When Megumin had heard the sound of a sword being swung through the air, she had this ridiculous hope that perhaps Darkness had finally hit her mark and damaged the Winter Shogun. A foolish thought, she knew. However, it was the scream from Darkness, shouting Kazuma's name that shook her to her core. She willed her body to obey and move at least a little bit, but there was no budging. Using explosion on the snow sprites had rendered her immobile. She heard something hit the snow behind her but she had no clue what it could be.
"Darkness? What's happening? Is everyone okay?" She yelled, the snow muffling her voice to a degree. Megumin did not get a response, and it made her heartbeat start racing. "Aqua? Kazuma?"
"Aqua! Can you do something for him? Heal him!? Anything?" Darkness began running toward Aqua with hurried steps before kneeling in the snow beside her with Kazuma's decapitated corpse.
"I- I don't know! Let me try some spells and see if any work!" Aqua hurriedly got to work spamming all the healing abilities she knew. As she attempted to bring the dead back to life, Megumin started to shuffle in the snow, trying to turn her body over to at least be able to see anything. Darkness ran over to her, assisting her while Megumin spat some snow out of her mouth.
"Thanks Darkness." Megumin took note of the older girl's face, noting the tears threatening to fall down her face. She attempted to look over to Aqua but Darkness gently pulled her face back to her, shaking her head sadly. Darkness didn't want a child like Megumin to see such a gruesome scene, it was one thing to be some animal or monster, but another human being would be far too much. She hoped Megumin could keep some of that innocence. The smaller girl looked passed Darkness' shoulder to see the red spray all over the snow a ways away.
"Is that... Kazuma's blood?" She said with a hitch in her voice towards the latter half. Darkness closed her eyes before reopening them to meet Megumin's with a sad but steady gaze. No matter what happened, the blonde may be perverse at the worse of times, but at the end of the day she was the eldest of the group and she knew when it was time to be the adult. The girl before her was years younger, a little girl who had not yet shed the belief that adventuring was all glory and fun, though things like this happened far more regularly than people cared to admit. It was one of the reasons why her father had been so adamant against her want to be an adventurer after hearing the horror stories of people being eaten alive or taken as slaves. That was also why she decided to put all her points in her defensive ability. She was immovable, unbreakable, a wall standing tall against the evil in the world. Yes, it meant she had no points to supply in her offensive power but if that was what it took to put her father at ease then she would do it.
"It is." She didn't want to tell Megumin of Kazuma's current condition. Darkness had no desire to see her cry her heart out at the loss of her friend. It would likely be the first time for everyone involved. However, she had to stay strong for Megumin's sake, at least until she could grieve in private.
"Aqua can fix him right? He's gonna be okay?" The question was asked with so much hope that Darkness contemplated lying before thinking better of it. There would be no purpose when she would know the truth soon enough. Better to just say it as it is.
"It does not seem so." Darkness looked toward Aqua, who had no qualms about crying in front of them as she had done so often before. However, now it took on a whole new meaning. Unlike all the other times she cried, she was dead silent now. From her understanding, Aqua and Kazuma had been attempting to be adventurers for awhile before her and Megumin had come along. They were the closest to each other after all. Like a brother and sister that constantly bickered but would protect each other if the situation called for it. She had been able to reattach Kazuma's head, but his body was still.
"Is he-" The small girl's voice broke, unable to complete the question. Darkness chose then to pull Megumin into her chest. Taking the hint, Megumin started sobbing before outright wailing. It broke Darkness's heart to hear it. No child deserved this kind of heartache. The best she could do now is hold her and be a shoulder to cry on.
"Shh, it's okay Megumin. It's okay." Darkness wondered if this is what it was like being an elder sister to someone was like. 'I wish it were under better circumstances.' She thought to herself.
Over with Aqua, she long since had given up on trying to revive Kazuma. She may not have the highest intelligence stat, but even she could see the writing on the wall. The boy was gone for good as his soul was no longer present within his body. .
"You idiot. You were supposed to help me beat the Demon King remember? So I can go back home to the heavenly realm. But now... you left me behind." She kneeled while staring down at her legs. "We were gonna be the heroes and then we'd have a party while I drank too much and then you'd hit me on the head for getting carried away again." Aqua closed her eyes while her hands constricted into fists. "So what gives you the right to go to my home before me, huh?!" She stared angrily at the cadaver with her fists raised ready to beat on it but stopped just before making contact while sighing. "Did you choose to reincarnate again Kazuma? Or did you choose to go to Heaven? No, I know what you picked, Heaven is too boring for a guy like you. That means you'll be having another life... without us. You won't remember us at all."
The idea that her friend wouldn't remember anything they went through together hurt more than she could have ever imagined. Her heart ached painfully as she held her face in her hands. "I hate that you make me feel this way Kazuma. Why'd it have to be you?" She fell back into a sitting position. Aqua continued to stare at his lifeless body in tears. "It's not fair."
All three girls were silent sans the crying from Aqua and Megumin. After a few minutes, Darkness released Megumin from the hug and began to speak.
"Megumin, how are you feeling?" It was a stupid question, she knew. Nevertheless, she wanted to make sure she knew what was on the child's mind exactly. After collecting herself and blinking away any lingering tears, she responded.
"Darkness, what's gonna happen to us without Ka-him? He was our leader." The blonde in question was taken by surprise by the question. Given the circumstances, it wasn't something that had even crossed her mind. Could they function without the brains of the operation? Thinking of Kazuma as just a mere leader felt wrong though, he was more than that to them.
Taking her silence as confusion, the girl continued with her concerns.
"Are you going to leave us? Is Aqua going to leave? I don't want another party!" It was with that that Darkness made a promise to herself. She would make sure none of her two remaining companions would suffer such a fate as Kazuma.
"I won't be going anywhere if I can help it Megumin, I wouldn't even think about the possibility." She smiled warmly at Megumin, trying to put her at ease.
"But what if Aqua-" Megumin started but was cut off.
"As if I'd leave you guys behind, ha, I doubt anyone else would want me around anyway." Aqua walked over while quietly laughing at her own self-deprecating humor but her smile didn't reach her eyes. "After all, I'm an arch-priest who couldn't even save her friend from being killed, all because I didn't care to tell him the danger of the quest. I'm such a joke." Her eyes were red and puffy as she rubbed at them repeatedly.
Darkness frowned at the critiques Aqua made of herself. "Aqua, while it would have been wise to warn Kazuma of the dangers of this quest, you didn't do it out of malice so there is no need to feel like you're the sole cause of his death. It's that Shogun's fault, nobody else's."
The mentioning of the Great Spirit had Megumin fidgeting in anger as some of her magic power had replenished enough to move around. She narrowed her eyes and gripped her staff tightly.
"I'll blow up that Shogun until there isn't anything left." She was seething as her eyes started glowing at the prospect at putting that monster down. Surprisingly, it was Aqua who talked sense into Megumin.
"It doesn't matter, we couldn't hope to beat it with how we are now. It can't be hit by anything physical and it has a high magic resistance, your explosion spell might not be enough to kill it in one shot. We'd be beat in no time." Aqua gave her a stern look, quite uncharacteristic of her, but to show Megumin she was dead serious and wasn't planning on losing her to some insane revenge plan.
"Then we'll each have to get stronger to one day take it down, right? Kazuma would have wanted us to improve. We'll be people he can be proud of." Darkness said, encouraging her party of now three. She put her hand forward, motioning for the other two to do the same. They obliged without hesitation.
"For Kazuma!"
"For Kazuma!"
"For Kazuma!"
Satisfied, the girls turned their attention to the body of their fallen teammate. Walking over, they stood around him in silent prayer to protect him in the next life even though Megumin had never been a religious person at all.
Thankfully, Aqua's healing made the body look almost normal besides the the pale skin and blue lips. Megumin wanted to turn away and never see him again in this way, to not sully the memories of him, but if she was going to grow up and get stronger she had to be able to handle this. Regardless, everything they had gone through played before her like a slideshow. Her forcing him to let her join the party and their fight in front of the bath in the mansion being fond memories in her mind, although she doubted Kazuma would see it that way. She almost laughed at the exasperated look he no doubt would have sent her way if he could read her thoughts now.
'Kazuma, while I'll never give up explosion, I think I can make an exception in the detonation series for you. Don't expect it to be a running trend of course. However, if it will save Darkness or Aqua then it is a sacrifice I'm willing to make.' Megumin let her words be unheard to the woman around her but they were said all the same.
"Ready to go?" Darkness posed the question to her party members, eyeing them with concern. They both nodded solemnly.
"He'll get a proper burial, courtesy of the Axis sect style of course!" The self-proclaimed Goddess told herself. The other girls did not have the energy to even argue that Kazuma would have never wanted that, an argument for later.
"Then let's head home." The crusader finished speaking and promptly picked up Kazuma's body with care in a princess carry. They all knew this was a turning point in their lives, and it was up to them to take the right path forward.
END
Author's Notes: I can't get enough of sad/serious scenes in Konosuba so I keep writing this stuff. I know it isn't amazing but I try my best to keep good grammar and pacing. Not too happy with how this turned out but figured I'd send it out regardless.