Kabuto stared at the flames of the camp fire, his head swimming with a mixture of thoughts. Everyone else had fallen asleep around him, their snores and tired grunts distracting him from thinking straight.

Carla laid on the ground snoring loudly with her arm behind her head. Reuben mumbled incoherently in his sleep, but Kabuto could tell he was having dirty dreams like the pervert Kabuto could tell he was. Alia had her head on Farkas, both sleeping quietly. Thorne had Harry clutched in her arms like a doll, the young necromancer's body curled up around her Familiar. Kabuto then looked to see Tak and Unie unconsciously cuddling one another as they slept soundly near one another. Kabuto chuckled silently to himself at the two. It was going to be interesting to see the two when they woke up to see one another in each other's arms.

His thoughts then returned to Stell. Conflicted feelings about all this made his head hurt about what to do about all this. He knew he should've been furious with her for being the reason Alabaster had a larger army than before, but at the same time he couldn't blame her. She was forced to do these horrible things. She was just a frightened kid like he was when he was younger. The only difference was that she suffered far worse than he did. He never wished anyone to go through what Stell had. The thought of being a slave and lying with those Mallors made his stomach turn.

The sound of shuddering and teeth chattering behind him made Kabuto turn to see Stell shivering in the dark alone. Memories flooded his mind when he was little. Frightened and cold, using caves as shelter, all alone in a kingdom out to get him because of the life he was born into. Stell wasn't even born into this life, the Mallors forced it on her. Kabuto wished she'd told the truth sooner so he wouldn't think such horrible thoughts about her when they met. If she just had told the truth, he would've been kinder and more understanding.

Then again, he didn't have any excuse for disliking her less for keeping it hidden. Even Tak didn't know most of Kabuto's secrets. He couldn't even trust his most loyal friend with his darkest secrets. And yet he was the reason Stell confessed to raising the dead despite knowing she could be sent straight to the Netherworld and forgotten forever. After everything she's gone through to be free and she'd just accept her punishment all because he was pressuring her to tell the truth.

Maybe Stell was right. All shadows were were the reason everyone else was suffering. He wished his father had told him how to deal with things such as this when he was young.

Stell continued to shake, holding her body as she unconsciously tried to warm herself up. Why couldn't she just lay next to everyone else? Kabuto understood that she wanted to be alone, but her survival had to be more important than her fear of everyone hating her. He then recalled how quick she was to allow everyone to kill her for her actions. Maybe she didn't even want to live anymore. Why would she want to live in a world that didn't even know it was after her?

Hesitantly, Kabuto undid the buttons of his shirt before taking it off completely and getting up from the ground. He gently placed the white clothing the Fairy Queen had given him on Stell, careful not to wake her. When her chattering slowly began to slow, Kabuto made his way back to where he had been sitting before she could wake to find out his shirt was keeping her warm.

He wondered if she'd accept his kindness now that he decided to let her live. He wondered if she'd think at least one shadow had a heart. He was raising Tak all on his own for God's sake. Alabaster would never take in a child to raise in a caring manner. Then again, Tak did continuously call Kabuto "Master". No wonder Stell thought all shadows were all in over their heads. Not even Kabuto could put himself in a title lower than some kid's guardian.

"She's quite the woman, huh?" a familiar voice whispered jokingly.

"Tell me about it," Kabuto replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He the jolted with a short cry as he looked to see Wendy sitting next to him, her body facing Stell with her head on her hand. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Just came to check up on my favorite little refugee," Wendy replied, turning her head to face Kabuto with a smile, "she's so cute when she's asleep!"

"Have you been watching her sleep since you met her?" Kabuto asked disturbed.

"Of course not!" Wendy laughed. "Just since she had a Silver Dream!"

Before Kabuto could ask, Wendy ignored him and went on with her chattering. "Have you been giving her your shirts since you met her?"

"Of course I haven't!" Kabuto shot, his face burning with embarrassment. "It's just for this one night! I couldn't just let her freeze."

"So you're not going to let her get hurt because you like her?" Wendy smiled.

"No, that's not it." Kabuto looked away, his face still feeling red.

"Then why forgive her so fast when she helped Alabaster?" Wendy presses. "Don't you hate her for growing his army? Aren't you angry she hates your people just because of what Alabaster's shown you?"

"I'm not angry at Stell!" Kabuto shot, trying to keep his voice low. "I'm furious with Alabaster for coming all the way here to kidnap some poor ass kid, force her to perform his filthy acts, and make her see the worse thing to come to Kespain and think that's all there is to it."

"Why do you care what she thinks about Kespain?" Wendy asked, a smile still on her scarred face. "Once she gets that Grimorie and you're sure she'll use it against Alabaster when she can, you two will most likely go your separate ways and she'll never go near Kespain again." Kabuto remained silent, looking behind him to the soundly sleeping Stell. "Unless, you don't want to say goodbye so soon?" she asked in mock questioning.

Kabuto looked back to the fire. "I just don't want to leave her thinking Kespain is full of heartless shadows. There's still so much even I haven't gotten to see that I wish I could. I want her to see that side of Kespain too."

"Well, even if she refuses, you'll still have the memories of being the first shadow to care what a witch thinks." Wendy stood.

"How much about Stell do you know?" Kabuto asked. "Why her? Why not some other witch?"

"Why indeed?" Wendy stretched her arms over her head. "I may have an unlimited library of knowledge, but that doesn't mean I can predict what path she'll take. Who knows, maybe she'll see the other side of Kespain like you wanted and will go to you for more information. All that really matters, I suppose, is that you both end up happy. Right?"

Kabuto looked to the ground. The witch had a point. He couldn't predict what Stell would want after she got the book. Even if she didn't want to at least try seeing things from his perspective, she'd still be home where she belonged. He wouldn't want to take that away from her like Alabaster had once. She got on his nerves and they were naturally born enemies, but if Tak liked her then she couldn't be as bad as he had originally thought. Hopefully, she thought the same toward him.

The shadow went to ask Wendy another question, but when he looked up, the Guardian's wife had vanished. He sighed in frustration at how often it seemed witches avoided any more important questions by just walking away.

He looked back to Stell, who remained sleeping contemptuously, curled up beneath his shirt. Kabuto then decided to put out the fire with his shadow and lie on his back, looking to the star filled sky.

Even if she doesn't want to see the better side of Kespain, Kabuto thought as he looked up at the two brightest stars near the moon, I hope we can still find an alliance with one another.