Alisson tilted his head. Staring into Celis’s disturbed eyes.

“What do you mean? What happened?”

She averted her gaze, as if vividly recalling something.

“…I had a dream…about the night when my first apprentice team was slaughtered.”

Alisson’s eyes sharpened. That was the night that was host to a large inconsistency – Rickard. He died in the Regadonian sack. Celis described differently, with no thought to the matter at the time, before promptly forgetting all together about her brother.

“So? Alisson stared intently at Celis.

Her eye went dark. “I know the truth now. My memories feel completely clear.” She looked up to him. “My brother sabotaged my memory.”

Alisson’s heart started to beat faster, but Celis wasn’t done. “He’s a heretic. He’s the reason my keep was attacked, why my team was slaughtered-!” She held her fist tightly. “He’s a heretic! A traitor!” She said with a scowl.

Alisson felt lightheaded. Rickard? His most trusted partner? A traitor? Doing such a thing to Celis?

Celis didn’t let him think, and shot another glare up at Alisson. “It’s not only that.” Her eye twitched. “It was also Sidonia’s doing! She’s the one behind my family’s collapse and my team’s suicide mission!”

“W-what do you mean?” Alisson spoke quickly. “Y-you just said that Rickard was the reason-”

“Yes.” Celis nodded. “Because of my brother’s heresy, my House was destroyed; either because Sidonia ordered it, or let it happen.” She shook her head. “But then, with my first team, she, she sent us to our deaths because I’m related to a traitor! Not to mention on a mission to probe a possible traitor hideout!”

Celis was furious. She was shaking in rage. By contrary, a cold sweat plastered Alisson’s forehead.

“My family’s destruction and the deaths of my teammates wasn’t an accident. It didn’t happen by chance.” Her eye twitched. “It didn’t have to happen at all.”

If what Celis was saying true, then that meant…Rickard was traitor. And Sidonia, his Lady, was far more malignant that he’d thought. He looked at Celis’s countenance, anger plain upon it. She wasn’t lying. Alisson trusted her.

Alisson’s eyes sharpened. More so than Sidonia.

“Your Opensen.” Alisson began, and Celis looked up to him, her anger subsiding by a substantial margin simply by looking at him. “You unlocking your manifestation must’ve jogged your memory somehow. The memories must’ve been so prevalent in your mind that you had a dream about it.”

Celis nodded, agreeing. The manifestation may have in some way cleared up whatever substance was affecting Celis’s brain, or perhaps had the truth buried deep within it, only now to be shared with her. Over the next couple minutes, Celis explained in detail the events of her vivid dream, and the truth behind the events of that night.

The words that she described Rickard saying about Sidonia…he would’ve wiped them away were they from any other simple heretic, but Alisson knew Rickard. That man wouldn’t speak lightly about such things. In a sense, despite Rickard being labeled a traitor and having done such a despicable thing to Celis, Alisson still trusted his former partner. Thus, he had hard time shoving aside Rickard’s words. It slowly clicked for Alisson.

When Celis was done with her story, Alisson closed his eyes.

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He must’ve had quite the expression, because Celis called out to him warily,

“…Alisson?”

When he opened his eyes, he saw Celis looking at him with both concern and fear, her prior rage nowhere to be found. Alisson frowned deeply, tightening his grip on Celis.

“Do you know what this means?”

He asked, the anger noticeable in the edges of his tone. Celis looked at him questionably, and he continued,

“What your brother said, about purposely sending you on a mission to die…”

He threw an arm out to the surrounding environment with fury in his eyes.

“Does anything seem similar?”

Celis finally understood him, and her expression went blank in realization.

“Eurfrozina was right…” Alisson muttered to himself. “She knew right away…” He locked eyes with Celis. “This whole mission is just an execution!” He suddenly pulled Celis closer. “I don’t care if Sidonia wants you dead – I’ll stay by your side until the very end!”

Alisson said, his voice half rage and half determination.

Alisson couldn’t see Celis’s face as he held her to his chest, staring out at the blue glowing city with a burning flame in his eyes.

“D-doesn’t that…make us traitors too?”

Celis replied, her voice suddenly uncharacteristically shaky.

“If that’s the case, then so be it.” Alisson said with spite. “But we’re not Rickard. What he did to you was irredeemable.”

Alisson suddenly heard a whimper. He pulled back, wondering what it was, only to see Celis staring at him, tears in her eyes, sobbing. She had a wide smile over her face. He was stunned for a moment, and it took him a second to realize what had made her cry. His little declaration.

She held him tightly.

“I guess I…I picked correctly…” She said in-between breathes.

The two of them sat still for a while, each of their chins on each other’s shoulders, letting the prior revelations settle into their minds.

…

I…I can’t believe it…Alisson, he…he chose me over Sidonia…over the mission.

My brother is a traitor. I don’t know whether or not he’s still alive, but he tampered with my memory. For that, he’ll pay.

It was his fault. His heresy, that brought the destruction of my family in some way or another. I don’t know what exactly he did to get on Sidonia’s radar…it could’ve been anything from a full fledged conspiracy to simple off-hand words and thoughts that had hints of disloyalty. Me and Alisson had discussed momentarily, and Alisson threw out an idea about Rickard:

That the sack of my family’s keep was just a way for Rickard to be extracted by fellow conspirators, while faking his death. The reason I was left alive specifically, was to let everyone know back home that Rickard was dead.

The thought made me shiver at first, but after a moment, my hatred for Rickard redoubled. That could very well be a possibility. That scum.

But, Sidonia. My Lady. Me and Alisson’s Lady. She may have been the one responsible, or at least, that had a hand in, the destruction of my keep. On top of that, she tried to kill me with that suicide mission, a mission that was used to try and find out my own brother’s base of operations no less. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if instead we came upon my brother’s base that night. Would he kill us, on behalf of us being agents sent by Sidonia? Or would he have just let us go, our memories a clean slate.

And now, here Alisson has the inclination, rather, the realization, that this whole mission to Freigat, might just be a way to put me into more unnecessary danger, to get rid of me.

It makes more sense the more I remembered all of Alisson’s off-hand gripes with the mission. How it was unnecessarily complicated and to be completed by just the two of us.

…And, me and Alisson went along with it in its entirety, marching along, not giving a single thought to bigger picture.

What Eufrozina said was all true. Sidonia must have some sort of deeper power over us, that compels us to follow her orders and obey her. It’s similar to what my bastard of a brother said too.

By that same thinking, I peered at Alisson, the reason he was so compelled to go into the Deadzone, the reason he was chosen for this mission as well…

I shook my head.

Sidonia wants me dead. Our homeland no longer seems so friendly and welcoming anymore. An eerie veil of ominous intent has now been draped over everything with the adjective of ‘Sidonian’.

Despite that, despite being faced with the possibility of the entire world turned against us, Alisson chose me.

That, well…I couldn’t stop myself from crying. I guess it was my turn. To cry. At least a little. Not compared to how much Alisson has in the past week…jeez, what a crybaby.

I smiled, nuzzling my head into Alisson’s neck.

In some sense of the word, it feels like nothing has changed. My nation, my people, may now very well turn on me merely for what I know and think…and with them the last allies in this world are lost to me.

However, I’ve gained someone special. Someone that may very well be greater in value to everything that I stand to lose.

***