There was no way I could've blamed Alice for telling me everything about the Markers. Even though this was a war, the thought of my friends dying in combat was the furthest thing in my mind.

Each of them had talents and skills, not even I could grasp, yet they weren't like me at all. They were fragile beings that could be killed. Whether it be by the barrel of a gun or of old age, they could die. Dying also meant that others unrelated to the war would get dragged along and be targeted by Lucian.

I don't know how many people I passed as I desperately trekked through the Asterism. I'm pretty sure some even tried to stop me to see what was wrong. But I didn't care, I had to reach the crew's quarters. I was sure someone had been following me the entire time, but I couldn't let them stop me. I know they'd probably just tell me to slow down or that I didn't need to see what it was I wanted to. Nothing would make me slow down, as I had to see what I'd done to Clarke's sister. He told me to take care of her, to make sure she didn't get hurt, yet now she probably was going to be closer to danger than he'd ever want her.

As I reached the officer's quarters, I stopped to catch my breath. In the small break I took, I'd find my pursuers finally catching up to me. Talia, Andrew, and Minerva followed me.

For a few minutes, we'd all been a wheezing mess on the floor. My friends and I just stared at each other like we were seeing who could catch their breath the fastest. I'd obviously be the one to finish but before I could even speak, my head quaked in pain. The room suddenly filled with a green light and for the tiniest instant. All of my friends seemed somewhat different. Everything about their appearance was ultimately the same, yet there was something off about them.

Andrew put his hand up before I could say anything and shook his head. "You can't do all of this on your own Solomon. How much more do you plan on keeping from us."

Wait... That wasn't right at all. There was no way Andrew would call me Solomon.

"What are you talking about man? Why'd you call me that?"

The light disappeared and now my friends gave me the most confused looks I'd ever seen.

"What are you talking about man?" Andrew asked, "I was saying save your breath. We weren't going to stop you."

"But you just called me Solomon just now... I heard you."

"Look... We get that you're under a lot of stress So-So," said Talia. "But ya can't go stir crazy on us..."

I wasn't going to get anywhere trying to debate the sudden lapse of reality that I experienced maybe something I could figure out later.

"If you guys didn't come here to stop me, what did you come here for?"

The green light appeared again, this time Talia seemed to have tears in her eyes. She hadn't been crying beforehand so this was a little jarring, to say the least.

"Ya can't just deal with this all on your own! We're hurtin' too," she sobbed.

Wiping my eyes I looked at her again, the green light disappearing once more. Talia wasn't crying like before, instead, she was confused.

"You alright there buddy? You don't seem like yourself right now."

It became clear that I was the only one experiencing this phenomenon, something I felt it best to keep to myself for now. "Maybe you're right... I probably am going stir-crazy". But I at least have to see if what the other Arcadians are saying is true."

"That's right," said Andrew. "We all have to... You go on ahead though. We're just gonna rest right here."

I nodded, and as soon as I caught my breath I stood up and headed to Claire's door. The weird hallucinations could wait for just a moment.

Even though I did all of that running only to hesitate at the last second. As Commander, I had an override key for each door to the Asterism. There wasn't a single area of the ship I couldn't get into if I wanted. Even though I could just open the door right now and confirm everything I'd heard so far, there was no way I could even form the thought of actually doing it.

In my way was the very visage of Clarke being killed right before my eyes. I said I'd keep him safe and Claire trusted me with his life. All of that trust was washed away the moment I let him jump out in front of me. There were no words nor anything I could give Claire that would allow her to forgive me. If it weren't for our homeworlds' sake, I'd even offer my own life if she asked.

However, the thing I should've known best in this world, was that I wasn't good at getting what I wanted. From behind the door, an aura began to shine through the door. It seemed to mix between. It formed itself in the veil of a person. Before I could turn away, the door opened and I found myself staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Can't you see I'm grieving here! I told you to get the hell out!"

Throwing my hands up, I ended up panicking. "It's me, Claire! It's Soran."

Honestly, at the moment that wouldn't have been the right thing to say considering the circumstances but luckily Claire didn't seem too gung ho to blow my face off instantly, though she was enough to only be wearing sweatpants, a bra, and a jacket. Lowering the gun she leaned against the doorway. I'm glad she'd at least recognized she couldn't just shoot me, not that it would matter.

"Spit it out," she hissed. "I wanna get back to my bed."

There was a lot I wanted to say at that moment. Asking about her apparent New marker, apologizing for her brother's death, and wanting her to shoot me with that gun to make her feel better. I couldn't tell what it was that I wanted to do. What was I supposed to do? In my head, there was nothing I could do to make up for what she lost. But I knew she'd get impatient or just slam the door in my face if I waited around any longer.

"I-I'm sorry," I said. "Clarke died because of me... If I hadn't been so willing to let him come along then he'd still be here with you..."

Claire stood there for a moment, her displeasure morphing into a strange fit of relief. "There it is... You finally got it out you timid rabbit."

Holstering her weapon, Claire planted her feet on the ground. In the next instant, she'd plunged her fist straight into my jaw, pushing me straight into the wall. My vision blurred so badly that I barely had time to notice Claire coming right for me. Instinctively I threw a left jab to try and stop her but she ducked right up under it sending another haymaker straight into my stomach. I'd started to lose my balance and a bit of consciousness at that point until another I felt something bash against my right cheek. It shook me awake for a second before I saw her coming for me again. Rearing back another right hook it came faster than I could react to it. This time the room began to glow in a neon purple light and something sturdy collided with my face. At that point, I just gave up trying to stand.

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I'd the floor as my nose popped a cork all over my face. Claire had been standing above me with something in her arms now. She'd taken off the jacket she'd been wearing to reveal the pair of gauntlets she wore. Pistons were sticking out of the elbows and they seemed rather large for someone of her size.

The green light appeared once again but this time it seemed weaker than before. I hoped this time it was the royal ass beating I just got that was making me hallucinate two of Clarie.

"You stupid moron," they both bellowed in unison. But something different happened this time. Unlike with Andrew or Talia, the light didn't remain. Instead, the Claire twins began to merge. She'd been crying her eyes out now, collapsing to the floor on her knees.

"You ignorant prick... My brother made his choice to go out there with you. Just like he chose to come on this stupid suicide mission... But you want to be so special that you think he died because of someone as stupid as you!"

At first, I had a hard time understanding, mostly due to the pain I'd been in but a little bit of why she was upset.

Hearing footsteps from behind me I saw Andrew standing over me trying his best not to smirk. Something he sucks at. Minerva knelt by my side and began wiping my nose with a towel.

"Claire, I understand you're in grief, but this was very excessive."

"Honestly, he kinda deserved it," said Andrew. "If Clarke were here, he'd probably do the same thing... With a little less violence involved. "

Minerva looked as though she wanted to protest, but couldn't in the face of the facts.

"Still... I haven't seen Claire give an ass beating that glorious since our middle school days," Andrew snickered.

"S-Screw... You...," I gurgled out.

"Whatever chump... Alright, Talia get him on my back. I'm gonna take him to his room."

Talia lifted me as best she could onto Andrew's back. While she and Minerva saw to Claire I'd been carried off from the officer's quarters. Even though I'd put on a few pounds with the prosthetic, Andrew was moving slower than usual. By the time we got down through the corridor, he stopped for a moment.

"You still awake back there?" asked Andrew

Talking hurt so I just growled a bit.

"Not what I wanted but good enough. I can take it you know why Claire beat you silly right?"

Even if I wanted to speak there was no way I was going to answer that question. I knew what I did even if that wasn't the case.

"I'll take your silence as you being an idiot. Jeez... I wonder what else you didn't notice."

"Enlighten... Me..." I coughed.

He paused before answering, seeming to drop the flippant attitude. "We all knew what we were doing before we signed up to go on this crazy ride. But it was just because you were our friend. Well... Maybe Minerva and Satomi like ya enough for that."

"Your point...?"

Andrew sighed, then looked back at me. "Soran you've always sucked at being a hero. It was always us that pulled your ass out of the fire. The Arcadians got your head all messed up trying to make you their savior."

I wanted to tell him he was wrong but if I stopped to think about it. It was all Solomon and the rest were doing. They'd placed all this faith in me that I could stop Lucian and yet, I was too weak to even approach him. I began to realize albeit a little slowly, that I was in over my head a bit.

"But... I can't just turn back now," I said.

"Right... This is why you should just stick to what you do best. Getting shit done."

Andrew put me down and set me against the wall, then plopped right next to me and started patting my head as he leaned me on his shoulder. "Clarke was a real idiot, checking out before us. When we get to whatever heaven awaits us we'll have to be sure to kick his ass. But... It's what he wanted to do. He lived by his morals till the end."

Even though there was still that part of me that still blamed myself, I couldn't argue with Andrew on this one. I was looking at everything in only a hero's eyes when I'm more than that.

"You know, this is certainly touching," said a familiar grating voice. If I hadn't been in so much pain I'd have jumped up from Andrew's side. It was Edwin who now stood over us. Knowing his power, it was very likely that he'd been following us this entire time. Great... another spectator to my horrific beating.

"You're a part of this rabbit's problem," spat Andrew. "He's not the only one who's got these powers ya know."

"Come now... I believe I said I'd be training all of you to utilize the gifts you've been given. Besides, I agree with everything you've said thus far, Sir Pendragon."

"Oh?" Andrew let go of me, leaning forward as Edwin sat in front of him.

"There can be no greater love than a man who lays his life down for his friends," quoted Edwin. "Clarke Wright was definitely a fool, but one that shall be remembered for eons now."

"How would someone like you know a Gospel from a bygone era?" Questioned Andrew, "Weren't you sealed up on the moon?"

"I was never sealed by anyone but myself. It was the right thing to do after sensing the hostilities between Solomon and Lucian."

"Hostilities?" I asked as I sat up. By this point, my pain was finally going away. "Those two were fighting beforehand?"

Edwin sighed, looking up to the ceiling as he recalled the memories of his past. "They had their differences, yes, but they could at least work with each other. Solomon wished to study the many different forms of life in the cosmos and Lucian's campaign to integrate other races into the Arcadian empire allowed him to realize this. But at some point, Solomon's views changed."

Edwin paused for a moment and for the first time he seemed to form a genuine expression. His brow furrowed and the frown he displayed as he covered his face gave off a mix of regret and anger. "There were races that saw our people as a danger. Solomon never wanted to get involved in our military conquest so he only saw the good-natured things our people had done for the cosmos. Lucian knew not every race would be thrilled to have someone more powerful than them dictating their lives. It is the nature of living beings to wish for freedom."

Edwin held out his hand, creating a black orb that seemed to have different moldings on its surface, almost like a small planet. "When Lucian encountered a race that could've potentially become a threat to us that's when I, the eldest was to step in."

Grabbing hold of the orb he began to squeeze it so tightly that he ended up crushing it in his hands. He didn't bother finishing his thought after that. More like he didn't have to.

"...D-Did Solomon ever find out?" Andrew asked.

"No... We kept it well hidden from him. But one day, he just suddenly knew. He'd confronted me about it. But he wasn't angry at all, more disappointed than anything.

Silence befell the corridor now as we were left to digest what Edwin told us. The man himself began stewing in a small fit of anguish over his past actions. It was likely the reason he was sealed within the moon. As he regained himself, he turned to me, or more specifically he was looking at my right hand.

"Even killing my own emotions couldn't allow my mind to process what I'd done," Edwin continued. "So I decided to have myself sealed on our planet's moon. Even leaving the woman I loved behind. But not before I was asked to do one final thing."

Raising his finger he pointed at me. "Watch over the one who inherits our will,' he told me. He'll need all the help he can get."

Edwin stood to his feet, struggling a little bit as he did. he brushed off his backside and began walking down the hallway waving as he did. "Do yourselves a favor and get some rest. Tomorrow your training begins."

As he left us, Andrew stood as well, picking me up on his back once more. Even though I felt a little better I didn't mind at all. The exhaustion of the last several hours was finally catching up with me.