"Long time no see, Fei." A man in black cloak voiced out. He was standing in front of Fei. Fei stared at him. He coudn't see his face nor could he see his lips moving as he spoke.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Fei demanded.

"Am I not here, standing in front of you? Why ask such an insignificant question?" The man replied coldly.

Fei tried to move but his entire body refused to his will. All he can do was stand there in front of the man, trying desperately to make out his face. The man chuckled, but his voice was even colder than before.

"What do you want from me?" Fei finally asked.

"I see that you are learning." The man replied.

"DAMN IT! Tell me what you want?" Fei snapped angrily.

"There's no need to be angry, young man. You may have defeated me but you can never get rid of me." He said seriously.

"You? Defeated you? What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?" Fei demanded.

"You think that it's over, now that I've fallen? You think you can have her? HA! You are quite mistaken. You and your foolish comrades are going to pay." The man started.

"What a the hell are you talking about?" Fei asked. He could feel his heat pounding deeper.

"You can never have her, Fei! Not while I'm still around. What's mine is mine!" The man exclaimed loudly."I shall claim what is rightfully mine and there's no one in this world who can stop me!" He said.

Fei felt his anger rising over his words. This man was speaking of Elly! His Elly!

"You can never have her! I won't let you! I'm going to stop you!" Fei exclaimed angrily.

The man looked down on Fei, silently mocking him with his stare.

"Oh really? Tell me, how are you supposed to do that? How can you actually save her Fei? When the fact that being together with her would only cause her death!" The man told him.

Fei was shocked upon hearing his words. "W-What do you mean?"

The man laughed. "She is mine and mine alone. Nobody can take her away from me. And if I cannot have her, then, nobody else will!" He said.

"The only way for you to save her, is to let go of her." He added.

"LIAR!" Fei exclaimed.

"I do not lie. Remember this: DEUS WILL RISE ONCE AGAIN!"

******

"Fei? Fei? FEI?" Elly called out.

Fei suddenly came back to his senses. He looked at his surroundings and suddenly noticed that he was in the dining hall with Elly, Citan, Margie, Bart, Maison, Emeralda, and Sigurd.

"W-WHat?" He nervously said.

Everybody in the hall were silently staring at him.

"Are you okay?" Elly asked, her voice filled with concern.

"Huh? Y-Yes!" He replied sheepishly.

"Really Fei, don't you think it's still too early for you to be daydreaming of Elly?" Bart teased as he sipped a tea from his cup.

Elly blushed from his remark. Fei on the other hand, was dumbfounded.

"N-NO! I wasn't...."

Bart started laughing hysterically. "Yeah, right!" Bart laughed uncontrollably. The others too, except for Fei, Elly and Sigurd, started to chuckle.

"Oh Fei, can;t you take a joke?" Bart continued.

Suddenly, Sigurd pulled Bart's left ear. "I think you've had your fun! Now, finish your meal!" Sigurd told him.

"OUCH! HEY! Stop that! I was only joking! HEY! OW! You're embarrassing me!" Bart complained.

The others laughed at his remark.

"We haven't had this much fun, have we?" Citan pointed out. Fei nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, ever since...." Fei stopped in midsentence and suddenly remembered the dream he just had.

"Ever since when?" Citan asked.

"Huh? Ah, nothing." Fei lied.

Citan silently stared at his young friend. He knew something was bothering Fei, but what? He then glanced at Elly who was sitting beside Fei. He realized that Elly, too, must have noticed. Instead of insisting Fei, Citan suddenly dropped the subject.

"Anyway, before I forget, I received information from Billy a while ago. He told me that he found several mutating humans in a village ruin near the Ethos H.Q. He's going to bring them here for medications. And I have to get back to Kislev to deliver some medical supplies from Rico and his people."

"Would you like to escort you to Kislev, Doctor Uzuki?" Old Maison inquired generously.

"No, I'll be fine with Fenrir." Citan politely refused.

"No, I insist. We'll be heading back to Aveh tomorrow morning, so we'll just drop you off at Kislev before we return. And I haven't seen the big guy for quite a few months now. " Bart said.

"Well, if you insist." Citan smiled.

"How are things here in Nisan, Marguerite?" Sigurd asked.

"Still the same. We've received a lot of patients though. And since the rumors spread out like wildfire, a lot of people have been coming in here. We can't concentrate on our work because of them." Margie replied with a sigh.

"Rumors?"

Margie glanced at Elly and then at Fei.

"Well, people believed that Elly is actually Mother Sophia reborn." Fei replied.

"Not that we blame them." Margie added. "It gives them hope."

"Yes. People come, see Elly. They happy just see her." Emeralda added.

"Well, what can you say about it, Elhaym?" Citan inquired curiously.

Elly silently raised her head and glanced at Citan. "What about?" She asked absent-mindedly.

"Hellllooooo? Earth to Elly! Lemme guess, daydreaming of Fei?" Bart started again.

Elly sighed and shook her head. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a little tired." Elly replied softly.

"You should try to relax, Elly. You've been very hectic lately." Margie told her, her voice filled with concern.

"I know, but, the way things have been lately, I just couldn't turn my backs on these people. Not when they need us." Elly reasoned.

"That is quite correct, but you should also take care of yourself. The way you're exhausting yourself these days is unbelievable. You might get sick. Let the others do their job." Citan told her.

"...I guess you're right. If you'll excuse me, I have things to attend to." Elly informed them and stood up. She patted Fei's shoulder and hurriedly went out of the hall.

"Didn't she heard what we've just said?" Bart said in disbelief.

"She can be very stubborn at time." Citan added.

"Wee, what about you Fei? Is it okay for you to have Elly running around like this?" Sigurd asked.

"......"

"Well?"

"I... I don't know." Fei replied silently. "Excuse me." He said as he stood up and left the room.

"Whoah! That was weird!" Bart exclaimed.

******

Fei huriedly went out in search of Elly, only to discover that she had already left.

"Boy, she does walks fast nowadays." Fei though to himself.

He still couldn't get the dreams off his mind. For weeks, he have had the same dreams. And it gets worse day by day. "Who was that guy? And why is he intent on breaking up Elly and me?" He asked himself. Fei walked through the halls thinking of his dreams and finding no answers for it.

"DAMN!" He cursed desperately.

******

Elly hurriedly went to where the mutating humans were rehabilitated- in the western hall of the cathedral. For some reason, she doesn't want to confront Fei. She knew something was bothering him. For weeks, she noticed how Fei was acting strangely. She tried asking him once, but he shrugged it off. Since then, she tried to avoid any conversation about it, pretending not to worry, although deep inside her, it was killing her.

Upon entering the hall, she saw a woman dressed in white labcoat, treating one of the Wels. She recognized her instantly and with no hesitation, approached them.

"Doctor, it's been a long time. I'm surprised to see you here." Elly greeted sincerely.

The doctor glanced at her and nodded.

"The last time we met was two years ago, right? At Kislev. Back then, you were running away from your pursuers." The doctor responded.

"Yes. But, might I ask, what brings you here? Not that it is not appreciated." Elly asked curiously.

"As you can see, several people are suffering. I realized that I'm much needed here than in Kislev at the moment. I'm a doctor, I can't stand seeing people like this. I have to do something." The doctor told her.

"Thank you, doctor." Elly replied.

"No, thank you. Have you seen these people lately? Have you looked into their eyes? Everytime they see you, treated by you, there's this glow in their eyes. A sparkle of hope. And it is you who give it to them. Your presence alone does a lot of things for these people. You've done so much for them and I haven't met anyone in my entire life who is so devoted to the people as you are."

Elly stood there speechless. All she can do was nod. "...I just couldn't leave them behind."

Their conversation was interrupted by Vance, one of Elly's troops when she was still a commanding officer of Gebler.

"Hey, boss! Got a minute?" Vance asked casually.

Elly turned towards the doctor and politely excused herself. With that she and Vance walked towards the end of the hall.

"What's up? Where are your friends?" Elly asked softly.

"Renk and Stratski are with Billy, helping out in finding more Wels while the others are delivering supplies in other cities." Vance explained to her.

"Oh, I see! So, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Well, maybe you'd like to take a vacation or something? I've noticed how hard you're working these days and since I don't have a lot of stuff to do right now, I'd like to take your place for a while." Vance informed her.

"Really?"

"Seriously, the guys and I have been talking about it and well, y'know, to make up for those nasty things we've done to you in the past."

"You don't have to, I'm happy here." Elly refused politely.

"But, at least have someone to help you out!" Vance protested.

"I'm okay, really!" "Anyway, thanks for asking."

Elly gave Vance a kiss on the cheek and left.

Vance shook his head and sighed.

"I give up! She's just too stubborn!"

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