Ascot gave things some thought, while at the same time noticing the...tension between Destruction and Jake. It seemed as though Destruction was not immune to attraction after all, although he did not know what would come of it, if any. He would have smiled as well, but, that would draw Jake's ire. All tears had faded from Ascot's eyes, and, well, although he was a little disappointed by the lack of a good answer, he can shrug aside that disappointment.

"All right then," spoke Ascot, "I think we've taken your time and attention long enough. So, at least for me, farewell." War's answers, as mentioned, were disappointing, but the man had proven himself to be intelligent, and, well, the boy can grudgingly - very grudgingly - respect that. However, he knew this, that War and the others were still their enemy; that while War was affable, and so was Destruction to a lesser extent, Chaos and Fear...

Chaos and Fear were cruel people who reveled in their own cruelty, while Darkness was an unknown. When he remembered their names, a chill passed through him, as though they would hurt him in the future. After all, they already hurt, or tried to hurt, those he loved. He would have to look out for them in the future, get stronger...even though getting stronger was what he had been doing all this while; he just wasn't strong enough.

Problem was, with him, he was focusing too much on what [i]he[/i] was able to do, not what the opponent was able to. He was also prone to expending energy in battle, instead of economizing like Joshua did. He also insisted on taking the front lines instead of the rear and back, as well as learning powers that were more suited for a front-liner instead of a flanker. True, he was a Paladin, but, well, he was also a small kid.

"Thomas," he then spoke to the other boy, giving him the warranted deference, "what should we do now? For myself, and this is merely offering advice, I think that we should take our leave of this world as soon as possible, and go to the next one; we've overstayed our welcome. Sorry if I'm suggesting the obvious. Also, another thing I'd like to say," his voice was now that of the faithful adviser.

"For a long time, we haven't been working as a group. We don't coordinate, we rarely support each other, we're too overconfident in our individual strengths. And, in doing that, we neglected [i]you[/i], our leader. And, for that, I apologize, as well as advise something: Once we travel to the next world, perhaps we can set up which roles each member of the group should undertake?"

"You and Jake can be the main fighters and diplomats, Joshua and Me take up the position of investigators and scouts, Reno and Oner can be either our 'artillery' or the healers, Amaya is support, while Belle is, well, the Rogue. You can also set the agenda that we'll be doing after we arrive in another world." Every position Ascot listed was an attempt to make each member of the group feel important, but Thomas most of all. He can see why and how their 'leader' got neglected, and, well, the boy was trying to make amends. Problem was, he was already doing so when [i]it was too late[/i], when the darkness had already consumed Thomas. Oh, and Ascot did notice that Thomas' wound had healed and that his arm was no longer armored.

So, Ascot's attempts to make amends did not blind him from the suspicion that there was something 'off' about Thomas, something he had suspected since long ago - if one still remembered. Nevertheless, the boy would still try to keep the group together as long as possible, because that was the most useful thing he can do.

Anyway, time to go to the Moogle Shop to buy more food, eat, do one's bodily rituals, and perhaps sleep on the way to the next world. Oh, and of course, see what happened to Ralph, Vanellope, and the others. He yawned; still so much to do.

Nevertheless, the boy noticed something; he was growing. Long ago, his losses would have afflicted him badly, but this specific loss, Ascot can feel this loss strengthening him, not in battle, but in other ways, psychological ways...