Setting: Right after my conversation with Death. I will now choose who to talk to out of Famine and Conquest.

I honestly don't know who to start with. Both of them seem like they could use someone to talk to. Even if Conquest doesn't want to talk about his past, and even if Famine isn't in the mood to straight up talk to anyone, I have to at least let them know that there's someone they can trust, at least one person.

Death flashback: "So please, talk with the rest of them, and keep everyone together. I don't want to lose any of you, especially you."

You're goddamn right. I don't know what sort of missions these guys have been on before, or what sort of shit they've encountered, but this event must've been some very scary shit to shake the confidence of Conquest and Famine. I have to find a way to get their confidence up and work out whatever weaknesses they can work out.

I've decided to tackle the problem separately. I'll go to Conquest first, and then talk to Famine. Of course, both of them may have some lingering thoughts towards each other, so I must take care not to make either of them too angry again.

I walk into the Dining room and take a seat to the left of Conquest. In order for him to feel a little more reassured I put myself in a position where he could talk to me directly rather than skirt the issue by looking away.

Me: I'm going to be direct with you. Conquest, I want to learn about your past. More importantly, the past that made our failed escape bring up bad memories for you. If you wish to tell me, or wish to keep it to yourself, that's completely fine. But know this, your problem has a higher chance of being confronted and worked out with if you decide to talk to others about it. So what's it going to be, Khan?

A long 25 seconds pass, with me staring at him, and him averting my gaze. His body twitched, beads of sweat started to form on his head, and he rubbed his arms without stopping. His face was anguished, as if he were fighting a mental war with some being inside his head. Then, he spoke.

Conquest: Okay. I'll tell you what made me so broken and angry at the end of that escape. I'm going to be frank; you'll learn quite a bit about me that you may not want to here. There's about a 63% chance you will feel depressed after hear –

Me: Fuck the 63%. Probability doesn't matter now. What matters is my friend is in a funk and I'm unable to fix it. It feels infuriating to sit here helplessly as a depowered Agnum not being able to help. I know you will do anything to help me, so let me help you confront your problems so we can look towards fixing them.

Conquest: Thanks for that. I wanted a final assurance of this kind of loyalty. Thank you for this.

He smiled, and then slowly frowned. I could feel I was about to dive into something gut-wrenching and dark. Oh boy.

Conquest: You know what my background was? Actually, a better question would be why me and Conquest are always seen arguing.

Conquest: We're both fundamentally different, and have very opposite experiences. You'll have to ask him what his experience was.

Conquest: When I was 15, I became a soldier. I was a knight, specifically. I was a knight that no one cared about, one that no one would've noticed. My parents didn't care. They hated me from the moment I was born. They said, go out and do whatever the fuck you want you dumbass. We know you're going to get yourself or somebody else killed. I should've listened to that and became a farmer or something mundane.

Conquest: Unfortunately, I was not born to do something mundane. I volunteered to join the army, and they took note of my natural talent for combat. I was trained to be a knight and ordered to be a part of a skirmishing party. One day, our superiors got intelligence that convinced them to attack an enemy camp. Our skirmishing party was the closest. I had this gut feeling that something bad was going to happen, and yet orders were orders, and I had to follow them all the way through. We rode into the camp and started fighting the enemy. I killed 4 soldiers that were attacking the leader of my skirmishing party. Our group killed so many soldiers that day. Our 35 took their 25 soldiers by surprise and massacred them. We killed many women and children in the camp too. "Under Orders from his majesty, they said."

At this point, a pained laugh starts to come out of him. I could feel a decade of hurt start to emanate from his pained face. This was a man that was forced into his misdeeds.

Conquest: You know what's the WORST PART? (At this point, he's laughing hysterically. I could feel him about to explode) We were given faulty and correct information. Those people we slaughtered and butchered were part of a faction that was allied to us. As part of our duty, we were supposed to be protecting them while they gave us material tribute. But I'm guessing my superiors wanted the stench of Archian blood off of their hands, so they ordered my group to report this as an enemy camp wiped out. They wanted supplies for themselves immediately instead of "poor" tribute, so they were willing to attack their own allies to do so. And our group went along like a flock of sheep falling off a cliff. FAULTY, FAULTY, FAULTY!

Conquest: For saving the leader of my party, I was given a promotion. In fact, for leading the charge and protecting my leader until the other members of my group arrived, I was given a promotion past my leader. What would you know? I would get the thing I always wanted in exchange for committing irredeemable crimes against humanity. A promotion TO GENERAL! I got a promotion to fucking general for killing all those people and saving my company leader.

Conquest: Many members of my group, upon hearing of the information committed suicide. Some hung themselves, some killed themselves on the spot, and some signed up for suicide missions. I had some things to do. As general, with my leeway and power, I was able to find out the identities of the 4 innocent men I killed, Zylam, Yan, Edgarth, and Brin. They all had futures similar to mine, aspirations of greatness and dreams of elevating their miserable lives. And I killed them all, because a couple of corrupt pieces of shits were too impatient to wait on a couple more supplies.

Conquest: Those corrupt men got away with it. They ran the state, so what could I do but follow my orders?

Conquest: I gave tribute to the families of the men I killed, and the men and women that were slain that day, but nothing could wipe away the guilt that continued to cloud my mind. After 10 years of service, I had enough and tried to stab myself in my tent. I had my letter of resignation already written and all the arrangements towards the family members of the victims getting restitution were ready. A knife would do the trick, especially against one without a cloth. Then he appeared; the Gatekeeper walked out of a white-goldish portal. He spoke to me, asking if my time was really up. He said that I could do more with the skills I had. So, he gave me an offer. Join the Horsemen and prevent situations like mine from happening again. No more corrupt men with agendas of their own. No more faulty intelligence to be gained. I was going to do things with clear, concise information to limit the casualties of battle and prevent mistakes like these from occurring again.

Conquest: Then, we met DeGiorno on this street. I knew exactly which routes to take to avoid this dangerous enemy. Every single route we took should've been able to avoid him. Even with all of our abilities: Famine's smell, my escape plan, Death's cloaking, and War's sight, we were unable to dodge that fucker because I missed one obvious detail that shouldn't have added up. That fucking tiny tracker on Death was so damn obvious, I should've picked that up instantly. Even if War couldn't see it, I should've seen it. A miniscule crease on her shoulders was indented in a way that should've made it obvious. But I didn't take note of it. It probably happened as she was taking off her paintball gear or when she walked outside to rejoin us. It pissed me the fuck off to just be outsmarted like that and have my plans fail me like that. It brought me back to that fateful day, where I killed all those innocent people because of information outside of my control. So now that everything I could perceive was in my control, AND I STILL FAILED, what does that say about my abilities? What does that say about me as a Horseman? I failed you, Agnum, and I should be treated as such.

Me: No. You don't deserve to be treated as a failure just because you fucked up. I have to ask this question before I continue with what I want to say. Is this the first mission for the 3 of you?

Conquest: Yes. We had training rounds where we assisted on some veterans who were currently Horsemen. This was the first mission the 3 of us took with Death.

Me: Then that's all I need to tell you this. I can't say that this is a failure this early in the mission, nor can I say that your abilities have failed me. As a result of your experiences, you wanted to avoid situations where your information and your strategies failed you in a way that could put the rest of us in danger or make us do something heinous. This encounter triggered some very unpleasant memories, because it rendered you as helpless as the moment when you were ordered to slaughter those people. I could tell you that you didn't do terrible. I could say to do better next time. I could say that the enemy was stronger than us and that we need to refocus. (I did say that. That's another reason why he got so upset.) None of those statements is going to solve the issue that is plaguing you along with the other Horsemen. In order to truly overcome the issues each of you have, we'll have talk about our problems with each other and evaluate how we can work together to solve each of them. I just wanted to give you my assurance that you aren't alone. I will help you along the way and support you. The other Horsemen will help you solve your issues, as you should help them resolve theirs as well. Whatever pasts we have, whatever despicable things we may have done, they will be confronted and dealt with together. The past does not define who you are as a person. However, we can make sure that we'll be able to help you come to terms with the past.

Conquest shaking my hand: Thank you. Thank you for listening to me. I'll try my best to help you.

Me: 100% effort.

Conquest: 100% effort.

I got up after shaking his hand and started to walk over to the Living Room. I passed by Death and War listening to the conversation. Death gave me a small smile, and War gave her a little nudge. She punched his arm, and continued to smile at me. I guess she felt better that I was getting a step closer to helping this team work its issues out.

I walked up to Famine's side and sat in the chair next to the couch. I had a feeling that his story was going to be the most tragic of all.