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"Just what Castor? Stopped you from being the same kind of monster he is and just killing him where he stood? He wasn't even fighting back. Are you the kind of person who would kill someone just because they haven't seen the light yet? Are you going to beat reason into them?" Daphne was huddled in the dead center of the couch, hugging her knees, hair draped around her like a protective curtain. Everything about her posture suggested that she was unsure of her whole world, yet it was her face that sparked anger and defiance back at her husband.

"What would you have done if he had begged, after you beat him bloody, to be brought over to join me as a Knight? Would you have called for Cosmos? Tried to purify him yourself?" There was a long, ugly moment. "Or would you have just killed him? Killed him because he wasn't your one true love. Was that the only reason Castor? Did you ever just believe in me?"

The root of it.

They were arguing in circles. She had asked if he had ever believed in her, and Elzo had responded with a statement about how he trusted her but couldn't trust them. Couldn't he trust how she felt? Why was this all so goddamn confusing? "Anyone that would rather kill than solve a problem is a bad guy. I'm not saying you're the bad guy but you're no better than the people you're hurting if that's your only solution. You're stronger than all of them except a few." Unarguable fact.

"You're a prince. If you don't think I couldn't tell that you were at least perhaps twice as strong as Zinkenite then you're deluded." It was her only useful trait, that she could read power signatures. She didn't have to read Prince Castor's though. She could always feel it like it was a part of her. It was his. He was hers. Feelings, memories, thoughts, contradictions, even the holes in her memory were crowding in so that Daphne was pressing fingers against her eyes to abate the headache.

"Seeing me isn't enough. They think I turned for a good ********. They won't believe that I really am serious, that I am worth anything, until I can bring someone with me. Someone like Zinkenite who is a general and who has no designs on <********> me." Not that any of the others did but that point was really sticking in her craw.

"Why don't you understand that I know them? They were my friends. I can't kill my friends. I can't let you kill my friends!" Thinking of Castor standing over the broken, bloodied body of Serandite sent chills through Daphne even after the humid adventures outside.

Criminal. The word struck the bluenette like she had been hit, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Daphne's breath caught in her chest and eyes went wide with golden pain. It shamed her that they filled with tears, frustration aching its way through her entire body as she faced him with all of the pride and justice she was desperately trying to feel.

"You reform criminals and make them work to make things better. I joined the Negaverse because Charonite told me that I would be saving the world from itself, making it a better place, and all I had to do was cull the crop. It wasn't about the senshi it was just about making the world a more beautiful place for all of us to live in. Do you think any of them see what they're really doing? They're being lied to and there's something living inside of them that won't show them the truth!" Her voice rose and rose, a hand pressing itself against her heart.

"I honestly only think I was different because you refused to give up on me. If someone gives up on them then they will be nothing but monsters and I can't allow that. I won't allow that and I won't let you stop me. I don't care if I have to march straight into Tanzanite's face and give my life so that they can all get theirs back." And it was the truth.

The only way she would ever beg Tanzanite to kill her was if, in doing so, all the others would be purified. Including the violet-haired Youma Queen herself.

Snap. It was almost like it was audible in the room, the snapping of Daphne's control, her patience, and the part of her screaming that someone had to be the better half and that was her job. A normal girl might have reached up and simply slapped the man laughing into the face of her dilemma. She was not even remotely, in the slightest, a normal girl. She was Audrey Joanna Collins and she was not a ******** criminal.

The fist took Elzo squarely in the jaw just as Obsidian had taught Linarite. How Castor had punched Zinkenite not more than an hour before. "A favor? A favor?! I was wrong. I was so wrong about you Castor. I should have known better than to ever try." It wasn't hate or anger that radiated out of her face. It was as terrible realization that had dawned on her face, an anguish and hurt that had gone beyond anything before.

It was learning that the person you loved wasn't as perfect as you thought. That they could make you angry, could push you past your breaking point, and then laugh in your face about it. "You don't understand anything. Not because you're stupid but because you're so stubborn that you refuse to see that there is always room for more."

Not her. It wasn't her this time. Stepping back out of the kitchen, an arm raised. Her eyes held to his and there wasn't really any need to tell him what the ******** hell was wrong with her because it was standing right in front of her. What was left to say when the person you had given up everything for was unwilling to compromise even a little bit on the most important thing you thought you could possibly do?

There was nothing to say, nothing to do, but raise her arm and point towards the door.

"Just go Elzo. Just get out and stay out. I'm done." Her hand dropped to her side, the weight of her ring pressing against it for a moment before silently, symbolically, she pulled off the ring there and set it on the counter before turning to go into her computer room, shutting the door with a click that signified the door was locked.

Daphne was done.