A cloaked figure walked up to the castle gates. Fighting back the instinctive urge to slink into the shadows, he directly approached the entrance. Two guards glanced at him before nodding and allowing him passage.

Crevan walked into the castle, which was bustling with messengers running in and out of the building. He easily moved around them and continued on his way.

Once he reached the stairs leading to the dungeon, another knight looked at him before granting him access.

The trek down wasn't nearly as nerve racking as before; it was as if the tension in the air had simply dissipated. Once he reached the bottom he paused to look around. He tensed the moment he saw Gavin, who was sitting inside of the first cell. Seeing the rest of the cells empty still felt satisfying, however, calming him down slightly.

He stepped forward, fidgeting with his hands for a moment. The feeling of being watched was not an easy one to handle, even when he knew that the gazes weren't malicious. It was only the guards, and it was their job to keep watch, after all. As much as Crevan disliked it, he would have to speak with his father with them present. He hesitated before finally walking up to Gavin's cell.

Gavin straightened when he noticed him standing there. His eyes narrowed in suspicion and detestation—well, he definitely remembered that Crevan had helped Vash, a least.

"Why are you here? To mock me?" the former advisor demanded.

Crevan shook his head. He inhaled deeply and then let the breath out, steeling his nerves. By forcing himself to ignore the presence of the guards he felt a simmering disgust well up in him, as well as sadness and disappointment. "No. Did you…did you care about…your family?"

"What?" Gavin questioned, his eyebrow raised in confusion. The seemingly random question had taken him off guard.

"Did you care about your family?" Crevan repeated. This time his tone was stronger, more adamant.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just tell me."

Gavin sat back and crossed his arms. "Fine. I'll humor you. I have nothing left to lose now anyway."

Crevan waited for him to continue, his heartbeat subtly increasing pace with each passing second.

"I did love my wife. That I can assure you." Gavin started.

"But didn't you cause the fire that killed her?" Crevan asked before he could stop himself.

"She wasn't supposed to be there!"Gavin growled with new ferocity. "My son needed to die, but not her. She was supposed to be at a friend's house when the fire started. …I still don't know why she had stayed in that day."

"She didn't leave because she was starting to feel a little ill. She didn't want to pass it on to her friend, so she decided to stay instead." Crevan responded. Although his voice sounded surprisingly calm, inside he felt as terrified as a newly blossomed flower in the middle of a raging storm.

"What? …how would you know?!" Gavin demanded. Crevan must have touched a few nerves on the subject of his mother.

The tempest inside Crevan escalated into a hurricane. This was the moment he had been waiting for, the moment when his father finally realized who he was. Nervous anticipation curled in his gut, unsure of the reaction he would earn. Would Gavin be disappointed? Sad? Angry?

All of the different possibilities almost made Crevan want to turn around and leave without another word.

However, the need to know surpassed all of his doubts.

"Because…I was with her that day." With that barely audible sentence, he slowly pulled down the cloth covering his face and pushed back his hood.

Recognition dawned in Gavin's eyes. He looked at the male before him in disbelief, unable to speak at first. "That…that scar…it looks just like…"

Crevan waited, straining his ears to hear past the pounding of his own heart.

Finally, Gavin sat back again with a strange kind of resignation. "I should have guessed it when they never found your body. I'm sure Lionel had something to do with it somehow. Ah well, nothing I can do about it now." He paused, almost thoughtfully, before continuing. "So, why did you stop me when you knew who I was? Did you pity me because I'm your father?"

Crevan swallowed before responding. Out of all things that he had been expecting, a calm acceptance was not one of them. It stirred sentiments of frustration and sadness within him; after this big of a revelation, that was all he had to say?

Despite the disappointing reaction, it was more telling than any of the others it could have been.

Gavin truly didn't care about him. Deep down, Crevan had figured that that was the case since he had tried to kill him, but there had still been that little spark of hope; a tiny spark that had just been snuffed out by Gavin's cold response.

"I stopped you because I needed to know if you actually cared. Now just about me, but about mother. And as for your other question…no. You may be related to me by blood, but I can never call you father."

Without waiting for a response, Crevan turned around and started walking away. He pulled up his mask to its rightful place and ascended the stairs. Gavin looked after him, too stunned to say anything before he was out of sight.

Each step carried Crevan farther and farther away from the thing that had haunted him for years. The door to the dungeons closed behind him. The sound was final, as final as the door he had closed to his past.

A lone man knelt beside a recently dug grave underneath a shady oak tree. His blonde hair partially hid his face as he gazed down at the soft soil, eyes tinted with sorrow. No tombstone marked the large plot, but in a way it wasn't necessary; the tree watching over it was more than enough.

"I can't stay long, Cinder." Vash spoke quietly, his voice trembling just the slightest at her name. He cleared his throat quietly before continuing. "Well…we did it. We got back Lili and even stopped the advisor. I wish you could have been there to see it."

He paused to think about what he should say next. "King Conrad actually offered to give me a position as a knight, but I refused. I just don't feel comfortable with the idea after all that's happened. Speaking of knights, there were these two guys who helped us get Lili back. Their names are Feliks and Toris. They've gone back to their normal duties, but I heard rumors that they might be getting a promotion soon.

"I'm not a mercenary anymore," he announced, "I haven't really decided what I'm going to do yet. All I know is that I'll be staying with Roderich and Elizaveta at their house until I do decide. Lili will stay with me there too. You know, I…I never thought that I would become friends with them again. I have to admit, it feels…strangely nice, to know that there are people who I can count on."

Vash placed his hand on the soft ground, as if he could reach into the earth and pat her dark gray nose again. "I want to live a peaceful life from now on, although Elizaveta made me promise that we would keep sparring. I wish I could share it would you, too. I'm…I'm so sorry about what happened. You didn't deserve to die like that. I can only hope that you're happy, wherever you are."

He stood up slowly. "I have to go now. The others are waiting for me. I'll visit again Cinder, I promise. …goodbye."

Vash turned away and took a deep breath to compose himself. When he finally managed to force himself to start walking away, it felt like he was leaving a part of himself behind with each step. Cinder had been loyal to him until the very end, and he would be lying to himself if he didn't still feel guilty about that. However, he wasn't going to pretend he didn't either; he was going to embrace it and move forward. She deserved to be remembered, but he knew that she wouldn't want him to stay stuck in the past because of it.

He walked around the house and to the front door, where several people were waiting. Lili, Elizaveta, and Roderich were speaking with Soraya and another man—Vash believed he was named Cierien.

"Please make sure to take good care of Lili—oh, Vash is back." Soraya noticed first.

"We will." Roderich promised. "Well, Vash? Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Vash turned to Soraya and Cierien. "Thank you two for burying Cinder."

"It's the least we could do." Cierien responded.

"I'm sorry that you lost her." Soraya morosely stated.

Vash nodded but didn't reply.

"Mother? Will you be alright here without me?" Lili asked.

"I'll miss you, but I should be fine." She insisted.

"I'll look out for Soraya, don't worry." Cierien said.

Lili nodded. She shared a brief hug with her mother before pulling away and saying goodbye. The group left the house and started walking down the road; the carriage's horses had needed to stop a little further ahead for food and drink.

"It'll be like old times now that we're together again." Elizaveta commented.

Vash shook his head. "No, too much has happened since then. Besides, we have Lili now."

"I agree with Vash." Roderich said. "It can never be exactly like it was. But that doesn't mean we won't be close again."

Elizaveta paused, thinking over their words, before nodding. "You know…I wonder where Crevan is now? We haven't seen him since we left the castle."

"I haven't seen him either." Vash admitted.

"If there's one thing that man knows how to be, it's a mystery." Roderich noted.

"Yeah, but it would be weird if he wasn't mysterious." Lili thoughtfully added.

"True." Elizaveta laughed.

"Whenever he wants to see us he'll know where to find us. He always does." Vash stated.

Everyone agreed as they approached the carriage. After one last glance at the town, they all piled inside. A few minutes later the carriage started to drive them away and toward their new future.

Thanks to all of those who stuck around to read this! It was a seriously cheesy ending, I know, but I couldn't resist. I hope you all don't mind.

I have to admit, I was surprised by how well everyone took to Crevan, an OC character. He originally wasn't supposed to be an important person at all, just a character that would tell Vash about his father's death and then leave, but for some reason he just became so much more as the story went on. Sometimes unexpected things like that just happen, I've noticed.

I can't believe how many reviews this story has gotten. Each review brings me an incredible amount of happiness. They helped me to continue writing and get better as I went on. Thanks so much again!