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.