I stared at Serra as the kids, Uncle, and Tetsu ran off. Uncle and my future brothers-in-law truly were kids at heart.

"Are you okay?" I asked, placing a hand on Serra's shoulder while the others played in the arcade. "Don't like flashing lights and beeping?" I knew Dad didn't. He ran off once when I convinced him to let me play. That was back when Mom was still alive. Since then, I'd only been to an arcade a couple of times.

"It's not that. I was just thinking about how Con keeps getting hungry," Serra said, eyes downcast.

"He has a big apetite, but then again, veggies aren't very filling."

"Yeah, but do you think that's really it? I, uh, learned that Uncle had a similar issue. He needed energy to sustain himself."

"When was this? That you learned about it, I mean."

"Grandfather told me. Though, I noticed something was off when we were training in Xeleria. Despite his condition, he still fought."

I crossed my arms and sighed. "Seems he isn't so different from his wife after all."

He snickered. "Yeah."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Nor you."

Serra gulped. "Anyway, I'm probably needlessly worrying, like usual. Let's go join the others."

I grabbed his arm. "Normally, I would say that, but given what you said, it could be something more serious."

He sighed.

"It'll be best to try to get in contact with your grandfather again. He is the one who revived him."

"I thought of that, but how can I?"

"Contact Plu with one of the crystals. She did go back to Abyssia with your mom after all."

He turned to look at me and hugged me. "Great idea, Setty!"

My cheeks reddened. "H-hey, loosen up a little."

Serra let go of me and backed away. "Oh, sorry." He turned around and ran off. Sitting on a wooden bench, he took out one of the stones Takeshi had left behind.

"Piggy here!" my sister's friend said as a holographic-like image of her appeared from the stone. "Oh, Serra-Serra! Want to talk to Sel-Sel?"

"Actually, I want to talk to Grandfather."

"Papa? I can go get him. Well, try. Papa has been very busy."

Doing what? Us and the abysmals loyal to Reginald were merely in a ceasefire to focus on Margaret's side and her demonic allies. We would likely return to our war as soon as she was dealt with. If anything, Reginald's side was more dangerous. Or perhaps not. He wouldn't need to make peace with us if his forces were strong enough to deal with her by themselves.

Serra had said that the powers of the older abysmals were diminishing as they prepared to go into a slumber. But, why did they have to sleep in the first place? There was still so much that we didn't know about them.

I stared at Serrano.

It would be best to learn as much as I could about them while I could. I would be marrying one. Well, a quarter abysmal but the abysmal genes could still be more dominant despite making up a smaller percentage.

A tall, dark blue-haired man smiled at Serra. "Oh, hello there, Grandson."

I narrowed my eyes at him. The man acted just like his oldest son. I could still remember when I first met the guy.

***

[Years ago]

"Come on, Rosa! Catch up!" I yelled, running toward the front entrance. Nana had given us some money to buy ourselves some ice cream.

"It's too hot. How can you run this fast?" my little sister said as she carried her parasol with her.

I ran in place. "It's because I'm excited about getting some ice cream!" I turned around and ran again, only to hit something. "Who moved the wall?" I glanced up and saw a tall man in black.

"The grim reaper!" Rosa yelled, running away.

I backed away and raised some rocks. "Back away, reaper! I won't let you take my little sister or me!"

He laughed and knelt down. "So you're Setty. You remind me a lot of my dracoling."

I blinked. "You have a baby dragon? Can I see it?" I asked, jumping up and down.

He chuckled. "And my dog."

"You have a dog too? I wanna see it! I love dogs! Uncle Azami had a really fun doggy! Though, her name was rather uncreative."

"Doggo?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that was her name!" I narrowed my eyes as I raised my rocks a bit. "Ugh, I won't fall for your attempts to make me lower my guard, Mr. Reaper!"

He laughed. "You sure are as untrusting as your father."

My cheeks reddened. "I'm not like that grouchy old man!"

He tilted his head. "Old? Ouch, that hurts as I'm his age."

I crossed my arms. "I call him that as he's my papa! So to me, he's my old man."

He laughed and glanced at the stairs where my quivering little sister looked back from. Aww. Was she worried about me? Though, I would've felt better if she ran away entirely.

"That must be little Rosa."

Rosa yelped and ran off to find a new hiding spot.

The man laughed. "She looks a lot like Sofia but didn't get her courage at all."

I narrowed my eyes and punched him in the stomach, but my hand bounced off. "What? What kind of abdominal exercises do you do?"

He chuckled and winked. "That's a secret!"

I pouted and turned around. "Not that I care! I'm gonna go get Papa to kick you out! The old man isn't afraid of some creepy guy in a cloak!"

The man laughed. "Okay! I came here to see him anyway!"

What did he want with Papa?

***

['Present']

My eyes shifted to my exposed right ankle. Alma glistened in the light of the mall. Little did I know at the time that it was to make my angel tool.

"I wanted to talk to you about my brother," Serrano whispered.

Reginald gasped, his smile fading. "Did something happen to him?"

"I'm not sure. That's what I'll like to know. Lately, he's been very hungry. We were thinking that it could have something to do with his revival."

"We?" He turned and glanced at me. "I see. Hmm. Ifrit fused with him, so he should have some sustenance to move even when far from me. I think he'll be alright. Just keep feeding him."

Serra smiled. "You really think so?"

Reginald crossed his arms. "Well, I'm not completely certain. Conrad is a special revival. Under normal means, he's one of the few people that I shouldn't have been able to revive."

"Right, he's a Universal Seed, Mom said."

He nodded. "Well, half of one, but the point stands. Keep an eye on him. If you must, feed him some mana."

"Wait, why did your son need mana? Is he a 'Universal Seed' too?" I asked. Whatever that meant.

He shook his head. "His core got a crack in it, causing mana to flow out over time. Like a meat bag that loses too much blood, he needs mana. That's one of the reasons I put him in a long coma. Although..."

"Although what?" Serrano asked.

He closed his eyes and smiled knowingly. "It's nothing for you to be concerned about. It's a long ways off."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Ugh. I hated enigmatic guys like him. Why did they feel the need to make a show about everything? While I disliked my dad for being hard to read, at least he didn't taunt people by using secrets as carrots and sticks.

"I see." Serrano sighed. "It's nice to know that Uncle's well."

Reginald turned around as a figure in black stepped forward. It stopped as soon as the abysmal leader raised an arm.

I narrowed my eyes. Other than him there were two others. Who were they? Were they people we had met before?

"Setty, Serrano?" a voice called out. I turned and saw Hyosetsu walk over with my sister and the others who had gone shopping.

"Reginald," Rosemary said, eyes wide as she stared at the man in the crystal.

Reginald's hologram turned and waved. "Ahh, Rose. Long time no see."

Juniper glared at him. "Don't talk to her so friendly! We know what you're up to! How dare you threaten the world of your deceased wife? It takes a real jerk to do that, you know?"

The King of Abyssia closed his eyes and chuckled. "Indeed." He opened his intense eyes. "I am a jerk. It's a necessary evil to save that which I love. Neither Margaret nor you will stop me from fulfilling my objectives." He turned to look at Serrano. "Remember what Mason told you? Hope that you've made a proper decision, Grandson."

Serrano frowned.

What Mason told him? Who was Mason anyway? Was he one of the people in black behind Reginald?

I raised a brow as the tallest of the three faced Kohri, Hyosetsu, and Miyuki.

The shortest of the three, who appeared to be the lone female, looked back and forth between me and Rosa. Who was she? Something about her felt familiar. Almost nostalgic.

"Well, see ya!" Reginald said, forcing a smile and waving.

"Wait! If you wanted to destroy Zionia, why did you aid my brother years ago against Kasai no Ki?" my grandaunt asked.

He crossed his arms and smirked slightly. "That was another time. Plus, I figured I would use the war for my own devices." He stared at me and gave me a toothy smile. "The tools to defeat the traitor are in place now."

My eyes widened. What did he mean by that? Did he arrange for things to fall into place as they have?

"Huh? You knew that there was one? Why didn't you root her out before?" Anis asked.

"Oh, if it isn't my daughter-in-law. Surprised you're speaking so casually to me."

Anis put a hand on her chest and took a deep breath. "You're a strange man, Reginald. I felt that when we first met. But you have the same vibe as your son. You don't do things without a reason. While the means might be repulsive, the cause itself isn't."

"He did say that he sealed his son to save him," I said.

Regi's smile faded. "Please, do not see me as a hero or even an anti-hero. I would prefer you all continue to see me as a villain. After all, that's what I am."

"You're beating yourself up just like Shi," Anis said, furrowing her brow. "Now, answer me. Why didn't you take down the traitor when you could've done so?"

He sighed and touched his eyepatch. "It's because, I couldn't see their identity. I did figure that it was one of the demon siblings, though. But it could also have been any of the other Pillars. Including those who have already fallen asleep. I didn't wish to build mistrust in my organization by throwing out what at the time were unproven accusations."

So, the same reasoning as my father not calling out Prime Minister Itou's fishiness. That would've made things more complicated. The old me would've said to just purge and find proof later, but given what happened with Tetsuya... I could no longer believe that. Everyone had a right to a jury as written in the code of law established by my royal predecessors.

Hyosetsu sighed. "If you think things will happen as you want them to, you're mistaken. Even the most perfect of plans is doomed to have a few kinks in it."

Reginald smiled. "Alas, that's why I have backup plans for my backup plans and so on."

Serrano stared at the crystal as it turned back to normal.

Hyosetsu glared at the now plain crystal. "That guy rubs me the wrong way."

Rosa nodded.

"Same here. He's as unbearable as some of his kin," I said, shaking my head. I stared at Serrano. He had been silent most of this time. What did he have in mind?

He stood up and smiled. "Let's go join the others now."

"Okay." I followed him slowly. "Serra. If you have anything on your mind, please share it."

He put away the crystal. "I'm trying to think of how to outdo that man." His eyes were stern and distant as if his mind had gone into overdrive. "Yet, all I can come up with is intercepted by a means of stopping it."

"As I said, no plan is without kinks," Hyosetsu said, walking in with Rosa, Kohri, Onami, and Yuko.

I smiled at him. "Want to join us?"

He stared at the bright light and blaring noises. "No. I just thought that I would say something as I noticed your groom was a bit off."

"Thanks, Hyo. I appreciate it."

Rosa giggled. "Hyo is a softie."

Kohri put an arm around him. "He sure is!"

Hyosetsu glared at him. "Let go of me. Also, I'm not soft."

Kohri punched him on the chest lightly. "We mean it in a good way, Bro!"

"He even helped Yuko out by stopping the bleeding of Yuko's wound in the tower," Yuko said, beaming.

Serra took a deep breath. "The tower..."

"What's wrong?"

He tapped his head. "I still feel that something else happened there other than our encounter with the archdemons, but I can't recall what."

I frowned. Nothing had come to me either. What had we forgotten and why?

I closed my eyes and the image of Camio came to mind. Camio! It had something to do with him! If we could capture him, we could get him to talk.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the episode ^^. Sorry for the long wait. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**