{-Sharena-}

By the time Natheniel was halfway through the story, Sharena already knew how it ended.

She hadn't been there when Zacharias had nearly killed Alfonse; she'd slept in a bit too late to join them and she'd wanted to talk with the Heroes instead of doing yet another moderately-boring scouting mission. So she didn't exactly know what she should've thought or felt when she heard of the news from Anna and, a bit later, when Zacharias admitted to it. When they finally saw him again, she'd been relieved to know he didn't do it on purpose (no matter how much Anna implied so both then and now) but was given a whole other thing to be unsure of how to feel about. What Natheniel had just described…she was lost as she realized that it could've been Alfonse or even Anna in Philyra's place and Zacharias in Natheniel's.

If she hadn't been having a bad feeling about Natheniel before this, she definitely was now.

"So..?" Whatever light left in Natheniel's eyes were gone as he looked at the uncertain faces of the other three.

"Ash hole," Anna muttered. From the way she held on to the "a," "ash" was not the word she was going to use. "I appreciate your honesty in not just making yourself look innocent, but it's practically the one redeemable thing about that whole story."

"She wasn't supposed to get involved!" Natheniel protested hopelessly. "The one thing Tavin's good at is dodging, and that's exactly what he was supposed to do! He wasn't listening to me! If I knew that was going to happen then I wouldn't have done it—I didn't know what I was doing and by the time it as done it was already too late, I swear!"

"Did…did you actually kill her?" Fauna asked quietly.

Natheniel shook his head. "The cut was deepest at her shoulder but gradually became nothing more than a scratch by the time it got to her waist. To put it simply, Philyra survived but Veronica stopped trusting me and Tavin found another reason to blame me for everything. I wasn't able to make up for it before I left and, well, it wasn't even the worse thing I did." He sighed. "You'll be happy to know I've lived with that guilt for…however long it's been at this point. Getting stuck in a world of nightmares kind of screws with your sense of time."

"Commander, can I—"

"Go get a cookie," Anna interrupted, nodding. Despite her level, understanding tone, she gave Sharena a worried look.

"Thanks." She left the room and started down the hall.

She didn't get very far before she heard the door open again and someone trying to catch up to her—she chose to ignore it and kept on walking.

"Sharena! Sharena, wait!" Natheniel matched her pace when he was nearly beside her. "You believe me, right? That I didn't mean it? Back home, you defended me even after everything I did…even after I hurt you and your friends. Please…please say you believe me."

"I don't know if I believe you," she answered. "I don't know if I should believe you. The things you did…things you might do…the people you hurt…"

Natheniel stopped for a moment, but quickly continued. "You were the one with the nightmares. You're the one they talked about. You…oh…" He slowed down, but she didn't. "You can hear the voices…you know what it's done—what I've done…"

"Do I?" It was a bitter question. She hoped Natheniel would take the hint and leave.

He seemed to be completely oblivious to it. Figures. "All those voices. You can't look me straight in the eye and tell me you didn't recognize any of them. Including your own."

"Can you just stop talking for at least five minutes?" She didn't want to talk about it. She didn't even want to think about it. Everything with Natheniel was confusing enough as it is, she didn't need or want to get the events of the months before this involved. That was a whole other mess she really didn't have the patience to try to understand.

"No! This is important! I need an answer! Sharena…" Natheniel reached a hand for her shoulder.

She stopped, shoved his hand out of the way, and faced him. "Do not touch me. You need an answer but I need to be alone."

"But—"

"If you don't leave me alone I'm going to tell everyone you're harassing me." This, not really surprisingly, got the attention of a few passing Heroes.

"I just want to help!"

"You really, really don't want to try me right now," Sharena remarked. "And I will do it."

Natheniel opened his mouth, and she got ready to shout. "Fine! Fine! You win!"

"Great, so I'm going to go now—" She turned around again, but he grabbed her hand before she could get too far.

"Please, just a minute of your time, and then I'll leave and you can hate me all you want or whatever." He didn't give her time to respond. Natheniel stepped in front of her, keeping her from going any further. "Look. I learned a lot about what I am while I was trapped there. What the nightmares are, how they affect the world around it and how it uses the people around it. I'll give you a hint, it doesn't matter what shape it takes form in—whether it's a demon or a monster or a literal blob—it's how it gets into your head. I've let it take control in the past…it's something that really can change a person. Trust me on this if not anything else."

"If you tell me 'don't walk into the light' I might slap you." She was seriously getting a feeling that's where this was going.

"What? No! I'm just saying that you—"

"There you two are." At Fauna's voice, the Heroes dispersed and Natheniel took a step away from Sharena, finally shutting up. "Anna was getting worried." She looked at Natheniel. "She wants to talk to you privately."

Natheniel nodded. "Good. There's a few things I'd like to share with her as well." He walked off back to where Anna was.

Fauna waited until he was out of sight before turning her attention to Sharena. "Are you sure you're alright? You're acting weird again."

"I am allowed to have thoughts, opinions, and feelings, you know!" Sharena answered harshly. She immediately realized what she said. "Sorry. I just need a minute to myself."

(A/N: Aaaand just like that, happy Sharena is gone. Natheniel how dare you.

That "walk into the light" thing was actually something I just wrote and it somehow made it into the conversation.)