Lotsa stuff in this chapter. Some of my evolving headcannon, a little of Skullmaster's ultimate goal, some references to earlier stories in the Fate Is A Gift series, and some tiger-y shenanigans. And Virgil. Usually I highlight Norman's heart because I love his feelings so, but this time it's our poor Lemurian whose emotions are raw and out there.

Warning for just a little gore, but after this, things will start to look up. I promise.

Enjoy!

Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms. – Khalil Gibran

-==OOO==-

It was not raining in Sri Lanka, but the sorrow was thick enough that seemed it should have been.

The instant the portal closed behind the tangle of them, Norman stalked off into the dense jungle, White Blaze at his side.

"Hey!" Kento yelled after him.

"Let him go," Virgil said firmly. He drew himself up to his full though diminutive height, tucking the Cap away and crossing his arms tightly against his robes. "He's only barely keeping his temper. Some time alone will help him regain control."

"He gonna be okay?" Ryo asked. "I mean, I know White Blaze is with him but…"

Virgil sighed. "The Guardian's sacred duty is to protect the Mighty One at any cost. Norman…takes that very seriously." He swallowed. "I don't believe he will entirely approach rationality until the Mighty One is returned to us."

"Yeah, we know how that feels," Rowen said gently. He extended a hand. "I'm Rowen. We're the Ronin Warriors."

Virgil nodded and took the hand. "Yes, I surmised as much. I am Virgil of Lemuria."

"I'm Ryo and this is Cye and Kento and Sage." Ryo, Cye, and Kento all nodded in greeting.

Sage offered a slight bow. "It's nice to meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances. We'll have to rush through the pleasantries. What's Lemuria?" Sage asked.

"It was once a great civilization that spanned the globe. Many thousands of years ago, our civilization reached the end of its time. I am one of the last." He moved on to more pertinent facts. "One of our offshoots became the people you would have known as those who created the armors, the Ancient Clan I believe they are called in your parlance."

The Ronins exchanged glances. It was Cye who said, "So you know all about the armors and Talpa and all. Max did say he had a teacher who knew practically everything and who was the one to tell him which evils to fight."

"That's correct," Virgil said. He was focusing on simple statements, anything to keep from what really mattered. He didn't have Norman's luxury of venting his feelings by violent or any other means. He had to be ready to give everything he had to save the Mighty One.

"We need to get back there," Kento said fiercely. "We need to get there and help Max and stop that guy before it's too late."

"Too late for what?" Ryo asked.

That stopped Kento in his tracks. "Huh?"

"You said 'before it's too late.' Too late for what?" Ryo repeated.

"Uh, I dunno. But…it feels like…" He trailed off and shrugged.

"I feel it, too," Sage said after a moment. "Something is happening."

"Do you know?" Rowen asked Virgil.

"There are several distinct possibilities," Virgil said, and yes, leaning on probabilities and tactics, that was easier. "Skullmaster could be preparing to open the earth to release himself from where he is confined. If that is the case, we should have at least a few hours before he succeeds." Virgil paced a little. "Alternatively, he could be increasing his region of control or his powers by taking advantage of the people and territory he has already subjugated. In which case, the longer we delay, the more powerful he will be and the less advantage we may have against him."

"What about Max?" Cye asked, his voice soft.

Virgil paused and said painfully, "Yes. He may be simply amusing himself with the helplessness of the Mighty One."

"Then let's get back there," Ryo's eyes were flinty with anger. "Find us a portal to get us close and this time we won't run no matter what happens!"

"We don't have any more of a plan now than we did before," Rowen protested. "We can't just charge in blind. We don't have the armors anymore. We're only going to get one shot at this before Skullmaster blows us all to bits. We have to do this right."

"He's got a point," Cye said. "We won't help Max or ourselves if we don't find an advantage against Skullmaster other than the fact that we still seem to maintain the power of the guiding virtues."

"So we need to find a way to use them," Sage concluded.

Virgil had already kneeled down to the ground, absently pushing some low groundcover to the side in order to expose the rich, dark dirt of the forest floor. With a sharp stick, he began sketching idly.

"What's that?" Kento frowned.

"I am calculating various possible outcomes of different avenues of attack," Virgil answered without looking up.

Kento shrugged and made himself useful clearing more of the area to give Virgil a larger space in which to work. Rowen peered over Virgil's shoulder and set his full attention to interpreting the Lemurian's scratches. Cye and Sage and Ryo watched them for a while.

"What's that?" Rowen asked suddenly.

Virgil paused in his equations and glanced to the area Rowen was indicating. It was a set of scratches apart from all the others. Virgil had written extensively for a while, then circled the whole portion of marks and crossed through them with a deep stroke.

He looked away. "For a time, I neglected to recall the current state of the Mighty One. I was assuming his presence and the power of his innate destiny would be with us. But that is an assumption I cannot make at this time, so I moved away from that line of investigation."

"What does that mean, his innate destiny?" Ryo asked.

Virgil sighed. "The Mighty One is a foretold hero of great power who has already saved the world from peril many dozens of times. Among other duties, the Mighty One is the hero destined to enter into combat against Skullmaster himself and defeat him." He paused. "When we have faced Skullmaster in the past, it is the destiny of the Chosen One that has given us the edge to defeat him and escape."

"Then why are you writing him off?" Kento wanted to know.

"I am not writing him off." The words came out harshly. Virgil had to take several deep breaths. "But there is no telling if the Mighty One will be in any fit shape to aid us. You saw as I did the damage done to him, and clearly Skullmaster has means to hurt him that do not leave physical signs."

Sage nodded slowly. "His body has been broken, but I think Skullmaster is also influencing his emotions. Maybe worse."

"What's worse than ripping his body apart and making his feelings go haywire and killing people in front of him?" Ryo asked with a dry throat.

"Believe me," Virgil's voice was heavy with worry, "Skullmaster has inhuman knowledge of how to cause pain and suffering. He has had thousands of years to prepare for the coming of the Mighty One, and I don't doubt after our previous interactions that he will stop at nothing to destroy the boy in every way he can."

"Then how is Max supposed to stop somebody like that?" Cye demanded. "He didn't even have a weapon on him when he got here!"

"It is the way of destiny."

It was Rowen who looked up, his face pale and his eyes slanted with fury. "What, he's absolutely destined to win even if he shows up to fight Skullmaster empty-handed with no back-up? How, exactly? Drop him off a cliff?"

Virgil flinched and his shoulders rose as if to ward off the words.

Ryo felt his own temper boiling. "I get that he didn't exactly plan to face him this time without you and that big guy to protect him, but at least when we took on an ancient evil demon we had armors and some training and some pretty heavy firepower to use."

"Hey, don't gang up on the guy," Kento protested. "He's obviously doing his best."

"For who?" Rowen snapped. "For Max? Or for this destiny thing? Because it seems kinda badly thought out to me!"

Cye looked into Virgil's eyes and understood all at once with sharp insight. "The prophecy isn't that Max absolutely will beat Skullmaster, is it? It's that he's the only one who has a chance."

Virgil was silent.

"Does he know that?" Sage asked.

Virgil shook his head. When he spoke, his voice was low and tremulous. "No. Norman does, though. We…well, after the first few encounters, we decided we'd let the boy settle into his destiny a little more before we told him. It's…a difficult burden to bear."

"Then if he only has a chance to win, how could you have let him walk into a fight without any way to protect himself?" Ryo had to battle to keep from yelling.

"I didn't!" Virgil shot back, anger taking over his sorrow. "He…he was taken from us…and we thought he was lost…"

"And by the time you knew he was alive, he was already here," Rowen finished. "Weaponless and empty-handed."

"It's not the weapons that matter," Sage said then.

Ryo looked over at him and his face twisted as he started warming up to argue. "Sage…"

"No," Sage's voice was sharp. "It's not the weapons that matter. Just like it's not the armor that matters. A kitchen pot or pair of scissors can be enough in the hands of the right warrior. Mastery of a sword does not guarantee victory. It is mastery of oneself."

"And that," Cye said as he closed his eyes, "is what Skullmaster is trying to break."

"So we need to stop fighting each other and focus on finding a way to beat him," Kento said. "The longer we sit here, the more time Skullmaster has to hurt the kid."

Virgil let out a long breath and went back to his scratchings. But after a few minutes, he paused and looked up.

"Please don't tell him about the prophecy. I will tell him when I must. But…I fear…even if we are successful, he will be in no fit state to hear something of that magnitude."

"You really do care about him, don't you?" Sage asked.

Virgil stared at the stick in his hand a long while before he answered. Once he began to speak, his words flowed away from him as though released after being pent up for a lifetime – as perhaps they had been.

"I had been waiting for the rise of the Mighty One for five thousand years. Norman and I wandered the world throughout that time in order to prepare certain events for his arrival. I spent so long thinking about my duty, about his destiny, about the battles to come. The Mighty One was merely a figure, a variable in the equation like the Cosmic Cap. Even after we met, even after we began our work together, the fact that he was merely a child eluded me for a time.

"He has seen things no child should see. Has survived things no child should ever have to survive. And he has saved the world in ways you could never imagine. He showed power and courage far beyond his years, beyond anything I could ever have taught him. His heroism comes not from his destiny, but from his heart."

He stopped and then spoke even more quietly.

"Not long ago, the Mighty One was pushed through several difficult trials. As was I. And I was…informed that my devotion to the ways of prophecy were admirable, but misplaced. My allegiance and loyalty should not be do that which was laid down in ancient times, but rather to the flesh-and-blood hero who depends upon me now. I have…struggled to recall that the one who commanded the cosmos is little more than a boy, and yet in other ways he has not been a child since the day he first donned the Cap.

"My own people are long gone and forgotten. In the thousands of years I have carried on their legacy alone, the Mighty One is the first to give me a purpose beyond overseeing their last will. And he…has sacrificed much for me. Would, I have seen, willingly trade his life and his destiny to save me, as foolish as that is. Though I would do the same for him.

"Mighty Max is a hero, is perhaps the hero of the history of the world. And when we thought he was dead on the street of Hong Kong, I did care for the future of the world but not as I had in the last five thousand years. I focused on the prophecy because it was all I had left.

"Somehow, that boy's life and heart are more precious to me than the fate of the very world. If he were to be lost, I would serve the world in his absence – it would be the only way I could continue to serve him. But I would be more alone than I was after the fall of my own people.

"Yes, I care for the boy by orders of magnitude never before calculated by even Lemuria's greatest minds. And we must find a way to save him, or the world will surely burn."

What he didn't say, what he couldn't say, was that if the world burned but Max were spared – impossible as it was; the boy would never survive the destruction of that which he had been entrusted to protect – Virgil would watch the flames with a heart both heavy with grief and unspeakably relieved that at least Max remained.

Because Virgil, like Norman, had finally realized that he too loved his boy more than the fate of the world. It was a betrayal of Lemuria and all that had been, and Virgil no longer cared.

-==OOO==-

After that, the Ronins left Virgil mostly alone, realizing belatedly that his calm and rational exterior was merely his way of coping with what was staggering emotional difficulty. He wasn't out in the jungle tearing trees apart with his bare hands as Norman probably was, but he was no less torn apart and raging inside – it just manifested differently.

So the Ronins settled in to help however they could. Rowen and Sage were the most likely to be able to assist with planning an assault on Skullmaster, so they worked with Virgil as his strange scribbles began to make sense to them after enough exposure. Cye and Kento alternated standing guard and venturing a little ways away to retrieve what might be needed – water, fruits safe to eat, a new stick to scribble with, dry wood for a fire.

Unable to sit still and not needed for camp duties, Ryo headed off into the jungle by himself, intending to find Norman and bring him back so they could get moving. He couldn't just wait. Not while Max was there with Skullmaster and people were dying and that might not even be the worst of it. Not while Virgil's suffering was intense beneath the surface and his iron control was the only thing keeping him from losing his focus, to say nothing of Norman who had vanished and not yet returned. Not while he himself had been helpless to stop any of it when he'd had the chance back in Toyama.

Because what could I really have done about it? Ryo thought to himself. And what can I do now? My armor is gone. The swords won't come to me like this.

But it wasn't really that and he knew it. Ryo was certain he could snatch a weapon from one of the Dynasty soldiers and make it work for him. He wasn't trained from the cradle for combat like Sage and Cye and Kento had been, but he'd done his best in the last few years to make himself at least equal to the armor if not to his friends without Wildfire's advantages. Rowen, too, though not practiced in combat as such, had a natural athleticism and that plus his tactical mind often made up for what he lacked in experience and training.

But how can I fight without the armor? Without Wildfire, I'm just a kid with nothing.

Like Max was. And he fought anyway.

And he lost. We all did.

The others are counting on me to lead them. If I let the guys down now, we'll never even make it to Skullmaster, let alone have any shot of stopping him.

I don't…know if I can do this.

The fear was sobering. Throughout the conflicts with Talpa, Ryo had struggled at times to keep his head up, to keep fighting, to maintain the confidence to lead and continue on. And the others had helped him, each in their own ways. Kento had kept him smiling. Cye had gently and subtly believed in him, restoring his faith in himself. Rowen had deferred to his instincts, and when the genius went along with a plan, that always helped to boost his spirits. And Sage, someone who could probably wipe the floor with all of them on a bad day with nothing more than a pencil in his hands, had acknowledged Ryo as the stronger.

But was that me…or Wildfire?

And that was the worst part. Without Halo, Sage was still a master martial artist. Without Torrent, Cye was still heir to a clan who taught spear-work from infancy, plus a genuinely brave person considering he walked into this fight with those doubts in his heart. Without Hardrock, Kento was still mountainously strong and a capable fighter in multiple disciplines. Without Strata, Rowen was still probably one of the smartest people in the world.

Without Wildfire, what am I?

He missed the feel of Wildfire with him. Even without the sub-armor, the Wildfire talisman had been a living thing, a tiny star of power Ryo had felt was almost a part of him. In his years of carrying it, he'd become accustomed to drawing energy from heat even without donning the armor, had felt the power of fire from the hearth as keenly as ever in battle. The absence of Wildfire, the loss of the armor, it pained him like a lost friend. Even now, Ryo was reaching into a pocket to touch the familiar talisman and assure himself of its presence and strength – only to remember that it was gone, absorbed into Skullmaster. All its power and potential had been turned to evil.

Ryo realized he had stopped moving and was staring at the ground before his feet.

I received the Wildfire armor…but did I ever really deserve it?

Something hit him from behind and Ryo almost tumbled into a tree. He turned with his hands up defensively.

To receive an enormous weight against his chest pinning him to the ground, heavy claws flexing dangerously against his shoulders.

"White Blaze! What are you doing?"

The tiger growled low in his throat, his huge jaws pulled back in a snarl that showed his teeth. But in spite of that, though he was heavy enough to crush Ryo flat, he hadn't actually harmed him. And the claws which could tear flesh from bone easy as ripping a leaf in half hadn't so much as punctured Ryo's shirt.

Still, Ryo shoved at the great cat. "Get off, buddy. You're heavy!"

White Blaze growled even louder, some of the hair along his ruff and spine beginning to rise and Ryo could see his tail swishing.

"Okay, I get that you're mad at me. Is it because we left Max behind?"

White Blaze's growling lessened slightly but he did not ease off.

"Of course he is upset about that," came a voice. And Ryo twisted his head to see Norman stalking out of the trees. The Guardian's body was dripping with sweat and he was smeared with sap. And his expression was no less dire than it had been the first time Ryo had seen it.

"That wasn't…I mean, we couldn't…"

"Bai Huo is upset by that, but he doesn't blame you. It wasn't your fault," Norman finished.

"Bai Huo?"

That earned a tight smile that didn't reach Norman's eyes. "It was his name once. Long ago."

"White Blaze." Ryo turned back to his tiger. "You knew him. You…helped him like you help me?"

Norman snorted. "A lot more, I think. I was a lot scrawnier than you back then. And it was a much harder world in which to survive alone."

"Okay, so if you speak White Blaze's language, what's up with this?"

Norman crossed his arms. "Bai Huo is able to do many things, but his abilities and choices will be influenced by the one to whom he has currently given his loyalty. In your case, he probably attuned himself to your feelings in order to keep an eye on those evil armors of yours."

"So…you knew what I was thinking?" Ryo turned back to his tiger friend. Then, "Oh."

White Blaze huffed and then opened his jaws and made a low sound, breathing hot air on Ryo's face. A few paces away, Norman made a rumbling noise of his own.

"Look," Ryo said, and he would have squirmed except for all the pounds of angry tiger pinning him motionless, "I just…I don't think…"

"Let me guess," Norman put in. "You don't think you can do this."

Ryo gulped.

"Well, I don't care if you think you can or not," Norman's voice was sharp. "The Mighty One believes in you. That's enough for me. It should be enough for you."

White Blaze actually turned away from Ryo to make an angry noise at the Guardian.

"I don't care what you think, furball," Norman frowned. "I don't have time to coddle him."

White Blaze actually bounced a bit with a sharp huff, eliciting a gasp from Ryo as he felt his body jerk with the tiger's weight.

"Yes, you are. You haven't drawn blood yet. That's coddling."

In spite of himself, Ryo snickered.

White Blaze bounced again and sat his lower half down on Ryo's legs – hard.

"Can you not use me to prove a point here, White Blaze?" Ryo complained.

"Look," Norman said flatly. "The armor chose you. The Mighty One trusted you. And Bai Huo thinks you're worth it. If you can't pull yourself together and act like the hero they all think you are, there's no point in us waiting for you. The Mighty One's life is more important than your doubt."

"I agree with that part, at least," Ryo admitted.

Norman's expression softened somewhat. "There was something about guiding virtues earlier. Something that kept your armors from being overrun by evil. What kind of virtues?"

Ryo sighed. "Righteousness. I'm…supposed to bear the power of Righteousness with Wildfire."

Norman nodded. "I can see that. The Mighty One has a lot of that, too."

"He could wear my armor and he didn't get corrupted, and then he gave it back to me without any kind of trouble," Ryo said quietly. "I didn't know anybody could do that."

"If anyone can do something, it's usually the Mighty One."

"Then why didn't Wildfire choose him in the first place?"

Norman frowned. "He's the Mighty One. He's not a Ronin Warrior. It's not his job."

"Yeah, but he's got the virtue all figured out, and he's clearly strong enough to stand against evil."

"And you're not?"

"Skullmaster corrupted us," and the words hurt to say. "I led my team into a trap. We left Max there. So, yeah, I'm not sure I should be the one in charge anymore."

"You're not in charge of me," Norman said firmly. "I only take orders from the Mighty One."

"And White Blaze helped him, kind of sided with him," Ryo went on. "He's a lot more of a hero than I am. He doesn't need armor to fight."

"Well, you don't have armor to fight with anymore," Norman said. "But it's still your job. That Talpa armor is your problem and you're going to deal with it."

"But…"

"You're stupider than me sometimes, you know that?" came a new voice. Kento strode into view.

"Hi. Uh, I am?"

"Duh." Kento frowned at his friend. "What, you think we're not all wondering if the armors would have been better off with other people who wouldn't have gotten taken in by Skullmaster? You think we haven't all thought we're not good enough? Where were you during Cye's crisis of confidence? You know, where we all kind of let each other down because we lost track of what really matters here?"

"I remember. So what are you getting at?"

Kento crouched down beside Ryo. "You're right about one thing. Max does have a lot of Righteousness in him. And Justice and Faith and Grace and Wisdom. And Virgil's got more Wisdom than maybe anybody, including Rowen. And this guy," he jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Norman, "probably has more Justice than me, too."

Ryo rolled his eyes. "Not helping, Kento."

"Yeah, but you're still missing the point. There's always going to be somebody better than you at everything, but that doesn't make them the right person to be standing where you have to be. Just because Max could wear Wildfire one time doesn't mean you aren't the one who beat Talpa. We needed it to be you, Ryo. Wildfire came to you because we needed it to be you. Because what makes you who you are is the right thing to win this fight."

White Blaze huffed onto Ryo's face and then licked his head thoroughly.

"I think he agrees," Norman said dryly.

"Stop! Okay! Fine! I'm Wildfire because I just am and I get it and stop that!"

White Blaze finally backed off Ryo and let him sit up. Kento offered him a wrinkled tissue from his pocket.

"Thanks, Kento. How'd you get so smart, anyway?"

"Hanging around us too much," came Cye's voice as the others appeared out of the jungle.

"Ryo, quit lying around. We've got work to do!" Rowen admonished with a faint smile.

"There's a plan?" Ryo scrambled to his feet.

Virgil looked at Norman with a long, silent, sad expression. But he finally broke the gaze and nodded. "There is little we can hope for, but we have the beginnings of an idea that, I pray, will be enough. But we must move quickly."

"You got your head all figured out?" Sage asked Ryo. "We're going to need you ready to fight with everything you've got."

"I…yeah," Ryo nodded. Then, because that wasn't enough, "There's a lot I'm not sure about, but I'm sure I'm going to be right here helping you guys save Max and the rest of the world. What happens after that, well, we can figure it out then."

Virgil nodded and drew out his portal map. "Then let us begin."

-==OOO==-

When Talpa's armor unexpectedly tore Max from inside the cavernous darkness, he would have cried for relief if it hadn't hurt so much. Talpa's armor yanked him around by his broken arms, knocked his battered legs into the unforgiving metal of the armor, and every inch of freedom cut into pains that Max had barely suppressed already.

"Your broken body is rather a thing of beauty," Skullmaster remarked. The suit of armor dumped Max on the smooth floor of the tower room right by a metal cauldron filled with wood and burning merrily.

Max couldn't stop his fall at all and screamed as broken bones impacted and crunched against one another. He couldn't even curl into a ball – his legs wouldn't work. And his arms flopped alarmingly, agonizingly. A strange, sharp pain in his back and chest made it hard for him to breathe.

"You look like a fish torn from the sea," Skullmaster said with obvious satisfaction. "How easy you are to control when your body has betrayed you. As you have betrayed your world."

Max blinked tears away and forced himself to respond, "No, I haven't."

The smoke from the fire – or was it from Talpa's armor? – curled around him. "You have. And now I will have a second Crystal of Souls far more powerful than the first. Only you could have given me the power to forge such a crystal from the magic of the Ancient Clan once of Lemuria. Once finished, this Crystal of Souls will be many times more powerful than my own, and fueled with millions more souls to command!"

From his angle, it was hard for Max to see what Skullmaster was doing, but he could tell the armor of Talpa had gone to one window standing open.

"With this crystal seed combined with the powers of Talpa, I no longer need request the willing transfer of souls. Observe!"

The armor raised its arms and did something – Max couldn't tell what – but the next instant the air was filled with wailing. Max closed his eyes. He could feel the souls, thousands of them, being pulled from the helpless people ranged below. People who could not help but be torn from their bodies and enslaved further even though it was not their will but Skullmaster's own.

"Stop it!" Max managed to scream.

The torrent of souls slowed and stopped and Skullmaster turned.

"That is merely half of those I command in this city alone. And with every hour, more people come to join me. Even I do not know how powerful my new Crystal will become with unlimited souls within it. We shall discover it together." He paused. "Unless…"

The suit of armor loomed over Max.

"Give me your soul, Max. Surrender to the Crystal. And perhaps I shall spare some of those who remain."

Max started to cry, but he still shook his head. "Never," he whispered.

"Come. You have already failed. Surrender and let it be done."

With a flash of insight, Max shuddered. "This...this is what you wanted the whole time, isn't it?"

"Only now do you realize. How pitiful." He chuckled. "Only you have the power to resist me now. Such useless power that will only bring you more pain."

Max gulped. "I'm not...giving in to you. I won't...let you take me into your Crystal. No matter...what."

"How heroic. It would, of course, have ended your body's suffering. But it would also have granted me limitless power over the cosmos. The choice is yours and in time I will convince you. But you will regret your refusal until then."

A pair of green Dynasty soldiers appeared with a woman held between them.

"Give me your soul, Mighty One," Skullmaster ordered.

Max somehow got his head to turn enough that he could see the woman who wept between the guards. He forced bile down and repeated, "Never."

"Very well." Talpa's armor drew a sword and plunged it into her heart.

Max choked on a cry even as the body crumbled.

"How many will you kill, Mighty One? Bring me another!" Skullmaster commanded.

If I give him my soul, he'll have all the power he needs to rule everything everywhere. I can't do that. I can't. Or these people would be dead anyway and billions with them. I can't do it…

The armors returned with a middle-aged man limp with terror.

"Give me your soul, boy!"

Max moaned and shook his head as much as he could.

"More blood on your hands, then. Some hero you are, Chosen One."

The armor cut diagonally and split the man in half, letting his remains tumble to lie atop the dead woman.

Max heard a weird, helpless keening noise and realized belatedly that it was coming from himself.

"Give me your soul. How many more will you kill?"

I can't. I can't. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry…

-==OOO==-

"Norman."

Virgil's voice caught the Guardian's attention. Norman did not slow his pace along the pavement, did not fail to continue striding towards the next portal, though he did look down to his Lemurian companion.

"You were right."

If the situation hadn't been so serious, so deadly serious, Norman might have stopped in outright shock. Instead, he just frowned.

Virgil was keeping up at his side, the years of having to follow after Norman's long legs and Max's natural speediness allowing him to speak without fighting for breath. But still, his words were clipped and low.

"In Hong Kong. You were right."

"I know that."

Virgil flinched. "I…I felt the same way you did. Of course I did. But I…"

"You were worried about the prophecy. I get it."

"No!" Virgil almost shouted. He took a breath to compose himself. "Well, yes, I mean, obviously I was. I will always have to think about the prophecy. It's my duty. Just as yours is being the Guardian."

Norman shrugged.

"But…when the Mighty One went over the building…" Virgil fought the rising memory of panic and despair. "I didn't…it wasn't the prophecy I wanted back. It was him."

"I know that."

Virgil looked up with astonishment. Norman couldn't quite manage a full smile, but his face softened minutely. He held Virgil's gaze silently until the Lemurian looked away with a nod.

Virgil of all people knew better than to underestimate Norman, but not in the way most people didn't underestimate him. In a fight, anyone who assumed less of the Viking met a quick, crushing defeat. But Virgil had spent thousands of years with Norman and knew that his barbaric appearance and rough manner hid a keen mind and sharp insight of his own. Norman saw and comprehended more than most ever realized, and his choice to remain silent was just one more way in which he cultivated an advantage over any potential adversaries.

Virgil wasn't surprised somehow that Norman had perceived and understood the evolution of his feelings long before he himself.

"If we…if we're too late," Virgil managed after a few moments, "will you come with me?"

That earned him a raised eyebrow.

"I…I cannot let his extraordinary bravery be in vain. If I have failed…if the only way I can serve him is to carry on protecting the world in his name…as I would hope he would want…then I will."

Norman recalled Virgil stealing the Cap a lifetime before and running to a mountaintop on which to attempt to destroy it – better that than allow the prophecy to fail and the world to fall. So much had changed, and nothing more than Virgil himself. But then, that was the influence of their Mighty One. He could talk the birds from the skies and a river from a stone.

And the long-dormant heart from an immortal Lemurian.

"If we are too late…I can't sit and wait for another Chosen One this time. He…wouldn't want that. For either of us." Virgil gulped. "So…would you come with me?"

Norman closed his eyes for a fleeting moment before he answered. "Yes. But not to save the world."

"The Mighty One would not want you to court vengeance in his absence, Norman," Virgil said gently.

"Do you what you have to and so will I." Norman's voice went gravelly and tight. "If we lose him, Skullmaster and every evil power will suffer like never before. That's a promise."

But Norman took a deep breath of his own and continued more calmly, "I will follow you as long as you keep that in mind. I don't care about the world the way you do."

"Yes, you do, Norman," Virgil whispered. "You always have."

But he also knew what Norman meant. He understood that, if they failed the Mighty One now, Norman's love for the world, his innate and driving sense of justice, his need to defend and protect, all those parts of his heart would die with the boy – at least for a time. And it might take hundreds or thousands of years for him to again be able to breathe without the pain and fury choking his soul.

Norman would live long enough to leave the path of revenge eventually, given the chance. But he could remain on it for generations, burning and destroying as had not been seen since Skullmaster's first war against humanity. And Virgil had no doubts he would do just that, though his targets would be evildoers rather than innocents. But still. When he was done, even Virgil did not know how much of the Guardian's enormous capacity for love would survive.

So much depends on you, Mighty One, Virgil thought. Please live. Please keep your soul intact until we can reach you. The world that will awaken should we lose you is not the one you have fought to protect. Please. Please live. If not for the world, then for Norman. For me.

Please don't leave us.