{-Sharena-}

"If you just intend to listen anyway, why don't you just join them in the room?" Lekra mumbled.

"That's easy for you to say when no one else can see you," she returned quietly. "You can do whatever you want and no one would even realize you were there."

"That doesn't actually answer my question, Sharena."

"This doesn't involve me. I know I'm not supposed to be a part of it at all." She moved as close to the door as she dared.

"Then remind me why you're here?"

"Like you don't spy on people you think are suspicious."
They looked like they wanted to give some kind of protest before remembering at least one instance where it was true. They never listened to her when she wanted them to spy on someone but, by all means, they were allowed to do that for someone they didn't like.

"Great to see that you can see why I'm right," she remarked. "But right now it's time to be quiet so I can listen."

The voice from the other side of the door was quiet. "I'm so sorry. If I was paying any attention he wouldn't have—"

"It's alright, Alfonse. The situation had been far out of our control from the start. He… talked about it with you, didn't he?"

"He told me that… sooner or later, it was going to happen. But that didn't mean he needed to…"

"I don't know if this will help ease your mind any, but he hadn't been doing well the past few weeks. He'd been putting up a brave face and even fooled me a couple of times. You know how he was; he never would've stopped until he was physically unable to. I can't say that I can speak for the dead, but I think… even if it meant losing to her, he would've rather died protecting you than being unable to do anything."

"I suppose…"

"We can talk more about all of it once Hel is dealt with. They've told me that they know where her soldiers came from. The four of you need to carry out that part of the plan before we're forced into too many battles. If you can, ask Commander Anna if I could use your Heroes while you're gone. They'll help in defending against Hel."

"Of course, Mother. Please stay safe."

"I'll be praying for the same for you."

…

Alfonse only went into detail about the latter portion after they walked back to the Order's castle. It made Sharena glad she listened; it was obvious that there was much more than "we need to continue on with the plan, and Mother wants to use the Heroes." Or at least she thought there was.

Anna then carried this message on to Lucy, since she'd be in charge of the Heroes when they were gone. That gave all of them a couple minutes to make sure they had everything they needed before they left.

Honestly, Alfonse was doing most of the work. Fauna was trying to help a little, but Sharena stopped a little while ago. She was paying so little attention to what she was supposed to be doing that she was the first to recognize Fjorm was standing there.

"Come on, don't be a stranger," Sharena remarked with a smile. "Have something on your mind?"

Fjorm didn't move. "You'll be leaving for the realm of the dead soon, won't you?"

"Well, yeah. Just because things didn't exactly go as planned doesn't mean we should abandon the rest of it. We've still got a job to do."

"Right… It was a stupid question. There'd be no reason that you wouldn't…" Fjorm sighed. "I wish I could come with you. The most dangerous people I can think of are all dead now, after all. But I understand the commander's reasoning in keeping me here to help hold down the fort. Besides, I… might only drag the rest of you down."

"Don't say that! I doubt that was a part of Anna's reasoning at all. You've also got Ylgr to look after. I bet she'd get really worried if you went with us."

"Not as worried as I am about you."

Sharena knew she didn't hide her surprise well before she was able to cover it up again. "Now you're beginning to sound like Lekra."

Fjorm, if not just for a moment, blushed. "I—I do?"

"It's not a bad thing! It just means you really care about me."

"To think there really is something I share with it…" Fjorm looked up to see Sharena's reminding glare. "Them. Something I share with them…"

"It seems we don't share the same kind of common decency, at least," Lekra remarked. "I'll never have to worry about that."

"You really like taking advantage of the fact she can't actually hear you, aren't you?" Sharena frowned at them. "I know you wouldn't actually say any of that to her."

Lekra shrugged.

It was still loud enough that Fjorm could hear her. "They're talking about me..?"

"They talk about everyone," Sharena replied. "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one they actually like."

"I can't blame them," Fjorm sighed. "I was only a few steps away from killing them, after all."

"That's not what I—"

Anna walked towards them. "If everything's ready, it's time to get moving. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can put it behind us."

((A/N: About halfway through this chapter, I looked at what I had planned for it, and said "yeah I'll do that in the next chapter."

Eventually you'll learn that Sharena is really good at eavesdropping. She knows exactly what conversations she shouldn't be hearing and listens to it anyway.))