Delilah glances over at Hikaru as the soldier leaves. "Have you ever... piloted a mech before with Rodrick?"

"Maybe once.... Or twice.”

She nods, giving a nervous laugh. "Guess ya got a day for practice, on the way there... This is going to be a big turning point against the Rhen, isn't it? There's no going back after this."

"Did we ever really have a choice?”

She pauses, then shakes her head.

"Yeah, I didn't think so either." he says sincerely.

"Feels like the whole world is up against us, and our backs are to a wall here. Feels like... Like the road ahead is just gettin' darker."

"It might just be."

She shuffles uncomfortably, looking away. "One day at a time, I guess. Someday there'll be light again."

She makes to leave but, pauses as he grabs her hand and squeezes it.

"Delilah. Don't... Do anythin’ dangerous... Please.”

She hesitates. "Ya know I don't... I don't mean ta. I try to be safe. But none'a this is much safe, is it?"

He looks her dead in the eyes. "I can keep you safe. I'm no Armella but…”

She looks down, knowing she's been avoiding him somewhat the last few weeks. "I wanna keep o-our bet. But... I worry Ima fail you. I've been tryin' hard, but, I don't want you to have more hurt in your life. I'm just trouble."

"You're not trouble. You're…" he looks stricken with emotion. He squeezes his hand and looks down shyly.

Delilah can't seem to meet his eyes again. She weakly tries to pull her hand free, but really doesn't want to. "I'm trouble enough. You almost died 'cause of me, you were bedridden for over a fortnight, I--I was too much in shock to try ta stop you.

"What if I--what if I freeze up again with somethin' else? Not like I'd mean ta, but what if I get hurt? What if I get YOU hurt?" She glares at the floor, then looks very sullen. "You weren't movin', that day... You..."

"Why would that be your fault??"

She finally looks back up, her cheeks rather red. Her eyes angry and slightly glowing, not mad at him but just at herself. "What if you get killed tryin' to protect me?? That sounds like my fault, gettin' in the way of your goals, Karu."

"It's my choice Delilah. Maybe my goals have-" He pauses.

"Maybe they've changed.”

She pauses, her eyes darting between both of his with a fraction of confusion, trying to process what he means by that.

He looks a little startled at his statement. But then nods and looks back at her his eyes set with resolution.

Her brow furrows and she closes her mouth, a mix of emotions lining her face.

Delilah exhales after a long silence, looking more tired than anything. She's quiet when she speaks. "It is your choice. You're right. I should have more faith. We've come this far, haven't we? And y-you-" her eyes dart shyly to the side. "You've kept me safe this long. Since the beginning."

He turns red "I tried to, I didn't know why then.”

She snorts and smirks a bit. "It was a job. You work hard. And... you had a good heart.  Regardless of your salty exterior."

"I had a soft spot for you though.”

She looks a bit taken aback by that and turns even more red. "I-I mean..." She struggles with the idea, knowing how she was back then. How she acted.

"I mean not at first but... I got one for you.”

"Prolly helped when I stopped pretendin'. I was hen-peckin'... Ruby is quite the priss after all." She laughs nervously. "But even back then, I..." she thinks, mumbling sheepishly.

"You what?" He hangs on her words.

She looks even more embarrassed. "...I-I'd never met anyone like you."

"There aren't really many left like me." He flicks his tail.

"That's true." She squeezes his hand gently. "But... There is only one you."

Hikaru blushes and stammers and can't speak.

"I'm... I'm sorry I hurt ya..." She tears up a bit. She'd avoided talking about it for weeks, but couldn't any longer. "I-I almost lost you."

"I guess now we're even." He chuckles shyly and squeezes her hand.

"Y-yeah, heh." Delilah rubs at her scar absentmindedly, surprised at his playfulness.

"I'm glad Ryuu is with ya. With us... HE saved ya, really. I tried, b-but I didn't really... Really know what I was--" She looks incredibly embarrassed. She gives Hikaru a very sheepish look, then glances away.

Hikaru thinks a little more. "I really ought to give him more attention."

"Is there anything nice we can do for him, you think?"

"Maybe you guys could... Shoot the breeze on the ride to Bedegar?" She scrunches her nose, thinking about the mechs.

“Maybe... that could… work.”

"Perhaps riding in Zander's mech would be safest for me." She looks a bit green. "I'm just, not used to being so..." Delilah shuffles a bit. "I like blending in, heh. But.... this way I can help protect you, too." She licks her lips nervously. "What should I focus on as a sniper? How can I keep your mech safe?"

"Keep them from getting behind me. Pin down others to keep them isolated.”

She nods. "I can do that."

She finds a spot to sit, and looks very contemplative. "Hikaru?"

"Delilah?"

"What goals do we have now?" She gives him a very serious look. "We need to take out Kotowari before he gets all of Wuxia under his thumb. He sounds... Close. But... He had the Rhenese with his armies. He's obviously allied with them, to secure the country." She fiddles with her hands, rubbing the tingling away.

"They took Alwyn. They took Elbion. They're everywhere... But spread thin. If..." She holds her breath. "If we mean to take Kotowari, we may be taking on all of Krussin. Can we do that? Should we? Would this hurt more people than help?"

"I... don't know."

"This could be the death of us. And the death of many others." She reaches for her satchel but reluctantly restrains herself with a shiver. "The church is practically synonymous with them, too. We'd be at war with... everyone. It seems this isn't just about magic anymore."

"If we play it right, perhaps we have a slim chance. But why? Why do all this? I--" she hesitates, looking uncomfortable and imploring. "I just want to protect the people I care about. Forget knowledge, magic, wars or politics... I just want…" She trails off.

"Kotowari needs to die. He does. Honestly just to satisfy my anger I'll kill him. I don't really care as much for the rest of it. The politics and the magic. It's just a means to an end. Although I do support Balgor I can do that quietly as well as loudly.”

She nods. "We did promise Balgor... And maybe with some spies we can take Kotowari out. Target him somewhere.... quietly." She watches the door. "Leave this place for Gravesford to run. For Bedegar. We could move on after that, if we wanted."

She mumbles almost to herself, "Perhaps the Holy Domains of Lenova, and all the countries under one peaceful banner isn't... isn't so terrible. There are worse things, I suppose..."

He stares. "There's a part of me that wants to kill Tarj though. I can't explain it but I want to do it. Just to say I can.”

Delilah is taken aback and looks at Hikaru incredulously. "Y-you want to kill Tarj? A god?"

The words sit sour in her mouth. Although she didn't feel she could follow Him any longer, she'd still spent her entire life as a devout patron to Tarj.

"You've seen what he's done to you, Armella, heard Rodrick's testimony. You know what he teaches is false, a lie created to give him power."

He gets a strange look in his eyes. "Why not?"

"Why not?!" She looks aghast and stands up, pacing around him. "He's a God, Hikaru! He's not some puny mortal like--like Kotowari. What if I were to suggest I wanted to kill Balgor, just to say I could!?

"I--" she hesitates, "What has he done to me? Except ignore me, since I just twisted his tenants for my own gain." She looks disgusted with herself, never having admitted that aloud before. "What has he done to Armella? She gets power from him. He isn't all lies. Rodrick--" she falters. "I know the church doesn't like magicky folk... I hate that. I didn't growin' up, but, I do now.

"I'm scared enough of you dyin' going up against these armies and your crazy uncle, but hearin' you craving after...! After..." Delilah stares at him, terrified and upset. "...I know I'd lose you. Tarj don't need a fox fur on his wall in the Holy Temple... ya numnut..." She folds her arms, pacing again and huffy.

"Delilah he tried to change your thoughts with a magic pendant. After claiming that magic was evil. We've killed two of those squid monsters. TWO. Don't even try tellin’ me it was a coincidence they were high ones. He made Armella WEAR armor that cut her. And she felt like it was NORMAL. They've tried to kill both me and Rodrick on sight for looking different."

"The Rhenese were fighting along the cultists. The zealots with the heathens. I will that my own inclination is biased towards murderin' the sumbitch, for my own god, but that doesn't mean there aren't noble reasons to stop him. I'm just being honest about my own reasons."

"Plus… I think I could do it too. Something in my blood tells me it's happened before."

Delilah considers everything he's said. How much he was right, even though it hurt her to admit it. To admit how blind she was. How comfortable ignorance was. She stops and stares at Hikaru for a long moment, feeling closed off and distraught.

She quietly glances at the sword at his hip, the slayer of the World Razer, then back to his fierce gray eyes.

He looks back.

"I can do it."

She trembles at the determination in his voice, at the fire. Unsure if it's noble bravery or utter foolishness.

"T-there are so many innocents who believe in him. He's all that Terra has had in... Millennia. You--w-we, would need to give them somethin'... Somethin else. And not just our Gods of Slaughter or Shadow--" She hesitates, realizing belatedly her admission, "They need a balance of peace and light too. Not to be... blasphemous..."

Shaking, Delilah turns away, sneaking a swig from a small flask in her satchel. (19 slight of hand) She exhales slowly, the tingling feeling receding.

(I got a 26 perception) "Are you drinkin?"

She grimaces, and shoots him a funny look. "I'm thirsty. We've been talkin' a lot." (29 deception)

"But you hate drinkin'." (Awww 17 insight)

She blinks slowly, clearing the slight fog in her mind. This was stronger than before. "Y-yeah, well... It's just water. I'm not... Gonna turn out like my dad." She feels a stab of guilt as she says it, but tries to keep a straight face.

"Why not the ones from Dolor, they're noble enough sure they're just heroes but is better than that liar Tarj!"

Pacing again, she sighs. "Y-yeah. They could do well. Heroes... Saints... It's nice to believe in somethin'. Though that'll take some convincing. They were branded the destroyers of this world when the cataclysm happened, after all."

"The church of Tarj teaches that, anyway. It's engrained in society..."

"By Tarj. It comes full circle."

"It would..." She scrunches her nose, glancing at his katana again.

"Maybe we could do something good for once." Hikaru staggers for a second and grabs his head like the thought seems... Foreign. Invasive.

She blinks, looking concerned. "Y-you okay, Karu?" She takes a step forward and hesitantly reaches out to steady him.

The thing that seems to scare him most was it came from deep inside him. "That's crazy though. Why would I do anything for anyone but myself?"

Delilah tentatively touches his arm and looks him in the eyes. "Hikaru..?" She looks very confused. "You've done a lot of good. What are you talking about...?"

"Not without a selfish reason! I don't do things just because.”

She withdraws, a bit taken aback. She'd always pushed against his facade of selfishness, but the implications of hearing it again, about all of this... "You're actin' like you always have an ulterior motive or somethin', that's not-- that's not true."

"I saved you i didn't want you to die. Because I couldn't handle you being dead. Because I couldn't handle living ina world without you." He emphasizes the I in each sentence. "I helped the people because I want help with Kotowari. I always get something out of it. I don't know how to do something for nothing." Echoes of Hikaru shouting while saving the girl in Wuxia reverberates in the background of his head.

"You know that I'm anything but altruistic Delilah."

Delilah gives Hikaru a hard stare in the uncomfortable silence that follows. She looks even more confused and distraught, but can't seem to say anything. She takes a step back, rubbing her arms slightly.

He steps back and grabs his head.

She speaks quietly, feeling an ache of pain in her chest. "Maybe we're all a bit selfish. Everyone wants somethin', after all."

He looks shaken. "Morality is stupid. This is why I chose Balgor, I can't get my head wrapped around it."

He turns to run.

She knew she couldn't catch him, and wasn't sure if she wanted to in that moment. Delilah didn't like being a pawn, but, didn't she used to be just like that? With him and the others? What a hypocrite she was.

She glares, hot tears stinging her eyes. She yells at him, "Balgor wouldn't run! A true disciple of his wouldn't either!"

He keeps running.

"Balgor--" her mind drew a blank and it frustrated her. There was a hole where that memory once was. She yells at him as he runs, "Perhaps Balgor doesn't care for morality! But he'd damn well face his problem and slay it!"

She shakily breathes, terrified of confronting Hikaru this way. She closes her eyes and keeps yelling as he ducks out the door, "You can choose to keep usin' people or you can just man up and ask 'em for help! You're so damn scared o' bein' left on your own, ya ain't givin' no one a chance to show they care enough to help you without bein' manipulated! Why don't you let us decide!? Some might not but--"

He stops and shouts without facing her, "YOU CAN'T SLAY AN IDEA."

Delilah, hearing him, opens her eyes and angrily...recklessly, dives into her own shadow. A strange sound, like a devouring implosion, echoes behind her where she left. A perfectly formed, half sphere crater, devoid of matter, is left in her place.

Picturing where she wants to go, she immediately falls from the shadows in the ceiling, right before the gates leading outside. (Nat 20 acrobatics) She lands on her feet in front of Hikaru with a resounding thump, and stands up, her glare glowing silver with furious tears. Her brow pouring with sweat from the exertion, she blocks his way.

"-You- can slay ANYTHING!!"

"No I can't! Being good means you die like my father and brother! Being evil means I'm Kotowari!! Which one should I be?! Dead or a tyrant!? I'm not so skilled as all that! I just cheat! I shoot first! Don't follow rules!

"You're so narrow-minded! Why's it gotta be black and white?! Why can't it something OTHER than those?!"

She yells at him, not caring who hears. "I already died, and ya know what? I didn't have to come back! I coulda stayed dead! But I came back for you!" Her cheeks burn. "And if I die again it's--it's my own damn fault! Not yours. You can still kill Kotowari, and NOT end up like him. You have your father's blood, not his!"

"No one good ever lived! They all die, even that hero died!"

"EVERYONE dies sometime! Even the gods, apparently! Even us!"

He stops. As though the idea had never hit him before.

She pants, her eyes darting between his, watching him. "Hikaru, I saw so many people when I--" she hesitates, catching her breath. It felt hard to breathe for some reason. "--when I died. And ya know what..? It was full of sinners and saints. Murderers and angels. Heroes and villians. Death... doesn't care about morality."

"Then how do I choose?"

"I don't know. But, every moment is a choice... Every day we can change." Her eyes stop glowing and she looks very sincere, tired, almost saying this for herself as well. "We act, and... I guess, see if it feels right. In our heart. If it doesn't we try again."

"And I ain't gonna help you kill Kotowari by being twisted into doin' it. Just... ask me for help." She stares at him, daring him to.

She can almost see the spectre of his past surrounding him. He looks like he is fighting his emotions, trying to put them back in the vault he locked them in. They're flooding out across his face.

She steps toward Hikaru, toward that spectre, her legs feeling heavy. Without saying anything, she grabs a hold of him and pulls him into a tight embrace, fiercer and yet gentler than she ever has.

"I didn't want to be this way. But I felt I had to be. I wanted to be like Ryuuji was. He was supposed to be heir. Not me."

"He lived his life to teach you. He lost his life to spare you. But his death isn't your fault... None of it is your fault, Hikaru."

"How can I be good after all this time? I already did so much wrong."

"Everything dies, right? The past then, it's dead, too. Yesterday is gone. It's over." She hugs him tighter. "We might have consciences from it, but today is here. You can choose good things each new day. We both can. I-I'm choosing one right now."

Hikaru can't handle the emotional turmoil, he breaks down and hugs her back, trying to keep his sobs quiet.

She burrows her face into his shoulder. "You ain't evil, Karu... You mighta done bad things. You mighta grown numb to killin'. But you survived. You did what you thought you had to. People do that... Everyone does. Even me. Even Kotowari. Even Balgor. Even Armella. But you can always choose."

"I... still want to kill Tarj Delilah... I'll be honest.”

"I--I know. You have your reasons. And I ain't gonna stop ya."

She grips him, shaking a bit. "Cause that's who you are. That's the you I've always known. You're just, you. Just you... a-and I... I love you."

"I-need your help with Kotowari, Delilah. And... I love you too..."

She laughs a tired, emotional chuckle. She blinks back tears, relaxing against him. "I thought you'd never ask... Of course I'll help you with Kotowari. Dunno why you'd ever think I'd say no... silly."

"Let's go take care of that Rhen army then.”

She gives him a tight squeeze. "Yeah…. We'll show 'em not to mess with the rightful heir."