{-Alfonse-}

Practically all of his hopes for a simple, "oh, you didn't miss anything" was gone the moment he got back. Anna got him caught up on the events of the past week, though thankfully seemed to forget to ask where he'd been the whole time. Following Enn's advice, Alfonse copied the papers they'd found and placed the originals with the letter Zacharias had yet to take (adding a note, stating that he hoped it might prove useful even though he admittedly had no clue what it was).

A few days ago he'd introduced—or re-introduce in Sharena's case—the others to Enn. They actually all got along considerably well once Enn grasped that Anna preferred to be seen as an individual and not as a duplicate. Anna seemed happy to have another reliable source for researching what else the nightmares could do and confirm what Natheniel had told her, Sharena generally fell right back into place with them and gently explained everything that changed since she was a kid, and Fauna's reaction was a bit harder to understand but it was safe to assume that she enjoyed their time together. When the four of them came back to the castle hours later, Natheniel's feather necklace was gone.

Alfonse closed his bedroom door and began opening Zacharias's letter. He didn't really know what he wanted to feel as he read it, though.

'Sorry I didn't respond earlier. As you've possibly heard, stuff is kind of a mess over at Embla and I'm pretty sure Veronica knows that I'm sending you these.

Thanks for the papers. I'll look through them and see if I can find anything that might help, and you can look on your copies, too. And who knows, Sharena might actually be able to figure something out—she always saw things in a completely different angle than what either of us would've.

As for your question… I wish I could say I knew. I'd probably end up staying in Embla; at least for a little while. I'm being completely honest—and she's definitely going to kill me for telling you this—in saying that Veronica's not exactly doing well. I knew that the transaction wasn't going to be easy for her before and it's highly unlikely it's going to be any easier now. I may never really be there when she wants me to, and I probably drive her insane, but I'm her older brother… Of all people, I think you'd be the most likely to understand what I'm feeling.'

Everything Zacharias wrote made sense, and Alfonse really did understand it. But it didn't really make him feel much better. He didn't know if it was considered selfish or petty or simply childish, but he didn't really know how long he'd able to wait for the return of his old friend. Their letters was the closest thing to proper interaction they'd had in years. Alfonse kind of hoped for their next meeting face-to-face to be only good news, instead of a bittersweet encounter that just ended with a proper farewell.

He was about to set the letter aside and begin writing the reply when he noticed there was also writing, though a lot smaller, on the other side. What it read was quite simple:

'By the way, how are you and Sharena doing? And your parents, if you even know that. I only ask because I've been hearing a lot about the Askran royalty lately. None of which are good. It's actually a bit concerning, and with everything else going on…I'd feel better knowing it's just some stupid rumor.'

Checking to make sure that he'd read it all now, Alfonse took out what he needed and wrote a reply. It was practically the bare minimum, however much he wished he didn't feel the need to exclude so much, though he asked what Zacharias had heard specifically so then he could better form a proper answer.

Guessing that it would be dark soon and thus too late to send out the letter today, Alfonse set it with the ones Zacharias had sent him. He then pulled out the duplicate versions of the papers in an attempt to once again try to understand what it was.

He weaved through the Heroes making their way to the dining hall, greeting whoever greeted him. As soon as he got to the library, he lit one of the candles, set it on the table he'd be using, and spread out the papers.

"You're not getting something to eat?"

"No, I'm…not really hungry. You?" he answered, glancing at his sister.

Sharena shrugged. "I ate earlier."

"Care to join me, then? I'm not having much luck with this on my own." It was actually starting to bother him a bit. Zacharias was right, too—Sharena really did have a knack for seeing things in a light that neither of the boys would've even considered. Whether it actually turned out to be helpful was another matter entirely.

She nodded, walking over to him. "So what are these about, anyway? You've been staring at them all week…"

"Remember the letters? It still has to do with that." That was just about the only way he could really think of explaining it without giving away who he was helping. Sure, Zacharias permitted Sharena to help, but that didn't necessarily mean that he wanted her to know what they were doing.

"Must be someone important, then." She picked up one of the papers and stared at it for a moment. "I'll be honest, this looks like a crossword puzzle. Is there a quill somewhere?"

Both surprised that she figured something out so soon and annoyed that he hadn't seen it himself, he handed her a quill and pushed the inkwell closer (he could only hope the ink wasn't dried out, though, given it was out when he got there).

Sharena put the paper back down, then began lightly circling words. After a couple minutes, she sat the quill on the table, looking quite proud of herself. "I think I found all of them. Still doesn't make sense, though. 'Were,' 'we,' 'given,' 'told,' another 'we,' 'time,' 'would,' and 'be.'"

He wasn't sure how or why he thought of this almost immediately. "'We were told we would be given time.'" Alfonse handed her the next closest. "Can you try this one?"

The discovery seemed to excite her a little, too. She finished this one a bit later. "'Had,' 'us,' 'loss,' 'but,' 'only,' 'they,' 'given,' 'the,' 'thing,' and 'only.'"

"'But the only thing they had given us was loss.'"

"How are you even figuring this out?"

"I have absolutely no idea. But let's continue." He passed the rest of them to her and waited.

"'That,' 'not,' 'this,' 'tell,' 'we,' 'stand,' 'for,' 'will,' and 'everyone.'"

"'Tell everyone that we will not stand for this.'"

"'Our,' 'desires,' 'we,' 'supply,' 'god,' another 'our,' 'shall,' 'blood,' 'the,' 'with,' 'own,' and 'that.'"

"'We shall supply with our own the blood that our god desires.'"

"'Silence,' 'the,' 'of,' 'over,' 'time,' and 'is.'"

"'The time of silence is over.'"

"'We,' 'done,' 'and,' 'are,' and 'when.'"

"'And when we are done…'"

"'Will,' 'only,' 'faithful,' 'remain,' 'and,' 'the,' and 'truthful.'"

"'Only the faithful and truthful will remain.'"

Sharena frowned. "What's that supposed to mean..?"

"I don't know. But I have a feeling…we'll be finding out pretty soon."

(A/N: You know, for all this talk about Embla and Veronica, I don't actually plan on showing the reader exactly what's happening. There might be some reference to it when Veronica joins up with them again, though.

This is the last time you ever hear of Zacharias's letters. Alfonse's question is still answered—just not by Zacharias. Veronica probably just decided to stop acting like she didn't know.

Also, cliffhangers! This is the final actual chapter of this story. There's one bonus that I'll post soon, then you've just got to keep a look out for the next addition—Turning Point. Don't want to miss it? Just follow me here and get notified whenever I upload a new story or chapter; it's only going to be FE-related stuff for the foreseeable future, too.

Want some bonus content like concept art, scenes, character sheets, and possibly insight on the AU and current progress? Have some questions for almost ALL of the characters featured in my stories? Then check out my DeviantArt, puppy-luvr06! Even simply viewing is appreciated!)