[Audio]

[neverfeltthatway]

[For once, Armin sends only his voice and not his image over the network - something anyone paying attention might note is unusual, if not without precedent.]

Hello, everyone. I... I have the list of Travelers who disappeared this jaunt. Meaning they've probably either gone home, or they're stuck in a dungeon somewhere and they'll turn up again later.

It may not be a complete list, but... it's the closest I could get. [He takes a deep breath.] Here goes: Giovanni, Kain, Ravit, Ace, Shuu, Quinn, Ruvik, Souji - er, Souji Okita, that is - Tsurumaru, Annabel, and Ky.

I'm sorry.

Comments

[neverfeltthatway]

I'm sorry for your loss - but I'm glad they're where they're needed. That's what I had to remind myself, when my best friend disappeared - that he's needed back home more than he's needed here.

[In other words, their world needs him more than Armin does, no matter how much it hurts Armin to admit it - how much it hurts him to be without him.

As far as them being left in the last jaunt - really, they have no evidence that they weren't, except that nobody has yet experienced it and returned to tell about it. Slim evidence, but it's the best they have, and if it's comforting to some people... Armin won't rob them of that.]

[bloodysaint]

That is quite alright. I barely knew them before we all arrived here. Kain I knew much of but only made his acquaintance once, briefly, in his younger years. Ravit had had not known of at all, but while I am relieved by the implications of her assistance and enjoyed her company, it is better she be in Nosgoth where she is not so often denied access to the sky and she can perhaps create more like herself.

However, I am accustomed to being alone, after many long years without more than Vorador's occasionally company. I am very sorry to hear that you lost your friend, but I am certain once your purpose here has also been fulfilled that you will be returned to him.

[He had to believe they'd gone back home. Kain was the Scion of Balance. If he wasn't there to finish fulfilling his destiny then Nosgoth was doomed to destruction and decay. That after thousands of years trying to save the world, the idea that carefully laid plans would be dashed at the whim of these strange Dimensional beings that set them on these strange paths was just too much.]