The void didn't change.
It didn't need to.
The figure watched him with the patience of something that had never once needed to rush.
"So," Tetsuo said.
"You've been inside me this whole time."
"YES."
"Watching."
"WATCHING YOU FAIL."
"Constantly."
"Repeatedly."
"In increasingly creative ways."
Tetsuo held that.
"You took over during Belial."
"I SAVED US."
"There's a difference."
"From what."
"From you doing it."
Silence.
"I want to work together," Tetsuo said.
The figure looked at him.
Then laughed.
Not warmly.
"WORK TOGETHER."
He said it the way you repeated something back to confirm you'd heard it correctly.
"WITH YOU."
"Yes."
"YOU."
"That's what I said."
The crimson eyes moved across him slowly.
Top to bottom.
Like an assessment that kept arriving at the same disappointing answer.
"You lasted four seconds against the Paladin before needing MY assistance," the figure said.
Quieter now.
Which was worse.
"You fell to your knees in front of Belial."
"Your H-Light is barely a flicker."
"You sleep on the floor."
"That last one is unrelated," Tetsuo said.
"IT'S SYMBOLIC."
"It's a preference."
"IT'S PATHETIC."
Tetsuo said nothing.
The figure turned slightly.
Arms folded.
"Give me one reason," he said.
"Why I should agree to anything."
"When I can simply wait."
Tetsuo looked at him.
"Until you're worthy enough for me to take over completely."
"Until there's nothing left of you worth arguing with."
He turned back.
Crimson eyes level.
"Which at your current rate—"
Pause.
"Won't take long."
The void held them.
Tetsuo felt the weight of it.
Not pressure exactly.
Just the specific gravity of something that had already considered every angle and found him wanting in all of them.
"You came out for Cecil," Tetsuo said.
The figure went still.
"When Skull put the blade to her face."
Silence.
"That wasn't strategy," Tetsuo continued.
"That was reaction."
The figure looked at him.
Said nothing.
Which was the most information he'd given since the conversation started.
"You care what happens to them," Tetsuo said.
"I CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO US."
"They're part of that now."
"That's your weakness talking."
"Maybe," Tetsuo said.
"Or maybe that's the part of me you haven't figured out how to dismiss yet."
The crimson eyes narrowed.
Fractionally.
"You're negotiating," the figure said.
"Yes."
"With me."
"Yes."
"Using sentiment."
"Using what works."
The figure stared at him for a long moment.
Something moving behind the crimson that wasn't quite anger.
Wasn't quite respect.
Something between them that didn't have a clean name.
"You're still weak," he said finally.
"I know."
"Embarrassingly so."
"I know."
"If I agreed to this—"
He turned away.
"You would have to become something worth agreeing with."
Tetsuo said nothing.
"I won't carry you," the figure continued.
"I won't compensate for your limitations indefinitely."
"You climb."
"Or I stop waiting."
He looked back over his shoulder.
Crimson eyes catching light that didn't exist.
"UNDERSTOOD?"
Tetsuo held his gaze.
"Understood."
The void shifted slightly.
The figure turned away fully.
"Then we have nothing more to discuss today."
"That's it?" Tetsuo said.
"I thought this was a negotiation."
"IT IS."
"We haven't agreed to anything."
"You agreed to become worth something," the figure said.
"I agreed to wait slightly longer than planned."
He glanced back once.
"That's more than you deserve."
Pause.
"DON'T WASTE IT YOU FOOL."