"Father," Aislinn says coldly and turns around to face the man behind us, which makes the rest of us who haven't already turned turn as well.

The man before us has wavy inky black hair and cold blue eyes, vastly different from his wife's and daughter's yellow eyes.

"What did I say about returning here?" he raises his eyebrows and crosses his arms in his neat black jacket which compliments his white dress shirt, black dress slacks, fancy dark grey wrist watch on his left wrist, and black dress shoes.

"Mother said--" Aislinn starts and he holds up a hand.

"I don't care what your mother said and I don't care what your reason for being here is," her father interrupts her and she clenches her jaw, "you are not allowed back in this house, nor are you allowed to use our family name or crest in any way shape or form. You are cut off from us. Don't you understand that? Or are you really that daft?"

"Oi," Phoenix snaps angrily and steps forwards, "don't talk to your daughter like that."

"I'll raise my child however I like," Aislinn's father narrows his eyes at Phoenix, "and just who might you be?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Phoenix snorts, "you think I'm telling you who I am just so you can make a call to one of your friends and ruin my life? No. I'm not that stupid, Mr. Frigid. You already ruined my family enough, what more could you do?"

Aislinn hangs her head and clenches her fists tightly before she looks up, anger burning in her gaze.

"Phoenix--" Tsukumi starts, her eyes sad as she glances between Phoenix and Aislinn's father.

"I'm glad your daughter is nothing like your corrupt and crooked family. It's a shame you can't see how well she actually turned out all because she didn't want to be like you," Phoenix sneers and turns on his heel before walking out of the castle, the doors slamming shut harshly behind him.

"Leave at once," Aislinn's father narrows his eyes, "at least Mercury made the right decision."

"Take that back," Aislinn snaps angrily, stepping forwards and Reine's eyes widen while Dimitri scowls and Ciana gasps, covering her hands over her mouth, "you have no right to speak about him!"

"Leave," Aislinn's father waves a hand dismissively and he turns to walk away.

"I said," Aislinn's eyes burn angrily as she draws her longsword and points it at her father, her head held high, "take that back."

Aislinn's father turns to the side and his eyes widen upon seeing her weapon drawn.

"Aislinn, be rational--" he starts.

"I am done with being rational. I am more than you'll ever be and you are not allowed to speak his name. You never loved him when he was alive, so you're not allowed to sully his name by using it when he's dead. You cast me out simply because I refused to follow your orders and your way of life. I have had enough and I will no longer take your abuse!" Aislinn shouts and swings her longsword through the air, sending silver energy flying off of it and crashing into the staircase, which cracks in half, "this house is not a home and it never will be! The only people who ever looked out for me were Hilda and Mercury, and you fired Hilda and drove Mercury to death! You may be my parents, but you have never loved me."

"Aislinn!" Aislinn's mother comes running out from the kitchen, her eyes wide, "stop this at once!"

"I will," Aislinn says firmly, lowering her weapon and turning sharply on her heel, "but only because I'm better than you."

Aislinn walks out of the castle and we all stand there silently, looking disapprovingly at her parents who are now standing side by side with her mother looking shocked and her father looking beyond angered. I shake my head in disappointment at their behavior before I make my way outside to try and talk to Aislinn, the others following suit. Phoenix is still outside as well, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes closed as he sighs. My eyes then lock on Aislinn, who's standing on the slightly elevated platform outside the door just before the frozen fountain, her long wavy hair blowing in the wind as her fists are clenched at her sides and she's looking up at the mountains in the distance. Aislinn briefly glances down before she turns to the side and looks at the rest of us, her expression wavering between neutral and troubled.

"Let us...go somewhere else for now," Aislinn says slowly, clutching at her longsword, "I know of another place we could stay, but I didn't wish to trouble her."

"Wherever you go, we will follow," I say and Aislinn's lips twitch into the ghost of a smile.

***

"Here we are," Aislinn breathes out as we walk through the portal to a small village in the mountains.

In front of us stands a small little brown house with a dark brown door and a homey, warm atmosphere to it, smoke coming out of its stone chimney and floating into the cold midnight air. Aislinn ended up sending Phoenix back home to be with his wife before we came here and we all wished him farewell and Mikasa hugged him gratefully for his help, to which he smiled and ruffled her hair.

Aislinn goes up to the door and knocks hesitantly on it while the rest of us stay back at the entrance of the house, which is a little stone path with a stone wall and a garden of hedges that can last in the winter. The door opens up a few moments later to reveal a short, somewhat thicker woman with coffee brown hair and deep brown eyes with an orange tint to them stands on the other side, wearing a blue dress and a white apron.

"Aislinn?" the woman's eyebrows raise and Aislinn nods.

The woman smiles and walks up to her, pulling her into a tight hug and Aislinn's eyes widen in surprise before she smiles as well and hugs her back.

"Hello, Hilda," Aislinn says.

"Are these your friends?" Hilda asks as she pulls back and glances between us, still smiling, "oh, they must be. Come inside, dearies. You're probably freezing out here."

We gratefully accept the offer and walk inside the house, warmth instantly hitting my face and removing the cold from my bones. Hilda's small house has a couch with a hot pink multi-colored blanket with tassels draped across the back of it, a rug, a coffee table, and a fire place in the living room with papers and books scattered everywhere, a bedroom across from the front door, and a kitchen and a bathroom off to the left, her kitchen countertops being made of stone and the floor throughout the entire house a tawny color of wood. Overall, everything seems fairly warm and friendly, completely opposite of Aislinn's house.

"I haven't seen you since your parents oh so lovingly removed me from your household," Hilda says as she walks off to the kitchen and opens her steel grey oven door, checking on her cooking, "how have you been? I hope they haven't caused you too much trouble."

"I've...been moved out for a while now," Aislinn says, her eyes flickering between us and Hilda, "my parents kicked me out after I told them I wanted to be a fighter. They told me that it was a childish notion and that I should just marry a wealthy aristocrat like my mother did my father. But...that's not what I wanted. I've...been cut off from them ever since. Seen as a traitor..."

"I'm sorry," Hilda sighs, "how's your little brother?"

"Mercury...he..." Aislinn pauses and looks at the floor, her eyes downcast as she grips on to her left arm with her right hand, "Mercury is dead."

"What?" Hilda's eyes widen and she nearly drops her pan of bread that she pulled out of the oven with her oven mitts.

"Mercury overdosed..." Aislinn whispers and the room goes completely silent.

"Aislinn," Renee frowns, "you know if you want to talk about everything, we're all here for you. I know Ciana, Dimitri, and Reine already probably know, but...the rest of us are here for you too."

"She's right," Renji nods, "all of us are a family. We'll always be there for each other."

Aislinn glances over at Ciana, who nods and smiles sadly.

"It's okay, Aislinn," Ciana says reassuringly and Aislinn releases a shuddered breath.

"My parents, Kristiana and Vladimir, they always pushed me to be something I never wanted to be..." Aislinn starts, "classes on posture, classes on etiquette, that I should always wear dresses with stockings and heels, that everything I ever wanted is wrong, and that I should put on a plastic smile to attract an equally wealthy husband to keep the family line of aristocrats going. But...my mother was never actually happy with how she married. My mother acted fine and like she loved my father, but she never did. They were just an image to cut and paste, something that looks nice but doesn't actually exist. My mother cheated on my father behind closed doors multiple times and got pregnant with Mercury. My father eventually found out Mercury wasn't his when he was three, and he hated Mercury ever since, always lashing out at him. It didn't help that he was the spitting image of his father-- red and white hair with blue eyes. I was always close with Mercury. We were in it together, thick as thieves, I guess you could say. Our mother hired Hilda whenever we were young because she was too lazy to take care of us herself. Eventually, my mother noticed that we loved Hilda and not her and she felt threatened by Hilda's youthful looks, so she fired her. While I was forced to follow the path of a trophy wife, my brother was subjected to becoming the next heir and possibly a soldier in war. Mercury had depression, but he never let it show. He would always hide behind pained smiles and put everyone else first. Mercury promised me one day that everything would get better soon and he seemed really sad about something. At the time, I found it kinda funny that he was the one reassuring me when it should've been the other way around, but I guess I should've realized what he really meant. I found Mercury the next morning whenever he wasn't answering his calls to come to breakfast. He had overdosed on a bottle of my mother's pain pills and he left me a note saying that hopefully it'll open their eyes and they'll treat me better. And he said that he partially did it so I would be the sole heir and could choose to do what I wanted, but truthfully I find that all painful. Losing him was terribly painful overall, but I felt guilty with his words. I was going to do whatever I wanted with my life, despite my parent's wishes or not. It wasn't worth Mercury throwing away his. I know those weren't the only factors...but I just wish that he was still here...that I could've done something more...that I could've stopped him. My parent's were hardly phased by his death, but I was a complete wreck. I'm still not over it. I don't think I ever will be. My mother shed a few tears for the cameras but my father didn't care at all. They tried to keep the entire story under wraps, so not many people found out about it."

"That's...horrible," I breathe out.

"I'm so sorry, Aislinn," Ayette wipes away a few tears and goes up to Aislinn, pulling her into a hug.

Dimitri and Ciana go up to them as well, Dimitri placing a hand on Ayette's shoulder and smiling sadly at Aislinn while Ciana places a hand on Aislinn's shoulder comfortingly. Reine glances over at me with sad eyes and smiles forcefully while Kaltrina keeps a grim expression and the others are silent as well. I look over to Hilda to see her wiping away her tears on her apron as she watches the scene before her and for the first time in what's probably a long time, Aislinn breaks down and begins to cry.