"................." Chris had a moment of prolonged silence, before he looked at the ceiling again.

"You'd think." he said.

"But no." he said further.

"All this time, she was only using me." he told her. "I was nothing but a resource to her. And she'd used up the resource." he went on.

"Well... maybe that's not QUITE accurate." he then admitted.

"She said my usefulness had come to an end." he clarified.

"What did I do?" Chris asked.

"Simple. I helped until the end." he told her.

"Your sister had but one goal in life. And she accomplished it." he went on.

"Once she did, she revealed to me what I really was to her." he continued.

"......." he was then silent for another moment, as he looked out the window.

"....'to have an abomination running about would be a disgrace to our kind' is what she said to me." he told Ashley. "She said that eyesores were not worthy to walk among drow-kind."

"She did." Chris said.

"She succeeded." he told her.

"And then I was tossed aside. Maimed and sent out to die." he went on.

"Those wolves would have mauled me to death, really." he said further.

"But... there you go." he went on. "Sent to die, discarded as trash." he said further, his voice bland.

"Now you know."

"I don't know." Chris responded.

"Nor do I care." he told her.

"Do whatever you want with me." he said. "I've been discarded like the trash I am, so I have no place left in this world." he said further.

"I don't belong anywhere now." he continued.

"The one woman I dedicated my life to... does not want me. Never wanted me." he finished.

The one she was looking for was at his desk, behind a pile of tomes.

"...so if this is true... then... yes, this is correct as well..." he said to himself, before hearing the knock.

"Hm?" he mumbled.

'...who could that be?' he thought. 'Rowena and Racquel are gone for the week...' he thought further, raising an eyebrow.

"Come in!" he called to them.

"Door's unlocked!" he added, preparing for anything.

".....Syraene?" Vincent asked when she made her arrival known.

"Problems?" he asked.

"...that's never good, when it comes from you." he sighed.

"Also... something seems... different... about you." he commented.

"I can't put my finger on it, though." he admitted, rubbing his chin.

"At any rate, what's wrong?" he asked. "More trouble at the Order?" he asked further.

Vincent froze when he heard this.

"...excuse me?" he asked.

"She actually MANAGED it!?" he exclaimed.

"Ohhhhhhh dear." he then muttered. "This... this is not good." he said.

"Things are sure to become quite chaotic in the VERY near future." he went on.

"And we probably have very little time to mount any sort of defense against them." he then added.

"....that IS another problem." Vincent agreed.

"But we need to focus on some more immediate threats." he reasoned.

"...things are going to be very messy, and I don't know if anyone is safe right now." he admitted.

"This is, quite frankly, terrifying." he said further.

".....oh dear lord, Francis and Elizabeth will be brought back." he then realized, his tone hushed and shaky.

"........" Vincent was silent, and then nodded.

"Yes." he said.

"You're right." he agreed.

"I need to get to work on that." he said further, getting up from his desk.

"Hm." he mumbled, scratching at his chin slightly.

"Yes... I should bring out the big guns in terms of wards and barriers." he said.

Vincent was silent for a moment, as he looked around.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, before making his way to a cabinet, withdrawing a small box with a few jewels on it, and bringing it over. When he opened it, she saw it was empty, except for an exquisite satin and silk lining.

"This used to house 'The Ring of 3 Wishes'." he told her, referencing an old and forgotten artefact.

"However, even though the ring was destroyed completely, I couldn't bring myself to throw out such a nice box." he reasoned.