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'Hector...' Garovel's tone was as soft as he'd ever heard it, ushering back many memories from their time together. 'You've grown so strong so quickly. But along with that, you've been taking on more and more responsibility. I know you get frustrated when you encounter a bad situation that you can't do anything about, but that's just the nature of life, sometimes. Whatever Sermung's real problem is, I don't think it's the kind of thing that we can help him with.'

Agh.

The reaper was probably right, Hector knew.

He wasn't ready to give up, though. 'It's not just me, you know.'

'Hmm?' said Garovel.

'I get frustrated, yeah. But you do, too. I know you do.'

Garovel was quiet.

'Garovel, if you could sense what I sense from this guy, I'm absolutely certain that you would feel the same way I do, right now.'

'Yeah, I probably would. But I've also got a few thousand years on you, Hector. And despite how frustrated I occasionally still get, I've also begrudgingly learned that, sometimes, there's only so much I can do. And I don't want you... to go down a path of... quiet desperation, let's say. Because that kind of thing can drive a man mad.'

That subject again.

Madness.

He kept hearing about it. And he felt like he was going to keep hearing about it, too.

Still, it didn't exactly seem relevant to the current circumstances. Hector considered telling him as much, but he didn't want to worry his best friend any more than he already had. Apparently, this was a growing concern in Garovel's mind, and Hector felt like dismissing it out of hand would not be a smart move.

It made Hector wonder again about Garovel's experiences with past servants. The reaper had told him that he was the twenty-second servant he'd ever taken. How many of them had gone insane, Hector pondered? Truthfully, he wasn't sure he even wanted to know the answer to that.

Hector stewed on those thoughts for a short while, and perhaps so did Garovel, because a lingering silence arrived as they floated there together in the pitch blackness of the pocket dimension.

The question of how and when they should return was starting to bubble up in his mind. It probably wouldn't be that difficult, he felt; but before he could even start fully processing the issue, a trembling distraction arrived.

An earthquake with no earth. A dimension quake?

That couldn't be a good sign.

Next page on the 19th

Thanks for reading, everybody.

Page 4144

'It's just a little pocket dimension,' said Hector. 'No big deal. We've visited these before.'

'Yeah, and I'm getting kinda SICK of it at this point. At least tell me you did it on purpose this time.'

'I did, yeah.'

'Well, good. I guess that can be considered progress.'

And then there was an awkward silence.

'...But now what?' said Garovel.

'...I honestly have no idea. I was in a pretty desperate situation back there, and I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with it.'

'Hector, there IS no dealing with it. You picked a fight with Sermung. Y'know, like an idiot. Even if you somehow have more tricks up your sleeve that even I don't know about, there will come a point where you just have to face the music.'

'Hey, aren't you supposed to be more supportive? Telling me not to give up and shit?'

'I mean, if he was actually trying to kill us, then yeah. But I'm sure he's just gonna give you a well-deserved smacking. I don't see much point in dragging this out, Hector.'

'Agh. You don't get it.'

'No. I really don't. You said something about his soul dying, didn't you? I didn't press you before, but it seems we have some time now. Wanna elaborate on that?'

Hector hesitated. 'Not really.'

'Hector...'

'Do you really need me to explain?'

Now Garovel hesitated. 'You think he's suicidal.'

'I know he is. I can feel it in his aura. He hides it well, but it's there. And it's bad.'

The reaper sighed. 'Okay, but how is beating him up supposed to fix that?'

'It's not. Or at least, not really. I just... I... I don't...' Hector might've sighed, too, if there was any air left in his lungs.

'You don't know what to do,' said Garovel.

Hector made no response. He didn't want to acknowledge that, even if it might've been true. He needed to keep thinking that there was some hidden solution here. Some better way out of this. Not for himself, of course. But for Sermung.

And by extension, for everyone else in the world.

Garovel's next words proved more incisive than expected, however. 'Sermung is not you, Hector. Even if you see similarities, you are two distinct souls. What works for you may not work for him. And vice versa.'

That wasn't what Hector wanted to hear. Not at all.

Maybe it was what he needed to hear, though.

He rubbed his forehead hard, squinting against the endless darkness and trying to think.