[Tokusatsu Themes, Corruption]

"Lady Aoi."

The somber voice of the head maid of the Eguchi estate started to echo from behind the door leading into the young Lady's room. This had been the fifth day in a row where she did nothing but show up at the door and nothing ended up happening. And she had to sigh as she got no response.

She had been happy to see Lady Aoi return. She really had been. But she immediately shut herself away just like the days after she realized she had been abandoned by her parents. Had she regressed that badly after everything was said and done? That was... Well, she didn't blame her for ending up like this. Those two had done very little to earn their daughter's favor. Still, she thought that the young Lady had managed to overcome her doubts. It was why she had become a heroine...

But something had clearly happened. Something that pushed her to end up like this. And that was what ended up worrying the head maid so much. Because she had never seen her like this. Even when she wasn't entirely grown up, she would never shut herself away even if she wasn't the most social with people outside of her servant circle. To shut herself away meant that she thought she had done something critically wrong. Something that warranted punishing herself to this extreme measure.

"If only I could bring you out of your shell, Lady Aoi." The head maid, Mami, muttered under her breath as she turned away from this set of doors. All while ignoring the way that something dripped down from up above. She knew better than to stand under it. She knew much better.

But as it continued to drip and follow behind her, she had to stop. And within the blink of an eye, a ceremonial blade appeared in her hands. Drawn from his hidden sheath. "I must warn you, I can defend myself against something like you. I do not know what you are, nor what you intend to do. All I know is that you're a threat to my Lady's life. And for that, I cannot allow you to roam here.”

Tenebris took form as she dropped from the ceiling completely, laughing a bit as her golden eyes flashed straight towards the maid. "Oh, I understand that completely. Really, I do. I know better than to mess with determined people like you." She chimed, knowing when to fold and accept an inevitable defeat. "...But what if I told you that I know a way to help your Lady?" Even then, she would manipulate things to end in her favor...

Mami took a single step forward. And even though she was shorter than the Darkness made manifest, she aimed her blade at the throat of the one that was trying to trick her. "I could make short work of you. Just a swing, and you'll fade away. I do not know how durable you are, but even something like you may take time before you end up regenerating. That will buy me time to deal with my Lady's condition."

Tenebris laughed at this treatment, before she snapped and a phone appeared in her hand. A phone that showed a list of ignored calls. There were two numbers that stood out on this list. The only two that had been calling her. One belonged to the girl's parents, and the other...

"...What do you propose?" Mami said, carefully sheathing her blade into her sleeve where it belonged as the gears started to turn within her mind. If this was what brought the Lady grief, then... She knew exactly what she would do.

Tenebris just laughed as she slowly started to wrap around the head maid. She would tell her everything that she needed to do. She would tell her every little thing that needed to happen for the Lady to be freed from her torment. And she'd sprinkle in a couple extra facts and tidbits that would make her play right into the palms of her hand. All for the sake of spreading a bit more Darkness throughout the city.

After all... Bleu had tried to fight her too many times already. It was time to pay her back with a little knife to the heart.

---

Bleu was laying in bed. She had been laying in bed for five days straight. It was a good thing that her powers as a Natura meant that she barely had to consume anything. In fact, she could sustain herself on her powers over water. It meant that she didn't have to leave her room. It meant that she didn't have to do anything. She could just stay in here and reflect on her inability to follow through on her Conviction.

Who was she kidding? That wasn't hers. It was Natura Couleur's. She had just gotten it forced onto her by Rouge and Lumiere. It wasn't who she was. She was a girl who never looked straight at her problems, instead using the people around her to smother them until she didn't have to worry about them. That was how she had avoided her problems with her family. And... The one time she ran straight to try and solve a problem, she just ended up ruining it, didn't she?

She had forgotten everything about the friend she held so close to her heart. She had chosen to ignore everything about her and just fight fo some stupid Conviction that wasn't even real. She had done nothing but run away from her real responsibilities. Thinking she was a Hero when she couldn't even save the person who cared about her...

*Ring...*

There the phone went again. It was probably Rouge again. Or if she was unlucky, it was the daily call from her dad. It seemed like her parents had picked up on the fact that she had been one of the heroes that protected the city. And they didn't take kindly to the way that she had gotten herself into danger. Why did they care? They hadn't ever really cared before. And now they try to act like they did? They should look in the mirror first and think about how they had abandoned her first, before they'd try and show concern for what had happened to her.

Bleu sighed as she rolled onto her side. She was wasting away. But that was fine. It was the only thing she was good for. It was the only thing she had been good for in the past. What else could she do? Certainly nothing useful. Her only quality that made her stand out was her status as a heiress to the Eguchi fortune. When it wasn't busy weighing down on her that her family was basically useless and threw her to the proverbial wolves which meant that she didn't know how to properly carry herself as a rich girl, it attracted suitors left and right and center that just wanted to take advantage of her riches. People that had been turned down time and time again.

If only that Conviction had just been her own. Then... Then she probably would've been able to move on past this. But it wasn't hers. It was somebody else's. Those waves had just splashed on her and deluded her into thinking they were truly hers. But no. They were somebody else's. And she wasn't about to delude herself any further. She was just going to accept that she didn't have the drive to aim for something truly great. She was just going to lay there and accept it.

Then her phone vibrated. Not a couple of times because she had missed another call. Just a single time. Somebody had sent her a text. Nobody sent her a text. In fact, she had blocked all texts except for...

Bleu quietly lifted up her phone and unlocked it. Letting her eyes glaze by the background of her younger self cheating her way onto a ride with Mami's help. She didn't even react to it with a slight smile like she usually did. She just checked her messages. And she read the sole message from her maid, expecting another desperate plea.

Her eyes instead widened as she read the characters on the screen. "Mami... What are you doing..?" She muttered in sheer disbelief. In a rush, she tossed herself out of bed, heading straight for the doors that led out of her room and slamming up against them to try and push them open.

No dice. They were shut. Not only that, but even though she had the key, the lock itself seemed to have been broken. There was no way to open up the door. Shutting her inside her own prison. Even if she kept slamming herself against the door, she just couldn't budge it open. Even as her shoulder started to bruise, no dice.

"Mami... MAMI!" Bleu shouted as she tried to break through. In desperation, she cared not for the pain running through her. She wanted to see her maid. She wanted to understand just why she would send her a message like this. It was totally out of character. She would never do something like that on her own. She would've never done something without her explicitly asking her to. How could she get ahold of her?!

Then it hit her. If she could message her, then she could call her. That made sense. Of course. How could she have been so blind? All that she needed to do was whip out that very same phone, dial her number, and then scream at her to try and explain what exactly she had in mind when she did all of this...

She kept slamming against the door as the dial tone echoed through her ear. Slowly but surely losing her patience. Even as a bit of blood started to pour down her shoulder from that sheer sense of desperation, she wouldn't stop until she broke free or she got ahold of her maid...

"Mami speaking. I'm glad you finally decided to talk to me, Lady Aoi." Her voice was as sweet as always. Even if... even if...

"Why are you trying to kill them!?"

That was what she had seen in the message. A message that was clear in its intent. Mami was going to deal with the obstacles in Bleu's life, and those obstacles were ones that she had identified by examining the girl's phone records. It was the Naturas, and it was the girl's parents. Those were the ones that had been trying to get ahold of her, and since she currently didn't want to spend time interacting with the world at large... That meant that the people that were messaging her were ultimately causing her harm.

"Oh? Was my message that hard to understand?" Mami replied over the phone in her usual calm yet kind tone. "Allow me to repeat myself then, Lady Aoi. I, your loyal head maid and eternal retainer, have noticed your struggles and your heart's pain. I have determined, based on your interactions over the course of your long life by my side, that you have attachments that need to be severed. Whether it is the older ones like your parents that still refuse to reach out to you even after all this time, or those heroes that have been trying to influence you in the worst kind of way... I want to make sure that they can no longer bring you harm. Please stay inside until I finish. Then I will bring you your meal for the day, and we can discuss what path you'll next take. With me by your side, of course."

Bleu slammed her fist against the doors again as her Maid finished reading off the message. "Mami. If you hurt those people, if you hurt Rouge and the others... Then you're as good as dead to me." This wasn't Conviction or anything. This was just her heart screaming that what she was hearing was wrong. Just like when she looked at the Eternal Cold Queen that her friend had been twisted into, how she was utterly wrong. She had to make sure that she pulled Mami back. No matter what.

"As your Head Maid, I must put your well-being over my own. And that includes ignoring your orders for the time being, when the end result is that you will be better off once all of these awful influences have been carved from your life. Of course, you're free to dismiss me at that point, Lady Aoi. But only once this duty has been completed." Mami ignored her still. She wasn't about to stop going down this path. She was determined. No matter what, she would see her mission fulfilled.

Before Bleu had the chance to shout into her Maid's ear and stop her from doing something she'd regret, the phone line went dead. It wasn't just the call, the phone itself couldn't connect to anything. She had planned for this. She had planned for the girl to try and call her, and then she'd strip away anything that could stop her from carrying out her mission...

"Mami..." Bleu muttered as she slowly collapsed onto her knees. Is this what it felt to be powerless? Is this what it felt like to have everything pulled out from underneath her? Was there absolutely nothing she could do to stop this? She didn't want to believe so, but everything seemed to point towards that. What exactly could she do to stop Mami when she didn't have a clue as to where she'd be and how she'd attack her friends..?

The blue-haired girl slowly got up from the floor as she walked towards one of her mirrors. The same mirror that she looked into every morning when she was stlll nothing but a brat. The mirror where her dear Mami did her hair and made sure that everything was perfect before she was sent off into the world. That was her life before. That was a life that she honestly wanted to go back to at this point. A life where...

...Was it truly a life where she was happy? Sure, the Conviction that had been imparted upon her wasn't real. But for this brief moment in time when she fought alongside her allies and friends, for that tiny bit where she could stand alongside people she called her equals... She actually felt like she was doing something that made her life worth it. She did something that made her feel like she had an actual place in the world. Not just as decoration that her family ignored. Not just as somebody that could do anything because she was rich. She did it because it was what she wanted. Not because it was just something she could.

Bleu looked in the mirror. And she saw her younger self. She saw that sad smile she had always tried to hide from Mami. That sadness that came with being a lone girl with barely any friends. Just seeing her own reflection looking at her like that... It was enough to make her heart ache. But she had to come to terms with it. Because at the end of the day... That was her. That was who she was. A lonely little brat who just wanted to feel alive.

That sad smile returned to her face as she slowly stood up, and a single tear poured down her cheek. Of course. How could she have been so blind? That was the entire reason why she had done all of this. It was because she wanted to be true to her heart. True to what she thought she was. It wasn't that she was a brat because she wanted to be one. She was a brat because that was what she thought was her only course of action.

As the tear reached her hand, it extended until it had taken upon the form of one of the girl's blades. That elongated and extendable blade that had served her well. She now understood what it meant. It wasn't just a tool to try and protect people. It was a tool to enact what she thought was right. What she thought was the true path forward.

Bleu... Aoi turned towards the windows that Mami always opened in the morning. And with a single slash from her blade, she not only cut the blinds that blocked out the light, but the window itself. The waves of her emotion had started to flow. The waves of her heart taking her down the path she wanted to follow.

It was time to take back control of her life. Not just by becoming the girl she truly wanted to be, but by stopping her Maid from doing something that she would instantly regret.

Aoi took one step, and then leapt through the remains of her window, taking off as the waves of her powers swallowed her body whole...

---

"Well. I expected to have trouble when I walked out of the base today, but I didn't expect to find two blades pinned against my throat."

"Please, do not make any unnecessary motions, Rouge. For the sake of my Lady Aoi, I would prefer if your death was as painless as possible. Thus she can preserve it and keep it as clean a memory as possible."

"Aoi? That's... Bleu. You're her maid?"

Akane was forced to let out the slightest bit of pain from her lips as the blade that Mami wielded started to rub up against her throat. Oh, that wasn't good. That actually hurt a lot. In fact, was the blade pouring into her wound? That had to explain why she felt pain underneath her skin...

"Please. She's Lady Aoi. Even when I'm carrying out this terrible deed, I will not tolerate disrespect towards her. If you claim to be as close as you seem to be to her, then you would understand the importance of respect." Mami said as she remained as calm and collected as possible. Even though she was currently preparing to murder somebody. She wasn't about to hesitate either, keeping still until the right moment. Until just the right moment when the victim would make the least amount of bloodshed. She wasn't about to take time out of her very busy schedule to clean up somewhere that wasn't her Lady's manor.

Akane trembled a bit as she felt the pain spreading through her. She didn't exactly have a plan to get out of this. Sure, Kohana could probably patch her up with her powers. But that required her to have a beating pulse. If she managed to pass on before she got healed, they'd be stuck with her body running on autopilot. And a body running on auto pilot could easily be exploited by either Tenebris or Lumiere at this point.

"I'm glad you understand the value of silence after you've been subdued, Rouge. Now please, wait just a few more moments. This blade will have dealt with your heart. And it will remain inside you even after your head leaves your shoulders." Mami explained, all while her eyes glowed the slightest bit golden. She just had to wait a little longer. Then all of this would come to a final end...

Akane looked straight forward. Hoping that something would change. Maybe Aoi would show up and save her. But the likelihood of that was probably below zero... Still, it was the best shot she had. And besides.. Aoi was her friend. She had nothing but trust for her and her abilities. If there was anybody that could possibly save her now, it was going to be her. She just had to keep that hope inside her heart, and then...

"Azure Aoi!"

Mami's body froze for a moment as she saw something flying straight at her. She hadn't anticipated this. So much so that her power stopped for but a single moment, just the moment that Akane needed to turn on her powers and burn the blade from the inside, saving her from the possible danger that it was causing. All while also diving out of the way of the incoming projectile rushing through the air!

Water splashed against the Maid's body as she was blown back. The water hurt. It was like she was being slammed against the surface of a cold pool, the whiplash of the water smashing against her body keeping her from approaching while she was being drenched. And as she looked forward once all the water was gone, a familiar figure stood there...

"Lady Aoi..."

"H-Heh. Knew I could count on you, Aoi."

Eguchi Aoi. The girl formerly known as Natura Bleu, who had transformed while she was flowing through the air as a living spout of water. With her blade at her side, and her water swirling around her arm, she seemed ready to fight against one of the few people that had been there for her this entire time.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Rou... Akane." Aoi said with a smile as she shifted her blade grip to her other hand, before extending that dry hand over to Akane. "Let's fight. Together. I might be able to take her on my own, but I don't want her to get the chance to strike at somebody I hold dear." The words that slipped from her lips... They were full of something beyond Conviction. They were filled with Determination.

Akane grinned a bit as she grabbed her friend's hand, pulling herself up as she started to shake off the pain from earlier. "Just watch out. Your Maid can control her blade and turn it into liquid, just like how you can turn water into other things. Get hit once, and she can paralyze you. Almost killed me that way." She explained, while putting her hand up against the dial that was always wrapped around her wrist.

"NATURALIZE!"

Flames quickly spread across Akane's body as she transformed into Natura Rouge, slamming her fist against the palm of her hand. "Alright, Maid! Let's see how you handle Natura Rouge, the Flames of Justice!"

"And Natura Bleu! The Splashing Determination!" Aoi said, assuming her heroic identity once more as she pointed her blade straight at the maid that had been at her side for so long. "Stand down, Mami! We can talk this out! I won't let you kill anybody and act like it was a good thing to do!"

Mami looked at the two that stood in her way. Her dear Lady Aoi, and Natura Rouge. What a predicament. But that was why she had gone to these lengths. This was why she stood right here, ready to fight against the one that she loved. Because she wanted to make her life easier. To that end, she drew her blade against her arm, sending sparks through the air as the golden glow in her eyes intensified.

"Artificialize."

Darkness erupted from her body and wrapped around her in an instant, before it retreated and revealed what had happened. Flesh had been replaced with metal. Her maid attire had been replaced with an uniform that looked not unlike the Natura's own, but with a white undersuit replacing the black. Combine that with the deep indigo that laid atop the white, and she looked like a mechanical copy of Bleu, with Mami taking the role of the wielder of the power instead of her dear Lady.

"Artificia Bleu." Mami said as a visor snapped over her eyes, the visor shimmering before outputting a constant dim light in the same color as her uniform. "For the sake of Lady Aoi, I will be eliminating both of you." Even if one of her enemies was that very same lady, she wouldn't back down. Not now.

Natura Bleu and Rouge both steeled themselves as they faced their new enemy, an enemy that almost immediately disappeared as she utilized her power over her metallic body to turn nearly invisible. All while leaving them unaware of the way she'd approach them.

They barely got a moment to really consider how before they both felt a slash pouring across their body, and a nasty looking cut barely forcing its way past their uniforms. Thankfully it was easy to close since Rouge had her powers up and running, but that didn't stop the cut from having happened. It was a show of just how quickly their enemy could move, and how little effort they needed to put in...

"So, glad you're here, Bleu! But I'm getting the feeling that we're gonna have a hard time!" Rouge cried out as she heated herself up to the max to auto-cauterize any wounds that the maid-turned-villain snuck in, while keeping an eye on her ally to make sure that she was aware of her at all times. "You got any ideas? Because I don't think my flames are going to cover enough ground if she's this fast!"

Bleu was keeping as calm as she possibly could. Both because she needed to focus, and because if she slipped up against this crazed version of one of her closest retainers, there was no way for her to predict what might happen. She just had to find the opening, and then everything would slowly unravel from there. But what could she do to...

She just smirked. No, there was no need to worry. It didn't matter if she didn't have the kind of smarts that Vert had. It didn't matter if she wasn't as strong or sustainable as Noir or Blanc. What she had was her Determination. And as long as her heart was pounding against her chest, as long as she knew that she could follow through with her actions, then everything would be alright.

Even as she felt another wound being left on her cheek from Artificia Bleu rushing past her, she didn't falter. She just pulled out another blade from the waters idly swirling around her arm, and then looked to Rouge. "Set it all ablaze. Then we'll grasp victory!" She shouted, Determination filling her voice. She wasn't about to back down, not now that she knew what kind of person that she wanted to be!

"You've got it!" Rouge shouted as she let the flames really heat up, to the point where they turned as blue as the partner behind her. "ROUND ROUGE!" She let loose a roar as the flames exploded off her and formed a round circle of nothing but the most intense flames, leaving no real way to approach the two as a result. Not that the enemy would be impeded, since the speed she moved at would prevent her from being truly burnt.

Not that it mattered. They already had the advantage. Once the area around them had been smothered in flames, Bleu tossed her blades into the air and let them turn into liquid form, allowing her to control them even more. "Let the rain fall and show us the path through! Bleupour!"

In what felt like a single millisecond, the water above started to rain down with the intensity of the most aggressive rain. The droplets slammed against the ground and mixed together with the intensely hot flames, causing steam to kick up quicker than ever. And while the flames were being put out and dramatically reduced their defensive capabilities... That was all part of the plan.

"Okay, so, what's next?" Rouge said, gritting her teeth a bit as she barely managed to raise her arms to block another strike on her face. But in doing so, her eyes widened. Because before this, she didn't have the time to properly react to one of those attacks. This didn't make sense, why could she...

Bleu smiled as she called back her blades, all while the steam continued to billow around them and the wet ground quietly poured through the cracks in the ground. It was the perfect set of conditions for this kind of fight. The perfect battleground. The perfect place for her to put her Determination to the test.

And it all came to a head as she saw the faint shadow of something moving towards her with the speed of a train, as well as the sound of water splashing around because somebody was running through the pooled water. It was exactly what she had planned.

*CLASH*

Artificia Bleu's blade had gone straight for the throat. But it was caught in between Natura Bleu's blades, the hero peering past the visor as they were stuck in a bladelock. All while the determined heroine grinned. An uncharacteristically proud grin for a girl who had been so calm and collected.

The robotic duplicate didn't try to struggle. Instead, she used the power over rushing metal to extend her blade and turn it into dangerous tendrils, with each trying to go for their intended target. All while enduring a blow from the heroine's knee. She wasn't just fast, she was hardy too.

"Lady Aoi. Let me exorcise this power from your body. Then all will be well." Artificia Bleu said with a voice that could best be described as droning, all while she tried to push further and further. She wanted all of this to come to a beneficial end that would let her live alongside Aoi just like before. An end where she could be happy. That end was close at hand, as the flowing blade poured their way into the girl's wounds and slowly reached deeper and deeper as they tried to cut into one of her most vital organs.

Right up until Natura Bleu smashed her head against that visor, cracking it and breaking the villain's concentration in the process. This allowed the heroine to wash out all the malicious metal and heal herself, all while peering towards the metallic duplicate that had been trying to wage her own little war against her for having the audacity to choose for herself...

"For... For the sake of Lady Aoi's happiness... I must..." Artificia Bleu muttered as she slowly got back up after being knocked down, her body sparking as the water around her started to reach into the crevices that weren't water protected. Just like the flowing blade had been trying to overwhelm her from the inside. Her own tactic was being turned against her. As expected of her charge...

Natura Bleu stepped forward as she clenched her hand ever slightly, letting the waters lift themselves off the ground and wrap around the metallic villain. "Mami. There's still time to turn back. We don't have to do this. I want you to be here with me. I don't want you to do something that you'll regret, just because you think it's best for me!" She wanted to do this without hurting her further.

"Under no circumstance." Artificia Bleu replied as she suddenly started sparking harder, absorbing all the water wrapped around her as she started to malfunction from that level of water damage. "The only option to set you free is clear. I must eliminate you both right here and now. You'll be happier if you can spend the afterlife together with the both of us. We both love you, after all." Her logical deduction was a complete and utter mess, as expected of a malfunctioning machine. This was truly what she thought was right, especially as she started to speed back up, punching holes through the steam to make it even harder to track her as a result.

Rouge grit her teeth a bit as she looked around them, trying her best to keep an eye on the speedy malfunctioning machine. "If she lands another hit, we're probably going to blow, Aoi!" She shouted, just to bring a bit of gravity to the situation... Before she laughed. "Who am I kidding? We'll pull through! As long as you're with me, Aoi!"

"As long as you're with me, Akane!" Aoi cried out. Determination was still splashing around inside her. As long as she could stay standing, she would find a way to win. That was what she believed. That she would find a way to save both the one that she cared for, and the one she held dear.

She focused as much as she could. And slowly, every other sound but the sound of someone slamming their feet against the ground by running like mad filled her ears. Even that sound was getting slower and harder to identify. But not because she was getting deaf, or because it didn't exist. But rather... Because the flow of time had come to a halt.

Bleu, with the sheer power of will, had put a stop to time flowing freely. And by pushing her arms forward and swimming through, she bent time to her will. She bent it to make sure that she was getting what she wanted out of the next few seconds..!

As everything started to flow once more, she heard a spark echo around her. And by that point, it was too late. Because somebody had wrapped their arms around her, preventing her from moving for even a moment.

"This is it, Lady Aoi. I hope that I've done everything in my power to aid you. Even against your own orders." Artificia Bleu said as her eyes started counting down from three seconds. That was all the time it would take before her systems flowed over and she had to self destruct. It would take out not only these two heroines, but everywhere around them in short order. Maybe even the city in its entirety if that was what it took...

But it didn't get a chance to tick down. The second those arms wrapped around her, Natura Bleu had already won. Because all of the water that was clogging up the malfunctioning robotic villain's body started to rush out, cleaning it all in a matter of moments. Not just the harmless water either, even the moisture or anything that wasn't supposed to be inside the villian was forcibly pulled out thanks to the deep focus and pinpoint accuracy that the power gave her.  "ROUGE, NOW!" She shouted, as the sparks intensified from the last bits of the machinery inside her maid that wasn't properly recovering.

Rouge listened, and Rouge did what she did best. She grabbed both of them by the shoulders and shouted like mad as she burst into flames and let the heat consume them. It wasn't there to hurt them either. It was a gentle yet thorough flame. It did not burn anything, merely dried it all off. And when it retreated, it drew any excess or awful heat with it, putting a stop to any kind of malfunctioning that could be brought on by water damage...

All that Artificia Bleu could do after that was quietly just stand there, in shock at what had just happened. So much so that her body slowly transformed back to normal, the Darkness that fueled her transformation and madness either being washed out of her or dried up thanks to the combination of powers that the Natura used on her. "...L-Lady... Lady Aoi..."

"Don't worry, Mami." Natura Bleu said as her transformation splashed off her, returning her back to the determined girl that had taken up the role all on her own. "I forgive you. I don't need to hear your justification. Because it's what you thought was right." Aoi concluded, smiling as she gently hugged her short but proud head Maid.

Mami's tears slowly started to trail down the sides of her face as she nodded and hugged her dear Lady Aoi as tight as she could. Whispering repeated apologies. That was what she thought was right. To show her how much she regretted her actions.

Akane smiled as the flames of her own transformation vanished, leaving her normal once more. "Seems like we've hit a happy ending. I don't think I need to ask you if you'd still want to fight by my side, do I, Aoi?" That smile turned into a grin as she tossed her hands behind her head. Ah, something about fighting alongside her made her feel so... fulfilled...

"Soon." Aoi said, while gently petting Mami as she kept sobbing and apologizing. "Once Mami's done letting everything out, I plan to put an end to one thing that's been holding me back. After that, I'll be right by your side. But for your own safety, I recommend locating Couleur." Determination filled her eye as she spoke of the one that had pushed her towards this resolution. "Recovering from our issues is good and all. But if she comes to try and stop us again... We need to be ready for her."

Akane nodded, patting her friend and ally on the back before running past her. She was going to heed her advice and do what she could to find her. Vert too, if possible. They'd need all the help that they could get.

"Good luck, Akane." Aoi muttered, before closing her eyes as she listened to her dear maid crying. This was all to help her. And if that was the case...

Then she needed to carry out the last bits of her Determination, and meet her parents once again...

---

Lumiere grimaced as she noticed four bright lights shining through her city. Lights brighter than her own. This couldn't be allowed. This shouldn't be possible. And yet it was.

She had to act. But was her latest plan ready? Of course not. It would still take time. Her light still needed to take root inside her golden hope.

All that the Light of Equilibre could hope for was for the Darkness to turn up the heat and buy her a bit more time.

Then the slate would be wiped clean, and her Light would reign once again.