In retrospect, even if I’d have known - I can’t say if anything would have changed. Which I feel quite horrible about. [ Admitting this quietly - the breaking of their friendship, still accepting the chance to pilot his Gundam, what Epyon had shown him, and all that followed. ]

[ Zechs didn’t voice any of that aloud, because it’s clear they both knew that truth. The war, the roles they were cast in, wouldn’t have changed. ]

[ He might’ve expressed his honest desire to know what would now, before - his mind blanked with a firm press of lips. ]

[ And it took a moment for Zechs to find words again, finally parsing, piecing together … ]

[ Zechs sounded almost hoarse. ]

Whatever - whatever this is, Treize.

[ Something he didn’t still have words for, but; ] This is what I want.