Hiding in the shadows a lone figure stood watch over the ragtag group of mortals as they made their way towards Hel. His eyes narrowed at the Summoner, trying to pick at her mind. Just what was that woman planning? What was she thinking, taking the fight straight to Hel's keep?

Didn't she know that it would spell certain death for her and the entire group?

Whatever, that just meant that his job would be much easier to carry out. Prince Alfonse, while easily equal in strength and brains, wasn't a huge threat. The figure knew his every move and thought. No… the biggest threat was the Summoner. She was always a contradiction. Simultaneously the biggest threat and the weakest link. She could hardly punch her way through a wet paper bag in the state she is in now and yet… he knew what she was capable of. She wasn't a fighter but she was the brains and the glue of the entire operation and he knew it.

A mix of emotions swirled within him, like an oppressive raging storm on the open sea. She is not his Summoner, so it shouldn't matter to him if she lives or dies… right? All he has to do is kill her and everything will fall into place. His goal would be one step closer to being fully realised. So why does his cold heart still beat for her? Technically, he didn't actually have one now that he was dead, but he could still feel it's presence. Like a phantom pain one gets when they lose a limb.

He had a multitude of chances to kill the Summoner but each time, he hesitated. Each time he felt his chest tighten and his heart beating loudly despite the fact it was no longer inside of him. He cursed himself and the offending organ that was keeping him from carrying out the deed. He cursed it for daring to still love her and Sharena.

Líf knew that the Kiran and Sharena he knew were long gone. He knew the ones that he was spying upon needed to die to take their place. Hel said that… it didn't matter what Hel said. He forged the contract with her out of pure desperation and madness. An eye for an eye, a soul for a soul. That was the deal. He needed to bide his time for now. If he could kill them in one fell swoop, he would feel less pain.

It's been three days since Alfonse and Kiran professed their love for each other and it still makes him feel angry and disgusted. They were parading it around Helheim like it was a goddamned damn walk in the park. The Summoner belonged to him and him alone! How dare the upstart prince take her away from him? Líf then laughed at himself mirthlessly. Why bother wasting his thoughts on a girl that only looked like his Summoner? Being jealous of the whelp of a prince did nothing for his goal.

He watched as Sharena pestered the new couple with questions about ooey gooey mushy lovey dovey crap. Perhaps now would be a good time to sneak away into the outside world and gather some daisies and white lilies to place at the graves of the people he had cared the most for. He had plenty of time to think things through and gathering flowers for them was the only thing keeping him from completely losing his mind. He was dead after all, so he needn't concern himself with time constraints too much.

"You're the smartest fool I've ever known, my dear friend. They don't belong to you. Especially the Summoner" Thrasir said as she walked in on him spying on the Order.

"Took you long enough. I'm going to take my leave soon. I need you to watch their movements while I'm gone"

"You can't keep running from them forever. Kiran must die along with everyone else. No exceptions. Their world must die before ours can be revived. We are all that's left of it."

"I know. I know it painfully well. I care not if my body still remains when I crush them, I will not stop. For years, we've planned our assault and so far it's going as planned but with... an interesting new development." Lif then pointed at Alfonse and Kiran happily acting like a lovey dovey couple.

"I see… this could be useful to us later. Perhaps we could separate her from the group and force them to come to us. Knowing what we already know about the prince, he would surely blindly charge in to her rescue."

"You are correct. Kiran is a bit unpredictable so if we go through with it, we will need to err on the side of caution. I can predict how she would react to certain things but I cannot claim to know everything she is planning. She is not a physical threat to anyone right now, but she is a slippery customer."

"You know the Summoner well enough. If you believe that is the case, then I will keep that in mind. Your words are the only things that mean anything to me anymore"

"It's odd but… I feel the same way. Your companionship is comforting to me in a small way. We used to be enemies but now it seems like that was ages ago. Like a scattered dream that's like a far off memory"

"The Summoner. The last thing you just said... She has said something like that before, hasn't she? I don't envy the pain that her memory inflicts on you. There is one thing I do envy, though. I never knew what love feels like. I don't know what it is like… I had my brother but it's not the same kind of love. I suppose it matters not now. What does matter, is that somehow I feel less lonely when I am with you in this godforsaken place. You make things feel bearable and you've given me hope even if only a small slither of it."

"We must balance the cohort of the dead. Only then, will Hel restore our homes. I believe it to be true. I'll start by crushing the girl who wears her face and then everyone else will fall to my blade. I bid you farewell, my friend" Líf then opened a gate to another world. If one looked through the gate, you would see a field of daisies dancing along with the soft breeze. As Líf walked through, Thrasir closed it with relative ease and continued Líf's work from where he had left off.

A/N: So I got a seasonal job and... well you can probably guess what that means. At any rate I have a back log of a few chapters that I've written ahead of time but the one I am currently writing is coming along at a snail's pace.

For this chapter I just wanted to write Líf just sort of scouting the Order out and watching them go about their journey. Press 'f' to pay respects. The irony of Líf being jealous of his younger self is very real and I want to expand upon Líf's character and explore his friendship with Thrasir even more in the future. Either that or I could write about Líf playing giant Jenga with Thrasir and Kiran in The Modern Shorts. For some reason, I find the idea of Edgy Alfonse playing a mundane game like Jenga and have him just be a really poor loser weirdly appealing to me. It would even be funnier if you add in post timeskip Dmitri into the mix.

"Build every last one of them!" He'd say after carefully taking out a jenga block and placing it ontop of the block tower

Ok I will stop rambling for now I guess.