Myde sat next to Roxas, gently rubbing his back over the three blankets he had wrapped him in, his face soft with sympathy. They turned to Lea when they heard him walk in with heavy steps.

"What happened?" Roxas tried to rise to his feet, but Myde advised against it and kept him seated. "Did he do anything to you? Lea?" His voice was barely audible past the shivering and hoarseness. No one could look at him now and think that he had a demon attached to his soul, yet that was their reality.

Lea shook his head in response. The power surge of the countering spell had left him drained of energy. A small part of him wanted another surge, but the insistent image of Isa's lifeless body had etched itself into his mind and turned any urge for more blood magic into debilitating nausea.

"Myde, leave us," Lea said weakly.

"What are you going to do?" Myde rose reluctantly and frowned at Lea's request.

"Talk. Please, leave."

Myde walked into his room, but did not close the door after himself.

"Is he under the demon's control?" Lea asked.

Roxas turned his attention to his hands on the table and tried to clear his throat before he had to settle with a soft shake of his head for an answer.

"Was I?" Lea sat down on a chair next to Roxas. His chest ached hollow. If the demon had somehow influenced him to do it, Lea could at least find comfort in knowing that Isa's death had been beyond his control.

"No," Roxas said in a whisper and dared to look back at Lea. "I just wanted to find you. I was lost, persecuted, my comrades fell one by one and there was nothing I could do to help them. If I could find my way back to you, I could reclaim some of what they had taken from me."

"Did it do anything to Isa?" Lea placed his hand over Roxas' gently. Tears filled Roxas' eyes and his voice disappeared for a moment before he could speak again.

"He was supposed to leave, nothing else. Vanitas knew that Isa sensed him and he was worried that Isa would turn you against me. He tried to scare Isa away, but the more Isa resisted the more certain Vanitas became that he intended to hurt us. Lea, I swear, Vanitas is not going to hurt me. All he wants is to exist in this world, experience it. He would not hurt a fly."

"He's a demon, Roxas!"

"He was - is - a spirit. The Circle got it wrong, like it got so many other things wrong. Demons are spirits corrupted by desire or pride or greed, but not all of them will overthrow you to turn you into an abomination." Roxas paused, helpless in the face of Lea's doubt. "I'm not an abomination," he said quietly, tears running down his face.

"No, you're not," Lea agreed.

"Will you travel with me to Denerim still?" Roxas asked, hope and fear in his eyes.

"With you, I would go to the end of the world, Roxas," Lea said with a heavy heart. As true as it was, he wished their circumstances had been different and that Isa had not crossed his path.

-x-

The rain ceased. The clouds dissolved. The events of the night became distant memories before it was over. Roxas' bruises were harsh reminders. No amount of healing could have them dissolve like the rainclouds. The damage had been spiritual, but Roxas assured both Myde and Lea that he was going to recuperate.

Lea and Roxas still had to leave for Denerim. Isa could have come in contact with templars and revealed their whereabouts to them. But before they could leave, they had to care for one last thing they could not leave to Myde alone. Isa had to be buried before anyone from the village saw him. Neither Myde nor Roxas were enticed by the idea of holding a proper burial for Isa. Myde had fetched a hemp sack large enough to cover Isa and tied it to his dark horse. On the hill behind the stables, Myde said the ground was soft. Digging a trench would be easy and quick. Isa was dragged up the hill by the dark horse Lea had seen him ride a few days ago.

Mud had set in Isa's hair and clothes. He was covered in specks of blood that Lea had not used. Lea could not close his eyes without hearing waves splash against the shore where he had lain on a halla pelt next to a campfire with Isa on the other side, stringing his bow should he need to fend of Darkspawn. He had stayed beside Lea against his Keeper's wish.

Lea fell behind to not have to watch Isa and catch glimpses of his sickly white skin and the web of veins discoloring it. There were flowers along the way, none which he knew the name of or had seen before. Lea picked them at random, unable to look at them, even as he rearranged them restlessly.

The trench was dug as quickly as Myde had predicted. A light push was all it took to have the sack with Isa inside roll down into the trench and hit ground with a thud. Shoveling the dirt back over it was even less of an effort. In a few weeks time, the grass would have grown back. This spot would be the same as any other on this hill and the countless others all over Ferelden.

As Myde and Roxas walked back, Lea approached the stirred piece of land, his breath caught in his throat. The bouquet of flowers he placed on the unmarked grave was puny and chaotic. It lacked the coherence and elegance he so often had admired about the flower crowns Isa had given him. Lea looked up at the cerulean blue sky above, his throat tight until the breath caught in his throat dissolved into a muffled sob and brought about another rainfall.