In another section of the compound, as a small army breached the palace and arena, Scarlet embarked on her personal mission. Determination gleamed in her eyes as she faced the hallway, where her sister awaited. Running towards her, Scarlet found her sister standing motionless, her eyes moist with unshed tears.

Scarlet tightly gripped her sister's hand, raising it midway, and locked eyes with her, a hint of sadness softening her stern expression. "Khithmi, I'm here to save you from this place, but we have to go now," she urged gently, tugging at her hand.

"No," Khithmi whispered, her head hanging low.

"What?" Scarlet asked, bewildered.

"No!" Khithmi pulled her arm away, clutching it tightly to her chest. "No... I can't do this, Jeno. You may have gone traitor and turned your back on your people, but I haven't! Unlike you, I take my duty seriously. Our—my people are relying on me to keep the peace. I'm saving our planet from war and destruction. I'm doing all of this for the people you turned your back on while you played pirate!"

Scarlet stared at her sister in disbelief, the tears streaming down her face not diminishing the frustration in her voice. Scarlet, angered, retorted, "You want to lecture me about our princess? Well, news flash: they don't give a damn about you. They won't thank you for your sacrifice because this is what they expect of you. Your destiny was decided from the moment you were born! Doesn't it piss you off, not having a damn choice to be who you want to be? The people don't care about the family that rules them; they're too concerned with their miserable lives of poverty, which they blame us for, even if we didn't choose this life. I'm giving you a choice for once in your life, Khithmi. The one choice you get to make—the choice to make your life your own."

Scarlet extended her hand towards her sister, who turned her head away in defiance. "Then I choose not to be selfish. I don't care if I'm liked. I don't care about any of that. I care about lives. If I leave, they all die—the old, the young, the rich, and the poor. They will all die. I will not be selfish with so many lives at stake. You can choose to ignore them, Jeno, but I, in good conscience, can't. I'm sorry," Khithmi declared, turning away.

"I see. I guess there is nothing else here for me, then. I guess this is goodbye," Scarlet said sadly.

"Yes, it is. But I hope this isn't our last meeting. I have missed you, Jeno," Khithmi said, slowly walking away.

"I've missed you too..." Scarlet turned and ran out the door toward her comrades.

"RITO!" Tobi's scream echoed through the chaos as his friend lay there, bleeding out. More gunfire erupted in the background, but Tobi didn't care. He sank to his knees, lifting Rito's body, cradling him in a desperate grip. "You've got to make it out of this alive," he whispered, a mantra under his breath, carrying Rito with urgency while chanting, "Please be okay, please be okay."

They reached the ship with a skid, the Captain ushering them on board while frantically scanning the surroundings. Amid the turmoil, the red bird centaur appeared. "You're late."

"Sorry, I had some business to take care of," she replied, her usual teasing tone replaced by a grave seriousness.

"He's bleeding out, and G-Mera's down," Tobi urgently informed the pirates. "I don't know what to do." He rubbed his hand through his hair in distress, his best friend's life hanging in the balance, and the robot in pieces with no one to rebuild her. "Isn't there somewhere we can go?" he pleaded.

"We are wanted by Drakil in the middle of his domain. Where the hell do you think we can go?!" Tangelo shouted in frustration.

"He's right, and by the time we reach outside of it, Rito will be..." Oros couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, his gaze dropping to the floor.

"We can't let that happen. I didn't drag him all the way out here to watch him die!" Tobi's desperation echoed in his voice. "Surely there is one planet that can help, just one planet!"

"There might be," the Captain said, turning to the red bird woman. "We are near Kaldi."

Her eyes reflected a mix of hesitancy, uneasiness, and perhaps a hint of fear. She hugged her crossed arms tighter, avoiding eye contact with the group. "I-I can't, not again," she muttered, reluctance evident in her voice.

"Please," Tobi pleaded. "I beg you, if you can help him, please do. I... I don't know what else to do."

Scarlet gazed into Tobi's sorrowful eyes, recognizing the deep bond between these two practically brothers. Could she stand idly by and let one die when she had the power to do something? Conflicted by an unfamiliar wave of emotion, she usually reveled in chaos. However, after her sister's rejection, she couldn't bear more heartbreak. "Fine, I'll do it," she said in a huff, walking into another room.

Soon, they landed on the planet, touching down in a massive courtyard.

"Jeno," her brother greeted her, looking down at the dying insect alien. "A shame we couldn't have met in better circumstances," he said sympathetically.

"Cut the pleasantries. I'm here for the twep's health. Don't mistake it for me crawling back to you," she threatened him with a knife, and the guards pointed their spears towards her. "Cool your jets, just proving a point," she said to his cavalry, putting the knife away.

"As charming as ever," he deadpanned as she walked past him toward the castle.

"Thank you for helping Rito," Tobi expressed his gratitude. "We had no other options."

"It's all right, I know," he replied, extending his hand. "I'm King Dappio."

"A king? How do you know Jeno exactly?" Tobi questioned.

"She's my sister."

"Your sister?!"

"It's a long story. Follow me, best to not be in direct sight. You guys are wanted criminals of the empire."

"How do we know you aren't leading us to a trap? You said it yourself that we are criminals," Oros accused.

"Well, you have my word as king, not that it means much to you. But I promised my sister a long time ago that I would help her if she ever got into trouble."

"Aren't you afraid of what Drakil could do to you?"

"Family comes first," he replied, walking past a large portrait of the king and queen. "I may have inherited their mistakes, but it doesn't mean I can't fix them."

Rayla exited the ship with Turukh in tow, looking hesitant at the green stuff covering the ground and the light raining from above. He stopped at the edge of the ship's shade. “We’ll take it one step at a time,” she said, patting him on the forearm. She walked out ahead of him, the light shining over her features, proof that the light did not burn. He moved his hand out, feeling the warmth he longed for. Lifting his foot, he touched grass for the first time. It felt indescribable—the thousands of strands of squeezy blades had a pleasant texture.

He pressed on, moving with the woman, Rayla, that was her name, and he was never going to forget it. She led him over to the grass and sat down, and he joined her. “It isn’t so bad, is it?”

“Warm,” he replied. The sun wasn’t as unpleasant as it was in the arena, and the texture of grass was far more welcoming than the grit of sand and the hard concrete. He rubbed his hands on the grass.

“Do you want to go inside?”

“No,” he said, rolling on his side and rubbing himself into the grass. She couldn’t help but giggle at how kind of cute it was and lied down beside him.

“What are you doing?” Scarlet asked teasingly.

“I guess sunbaking, why?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Oh, okay,” Rayla turned to the big guy. “I’ll just be over there, Turukh. I’ll be right back.” He looked at her with sad eyes as he nodded.

“What do you need?”

“Just someone to talk to,” Scarlet vented in frustration. “I just don’t like being here. Too many painful memories. Does it get easier? Are things with your dad better now that you're trying to work them out, or is that pain in the gut still there?”

“My experience isn’t the same as everyone's. We all heal differently, Scarlet. I can’t tell you things will get better, but if you believe they will, who knows?”

Rito lay on the operating table, surrounded by IVs and monitors, while Tobi and Oros anxiously watched.

“I’ve had word from the doctors that they would like a bit of privacy while they work. Now, come, we have much to discuss,” the king stated, ushering them back into the halls. "I hope you are not hoping to stay long. While I promise my word is safe, if someone outside of the palace was to see you, word would travel fast," he added as he seated them at the bar in the dining hall. "Would you like a drink? Wine? Rum?"

"Just water," Oros stated. "I don’t think I could stomach wine."

"Same here."

"Not many drinkers, that’s fine." The bartender behind the counter served up the drinks. "What I really want to know is if Jeno is okay?"

"So that’s Scarlet's real name?" Tobi asked, and the king nodded. "Truthfully, we only just met her a few days ago. What happened to make her... grow distant from you?" he inquired, trying to phrase it in the nicest way possible.

"It was out of my control," the king sighed. "When we were kids, I was the heir to the throne. All the attention was on me, and my sisters were married off for treaties. Khithimi would go to Drakil, and Jeno to Prince Ereald."

"I was only 13 at the time," Scarlet explained sadly to Rayla. "All my parents' attention went to Dappio, their heir. They married me off to some faraway prince. They never asked me if I wanted to; it was just something they expected of me."

"She ran away on her wedding day to become a pirate, and a war broke out between our people over the broken treaty." Dappio explained. 

"I was young, scared, and confused. My crime was not wanting to get married. Isn’t that unfair? To have your whole planet hate you because you didn’t want to be a teen bride?" Scarlet continued unaware of her brother telling the same story a few miles away. 

"Our parents died of a broken heart during the war. They felt like failures, and I had to take over the throne in a war-torn country just before my 14th birthday." He expressed somber. 

"I tried to visit him once. He called me a selfish asshole and told me to go cry on our parents' grave because he was too busy to hear it." She growled. 

"I said some things I… shouldn’t have," he replied remorsefully.

Tobi and Oros merely looked at each other before Tobi spoke up. "I see." The tension in the air was thick.

"I think the only one who can tell you if she’s okay is her," Oros provided his own wisdom. "Seems she has been through a lot from what little we know."

“I can imagine, taken in by pirates… the things she must have witnessed and been forced to be a part of,” Dappio sighed. “It’s funny, I am a king, the whole world is at my fingertips, and I am powerless to control anything.” He looked up at the large portrait of his siblings and their parents. “We were raised on a silver platter, only to be fed to the wolves.” He shook his head before turning back to them. “Sorry, where are my manners? You are all probably hungry and tired.”

The king turned to his servant. "Gather everyone in the courtyard and tell the chefs to prepare a feast."

The tension was thick, not even the thickest of knives could break it. Scarlet didn’t even want to look at her brother. The moment he spoke brought dread to her. "Jeno, it’s been a long time. How are you? I hope you're well." Scarlet's eyes narrowed at him, her hand boredly leaning against her cheek. She looked away from him and settled her eyes on the Denzol woman next to him.

“I see you found yourself a broodmare. What family sold you to him?” she asked dryly.

“Excuse me?” the woman asked, shocked.

“Jeno!” Dappio shouted angrily. “That is no way to talk to my wife! I offered you refuge here, and you treat me with such disrespect.”

Scarlet scoffed, downing a glass of wine with a bitter expression. "Respect? You've been living in your cozy palace, playing king while the rest of us suffer out there. You have no idea what it's like to fight for survival."

Dappio's wife, the Denzol woman, remained composed, refusing to let Scarlet's words get to her. She turned to Dappio. "It's all right, my love. Jeno must have her reasons for being so bitter. Let's not let her ruin our evening."

Scarlet, fueled by anger and alcohol, continued her tirade. "Reasons? You think you know about reasons? I’ve been betrayed, abandoned, and left to rot by everyone I cared about. And now, I'm supposed to sit here and pretend everything is fine?"

Dappio tried to calm the situation. "Jeno, I know you've been through a lot, but you can't blame my wife for things she has no control over."

"I blame whoever I damn well please," Scarlet retorted, pouring herself another glass. "You know what, I'm done with this farce. I'll be in the courtyard if anyone needs me." With that, she stormed out, leaving the tense atmosphere behind.

Outside, the feast was in full swing, with people laughing, dancing, and enjoying the festivities. Scarlet, however, found a quiet corner and continued to drown her sorrows in a bottle of wine.

Rayla approached her cautiously. "Scarlet, are you okay?"

"Okay? I'm just fantastic," Scarlet replied sarcastically, taking another swig. "Just enjoying the perks of being a royal failure."

Rayla sat down beside her. "You don't have to face everything alone, you know. We're here for you."

Scarlet chuckled bitterly. "Here for me? That's a laugh. How are you not fucking mad Rayla, I watched your own father abandon you for dead years ago, you of all people should know how I feel, that desire to just see it all burn to the ground.” 

Rayla sighed, empathizing with Scarlet's pain. "I do understand, Scarlet. I've felt the sting of betrayal, but holding onto anger won't heal those wounds. You've got friends now, people who care about you. Let them in."

Scarlet glanced at Rayla, her expression softening for a moment. "Friends, huh? I've been burned before, Rayla. Trust doesn't come easy to me."

"I get that, but you can't let the past control your future. Not everyone is out to hurt you," Rayla reassured her.

Meanwhile, back in the dining hall, Tobi and Oros sat awkwardly, unsure of how to navigate the tense atmosphere. Dappio's wife tried to ease the tension with a smile. "I apologize for the disruption. Family matters can be complicated."

Tobi nodded, glancing at Dappio. "We appreciate your hospitality. We don't want to cause any trouble."

Dappio sighed, understanding the difficulty of the situation. "Jeno's always been headstrong. I hope she finds the peace she's searching for."

The feast continued, but Scarlet's absence hung in the air, a stark reminder of the unresolved conflicts within the royal family.