It felt like an eternity since they had last been in Caldisla. How long had they spent wandering down the strange and surreal paths that made up the Celestial Road? How many days had it taken to finally, finally defeat the creature Providence? And afterwards, when they had said their final farewell to their friend Altair and his beloved Vega, only to find that Tiz was suddenly dying… How many long minutes had they held their breaths, watching as he slowly faded away before their eyes? How great that single minute had stretched, between Agnes' arrival and the thought that, perhaps, Tiz was already gone.

But he was alive. He was there now, walking alongside Agnes and all the rest laughing. Most of them still found it hard to believe.

Perhaps had the event not been so intense should someone, Edea perhaps, have made a crack about Agnes and how fast she had made it there. And perhaps the cure to her sense of direction was to be worried about her love. But even Edea wouldn't make a joke about such a thing, not so soon at any rate. It was technically still the same day since they had arrived back to the Norende Heights sometime in the early morning.

They were all tired, they were all happy, and they were all prepared to sleep. They had taken it easy on their way back to Caldisla, Agnes worried that Tiz would hurt himself and truth be told they were all injured in some way or other. Not physically, but mentally. The battle with Providence had placed a great strain on their minds somehow, and that coupled with some other thoughts that weighed on their hearts caused them to want to slow down and take it easy.

For Edea, it was the parting words Altair had given her. 'Run straight to him, the man who has been waiting for you all this time.' She pushed them into the back of her mind, the words ringing too near to feelings and thoughts she didn't want to address then. For who, exactly, did he mean? She could guess, and the answer wasn't one that pleased her.

As for Magnolia, she wore a smile on her face and was happy, but other thoughts could be seen flitting by every few moments turning her smile into a sad, pained look. Perhaps she was thinking of her return to the moon, or perhaps there were other things weighing on her that she didn't speak of to her friends.

And as for Yew… his thoughts kept turning back to the battle itself, even if he didn't mean for them to. Questions, ideas, answers, and more questions ran through his head as he played everything that had happened piece by piece. And even as he'd do so his friends would notice he was spacing out and he would feel like an idiot, for shouldn't he be more worried about other things?

Not that he could TELL them when they asked of course. He had tried on the way back, but it hadn't gone well.

"So… that was pretty strange, huh?" He had prompted, "I mean, that whole event with Providence trying to erase everything we had done and all."

"Huh?" Edea had been disturbed out of a thought and gave him the oddest look, "What are you talking about?"

"I-I mean…" Yew stuttered, "You don't remember? When it tried to make, er, whoever they are… the Celestial, get rid of us?"

Edea made a face that said she didn't know what he was talking about, and Magnolia asked, "Celestial, you mean Altair or Vega?" She looked sad, "Poor Vega, I suppose Providence would have gotten rid of us through her."

"We're just lucky she hadn't totally forgotten about Altair." Edea scoffed, "Although then there wouldn't have been any Ba'als to deal with if she had…"

Although they had both been smiling and laughing a minute ago both Tiz and Agnes fell silent at Yew's questions, and neither said nothing for a long while until the conversation had turned elsewhere.

And now they had arrived in Caldisla and the light of day was just beginning to fade. "Let's stay at the inn tonight." Tiz had suggested, "We'll worry about preparations tomorrow, alright?"

No one had any objections, and soon after they had greeted the innkeep they were in the single long room that made up part of Caldisla's inn and were making themselves comfortable. True enough the innkeep had two smaller rooms reserved for smaller parties, but they were full at the moment and so they took the large one.

"How about some dinner?" Edea suggested with a bright grin, "The innkeep seems a little busy so we'll go out and grab something somewhere else and bring it back here."

"Sounds great." Tiz replied, "Let's go and-"

"Not YOU Tiz." Magnolia said with a shake of her finger, "You really must rest. Edea and Yew and I will fetch dinner."

Edea seemed to agree, and before anyone could object the two had grabbed Yew and convinced (Or pushed) him out the door, leaving Agnes and Tiz alone in the room behind.

The three of them ordered something nice, and had something sent back to Tiz and Agnes. "No need to disturb them," Edea said. "Mais oui!" Magnolia added, "They need some alone time, no?"

Somewhere amidst the three's dinner, in which there was much talk of future events and excited mentions of things to come or be changed, Yew found himself asking again about that one point in the battle against Providence.

"When Altair brought Vega back to her senses?" Magnolia asked, "It was a good thing he did, too."

"No, it was after that." Yew tried to explain, "When we fought Providence in that starry place that was… When it started talking, I mean."

"It tried to distract us." Edea said, making a guess at what he was speaking of. She waved her hand in dismissal, "Don't think about what it said too much."

"But…" Yew made a face, "Remember when it said something like that we were all acting according to someone else's will, that we were being controlled?"

"Oh, that?" To Yew's surprise Magnolia started laughing, "Yew, I know it might seem hard to grasp but you've got to let what it said go. Like Edea said, it was trying to confuse us, and the important thing is that we didn't give in to what it was saying."

Yew opened his mouth as if to say something and then closed it again. "You- you think it was lying?" He managed at last, "Then you didn't see… I mean you don't know about…"

"Of course it was lying!" Edea groaned, "Mrgrgr… Yew, you honestly think we're being controlled?"

"Not this very second," He replied, missing the sarcasm in her voice, "I don't think this is important right now, but I know they're still here. And they've been there for the whole journey too, right from the beginning. And it's not actually controlling anyway since-"

"Who?" Magnolia asked, perhaps she thought he meant Altair again.

"Them!"

"Yew." Edea was glaring at him now, "There is NO ONE controlling you, do you understand? No one!"

Yew fell silent for a while then, and Magnolia began to speak of something regarding the Crystalguard. Yew answered her questions and eventually turned his mind away from the previous subject.

When their meal had been finished and the sun gone down the trio returned to the Inn, talking and laughing happily. They returned to their room to find Agnes and Tiz in deep conversation, but whatever they were talking about none of them found out, and they said nothing of it.

The evening was quieter than the day had been. Although Agnes had a room at the castle she said that she would rather stay there with them for the night. She was probably still worried Tiz would just collapse all of a sudden.

Magnolia fell asleep almost at once, although her joyful chatter lasted a good hour beforehand. Edea was almost as talkative, and aimed several jokes at Agnes and Tiz that got the two blushing and Tiz to grow angry at least once. She didn't cross any lines, and it was all in play anyway so no one thought anything of it.

A while after Magnolia had fallen asleep and when Edea was beginning to Tiz asked her something.

"Edea," He whispered. She rolled over and eyed him, "What?"

"Did something happen while you three were out?"

She sat up a little bit, "What do you mean?"

"Yew seems out of sorts."

"Oh, him." Edea sighed loudly and replied, "He's worried about some of the stuff Providence said in the battle." She rolled over again and her voice began to drop to a sleepy murmur, "He thinks that we're being controlled or something like that, and I don't know why he's taking it seriously. I hope he stops worrying about it… he gets so obsessive sometimes…"

And just like that, she was asleep. She was good at that. Perhaps it was all the training she had to do to become a soldier. Tiz had often envied her ability to fall asleep so quickly on their previous journey when he found it difficult to do at all.

Processing what Edea had just said slowly but surely, Tiz raised his eyes to look across the room. Yew was seated on his bed, open diary in his lap, writing something down in it. His expression was that of concentration, yet a minute later he raised his pen from the paper and looked at what he had done, only to sigh and tear the page out, tossing it into the fire.

It didn't take long for him to connect the dots. Tiz was very smart, although he would never have admitted it, and combining what he had heard from Edea, what Yew himself had said earlier, and what he could recall of the battle brought him to an understanding. He knew what was going on. Sort of.

Agnes asked him where he was going when she saw Tiz getting up, and Tiz explained that he was just going to speak to Yew about something. "Is he alright?" Agnes asked with concern. Clearly she hadn't noticed Yew's silence all evening.

"Well…" Tiz hesitated and then sat back down beside Agnes. He looked down at the floor and then said in a quiet whisper, "You remember what we were talking about earlier? Before everyone came back here?"

"Yes." Agnes nodded, and well she should. She had questioned Tiz about his injury from the Holy Pillar and very nearly forced him to explain all the things involving it. That included why he had suddenly collapsed after Altair left him. Tiz had been very uncomfortable explaining it all, especially certain parts, but he managed and indeed felt that it was high time he told her anyway.

"Well…" Tiz scratched his head, "I think, maybe, there's a possibility that Yew has… has a similar, er, condition."

"What?" Agnes looked frantic suddenly, "No, you mean, we might lose him too?"

"I-I, no!" Tiz shook his head, refusing to accept that as a possibility for a moment, "I mean, I don't know. I was just going to ask him about it."

Agnes thought for a moment, "Then let's speak with him. I know you don't want to talk about this to anyone else, but Magnolia and Edea are asleep and if Yew has the same problem he deserves to know."

Tiz pursed his lips, but nodded consent. "I agree."

So, Agnes rose and taking his hand led him over to Yew's quiet corner. ("You're coming, Agnes?" "Yes of course. I know about it now, and in more ways than you, perhaps.") Yew himself was quite surprised to see them and very nearly stood up out of old habit at seeing Her Holiness.

"Pope Agnes, Tiz," He very nearly said 'sir' again, but ever since that morning he'd felt wrong about doing so, "What do you need?"

"We just wanted to talk to you." Tiz said, and motioned to his bed, "Er… may we sit down?"

"Of course." Yew scooted himself back to allow them room to sit down. If he'd had a normal experience with his own family he would have perhaps felt like one did when your parents come in to speak of something important to you. As it was he just felt a tad nervous but wasn't quite sure why.

"You've been quiet all evening." Agnes said, when Tiz remained silent.

"S-sorry your Holiness." Yew squirmed a little, nervous about explaining why he had been quiet due to the reactions he'd gotten from Edea and Magnolia.

"What's wrong?"

Yew shrugged and gave a smile, "Nothing, nothing. I'm fine."

"Yew." Tiz's stern tone got his attention, "You mentioned something earlier about the battle with Providence. And Edea claims you were speaking of it again later. I think… I think I know what's bothering you in a way, but tell us."

"I… I…" Yew cast his eyes down and scratched a sudden itch on the back of his neck, "It's-it's nothing important-"

"It is, Yew." Agnes said, "Please, tell us. I promise we won't laugh."

Well, refusing an order from Tiz he might have been able to do, but refusing an order from both Tiz AND Her Holiness was asking for too much. On top of that he didn't actually mind talking about it, he wanted to, if only the reaction wouldn't be negative and disbelieving.

"Well, you see… No one remembers. Or… perhaps no one saw. When Providence took everything over, even took THEM over and was going to do the same thing it did to Vega, by getting rid of everything. Starting everything back over from the beginning and erasing all that had happened since the Kaiser's attack." He thought a moment, "In a way, I suppose he was going to erase this whole world."

Agnes stared into space, seeming to think very hard. Tiz didn't seem to have understood most of it but there was one point that stuck with him. "Yew, you said 'them'. What do you mean by that?"

"W-well, I mean them!" He struggled to find a way to explain, "The person who's been there with me this whole time, since the very beginning. Who's been helping me find the strength to keep going and keeping watch over us." Yew suddenly seemed embarrassed and looked down again muttering, "Not that you have to believe me."

Tiz said nothing. Agnes seemed to come out of whatever thoughts she had been in the middle of and looked to him. "Tiz, that sounds a lot like what you were telling me."

"Yeah, it does."

Yew frowned, "What? You mean you already knew about them? Or…"

"Not exactly. At least, I'm not sure." Tiz heaved a sigh. He seemed worried, "Yew, this person you're talking about… they're a Celestial?"

"I… I don't know." Yew couldn't remember when he'd started calling them that. Perhaps it was due to something he had figured out during the battle which he couldn't remember now, "I mean… they've never directly talked to me, or done anything like Altair did to you Tiz. At least I don't think so."

"Altair was different." Tiz said, "He was much older for one and likewise was much more content to just watch, unlike the other one. I'm not sure how exactly but he felt… very different." He thought a moment, "It was like we were connected on a more emotional level whereas the other Celestial felt more distant."

"My thought is that the difference lies in the fact that Altair was dead, and your Celestial was still alive." Agnes said.

"Huh?" Yew looked at them, "What do you mean?"

"Well Yew," Tiz said, "You've heard about… about Norende's destruction, right?"

"Yes. It devastated your whole village, leaving you the sole survivor."

"Well… I wasn't technically a survivor." Tiz's voice lowered, "I technically died when the Holy Pillar struck me." Silence, "I only managed to stay alive due to a Celestial entering my body and giving me a part of their soul."

Agnes placed a hand on his shoulder, "I never even knew about it until today. Tiz never told anyone."

"I didn't really… I didn't really know." Tiz explained, "I knew something wasn't normal somehow, but I didn't know what it was until Mephillia said something about my soul not being my own." He looked at Agnes and shrugged a little, "I guess I never could find a way to talk about it."

"But…" Yew looked at Tiz, "So you had two different Celestials? But what happened to the first one?"

"I gave it back. It wasn't mine, I was only borrowing it for the time being."

"You… gave it back?"

"That was when I fell into a coma." Tiz said quietly, "Only to be woken up by Altair several years later."

"But then…" Yew stuttered, "Then when Altair left you… and it was only with the hourglass…"

Tiz rubbed his eyes and nodded, "Yew, we're worried about you. This is going to sound like a strange question but I need to know; Do you remember ever, at any point of time, dying?" He thought and added, "Or being in a situation where you could die or almost did."

Yew understood now. They were afraid that the same thing which had happened to Tiz would happen to him too. And that when they, whoever they were, left for good that he would fall into a coma… or just die.

But according to what they had said, that would only happen if he had died. If he hadn't died perhaps the circumstances surrounding his Celestial's arriving were different. So, Yew thought back as far as he could, trying to find the moment when he had first felt their presence.

Technically it was after Nikolai's 'death' and Janne's betrayal, which he both felt were absolute at the time. He had felt so alone trying to make his way through Pilgrim's Grove. Yet he hadn't been alone and somehow he knew it. But he didn't know who exactly they were at the time nor what they were doing there. They certainly weren't a ghost like the ones he had later faced.

But then, when? He couldn't remember ever feeling that there was more to himself than just himself. It wasn't until after the Kaiser attacked that-

"Yew?" Agnes seemed to notice how long his silence had drawn and grown worried.

Yew placed his head in his hands and nodded. "I remember." He said almost inaudibly. Tiz had to lean forward to hear. "I did die, I must have, when Denys struck me…" He took a breath, "Alfred said my recovery was a miracle. And there was talk all throughout Gathelatio that people had thought I was dead but somehow the doctors had healed me."

Tiz and Agnes were silent. The situation looked grim, but still Yew had to ask. "Then, will I just fall into a coma all of a sudden like Tiz did?"

"You can't force them to stay." Tiz said with a far-off look on his face. "I don't think they meant to cause any harm but their goal was to help in our journey. At least that's what it seemed."

"Perhaps we can find a cure." Agnes said, trying to keep their hopes up, "And Yew, you weren't struck by the light of the holy pillar. Perhaps now that your wounds are healed you'll be fine."

"Maybe." Yew looked down, gingerly touching the spot over his heart where he could feel that extra little bit of warmth. Their warmth, he thought, although he hadn't felt it until after they had recovered their memories from the End Layer world.

"After… we… went back?" A thought occurred to him.

"Yew?" Tiz asked curiously.

Yew looked at Tiz, then at Agnes and smiled. "I'll be fine. After all, in this timeline the Kaiser's sword never touched me. I only have memories of the first world, just like all of us."

"Right…" Tiz realized what he was saying, "Right! Because we got back in time to prevent that from happening."

"So that means your Celestial has remained with you, even though it isn't needed to keep you alive." Agnes said.

Yew nodded, "And they're leaving now. Or they will be, there's still a bit of them here. But we've completed our mission and need to start looking toward the future. They've probably got similar things to do."

"I'm so relieved." Agnes shook her head, "I don't want to lose anyone else like that. Not again."

Tiz clapped Yew on the shoulder and smiled, "We get through it, Agnes. Yew and I won't ever do that again."

"You had better not." Agnes glared at him, "That would be unacceptable."

They shared a laugh that was partly out of relief and more out of happiness just to be together, only to suddenly stop as a pillow flew their way and a loud but sleepy 'Mrgrgr' was heard. After that they only spoke quietly and soon when all worries were gone they fell asleep.

In actuality it took a long time for Yew's Celestial to leave. Later on he told Tiz that it had happened just as he confessed his love to Magnolia. They both wondered if that's what the Celestial had been waiting for, and the thought only made Yew turn deep scarlet and begin to wonder how greatly the celestial had cared about that.

For those who are wondering whether or not there was any negative effect from Yew's Celestial leaving, they can be assured that there was not. Yew was correct in that he had not died in this timeline thus meaning that the Celestial was not supporting his existence but rather other aspects. Perhaps it took him a while to get used to only being a single person with a single will again, but then again perhaps it did not. Who knows? We'll only ever know anything more than that if we return again.

This wasn't really meant to be anything big, I just wondered and thought that Tiz would eventually tell Agnes about his Celestial and how it worked and likewise that Yew would have some questions. A lot of the conversation was meant to play out differently but this was how it came out. Apologies if some of the characters aren't exactly the way they would be, I haven't played Second in a long while now so I'm going off of memory. Thank you for reading!