Lethe paused in the doorway of the Great Hall, letting the door close behind her softly.  Her body still ached from the trauma of the past twelve hours, but that was unimportant.  Sad blue eyes rested on the Knight lying on the table.  A blanket was draped over the body to cover the wound from sight.  Gil was sitting at one of the benches, eyes staring straight ahead.  He seemed as stoic as ever but they’d known each other too long for that.  With a grimace of pain, she started forward down the length of the room.  Both Sin crystals were still resting in the pouches at her hips, their constant pulse an irritant to her already lacerated legs.  However, as drained as she was, she couldn’t leave them with anyone else.  All the other Knights were either too emotional right now or too tired.<br/><br/>Her boots clacked against the stone floor, warning him of her arrival, as if he didn’t know already.  She silently took a seat next to him, her thighs brushing against his and her shoulder next to his, trying to offer what comfort she could.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">“ I’m fine.”</span><br/><br/>It was a lie, but she said nothing in response, only leaning her head against his shoulder.   The two continued to sit silently and Lethe watched the light streaming in through the window.  It caught in particles of dust, making them shine like specks of gold.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">“Do you think there’s anything I could have possibly done to save her?”</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Silver"> “Maybe.”</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">“Then it’s all the same.  The probability of this happening will still remain…”</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Silver">“Yes. Death always happens.”</span>She paused before adding,<span style="color: silver">“Does that mean you’ll run away?”</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">“To run away and let more of my subordinates die?  No… I want to end this.”</span>Guilford’s hands curled into fists, capturing the fabric of his pants.  His attention turned to the ground in front of him as if trying to a bore a hole through it with his eyes alone.  His next words, though even in volume, contained unexpected anger.<span style="color: #0080FF">“I feel like the Light betrayed me.”</span><br/><br/>Lethe said nothing in response.  Death, sad as it was, was a part of life.  She could not change it anymore than Gil could.. or the Light could.  Though powerful in ways no mortal could understand, even the Light could not turn back time and restore life to the dead.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">“How long have we been fighting, Lethe?”</span>Guilford’s voice rose in anguish, frustration evident.  And then, as if the outburst had sapped all his strength, he deflated next to her. In a soft voice, he whispered helplessly,<span style="color: #0080FF">“How long do you intend to keep fighting?”</span><br/><br/><span style="color: Silver"> “Until this mortal body falls apart.”</span>She replied serenely, her gaze now resting on Brynhildr.  She traced the other Knight’s face with her eyes, noting the satisfied smile now etched forever on the woman’s lips.  Someone had closed her eyes, but Lethe doubted they would have revealed anything other than contentment.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">“I felt it from the day they reformed us, that I may no longer have what it takes to keep on…”</span>The purple-haired Knight paused before continuing,<span style="color: #0080FF">“I’m tired Lethe, tired of all of this.  I’m afraid that I will lead those who follow me to their deaths.”</span><br/><br/>The white-haired Knight tilted her head back to catch sight of her companion.  Grief had aged his face far beyond his twenty eight years.  After a pause, he added:<span style="color: #0080FF">“Even you…”</span>She simply lifted her hand and placed it on the fist closest to her.<span style="color: Silver"> “Then rest, Gil.  You’ve given so much to the Divine Light already.  It will understand if you must stop and walk another path.”</span><br/><br/>At those words, Guilford turned shocked purple eyes and caught sight of his companion’s blue ones.  The placidity in her expression made him inexplicably angry.<span style="color: #0080FF">“That’s just it.  The Divine Light doesn’t understand! It only keeps asking for more!”</span>His mouth worked, trying to find more words to articulate his—his vexation at how it was never<span style="font-style: italic">enough</span>.  But no words came to mind.  He knew it was pointless to debate the calling of the Light.  How did one describe the futility of a dream?<br/><br/>Lethe finally turned her attention away from him, straightening once more.  Guilford sighed heavily.  Lethe wouldn’t get it.  She was too—good? Too idealistic?  Too much the Immaculate’s consummate Seraph, not like him and his doubts.<span style="color: #0080FF">“Sorry.. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”</span>He finally apologized but she didn’t seem to be listening, her attention on the light streaming in through the windows.<br/><br/><span style="color: Silver">“You know..”</span>Soft, hesitant words: a confession.<span style="color: Silver">“If not for the Light, I’d probably be dead right now.”</span>She smiled sadly, only the tightening of her hands an indication of her discomfort.<span style="color: Silver"> “I—when my parents.. died.. I was in.. a bad place.”</span>It was hard to describe the past she’d so shamefully hidden away, having gone so far to even change her last name to cut ties with—Her expression wavered at the reminder of her mother.<span style="color: silver"> “I think.. I probably would have killed myself to get away.”</span>Her eyes finally dropped to her free hand.  It too had scrunched up in a fist, just like Gil’s.  Why was human’s instinctive reaction to stress to fight?<span style="color: silver"> “But the Light came to me, and it saved me.”</span>Her hand uncurled and she flattened out the rumpled fabric of her skirt.<span style="color: silver">“To die for the sake of something we love, is that really so bad a thing?”</span>She wondered aloud, her gaze finally moving back to Gil’s.<span style="color: Silver"> “The Light never asks more from us than we can bear and in return, it gives us so much more than we could ever understand.”</span><br/><br/>With one more smile, she got to her feet and laid her hand on Gil’s head.<span style="color: Silver"> “Rest, Gil.  Recover.  Forget your worries and just enjoy.  Our lives are meant for living, not enduring.  And if or when I see you again next, I hope it’ll be with a smile on your face.”</span>She lifted her hand and walked down the length of the room once more, heels clacking with each step.  She paused at the door and looked back.  The light illuminated the slain Knight, surrounded in flowers, and cast her friend half in shadows.<span style="font-style: italic">I hope the best for you, Gil.</span>She slipped out the door as quietly as she had entered.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">~~~~~~~~</div><br/>Lethe swept her eyes over the Knights assembled in front of her: Leon, YunQiao, Cricket, Deimos, Valiar, Seraphim, and Adair.  She had given them all the option to stay behind, to mourn or re-think their decisions after facing death so personally, but every one of them stood in front of her.  A tender smile pushed the corners of her lips up.  She was proud of them, these men and women who kept moving despite the dangers that stalked their steps.<br/><br/><span style="color: Silver">“Let’s go.”</span><br/><br/>She turned towards the path that would lead them to their next destination: Lizbeth.  Even if Gil and his squad were immobilized with grief, the world kept moving on.  She had to keep moving on, keep trying to save every other boy or girl, man or woman, who was trapped in the darkness like she had been.  Until this mortal body fell apart… She strode down the path into the rising sun, her squad assembled behind her.  Until this mortal body fell apart, she would keep fighting.