A disembodied voice echoes around him, and his skin ripples with a shudder that he bears in silence. He hears her words, but it is undermined by Megaera's soft voice repeating in his head. Isn't that something? That love could overcome the fear he had for this meeting, the trepidation as he awaited for the Goddess to manifest. Instead of taunting, beautiful words that curled at the edges and slid over his skin like smoke, he felt only the steady comfort inside his mind. "I am here. I will not leave you. We will not leave you." At first he quakes and shudders with the desire to cry, to fall apart, because he feels undeserving of such sentiments. But then...

The Goddess comes in the moment of a spare blink, immediate in both presence and demands. But Cera is taken by the transformation that he feels inside. Because just as he is pressed too hard, as he faces this trial and his own self-doubt, he finds that something has changed. Instead of crippling and breaking beneath the pressure of his own ineptitude and unworthiness, everything splinters away. His soul cries out, until it grows, morphing and developing into a might roar that fills his limbs with fire and his heart with diamond. Ilaria's pride is sudden and unexpected, but she knows what has happened just as Cera reaches his own conclusions. I am worthy, it whispers inside his head, for it does not need the volume of a scream to make itself known. I am worthy. Of Megaera's trust and love, of Gaucho's support and pride, of Ranjiri's loyalty and family. He did not deserve what he'd been put through. He'd broken down into nothing but ash and coal, only to find that as the Goddess came before him as the final pound of pressure...he turned into diamond.

His skin had never felt so fitted, his spirit so perfectly rested inside his body. And as he slowly stood before the Goddess, he lifted his eyes to her with a new calm that had not been there before. They stand behind and beside me. I have done something to earn that. I am worthy, somehow. How can I quiver here before her, how can I spit upon their faith in me? They have cradled me while I was weak. I shall never forget that.

Now is the time to be strong.

And suddenly the words were right there, ready and waiting on the tip of his tongue as the celestial before him lashes out with barbed words that would have made him flinch even moments prior. But his Lord has answered him at last. Or perhaps, it had been inside Cera all along, seen by all but himself. Maybe the Sun had seen the potential, the ability within the Prince, and known that fate would play itself out so that he would find his strength in this exact moment. There is no time for exhilaration, for experimentation and progress. He turns to the she-devil with her galaxy eyes and venomous lips, and he stares into the void of her soul as if contemplative. He can still here the worry in her tone as she yelled Mesec's name, and he wonders if maybe she is just a little fallible too. 

Aren't they all?

"Not an act," he spoke softly, eyes never straying from her. He is changed, revolutionized, and it disconcerts him to realize that she is the one he owes it to. She was the turning point, the pinnacle, and he has overcome it. At last. Can she see it in him? Does she see her brother's flame, catching against the coals he'd once been, flaring hot and high inside him once more? "I don't need to know," he says quietly, eyes hard and sure. "I thought that perhaps I did, but even if you cared to share your reasons, the loss is irreversible. I can't claim to understand you, but..." eyes turn to find Megaera, and a small smile curves at his lips. Love, friendship, honor...Hototo is gone. But the memory of him is mine, is all of ours. This is what he would have wanted.

"I see now I was wrong. You could take my apologies and depart, that is all I have to offer you." Eyes flick back to the Goddess, and he bows low, wings flaring to his sides. Any other time he would have cringed to do so, to show her the soft and flawed portions of his spine and neck, but...he is solid. Steady. Cera slowly stands once more, and he looks into her eyes and tries to prove that he is sorrowful, regretful. "I want to know...I do. But I don't need to, my Lady. I am flawed, but I shall never make the same mistake again. I swore to respect you and your siblings, and I failed. I shall not a second time." Though he was Diviner no longer, he'd always been a child of faith, and to have even momentarily gone against those firm beliefs...there was a reason he was so regretful of his actions, and he was no liar. He could not lie to her nor to himself, and his sorrow was sincere. In all her wisdom and power, he hoped that she would see that. "I will honor you however you will have me. There is nothing I can give you that you cannot acquire for yourself, but if there is anything I can do to satisfy you...I am here at your behest." Chest rises and body stands tall, militaristic. Whatever she bid of him, if anything, he does not regret what he said. 

Hototo had lived and died with a thousand memories and experiences to call his own. He had preached and serviced forgiveness, had taught Cera the meaning of friendship and brotherhood. Cera would miss him, but the hurt grew a little less with every morning that struck the horizon. Hototo's memory would not die, even if Cera and all those who'd known him followed him into the Beyond. He was the child of the Earth, and the memory of a god was perhaps the best immortalization possible. 

Gazing upon the Goddess, knowing he may anger her with his presumptuous nature, he could think only one solid, underlying thought. 

I forgive you.

It is what his Lord had always told him to do. Forgive. Find peace. Be steady. And he stood before her unwavering, hoping she would understand. Hoping she would see that somehow, he still loved her, as he'd promised to love all the gods. 

OOC HERE