The night sky enveloped the view like a blanket suffocating the light out. The moon was dim today, yet the stars did not arrive to greet Siege the way it always did. He had not felt this depressed since the last time he was in his family home. There with him awaited Crimson and Asche - though that was no longer her name.

Siege was, of course, conflicted regarding this predicament. On one hand, perhaps Reginn was right. He believed that the demon lords will do anything they can to gain an advantage and perhaps it would be naive to play along an imaginary rule, an artificial limit we set upon ourselves. On the other hand, they were still heroes. They were first and foremost the protectors of Avangarden, but they were also supposed to be beacons of morality, though that idea was now unclear after meeting so many grey-moral heroes.

Reginn was a World Beast loyal to the Goddess. He would truly stop at nothing if it pleased the Goddess. He was sure that if given the order, he would raze the world to create a fireplace. Blodelshein seemed similar, though she was too concealed to make any judgment. She was also loyal to the Goddess, though not to the zeal of Reginn. However, she seemed to have a personal agenda of her own, otherwise, she wouldn't follow Reginn's words as a servant. Finally, there were Solas and Kaizer. Regarding Solas, he respected her strength and strict morals but did not agree with her conduct as a hero. She was brutal and merciless like Reginn but limited herself based on an arbitrary numbering system called Karma. Kaizer was simply a spoiled brat, having never been challenged in her past life. Siege believed that these two at least had the hopes of becoming great heroes of his ideals. However, if he himself did not stand up as a beacon to lead the heroes to a new path, no one else would. Orchestra was too docile and not confident in her incredible strength. Poda-Bruss was a follwer, not a leader. Sacrosanct was... To be honest, he did not know much about him. There were definitely more things he knew about the old democratic government.

Only he had the drive and the incentive to try and steer the group toward the righteous path. Then he remembered Reginn's words... He would not convince anyone by speaking with his heart, he would need to speak with his lance.

Asche and Crimson frolicked around in front of the garden driven by instinct. Being magical creatures, both understood each other well and got along quickly.

It was truly frightening how a sentient creature could be rendered a mere beast with a single spell. Asche was now no different than a baby, one he was forced to raise.

Asche... Asche was no more. The demon lord he didn't have the chance to learn more about. To become closer with. To perhaps even be comrades with. The girl simply wanted personal peace was no more. She would need a new name.

According to Blodelshein, Asche would learn quickly as ⌈Personality Dissolution⌋ was a combination of spells combined into one. Including the acceleration of learning after the rebirth of the mind.

"Let's think of a name for you, little one," said Siege, bringing her to his lap as he sat on the bench

Ashe was an indisputable victim in this situation. No crime would possibly order such a degrading and capital punishment. As a hero, it was his duty to provide care and support any those who needed it. Asche would hopefully have a good life under his wing, though that would never mend the heroes' sin.

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Crimson sat at his feet as he cleaned Asche's messy hair. Siege was currently equipped with Excalibur as Asche was not used to controlling her flames, but some research into phoenixes showed that they would need to continuously create flame around their body, especially on their wings, but they could also learn to create friendly flames that did not damage others.

"But first, let's see if this thing works"

Siege pulled out an enchanted choker created by Blodelshein to keep Asche under control. He believed that the fact that it was a choker was distasteful, but Blodelshein did not pay much heed. The artifact had the ability to transfigure Asche into a more human-like form in order to connect with humans and the kingdom - an important aspect of a hero. She would only need it when entering the city and otherwise, he decided to let her free. The other function was a voice-activated command causing a shock around her neck, instantly knocking her out. Siege promised himself he would never use this mechanism and asked Blodelshein if she could remove it, but she replied that it was also voice commandable by the other heroes and lend a deaf ear to his feedback.

Asche seem to resist the choker, but it did work perfectly, not that Siege had any doubt. She now look like any other girl, perhaps a bit too old to pass off as his daughter, but that was the alias the heroes had come up with when asked who she was. They didn't look too similar, but he would say that the features were from an imaginary mother. Seeing that Asche did not like it at all, Siege quickly removed the choker. As long as it worked, it was fine.

"Asche, let's come up with your name"

Siege began to think about what a good name for her was. He did not want one associated with Sonosis, demons or phoenixes. He never thought of having any children and one of the reasons was that he considered himself a terrible namer. Suddenly, looking at Crimson brought a terrible thought to mind.

"Dune..."

No. Dune was dead. Dune died and so did Asche, naming her after Dune would be a terrible thing to do. A sick joke. Siege did not want Asche's new name to be related to Dune's in any way. Asche was not to replace Dune in his mind. Asche was her own person with her own goals.

Goals... Siege thought about what little he knew about Asche when he realized that she had fallen asleep on his nap. Despite being an infant in mind, she was very docile and kind. He imagined what she'd been like before the death of her mind. However, it was no use dwelling on the past. He had told Dune that he would always and only look forward to the future. The what-ifs did not matter, only the facts did.

Asche's goal he knew was to return to Sonosis and have an eternal sleep within the volcanoes. He vowed to himself that when everything was over, he would tell Asche the truth and help her achieve the goal of her previous life. For now, that was impossible under the watch of other heroes.

Eternal slumber... Of course, it did not mean true eternity, only as long as it would be permitted to sleep. There was another creature like that, a World Beast in Britomart, the dragon Isle. Rein, that being its name, was created by the Sonosian God and fulfilled its duty diligently. So well in fact, that challengers had stopped coming to the isle at all. Determining its job finished, the World Beast was rumoured to be in eternal sleep, waiting for a worthy challenger to wake it up.

"Rein... Reina... That's a pretty name"

Crimson growled in agreement.

"Well, I trust you, Crim. From now on... your name is Reina" said Siege to the still-sleeping Reina

Siege brought Reina indoors to his room, where he brought another bed into. Lying on her bed, Siege tucked her in as phoenixes slept a lot more than humans per day. It was going to be a difficult task, and it wasn't glorious, taking care of a brainwashed baby. He wouldn't do this for the sake of Dune. She was killed, not sacrificed. Her memories would forever live in his soul, the few months they spent together precious to him. Now he had the job of raising Reina, and unexpected work he was thrown into. However, he had decided that Regina's life was going to be as good as it possibly could be. He was done losing people.

He returned to his study to continue his research on phoenixes, another long day awaiting him.