When I finally regained consciousness, I was staring at the familiar ceiling of Tintagel Ruins. This was where the Sparrowfeathers hideout was, as far as I could recall. Sitting up slowly, I put a hand to my head and held it there for a few moments. So, everything was still going as planned? But how did I get here in the first place? Hearing footsteps, I looked over to see Sorey making his way over to me.
"You're awake. It was kind of a shock to find you unconscious." He said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Thankfully, Rose is letting us stay here until it's safe."
Thankful they'd thought to keep my mask on my face, I just gave a nod at his words and stared at my legs. I'd sent Rokurou and Aevar ahead to Lastonbell before the whole war thing had broken out, so Margaret and Wiggs were probably safe right now. Hopefully. That was one tragedy I would never want to happen again, if I could help it. Looking over to him, I gave a weak smile before looking around. I couldn't make out the Seraphim- had my resonance been cut off like Sorey's had? Or had I just blocked it off myself? Sliding off the bed, I stretched and glanced about. Nothing too special, just beds in a corner of the area. Had Sorey been unable to put me in the other side of the room so he just placed me on this bed?
"I don't really remember what happened," I realized, finding that after I'd talked to Izayoi my memory was blank until I woke up. Trying to hit the blank spot caused a slight pain in my forehead that I didn't understand. So I shook my head and ignored it for now. Whatever happened, the Seraphim would inform me... right? "All I know is that I found someone that I'd thought was long dead... and then nothing until I woke up."
"That must've been hard for you." Sorey stood up, walking over to me. "Finding them and not knowing what happened next... It must be tough to deal with."
"It happens. Memories are fickle things." I waved off the concern, looking around. "So... Where are we?"
"Oh, uh! This is where we're staying. They're called the Tintagel Ruins." Sorey said. "Huh? You guys!"
At that moment, Lailah, Edna and Mikleo appeared. They'd been worried about Sorey, from what I could tell. So I decided to see if things were okay with the others. "Hey, Kain, can you hear me?"
Yeah. After what happened with Izayoi, we figured it best to let you have a little peace and quiet until you called upon us. Kain responded. I nodded.
"I can get that. I don't know what happened myself. Could you guys tell me?"
Sorry, but we think it's best you don't know. Came Zaveid's voice. What happened wasn't like you.
"...Wasn't like me?" I was confused. What wasn't like me? What had happened? And why weren't they letting me know? Besides for my own safety, but I knew I deserved to know. However, the Seraphim would end up keeping quiet about this. Even though I deserved to know... maybe there was actually a better reason than 'we think it's best you don't know'. How could I know, though? How could I know what was best for me when everything had been falling apart since the first day I came to Glenwood so long ago? That it felt like literal years despite being a few months?
And then I heard screaming and looked over, seeing Rose shaking Sorey's hand really fast and trying to get him to let her go. Lailah was trying to calm her down when Edna got an idea and walked over to Rose. Rose froze, then screamed again while punching Sorey and knocking him out temporarily. She ran off, and I looked to Sorey before chasing after her. A part of me wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be okay... but the other part knew that would just make her more freaked out.
"Hey! Hey... Rose, right?" Finally catching up to her, as she'd just run to another part of the ruins to calm down and get away from Sorey for now, I took a breath. "Sorry about him. He's... naive. Doesn't think to ask first before he does something."
"...It's fine! Really... He just doesn't get to do that again." Rose said, looking pale as a ghost. "At all."
"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked. She did look pale, so I assumed that she'd be feeling really really bad about everything right now. To my surprise, she nodded.
"Yeah. I just needed to get away for a moment. Sorey's a good person and all, I just don't want to deal with hearing those ghosts again." Rose walked over to one of the bags on the floor and opened it, pulling out some clothes. "Could you turn around? I don't really like changing when someone's watching."
"Oh- Sure." I turned away, wishing I could remove my mask for a bit and just wash my face or something without fearing what would be said if people realized I had the same face as Rose did. How I would explain that, how everything would go... Man, it just felt like an endless cycle of nonsense that I didn't really understand. But, regardless, I had to at least attempt to understand it this time around. There really wasn't anything else to it but that, really. When Rose was done getting changed, the two of us ended up headed over to where Sorey was. There was a bit of talk about how the ruin wouldn't open and both Mikleo and Sorey made a wager on who'd open the door first.
It was Sorey, of course, discerning that there were three buttons that needed to be pressed so we could continue in. Although Sorey did inform Rose of the dangers, she didn't really take it seriously and went ahead with Dezel following after her. I watched for a moment before heading in myself. Though I hadn't really gotten a good look at the ruins the last time we were here, I was hoping that I could understand a bit more this time around.
And then, the door closed, locking us into the room. Rose was in the other room, and she and Sorey had a small chat while the rest of us were... there.
"Rani, I have to ask. Where'd you get the power of Purification?" Lailah looked curious. "Back in Marlind, you were able to use it to purify that hellion."
"I'm the Oracle." I responded, shrugging. "As long as the Shepherd's active, I can access the power of purification. My Prime Lord and I figured that out when we couldn't do anything until Sorey took the sword." I knew I was lying about the second half, but it was better than telling them the whole truth of how I actually knew.
"Is Izayoi with you, then?" Lailah asked, moving towards me. "I'd like to talk to her."
"...No, she... She became a hellion." That made Lailah step back, hands covering her mouth. "It's only because of a few friends of mine that I'm even here now, and the Prime Lord that took her place. She was obsessed, and it generated too much malevolence. Nearly killed me, too."
"Oh no, that's horrible!" Lailah stepped back. "Izayoi... She really wanted to help me, didn't she?"
"Help you enough to kill her Oracles." I responded, turning to look at the door. "She was obsessed with you to the point that she didn't care what would happen to me. What would happen to the next person she made her Oracle."
"It's true." Kain appeared beside me, folding his arms against his chest. "I was there when Izayoi asked me to relieve the burden on Rani's body. I couldn't do much for her, and told Izayoi off for what she was doing. She wouldn't listen to me, not even when Rani left to go spend the last moments of her life with those she was travelling with. We were just lucky enough that Rani held on despite nearly being corrupted completely by Izayoi's malevolence."
"...I see. That means that Izayoi was corrupted even before she gained the power of Purification, doesn't it?" Lailah asked. "But I don't understand how it could've allowed her to become a hellion."
"The malevolence was too great to be burned away." Kain shook his head. "And besides, at that time there was an imbalance so Izayoi's power was weaker than it should've been."
Lailah nodded, looking away. Though we ended up getting attacked by hellions and dealt with a smoke trap that Rose set off, it eventually ended up being okay for us. At least for a moment until the door opened, when the domain of a hellion could be sensed. That meant that there was a hellion here, for sure. Rose's cry was enough to spur me forward. Her not knowing what was going on because her rejecting the Seraphim made sense- she couldn't tell what was going on or that Dezel was defending her from the Dragonewt.
"Hey, your scaliness, I'm over here!" I called to it, drawing the Dragonewt's attention to myself. Pulling out my daggers, I saw Kain pull out a coin from seemingly nowhere and prepare to fire it with just his thumb. "Run, Rose! Get out of here, quick!"
And yet, it went just as I remembered. Rose came charging back, Mikleo talked to her, she made up her mind to join the fight and join the Shepherd on her own... but the true name Sorey gave her sounded wrong. Wilkis Wilk. Rose is Rose- the dumbest True Name I had ever heard. Though Rose did take the Dragonewt down, I recognized Edna's little act right away. I sighed and sat down near Rose. Though she'd left me, though the one I knew was dead...
It gave me peace, seeing her again like this.
I did my best to make her comfortable so she wouldn't end up all achy and sore after falling unconscious on the ground. As I did, I could feel the tears falling.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't save you..." I said, mostly to myself. "I'm sorry."
Would Dezel hate me for letting Rose die? For letting Lunarre kill her and Sorey?
Lunarre was the reason this had all happened, wasn't it? Lunarre... Lunarre would have to pay, wouldn't he? He'd definitely have to pay for killing them, wouldn't he? Wouldn't he? Wouldn't he?!
"...Do you guys know anything about Lunarre?"
"Huh? What's that?" Sorey asked.
"...You know that guy from Ladylake when we first ran into each other because you guys were chasing a dog?" My voice sounded so much deader now. "That guy. Do you know anything about him? Where I can find him?"
"Why are you interested in Lunarre?" Came Dezel's voice. I looked over at him before looking back at Rose. "He used to be a part of the Scattered Bones, but he isn't any longer."
"...because there's a score I have to settle with him. Lunarre took everything from me, and I intend to return the favour."
"You mustn't let yourself get blinded by that." Lailah scolded. "You hold the same values as the Shepherd. If you're lost to the malevolence-"
"I can't just let him go when he killed my girlfriend and asked me if I liked the gift he'd left me!" I stood up abruptly, staring Lailah down. "Finding him... hunting him down and making him pay... I have to, even if... Even if it's the last thing I ever do!"
"Two idiots with revenge ideals." Edna tapped her parasol against her shoulder. Before I could respond to her, the dog seraph finally woke up. Instead of continuing it, the entire conversation was dropped there. Revenge ideals? I just wanted to make sure everything from the past was settled before I truly moved on to the future. To this new normal that I had to deal with, that I had to learn to live with. I just had to deal with Lunarre and then I'd be free of all of this. I'd be free of the past and be able to move on. That was all this was for. It wasn't some silly revenge ideal.
After dealing with the rest of the ruin, we left Tintagel after Rose talked to the rest of the Scattered Bones and they said that they'd be off after they were done packing up. With that handled, we'd headed through the forest to Lastonbell... Well, a bit of a way until Rokurou landed in front of us.
"Rokurou!" I ran up to him. "Did you find them? Are they okay?"
"Almost arrived too late." Rokurou said after he stood up. "From what Aevar said, she was close to becoming a hellion before he stepped in. Children can be cruel, after all."
"Thank goodness..." I shook my head before looking back. "I... I had intel on a potential hellion happening in Lastonbell, so I had to prevent it. I sent Rokurou and Aevar ahead of me to make sure that it wouldn't come to pass. I was able to send them ahead."
"Thankfully, Aevar's from Lastonbell and I'm known to be a part of the Sparrowfeathers." Rokurou nodded, arms crossed. "Otherwise, we may not have made it in. Aevar's still in town. I'll head back to join him, so we'll meet you there."
"Okay, thanks!" I watched him walk off. A sigh left me and I shook my head, heading towards Lastonbell with the others.