"Hideo, it's almost time for the funeral," Amun called out as she poked her head into the room. She was a blond girl two years younger than Dan with wavy hair and bright green eyes like a well watered lawn. Usually one would see her wearing all red, but today she was wearing a black coat and black skirt. Though, she did have a necklace with a tiny flame to add a splash of the color to her outfit.

"I'll be there in a few, sis," I said.

"Okay, meet us in the living room," she said as she back away slowly.

"Alright."

I stared at myself in the mirror and fixed my green tie, the only splash of color in my own black ensemble. Not that it needed any fixing to begin with, it simply helped me calm down. These past few days I had been crying a lot, despite my best efforts not to do so.

I sighed and walked out of the room as fast as I could. As I descended the stairs, I saw that the entire family was in the living room, besides Kiara and Dan of course. I gasped. No, there was someone else who was missing.

"Hideo, have you, have you seen Dossie?" Mom asked, glancing up at me. Her eyes were red from all the crying. It had taken her awhile to fully process that Dan was gone. Though I had a feeling that it hadn't completely settled in. Like me, she held the faint hope that he was alive.

"She wasn't in her room, I thought that she might've been with you, Hideo," my sister said.

I shook my head and looked around. "Where could she be?"

"M-maybe she went outside?" Nate suggested.

Hearing him stutter like that made my heart ache. It only served to remind me of our brother.

"I'll go check if she's there," my dad said as he headed to the door.

I glanced up at the stairs. "All of you go on ahead. I'll be right there," I said.

"You think she's still here?" Dad asked, furrowing his brow. There was sadness in his bluish-green eyes.

"Maybe. It'll be best to give it a look," I said before rushing back upstairs. I headed straight to Dan's room. The door was partially open. The only one who had been inside his room since his death had been my parents, well specifically my mom who would begin to talk to Dan's deck as if it were him. One time I over heard her say that we're waiting for him to return, wherever he may be. It... it was heartbreaking, seeing her like that. Though if she didn't do so, it probably would be me doing that.

Dad would accompany her to try to cheer her up. But the two of them usually made sure to locked the door behind them. Especially since my brother Silas wanted Dan's stuff. Unlike Alex, Nate, and I, he wasn't very fond of him so he only saw his things as items rather than precious mementos.

I slowly opened the door just in case Dossie was behind it.

I smiled as I saw my little sister. She was hugging her griffin plush which she had originally gotten from Dan. As a baby she always tried to grab it. Dan eventually gave it to her.

"Is it really not my fault?" she asked, sniffing as she continued to hug her plushie.

"Huh?"

"Dan's death. It's my fault isn't it? Papa says its not, but I think it is..." she said, lowering her head.

"Of course it's not," I responded. What would make her think that?

"B-but Dan went hunting with you because... because he didn't want to play with me. If, if I hadn't asked him to play with me then he wouldn't have gone out and gotten kidnapped. You wouldn't have become one of the five knights, and he wouldn't have accompanied daddy to that palace. Then he wouldn't have been taken," she muttered.

I smiled forcefully. "In that case, it's more my fault than yours. I was unable to protect Dan in all those occasions..."

"But big Hideo tried his best to protect big Dan," she said, her eyes teary.

I nodded as I squatted until I was at her eye level. "Yeah, but it wasn't enough. Perhaps, if I had trained my wind powers more to the point that I could sense vibrations in the air, instead of playing video games, I would've been able to have saved Dan from being kidnapped by who would later turn out to be our aunt. If so, I wouldn't have needed to become one of the five."

Not that having become one of the five had made me much stronger to begin with. For a weapon that was supposed to possess incredible powers, Donato and the other weapons were rather lackluster. Then again, perhaps, we simply had yet to tap into the power they possessed.

I touched her tiny hand and smiled. "So, please don't blame yourself. His death isn't a weight you should carry on your shoulders, but mine. So, cheer up," I said, wiping her tear stained face with my free hand.

She smiled slightly and nodded. "I... I'll try to be strong!"

I chuckled. "You are strong, for a little girl."

Dossie giggled. "I still have a long way to go, to be as strong as Dan, Kiara, and you."

I gasped. "You think of us as strong? Really?"

She nodded. "Dan fought until the very end, didn't he?"

"Y-yeah, he did." I smiled. "He was actually pretty brave."

"While Kiara is fearless! She can leap off cliffs on her skateboard without blinking!"

"That she can... Though, every time she does, she nearly give me a heart attack." Kiara... I still needed to save her. After the funeral, that was what I was going to set out to do.

"While you are a reliable big brother despite your temper," she said, hugging my leg like a cute, soft puppy.

I grumbled. "That's it?"

She giggled. "Yup! I... I want to be reliable too. For when the baby is born, and for you big ones too!"

I smiled and patted her head. "I see. I look forward to it." I really could use someone to rely on. Usually, those two were Kiara and Dan... but one was somewhere in an alien world, and another was no more.

I stood up fully and grabbed Dossie's hand and walked out of the room. As I was about to close the door behind us, I noticed that Dan's deck was missing from his desk. Last I saw, it was still where he had left it.

"H-hey, Dossie?"

"Yeah?" she asked. "How did you get inside?"

"The door was open. I saw Silas walking out. Think he was the one who opened it."

Silas...

I took a deep breath. Now wasn't the time to go off on him, not with Dossie around. I would be sure to question him when none of the younger ones were around.

The two of us descended the stairs. Standing on the lowest step was a fourteen year-old boy with light brown hair and golden eyes. He looked up and smiled.

"Looks like you finally made it," the boy said, grinning. He held a black box in his hands.

I clenched my hands into fists. "Dossie, can you go on ahead of me? I'll like to talk to Silas," I said.

Dossie nodded and ran off without me.

Silas raised an eyebrow and turned around. "You're letting Dossie go by herself? What if the rebels kidnap her. Even though that woman who claims to be our aunt stepped down from the organization, they've still continued their attacks. Though they're now less frequent and clumsily done."

I shifted my eyes back to Dossie as she was jumping in order to open the door. "On second thought, I'll just wait for after the funeral. For now I want you to return that where you got it from."

Silas scoffed and walked past me, unlocking the door for Dossie. "Really, what makes you think that I'll be afraid of you? You might be older than me, but that doesn't change a thing."

I gritted my teeth together. "Don't you care about Dan?" I blurted out, causing Dossie to jump. I took a deep breath to calm down.

My brother shrugged. "What's with that question? You know that I never cared for him. Frankly, I'm kinda glad that retard is dead."

Dossie let out a scream. I had sent Silas flying out of the house without even realizing what I had done.

Silas rubbed his face and smiled even as he bleed. "Not bad, big brother. You have gotten stronger, but..." Tree branches erupted from the ground directly beneath his feet. "I won't lose!"

"Tsk. You're seriously going to pull this on this day and when Dossie is here?" I yelled, stepping in front of my frightened little sister.

My brother grinned. "Alright, we can save our fight for after we bury the empty casket." He sighed. "Honestly, I don't understand as to why you're still first in line. Father should just skip you over and make me the heir."

"You're forgetting about Kiara," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Kiara likely won't be coming back. You, yourself said that Dan was caught while trying to escape."

I hated it. I hated to admit it, but he was right. Kiara likely wouldn't return.

I glanced up at him as the roots he had drawn up retreated to the ground. "You know, I never did like you either. You've always been a brat, nothing like Alex, Nate, or Dan."

Silas scoffed. "Well, I certainly am glad that I'm nothing like Dan or else I'll be talking like 'B-b-big b-brother, y-y-you s-s-so c-c-ool!' Yuck! That guy was fifteen, yet he acted as if he were Nate's and Dossie's age."

Wind danced around me. "Satoru should've killed you!" I yelled.

Silas' eyes widened. His smile vanished. Roots charged at me. I sliced them down with blades of wind and ran at him. I summoned Donato and pointed at him from several feet away.

"So you hate me this much, huh?" Silas said. I might've been imagining it, but there was what sounded like a hint of sadness in his voice. "Well, go ahead and shoot if you dare!"

"Stop it!" Dossie yelled as she stood by the entrance of the mansion. "Don't kill Silas! He's your brother too!"

Silas chuckled and lowered his head. "He never cared for me... All his attention went to that retard..." Tears dripped down his face. He threw Dan's box of cards at me which opened midair, sending its contents flying in all directions. He turned around. "My mom, my dad, and every single one of you... None cared for me... but... that retard, he... he was loved." He fell to his knees. "Or maybe it was because I... I was born as the fourth. The number of death. How ironic though, that the third one was the one who died."

"Silas," I said, lowering Donato. "Listen, I never knew that you felt that way."

He scoffed. "Of course you didn't! You only ever paid attention to the others!"

I returned Donato back into its necklace form. "Well, you never did make it easy for us to approach you. Plus, you've always been popular at school, while Dan had to quit school because of bullying. So, I figured that you didn't need as much attention from me."

"Those imbeciles aren't my friends... They're leeches!" he screamed.

"I knew that I wouldn't be returning home at a happy moment, but I didn't expect to see this," a voice called out. All three of us looked up at the roof of our mansion and saw Kiara standing at the edge. 

**Solar Questions: Thoughts? Predictions? Theories?**