A/N: Skipping forward a bit...Allen's back!

When the note arrived from Allen, I was baffled.

He hadn't spoken more than two words to me since he'd returned to Palas. And there certainly hadn't been a dearth of words since we parted ways after Marlene's wedding all those years ago.

But the last line, "please, Eries", made my chest tighten.

How could I abandon him? Not to mention that he had abandoned me long ago. It was the please that made up my mind. He was asking for help, like he hadn't all that time ago, and I wasn't going to turn him away. I was much too old to be playing games, to be pretending like I was still fifteen, like every little word meant more than it did.

He was simply asking me to be in a certain place, at a certain time.

What harm was there in that?

I pushed away from my thoughts the last time we had met in a cemetery – it had been totally unexpected, and I found myself almost cavalier with my cynicism.

I paid my homage to his mother, despite my feelings that she had done wrong in leaving her only son to go on alone, because I knew that Allen would have wanted me to, in another life, and he certainly would never himself.

And so it was surprised that laced my sarcasm, taking away its bite.

"You've never prayed a day in your life, and yet here you are in a place like this."

He didn't reply, just walked away from me.

I couldn't stand the look on his face – I'd seen it before, and it broke my heart.

I told him that Millerna was happy, and he said he knew Dryden was a good man.

I watched him leave, and the wind changed, my hair wisping across my face.

I held the flowers, intending to lay them on her grave marker, and their delicate pink petals twirled in little tornadoes in the crossbreezes, and one or two brushed my cheek as they followed the wind to her son.

He caught a petal in his fingers, right out of the air, and I remember being awed as a child at his deftness.

"My mother used to love these," he said.

I know.

I watched as the breeze ruffled the roughly chopped curls of the girl who sat, in Allen's clothes, staring at the grave marker.

"So she really is Celena?"

"Yes. It's been ten years, but I'd recognize my sister Celena anywhere. The poor thing doesn't remember where she's been all this time."

"She's lost her memory?" I felt for the girl - ten years is a lot of time to lose.

"Princess Eries, take care of my sister while I'm away fighting."

I looked at the girl, kneeling over her mother's place of rest, her fingers crumbling the bits of flower I had left there.

"You're the only one I can trust her to," he whispered to me.

I nodded, and my mind was at peace with those words. I neither wanted nor expected anything more – he trusted me, which was more than we had had before.

"Very well. She is the sister of a Knight Caeli. I will take care of her at the palace."

Our moment was shattered by the sound of sobbing, and we both turned to look at the crouched form that was suddenly convulsing over the grass.

"Celena!"

And the voice that replied was not the dulcet tones I would have expected from a fifteen year old girl.

"Celena?" And her eyes, once Schezar blue, now turned a mulberry purple-red.

"Are you a Doppleganger?"

And then it screamed.

"Jajuka! Jajuka!"

Allen's arm protected me from whatever was coming, but he did not have the presence of mind to draw his sword against his sister.

Then she, no he, turned on us, and Allen's face fell. He recognized the person who stood before us, and it wasn't his sister.

A guymelef shimmered into our sight, and an arm was lowered, and he made one last exclaimation of "Jajuka!" as the melef picked him up.

"Dilandau!" Allen screamed, and my blood froze. "Wait, Dilandau!"

Dilandau. That was the boy who had been responsible for hazing Palas. It was him that commanded the melefs that invaded Freid and killed the Duke. My saliva was suddenly sour in my throat.

Why did he look like Celena?

The melef shimmered again, and was gone.

Allen dropped to his knees, covering his face with his hands, and made sounds like were both horrifying and saddening.

I didn't know what to do, so I just reached out and touched his head, ever so gently, to let him know that I was still there.

# # # # #

"What makes you think he'll tell us anything?"

"Allen, please. Just ask him. He's not the monster you paint him as."

He sneered and huffed. "I don't know who you're thinking of Eries, but he is exactly the monster I am thinking of. He is Dornkirk's right hand man! I can't fathom why Dryden is letting him stay here!"

I stopped in the hallway, and he took only three steps before noticing I wasn't at his side. He turned on his heel, looking at me with confusion and a little residual anger.

"Was."

"What?"

"Was Dornkirk's man. He's not now. He's here with us. He wants to help us, Allen."

Allen scoffed and waved his hand in the air. "You don't know that, Eries! Look what he did to my SISTER!"

I gritted my teeth. Honestly, I didn't know what part Folken had in Celena's disappearance, in her…transformation. But I couldn't believe he'd had such a heavy hand as Allen was protesting.

"Allen, you don't know," I started to say, but he cut me off. He closed the gap between us, and looked down at me, his features furrowed. At first, I backed down, and then I straightened my back. I was a princess, for Jichia's sake! I wasn't going to be cowed by a knight! I frowned up at him, narrowing my eyes.

"And you don't either! Why are you defending him Eries?"

I put my hand against his chest and pushed him slightly away. The closeness was interfering with my concentration.

"I'm not defending him," I started.

Yes you are.

"I'm just pointing out that you don't know, just as I don't know, what he had to do with all of this! What if he didn't know what was going on? It's possible, isn't it?" My ire began to rise again, and I raised my voice to him. "Just because you think you're the only person with problems here, doesn't mean you can just haphazardly lay blame on the lap of whomever is closest! And that lap certainly isn't mine, Allen Schezar! You lost that privilege long ago. I'm hardly your sinkhole for misplaced anger." My fists were clenched at my sides, and I suddenly realized that I'd been nearly yelling, and he had the decency to look surprised. I took a deep breath. "Don't jump to conclusions. Wait until you can speak to him before you blame him for everything. He's on our side, Allen," my voice quieted, and I tried to calm my features. "Please. Just let him answer you before you tie him to the stake and burn him."

He stood there, still slightly shocked that I'd had such an outburst, and so was I, though mildly. While I may not have said the words I wanted to, I had wanted to put him in his place for some time. I just never had the courage before.

You also didn't want to lose him before.

Oh, so I want to lose him now?

I straightened my countenance and strode past him, towards Dryden's chambers, where we hoped to find Folken.

A/N: Nothing like conflicting emotions to make a girl get a little snappy...hope you're still enjoying it! Leave me some review-love :)