A voice drifted in the darkness.

"A pawn falls to its own ally? Interesting."

----------------------------------------

Sentenza sat down and looked over at Narissa. Then he turned to Sid. "Didn't you have some crazy plan about jumping off the edge of this place?"

Sid took a moment to respond as his eyes fixated on the ruined building. "Not jumping off," he finally said. "Climbing down. Something is below us, but with so many injuries it seems this is still not a good time to proceed with it."

Sentenza nodded slowly. "Well, this is already getting tiring. Why don't you just order the four of us losers to forgive you?"

"What? that is not how..." Trizel stopped himself as Lulu looked up at him with her finger raised. Trizel rolled his eyes and mimed zipping his mouth shut.

Lulu smiled, "Good boy! And of course that would work. You all have to do everything we say!"

"Yeah!" Og'drimun elbowed Narissa's shoulder as he added, "Sad you missed joining my team when you could?"

"I think I'm fine without having to boss anyone around, thank you." Narissa sighed as she pushed Og'drimun away with her gloved hands.

Bakade scratched her chin. "Ssseeeeemmmsss lllliiiikkkkeeee aaaa llloooopppphhhooollleee, iiiinnnssstteeeaaddd ooooffff ssssoooommmeeettthhhiiinnnggg iiiinnnttteeennnddddeeeeddd. Bbbbuuutttt IIIIII aaaalllrrreeeaaadddyyy fffooorrrgggiiivvvveeedddd yyyoouuu sssoooo...."

"Curious," mused Sid. "It seems quite obvious when you bring that up. A simple statement easy for all of them to follow. But, what of the others?"

Sid turned to Ted, who was distracted in his own world again. Then his eyes moved to Lulu. She smiled at him.

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"Well? I'm pretty sure we've all said we've forgiven you." She seemed to keep her gaze off of Ted as she spoke. "Think of this as a kind of insurance, to doubly ensure you're forgiven."

"Of course I do not blame you Sid. I just fear this could be the start of commands that..." Lulu held up a single finger again, and Trizel bristled, but shut his mouth yet again.

Lulu smirked. "Alright alright, it was fun for a while, but I won't do that with you anymore, okay Trizel? You'll just work off your servitude in other ways."

Trizel sighed. "I am bound by my oath, but even that will only go so far. Commanding me how to think and feel is dangerous."

"Eeevvveennn wwwhhheeennn ttthhaattt'sss aaalllrreeeeaadddyyy hhhoowwww yyyoouu fffeeeelll?" Bakade asked as she fiddled with the edge of her bandage.

Trizel let out a huff. "That will be the day when I let someone say they control my mind. Say some witch had a prophecy about me saving the world. Even if that was my plan, it would irritate me having some dusty old tome claiming to have designed my path for me before I was born."

But what if you never knew about it, but still did all the stuff it said you would? Asked Death.

"I would likely raze the temple housing it to the ground in anger." Trizel explained calmly. "For their claim they had laid my path out for me, instead of me grabbing hold of my own destiny."

Okay okay, but what if they just saw you doing it in the future, and wrote that down. Then no one who knew about it interacted with you at all? Death asked.

"I am unsure what you are getting at," Trizel shrugged.

"Ooh, I know!" chimed in Og'drimun. "What if say Narissa had a magical mirror that let her see the future in other realities. She saw yours and wrote that down. Like how you conquered something or whatever boring thing you kings do. If you found that out, would you attack her? Even though she had no influence in your life, she just knew what you would choose to do yourself."

"Tttthhhiiiisss iiisss gggeeetttttiiiiinnnggg kkkiiinnnddd oooofff cccoooonnnfffuuuussssiiiinnnggg." Bakade admitted as she scratched the crack on her skull.

"I'm right there with you. Like a bunch of idiots trying to explain why the sun comes up each morning without ever studying it." Sentenza agreed.

Trizel seemed to ignore them as he replied, "That is interesting to think about. I do not think I would be as furious with it being done in another world. However, I think I would still be angry since you claimed to understand my thoughts before I acted on them."

"So it's the whole people knowing more about you than yourself that's frustrating?" Lulu suggested. "Because if that's the case, oh boy most people here must make you furious."

"No, not that exactly," Mused Trizel. "More...hmm..."

"Perhaps it is that you strain against the idea of someone knowing your exact outcome rather than some probability. After all, a ninety nine percent chance can still fail, but seeing your actions before you do them is more like knowing the answer with absolute certainty even before the question is asked." Sid postulated as he seemed to get drawn into the conversation.

"It is like I can not change my path. It was seen and in the moment they saw it, decided. My choices mean nothing, as it is all according to some ancient plan. Some fate pulling my strings instead of my own mind." Trizel rambled.

Sentenza sighed as their talk shifted towards free will and predestined fate. It got quite heated as Sentenza lied down on the ground. He covered his eyes with his hat, "I'm gonna nap for a bit. Wake me when the things cooled down enough to clear some of that rubble away."