It had been so long, so long since he had been back here. There were tree vines covering the cracked headstone that had long since lost the engraving of who was buried here. Not that it mattered much to him, after all, one could say this was the place he was truly born, his life began on that night. His life before this night was a dream that he was forced to wake up from and honestly, he was sure that the son of the one buried here was long gone.

Only to be replaced by a specter who just took the name.

Rahim couldn't explain why he ended up in front of his mother's grave. He had come to Blackdust to retrieve Pride but instead of going to the castle where he felt his target to be, he ended up out here in the forest next to his destroyed home. He wasn't even sure how he knew where she was buried, he was unconscious when Garret had buried her and he had been taken by Talib.

The alchemist only mentioned his mother to get him to become who he was meant to be. Barring that, Rahim should have no knowledge of where his mother was buried but somehow he knew. Perhaps it was Father's way of testing him, to test his resolve in what he was about to do. Rahim was no fool and he knew exactly who Pride was.

His brother, protector, and role model in life.

Whenever Rahim thought of someone being perfect, his brother would be who he'd picture. Shahbaz was good at everything and at such a young age was able to overpower and consume the most powerful Sin Pride without any help. His brother had been sent to destroy all of Rakat's holdouts allowing him to get stronger and stronger with each victory. Even Father himself was barely able to defeat Shahbaz and that was only because Talib assisted him and Shahbaz himself fought only as a human and did not use his full abilities.

To reclaim Pride would mean he'd have to suck in his brother into the endless void of his blade. To subject him to the hell that was now his soul all for the sake of power. Staring at the grave he knew his mother would vehemently disagree and try her damndest to get him to get off this path. Never mind that he was planning on fighting his brother, his brother had never been beaten in a one on one confrontation. Any loss or minor setback he suffered came from someone interfering but in the end, Shahbaz was the strongest warrior in all of Blackdust even without Pride.

His loyalty to Alrick came from a place of respect and the understanding that if necessary they would fight to the death. There was also the simple fact that Shahbaz had no desire to be King, all he desired was doing whatever he wished too whenever he wanted to, which Alrick granted.

Rahim didn't care to consider the odds, his brother had everything going for him and logically speaking, the younger brother was walking to his death if he challenged Pride. Talib had said as much and urged him to go after Wrath to obtain the Furious Sin's abilities but Rahim had refused. As far back as he remembered, Shahbaz was always ahead of him, always the one to save him and shine a light in the dark pit of his life.

Shahbaz was his hero.

That singular truth Rahim had buried deep inside pushed him to walk away from the grave and in the direction of the castle. For him to do what he needed to do, he needed Pride. Everything up to this point would've been for naught if he didn't succeed. The young man silenced his mind, he didn't need to reassure himself or give himself excuses. He was going to kill his brother, there was no need for him to justify that to anyone, even himself.

It was simply the next step he needed to take.

Something slid down his cheek that made him stop. Raising a free hand he wiped it and noticed it was a liquid.

Am I crying?

It was then Rahim noticed that it was raining. He looked up at the dark sky and briefly wondered how long it had been raining and if that was truly a tear from him or raindrop sliding down his cheek. His mind once again quieted itself of any questions and he waved a finger and an overhead of black dust protected him from the rain. His clothes instantly dried and he was back to his immaculate and perfect state of dress as he continued toward his destination.

The last question that crossed his mind was, "Are you crying, Mother?"

Jorgen eyed his ruined desk with an irritated frown, while he was fine with allowing that little whelp think she'd won there was still a physical reminder of him giving ground in his office. He still had a full day's load of work to do and she had to go and destroy his work space! It was a simple enough matter to rebuild it good as new but that wasn't the issue, the issue was the principal of it.

He had lived longer than she could possibly comprehend, he's lived more days than she had ever blinked!

He was aware the concept was ridiculous according to human standards given that they had only just started counting their years eighteen hundred odd years ago but time moves differently for him on the other plane. Twenty four hours there could be less than a second on this plane which made understanding humans that more difficult and futile. He was able to synchronize the time flow between this plane and the other in his limited space so that made it easier to keep to his schedule.

As simple minded as humans were, Estrid was a very useful tool. She was so compliant and cheerful, helping sell the facade that he was a jolly old harbormaster and she was very organized, giving him time to go to his 'meetings' without ever questioning him. If worse comes to worse and Arendelle was destroyed, Jorgen might consider making an effort to ensure her safety, only if it was convenient for him of course.

He narrowed his eyes at the desk again before he sighed and acquiesced there was no point in making a bigger deal out of it and prepared to fix the desk when his tool knocked on his door. "Mr. Jorgen, you have another visitor."

Holding off for a moment in case Estrid barged in again, he approached the door and opened it just enough for her to see him but blocked the sight of the ruined desk. He plastered his smile on his face as he addressed her, "Estrid whoever it is can you tell them that I've got a lot of work to do and perhaps they could come back another day?"

He phrased it as a question but knew Estrid enough that she would take it as an order. Oddly she didn't hurry off to relay his request instead she remained where she was and opened her mouth to speak. "It's Edward and an older gentleman with him, the two of them suggest it's very urgent they see you right now. The older gentleman said that you'd want to see him as quickly as possible to discuss a project you two have been working on."

Jorgen kept his eyes from rolling or the sigh coming out of his mouth. He was in no mood to deal with that puppet and whoever he brought with him, as for any projects, he was already aware of their statuses and even if one ended in colossal failure, he really didn't care right now.

"Well tell Young Edward that I will see him when I have a free moment and as for whatever project his companion wishes to speak to me about, he can leave it in a report and I will get to it in a timely manner." The old man stepped back and was about to close the door when Estrid once again did not move to relay his request.

"The older gentleman said the Archibald project was something that you wanted to know of any updates immediately and that it was something of great personal importance to you."

Jorgen froze.

Archibald?

There was only one person in the entire world who could possibly know about that…

The old man ripped the door open and strode past Estrid not caring she had seen his ruined desk or the dark expression on his face. It was almost as if he flew down the hallways of his office as he got to the waiting area to see Edward standing next to a grinning frail old man who waved when they made eye contact.

"Wow, long time no see Jorgen, you look great! Almost makes me wish I had a body like yours."

The veins in Jorgen's face almost burst at the cheeky comment as he stared at the man talking to him. Physically, he'd never seen him before and he couldn't sense anything different about him compared to another human but the way he spoke and what he said confirmed it to be only one person.

" What are you doing here?"

Jorgen's voice teetered on the edge of sounding more like a wraith than a human, it started to echo from all around the room instead of just originating from his mouth. Ledgar stroked his pretend beard trying to think of a reason before snapping his fingers like it just occurred to him.

"Your lovely assistant should've told you why I'm here. I wish to talk about the Archibald project, and I happened to run into the baby runt here and he wanted to join us." Ledgar then beamed at Jorgen and raised his hands in a sheepish gesture.

"Besides, it's been so long since we've seen each other and a great many things have changed. We should definitely use this time to catch up, after all, time waits for no man and the world is continuously changing more than either of us realize in our old age."

Jorgen clamped down on his knee jerk feelings, this man was just trying to get under his skin. Usually he'd just get to the point but the harbormaster supposed with all the humans around, he decided to play along with Jorgen's facade. Schooling his expression, he wordlessly turned around and walked back to his office; Ledgar took it as a sign to follow and shuffled along with Edward.

The three of them passed Estrid who looked ready to ask what happened but Jorgen waved her off as he passed her. The three of them finally reached the harbormaster's office and upon entering, Ledgar noticed the broken desk. "Anger issues or are you just redecorating?"

The harbormaster sent the old man a dark look before swiping his hand in the air and blackdust completely surrounded them, blacking out the entire office. When the dust subsided, they were now on a long stone balcony overlooking a calm lake reflecting the empty night sky save for an oppressive moon.

Ledgar was unbothered by the scenery change while Edward was spinning trying to figure out where they were. One moment they were in an office in Arendelle during the day and now they were flown off to some place that it was night time at. Jorgen's dark expression didn't change as he sat along a stone railing outlining the balcony and crossed his arms.

"Whatever you wish to say, just say it and be on your way." Ledgar's positive disposition vanished as he stood up to his full height without any effort. The two of them squared off with neither giving an inch.

"I'm here to make sure you behave. I know your habits and let me be clear when I say you won't be making any more moves."

Jorgen learned forward with his arms crossed but still remained perched on the railing. " You'll make sure I'll behave? Who are you to command me? You've spent all these years hiding and allowing time to go on expecting everything to sort itself out the way you wish it to solely because of your lifespan. Yet despite your age and power, what have you truly accomplished, nothing! We've seen humans build and destroy their civilizations over and over and over, they just finally decided to start counting. Over a thousand years and all that's left of our race is the two of us, surrounded by humans."

"And whose fault is that?"

Ledgar's simple question shut Jorgen's mouth.

"As I remember, one of us decided to anchor a human's soul onto our plane in a bid to get them to destroy other humans but that certainly backfired when that human felt we were a more worthwhile pursuit. We lost a large number of our kind then, honestly, I don't mind that everyone makes mistakes, it's the fact you did it again! Over and over, you tried to make puppets to do your dirty work for you and over and over they failed, creating wars and sucking us dry. You've failed twelve times to be exact with the last one being a human who destroyed his mind so thoroughly he didn't realize the hallucinations of dead enemies he was seeing was actually his son killing him while he screamed in a wheelchair."

Edward's mind latched onto that last sentence as it brought back a memory.

He went senile, looking out in the distance seeing phantom enemies coming from him in every direction…So one day, I had enough and killed him when he was having one of his episodes.

They couldn't mean…

The two older men turned to Edward who looked at the two of them with concerned disbelief. Jorgen, knowing what was going through the young man's head, smiled like a dead skeleton. The full rows of his teeth beamed and his eyes grew wide giving him an almost elated expression.

"Oh so Walter told you about that, surprising given the fact he likes to leave the past buried. All the same though, yes, I will admit that Ivar was a failure of mine." Gesturing to Ledgar who had a frown on his face but said nothing, "As he said, I pushed Ivar too far too fast. He was an excellent warrior who craved victory no matter the cost and because of that he wanted more power as he got it. Unfortunately, the power he was looking for takes time to obtain and doing so incorrectly incurs the risk of shattering your soul."

Edward immediately thought of his own state and took a step back which prompted Jorgen to get off the railing and take a step forward. "You see, if you happen to shatter your soul and those pieces become warped enough, they start turning on each other. Normally, at that point the body breaks down almost immediately. Ivar's soul turned on itself and I'm sure if Walter hadn't gotten to him when he did, he would've died maybe a day or two later."

Jorgen then got into the young man's face and looked deep into his eyes as if he was trying to peer into the very depths of Edward's soul. "Which is why I find you interesting, typically, after shattering your soul the way you did and from what I can see, your body should've fallen apart long ago. Instead, I've watched you keep it together for six months. I'd be impressed if I didn't find you so pathetic."

Edward opened his mouth to argue but Jorgen brought his thumb, fore, and middle fingers together in a chomping fashion and the young man found his mouth immediately shut. "This entire time you've been deluding yourself thinking you've been keeping busy when the fact is, you're just waiting to die. Usually, when the soul pieces become warped they destroy the body because they don't know any better but it is obvious to tell that your soul yearns for death and those hallucinations you see, they're waiting to put you out of your misery when enough of your sense is gone."

Ledgar still had a disapproving frown on his face as he chose to speak up from there. "He's right, Walter and whoever else you've been seeing are phantoms made from your soul whose only desire is to fulfill your deepest twisted ones. Which means if one of them tried to kill you then that means you yourself wish to die, even if you're not aware of it."

Edward didn't speak as he considered the ramifications of what the two of them just said. In truth, the last six months had felt like one long day for him. Between working, drinking, having nightmares and hallucinations, he had felt so tired, never allowing himself to get any semblance of rest or peace. He had been so focused on work, hoping that one of Walter's lessons to get over the feelings he felt would've worked but it didn't.

And now…

All the times he had seen Walter, just watching him; hours spent silently judging the young man who once tried interacting with him but ultimately treated him as the confirmation he had gone crazy. With what these two said, crazy was several stops back from where he was right now. Would his hallucinations try and finish the job the next time they show up, or would he just drop dead at work one day? So many questions swirled around in his head that made him dizzy until one shot the front of his mind.

Why do you care?

The question sounded in his head coming from his own voice, yet the tone from his voice was dispassionate. Like he couldn't care less that he was wishing death on himself and that pieces of his soul were actively trying to grant that wish.

Maybe that's one of the suicidal soul pieces?

Well I have been acting like I didn't care for six months.

Doesn't mean that I want to die!

Really, I did say Edward was dead though?

Am I even Edward, or am I Wrath?

Walter took Wrath with him.

But I'm still here and I can't-

STOP IT!!!

Edward felt himself lurch into a chair with his hand gripping his head as if he was in pain. He was back in Jorgen's office with a brand new desk between the three of them. The harbormaster and old Commander were giving him curious looks from the former and saddened looks from the latter. A knock on the door and Estrid popped her head in with a worried expression on her face.

"Ed, are you ok? A lot of us heard you scream down the hall."

The young man turned in his seat and fought to stop his hammering heartbeat as he tried to force the words out of his mouth but they wouldn't come. His mouth felt like there was a desert in his mouth as fast hot breaths of air escaped his mouth. His face looked as if he just went swimming, his hair clung to his forehead as the sweat gave his face a thick sheen that went all the way down into his shirt. Jorgen, putting on a faux tactful expression, addressed Estrid.

"Some things of a private nature have just come to light that he didn't seem ready to hear. I appreciate your concern for him but he'll open up to you when he feels comfortable, for now, we're still speaking so I must regrettably ask you to leave." The assistant knew that today she had disobeyed a number of times and even though her boss wasn't one to get ruffled feathers over such matters, it still bothered her to do so.

"Of course." Estrid turned to Edward and offered a kind smile. "If you need to talk, please don't hesitate to speak to me." The young man managed to nod his head and Estrid left them once again taking Jorgen's expression with her.

"If you're gonna burst, you should do it outside my office. I don't want to clean up another mess." Ledgar glared silently at Jorgen, the baby runt may not have lived to his expectations when they first met but the death that was approaching wasn't pleasant. It spoke volumes to see a being like them being destroyed from the inside out by their own soul and the worst bit was that it wasn't quick. It was a sudden plunge into madness where the soul tortures itself into oblivion and with their mind trying to comprehend every detail, it exacerbates the damage to the soul to a severe degree.

Jorgen chuckled once again before nonchalantly gesturing to the door. "You're welcome to leave at any time, perhaps we can cure your ignorance about what it means to be one of us. Be warned though, it does get so much worse." Edward's eyes went over to Ledgar and the old man's words came to mind.

You're clearly not ready for anything I have to say.

Back then it sounded so insulting but if there was even more after this…

Haytham was right, he wasn't ready and he didn't want to be ready. The grief that made itself well at home in his mind gave way to sheer panic and a sense of dread of an approaching storm. He didn't know how but he felt that something was coming and the feeling down at the bottom of his stomach could tell it wasn't going to be good at all. Maybe it was just his panic limiting his breath, or perhaps a countdown to when his soul would finally have had enough and destroy itself.

Regardless of whatever it was, Edward found himself jumping to his feet and all but ran out the office. Jorgen snickered as Ledgar frowned.

Six months in the dungeon had gotten old pretty fast. Hans was beyond bored and started to daydream and talk to any and all guards who passed by. He still had a confident smirk about him as he knew that Elsa wasn't going to kill him, if she was she'd had done it ages ago. She was probably racking her brain about what to do with him.

Most would find his situation hopeless or unfortunate but the new King had a different perspective on that. True, his invasion had failed but he had shown Weselton and the Southern Isles that the Snow Queen could be beaten. They had her on her knees but she managed to luck out thanks to some traitors from his kingdom. Julius had always been a problem child for him, far too noble and honorable to take a quick win over a hard earned one. He had his uses but this time he had gone too far and was now leading his kingdom in subservience to Arendelle for its 'mercy'.

I'll have to rectify that soon enough.

It wasn't that Hans had gone crazy over the last six months. Just as he was undone by traitors on his side, Elsa had some traitors of her own that she was still unaware of. The King had a list of those names given to him in the notebook Greed had given him, and had gone to great lengths to hide and memorize those names.

The names on that list had contacted him over the last six months sharing with him very useful information. Normally, they would've been more discreet and the messages would've been spaced out over a long period of time but with their Captain of the Arendellian Royal Guard gone, security in Arendelle had become lax. On the outside they were bolstering defenses but on the inside, his collaborators were able to enjoy the additional freedom.

The lock to the door of his private cell loudly clanged as it was unlocked and Hans turned ready to greet his visitor.

Hope yall enjoyed the chapter and there will be more coming up soon as I kinda feel a need to hammer some chapters out. The website isn't working but the app is so I hope yall can read this and if for some reason the platform is taken down, I will republish all the chapters somewhere else, likely on Archive.

Hope yall enjoyed the chapter and there will be more coming up soon as I kinda feel a need to hammer some chapters out. The website isn't working but the app is so I hope yall can read this and if for some reason the platform is taken down, I will republish all the chapters somewhere else, likely on Archive.