Two months had passed since Zelda's death and the 'ghost' still haunted Caterina every night. She never had a full night's sleep- if she slept at all. Even after the ghost would disappear, she would sit up thinking about it. It never gave her a moment's peace.

Tonight, Caterina was sitting in a chair across from her bed when it arrived. Yet, it was no longer a smudge in the air or a barely visible figure, every hair on its head was vividly sharp.

She gasped, "…Zelda?!"

The phantom's hair floated gently around her tear-stained face. "Why did you order Tres to shoot me?"

The lady's breath caught in her throat and she choked, unable to say anything.

"Why?!" She shook her head and a tear fell, landing on the woman's hand.

Caterina whispered, "How is all this real? The blood? The tears?"

Zelda cried in her eerie, echoing voice, "Why Caterina? Why?" In distress, she turned away and passed through the wall. The Orden member ran and opened the door to look out in the hall but the little specter was gone.

Zelda continued to walk the corridors after that, searching for something. At last, she paused outside a room and went through the doorway. It was a large room, very dark and isolated. It had the air of a solitary being doing his job.

"Tres…" she called at the sight of his turned back.

He faced around, gun drawn. But at the sight of her, lowered it. "Vital signs: none. Hologram wave frequency: none. Requesting your status Zelda Bäcker."

She raised her hand as if to touch his cheek but it phased through his face. "Why did you shoot me Tres?"

He didn't respond, only looked at her.

"Did you even feel anything when I was alive?" Her eyes bore into his as her pale, shear body became distorted and faded away.

"Negative," he answered after she was finally gone.

---

Caterina rubbed her forehead with her fingers, it was late and they had traveled far to be in time for the special celebration. Every two hundred years the Empress would leave the capitol for a week to visit small cities on the border of the Empire. Maybe the practice was a way to restore hope in those that lived near the Outer World, or maybe it was a vacation from all those capitol troubles. Whatever the reason, this was the Orden's opportunity. They weren't going to let this chance slip away.

She opened her door to reveal a see through Zelda. She quickly shut the door for fear of letting anyone else see a ghost speaking to her or perhaps it was the fear of letting anyone see this hallucination. Standing up to the spirit Zelda, she asked, "Why won't you leave me alone?"

"Why did I have to die?! Wasn't I a good errand girl? I did all the errands you gave me and more! I admired you! I thought you were so wise, so strong… and you wanted me dead."

"We were enemies. This is war Zelda. And besides, I recall you were in such a hurry to kill me that day. The day you died," she said coldly.

Zelda took a step back, "I was running to save you!"

"Save me?"

"Yes, save you from the Rozen Kreuz. I considered you my friend and part of my family. I wanted you to come back so we could all be a family again. But I see now that you don't care. You can't see how much we all love you. You can't see how many people care about you. Will you ever?" she didn't stay to hear an answer.

---

Kämpher motioned to the life-sized doll sitting on a makeshift throne in the middle of the town's capitol building. "She is finished."

The doll was a perfect clone of Seth Nightlord, clothed in an expensive, green dress that was fit for a queen. Her short ebony hair hung loosely around her empty face. Her head was tipped to the side, forced to lean against the throne. Her dull glass eyes stared out at the carpet, giving her that hollow look.

Caterina turned the face, "She is exquisite but you're sure she has the ability to kill the Empress?"

He smiled, "You should give her a test run. She's quite amazing."

"Hmm." Letting go, she wondered, "Now what should I do about the people who have seen the fight?"

He pressed something into her hand before disappearing, "The building is rigged to collapse and if any survive… I know you can think of something."

She rubbed her thumb across black button in her hand but off handedly mentioned to the machine, "Tomorrow, your debut will come. I won't turn you on yet."

A soft, shuffling reached her ears and she glanced up. From out the shadows William appeared at the other end of the room, hand outstretched. "Please hand me that device Caterina."