Author's Note: I may or may not have exaggerated their feelings, but hopefully to a tasteful and still-believable level. I absolutely love the meaning behind the relationship between Rose and Dezel, even if it wasn't elaborated fully in Tales of Zestiria. There's so much to explore regarding the theme shared between them that it would be a waste to leave it as is. With that said, here is my take on Rose and Dezel's respective thoughts regarding Dezel's departure.
First take is for Dezel, second is for Rose.
She was every bit as beautiful as he had remembered from her dusty-pink hair to those wide-eyed pupils floating in a deep sea of blue. Dezel only hoped that he could bask in the sight of her forever.
It was tragic, but he was thankful that Death could give him this fleeting opportunity to properly see how far she had come. Receiving vision as one who had lost sight was more than he could have asked for in his lifetime.
Then the fading started faster than he could register. The colors left first, followed by the sharpness of her features.
No. He didn't want to leave yet, not when there was so much left to be said. How could he tell her what he had done to her? Suddenly, Dezel was scared.
He was scared of losing the sound of her voice to the silence. She was commanding, demanding, yet people always listened. Perhaps it was the crescendo of her enthusiasm that moved others in the same way that it had him. Even when there was nothing to say, the rise and fall of her breath was a melody that danced in time with her heartbeat. It was a song Dezel knew well.
He couldn't fathom forgetting her scent. Some days, she was the rain. Other days, she was the mud. Every now and then, she would be the embers of an overnight campfire. But with every inhalation there was a peculiar trace of metal lingering on her fingertips. Dezel wasn't sure if it was from the grips of her daggers or from the stained blood of tainted men, but he made a vow that one day, she would no longer have to carry that burden.
He didn't want to lose the traces of her body. It was a picture he could paint by heart after years of being her insulating air of the winter and her cooling breeze of the summer. It was the closest he would come to an embrace. Dezel only hoped that she was able to find solace in the enveloping wind when his arms could not be there to hold her. These familiar curves and edges that he had followed with the ebbs of his wind would soon scatter in lost memory.
At one point, somewhere along the lines, Rose had become everything to Dezel. Death would steal him away from her and leave him with nothing but darkness. How deserving for a seraph who only knew of destruction.
A thousand thoughts raced through his mind. Would she be ok on her own? Who would protect her once her journey with the Shepherd came to an end?
Will she find someone who could do all that he couldn't do for her and more?
"I'll do my best!"
The voice shot through the enveloping dark with a piercing ring in Dezel's ears.
"I told him that I'd do my best out there."
Rose. Dezel smiled.
With Rose's final echoing words came reprieve. She was going to be ok.
His sight bled black, followed by a deafening silence that swallowed his thoughts. There was nothing left of his body to feel, yet his feelings remained with him still. They would be his sole possession upon his descent to hell.
He was ready to embrace the dark from which he was born.
Instead, the surrounding darkness evaporated as Dezel was stolen into white.
End Note: I'll get to writing Rose's part ASAP ^^ Please review if you enjoyed!