CHAPTER EIGHT.
diplomacy at its finest.

      MAX LET OUT A LOUD HUFF, " None of these people will even look at us for more than a minute. "

     " We must look intimidating. " Kanae decided, seeming unbothered by the statement. Max shook his head, black tendrils swishing back and forth, making him push his goggles further on to his head.

     " No, you look intimidating. " Max corrected, making Kanae glare up at him; he immediately nodded, " Yup, that's exactly what I'm talking about, stop doing that and maybe everyone wouldn't run away from us. "

     It was Kanae's turn to scoff, rolling her eyes as they continued aimlessly walking around the plaza. Still, she tried to lose the permanent scowl on her face as she insisted, " They're not running away— "

     " Shit! " Max exclaimed as a big ball flew right at them, his hand shooting out and catching it right before it could slam into Kanae's face; she barely flinched, her eyes following the bronze arm from in front of her all the way up to his face, nodding gratefully at him.

     He lowered the yellow ball from her head, tilting his head slightly as he stated, " See, now they're throwing stuff at us. "

    Kanae said nothing, but he could still hear the small growl she made when he turned to find the owner of the ball. His eyes easily landed on a young boy standing near a trash bin, his eyes widened considerably as he stared at the ball in Max's hand before he met the Vulcan's eyes. Max glanced over at Kanae briefly before he slowly walked towards the boy, offering him a warm smile as he approached. The boy looked frozen in his place.

    " Hey, this yours? " Max asked, and the boy hesitated before slowly nodding, his eyes darting between Max and Kanae; the Vulcan let out a small laugh, " Impressive arm. You nearly took my friend's head off. "

    " Sorry. " The boy muttered, and Max shook his head dismissively.

    " Don't worry about it, she's so hardheaded she probably wouldn't have noticed. " Kanae made a noise of annoyance, scowling at the back of Max's head as he ignored her. He nodded towards the ball and raised his eyebrows at the boy, " Here, catch. "

    As he tossed the ball back, the boy caught it with both hands. Max half expected him to take off sprinting the other way, but when he didn't, he was pleasantly surprised. He took another step forward, holding his hand out to show he was harmless, and he crouched down to the boy's height.

    " What's your name? " He asked, and the boy flicked his head, brushing the brown bangs from his eyes.

     " Jonah. " The boy answered firmly, and Max pursed his lips, glancing back at Kanae with a raised brow. She looked skeptical, but didn't say anything.

    " Okay, Jonah, we are on a very important mission, and we need to talk to some important people. " Max told him, watching the interest build on Jonah's face. " Can you take us to your parents? "

    Jonah seemed a little reluctant, but, as he thought it over, a small smile burst onto his face, and he nodded. Max couldn't help but grin back, rising to stand when Jonah placed his ball under his arm and grabbed the taller boy's hand with his other. Max was a bit taken back, but fought the initial reaction he had to pull away from the touch. He turned to look at Kanae over his shoulder, gesturing for her to follow him.

     Kanae looked less than enthusiastic, but she did look slightly amused at Jonah tugging on Max's hand as he led them through the plaza. Max raised an eyebrow at her as if to question what was so funny. She simply shook her head and followed after him. Jonah weaved them through the many Minervans heading back and forth between the buildings. Eventually, they were heading towards a small flower vendor, where dozens of different colored plants were bunched together in vases. A woman stood near the front, absentmindedly tapping her fingers on the surface of the vendor, looking off in the distance.

     " Mom! " Jonah called, making the woman glance over at the sound of his voice; long, black hair curtained her tan face as she saw the two unfamiliar teens walking behind her son. Her brows dropped in concern, and she rushed towards Jonah, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him away from Max and Kanae.

     Max raised his palms calmly when Jonah tried to protest against his mother. He side eyed Kanae, making her reluctantly copy his movements. Max looked to Jonah's mom with a softened gaze, saying, " We're not here to hurt you, we're here with the Silver Wolf to help. "

    She looked uneasy, her grip only loosening on Jonah's shoulders a bit at his words. She questioned, " Why are you here? "

    " We need to ask you a few questions. " Max insisted, quickly adding, " If that's okay. "

    Jonah looked up at his mom pleadingly, and she met her son's face with a sigh before turning back to look at Max and Kanae.

    " Make it quick. "

xxx.

     KP and Murphy had been following the princess through the halls of the castle for what felt like hours, neither of them speaking a word as she went about dully explaining certain portions of the building. There was no way Murphy was going to be able to slip away, though, because she kept glancing back at them as if she was making sure they were still there.

     " The castle was rebuilt after the Damning War, since it was destroyed by the Titans during the Battle of Minerva. . " As Ekko trailed on, Murphy tuned her out and shot a look at KP; the dark skinned boy glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow, silently questioning him.

     He pointed towards the princess, who was still talking about the destruction the Titan Army caused Minerva in the Damning War. KP shook his head, and Alec's eyes nearly bugged out in frustration as he wordlessly told him to talk to her. Every Minervan was smart, but Ekko was intelligent, clever, she probably knew they were up to something as soon as they left the throne room, so she wouldn't fall for it if Murphy just happened to disappear. He easily reached over and grabbed KP's jacket collar, pulling him towards him an inch as he mouthed, " Now. "

     KP opened his mouth to protest, but Murphy didn't wait for the princess to turn around to ruin it. He shoved KP toward Ekko, making him stumble into her. She reactively whirled around, glaring heatedly as she looked up at KP, who immediately started babbling apologies. While she was distracted with KP's unintelligible explanation, Murphy turned and nearly melted against the wall, slipping away and around the corner down the corridor they had just come from.

    " I am so sorry, I just tripped and, uh— " He apologized, shaking his head as he stepped back away from the princess, who crossed her arms over her chest after flattening her dress back out. KP suddenly stopped when he felt her just staring at him, mildly unimpressed. " Um, so, hey, what's that? "

    Ekko slowly dragged her eyes to follow his pointing finger to a sculpture standing near the wall. It was gray and looked to be of a man with curly hair and a thick jaw.

     " That's Kabir the Great. He is known for bringing the two groups of Minervans together by using their common interest in music. Instrumental sounds are a good background noise to have while thinking. " She explained, and KP was ready to blurt the first thing that came to his mind, even if it didn't make much sense.

     " Oh, so, kind of like Footloose. " He mentioned, eyebrows knitting together when he tried to remember what that movie was even about; he wasn't entirely sure, he fell asleep halfway through it, but he assumed that was the gist.

    " No one lost a foot during that time. " Ekko denied blankly, raising an eyebrow at KP, whose eyes slightly widened when he realized that she didn't know what he was talking about.

    " No, Footloose. It's a really old movie, you've never seen it? " KP was a bit dumbfounded, he thought every planet had the same movies. Why wouldn't they?

    " Movies. " She repeated, as if the word was foreign to her tongue; her face scrunched and she said, " You must mean the moving pictures. "

    " Well, yeah, I guess you can call them that. " He agreed, and the princess nodded evenly at that.

    " In that case, I have not seen this 'Footloose'. The only 'movies' on Minerva are ones that teach of battle strategy and speeches from past leaders. " She told him, and KP instantly frowned.

   " What? " He asked, shocked. " That means you've never seen any of the classics? They might be decades old, but they're still the best. Grease, The Breakfast Club, Alien— actually, that one might be offensive. "

    For the first time since they'd met, Princess Ekko looked amused at his babbling. A small smile lifted on her face as she looked at him with a quizzical expression. He cut himself off when he locked on to her look, shaking his head and lowering his eyes in embarrassment.

    " Sorry, you probably don't want to hear me ramble about movies that you've never even heard of. " He apologized, waving towards the hallway full of portraits and vases. " Uh, what about that one, does it have a— "

    Ekko surprised him into silence, placing a gentle hand on his gesturing arm. KP stopped with his mouth still open, glanced down at her hand, then back at the princess, who insisted, " Tell me more about this Alien movie. "

    KP's face grew into a wide, surprised grin, and as he walked side by side with the princess down the hall, attempting to explain the premise of the story, Alec was still sneaking along another corridor. There were many doors inside the castle, but every single one he tried was locked, and he was starting to get frustrated. He kept one hand along the wall, letting his palm scrape against the rough bricks just in case there happened to be a secret entrance or something.

    Oddly enough, there had been almost no guards marching through the halls, and Murphy was a bit worried that he would just randomly run into a big group of them while they were on break, and it'd be all downhill from there. He usually wasn't this lucky, but he wasn't banking on luck to help him find anything of importance.

    He had silently prayed to whatever gods were above that KP didn't give away anything to the princess. The pilot had nearly swooned as soon as his eyes landed on the girl, which made Murphy instantly understand that it'd either be incredibly difficult to distract her or insanely easy. He hoped it was the latter, because Mars would be disappointed if their first mission went awry.

    He exhaled through pursed lips as he continued down the corridor, his fingers catching on a few sharp pieces of concrete that had been jabbing out from the wall. There was another pair of doors near the end of the hall, one on either side, and he crossed his fingers that just one of them would open. When he got to the doors, he turned to his left and grasped the handle, closing his eyes tightly before twisting it.

     Nothing. It was locked.

    " Come on, " He muttered, turning towards the opposite door, placing one hand on the wooden planks while the other went to the door handle. He slowly twisted it, and, upon hearing a victorious click, he let out a quiet relieved breath and gingerly pushed the door open.

     Seeing as there was no one in the room, Murphy slipped inside and closed the door quietly behind himself. When he looked around, observing the long, oval shaped table in the center of the room, paired with all of the chairs and the papers thrown everywhere, he concluded that it was a conference room of sorts.

     He went to the stack of files and papers that were scattered along the circular table first, assuming that that's where any useful information would be. The room was dark, no windows to let any light in, but a candle had been lit near the table. He picked it up by its silver handle and carried it to the table before pulling out one of the chairs. The legs of the chair scraped against the floor, making him wince as he plopped down in it, setting the candle down after clearing a space on the table.

     Picking up a handful of papers, his eyes went zooming across the page. He leaned forward to use the flickering flame of the candle as light, careful not to catch the papers on fire as he read. Within the first two sentences he read, he realized that it wasn't some super secret information, it was a recipe for Killberry Cobbler. As annoyed as he was, Murphy still folded the paper and slid it into his breast pocket before moving on to the next set of files.

xxx.

      Kanae was pretending to idly be interested in the displays of flowers while Max sat on a bucket across from Jonah's mother, who told them to call her Francia. Jonah sat on the ground near her, bouncing the ball along the road while Max attempted to get something useful from Francia. He had to explain to her why they were there, trying not to freak her out in the process, but she seemed to take the information well. At least, she wasn't running off telling everyone and causing mass panic.

     " The King doesn't seem very concerned about the Titans. '' Max commented, remembering the man's odd, happy-go-lucky attitude; he looked to Francia with a questionable look. " Does he ever tell the people what's going on? "

     " Not usually. " Francia admitted, shrugging halfheartedly. " But, he doesn't really need to. Most of us have seen the Andromeda News broadcast, telling everyone to cancel traveling plans, or friends from other planets who have heard rumors come to tell us of it. "

     She glanced over at Jonah briefly, wrinkling her brows together in worry before leaning forward to speak, " They're coming, aren't they? The Titans, they wish to fight again. "

     Max held her eyes for a moment before leaning forward himself, resting his forearms on his knees as he firmly nodded. Francia straightened, a solemn look on her face as she took the confirmation.

     " We need help, then. Minerva won't survive another war if we can't get any more food. The people will refuse to fight. As much as we have a knack for strategy, it doesn't come without a cost. " She informed Max, who watched her intently, absorbing as much as he could.

     " Why isn't there food? " Kanae suddenly asked, twisting the stem of one of the marigolds in a nice, purple vase. She looked over at Francia, ignoring Max's questionable stare. " Minerva trades with Pax for your food, right? Why has Pax stopped doing their part? "

     Max slowly let himself look away from Kanae, turning back to Francia, who averted her eyes to the ground with a quiet sigh. Jonah still seemed unfazed by the conversation, but Max could tell he was still listening, taking in every bit of information they dropped.

     " Pax has been threatened by the Titans, or so I've been told. " Francia explained, glancing up and looking between Max and Kanae with a helpless glint in her eyes. " They were given an ultimatum: feed the enemy, become the enemy. They haven't traded with us for nearly two weeks now, and I couldn't tell you about the other planets. "

     " And Pax would listen. " Kanae added, directing her words more to Max than to Francia, locking eyes with him as she continued, " They're the Peace Planet, they didn't even fight in the Damning War. They gave the Life Alliance supplies, medicine and food. Amon is taking them out of the fight before they can do it themselves. "

      " And he's keeping them from helping at all. '' Max concluded, rising from the bucket as Kanae moved to stand next to him with a particular look on her face; the Vulcan turned to Francia with an appreciative look. " Thank you, Francia. We're gonna fix this, don't worry. "

     She gave him a nod, a ghost of a smile on her face as Jonah suddenly stood, widened eyes glued to Max as he questioned, " Are you leaving? "

     " Yeah, we need to go talk with the rest of our crew so we can kick some Titan ass. " Max insisted, earning a grin from Jonah; he leaned down towards him, grabbing his shoulder. " Protect your mom, okay? If you see a bad guy, just chuck that ball at them like you did earlier, they'll be out like a light. "

     Jonah nodded rapidly in response, and Max squeezed his shoulder before straightening back up, giving Francia one last nod before he and Kanae turned around and began to walk back down the path Jonah had taken them. Kanae walked close to Max, but made sure she wasn't close enough to accidentally bump into him, and she glanced up at him with a half-grin.

    Max looked down at her from his peripheral, asking, " What? "

    " Nothing, " Kanae insisted, keeping her eyes straight as they began to head back towards the castle, " just haven't seen you smile since we left Ceren. "

    " Yeah, well, I could say the same about you, kid. " Max grunted in response, not exactly knowing what to say, and the rest of the wall was in silence as the two of them tried not to focus on the fact that things were about to get really real, really fast.

xxx.

      Murphy had been reading for over an hour, and he still hadn't made any headway other than finding a few crumpled up speeches that had been discarded. He was unsure if the king had written them himself, but they apparently weren't good enough to be read aloud. Almost all of them, he had noticed, were about the food situation on Minerva, which had seemed to be going on for a few weeks without a known solution.

      He had cleared half the table when he decided to try a different method. He stood and kicked his seat backwards, ignoring the squeal it made this time, and he walked over towards the other end of the table. The bulk of the papers laid scattered and in no specific order, but he grabbed a handful of them and began flipping through them quickly, looking for anything specifically important: a special signature, a unique phrase, a symbol, anything that could show him something he wanted to see.

      Then, after a few paper cuts and nearly two dozen papers, something that he didn't want to see caught his eye. He felt frozen, unable to move as he stared at the black stamp in the corner of the flyer, the intricate design making his heart stop. He slowly plucked the thick paper from the pile, letting the others fall to the table as he quickly glanced over it. A hydra was inked onto the paper, but he forced himself to look at the actual writing that was just below it.

      As a warning to the 13 planets of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Coalition has generously sent every leader this letter. We are searching for a number of fugitives that have taken advantage of our hospitality, and we are providing a list of names below this message. As a sign of good will, the Coalition is issuing this as the first and only warning: if you are harboring any of these criminals, please alert the Coalition so that we can retrieve what is ours. If you are caught with said criminals and refuse to turn them in, you will be prosecuted under the felony of assisting a known convict.

     The Coalition thanks you,

     Harlan Riker.

     Murphy tilted his head up, closing his eyes and groaning inwardly as he finished reading. He didn't need to look at the list of bolded names below the sloppy signature. He was on it, probably more than once to get the point across. The warning wasn't dated, he didn't know when it had been sent out, but he was glad that the king was too enthralled with Mars to notice him now. He wondered if the Elders knew, and why they wouldn't tell the others. Should he tell the others? He didn't know, but he took the paper and slung his back off his shoulders, pushing it inside. Murphy placed his bag on his back again and headed towards the door.

     He leaned his ear to it first, waiting a few minutes in silence to ensure there was no one walking past to catch him. When he opened the door, it creaked quietly, but the hall was empty. He slinked out, shutting the door and jogging down the hallway in an attempt to find KP and the princess again.

     The gods must have had other plans, however, because he turned the corner and ran right into another body, sending both of them crashing backwards onto the concrete floor. Murphy huffed under his breath, pushing himself to stand as he looked in front of him to see Max sitting across him with a glare etched into his face, Kanae standing next to him with her arms crossed.

      " Oh, it's you two. " He commented, holding his hand out to Max, who made a sarcastic face before taking it and pulling himself to his feet; the Vulcan dusted himself off as Murphy looked between him and Kanae. " Find anything useful? "

     " Well, we think the Titan Army threatened Pax, which is why they're not providing food. " Max explained, and Kanae nodded in agreement.

     " Minerva might not be the only planet in need of food, either. " She added, raising an eyebrow at the Eol, " What about you? "

     He blinked at her before he told them, " Uh, not much. Whole lot of old papers and trashed speeches, seems like Maragos isn't the best at public speaking. "

     Max seemed to notice his subtle hesitance, but Murphy was relieved when they made brief eye contact and the former stayed quiet about his observance. He hurriedly jerked his thumb behind himself, wanting to get out of the situation as soon as he could.

     " Barnes is with the princess down one of these halls, Mars hasn't come out of that room yet. " He informed them, and Max raised his eyebrows as Murphy began walking down the hall; the other two followed behind him.

     " You think she's gotten anywhere with him? " Max asked, looking for a genuine answer.

     " I don't know, the King doesn't seem to be taking any of this very seriously. " Murphy replied, gritting his teeth when he realized the irony of his words, but Kanae didn't bring up their earlier conversation. " She seems to be his favorite, though. "

     " She'll be fine. " Kanae assured them, sounding surprisingly confident. " She knows what she's doing, whether she's aware of it or not. "

     " Yeah, well, I hope so. " Max commented as they rounded a corner; he quirked an eyebrow as he began to think about Murphy's words, " Why do you think he's all obsessed with her? "

     " He knew her father. " Kanae reminded him, but Max seemed unconvinced.

     " Yeah, sure, but is everyone gonna be like that? " He questioned, not really expecting either of them to answer that time. " That's a lot to put on her, we're supposed to be a team. "

     Kanae looked over at him and stated, " Not sure when you decided to acknowledge we're a team, but we'll help her when she needs it. "

     Max hesitantly nodded at her, and turned his attention back in front of him as they finally came across the doors to the throne room, which were guarded now by Nota and a Minervan woman, dressed in the same navy uniform. KP and Ekko sat on a small bench opposite the doors, talking quietly amongst themselves, and the princess laughed, catching the trio off guard as they approached. Max raised an eyebrow as KP finally noticed them, standing instantly and looking to them for information. Max tilted his head and looked past him to Ekko, who stayed seated, and her demeanor seemed to change again as she saw them.

     KP got the hint, and he looked back at Ekko with an apologetic expression as he said, " I have to—we have to go talk.. about.. saving the galaxy and stuff.. "

     Murphy nearly choked on a laugh, trying to stifle it when Max shot him a look. Kanae rolled her eyes and moved away from the guards, Murphy following her. Ekko nodded to him, a wordless gesture as she buried herself by looking down at the loose threads on her sleeve. KP walked over to Max, who grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to Murphy and Kanae.

     " You two really hit it off while I was gone. " He teased, and KP rolled his eyes instinctively.

     " It's easy when you don't have a thief breathing down your neck. " KP retorted, and Murphy feigned hurt, holding a hand to his chest and pouting.

     " Oh, I'm wounded. " He said dryly, lowering his hand when Max cleared his throat, making both the boys look at him.

     " If the Titans have Pax wrapped around their finger, we need a plan to free them. " Max insisted, and Kanae shook her head.

     " We can't help them until we have an army to back us up, that's the whole point of this mission. " She pointed out, " We're here to recruit troops, not play heroes. As soon as we get some back up, we can help the other planets. "

     " What if it's too late? " Max asked, looking at Kanae incredulously, " These people are running out of food, they can't fight if they're starving, which they will be by the time we need them. Pax has everything we need for battle, if they can't help us— "

     " They have everything except for the most important part of war: people. " Kanae reminded him, looking up at him with a hardened look. " The Elders are doing their best to alert Ceren, to try and set up some sort of base before we get back. They'll have a little manpower, but we need everyone for this. "

     " She's right. " KP broke their tense argument, making both of them look at him with expectant expressions. " We need to teach people how to fight before we throw them into a battle, and trying to save Pax won't do that. They're not ready, we're not ready. "

     Max clenched his jaw, and everyone was silent for a moment. Ekko had glanced over, eyes narrowed as she tried to decipher parts of their conversation, but as soon as Murphy turned to look back at her, she shifted her gaze.

     " We can finish this discussion when we're all here, but right now, we're here to get Maragos on our side. " He told them, turning back to them and looking amongst all of them. " Let's not jeopardize that, okay? "

     They all seemed to silently agree, and, just as they broke out of their little huddle, the doors to the throne room opened. The four of them lifted their heads to see Mars walk out. She spared Ekko a brief glance before she turned to look at the rest of her crew. The solemn expression on her face made all of their hearts drop simultaneously, but, as she moved towards them, a small smile expanded onto her mouth.

     " It's time to introduce ourselves to our new allies. "

xxx.