Apologies for the wait. I became rather burnt out on this story, and that combined with numerous personal events created essentially no work on this for months. I'm still not sure how often I'll be updating the story for now, so please bear with me for the time being. I still fully intend to complete this story. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to review or send a message.

Elise

Lord Trayon's tower was as lavish as the stories said. If Elise wasn't too busy feeling ill from the anticipation of seeing Camilla, she might've been able to admire its beauty. Vara kept a close eye on her as she ascended the tower, passing group after group of Nohrian soldiers. Camilla must've been truly worried about retrieving her if she brought this much manpower with her. The soldiers all would inevitably stare at Elise as she kept walking, eyes straight forward. After all, she was the princess that ran away. For the child of some random concubine, that was nothing special, but she was officially recognized as an heir to the throne. And yet she ran. It must've been so confusing from an outsider's perspective.

Elise couldn't help but feel her hair. When she had cut it short, it was a spur of the moment sort of action, but she was surprised by how much she had come to enjoy it. Her longer hair was beautiful, but it wasn't very easy to maintain. Now, she felt she barely had to keep it presentable at all. It was liberating, in a sense.

Camilla wasn't on the top floor – that was never her style. She preferred to appear powerful, but not untouchable. Majestic, but not unapproachable. She understood that strength won the loyalty of the nobility, while humility secured the hearts of the common folk. Looking back, Elise realized that Camilla always had the makings of a powerful leader. Vara stopped her with still a few more floors left leading to the top, leading her into what appeared to be a room meant for holding council.

Inside, sitting at the end of a long, rectangular table, was Camilla, giving Elise her usual smile. But where it once provided her comfort, it now only gave her an unnerving chill. Wanting to keep her distance, Elise sat on the opposite end of the table. "You may leave," Camilla said to Vara, who obeyed, albeit with somewhat of a scowl. She shut the door behind her. "It's wonderful to see you, Elise."

"Don't…" Elise stopped, taking a breath. "Don't talk to me like nothing's wrong. Don't smile at me like that. Don't lie to me about how you're feeling. I'm sick of it."

"Elise, you don't know what you're asking. I smile because I want you to feel safe. I lie to you so you can be happy. I do these things for your benefit, not to hurt you."

"Was killing Effie and Arthur for my benefit?" Elise was already fighting back tears. She couldn't show that kind of weakness – not here, not now.

"No. It was out of necessity. They got too close to exposing ugly truths that would have only caused you harm. I had to make a choice, Elise. And I chose what would hurt you the least."

"What sort of truths could you be hiding that would outweigh their deaths!? The deaths of my…my best friends? The people who cared about me more than anything?"

"Elise, sweetie. There is so much about this world that you don't understand."

"Then help me understand!"

Camilla shook her head. "You simply aren't ready yet. Too many Nohrians have lost their innocence far too soon. You are a rare exception. You haven't seen just how ugly the world can be. You should treasure this, not demand to become just like everyone else."

"You killed my friends, Camilla! Don't talk to me about how I don't know how ugly the world is!" Elise stood up, her hands on the table. "They cared about me! And…and I cared about them…"

"I understand that, Elise. I do. But there was simply no better choice. There are things you cannot know, for your own safety."

Elise sat back down. "I figured out it was you. Maybe I'm more capable than you thought."

"You certainly are. But that does nothing to change the fact that for you, ignorance is bliss. Now, I still trust you. I believe you can do the right thing, the smart thing. I would have confiscated Brynhildr had I not." Elise's eyes drifted to the tome in her lap. "Have you realized the power you've been able to unleash with that tome? You have the potential to reach heights even Leo could not. But without proper guidance, its powers will consume you. Like Azura, you are in a moment of vital change. Will you stubbornly refuse my help and be destroyed by Brynhildr? Or will you come home with me?"

Silence dominated the room for almost an entire minute. "You're trying to make me feel weak," Elise said. "I see that, now. That's what you've been doing since you ascended the throne. You coddle Azura and I, telling us how we need you." She remembered the song Soleil played for her. That girl, a nervous wreck, played a song that Elise found beautiful. In spite of her self-doubt, she still succeeded. "I won't let you control me anymore. Now tell me what exactly you were trying to hide from me."

"Oh, Elise…" Camilla shook her head, standing up. Elise did the same, gripping Brynhildr tightly. "I'm only here to help. You're far too weak to brave the world on your own. Perhaps you simply need a reminder of that fact."

Leo

Leo dropped any pretense of stealth once he saw a giant tree branch erupt from the side of Lord Trayon's tower, sending rubble plummeting to the streets below. The town erupted into chaos almost instantly as more sounds of destruction emanated from the tower. Though he had assumed the others were right behind him, as he arrived at the tower's base, he realized he was the only one there. They must've lost track of him in the rush of people.

There were two guards at the front entrance which Leo easily dispatched with blasts from a fire tome. The people inside were far too busy running past him in an effort to avoid the disaster erupting around them to worry about stopping him. As he ran up the stairs, cracks formed in the stone tower. At this rate, it was bound to collapse. He had to get to Elise before that happened.

A man that Leo quickly recognized as Lord Trayon himself ran towards him, stopping as he recognized Leo in turn. "Prince Leo!? Oh, thank the gods! Listen, I never believed your sister's lies about you and your brother! I knew all along that you never murdered your father! And now your sisters are tearing the building apart! Please, they're mad, the both of them—"

Leo interrupted the man with a swift left hook that sent him sprawling. "Get out of here," he said with contempt. The man nodded, scrambling to his feet and running away. Leo looked back up at the stairs, muttering, "I'm coming. Just hold on, Elise."

The carnage in the upper floors was catastrophic. Massive vines and roots wrapped their way around the supporting pillars tight enough to create deep cracks, and sections of the walls had been blown out. And at the top of the tower was the source.

Elise sent a wave of needle-like branches towards Camilla, who used Bölverk to slice them away. Neither of them looked confident in their odds. Slamming the handle of Bölverk on the ground, Camilla sent an eruption of broken stone towards Elise, who was barely able to create an oak barrier to block the brunt of it. A sharp pebble grazed her cheekbone, drawing blood.

"Elise!" Leo shouted, opening his tome and sending a fireball towards Camilla. The blast hit her square in the gut, sending her flying back. Elise looked to Leo, shocked. "You need to stop! You're going to send the tower down if you keep this up!"

Camilla got onto one knee, wiping a smeared mixture of dirt, blood, and makeup off her lips. "Hello, Leo. Don't worry; this won't take much longer!" She thrust the blade of her axe into the ground, using it as support to stand up, only to then yank it out of the ground and fling a chunk of the floor at him. He tried to stop it with a fireball, but it barreled through the blaze, hitting him hard. He fell on his back, his head spinning.

"Here he is, Elise!" Camilla shouted, stretching her arms out. "He helped Xander kill father! He's the reason all of this is happening! Help me fight him! Take revenge for father!"

"She's lying, Elise!" Leo shouted back. "She's the one who murdered father! She's been deceiving you! Father and I had our differences, but I would never kill him!" Elise looked between the two of them, confusion and fear taking over.

"Elise."

"Elise!"

Two branches shot from a tangle of warped wood and vines next to Elise, plunging into Camilla's shoulder. She screamed in agony as the branches violently ripped their way out. Elise looked shocked that she even did it, gazing down at Brynhildr. "I'm…sorry, Camilla…"

A flash of flaming purple light hit Leo in the kneecap, sending him stumbling back towards a crumbled-away edge of the tower. He fell back, only for a vine to wrap around his ankle, keeping him from plummeting, but accidentally banging his head against the side of the tower, giving him a painful ringing in his ear, throbbing in his skull, and vision too blurry and wobbly to properly make sense out of the world around him.

A hand grabbed onto Leo's foot. He looked up, making out Elise, shouting something at him as she tried to pull him up. Another flaming arrow hit her this time, striking her back and pushing her over the edge. Instinct prevailed over his dazed senses, and he managed to catch her by the wrist. The two of them hung there, only supported by the single vine that was visibly straining at the weight.

"Hold on…Elise…" Leo spoke, having trouble getting the words out, fighting against the strain his head injury put on him. "I'll protect you…"

Camilla approached, clutching her shoulder. Her hair was a mess, covering her face, but Leo knew she was looking down at him and Elise. "Camilla…" he muttered, looking down at Elise, who was barely holding Brynhildr by a corner of the cover.

"Camilla!" Elise screamed.

Vara walked up to Camilla. "We've gotta go. This place is gonna collapse any second." She looked at the two hanging over the edge, recognizing the situation. "I'll take care of it. You just—"

Camilla stomped on the vine, grinding her heel into it. Blood dripped from her shoulder and onto Leo's face. Then, with one last twist of her heel, the vine snapped.

There was a rush, a sensation of dizziness. A loss of balance, of recognition of position. A shortened breath. A brief moment of no feeling but that of a heart's panicked beating. Blinding whi

Forrest

At the base of the tower, there was a pod of bramble surrounded by rubble. They had all seen two distant figures falling off the tower. Forrest took a slow step forward, and then ran. He grabbed at individual branches, yanking them off, jamming splinters into his hands, panting frantically. Some joined him – he didn't bother paying attention to who they were. He just kept tearing away at the fragile, gnarled wood, creating an opening for him to slip through.

Elise was laying against an inner side of the pod, blood coating one side of her face from a large cut in her forehead. One of her arms was bent in a way it shouldn't have been. Brynhildr sat clutched in her hand, still faintly glowing. No doubt, the pod was a last-ditch effort to soften the fall. Forrest stepped closer, catching the faint sound of breathing. Punctured, pained breathing, but breath nonetheless.

On the other side of the pod, Forrest saw him: an image from a nightmare. Open, motionless, empty eyes that stared at nothing. Forrest was vaguely aware that he had fallen to his knees. It was the tears on his cheeks that he felt more than anything.

Midori

She avoided the service, saying she needed to tend to Elise. That was a half-truth; she also felt sick at the idea of going. So she stayed at the princess's side, cleaning off dirt, checking bandages, keeping the fever down. But when she set a bottle of medicine down, looked back at Elise, and saw her eyes staring at her, she knew she could avoid it no longer.

Midori didn't bother arguing with Elise about her condition. Instead, she put the princess's arm over her shoulder and guided her out of the tent, heading west of camp, towards the setting sun.

There was a bundle of rocks covering recently filled earth, with a stick in the ground behind it. Tied around it was a scrap of a black cloak and a long, crimson ribbon. They stood in front of it for a while, neither saying nor doing anything.

"I'd like to go now," Elise said. So they did.