When words couldn't be told, when letters, songs or whispers couldn't be said, would silence be his only companion?

One...

two...

three...

four...

Four steps were taken as a weary being slinked towards the door, grim faced and ashen white skin coming into blend, and turning his features into a delicate portrait of agony - a picture that no painting or photograph could fully capture, but could only be expressed by the sight of his sorrowing orbs. His gloved hands clenched together into white knuckled fists, the fabric nearly tearing as it was stretched to its limit by a torrid rage and uncertainty that flowed inside of him like blood through his veins.

"Wolf?"

Nothing. It was as if she hadn't said anything, and she raised a hand to stop him but at the sight of his lingering blue depths, she stopped herself.

He seemed to finally realize that his name had been uttered out of her lips, and he halted in his advance with a finality that was grave. Slowly, he craned his neck to turn to her, and met her gaze with a small, false smile on his face.

"Yeah?" His tone was almost that of a childish ease, yet she knew better; he was never one for easy going.

She opened her mouth to say something, but once again, those sorrowing orbs stopped her, if only for a moment before the need to know of his condition took over and forced the words out with voice she recognized as hers.

"...You look..." Sad? Angry? Angst-ridden? Worried? All of them would fit the criteria quite nicely, but somehow, each couldn't describe what she saw in his eyes. Her throat clenched as worry seeped into her, and a word was suddenly thrown out without much thought, "...tired."

"I..." His voice was caught within a void, and the smile slowly came off his face. He turned and walked away without another noise, the soles of his boots silencing his already light steps.

She stared at him, a furrow in her brow, one that was more from presentiment than the incessant curiosity that nipped onto her psyche. Once again, she held out a hand to stop him, but it was too late, and he disappeared as the elevator doors shut themselves like a beast devouring its prey.

"What will you do?"

It was a question.

It was a question that asked everything that could be inquired, everything from the meaning of life to what to eat for dinner.

But he was still so uncertain with his answer - she could see that in his eyes.

He bit his lip, taking a seat on her bed as she stood over him while he crossed his fingers in front of his face, and thought and thought and thought about what to say, about what he could, should and would say, but nothing could have been entirely announced to appease the rising frustration in both of them, coiling around their hearts and swallowing their minds with a venomous grip that no poison could hope to match.

"With Nova...there's no way something like that can be stopped." She knew it. Despite how she was always the one who pegged him further, there was a limit to how much she would push him.

Wolf's face dropped into a deeper frown, and his shoulders tensed like he was getting ready to fight an opponent that was nowhere in sight. She sat down next to him, leaning slightly onto his form in a way that told him she was right there. His shoulders relaxed.

His head leaned on her own, and it was a strange farce that would have betrayed the gravity of the situation - the situation of everything. She bit her lip with rising dread, perhaps of paranoia or perhaps because she knew exactly what would happen now.

"What about you?" He asked her, muttering the question in that light tone of his.

"...My family is getting on the ships," She said, "I...I can't...won't do anything that might end up killing them..."

He remained silent at her words, staring unseeingly at the carpeted floor of her room with a blank look. She honestly would have taken something more, even an angry look thrown to her, but his face was that of understanding and of complete acceptance.

"...And you?"

"Hm?"

"You didn't answer the question," She told him. "Are you going?"

"I..." He stammered for a moment before straightening, "I'm not going."

She didn't immediately say anything at his answer. Her hand instead went and grasped his own like he would suddenly disappear, and his skin was unnaturally cold like he'd held it under a tub of freezing water for hours. She leaned closer, tucking the crown of her head under his adam's apple. His other arm, the one she wasn't holding, crept up on her and embraced her tenderly, but he didn't lower his gaze, just as she didn't try to meet his.

Sadness would only be reflected from either of their orbs, and not one of them believed they could see that in the other's eyes without feeling remorse or guilt for actions they had not committed, and guilt of that sort - they both knew - was incurable; if there was no sin, then there was no way to repent, was there?

"Why?" She asked, softly whispering it to the boy that had held her, kissed her, cherished her like no other. Her voice trembled, and she had to push down a hick as she forced more words out, "Why? Why can't you be selfish for once?"

Her question wasn't filled with emotion, rather it was filled with an emptiness that she had rarely ever felt before, and she realized that a part of her had expected his answer, yet that didn't mean there wasn't a side that wanted nothing more than to hope he would come with them to the Ark. His muscles stiffened slightly as her warm breath brushed past his neck. His arm tightened weakly around her, and somehow, she didn't need to look at him to know that this was hard not only for her.

But her eyes crinkled as tears welled up, and a choked sob escaped her lips as he held her closer.

"I don't want to lose you, Wolf." And it was the truth. She loved him, even if perhaps their relation, or whatever it is, was something that had sprouted from admiration instead of actual love. Admiration for his strange perseverance when there were a number of times she herself would've broken down and cried her eyes out.

But now, now the blonde teenager in front of her was someone that had truly shown her everything; his fears, his weakness, his life - everything about him, and when she had stuck through, perhaps there was something there that did link them together like a string - thin but strong and connecting them to each other like a chain.

Yet now...

Her lips pursed, and her hand unconsciously gripped his bare palm tighter, clutching it with a laughable protectiveness when she knew he was so much stronger than her.

"...Wolf..." His name had become so familiar when she said it, akin to an everyday routine she would create and act out of without thought. Perhaps that was why the pain, and sorrow started to leak in and shift into warm tears - because his name might suddenly disappear from everyone, even from her, and that was something that scared her. Forgetting about him and all the times he'd been with here was something...something she'd have thought worse than forgetting her own identity. He was part of her now, as she was for him.

But nothing could be said. His decision was something he had made, and the reason she wanted to stop him was at the same time, the reason she needed to let him go.

"I love you, Kanon," He said the words as his hand was taken from her grip and used to catch her in a full embrace.

She didn't say anything in response as her tears fell, silent as her voice and warm as the hands she used to return his embrace, digging her fingers into his jacket, unwilling to let go, yet knowing that sooner rather than later, she would leave him to a fate he had chosen and she thought herself too much of a coward to face with him.

Wolf loved her. He loved her too much to hate her, and as she cried her mute lament, the knowledge of that made her despise herself.

It all came down to this.

Looking at his unit as they sat around the table, he smiled a small smile at them as they remained silent, gathering in the center of the otherwise abandoned lobby with an apprehensive air that stifled any words. All of their eyes met, and somehow they knew this was nothing more than a desperate stand that formed out of their own objectives, their wills, and their own steadfast belief that they couldn't run away and sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives for their own. At the very least, they would try, though all of them knew - even the cheery Kota - that heroes were a thing of the past.

It didn't matter.

None of them were trying to be heroes.

All of them were just trying to give a chance to those who would have their's taken away.

"Hey, guys," Kota perked, his unnaturally down-trodden tone piercing the apprehension as all eyes turned to him, "I...I just want...well..."

He turned to them, meeting their gazes with a sad smile, one at a time.

"I...I'm really glad I met you all," He said.

Saya laughed, perking up at the chance to bring back a little life into the otherwise tense atmosphere. Wolf's sister latched an arm around Kota's, unknowingly making the redhead blush, "So dramatic, Kota-kun! Nii-chan can take a lesson from you."

Alisa snorted, but her lips twisted into a faint smile as she turned her gaze to the ceiling, "...You make it sound like there's no hope, Kota."

"Sorry,"

"How long until Licca opens the path to Aegis?" Wolf asked, turning to Soma as the blue cloaked teen flipped open his cellphone.

"Five minutes," He answered back.

Sakuya smiled in that way of hers like how a big sister would crinkle at her little siblings in a way that was both charming and sarcastic, "It'll be one, big party down there, eh Wolf?"

He chortled. One big, party indeed.

"I don't know about any of you, but I think I'll need to get a bit off the proverbial rocker if I'm gonna fight the devourer of stars."

Standing up, the blonde reached into the sofa like he'd lost a remote in the space between it. His unit looked at him curiously as he suddenly threw the bench's stuffing filled pillow over his head and reached in and brought out a six-pack of beer. Kota stared gobsmacked as his seventeen year old leader placed the cans in the middle of the table.

"Don't tell Tsubaki." He said, jokingly.

"Alcohol?" Sakuya raised a delicate eyebrow, turning to Wolf with a wry smile on her lips, "Aren't you underage?"

"I am," Wolf affirmed, but instead of being embarrassed, the minor reached for a beer can and popped it open in a way that reminded her of Lindow. "But, the fucking world is ending so why the hell not?"

Sakuya shook her head, but took one for herself, despite her general dislike of the drink. Kota followed suit, then Alisa and Saya grabbed a pair, and finally Soma took the last one with a faraway look in his eyes like he was reminiscing something.

"Cheers," Wolf raised his can to them, a strange asymmetrical expression on his face. His left eyebrow was crinkled, and the right side of his lips kicked up in a smirk that seemed both diabolic and teasing at the same time.

Soma smirked, and the others laughed before they all as one took a drink out of the now warm alcohol, gulping it down with a quick chug.

All of them fell unconscious as soon as the drinks were poured down their throats.

All of them but Wolf as he gave their sleeping forms an apologetic look. Grabbing his drink, the only one he hadn't drugged, the blonde took a careful sip out of it.

Kota's mother and sister were safe; he'd smuggled them onto the ships. Brendan, Shun and Karel would come soon to take the ones back here.

He'd used a drug designed by Sakaki normally meant for the enhanced immune system for gods eaters; one could've tranquilized an entire elephant within minutes of consumption. All of them would wake up, but not anytime soon. When they did, everything would be over, for better or worse.

With a weary sigh, the blonde silently apologized to them, and bade his farewell, but not before rooting around his pocket for the last beer can for the last person he had to make sure wouldn't suffer, however the finale turned out.

He found Licca typing away at a tablet hooked up to the large, metal doors that blocked their way into Aegis. It was originally unlocked but Alisa and Sakuya's former infiltration into the island had made Johannes take a few precautions - one of which came in the form of nigh indestructible titanium doors.

Fortunately, Licca was confident she could get it open in half-an-hour at the latest.

Watching the girl silently work on the door, Wolf took a sip out of his beer while an unopened can was clenched firmly in the hand that was at the same time in his jacket's pocket. He leaned on the corner with a blank look at her back, and occasionally to the large, metal gate that served to block the way to the battle that would decide mankind's fate.

"You stalking me, Wolfie?" Licca called out teasingly, yet she didn't turn to look at him. Despite that, a wide grin settled on her features, compressing the oil marks on her cheeks. Wolf smirked wryly, walking up to her without a noise as she worked on the door with a focus that could overshadow his like a hill would an ant.

"Maybe," He said in playful banter.

"Well, stalk me later, leader," She said, giving him a side-ways glance, "Right now, there's a bunch of problems that need to be addressed."

Wolf remained silent, and Licca got back to work, typing things into the touch-screen monitor of her tablet and occasionally muttering phrases of tech talk he couldn't discern. He was never much of a computer whiz.

"Where are the others?" She asked, suddenly.

"All of 'em are back in the lobby," Wolf lied through his teeth with a casualty that didn't betray him. For all the things he was good at, deceit was sadly high up on the list.

Licca hummed thoughtfully, punching in a few codes before releasing a sigh that sounded of relief.

"Alright," She announced, "I'm done."

Giving him a proud smile, the teen mechanic pressed one final time to enter the input into the mainframe of the doors. For a few moments, nothing happened.

Suddenly, the gears of the machine rumbled, twisting and turning within the walls of the great construct as it pulled the doors away from each other to reveal the path. Licca stood to full height, and he drank the last of his beer before he absentmindedly threw it over his shoulder with an easy nonchalance. Wolf whistled appreciatively.

"Pretty good, eh?" Licca laughed, turning to him.

Wolf held out the beer can in his palm.

Licca smiled sadly.

Unbuckling the thick gloves she sported, she brought out her pale hand - dainty and elegant, yet calloused from all the time she had spent with her work - and took the drink from his outstretched hold. She stared sadly at it, and Wolf had a feeling that she somehow knew it wasn't just alcohol. She gave him a meaningful look, sending him an unvoiced question that he found himself agonizing over.

Is this what you want?

Slowly, almost painfully, he nodded.

Licca smiled.

"You're a good person, Wolf." Licca told him, popping open the lid and looking at the drink with a somber expression. "When I first met you, I thought you were a bit cold...but...I thought it was just cuz you were afraid to lose someone after getting close to them."

Licca chuckled, elbowing him in the ribs; Wolf didn't meet her gaze.

"But, you know...all the things that happened make me think that maybe...just maybe...the only reason you didn't try to make friends with anyone...was because if you died, you were afraid they would be sad over it."

"I wanted to thank you, by the way." She said. "I know it was you that left those iced curry drinks on my desk every night."

...

"I wanted to thank you cuz I know you were the one who helped Karel pay off the debts of his parents."

"I wanted to thank you cuz I know you were the one who showed Brendan a way to another family after he lost his."

"I wanted to thank you cuz I know you were the one who gave Kanon a reason to keep trying."

"I wanted to thank you cuz I know you were the one who gave Eric a grave when he died - I wanted to thank you cuz I know you were the one who consoled his little sister - I wanted to thank you cuz I know you were the one who got Kota that day off when his baby sis had her ninth birthday - I wanted to thank you cuz I know you were the one that helped Gina make peace with her past - I wanted to thank you cuz I know you were the one who helped Alisa when everyone else wanted nothing to do with her - I wanted to thank you cuz I know you were the only person that Soma talked to - I wanted to thank you cuz I know you tried so hard to find Lindow - I wanted to thank you cuz I know that you tried to help people even when you needed it even more."

"I wanted to thank you cuz I know that you always try to take everyone's burdens...even when your shoulders are already so heavy."

"Wolf..." Licca smiled sadly at him, "thank you...for everything."

She sipped on her drink, taking barely a couple of droplets into her mouth before her eyes closed, and she fell limp just as Wolf caught her.

Gently, the blonde set the smaller girl down, leaning her on the wall. He stared sadly at her, perhaps doubting his own strength before reminding himself that what was done was already done. Everything depended on this now, and maybe...just maybe...this was what was best for everyone.

"I'm sorry," He whispered at Licca, yet the girl's shallow breathing didn't give any indication that she was still awake, and without another word, the blonde stood at full height and heaved a tired sigh. His sky blue eyes - orbs that glowed with repressed power - gazed down the path to Aegis, an unidentifiable emotion flickering like a wildfire in the iris.

One more thing to do.

XxXxX

"You've come," those words seemed both taunting and respecting in a strange mix that irked him a great deal, "I'm surprised...I'd have thought your friends would have come along with you."

Wolf glared coldly at the director of the Far-East Branch, and in his hands, his god arc was clenched by white knuckled fists.

"...All of them are safe now. All of this," He waved one arm around his surroundings, "Whatever happens to this world...they'll all be able to see it...that was the best I could do for them."

Johan's ever present smirk dropped into a thin line across his lips, and he met Wolf's cold gaze with a steely resolve that the new-type had seen in both man and beast alike as they all refused to lay down and die. He would always remember those eyes.

After all, he'd spent a great deal of time around people with those same eyes filled with unyielding determination.

"I suppose you won't reconsider?" Johannes asked, yet there was a tinge of wryness and disappointment in his tone, already knowing the answer to this question.

Wolf shook his head.

"Arashi," Johannes said, "Do you honestly think that humankind can survive in this world? Where every time we slay one of those beasts, four of us die in return? Would you so casually disregard all the sacrifice of the men and women who have placed their faith...no...their life, their dreams and their hope into this? Into the new world where people can live without fear of tomorrow? Where a sunset can be enjoyed by lovers, and where a home may be warm with a family?"

"Shut up." Wolf muttered, lowly.

"Can you bring this burden on yourself? Will you throw away those who've sacrificed their souls for this cause?"

"Shut up."

"Do you know how much has been lost to this? How many have felt the loss of a sibling, a parent or a friend? Would you be able to face them and tell them all that you were the one who took all of those deaths and made them meaningless?"

"I said," Wolf growled. His gaze sharpened and his canines were bared at the man in front of him with a glare of unprecedented anger. His god arc was swung once in a wide arc, and the Koenigsburg scarred the metal floor where it scraped against. Looking closer into the new-type, his eyes flashed gold and the pupil became slit like the aragami he had so readily slaughtered in times past. His god arc was held in front of him, its golden edge glinting wickedly, and he dashed forward as a giant rose out from the ground. Sharply, and dangerously, he muttered-

"Shut up."