Finally, it seems we have a solid foundation after our meeting concluded! With this, everyone's roles were as such - Meil would send a letter to his buddies before going out to search for one of the Three Presidents, Max and Aaron would be briefly returning back to Great Hiana to bring all of ARA to our aid, Jorgen and Pierre would stay back in the base to continue training all of our current soldiers, which leaves Cecily and I the duty of carrying Grim's casket all the way to Lichtenstelle before seeking an audience with King Adam. Quite the plan, right? Right now, Cecily and I are making the final preparations for our trip, although I'm already done with my packing.

"Hey, you doing alright?" I asked just in case.

"Mn? Oh, yeah." She hastily brushed off my worries with a short answer before continuing staring at an imaginary dot in space.

"You don't look alright, though." I walked around to not have her back facing me, "Hey, my legs are feeling sore."

"No duh, you've been training non-stop." She joked.

"Huh? Oh, not that!" I elaborated on my sentence, "I meant to say I could go for a walk. I was trying to ask you if you wanted to join me."

"Really? Then you should've just said so from the beginning." She sighed, "I'm not used to people being all coy around me. Well, since Lune would always just say what's on his mind, I guess I just got used to that, ha-ha..."

Grim's been on her mind ever since I broke the news to her. Obviously, she's suffering quite a bit, but I really don't know what to do in this situation. Alright Ed, put yourself in her shoes - How would I want to be treated if I lost Anna...

If I lost Anna, man would I be devastated. What would most probably happen would be that I'd just lock myself in my room and wouldn't ever get out of bed all day. That being said, I'm sure Cecily wants to do the same, but since she holds a pretty important role in the war right now, she really has no other choice but to suck it up and to keep pressing on. Really, if I was in such a situation, I'd most probably want...

"Wuh-Hey! What the hell are you doing!?" She punched me after I tried consoling her.

"Ow! I just wanted to hug you dammit!"

"Geez, what the hell is going through your mind right now?" She frowned, "What the hell, Ed! What would Anna say?!"

"I didn't mean it in a weird way, idiot!" I turned back to continue helping her pack, albeit feeling a bit dejected, "Sheesh, I just wanted to cheer you up, if even a little bit. Sorry, okay?"

"...No." She scratched her cheek, "I'm the one that's sorry. I'm just, y'know, my head's all over the place. You tried reaching out to help and I didn't appreciate that."

"What's this?" I chuckled, "You want a hug after all?"

"Yeah." She said with a soft, melancholic tone, "I think it'll help."

Softly embracing her, I immediately felt a familiar warmth. I hugged Anna countless times, but this one was something else entirely. Right now, hugging Cecily felt the same as hugging my own sister. I wonder, does she see a bit of Carter in me as well? Oh, what's this? She's weeping. It's a bit subdued, and I'm pretty sure she's still trying to put on her tough gal act, but that defeats the purpose of the hug.

"Hey now." I embraced her a bit tighter, "I'm not Jorgen, nor am I anyone else you need to act all tough over. I'm just your husband's best friend, and you can treat me as such. So please, out of all the people we've loved, I think I'm the only shoulder left you can cry on."

The more of my words she heard, the more I could feel her strongly clenching my back. She was suffering, it was obvious to anyone, but I don't think even she knew just how much losing Grim meant to her. Maybe it's because she's been hiding it from everyone, or maybe it's because so much stuff is happening that she didn't have any time to let out a good wail, but right now, I think this is fine.

"Waaahhh!!!" She cried out, "Why!?! Why did he have to go, Ed? Why!?"

"I know, I know..." I was now the one driven to tears as well, "He just... I know..."

Crying together as the only two people left in our little friend group, I could only look to her help when it came to thinking about Grim. Carter, when he died, I wasn't even there, but I still cried and cried for days on end. But for Grim, it was different. When we were kids, I played all sorts of games with him, I saw him grow and mature. He made countless mistakes, but none of which deserved such a harsh fate. Looking back, I was there to witness his death. He stared me in the Eyes, and with that same carefree tone he whispered to let him rest for just a bit more before...

"Uuu..."

"Sniffle, you crying too now?" She tried joking, only for me to hug her tighter so she doesn't see my weeping face, "I-I... Sorry. You lost someone important as well. Cry all you want."

Our pity party was definitely a sore one to have to confront, but seeing as we'll be spending the next couple of weeks traveling to Lichtenstelle, I couldn't help but feel we needed to do this. It helped clear up a lot of things in my mind, and even though I'm not actively reading her mind with Analyze, I can still feel that the weight off her chest has been lifted, at least by some miniscule amount. Of course, I don't think either of us will ever get used to not having Grim around when we need him, but who knows? I thought the same for when Carter died, and now I can only feel nostalgic when I think of the days before his passing. Will the same ever be said for Grim as well?

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***

"Wah, waah~!" Cene suddenly piped up in his cradle.

"Alright, alright, mommy's here." Cecily disengaged the hug to go put a stop to his sobbing, "Crap, Ed we have a huge problem."

"What's the issue?" I peeked over her shoulder only to feel the absolute horror of a thousand gusts of inhumane scent hitting me square in the face, "Eugh, yuck! What the...! Did he..!?"

"Looks like I'm gonna need to change his diapers again." She sighed, albeit with a light chuckle, "Y'know, this sort of reminds me of Nelly back when she was little."

"Now that I think about it, while you two were living with us in Secundis, I had to be put on diaper duty a lot of times." I laughed a little as I went to fetch her the clean diapers.

"You did?" She tilted her head, "Wasn't that Anna's job?"

"Oh pish! Anna couldn't change a baby's diaper even if it meant saving the world!" I complained, "She's a good housewife, but she really doesn't know how to take care of a child. She always told me to do it in her stead."

"Really now? And to think she would often brag about always doing such a good job with Nelly... I might have to rethink my opinion of her."

Anna was like this? That girl, just how many other lies have been told by her? Man, this is why I have trust issues! So wait, is that why Cecily always used to tell me to do all the housework on top of being on diaper duty? Dammit, Anna!

"Humu, just kidding." Cecily finally giggled, "In truth, Anna would always brag about her amazing boyfriend being the one to help her when she couldn't do some things."

"Eh? That's mean, Cecily... I almost started cussing my fiancée out, y'know?"

"That's no good!" She reached up on her tippy toes to grab me by the ear, although despite our size difference it still hurt like hell, "You mustn't think that way of her, she's a real angel!"

"Ow, ow! I know, so stop pulling already!" I had her let go as I rubbed the soreness away, "But really, it's good that Cene is this energetic. If I recall correctly, you and Grim were practically buzzing around Nelly for being so calm and quiet twenty four seven."

"Yeah, I guess I learned to tone it down over the years..." She looked down at him as she changed his diapers, "Really, I was most looking forward to doing this with Lune. Just... day to day stuff like changing Cene's diapers and teaching him how amazing this world is."

"..."

"Tell me, Ed, this is the second child that man has abandoned, although he probably didn't want that to happen on both cases. I constantly have to ask myself if I'm doing alright with Nelly, but now I'll have to teach Cene as well. Am I really qualified?"

"Mn... It's not really the second child." I recalled, "From what he told me, Cene's probably the third or maybe even fourth child."

Now highly distressed, Cecily looked at me with Eyes that only a woman who feared her husband had yet again somehow cheated on her could have. Damn, I didn't mean it like that, I... Ugh, now I gotta elaborate.

"I-I meant his and Marina's kid!" I reassured her, "He made it crystal clear he didn't have any feelings for anyone else besides you two! I was just talking about the possibility of them having twins!"

"Eh?" She now tilted her head in utter confusion, "Twins?"

Yeah, I know it makes no sense, but I'm inclined to believe in Grim's last words. Back then, at the battlefield immediately after he got shot, he mentioned something about twins. If, and I'm placing a huge emphasis on the "if" here, but IF he saw Marina and his kid(s) whilst looking up at the heavens, I'm inclined to believe that he is now with them. Yeah, I just wanted to say that to comfort Cecily, but witnessing her reaction just now, it might not be a good idea to tell her he's up there with his ex. Knowing Cecily, I wouldn't want to be the root cause of her suicide or something like that...

"Sigh, Ed, you're really bad at trying to comfort me." She rolled her Eyes.

"What? But, uhh, sorry..." I then realized, "Huh, why are you smiling then?"

"Pfft! Why am I smiling, he asks!" She chuckled, "Because I now know that I'm not alone in this. Lune might have departed to be with that girl and their children in heaven, as you say, but I can at least rest easy in knowing I have you to help as a sort of wall to echo my thoughts off of."

"A wall? I, uhh, your welcome?" I shrugged after accepting the odd compliment, "That being said, I wanted to ask this one more thing - Would you like to maybe live with Anna, Arthur and I once everything here is settled?"

"Hm? Where'd that come from?"

"Well, I've been thinking about it for a long time now, and you really can't handle taking care of both Nelly and Cene all by yourself. I mean, we've both seen that living together, we can all make it work, so what do you say?"

"I-I..." She stuttered, "Well, if you and the others wouldn't mind, I'd love to."

"Great!" I went to give her another hug, "Yep, just like Eleanor!"

Confused as she was, she still went to return the favor. With this, we settled all of our worries, but it was a long way's away before we could solve all of our problems as well. Even still, we were steadily inching closer to our goal, but before anything, we needed go get to our destination - Lichtenstelle!