I need a better title. And I haven't played Echoes in ages and have never written for anything outside Awakening and Fates before when it comes to FE, so hopefully the characters aren't too OOC or awkward.

In retrospect, Zeke knew that he really should have recognized them.

After Celica had been taken by Jedah, Sir Alm had rushed to her rescue with the rest of the Deliverance. No matter how bad it had looked for awhile, they had thankfully been able to rescue Celica – or perhaps she preferred Princess Anthiese – before encountering a group of warriors that had known the princess.

None of them really had time to ponder on the events, as they were assaulted by Duma himself, Jedah, and two witches that made Sonya cry out unhappily. He wondered for a brief moment whether she had known those two witches before he looked over at Tatiana.

"Tatiana, stay back," Zeke softly told his lover. As a saint, she was still quite fragile, even if she was capable of casting Seraphim of all spells (he'd seen her take down two Necrodragon on her own with it. Two!), and he moved to the side to try to deal with one of the witch girls.

She nodded, climbing off of his horse and moving further back closer to where Silque was with another cleric that had known Princess Celica. "Be careful, my love."

After giving her a nod of assurance, he dove into the fray; with Prince Alm the only one that would be able to end Duma himself due to his possession of the legendary Falchion, it was up to everyone else to ensure that Jedah and the two witches were destroyed before they could harm them.

As he fought his way through the Terrors towards one of the witches, he spotted the witch warp behind someone else that was also going for her, but had turned around to face a Terror. The girl on the Pegasus killed the Terror that had been in front of her, only to shriek as the witch threw a fire spell at her and knocked her off of the Pegasus.

Zeke charged towards her, intent on stabbing the witch with his lance before she could attack the girl again, but the witch saw him coming and teleported away, before an arrow from Tobin promptly distracted it.

With some relief, he turned to check on the girl that he had rescued—

– And found himself staring at a familiar face.

"Thank you!" the young Pegasus Knight gasped out, lifting herself to her feet and brushing some dust off of her red hair. "I can't believe that witch almost got me!"

Zeke was rendered speechless for a moment as he tried to figure out where he had seen her face before – of course he had seen her when they had met up with each other, but this was the first time that he had gotten a very good look at her.

"Est! Are you alright?" Another nearby Pegasus Knight, this one with blue hair, called out.

"I'm fine! This Rigellian saved me!" She hopped back onto her pegasus as the witch swooped down at them once again, flying out of the way as Zeke urged his horse back. "Thank you so much, by the way!"

I've seen her before. I've seen all three of them before.

He didn't have time to worry about it, not with the Terrors, the witches, Jedah, and Duma himself threatening them.

As he fought, a lance from the third Pegasus Knight, a green-haired one, flew into the heart of the witch that they had been fighting, and the witch disappeared from existence with a horrific scream of "Please no!".

Not too far from them, a group of people composed of Lukas, Forsyth, Python, and a pair of mages from Celica's army took care of the other witch, and the rest of them took out Jedah himself as Alm and Celica prepared to end Duma for good.

He stopped for a moment to take a breather, his eyes focused on the three Pegasus Knights – they appeared to be sisters – before it finally clicked in his head.

That's who they are.

And as if the appearances of Palla, Catria, and Est, the three Whitewing Sisters of Archanea, had been a trigger, it all came rushing back to him.

Zeke – Camus – turned his head away before they got a good look at his face.

It was over.

Duma had been defeated. The god would enter eternal slumber, and he felt his breath leave him in a rush. He'd followed Emperor Rudolf's orders by following Alm, and they had ended everything here. Peace would reign over Valentia, hopefully, for a long time.

He wondered what peace was like. He had never known peace in his twenty-nine years.

General Ezekiel "Zeke" of Rigel had never known peace. Neither had Camus of Grust. But… he would like to know what peace was like. He would like to return to the Rigellian village with his Tatiana, marry her, take care of her, possibly have children with her, and spend the rest of his life with her, happy and content.

And yet…

"You are planning to go to Archanea?" Conrad, Princess Celica's half-brother, had asked with surprise. With the two of them as high-ranking members of the One Kingdom military, they had slowly bonded after the war. "Whatever for?"

"I heard that there is a ship going there now that the war is over and everything has settled down," Zeke told him. "…I… have a few loose ends that I need to tidy up." That was quite an understatement, he knew, but he at least owed it to Princess Nyna to confirm that she was safe.

"Your lover, Lady Tatiana, will be sad," Conrad reminded him. Zeke turned away.

"I know. But I promise that I will return to her. There is no one else in my heart aside from her. But I need to repay a favor and show them that Camus of Grust is long dead. I simply must be wary and ensure that I am not recognized."

At this point, the name Camus felt more of that of a stranger, of the Grust Sable Knight leader that had managed to save the life of Princess Nyna and then had died, unable to betray his country. He, Ezekiel of Rigel, had been given a new purpose by Emperor Rudolf, who had been nothing but kind to him, and Tatiana, who was a literal saint that had saved his life.

Conrad studied him quietly, and then slowly opened the drawer of his desk and pulled out a mask. "Then you may need this."

He studied the mask, and smirked, taking it. "You have my thanks, Conrad." This would be perfect. "I promise, to you and King Alm, that I will return."

Once he had been packed and had said a 'I will see you soon' to Tatiana (she'd seemed worried, but he had kissed her and assured her that he was fully planning to come back, that he just wanted to travel a little before settling in one place), he had rushed for the harbor. This was the first ship in a long time that would be going to Archanea, and he wanted to make sure that he was onboard. Who knew when the next chance would be?

What didn't surprise him at all was when he saw three Pegasi being led onto the ship, with a trio of sisters following them. He lingered behind for a moment, not sure whether he wanted them to see him yet (even if they had seen him back before the fight with Duma, it had been quite dark, and they hadn't stayed at the castle once Duma had been defeated, so it was possible they hadn't recognized him), but had eventually been forced to get on.

As he boarded the ship, he noted with silence that he wasn't the only one that had decided that it would be a good idea to head for Archanea. He recognized two members of the Deliverance: Kliff, who was Alm's childhood friend, and Luthier, a mage that had joined in return for Alm's rescue of his sister.

(He'd inquired after Luthier's sister, Delthea, and had been told that she was staying behind with their parents. It made sense; she was only a child, after all, that had been dragged into this war, and had seen things that no children should ever see.)

While the ship prepared to set sail, he'd taken his luggage down to his cabin and had made small talk with Kliff and Luthier; he'd never been particularly close to them, but it was better to speak with them than with complete strangers, even if Kliff was young, if but somewhat quiet, and Luthier occasionally was single-minded about certain topics.

"Oh! You're General Ezekiel, you're the one that saved me!" a cheerful voice called, and Zeke could feel himself pale slightly.

Still, he turned around only to find all three of the Whitewing sisters standing there. Est had been beaming and had prepared to run right up to him when she paused, and then squinted at him. "You… you look really familiar."

Palla stared at him for a moment, as if trying to place him, and then her eyes widened. "Camus? By Naga, it is you!"

He winced, thankful that, out of all the Deliverance members that were here, it was Kliff and Luthier and not some of the more gossipy ones, like Silque or Gray or that pink-haired cleric friend of Queen Celica's. "Not anymore."

"You are here? Alive? Everyone thought you'd died!" Catria spoke up in a rush. The trio were standing a fair distance away from them, not entirely sure what to make of the situation. To be fair, Zeke wasn't sure what to make of the situation, either. He had been praying that it had been long enough that they wouldn't recognize him, but it seemed that the three remembered faces better than he'd thought.

"Prince Marth and Princess Nyna were so upset," Palla said, her voice quiet. "They would be relieved to know that you had survived."

"You cannot tell them," he said. "No one must know that I am returning to Archanea."

"Are you sure?" Palla asked.

"Please," he requested of them, glancing uncertainly behind him at Luthier and Kliff before turning back to the sisters. "I do not plan to stay in Archanea nor advertise my presence. I am only returning to make sure that everything is fine without me, so that Camus can stay dead for good. Only Zeke lives. And even then, I cannot have Zeke traced back to Valentia."

The sisters looked puzzled for a moment, but Kliff and Luthier had dawning comprehension on their faces.

"You recovered your memories!" Luthier said, and again, Zeke winced as the Whitewing sisters had not known that before. His amnesia had been no secret amongst the Deliverance, but the sisters had not been a part of it until the very end.

"It's for Tatiana, isn't it, General?" Kliff replied, with a nod. "You want to go back to her."

"I do," Zeke admitted. He thought of Conrad's mask that the other had given him and noted that maybe he should put it on soon. "And I want none of the drama that may occur from 'Ezekiel' being spotted to be traced back to Tatiana."

His lover was pure and innocent, and he planned to marry her once they were back. Alm had graciously agreed to keep his position open when he had returned, so he would be able to provide for Tatiana and any future children that they might have. Living a quiet, peaceful life in Valentia, without having to worry about his past coming back and haunting him… he wanted that.

Palla sighed. "I'll respect your wishes, Cam- Ezekiel." Zeke silently noted that she didn't put his official title. "Because you protected Est, if we are asked about your identity, we won't say a word, right sisters?"

"Right!" Est chirped, smiling up at him. "The prince and princess were sure that you were a good person. I'm glad that they're right!"

Zeke cleared his throat and tried not to blush, turning away from the young Pegasus Knight, as all three of the sisters giggled. Despite their playful teasing, though, Palla, Catria, and Est all came up to speak with the three of them, and the topic eventually switched to the alias that Zeke would take once he had reached Archanea.

"Something very dissimilar to Camus or Ezekiel…" Kliff mused.

"Sirius, perhaps," Luthier suggested. The others looked over at him. "It is the name of a star in the sky, a very prominent one. It is said that those that look at this star will never stray from the path that they had set in their hearts."

"I like it," Est grinned, looking over at Zeke. "If you're serious about going back to her, then that's perfect for you!"

"Sirius…" He rolled the name over on his tongue, and then nodded. "It's acceptable. It will only be temporary."

Hold on, Tatiana. I will be back for you soon.