Constantine:

We find Nathaniel in the room, all by himself. He is staring off into space. His hand is bare of the wedding ring, and his eyes look puffy.

“Are you here to scold me?” Nathaniel asks, and I shake my head.

“You are not a child, to be scolded. Nate, perhaps your cousin will mince his words with you, but I won’t,” I go to him, and position myself directly in his field of vision. So, that, he doesn’t have any choice, but to look me in the eyes. “You have a family to take care of, Nate. Two sons. They need their father.”

“Their father... I almost came to terms that I will welcome him back. But he doesn’t show any remorse about it all. He even said, he will keep me inside the crystal by force, if he needs to. Tine, where did my Tim go? I don’t recognize this new Tim. It is almost like he is...” Nate gets a blank look on his face, and stops talking.

“A dungeon core? You knew that when you married him, Nate,” Daniel says, from the doorway. “Maybe, he has never been anything but sheltered before. But it is in his nature, to push back, when pushed.”

“I know that,” Nathaniel all but cries out. His voice rising. He blinks a couple of times, and then his lips end up in a thin line. He gives us the silent treatment. Neither I nor Daniel, are ready for such a childish way of coping.

“Nathaniel Samkiel, you will speak about your problems,” I snap at him. Then, I motion Daniel over. “I know you are in a bad place, currently, but that doesn’t mean...”

“Tim is a murderer,” Nate says, his eyes going misty. He gives out a shuddered breath, and buries his face in his hands. “I thought I could live with that, if he simply makes a vow to never murder again. But he is unrepentant. It almost doesn’t seem, as if he cares that he took a life.”

“You would be dead, if he didn’t. Both you, and your children. Not to mention everyone else in the crystal,” I force him to look at me. There is a single tear running down his right cheek. “It is not fair, what you are forced to go through. But Tim is the same Tim you married. Don’t doubt that.”

“Is he? Truly? Every time I look into his eyes, I see a coldness there, which was not there when I married him. The only time that I saw such a look on his face was during the time that he nearly drowned the Dru’dru. Why was I blind to the signs?”

“Tim tried to murder the Dru’dru?” Daniel asks. I glance at him. The disbelief is clear in his eyes.

“He melted the snow on Olradus 600 too quickly. After only a minute, we had water up to our knees,” Nathaniel says, and then begins to shake his head. “I don’t want a murder core. I want my shamrock!”

He buries his face in my nape, and begins to sob. I pat his back, trying to calm him down.

“We are pretending to be dead; you do know that?” I whisper in his ear. He nods, his sobs not receding. “The chances that Timmy will be forced to kill again, while we are here, are slim to none. If you can simply overlook this one transgression of his...”

“How do I overlook a murder? The man had his arm bitten off,” Nate protests. I sigh.

“That was Ferenc, not Timmy. Yet, Robin doesn’t speak about a divorce, does he?” I ask my cousin-in-law. He huffs, and then distances himself from me.

“So, I am just being silly, then?” He snaps at us. I narrow my eyes at him.

“You are being stubborn, that is for sure,” Daniel decides to pipe in. “Surely, something was done, to ensure that Timmy doesn’t end up a murder core?”

“He entered a dungeon contract with Wei. To become his attack dog,” Nate spits out this sentence as if it is a venom most vile. I share a look with Daniel.

“So, nothing bad will happen,” I tell Nate. He doesn’t seem convinced.

“If Tim ends up reprogrammed for real, then I will be more accepting of him. This dungeon contract is just a front. I can’t be calm, as long as Tim is allowed to do whatever he wants,” deciding that Nathaniel will not listen to me, I get up.

“Timmy will never agree to be reprogrammed. You should educate yourself about the practices concerning self-defense. What he did, was within his right,” I snap at Nathaniel, my patience at an end. Then, I turn towards Daniel. “You talk to him. Tug his ears off, if he refuses to listen.”

With that, Daniel takes my spot on the bed. Nathaniel is in his arms instantly. I always knew that the two were close. Hopefully, Daniel will talk Nate into seeing the truth in the matter. If he can’t, there will be a broken family on our consciences.

I slither outside. Along the way, I ask Wei where Timmy is. A screen appears, and I get my answer.

<At the shooting range, practicing.>

Well, Nathaniel won’t like this. I slither faster. Hopefully, I can get Tim out of the shooting range, and into a café. I don’t know from where this bloodlust of his is coming from, but it must end.

Now, I am no expert on dungeon cores. There are many things I don’t understand about them. Yet, I know this: They can think like a citizen of the Cosmos. They can be reasoned with.

So, my best bet, is to corner Tim, and force him into making a compromise so big, it will leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

Nate must get what he wants, or he will end up a ruin. Tim must keep his family, or he will end up a murder core.

Seeing as Nathaniel is showing off his stubbornness, I can only rely on Tim to be the bigger man. If he was brave enough to go against his nature, and repair Wei’s crystal despite the price, then he can overlook his own wishes, for the sake of his family.

I just hope that his nature is not that of a murder core. Let Nathaniel be wrong, please, Great Snake of the Sky.