{-Alfonse-}

He didn't even have enough time to protest before they were sent back. And he hardly had enough time to pace from one tree to another before Sharena followed, though his concern only grew; she stood still for only a moment before collapsing, catching everyone else's attention when he caught her.

"Sharena?" Alfonse was trying not to panic when she didn't respond. He could tell that she was still breathing, though, which proved as some sort of encouragement.

Anna stepped a bit closer, frowning. "Lekra mentioned remembering, along with something else… and she did say she needed to 'figure out where she got lost.' Plus that stuff Freyja said right before Peony blew our cover…"

Peony acted like she didn't really hear anything Anna said. "She's just sleeping. That 'long-awaited endgame' thing was most definitely something Freyr wanted us to look into, but… I doubt we'd be able to get close enough to Freyja now. I know I've heard about that before… I just don't know where…"

…

They ended up going to a nearby village then sending a letter to the castle to get someone to pick them up from there. The only conversation they had at all in that time was when Anna and Fauna split from the other three to go to the Order's castle; between all the waiting, it had gotten dark, and to all of them it felt like the day just kept dragging on. Alfonse was actually glad that Henriette had gone to bed before their arrival (if she was ever informed of their return at all), since it meant having time to think it over before needing to explain it to her.

It was the first thing he did the next morning, though. And after a bit of talking, they decided it best not to try to hide the fact, since it would ultimately take more effort than just being outright. It wasn't like Sharena could voice her thoughts in the state she was in—she barely even responded to their voices and touch, let alone aware enough to answer questions.

Slowly, three days passed since they came back. Nothing had changed since then, except for Alfonse giving himself more work to sift through if not just to keep his mind from wandering.

He'd already started to pack up his current research project by the time he heard Iztali. It wasn't a moment later before the boy came into the library and proceeded to try to get the older's attention.

"Are you reading? What are you reading? Is it funny? Does it have bunnies in it? Ooooh, Fauna introduced me to this funny lady named Tiki and that drawing looks like her! Well, when she's a dragon. She's really friendly as a dragon. She let me ride on her back and told me stories. I like stories. Will you read a story to me?" Iztali practically climbed on top of him, trying to get a glimpse of what was written in the open book. "Aww, it's just a bunch of big words! What does that even mean?"

"Iztali, I told you to stay put!" Fauna came in from the same door Iztali had, immediately going to get him off of Alfonse. "We don't climb on people, it's not nice. Alfonse is busy right now and you're disrupting him. Apologize."

Once Iztali was standing beside the table, he nodded, and turned to Alfonse. "I'm sorry, prince of peace."

"I was finishing up anyway." Alfonse looked over at Fauna, choosing to just get straight to the point. "I thought the two of you were at the Order's castle. Did something happen?"

"Not exactly… We came over to get Peony; Anna's planning a meeting about everything to give the Heroes a better idea of what's going on. A lot of them are close to Sharena and don't deserve to be left in the dark about it," Fauna explained. "I was also hoping you might be able to look over Iztali until it's over, since I don't know what's going to come up…"

"Iztali can stay with me," Alfonse agreed. "If Peony isn't with Sharena, then she's probably in the garden. I made sure she knew not to wander off without anyone knowing so it shouldn't be that hard to find her."

Fauna nodded her thanks, backing away in order to leave. "I'll come back as soon as the meeting's over to pick him up. I don't want him to get in the way of anything…"

"I think I can handle a kid for a night, Fauna. Just stay there and try to get some rest." He offered her the most reassuring smile he could muster, though she didn't seem to trust his words. Still, she waved and left.

Realizing that there was nothing left to do but to be given attention, Iztali looked up at Alfonse with a hopeful expression. "Will you tell me a story now? I wanna hear a story! Little dreamer has tons of fun stories. I bet you have tons of fun stories too!"

"Alright, but not anything out of these books. They're not meant for kids." Alfonse marked his place and closed the book before getting up. He started toward the closest bookcase he knew would have what he was looking for. "How much can you read on your own?"

"I can't get the really big words, but I think I'm pretty good," Iztali answered truthfully. "Are you going to make me read it myself? It takes all the fun out of it if I have to read!" That didn't mean he stopped following and decided to find Henriette (who likely would've given him a more fun task), though.

"Then how about you read with me?" Alfonse suggested. "It won't be anything too hard." He checked just to make sure Iztali wasn't too far behind him before grabbing a book from one of the higher shelves, then handing it to the kid. "This thing is older than I am, so take good care of it."

Iztali gave him a look of amazement and nodded enthusiastically. Given how young he was, "older than I am" was probably translated to "older than the beginning of time" in his head, though that just meant he took more care in handling it. He even began to wander over to a seat by the window, setting the book on the table and climbing onto chair.

"Where are we starting?" he asked, seeming to pay little mind to the fact Alfonse wasn't even over there yet. "I think Fauna read some of these to me before. Little dreamer just tells me stories from her head, and those are really good. These are good too, but not as good as hers. And not just because I have to read these."

Alfonse turned a couple of pages, almost missing the one he wanted; he hadn't really touched the book in a few years, but he knew enough of it from when they were younger. Just the two of them, during one of the only times she dragged him away long enough for them to do something productive together… It was a happy thought that gave him a warm smile as he stopped at the beginning of the fable. "This is the one. Have you already read it before?"

Iztali shook his head and scooted closer to get a better look at the pages. "You read first! Then I'll read the next paragraph, and we'll switch!"

Silently agreeing to the terms, Alfonse started off and made sure that Iztali stayed true to his word. There was something almost nostalgic about correcting the occasional mispronounced words, and simply listening to it. Even Iztali's wonder as the story went on was a welcome change of perspective.

While most of Alfonse's thoughts and worries melted away as he read aloud, there was still a sense of dread from somewhere. He didn't think about it, hoping that in doing so he wouldn't focus on it and get distracted, but still the feeling lingered until he thought he heard a whisper.

"Isn't it sad, when the younger is the one that takes up the burden first?" He stopped reading at the familiar but unknown voice. It wasn't the first time that he had heard it, and he knew that there was probably more times he remembered of it. "The path towards hope, a peaceful world that has no such thing as suffering… and you're still on the borderline. There's only so much time until you're stuck on the losing side, you know…"

"Prince of peace? You stopped." Iztali tilted his head, clearly a little annoyed. "Why did you stop? Can you continue? I wanna know what happens next!"

"Right," Alfonse mumbled. Either he didn't show that the voice had disturbed him or the kid just didn't notice, but still, he took a moment longer before continuing on with the story.

((A/N: Alfonse is getting baby Sharena flashbacks. At least he's not thinking about what Líf said about how "your kingdom will fall like mine did," right? I can't say that. Alfonse was probably thinking about that instead of reading before Fauna and Iztali showed up.))