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It wasn't that she didn't trust Corvus to be able to handle things on her own but, naturally, Denebola was wary of everything. Of the captain that remained under their watch. She'd met him once before this when they talked beneath the twinkling stars but -

She didn't know him the way her partner did.

She was nervous, though she'd be hard pressed to verbally admit that. It showed in little ways; like how her fingers kept curling into fists then uncurling or the way she would stare straight ahead, jaw clenched and breathing sharp intakes of breath.

She was nervous about Castor too, perpetually nervous about the unpredictable prince. But the ginger trusted Corvus and that meant she had to trust Castor for this. So, reluctantly, she did.

"Take a leap of faith," she said, more sharply than intended, to the silver haired man. "She trusts him and she trusts you. So trust us."

Her eyes followed the movement of the Prince of Hail, concern and questions clear in her expression. Once before she had seem him badly hurt and teetering on the edge of control; a battle with an old foe after a meeting that they had all been summoned to. Had Wolframite been the cause of these wounds as well? She wanted to ask just as much as she wanted to insist that they reschedule for Castor's benefit as much as for Rikard's. If neither of them were in top shape how much more of a risk did this make?

Time is of the essence. If we wait any longer-- What if they find out?

It couldn't wait and that had to be why Castor had agreed to meet them on such short notice despite whatever it was that had happened to him.

Corvus opened her mouth to respond to the Prince, pausing as Rikard Colby pulled away from her to envelop himself in darkness, replacing the bland, loose fitting hospital pajamas that he had been wearing with the uniform of a Negaverse Captain.

"Corvus did not make this decision for me. I--," he swallowed, swaying on his feet slightly, holding out a hand to keep the Senshi of Vengeance or her Dragonfly companion from supporting him. "They find you when you're alone; when you're broken and in need of something. They take that void and they fill it with darkness. I-- I'm not afraid of the darkness, but..."

Chaos is a parasite and the time will come where you lose sense of yourself...

As muddled as his mind was from the injuries that he had sustained at the hand of Eternal Sailor Chariklo, he could still hear Denebola's voice in his head. The firm tone that she had spoken in and the words she'd given voice to had stopped him just shy of making regrettable decisions more than once.

His decision wasn't being made so that he could cheat death and continue on with every bad habit he'd picked up with the Negaverse. He wasn't scrambling to save his own skin, he didn't even know that if he had said anything other than 'yes, let's do this' that Corvus had intended to deal with him personally. She had presented him with the truth, open and honest, and had left him with a choice.

"... I'm good for more than just running away and hurting people."

He managed a low shaking laugh as he measured the reactions. He was almost amused, but his laugh was one of resigned acceptance. Royal did not mean invincible. It was a title and a demand, and before him was just another part of the role he played.

Though, he didn't think Corvus or her companions had come on emotions, he would needle just a hair. Certainty in what what was to be done, and what it was cost.
"They find you. They give you what you lack. They support you, lift you up and provide a purpose. They become a family who you can turn to in whatever crisis you face, and will protect you from those who would do you harm." His wings eased around him, and the movement was not the same smooth motion of what it had once been. It was the action and flow of someone wounded, though his skin only showed that healed most of it already.
What lingered was under his skin, just as much as the wounds and fear was under the skin of the captain before him.

"Knights are fragmented. They fight and are no better than senshi in most aspects, worse in some others. You'll be giving up everything if you do this. Friends. Family. Loved ones. Your past. Your future. You will have nothing, and you will be nothing. This time you must give yourself purpose, protect and lift yourself up." A hand motioned to the captain's legs, a smug smirk playing at the royal's lips.

"You'll have to stand on your own, even if it feels like knives in the soles of your feet, all while the world might rest on your shoulders. Your choice is flanked by those who want what they think is best. I'm here to tell you that whatever you think to be true, they would reward you for telling who the senshi beside you is. They would promote you, give you accolades. Your loyalties never questioned, you'd be free to live knowing you would have their support in all you'd do."

Resolve. Will. Truth. Desire- There must be conviction, and he wanted to hear it.

"You purify, you will be branded and marked. You will never be trusted, and you will lose all you had. Denebola and Corvus might support you, but they won't be there to shelter you, they cannot hold your hand and be your guides. They are senshi. You are a knight."

Something entirely different.

"I don't candy coat the truth. The man you are now will die. If you are ready for that, we will try. It is a choice you must make and be ready to face. If you fight back, if you choose to resist? I will kill you without hesitation. Denebola, Corvus- do you understand the risks?"

Blue eyes stared at the three of them, and Castor felt older than he was. He felt tired. He felt-
He felt sad. Because it shouldn't be this way.

"I am here because I was asked, but I will not purify someone who would regret it or fight it. It must be a choice you make and understand all it entails. This is not a salvation. It is simply switching sides in a war when it is all said and done."

Castor's words made disgust and bile rise within the redhead who clamped her mouth shut and tried not to show how much his words - threats - were effecting her. It made her want to snap at him, to tell him to shove his words up his a** but she didn't because it was not her place.

She wasn't the one who'd risked absolutely everything for the silver-haired man beside them. She wasn't the one making the choice to give up their entire life for a shot at a different one. She was not the one who was putting themselves in a vulnerable position even if was still risking something by standing beside Corvus through it all.

So, Denebola bit her tongue and swallowed her sharp words even when they cut at her throat.

"Let us worry about what comes after," she said finally and only after she was addressed. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't understand."

The super senshi had been hanging back, allowing Richerite to stand on his own and to let Corvus take the lead, but now, she stepped forward until she was on the captain's other side. "It doesn't matter if he's senshi or knight, he's one of ours and I'm prepared to deal with everything that means."

She didn't care about how senshis and knights were different, how their power sources differed, if he was even the slightest bit important to Corvus, he was important to her and Denebola protected those she cared about.

He had already given Corvus the only tie to his past as Richterite that he wanted to hold on to; a reminder of the years he had spent in service and, hopefully, a message that he could carry with him to those he met-- It was possible to serve for as long as he had and still change. He had not feared the darkness and he would not fear the light being offered to him now.

"Richterite and Rikard Colby both. I'm ready."