{-Alfonse-}
He began to have his doubts about the plan to lure Líf and Thrasir when Eir hadn't returned after a couple of minutes. Basically, Eir was going to locate them and bring them back to the group, where Anna, Alfonse, Sharena, and Veronica—who'd insisted on helping, oddly enough—would be waiting in an ambush. Eir would then keep Fauna safe while hopefully avoiding actually fighting. Of course, that all depended on Líf and Thrasir believing Eir in the first place, and assuming they weren't already aware of her confession of working for them.
Alfonse's doubts were shortly dismissed, however, when he heard the very clear cursing and Eir came into view again. She ran behind the short line right as he declared, "We'll take care of Líf. You focus on Thrasir."
"But—" Anna interrupted herself with a sigh. "You're in charge."
By the time the two appeared, everyone was ready. Líf and Thrasir didn't seem too surprised by it—in fact, they almost looked amused at the effort. They only took a second of preparation before turning to their enemies.
Líf didn't even need a taunt in order to go for Alfonse, and Thrasir was quickly caught between Anna and Veronica, so thankfully Eir and Fauna were practically forgotten.
Alfonse still tried to keep Sharena a step behind him, although her help was appreciated. He took a deep breath, hoping he'd be able to multitask well enough for the plan to work. "Come on and be honest with yourself, Líf. Hel's not going to give you anything. All she cares about is getting what she wants no matter who she has to kill to get it—after all, she only has things to gain from it."
"Spoken like you know what you're talking about." Líf tried at a swing but both of the siblings stepped out of the way.
"Funny. So do you." Really, Alfonse was almost surprised Sharena was just rolling with this and occasionally keeping him from getting hit. "Let's face the facts. She wins whenever someone dies, and do you really think she'll pass up the opportunity to grow stronger? You're just another stage in her plan—and once she's done with you…what's the point in keeping around dead weight?"
"Are you trying to tick me off?"
"And here you were calling me the dumb one."
This, along with gaining a very impressed look from Sharena (and likely Anna, if she was paying enough attention to hear it), was more than enough to set Líf on edge. His final attempt only succeeded in getting him cornered between the two.
"You've lost." It was, admittedly, a bit hard to stay completely calm. But it was almost done… "At this point, it doesn't matter whether you do your end of the deal or not. Hel's still not going to keep hers. You're not going to be saving anyone, and even if you did, do you think they'd just forgive you? You've only gotten this far through murder. All of the work you'd done to get them back would be forsaken when they find out by what means you did it. No one else needs to suffer after this—history doesn't have to repeat itself. We're bringing the fight to Hel and we need you to do it. Just make this a lot less complicated for all of us before anyone else needs to get hurt."
Líf hesitated. Enough time was given for him to properly weigh everything said to him, finally sighing. He opened a portal beside them without saying a word.
Alfonse didn't even glance at his sister. "Sharena, can you go back up Anna and Veronica if they need it?"
She nodded and went off in that direction.
"We can't have Hel learning our plan, can we..?" Alfonse muttered coldly as soon as he knew she was out of earshot. "Only one of us can get what we want…" His expression didn't change as he stabbed Líf. It was the only way to truly keep Hel from knowing—it didn't even need to kill him, just disable him long enough for them to do what they needed.
"Long live the prince of peace," Líf mused.
Deciding that was long enough, Alfonse stepped back and rejoined the others.
They barely noticed him, at first; all five of them were there, discussing something he could only assume he'd missed. It wasn't until he was right beside them and silently said it was time to go that they did, nodding in unison before walking over to and going through the portal.
No one spoke for a while, taking in the scenery around them as they walked. At least Líf had taken them where they wanted to go—from the looks of it, they were just inside a castle's gates, and it was definitely in the realm of the dead.
Eir took the lead, motioning for everyone to keep their voices down. "I am aware that some of you are a bit squeamish around blood, and for that I must apologize and warn you…there's quite a bit of it ahead."
"I wouldn't quite call it 'squeamish,'" Veronica remarked quietly. "Either way, it shouldn't matter unless it's fresh."
"I've got one question before this is over," Anna declared, glancing at Veronica. "Are you as much as a pushover as Thrasir was? I mean, I get that you're basically a twig, but I didn't think you'd be that easy to deal with."
Veronica almost immediately moaned. "No one ever said I was built for physical fighting, not in the way the three of you and Bruno are. I can't say much for Thrasir, but I'm certainly not capable of properly defending in close range unless there's…a force I'd much rather not speak of involved."
Anna seemed satisfied with that answer. Though it wasn't much longer until they got to the point Eir had been talking about.
For an area so close to the entrance to the castle, it was definitely a mess and was clearly never properly cleaned up. If it weren't for the fact Alfonse knew that the soldiers from the realm of the dead didn't bleed (at least, not from what he'd seen in their battle with them) and they weren't already dead, he'd assume it was where Hel executed her subjects.
Eir took their silence as her chance to explain. "I once possessed many lives. Each morning in my youth, I would join Hel here. And on each morning, she would kill me. With each death she grew stronger, and I came back within a few hours so no one saw the harm in it. It was agony…but I knew better than to defy my mother. Hel had planned for it to be in infinite source of power. When I came back for the last time, though, she realized that wasn't the case. She didn't see the worth in me anymore; no one did. I was just a husk to all of them—given one final, useless life that meant less than a normal mortal's to them. There was nothing worth keeping around any longer, so I was shoved off into corners or silenced just to serve as a trophy of her power. I thought that it was what I deserved for no longer being helpful…that is, until I met you."
Sharena and Fauna gave immediate looks of pity, even if no one actually commented on it. Some of what Eir had said earlier did make a bit more sense with that in mind, at least.
"The five of you should be fine so long as you stay here," Eir informed them, stopping. She turned around to look at them. "I should go the rest of the way to the throne room on my own. Alfonse, may I have your sword?"
Alfonse nodded, offering his sword to her. "Please be safe. Don't stay in there any longer than you have to."
"I'll come back only when Hel is defeated," Eir promised. "You have my word on that. She's brought about enough suffering for the realm of the living."
((A/N: The way Alfonse talks to Líf is kind of terrifying. In this semi-AU, it's like something he does so sparingly no one really realizes he knows how to do it at all. Like, he could make the enemy do something self-destructive if he really wanted to just by poking around at them. Will he? Not unless you give him a very, very good reason.
I'm giving y'all three guesses to what that "Long live the prince of peace" thing means. I'd actually really like to know what you come up with.
Why does Thrasir barely appear in this story? Because I have no idea how magic works in this universe. I get that in most—if not all—FE games, they're reciting some ancient text, but that's not really considering if they need to be holding the tome or not, since not everyone does. I'm really curious if the reason people dodge magic attacks is because they hear the castor saying it and go "aw crap" and step out of the way. Please... give me official explanations on how it works.))