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Delilah was safe and sound. Well, as much as she could be, cooped up in a hospital bed. It turned out that Delilah, along with her cousin Mathias, were involved in something have to do with the Dark Mirror Court. Gravina remembered them vaguely, and couldn't recall ever meeting one... Finding out they'd been captured by magical means was horrifying, to say the least. It explained why Delilah went missing. It was so unlike her to do so, and Gravina was relieved to find out she was relatively unharmed.

That being said, he was bound to get an earful from Delilah when he powered up and went looking for one Captain in particular. The concern in his heart for the Captain with a puffy brown jacket ate away at him. In some respects, Gravina still felt like part of the Negaverse and could empathize with them. He didn't wish harm on anyone, and had no desire for greater power or prestige. He simply wished to be human. His traitorous status was hopefully still hidden from the Captain he sought. Gravina knew he risked being recognized every time he powered up, but he had to make sure the Captain had found her missing comrades.

The Knight of Cosmos kept to the shadows of two-story buildings circling the park, hoping to stay out of sight from most everyone else. He did manage to spot her, though, after waiting for about an hour. It was her, he was sure, from the familiar gait and the fluff of the jacket around her neck.

Gravina nervously made his presence known by jumping down from the building a few hundred yards away from Zircon and approached slowly, cautiously. "Umm... hello again, Captain, I... I hope I'm not bothering you. You see, umm... I wanted to know... did you... find the people you were looking for?"

Gravina seemed to fidget under the Captain’s gaze, twiddling his fingers or chewing his lip nervously. Being out here, alone, was asking for trouble. With Delilah in the hospital, the other girls surely wouldn’t know he’d powered up tonight. He didn’t plan to tell them, and certainly didn’t want to disturb Delilah. She would be incredibly upset if she found out. There was something of a promise between them, for his personal safety, not to power up alone. The young man had broken that promise twice now and the guilt was incredible. Perhaps later, after Delilah was discharged from hospital care would he broach that subject and receive the appropriate punishment.

“Oh,” His voice was shaky, though warm and appreciative. “I’m so glad you… well, your agents were recovered. Um… was it… Was it the mirrors that took them? That’s what… happened to Delilah, and many other people. That’s what she said, that… she had been stuck somewhere, from a mirror, she didn’t know how long, then there was… a terrible escape. That’s all I know. Th-thank you, very much, Captain. ...thank you for looking. I know… You don’t have to do that. You could just… say that to me and not intend to, but… I appreciate that you did. Really.”

The Knight bowed his head to her, even as the Captain remained at a respectable distance. As a Knight now, the apex of their power, Gravina felt wholly unequipped to defend himself. He had no desire for violence against anyone, and was growing increasingly aware that his mere presence might have frightened someone whose starseed was pulsing with Chaos. The young man considered himself harmless and genuinely felt guilty for impeding on others’ personal radar like the sparkling star he now was.

He tilted his head, powdery blue hair swaying in the wind like a cloud. “...did… were you able to get something warm to drink? I know… it wasn’t much money, and some coffee houses are expensive.” Gravina knew five dollars wasn’t much, and may have even looked like a trap to most Negaverse agents. He wished, wholeheartedly, to explain what he knew about the Negaverse to Zircon, but swallowed it. He knew what Chaos was capable of, how it fundamentally changed people. He, of all people, would know that best.

“Um, Delilah, she… called from the hospital. I guess her cousin was taken, too. They were together. She said many other people in strange costumes were there, too. That they… had to run for their lives… It sounded terrible. She said… many people were taken to the hospitals for injuries. Some were very, very bad. I hope they’re okay, too.”

The Knight nodded with enthusiasm, agreeing. “Me too. It’s… not right, to take people prisoner like that. Against their will. Freedom is… it’s very important. It sounds like most people found their way out. I hope the mirrors don’t try anything like this again, especially… especially now that people know to look out for them.”

He couldn’t say more than that without risking everything, despite wanting to. Gravina hated secrecy and lying, and he felt as though simply keeping his identity a secret from the Captain was lying to her. That secret, however, was keeping him alive. He could outrun her, to a point, though she could teleport. Gravina had vague memories of Benitoite doing such a thing - blinking from one place to another in a mere instant. Bazzite himself could do something similar when called from the Rift…

...bad memories…

Gravina shook them from his head lest his distress become too obvious.

“O-oh, um,” the Knight stammered, realizing he inadvertently offended the Captain with the gift of money. “I d-didn’t mean to… mean to imply that you weren’t capable. I’m sure you are, it’s just that…” His weight shifted and his gaze dropped to the grass beneath his glittering boots. He had feet now, two of them, and the Captain only possessed one. One was taken from her, likely against her will, and her leg would never be the same. It was a monumental blessing to have been gifted with a human body, and the gratitude he thought the deed warranted wasn’t expressed properly just yet. Gravina had much work to do to feel satisfied in thanking his saviors.

The Knight sighed heavily. “I guess I just… I understand… what it’s like to be treated… differently, than other people. They… look at you differently, even though they may not know it. I remember seeing it, seeing… how they’d look at me. The staring. I just… wanted to do something nice for you, just because. If you don’t want it, that’s okay. I can… give it to Delilah.”

You're delusional if you think there's any experience you've had that could possibly compare to mine. I don't need your pity.

Gravina's sharp intake of breath was unintentional. The Knight flinched as though Zircon had physically struck him. Wrapping his arms around himself, he knew there was deep, searing pain in her voice; pain he wished to soothe for her. Was that selfish? To wish that he could bring warmth the the heart of a Captain of the Negaverse? Would she even care about what he'd been through? Gravina cared deeply for her, despite knowing very little about her. He didn't even know her name.

But she hurt, her skin and feelings raw, just for a flash.

"It's not pity..." came a harsh whisper, Gravina swallowing thickly, afraid of tears falling before an agent of Chaos. He knew from memory that they sometimes understood pain, and some of them were empathetic. "...it's not pity... I don't know what took your leg, if it was natural or not, but... I know what it's like not to be able to walk or sleep or even eat and not know what the sun looks like, and to be a slave and a captive... To die and come back only to serve again, even if I didn't want to... to be tortured and tore apart so people could research my insides... I didn't have a choice... Hardly anyone understands, but... there aren't many of us."

A series of sniffles left the Knight as he attempted to calm his breathing. His voice was still low, barely above a whisper, but loud enough for her to hear. "...so... it's not pity. It's never pity..."

Gravina took a trembling step back from the Captain, guilt and utter terror flowing through his veins, knowing he'd said too much. Benitoite was out to kill him, he was certain of it, and maybe this Captain worked for him. He didn't recognize her from his vague and choppy memories of his blonde General, but then again... there were probably many Negaverse agents he never saw. Telling her the truth could spell instant death for him. What would become of Roddy? Delilah? Sita and the others? Would Cosmos be disappointed in him for being so foolish? So stupid?

I maintained the files for our largest capture operations. You weren't there.

The Knight swallowed thickly. What capture operations? He desperately searched what Swiss cheese memories he had, but couldn't recall any capture operations... Of course, who would care enough to tell a youma about what the Negaverse was up to? It didn't matter, just like one wouldn't tell their dog about their promotion at work - why would the dog care? Gravina's clasped hands gripped tighter, knuckles turning white as his countenance turned even paler, if such a thing were possible. Numbly, he shook his head. "...n-no... no... I... I wasn't there..."

Telling her the truth might be a death sentence. Gravina was terrified, and it shown plainly by the sweat on his brow and the trembling of his bow. "...I... w-was... in the d-dark... instead. Um... please don't tell, Captain. Please, please, please don't tell."

Her nod in the affirmative was more than he could ask for. Gravina was acutely aware that she could be lying, but wanted to trust that not everyone in the Negaverse was out for their own good and no one else's. There was something familiar about this agent, but the Knight couldn't place her. "...it's... it's that... the... the y-youma... down in the... R-rift, they... there are... there are people in those youma, Captain. There are... people, a-and... and they feel pain... and m-maybe some of them... don't want to be youma anymore, they're asleep and they don't even know they're sleeping, I..."

He couldn't safely turn away from her, but covered his face with his hands to try and calm down.

Gravina took several, shaky breaths before responding. It seemed as though Zircon was beginning to understand. through his unintentional metaphor, the Knight's true origins. "...y-yes, um... a shattered... shattered starseed. I... I didn't know... that th-there was... anything to recover, b-but... but it's true!" It was incredibly, painfully true, or else Gravina wouldn't be standing there at all. The knight was attempting to keep calm, trying his best to stem the flow of tears down his cheeks. Even now, it was painful to speak of his experience, and potentially deadly to speak of it to someone within the Negaverse.

But why was she familiar?

Blue eyes were cast to the ground. Of course what he described didn't seem possible. Hell, he himself didn't believe it to be possible until he'd met someone else who had gone through the baptism, restored to his proper, human form. "...I... I know it... sound impossible, b-but... The White Moon, they know... how to... fix people... people like me. E-even though I... don't remember much..."

Several shaky breaths were taken, Gravina closing his eyes to fumble through the blurred memories of the time long before. "...M-my General, he... he said I... was a Captain, like you, once. But I don't remember much of that. He said... he said... there was a lady, a Captain, too, s-she... helped... with school... or s-something, I... I'm not sure. I just know that... that I'm very thankful... for what the White Moon did. They... bathed me in light, and... I got... my legs back. I have skin... now... But please, please, Captain, please don't tell. My old General... he'll kill me."