Once Arthur finally came to, he noticed two very, very bad things right off the bat. The first was Alfred, who, as far as Arthur knew had been standing up straight relatively uninjured mere moments ago was slumped against a tree, with numerous dark-colored wounds still leaking blood and wrists bound harshly to said tree's lowest branch. Second, the area of the field they had been in before was now grass-free, and the ground was little more than rough, burnt soil. This wouldn't be as concerning if it weren't for the thin trenches dug through the ground in a very expected, familiar pattern: the ability transfer array.

He dragged himself off the ground and into a sitting position, surprised that he hadn't been bound and somewhat curious as to where Sophia was. It was never a good idea to lose track of your enemy, after all…. But that didn't matter. He didn't know how, exactly, but he was sure of it now.

She is the deity of darkness… Ivan and Natalia can't be her children, in that case… Arthur thought blankly, trying to process the same vision that had caused him to collapse. It contained answers-he just couldn't remember all of them. What he did know was that he couldn't possibly fight against a deity.

Alfred…he glanced over at the bound teenager, feeling a twinge of pain inside his chest. If he knew she was a deity, how would he react? Stupid. He claimed to love Alfred and didn't know how he'd react to a hopeless situation-to persevere, perhaps? He then looked up at the sky, noting that it was almost completely dark out and that the moon had risen. It was even the pale scarlet typical of an eclipse already.

"You've already figured out that it's hopeless, haven't you?" Sophia's voice echoed from the very air before she manifested in front of him. "I only broke my contract because I was sure I could accomplish my goal… win the game…"

"You aren't a mere sorceress, though," Arthur said dully.

"Of course," Sophia replied. "Will you surrender now?"

Truthfully, he would have nodded and agreed only seconds before, but his mind did clear a bit and cause Arthur to consider the options before giving up. If he had the powers of a light deity, he should have been able to face Sophia in combat. But no powers had surfaced, and he had no idea how to use them.

"No," he answered finally, glancing over at Alfred again. The unconscious teenager hadn't even stirred. "I won't."

Sophia sighed and waved her hand, prompting the final council member-the one with the snapped arm-to carefully shuffle out from behind the tree Alfred was tied to, odd dagger in hand. "I'd sacrifice my knight for the sake of winning the game, but would you?" she asked curiously.

Biting his lip, Arthur somehow managed to stand up despite the weakness that seemed to plague his body since his vision. "You are truly a loathsome being," he commented, glaring at Sophia defiantly, and then sighing in defeat almost immediately after. "However, you've won."

"Of course," Sophia repeated. "So be good and do as you're told."

She walked to the outskirts of the burnt area, and only then did Arthur notice that Ivan was standing in the tall grass as well, silently looking forward. Sophia said something to Ivan, and he nodded before walking into the burnt area, at a point in the array directly opposite of Arthur. She then turned and looked directly at Arthur. "Down," she commanded, and some unknown force-it certainly wasn't through his own will-pulled Arthur down onto his knees.

There was a sudden, quick surge of pale blue energy that ran through the entire array almost the second Arthur hit the ground. It was blinding, right before the light dimmed and became a thick, dark purple and crimson color like evil, pulsating smoke. It poured out of the indentations, engulfing both Arthur and Ivan.

Despite the energy's initial looks, being surrounded by it wasn't nearly as terrifying as Arthur would have predicted. Breathing was only a bit difficult, not impossible, and there was light-but nothing to see. That wasn't comforting. He didn't know how it was going to happen, but this swirling cloud of dark energy was about to steal some sort of powerful ability he hadn't known the nature of until that day.

…Or not. The energy dissipated quickly, and the first thing Arthur heard once his senses were clear was Sophia shrieking in rage. "You! What did you do?" she shouted hysterically, yanking Arthur to his feet by the collar of his shirt. "I know you have that power… I sensed it before! So why can't I take it, or even sense it in you now? It's impossible!"

What? Arthur just stared at her blankly, unsure of how to reply. He didn't do anything… Nothing that would result in a loss of power. But it wasn't there anyway? Somehow, he was genuinely shocked.

"The eclipse will end soon… There's no time," Sophia muttered, releasing him. "Ivan?"

"Da," Ivan acknowledged her call, at least, albeit blankly.

"Where's your sword?" she asked dully.

Ivan blinked. "…I left that back at the dorm," he replied slowly.

Sophia's eyes widened. "You're lying," she said accusingly. "Why, after all I've done, would you hate me? I-you know I tried to give you the best abilities, everything… Even though you weren't even my son."

Based on Ivan's reaction or lack thereof to that comment, Arthur decided he'd already known. "It's over," Arthur declared. "I assure you I haven't done anything. You were simply wrong." It sounded somewhat cruel, said with the knowledge that Sophia would die-no, not really die since she was a deity, more like 'leave the world' as she put it before-very soon. He looked at the sky again. The moon was beginning to reappear. It was already too late for a second attempt at the power transfer ceremony.

Carefully, Arthur stepped out of the array and edged towards the tree Alfred was bound to. The opportunity seemed right to free him, and it would be a good idea to do so seeing as he had no idea what Sophia would do now that her plan had completely failed.

Upon reaching the tree, Arthur realized that the council member had fled-perhaps they had feared what Sophia would do, just as Arthur sort of did? He sliced through the vine-or whatever it was-holding Alfred to the tree with magic, relieved to find he could still use his usual abilities despite the fact that Sophia hadn't succeeded in grasping what she wanted.

Slowly and without looking back at Sophia and Ivan, Arthur began slowly healing Alfred's wounds. He didn't want to look back-Sophia was still hysterical, upset… The second she noticed he had moved, she would probably react to that and he wouldn't be able to continue. Also slowly, Alfred began to come to. "…S' it over?" Alfred mumbled.

"Not quite," Arthur replied, continuing his work.

"…Wha… What's… going on?" Alfred asked, eyes now open normally. "Huh… My glasses… Where are they?"

Arthur took only a second to glance around and notice the metal frame of Alfred's glasses twisted and smashed near the base of the tree. Apparently, they had been mangled after the very-obvious hits to Alfred's face-the blue-eyed teenager still had a bloody nose, bruises, and the like. "Dead," he replied, picking them up with the hand he wasn't using to heal Alfred.

Alfred laughed weakly, hacking up a few drops of blood in the process. "Urg… Well…. Where's Ivan's mom?" He must have been really out of it to not hear her shouting in the background. "Please say she's the same place as my glasses."

"No," Arthur said, setting the broken glasses down in the dirt and continuing to focus on the healing spell. "But the spell… It failed. Looks like this 'mysterious power' of mine has vanished."

"Ha, knew it," Alfred chuckled, before stopping. There was a lack of mouth blood this time, but he seemed to be in a bit more pain as he flinched. "I was really worried… That she'd hurt you anyway, y'know?"

"She still might," Arthur replied grimly, still not daring to look back. Then something clicked in his head. "You knew what, exactly?"

Alfred paused, weighing his options. "Can I tell you when we're not in danger?" he asked, prompting Arthur to nod and continue the healing spell.

The entire exchange probably lasted about a minute before Arthur stopped and finally looked back at Ivan and Sophia. Sophia had collapsed, presumably from despair or weakness from breaking her contract-both, maybe. Ivan was walking towards them and stopped right in front of the tree, placing one hand on the branch Alfred had been tied to before. "I think," he began. "There are much better uses of time. No hard feelings, da?" he smiled.

"You bastard," Alfred hissed, coughing once more.

"I knew she wasn't related to me, yet I listened to her," Ivan muttered, glancing back at Sophia. "Ah. I have said a little much, da? None of it matters." He then decided that was all he needed to say and began walking in the opposite direction, towards the row of trees ringing the field. "The Academy is this way, as is the festival," he explained, not turning around or stopping. "You will attend, da?"

"Was that an apology, or a threat?" Arthur wondered quietly.

"Apology," Alfred sighed, leaning back against the tree and causing Arthur to look at him in surprise. "Well… I still don't like him, but that's probably as close as it gets."

"I suppose so," Arthur said. "Say, Alfred, what was that about a festival?"

"Start of the year festival," Alfred replied. "We could go-" he attempted to get up, groaned in pain, and slumped back against the tree. "-if you could finish healing me." Pause. "Pretty please?"

"I'm not in the mood for any festival," Arthur commented, although he did continue the healing spell. Fat lot of good it would do for the hole in Alfred's stomach-that would take time as well as magic-but perhaps he could get him walking. "I feel ill." A little more than ill, actually-it was a bit unnatural. No magic power had been taken from him, and he wasn't expending nearly enough on the healing spell to hurt himself.

"Arthur, I'm sorry," Alfred said suddenly.

"Why is that?" Arthur questioned, looking at him in slight confusion. "You haven't done anything."

"…Yeah," Alfred mumbled. "Except I did. I tricked you, I tricked Ivan's mom, I tricked freaking everyone."

Now, that was interesting. "How did you do that?" Arthur wondered, although he was halfway attributing Alfred's apology and sort-of explanation to blood loss.

Alfred looked at him seriously. "I stole your powers," he admitted. "The light ones. When I kissed you the last time…. I figured there would be a trap and I thought we might lose the fight. But no way I was losing you. So I stole them."

There was a large pause as Arthur considered that and Alfred bit his lip, waiting for some kind of reaction. "…You're an unbelievable idiot!" Arthur finally exclaimed, flicking Alfred in the forehead. "You assumed it would be safe to do something like that…? This entire time Ivan's mum has been sending assassins to kill you, simply because you fought against them on my behalf! What would have happened if she'd discovered that you…? Idiot!"

Rubbing his forehead and chuckling, Alfred replied, "But she didn't. And now she's dead. Score one for Alfred." When Arthur crossed his arms and continued to look generally irritated, Alfred continued, "Geez. Okay, I can give it back right now and maybe you'll feel like going to the festival then?"

"I haven't forgiven you yet," Arthur huffed. "It bothers me that you have no regard for your own safety, Alfred, it really does. Consider my feelings for a moment."

Alfred paused. "…'Kay," he said. "I won't do things without asking you first, mom. But this whole thing is over, and we'll never have to deal with it again."

That was as close to what he had been asking for as he would be getting, apparently. "If you're going to give them back, then hurry up," Arthur said. He wasn't going to win this battle, and he could definitely understand where Alfred was coming from with that stupid, stupid plan of his that ended up working so there was no point dwelling on it.

A quick peck on the lips was all Arthur was willing to give for the power transfer that time-it was something that was necessary and by no means meant to be pleasurable. Still, afterwards, he felt a bit more at ease and less… exhausted. "Will you go to the festival with me now?" Alfred whined.

"Perhaps," Arthur replied as he stood up, half-dragging Alfred up with him.

"'Perhaps' isn't 'yes', which means I'm gonna have to drag you there," Alfred commented cheerfully.

Arthur sighed. "Then, yes, I will."

Next chapter is probably the last one and might end up being nearly twice as long… however long it takes to wrap things up. Unless I make an epilogue, in which case the next chapter would be second-to-last.

I appreciate everyone who has read this far.

Reviews make me update faster.