Their search didn't go particularly well. Anna got frustrated rather quickly, and it definitely showed. She muttered something about them needing to make camp soon since the sun was setting and the slowing pace of the younger three.
"If we didn't waste time at the village we could've caught up to them." Anna sighed. "There's not many places they could've gone, either… The river's too wide on this side to cross normally and everything else would just slow them down…"
Alfonse was trying to figure it out as well, thinking of the map of Askr and marking off wherever would be inaccessible, when he felt a light touch on his shoulder. He looked over to see Eir wandering off and knew he probably shouldn't let her leave on her own. "I'll be back," he remarked absently before following her.
He didn't really consider where she was going, nor made sure the others knew that he'd left. Then again he knew Anna wouldn't like to have lost track of Eir.
Eir seemed to be aware that he was following her, occasionally looking back to make sure he still was. That should've been his first clue, honestly, but he didn't think much of it—she really could've just been described as wandering, checking to make sure she wasn't alone.
They eventually got out of earshot from the others, and soon arrived at a clearing.
"I'm sorry," Eir whispered, stepping back.
"What?" When he turned to look at her, however, she was gone. Though with very little idea on what was going on, Alfonse began prepping himself for an attack.
The brief moment of rustling from beside him was the only warning he needed, quickly blocking the ambush. He wasn't even surprised at who it was.
Líf moved back. "You're basically begging to get yourself killed at this point, singling yourself out like this. There's no one to back you up. No pathetic waste of life to be your shield, either. Just you and me."
Alfonse dodged Líf's thrust quickly, making one of his own. There wasn't much hope that he could do it by himself; his best bet was to just hold his own until he could find a point to reunite with the others. It was a lot easier said than done, but should be possible.
Of course, it would help if he was fully focusing on the fight instead of all the things Líf had done when they encountered each other. Alfonse was acting out of instinct and practice, unable to keep his mind from wandering. Luckily they both seemed to be stalling, even if Líf tried at a risky blow every now and again.
This was when he noticed their nearly identical fighting styles, being the first time they'd actually went in battle against each other. It made sense that they would be similar, since they both would have stemmed from the same techniques used by Askran swordsmen even before the discovery of the portals. He was also aware of his and his father's similarities, but as much was to be expected from his main teacher for it—though even that differed more than what his and Líf's did.
Bringing to mind everything else, Alfonse had a moment of dumbfounded realization, staring at the person he'd thought to be his ancestor. "Knowing Sharena's name, not wanting to hurt her, the memorial and the names that were left lit… You're this world's Alfonse, aren't you?"
Líf paused before laughing menacingly. "Took you long enough. I really thought I was smarter than that, yet here you are, wandering into every trap we set."
"W-what happened? To you, and to this world?" He wasn't sure if he wanted to know, honestly, but he couldn't help his curiosity. It would either clear everything up or make things more confusing and foreboding, though he felt like it would be better than nothing.
"The reason you're here at all. Well, at the beginning." Líf was exceptionally good at talking and fighting at the same time, making it harder for Alfonse to keep up with his movements. "Hel came to this world, and took the life of the king. But instead on doing whatever you idiots think you are, we stayed and sought for a way to get rid of her from our own world. The two kingdoms made a neutral agreement to work together until the threat was eliminated, and with the nearly useless help of Henriette and both royal libraries, we found a way to stop Hel. Only the heart of her father, Angrbooa, seemed to possess the power to weaken her long enough to be killed. It was our single hope for getting rid of her invasion. We didn't realize the price we'd have to pay for it.
"The heart had to be reanimated in order to work. And soon enough, it was beating again… but there was a catch we failed to notice. With each beat, anything that breathed died. By the time we found out that the increased deaths wasn't just coincidence, it was already too late to change anything. We'd made a decision that determined the fate of our world, whether we liked it or not. Eventually, it was more than just faceless names. Everyone was…gone. All of their lives slipped away. Sharena, Fauna, Zacharias…I couldn't save any of them. In the end, it was only me and Veronica. Hel offered us a deal—we were tasked to kill you, and in return, she'd forget our attempt to get rid of her and bring back everyone from our world. And you know what? I'm not going to let you get in the way of that. No one is going to get in the way. Not anymore."
Líf acted much quicker than Alfonse's mind could keep up, taking advantage of his confusion and lack of concentration. He wasn't able to stop Líf from scoring a cut on his arm and shoving him to the ground, causing him to drop his sword in the process.
His short attempt to get back up was interrupted by the feeling of Líf's sword almost pressing against his armor. This probably could've gone a lot better if he had payed more attention; he was bleeding, his sword was out of arm's reach, and his enemy was just about ready to pierce his armor if he moved…definitely not the finest example of the Askran prince.
"I've been waiting for this moment for so long," Líf remarked. "You were always just out of reach the first go around. I thought we wouldn't get another chance at you. Your death would be our redemption. There's another person beyond Hel who will reward us for killing you. Really, I want to know what it is about you that's so dislikable—I certainly didn't have this many people out to kill me."
Alfonse felt like his heart dropped a bit. "You mean you don't know?" Out of all the people he'd thought would know why everyone seemed to want him dead, he assumed that one of the ones that did would have an explanation.
"Hey, I'm just following orders." Líf shrugged. "Don't take it too personally." He bent down, whispering in Alfonse's ear, "But between you and me? It's probably the one thing we don't have in common. They say great minds think alike, though I wouldn't call us all that great. We're both bound for the same failure—your kingdom will fall like mine did, and you'll watch the light leave all of the ones you care about. Although I doubt you'd find a way to fix it. You can't trick death twice, you damned excuse of a king. I mean, who let's themselves get beaten this easily?"
This was just another attempt to get into his head. He just had to keep calm and either find a way to get back to the others or hold out until they got there. It wouldn't take them long to notice he and Eir went missing and start looking for them. The clearing wasn't too far away from where they'd been, either.
Líf got back up again, nudging Alfonse with a disappointed grunt. "I forgot how little it took to distract me. You think Hel's going to go easy on you? That she's going to let your world go after she has you? It doesn't matter what you try to do, it'll all end up the same. The odds just aren't in your favor. Time to face the facts, Alfonse. Your luck's running out, and once that happens…you're going to be wishing this was where you died."
He stepped back the moment there was a bit of rustling. "Oh, and about your friends? Believe me, you're not always going to have them to hide behind. There's no saving you. Just stop while you're ahead, everything will be simpler if you leave them out of this before anyone gets hurt."
Then he left. Líf had Alfonse in the perfect position, though…why spare him? He wasn't complaining, of course, but it was still confusing.
It wasn't hard to guess who it was and to identify the five people coming. He made sure they wouldn't immediately see his cut in order to prevent triggering Veronica (since he knew she and Bruno could get a bit out of control when they saw blood), sitting up as the others entered the clearing.
"I'll yell at you for this later," Anna sighed. "We solved our where to camp problem. Fauna, take care of him. Alfonse, you better start explaining. Everyone else, start setting up."
((A/N: Haha, yeah I told you I sucked writing action. This is why, according to me, talking while fighting is a very valid tactic. Also I might've made up that part about sword techniques but to me that makes sense, so...
If I had to explain this in an in-game way: Líf does 2 damage, Alfonse does 1 damage, that cycle repeats until Líf's special triggers and Alfonse gets to 0 HP AKA the time the others came to save his butt.
After Líf dissed his friends, in an alternative universe, Alfonse shouted "MY FRIENDS ARE MY POWER!" like Sora from the Kingdom Hearts series. I honestly wouldn't put it past him to do that.))