Note: Ok, sooo, I've been obsessesd with the anime, Bungou Stray Dogs, especially the Dark Era and it inspired me to write this but I also read an amazing fic on it as well which ultimately made me write this and it was named "From Ode to Odessey" by the author FlyAndDontLookBack. It was absolutely wonderful and i enjoyed every moment of it plus it left me sad in the end and then I finally decided to implement this idea after it being stuck in my mind for a quite a while and here it is! Hope you all enjoy!

"Can you at least tell me where it is? Please?"

The bar was- as usual, cast in golden-yellow light from the lanterns hanging above the counter but the room didn't feel inviting anymore. The stools beside the counter were still the same, yet they felt hardened as if they'd suddenly turned to stone and it was difficult to even being able to sit on them and the walls felt as if they were caving in from all sides-

-or perhaps this was merely just how a certain someone felt.

The same certain someone from whose mouth had uttered the question, who wore glasses that had come to his nose's edge in his anticipation, his eyes, a dull grey, filled with expectance, his expression pained as he clutched the counter with sweating hands, barely even sitting on the stool as he stared at his acquaintance with a little bit of worry, afraid that his question would be denied and that he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. His drink lay abandoned as he observed his acquaintance for the answer he so longed for and after several moments of bated breath- it finally came.

But it was not the answer he'd been wanting.

In fact, it wasn't an answer at all.

Rather, it was a question asked from him in return for his foolish belief that he could be given that opportunity so easily.

"Why?"

His acquaintance asked this question as he observed the orange-gold contents of his own drink, swirling them with a little spoon he'd gotten from the bar keeper, not looking in the eyes of the man sitting next to him, his expression bored and tired, his eyes looking at the drink but it not being the sight he was actually seeing. It was obvious just by the look in his eyes that the man was watching something else which had been laid out in front of his eyes, a sight which the other couldn't even fathom to see, nor could he ever hope to understand.

Hearing his acquaintance's answer felt as if he'd been stabbed a hundred times over with a dagger that wasn't visible, that if it really had been visible, he would've been bleeding profusely by now, his hands which were previously clutching the counter for support, let go of the table and his whole body became cold and numb, he felt as if something had dropped in his stomach when he'd heard the counter question of the one sitting next to him and he knew now, that he was a very big fool.

Of course, of course his acquaintance would never tell him that. Why would he, after all the trouble he'd caused him and the person whose grave was in question. He felt shameful for even deciding to come here, the feelings of self-hatred and guilt consuming him so that he couldn't even breathe, let alone sit there, his face faltering and hands shaking as he stared at them, hating himself for what he'd done, hating every particle, every atom of his body for the singular sin that he wished he could take back and his face now became dark as the world around him grew so dull that it didn't even matter anymore-

-for he knew the true colours of the world were now lost to him and that they'd never come back.

That he'd still feel but nothing will be able to free him from the shackles of his own remorse and guilt and hatred that he felt for himself, the loathing that would forever remain with him, the regret he will carry with him to his own grave and nobody in this world, nobody could save him, because he simply didn't deserve to be saved, he was that ugly of a creature, who'd left his best friends for his so-called work and had been stupid enough to believe that a simple apology would've been enough to mend everything.

How idiotic of him-

-How unbearably foolish and naïve.

He couldn't live in himself. Not anymore.

"You're right" he said dully to his acquaintance- or rather, his once friend, whom had been busy drinking his glass in wait of his reply and looked up at his answer, a slight hint of surprise playing in his eyes at the answer as he continued "I don't simply deserve to be told the location of the grave. I've already done my part in worrying him, I can't worry him anymore". With that said he got up and decided to leave, picking up his leather bag as he did, and straightening his coat as he walked out.

What he didn't notice however was that his acquaintance or once friend, slipped a piece of paper in his coat pocket when he was getting up- a piece of paper containing the exact details of where the grave of their friend was located and the other, unaware of this event, left with grief consuming him.

But he wasn't the only one.

The acquaintance set down his half-filled glass on the table and sighed in both exhaustion and exasperation, putting his hands down on the table and speaking "I'm sorry, Odasaku" as he looked sideways at a drink past the other's which had been untouched and had a beautiful white flower attached to the side for the person it was meant to be given to.

The person both the man and the acquaintance had once considered their friend, the person who had completed the trio but for the acquaintance, the person that had completed the duo. The man who'd always been there whenever he needed him to be, a man who no longer existed but in the form of photographs, a man who had gone from this world, leaving the acquaintance alone in the dark, murky depths of an ocean he could never hope to swim out of, a man who had been his light- his hope, a man who'd given him everything that a true friend would and most of all, a man who had saved him from the deep, dark void devouring his being, his very soul,

A man who would now, never come to see him again.