Virion was walking down the halls of the floating castle, his eyes wide and ear perked, and a basket in his right hand. Being the commander of the entire Dicathen military, people often ran to him as soon as anything went wrong. Because of this his mornings usually started with him on edge, as he remained observant of anyone who could be potentially looking for him. It wasn't that he was ducking out of important work, as if something truly required his attention he would drop whatever he was doing to handle it. What he was avoiding were the small tedious issues that came up that even a Captain could handle on their own, but for some reason would often come to him instead.

These issues and many more would come to him throughout the day, wearing the old elf down little by little. However he did find one shred of true peace, morning tea in the forgotten garden that Tess was able to restore.

"Almost there. Ahh, soon I will have my long deserved peace and quiet," Virion thought to himself as he walked down an empty hall. "I was worried I'd have to deal with Blaine and Alduin again when I opened the door, who would have guessed those two would actually ever be on the same page about anything. Damn it Arthur, why did you have to show one of your aether arts in front of everyone. I know it was to try and save your father, but you owe me for all the headaches now."

A grin formed on his face. "I think three great grandchildren should make up for it."

Virion heard armored footsteps and quickly ducked down another hall. He peaked around the corner to see it was only two knights patrolling. Once he was satisfied they were gone he started walking again.

"I wonder how long I'll have to wait for great grandchildren. Seeing how much closer they seem lately it seems Tessia accepted Arthur despite him being reincarnated. I'm happy I got Tessia some more time up here, although I wish it was under better circumstances, I hate that I used Reynolds death as an excuse, but they needed to be able to spend some more time together, and Arthur needed her."

"Commander!" A voice yelled from behind.

"Damn! I need to pay better attention, I can get lost in thought while enjoying my tea."

"What is it?" Virion replied in a frustrated tone as he turned around.

"Sir," the guard paused to catch his breath. "A scythe...in the...courtyard!"

Virion's eyes widened. "Damn it, why are you telling me?! Get to the lances and notify them now!"

"Sir, Generals Wykes and Earthborn have already been notified and are heading there now, but I can't find General Leywin!"

"Have you checked across the hall in his mother and sister's room?"

"Yes, but they haven't seen him since they returned last night."

Virion looked deep in thought, then his eyes opened wide in realization, and he shoved the basket into the knight's arms.

"I think I know where to look. Tell the council to be ready to evacuate!" He ordered as he took off running.

Virion ran as fast as he could until he reached Tess' room. He took a deep breath as he steeled himself for whatever he could possibly see when he entered.

"Arthur are you in here?" He yelled as he swung open the door.

"Whaaa," Arthur shot up from Tess' bed, his chest bare.

"GRANDPA! KNOCK!" Tess shouted, the sheet covering everything below her neck.

A storm of emotions and comments swirled within Virion's head, but he needed to focus, everything else could wait till later.

"Arthur there's a Scythe in the courtyard!"

Immediately Arthur threw the sheets off of himself, revealing he was wearing pants. He dropped his feet into his boots and grabbed his tunic.

"Tess, get to my mom and sister and get them ready to leave. If the castle starts shaking don't hesitate, get them and yourself out of here."

"Will do," Tess replied as she ran to her wardrobe wearing a nightgown. She opened the wardrobe and started pulling out her armor. "Do you still have your matching communication artifact?"

"I do. If you have to evacuate I'll contact you after I've dealt with the scythe to find out where you are."

He then god stepped to her.

"Good luck," He said, then kissed her deeply.

"That's my line," she replied with a smile as they broke the kiss.

Arthur just smiled. "Excuse me, gramps," He said as he ran out the door, contacting Sylvie and Regis as he ran.

"Little one," Viron said as he stepped forward, realizing now that he wasn't sure he was really ready for her to grow up, that much just yet. "Did you two..."

"Seriously, you're asking me this now?! No! Now leave so I can get dressed!"

—————————————————————-

Arthur ran full speed, meeting up with Sylvie and Regis along the way, until they reached the glass door that led to the courtyard. Many knights lined the hall, various weapons and shields in hand as if they expected to fight.

"If a fight breaks out you all better get the hell out of here, and get the council out through the gate," Arthur told them.

They nodded in response. Arthur walked outside to see Bairon and Mica standing by the door.

"Where's the scythe?" Arthur asked.

"There," Bairon said as he gestured towards a tree.

With her back to them as she sat on a bench, Arthur saw her pearl colored hair and back obsidian horns that glistened in the morning sun.

"Seris," Regis said, identifying the intruder.

"She's been asking for Arthur," Mica commented.

"Has she done anything else?"

Mica and Bairon shook their heads.

"Ok then, time to say hello."

With that Sylvie, Regis, and Arthur started walking towards the scythe.

"Good morning Arthur," Seris greeted as Arthur approached.

"Good morning. What brings you here?"

Seris remained silent as she watched the birds flying around the tree.

"I like this spot. It would be lovely for enjoying lunch or an afternoon snack."

"Seris..."

"Have you ever sat here and just looked at the birds? I realized I can relate, we both live within an illusion of freedom. Despite what these birds may want, they can't actually leave this Castle without help. Much like the situation we all live in in Alacrya."

"Why are you here?" Arthur asked again, his tone sounding a little annoyed.

"I came to offer my condolences for your fathers death. Cadell acted on his own and went too far, he deserved what he got."

She then stood up.

"Is that it?"

"For now." She then levitated up into the air. "You've gotten much stronger, so expect to hear again from me soon." She then flew off so fast that it wouldn't be easy for anyone other than Arthur to see which way she went.

"Mica's confused," She said as she walked up.

"You're not the only one," Bairon added from beside her. "What did she want?"

"Assemble the council immediately. I'll explain everything there," Arthur told them as he looked in the direction Seris just flew.

—————————————————————-

In a matter of minutes the council and generals were filing into the council chamber, with Arthur close behind, Sylvie has chosen to return to his family while Regis resided in his core..

"General Leywin, if you'd be so kind as to tell us what's going on?" Blaine asked as he made no effort to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"A scythe came to talk," Arthur replied matter of factly.

Normally Arthur would answer Blaine completely, just so he wouldn't bother him more, but now he found himself giving minimal information.

"Ha, you're starting to sound as immature as grandpa elf," Regis chortled.

"What exactly did she talk about?" Alduin asked.

"She came to offer her condolences, and to make sure I was aware that the other scythe, Cadell, was acting on his own," Arthur replied.

"Of course your future father in law, you give him all the information he wants," Regis commented.

"Hmm, why would she go through the trouble to tell you that?" Merial asked no one in particular.

"That's the more interesting part. She said that Cadell got what he deserved, so that leads me to believe the Scythes aren't exactly a united force. They probably only follow Agrona's orders and that's it," Arthur replied, already knowing this to be true from his previous experience in the other timeline.

"If that's the case maybe we can exploit it somehow," Virion thought out loud.

"I don't think we'll get the chance."

"Why do you say that?" Virion asked.

"That fact that she came just to tell me that leads me to believe she wants to stay on my good side."

"Maybe she's scared since you killed that Cadell. Maybe she's trying to plan her own survival," Blaine suggested.

"No. The way she spoke of Alacrya, how they live with the illusion of freedom, I think more so she has a plan to use me somehow. But that's not what we need to be worried about right now."

"Did she say something more?" Alduin asked.

"It's more about what she did. She came here, to the most secure location on the continent and sat down on a bench."

"If she knows where we are," Virion started as the implication sank in. "Then we have to assume others do too."

"We need to evacuate immediately," Buhnd stated as he stood up from his seat.

"To where?" Blaine asked. "If they found us here then there's nowhere in the continent that's safe."

"Commander, I think it's time we go to the sanctuary," Arthur stated casually.

"Virion, you told him about that?!" Buhnd shouted in a shocked disbelief.

"Wait, what's the sanctuary?" Pricilla asked.

Virion cleared his throat. "The sanctuary is, we believe, an underground abandoned city of the ancient mages."

"What?!" Pretty much everyone who didn't know about it shouted.

"Why weren't we notified about it before now?" Alduin asked.

"Need to know," Buhnd stated flatly.

"Buhnd discovered it near Darv shortly after the war began, and only shared this information with Hester Flamesworth and myself." Virion pulled a white medallion from his dimensional ring. "We found several of these shortly after we found this castle, and with some time we figured out they were essentially a key to enter the city. Since these are required to enter, it makes it even more secure than the castle."

"That doesn't answer why we weren't notified," Blaine said angrily.

"We couldn't risk someone turning traitor and revealing the sanctuary's existence to the Alacryans. The former Darv king and queen were traitors, if we had revealed the sanctuary back then, it would be useless to us now," Buhnd explained.

"It's a long journey to get there. Everyone pack only what you need," Virion stated.

"Actually," Arthur plucked the medallion from Viron's hand. "Pack how you see fit. We can just take the teleportation gate. Plan as if we'll never come back here."

"What the hell boy? We don't even know if there is a gate there," Buhnd replied in a confused frustration.

"These were all made by the ancient mages, so there will be a teleportation gate," Arthur stated.

"Maybe so, but we tried to get there that way before, nothing happened," Buhnd argued.

Arthur smiled. "Just leave it to me, all I need is the artifact." Arthur then looked over to Virion. "We need to bring an appropriate number of guards and support personnel, as well as enough food for everyone. I'd say plan for a week for now until we have a better plan in place."

Virion stared at Arthur as he read his face. He then realized how he knew all of this, why he was so confident with every word. Virion didn't hear everything he told Tess in the garden, but he realized now, Arthur had already lived this.

"Alright. Everyone, be at the teleportation gate in an hour," Virion said, then immediately delegated orders to the guards at the door to notify all needed personnel that would be coming.

—————————————————————-

"Arthur!" Ellie called out as she saw him approaching from down the hall.

Hearing this Alice and Tess came out as well to greet him and figure out what's going on now.

"Sylvie said the scythe left, does that mean we're safe now?" Alice asked.

"Unfortunately no, we still have to leave. We'll be leaving in an hour, so take anything you need or would miss, there's a chance we'll never come back here," Arthur stated.

"We've already done that. I lost most of everything I had when we were attacked," Alice said, trembling a little as she remembered the attack.

"And most of my stuff was still in my trunk, so I just stored it in my ring," Ellie said with a little pride as she held up her hand, showing her ring. "Everything else of mine and moms is in my bag," she said gesturing to her large backpack sitting on the ground by the door to their room.

"Good, I'll carry that for you," Arthur said, and picked up Ellie's bag and stored it in his storage rune, making no effort to hide it.

"How did you do that?" Alice asked in disbelief.

Arthur smiled. "How about we all have a family dinner tonight and I explain everything. I'll even cook."

Alice was surprised by this offer, but wasn't about to turn it down.

"That sounds nice. Is my future daughter-in-law invited too?" She asked, pulling Tess a little closer.

"That's what I meant by all of us," Arthur replied.

"You might not believe it, but Arthur is actually a pretty good cook," Tess told them, a little proud that she was going to be able to enjoy his cooking for the rest of her life.

"Well I'm looking forward to this," Alice replied.

"Just don't get us sick brother," Ellie added.

"Will do," he replied and tousled her hair. "I'm going to pack now, Tess you go do the same. We need to be at the teleportation gate in a little less than an hour.

With that Tess left, and Alice and Ellie followed to help while Boo followed. Arthur entered his room and looked around. Despite everything being his and living in his room for a week upon turning back time, everything looked and felt so unfamiliar to him. He swung open the wardrobe and began pulling clothes out an laying them on the bed, including his white Lance uniform, then stored them all in his rune.

He then noticed his own trunk in the corner and opened it. Inside he saw his old disciplinary committee uniform, and the memories of his one and only year at Xyrus academy rushed back to him. He dug through more and found some other old clothes that didn't fit, then his old Note mask, still having some cracks from when Lucas Wykes attacked him in the dungeon. Then he found a big soft and warm blanket, the mountain elephant fur one Pasta Bloom gave him when they met over his summer break.

He smiled as he remembered the times he used it with Tess in the frozen hell dungeon. With the exception of the blanket none of the stuff in there was useful to him, but he dropped the blanket back in and stored the trunk in his rune. They might not have been useful, but they held many memories that he never wanted to forget.

Feeling he had packed everything Arthur began to walk to the door, but stopped and looked back. He walked to the bed, and stored the whole thing in his rune, as he remembered there weren't any actual beds in the sanctuary. He then quickly slipped into Alice and Ellie's room and stored their beds as well, then walked down the hall to get one last thing he needed before he could leave.

—————————————————————-

The council, Generals, group of a dozen knights, and other various personnel deemed necessary waited in the hall by the teleportation gate. Crates of food were still being delivered on carts for people to push in, regardless of their duty. Curtis, who had been at the castle since escorting Ellie there several days ago, was standing by Grawder while talking with Tess. Since becoming a teacher he hadn't heard as much about his friends in the dungeons, and this was a great opportunity for some first hand information.

The two were talking about Claire and her tsunade behavior towards Theo, when Tess froze mid sentence with her eyes locked on something behind Curtis. He turned and his jaw dropped with his eyes wide. Approaching everyone was Arthur, and Elijah free of any shackles. Tess had known Elijah was alive and well in the castle dungeon, but to see him walking with her own eyes, it was like seeing a friend coming back from the dead.

"Elijah?" Curtis asked as they arrived." It's you right?" He then started poking him in the chest. "Not a ghost?"

"Haha," Elijah laughed sheepishly. "Yeah it's me, I'm alive."

"What are you even doing here? How are you alive? I have a million questions," Curtis started asking as a smile formed on his face.

"Well why don't we start with the first question." Blaine started as he stormed up to Arthur. "What the hell is he doing here? He's supposed to be locked up!"

"Locked up? Father, what are you talking about?"

"That young man is a scythe!" Blaine yelled so everyone could hear.

"Arthur?" Curtis asked, looking for an explanation.

"It's complicated, so we can talk about it later," Arthur replied, then locked his eyes on Blaine. "As for what he's doing here, he's just as much a victim of Alacrya, so he's coming with us."

"Like hell he is! Knights, execute that prisoner and take General Leywin into custody! He's clearly a traitor!"

The knights hesitated. The idea of going toe to toe with a Lance, not sounding like a good idea to them.

"Grrr." Blaine growled in anger. "Bairon, Mica! Arrest him!" He demanded as he looked at them.

Mica scoffed as she shook her head, while Bairon just shook his head. Ever since Arthur captured Nico and turned him back into Elijah, every time they saw him he was cooperative and very docile. To them, and just about everyone there Blaine seemed more so to be having a temper tantrum.

Angry, Blaine held out his hand and pulled out Bairons artifact. "Bairon, I order you to...." He stopped as he saw the artifact suddenly disappear.

Arthur then walked past him, making sure to hit him with his shoulder as he passed, and walked straight to Priscilla.

"I trust you can use this more level headed than your husband," Arthur said as he held the artifact out to her.

No one knew how Arthur got that artifact from Blaine without being seen, but many questioned if this was a good idea. Arthur however was confident in his decision. He knew that the Glayders were only on business terms with one another, only cooperating with one another for appearances, and that Priscilla was more logical than emotional.

"Of course. But I do have the same concerns about him."

"I understand. But if you look at this tactically, it's a wise decision to bring him. If the scythes and retainers attack the castle and he's here, we'll pretty much be handing a powerful mage over to them. And they will break him all over again, and make him our enemy again," Arthur explained.

Priscilla nodded, understanding and agreeing with Arthur's logic.

"Can you guarantee everyone's safety with him?"

"I swear on my life, he will not become a threat to us."

"Very well. I put my trust in you, as we all are."

Arthur smiled as he sighed in relief, then looked to Virion and held out his hand.

"The artifact please."

Virion held out the artifact and placed it in Arthur's hand.

"Thank you," Arthur said, then approached the deactivated gate.

Holding the artifact in his right hand he placed his left hand on the controls. His body glowed with a purple hue as sent aether to both. In seconds the whole gate glowed purple as well, then activated, creating what looked like a shimmering purple pool of water.

Arthur looked back to everyone and smirked triumphantly, as he saw looks of disbelief in the crowd. "Alright, let's go."

While everyone was prepared to leave Sylvie stood beside Blaine and spoke in a low voice that only Blaine could hear. "Just letting you know since Arthur is currently at the integration stage you need at least twenty people as strong as Varay to even stand a chance, so I suggest you think before you act in the future."

She then walked ahead of Blaine and turned around to give him a gentle smile which didn't quite reach her eyes. Blaine's expression stiffened as his face visibly paled.