Getting out of the Lefay Shrine was a lot easier than getting into it, and for the same reason - as soon as they reached the first seraphic eye, Eizen took care to be spotted by it, and was granted a quick and easy teleport back to the bottom floor.
It was incredible to think that the trials were finally done - almost as incredible as the idea that the Light of Hyland, reborn as a seraph, used him as her vessel. Princess Alisha…the name was only ever spoken with reverence even now, and here she was, a water seraph, his ally…
"Lady Lucine?"
They had barely cleared the pool where Altul had waited for them when Sadie's voice stopped Eizen in his tracks. He turned back, all four seraphim emerging once more.
"Didn't we get past you calling us 'Lord' and 'Lady'?" Edna asked her dully.
Sadie blushed. "But Lucine is…well, she was once Princess Alisha," the Squire stammered. "If anyone deserves a formal title, she does."
"Please," Lucine told her with a gentle smile, "don't be formal with me - if it helps, I'm not really Alisha anymore. Anyway, what was it you wanted to ask?"
"I wanted to ask…about the illusion Zaveid cast for you," Sadie replied hesitantly. "He was…your husband, in your human life?"
"Yes," Lucine nodded sadly, the smile fading. "Is he also remembered?"
"He's mentioned," Sadie answered; "we know you entered an arranged marriage with a man from the Rolance Empire in an effort to strengthen the bond between our nations."
"Yes," Lucine sighed, "I did…and I should not have. It did not serve the purpose I had hoped, and it only ever made me miserable - and maybe him, too. I couldn't be the wife he wanted me to be; when he agreed to marry a princess, he thought he was getting a woman who would be a decoration, a possession, not a woman who would fight or speak her mind. Once he learned who I was, he was appalled at my behavior, which he insisted was unladylike."
All of this sounded eerily familiar to Eizen, and he knew for a fact that he wasn't the only one who thought so.
"Sadie's in an arranged marriage, too," Edna spoke up, "despite it being against Hyland law. She's agreeing to it, so it's not illegal, but the guy she's matched up with sounds about as pleasant as Gareth."
"Why would you agree to marry such a man?" Lucine asked Sadie, not unkindly. "I can't imagine that any cause would be worth the sort of torment I endured when I was human."
"I have to restore my family's honor," Sadie said faintly. "I…I have to…My parents gave me life, it's my responsibility to repay them-"
"Your parents gave you life, so it's their responsibility to make sure you grow up to be happy and productive, and live the best life you can live," Zaveid interjected sternly. "That's what it means to be a parent, babe. Even we seraphim know that."
Lucine sighed heavily. "It may be true that the only man I ever loved in my human life was in love with another man," she said ruefully, "but I could have done better than Gareth. Instead, I gave myself away for what I thought was a just cause, and have regretted it every moment since, even long after he died - even now, as someone new, I still regret it. It is noble to give your time, your energy, your body, and your life for what you believe in, Sadie, but…you should never give your heart for a cause other than love. Not ever. A heart is a sacred thing, not to be wasted."
"Hear, hear," Zaveid concurred, though there was an odd undertone to his voice.
"But…" Sadie whimpered.
Eizen stepped forward, recognizing that Sadie was on the verge of a breakdown. "You don't have to do anything about it now," he reminded her. "We have more important things to attend to before you even can marry Sir Leybon. Come on, let's get outside and start planning our next move, you can think about what to do about your wedding while we travel."
Without a word, Sadie nodded, but her steps were slow and uneven as they finished exiting the shrine. All four seraphim stayed manifested instead of returning to their vessel, and Eizen could feel a sort of tension crackling in the air, as though a storm was about to break.
Edna sidled over to him. "Three…" she murmured just loud enough for him to hear as they made their way through the short cave behind the waterfall. "…two…one…"
Exactly on Edna's cue, Sadie's footsteps stopped short behind them, and Eizen turned around as his seraphim quickly moved a little further down the tunnel path, leaving the two humans more or less alone. Sadie was shaking, her eyes screwed shut, her fists squeezed into tight balls.
"Sadie?" Eizen asked, trying to be as gentle as possible. "What's wrong?"
"I…" she whimpered in a broken voice. "I…I…I…!" She looked up, her eyes filled with tears, and she blurted out, "I don't want to marry Sir Leybon!"
And suddenly she was in his arms, sobbing wildly on his shoulder as she clutched the thick, silky threads of his Shepherd's cloak. Gently, Eizen held her as she screamed and cried.
"I don't want to marry him!" she wailed. "I don't! I don't! I don't want to!"
Eizen gripped her a little more tightly, his cheek against her lush golden hair, breathing in her aroma of battle sweat laced with a hint of princessia-scented soap as she unloaded emotions she'd clearly been bottling up for a long time - like with Lucine, she needed to just let it out, and he was willing to give her all the time she needed as her tears ran down his cloak.
"I don't want to marry him," she choked again after several minutes. "Do you know…what the first thing he ever said to me was?" She pulled back a little to meet Eizen's eyes, her own brown ones still overflowing with liquid. "I - I was so excited to meet him," she hiccuped, "and I - I came to him, all dressed in my armor, with - with my ax, and - and he…he looked at me - took one look at me - and he said - he said - he said…" She lifted her nose, sniffling. "'A woman with a battleax? How preposterous!'" she imitated, putting on a haughty tone, before dissolving into hysterics on Eizen's shoulder again. "That was the first thing he ever said to me!" she wailed brokenly. "He hates me! He won't let me be who I am, and I don't want to marry him, Eizen, I don't, I don't!"
"Sadie," Eizen sighed gently, "you don't have to. Arranged marriages are against Hyland law, if you call off the wedding he'll have no choice but to let you go."
His Squire blubbered something that sounded like, "My parents…"
"Your parents have to find their own way to cope with what happened to your sister," Eizen told her firmly. "It shouldn't be up to you to atone for the mistakes of someone you can't even remember, whether she was your family or not. I'm sure your parents can find a way to be happy again, if only they let go of the past - mine did, after all. But right now, you need to live your life, and do what would make you happy."
"What would make me happy," she repeated in a raw voice, though her tears seemed to be subsiding. She lifted her head off of his shoulder again to meet his eyes; she was tall, but Eizen was taller, and they almost matched each other's eye level. "My parents would disown me if I did what would make me happy," she whispered, sniffling and wiping her face.
"If they'd disown you for doing what would make you happy, then they don't deserve to be your parents," Eizen told her, as gently as possible. "Um…what is it that would make you happy?"
"I want to marry…a good man," she answered. "A man who doesn't judge anyone, and lives to make other people's lives better. A man who believes in everyone's right to choose how they live. A man who always believes in me and lets me be myself, even if I was never nice to him. A man…worthy of drawing the Sacred Blade."
"Sadie…" Eizen breathed, his heart pounding.
"Eizen…" she whispered softly.
She leaned closer to him again, but this time her face wasn't angled for his shoulder. It was just like in the charred remains of Eizen's home, and he closed his eyes as their lips met. He felt her arms around his neck, and couldn't resist burying the bare fingers of his left hand in the knot of golden hair she always kept tied up, hair he'd fantasized about touching for years. It was just as smooth and silky as he'd dreamed, and he pressed his mouth harder against hers, warmth and happiness flowing through him as their lips opened and closed, all his attention on the strong, beautiful woman he held, the woman he loved with all his heart.
After a long minute, they broke apart, both breathing heavily, and though Eizen felt as though he could fly, he also felt a prickle of guilt as he met her dark brown eyes. "Sadie," he murmured, cupping her face in his hands. "I love you, and I always will, but…I am the Shepherd. I have a duty that I have to perform, to protect this world from the Lord of Calamity. If I'm still alive after this ordeal is over, it will mean…that I killed my sister. My own younger sister's blood will be on my hands, or I'll be dead. Could you really be with a man who will have to live with that kind of sin?"
"You don't want to kill her," Sadie said. "You don't want to kill anyone. I've seen how you feel about killing, Eizen - you didn't even want to kill General Donovan, a man you'd only just met, and he did nothing but try to kill you. Niko isn't going to give you a choice; you're going to do it because you have to, to save us all. I know it's going to haunt you for the rest of your life anyway, and…I would stand beside you and support you the whole way, as your Squire, as your friend…and as more, if you would have me."
"Then…" Reeling, unable to believe the words were about to come out of his mouth, Eizen asked, "When this is all over, if we're still alive at the end…will you marry me?"
"Yes!" she gasped without a moment's hesitation. "Yes, yes, yes! I don't care what my parents will say about it, my answer is yes, yes, yes!"
Their lips crashed together again, harder, wilder, tongues moving clumsily to explore each other's mouths as he tasted her, sweet and spicy, sweat and battle dust and Sadie. Euphoria filled him, not unlike the elation he'd felt while fighting his father but lighter, purer, happier - he couldn't think, didn't need to think and didn't want to, he only felt and knew, felt Sadie, knew Sadie, nothing but Sadie…
A crunch of gravel against rock under a boot slammed Eizen back into awareness, and he tore his lips away from Sadie's, heat rushing to his face as he turned to his audience of four seraphim, all of whom were smiling.
"Oh, don't you mind us," Zaveid chuckled, tipping his hat, "we were just leaving. You two take as long as you like."
"N-No," Eizen stammered, wiping his mouth with his right hand. "No, uncle, we…we need to get going."
"Yes," Sadie agreed, sounding equally embarrassed. "We have to find Niko and her dragons and defeat them. The world won't wait for us."
"You sure?" Zaveid asked lightly. "For all we know, the Lord of Calamity is waiting for us right on the other side of this waterfall - we might all die before the sun goes down tonight. Ain't no time like the present."
"We'll have time later," Eizen said firmly. "Right now, we have a duty to attend."
"Let's go," Sadie agreed, even as her hand clasped his, their fingers interlocking. "Duty comes before our personal lives."
Eizen gripped her hand back and nodded at her.
"Suit yourselves," Zaveid shrugged, and he returned to rest inside Eizen's chest, the other seraphim following suit.
Congratulations, in any case, Edna said tonelessly.
Yeah, congratulations! Sahra agreed. I'm happy for you, Sadie!
I'm happy for both of you, Lucine concurred, her spot next to Eizen's heart radiating with delight. Congratulations to you both.
Congratulations, Zaveid added.
"Thanks, guys," Eizen sighed contentedly.
With his family, Sahra, and Lucine all inside him, and his beloved - his fiancé - holding his hand, he walked to the edge of the cave and summoned the power of his wind seraph, breezing through the waterfall, across the deep water it pooled into…
…and straight into the epicenter of a powerful malevolent domain, two dragons hovering menacingly right in front of him.
Eizen gasped at the sudden, unexpected sight of his sister and her servants, his seraphim emerging to manifest despite the malevolence clogging the air - a shield seemed to flow through his skin, composed of the elements, as the blessings of the Great Lords granted him and his allies the strength to ignore the domain cast by the Lord of Calamity.
"For the record," Zaveid murmured to everyone, "I was joking about her waiting here for us."
"Well well," Niko sneered from atop her white-horned dragon, "the noble Shepherd has completed the trials of the Five Lords. You've been around the world, dear brother, and seen things you never dreamed of, yet you still haven't learned your lesson?"
"I've learned many lessons, Niko," Eizen stated, "and I've found my answer to them. This world and its people are worth defending from your twisted agenda, and I will do so to my last breath."
"Oh come now," Niko pouted. "You've killed our sister and our father, and you still intend to fight? Won't you join me instead, so we can save this miserable world?"
"Never!" Eizen shouted, releasing his grip on Sadie's hand to draw his katana instinctively, Stormhowl forgotten for the moment.
Niko laughed her hellish, deranged laugh. "So be it," she snickered. "In that case, I have an engagement present for you and your fiancé."
Eizen gasped. How does she know?! he thought, alarmed, before drawing on his old mantra: Focus now, think later.
The Lord of Calamity turned to the dragon hovering beside her own mount. "Lusrov Rulay," she purred, "entertain them."
The dragon that had been Mikleo roared and dove alongside Niko's mount, but while Niko's dragon swung back upwards after gaining momentum and rose into the sky, the other dragon slammed into the ground hard enough to throw Eizen off-balance.
"Mikleo!" Lucine gasped, stepping forward as Eizen stumbled. "Mikleo, stop! Don't you remember me? I used to be Alisha Diphda! I was reborn as a water seraph, just like you were!" She shook her head, tears in her voice. "You were the first seraph I ever saw in my human life! Don't you remember?"
Mikleo roared and lashed at the water seraph with one massive paw; clearly, unlike Forsea, Mikleo didn't have any memories of his previous life, or at least none of someone he knew centuries ago. Sahra darted forward and grabbed Lucine by the arm, pulling her back just in time for the blow to miss.
"Don't bother," the fire seraph said; "he's a dragon, he's already dead and gone. All we can do now is set his soul free."
"And reunite him with Sorey," Lucine said softly. Then, her violet eyes sparked with determination, and she drew her spear as everyone else readied their own weapons. The dragon roared again, and the six heroes dove into battle with the corrupted seraph.
Fully-manifested dragons were the stuff of legends, of nightmares, and to battle one was no mean feat. They'd fought one before, but that one hadn't been focused on fighting back; Mikleo wasn't so easily distracted, and was a lot stronger than Forsea had been, no doubt due to all the malevolence the Lord of Calamity constantly emitted. Though Stormhowl weighed on Eizen's back, unleashing the ancient blade just didn't feel like the right thing to do, and he fought with his katana instead, drawing on all his strength and all his training.
Again, he started to feel that calm intensity he'd experienced during the battle with his father, the one that had so concerned Lord Amenoch, but he didn't fight it - in a battle against a full-fledged dragon, he needed to be at peak performance. The invigoration of an intense battle filled him with energy as he dodged the many-pronged attacks of the fearsome beast. Then, as he slashed at Mikleo's foreleg with his katana, his eyes met those of a de-armatized Sadie, and something sparked between them.
"Fast as a bird!" he shouted at the same moment she cried out, "Roar of the beast!"
A domain froze time, but both Eizen and Sadie were able to keep moving.
Eizen lifted his katana. "Golden blaze of the sun!" he intoned, yellow fire dancing along his blade as warmth like sunlight surrounded him.
"Silver glow of the moon!" Sadie declared, lifting her battleax as it illuminated with power, mana conjuring the image of a brilliant full moon.
Darting towards their enemy from opposite sides, they sliced at the unmoving dragon, back and forth, leaving gold and silver lines of energy in their weapons' wakes as they crisscrossed their attacks, battering the beast from all around, faster and faster.
"In light or in darkness…" Eizen said.
"…we will not fail!" Sadie shouted.
The two of them clasped each other's left hands and spun, weapons outstretched, gold and silver mana blurring together into a pure white wheel of power that slashed through the dragon that had once been Mikleo with terrific force.
"Anima Eclipse!"
As the Shepherd and his Squire came to rest, the domain broke, and the dual Mystic Arte ended. He glanced at Sadie, and they shared a grin.
Mikleo roared, and they turned around; as powerful as their dual arte had been, the monster was not defeated. Missing only a single beat, they dove back into the fray.
"Hephsin Yulind!" Eizen called, merging with Edna to blast the dragon with punches and artes strong against the seraph this dragon had once been, and the battle resumed.
For all the strength they'd gained over the course of their journey together, the six of them combined were barely able to hold their own. What was more, though earth beat water, Edna's attacks didn't seem to do much damage - it seemed that once a seraph turned into a dragon, not even their element was retained, and Eizen soon chose to fight without the armatus, preferring to dance with his katana under the influence of the battle-lust of his father's clan rather than experiment to figure out this dragon's new weaknesses. Everyone pressed on as Mikleo blasted them with fire, swiping with tail and claws and horns, his very being radiating malevolence that passed harmlessly over the heroes blessed by the Five Lords but was intimidating nonetheless. Lucine's healing artes gave them some breathing room, but only a little, and both Edna and Sahra were knocked down more than once.
Setting it all aside, Eizen focused, knowing only his weapon and his foe, the movements of his body…but for all his battle prowess, he wasn't perfect. As he leapt to sidestep one of Mikleo's paws, the dragon's jaws opened and lunged for him.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow down, and not with a domain. Eizen saw the gleaming fangs, saw death itself, come for him…and then Sadie was there, shoving him out of the air and away from the attack. Their eyes met for just a moment, and then Mikleo's jaws snapped shut around her torso, piercing her light leather armor and lifting her into the air.
"No!" Eizen shouted as the dragon shook its head back and forth with enough force to break the bones of the captured Squire. "Sadie! No!"
A hum from over his shoulder caught his attention. Without thinking, he sheathed his katana and drew Stormhowl, the ancient metal singing with power as Eizen sliced through the air with it, sending a blast of arcane energy at the dark behemoth.
Roaring, Mikleo tossed Sadie aside, the golden-haired human flung against a nearby cliff face hard enough to knock boulders loose, all of which went tumbling to the ground on top of her where she fell. Stormhowl returned to its scabbard, seemingly almost of its own will, and Eizen drew his katana and leapt for the spot where Stormhowl's power had hit the dragon, his blade piercing straight through the dragon's shoulder. This time, the sound Mikleo made was more like a scream, and with four seraphim hitting it as Eizen hacked it apart, at last, the dragon succumbed and dissolved, silver fire burning it away into nothingness.
And then, all was still.
"Mikleo…" Lucine said softly.
"Rest in peace, Meebo," Edna said tonelessly.
"See you around, Mickey-boy," Zaveid sighed, tipping his hat.
"May these weary bones," Sahra said softly, "find peaceful rest." The fire seraph shook her head. "Those are the words of the ones who desecrated Master Rokurou's ways…my descendants…but I'm confident none of them ever meant them like I do. I hope you and Shepherd Sorey will be happy together in heaven, Mikleo."
Still catching his breath, Eizen heard his seraphim, but didn't really register the fact that they'd just killed Sorey's old partner, his eyes focused entirely on the mound of rubble where Sadie had fallen. Sheathing his blade, Eizen stumbled, then ran, over to the newly-disturbed rocks.
"Sadie," he whispered. Then, louder, "Sadie!"
He couldn't see her, and she didn't respond. Panicking, he started shoving rocks aside, desperately trying to dig the woman he loved out of the earth. Then, all of a sudden, the boulders lifted into the air, and though Eizen didn't look away from them, he knew Edna was helping as the stones all soared away to land harmlessly elsewhere, leaving the Squire exposed, lying on her back on the ground by the cliff.
"Sadie!" Eizen shouted, running over to her, his heart already dropping, his blood running cold. Her right arm and right leg were twisted at odd angles, and blood stained her front, pouring from the wounds left by Mikleo's teeth. She wasn't moving.
Dropping to his knees, Eizen tried to lift her in his arms gingerly, unsure how bad the internal damage might be. When he felt his seraphim gather around them, he turned to his water seraph.
"Lucine, help her!" he urged the woman who was already stepping forward. "You have to heal her!"
"Of course," Lucine nodded, crouching down and holding out her hands over the injured human. Light began to pour from her palms, winding over and around the bleeding body, and she gasped. "Oh my," she breathed. "Such terrible injuries…Eizen, I'm not sure I-"
"Heal her!" Eizen insisted, cradling Sadie now, just wanting to hold her close. "You have to heal her!"
"I…I'll try," Lucine said uncertainly, the healing arte still washing over the Squire.
"Eizen…"
The soft croak drew Eizen's attention back to the woman he held as she coughed and slitted her eyes, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
"Sadie," Eizen murmured gently, "just hold still. You'll be okay, you just need to hold on for a minute."
"It's…too late," Sadie choked, shaking her head slightly. "My wounds…are fatal."
"Don't say that!" Eizen insisted. "Lucine's healing you right now, she'll fix you up, everything will be fine."
"It's…okay," Sadie said, and she gave him a weak smile. "At least…I died…for what I believe in…"
"You can't die," Eizen told her adamantly. "We just killed a dragon! Sir Leybon can go screw himself, you'll be hailed as a hero for how you fought back there. And we cast a dual Mystic Arte! That's only possible for two warriors who are perfectly in sync! You…you can't die, Sadie," he said, almost desperately. "You can't die, you can't…leave me…"
"Tell my parents…" she whispered, "I died…protecting this world…and the one…who will save it…"
"I won't tell them that," Eizen said, and something hot slid out of his eye and down his cheek. "I won't have to tell them that. Lucine's healing you, Sadie, you'll be fine if you just hold on!"
Sadie didn't say anything; her ungloved left hand came up and cupped his face, her thumb clumsily brushing away his tear. He felt her start to go limp in his arms, and he spoke desperately, saying the first thing that came to mind that he thought might keep her awake.
"Sadie the Golden," he blurted.
"Huh?" Those brown eyes he loved blinked in confusion.
"That's what your true name means," he told her; "'Bimiuv Kau' means 'Sadie the Golden'." He shook his head slightly, choking on something that was both a laugh and a sob. "The first time I ever saw you, in the cafeteria for lunch during my first ever month of going to school in Ladylake, I immediately noticed your wavy golden hair. I'd never known hair could be like yours; I thought it looked like liquid sunlight. You've always been the girl with the golden hair to me, and when I had to give you a true name, I…I couldn't think of anything else."
"Sadie the Golden," she repeated, and she smiled faintly. "That's really dumb."
"I know," he laughed, though he still felt tears in his eyes. "That's why I didn't want to tell you-"
"No," she said faintly, shaking her head just a little. "I mean, it's dumb because…you are the golden one, not me."
Eizen blinked.
"Your skin," Sadie breathed, her hand caressing his face again. "Your eyes." She closed her own eyes. "Your heart. Eizen…when you made your speech after drawing the Sacred Blade…I tried to remember that I had to hate you, but deep down I knew…" Her eyes opened again, and she looked up at him with absolute trust and faith. "I knew…you are the Shepherd we've always dreamed of. You'll be the one to break this curse on our world, and put an end to malevolence once and for all. I know you will."
"If I do, it'll only be with you by my side," Eizen told her. "I couldn't possibly do that alone, Sadie."
"You're not alone," she said, her voice growing weaker. "You have three heroes of legend and the founder of the Windriders fighting with you."
"I don't mean them!" Eizen cried. "I mean you! I can't do this without you, Sadie, I can't!"
"Yes you can," she assured him gently. "And you will. I know you will. I believe in you, Eizen Rangetsu-Crowe…I love you."
"I love you, Sadie," Eizen choked. "I love you…"
"I love you," she told him, and she blinked sleepily. "Kiss me, one more time, won't you…Eizen…?"
Without thinking about it, Eizen pulled her closer and pressed her mouth against his own. They kissed each other hungrily, overwhelmed by the taste of Sadie's blood and Eizen's tears, lips moving together and speaking of all the passion and respect they felt for one another, until eventually Sadie stopped returning the gesture, her head falling back limply to break the kiss.
"Sadie?" Eizen asked, not even noticing as Lucine's healing arte ended, and he shook the limp body he held. "Sadie? Sadie, please, please wake up…"
Light gathered around the fallen warrior, then shattered with a sound like breaking glass.
"Sadie?!" Eizen exclaimed, shaking her harder. "Sadie! Sadie, open your eyes! Please, Sadie, you have to wake up! Don't leave me! Sadie!"
"She's gone, kiddo."
The sudden voice sent Eizen's head whipping around to see his wind seraph uncle standing tall behind him. Zaveid took off his hat with respectful sorrow.
"The Squire's Pact is broken," he told the Shepherd. "I'm sorry, Eizen…she's gone."
"I tried to heal her," Lucine whispered from where she knelt. "I tried, I really did…"
"We know you did, angel," Zaveid sighed, walking over and sitting down beside the water seraph, who immediately lunged to him and started crying on his shoulder. "You did your best," he murmured, putting his arms around her as she sobbed. "You gave Sadie the strength she needed to say her goodbyes, that's…something. I'm sure she's grateful to you for that."
Eizen watched this exchange, not really registering what was being said; he felt numb, distant, as though he was dreaming. A sniffling sound caught his attention next, and he turned his head the other way to see Sahra wiping her face; beside her, Edna ducked under her umbrella, just a moment too late for Eizen to not see her own blue eyes glistening. He turned back to the bloody, broken body in his arms…and suddenly, through the numbness and the shock, understanding pierced him like a sword through his chest:
She's gone.
He threw back his head and screamed, a raw, primal howl of agony that tore at his throat in some cheap facsimile of the way his heart and soul shredded inside of him, his entire being torn apart in complete and utter anguish.
Gone. Gone. She's gone.
When his breath ended, he collapsed over Sadie's body, sobbing, convulsing with pain as tears poured from his face and dampened the light leather armor already stained with blood. There was no thinking, no focus, no feeling but torment. Inside of him, his body seemed to rip into tiny pieces; to breathe in more air so he could keep crying was a gargantuan effort, as everything he was was torn asunder.
Then, over the cacophony of his own agony, Eizen heard another sound: deranged, unhinged laughter.
Niko.
A white-hot flame of anger ignited somewhere amongst all the pain, and Eizen latched onto it - it felt better than hurting. Furious, he lifted his head, and saw the Lord of Calamity sitting on her white-horned dragon as it hovered overhead.
"Forgive me for my amusement, dear brother," she told him, "I truly hate to cause offense. It's just…I always knew you would learn your lesson one day, but I never dreamed it would happen like this."
"Niko!" Eizen roared, releasing Sadie to lurch to his feet and draw his katana.
"Does it hurt, big brother?" Niko asked. "To lose the woman you've always loved just as she began to let herself love you back, to have her die in your arms and be powerless to save her…I can't begin to imagine your pain right now. It must feel as though everything you are is being torn apart and burned and crushed to a pulp all at once; I bet you can hardly breathe. Yes?"
To snarl was all Eizen could manage; disturbingly, the words, though they paled in comparison to their meanings, were entirely accurate.
"This pain you're feeling right now, Eizen?" Niko said, gesturing with her enormous claws at him and the remains of his beloved. "This is what you're fighting for. All this time, you've been crusading to defend a world in which pain like this can come for anyone, at any time." She tilted her head. "There will be no such agony in the world I will build," she told him. "No one will ever suffer like this, ever again - no one will ever die, no one will ever know loss, and no one will ever have love torn away from them. That is the world malevolence can create; that is what I aim to achieve. Do you understand now, dear brother? I want to prevent everyone from ever feeling the way you do now, ever again."
"This pain…" Eizen repeated under his breath.
"I can end your suffering right now, brother," Niko told him seriously, reaching out one clawed hand for him now, black flames dancing along the crimson talons. "Join me, and all the pain will go away, forever. If you'd joined me sooner, she wouldn't have had to die, but if you join me now, it will be bearable. You won't have to suffer anymore, and neither will anyone else. Come to me, Eizen. Join me, and I'll make all this hurt go away-"
"I want it to hurt!" Eizen yelled at her.
Niko blinked, recoiling in shock.
"This pain I feel right now?!" Eizen snarled at her, stepping over Sadie's body to get as close to the hovering dragon as he could. "It means that I loved her! The depth of my agony reflects the depth of how much I cared about her! That's what you're trying to destroy, Niko, you're trying to make a world where no one ever loves or cares again, and I don't want that! I'd rather suffer every moment of every day than be without a heart! So I want it to hurt, I want to feel this pain and I don't ever want it to end, because the day the pain ends is the day I stop caring, and I will never want that! So long as it hurts, I know that I'm alive, I know that I'm whole, and I know that I'm better than you! I will never join you! Go away!" Sheathing his katana, he reached over his shoulder and grasped Stormhowl's hilt, drawing the legendary nodachi with enough force to send a gale at the hovering dragon, blasting the beast with his power.
The white-horned dragon roared and lurched, just barely evading most of the blow as Niko directed it around the attack before bringing it to rest again.
"I can see you are delirious with grief, big brother," Niko said coldly. "I will give you time to mourn, and soon enough, you will come to your senses and join me at last. Take your time, brother dear; I will always wait for you."
With that, the dragon that had been Lailah swooped down to the ground before swinging upwards and flying away. Eizen watched her go, his chest heaving with rage as he returned Stormhowl to its scabbard. For a long minute after the distant speck was gone, he panted for breath, his fury subsiding and giving way to the agony again, nothing but agony.
Then, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Turning, Eizen saw Zaveid, the wind seraph's orange eyes gazing at him with something Eizen had never seen there before, something that was hard to interpret - it was something like respect, admiration, maybe even adoration.
"I'm proud of you, kiddo," he said softly.
Shaking his head, Eizen didn't reply. Already, it was starting to hurt to breathe again.
"Come on," his uncle urged him gently. "Let's take her home now."
"Right," he managed.
Dazedly, as though his body was being controlled by someone else, he walked back over to where he'd been, got down, and scooped Sadie up in his arms. Then he stood again, turned towards Ladylake, and started walking. Silently, his seraphim followed him, as he brought all that was left of the love of his life down Lakehaven Heights to the town where she'd been born, the town where he'd met her, the town where she'd been made a Squire, so that she might be laid to rest.
~o~
Shock and devastation numbed Eizen to the core; there was no room in his consciousness for anything but pain. The announcement that the Squire had died in a battle with a dragon, the fast-tracked funeral arrangements, the gathering of the people of Glenwood who would have enough notice to attend, all of it was meaningless background noise that Eizen didn't register and would never remember. His next moment of full consciousness was in the Ladylake Sanctuary, standing before Sadie's cleaned-up body where it lay just behind the altar of the Sacred Blade. Her cold, dead hands were clasped around the hilt of her battleax, Maotelus was curled around the back of the building, and the Prime Lord and Sub Lords were standing beside their Shepherd and speaking their pieces about the fallen warrior. When silence came, Eizen realized it was his turn to speak, to say something on behalf of the woman he loved before Maotelus gave her a hero's cremation.
And he had to say something. Something. He had to.
Taking a deep, painful breath, Eizen glanced at the crowd of mourners filling the Sanctuary, and when that proved too difficult to look at, he turned his gaze to Sadie's lifeless face, and spoke only from his heart, having lost all capacity to filter his words.
"Sadie Halloway was…the strongest, noblest, most beautiful girl I ever knew," he said. "From the moment I saw her at lunch during school, when I was four years old and just starting to learn about the world, I couldn't get her out of my mind, and I was honored when she asked to be made a Squire and join me on our quest to stop the Lord of Calamity. I know our journey tested her, and pushed the boundaries of everything she ever thought she knew, but I'm glad that she was able to find happiness and meaning in what she learned."
Another breath, this one even more painful than the last.
"Sadie died saving me," he said. "She chose to give her life, so that I could slay the dragon Mikleo and continue on our mission to save this world. I…I would rather it had been me, but her will shall live on. I loved her, and I love her still, I will love her even after I die; though we didn't get to marry in this life, like we promised just before facing Mikle-"
"Lies!"
The sudden shout cut off Eizen's train of thought, and he looked up to see a beefy blond man in a knight's uniform and a plain brunette woman shoving their ways through the crowd to reach the steps up to the altar.
"How dare you speak such lies over our daughter's grave?!" Mr. Halloway shouted at Eizen as he stormed his way up to confront him. "Our daughter would never have deigned to even affiliate with hellion-spawn like you! She was betrothed to a nobleman, and your tainted blood would never have-!"
A sudden pendulum smacking the obnoxious man across the face cut off his words. Eizen turned, alarmed, to see Zaveid practically shaking with unbridled rage as he stalked away from his Sub Lords to address Sadie's parents.
"How dare you?" Zaveid growled before his voice cracked and rose into a scream that would have echoed throughout the Sanctuary had it not been so full. "How dare you?! Your daughter died a hero, and you want to start something at her own funeral, after all the crap you put her through her whole life?! You wanna spout your bigotry all over your Shepherd, the only person who ever cared about her for who she was, and play the shame game with him? Well, that's a game meant to be played in a group, so let's talk about the skeletons in your closet while we're here, shall we?" Zaveid jabbed a finger at Mr. Halloway. "I know things about you that could cost you your knighthood and get your ass thrown in jail, and as for you…" He turned on Mrs. Halloway. "…well," he said, and Eizen could almost see his nasty smirk, "there are all kinds of dirty little secrets I could tell everyone about you. Ain't that right, Renee?"
All the color drained from Mrs. Halloway's face.
"Oh yeah, I remember you," Zaveid told her wickedly. "I told ya I would, though I gotta say, I never thought it would end up mattering like this. So who wants to go first, huh? Who wants to be the first to have all their shame exposed in front of our audience? Speak up now, you worthless heaps!"
"Lord Zaveid…" Renee whimpered.
"Oho, are you volunteering?" Zaveid pounced. "Alrighty then, let's tell everyone all about how you snuck out of your house behind your husband's back in the middle of the night to attend a hellion-spawn girl's birthday party because all your friends were going, and have been so starved for a good time in your regular life that the moment you had some freedom you threw yourself at the first man who looked at you twice-"
"Stop!" Sadie's mother cried, dropping to her knees on the carpeted floor. "Please, Lord Zaveid, please stop! I beg you, no more! Have mercy, please!"
"You know," Zaveid remarked, a hand on his hip, "I gotta say, it's a lot less fun when you're the one begging for mercy." He raised his other hand. "Should we find out if it's less fun when you're the one tied up, too?"
The distraught woman gave a wordless shriek of horror. "Please, stop, please! How can you be so shameless?!" she wailed, dissolving into tears.
"Shameless?!" Zaveid repeated furiously. "Me?! I'm the shameless one?! Y'all come up here and start spouting your obnoxious ignorance, trashing your daughter's final sendoff, and I'm the shameless one?!" He shook his head, his long hair flying wildly, disgust radiating from his being. "You started this, and when you start something, you'd damn well better be prepared to finish it!"
Renee Halloway sobbed wretchedly on the floor.
"You know what?" Zaveid growled. "It's no fun unpacking your crap, Renee, you're just a miserable little nobody and probably had no say in any of this. So let's move on to the main attraction." The wind seraph turned to Mr. Halloway. "What's your name, jackass? I wanna know exactly what to call you."
Blinking, his face red, Mr. Halloway hesitated.
"Tell me your name!" Zaveid snapped, teeth in his voice.
"M-My name is Donald Halloway," Sadie's father replied.
"Ya hear that, everyone?!" Zaveid called to the crowd, spreading his arms. "Donald Halloway, a lowly knight of Hyland! Let's talk all about his misdeeds, huh?" He turned on Donald again. "Let's talk about how he trained his daughter to be a damn fine warrior, then found out that whoops, noblemen don't like women who can fight or think, they want wallflower decorations for wives. Oh, and speaking of that, let's talk about how Donald Halloway went out of his way to arrange a marriage between his daughter and one Sir Leybon. Oh yes!" Zaveid added as the crowd murmured. "An arranged marriage, against Hyland law, all because he wanted to be even distantly related to the royal family so he'd get a better social standing! An arranged marriage, mind you, between his daughter and a man who hated her guts, who would have treated her like garbage and shamed her every day for who she was - a strong, smart, independent woman who wouldn't just shut up and look pretty for him to show off to his fellow noble-asses! Oh, and let's not forget how Donald Halloway beat it into his daughter from day one that it was somehow her duty to restore his honor, so she had to marry the man he said she had to marry because that was her job, all so she wouldn't get his ass thrown in jail! What was that line you fed her? 'To feel is to fail'? You just said that so she'd think love wasn't important enough to factor into marriage, ain't that right?!"
"Now see here-" Mr. Halloway began.
"Is Sir Leybon even here now, to see his fiancé off?!" Zaveid demanded, quickly glancing over the crowd. "No, let me guess; he thinks she got what was coming to her by trying to go out in the world and do a man's job, he's ashamed he was engaged to a woman who died a hero's death. Ain't that right?"
"W-Well…" Donald Halloway stammered, taking a step back.
"She was your daughter!" Zaveid roared furiously at him, at both of them. "You brought life into this world, and it was your job to make sure that that life would be happy and healthy, would thrive and grow into the best person she could be! Instead you treated her like a possession, like an extension of yourselves, meant to further your social standings and feed your egos! You should be ashamed of yourselves, both of you! And I've got news for ya: she did agree to marry Eizen and not that jackass you wanted her to marry, because unlike Sir Leybon, unlike either of you, your Shepherd actually loved her, he cared about her and believed in her like neither of you ever did - he actually wanted her to be happy, no matter how mean she was to him at first thanks to your crappy parenting! Despite all the garbage you tried to fill her head with, Sadie was a fine warrior, a fine Squire, and a damn fine young woman, and you didn't deserve her!"
This condemnation hung in the air for a long moment. Renee got to her feet, still wiping her face; Donald's entire head was as red as a beet.
Then, out of nowhere, Lucine stepped forward to stand at Zaveid's side.
"Is it really true?" she asked the Halloways. "Is Sadie's former fiancé not even here because he's ashamed to have been engaged to a woman who died a hero's death?"
"W-Well," Mr. Halloway stammered, "Sir Leybon was very clear about…erm…his opinions about a woman's role in the world."
Lucine's hands clenched into tight fists at her sides. "And you made her believe she had to marry such a man?" she asked, her normally gentle voice as cold as ice. "You raised her to think that your social standing mattered more than finding a man who respected her strength?" Without waiting for a response, she took another step forward, her hands shaking, her knuckles white. "You are dressed as a knight," she said.
"I am a knight," Mr. Halloway said, clearly trying to sound proud of this.
"If you are a knight," Lucine hissed, "then you are a disgrace!"
The Halloways weren't the only ones to gasp at this statement.
"'The strength of a knight exists to protect,'" Lucine said, sounding as though she was reciting a quote, one clenched fist coming up to rest over her heart, "'and their kindness serves the people.' If you would brainwash your own daughter into embracing a life of misery and humiliation, then you have neither; you are weak and cruel." Her upraised fist lashed out in a throwing gesture, and she declared, "Donald Halloway, you are no knight of my kingdom!"
"Your kingdom?" Renee squeaked, both she and her husband flinching away from the sudden gesture.
For the briefest of moments, Lucine winced; then, she drew herself up proudly. "I stand before you today as a water seraph," she said, "but long ago, I was a human myself. I too was a knight, as well as a politician, and a figurehead; I gave myself entirely for the good of this nation, for that was my duty in my human life. My name was Alisha. Princess Alisha Diphda of Hyland!"
"Princess Alisha?!" Renee gasped, and she wasn't alone - the whole crowd hissed and seethed in amazement. "The Light of Hyland?!"
"If that is what you call her," Lucine stated. "I may not be Alisha anymore, but I was her once, and that's enough for me to know that she would be utterly disgusted to see someone so selfish and vile as you dressed in the garments of a knight of this glorious kingdom!"
"But-!"
"Leave!" Lucine shouted.
The Halloways stepped back, blinking.
"Begone!" Lucine commanded. "You have no right to see your daughter laid to rest, not after the misery you tried to condemn her to! Begone, before you embarrass yourselves any further! Begone!"
"You heard the lady!" Zaveid picked up, stepping up to the water seraph's side. "Get out! Get out before I personally chain up both your asses and throw you out myself!"
Renee, at least, had the decency to glance at her daughter's dead body; her husband seemed frozen.
"Get out!" Zaveid shouted. "You don't deserve to look at her!"
"Leave!" Lucine agreed. "Never show your faces in public again, you disgraces to all that's right in this world!"
Both seraphim started exuding mana in their rage against these wretched excuses for parents; wind and water mixed over them, laced with bits of white fire, and lightning flashed from the storm they conjured as they both shouted one final time,
"GET OUT!"
Exclaiming in terror, the two humans fled. The crowd of onlookers parted to let them pass, not wanting to even be near the couple who had been so publicly and adamantly condemned by Maotelus's Prime Lord and the Light of Hyland. Don't go, Eizen thought dazedly. No…no, not like this. They'll be blacklisted, Sadie wouldn't want that, she wanted her parents to be happy, I can't let that happen. But by the time he managed to open his mouth, the Sanctuary doors had thundered shut behind the humiliated parents of the late Squire.
With the spectacle gone, everyone turned, not to Sadie, as they should have, but to the water seraph who had revealed her previous identity to them, muttering and whispering filling the sacred space. "The Light of Hyland," they whispered. "The Light of Hyland has returned to us! The Light of Hyland is reborn!"
Lucine turned to Eizen, her porcelain cheeks flushing as she realized what a scene she and Zaveid had made, distracting all the attendants from the reason they were even there. Beside her, Zaveid tipped his hat and sighed.
"Just another one of life's cruel, sick jokes," he muttered, barely audible over all the whispers.
Then, he reached out to Lucine and snaked a hand around her waist; before she could even finish uttering a surprised "Oh!", they had both vanished in a gust of wind. A click from the back of the Sanctuary told Eizen they'd left through the rear exit, and Eizen was left to stand where he was, dazed and stunned. A lot of his Sub Lords' speeches and hadn't really registered, and later, he wouldn't remember anything other than the rage of his wind seraph and water seraph, the public reveal of Lucine's identity, and Sadie's parents fleeing in terror as the citizens of Hyland shunned them. That was probably for the best.
Slowly, all the attention returned to the Shepherd, and to his dead, beloved Squire. But Eizen couldn't speak. It was all too much, and the shock was wearing off to give way once more to the agony of his broken heart. Then, the sound of bootsteps on carpet made Eizen turn to see Edna stepping forward, twirling her umbrella.
"Zaveid and Lucine could have been less dramatic about it," she said, "but Zaveid was right about one thing: Sadie was an excellent Squire. Thanks to her, there's one less dragon in the world, and our Shepherd will live to fight for a better future another day."
"A better future," Eizen repeated, and he looked down at the lifeless girl with golden hair. "Sadie…you said you knew I'd be the one to break this curse. I don't know how I would even begin to go about that, but…but I…I'll do it, Sadie!" he sobbed. "I don't know how, but I'll find a way! I'll save this world, no matter what it takes, I promise! For you, my love!"
Tears poured from his eyes, but he kept them open, even as his vision blurred.
"Goodbye, Bimiuv Kau, my Golden Sadie," he whispered. "I love you."
With that, the Dragon of Light, who had been standing back passively throughout the entire service, lowered his head without a word, opened his massive jaws, and unleashed a torrent of white fire onto the dead Squire's remains. Eizen forced himself to look directly into the blaze until every last trace of Sadie was gone, leaving nothing, not even her battleax.
The flames disappeared, and there was only empty space where the body had been.
Gone.
Broken to his core, Eizen collapsed into a little ball on the floor and cried.
~o~
It might have been hours that Eizen spent there, convulsing with grief and anguish even after his eyes ran out of tears to shed, his face tingling from the effort. Time meant nothing to him, time was pointless in a world without Sadie. All his training for how to handle strong emotions was of no use here, the pain was too intense and refused to burn itself out; instead, it consumed him, and he distantly felt the flames of purification battling traces of darkness in his veins, but even the knowledge that his grief was on the verge of morphing into malevolence couldn't get him to stop suffering.
Suddenly, a hand on his shoulder jerked him out of his agonized trance, and he uncurled himself and slitted his eyes to see a blurry figure that could only be his big sis standing over him.
"You can't stay here forever, baby brother," Edna told him gently.
"Leave me alone," he croaked, not caring how childish he sounded.
"I have," she pointed out. "But it's really late right now, and you need to eat and sleep. You can't save the world for Sadie if you don't take care of yourself."
Eizen hiccuped and sniffled. "Do you think…she'll turn into a seraph?" he asked Edna. "Like Sahra, or Lucine?"
"I don't think so," Edna answered tonelessly. "She was killed by a dragon within the Lord of Calamity's domain, I don't think she qualifies for rebirth."
A fresh dart of agony lanced through Eizen's heart. "You could've lied to me," he choked.
"What good would that do?" Edna asked drily. Then she grasped his arm and pulled. "Come on, baby brother," she coaxed, "come to the inn. Our family's having a big memorial feast in Sadie's honor, you should be there."
More out of a listlessness and lack of will than because he was actually listening, Eizen let his body follow the motions of being helped to his feet and stumbling out of the now-empty Sanctuary. Outside, it was completely dark, with only the stars shedding their little rays of light as they watched the Shepherd with a broken heart lean on the earth seraph with a child's face. When the pair reached the inn, the light inside was almost blinding to Eizen's raw eyes; all the tables and chairs in the dining area had been pushed together, several bowls and dishes laid out and surrounded by everyone else Eizen loved: his mother, his youngest sister, Zaveid, Sahra, Lucine, and even his father, though how Rokurou had gotten there without legs was beyond Eizen's ability to guess at. The room smelled of delicious food, but Eizen found no pleasure in the aroma, not when Sadie was gone.
"There you are, kiddo," Zaveid said, not too cheerfully. "We've been waiting for you."
Saying nothing, Eizen took a spot next to Celica, who was squirming in her chair; Edna sat down beside him, and food was doled out onto everyone's plates. Eizen stared at the spread, as though he'd forgotten what he was supposed to do with it - the concept of eating didn't feel real.
"Eat, baby brother," Edna encouraged him gently, reaching over and spearing a chunk of meat with his fork before bringing it towards his face.
Reflexively, Eizen fought her off, taking the utensil and running it through the curry before scooping it into his mouth.
Flavor exploded on his tongue, flavors of home and love and happiness, and he felt slightly warm as he swallowed, a little bit of life pouring into his veins. Blinking in shock, he turned to his mother; only one person could make food like this.
"Mom…?" he asked.
Velvet smiled at him gently. "Zaveid convinced the innkeeper to let me borrow the kitchen," she explained. "I know it…it doesn't make things better, but…I did my best."
Eizen glanced at Zaveid, wordlessly asking, and the wind seraph nodded at him: a peace offering, penance for losing his temper at Sadie's funeral. A glance at Lucine told Eizen that she felt the same, even if she hadn't contributed. Accepting the apology, Eizen nodded at both of them, extending his forgiveness, and they returned the gesture with brief, faint smiles of gratitude.
"Hey, big brother?"
The squeak from beside him caused Eizen to turn. "Yeah, Cellie?"
"Is it really true you killed a dragon?" she asked as she ate. "One of the ones Niko controlled?"
"Uh…" Eizen blinked again; the fact that they'd ultimately won the battle against Mikleo felt surreal. "Yeah, I guess we did," he replied. "The one that used to be Mikleo."
"Cool," Cellie mumbled through a mouthful of noodles, and she glanced at her father. "Good thing Eizen saved you first, daddy, or you wouldn't be able to go with Niko to the dark place anymore."
"The dark place?" Eizen and Rokurou both repeated.
"Yeah, you know," Cellie said, "that place we always went to to get more malevolence? With the thing? Ku…Koo…Kook…" She shook her head frustratedly. "You know," she insisted, "the thing? The First Shadow?"
The First Shadow. Suddenly, Eizen felt completely awake and alert.
"No," Rokurou frowned, "I don't remember that. I don't remember much from when I was with Niko…"
"Celica," Eizen said in a low voice, "what is the First Shadow?"
"I dunno," she shrugged, scooping more food into her mouth. "I remember it's weird, though. It kinda hurts to look at." She swallowed, frowning. "Words were weird to me when I was with Niko, so I can't really explain it too well."
But maybe there's someone who can. Eizen lurched to his feet, nearly knocking his chair over. "I have to go do something," he said quickly in response to everyone's alarmed looks. "Keep eating, I promise I'll be right back."
Without waiting for a reply, Eizen lunged for the door and dashed through Ladylake, back to the Sanctuary, flinging the doors open and charging up the steps to Uno's vessel.
"Uno!" he shouted. "Uno, get out here now, I need you!"
The water seraph who stood as the local Lord of the Land emerged. "What is it?" he asked passively.
"Summon Maotelus," Eizen ordered him. "I need to speak with the Great Lord now."
Uno blinked.
"Now!" Eizen shouted. "This is important!"
"V-Very well," stammered the Lord of the Land, and he closed his eyes.
Light began to emerge from underfoot, and Eizen bounded down the steps to the middle of the room so Maotelus would have room to manifest. When the Dragon of Light took form at last, Eizen stepped forward.
"Maotelus," he began, "I need to ask you something, and you need to tell me the truth."
"I…Very well," Maotelus replied, clearly surprised but nodding his massive head all the same.
Eizen met his glowing eyes. "What is the First Shadow?" he asked sternly.
Maotelus blinked. "The First Shadow?" he repeated. "I…don't know."
"You must know!" Eizen snapped. "You're the Great Lord of Lords! I don't care if it's some sort of big secret, Niko knows what it is and it has something to do with how she's able to wreak so much havoc, I need to know the answer!"
"Eizen, I've never heard of something called the First Shadow," Maotelus stated. Before Eizen could argue, he added, "But I'm not the oldest seraph in the world, despite my title. Maybe the other Great Lords know what the First Shadow is, and even if they don't, if the First Shadow exists, then the Earthen Historia must know about it. I don't know the answer, Eizen, but I can find it for you."
"You have to find it," Eizen told him. "You have to, Maotelus, we can't proceed in our battle against Niko unless we know what the First Shadow is. Please," he added, suddenly remembering his manners, "this might turn out to be the key to breaking the curse of malevolence. I need to know the truth."
"Then I will find it for you," Maotelus declared. He tilted his head. "It might take a while, but…the morning after tomorrow morning, I will return here and tell you whatever I've managed to find in the next day and a half. I promise I'll spare all the time and energy I can to ask the other Great Lords and scour the Earthen Historia. I'll find your answer, Eizen."
"I will wait for you," Eizen avowed. "I won't face Niko until you come back with your findings. I'll be waiting, so please, please come back with what I need."
"I'll do my best," Maotelus promised, and he dissipated back into the earth.
Eizen stood there for a long minute, reeling. You said I'd be the one to break this curse, Sadie, he thought. I'll do it. Whatever the First Shadow is, I'll find out, and I'll break this curse. For you.
Then he went back to the inn where his family waited, to pass the time until Maotelus returned.
If this was a game, it's around this point that I would add the sidequest (contained entirely within Ladylake) to unlock Katz Korner, and I'd add some sort of shenanigans with time travel or something so that there would be two exits to Katz Korner, the second of which would take the team back to the time just before the player got to the Lefay Shrine while still allowing for the dual Mystic Arte, the water armatus's Mystic Arte, and Lucine's new Mystic Arte, which I'll show off in the next chapter. The team wouldn't remember anything about Sadie's death and stuff, of course; there would be some kind of skit or something making some sort of justification for it, but it'd be for the sake of the game and everyone playing would know it. That would open up any postgame content and allow for the pursuit of whatever sidequests there might be (including one about how Symonne was a human who had the Twelve Year Sickness before she was reborn), which would inevitably involve some character development that we haven't seen and won't see happen in this fanfic. The trophy earned for doing so would be thus: "[image of a Katz] 'Interdimensional Cleanup' - Proof that you've traveled back in time through a hidden dimensional rift, so that you may use the powers you hadn't yet earned to tend to any unfinished business. What would you and your Squire say to each other if you'd been able to bring your memories of the future with you, too…?" If only this could be a game…
