"No..." Rem shakes her head back and forth, her hands coming up to her mouth in shock "no, no, no! I buried you! You died in front of me!"

"I--" Blade, who is presumably Ashton, rubs the back of his neck awkwardly and takes a step forward, "yeah, but...not quite."

"How..." Rem chokes out, "how..."

"Listen," Valerian narrows his eyes and draws his longsword, pointing it directly at Ashton whenever he takes another step towards Rem, "I don't know who you think you are, even though I have a pretty good idea, but you're not taking another step towards her until you start explaining. Got it?"

"That's understandable." Ashton swallows thickly before he sighs, "Look, Ayanna...I actually did die that night, that's true. And I would do it all again if it meant protecting you. But, after you buried me, my soul was intercepted by Elise."

"What do you mean?" Rem narrows her eyes slowly at Ashton, who rubs the back of his neck again.

"Even though you were her original target, she wanted to attempt to take my abilities. Elise didn't realize that I had already lost them because unlike you and Elise, I gave away all of my power because I knew I would die and I wanted to help you as much as possible. I didn't see my abilities doing me much good if I were dead." Ashton explains, "I don't know how Elise does it, but Elise is able to contact dead souls and she can steal their abilities. Perhaps it's because she's supposed to guide dead souls into the afterlife, but that's all I know. Elise found my grave, dug up my body, and summoned my soul in an attempt to gain my abilities. Once she found out that she couldn't steal anything, Elise attempted to send me back, but I stole some of her life essence and managed to reincarnate a few days later."

"Why didn't you find me," Rem croaks out, starting to cry, "why didn't you come find me if you were alive?"

"I knew Elise would still want me killed once she found out I was alive again," Ashton says sadly, averting his gaze to the ground, "I wanted to find you...I really did. But, with no abilities and no way of knowing where you were...I went into hiding with the name Blade. I still fight rogues and help others while I'm in hiding, but I have to be careful. One wrong step could land me fatally wounded or even kill me. That's why I have this sword now. I use it as my weapon instead of myself. Ayanna...you have to understand that I missed you every single day. I meant it when I said I loved you with all my heart."

I look between Valerian and Miles to see what they think of the situation and both of them seem troubled by it. I find myself feeling equally as troubled because something just doesn't feel right about this entire situation. As I look between Ashton and Rem, I can tell that he's looking at her with a sense of longing, but that he also seems to want to tell her to run away and never look back, which makes me wonder why.

"Ashton, exactly who is Ayanna?" Xilia frowns and crosses her arms, glancing between us and him.

"Don't you remember?" Areiel tilts her head in confusion as she looks at Xilia, "Ashton told us about her long ago whenever we found him in the tundra and we tended to his wounds."

"What?" Xilia furrows her eyebrows, "I don't remember that at all."

Our group stands there in an awkward silence as the two of them seem to be in disagreement before Ashton clears his throat and interrupts them, smiling sheepishly.

"You're welcome to stay here if you like." Ashton says, "It'll be dark soon, and...it would be nice to catch up."

The eight of us look to each other before we reluctantly decide to stay with them, Rem being completely shaken. Katiana and Veddrian end up having to guide Rem towards the middle of the cave where the tents are and I frown, feeling sorry for her.

I end up sitting between two tents near the fire pit, Miles sitting next to me while Valerian and Sampson go over and try to help Katiana and Veddrian calm down Rem. Skye ends up standing near the entrance of the cave, leaning against it with one of her feet kicked up against the wall as she stares outside and keeps guard, a snowstorm beginning to form. Xilia and Areiel sit on the opposite side of the fire pit from us and Ashton wanders around behind them in the cave for a few moments as he thinks before he sits down beside them and begins to sharpen his sword.

"It's not fair," I whisper out after a few moments.

"I know," Miles says solemnly as he sits beside me, his arms draped over his knees.

"He should've found her." I frown, watching Ashton from a distance, "If he really loved her, he shouldn't have just given up so easily. I understand that he wanted to stay alive in hopes of one day finding her again and in hopes of being able to still help others, but how would he ever have found her if we hadn't found him first-- on accident, no less. It just...whenever Rem told me about their story, he seemed so different and he seemed like he really loved her. He gave his life to save hers and he always stood by her side, no matter what anyone else said. How could he just...not go back to her?"

"I don't know, Celes," Miles sighs and looks down at the ground by his feet, "sometimes people do things for reasons that don't really have a good explanation. It doesn't mean that they're a bad person and it definitely doesn't mean that they did the right thing, but they must've had a reason for doing it. It makes me feel bad for her though, for Rem. I can't imagine what she must've went through whenever she first lost him, and now for her to find out that he was okay for all these years...it would be heart shattering to know that they could've been together but they weren't. Especially since she loved him so much."

"Do you think she's gonna be okay?" I ask quietly after a few moments, my gaze flickering over to Rem and the others.

"In time, yeah. I don't know if she'll ever fully be over this, but for right now, all we can do is be there for her," Miles says.

"Yeah..." I sigh, still having a sinking feeling about Ashton as I lean into Miles's shoulder before I fall asleep against him for the night.

***

I wake up a few hours later to find that Miles has pulled me against his chest and is lying down with me on top of him, his arms wrapped around me as he sleeps and I smile at the sight. I look around and notice everyone else is asleep and I slowly climb off of Miles with a quiet sigh. I decide to head out the cave to stretch and get some fresh air, plus I want to see the stars from out here. I wrap my arms around myself as I go to the exit of the cave, my head tilted up as I look into the midnight sky, multiple white stars shining down brightly and twinkling as my cold breath fills the air. I narrow my eyes as something seems to disrupt the stars as there's a clear flicker in the sky that moves around.

"What...is that?" I breathe out and narrow my eyes, my hand going to my scythe.

Suddenly, my eyes widen as a white wyvern comes into view and is flying directly towards me, its claws and fangs extended. I run away from the cave in hopes of drawing it away and it follows me, trailing right behind me before I sharply turn sideways and swing my scythe around in a circular motion. I hook my scythe through one of its wings and slash through it, ripping through the wing before I backflip onto the back of the wyvern and jump up into the air, raising my scythe over my head as I cry out. The wyvern whips around and attempts to claw me just as a red slash of energy shoots between us and its claws get completely cut off on its right paw. My eyes widen as I land back on the wyvern's back and I turn to see Valerian running through the snow with his longsword with Miles, Rem, Skye, and Ashton not far behind.

Miles runs and slides, cutting the tail of the wyvern off as Rem's longsword glows with both pink and green energy as she leaps up in the air and slashes through its other wing. Trailing behind the others, Katiana and Sampson run out with Xilia, Areiel, Veddrian. Katiana throws her chakrams as she runs and they loop around the wyvern, cutting into the ground as wires shoot out from them and tie the wyvern's legs down with a loud click. Sampson then hurriedly presses buttons on his watch before the wires begin to glow bright green and the wyvern drops to its knees. I leap off of the wyvern's back as Skye shouts and punches the wyvern in the face, snapping off its tusks due to the sheer force of her hit. The wyvern groans out and hisses angrily, its blue eyes focused on Skye. I watch as Ashton runs passed me with his sword drawn and leans down as he swipes upwards, slashing through the wyvern's underside. My eyes watch his pristine stroke with slight alarm whenever I notice slight black energy glowing along his hit.

"Time to go bye-bye!" Skye shouts as she leaps up and falcon kicks the wyvern fifty feet through the snow, the wires from Katiana's chakrams cutting through the wyvern's legs and severing them due to Skye's kick.

Skye lands and brushes her hands off before she smiles triumphantly and places her hands on her hips with a gleeful nod.

"Well, that was relatively easy." Xilia raises her eyebrows in surprise, lowering her scythe, "Maybe you guys really are Vanguards after all."

"No shit," Valerian rolls his eyes and Xilia glares at him.

"Just like old times, right, Ayanna?" Ashton smiles at Rem, who looks at the ground sadly and rubs the side of her arm.

"Yeah..." Rem trails off.

"Ashton, your energy color used to be white, right?" I ask cautiously.

"Yeah, why?" he furrows his eyebrows and turns to face me.

"And...you didn't gain a new one somehow?" I ask.

Miles furrows his eyebrows and the others seem genuinely confused as well, but Valerian, Veddrian, and Miles seem to be catching on to my weariness faster than the others. Miles's eyes flicker back and forth between me and Ashton as his hand clenches on the hilt of his sword.

"What're you talking about?" Ashton frowns, "Of course I didn't."

Rem's eyes widen and she looks up before she slowly walks over to Ashton, her eyes fixed intently on him.

"Are you sure?" Rem asks quietly, and you can hear the sound of her heart almost breaking in her voice as her eyes search his.

"Ayanna..." Ashton's breath hitches and his eyes seem conflicted as he clenches his right hand a few times.

"Are you sure?" Rem asks more firmly, taking another step towards him.

"Rem, I--" Ashton starts before his eyes widen.

Rem's eyes narrow at his slip up and she forcefully shoves at his chest, rainbow energy swirling around her hand as she does so. Ashton's eyes widen as he starts to fall backwards and almost as if in slow motion, wires of black energy are now visibly wound around his arms and his legs like twine, an almost invisible figure exiting his body in the process. We watch in silence as a see-through woman floats behind Ashton, who manages to regain his balance and shake his head, clutching at his head with his hands.

"Elise," Rem spits and her eyes focus angrily on the image of the woman behind Ashton, her hand clenching around her longsword, "let him go."

"What's happening?" Miles asks, his eyes darting between the three of them and me.

"Elise was using Ashton as a puppet," Rem scowls, "she brought Ashton back just so she could use him and control his movements, but he was able to occasionally break through. Let him go, Elise, or I will for you."

"Wait-- what?" Xilia's eyes widen and she turns to look at Areiel, "did you kn--"

Xilia's words get cut off whenever Areiel's eyes flicker from blue to silver and she swings her scythe through Xilia's midsection without a word. Xilia chokes out and her eyes widen before Areiel pulls out her scythe and Xilia falls to her knees in the snow, clutching at her wound. Valerian swiftly dashes forwards with red energy and Areiel's eyes widen in surprise as he impales her with his longsword, her doubling over and blood dribbling out of the sides of her mouth and her nose. Valerian pulls his sword out and Areiel crumples to the ground, dead beside the still breathing Xilia.

"I could let him go, sure," Elise hums out, her lips curving up into a sly smile as her eyes sparkle, "it would only be a minor inconvenience for me. I have many more puppets. Him and Areiel will simply be disposable casualties in my journey. Let's be real though, their lives were much better with me controlling them."

"What do you mean he would be a casualty?" Rem narrows her eyes and Elise laughs.

"Don't you understand? Once they're mine, they're mine forever," Elise smiles, "if I ever let them go, they'll die. So, you could continue to let me use him, or you could set him free. Your choice. Will you do it, Ayanna? Will you really kill the one you love the most after just getting them back? Truly though, you'll be taunted either way because he won't ever really be back. It's quite beautiful."

Sampson scowls and pulls out a pistol from his thigh holster and shoots a bullet directly through Elise, but she simply turns and looks at him as if he's a minor annoyance.

"You can't hurt her when she's in this form," Rem sighs, "she's not actually here, this is just a projection of her."

"Damn it all..." Valerian whispers angrily, his eyes burning through Elise's figure before he clenches his jaw.

"Ayanna...please," Ashton's eyes sadly meet Rem's and he goes to reach out to her, his right hand shaking as Elise giggles and attempts to tug him backwards.

Rem's eyes search his and she starts to cry as she reaches out and brushes her fingers against his before she closes her eyes and her breathing shudders.

"I'm sorry..." Rem sobs out and swiftly reaches for her longsword, cutting diagonally upwards and shattering the ties with a strike of rainbow energy, which makes Elise disappear.

Ashton smiles as his eyes flutter shut and he falls backwards. Rem quickly rushes forwards and throws aside her longsword as she catches him, crying. Skye and Valerian pick up Xilia, who's still barely clinging to life.

"We need to get her back to the guild," Skye says, her voice soft.

"O-- Okay," Rem sobs out as she holds Ashton tighter and she sinks to her knees with him in the snow, sniffling.

Veddrian and Katiana pick up Areiel as Sampson makes his way over to Rem and he gently places a hand on her shoulder. Rem looks up at him with wet eyes, sparkling tears falling down from her rainbow eyes and streaking down her face. Sampson's eyes flicker to Ashton's body before he gently bends down and places two fingers at Ashton's neck, green energy swirling around his hand.

"He's still alive," Sampson says softly and Rem's eyes widen, "but he needs medical treatment, and lots of it. He's on the edge of dying, his spirit teetering back and forth between the spiritual and physical worlds. It'll take a lot to keep him here, but it's not impossible. Just...not likely."

"G-- Guild," Rem chokes out as she swipes her arm against her face to wipe away her tears before she stands up and picks up Ashton, Sampson helping her, "to the guild then..."

Sampson nods before he presses the button on his comm and the three of them disappear back to the ship. Everyone else quickly returns back before I lock eyes with Miles and let out a shaky breath as he nods and we both press our comms at the same time, returning to the guild.