Uncovering the rest of the dust off of Sydra's body, Cidre and Erich lift him up and place him on Robert's back. Making their way out of the void, Erich picks up Madeline's body as they head back into the town. By now, the residents have noticed the absence of battle sounds, and a few are peeking out of their homes to see who won.
"It's the visitors? They managed to beat the Wither Pirates?" someone says, causing more people to peer outside to see if it's true. Watching the group head into the center of town, people begin leaving their houses to follow.
Looking around the center, Robert walks over to place Sydra down on a round table, "Help me put him down," he says, calling a few of the people who had followed them over.
Once Sydra is placed on the table, Robert goes over to help Cidre put Madeline down as well. Noticing the condition of Sydra and Madeline, the town summons their best healers, but none of them are able to bring back the dead.
"If we had a few Rainbow Eggs, we could bring them back," Someone says, glancing towards the pirate ship. "Maybe there are a few left,"
Preparing to head to the boat to check if there are any, Robert and the others stop as a commotion occurs in the crowd. Parting to the sides, the crowd allows a middle-aged man to make his way to the center.
"There is no need to search the boat, I already know where to find a Rainbow Egg," Crum says, tears running down his face as he pulls Sydra's cloak away from Madeline's stomach. Reaching down, Crum tenderly reaches into Madeline's pocket and pulls out an egg, allowing the light of the sun to reflect off it.
"How does Madeline have a Rainbow Egg?" Robert asks, watching from the side as Crum places the cloak back over her, and turns to look at Sydra. "Wait, there is only one?"
"Yes, and Madeline wanted me to use it to save him," Crum says, making his way over to Sydra and lifting the egg above his head. Before he can do anything else, Robert grabs Crum's hand, keeping him from moving.
"If there is only one, then why not use it to save her?" Robert asks, motioning towards Madeline's lifeless body, "It could be the only way to save her life,"
Shaking his head, Crum pulls his hands away from Robert, his body trembling as he glances down, "You think I don't know that? If she hadn't told me that I was to use the egg on Sydra, I would have chosen her in a heartbeat,"
Pushing past Robert, Crum breaks the egg over Sydra's head, and a rainbow-colored light cascades out of it. Upon making contact with Sydra's head, the light flashes for a second before making its way inside. As the last bit of light fades, Sydra's body starts to glow with the colors of a rainbow, and the smell of grass after a rainfall flows through the air.
His eyes flickering, Sydra squints as the sun shines down on his face, forcing him to cover his eyes with his hand. Sitting up, he notices that he is surrounded by the people of the town, with Erich offering him something to drink.
"What happened? I don't remember anything beyond the pirate appearing with Madeline?" Sydra asks, looking down at his body and noticing that other than the tears in his clothes, he is completely fine. Glancing around, Sydra notices that Robert is missing an arm, and the memories of the fight with Corbel come crashing in. "No... Where is she, where is Madeline?!"
Stepping to the side, Cidre allows Sydra to look past him, and see Crum weeping against the body of a young girl. Stumbling as he gets up, Sydra crawls over to Crum and peers past him at Madeline's pale face.
Crum turns to face Sydra, anger flashing across his face before he manages to calm it down, "She sacrificed her life to save yours," he says.
"What? What do you mean?" Sydra asks, glancing back and forth between Crum and Madeline.
"She had the ability to see the future, and in the future she saw, you died. Deciding to change the future, Madeline went to the cave of the Chaos Swan and collected its egg, planning to use it to save you. Coming back to me, she asked that I make a replica of the egg to trick the pirates with, knowing that her life would be forfeit if she went through with the plan," Crum explains, understanding and guilt dawning on Sydra's face as he spoke.
"But.. why?" Sydra asks, "Why did she decide to save me when she barely knew me?"
Picking up Madeline's body, Crum stands up and turns to leave the crowd, glancing back to Sydra before he left. "After deciding to save your life, Madeline had another vision, one of the distant future. In this future she saw, you are given a decision that will affect everyone in the world, for better or worse. I hope you make the right choice and keep Madeline's sacrifice from being in vain,"
As Crum's words echo through his head, Sydra blankly stares at the spot Crum had been standing, Madeline's limp body being carried away etched deeply in his mind. 'I will... Whatever future choice I must make, I will make while remembering this burden I must carry,'
Picking up Sydra's cloak, Cidre makes his way over to him, "Hey, there might be some of those Rainbow Eggs left on the Pirate Ship, we should go look," he says, causing Sydra to raise his head and look at the ship.
Standing up, Sydra takes his cloak back from Cidre and begins walking towards the shore. "Alright," he says, the people of the crowd passing as he walks by, whispering about the events that have unfolded.
Stepping onto the Wither Ship's dock, Sydra feels a deep cold invade his bones, sending a shiver down his spine. Turning around, Sydra stops the others from coming up onto the ship, "Wait here, I'll search the ship alone," he says, before disappearing into the cargo hold of the ship.
Watching from the shore, Robert sighs as he looks around, "I fear that it will take Sydra some time to accept the guilt he feels over the death of Madeline,"
"Is there anything we can do?" Erich asks, "If he allows the guilt to eat away at him, Sydra may never be the same again,".
"That's true, but this is going to be something Sydra has to overcome himself," Cidre says, watching as the ship rocks with the waves.
Inside the ship, Sydra is opening different crates in the search of any Rainbow Eggs, but so far all he has found was ores found only in the sea. Sending the ores into his Arbor Sanctum, Sydra moves on to the next room, where he finds women locked behind cages.
Most of the women are dead, having died from either starvation or diseases, but there is one cage with a woman still alive inside. Making his way over to the cage, Sydra rips off the metal door and picks up the unconscious woman.
'She is suffering from dehydration, and if she doesn't get water soon she'll die,' Sydra thinks, heading back out onto the deck. Approaching the railing, Sydra motions for Cidre to come over, and hands the woman to him.
"Was she the only one?" Cidre asks, stepping back to allow Erich to start giving the woman water.
"The only one that was still alive," Sydra says, before turning around to go back into the boat. Before he can get too far, Robert jumps onto the boat and calls out to him.
"We can help too, you don't have to search this boat alone," Robert says, causing Sydra to turn and face him.
"And what happens if I lose control of myself again, and hurt someone else?" Sydra asks, pointing towards Robert's missing arm, "You think I haven't realized that your missing arm is causing you pain, or the fact that even though it is my fault you haven't said anything about it?"
Looking down at his missing arm, rage fills Robert's body as he glares at Sydra, "My missing arm?! We're more worried about you trying to handle all of this alone, when you have us to lean on, and the reason you're not is because of my missing arm?"
Calming down, Robert looks at Sydra like he is an idiot, "You are my friend, and me losing my arm isn't going to change that. Don't turn your back on us over something we don't blame you for," he says, before hopping back off the boat.
Thinking about what Robert said, Sydra makes his way into the Captain's quarters and looks around. In front of him is a wide desk, and nailed to the top of the desk is the next piece of the map, with the detailed outline of the continent around the Emerald Sea Forest.
'I'm sorry guys, but I must go on my own from here on out,' Sydra thinks, picking up the map and pocketing it, before looking around the Captains quarters one last time.