This began in a conversation with Hoskky, so I'm going to say it's her fault, except to be honest I'm pretty sure I'm the one who started all this. Like pretty much everything I write, it started as a joke that turned serious. Really serious in this case, because this is probably the darkest thing I've ever written. It is, in fact, my first M rated fic and on that note the first one that warrants a warning label:

WARNING: This story contains psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. There's nothing explicit, but if these topics bother you, please don't read this story.

And if you're wondering about pairings, there are no romantic pairs one way or another in this story, so interpret as you will. It's not exactly an AU, more of a "canon happened as seen, but what if this is what was really going on behind the scenes".

Chapter One: An Impossible Truth

"Boy…" Yuri put his hand on his hip, surveying room, "Alexei sure had a lot of crap."

Flynn looked up from the floor with an irritated sigh. "Good afternoon, Yuri. I see the concept of knocking still eludes you."

"You know me." Yuri strolled into the office. "Gotta keep you on your toes."

Flynn sat cross-legged on the floor of his new office, looking through a box of papers. Before Flynn could properly make it his office, he needed to finish going through all Alexei's effects and clearing them out. He'd only been officially sworn in as commandant a week ago, and been so caught up with other duties he hadn't had much time to devote to cleaning yet. As such, boxes of paperwork covered the floor and Alexei's personal red banners still hung from the wall. Yuri would have taken those down first, because they seemed to be taunting him.

"Don't you have more important things to do than housekeeping?" Yuri asked, sitting on a box. "I'm sure you could assign someone else to do this."

"I will for most of it," Flynn said, still staring at the paper in his hands, "but I'm starting with Alexei's confidential paperwork. He did do actual work running the Knights beyond trying to take over the world – most of this stuff is actually administrivia that I need to keep. I need to sort through it all and find out what was essential Knight operations, and which were diabolical schemes to take over the world, and most of this is classified and can't be delegated." He sighed and lowered the paper to look up at Yuri. "It's going to take me a while. How are you?"

Yuri shrugged. "Can't complain. It's been a fast week." It had been a whole week since confronting the Adephagos atop Tarquaron. It still felt like only last night. Yuri's group had initially said they'd stay in Zaphias for only a couple of days to work out their next steps, but after the chaos of world travel and planet-saving, they'd ended up spending most of their time napping at the inn. Spending the entire day lounging around, goofing off and hanging out without dire threats hanging over them was such a novelty.

"I know what you mean," Flynn said. "Between the meetings I've been dragged to all week, this is the first afternoon I've had free to even start sorting through all this."

"Man, you're going to be even more of a workaholic now, aren't you?" Yuri leaned his arms on his knees and shook his head.

"I'm just doing what needs to be done," Flynn said. "How long are you going to be in Zaphias?"

"A couple more days, probably," Yuri said. "Judith, Karol, Repede, and I are going to head back to Dahngrest. Estelle is going to stay here for a little while and help Ioder get established. Rita's staying with her for now, but she's going to head to Halure in a little while where all the refugees from Aspio have settled."

Flynn nodded. "If I recall, Lady Estellise intends to move to Halure as well someday."

"Yeah, that's what she says."

"With both of you gone, I'll be pretty lonely here."

"Ah, you'll be fine," Yuri said, waving his hand. "You'll be so busy with work you won't even notice we're gone."

"Hm… I suppose." He put the paper back on the stack in the box. "I'm sorry if you came to hang out. I really need to get this done, and it's not something you can help with, I'm afraid."

"Yeah, I get it," Yuri said. "No time to spare for little old me."

"Sorry," he said with a tight smile. "I promise I'll make time before you go back to Dahngrest."

"Don't worry about it," Yuri said, standing. "We went three years without even sending letters; I can deal with not hanging out every day."

"I suppose you're right," Flynn said, staring at the box without meeting his eyes.

"Well, you're busy, so I'll head out," Yuri said. "I was in the area and thought I'd say hello, but I don't want to bug you."

"Thanks for understanding," Flynn said. "Oh, Yuri?" he looked up again. "If you're on your way out, could you grab that box?" He pointed to one near Yuri's foot. "Those are Alexei's personal correspondences. I looked through some of it and I just found letters to his mother and things like that."

Yuri stared at him. "Alexei has a mother?"

Flynn looked up at him incredulously. "Of course he has a mother. Everyone has a mother."

"Well, yeah," Yuri said, still trying to imagine a Mrs. Alexei. "I just never thought someone like him…" He'd never given Alexei's family much thought, because thinking of him as a normal guy with loving parents and a childhood got in the way of kicking his ass. It was weird, though. At the back of his mind he'd always assumed Alexei didn't have a happy childhood, because people with supportive parents tended not to try to take over the world. A lack of love and affection could really darken someone's mind, so it was weird to think that bastard didn't even have that much of an excuse for his actions.

"Her name is Sandra and she lives in Heliord," Flynn said. "I believe she's rather embarrassed by her son's actions. Tries to stay out of the public eye. Anyway, it doesn't look like any of that box is official work, so I was going to toss the whole thing. Could you take it down for me on your way out?"

"Yeah, sure." Yuri hefted it up. "I'm always happy to get rid of Alexei's trash." The box was heavier than he'd expected, digging into his fingers. He wasn't about to tell Flynn, though.

"Thanks," Flynn said as Yuri walked to the door. "Don't leave Zaphias without at least saying goodbye, alright?"

"Yeah, sure." Yuri didn't bother looking back as he left the room. He didn't know what he'd expected. Typical Flynn and his typical overworking. This job was going to be the death of him.

Yuri shifted the weight of the box as he reached the stairs. He should have known he was going to get stuck taking out Flynn's garbage again. Damn, this was actually really heavy. What was Alexei writing? Love letters to himself?

Dear Alexei, you are just the prettiest little commandant Terca Lumereis as ever seen! Who's going to take over the world? Is it you? It's you! With love, the only person who will ever like you: yourself.

Yuri paused and frowned. He needed to get away from this train of thought before it led him to places he was not at all comfortable going. Yuri shifted the weight of the box again, trying to balance it on his hip. Of course, since he was also walking down stairs and his hips were moving, this ended up sending the box wildly off-balance and it slipped from his hands.

"Shit!" Yuri smashed his knee on the step in his rush to grab it, and caught the lip before it spilled down the steps. A handful of envelopes fell out and tumbled to the base of the stairs. He knelt sideways on the stairs, his left knee throbbing from how quickly he'd dropped, and scowled as he picked the box up again. Stupid Flynn.

At the base of the stairs, he set the box against the wall and stooped to pick up the dropped letters. He was about to toss them when one caught his eye. It was a folded letter that had fallen open, and he couldn't stop staring at the opening salutation. Not the words themselves, that was just a standard address to Alexei, but the handwriting. He was certain he had seen that handwriting before, and he grabbed the letter and stared at it until it came to him.

The way the 'A' curved, the bit of a curl on the tail of the 'E', the way the 'L' leaned a bit too far to the left like the writer was eager to move forward… he'd seen this handwriting before, scribbled across pages of an inventory of their belongings or pinned to his door to let him know the others had gone to breakfast. He could picture that hand, delicate and deft with a pen, neatly forming the letters with a confident artistry his own sloppy scrawling could never match.

But it couldn't be her. Why the ever-loving hell would Estelle write to Alexei? It had to be a coincidence. He read the rest of the letter, curious to find out who had handwriting so similar to Estelle's. The further he got in the letter, the tighter his chest felt.

Alexei –

Our plan is to head to the Krityan town of Myorzo. Schwann and I will rendezvous with you in Egothor Forest. Be waiting next week. I don't know the exact day we'll reach the village, so sit tight and wait for me.

-Estellise

Yuri read the letter five times, certain he was reading it wrong. Somewhere during that time, he'd fallen back on his ass and now leaned against the wall. Maybe it was actually in a foreign language that happened to resemble their normal language so much that it appeared to make sense but really meant something totally different. It was a bizarre leap on logic, but it made a heck of a lot more sense than interpreting this at face value.

In fact, he didn't even know how he was supposed to interpret this at face value. Why the hell would Estelle write to Alexei to tell him their position? And what did she mean, 'rendezvous with you'? Had she known Raven was going to kidnap her? But the wording here sounded like she was telling Alexei what to do.

He read it again. He read it backward. Maybe there was a different Estellise. She had the same handwriting, was in a position to give orders to Alexei, and travelled to Myorzo with Schwann. It sounded impossible even as he thought it, but what else was he supposed to believe? That Estelle was collaborating with Alexei? How could he even consider that after all the things Alexei had done to her? He felt like the worst friend in the world for even letting it cross his mind.

It was probably nothing. Probably a weird coincidence of names and handwriting. After all, lots of people were named Estellise. Yuri couldn't think of any others at the moment, but he was sure they existed. It was a fluke. He should forget it. He had already pushed it from his mind.

But when he tossed the letter back on top of the pile, he paused for a second and then pushed more old letters aside to check the handwriting.

It was like his heart gradually turned into lead with every letter he pulled out.

Alexei – I was successful in converting Belius into an apatheia. Flynn was there to retrieve it as per his orders, but the idiot let Yuri get away with it. For now, focus on obtaining one from Astal.

Alexei – I will hopefully lure Phaeroh out in Dahngrest. Have Heracles ready to destroy him.

Alexei – I'm interested in visiting Keiv Moc. Find us in Heliord and give us some reason to go there. I don't really care what. Be sure to make a fuss about me going so I can drag Yuri along as "protection".

This had to be some elaborate joke. Estelle must have planted these, knowing he would find them, in an attempt at humour. It was totally unlike her normal sense of humour, but it made more sense than this being true. This was a joke. A dumb, stupid joke. He'd just toss this box of letters and be done with it.

He stood, grabbed the box, and hurried to the dumpster. He stepped outside through the door by the kitchen and stood next to the large dumpster full of rotting food. This could end right here. He could just toss this box, push those letters aside and forget he ever saw them. He really, really wanted to just toss this damn box and then continue on his way back to the Comet to have dinner with his friends. He didn't need more complications in his life. He didn't need more uncertainty. He did not need this. He tossed the box.

But he kept a handful of letters and walked back into the castle, even though deep in his chest he knew he was not going to like where this led him.

For now, it led him to Estelle's apartment. Just leave it, he told himself after knocking and waiting for her to let him in. It's nothing. Why are you even bothering her?

The door swung open and Estelle met him with a grin so huge it made him feel dumb for even being here with these letters in hand. "Hello, Yuri!" she said with that huge smile that broadcasted love and friendship like a twenty-foot billboard. "Do you need something?"

"Nah," Yuri said. "I just wanted to pop by and talk."

"Oh, ok," she said, stepping aside to let him in. "It's nice of you to visit."

"You should come down to the inn with us," he said, entering the apartment. "We've just been hanging out and it's not the same without you and Rita."

"Sorry," Estelle said. "We've been so busy getting the new government together. There's so much to do!"

"I can understand that." He hovered in the middle of the room, not sure where to sit. That was the problem with Estelle's apartment – all the furniture was so fancy he felt like he shouldn't touch it, like he was in a museum.

"What's that in your hand?" she asked, closing the door and walking toward him.

"Oh, this? It's…" He looked down at them. This was stupid. He was going to feel so dumb when Estelle realized he'd fallen for her joke. Oddly, he didn't care. He desperately wanted to be told he had fallen for an obvious joke, because that kind of humiliation was so vastly preferable to the other impossible reality. "Some weird letters I found in Alexei's office. It kinda looks like your handwriting, doesn't it?" He forced a laugh and held one out to her. "Weird, huh?"

Estelle stared at the paper for a few seconds. Yuri studied her face, but didn't see any hint of worry in her eyes.

"I mean, that's definitely your signature at the bottom, isn't it?" Yuri said, pointing.

"Oh, these letters?" She pulled them from Yuri's hands and laughed. "Are you actually worried about them, Yuri?"

"No," he said, not very convincingly. "But, I mean… you did write them? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes," she said, flipping through them and glancing over their contents. "No point denying it. Like you said, my signature is on them."

"Ok, so… why? I don't get it."

She shrugged. "It was just a thing I was doing. I thought it would be fun to pretend I was a secret agent." She walked to her desk on the other side of the room and opened a drawer. She giggled and added, "I know it's dumb, but it was fun."

"I could see you doing that," Yuri said with a small smirk that didn't last. "Although, I'm just confused… I mean, if it was just a joke you were doing by yourself, how did they end up in a box in Alexei's office?"

"Why are you so worried about these silly letters?" she asked, her back still facing him as she put them away in the drawer.

"I'm not, really." He wondered if he sounded more convinced than he felt. "I guess I just think it's kind of weird."

"Well, Alexei is dead so it really doesn't matter what he has anymore."

"I know. I just want to know why he had them in the first place. How did he get them? Did you actually mail these to him?"

Estelle looked back at him with a small frown. "Yuri… could you please drop it? I don't want to go into it."

Ordinarily, he would drop it at this point. He could tell Estelle clearly didn't want to talk about this, and he wasn't the sort to pry when his friend clearly didn't want him to. It was just… she still hadn't answered why she had mailed those to Alexei. That was the most important piece of information in this whole thing. "Yeah, ok… as soon as you tell me why you mailed letters to Alexei giving him orders during our journey."

"Why does it matter? It's in the past."

"Tell me Alexei wasn't taking orders from you."

Estelle rolled her eyes. "No, Yuri, Alexei wasn't taking orders from me." She shook her head. "Honestly, I think you're still a bit frazzled from everything that happened with the Adephagos last week. Maybe you should lie down?"

"I am not 'frazzled'," Yuri said, starting to get angry. "I've been lying around for a week. I don't think it's paranoid for me to want an explanation for these."

Estelle's eyes widened and she stared at him with pained expression. "A-are… are you actually accusing me of collaborating with Alexei?"

"I don't know what I'm accusing you of," Yuri said, putting a hand on his hip, "because you won't tell me. Estelle… come on, it's me. Is it something embarrassing? I swear I won't make fun of you, just humour me and give me the real answer."

She chewed on her lip, and then siad, "Ok, well... I sent them after the fact to mess with Alexei."

"I saw one about Zaude. Alexei never made it back from Zaude. He couldn't have received it after the fact."

"I sent that one earlier. It was just lucky coincidence he ended up doing exactly what the letter said."

His heart pounded. Come on, Estelle, you can do better than this… Flynn wouldn't even buy these sorry excuses. Give me something I can believe! "That is bullshit and you know it."

Estelle stared across the room at him and Yuri furiously met her eyes. He was pissed off with her because he knew there had to be a rational explanation for this, but she wouldn't give it to him for some reason. Did she want him to think the worst of her?

"What are you trying to accuse me of, Yuri?" She sounded on the brink of tears.

Yuri felt like an asshole and a strong part of him wanted to walk away and forget it. He couldn't, though. He'd started pulling the thread, and now he couldn't bring himself to walk away until the entire thing was unravelled. "Why were you sending messages to Alexei?"

"How could you even say that?" she asked.

"Tell me the truth."

"Yuri, it's me," she said with wide eyes. "You trust me."

"Please, Estelle, give me a reason to," he said. "Why?"

"Let it go. It's in the past."

"I am not leaving this room until you give me a satisfactory answer for why you were sending orders to Alexei and giving away our position and actions."

They met each other's eyes. A long minute passed. Yuri started counting heartbeats but they came so fast and loud he gave up. For a whole minute, neither of their expressions exchanged. Yuri was stubbornly angry and desperate for an answer, while Estelle gave him pleading eyes filled with hurt.

And then Estelle's expression dropped. She went from the verge of tears to mild annoyance, and leaned back on the desk while crossing her arms. "You just had to keep prying, didn't you?"

"I… what?" His resolve faltered at her sudden change of attitude.

"Don't know why I'm surprised. Turning around and leaving when it's good for you has never been your strong suit."

"What the hell are you talking about?" This was happening. It couldn't be happening, but it was. He refused to believe this was happening even though he was in the middle of it.

"What do you want me to say? Yes, I sent those letters to Alexei. 'Giving away our position'? To whom? The person Alexei reported to already knew exactly where you guys were going and what you were doing."

"No." It wasn't very eloquent, but it was all he could think of. This can't be real, this can't be real, oh fuck this cannot be real.

"It's kind of annoying, actually," Estelle said. Her voice wasn't supposed to sound like that. Her voice always had an edge of playfulness or caring. You could hear the 'I love you' just from the way she inflected 'hello, Yuri.' But now it was… flat. Devoid of all emotion. "We got through the whole journey and none of you idiots ever suspected a thing, and now it all falls apart a week after it ends because stupid Alexei couldn't dispose of confidential materials properly? If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him myself."

Yuri's hand went for his sword. "You're not Estelle." A mental image of Regaey morphing into Yeager crossed his mind. That had been possible with blastia, of which there weren't any now, but there had to be some other method. He held his sword in front of him, trying to quell the rising flashbacks of the last time he drew his sword against Estelle.

"Of course I'm Estelle. Don't be mad at me because you were too stupid to realize what was going on. I did try to kill you the moment we met, after all."

"You… what?" He thought back, trying to think of what she could be talking about. His memory landed on her coming at him with a vase. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but Flynn had rambled once about how head injuries could be very dangerous. If she'd successfully smashed him over the head with a heavy vase before he turned around, it very well could have killed him. He shook his head. "You didn't know who I was. You were defending yourself against an obvious intruder."

"Lucky for you I decided you would be useful after I learned who you were. It's so much easier to keep up the 'sweet little princess' routine when I've got a knucklehead to do all the fighting for me."

"What have you done to Estelle?" Yuri's voice was taut, and keeping it from shaking was harder than doing the same for his hands.

"I told you, Yuri. I am Estelle. The one and only."

"I don't believe that for one second. Estelle would never say things like this. You been impersonating her for a while? Write those letters to try to implicate her?"

The girl who could not possibly be Estelle rolled her eyes. "You're so stubborn, Yuri. How could I be anyone but Estelle? I was there with you in the Quoi Woods when I was," her voice momentarily morphed back into a familiar Estelle pout, "s-so scared of the curse on the woods." She smirked and added, "But my brave hero Yuri promised to take care of me."

"How do you know that?" he seethed.

"I was with you all the way to the end, to that saccharine talk we had the night before the Adephagos."

Yuri shook his head. "That wasn't you. That was the real Estelle."

"If it wasn't me, then how would I know that I told you I was so excited to be able to stay with everyone, especially you?"

"You could guess that," Yuri said. "Estelle's emotions aren't too hard to read." Their positions had flipped, and now Yuri was the one offering weak explanations for everything.

"And then you said, 'thanks. I feel the same way.'"

"So then you were spying on us." Attack her now. She clearly wasn't Estelle, and the real Estelle, the one he adored and would go to any length for, was in trouble somewhere. This smirking bitch stole Estelle's appearance somehow and was trying to masquerade as her. Something held him back from attacking, though, and it was that she had gotten every detail perfectly right. She looked so exactly like Estelle she couldn't be anyone else, except she had to be since Estelle would never say these things.

"Was I spying on you in Yormgen when I told you how worried I was that maybe what I was trying so hard to figure out wasn't really important at all?"

Yes, yes she was, because this wasn't really Estelle so that was the only explanation. Except, Yormgen didn't really exist. He still didn't know what that city was, but only his small group could possibly have been there. How the hell could some stranger follow them out in the Sands of Kogorh without being noticed and then slip into an illusory city with them? There was an explanation for this. There had to be.

"And then we fought on top of the Sword Stair," please-oh-please-can't-be-Estelle said. She held her hands over her chest and swooned mockingly. "Oh, you were my hero! You were so determined to 'set me free'. You really would have done it, wouldn't you? Killed me? I almost wish I could have let you, but it would mean I couldn't stick around to watch it destroy you." She shook her head and dropped her arms. "It is annoying, though. Since I already got Zaude out of the ocean, I had no more use for you lot. I was going to kill you, but I guess I have to admit I'm not as strong a fighter as I thought. I saw the battle wasn't going my way, so I 'snapped out of it' and let you guys 'save me'."

"Shut up!" Yuri growled. Stop talking, stop talking, the more she said the harder it was to rationalize this out as a different person. How could she know things that only Estelle would know? How could this be her? How could she be saying these things? It was like a bizarre nightmare that he wouldn't even find scary when he woke up because it was so impossible.

"Aw, you're being so rude to your darling Estelle," she taunted. "I must admit, I was planning on none of you figuring this out, but watching your face is almost worth it. You're so satisfying to break apart, Yuri. Like when I pulled the strings to get Ragou off the hook, just to see what you would do. You certainly did not disappoint. If only you'd kept going. I wanted to see how low you'd go, but you managed to pull yourself up again before it got really exciting. How disappointing."

"What is wrong with you, Estelle?" He had given up on trying to keep his voice steady. Estelle was seriously telling him that she'd been playing him all along and he couldn't even fathom how he was supposed to process this.

"Nothing is wrong with me," Estelle said. "I'm the same as I've always been. The thing is, being left alone with no friends and no freedom in a castle for your whole life gives you a lot of time to perfect your acting skills. I'm quite proud of my performance, really. Not a single one of you saw through my mask. Of course, I've had many years to practice."

"Stop it," Yuri said. "Stop. Just… stop talking." This couldn't be true. It was a joke. A really bad joke and any second now she was going to burst into laughter and tease him about falling for it and he was going to feel so gullible and dumb but please let him feel that because it was infinitely better than accepting what Estelle was saying.

She walked toward him. Yuri brandished his sword. "Stay back," Yuri snapped. She wasn't going to make him use it on her, was she? He'd already done that once; there was no way he could bring himself to fight her again. Except it wasn't her. In fact, it had never been her. The Estelle he loved… could she really not exist? Was she really just an elaborate act that this… this horrible person had created? Everything they had shared… was it all a lie?

"What's wrong?" she asked with a smile. "Don't want to fight me?"

Yuri couldn't think of anything to say. He'd run out of excuses to rationalize what was happening and the only thing left was to accept that Estelle really was saying these things, that this was really happening. He sheathed his sword because she was getting close and he was afraid his rattled mind might actually strike her. He wavered on the edge of accepting what she was telling him, but he couldn't bring himself to imagine cutting her down.

She stood before him with a smirk, and then said, "As fun as this was, Yuri, I can't let you run off and tell the others." Golden light blossomed around her feet. "Oh power that tries souls, shine…"

Yuri had a split second to react. He leapt to the side just as she yelled, "Photon!" and a burst of orange light engulfed where he'd been standing.

This was real. This wasn't a joke. Estelle had just attacked him and if he didn't do something, she'd do it again. Yuri lunged at her and tackled her to the ground with a cry of rage. His fist smashed into her face and he couldn't get clear words out. She just cackled as Yuri pinned her to the ground.

"You never disappoint, Yuri!"

"Shut up!" Yuri screamed, barely even seeing her bloodied nose through his haze of fury and horror. "You're not Estelle!"

"Oh, but I am!" she laughed. "And that's what makes your reaction so perfect." Her knee smashed into his gut and she pulled herself out from under him. Yuri snatched the collar of her shirt to try to stop her, but the clothing ripped and she pulled away. On her feet again, she started casting.

Yuri jumped up and went after her again to keep her from casting. He grabbed her and pulled her against his chest, pinning her arms behind her back. "Why are you doing this?" he asked with desperation. "Snap out of it!"

Estelle kicked his shins and struggled against his grip, but Yuri was stronger than her. After fighting to get out of his grip, she screamed, "Help! Guards! Help me! Yuri's gone insane!"

Yuri shoved her away from him. She hit the table and bent over it with a grunt while Yuri took a few slow steps backing away. He didn't want to get into a fight with the knights, not now when he was finally getting his life in order. But what was he supposed to do?

Flynn. The name shot through his brain and then quickly grew to fill it up. Get Flynn. He'll know what to do. Flynn always knew how to deal with things, and if he knew the situation, Yuri wouldn't have to worry about the knights.

He turned and ran. He barely saw the walls as he flew by in his haste to reach Flynn. He clung to the thought that Flynn would make everything make sense again, because it was the only thing keeping him somewhat stable. He couldn't believe what had happened even though he'd just experienced it. His head already toyed with the idea that what if he was insane and he'd made the whole thing up in his head and now he'd attacked Estelle for no reason?

The door slammed against the wall and rattled a picture frame when Yuri threw it open. He stood in the doorway and panted, staring at Flynn with wild eyes. Just seeing him sitting calmly, still going through the paperwork, relaxed him. It was so normal, so Flynn, and it made the impossible events in Estelle's room seem very far away.

Flynn sighed as he looked up. "I see you still don't know how to knock." He frowned when he saw Yuri's expression. "What's wrong?"

Yuri walked toward him, trying to figure out how to put this into words. "Flynn, it's… it's Estelle. Something's wrong with her."

"Is she sick?" Flynn asked with concern as he stood up.

"No, she…" Yuri reached Flynn and stood before him. He almost didn't want to explain, because for now he could cling to the hope that Flynn would give him a rational explanation and make everything better, but once he explained, if Flynn couldn't make this better he wouldn't have any hope to cling to anymore.

"Yuri? What's going on? You're worrying me."

"Estelle… Estelle said she was giving orders to Alexei."

Flynn frowned in confusion. "What?"

"I found some letters from her in that box you wanted me to throw out. I asked her about them and she kept denying it at first but I pressed her for an answer and then… it's like she just snapped. Like she's been wearing a mask this whole time and then suddenly tossed it aside and told me that she's been playing us all, and that she was responsible for most of the shitty stuff that happened on our journey."

"You can't honestly believe that," Flynn said.

"I don't want to!" His voice cracked. "But then she attacked me. She attacked me, Flynn. She said I knew too much and I think she was actually trying to kill me!"

"Lady Estellise wants you dead?"

"She certainly seemed to!"

Flynn hung his head, staring at the floor with a serious expression. "This… this is serious." He crossed to the entrance and closed the door.

"What do we do, Flynn?" Yuri asked, turning around to watch him. "It seems impossible but… but I don't know how to explain this." Come on, Flynn, give me a rational explanation. Please make this better.

"I'm sorry, Yuri," Flynn said, slowly turning around. He drew his sword and met Yuri's eyes with a cold expression. "But now that you know the truth, I'm afraid I can't let you leave here alive."