Katherine can only watch him go. She can only watch him take the whole point of this with her. 

Again. It came down to this again! It didn't matter if she was strong or brave, it didn't matter if she had a heart full of love or if the real treasure was the friends she'd made along the way, it didn't matter if she healed a heart or fought it, if she studied the blade or finance or foxgirl schemes or, or, or, or, or... [i]ANY OF IT![/i] It didn't matter! It, it, it, it, it didn't work! She couldn't beat him! He was the most loser-coded sniveling coward she'd ever met in her entire life and no matter how she came at him he just! Kept! Dunking! On! Her!!!

Her body is so tired. Her brain is so tired. She can barely stand up straight right now and no matter how hard she squints at that stupid screen it won't even make sense! 10 billion? 10 [i]billion?![/i] That's not even a number! That isn't real! What would that even look like? And what was all this other scheming and nonsense and Servants and Sunshard Grail Wars and Actia even [i]for[/i] if this was his whole plan anyway? 

She didn't. She couldn't. It wasn't supposed to! It was all her fault and she!

The world turns blurry. That's what things look like when there are too many tears in your eyes.

"I'm sorry!" she sobs with the quivering voice of the Defeated, "I'm really, really sorry!"

Berserker appears at her side, bloody but unbroken. All Kat can do is cling to her, almost knocking the smaller woman over in the process.

"I couldn't do it, Berserker! Even with all your help I couldn't do it! You were so brave and so cool and you were the best knight ever and I still couldn't do it! What're we supposed to do? We can't get up there! I don't want the world to end! I wanted you to get a wish! I wanted to show you my house and have tea and cake and stuff! I just wanted to show Cy I'm not a stupid little loser like she thinks I am! And I! And I! And I!!!"

The finality of it all is what breaks her. There's no more plans. No more ideas. No more room for heroes or even Princesses to step in and fix things. It can't be done. Adam has an answer for everything. It's a stupid, frustrating answer, but it's still an answer. And now there's nothing to do and no way to stop him, and she simply cannot handle it. Her body trembles with uncontrollable sadness, limitless despair, and the horrible shame known as Being a Bad Girl.

Elizabeth Bathory's attempts at platitude are less than helpful. For one thing, she sucks at this. For another thing it was never in the job description. For a third thing every time she gets going on a good point she keeps distracting herself by staring up at the sky and saying, "God I better not get blamed for this."

Well it doesn't matter because wishes are all lies apparently anyway. Everything is just harvest stars and stock markets and advertisements for shoes that don't fit and gum you can buy on installment plans. But even if that's true, there's still something she can't help but cling to. One thought she can't get rid of, a childish want she's never managed to grow out of. She can't get rid of it even though the idea of this wish coming true is terrifying, means she is in the Most Trouble and will never be trusted or loved again. But even still. Even still. Even still!

She's thought it over and over since this journey began in the back of a speeding truck full of illicit goods, but she's never dared to say it aloud. But now she can't stop herself. She sniffles as loud as any fox has ever sniffled in the history of foxes, and her lips part of their own accord.

"I, I, I wish..."

She chokes. She feels a spiked gauntlet on one shoulder, squeezing her for support. And a set of delicate pink dragon nails on the other, not really sure what they're doing there but feeling too awkward to not be part of the moment.

"I wish Yue were here..."