"Well, many things did happen when you weren't with us," Ezio says. "Like how we completed our trainings in three years, like how we occasionally met up as nine and have a spar, and… like how we started to loose contact with each other…"
Yves silently watched as the emotion in their faces changed. Kian then decided to speak up.
"Rue..." Yves' ears perked at the mention of the girl's name. "…Two years after we all finished our training, she was the first to stop sending letters."
Yves became visible confused. There was no way Rue could've done that.
"We know what you're thinking, and we also know that she could've never done that because she's… well, our Rue," Milera herself was calmly talking about this, despite how shocked she was. "We tried to get in touch with her again, but we only received a two sentence letter."
"I'm cutting ties with you. Don't contact me anymore." They three said in unison.
Yves knew at that point that they have never forgotten the shock it brought them.
"We thought that something bad had happened to her… but, it seems she's been doing well," Kian says.
And Yves was reminded of something.
"Ah… the Fall and Rise huh…" Yves trailed off, pertaining to another powerful empire who had fallen yet has risen in a matter of six years. "So the Empress came and did her thing."
Yves couldn't help but smile. The other three were smiling as well.
"We do think she'd run over to you if you reveal yourself, Yves," Ezio then teased, Yves can only chuckle. He can't deny that, but he can't be certain either.
After all, she's an Empress.
"Let's think of our mission first before doing that, we can't waste a Majesty's time, after all," he replied. "Then, what about the others?"
"Well, because of what happened, Dolunay…" Yves saw the change in Kian's eyes as he mentioned the fairy's name. "She went missing, leaving us a note that she's sorry."
Yves became confused.
"Nilsine, Darian, Cimmerian, Lysander… all of us were looking for her. Eventually, Kian and Nilsine had a heated fight because of bottled up frustration, and since we didn't want to take sides, we ended up splitting in search," Ezio added. "As time passed, there were barely any clue of where Dolunay could be, not even her family knows."
"A year later after she'd gone missing, we suddenly lost contact with Darian and Lysander. They were both last seen in Lysander's tower, and with the mess left on Lysander's room, Cimmerian had an idea that they've been somewhat kidnapped," Kian continues, and Yves' eyes were calm but he was feeling all sorts of chaos inside.
"And for some reason, Cimmerian… after visiting Lysander's tower and telling us the details in what he saw, he was found in his own home… unable to wake up," Milera's smile had faded, and her eyes contain every emotion she could feel at that moment.
"What…?"
Cimmerian's not dead, but he's not able to wake up…
"Where is he?" Yves asked, eagerly.
Kian shook his head.
"We don't know. Before we could visit him, he was missing from his home. Again. And eventually after this, we even lost contact with Nilsine," Kian answered. "We wanted to look for you… we were desperate for you to be with us…"
The pain in their expressions… Yves can feel it.
"But then, we thought, 'If we can't even face this alone, we won't be able to face you.'" Ezio continued with a small smile.
"That's why, Kian and Ezio, travelled around the kingdom, the world even… to further our search for all of them… and maybe someday, bump into you, Yves," Milera added, she was holding back her tears. "My father didn't let me travel outside the kingdom, so I can only support them by sending supplies."
Yves… was in complete awe…
He left them alone for more than a decade… to think their situation became worse than he thought...
"How many years have you been travelling…?"
"Almost five years."
They were barely adults!
Yves found himself in shock. He can barely even hide it.
In all those years he trapped himself inside his laboratory, something like this has been happening outside. He thought they were okay… living with their family in peace and joy… growing stronger as time passed…
"Does the Emperor know this...?"
The three shook their head in response
"All he knows is that we parted ways, and we were going through a hard time accepting it, resulting a memory loss," Kian stated. Ezio and Milera nodded, as they has an agreement to pretend as if the others have only been travelling and too busy. "And about what Cim found out, we're the only ones who knew about it... and we decided not to tell anyone."
'So the Emperor is not completely aware,' Yves thought to himself as he fell silent once again. 'They made him think that nothing was wrong... but in truth, it was way worse than it already is.
"How about their families?" Yves asked again.
"About that... for some reason, even they think that Cim and the others have only been travelling aimlessly for the past few years. It all started when Cim went missing," Milera responded, and Yves was confused.
'Memories were altered...? Someone's behind this,' he thought to himself.
Yves' eyes then caught his hand shaking... and that was when he was realized... he failed.
For the first time, he failed, utterly.
They did not ask anyone for help, not even the Emperor.... all to hide the fact that their closest friends are in possible danger, or worse, already dead.
And because of what happened, they all feel responsible enough to handle this shitty situation by themselves, when they should've been asking for help...
'...and when they needed me for help, where was I...?'
Yves thought to himself and clenched his fist and looked up to the three of them. They were smiling hopelessly. They can tell by his reaction how everything else was difficult to take in.
His chest felt tight...
'This is the feeling of failure...'
"...I'm sorry."
That was all he could say, and they were doing their best to hold back their tears. His voice were full of emotions, they can tell how disappointed he was in himself.
Milera was the first to stand up and run to Yves again, then the other two followed. Once again, they embraced each other.
"After all this, we'll go and look for them together. I promise. "
"Of course."
"And we'll definitely be complete ten again."
"We'll make sure to be ten."