"Uncle Christoph!" Ciel shouted as he ran towards the front door, his cerulean eyes bright with excitement.

"Hey, kiddo," Christoph grinned and ruffled Ciel's blond locks, his blue eyes shining with happiness upon seeing Ciel.

"Hi Uncle Christoph," I smiled as I went up to him and he smiled back.

"Hey, Celes. You've gotten big, haven't you?" Christoph grinned and ran a hand through his sandy colored hair to move his bangs away from his eyes, "you could probably take me in a match nowadays."

"I don't know about that," I mused, "you're a world renowned Vanguard and I'm only fourteen."

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Celes. I think you could be just as good as me with some practice," Christoph said and I smiled hopefully.

"Christoph! Welcome home!" my father, Matthias, grinned as he walked around the corner, his hazel eyes focused on his younger brother.

Standing beside one another, Matthias and Christoph looked vastly different. Light brown hair compared to sandy colored hair, hazel eyes compared to blue eyes, and six feet tall compared to five eleven, but they both shared the same facial structure and rugged yet handsome look, as well as charm.

"Well, I couldn't just miss Christmas!" Christoph beamed and Matthias laughed as he threw an arm around his shoulders.

My mom came around the corner then, her blue eyes and wavy blonde hair carrying the signature traits of me and Ciel as she smiled widely at the two brothers. Little did I know, that would be the last time all of us would ever be together. My dream shifts to when Christoph came home battered and dirty from a quest that he and our father went on, his expression grim as he knelt down and looked me and Ciel in the eyes. We asked where Father was, but Christoph just kept looking at us with the same sad expression. It was then that I realized-- he wasn't going to be coming back. My dream rushes forwards to where my mom ended up eventually overcoming her grief as much as she could with the help of us and Christoph, and she eventually married Christoph.

Just as my dream is about to reach the part where I lose my family entirely, I jolt awake to loud bangs on my front door. I clutch my hand to my chest and control my breathing as I look around, my body tangled in my dark blue and white sheets and the banging on my door intensifies.

"Celes! Wake up!" Miles shouts from outside and I shakily climb out of bed, rubbing my eyes as I make my way through my cottage until I clumsily reach the front door.

I open the door to find Miles standing there in a pair of black sweatpants and a black jacket, his eyes worried.

"Miles? What is it?" I ask, trying to keep my voice as neutral as possible so as not to worry him.

"It's Drusilla," Miles breathes out and my eyes widen.

"What happened?" I ask quietly, my eyes wide with fear.

"Come on," Miles says and grabs my hand, taking off in a run, and I barely have time to shut my front door behind me as we run.

Miles leads me to the deck area where a lot of people are gathered and I notice Eva, Miles's other older sister, talking to Dexter, who's covered in dirt and blood and cradling Drusilla to his chest. Eva gently takes Drusilla and rushes off to the medical building where she works, her normally teasing expression one of seriousness and my eyes widen as I notice Drusilla has her left arm missing and she's unconscious, multiple cuts littering her body and dirt smeared on her armor and face. Dexter falls to his knees on the deck and stares ahead blankly, his eyes wide as Jester from the orange team places his hand on Dexter's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, his eyes sad as his partner, Haven, stands next to him forlornly.

"What happened?" Skye asks quietly as she approaches them and Dexter looks up at Skye with the same wide expression he had moments ago.

"I...I should've..." Dexter raises his hands to his face, staring at the blood coating his silver gauntlets, "it should've been me..."

"Dexter, what happened?" Miles asks firmly as he approaches him and Dexter turns his gaze towards him.

"We were on a quest to hunt a grudge underwater," Dexter starts to explain slowly, his hazel eyes more focused now as Skye takes a towel and gently wipes blood from his caramel colored hair and from the sides of his face, "we were about halfway through the mission whenever suddenly the monster just died. We thought maybe one of us killed it, but then we were attacked."

"Attacked by what?" I breathe out.

"Attacked by another Vanguard," Jester says, his blue eyes meeting mine as he runs a hand through his reddish-brown hair and breathes out shakily.

"They came out of nowhere," Haven says, her amber eyes showing obvious confusion and concern as she shakes her head, her strawberry-blonde locks shifting in the process, "we didn't even get to see their face."

"It was just one Vanguard against four of you and this happened?" Skye breathes out and her hand with the towel stills in fear.

"Yeah..." Dexter lowers his head and stares at the ground, his fists clenching as he grits his teeth and a few tears drop to the deck, "it should've been me..."

"Come on," Jester says quietly and raises Dexter to his feet, "let's get cleaned up."

Jester leads Dexter to one of the bathrooms and Haven follows close behind, her expression grim as she walks, her katana strapped to her side. A murmur rushes throughout those on deck and passes through multiple citizens and Vanguards.

"I say we find whoever did this and make them pay," Graven says and pounds his fist into his other hand.

"We must act wisely, Graven," Verona says as she jumps down in a black thigh-length jumpsuit with a dark grey band wrapped around her waist and over the knee black boots from sitting on the edge of a nearby balcony's railing, her shoulder length white hair blowing behind her as she lands, her teal eyes focused.

"I didn't ask for advice from an all-knowing teal," Graven rolls his eyes as Verona approaches and her partner Tegan jumps from the balcony in teal and light grey sweatpants, joining her.

"Verona is simply saying that it would be reckless to rashly chase after whoever did this. You saw what happened to Drusilla," Tegan shakes his head, his ebony locks shifting in the slight wind and his green eyes disappointed in Graven's behavior.

"You're just defending your wife," Graven spits and Tegan sighs as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Enough!" Skye snaps and our attention turns to her as she stands there with an angered expression on her normally cheerful face, "I will not have you all acting like children, especially not now. Return to your prior engagements. I will personally seek out Vanguards to deal with this in the morning. In the meantime, please send your thoughts and prayers to Drusilla. Thank you."

Miles glances back at me and makes his way over to me as the people on the deck disperse and he smiles sadly at me.

"Let's...try and get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day," he says and I nod in agreement.

As we walk back to our cottages, I can't help but feel bad for Drusilla. Drusilla's always friendly and welcoming to everyone and she's always so energetic and enthusiastic. I can't imagine how she'll be after this if she...if she ends up pulling through. Dexter's always been in love with her, but he never had the heart to tell her. I can't imagine how he must be feeling either. And I can't imagine who would do this to anyone.

"Hey," Miles frowns when he notices my sorrowful aura as we reach my cottage, "don't worry about them. They'll be alright. I know they can get through this."

"Yeah..." I trail off, "it's just...so much will be different."

"I know," Miles breathes out, "and I can't begin to imagine how that would feel, but I know they'll make it through it somehow. I believe they can. They've always had strong spirits. And we'll be there for them."

"Yeah," I nod and smile slightly, meeting his eyes.

"Hey...Celes..." Miles starts and my eyebrows furrow whenever I notice him beginning to frown, his eyes troubled, "earlier, whenever I came to wake you...were you okay?"

"What do you mean?" I ask cautiously.

"Well..." he trails off for a few moments and rubs the back of his neck, "I could've sworn I heard shouting..."

"Oh," my eyes widen in realization as I realize that I must have been talking in my sleep, "yeah...yeah...I'm fine. I was fine."

"Are you sure?" he frowns, his eyes telling me that he's not buying it.

"Yeah," I smile tiredly before I pull him into a hug, my arms around his neck as I lean up on my toes, "I'm sure. Thank you, Miles."

"Yeah..." he breathes out as his arms wind around my waist, "no problem..."

"I'll see you in the morning," I smile once more and wave as I push open my front door.

"See you," he smiles back tiredly and waves as I head inside for the night.

I release a sigh I didn't know I was holding as I lean against the door and slide down to the floor, pressing my right hand against my forehead. That was too close for comfort. He has enough to worry about right now, and I wouldn't want to trouble him any further. I know he won't see it that way, but...I do.