WARNING! This chapter hints at Kei/Goh, Goh/Sasame relationships.
Ends.
The temperature seemed to drop and seemed surprisingly cool against his skin, despite the obvious fire blazing around him. The source of the fire, Goh, stopped his endless annihilation of demon larvae to turn to him with a hazy expression on his face.
Kei loved to read people, it was no secret, and although the chaos swirled around the two of them he stopped to catch his breath and admire the way Goh's reactions were always clearly written in his eyes.
The deep, dark betrayal of Sasame still plagued Goh, perhaps the most out of all of them, and Kei had sensed long before they volunteered themselves to hunt the hundreds of demon larvae that Goh feared another confrontation with the knight that had switched sides.
And now this.
Goh's immediate reaction was to see if Kei had figured out what had happened, which he had, the profound sense of loss that had echoed through Kei's body had the distinct essence of Sasame. Although Kei's demeanor hadn't changed in any bit, the fact that he had stopped fighting proved that something was wrong.
Goh looked to the darkened sky as regret, anger, and despair raged through his shadowy eyes. The color drained from his face and then all his wild emotions were gone in a shattered instance, and in their stead was a calm, almost eerie shell of the man who longed for his friend to return to the side of good.
Kei expected Goh to be the first to breach the subject. He hadn't expected Goh's apparent lack of shock.
"Do you think that he found peace…now that he's…" Goh asked, his voice strained above a whisper.
Kei didn't like playing the comforting parent, "He dug his own grave, Goh…"
"I know that!" he snapped back, those emotions of his once again igniting his eyes.
Kei raised an eyebrow, and finished his previous sentence, "He doesn't have any unfinished business here, if that's what you meant."
"Oh would you shut-up!" his threat seemed forced and without any real consequence. Bowing his head in prayer-like, he let his voice trail off. "Do you think he died happy?"
The blonde man didn't have an answer for him, well at least right away. He had this odd, sort of off, inquisitive expression on his face. For a moment he was quiet, as was the city around them. Was the world mourning the loss of Sasame? Or was this simply the calm before the storm?
"I would hope he was happy," Kei finally answered, "For him to give up so much and risk so much, for something as implausible as love in this situation, I would sincerely hope so."
It was Goh's turn to watch as Kei turned back to the giant Tree of Fenrir for answers, but there was nothing but the darkening sky and the fading shred of hope that they'd succeed.
Amicably they resumed their pursuit of demon larvae, but this time the severity of the whole situation and the death of their former comrade hung over their heads. Their dedication still shined on, but the likelihood of ever having Sasame return to their side was crushed just like the dying city that still awaited salvation.