Amsvartnir castle was as dilapidated as Fort Gungnir had been. Perhaps, even more than that. Everyone had begun searching the castle library as soon as we had arrived. With five whole floors to search, it seemed like an impossible task even with all of the Heroes that were helping us search for something that would give us an edge against Hel.

I was starting to feel uneasy as I put yet another book back onto its spot on one of the myriad of shelves. I wanted to claw out my own brain and tear it to shreds, but I couldn't ignore the feeling that something was off. That nagging feeling was growing stronger with every book that I thumbed my way through.

"Líf, if you're going to continue stalking me, then the least you could do is make it less obvious." I called out.

I actually wasn't able to tell if he was there or not, but I was hoping to catch him off guard enough to where he'd reveal himself if he was. Silence. That was all there was for a solid fifteen minutes or so. I then heard the sound of footsteps approaching me. I turned around to greet them.

"Kiran, is something amiss? I heard you shouting from across the room." Eir asked in a hushed tone.

"I'm not sure. I have the feeling that I am being watched. I really hope that I am just on edge from everything that's been happening. I'm still shaken from stabbing Líf the way I did."

"Líf is dead. He'll come back if Mother wishes him to. As he is one of her generals, I have no doubt that she'll send him after you and the Order again"

"I'm also concerned about the whereabouts of Thrasir. I haven't seen her try to wipe me off the face of existence for quite awhile."

"I have no idea as to where she might be. Líf and Thrasir are partners in a sense. I just know that wherever Líf is, she is not too far behind him." Eir sighed.

"If that's the case, would you like to accompany me on a short walk? I need a short break from searching and there's something that I wish to see."

"If that is what you wish, Kiran."

"Phew, that was close. She almost spotted us."

"Claude, how many times do I have to tell you to be careful around here?"

"Relax, she didn't actually catch us. We'll probably find what we're looking for soon enough anyway. Besides, this place is giving me the creeps."

"Good. It means that you still have a good head on your shoulders. This is Death's domain, after all. It is natural to fear it."

"I still can't believe that all this time, you were hiding… all of this stuff."

"Well it's not like I could go around telling people that I am actually a half dead person seeking to revive a dead kingdom. People would have thought that I had gone mad. To be fair, I'm not entirely certain that I am still even sane to begin with, but that hardly mattered anyway."

"Yeah you're probably right. You really did catch us all off guard. You even gave Hubert a run for his money."

"My connection to Breidablik allows me to 'see' certain things. That combined with a healthy helping of paranoia made it easy to keep tabs on his whereabouts."

"I was wondering how you were able to prank him and survive."

"Yeah… I just figured that if he wanted to play mind games, that I would do him one better."

"And by 'doing him one better' you mean sending him strange anonymous messages that each only have one letter on them?" A woman in red asked impatiently.

"Oh hello, El. I'm glad that you wish to join us. And to answer your inquiry, I had hoped to mess with his head by sending him a red herring so to speak."

"That 'red herring' gave me so many headaches. I had to rearrange my schedule multiple times and I had to involve the Professor and Seteth."

"It was impressive to watch, really. You were even more wound up even tighter than my fiance whenever he spoke with his own father. That, in my opinion, is an accomplishment." The girl with the braided hair replied.

"You still have a lot more to explain to us." Edelgard glared at the girl with the braided hair.

"I already explained all the relevant information that you need to know. I'm not obligated to tell you anything else. I'm not in the position to give away secrets of the Askran Kingdom or anything that is not related to what we are doing. If Al were here, that would be a different matter.."

"I know you're leaving out something important. What you did in Fódlan makes me believe that you have a lot more to hide."

"Perhaps I am. Or maybe I am not a member of the Askran royal family and so the decision to leak that info is just not mine to make. Let's hurry up and find Dimi so that we can continue our search."

Alfonse had been rifling through the library for what likely had been for several hours. Something was telling him that there was something related to Hel here. He didn't know if it was something that he had come across before and it was a memory that was hiding within the deepest parts of his memories, or if it was merely his own intuition. Part of him just didn't care about the why or how, but the more rational side of him was suspicious of his own self.

It didn't help that every time he saw Líf, he felt angry, upset, and confused. He, of course, did his best not to show what he was feeling in front of the others. However, he had a feeling that Kiran would eventually catch on if she hadn't already.

In his mind, the thought that he even had the potential to become like Líf was something that had "opened Pandora's box" as Kiran would have put it. His hidden feelings of failure and inadequacy as a prince were mirrored and amplified just at the sight of his other self. Everything that he stood and fought for was all taken away from Líf and Alfonse knew there was a good possibility that the same would happen to him if he failed again.

Alfonse took a deep breath to ground himself back into reality. While the intrusive thoughts didn't disappear, he decided to continue the search for… something. It might've seemed like a foolish endeavor but it was all that he had to go on.

"Perhaps I should talk to her about how I'm feeling…" Alfonse thought to himself.

Surely, his beloved could-

A passage in a book that he had just picked up moments before had captured his attention.

"The mighty King was cut down. A victim to the curse of the ruler of the undead"

Alfonse's eyebrows knitted themselves together tightly as he skimmed through the rest of the passage. There were few pages that contained an account of the death of the other version of his father. The dates that were mentioned however, were different from the events that had happened in his world.

"As destruction took hold, we joined with Embla to seek the forbidden heart"

That particular passage caught his attention quickly. Was this the answer he was looking for? Alfonse's eyes combed through the next several pages for more clues, hoping that there was more information about the "forbidden heart" that was mentioned.

"The Heart's Rite is the only method that may bring the ruler of the dead low. Though it may slay the ruler of the dead, it too spells our end. With every pulse, it steals one life. Death ravaged us in an eyeblink. First towns, then ultimately all the land. People, beasts, any that drew breath– Death came for all. 'O mighty dragon Askr, forgive us this sin, unforgivable as it may be. We ask only for one thing: salvation.'

"Ah, so it's a dead end after all." He thought glumly.

Alfonse poured more of his attention to the rest of the book for a more detailed account of what had happened. From what he could glean, the events of the complete annihilation of this Askr's inhabitants were as follows:

First, the Hel's invasion on the day that the other Alfonse and Kiran were supposed to be married.

Second, was the death of King Gustav three years later than it did in his own Askr.

Third, Alfonse joined forces with Princess Veronica after discovering Angrbođa's heart.

Fourth, Alfonse, Veronica and Kiran Prepared the rite. Kiran stabbed the heart and was slain directly afterwards. Sharena dies days later.

Finally, only a select few including Alfonse and Veronica were left. The person who wrote everything down was….

Alfonse shut the book. He decided that it would be best to let information soak in for a while before continuing. A mix of emotions were swirling and bubbling inside of him and he knew that getting upset wasn't going to help him with his current predicament. He took the book and went over to where he had last seen Kiran.

She wasn't there but Gordin and Ranulf had mentioned that they had seen her walking with the princess of Hel moments earlier. Alfonse wasn't sure what to make of this. Of course, he was happy for both Kiran and Eir for becoming friends with each other but he wasn't born yesterday. There was still a chance that Eir would be forced to do something drastic by her mother and that put Kiran in direct harm.

Of course, he could just be a tad bit paranoid, but so much had happened since they had entered the realm of the dead. It wasn't unreasonable for him to worry for her. He loved her, that was certain. He just hoped that he would be able to find her safe and sound.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Eir asked me.

"I kind of don't want to… but what if the other me hid something important in there before she died? It would eat me up if I didn't at least search the place."

Eir said nothing, but it seemed like she was having a hard time finding the right words to say. I opened the door only to find everything was almost exactly the way I had left it. Unlike most of the castle, however, there was minimal dust in the room. It was almost as if someone had been cleaning it the whole time. Lilies were placed on top of the bed with care.

"Líf… you really didn't need to do this for her. The other me, I mean." I whispered.

He wasn't there. A part of me wished that he was. Even if he and I were technically enemies, I couldn't help but feel the urge to comfort him and tell him that everything would be fine. It's what I would do with Al.

It wasn't fine though. I am not my other self just as Líf is not my Alfonse. I had to remind myself that those lilies weren't really for me, they were for her. She is gone and I couldn't replace her, even if we were nearly identical people.

I hated feeling like that. Like I couldn't distinguish myself from her. We were essentially the same, but she likely had different experiences than I did. Where does the line between her and I start and end? I wasn't so sure that I was ready to find out.

I began looking through the room for anything that could be useful to me. It didn't matter if she and I were the same or not. I'm still alive and I still have all of my body parts attached to me. The other me is dead.

"Now… if I were trying to hide something important here…"

"I found something." Eir handed me an envelope.

"Where'd you find that?"

"On top of the bureau over there."

"Oh… but why would it be in plain sight then?"

"I'm not sure. You of all people should be able to make a good guess, though."

"I'm honestly drawing blanks, because I wouldn't put something like that on my dresser unless I wanted it to be seen by someone. If that's the case, then Líf would have already seen it. Unless this is a trap…"

"It's addressed to Alfonse." Eir pointed out.

I flipped the envelope on its other side to confirm her statement. "Well I'll be damned. It is addressed to Al or… well, Líf to be more precise. I think I'll keep holding on to this for now. I… it's probably for the best that I don't open it right now. That's just what feels right to me."

"I'm not sure what you mean" Eir looked at me, confused.

"I don't know either but for now my gut instinct is telling me to keep it."

"Oh, well is there anywhere else we should look?"

"No. I think we should go back to the library for now. I think I need to take a nap and I don't want to disturb this place even further."

"I will walk back with you if it's alright, Kiran."

"Thank you. I would feel safer with you around. That is enough for now." I then left the room with a heavy heart, tired from all of the searching that I had done.

A/N:

Sorry, it's been awhile. I just couldn't figure how I wanted to go about writing this chapter. Im still not quite satisfied but I think I just need to move on. I tend to hyper focus into making my fics perfect when they dont need to be. Perhaps I should just skip to the part where Líf tries to blow up the place. Originally, I was going to have Kiran find like a glass coffin or something to show that Líf went insane with grief when his Kiran was killed but that didn't feel like something he would actually do. I ended up scrapping that idea.