Reine rented us out two rooms from the young worker at the front desk who really looked like he didn't want to be there, but he seemed a little too happy to see Reine. I watched in irritation from afar as the rest of us waited behind as she awkwardly turned his advances down and accepted two key cards for the rooms. I ended up rooming with Mikasa and Reine while Nathan, Dimitri, Ayette, and Ciana roomed together across the hall from us.

As of now, Mikasa is sitting criss-crossed on one of the maroon and brown beds, examining her haul from Sage's while I'm checking out the room and Reine is taking a shower in the bathroom, steam coming out from underneath the white wooden door and heating the main room.

"Hey, Mikasa..." I start.

"Hm?" she hums as she accidentally clanks a few glass bottles together from out of her tote bag.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead," Mikasa nods thoughtfully as she stays focused on her packages.

"Is it possible that I didn't gain all of my memories back?" I ask.

"Why do you ask?" Mikasa frowns and glances up at me, her blue eyes troubled.

"It's just...I have another sister, but this one's my sister by blood," I start, "and I don't seem to remember her from my childhood. I was born in this realm, but I have no recollection of her whatsoever until I went to the human realm, which makes no sense because she's only two years younger than me."

"It is possible that your memories of her are not there because they are not supposed to be," Mikasa starts slowly, "if other people remember her and you do not, even after my magic, then something is wrong. It's possible that others' memories were tampered with or that something is interfering with the spell I used and blocking her out, but I don't know what could possibly do that."

"So, you're telling me that either it's me or it's not me and you have no idea which one it is or why?" I sigh defeatedly.

"I'm sorry, Gabriel," Mikasa says sadly, "I did all that I could. If it's the case of someone blocking some of your memories from returning, I may be able to help if you figure out the source, but otherwise..."

"Otherwise, I'm stuck. Right?" I sigh once more.

"Yeah..." Mikasa trails off, frowning, "I really am sorry. My magic is supposed to override everything that blocks memories or interferes with them in some way, which is why it works on people even with amnesia or any form of memory loss or blockage. I'm not saying that it was my fault, but if it turns out to be, I'm sorry that I couldn't do more."

"It's not your fault," I smile sadly, "I'm really grateful to you. You've helped me remember so many things I don't think I ever would have on my own. Even if I may be missing some pieces, I've gained so much more back, and for that I want to thank you."

Mikasa smiles back at me just as the bathroom door opens and Reine comes out, ruffling her long lavender locks in a fluffy white towel as she stands there in an army green tank-top and a pair of ripped stonewashed skinny jeans. Mikasa glances between the two of us and slides off of her bed, carefully placing her packages back in the tote bag before making her way across the room and towards the door.

"I'll leave you guys alone for now," Mikasa turns and smiles as her hand rests on the door knob before she opens it gently and closes it behind her.

"So..." I trail off as my eyes flicker back over to Reine.

"Soooo?" Reine muses and goes back into the bathroom to place the towel back on its rack before she emerges again.

"What about this talk of 'us' that we're supposed to have?" I ask.

"Ah, that," Reine grins and makes her way over to me, "yes, I suppose we should get to that."

"And?" I raise my eyebrows.

"And?" Reine's lips twitch playfully as she continues to smile and she playfully shoves a hand at my chest, making me stumble backwards and hit the edge of second bed in the suite.

"I really like you, Reine," I say, my eyes searching hers, "in fact, I really love you. I love the way you smile, the way you look when you're serious, the way you fight, the way you try to hide your pain, the way you love the people close to you deeply and refuse to give them up, the way you hide your worries and how that makes it seem like you don't care as much, but I know that every little thing makes you worry and you feel everyone else's pain, the fact that you're determined, intelligent, beautiful, blunt yet eloquent, caring, and unwavering."

"Gabriel..." Reine breathes out as her lips part in surprise, her breath hitches, and her eyes search mine honestly.

"And..." my lips tug up into a smirk as I grab on to her hips and swirl her around while moving forward in one swift motion, making us fall on to the bed, "I would really love it if you would be my girlfriend. I don't know what the future holds for us, but I know that I most definitely want you in it until the day I die."

"You didn't even have to ask," Reine smiles up at me and giggles as I hover over her, her hair splayed out across the bed covers in a fan as her arms rest by her head, "I love you, Gabriel. I always have."

I continue to smile widely as I pull her into a hug and burrow my face into her shoulder, inhaling the scent of her honey and rose smelling shampoo as it drifts off of her. After a few moments, I move so that I'm lying next to her and she rests her head on my chest while I place an arm around her waist. I grin up at the ceiling as my eyes trace the patterns on the white paint and after a while I begin to drift off to sleep.

***

I wake up in the middle of the night whenever I hear a strange scraping sound coming from across the room and a smell of herbs floats throughout the room. I sit up carefully, making sure not to disturb Reine, who's fast asleep and drooling slightly with her hair splayed out everywhere, and I let my eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. I look over to the other bed to see it empty with the covers pushed aside and I notice a faint light coming from underneath the bathroom door. I slide out of bed and make my way over to the bathroom slowly, gently nudging open the door once I reach it to find Mikasa standing by the sink and grinding herbs together with a pestle and mortar.

"Mikasa?" I whisper.

She jolts slightly and her eyes flicker up to the mirror to see me standing in the doorway and she turns slightly to face me.

"Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?" she whispers back.

"No," I lie so that she doesn't feel bad, "I just couldn't sleep. What're you doing?"

I shut the door softly behind me so that we don't wake up Reine by talking and Mikasa sighs.

"Do you remember me asking you for help looking for Valerian?" she asks and I nod, "well, it's because it's a medicinal herb used for a multitude of things, especially insomnia."

"Wait," I furrow my eyebrows, "you have insomnia?"

"It's...not something I typically share," Mikasa grimaces, "but...yes. I've had it ever since..."

Mikasa clears her throat and places the mortar and pestle down on the counter by the sink and blinks a few times before she meets my gaze and smiles sadly.

"I should...go talk a midnight walk. That might help," she says and goes to leave the bathroom briskly with her head down.

"Mikasa, wait," I grab ahold of her arm and stop her from leaving, "let's make some Valerian tea from that, yeah? You don't have to talk about it, but I want to help you."

Mikasa's eyes flicker from me to the ground for a few seconds before she looks back at me and nods slowly.

"Alright," she swallows thickly and I release her arm.

She goes over and grabs the pestle and mortar before I follow her out of the bathroom quietly and head outside of our room. The lobby has a small little kitchen built in to it, so we're able to use that to make the tea.

"Can I...can I show you something, Gabriel?" Mikasa turns to look at me as she stops putting the ingredients into the silver and pale blue tea pot and her expression seems unsure and vulnerable.

"Of course," I nod, ensuring her that it's alright.

Mikasa gently takes my hands in hers and I'm about to question what she's doing whenever a flash of gold light goes off and reality seems to burn away until I'm standing on a freezing cold mountaintop with Mikasa, snow blowing everywhere.

"Mikasa?" my eyes widen and I look around, "where are we?"

"Just watch..." Mikasa whispers and closes her eyes.

The night sky above us is a dark blue and filled with multiple stars and clouds, the pale moon jutting out from time to time as the clouds move by. The mountaintops are covered in snow and are a pale purple-grey color with a blue tint to them.

"I'm telling you, this place is freezing and I want to go home."

My eyes flicker over to the source of the feminine voice and I notice a girl with black hair walking along a pathway littered with rocks, her arms clutched around herself as she wears a dark grey and white fur-lined jacket with black leggings and knee-high black boots with white fur lining the edges, a weapon strapped across her back.

"Where's your source of adventure, Jin?" a white haired male grins and comes up behind her in a pair of black pants, black boots, and a dark blue jacket with white fur, throwing his arm around her shoulders as he does so.

"My source of adventure lies in the Summer Sector, thank you," Jin shudders from the cold, "but it does kind of have a mystical feel to it here."

"I think it's beautiful," my eyes widen whenever I spot Mikasa walking along with them in a white coat with tan fur over a white winter dress that stops at her knees and a pair of red leggings with white combat boots that go up to her calves.

I glance between the Mikasa in front of me and the Mikasa on the pathway and I realize that this must be right before Jin died and Mikasa is somehow showing me it.

"Hey, where's Khalida?" Mikasa frowns and looks around.

The three of them pause and look around on the mountaintop for their companion. Just then, I spot Khalida trailing up the end of the path. I watch as Khalida runs up behind the others on the pathway, her white wings out and a silver greatsword with silver chains hanging off of it drawn in her right hand. She leaps up in the air and connects her feet to the mountain side before lunging off of it, her sandy ponytail swooshing through the air as she does so and her emerald and gold hanging earrings jangling. She digs her greatsword into the side of the mountain, sending snow and rocks flying everywhere as she slides down before she lands in front of the others and brushes down her silver and white slim fitting dress that's underneath her long white jacket, which compliments her strappy white heels that wind around her legs until her knees.

"You always were one for dramatics," Zen rolls his eyes.

"I was busy taking care of some enemies at our flank," Khalida says, her steady gaze unwavering, "we should keep moving."

The scene before me fades away in golden dust that blows with the wind before a new one forms and we're standing before Coralyinn, Jin, Zen, Khalida, and Mikasa as they battle. Mikasa swings her lasso towards Coralyinn as Khalida flies through the air with her greatsword above her head. Coralyinn captures the end of Mikasa's lasso in her hand and tugs on it roughly before swinging it around, sending Mikasa flying over the edge of the mountain side. Khalida immediately changes paths and flies after Mikasa to save her as Zen charges Coralyinn with Jin.

Zen also wields a greatsword while Jin uses a scythe that doubles as a bow and arrow. Zen shouts and swings rapidly at Coralyinn, who swiftly dodges each swing before she grabs on to the end of Jin's scythe and freezes it solid. Jin gasps and drops the scythe as it freezes and her eyes widen as she rolls to the side and dodges a kick from Coralyinn. Coralyinn swirls around and ends up kicking Zen in the chest instead, sending him flying backwards into a bank of snow. Coralyinn then bends down and strikes forwards as Jin climbs to her feet, sinking her dagger into Jin's midsection.

"Hey!" Khalida shouts angrily with wide and furious eyes as she lands back on the mountain with Mikasa, who gasps and covers her mouth at the sight, "get away from her!"

Khalida flies at Coralyinn and manages to tackle her to the ground and Mikasa runs up to Jin and catches her as she falls backwards. Zen shakes his head disorientedly and his breath hitches upon seeing Jin in Mikasa's arms and the drops of blood forming in the snow. Zen grabs his greatsword from the ground and hurries over to Jin and Mikasa while Khalida struggles against Coralyinn. Khalida manages to swing her weapon against Coralyinn like a baseball bat, making Coralyinn fly into the mountainside, which emits a loud thud and a crash of snow and rocks.

I watch as Khalida looks down at her hands and drops her weapon as her eyes widen and white energy begins to swirl around her forearms. She turns and glances back at Jin and the others to see the light glowing around Jin faintly as Zen frantically brushes back her hair and rocks her back and forth, muttering over and over that she'll be okay as Mikasa starts to cry with blood all over her hands from putting pressure on Jin's wound. Khalida turns back to face the mountain where she hit Coralyinn to before she glances down at the ground and clenches her hands. Khalida throws the others one last glance over her shoulder before she flies up and takes off swiftly.

"Khalida!" Mikasa shouts and her eyes widen.

The scene changes again, the figures blowing away as golden ashes in the wind as a new scene forms, and this time I see Zen standing across from Coralyinn on the mountaintop, the wind blowing his jacket open and ruffling his hair as his once blue eyes burn bright red with anger as he holds his greatsword out. Behind him, Mikasa still sits in the snow with Jin's body and watches with wide, scared eyes as blue flames burn around her brother's feet and rise for several feet into the air.

"You just love to take away the things others love, don't you?" Zen seethes out as Coralyinn stands there, holding her daggers in her hands, "you take, destroy, slaughter, and ruin. And for what purpose? None! There's no purpose but your selfishness! You destroy innocent life for your own greed!"

"It's never all me," Coralyinn shakes her head, "you don't understand, do you? She didn't have to die, but she got in my way. You get in my way and you will no longer stand to exist. You chose to oppose me."

"Stop using sorry excuses," Zen snaps, "of course good would try and defeat evil. That's simply how it goes. We risk our lives for a purpose greater than ourselves. You simply reduce everything to oblivion."

"Then you see that it was her duty to die, don't you?" Coralyinn counters, "isn't that what you were saying?"

"Shut up!" Zen shouts and shakes his head, darkness beginning to swirl around his feet and rise around him, "shut up! shut up! shut up! I will destroy you!"

Zen cries out and clutches the side of his head with his left hand while his grip on his greatsword tightens, making his knuckles paper white as he stumbles slightly. Zen begins to laugh as the darkness completely consumes him and a bright explosion of blue flames erupts from underneath him, swallowing him whole. The flames blow back in the wind to reveal Zen, who now has a blue glowing 00 tattoo on his bicep, which is revealed because his jacket burned away to ashes. Zen's greatsword transforms into twice its size and combusts with blue flames as he laughs wildly and a pair of giant wings made completely out of darkness and shadows that swirl around forms on his back.

"Not if you destroy yourself first," Coralyinn's lips turn up into a smirk, "welcome to your true self, Alcazar."

"Zen...no..." Mikasa whispers frightfully.

Coralyinn and Zen engage in an almost endless battle, constantly matching each other before Coralyinn eventually tries to manipulate Zen's emotions.

"She told you you could bring her back, right? Isn't that why you accepted your demon?" Coralyinn laughs and counters another one of Zen's swings while moving off to the side, "or was it so that you could get vengeance? I hate to break it to you, but you won't be accomplishing either."

"You don't know anything," Zen snaps and swings at her once more, demolishing part of the mountainside instead.

"She lied to you. She deceived you so that you would release her. There's no bringing that pathetic rag-doll of a Valkyrie back and you know it," Coralyinn sneers, "and you're just as pathetic if you actually believed her. And the best part is that you can't do anything about it now. You'll slowly lose your sanity because she'll suck it out of your soul until there's none left."

"That's not true!" Zen shouts, flames bursting around him once again.

"If you truly want your precious Valkyrie back," Coralyinn's eyes flicker to Mikasa and she smiles knowingly, "go after your dear sister."

Zen's eyes widen and as he turns to look at Mikasa, Coralyinn uses the opportunity to run off. Mikasa raises to her feet and slowly steps backwards, staring wide-eyed at her brother as he approaches her.

"The relic...it's the relic," Zen says in faux realization, "Mikasa, give me the relic."

"Zen...no," Mikasa shakes her head and clutches a hand to her chest, "that won't change anything. That won't bring her back. Coralyinn is lying to you, don't you see?"

"Mikasa, the relic," Zen repeats and Mikasa glances over her shoulder as her foot reaches the edge of the mountainside and she almost stumbles off.

Mikasa glances back at her brother before she closes her eyes and a few tears stream down her face and fly into the air as she takes another step backwards and falls off the mountainside.

"Mikasa!" Zen shouts and lunges for her but fails to catch her.

The scene fades away and I find myself back in the kitchen of the inn with Mikasa. I inhale sharply and look down at her to see that she still has her eyes closed and her right hand is clenched tightly. She slowly opens her eyes and we stay like that for a few moments, just silently looking at each other.

"Now you know..." Mikasa breathes out.

"How...how did you survive a fall like that?" I ask.

"I didn't..." Mikasa trails off and turns back to face the teapot, "I died twenty-seven times that night. I just...I kept rewinding until I finally survived the fall...but that didn't stop me from dying on the inside."

"Mikasa, I'm so sorry..." I trail off and pull her into a hug from behind, resting my chin on top of her head, deciding that maybe words aren't what's needed right now.

Maybe, just maybe, a little more is and always will be needed to heal Mikasa's broken heart.