Although Takamagahara was not cold, Kazuma shivered. The bite of Yato's growing impatience and the chaotic adrenaline of their quest had sent his thoughts scattering like bits of loose paper. He hadn't even meant to come back here.

But here he was.

She lay exactly where he had left her, wrapped in what he profoundly hoped was a deep, healing slumber. He did not want to think she might be dreaming. He did not want to think what those dreams might look like.

Kazuma sank down next to the bed. When he reached for her wrist, his hands were trembling so badly that he pulled back, not daring to touch her. For several long moments he looked down at his shaking hands. He felt something wet drip down his face, and for a wild second was convinced the roof was leaking.

"Kazuma?"

His heart stammered.

Viina was looking at him. Her face was pale, the shadows of that long, dark sleep lurking in the creases of her eyes. But they were her eyes.

Viina's eyes were open, and they were full of confused tenderness as she watched him.

Kazuma opened his mouth, but his voice was obstructed. Something heavy and wet had crawled from the pit of his stomach into his throat, and lodged itself there like a burrowing animal.

Viina's mouth tilted downward as he struggled for words.

"Are you crying?"

She reached for him, cupping his face with a soft palm. Her hand was so cool, so gentle against his hot face. Like silk, Kazuma thought absurdly.

And then he realized he was crying. Sobbing, actually, like a wounded child.

Viina pulled his head in to her shoulder, her long, loose hair curtaining them both off from the world.

"I can feel what you're doing, Kazuma," she said. "Don't."

Her voice was soft, and she sounded so young and so fragile, that Kazuma felt something in his chest tear open. Her arms tightened around him.

"Please, don't."

So Kazuma breathed deep and held her, and she smelled just as she always had. She smelled like mountains: wind and steel and crisp salt. She smelled like a god.

He would die with that scent in his lungs.

Kazuma thought that might be fine.