*Bing-Bong.*

Note that the following chapter will be mostly in Scorch Speech.

For reference, think of the following as being similar to a telenovela.

We now return to your regularly scheduled chapter.

*Bing-Bong.*

___________________________________

[Three, two, one! Toss him!]

[You bastards!]

In a flurry of movement, Railhorn, Pegasoar, Taurna, and Lyona tossed Depth Strider into the private cave, while Screamira and Springerdermain immediately made moves to block the horse kaijin's ability to escape.

This wasn't that hard, given that two of them were stronger than the newly minted seahorse, but that didn't stop Depth Strider from attempting to dive into the earth and—

"Huh. I guess they were telling the truth when they said that they were going to be dragging you by the skin of your…hooves… It's still weird for me to process that you look like this now."

"Oh…hey."

Apparently expecting Depth Strider to try and escape the first chance he got, even with the imposing deterrence present, the others had arranged it so that Maggie would already be in the cave by the time he was tossed in.

Ever since Dante was overthrown, Maggie has gone from looking haggard to being a positively glowing beacon of health and beauty.

Granted, Depth Strider had always thought Maggie was beautiful, even when he was still human.

Speaking of...

"Ah, right, I guess it is jarring that I look like...all of this," Depth Strider stared while gesturing to his entire physique. "If you want, I can change how I look so that you're more... comfortable."

Depth Strider didn't even wait for Maggie to answer in the affirmative or negative before he began to channel [Chaos] throughout his body so that he could make himself look like how he used to.

However, that turned out to be a polite but an unnecessary gesture on his part.

"You don't need to change for me," Maggie said as she closed the distance between them and placed her hand upon his. "I just need to get used to how much you've changed."

"Well, I would say I relate, but I got used to my new form right out of the gate," Depth Strider joked as Maggie continued to touch Depth Stirders palm. "The War Chief said that while my body has undergone a massive change, that the contents of my soul had stayed the same. Although, the analogy he used involved a jar and jam."

"Pfft! Really?" Maggie asked in an attempt to stifle a snicker.

"Really."

A flood of memories began to stir as they continued to lightly touch hands, and it reminded the two of them that back when Depth Stirder was known as Mahaa, they would share tender moments like these all the time.

"Huh...your hands are softer and much gentler than I remember," Depth Stirder commented as he watched her delicate hand feel his. "Or have you always felt like this?"

"I suppose I learned to be more gentle with the passage of time," Maggie replied. "And your hands feel familiar yet foreign at the same time. This body of yours is brand new, and yet, your calluses are the same from when you were human. Did you carry them over from your old body, or did that true Lord fellow sculpted these details?"

"I don't know, to be honest. Memories of my revival are hazy. Well, the unimportant bits anyways. I actually remember the reason why my body came out the way it did."

At this statement, Maggie's interest perked up as she wanted to hear what exactly Depth Strider meant by those words.

"Oh? Then what happened during your revival that was important?"

"Well..."

Depth Strider began to regale Maggie of how when Zhen Liu put the call forward to summon them from the afterlife, he had done so with the assistance of three strangely powerful horses.

The exact same horses that would serve as the basis for their new bodies.

However, this was only part of the story.

"You know how my brothers and I now have these [Cores] in our chests and how they're all focused on one [Desire] or another?" Depth Strider asked, knowing full well the question was a touch redundant since Maggie received a crash course on Kaijin awhile back.

"I do," Maggie nodded. "Pegasoar's [Core] is focused on [Freedom], while Railhorn's [Core] is focused on [Hope]. And I believe yours is..."

Instead of immediately answering, Maggie first placed her hand upon Depth Strider's chest.

"[Determination], right?"

"Yes..."

Her touch felt so warm to Depth Strider,that the equine Kaijin couldn't help but take his own hand and attempt to hold hers in place, so that he could try and capture this feeling forever.

"When the Chief called upon us to answer the call, he used these [Cores] as our guiding beacon and nothing more," Depth Strider began to explain. "He told us that we would have to focus on our personal desire of [Hope], [Freedom], or [Determination]. He said that we could choose our own paths, but that only one of us could take each one."

"I see...so Railhorn chose [Hope] because he's always been the optimistic one in life, while Pegasoar chose [Freedom] because he always loved to roam?" Maggie guessed.

"Not exactly," Depth Strider answered. "All three of focused on our own idea of each and chose the ones that resonated with us the best. I'm not sure what they pictured for [Hope] and [Freedom], but that doesn't sound too far off."

"Hmmm," Maggie hummed as she thought of the implication of this answer. "Then what was your desire of [Determination]? Your need to serve as a leader for your brothers and the people that survived the first rebellion."

"As high-minded as that would be...no, it wasn't that."

"Oh? Then what was it?"

At this question, Depth Strider looked Maggie in her eyes before answering with a single word.

"You."

"...!"

At this answer, Maggie couldn't help but to finally blush and look embarrassed.

"W-who taught you how to flirt like that?" Maggie asked, her older sister persona melting away in an instant as she retracted her hands at the same time. "Isn't something like that usually associated with devotion?"

"It is, but...when I thought about what kept me going, what inspired me to come back from the dead...I could only see your face," Depth Strider admitted.

Reinforcing these words, Depth Strider reached out to caress Maggie's face.

In this moment, she could see both Depth Strider's current visage and the face of the man who saved her heart from the darkest depths of despair all those years ago.

"I was determined to come back for you. Nothing less."

"You..."

At this point, words became meaningless as actions took their place.

And there was no action that was more meaningful than sharing a very long overdue kiss.

Well, there was one other action but that's something that should be given a level of privacy.

...D'awww...

Several dozen feet away from the cave, Lyona, Taurna, Pegsoar, and Railhorn were enjoying a snack while overlooking the former main cavern undergoing a massive overhaul.

Granted, their actual main purpose for being there was to determine whether or not there was going to be drama between their respective siblings.

"So...you think those two finally made up for real?" Taurna asked aloud.

"I don't know," Lyona shrugged. "I'm not the one with a psychic link to their sibling and several other Kaijin. Pegasoar. Railhorn. Did big sis and reincarnated big bro make up yet?"

"I'm not sure," Pegsoar answered first. "Let me check right...huh. Okay, that's weird."

"What?"

"I can't seem to connect to Depth Strider right now," Pegasoar explained. "Railhorn can you connect with him?"

"Uh...nope," Railhorn concurred. "I can sense that we're still connected, but I can't seem to get anything more than that."

"That's...weird. Hey, Screamira. Springerdermain. Is it normal for other Kaijin to just mute a connection?" Pegasoar called out to the Kaijin guarding the cavern entrance.

He could've used their mental link to ask this question, but he had no idea if this was a peer to peer issue or an overarching one.

Regardless, Springerdermain and Screamira still answered.

"Yeah, that's normal."

"We can actively mute our connections sometimes if we need privacy. We rarely need to, though. Besides, the Producer can just override the privacy for themselves anyways."

"Huh. The more ya know..."

...Wait a minute...

"Huh, that's weird," Razorstella commented for Zhen Xing and Zhen Tai's sake. "Depth Strider's connection suddenly went mute."

"Huh?"

"How come?"

"Well if I had to speculate..."

Before Razorstella could answer the question, Zhen Liu shot up from the bed with a wide-eyed expression and deep red cheeks.

Needless to say, this sudden change in expression from serene sleepiness to bewilderment threw Zhen Tai and Zhen Xing for a loop...for about five seconds.

"Zhen Liu, you're awake!"

"Why do you look like you've seen something that rocked the meaning of your existence?"

"..."

Zhen Liu was silent for a solid two minutes before finally answering.

"Well...I have just learned the answer to a question I thought I would never get answered."