Hikaru and his siblings wandered the busy streets of Era. There were dozen of Rune Knights and people buzzing through, not caring about who was in their way. In retrospective, Hikaru felt a little offended nobody would even say 'excuse me' like they would around Astera or Hargeon. The cold air made all of them shiver except Hikaru. Quickly, they needed a place to stay and warm up for a bit. "Hikaru, we need to find a place to stop. Everyone's tired, there's a cafe right there. Let's just...go inside" she protested.

The fire mage sighed and hestantly followed her suggestion. He wanted to find answers and get them a place to stay. Things would be better if they just followed his plan. Inside the cafe, it was small and cozy with a menu full of drinks. Hikaru opened his wallet and nothing. Everyone else opened their wallets and managed to scramble enough to buy a slice of cake for the five them. All five of them had to split all the food as it was barely enough to fill them up, but it was better than nothing. Fin and Celest were still upset at Hikaru for nothing listening to them. As a last ditch effort, Celest decided to pursuade her older brother to stop.

"Hikaru, I know you want to help, but do you really think going to the Rune Knights is really the BEST idea? From our experience, they have been nothing, but cruel. They killed many people" she whispered. Hikaru coldly, stared at his sister. "That's what happens in war. People have to kill and be killed" he replied. He was so stubborn and a spitting image of his mother, but their mother was not naive. She knew the dangers of this world. He was too darn set into his belief to change. She sighed and ate her piece of cake.

"Swear, your more dense then lead," commented Fin. Hikaru pierced a daggering stare at his younger brother that caused Fin to chuckle and stare out of the window. Silently, Hikaru huffed and got up to go outside. He needed some space from his siblings. They all were angry for not going to Fairy Tail, where they knew it was the safer option. He hated them aruging with him. The teen leaned against the wall and stared up the sky wishing someone would help him out.

"Excuse me...young man" asked a middle-aged man. He seemed to be in causal attire of a normal citizen. Hikaru's face contorted into confusion. "Yes?"

The man raised his finger to Hikaru. "You remind me of the famous mage, LeeAnn Nakamura. The same eyes, hair, posture, its almost uncanny" he commented. Hikaru was about to reveal that he was her son, but refrained knowing that they were in deep waters. He smiled and laughed. "Yeah, I get that a lot. We have no relations. I am simply just another mage just getting by" he replied. The man seemed interested into him even more.

"You know, the Nakamura family has quite the history. They even have a mansion here. Hasn't been lived in for years. Thinks its right off of Corner Street and Market Ave? You should check it out, it's pretty cool. Anyways, have a good day" the man left on his way. Hikaru found this to be interesting, but was happy he was given that information. He excitedly bursted through the doors, letting in the cold air. His face beamed with excitement. "Hurry up! I have news on family. Let's get out of here" he cried. Every was rushed outside with Hikaru dragging Celest and Fin behind him then Hikari and Ren. They were outside when Hikaru was litterally shaking with happiness. "I heard from someone that the Nakamura family has a mansion here. We have a place to stay!" he cried.

While it was good news, Fin and Celest stared at each other then at Hikaru. "Are you sure? Did you mention the Nakamura family to him? I hope you weren't stupid enough to" she sighed. FIn scoffed. "I mean, I wouldn't put it past him" he retaliated.

"No, no. Someone stopped me telling me I look a lot like mom. He just mentioned the Nakamura family having a mansion here off Corner Street and Market Ave. Come on let's go" he spoke. He picked up Hikari and Ren into his arms and took off. "Big brotha, where going" asked Ren in his broken speech. Hikari screamed in anger. "Put me down! Now, Hikaru" she cried.

Fin and Celest knew they couldn't argue with their brother and followed him. It was quite the walk and by the time they arrived, Hikaru was already dragging his feet with the two youngest siblings still in his arms. Fin and Celest caught up with going their own pace. "Good job, idiot. Already tired huh?" Fin laughed a bit in his brother's misery. Celest elbowed him in the ribcage. They studied the state of the mansion. It didn't looked lived in, but was kept up a little. The gates were locked, but Celest took a pin. "Wait, are you going to pick the lock? Isn't that...bad?" asked Hikaru. Celest smiled and gave her brother a wink.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me. Also, it isn't breaking in if our family OWNS it. Okay? So stop getting your pants in a twist" she retorted. With a few tugs and pulls, the lock came open. Getting inside the house was a whole another deal since it was sealed with a magic lock. This took Hikaru's and Celest's knowledge togethe with her lock picking skills and his bookworm knowledge. With a lot of elbow grease, they were able to undo the spell. The door opened with a slow creek. Inside, there was clothes covering the furniture, dust covered window sills. It was just caked in dust. Had no one lived here for that long? Oh well, he walked in with his siblings. Everyone's eyes were widen with amazement. "Wow, this looks..."

"Old, dusty, unkept just like Hikari's room" Fin spoke rudely. The small seven year old puffed her cheeks and glared at her adopted brother. "Hhheeyyy, Fin! Your room was no better covered in old clothes. At least I dont do that" she replied, sticking her tongue out. Fin did the same as Celest whakced him on the side of the head. "Stop acting like a child, Fin. Come on, lets take a rest upstairs and explore she spoke. Fin rubbed the back of his head. Ren went with Hikaru as the others went upstairs to go explore. Hikaru stared at the old pictures of his mother who had long crimson red hair at the time. She looked to be happy in the Rune Knights with someone of pink hair to be much taller. "Was...that Uncle Hikaru?" he thought to himself as she continued to study it. He knew he was named after his Uncle Hikaru by his father, but didn't know much of him past that. He felt his robe being tugged and it was Ren pointing to something on the wall. "What's that, Hika" Ren asked in his squeaky voice. The older brother knelt down to see a award made how to somebody, but due to the amount of dust made it hard to see.

He wiped it off to see:


He started to notice how accomplished his Uncle really was. Maybe that's why his mother always seemed to talk about his uncle in such high regards. Putting hte award back, he turned to his younger brother. "It was an award our Uncle had for being...the best in his class when he was a Rune Knight" he answered. Ren seemed to understand a little bit, but not really fully. He didn't say a thing and continued to wander with Hikaru.

The toddler seemed to just wander around the house aimlessly. Hikaru followed him to see what all was in here. It seemed a relic of his family's past. All stored in here lost and forgotten. It wasn't until they stopped at another photo, this was of his mother with a man l, a white kitsune l, but seemed faded. A certain vibe it gave off cause his soul of shake a little. Ren cried happily a little making him jump. He turned around to see his younger brother jumping on the sofa. Hikaru paid no mind since he would be okay.

"Ren be careful" he spoke. He seemed to find more and more photos of their history in the Rune Knights. Everything seemed to reek the Magic Concil. He seemed more sure of his desicion now seding all of this evidence. Wandering further, he noticed his little brother now sleeping sounding. Hikaru took his brother's small head and placed a pillow underneath then a old dusty blanket over it. He sat down and let out a small sigh. It wasn't long before he notice something strange. A darkness looming in the room. His lion tail twitched out of nerves.

Quickly, the feeling itched under his skin like an unscratched urge. This caused him to cave in and decided to follow it. There was a certian photo graph that caught his attention. Inside the photo was one of his mother and his Uncle Hikaru at her graduation from training. Inside the picture, he could see a dark figure behind his mother and uncle. It was faded. The closer he stared, the more he noticed the faded shadow was moving. A static sound came into his head making his head feel fuzzy. Slowly, he could see the figure moving what it seemed to be it's mouth.

"Get ooouutttt" it groaned, quietly.

Hikaru squinted.

GGGEETTT OOUUUUTTTT" it screamed. His ears rang. The room started spinning causing him to stumbled and holding his ears. His head panged from the screeching. "What do you want?" he spoke.

Hika?

Everything was quiet.

Hikaru froze. His posture straightened and looked around the room, confused. Why did it stop? Cleaning his ears with his finger just to be sure. "Hika? Are you okay" squeaked Ren. Quietly, he stared at his little brother for a moment. He took a quick glance to double check if the shadow was there, but nothing.

"Nothing, Ren. I had a dizzy spell. Why don't we get you to bed" he spoke. He guided his little brother to bed upstair. There was a large room with sheets that were caked in dust. With one faile swoop, he moved the sheets off of the bed to reveal some nice comforters and pillows. Gently, he helped his younger brother onto the bed and tucked him in. A small chuckle came onto his lips seeing a small boy in a huge king-sized bed. Ren stared at his older brother with half-lided eyes. "Can you tell me a bed-time story?"

Hikaru thought of one that their grandfather, Connor, told him as a boy. He sat on the bedside next to him and leaned back on the headboard. "There was a young boy who lived with his mother ad sick grandmoher. His job was to deliver baked goods to the neighbors in exchange for money. A grumpy, old lady who lived on the other side of the village never liked visitors. Those who tresspassed were turned into a toad. The little boy had to make a delivery to that house. He-" he paused, as he heard snoring. Hikaru could see his brother already fast asleep. Gently, he slipped off the bed.

There were some cabinets in the room with drawers. He was quiet enough to snoop without making too much of a sound. Rows of files were sorted evenly amongst each other in aphebeticaly order. The tabs touched his fingers as he flipped through them reading stuff like "Meetings notes X776" or "Astrid's Training progress". It wasn't until he saw something that caught his eyes.


"Wait, was mom sick? She never mentioned anything about this" he thought. He pulled the file out, which was quite this. Perhaps the thickest one in there! Curiously, he sat on the best and began to sort through it. A lot of the papers were about two years after he was born, X780, and forward. Stuff about unknown illnesses, odd skin pigmentation, hunger strikes, and so much more. This was all within the span for four years, not to mention therapy bills and summaries. It seemed his Grandfather Nicolas had been busy keeping track of his mother during her younger years. His eyes wandered over the black printed ink. "Parasitic Plague?" he whispered in a odd tone.

"We don't know what to call the odd skin pigmentation. It's caused the victim to have mixed match eye colors with ghoul like cravings and pains if not satifised. While, it will not kill the victim out right, the pain might drive victim to go such lengths. Paitent has been placed in proper care for such measures and placed on anti-depressant medication as a preventative measure" he whispered. He shivered at the thought of such things caused a person to even think that. Hikaru couldn't even imagine. That was enough prying into his family's documentation, not for his eyes to see anyways. He placed it back where he had found it.