It had been terribly cold that day. Too cold, Jade had said. He had always been the rational one, but didn't try to keep them all from journeying out into the brutal weather, with the wind blowing and snow whipping their faces, Luke shivering and Tear not showing any sign that she was freezing. In fact, no one really had said anything, which made it quite awkward and quiet.
Luke led them all trudging up the mountain, teeth chattering and murmuring something about a coat or starting a fire. It would have been the sensible thing to do, but they had something important to do and none of them wanted to abandon that. Not when they had come this far and so many had lost their lives. No, they couldn't turn their back. Not now. Everything would have been wasted, everyone who lost their lives would lose what their lives meant, and Luke would have felt even worse about so many people dying.
He'd been so deep in thought, he'd, surprisingly, forgot to walk. This, in Guy and Anise's opinions, was extremely odd. The concern only grew when he suddenly fell face down, right where he stood.
Guy was the first to react. He rushed over at quite an amazing speed and bent down to pick Luke up. His eyes scanned Luke's face for any sign of consciousness, of… life. When he spotted none, thoughts raced through his mind. Terrible, horrible, frightening thoughts.
A small, weak voice snapped him out of his trance. "No," it said, and Guy blinked. He frowned, eyes wide. He never imagined Luke's voice would be that weak… It was nearly too much for him to handle. "Don't worry about me…"
"Luke…" Tear had appeared at Guy's side, a concerned look crossing her face. "Luke, we need to get you to a doc-"
"No!" Natalia gasped; she certainly hadn't heard that tone of voice since before Akzeriuth. "You guys go on ahead… I-I'll be fine."
"Colonel… do something!" Anise said, her voice high-pitched. "That can't possibly be healthy, him collapsing like that!"
"Indeed, it isn't." Jade sighed, rubbing his temples. "We should definitely take him to get checked out," he murmured, and Luke shook his head furiously. "Luke. No arguments. Unless you want to die, right here and now?" he said in a calm, cool voice. Anise could hear a small, slight note of concern in his voice.
"I…" his hand had somehow grabbed onto Guy's shirt; he tensed, and then relaxed. "…n-no… You're right…"
They, with Guy as the leader and still holding onto Luke with a determined look, walked down the mountain and back to Keterburg.
As they got closer to the snowy city, Guy couldn't bring himself to tell the others that he saw Luke, lifeless for one single, heart-breaking moment.
It was wrong, to keep it from them, but there was no way he could tell them. Not now… but for some reason, he felt that Tear had seen it as well.
He hoped she hadn't.
