[IC] TTG Chapter 5: Wrath

[IntSys]

Tai

 

A sudden "Wh-" escaped from Tai's lips, with his eyes widened in both surprise and confusion. Another "But-" was about to leap out of his mouth as well, but he held his breath, letting his crazily-throbbing heart quiet down for a moment instead.

There is an explanation for everything here, from the suspicious scream of a banshee to the relocation of his mech. And he would be patient, and wait for the explanation that would dispel his paranoia.

"Sorry. I missed the memo, so I got lost for a bit." He uttered with a forced calmness, one that showed restraint rather than cool. 

 

There was certainly a difference between "important" and "dangerous," even if lately they've been overlapping more and more often than ever before in his life. If it was of any consolence, though, at least he had company again.

[Shamitako]

Tai

 

"It's not my time, you're the one dying." the girl responded, still sounding a bit annoyed, "I should introduce myself, I'm Tejfidh, one of the beings you would call an ancient."

 

The girl stood and her clothes, which up until this point didn't even exist in Tai's perception, materialized as a long grey robe, the folds of which she used to perform a curtsy alongside her introduction. She then sat down again and Tai's perception of her outfit vanished, it reminded him of the feeling of being watched he'd sensed in the earlier room, he knew something was there, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to focus on it. When he thought about it, he realized that all details about Tejfidh except her face and hair were obscured to him in this way. The only things he clearly understood of her were the things that he was directly interacting with.

 

"Since your kind can only exist in one Plane at a time, you can't navigate accurately, so I've made myself available as a navigator. In some cases when I notice someone who will die without my help, I try to coax them into becoming a host, as I did with you." Tejfidh explained, "This is the first time I've encountered a host who has already been inhabited by another. She doesn't seem to be here currently, but I needed to ask if the vacancy was permanent. Once you accept my help, I'm here to stay, she'll never be able to return. If you're okay with that, I can lead you to safety."

[IntSys]

Tai

 

Oh.

 

Tai must have skipped the terms and conditions somewhere amidst all the mess that happened ever since he met Cardinal, because, this information was all new to him. The discreet use of pronouns allowed him to realize that he had been "hosting" Cardinal ever since that day.

 

Though, like any other person who had suffered for their ignorance, he knew to use the experience he had with Cardinal to review the sudden deal. And, although he had finally settled things with her, the relationship still left a particularly sour spot on his heart.

 

When he really thought about it, he had never seen Cardinal in her physical form. She'd either show up in his mind, or project herself here. And with details strangely escaping from his eyes now, he began to consider the possibility that none of what he was seeing was actually "real," especially seeing that Tejfidh had noted how he was still dying.

 

Should he let another person - a person with power far greater than his - take up his mind again, would he be risking another round of abuse like how Cardinal had treated him? What were Tejfidh's motives? And even more importantly, how much did she knew about him?

"I deserve some questions before I make another life-or-death decision, don't you think? Since I'm still dying, I'll make this short - two questions," he took a small, but firm step forward, toward the hazy figure before him.

 

"What do you gain from inhabiting me?"

 

"And, how do you know it is a her?"

[Shamitako]

Tai

 

Tejfidh nodded, "Your reservations are fair, I will do my best to answer quickly.

 

"I do not gain anything from inhabiting you in particular, I typically have several hosts active at any given time. In general I do this because I have nothing better to do, it fulfills my boredom and I enjoy helping others. I can tell you more when things are less urgent, if you want. I'd prefer to recede to the passive relationship I have with my other hosts though.

 

"As for your second question, I know her gender because I latched on to some of your recent thoughts when I first entered. I like to get a general idea of the people I'm helping, and it's usually a good idea to check that they aren't a criminal that has been fairly exiled. I can't read your mind under normal circumstances unless it's something you willingly share."

 

Tejfidh smiled happily, and it seemed genuine. Considering the situation, it was actually a very odd expression, and it was hard to judge exactly what part of her explanation made her feel like smiling. Whatever the case, the movement caused her hair to flop back into her face, and she had to brush it aside again.

[IntSys]

Tai

 

"Then it's my turn to answer," Tai took another step forward, accepting Tejfidh's apparent sincerity. "She's not coming back anymore. She's dead. And that's all you'll ever need to know about her."

 

Yes. All you'll ever need to.

 

"And so, go ahead. Help me... piece my life back together." He looked into Tejfidh's eyes. After all that, he still couldn't stand on his own legs. The idea that he could take care of himself without the help of others seemed to be less and less realistic. His world back then was small enough for him to fight against, but it has only expanded since then.

 

One could say it was a lesson learned too late. If he had just accepted Cardinal's help back in the fight against Temperance and Hellfire Knight, he wouldn't be at the mercy of Chronos. He would be enjoying his victory meals.

Was it really so wrong to accept help in a world that was far, far beyond his grasp, even for a brief moment?

And only then, did he truly forgive Cardinal for what she's done.

 

 

He made a wish to himself. That although he would have to hold another person's hands to brace through the ongoing storm, he would one day become strong enough to be above it all.

[Shamitako]

Adam

 

Knowing just how much stress Swag was under in normal circumstances, Adam wasn't surprised to see him break down under the added pressure. Not surprised, but still terrified. Swag could spit in the face of someone twice his size and force them to back down without a fight, if he was at the end of his rope, they were truly in dire straits.

 

Nastasia's nudge seemed to remind Swag of where he was, and he quickly restored his composure, but he didn't return to his full stature and it was apparent that he was still hurting.

 

"Adam." was his only response to her introduction. He didn't have any interest in sorting through his grievances with the other competitors with anyone but them, so having her directly call attention to the fact that he was still standing wasn't something he appreciated.

 

Hiroki's question was welcome as a way to bring back their focus, but Adam didn't want anything to do with the answer. 

 

"Not it." he said quickly, "I'm not going anywhere near that room right now, and if you want to keep your heads you should avoid it as well."

 

If Swag had snapped, there was no doubt that the rest had at least cracked. At this point even Bear might be struggling with the weight placed on his shoulders. Adam didn't even want to imagine what it would look like when the other gods found out that Arcturus was their opponent.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki fixed Adam with a scowl, feeling a heat rise up that nearly overrode her nerves for a moment. "I guess I should have known you wouldn't be up to it." She might be a coward herself, but at least she'd never resorted to outright torturing her opponents into forfeit. The girl looked back down at the table for a moment. She couldn't really say much if she didn't go herself, could she? And she wasn't exactly keen on subjecting herself to yet another embarrassment, yet another inadequacy in front of the gods. The silver-haired girl sighed, running one hand back through her hair in a gesture that looked far more relaxed than it actually was; her fingernails dug into the back of her head when they reached it. 

 

Still. . . Hiroki looked up. Swag, or Sain, or whatever she should have been calling him at the moment, had endorsed her at least. And Blink seemed to, for some reason, actually like her, sort of. She'd fought hard to get this far, fought and won the right to stand next to the gods. She let out an uncharacteristically noisy sigh. "Fine. I'll, um, do it." Before giving herself a chance to change her mind, she pushed herself up off of the table, standing and making a beeline for the door. Her steps were short and quick - more than usual anyway - as she tried to force herself to just not stop moving, feeling like there was someone sitting on her chest as she moved towards the dining hall containing the gods.

[Shamitako]

Hiroki

 

Adam looked sufficiently admonished, and merely hung his head as Hiroki brushed past him to leave the room. She would have just enough time to regret her decision as she walked down the hall to the room the gods had occupied.

 

Upon opening the door, Hiroki would immediately be met but the clamor of several people trying to speak at once. It was impossible to make out what anyone was saying, but at the center of it all were Blink and Lord, who were so caught up in their argument they'd managed to climb up onto the table. The room was more of a family dinner between bitter relatives than a meeting between the rulers of the land.

 

A loud smack brought the shouting to an abrupt end. Blink's voice weakly cut through the silence, "Take that back." It was more of a plea than a demand.

 

Lord touched her cheek gingerly and looked genuinely shocked, even impressed, at the audacity of Blink's slap. She didn't seem to have a response for Blink, and she certainly didn't seem to be in a mood to take anything back.

 

"I said take it back!" Blink screamed, raising her fist to strike Lord again.

 

But rather than Lord, Blink's fist met with Seeker's stomach. Seeker seemed completely unfazed, and said very calmly, "Let it go, Amelia, before you cross another line."

 

Blink looked utterly shocked and betrayed, but only for a moment before anger took over again. She spat at Seeker's feet and shouted, "That's for every goddamn one of you!" Before sticking her middle finger up and storming out of the room, nearly barreling over Hiroki in the process. 

 

There was silence, and the gods seemed to finally pick up on the fact rhat they had a visitor, but none of them seemed willing to acknowledge Hiroki. Instead, Bear broke the silence, "You didn't have to say that."

 

"Of course you would take her side." Lord sneered, "I only told her the truth."

 

"No, he's right." Seeker turned to face Lord, "I know you can't stand her, but you could at least try to be a little sensitive to her past. That man is the absolute last person Blink would work with. I suspect you're second on that list now."

 

"I don't care about her past." Lord said, her calmness clearly forced, "It only makes sense if the coup is fake. It happened too quickly, Blink wouldn't retreat without a fight unless she had an ulterior motive. And now we have twice as many Planes to worry about."

 

Seeker shook her head, "Her ulterior motive was probably to focus on defeating Aries, not holding a fight against him and the tenth completely on her own. And Aries taking Envy is good for us. Defeating Aries on his own turf would be virtually impossible, Wrath is practically impenetrable, but now he has to split his efforts so he can hold Envy as well. We don't have the time to lay siege to Wrath, but taking back Envy is absolutely feasible."

 

Lord seemed at a loss for words again, and silence descended on the room once more.

[Chevaleresse]

There were a great many things Hiroki didn't expect upon opening the door. A sudden silence, maybe. A hostile question; why was she there? Those she had been prepared to deal with. Sort of. Prepared in the way that one might be "prepared" for a bear attack, but at the very least she had run through what she might attempt to do. She glanced back over her shoulder in the direction Blink went. Blink was her. . . friend, or something. Patron? Not really that, no, but part of her felt she should follow the goddess. Thinking about that was a brief but ultimately unhelpful distraction from the situation before her. Something she needed to at least deal with.

 

She was not prepared (returning to that previous line of thought) to walk in on the gods bickering like children. She was even less prepared to break their silence when she had come here on her own. The girl's mouth opened, and no sound came out. She felt small. She was small. Hiroki closed her mouth. She was also the top competitor in the tournament. She had stood before the strongest one in this room and. . .  had been crushed mercilessly. She was an upstart. Don't remind yourself of that. If the tournament had gone to plan, she could be sitting among them instead of intruding. Hiroki closed her eyes for a moment; she was the Hellfire Knight. Before anything else, she was that, and the Hellfire Knight had the right to speak.

 

Hiroki opened her mouth again. "Uhhm-hm." Her eyes opened as she cleared her throat. "I. . . Um, you need to know, um, something. Arcturus, he was in, um, Wrath. He challenged me." She didn't feel confident enough to weigh in on what she had heard, not yet. She agreed with Seeker, even if she believed they should focus on Cardinal; after all, if Cardinal ceased to be a factor, Ares wouldn't be an issue. Or, well, wouldn't be a reality-rending one. Hiroki tried to focus on thoughts of strategy and not thoughts of how her head had been tampered with.

[Shamitako]

Princess

 

"Don't thank me, it was his idea." Princess directed Grima's gaze to the photo of her husband, "Would you like another glass of tea? I can only do that so often, so it will be a little while before I can send you on your way."

 

Tai

 

Tejfidh raised an eyebrow when Tai mentioned Cardinals death, though her expressions didn't seem to quite line up with what he'd expect, so he wasn't sure why.

 

"So long as you're certain." she said with a shrug, her existence beginning to fade entirely from Tai's perception, "From this point on I will sustain and guide you. I'd rather you ignore my presence, but I did agree to answer more questions under less urgent circumstances, so I won't be upset if you call on me."

 

Tejfidh vanished completely, and Tai suddenly found himself back in the snow. He was standing outside a building not unlike the one he had just been inside, but significantly more crumbled. He couldn't quite explain it, but the world seemed smaller, he felt certain that if he walked a little ways, he could find his way back into town.

 

Hiroki

 

The name Arcturus managed to force the gods' attention from the altercation with Blink onto Hiroki. Whether or not that was a good thing was unclear. Lord and Seeker dismounted the table and returned to their seats. They seemed to have taken a more professional appearance for Hiroki, but their unwillingness to look each other in the eye belied the lingering tension. 

 

"It seems we have an empty seat," Lord gestured to the chair that Hiroki assumed to have sat Blink, "If he left you with anything else, we need to hear it. Even if not, you probably deserve to be in here anyways."

 

"What are you-" Gryffin started to ask.

 

"She can sit with the other failure, as far as I'm concerned, she's not one of us until she gets her Plane back." Lord replied, apparently trying to spark a fresh debate. 

 

Gryffin rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, miffed but unwilling to respond.

 

"You can't just unilaterally declare her seat void, let alone give it to someone who isn't even a god." Queen protested, "I don't like her either, but it's not your descision alone to make."

 

"I'm inclined to agree, especially when Wine is still too ill to break the tie on disincluding Sain." Bear chimed in, though he continued his response in a surprising direction, "But Amelia won't be back, and she has backed Hiroki in the past. I think it would be fair to consider the Hellfire Knight as Blink's representative, and I think Amelia would be okay with that." 

 

Seeker nodded, "I'm not happy with your choice to offer the seat without any discussion, but Bear is right, Blink would be fine with Hiroki sitting in for her."

 

"That's fair enough, I suppose. I'll accept it as well. Gryffin?" Queen agreed, though he still seemed unconvinced.

 

"I was going to say, 'what are you talking about?'" Gryffin said with all the passive aggressive might a teenage boy could muster, "I don't know what this Arcturus thing is. But yeah, I'm fine with the Hellfire Knight borrowing Blink's spot."

 

"Right, then it's decided." Lord pointedly chose not to apologize for her actions, "Hellfire Knight, you may temporarily assume Blink's seat at the table. Please tell us if Arcturus left you any other memories, and then I'll explain exactly what he is for the uninformed."

[IntSys]

Tai

 

The bitter winds blew on Tai again, but it didn't feel dreadful anymore; he had a path before him once more. With the lingering warmth of the building, he hit the roads again. The wasteland seemed to have shrunk in his eyes... Or could it be just that he became a bigger person?

 

Whatever the case, he felt like he finally had what it took to leave here. He lumbered through the thick snow, letting intuition, or perhaps it was Tejfidh, guide him back.

To pass the time, he decided to get the more trivial questions out of the way first. "Tejfidh, do you mind explaining the building back there? Did you own the place?"

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki opened her mouth, then quickly shut it once more at the criticism of Blink. She wanted to defend the goddess, but it was hard to speak out against Lord. She didn't know enough about the situation, anyway; there was clearly more history here than she knew of. She should probably have just been fine with being acknowledged as being worthy to sit at the table, but something about that felt hollow. After all, it wasn't her being there - it was Blink being absent. She tried to refocus her thoughts as she walked in small, hurried steps over to Blink's chair, somewhat awkwardly shuffling herself into it. The girl glanced about furtively between the gods present, trying not to let the pressure get to her. Not that there was much of a point to this; it was like stepping into the arena without her mech, trying to speak without her "disguise." 

 

She closed her eyes and reminded herself of how she got here again. Furthermore, why she had to do this. It wasn't just her own pride at stake. One more deep breath and she spoke once more. "I met, um, Arcturus after I left Aries's hall. Um, he challenged me and I, um, said I had to go." It was still unsettling to think about. "I know we talked, um, more, but that's all, um, I remember."

[Shamitako]

Tai

 

"Yes, actually." Tejfidh answered, "Back before the rupture, that was my home." she spoke of the past, but didn't hold any clear emotion towards it.

 

Unlike with Cardinal, Tejfidh's voice didn't come from within Tai's own mind, but rather from next to him. When he looked over, Tejfidh was physically there. And unlike in the building, Tai could actually get a clear look at her. Strangely, rather than the robe he'd seen before, she seemed to be clothed by several large patches of moss, or maybe she was clothed in large patches of skin and the moss was her actual body.

 

Hiroki 

 

Lord nodded, "That sounds like him. Leaving cryptic snippets and expecting you to figure out his meaning. Considering he outright said what he wanted, you're actually one of the lucky ones."

 

Lord turned her attention to Gryffin to explain, "I'll keep this brief since you're to only one who isn't aware. Arcturus is an extremely powerful entity of unknown origin, similar to Blink's ditzy girlfriend Merlin-"

 

Bear, of all people, was the one to interrupt Lord with his failure to stifle a laugh. "Sorry, sorry." he apologized, nearly laughing again, "I'm not sure how you can be so aptly describe something without a hint of accuracy, it's quite funny."

 

Lord rolled her eyes, though she looked a little amused herself, and continued, "Anyways, Arcturus is similar to Merlin, but he's not been as openly interested in working with us gods. He rarely shows himself, and when he does he tends to erase almost all memory of his presence. As with his origin, how he can do this is also unknown."

 

"Well, that's terrifying." Gryffin didn't sound terrified in the slightest, "But if he can erase memories, how do we even know he's a threat?" 

 

"Because your- Because Watcher has fought him before and it ended in a stalemate." Seeker said, causing Gryffin's eyes to widen in shock.

 

"Da- I mean, Watcher can't beat him?" this time his fear was definitely present, "Why haven't we surrendered?" 

 

"I'll take him on." Lord said firmly, "I don't care how powerful he is, I'll find a way to win." 

 

"No, you won't." a new voice joined the conversation from a shadowy corner of the room. They all recognized it, and it wasn't a pleasant voice to hear. 

 

"You don't get an opinion, Karnan." Queen told Aries, "You're the one who put us in this position in the first place."

 

The shadows once again spoke in Aries's voice, "You put this on yourselves. We wouldn't be in this mess in the first place if you'd put your compassion in front of your fear. We can't defeat Cardinal, but that doesn't mean we can't stop her."

 

"Why are you even here?" Seeker demanded. 

 

"Not for you, that's for certain." Aries shot back, "I wanted to let you all know that Envy isn't exactly an alliance I'm proud of, I didn't know who was leading the coup until I'd already agreed. Blink and I don't always see eye to eye, but I didn't mean to hurt her any deeper than usurping her rule." Aries paused uncomfortably before changing the subject, "And I have an offer. In the spirit of your little tournament, I'd like to suggest a small competition: our five strongest, your five strongest, one on one, no gods. Losing team surrenders the war." 

 

"Why? You have the advantage." Queen asked, bewildered. 

 

"No, time isn't on either of our sides. The sooner this is resolved, the better. I'll even let you pick who fights which members of our side of you want."

 

"We'll need time to consider your offer before we make a decision." Lord told him. 

 

"Sure, I'll call back later." Aries agreed, "You'll need to find your own transportation, so keep that in mind."

[IntSys]

Tai

 

"Your home was, clean, to say the least." After ten more steps in the snow, Tai dug up the only compliment he could come up with after the house tour. "Though there was one thing in there that stood out to me - my mech. It's still going to be how I make a living after this, so I'll need to know what you're doing with it."

 

He gave Tejfidh another look. There was no mistaking it, she was in moss, or she was moss. The last thing he ate was, coincidentally, also moss. There was definitely a connection to be made there, but he couldn't figure out how to throw the question without it sounding weird, so he just dropped a few looks here and there at the moss on Tejfidh as he kept walking. It wasn't exactly a pressing issue anyway; if he ended up getting sick from the moss a few days later, at least he already knew who to ask.

[Chevaleresse]

So, what they knew was that they knew nothing. Other than Arcturus being hideously powerful, of course. And Ice Griffyn was Watcher's child, that was new information, if not strictly relevant to here. Or, related in some way, anyway. She didn't waste time thinking about it; she was already spending a fair amount of cognitive effort on forcing herself to pay attention instead of withdrawing inward mentally and mulling Blink's situation over to no effect. I hope she's okay. Aries reappearing was also the least of what she had expected. There had to be some kind of motive here; all of her combat experience told her that if an opponent seemed to be deliberately leaving themselves open for a strike when they had the advantage, that you should do anything but take that chance. Strike where they thought they were toughest and shatter it, don't fall into the trap they'd set for you.

 

What Hiroki heard from the gods did not sound like a consideration of that at all. "Lord, you referred, um, to 'us gods' and Arcturus separately. Um, wouldn't that mean Arcturus wasn't a god, and that he, um, could end up fighting one of us?" It was almost mythological. Offer what seemed to be a compromise, weasel a victory in through a loophole in the wording. Declare that no man will harm someone, then have a woman stab them in the back. The only part she didn't want to admit was that a part of her hoped that was, indeed, what Aries intended; then she might be able to take Arcturus up on his offer.

[Shamitako]

Hiroki

 

"I think that might be the entire point." Seeker responded to Hiroki, "We don't know much about Arcturus, but aside from being enigmatic, one thing we do know for certain is that he fancies himself a knight. Honor and chivalry and all that. He challenged you, but on the battlefield the chances of a one on one fight are much smaller. He might have pushed Aries to do this in the hopes of having his challenge met."

 

"I think that's part of it." Bear agreed, "But I also think Aries may have been telling the truth, he wants to keep this fight short too. That doesn't mean he'll give up his advantages entirely, but sacrificing some of them to ensure a swift resolution to a fight that he would otherwise only win by dragging it on might be his only option."

 

"Well, if we agree, we won't give Arcturus what he wants." Lord added her opinion, "He'll win no matter who we put against him, so we should just put someone out who can hold their own for a while to learn more about his abilities. Hiroki is our strongest play, so we should conserve her to take on one of their stronger fighters that she can actually defeat."

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki found herself opening and closing her mouth once again. She knew that what Lord was saying made sense, and at this point Hiroki didn't hold much doubt that she could overcome whoever Aries had to offer. Outside more entities like Arcturus crawling out of the woodwork, of course, but if Aries had that in his back pocket, their decision here probably wouldn't matter anyway. Another crushing defeat like the one Lord handed her - and if Lord couldn't beat Arcturus, she almost certainly couldn't - wouldn't do much but crush the confidence she was still piecing back together. So why was she about to say this?

 

"I, um, I said I would take, um, his challenge later." She inhaled deeply, trying to brace herself for the counterarguments - most of which were going to, in all likelihood, be quite sensible - and continued. "We have most of the tournament, um, fighters, except for Slumbering Giant. I, um, could hold against him for the longest, at least." Or even beat him. I have to try. "If, um, you need to learn about him, you should let me fight him."

 

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Grima

 

For a second, Princess' statement was met with a confused look from Grima, before the reformed criminal merely shrugged, "Sure, it was very nice the first time. I'll try not to walk out with the glass like last time" she replied, moving to sit down once more.

 

Gods, Aries was locking down the trains? That wasn't something she'd had expected to see. Getting around was going to be a lot harder now. At least in the Plane of Wrath.

[Shamitako]

Hiroki

 

The gods shared a look in response to Hiroki's protest, silently coming to a decision on how to respond.

 

After a silence just long enough to be uncomfortable, Lord spoke up to say, "Well, thats that then. If we agree to Aries's terms, Hiroki will face Arcturus."

 

"It's still a big if." Gryffin pointed out, "I think we should at least consider who they have to fight us with and whether we have someone to counter them, try to measure our chances of success."

 

"Slumbering Giant, Arcturus, the Councilor." Seeker listed off the first three potential opponents, "I'm not sure who else they would even be able to field." 

 

"I hate to even suggest it," Queen said apprehensively, "but what about Princess?" He shot Lord a wary look and was visibly tense. 

 

Lord, for her part, managed to stay relatively calm. "That's impossible! I refuse to even consider the suggestion." she said with all the tranquility of a raging bull, "That woman may not be our ally, but she would never become our enemy."

 

"How can we even speculate?" Bear asked, "We've been so focused on the tournament competitors, we don't really know about many other strong fighters. We could be facing complete unknowns."

 

"Theres also the matter of the multitude of competitors who didn't see eye-to-eye with us and left. We still don't know je full extent of Supernova's relationship with Cardinal." Queen pointed out.

 

Hiroki noticed Gryffin looking at her a lot as the other gods were talking, he seemed to be expecting her to speak up again. Apparently she wasn't the only one at the table who was uncomfortable with their seat.

 

Tai

 

Tejfidh giggled at Tai's empty compliment, "Don't be silly, that place is a mess." the way she laughed, she really seemed like an innocent child and not an ancient being of presumably unfathomable power.

 

"And I'm not doing anything with your mech, you're the one who put that core there." she explained, though her tone almost sounded like she was chiding him, "I thought it was important that you see, because the only person who can put a fire like that out is its creator."

[IntSys]

Tai

 

"I did what? I didn't even know I could do that!" Tai protested in his own defense, looking at Tejfidh puzzled. "When and how did that even happen? And, what do you mean by 'a fire like that'? What else did I do, now?"

 

The question turned out to be quite the headache for him. He didn't expect to be in even more trouble after getting trialed and exiled by Chronos. It could be merely aftershocks of the tournament, though he didn't recall setting fire to anything of worth back then, aside from Temperance. Not that he could be a firefighter anyway. There was a clear difference between a person who fought using fire and a person who fought against fire, after all.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki blinked. She had been expecting arguments, perhaps outright reprimands. She had been mentally bracing herself to be shouted down; the group seeming to accept it immediately put her off balance. She shifted uncomfortably where she sat, meeting Gryffin's gaze for a moment before glancing away hurriedly. "What, um, about Temperance? She wasn't in, um, Wrath, so she could be, um, someone to look for." A part of her wanted to summon her mech and speak through that; she could at least manage to say more than five words at once without halting, but that wouldn't exactly make the situation less awkward. 

 

Returning to the situation at hand, she continued to think. Hiroki didn't know much about Temperance other than her being somehow loyal to the gods - but given the schism, it was tough to place her anywhere. She wanted to ask why they had just accepted her reasoning for challenging Arcturus as well; it gave off that same kind of feeling that Aries's offer did. Was she being used for some other purpose here? She thought back to her previous encounter with the gods, in the Oracle Chamber. Arcturus, Merlin, and Watcher. . . After a pause that was just barely too long, she added another question. "And do, um, we know where Merlin and Watcher, um, are?" They'd been referred to in the same breath as Arcturus; if they didn't count as gods, then they couldn't be completely discounted here. 

[Shamitako]

Princess

 

Princess moved in silence as she poured Grima another glass of tea. There were many things she  ould say, but none she wanted to. Eventually she settled on a question that she couldn't bring herself to let go unasked.

 

"I was wondering," she started gingerly, "Why is it that you came here? Not here specifically, just... Why are you running Queen's errands? If he sent you here, you can't be a weakling, but you can't be anyone important to him either. And if you're strong but not important to him, why are you letting him control you?"

 

Tai

 

"Well, you can't just do things. Our initial meeting was all in your head, I just inserted some of myself into it." Tejfidh explained, "I can't tell you why your fire is out, but I'd guess it's some sort of self-doubt. Your passion or spirit or confidence is wavering, and your mind represents that as the core of your mech going dark. At least that's what I think is up. Theoretically you could just be bored and the fire represents having fun. But usually something as important as a mech has a more profound meaning tied to it."

 

Hiroki

 

Lord shook her head at the mention of Temperance. "Temperance is dying." she said bluntly, "She's very powerful, but that power comes from her artifical soul. We didn't see the signs in time." Lord trailed off.

 

"The strain of ucyng such a volatile method or fighting has caused Temperance's dream space to crack." Seeker picked up the explanation, "Because of its unnatural creation, it apparently can't repair itself properly after a fight. She collapsed during her exhibition match and she's been in a coma cynce. Leonard has been trying to do a patch job, but this is all completely new territory, so we have no idea if she's going to live."

 

There was a brief silence before Seeker again explained, "Watcher hasn't been seen in around fifteen years. No one even knows if he's still alive. Merlin has repeatedly refused to help us, apparently she 'can't defeat the fourth' whatever that means. Also, Blink is the only one who can get in contact with her reliably."

 

Cardinal

 

After resting for a short while, Cardinal felt her power returning. It wasn't much, certainly not enough to transport herself to Gluttony again, but she could at least use her Eye to check on Tai. Focucyng on splitting her consciousness, she glimpsed into his dream space and...

 

And...?

 

And nothing. Cardinal's head dropped into her hands as tears burst forth. Of course he was dead. He was dead and it was all her fault. None of this would have happened if she had just let him be. All she wanted was the freedom to meet and care for other people, and yet it had caused one of the few people she had cared for was now dead because of it. Was there even a point?

 

Cardinal couldn't tell if it was truly grief or just guilt, but whatever it was, the feeling she had was the worst she'd ever felt. Tai hadn't done anything to her, quite the opposite. He'd been nothing but kind to her, even after everything she had done to him.

 

She considered giving up, she deserved an eternity alone after what she had done. But she couldn't do it. Tai's death just further cemented her loneliness. he couldn't bear to feel this way for the rest of eternity, she had to escape, she just had to. 

 

And so she called on her power once more. This time she reached for a mind she knew would be there, though not one that she could just intrude upon whenever she wanted. After a moment, the proprietor of the dream space she was accescyng opened the door in his mental barriers. Being that he was a man of extreme power that rivaled even her own, Cardinal was always a little wary of talking to him.

 

"Hey gramps," Cardinal said.

 

"Hello Belial," the man replied.

 

"I told you to stop calling me that," Cardinal pouted.

 

"When you stop calling me old."

 

"You are old."

 

"And I don't need you to remind me every time we talk. What did you need?" 

 

"I just wanted to check in, there's a war going on after all," Cardinal lied.

 

"No, thats not why you called." of course he saw right through her, he had complete mastery of his own mind, reaching into hers while she was there was effortless for him.

 

"No, it's not," Cardinal admitted, "I just lost someone and I feel miserable."

 

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know not many people have been around for you. Do you need to talk about i"

 

Cardinal thought about that for a minute before finally answering, "No. I'm alright."

 

"Let me know if you change your mind," the man replied, before asking, "While I have you, hows the war effort going?

 

"I think it's alright, Arcturus has a plan to get it over with quickly," Cardinal explained, "That woman you told us about agreed to help. I didn't think someone who knew Lord so well would actually come over to our side."

 

"I'm glad things are going well. Keep it up."

 

Cardinal wasn't satisfied, though, something was still eating at her. "Watcher?"

 

"Hmm?" 

 

"I'd this really okay? I really won't hurt anyone like the gods say I will?" 

 

"Everything will work out," Watcher assured her.

 

Cardinal thought about Tai one last time. It hadn't worked out for him. She couldn't bring herself to say anything.

 

"You went out of your way to help Tai, and things didn't work out. Who was it who told you to let him handle himself?" 

 

"You're right, this wouldn't have happened if I'd listened to you. Thanks gramps." Cardinal said, choking back tears as he Wright of the reaoonbility piled onto her once again.

 

"No problem, Belial. Remember, my door is always open to you if you need to talk." 

 

"Thanks, I really appreciate you listening to and helping me." Cardinal didn't know what she would have done without Watcher's encouragement, "I'll see you later."

 

"I look forward to it." Watcher smiled reassuringly as Cardinal left his mind.

 

What Cardinal didn't see afterwards was Watcher's grimace of regret. Lying to and manipulating a child wasn't particularly high on his list of things he wanted to be doing. But it was his duty as the Third Prince to take up the role of villain. Lord might have bested him in the past, but this time he would achieve his goal. This time he would create a truly virtuous hero, one worthy of the title of Hope.

[Chevaleresse]

Watcher was another unknown, then? If he was totally unheard of for all this time, it was unlikely that he would appear now, but the last few weeks had been full of very unlikely things. Especially considering the meddling of another complete unknown. "It might, um, have been a good idea to not, um, chase away the person who talks to Merlin." She almost startled herself; was she really talking back to Lord like this? Though. . . they had offered her this seat. Even if she felt like she didn't belong there, that meant she should at least try to speak as an equal while she was in it. Still, she did her best to move the conversation on. "What do we, um, do if Watcher does appear?" She felt callous for just moving on from Temperance like that, but there wasn't much she could do. What she knew of dream spaces was only what she'd acquired in the process of building her mech. Thinking about it made her feel sick, though; the circumstances essentially meant that the gods may as well have killed her themselves, by putting her into this tournament and then deliberately pushing her as far as they could. It didn't bode well for Hiroki at all. 

[Shamitako]

Hiroki

 

Luckily for Hiroki, her admonishment didn't draw any ire and the conversation successfully moved on.

 

Not so luckily, the moving on started with a deep sigh from Seeker. "If Watcher shows up, it will be as a villain. Which means he'll either be our enemy, or he thinks we're in the wrong. Either way, it's not good for us."

[IntSys]

Tai

 

Tai fell into silence. Perhaps quieter than he had ever been.

 

Passion... doused twice, shattering what he had believed in the sport - sportsmanship. Cardinal's intervention in his match against Temperance, and Hellfire Knight's open assassination attempt in the middle of the arena in order to reveal Cardinal.

 

Spirit... crushed by the tournament overall. The only positive experience was the fight with the Slumbering Giant, even though that ended in his defeat. That was the only time he smiled in the tournament. Everything else was but more mental baggage on his soul.

 

Confidence... destroyed by disastrous defeats. The Revenant came out practically unscathed in his fight against him, even though he was also running a melee build. Hellfire Knight proved that he was but a relic of the old meta, forcing him to fold after a long and desperate struggle. And finally, Ice Gryffin put the nail to the coffin swiftly, ending it all before he could even mount a resistance.

 

Fun...

 

"Maybe you play with fire. . ."

"But that's why you're going to lose!"

"Because I don't play games!"

 

 

 

She was right. He was playing games. He was the only person who was playing games in the tournament. He was the only person who actually believed that he was still having a friendly competition, where both pilots wish each other the best and fight with enjoyment in mind. The prize, as amazing as godhood is, was never his true priority.

 

And so he lost. And so everyone else stayed.

 

 

Could he ever fight like how he did before the tournament ever again? Was this truly something that could be forgotten after a good night's sleep?

 

He looked at the direction he was walking towards. It was the city he was all too familiar with, but he wasn't sure what he was walking towards exactly. Was it even the same city anymore?

 

The silence seemed to have last forever before it broke again. "It does. The tournament has changed me."

 

"I want to be passionate about a sport I've loved since I was a child, but I can't anymore. I want to be a happy person who can leave behind his losses after a meal, but I can't anymore. I want to be a confident pilot who believes in his abilities on the battlefield, but I can't anymore."

 

"I want to have fun, but I can't anymore."

 

All these problems... couldn't be fixed by divine intervention after all. He was the only person who would be allowed to help himself, yet he didn't have the power to do so. He wasn't asking for help, and neither was he expecting a magical solution from the ancient who had saved his life. He was just, venting, to a person who was willing to listen.

 

He had already run out of tears. What was left was a dry and sore feeling in his eyes.