{-Alfonse-}

The most any of them could find was a couple pieces of scrap paper—less of it was clearly legible and none of them were actually reports. It wasn't completely useless, however, because they were able to retrace this world's Order's steps and figure out where they'd been when it got down to just them.

Anna pulled out a map from her bag and spread it out between the six of them. She started pointing at several points on the map. "We know that they started at the temple, taking the heart with them when they left and remaining unaware of the side effects for a while. From the sounds of it, they split up to search for Hel until the amount of people and animals 'mysteriously dying' rose to an unnaturally high rate. They regrouped at the border and realized what the heart was doing. By then, they started a desperate attempt to get rid of Hel as quickly as possible without an actual plan. The last note we could find states that while the remaining numbers were low, Hel had been seen between the castles and they were leaving for a confrontation. I can only assume that was the last moments they had before Líf and Thrasir became a part of Hel's army."

"That much makes sense." It was hard to tell if Veronica meant to let everyone hear her. "Let them watch their chances of success vanish, then use that newly formed despair to bend them to your will…"

Eir nodded. "I can confirm that was around the time they came to the realm of the dead. Not long after, Hel gained access to your world and she made them a deal: kill the royal family, and she'll return their world back to the way it was before she came."

"And I suppose you don't know why?" Alfonse wasn't even sure why he was trying—he wasn't even surprised when Eir shook her head.

"I wish I did, for your sake," she responded. "But it was not something I was allowed to know. I am truly sorry."

He sighed. "No, it's fine." He was aware of the look Sharena was giving him, but generally chose to ignore it.

"Back to the task at hand," Anna reminded them. "There's not many places the heart can be, especially if Hel picked up Líf and Thrasir immediately. We would've found it if it was here and I doubt they just left it out in the open, even if no one was here. Our options are any of the surrounding villages or the royal castle."

"The royal castle has a treasury and enough defenses even without the guards," Alfonse pointed out. "It would be better and safer than putting it in a random village."

"It's kind of our only option right now," Fauna agreed.

Without warning, Veronica stood up. She hid the fact that something was wrong well, but he was beginning to know better than to assume that. "Excuse me…" she mumbled, quickly walking over to her things, taking a smaller bag out of it, and leaving the room.

"Really?" Anna frowned, clearly annoyed, then shook her head. "Well, I'm not waiting for her. We spent a while looking for leads and this is our best bet. If we leave now we can be ready to confront Líf and Thrasir by tomorrow morning."

Alfonse got up as well, though knew it was pretty much the exact opposite of what Anna wanted him to do. "I'll get Veronica while the rest of you pack up." He realized shortly after saying it that he had no reason to make the offer—at least, not to the others. They weren't aware of his earlier conversation and promise to her; quite honestly, he never planned on letting them if not only to avoid the opposition Anna would make to it.

He left the room without saying anything else, and was a bit surprised to see that Veronica was pretty much just outside the door. She was digging through the bag, muttering to herself, "Not here…not now…" before pulling out several glass vials and drinking their contents.

This was when she noticed him and his confused expression. "Drugs. The less I think, the better," she explained as she finished up. "The voice gets drowned in the fog, but so does the rest of my thoughts. I'm trusting you to be Xander in this situation—that is, keep me from saying or doing something ridiculous."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Alfonse held his hand out to her, tilting his head towards the direction of the others. "We're getting ready to leave, and Anna is set on finishing this today. Are you well enough for all of it?"

Veronica slowly nodded. "I should be." She paused. "Thank you. It's…comforting to know someone in Askr cares as much as you." She smiled at him for a moment, before going back to join the others.

He sighed and followed her.

…

Alfonse had generally stayed beside Veronica during the walk there—he took the lead when they entered, however, and Fauna replaced him at the back of the group. They all stayed in silence throughout the entire walk.

As to be expected, the royal castle was in much better shape than the Order's. The only thing that really betrayed the appearance of everything being normal was the silence and the fact that they weren't greeted by anyone.

It didn't take long for them to get to where the heart was. Or, at least, where they presumed the heart was. Sharena off-handedly implied that Lekra was aware of something close, so Alfonse could only assume it was nearby.

"Eir, can you give me one of your daggers?" Veronica asked. "I'll need it in order to transfer the power of the heart over to it."

"You don't want someone to come with you?" Alfonse really wished he knew a Anna-won't-pay-any-mind-to-it way to ask "are you sure you won't hurt yourself," along with wishing he didn't feel the need to hide it at all.

"I'll be fine," Veronica assured him. "I'd be able to concentrate better without the rest of you in earshot anyway; and none of you better bother me until I come back unless you want the heart beating again."

They all gave a collective—and reluctant depending on who they were—nod.

"Thank you all for trusting me with this task," Eir said solemnly, pulling out her dagger and handing it to Veronica. "I swear to you I will not fail in defeating Hel."

"Well, good, because you're all we got," Anna remarked. "If this doesn't work than we're screwed and I'm blaming Veronica for this plan."

"You always have to blame it on someone else, don't you?" Veronica barely looked at her, instead just taking Eir's dagger and beginning to walk away. "I only need a couple of minutes." She left after that.

None of them really said anything, waiting around in silence for Veronica to do what she needed. It wasn't like there was much they could do; it allowed Alfonse's mind to wander which was, quite honestly, the exact thing he didn't want to do.

He still didn't know what anything meant. He'd tried not to think much about Líf's words of warning and everything else he'd been told. Slowly he was letting the fact of his role when they returned to Askr sink in, but everything else still didn't show signs of giving answers. "Your kingdom will fall like mine did, and you'll watch the light leave all the ones you care about…" Líf had told him that, but whether it held truth or was just said to bother him was uncertain. Though, if it was the latter, it was definitely working. He needed to stop listening to those kinds of things—at least, that's what he was sure everyone else would tell him.

Alfonse barely noticed when Veronica came back until everyone else started leaving. He didn't pay attention to what any of them said as she gave Eir the dagger back, only pushing back up to the front again to keep them from getting lost. By this time tomorrow…they'd probably be back in Askr. There wasn't much longer until they'd all be back home…

((A/N: You know, last time we saw Veronica in CbF, she literally secluded herself until the voice stopped. Now she has to straight-up drug herself. She really does get the short end of the stick here...

Why did Alfonse still let Anna join the rest of them to the treasury, when it's probably supposed to be a "people with permission only" access? Because he knows she'd never actually step foot in the royal castle, unless she needs to. She's just patiently waiting for him to endorse the Order and give them money—spoiler alert, he never does. Not in any amount of time I plan for this AU to cover, anyway.))