The younger Lewis glared at Simone, but the real Lewis knelt down. “Just ease the pressure here, and put a bandage there. That’s all you need to do to finish.” He watched her follow his instructions, and when she tied off the bandage, she smiled.

Lewis stood up, “Now…we just have to wait for Llywellyn to kill Alvaro, and we’re good. You can be free.” He looked between the younger Simone and Lewis, and frowned. “But I wonder if it’s really that easy…”

Xeik shrugged, “Maybe. You definitely saved Simone. AIf it weren’t for you, she’d be in the lake by now. I’d say that’s a win.” And yet, they were both still there.

“Maybe…there’s more?” Lewis asked aloud.

“More what,” the younger Lewis snapped. “Gods, just let me go already. I’m not gonna kill the brat anymore. Hell, I’m probably hopping on the next ship to Parvpora after this. I don’t want anything to do with this crazy girl or the fucking Queen after her.”

That interaction alone made Xeik and the real Lewis look at each other. “We have to-” Lewis started.

“-fix the timeline,” Xeik finished with a smile. He looked at the two. They didn’t need to say anything else between the two to understand what they needed to do. “Say…Lewis,” he said, looking at the younger boy. “Let’s go for a walk. I need to talk to you about something…”

Without giving him an option, Xeik more or less dragged the young Lewis off, leaving the real Lewis and the younger Simone together.

“Simone…it’s hard to explain, but that kid…he’s got a lot of problems. He doesn’t know what to do with himself…he’s lost. It may not look like it, but he’s…broken.” Lewis sighed. “But in there is someone who has the potential to love. Even if you think of yourself as broken…he’ll do it. All you two need is that spark…a chance to understand each other…”

Lewis held out his hand, “My Simone and I…we have a powerful bond. Take my hand, and I can show you the strength of it…”

Simone nodded as she listened to the real Lewis’s instructions. “I did it! Do you feel better?” She pushed her hair behind her ear in a way that was signifying that she was proud of herself.

Then she frowned when the younger Lewis started to snap. She was really going to marry this guy? Simone watched as Xeik took the younger Lewis away.

“A spark? Like fireworks?” She tilted her head at the older Lewis and took his hand as he held it out. “What kind of bond?” Once she took his hand she saw a bunch of memories pass through her. A lot of them stood out. Their wedding. Their other wedding. Each of the kids they got.

”Lewis, come here you are going to miss it!” Simone yelled.

“FUCK I CAN’T MISS THIS,” Lewis ran into the room and knelt down as Lila got stubborn. She looked up at Lewis. “Come on. You know you want to come over here to me you little deviant.”

“Give her a moment…” Simone smirked. Lila let out a squeal as she started to tot over to Lewis. Lewis caught her and threw her up in the air where there were lots more squeals.

“I’m so proud of you Lila! Janus will be next!” Lewis snuggled the toddler. Janus let out a grunt as he took his spot on Simone and snuggled him. “Hopefully…” Lewis got a cheeky smile on his face.

“That’s… our babies?” Simone looked at him. “I look so happy… I can be happy with you? Have babies?”

There was a spark in her eyes as she ran over to the younger Lewis who had flowers in his hand. Immediately, she dove into his arms. “Stay. Even… If you are a big bucket of grumps now… Stay.”

The younger Lewis had returned from his talk with Xeik. The real Lewis gave a questioning look to the healer, who merely smirked and gave a thumbs up.

The younger Lewis had a bunch of random wildflowers in his hand, and a grumpy look on his face, as though he were being forced to do this. Still, he marched forward, and shoved the flowers at her. “Here.” The response he got made no sense to him, though, and when Simone dove into his arms, his face turned a bright red.

“W-w-w-w-what the hell are you doing Simone!?” Despite his words, he didn’t try to fight it too hard. She was happy, and that was what mattered.

“He might be grumpy now, but I promise he’ll grow into it…” Xeik said as he walked up. “After all, I know you better than you know yourself. At least…the younger you.”

Lewis crossed his arms. “Well, it looks like this is-” The world seemed to shake for a moment, and the ground beneath Lewis and Xeik gave away. There were sounds all around of a happy Simone, and a grumpy Lewis, almost as if their life were flashing ahead. Soon, the sounds changed, and there were happier tones of Lewis and Simone. Shortly after, the sounds of babies cried in the air.

And then nothing.

When Lewis woke up, once more they were at the edge of the Virens. But something was wrong. Terribly wrong. And…terribly familiar. He looked around, and as Xeik came to, nudged his friend. “Put your hands up, Xeik,” he said as he slowly raised his hands. It took Xeik a moment to realize what was happening…

They were surrounded by several elves, all with bows trained on the two.

“It looks like we have ourselves a couple of trespassers…”

“Just great,” Lewis said with a sigh.

The elves had bows on them. They were led into the gates of Sulwal castle. There on the thrones sat Llywellyn Celestia and next to him was a daydreaming Simone. She looked depressed almost but older in a way. “Simone? Do you need to go back to our room again?” Llywellyn looked at her with concern.

Simone nodded as she stood up. A little girl ran past the prisoners and ran to Simone. “Mommy, you don’t look so good.” Simone hugged her and smiled.

“Come on, Daddy is busy.” Simone looked so tired and just out of it as she lifted the little girl up. “You need to be more careful Llynette… What if these people hurt you? Hmmm?” She watched Llynette with lots of love but still, she looked so tired.

Llywellyn watched his wife and frowned before turning his attention to the prisoners. “You were caught trespassing on my land. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t send you to the dungeons.”

It took everything Lewis had not to run up to Simone the moment he saw her, but he knew how the world worked. This wasn’t his Simone…what was worse, was the gut punch of the realization that this Simone was with Llywellyn. It hit him hard, but he remembered that his own Simone had chosen him, and nothing could ever change that in his reality.

Things were just different here.

Lewis was about to speak, but Xeik stepped forward. It was a gamble, but the Divine Mender had a plan.

“Lord Llywellwn Celestia,” Xeik said with a quick bow. “My name is Xeik Eraphim. I am but a humble healer who has been blessed by the Gods. I heard a rumor, a tale of sorts, of your Queen. It is known that she is in bad health…” There were ruffles in the guards, and one of them inched forward, as if trying to threaten Xeik at the heresy that he had spoken.

Llywellyn raised his hand, stopping the archers. “Speak.”

Xeik smiled, “I would offer my services, though I make no promises that I can heal her fully…but I can improve her quality of life, if you let me.” There it was. The modesty. Lewis sighed with relief as the archers seemed to lower their guard.

Llywellyn thought about it, “If this is a plan to hurt my family… I will kill you both with no remorse… However, if you can help my queen I will allow it. She’s been… ill since the birth of our daughter and…” He pulled himself up out of his throne before going down to him. Whispering to Xeik, “Ever since we were married. She’s just not happy. I worry about her. She’s been through much.”

The elf king stepped back, “I will… agree to let you help her but to make sure you stay faithful… I am going to request that your friend be locked up in our dungeon until you have successfully treated her.” His eyes were looking over Lewis and Xeik. “I hope that you understand that my family is everything to me. Simone drank the Everglade when we got married. It is a special brew made by a hedgewitch that increases her lifespan but makes fertility hard. We conceived my daughter after… Well, it has been a long time.”

Once Lewis was in the cell Llywellyn beckoned Xeik to come with him. “I don’t need you, guards, with me. I can handle this Xeik.” They got to an ornate door and Llywellyn knocked and opened it up. Simone was in a chair reading to Llynette.

“This is our daughter Llynette,” Llywellyn laughed as the little redhaired girl ran to her and he picked her up. “She will seven this Glaciem. Our little snowflake baby,” Llywellyn laughed as he got kisses from Llynette.

Simone was watching before she looked out the window with a frown.

Llywellyn saw her and he frowned a bit. “I’ll be outside Xeik… For privacy for her. Come on Lly.” So the elf king left them alone.

Lewis was hesitant to let Xeik go alone, but when he saw the confidence that the healer had, he decided to trust Xeik. With Lewis left in the cell, Xeik found himself wandering the oh so familiar halls of the castle that Llywellyn owned, yet the pictures were all…different. Gone was the Queen of old, replaced with pictures of a sullen looking Simone and their daughter.

As Xeik was introduced to Lynette, the healer smiled at the girl. “Hello, Llynette. Are you feeling well?” The girl nodded to him, and soon after, Xeik was left alone with Queen Simone.

“All right,” Xeik said as he walked towards her. “I’ll do some basic things first. May I have your wrist?” It took him a few minutes to throw out a few basic tests. Everything about her was…wrong. The Simone he knew had a faster heart rate, and her temperature was much higher. This Simone was completely different, and that meant he didn’t have a proper baseline. That’s right. She’s not a phoenix in this time. He closed his eyes, sensing her life and mana flow.

“What the…?” He opened his eyes. Yet again, things felt…wrong. The flow of mana and life energies in the castle made little sense, as if they were going against the natural order of things. But that wasn’t meant to be his focus, and instead he looked at Simone.

“You’re mana is stagnant,” he said finally. “Your heart and…womb?” It was strange seeing her with one. The powerful life energies that should have been swirling there were barely spinning. “Everglade…” He crossed his arms. “Everglade…where have I heard of that…”

The notes! From when I was trying to do research here! He quickly started writing in the air. “Everglade..is meant for those with a powerful mana. A source that can flow like a raging stream. It’s meant to prolong life, yes, but it does so by stifling the flow of mana, slowing it. It causes the drinker to age slower, but it has negative side effects due to that. You’re struggling because of the lack of flow…” He reached for her wrist, and smiled.

“Relax. This might sting a bit…” He closed his eyes, and pushed a steady stream of mana through her veins. “But…you should feel a little bit better…at least for a little while…”

Simone tilted her head at him. “You look at me like you know me but that’s not possible.” Simone caught on quickly just like she would being Lewis’s Simone. “The white-haired one… He stared at me with big eyes. He wanted to run to me. Why?”

Xeik was a bit shocked at her for a moment but he answered her, “Yeah… We both know you but it’s complicated I promise.”

She tilted her head at him. “Unlike other doctors you know right where to touch me. How?”

“I… Uh… Complicated?”

She relaxed a bit and closed her eyes, “I do feel a lot better…” She took a breath that sounded a lot like a relief. “Thank you. Can I rest now?”

Once Xeik was gone she peeked around and began to climb out the window. Llywellyn was talking with Xeik when he noticed Simone climbing, “I think you worked a miracle… I want to know where she is going but…” He tilted his head with a smile. “It's been a long time since I saw her this mischievous. I’ll let her have this victory.”

Simone broke into the cells underneath and she came up to where Lewis was being kept and grabbed him pressing a blade to his neck, “Your friend sucks at explaining. How do you know who I am?”

Lewis noticed when Simone entered the room, but didn’t react to her. This wasn’t his Simone, so he had no way of knowing how to act or what to say to her. He was surprised, though, when she broke into his cell, and shoved him against the wall with a blade to his neck.

“You’re holding the dagger wrong,” Lewis said, appearing unconcerned. “You have a stronger reverse grip.” The ex-assassin rolled his eyes at her questions. “Simone Beatrice Monte Auclair,” he said with a half smirk. “Or should I just call you Queen Celestia, of Sulwal? I’ve never addressed a queen before, so pardon my insolence.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm. He wasn’t sure why he felt the way he did…even knowing that this world wasn’t real, he still felt hurt by her presence here.

“I’m no one of importance, your majesty. Just a lowly guard dog for a great healer,” he lied. “We did our research before coming. Xeik knew how to heal you, and we hoped for a nice reward…” Everything he was saying was a lie. But he was good at lying. He had made a living off of it.

Except his Simone always could tell. Even before the resonance…

But this wasn’t his Simone….

Simone’s face didn’t change if he did stalk her if anything her eyes got a little angrier. “Are you mocking me? I hate my whole name you know. Just Simone but something tells me you already knew that.”

She reversed the grip and held it closer to him. He smelled good to her and she tried to keep it from her mind. This was the first time in a long time she had felt so clear. “You are lying to me. Do you think I’m stupid?” She actually stomped his foot with her heel.

"OW! What the hell Mone!?" Lewis blushed, and looked away. "er….I…"

“I KNEW IT,” Simone wagged the dagger at him. “Did you come here to kill me for revenge for killing that fey lord? You and your friend know so much about me. He even knew where my mana veins were without checking first.” She held the dagger out to keep him away.

“And what the hell is up with your scent?” Her scent had gotten a bit better since she took the Everglade drink. “It’s almost too nice. Why did you call me Mone?! Why are we on such good terms you call me something not even Llywellyn will call me right now. SPEAK!”