Ciel marches over to me, despite Skye yelling for him to keep his distance from me. I stand there, frozen, as he walks over. I find myself having to tilt my head back as I look up at him, since he's now probably at least six feet tall and definitely looks much older than before. As he approaches, I notice that he has a scar running down across one of his cerulean eyes and he seems much less lighthearted than he once was...which...I don't blame him. But, overall, I'm still in shock that he's alive and standing in front of me. Ciel goes to place a hand on my shoulder and Valerian glares at him, smacking his hand away as he steps in front of me.

"Oi," Valerian snaps, his red eyes fuming, "don't touch her."

The two boys share a glaring contest, each of them trying to exert their dominance over the other. Valerian crosses his arms angrily whenever he notices that he's slightly shorter than Ciel, perhaps by an inch or two, but they're both several inches taller than me.

"She's my sister," Ciel snaps in return.

"So?" Valerian snorts, "Who says we can even trust you? We don't know where you've been. Hell, Celes thought you might've been dead. The only hope she had was that they never found you to confirm it. Do you know how much grief you caused her? I ought to knock your lights out for not coming back sooner."

"We? Who's we? I don't need your damn approval," Ciel retorts, his eyes flickering back to me before his expression softens and he attempts to take a step towards me, "Celes, please say something. Anything."

"I don't understand..." I breathe out as I stare up at him, Ciel's eyes turning sad and Valerian's angry expression turning to one of empathy, "how..."

My mind swims as I think back to Rem and Ashton and what happened with them, possibly wondering if Ciel died and is being controlled by Elise. All I was told was that Ciel's body was nowhere to be found, never confirmed dead. And was Ciel the one who sent me the letter last night? The letter didn't seem like whoever sent it had good intentions and something about it and his arrival just doesn't make any sense to me. Then again, none of it makes sense to me.

"Look, I'm sorry," Ciel starts, his voice rough with emotion as confliction swims in his eyes, "I'm really sorry that I didn't come back sooner, but I couldn't. Celes, I couldn't--"

"Did you send me a letter?" I breathe out, cutting him off as my eyes openly search his, "Just yesterday, did you send me a letter?"

"A letter?" Ciel frowns, confused, "Celes, I never sent you a letter. It would've been too dangerous. Celes, I really need to talk to you. It's important. Elise isn't--"

"Elise isn't what she seems to be, we know," I sigh and he grows silent for a few moments, "Is that all you came here for? What even happened to you? Where did you go?"

"Elise isn't the only one who wasn't what she seemed to be," Ciel starts, running a hand through his hair as pain flashes through his eyes, "Our father was involved with Elise's plans. He was one of her loyal soldiers. Whenever Uncle Christoph found out, he lured him into the woods and attacked him, catching him off guard and killing him. He wanted to protect us. He really loved his brother, but he didn't want to see us get hurt. So, he made his death glorified in our eyes so that we'd have a good memory of him."

"What does this have to do with anything?" I frown, not liking where this is going.

"The Vanguard that Mom locked away was working for Elise," Ciel explains frantically, "and Elise wanted vengeance on our family for daring to oppose her. That's how the Vanguard broke out. Elise helped them and led them to our house. After you ran away and everything was finished, Elise came in and dragged me away whenever I saw Christoph get shot. I was barely conscious at the time and I passed out on the way to wherever she took me. Celes, I really wanted to come, I did, but I had to convince Elise that I would help her and follow her. I finally managed to find an opening to escape and I gathered so much information. Celes, I can help you. Please...I'm so sorry."

"Look," Valerian sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, "I understand that this is important, but we shouldn't be talking about this out here. We're lucky that nobody's came by us yet and that the guild counter is too far away to properly hear everything we're saying. Let's go somewhere else, yeah?"

I nod slowly in agreement before I lead them back to my house with a wave, quickly arriving and letting them inside before I lock the door behind us.

"You claim you worked with Elise for years?" Valerian crosses his arms as he stands in the middle of the front room, "That just gives me even more of a reason not to trust you."

"Look, I promise I'm not one of her puppets," Ciel sighs, "I was just a kid when she found me and she basically finished raising me. She didn't have a reason to doubt me."

"Even still, you said she finished raising you. How do we know you haven't actually come here in secret to get close to us and ruin us?" Valerian glares.

"For shit's sake," Ciel sighs once more and pinches the bridge of his nose, "I don't know how I'm supposed to gain your trust, I really don't. And I don't expect you to trust me right away. But I'm hoping that you'll hear me out. Look, if you think I'm lying for even a second, you can kill me, cast me out, lock me away, or do whatever you want to me and I won't even fight it."

"Celes?" Valerian asks softly, glancing over at me to get my opinion.

"I want to see what the others think..." I saw lowly as I look down at the floor, not wanting to look at Ciel.

"Alright," Valerian says quietly and makes his way over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder comfortingly as Ciel shifts awkwardly from foot to foot in front of us.

"Valerian, could you head outside for a moment?" I ask.

Valerian nods, squeezing my shoulder gently before he sends Ciel one last glare while I unlock the door. Valerian heads outside and I shut the door behind him with a soft click, turning to look at Ciel with sadness in my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I whisper before I open the door again and head outside, swiftly shutting and locking it behind me, trapping Ciel inside for the time being.

And if I had listened closely while I began walking away with Valerian walking close to me, I might've heard the soft "me too" that came from behind the door.

***

"You're all here." Xilia's eyes widen upon seeing the eight of us standing around her bed as she wakes up while Eva takes Drusilla and Dexter outside for therapy and fresh air so that we can have the building to ourselves, her assistants being given the day off, "Where's Areiel? What happened?"

"We need to ask you a few questions first, is that okay?" Rem asks softly.

"I guess..." Xilia frowns.

"What were you, Ashton, and Areiel doing out in the tundra?" Rem asks.

"That was our base. We stayed there and every so often we would travel away from the tundra and return a few days later. We helped locals whenever we could, but Ashton told us about how he's in hiding and me and Areiel agreed to help him. Areiel and I used to work together until we found Ashton." Xilia explains, "We ended up mainly focusing on trying to find rogue Vanguards and taking them down. Areiel and I were never part of a guild, but we knew we were capable of being Vanguards due to our color abilities. We trained together ever since we were young, since Areiel showed up at my parent's doorstep one night with nowhere to go whenever she was a child. We were best friends ever since."

"And you had no idea whatsoever of Ashton or Areiel being controlled by Elise?" Valerian asks.

"No," Xilia shakes her head and frowns, her eyes sad, "I never noticed, and that makes me wonder if the rogue Vanguards we hunted really were rogue..."

"What did you do with them?" Skye asks.

"I...don't know, to be honest," Xilia sighs, "Ashton would always transport them somewhere and he would come back a day or two later. I asked Areiel about it one time, but she said it seemed perfectly normal to her. In hindsight, I guess I should've questioned it further."

"No," Veddrian shakes her head, "you shouldn't have. If you had, you wouldn't be alive right now."

"Yeah..." Xilia trails off, glancing down at the bed sheets while she clutches them in her hands.

"Do you have any idea how Elise might've had control over Areiel?" Sampson asks carefully, "Did Areiel always act the same, or?"

"Given what I believe you're implying and from what I hazily remember, Elise can only control those who have died, right?" Xilia frowns, "I'm not sure if whenever Areiel showed up she was already dead, but she's never seemed any different than she usually was. Well...I suppose the last few months she has from time to time...but she never went anywhere for a long time by herself without coming back."

"It'll be hard to tell exactly what happened, but all we know is the end result," Rem says quietly, hanging her head, "I'm really sorry, Xilia."

"You mean she's dead...right?" Xilia tries to force back her tears, "I figured...I just didn't want to hear it said out loud. Hey...do you know what happens to them once they die again? Is it possible for Elise to keep controlling them?"

"No." Rem shakes her head, "Given by what Elise said about calling Ashton and Areiel casualties, I'm assuming she can't continue to control them after they die once more."

"At least her soul will be at rest finally," Xilia says sadly before she looks up hesitantly, "and does that mean Ashton is dead too?"

"Not quite..." Katiana trails off, "he's in a coma..."

"I see..." Xilia sighs.

We spend a few more hours talking to Rem and Xilia about Elise, with Rem explaining that she was capable of revealing Elise in Ashton because of her using the force of her combined color abilities. Rem also explains that Elise's job was to help guide souls to the afterlife and that it's most likely why she can control them and summon them. Additionally, most pray to Elise because of this, hoping that their passage through death will be peaceful, aside from also praying to her because she gifted most of the Vanguards' colors and she's known as the kindest saint. It's too bad more people don't actually know the truth, but we can't afford to cause mass panic. It just drives me crazy that so many people idolize someone they believe is so sweet, only for the real truth to be far from pretty.

"Xilia, you said you wanted to be a Vanguard, right?" Veddrian asks.

"Mhm," Xilia nods, her eyes flickering over to Veddrian.

"Then, I suppose I could train you and initiate you as one," Veddrian offers and Xilia's eyes widen.

"What? Really?" Xilia asks in surprise.

"Really?" Valerian raises his eyebrows as he looks at his sister, surprise evident on his features.

"Of course," Veddrian smiles and tilts her head to the side, making Valerian's jaw drop before she smirks, "besides, you're kind of cute."

Xilia blushes and crosses her arms as she averts her gaze and Skye chuckles.

"Oh, um," I clear my throat and gain the attention of the others, "I have something to talk to you all about..."

"What is it?" Miles frowns, concerned.

"I know not all of you know the personal story, but...my little brother showed up this morning," I start quietly and I receive multiple knowing expressions from Miles, Katiana, and Sampson while Valerian frowns, "and...he said he was held captive by Elise for all these years. All this time, I didn't know whether or not he was alive...and now...he's here and tells me that. He says that he wants to help, but I don't know what to think. What if he died and Elise is controlling him? What if he's actually on her side?"

"I could attempt to see if she's controlling him." Rem offers, "It won't particularly feel pleasant if she isn't and I exert all of the force onto him, but we want to be safe. That would get rid of the suspicion of him being controlled, but I cannot say for working with her by choice."

"What if we give him a polygraph?" Veddrian shrugs in suggestion.

"Do we even have those here?" I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

"I could run one," Sampson nods.

"Of course you could," Katiana chuckles at the tech genius.

"That'll work then, I suppose," I hum, "I may or may not have locked him in my house for now...so that's where he should be."

I choose to keep the matter of the mail silent for now, deciding I'll tell some of the others later in private, having already told Valerian.

"After we deal with Celes's brother, we should talk about what we're going to do next," Skye says, "I believe our best bet is to try and go after Elise at the source if she's the one controlling people. Killing them wouldn't do much except for irritate her, and she can always find new people to control. Plus, I don't particularly like the thought of killing innocent people who aren't in control of themselves."

Skye shoots Valerian a pointed glare and he simply rubs the back of his neck, chuckling nervously.

"I just didn't want anyone else to get hurt." Valerian says, "All I knew was that she wasn't good."

"No offense to Xilia, but how did you know Xilia wasn't the bad one while Areiel could've been the good one, having figured it out and taken action?" Skye raises a brow and Valerian fails to find the right words, "That's what I thought. Next time, think things through more. You got lucky this time."

"Because I've seen enough darkness in the world to be able to tell the difference," Valerian says quietly after a few moments.

"Well, even still," Skye sighs and puts one of her hands on her hips as she pinches the bridge of her nose, "just be careful, okay?"

"I understand, trust me. I do," Valerian sighs.

"Alright," Veddrian brushes her hands together and heads for the door, "let's go find this other Lunes and get this over with."