After the two made their way back through the portal, before doing anything else, Death turned around and quickly shut it behind him. Now that they were no longer in that realm, the cloak would disappear in seconds, and he didn't want any eyes catching even a glimpse of the portal before it closed. With that matter attended to, he turned in the direction of Azrael and quickly closed the distance between them. He looked at the other for a moment before raising and eyebrow and speaking. "A word, Azrael.. once you have a moment. You're clearly very busy; far be it from me to interrupt your work."<br/><br/>-----------------------------------------<br/><br/>Merle could vaguely hear the sound of Vaan moving and kneeling beside her, but when she turned to look up at him, she finally noticed that her vision was blurred, and she could only make out a vague outline of her fellow ex-Silencer. The side of her body and the ground beside her were soaked in her own blood from the amount of time the wound was left untreated, and the gash itself showed no signs of healing. Before long, her entire body began shaking uncontrollably, and it took all of her energy just to hold herself up straight. She set her clean hand on her forehead and opened her mouth to speak.<br/>"I-I don't.." Just as she felt she was going to collapse, Vaan shifted forward and grabbed her, keeping her upright as her head slumped onto his shoulder and the rest of her body went limp from the sudden exhaustion.<br/><br/>She wanted to smile. She had wanted to be here for so long, but the wound on her face wouldn't let her enjoy the moment. The only vocal response she could muster was a short, hoarse moan of pain, followed and preceded by her increasingly-erratic breathing. Up above them, Coronis was squawking loudly and frantically, fully aware of its master's deteriorating state but unable to do much about it. The death of Coronis' current form resulted in it recuperating inside of Merle, but it was not able to return to her of its own will as most demons were.<br/><br/>"Vaan.. Please.."