Arendelle wasn't the only kingdom that had been attacked by an otherworldly enemy. Corona's assault from a creature made of black sand had caused some damage as it single mindedly treaded to the monarch's throne room. If it weren't for a young alchemist, the King and Queen of Corona might've been killed in the attack. Fortunately, there were no casualties however, the attempt all the same caused the kingdom to put more thought into its lockdown state.

Alrick, who was currently a long term guest in the kingdom's infirmary, had fallen unconscious shortly after he was admitted and had not awakened since. Typically, this would be a cause for great concern as he couldn't sustain himself if he remained unresponsive but once again thanks to Varian and his 'wonders of science', they were able to support the King's life without him being conscious.

His coma lasted several days until he awoke and started acting strangely. The first thing that the Coroans noticed was the absent look in his eyes as he stared out in the distance looking at absolutely nothing. The next thing was with the way he spoke. It was obvious he was educated and talked as a royal should but now…it was like speaking to a totally different person. His tone was whimsical and cryptic but his word choice seemed to have increased dramatically. Even Varian had trouble keeping up with the King's blend of vague topics described by profoundly philosophical as well as logical ways of thinking that Alrick did not possess prior to his coma.

Finally, the last straw was a ship from Blackdust stating they had come to retrieve their King. Frederic was instantly suspicious as he had yet to send a missive to Blackdust saying they had found their missing King. He would've thought it was a trap of some sort to assassinate a weakened Alrick but it turned out the man had sent for the ship himself.

When he had the opportunity to do so alluded King Frederic, however he knew better than to deny another monarch the freedom to leave his kingdom on his own volition.

So with barely concealed suspicion, he watched the Blackdust ship leave the harbor but frowned when he noticed them going in the opposite direction than toward Blackdust.

In Blackdust, Ahimoth and Lilian return to find Pride waiting there for them. The Prince expected the man to brush them off entirely or start an argument of some sort but to their surprise he was cordial. He reported all the comings and goings of the kingdom for the duration of their absence as well as any concerns that required a royal's decree. The two were surprised by the good work from someone who never seemed to take an interest in those sorts of matters and were actually left speechless.

Pride had to inquire about their trip to Arendelle which caused them both to remember that they needed to tell him something important. Ahimoth, being the least scared of Pride between him and his wife, explained that Arendelle had been invaded by an alliance between the Southern Isles and Weselton but was mastermind by Talib. The Prince expected some kind of reaction from the man but his face remained passive as he listened.

Ahimoth went on to also tell him that his brother had made an appearance in Arendelle. Pride looked slightly intrigued but remained silent as the Prince informed him of all the events that concerned his brother. When he finished, the older brother's face took on a pondering expression for a moment before turning on his heel and leaving. When Ahimoth asked where he would be going off to, Pride answered without turning back.

"Going to find Talib, there's much I need to discuss with him."

Typically, Ahimoth would've made a snide comment about how attentive the man was to his father but the way he answered sparked a thought in the Prince's mind. Pride was a usually unemotional and cold man like his father but the way he said the word 'much' seemed as if he was just keeping himself from going on a murder spree to find the man.

While he may have made comments and jokes about Pride and his father, it was no secret that the warrior hated the alchemist. Even at his supposed funeral, he didn't bother to show up and instead left to complete some other mission.

With all he learned, Ahimoth would've guessed there would be some measure of hope or relief on his face. He just learned that his father and brother were alive, surely that would cause some joy. Unfortunately however, it did not. The Prince wondered if it was because of the fact that Rahim was turned into Wrath and Pride was remembering his own experience of being turned into who he was today.

He only had Wrath and Rahim's experience to go by but to Ahimoth, it seemed that once you became a Sin, you were essentially tethered to Father and became a slave. Wrath had tried to kill himself multiple times and had expressed nothing but regret at the part he played during the civil war. The Prince wondered what Pride could've done to have such an intense yet blank expression on his face when he focused.

Ahimoth turned to Lilian who remained silent for the entire exchange and bent down to whisper in her ear. "Notify the proper authorities that Pride will not be allowed to sail to Arendelle."

The brunette turned to look at her fiance. "You do realize that the best that would do is slow him down, if he really wanted to get to Arendelle he would."

"Despite his surprisingly good work, there is so much to do. Currently, Blackdust's ruler is in Corona being cared for until he is ready for travel. We need to organize a ship to bring him back so that he may rule and recover. We also need to look over every citizen's record and weed out those with ties to Talib, Rakat, Asger, or any of the Sins we encountered in Arendelle."

Lilian turned to him with a confused expression, which he caught and decided to answer. "Something has been bothering me since hearing how Rahim became Wrath as well as finding out that Ian Cavaliere had undergone the same process. Just think about it, the two of them were natives here and both of their deaths were fabricated so that they could be turned into Sins."

"That's true but what are you hoping to find looking through those records? You should also keep in mind that we haven't documented every death that's happened in this kingdom and aren't sure who was tied to the people you mentioned."

Ahimoth raised a finger with an 'ah ha' expression. "Yes, but we do know that it took place in Talib's workshop during Rakat's rule. Knowing the mad scientist, I guarantee he's documented all his experiments regardless if they were secret or not. Surely we can get some kind of list or clue as to the identities and motives behind the others."

Lilian cringed when something came to mind that she forgot to share. "There's something you need to know, before I went to Arendelle, Pride was in Talib's workshop looking over his research notes. I left before he did but as long as I've known him, I've never seen him take an interest in Talib's research. Perhaps it would be better to consult with him, get his perspective on the matter."

The Prince's earlier smile dropped as he registered what his fiance just said and remembered that Pride was currently on his way to leave Blackdust to hunt down his father. Turning on his heel, Ahimoth ran down the corridor hoping to catch up to the violent man and maybe convince him to delay his departure.

Like that'll ever happen.

Hector read the document in his hands over and over with each time making him even more repulsed and angrier. He was in Stonewell's office, sitting in a chair in front of his desk, even with the old man gone and Hector filling in for him, he couldn't bring himself to sit in the Captain's chair.

Call it respect or whatever but after reading his will, the noble wanted to so badly punch Walter in the face.

He always knew that the old man was a bastard, he was hard and uncompromising but ultimately fair. He'd push, but was realistic in his expectations. Yet, reading what he left behind for them, Hector couldn't stop the rage that swelled deep in his gut.

He used them, all of them.

A part of Bowman's mind whispered in his ear saying that this was Stonewell and he couldn't be that surprised that the old man would use them. He remembered all the morally questionable calls that the Captain made during the invasion and could certainly see that he was capable of this.

Even with part of him telling him this, it didn't hurt any less. He wanted to rip up the parchment in his hand and forget about it but Grace was right. There was information in here that the Queen needed to see. Information that shouldn't have waited for six months because of his so called respect for Walter Stonewell. Rolling up the will, Hector walked out of the room engulfed by a hurricane of emotions.

Betrayal, from the man he begrudgingly looked to for respect.

Shame, for being unable to face this earlier

And finally pity, for the one Walter Stonewell tricked and used the most.

He felt so much power running through his veins as he bared his claws and raced across the reflective surface in Wrath's soul. His long powerful frame closed the distance between him and his target, a man with his back to him. He raised a claw and slashed at his target's head, only to miss as the man simply turned to the side both facing him and dodging the attack.

Rahim's expressionless face met Wrath's smiling one as the predator's arm swung past him. Not being at all daunted by how easy Rahim made it seem when he dodged the attack, Wrath roared and swung with his other hand, intending to rend the man asunder.

The ring of a katana being drawn was heard and Wrath felt all of his strength evaporate with the sound as he dropped to his knees and fell forward. He hit the surface at the same time he heard Rahim's katana return its scabbard and he was engulfed in heavy darkness that lay underneath. He sank into its murky depths until he could see a shadow materialize in front of him.

It was another man with his back to him. His eyes were half lidded and could barely focus but he could see the man take his cigar out of his mouth and blow out smoke casually. Instantly, the shadow was dispelled and Walter's form could be clearly seen.

An overwhelming rush of feelings had him try to reach the old man who continued to smoke his cigar but to no avail.

Gone was Wrath's powerful form, instead Edward's one armed weak and frail body, flailed in the murky darkness. His body struggled to close the distance between the two but it seemed that no matter how much he tried Walter remained out of reach. Despite that thought plaguing his mind, he continued to struggle. All these months of guilt and sadness of feeling the old man's blood on his hands made Edward desperate to grab onto Stonewell and return him home to Arendelle.

Even if that meant giving his body over to the old man.

Hands started latching onto him, pulling him back away from his goal. He turned to see faceless shadows pulling at him back toward the surface, to Rahim who watched with apathy. Edward turned back toward Walter and tried to shout to him to get him to come to him so that they could escape.

Stonewell did turn and to see Edward's outstretched hand to him but he did not reach out to take it. His face looked tired and disappointed as he took another drag of his cigar and turned away from the runt and sunk deeper into the darkness, heedless of the pleas directed toward him.

Edward's eyes cracked open as he lifted his head from the table he was slumped against. The movement caused the myriad of bottles in front of him to jingle but he paid them no mind. Alcohol was still ineffective to him in small quantities, even copious amounts barely affected him for a significant period of time.

However, for that extremely brief period of time, he was able to let go of the thoughts plaguing his mind. Until he closed his eyes and those feelings played out that same dream he had just woken from. At first, he dreaded having that dream as it illustrated in detail how he ended up where he was today. The events may have been different but the meaning and result were all the same.

Rahim held all the power between the two of them, Edward would give anything to have the old man back, and Walter was gone because of him and had every right to be disappointed.

Despite his reluctance to experience that dream again and feel those regrets, he would eagerly take that scenario over the one he found himself in almost daily.

He didn't react when the chair next to him scraped against the floor and someone sat down in it. The smell of tobacco wafted into his nostrils and two very scarred hands entered his field of vision.

Edward grabbed another bottle and put it to his lips, letting the disgusting beverage burn down his throat, pointedly ignoring Walter's disappointed frown.

Seeing the old man the first time, almost had him in tears as he reached out to him only for his arm to grasp air and the Captain to disappear. The next few times, he began trying to speak to Stonewell, getting him to explain where he had been and how relieved everyone at the castle would be when they saw he returned.

It took a worker next to him to ask him who he was talking to for it to hit home what was really happening. Edwar considered that, after so much trauma, his mind might've finally snapped and he was seeing things that weren't there. He also considered this was some trick that Rahim, Father, Talib, or even Wrath was using to drive him insane. Regardless of what it was, the pain of seeing the old man staring at him with that same disappointed frown made Edward do everything in his power to block it out.

He focused on his work to rebuild Arendelle and when it was too dark to see, he would drink his weight in alcohol to give him a reprieve of seeing the old man. Seeing that dream again and again had become the lesser of two evils until the next morning when he'd begin working. The barkeepers noticed his habit and tried getting him to cut back or open up but anytime they wouldn't supply him with alcohol, he'd just go back out and work.

He would go days without eating or sleeping, sleep came in the form of brief drunken naps that lasted for about an hour or so, while eating had become such a low priority for him that others had to remind him to eat. He could tell that the people around him watched him and were worried but he couldn't bring himself to care. Everytime he looked at them, Walter would stand right behind them in the crowd, smoking a stupid cigar.

Even now, he was doing just that, frowning at him with disappointment in his eyes and a cigar in his mouth. Edward emptied the bottle in his hand and sat it down in front of Stonewell then reached for another one. To his dismay, there was no next one. All the bottles at his table were empty and the young man knew that the bartender was going to cut him off if he asked for more. With a scoff, he pushed his chair back and stood up ready to get back to work when someone called to him.

"Edward."

The voice came from Stonewell's seat but it belonged to someone else. Turning to the seat, Cameron Klein came into view. The young guard had a pitying expression on his face as he surveyed the bottles left on the table. He had come by often, trying to get his instructor to return back to the Arendellian Royal Guard. With Stonewell gone and Hector being stretched thin, it would do a lot of good if he'd return.

Each time the young guard tried to convince him to return, Edward would either dismiss or ignore him completely. Yet that did little to dissuade the rookie. He returned time after time, once again trying to get his friend to come back.

"You really need to stop drinking, at this rate you'll get sick."

Edward couldn't even begin to consider how humorous of a statement that was as he turned on his heel and walked out of the pub, well aware that Klein scrambled after him. The moon was out so the streets were well lit despite the time. The village had come together quite nicely in a short amount of time but there were still repairs here and there that needed to be done.

Today, he had been working on rebuilding the foundation of the clocktower which required building up brick by brick. It was also decided that while they build the foundation up, they should also start the stairway at the same time as it would be harder to do so once the whole tower was up. The workers had already outlined the base and had a few meters of bricks already up. While they accomplished this, Edward had begun building the wooden staircase, it took him time as he was alone but creating the base was a more time consuming task.

Walking over to his workstation, he picked up his sack of tools and materials then lit the lantern he stashed out here. Picking up a nearby board of wood, he resumed his building of the staircase, all the while ignoring the guard behind him.

Cameron had once tried to help Edward but found himself getting in the way of the silent man's work that was quite efficient despite missing an arm and being alone. Now the young guard just stood out of the man's way as he continued working.

"You know, we lost a lot of our numbers in the invasion six months ago and had some of them quit. For a while, it looked like we'd have to recall some of our soldiers guarding the waters and other villages to reinforce us but then we got a large wave of new recruits come out of nowhere. They said that they were inspired by us fighting to defend our home and wanted to honor the ones that we lost."

Klein always talked even when he knew that he was likely not getting an answer back. He talked about trivial comings and goings in the castle, about Anna and Kristoff preparing for a baby, Hector taking over, and finally Elsa. Whenever Cameron talked about Elsa, he'd say things like how she was so focused on her job but also looking tired. He noted that she was more closed off than usual yet hid it under her very polite manners.

He even went on to say that she had started to go back to her isolationist tendencies now that he wasn't there to get her to come out. The young guard looked at the young man hoping for some kind of reaction at the suggestion but got none. He wasn't entirely sure what was between them but all the guards and staff could agree that since Edward had stopped coming to the castle, Elsa had stopped being open with conversations with the staff and spent most of her time in her office.

"I've had a couple of recruits come up and ask me what it was like to train under such a legendary hero. I can never think of what to say. They come here talking about how you're doing all these incredible things but all I can think about is the guy who spent time with me when I felt like I wasn't good enough. This guy who believed in me more than I did myself and inspired me to do more and gave me hope when I had run out."

Still no response.

"That's the kind of guy you are. I know that there are a lot of people looking at you like you're some legend but I know that all you think about are the people who aren't here. Ed, what happened wasn't your fault and if it weren't for you, I don't think Arendelle would be here right now. We don't need some legend, we need you, the guy who inspires and makes us remember we aren't alone. A lot of us agree that, if it weren't for you and your training, we would be dead now."

Just the sound of a hammer knocking a nail into wood.

"It hurts to see you do this to yourself. You used to be so full of life. I know things may be hard right now but like Walter said, you don't have to go it alone, you can look on your left and right at the people who are standing beside you. All of us will stand beside you, and you know that Walter wouldn't have wanted you t-"

"Walter is gone."

Klein abruptly closed his mouth at the young man's cold reply. He didn't yell or snap, he just spoke as he laid his hammer down and turned to face the guard with his hollow eyes.

"He's gone Cameron. Walter Stonewell is gone, and there is nothing no one can do to change that fact. You can sit there and parrot his words or try to find a deeper meaning in his teachings but the reality is, you don't know what he wanted and you'll never get to know what he wanted because he's gone."

The young guard was surprised that he finally got a response from his teacher but he was prepared for his grief induced words. "I get that you two were closer than the rest of us but that doesn't mean that we aren't saddened by his passing. He was a great mentor, friend, and role model for a lot of us. I know that right now you're hurting but you don't have to be alone. I'm here for you, the rest of the guards are here for you, everyone in the castle is here for you, you don't have to push us all away."

Edward slowly tilted his head to the side and gave Klein a weird look that had the guard shifting his weight from one foot to the other nervously. "You're here for me huh?"

The young man took slow purposeful steps that unnerved Cameron but the guard stood his ground until Edward was arm's length away. He raised his remaining arm and gently laid his hand on Klein's chest then leaned in close to whisper.

"Would you still be saying that if you knew I was the one who killed him?"

Cameron's face took on a confused unbelieving expression as Edward got closer so that the guard could look into his hollow eyes. "You're calling me a hero? Do you have any idea what I've done to be as strong as I was? Next time someone asks you what it's like being with a hero, you can tell them that I only showed you all what I wanted you to see."

The young man took a step forward and slowly applied force to his hand that had Klein step back with each of his steps. "Walter took a shine to me because he could see the real me. He could see past that friendly facade and recognized the killer underneath. I've killed many men, women, and children."

Cameron opened his mouth to argue.

"Some younger than Lina."

The young guard's blood ran cold as his rebuttal died in his throat at the mention of his little sister. He found himself drawn into the bottomless depths of the instructor's eyes that saw through him. Never before had such an expression been on the young man's face, it was as if he was looking at a long forgotten corpse, one that was animated and had no life in him whatsoever.

"During the civil war in Blackdust, I killed so many people and betrayed every single one of my comrades. Walter saw what I could do and wanted me to teach all of you how to survive someone like me. It did work, some of you did survive but Walter didn't. I remember fighting him in the throne room, one on one, while Elsa, Gerda, and Kai watched. He was a tough bastard, honestly he would've won had we been alone, but then he dropped his guard, and I took my chance."

Edward tapped his fingers against Klein's chest, the very same spot that Walter was skewered. "I never would've thought Walter Stonewell of all people would become sentimental and give me a chance to stab him in the chest. He always had an answer for everything until me."

The young man gave Klein a light push that had him take a few steps back while he straightened his posture. "The Edward you knew is gone, Cameron. He was a lie I used to make my life easier here. The sooner you accept that, the better. There is nothing between us and I feel nothing for you. You were the most pathetic one out of my entire group, if the others saw me taking the time to connect with you and saw you improve, they would've stepped up their efforts to not fall behind. Walter shackled me to this kingdom until I could make all of you into capable warriors, you were just a means to that particular end."

Edward then turned around and headed back to focusing on his work, not bothering to see how Klein took everything. The young man heard nothing but silence for a few moments before a heavy sigh then the sound of footsteps walking away. He didn't know why but he found it hard to focus on his work with the guard's footsteps echoing so much for some reason. Edward tried to push the distraction out his head to focus and was granted a reprieve when the footsteps stopped.

"...even if Stonewell is gone, I still believe that his spirit is here with us. The same way I still believe in you even when you don't believe in yourself. Because you're still my hero."

The young man's grip tightened on the hammer as Cameron's footsteps grew fainter. The familiar stench of tobacco wafted in his nose had him turn around to see Walter sitting on several beams of wood, with that same disappointed frown on his face.

"What? I told him the truth. You and I both know that I'm not the one they need, it's you." Walter said nothing, a constant stream of smoke blew out the side of his mouth as he continued to frown.

"If you didn't let up, you'd be here right now and Arendelle would be much better off. Instead, you decided to give up and place all this shit on me." Edward then took on a self deprecating smile.

"Oh wait, never mind, you took that back when you convinced Wrath to go with you. So much for 'I leave it to you.' You used me, from making me train your guards, to pushing me to embrace my killer instinct to better protect Elsa, to sending me out to try and get me to kill the hostages."

He started to take long purposeful steps until he was in the old man's face. "Despite all of that, everytime I see you, I want to trade my life for yours. How messed up is that, here I am, finally free of Wrath but wait, oops, I. Am. Wrath! I finally got what Edward wanted but it turns out that I just had a psychotic break where I thought I was Rahim, a victim in all this but in actuality I'm the monster. Even after you've stripped Wrath from me, all the memories of what I've done still haunts me! You haunt me! Why can't you leave me alone, what more could you want from me?!"

There was no response, just a frown.

"What do you want from me?!"

A steady flow of smoke was his response.

Something snapped in Edward's head and had him swing with the hammer in Walter's direction. The hammer hit the beams of wood and instantly broke through all of them until the hammer was stuck in the ground. The young man breathed seethed as he stared at the destroyed empty makeshift seat the old man just occupied.

The scent of tobacco came from behind him as he turned to see Stonewell standing where he had been earlier. Edward didn't snap or say anything this time, he bent down to retrieve his hammer and pulled out a piece of wood that hadn't been destroyed. He went back to his workstation and got back to work, well aware of Walter's eyes watching him.

Perhaps he had gone crazy, only a crazy person could hate someone so much but also die just to see them again. His mind was pulling him in a thousand different directions with how he should feel and it was hard to tell which way was up. All of these feelings that Edward took for him were too overwhelming and made it so much harder to think. It was easier to just push it all down and focus on the feeling that easily buried all the others.

Guilt.

It had taken him and led him down the path to depression which he could recognize hurt but at the same time it made him numb to everything else. He had no plans for the future, no desires, or inklings on what to do next.

All he could do was work, and not lay around with his thumb up his ass.