“I don’t know either” Caius admitted quietly, his expression and body language shifting uncomfortably as he really thought about it. There was the whole murder mystery thing, sure, but why had Lumina been under the manor being experimented on in the first place. Worse yet, what exactly had locked up Celes down there? It was made ever worse by the fact that thanks to Genesis, the manor had been burned down before Caius could have found any answers. And those answers had likely burnt to the ground with it. Celes hadn’t really wanted to talk about what happened after that, but maybe it was time he broached the conversation with her. If there was some other threat afoot that was still doing these experiments to this day, he was sure Celes would want to get to the bottom of it. At the very least to avenge her own personal honor.

Mu claimed he had not been offended by his offer, and he would finally lay out simple and clean his reasons. He did not think himself worthy, nor ready. He felt he needed to grow more as a person to be someone who could join, and for that reason needed to remain alone.

“Mu,” Caius spoke up quietly once he had finished, but his tone was serious as could be as he looked the shinobi in the face. “I think you misunderstand why and how the Dragonblades came to be. Celes and I… We were both displaced from our homes, once having a cause to call our own – only to lose it. We had lost everything, and lacked purpose, direction, a cause. Why did we form the Dragonblades? To give us, and others like us, something. At first, it was just a means toward an income for them, a home for people who were lost like us. Which is why the Dragonblades, at least on the surface level, are mercenaries. We wanted to help people who were stuck, the same way we were stuck. To save them from the pain of isolation and loneliness that comes from being stranded in this world, directionless and with nowhere to go.”

Caius took a long drink. Hopefully by the end of this, he could clear things up, and maybe help Mu in the process. He had helped them plenty, after all. It was the least he could do to return his kindness.

“We became peacekeepers in the end because that was just the people who ended up coming together. The Dragonblades changed with those that joined our ranks, and we have in turn been able to help people regardless of where they’re from. It is a cause that I am proud to call my own – but at the end of the day, its roots remain the same. People like yourself, wayward and without cause, with the desire in your heart to do the right thing? That is why the Dragonblades came to be.”

Still, he nodded his head in acceptance of Mu’s choice. “You don’t have to prove yourself to us anymore than you already have. But when you are ready… Let us help you, as you have helped us, and helped Zephon's people.”

Caius hadn’t expected a history lesson about his home country, but he appreciated Mu being open with him nonetheless. It was honestly surreal to have Mu opening up to him after all this time. They had worked together for a long time now, but he had never heard anything about Mu’s background, or really understood his motives. He had just been a good guy doing the right thing, but ultimately deciding to stay unaffiliated and working alone most of the time. Well, alone alongside Enma, anyway. But the clan’s history was interesting… And reminded him in some ways of the Kingsglaive, and of Celes’ Returners. “Freedom fighters, aye? That sounds like the Kingsglaive trying to retake our world. Or Celes’ Returners trying to liberate theirs” Caius immediately brought this up as soon as it came to mind. “I understand feeling like a family even without blood, though. That’s how I feel about the Dragonblades. I've long lacked family, but... With them, I just feel right.”

So Mu was like him, taken from his purpose and brought here. And had spent all his time since trying to forge a new one. “Don’t I know the feeling. The Dragonblades were ultimately what I decided my new purpose should be, since I could no longer protect Lucis or its King.”

Despite what he had said though, Mu had ultimately decided to undergo his journey anyway. There wasn’t really anything further Caius could say to dissuade him. His mind was made up. Still, he seemed pretty set on joining eventually, which Caius was glad to hear. So he still had that to look forward to. So, Caius raised a glass to that. “You have nothing to prove in my eyes, Mu. But if this journey is what you feel you need, I understand. All I can really do is wish you the best of luck in that journey, and hope that it brings you everything you could ever want from it. We’ll still be here, hopefully.”