When the Vampire left Rose and Princess Eleanor alone, she didn't know what to think. Sometimes she forgot that she was with a vile fiend who killed people without a bat of an eye because of the way he acted and interacted with them sometimes–he almost seemed human.

But then Rose would be reminded of how he was a monster and then feel disgusted that she let her guard down and thought that the Vampire was perhaps far more than what he seemed.

The way he acted reminded Rose of someone crazy, who changed his mind to whatever whims he had and that emotional unpredictability paired with a power that was far better than hers, it was oppressive because she quickly turned to her friend and asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Rose."

Rose bit her lip and hesitated. "You know, I don't like to go against your ideas, Your Highness... I believe in them as I believe in you."

"And I appreciate your support."

"But since I cannot see the visions that you see, Your Highness. I cannot help but wonder if there really had been no better outcome for the two of us." Rose quietly said. "It's been just a day and yet it seems like death is a far more tolerable thing to experience than being with a deranged fiend such as him."

That was the word that Rose chose to describe him–deranged. Because what else was someone like him? She didn't wish to give much further thought to try and understand him lest she became more sympathetic and that would become her undoing.

"There has been a better outcome, that much I can assure you, Rose. I've seen it," Princess Eleanor told her with a calm smile. "Unfortunately, we did not walk through that path and so this is the one within our grasp that assured me that we both live."

Rose looked at the princess and saw her confidence, felt it as it was as palpable as the wind she knew... but for the first time, she doubted her further and asked. "What do you mean by a heart? I heard you tell him that, but if he has a heart... I do not think that he wishes to use it or perhaps it is completely black."

"Sometimes my visions allow me to see what might have been, and among them could be a path where Lord Blackwell lets us go free and does not harm us... but then there are times where there's just a feeling in my heart, a word in my mind that doesn't leave." Princess Eleanor quietly said. "A surety in them, similar to when I knew that there would be a plague and that we couldn't do anything about it. Be it an image or word–I saw how the kingdom of Aerandyl fell, and it was only devastation."

"Did you mean that you saw something else when you encountered that.... that fiend?"

"A heart of a hero," Eleanor said.

"What?" Rose couldn't believe it. It felt ancient to hear the word. "Hero?"

"I know, it's strange... and yet when I received that word along with the scenario that he let us go, it seemed to me that he had a heart of gold–a heart of a hero beneath him. That much I can assure you."

"But a Hero is–"

"We haven't had a Hero in a long time." Eleanor brushed back her hair and smiled weakly. "Seers are but one thing that existed and feared today, but we have lost our Muses and they helped form Heroes. And I am certain that he is one."

"Your Highness..." Rose looked at her and frowned. "I'm sorry but I do not think I can easily believe you this time. Maybe you have seen something wrong? Or mistook him for someone else?"

"I know, gods have their heroes... and a Vampire is in no way one–they're mostly monsters, determined as one. That's what the records show and what the Golden Order has said," Eleanor said. "But... that is why I wish to stay here and ascertain it."

"He called himself a Blood Tyrant." Rose protested. "That's as far from a Hero–"

"I know, maybe he led himself astray. I do not know his story, I do not know where he came from and in other visions–he says strange things," Eleanor said. "He spoke of doctors and used words that do not seem to be commonly spoken. And we do know of doctors though."

"Others have spoken about it in the past," Rose said.

"But that simply means that there is more of this world that we do not know of," Eleanor said. "And Lord Blackwell may as well provide the answers, and I plan on helping him."

"Your Highness, we cannot know everything," Rose carefully said. "I also do not think it's safe that we're here and are hopeful that he would become... heroic? Good? Having a heart..."

"I know how he interacts with you, Rose."

Rose paused and looked at the princess silently. After a moment, she shook her head. "I do not know what you mean, Your Highness. The way he acts is that of a fiend–he may act like he has a heart sometimes, but that is only to gain our trust. Didn't he speak of wishing to turn us into something like him? Or to be used as nothing more to feed him blood–"

"He sits in between the line of hero and villain. He has walked in the path of darkness–I cannot forget that, we have seen some of it and perhaps there is more that he has done, unnamable and heinous things, but if we stay here..."

"We cannot change him," Rose said. "You should know better than anyone that you cannot change someone, Your Highness. Look at where it has gotten us because you believed that your family could change?"

For the first time, Eleanor's expression shifted. She might have appeared cold and logical to the Vampire, but Rose knew what to say to make her feel hurt and it made her feel guilty–but it had to be said.

The princess of Averon looked away, even though she couldn't even see Rose's face. "I... I am not omniscient."

"You're not." Rose agreed.

"But you can leave if you like, I do not think he will chase after you... but I wish to stay here."