I sighed softly, watching as Fuu wiped the blood from my hands. I hadn't meant to do THAT to myself... especially considering that now, my friends were even more worried about me.

But how could I not be upset? We had killed Princess Emeraude. As we'd gone along, believing ourselves to be rescuing the Princess... the entire time, with each enemy we defeated, we were closer and closer to the greatest tragedy Cephiro had faced in a long time.

I suppose it would have wound up tragically no matter what, though. After all, with Emeraude held prisoner by Zagato, Cephiro was crumbling. They had no way of knowing that Emeraude herself was contributing to the destruction of that lovely world.

Umi was upset too. My poor friends, I didn't want them to be upset! I loved them so much, how could I have been fool enough to cause them such pain by trying to deal with my own?

Would the suffering ever end?