The meisters climbed up the hill solemnly. Ailee was at the rear of the group, beginning to fall away from them, but Allelujah stopped and waited for her. Marie had volunteered to go back to their base, Ptolemaios, instead of making the journey with them. With their new course of action, Ptolemaios would need a pilot on standby.

"You can go ahead, you know," Ailee mewled pitifully.

"And what good would that do?" Allelujah asked gently. He smiled. "I know the guys aren't feeling too good about what happened, but right now, what we need to do is cooperate. We're meisters, Ailee. We, above all other members of Celestial Being, must put aside our emotions and fight for what we believe in."

"I don't know what to believe in anymore," she whispered, searching his eyes for an answer.

Allelujah sighed. These were things one cannot simply tell another to do, unlike one's laundry. "I can't tell you what to believe, but I'll tell you this right now--I believe you'll find out, and I believe you'll see it through." He began to walk, givng her the room to think, but not really leaving her behind.

Tieria led the group into a covert base of Celestial Being's on the island. Ailee was actually quite shocked to find it quite clean and well-stocked because no one had been there when they arrived. It was, she realized, a place that was regularly occupied for most of the time, though the ones who do stay there don't meet each other regularly.

The team gathered in one of the rooms designed as a briefing room. When they finished discussing what they were going to do, they split up to prepare for different things, most of all Setsuna. He had decided that this place would be good to lay the memories of both Mia and her father as their final resting place. It was quite far from where they originated, but Ailee thought that Setsuna was right--her homeland had been an oppressive place for them, the place of their and slavery. She could not, however, help but feel that he wanted them elsewhere. Krugis, probably, but then again perhaps a land untainted with memories of pain was a truly beautiful final resting place.

As the last breath of the flickering candles died out in a puddle of melted wax, Setsuna closed his eyes. All the meisters had come to help him bury their comerade, but they'd all left hours ago, shuffling back to their tasks as though they had just bid a stranger farewell. Or perhaps, in their eyes, simply bid a friend a good day.

Setsuna rubbed his eyes and stretched. He wanted to stand vigil the whole night, but the others had dissuaded him of it. Instead, he was given the whole day, and now that the sun had set, he needed to get back.

There was nothing more to worry about, of course. Between the three of them, it was he who would still suffer. As grim an idea as it was, he knew nothing in this world could harm them any longer. Besides, there was only the memory of them left, and many of them were hidden away in his heart. He would hold onto them as a source of strength, and as a memory that even a child such as himself had been loved.

He trudged through the trees, the memories of Rau and Mia dancing in his head.

~°~

Ailee plopped onto the bed, tired out from the day's work. She never knew that waiting for any suspicious activities could be as draining, if not more, than actually being there and searching for it.

A sigh escaped her lips as she wished she did not have to deal with these conflicts anymore. Her lonesome thoughts were cut off when she heard the water running. Was it that her thoughts or was it the silence of sleep that took hold of her that was cut off?

A small ray of light seeped through the crack between the door and the floor. She drew the curtains back. A new day was dawning.

She stepped out of the room, almost walking into Setsuna, who was up and about at such an oddly early time. She asked, and he'd just shrugged. This was  his regular waking time.

Not even the emotional strain of yesterday could keep him in bed, huh? Is this what's needed of a real meister? she asked herself. And, the truth was, the answer she received was a soft yet firm, I don't know.

"I'm going out," she said, remembering the beautiful river that she noticed on their way here. Setsuna simply nodded and reminded her to be back before she was missed--and knowing Tieria, that would be when her shift comes by. So, she nodded.

The stream was as wonderful as she'd thought it would be yesterday. Its waters were cool and clean. She removed her shirt and pants, jumping into the waters in her underwear like a make-shift bathing suit.

The cold stung a bit at first, shocking her skin, but as her body adjusted to the temperatures, she began to relax. It was such a wonderful feeling.

As she enjoyed the tranquility offered by the quiet stream, she thought she heard the sound of twigs breaking and the crushing of things underfoot. She submerged herself, leaving her nose, eyes and ears above the water to listen.

She heard the rustles of leaves nearby and pulled a dagger from the pile of clothes she'd left near the bank. She pulled herself out of  the water quietly as it drew nearer. When it emerged through the leaves, she threw her weight against it and held the knife poised above her, ready to strike. Her hand stopped, however, when she recognized the face--Dongwoo.

Eyes wide with recognition and shock, Ailee dropped the knife safely away from both of them. Wearing a similar expression, Dongwoo stuttered, "Ailee?!"

Ailee slid away from him, watching him intently, as if caution at this point in time would erase his memory of seeing her there. When she was sure she would not trip over him, she dashed for the woods, where he followed.

"Ailee!" he called, running after her.

Tieria caught her in mid-motion and pulled out a gun, pointing at the direction she came barrelling through. Dongwoo dashed through the thicket, but stopped abruptly when he saw (and heard the clicking of) the gun. Sensing that Tieria would not take any chances, Ailee pushed his armed hand away, causing him to fire into the trees and tumble to the ground dragging her down with him by accident.

"Ailee!" Dongwoo called again, but when he finally got closer to where they had fallen, they were out of sight.

~°~

Ailee walked towards the stream once more after a long day trapped within the suffocating confines of their base and more than an earful's worth of Tieria's harsh words.

She sighed. What the hell is Dongwoo doing here? She kicked a pebble out of the way as she walked to where she had left--and hopefully can come back to--her things. Fortunately, they were still there. Unfortunately, there was a familiar figure sitting beside a neatly made pile of  her things--her clothes and her knife.

He must have heard her footsteps, because he turned towards her just as she cleared the bushes.

"Hey. I thought I'd catch you again if I just waited," he said with a wide smile.

Ailee smiled back tentatively.

"Everything okay?" he asked, patting the ground beside him, asking her to sit by him.

"Not really," she replied.

"Was that your brother?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Brother's good friend."

"He must have been a pretty good shot for you to have acted that way," he commented, blushing at the memory of seeing her half- this morning.

She raised a brow but did not really put much thought into it. If he would let it go, then she'd let it go as well. It was better than having found out the hard way that her boyfriend was a ert.

"So what are you doing here?" he asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. But it wasn't quite possible, since there was hardly anywhere anything as normal as the club.

"On a little trip with my brother and his friends," she replied, half-lying.

"I see," he hummed. "So how's the trip coming along?"

"Fair enough," she replied with a shrug.

He gave her a side-long glance. "Doesn't sound so fun."

"Trekking isn't my thing, Dongwoo. I didn't find what we had to do for pretty much the whole day fun, so it's just good enough," she replied with a laugh.

He laughed. "Makes sense."

"Are the guys here, too?" she asked.

"Pretty much everyone," he replied. "Well, originally except you, Setsuna and Mia. But technically you're here, so," he said, then finished of the sentence with a shrug.

She smiled. "I hope you have a fun time even without me."

"It's manageable. Do you want to join us for dinner?" he asked. "Woohyun's cooking something up."

"Can't. I have a feeling my brother wants to do something like stargazing after dinner. Speaking of dinner, I need to get back soon," she said, looking at the sky. "It's getting dark."

"Want me to walk you?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I can manage." She gave him one more smile and a soft thank you when he handed her the things she'd left hours ago.

Ailee stepped through the threshold of their base, her things tucked close to her chest, when she heard Allelujah say, "You're late." She froze on the spot, dropped her head low and muttered, "I'm sorry."

"Just kidding. You missed dinner with the team, though," he said. "We left your share on the table. Come on."

Allelujah led her to the kitchen, where he stuffed the plate of food into the microwave for a bit before handing her the plate full of steaming food. "Eat up."

"Who made this?" she asked.

"I did," he replied with a smile. "Like it?"

"You're a good cook," she commented.

"Thanks.  You sometimes need to be when you live  with the other meisters. You  might starve," he replied, causing both of them to start laughing. When their laughter died down, he said, "Sumeragi thinks that it's best if we inform the school that Mia's gone and that Setsuna's never  coming  back  soon."

Ailee stopped eating. "Why?"

"Is that  a legitimate question?"  he asked. She nodded. "You can't keep up the act that she's just with her Dad forever, Ailee. There's no way we can pretend that she's alive, you know. She's not an Innovade like Tieria--we can't upload her consciousness to a system like Veda."

"But-"

"Are you trying to pretend that nothing's happened, Ailee?" he asked gently.

"I'm wishing nothing happened," she replied quietly.

They  both heard a scoff come from the direction of the door,  and they saw Tieria standing there with a disgusted expression on his face. "Do you think you can continue to pretend?" he asked. "Someone's dead because of you--you can't just write that off as a mistake. Do something about it."

"Tieria..." Allelujah muttered.

"I can't pretend it didn't happen like you can, or like Setsuna can," he said. "There are so many things that we can and cannot do, just like there are many things that we must and must not do. Pretending  that someone's okay with the decisions I've made with my life when it obviously isn't isn't something I can do. Not doing anything about it is something that I mustn't do."

"What do you want me to do?" Ailee asked. "Bring her back to life?"

"Are you daft?" Setsuna asked. "You can't bring her back to life even if you had all the resources in the world--it's one of those constant things that's remained with us from the beginning of time. But what you can do is make amends. Mia told you everything that you needed to do; do it."

"What, saunter over to North Korea and declare the war against South Korea non-existent?" she asked.

"That's not going to change anything," Allelujah said.

"What, then?"

"Make your move," he said, pronouncing each syllable as clearly as possible. "You have cards dealt to you, Ailee. Use them. We're all together for a reason. I hope you make yours count." And with those words, he stalked off again.

"Good thing that wasn't Lockon," Allelujah muttered.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Everyone knows about Tieria's sharp tongue," he said. "But words with experiences and real pains are a lot more hurtful to hear than objective ones. It's a simple truth."

Ailee looked away, losing her appetite. "Why does everyone keep doing this to me?"

"Because we're all meisters," he said softly. "Our decisions affect the whole organization, and the organization affects the whole world. If one of us can't think straight...do you think we can force the world onto the right path again? All we have are swords. If our resolve to wield them wavers, won't we hit the wrong people?"

She kept silent, absorbing his words.

"You have something you might be able to go back to, Ailee. You can, if you want. We can always go back to the four-pilots routine. It's not a problem. But if you choose to stay, won't you rather make it worth your loss?" he asked. "We're in the battlefield. Whatever attachments with the people around us that we have...we could easily lose it within a blink of an eye. And staying would mean keeping yourself in the way of all the hurt and sorrow. I don't think you can live like that.

"Can you...?"

The question hung in the air, unanswered, but not forgotten. Never forgotten.