I may have suffered but my heart remains strong

[At the training ground]

Marika and her brothers were sparring.

Marika allowed Kevin to use his bow today, but he refused, he wanted to do daggers only.

Marika smiled.

She had a lot of fun sparring with her brothers, she noticed that Kevin was a lot faster than before his awakening and a lot more agile.

As they attack her from both side she pulled of the move she showed the soldiers at Richard castle. But both her brothers blocked her attack.

"Wow sis! I want to learn that move too!"

'Alright, but after we finished our sparring.'

Richard set down next to Lenis and saw he was still working in his design for Marika's request.

As he looked at Marika sparring with her brothers, she looked happy and alive. It was the first time he ever saw her so lively and full of energy.

Marika took her last stance and her brothers came in for the attack, she ducked down and pointed her sword upright under their chins.

Marika saw Richard sitting next to Lenis and smiled, she then asked Lenis 'What is their time?'

"An hour and 45 minute's"

'Well if you guy's keep at it with this pace you'll be at Canus time in a few days.'

"What is Canus current time." Dante asked.

'3 hours, but don't forget he has more experience than you two.'

"Well were not in a hurry, we will get there at our own pace."

"Sister can you show that move again with the sword, you promised." Kevin said.

'Alright, alright!' Marika smiled.

Marika walked over to the rack with training swords and picked up a two sword, one short sword and one medium long sword.

She place them both sturdy in the ground then she took the long sword Dante used before.

All three were in the ground and Marika showed her brothers the move on the long sword.

'Well first master this before we go to the second part of the move.'

While she still was in her handstand on the sword she told Kevin to use the short sword and Dante the medium long sword.

Marika was doing some push-up's on the sword to keep her body in motion, after that she was playing around on the hilt of the sword.

After a few tries they still couldn't get the hang of it and Marika noticed their frustration.

'Look at me I'm a piece of art!'

As she was standing at the tip of the hilt with one foot.

She then asked her brothers 'Who is the most trusted partner on a battle field?'

"Your weapon?" Kevin answered.

'Correct! So why do you two distrust the weapons in-front of you?'

'Richard you come down here and join us!'

Richard came to the field.

Marika came down from the sword.

'I showed you this move before can you do it?'

"I'll try, I have seen it but not yet practice it."

He copied what Marika did before and manage to pull it off but he couldn't maintain it for long.

'Not bad for your first try.'

'So what is the key point of this move?' She asked him.

"Center of gravity."

'Correct.'

'Well I think this move is a bit too hard, so why not practice the most basic version first.'

Marika did a handstand on the ground.

'Just practice this fist.'

"Alright sister."

Lenis called out to Marika to come over and have a look at the design's he made.

Marika walked over and set down next to him. She looked at them but the second one really caught her eye's.

There were two pillars with each a dragon on it and on was black and the other azure, on the beam there was a dragon of both colors and over the stone of Magna was a small open version of the great dragon room.

'So… beautiful.'

Lenis also took the landscaping in to account and had drew up from the pillars two half circle line of tree's and some small flower fields.

Marika ruffled Lenis hair and hugged him.

'They really are beautiful, I'm so proud of you.'

Marika suddenly felt a presence and started to shake in anger.

"Marika, is everything alright?"

'No, that women who messed up our body's is nearby, and my bet is she is coming for you.'

'Can you stand? If we stay here we are vulnerable.'

Lenis stood up and picked up his crushes. Marika picked up Lenis and rushed over to Richard and her brothers and put Lenis down.

Marika looked very agitated "Sweetie what's wrong?"

Marika didn't respond to him because she was scanning her surroundings.

Lenis told Richard she felt the presence of that women nearby.

Marika guard was high and her blood-lust and killer intend went through the roof that Luca and Derick came rushing over.

A few moments later a women appeared in front of her and she had some guard with her.

The guards recognize Marika was standing there, ready to kill anybody who would come to close to her.

The women bowed to Richard and said 'I'm sorry to disturb you on your day off but I came for the boy who is with you.'

Marika started to laughed 'If you want him that badly, why don't you come and get him yourself?'

'Those guard that are with you won't do a thing for you even if you order them to do so. Because your orders don't mean sh*t in front of their King.'

The women got agitated but try to keep her composure. 'Well that may be true but they are only here to escorted that boy back to the castle.'

'Good luck with that…you can't even fly, so how are you supposed to catch something that is in the air?'

Marika transformed in to her 7th stage. 'And by the way who the hell gave you permission to set foot in my country? As she walked over to the women.

Last time I checked I was still Queen of this land and His Majesty can set foot in my lands wherever and whenever he want's but for people outside of my country and want to visit him they need to inform him and he needs to inform me.'

'And all visitors to His Majesty mansion are free to roam the mansion's ground anything outside that boundary will be considered as trespassing on my lands.'

Marika had the women by the throat and then said, 'Even though you are on His Majesty Mansion ground you came her by walking through my land, so…. I consider this trespassing of my land and even worse for you, you did not inform His Majesty, so that gives me the right to punish you according to my rules of the land.'

Marika dropped the women who was catching her breath again.

'Ohh and one more thing, that boy is official a citizen of Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi.'

'So f*ck off or do you want to create political issues between the Moon Kingdom and Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi?'

Marika looked at the soldiers and said 'Could you please take this greedy little b*tch with you, and leave my lands, while I'm still friendly.'

The soldiers bowed to Marika and took the women away and left.

Marika then collapsed and fell unconscious.

"Get Genus here now!"

Richard picked up Marika and took her inside to her room.

After a few minutes Genus arrived.

"What did she do this time?"

Richard told him what happened and Genus took a look on her inner energy.

"What the hell!"

"What is it?"

Lenis then started to speak. "Marika… Marika can't be in close proximity of that women."

"If she does…then her innate magic will cause a lot of damage to her body."

"He is right, her inner energy is a complete mess at the moment."

"We can't do anything for her at the moment, we have to wait for her to wake up."

Richard nodded "You two leave and Lenis take a rest and stay with Luca for the time being, since you're the most save with him."

Genus and Lenis left the room.

[Next day]

Derick came in to Marika's room and found Richard sleeping next to her.

He placed two bag's in the room and left the room again.

Richard woke up and saw Marika was still unconscious, he saw the bag's that Derick had place in the room with a note on it.

To Master,

I packed up some necessities for you and my daughter in the brown bag. And brought you her black medical bag just in case.

Please take her to Lunar Cave so she can wake up early.

I already informed the Black Fox Clan that you'll be arriving and they will assist you if necessary.

Please be safe on your way.

Derick

Richard smiled. He then looked at Marika.

"Let's go on a small trip sweetie." And he placed a kiss on her head.

He looked for some warm clothes for her and dressed her up. He picked her up and jumped down with her from the balcony.

He then placed the bags on Marika and transformed in to a dragon and took off to the sky.

[Ignis Kingdom]

Cinis relayed the news about what had happened.

Canus looked at the three small dragon's but they all said the same thing.

"We will stay here." Nova answered.

'This is the best way to help mommy and daddy.' Regina said.

"If anything life treating is going to happening to mommy, I will know." Khai said.

And they all went back to reading.

"They really look unfazed by it." Canus said.

"Well it's nothing new for Khai and Regina. But Nova on the other hand… I thought he would be a bit more concerned." Cinis said.

Nova was back at the book shelf and wanted to pull a book from the shelf but like last time an few books fell with it.

Cinis eye was caught by one of the books on the ground and picked it up.

He started to read it and his face turned as white as a sheet of paper.

"Nova could you look at this for me?" Cinis asked him.

"You found it!"

Canus also looked at it, but instead of turning as white as a sheet like his brother Canus was enraged.

What they found was a description of how to take out somebody's innate magic and how to preform it.

"But how do we do reverse this? Nobody currently can perform this kind of spell." Cinis said.

"Yes there is!!" Nova said.

"Who?" Canus asked.

"Daddy is able to do this. While he knows how to mend soul's this should be a piece of cake for him."

"But how are we going to transfer her magic back?"

"We know now your mother can't be close to the person who has her magic, wouldn't it have the same effect on your mother as of what happened to her yesterday." Cinis asked Nova.

"That's where sister Regina is going to play a big role."

'What do I need to do brother?'

Nova showed her a spell that would make her able to cast a barrier around the extracted magic so it couldn't harm their mother.

"But there are two problems we need to overcome now. Fist is mommy need to wake up and stabilize her inner energy, and need to stay away from that person as far as possible for as long as possible."

"Second problem is, this will require a lot of inner energy."

Regina was thinking and then remembered something. 'What do we do if mommy wakes up today or tomorrow? Daddy and mommy will go to the Moon festival in 8 day's and since that women is in daddy's palace…'

Cillus came walking in to the room and said "Well there is a way to get that person out of the way until you guys have prepared for everything."

"And what is that father?" Cinis asked him.

"Simple… just throw that person in our dungeon."

"Don't forget you two both have an alliance with either one of them. And since Mari is our precious family we politically can lock that person up." King Cillus said.

"Under what charges?" Canus then asked.

"Suspicion of attempted murder of Queen Yumaria."

Canus eyes started to gloat and asked "Anybody against this proposition?"

Everybody shook their heads.

"Then that's settled let's go to the mansion tomorrow and discuss our findings and start to plan from there." Cinis said.

[Lunar Cave]

Richard landed at the cave, and changed back to his human form. He took the bags off Marika and hanged the both them on himself and carried Marika inside the cave.

When he walked in he was greeted by 2 foxes who were standing guard at the entrance of the village.

"Your Majesty we were informed of your arrival let us show you the way to our clan head."

Richard fallowed them and heard the whispers of the people.

'Isn't she the one who was in the forest the other day.'

"Yes, I heard her speaking to the baby dragon that she wanted to enter the cave."

'Yes I heard that to but she didn't because she is cautious and decided to wonder around the forest.'

Richard arrived at the house of the Clan head. The head of the clan bowed to Richard and Richard simply bowed his head lightly.

"Your Majesty please fallow me inside."

Richard fallowed the man and they entered a bedroom where he laid Marika on the bed.

Then two more people entered the room, and Richard guard went up.

Although this tribe of foxes lives inside his kingdom, he hardly interacts with them because of the past.

"No need to be on your guard, they are here to see what's troubling this young girl's body and how it came to be that way."

As the two had casted a spell, Richard could see all of Marika's memories.

Some were not new to him since he already had saw bit's and piece before.

Richard saw her complete memories of her stay in the hospital, her constant attacks on her by the Sun Kingdom and finally the gruesome truth of how part of Marika's magic was stolen from her.

Seeing her face, and hearing her scream out of pain and fear was like a knife that stabbed his heart. When it was over, she was thrown back in to a room like she was a broken tool.

The clan head stopped the spell because he found the origin and the cause of her current state.

The three foxes in the room were utterly shocked by what she had been through.

"My dear child you have suffered so much, and you still retained a kind heart to others."

The clan head then looked at the two and said "Let's bring her to the yard with the healing tree and tell the children to keep her warm and comfortable."

"But Master…"

"Do as I say! You saw it all, how can we deny this child of help who had to suffer so much. Accept for the miracle that she is even alive today, it's also a miracle that she didn't loss her kindness."

Richard picked up Marika and asked the elder to show him the way.

The elder understood Richard wariness of the two in the room and he showed Richard the way.

Richard placed Marika under the tree and 8 fox cubs came running up to them.

"Don't worry, we will keep her warm and save until she wake up."

Richard patted on of the foxes and said "Please take good care of my precious wife."

Richard left the tree and walked back.

"Don't worry Your Majesty, these kids are very capable and I'll make sure there will be a room prepared for you near this garden."

"Now let us discuss her current situation."

Richard fallowed the man to a room and set down.

"As long as that person possess half of her magic she can never get close to her, or this will happen again."

"The child will never be able to obtain her magic back on her own."

Richard smirked. "She may not able to do so, but it's not to say she doesn't have people around her who can't do that for her."

The man nodded.

"But to do that, the same method need to be applies to that person to extract that child magic."

"But nobody these days are able to that, let alone that there are any record's left of this type of magic spells."

"Don't worry, The Black Dragon Clan owns the biggest library of history and Magic. I doubt that there aren't any existing records. And as for a person who can perform such a spell, there is still one person in this world who is able to pull it off."

"And when this is all over, I'll make sure that this will be wiped away from the world, so that nobody in the future has to suffer, like she had."

"Well to be honest, this magic was originally created to heal and repair a person's innate Magic." The man said.

"But I do share the thought of destroying this type of Magic, although it was created to help people, it harmed more people than it helped them."

The man looked at Marika forlorn "She is a good child, who cares for others more than herself."

"I was wondering why after so many years, you accepted you're son's plead for help."

"When you get older you can see things you didn't see then. This old fool made a big mistake 10 years ago and is now regretting his mistake."

"Well maybe she will be able to reunite you and your son and grandson."

The man looked at Richard and asked "What is this child to him?"

"She is his adoptive daughter."

"For the first time in her life she made a selfish request to him and asked him to be a father to her."

"Her second selfish request will be to us all and help her get back what was stolen from her."

"And her third selfish request will probably be that he and his son will meet you."

"But when she wakes up do expect a little lecture from her."

"I will accept that from her. She is for her age wiser than any of us older generation."

Richard smiled and looked at Marika.

"Your Majesty you can stay in this room and have a rest, I understand you want her in your sight."

Richard thank the man and the man left the room.

Richard sighted and closed his eyes. But his anxiety didn't seem to calm down.

Richard looked through the bag that should contain the necessities they might need.

Richard looked through the bag and found a pouches with a note attached to it.

Listen to me

Richard smiled and took out a recording stone he placed it on the windowsill and open up the window.

All the music pieces she had created were playing one by one, the one she written for Khai, Cinis and she had written for him, and many more.

Richard looked at Marika and while listening to the music his anxiety slowly calmed down.

Richard closed his eyes and slowly dozed off.

Richard was dreaming, but it wasn't his usual dream, he saw Marika sitting at a table with his parent's drinking tea and chatting and laughing.

Marika saw Richard and smiled.

'I'll be leaving since I will wake up soon. Please talk with your son because he still suffers from anxiety from time to time.'

"Could you fulfill one request ours?" Richard father asked her.

'Sure.'

"Could you play on my violin from time to time?"

Marika smiled and nodded she gave them both a hug.

Richard saw Marika leaving an wanted to chase after her but was stopped by his father.

"Don't worry, she is going back because she will wake up soon."

'My son found such a wonderful and strong women.' His mother said to him.

"She really is a rowdy but smart girl." His father said to him.

Richard smiled "You have no idea."

"Just remember this, even if your road is covered with obstacles together you two can overcome them."

'We will always be watching over you two so be at ease.'

Richard hugged his parents and said his goodbyes

"Remember son you were and always be our pride and joy…."

Richard woke up and felt tears dripping from his eyes.

He looked outside and saw Marika was gone from the tree.

He panicked and ran out of the room to look for her.

Suddenly he heard the sound of growling and found Marika who was in her child form ready to cry.

Richard ran up to her and picked her up. "There, there sweetie they can't reach you now."

Marika hugged Richard, she was shaking out of fear.

"Do you want to go to big brothers room?"

Marika nodded.

All the way to his room Marika held him very tight and didn't speak a word.

When he went in to the room he set down with Marika on his lap.

"Sweetie are you scared?"

Marika nodded.

'I want to go home, to daddy Derick and my brothers.'

"Well we can go home, but first we need to eat something, especially you because you haven't eaten for a whole day."

'Oke.'

Marika seemed to relax a little and he played the music he listened to yesterday.

There was a knock on the door and Richard opened the door.

It was the head of the clan and he let him in.

The man looked at Marika "What happened to hear?"

"Ohh this is normal for her. After a lot of stress on her mind or body she changed to a child so she can coop better. It won't last for long depending on the situation."

The man sighed a sigh in relieve.

Sweetie look!, grandpa is here!"

"Grandpa…."The man was surprised by Richard's words.

"Well she is the adoptive daughter of your son, thus you are her grandfather." Richard teased the man.

Marika rand up to the man and hugged him. 'Grandpa you look like my daddy.'

"Do I?"

'Yes, you and daddy have the same smile.'

'Marika like's grandpa a lot!'

Richard smiled.

"Are you hungry Marika?"

Marika nodded.

A few servants came in with breakfast and placed it at the table, and left the room.

Marika looked at her plate but didn't want to eat it.

"Sweetie what's wrong?"

Marika walked over to her black bag and while she walked over she changed back to her adult form again.

She took out a few needles and walked back.

'Like hell I'm going to eat poisoned food.' She then test Richards food and her grandfathers but they seemed to be fine.

'Grandpa where is the kitchen?'

The man told her were to go and Marika picked up the plate and took it with her.

The two man who were left behind heard the commotion coming from the kitchen.

"My granddaughter really has a temper."

"Well she hates wasting food."

After a few minutes Marika came back with a new plate of food and set down.

"Marika how did you know your food was tempered with?" the man asked her.

'Well the amount of poisoning attempts on me can't be counted and two hand anymore. I can sniff it out by now.'

'Well I don't even know why I deserved to get this treatment? I didn't do anything wrong to your clan.'

"I will punish them for their behavior."

'By the way grandpa, if father wants to mend your relationship are you willing to do so?'

"Are you going to lecture me my dear granddaughter?"

'To be fair I need to lecture my father as well.'

"How come?"

'Well my little brother is smart so he figured some details out by now, but up until now your son has treated his own son as a nephew.'

'They are the opposite of me.'

'But I want to know why my father had to go through such a pain as to treat his own son like a distant relative instead of family.'

Marika listen to the story the man told her.

He told her how Derick met Kevin's mother and that they were deeply in love with each other. But everything started to fall apart when Kevin's mother was pregnant with Kevin.

The White Fox Clan didn't accept there would be a child born between The Black Fox Clan and the White Fox Clan.

How the head of The White Fox Clan pressured him to alienate his own son and force him to let go of the one he loved the most.

Derick was forced to see his own son as a nephew by the White Fox Clan, and if he ever dare to tell Kevin the truth they would wipe out The Black Fox Clan and blame it all on Kevin if there were any survivors left.

After hearing the story Marika leaned with her head on the table 'Richard?' as she spoke in a whining tone.

Richard stroke her head "What is it?"

'If The White Fox Clan would come to wiped out The Black Fox Clan wouldn't that mean they would declare war on your ground?'

"I suppose it would."

'Would you come to their aid if they would come and mascara The Black Fox Clan?'

"Yes of course, because after all The Black Fox Clan reside in my Kingdom."

Marika then set up again 'Shall I just go there and wipe out The White Fox Clan?'

'But under the name of Queen Yumaria of Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi.'

"But on what grounds do you want to justify that?" The man asked.

'Simple, attempted murder of the prince of Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi and the son of Grand Duke Verum.'

'That should justify enough right?'

'But I could also imprison them now for extortion, blackmail and threatening attempt to murder and of course hostility to my county and her people.'

Richard hugged Marika "I really can't beat you in your cunningness."

"My granddaughter maybe a dragon, but she is as cunning as a fox."

'And father will be the Grand Duke of Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi, since it would be more helpful to me in the future.'

"As you wish."

'Grandpa, know that the doors of Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi are always open to you and the people of The Black Fox Clan.'

"Thank you my child." And he hugged Marika.

'Ohh there is one more thing I wanted to ask you grandpa.'

"What is it?"

'Kevin told me that his little fox asked him to give him a name when they awaken there last stage, is that a tradition of The White Fox Clan or The Black Fox Clan?'

"It's an ancient tradition of our clan, but has been forgotten over the years."

'So it was something similar to my heritage.'

Marika then packed up and was outside saying goodbye to the fox cubs who helped her stay warm and calm during the night.

'Let's go home.'

'Grandpa see you soon.'

And Marika waved goodbye to the man.

[Mansion]

Richard and Marika arrived back at the mansion and Derick came out side to welcome them home.

Marika didn't look at Derick and walked up to him.

Derick was concerned about her behavior "Marika?"

Marika hugged him and started to cry softly whispering 'It must have been so hard for you all these years.'

Derick looked at Richard, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Since you didn't want to tell her, she asked her grandfather."

"But… If they find out…"

"You worry too much Grand Duke of Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi."

Kevin came running up to Derick and hugged him while asking "Can I now safely call you father?"

Marika let go of Derick and said 'Of course, and just so you two know since Kevin is my adoptive brother he technically is the prince to Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi so any attempt on his life is an attempt on the life of a Royal Family member and the same goes for you too father.'

Derick fell through his knees, it was all a little overwhelming for him and started to cry a little.

Marika and Kevin shrugged there shoulder and said in sync "Our father is such a handful."

And the both hugged him.

Derick hugged them back "Thank you Marika, for giving me my son back to me."

'Haven't you heard? Your daughter is the best when it comes to crashing engagement ceremonies and reuniting parent's with their children.'

"I should have told you when you asked about it back then."

'Richard could you take them inside and fill them in on what I discussed with grandpa?'

"Sure, what are you planning to do?"

'We have guest coming this way, as Marika pointed to the sky.'

In the sky Marika saw Canus, Cinis and her children flying.

After they landed Khai, Regina and Nova pounced on Marika and she fell over.

"Kids your mother just woke up, be a little more careful or do you want her to be unconscious again?"

"We are sorry daddy."

Marika set up and hugged her kids and asked Canus and Cinis "What brings you guys here?"

"We have some bad news and some good news." Cinis said to Marika.

'Alright, let's go inside.'

Canus the asked Derick "Can we go to a room where there is less stuff for Marika to trash?"

Marika looked at Canus 'What do you mean by that?'

"Well I figured the bad news would make you go in a fit of rage… and we don't want Derick to cleanup the after math."

Marika thought for a second 'Well that sounds reasonable'

Marika called her brother and told William to bring over Genus and the others.

The all went to the dining room.

After everybody set down Cinis asked her "What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news?"

'Give me the bad news first.'

"The bad news is you can't go anywhere near that women and take your magic back yourself. Also as it stands now you can't even go to the Moon Festival next week since that women still roams free."

Marika's expression tuned cold and Luca noticed.

"Sister don't you go trashing this dining room now, or else we all have to be cramped up in the kitchens when it's time to eat."

"And if you really feel the need to destroy stuff do it outside."

Marika expression was still a little cold but she seemed to be calmer.

'So what's the good news?'

"Since you said you need all the help you can get, it's best to let us do it for you. Take down that women and get back what was stolen from you."

"We found everything we need to get your magic back, but there are somethings we have trouble dealing with regarding you."

'Like what?'

"The problem is that you need to be close to that person, to transfer your magic back, but this could damage your body so we still need to find a way around it."

'Alright… But since I can't do this on my own can I at least watch the show from a distance?'

'That should be fine right?'

Luca then said, "That's fine but it needs to be a very, very long distance."

"Something like Mystic Mountain or Ignis Castle."

'Tsk' Marika clicked her tong at Luca.

Luca didn't responded but he knew Marika was close to throw a fit.

Canus then said "As for the Moon Festival our father has a solution for you."

Marika's mood changed a bit 'Ohh what has uncle Cillus thought off?'

"Simple… just throw that person in our dungeon."

"And since Mari is our precious family we politically can lock that person up."

"Under the charges of suspecting attempted murder of Queen Yumaria."

"Is what he said." Canus told her.

"The only down side to this is we can only detain her for the period of the Moon Festival and no longer than that." Cinis said.

'That more than…'

'Lenis!'

Lenis nodded.