[b]William Ascot[/b]

"Then let's go!" William said. "Zane, lead the way; I'll stick close to the handsome guy in the makeup." Yes, that last phrase was his way of flirting.

Hopefully, they'd begin walking to the tunnels promised by Zane by then; William had found a few passages on his own back when he was more adventurous. Well, he was still adventurous now, but that was more because he was going through the motions.

Deep inside, he knew pursuing the Golden Ending was futile. Deep inside, he knew he was no hero. Deep inside, he put on a mask to hide the fact that they lived in a world - no, a universe - plagued by the prospect of an eventual [i]Bad[/i] end to all things. All were headed to a fate of madness and suffering and an eventual end and there was only the slightest of barriers preventing it.

But William kept smiling, hiding the truth of himself from everyone else. He will put up a false front for friendship's sake, because friendship was good and valuable; he could not shed that belief. Besides, spending the rest of his existence as a Master wasn't that bad, right?

And he will be a Master once he had completed Excalibur II and passed the examination of Mastery. That will be one accomplishment that he can appreciate, until the futility of achieving the Golden Ending and the ease of acquiring the 'Bad Ending' reared its ugly head once more.

[@Ryteb Pymeroce][@TheHangedMan][@QueenNugget][@Canidae][@Aviaire]