While he walked with Rui and Meteora, Sōta struggled over his previous relationship with Setsuna as her friend. He wished he had been able to stop those other people from even saying those hurtful comments about her. Sōta knew he had helped Setsuna, but couldn't understand why she had left.

Despite Meteora keeping watch from the air and Rui guarding his back in Gigas Machina, Sōta felt alone right now. More alone than he had ever felt; was this how Setsuna felt despite his attempts to help her? He wasn't sure, but it seemed like it.

"Oh, Setsuna..." He mumbled.

Meteora had descended without him realizing and she had caught the murmuring. "Setsuna…? Do you know her, Sōta?"

The boy jumped, startled by Meteora's sudden appearance. "Ah, yeah… I… befriended her… a few years ago." Sōta was incredibly twitchy, Meteora noticing his fingers spasming, the hand over his brown hair.

From her observations, it wasn't too hard to put two and two together. "You helped her with Altair's creation." It wasn't a question, more of a statement.

Knowing he'd been sprung, Sōta sighed heavily, the exhale filled with weariness. "Yeah. I created Altair, but she sees it as the reverse."

"Setsuna created Altair and you were the master?" Meteora deduced, thinking of how they could use this information to their advantage.

Sōta nodded, exhausted from having to keep this knowledge to himself for so long. He was worried the others wouldn't appreciate or tell him things any more and sighed.

"I doubt the others will be too irritated," Meteora reassured, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. He had been through a lot, she could tell, and seemed to take Altair's quest of destruction as a consequence of his actions.

But they would now be able to create a plan.

"Let's head back. Aki needs to know this information." The spellcaster added, turning and waiting for Sōta. "Rui!" She called to the young mech pilot. Gigas Machina faced her and waved a bulky hand. Meteora smiled, before continuing. "We're heading back to the base. We've got intelligence to share quickly."

"Okay." Rui answered and powered up Gigas Machina. He took off first, flying in the direction of the building Aki had made the SSCC's base.

Meteora glanced at Sōta again, concerned for the teen's state. "Everything will be alright. We'll be able to stop Altair, but it won't be easy."