Chapter forty three- Brewing Misunderstandings

"Master, it's time to get up," Rider stood leaning against the doorway to Muu Alexius' bedroom, his arms crossed over his chest casually. The sun was just rising, casting strips of light through the closed shades on the other side of the room across the floor and bed.

On the bed lay Muu Alexius on his stomach, arms buried under the pillow and his hair sprawled across the sheets. He groaned at Rider's voice, shifting so he was facing away from him.

With a small smile, Noah spoke again, "I've come up with some plans for the war and would like to go over them with you. You can't stay in bed all day anyway, Master."

Another groan. "Stupid war," Muu grumbled into the pillows, hugging them closer. "I want to go back to Rome already..."

"You can't leave Japan, Master."

"Says who?"

"The Holy Church."

"You mean Sinbad? I'm sure he's broken most of the rules already, who cares if I do too?" Muu reluctantly sat up, running a hand through his long pink hair, only making it more tangled.

Climbing out of bed, Muu groggily walked over to his closet and got dressed as he spoke, "So, what have you come up with, Noah?"

"Right." Rider stood straight as Muu finished getting ready, following him out of the bedroom as he began his explanation, "I know you're not fond of fighting children, nor am I, so I decided leaving Alibaba Saluja, Hakuryuu Ren, and Judar alone for now was the best option-"

"After what happened to Hakuryuu, of course that's the best option," Muu agreed almost bitterly. "Where does Sinbad -and Archer, actually- get off on torturing kids?" He shook his head, walking over to the coffee pot in the small kitchen of his rented condo. He began making coffee as he listened to the rest of Noah's plans.

"The only other targets then are Kouen Ren and Sinbad. I'm sure you agree that the latter is far more of a threat than the former."

"I agree. What are you suggesting?"

"We could ally with Kouen, though I'm not exactly comfortable with it."

"Do you think he'd want to ally with us? It seems unlikely."

"We have a common enemy," Rider reminded.

Muu nodded, glancing at his servant, "Yes, but will Kouen see it that way?"

Rider shrugged, "We won't know unless we try. He shouldn't have any quarrels with us anyway."

~

"Are you ready Semiramis? I'd like to get this over with," Kouen asked his servant as he adjusted the white vest he wore open over a dark short-sleeved shirt. Koumei stood beside him silently, already ready to go.

"W-Where are you going?" Kougyoku asked nervously, her pink long sleeved shirt covering her hands and then her mouth as she raised them to it. She cautiously entered the room, gasping as Kouha ran up behind her and casually plopped an arm on her shoulder.

"Yea, where're ya goin'?" He asked. He had a lollipop in his mouth which he pulled out momentarily to speak before returning to sucking on it.

Kougyoku flinched under his weight, tempted to pull away or push him off. She ended up just standing there, letting him do whatever for fear of him reacting negatively.

"We're going after Muu Alexius and Rider," Semiramis explained evenly.

"Mei too?" Kouha frowned. As far as he knew, Koumei wasn't a mage nor of any use in a fight.

"He's the one who came up with the plan;" Kouen spoke, "he'll serve as support from a distance. He knows some magic."

"You never told me that, Mei! I want to learn magic too!!" Kouha pulled away from Kougyoku, walking closer to his older siblings as he complained.

"You can't," Koumei replied flatly. "There's only supposed to be one mage per family, and we're already breaking that rule."

"We should get going," Semiramis reminded, cutting Kouha off who had opened his mouth to complain more.

"Yes," Kouen agreed. Turning to Kouha and Kougyoku, he said, "Stay in the mansion until we return."

Kouha pouted, yet agreed, while Kougyoku agreed without a second thought. Neither humored the possibility of Kouen and Caster not returning. They each silently went back to their daily activities without another word to each other. Neither could bare the thought of the plausible worst-case scenario.

They'd be back. Kouen would win.

Right...?

~

Solomon and Sheba's warm welcome to their son and his friends was short and bittersweet, the weight of recent events resting too heavily on their shoulders to allow them more than a few moments of happy introductions. Their talk was mostly in English -as Titus and Sphintus didn't know Japanese,- until Aladdin noticed Morgiana and directed his attention to her.

He had been surprised when Morgiana stepped forward to introduce herself to Sphintus and Titus, immediately asking if Alibaba was around as well. The air instantly grew even heavier, Aladdin's parents and Morgiana alike unsure how to respond to him.

"He..." Sheba started, her nervous gaze searching Solomon's for help.

Solomon let out a small sigh, turning to Aladdin himself, "After an attack from Sinbad, Alibaba fell asleep and hasn't woken up since. It's been a few days now, yet he is still unresponsive."

"Saber's still around, though," Sheba added in an attempt at bringing hope to the conversation. "He hasn't dematerialized, and is still receiving mana from Alibaba-kun, so we know he's still fighting."

"Could I...have a look at him? Alibaba, I mean." Sphintus stepped to stand in front of Titus, who was lost in his own crisis. "I've been learning life manipulation magic at the college for a while now, I might be able to help. Or at least figure out what's wrong with him."

"If you think it'll help," Sheba shrugged, then led the group to the guest room of the house.

Inside the bedroom lay Alibaba on double bed and beside him, sitting on a chair pulled up to the bed's edge, was Saber with his head in his hands. He looked like he was sleeping, but perked up instantly at the sound of Sheba's light knock, followed by her quietly entering the room.

"Oh, hey," Saber stood, mustering a smile for the gaggle of teens that had entered the room. He placed his hands in his jean pockets, casually asking the group, "What's up?"

The servant had adopted the idea of casual human clothing shortly after realizing Alibaba's condition, figuring if he was going to sit around for a while he might as well do it comfortably. Paired with his blue jeans he wore an orange "Camp Half Blood" tank top, which Sphintus stifled a laugh at seeing.

Sphintus nudged Titus with his elbow, whispering, "You think he knows what that's from?"

Titus didn't resist the gesture at all, rocking on his feet from it. He shrugged, barely casting a glance at the servant's attire, "Probably not."

Sphintus frowned at the blond's half-hearted reaction yet pushed it aside for the moment, turning back to Saber He explained to him his intentions of healing Alibaba and asked for the servant's permission. When Saber agreed, Sphintus moved to look Alibaba over.

"It looks like someone's placed a sleeping spell on him..." Sphintus deducted after a few moments. He placed a hand on Alibaba's neck, finding his weak-but-steady pulse, then moved his hand over the master's chest. "He's stable, I guess, but whoever placed the spell is likely the only one who can release it... It looks like the caster was a very strong mage, I can't trace it at all..."

"It was Sinbad," Saber said, growing annoyed just by saying the master's name. "He's a pain in the ass and uses powerful illusion magic. This seems a bit different, though..."

"Sinbad? I've never heard of him. Is he a master too?"

"Yea, he's Archer's master," Saber confirmed. "He was a master back in the sixth war too; we'll explain that later."

Sphintus nodded, "Alright." He cast a glance at Titus, growing concerned at the mage's far-off look. Tearing his gaze from him, Sphintus looked to Saber again, "There's nothing I can do for Alibaba right now, I'm sorry... but there are other matters we have to attend to."

"Oh?" Saber tilted his head to the side. He was leaning up against a tall bureau, arms crossed over his chest. He wasn't phased by Sphintus' inability to help. "Why are you here? You're all studying at the Mage's Association, aren't you?"

"We are, but we traveled to Rome because of..." Sphintus trailed off, looking to Titus. The blond's eyes were clouded, and he stood slouched over beside Aladdin. "Someone attacked Titus' home in Rome, and we came here to tell his half-brother about what happened, and because he's Titus' legal guardian now."

Saber's eyebrows rose, realization washing over him. "Who's his brother, then? We could help you look for him." His eyes flickered over to Solomon and Sheba, both which already knew the answer. A frown. "Is he a master? Not Sinbad, I hope."

"No, he's Muu Alexius."

"Rider's master?" Saber let out a sigh, "Man...Rider's a pain to deal with. But he wouldn't attack if he knew it was you, right, Titus?"

Titus' head rose as if it were attached to strings being pulled by a puppeteer, his pale blue eyes landing on Saber. He hadn't said a word, nevermind moved, in quite a while, concerning everyone. "I think Kouen Ren and Caster are after Muu."

~