"Because....I would like to speak to you away from all the commotion for once...." He said as he leaped off the rock, and his Dragonite followed behind ever faithful. "We are afforded peace only before the storm arrives, and during the eye...." And so he turned his back to her, and began to walk. The forest was peaceful aside from the carnage that he had left in his wake to reach the spot, and now he was just leaving it all behind as if it was of no concern to him. The sun peaked through the thick canopy of the forest, and he took in the sights, and sounds around him. Whether she actually followed him or not wasn't an issue, but he walked anyway until he came across a clearing.

Anyone familiar with the forest would be able to find it with ease, and enjoy the view. Turning he regarded her with hidden eyes, and an expression she would never see. Curiosity, sorrow, and anger clouded those features, emotions she would be robbed of seeing. None of that mattered though, and he folded his arms across his chest.

"Do you know the definition of death....?"

Yuina Higashi

"That depends solely on you Miss Higashi....Did you kill that person?" Came the simple question, because her existence was an affront to her memory. Part of him wanted to take his helmet off, to try, and stir some memory, but she had seen him without his armor before, and nothing had come of it. It was pointless.

"Allow me to tell you what I think....I could accept it if you truly had zero memory....If you hadn't reacted at all when I said her name I think I could have accepted it...." That was the truth, he wouldn't have liked it, but he could have accepted that she was truly gone, and moved on. "However....You reacted....That means there is some core part of you that knows she is still in there....Some part of her exists....But you deny her....You deny that very part of your being...." Words coated with venom.

"To deny someone life is no different than murder, or torture in my eyes....Yet you prance around like some saint acting like you're better than the people that you so detest...." A hidden frown on his lips as he regarded.

"So you have a choice Miss Higashi....Are you a murderer, or are you actually as good as you pretend to be...."

Yuina Higashi

"Are we....? I wonder...." He looked her over the specter of a person he use to know hovering just at the edges of her shadow. "Have you ever heard me call myself a good person....? No, you haven't....Because I'm not delusional....Unlike some of you?" To fully know oneself, and be aware of what you were, and weren't capable of was something he prided himself on. There was no length he wouldn't go to in order to achieve his goals, no stone he wouldn't overturn, no corner of his soul that he wouldn't give up for just one more step towards that goal.

"I do know things about you....I know your real name....I know where you are from....I know that you helped me search for murderers once upon a time...." Which is why her presence infuriated him so. "I don't want to hate you, Yuina....I don't want to despise you the way I do...." Perhaps hypocritical considering how their last meeting had gone. "But it is difficult when you wear the face of someone I use to know....And refuse to acknowledge her....Are you okay with only being half of a whole your whole life?" He doubted she would actually answer him, but it was a genuine question.

"In this entire region....There are few people who know your secret....Even fewer who met you before you were you....Or am I wrong....? If you are....Then I'll stop wasting my time....We can be bitter enemies, and I'll stop wasting both of our time...." The little emotion that could be heard in his voice despite the modulator drained away.

Despite how it might sound this was his sincere attempt at extending an olive branch to her, a chance no matter how small....He wanted to thank her properly, but he couldn't do that....

Yuina Higashi

For once she would find no taunts, there was no sarcasm, no degradation as he listened to her explain herself, and he managed to glean some of the truth. Ironically it wasn't his civilian persona that managed to do it, but that was neither here nor there.

"One day Ms. Higashi....You will have to make a choice....Living as half of a whole....It isn't easy. It eats away at you day by day, people you once knew recognize you, but their faces are just blank to you....Friends you once had, you hurt....There are ways to fix it....Ways to make you whole...." The mind was something he had plenty of experience in manipulating. He had done it to himself, along with Elinor Anderson once upon a time.

She had witnessed him do it in Area Zero. Memories were just biological data after all.

"I however can only help you in one way....When you were Alexandria you were a fearsome fighter....A fact that resurfaced during our last meeting when you managed to wound me...." There was a hint of amusement in his voice. "I will push you to your extreme....I will back you into a corner, because even if your mind can't remember your body will....That is the only kind of help I can offer you....There is a man skilled in manipulating memories, but could you truly trust someone to do that to you?" He couldn't at the very least.

"So when next we meet....Bring it all to bare....I will challenge you on a level you've not been challenged before....At the end of the day....Rocket, League none of that really matters to me....I'm a selfish person....I will always do what I want....Do you understand?" Of course she would, because he was declaring a challenge to her.

"You can choose to be Yuina....You can choose to be Alexandria....Or you can be something new....I look forward to your choice when it comes time to make it...."

Yuina Higashi