Teaser for what's to come!

It was one of the few times Sorrow found herself without her Keeper, so she took the time to let her mind wander while she waited, slumped against a concrete wall in an abandoned alleyway. It didn't take long for her thoughts to become dark and dreary, true to her nature. This unfortunate habit only made her self-loathing progress further, as she not only hated what her own mind showed her, but she despised the fact that it was all so realistic, as if it could happen at any given moment. With effort, she ignored her sad musings and tried desperately to think of how things could get better. It was rather difficult. Presently, she was dying, somehow poisoned by a stranger she never saw. Her Keeper was away, likely unconscious, and could do nothing to help. There was no way known to Sorrow that could end her ailment, and what little future she had available to her was bound to disappear in, at maximum, a day, and a few hours at minimum. Hooray for pessimism.

She shook her head and readjusted her position against the wall to put her singular wing in a more comfortable placement. She listened closely as it gave off a fiery crackle. Apparently, that was all the stimulus needed for-

"Why are you moping around THIS time?" the Blue Keeper, Natalie, asked from within Sorrow's mind.

"...Do you really want to know?" Sorrow responded, realizing all too late that Natalie wasn't aware of her terminal condition.

"Yes, and tell me why you're being so cryptic!" the delinquent demanded.

"Very well. I'm - no, we're dying." She stated it bluntly, without any form of "sugar coating," as it were. Idly noting that the disproportionately fatal answer left her caretaker speechless, she let out a dry chuckle that resembled a strangled cough more than anything else. Watching as the violet smoke left her mouth, she realized that she didn't even have an hour left to her name. As the pains finally began tearing away at her senses, she held on to what little resolution remained within her tired form. The sensation that assaulted her emotional well-being was not bereavement, as she had anticipated, nor was it anger. It was fear, the last thing that she had expected. Fear was keeping her alive. How long would the will to live last? Neither Sorrow nor Natalie knew the answer to that question. All they knew was that they were still doomed to die to whatever it was that had attacked the body of the Guardian. They were simply prolonging the inevitable.

"Goodbye, Natalie," Sorrow conceded, smiling at nothing while simultaneously wincing. The pain was reaching her peak of tolerance. The last of her willpower was going into these next few moments.

"How can you give up so easily?!" Natalie angrily inquired, her mental fortitude much stronger than her charge's. "Don't you have anything left to do?"

"You don't understand," Sorrow reciprocated, her patience waning along with her life. "I have no family leave behind, nothing to go home to, and no one to miss me. I have nothing to lose, for the most part. I've done my part. I am at peace..." Even as she said this, she knew that it wasn't entirely true. Fear still held a firm grip on her nerves, and she was fighting for these last few seconds. In fact, she DID have one thing to lose.

"The Heart!" Natalie realized. "We'll be leaving it defenseless if we don't do anything about it!"

As if in response, the Blue Giga Heart nestled in Sorrow's wing gave off a small pulse of light. Using what little power she had left, she dislodged the Heart from its hold and allowed it to act as it pleased.

With its newfound freedom, the Giga Heart levitaed in front of Sorrow and opened a portal before staying still, as if expectantly waiting for its Guardian to follow it.

"I can't go any further," Sorrow told it. "Go without us." It hurt to say it but it had to be done. She could only hope it would end up in good hands. "To Ven..." she whispered.

After a moment's hesitation, the Heart obliged, flying through the burning blue gate into the unknown.

And with that, Sorrow's regrets came back to bite her. She envied Natalie. A soulless construct, the closest thing Sorrow had to any form of afterlife would be having her history "catalogued" in the Blue Giga Heart's extensive memory. Her Keeper, on the other hand, would pass on into the Ethereal Plane, ready for a new existence. Sure, she would forego her body, but that was the essence of "death," wasn't it? Truly, it was unfair. However, she held no grudge, her acceptance eventually winning out over her dread.

As the last of her resolution and strength gave out, she ceased her resistance, her flaming blue body going up in lavender smoke, leaving the human form of Natalie behind with the emptiness of being alone, before she too was destroyed by the unstoppable toxin. As the ashes settled, what little evidence that the Guardian and Heart were there was a blue glow about the place, as if someone had shone a flashlight through a sapphire or other clear gem.

Eventually, in a few days, the light would subside, but in the meantime, a significant number of Ethereals would congregate around this place, drawing the attention of what few individuals could perceive them. Despite this, only the seven other Guardians and seven other Keepers would be aware of the deaths of their two comrades. Unfortunately, they, too, were facing issues of an unusual kind...