Somewhere, he'd transitioned between falling and resting, between one world and another. First, the smell of the ancient wood of the Grandship, then the painful bright light of the Holy Pillar, then the sound of Agnes's voice. He tilted his head up, and saw Airy just as she began her transformation.

He was back.

He was back in time.

The thought alone gave him a shot of adrenaline, propelling him to his feet. He could feel the weight of his dark armor settled around him: something almost foreign after being gone for so long, but needed now. He walked forward, placing himself in front of the other three, raising his sword. Meeting Airy's eyes, he spoke simply. "Not this time."

"Alternis?!" Edea's voice.

Airy's mutated face scrunched up in disdain. "And just what do you think you can do, dark knight?"

"My name is Alternis Dim, dark knight of Eternia." There was no fear. There was no anger, only the determination to direct the world away from one last tragedy. "The meaning of that name... I'll carve it into your memories for as long as they last."

"You think too highly of yourself, human!" Airy raised her stubby arms, drawing magic together.

"Tiz, Edea," he addressed them in a softer tone, not taking his eyes off of the enemy. "Airy's weakness is fire. You two attack with everything you've got. Agnes and I will back you up."

"Alternis-"

"We don't have time. Please, just trust me on this-" Airy threw her finished spell, assaulting them with ice. "Agnes! Put up a barrier!"

Her hands were shaking like leaves in a storm. Of course, he realized; here, Airy's betrayal had only just happened, raw and ugly. The next spell came, knocking them all off their feet, and he put himself in front of Agnes, shielding her from the brunt of the attack. Blood dribbled down his temple, over the scar from the last battle he had faced Airy in. "Go defensive!" he shouted to Edea and Tiz. Then he pulled Agnes to her feet, giving her a little shake. "I know this is rough for you, Agnes. But you have to think about surviving right now. I won't let you die."

She looked at him with wide eyes, and he couldn't tell if she was terrified of Airy, or possibly of him. "You have to protect Tiz," he told her. "You don't want him to die, do you?"

"Tiz..." Her eyes drifted to the younger man, and that was enough to bring out her vestal's resolve. Airy's next attack was met with a strong barrier, the blizzard splashing off as if it were mere water.

Edea looked at him, but said nothing, instead turning her attention to the enemy. "Let's go, Tiz! We'll make her regret trying to play us!"

"How dare you betray Agnes!" Tiz agreed, and the two moved in unison against the demonic fairy.

"It's always Agnes with you," Airy said, scorn heavy in her voice. "So simpleminded!"

Now, he thought, this was playing out how it was supposed to. Which left him to do his part, a part that he hadn't been able to do before. It had taken a journey to be able to bring out enough strength to avoid the same fate as before. He closed his eyes, and began weaving the circle that would call upon the force that he'd met in the Fire Temple of another world. Even if this wasn't the same Luxendarc, it had to listen.

First, the clanging of a klaxon, then the clattering as it drew closer, its ghostly wheels putting down force in the world as it got closer to its target. The speeding, snake-like creature opened its mouth, and Airy was engulfed in its flame. The sudden exhaustion from calling a creature from the other plane hit him with force, but he held the spell circle as it was, silently steering the snake around to try again. Not yet. He couldn't stop until she was gone.

Over and over, he brought the summon of fire down on Airy, the fire tearing away at her bloblike flesh, continuing even after Tiz and Agnes had fallen to the ground from exhaustion. It was Edea that finally brought her blade down, cracking Airy like the shell of a nut, splitting her down the middle. And then she, too, dropped, unable to strike further. He felt like he would do much the same, every nerve in his body screaming from pain and exhaustion at having kept a higher creature down in their world for so long. But he was more than used to pain and exhaustion.

The shell moved slightly, and Airy, reduced to her original fairy-like form, crawled out, tumbling to the ground. Alive, but clearly in no better shape than the rest of them. The last time he and Airy had fought on the deck of the Grandship, she had gotten away. That mistake wouldn't be made again. "Airy!"

She looked up, terror in her eyes, and he threw his sword, aiming to pin her to the boards of the Grandship. Off by a fraction, it sank into the edge of her wing, and she scrambled for the edge of the Grandship. Whether to escape into the Holy Pillar, or merely live a while longer, he didn't know. But as they watched, the Holy Pillar's light faded into nothingness, returning to an ordinary blue sky and blue ocean. Airy let out a cry as she tumbled over the railing, toward the ocean below.

He didn't have the strength to move his legs to see if she hit the water. But that was okay. This time, he had prevented the worst-case scenario. Edea, Tiz, and Agnes were alive. They would live, hopefully for many years. This time, he hadn't failed them. That was the thought that took him into the tranquility of unconsciousness.

The room was his own, and because of that, it felt completely foreign. Somehow, looking at the stone walls, covered in plain tapestries to ward off some of the Eternia chill, the minimal furnishings, the functional fireplace, all felt like seeing it for the first time. But he'd grown up here, ever since Braev Lee had brought him to Eternia and established the duchy. For the first time in almost two years, Ringabel was actually home.

He didn't remember being brought here, or much of anything after Airy had fled for her life. He was out of his armor, and a few bandages lingered on his arms and torso. It hurt to move, but deciding that movement wouldn't open up the wounds again, he put the pain aside. Someone had started a fire, and left some food and coffee beans on his table, so he set about making himself a cup of coffee. The routine was so familiar, had been done so many times over the years, that he barely had to think about it at all. Eternians did love their coffee. Well, unless you were Edea, who preferred hot chocolate for staving off the ever-present cold. She'd take coffee if it was the only choice, but only with a hefty amount of cream and sugar (something he could never agree with her on). Likewise, Agnes preferred tea, but would accept coffee with a little sugar to take off the bitter edge. And Tiz liked a lot of milk, which wasn't surprising for someone who had grown up around farm animals.

Ringabel came out of his memories with a start. Even during the time when he'd had no memories of who he was, his body had still remembered how to make the perfect cup of coffee. Memories were strange things, he mused as he watched the ever-present snow fall outside his balcony door.

Everything appeared to have been how he had left it... but then again, he hadn't been gone that long in the eyes of this world. Not that he had many things to begin with. The basics of furniture, clothing, his coffee equipment... and his one luxury item, the bookshelf. Most were dry, factual tomes about the world, describing history and geography, discussing strategies of war or theories of magic. But a few were accounts of travelers, telling their stories or sometimes creating completely new stories out of their own heads, containing a magic of human interaction he'd only been able to observe before. His own journals, too, rested on the shelf, chronicling a short and complex life. Braev had been the one to teach him to fight, but it was Mahzer that had taught him to read and write, and encouraged him to control the darkness inside him by putting it all on paper.

Finishing his coffee, he rinsed the cup out, then put on fresh clothing. Without even thinking about it, the dark armor formed over his clothes, taking its usual place, but he left the helmet off. Since he was feeling well enough to walk, he should be well enough to work. A couple of assistants looked up as he entered the hallway, but then busily went back to their own tasks. Edea, he realized. Surely she had been injured, too. Circling around the floor to her door, he knocked firmly, listening.

"Who is it?" Her voice sounded normal, untroubled and unpained.

"It's Alternis."

Some shuffling noises, and then she pulled open her door, looking up at him. The Edea before him was the one that he had grown up with, the one he had always watched as a shadow, the one that was still nineteen. The one whose death was now nothing more than a memory. "Oh... I almost didn't recognize you. I'm glad you're awake."

"May I come in for a moment?"

"Well, aren't we forward," she huffed, pushing the door open further. "Sneaking into a lady's bedchamber."

Instead of being flustered like he might have done before, he only smiled slightly, closing the door behind him. Same old Edea. Same little girl he'd grown up with like a sister. Same, but completely different from the one he'd had to leave behind. Don't think about that. "How are your wounds? Did Datz and Zatz bring us back?"

"Already healed. You're the one that's been asleep for three days," she pointed out. "I was fine after a few hours' nap." Tilting her head, she added, "You know Datz and Zatz?"

"Sort of. What of Tiz and Agnes?"

"Aren't we friendly all of a sudden?" Edea regarded him with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm the one that found Tiz after Norende," Ringabel countered. "I spoke with Agnes during that time, prior to your arrival. They're not complete strangers to me."

"I didn't say they were. You've just got a funny way of showing affection," she said. "They're both fine. Tiz went back to Caldisla to rebuild Norende, and Agnes returned to the Temple of the Wind."

"I see. That's good." So he had succeeded in what he had gone back in time to do. It was one small weight off his shoulders, a guilt that he'd made up for. "Have you reported in to the lord marshal?"

She snorted. "My father hasn't had the time of day for me since I got back."

"Well, he is the only active member of the Council of Six right now. He must be busy."

This got him a scowl and a stomp of her foot. "What, like I haven't been? Um, hello. We just saved the whole world. What's it take to get him to come check on his injured daughter? Forget it. I'm going to go visit Mother. At least she has a good excuse."

Ringabel fell silent, letting her pass, then exited her room without a word. If only she knew how her father had done everything to ensure she had a world still standing for her to grow up in. If only she knew that he'd done that in every world. If only I could tell you.

While she visited her mother, it would be a good time for him to make his report, and so he went to the next elevator, the one that led up to the Council chambers at the very top of the central command's tower. His room, even as simple as it was, still held the elements of the fantastic architecture that had gone into Central Command, the arches and buttresses, the stained glass windows and tall doors. The central Council chamber was a culmination of all of that, and yet it paled in comparison to the sole person sitting at the table, reading some paperwork. Braev's injuries at the hands of his daughter might prevent him from ever wielding a sword again, but it did nothing to tame the fierce charisma he radiated, like an impenetrable storm. "Your injuries have healed, then?" Braev asked before Ringabel could say a word.

To Edea, the words would've sounded brusque and dismissive. But to him, who had learned the hidden thoughts behind Braev's words as Alternis, and as Ringabel had heard those thoughts confirmed in other worlds, they were an affirmation of his homecoming. "Yes, Lord Marshal. I am now ready to return to my duties."

Braev looked up at last, studying Ringabel with the ice-blue eyes he shared with his daughter. "You've... gotten taller."

"I stand taller, now."

"That's not the only thing, is it?"

He knew. Somehow, he knew, had at least a notion of what he'd gone through. Of course he did, Ringabel chided himself. Pretty much nothing got past the lord marshal. The realization caused relief to flood through him, making him happy that he'd been noticed. "Will you... listen to my report?"

Braev gestured for him to take a seat. His seat, the one he used as a member of the Council of Six, to Braev's right. Braev pushed the coffee pot to Ringabel as he sat down. "I'm listening."

Ringabel poured himself a cup, letting it warm his hands. "I'm happy to report that together with your daughter and her companions, we defeated the Evil One. But that isn't what closed the Great Chasm or saved the world. And it isn't what happened the first time."

Brave watched, silent but attentive. Ringabel took a breath to steady himself. "The first time we faced Airy... I wasn't able to protect her. I wasn't able to do anything for her." But I've overcome that now. I've become stronger. "Airy... killed her, and her companions. Somehow, I fell through the Holy Pillar, and landed in another world, with no memory of who I was."

"Another world?"

"A world very similar to this one. Right down to the tragedies that came to pass." Ringabel finally took a sip of the coffee. "I met the Edea of that world, and her companions, and not knowing anything, I came to travel with them. I even fought that world's version of myself. Then, all as part of Airy's plan, we landed in another world, and did the same things again. But it was necessary to stop her... to stop her master, Ouroborus. We fought them... and we won. The sage of that world offered me a chance to go back in time to save your daughter, so I took it. This time, I..."

Braev's hand came to rest on Ringabel's armored shoudler. "You had far more burdens placed on you than I could have ever anticipated," he said, his voice low. "But you also rose above them better than I could have ever hoped. Well done, Alternis. You fulfilled your mission splendidly. I'm very proud of you."

Ringabel felt his eyes sting. There were few words that could have had more impact on him, few words that he craved more. "Thank you... Thank you very much."