-One Thousand and Two Years Ago-

Elodie smiled as she hummed her child's favorite lullaby. The little girl was having difficulty sleeping through the night—it was lucky if she was asleep for more than a couple of hours at a time. The past month or so, Rosalina had grown convinced there was a monster hiding underneath her bed, which prompted her parents to check on her when they heard her whimper or cry, and assuage her fears by checking underneath the bed for her.

Now, however, Rosalina's face was peaceful. Her eyelids were fluttering, suggesting that she was on the very verge of unconsciousness.

Figuring that it would be time for her to get to her own bed, Elodie finished the lullaby's melody, lightly kissed her daughter's forehead, and rose in order to return to her and Arthur's room—

"Mama?"

Elodie turned back around. Rosalina still looked sleepy, but also worried.

"You'll be next door, right?"

"Next door," Elodie repeated, nodding. "Would you like me to check under your bed before I leave?"

"No. I know there's no monster under there now."

Elodie blinked, surprised by the steadiness with which her five year old daughter said this, before asking, "What changed your mind?"

"Daddy did. He said that even monsters have manners, and they can't crawl under the bed without asking nicely first."

It took much of Elodie's self-control not to laugh out loud.

Somehow, she managed to regain enough poise to reply, "Well, Daddy is very right. Monsters too should be saying 'please' and 'thank you.' And if they use manners, that's not very scary at all, is it?"

Rosalina shook her head and stifled a yawn. Just before Elodie could wish her goodnight, however, the girl burst out, "But now I'm afraid of something else."

Elodie chewed the inside of her lip, hoping she wasn't afraid of the dark. That would be a difficult fear to banish, as it was wintertime, and much of the castle was dimly lit even at the peak of the day. "What is that, my girl?"

"What if one day I wake up, and you and Daddy are gone?"

This was a very astute fear for a young child to have, especially considering that it was likely that Rosalina would wake up one day to know that her parents were gone. And so Elodie returned to her daughter's bedside and ran a hand through her hair, saying, "Don't fret, dearest. I'm not going anywhere. I'm always watching over you, like the sun in the day and the moon in the night."

The girl sniffled. "What about when it rains, and I can't see the sun or the moon?"

Elodie thought for a moment. "I will turn into a star in the clouds and wait for your tears to dry."

At last, Rosalina smiled once again. She leaned back into the pillows of her bed, soothed by the gesture of her mother playing with her hair. Softly, she said, "I love you, Mama."

"And I love you, Rosalina. Never forget that."

With this, Elodie kissed her daughter's forehead once more and returned, unhindered, to her bedroom, where Arthur was waiting for her.

-Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine Years Ago-

Tobias was squirming as Elodie attempted to put a suit on his little body. Though he was more than capable of doing it himself, Tobias had made it very clear that he didn't like the new tunic and trousers—he claimed they were itchy and uncomfortable, which perhaps wasn't wrong, but was something that would get better with time.

Or so Elodie was trying to tell him… not that he was listening.

"Why do I have to go?" he insisted, kicking his feet angrily and narrowly missing Elodie's face. "I don't wanna!"

"But it's your birthday," said Elodie, summoning all her control to keep her voice calm. "And we can't celebrate it if you aren't there, now, can we?" Seeing that her son was still less than pleased, she thought it safe to add, "And we have strawberry cake waiting for you, with your favorite chocolate ice cream…"

Now Tobias stopped kicking. He rose a suspicious eyebrow and looked at his mother before saying, "You promise?"

She smiled. "I promise."

Tobias only thought for another moment before sighing. "Okay. But I want cake first!"

Elodie laughed and finished fastening the buttons around the tunic collar. With this gesture, she and her son were both ready for the party that would take place in the palace's foyer. Right when they stood up to head to the door, however, it opened to reveal Rosalina, dressed in a lovely blue gown that complimented her sky-blue eyes.

Arthur's eyes.

"There's cake?" exclaimed Rosalina happily.

"Strawberry cake," Elodie confirmed with a serious nod, though a playful smile was on her lips. "And chocolate ice cream."

Rosalina's smile began to fade—tears began welling in her eyes. "Daddy's favorite ice cream was chocolate…"

Elodie swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat. She had to be strong, as always, for her children both had bloodshot eyes. At the mention of their father, both seemed ready to burst into tears.

Elodie wordlessly held out her arm, which Rosalina wasted no time in walking into. She pulled both of them close, kissing the top of Tobias's head before saying, "I want to remind you both that Daddy would be very proud of you. He'd be so happy to see how much you've grown—he loves you, more than anything else in the world. And while he may not be with us anymore, he still lives on: in both of you.

"Tobias, look at your hair. Brown and curly—and Rosalina, your eyes. Sky-blue; the exact same color as his. Your strong wills? Your father's. Your love of stories and adventure? Those were from him as well. Daddy is here more than you know, and he always will be.

"But during those days when you feel like you can't feel him at all? When you just miss him and aren't comforted by anything else? That's when I'll be here for you. Like the sun that rises at the start of each day or the stars that appear whenever it gets dark, I'll be here. You don't have to be alone. And that's a promise."

Rosalina and Tobias had settled down by now, nestled comfortably in their mother's arms. They stayed this way for just a little while—and then, when the children were ready, the three of them proceeded to the foyer to celebrate Tobias's fourth birthday.

-Nine Hundred and Ninety-Eight Years Ago-

"Marcus! Have you seen Rosalina?"

The greeter to Petalburg blinked at the frantic tone to Elodie's voice, but shook his head in answer.

Elodie cursed aloud and sprinted into the city, ignoring all the confused and startled stares she accumulated along the way. The citizens of Petalburg began whispering as she passed, likely conspiring over what could have the Lady of Petal Meadows in such a hysterical state.

She did not care for the rumors, what words could possibly be passing through their lips.

Her daughter was missing—gone—and all there was in her place was a note that read, "I love you, Mama. I'll be back soon. I promise."

Elodie found herself pounding on the door of a familiar house.

"Alexandra! Alexandra, are you home?"

The door opened after only another moment, and there stood Alexandra, wearing the same shawl she had been wearing when she first walked Elodie to Arthur's palace. Now, however, there were additional lines upon the elderly woman's face—she was slightly thinner than before—and there was a sad light in her eyes that Elodie had never quite seen before.

Despite this wearied appearance, Alexandra still smiled warmly at Elodie as she asked, "Is something wrong, dear?"

"Rosalina," Elodie gasped, her chest tightening. "My daughter—she's gone. Disappeared without a word… all I have is this note."

She held it out to Alexandra with shaking hands, and an even shakier heart.

Alexandra read it carefully before waving Elodie inside.

Desperate for any sort of news, Elodie closed the door behind her and took the seat that was offered. There was a mug of tea, untouched, upon the table—but even as Elodie sat down, Alexandra seized another mug and poured it evenly into the two cups.

"Tell me what happened," said Alexandra, her voice soft.

And so Elodie launched into the tale, starting from that very morning: she'd woken up and went to the dining hall to eat breakfast with her children, the way she always did. Tobias showed up as always, telling his mother about the chapter of a story he'd read the previous day… but Rosalina was missing.

At first, Elodie figured that her daughter was just tired, or perhaps feeling ill. She waited for another hour or two before finally checking her room.

There was no Rosalina. Her knapsack was gone. The bed was neatly made. Upon her pillow was the note; the note with only ten words, none of which told Elodie where she was going, or why, or when she would return.

When she finished the story, Elodie burst into renewed tears. She hardly even recognized the soothing pats on the back that Alexandra was giving her—all she could feel was such familiar devastation, the likes of which she hadn't seen since the night Arthur was consumed, body and soul, by the demon's curse.

"There's hope, Elodie," whispered Alexandra, after a few moments of tense silence. "Rosalina may not be far—she may yet come back soon."

"How can you be so sure?" Elodie rasped.

"I can't," replied the woman, smiling sympathetically. "But we can hope. I hope for you. And while it may not be much, I promise my support in looking for Rosalina—no matter what it takes."

This last sentence prompted Elodie to rise from hiding within her hands and look at the other woman… Alexandra's face had aged another few years in seconds.

"Trust me when I say, Elodie: I know exactly what it is like to lose a daughter. I would not wish such loss on anyone in the world. So it is that I will help you spread the word—beyond Petal Meadows, beyond Poshley Heights, beyond what remains of the Hallowed City. Your daughter will return, one way or another."

Elodie reached out to Alexandra and took her wrinkled hand within her own: she kissed the woman's knuckles softly and whispered, "Thank you, Alexandra. Without my friends, without Arthur… you and my children are all I have left."

-Nine Hundred and Ninety-Seven Years Ago-

"The man raised his—I think that says 'sword'—and said, 'No! If you want the prince—princess—then you'll have to fight me first!'"

Tobias frowned as he squinted at the page. Looking back up to his mother, he asked, "Mama, are there any books with larger letters? These are very hard to see…"

Elodie smiled sadly, already certain that her son would have the same problems with vision that Arthur had had. "Tomorrow we'll see if we can find some in the library. Do you like the story so far?"

"Yes, but it would be easier to like it if you read it to me."

She laughed now, charmed by the statement. Elodie had made it a nightly ritual to read one chapter of a story by Tobias's bedside, even though he might've started getting too big for it. But it was something she and Arthur had done when the children's father was still with them… and rather than let the tradition die out, she took it upon herself to continue it.

It was hard to adhere to the tradition once Rosalina went missing, but somehow, she found the strength to manage…

"Please?"

It was this last word that melted Elodie's constitution. Grinning at him, she finally said, "Oh, all right. I'll bring the story to your room so we can continue."

Tobias grinned, a toothy smile. He'd already lost one of his front teeth, and it looked like the other was soon to follow. He leapt to his feet and began running through the hallways of the castle, leaving Elodie the task of keeping up with him.

The sun had just finished setting: it was the middle of summer, Tobias's favorite time of year. Summer meant he could stay up later, that he could take a break from most of his studies—although he never tired of reading or of language. It meant he was allowed to swim in the lakes just beyond the garden, one of his favorite activities.

Summer also meant that Elodie knew the cold she felt within the castle was not natural.

As she and Tobias jogged through the corridors, the chilly air got more and more noticeable. Her son didn't seem to care, if he even registered it at all, but Elodie grew nervous. Such chill she'd only experienced in the presence of magic: dark magic.

"Tobias," she said.

Her son seemed to note the strange hardness to her voice, for he stopped.

Silver eyes glinting, Elodie said, "Stand behind me."

Tobias looked utterly confused, but did as he was asked.

Feeling a stone of dread knotted in the pit of her stomach, Elodie slowly opened the door to her son's room.

Everything looked as it should… the window was lightly opened to let some of the stuffy castle air outside. The bed was made—a chore that Elodie asked her son to perform every morning. There were some of Tobias's toy soldiers scattered across his desk and the floor.

So far as she could tell, nothing was out of place.

But the pit in her stomach told her that something was still terribly wrong.

"Mama?" said Tobias's voice, somewhere close behind her. "Why is it so cold?"

A feeling of horrified validation swelled in Elodie's heart. So she wasn't losing her mind—her son felt the chill as well. And it was highly unlikely that they were both imagining the same hallucination…

Elodie crept inside the room, keeping one hand extended to signal to Tobias to stay where he was. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she tried to pinpoint the exact location of where the cold was emanating from, and yet—it seemed to move as well, with each step she took.

After two minutes or so of ceaseless searching, Elodie was just about to tell Tobias that they would both sleep in her room that night—but her son's cry cut her off.

She whirled around to see a being of shadow enwrapping her son, who had tiptoed into the room behind his mother. As the brief seconds passed, Elodie grew to recognize the veil of blackness that had appeared—

"Beldam!" she roared, astounded and furious that this spirit had survived the great battle at the Palace of Shadow.

She'd thought that Arthur had laid the witch's final blow; that she would be dispelled from the world.

Clearly, she was wrong.

Beldam cackled as she restrained Tobias, who was trying to break free and sprint towards his mother.

"Good evening, my Lady Lancaster!" said Beldam, a pointed grin on her already pointed face. "It's been a few years, has it not?"

"What do you want?" Elodie spat, trying to mask her fear with her anger.

Beldam chuckled again—she held out a hand and swirled some of her ice magic within her dark palm. "I'm under orders, my lady. A back-up plan, if you will: a way to ensure that your descendants never fulfill the plan with which you proceeded. You have a darling son, my lady. Please don't make me hurt him."

Elodie wasted no time in summoning one of her fire spells and directing it towards the horrid blue hat that Beldam wore upon her head—but Beldam seemed to be expecting it. She disappeared into the floor, hidden by the shadows, and Tobias along with her.

For a brief and horror-struck moment, Elodie thought her son had disappeared. But then they reappeared—there were tears upon Tobias's cheek.

"Give me back my son," growled Elodie, charging another spell in her hand. This one was a spell of light: one of the like that had felled the witch the last they had met. "Release him, or I will ensure that you are killed once and for all, Beldam!"

But the sorceress just smirked, replying, "I cannot do that, Lancaster. My Lady Lysandra has ordered me: and so I will obey."

Elodie released the spell without another word—it caught Beldam across the cheek, and the witch began to scream. Her shadowy form began sizzling, melting with the impact of the newfound light.

Elodie tried to use this opportunity to lunge forth and grab her son's hand—he reached out to meet her own—

But Beldam had opened a portal in the ground, one veiled with darkness and chaos, and she and Tobias were disappearing—

"MAMA!"