then in two months you will become Tessia Leywin."

Tess blushed upon hearing him say that name. She had said it to herself several times in the past, but it never had the impact that it did now as Arthur said it.

—————————————————————-

"AHHHHHH!" A woman screamed.

Elijah shot up from his sleep and looked around. Upon arrival he had been placed in a room on the top floor of a building all to himself. There were guards there constantly, but by Arthur's order they left him alone, they didn't even speak to him. Only Arthur came to visit every day, and he spoke very little about what was going on with him and Tess.

Elijah got up, moved to the doorway, and looked out, no one was there. He moved to the exit to his apartment, no one was there either.

Then he noticed it. It wasn't completely quiet, he could hear noises coming from outside. Muffled screams and yells mixed explosions from spells. Despite knowing he would be useless in a fight while his mana was being suppressed by the collar, Elijah started running down the stairs. Once he finally made it to the bottom he froze, as he saw one of his guards propped up by a black metal spike piercing through his abdomen.

Cautiously he crept to the exit, and slowly looked around the corner. There before him was a sea of red, with black spikes jutting out and through multiple bodies. Elijah gulped as his body trembled, and took a step forward, then another, and another. He walked forward through the blood, fighting every instinct to run away from the sounds of the battle.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Another scream tore him from his fear, and sent him running towards it. This scream was different, it wasn't from an adult, but a child. Without using mana the run was exhausting, he felt as though his heart was about to burst from his chest, but he kept moving. Soon he found more bodies, but this time they weren't killed by spikes, but soulfire.

Two bodies caught his attention. One had auburn coloured hair and other had grayish brown hair, and scorch marks on their backs where they were struck by the black flames, before it entered their bodies and slowly killed them. Tears flooded his eyes as he approached, fearing who they were. They were both female, and judging by their size difference and the grey hair mixed into the taller looking one, they were mother and daughter.

They were face down so he rolled the smaller one over, and burst into tears as he saw Ellie's lifeless face. He looked to the other and shook his head, he couldn't do it, he refused, he didn't want to see Alice dead as well.

He pushed himself back up to his feet, and started running. As he ran he saw more and more bodies. As he approached the gate he saw the council members and guards bodies sprawled out on the ground with spikes stuck in their bodies as if they had rained down upon them.

A building suddenly collapsed, and he started running towards it. Once there he saw no signs of continued battle, so he climbed onto the debris in hopes of getting a better look. As he did he

froze in shock, as he saw Arthur impaled and breathing heavily. Quickly he made his way to him, desperate to try and save his life.

"Arthur?!" He said as he arrived.

Arthur looked over to him, blood pouring from the corners of his mouth.

"I trusted you. You were my friend. How could you betray us?" Arthur asked, then took his last breath.

"Arthur?! ARTHUR!" Elijah shouted and he shook his friend's lifeless body.

"Well that won't do anything."

Elijah spun around to see a tall young man with pale gray skin and sharp cold eyes. He was wearing black leather armor and boots, with a long black leather trench coat, and was holding Tess in his arms.

"Let her go Nico," Elijah spat, determined to try and save her.

"Why should I? She'll be mine soon enough." An evil grin formed on his face. "Maybe I should partake now?"

With that one of Nico's hands started going up Tess' inner thigh.

"NO!" Elijah shouted as he grabbed a chunk of debris and threw it at Nico, hitting him right in the face.

"Seriously? A rock?" Nico asked, without even a scratch on him. "Oh, I get it," he said with a smile. "You want a piece first. Well by all means."

Suddenly Tess collapsed into Elijah, causing him to wrap his arms around her to catch her.

"Nice hand placement," Nico said in an approving tone.

Elijah looked down over her shoulder to realize one of his hands was cuping her right breast.

"Ahh," Elijah panicked and tried to release, but was stopped as Nico's hand pressed down over his.

Elijah looked up in shock, Nico had cleared nearly ten feet in a second.

"Don't release yet, enjoy it," Nico said as he squeezed Elijah's hand, causing it to squeeze her breast. "That's right. I know you want to do this. She should have been ours anyway."

"No!" Elijah shouted as he jerked away.

As he did this Tess completely disappeared.

"No? You don't get it do you? If it weren't for Grey she would have been yours, just like how Cecilia would have been mine. Guys like him will always take the girls we love away from us."

"No, she wouldn't have been mine, just like Cecilia wouldn't have been yours. Tess met Arthur and fell for him years before I met either of them. I lost the race before it even started, which is better than you if you ask me."

"Excuse me?"

"Arthur told me, you met Cecilia at the same time, but she chose him first. You were her second choice," Elijah aggressively stepped closer. "Her plan B, after Grey rejected her love." Elijah stood nose to nose with Nico. "You're just pathetic. You can't stand that you were second pick, that now in a whole new life, you want to steal the woman who loves him, that he loves back. This feels more like a grudge against Grey than love for Cecilia if you ask me."

"Watch it, boy," Nico threatened.

"Or what? I remember now, this is my mind! Which means things go by my rules you whiny little bitch. Now you better get used to who's the boss here before I..."

Elijah stopped as Nico grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up off the ground.

"Did you honestly think you could just speak up against me and take over your half baked version of me? This isn't some kids cartoon here where as long as you believe you can win, this is real life. There is no good or evil, just the weak and the strong. The strong take what they want, while the weak just bow to the strong. Guess which one you are?"

Elijah fought against the hold, his legs flailing beneath him. He then kicked Nico in the stomach, but Nico just scowled.

"You will always be weaker than me, and I won't stop putting you through Hell till you start listening."

With that Nico's hand burst into a black flame, and Elijah's body was soon engulfed in soulfire, causing him to scream out in agonizing pain.

—————————————————————

Elijah suddenly shot up in bed, his body covered in a cold sweat. This was sadly completely normal for him these days as Nico refused to allow him a restful night of sleep. He allowed himself to fall backwards onto his bed, then began to panic as he saw the ceiling covered with black metal spikes. His eyes shot around the room, the entire room was covered in black metal spikes.

"Rawww!"

Elijah heard a battle cry and quickly looked to the doorway just as Regis arrived.

"I knew keeping you alive was trouble," he said in a low, threading voice. "I don't know how you managed to pull off using magic, but you won't get a second chance."

With that Regis charged forward using destruction, and began clearing a path through the spikes to Elijah, who just sat there staring at the aetheric wolf. In seconds Regis had cleared through the black metal and pounced on Elijah, pressing down on his throat with his paw.

His claws were still ignited with destruction and were only a hair way from ending Elijah, all he needed to do was apply more pressure. However he hesitated, something wasn't right, Elijah didn't look scared.

"Seriously four eyes? Aren't you even the slightest bit scared of dying?"

"Maybe, but I'm more scared of Nico," Elijah replied. "Scared of everything he could do if he were to get out."

Thanks to Arthur's memories he knew Elijah wasn't a bad guy.

He stared him down a few more seconds before he got off him and went back to destroying all the spikes.

"What are you doing?" Elijah asked.

"I'm choosing to be a benevolent wolf. I told Arthur and he said he'll be here in a little while, he's busy right now, and doesn't want to scare anyone that there may be a problem with you. So I'm cleaning this shit out so no one sees, and then I'm standing guard until Arthur arrives."

Elijah couldn't believe it, despite all the risks of keeping him alive, Arthur, his best friend, refused to ever give up on him. He wished that he could do more to help him at a time like this.