[color=ed1c24][b]“But you shouldn’t have felt like you [I]had[/I] take a shortcut for your recovery. You shouldn’t have felt like you needed to accept [I]her[/I] help just to see me smile again. I shouldn’t have trusted any word she said. I knew that something was going to happen. In the back of my mind, I knew that Leviathan was going to do something.”[/b][/color] Jaakuna said, despite what Emiri claimed, he was the one to blame. Wait, no. He wasn’t the sole person to blame here. Leviathan was to blame. She did this to Emiri. She was the one that nearly cost Wesley his love. She was the one that nearly caused Grant to lose a niece. Lorenzo and Karolina a daughter. Reia a niece. Leviathan was the one to blame for nearly putting the guild on Emiri for killing her best friend. 

While Emiri explained to Jaakuna about what she felt about her mother’s death, Jaakuna realized that it wasn’t the aspect of Zodiark talking. It was Emiri herself. It was the Emiri that Jaakuna loved—that everyone loved. It was the Emiri that felt pain for her mother’s death and pain for nearly killing Nadeline. It was the pain of feeling relieved for her mother’s death. Pain of feeling ashamed for feeling that way about Justine’s death. [color=ed1c24][b]“You’re not a monster - well, no more than I am or Wesley or Nadeline or anyone else for that matter,”[/b][/color] Jaakuna was trying to plead to Emiri. [color=ed1c24][b]“We all have something or someone that gets under our skin so much that it brings out the worst in us. For you, it was your mother and how horribly she treated you. So, you’re right to feel a bit of relief for her death, but don’t think for one minute that it makes you a monster,”[/b][/color] JAakuna said, looking at Emiri, his hand holding hers up. [color=ed1c24][b]“If you want to name a monster, look no further than that sneaky wench, Levi. She is the one who put [I]something[/I] inside you that fed off of your grief and brought the worst possible side of you out with no control of what you said. If you want to blame anyone for what transpired today, blame Levi. She did this - not you.”[/b][/color]

[hr]
[color=lightblue][b]“Zodiark?”[/b][/color] Savayna echoed Grant, her ears not wanting to believe what he said. [color=lightblue][b]“You’re telling me that Zodiark  did this to her?”[/b][/color] Savayna truly was speechless - well, not entirely speechless, but enough to be in disbelief.

[color=fff79a][b]“When you think about it, the presence of Zodiark in Emiri makes sense. He started by posing as Jaakuna’s father, and then even wormed his way into Jaakuna’s body. So, in a way, it seems fitting that he would go for Emiri next.”[/b][/color] Wesley said, sounding more clearheaded now, [color=fff79a][b]“I do believe Shion was the one that said that killing The Scion of time, who we know is Emiri thanks to her power, was a way to at least partially halt Ivalice’s end. Or at least, that’s what the Blue Rose suspected. Perhaps—and this is just a shot in the dark—Zodiark suspects the same thing. It could be that the Keeper of Precepts suspects Emiri is the key to both Ivalice’s salvation and destruction.” [/b][/color]he said. Truth be told, Wesely wasn’t sure if his theory was spot on or if he was just speaking hogwash. 

[color=lightblue][b]“That’s a stretch,”[/b][/color] Savayna said, but she had to admit that there was some truth to it.

As Nadeline would state that she was tired, Wesley felt that was the perfect opportunity for everyone to get some shut-eye as well. [color=fff79a][b]“Yes, I, too, believe I will rest as well. Today’s events have proven exhausting.”[/b][/color]

[color=lightblue][b]“That’s the understatement of the century, but yeah, I need some fucking sleep,”[/b][/color] Savayna yawned. She looked to Grant, approaching him, [color=lightblue][b]“mind showing me to my room?”[/b][/color] she asked him, giving him a rather odd, but possibly effective, look.