Dimitri sat on a low hanging branch, his feet dangling limply. He watched the others mill about, collapse in relief, or simply stand and breath after having escaped one of the more horrific incidents he had had the pleasure of being a part of. It was as though every tension, every stress of the last day or so had just fled from them, leaving behind…nothing. The fatigue was palpable, so thick in the air that Dimitri imagined he could see it. It was probably just his eyes giving up on him though…

Cheer up, at least we escaped having to use the Death Tarot

Yeah…but a few more seconds and we would have had no choice…and even then it’s just by luck and a miracle that Adalia’s still alive

Both of Dimitri’s consciousness’’ sat silent for a moment and listened to the outburst between the recently awakened Adalia and Loki. Sighing, he leaned his head back against the rough surface of the tree. They really didn’t need this right now.

That girl’s got so many problems right now that death might be….

Don’t even say it. It might be easy for you to joke about it now but the rest of us still pretend that just living is some sort of prize…it’s comforting at least

As long as you don’t take it for granted.

Never, thought Bryan, too many life or death situations, far too many for any average college student to deal with, had taught him that at least. Why he kept getting himself into these things he didn’t know, after the first time he had sworn off pokemasters or any online RP for that matter, he wasn’t going to take that risk again, but barely a month later he found himself back at it. Why? He certainly could live without it, it wasn’t something that he needed to be happy or fulfilled…maybe it was just fate. Fate’s existence wouldn’t surprise him in the least, anything was possible now. His one hand clenched around the small object he had taken with him from that hellhole of a prison. He didn’t want to tell them what he had found, he didn’t want to ruin the sense of relief that they were all feeling. Gazing up through the canopy of the forest, at the irregular checkerboard of light that filtered gently through it. The light felt good. Even during the day, the darkness of the world they were in made him feel like he was walking in a twilight.

It was going to be a long time before he got to feel light again.

“Hey.”

He heard rather than saw the others turn their attention towards him. Even Adalia, her face lined with her tears, turned. Dimitri shifted his body weight, letting it pull him off the branch. His cloak rippled around him as he fell the short distance, landing gently on his feet. Standing straight, he braced himself for the next few moments.

“We have to go back.”

Dimitri could have sworn that more protests flew back his way than there were people, but he bore them all and continued.

“Hey, you think I want to?"

Ovan’s voice rose above the rest.

“Then why the hell would we?!”

Adalia answered before Dimitri could, tears still in her voice.

"We don't have a choice do we?"

Dimitri held up his closed fist, palm up, towards the others. Opening it, he revealed what lay within. Glimmering softly in the filtering light that Dimitri had been enjoying a few minutes earlier, the pile of sand seemed almost innocent. It was the glimmering however that made it so ominous, tiny specks of light in the sand that hinted at the presence of something all too familiar.

“No, we really don't. One of them is there somewhere…these were all over the courtyard where we left, the whole place was practically glowing under the right light”

Dimitri turned his hand over, letting the sand fall to the forest floor, partially hoping it would sink between the dirt and rocks and disappear forever. At least it was silent again, as little as everyone wanted to go back to that place…they were in this world for a reason and they couldn’t ignore whatever it was that had brought them there.

“We don’t have to do it immediately…none of us are in any shape to try and fight again for a while: physically, mentally, or both…but we’re going to wind up going back eventually and I thought it would be better if we were all prepared.”

Dimitri didn’t particularly care if Fate existed or not…but he certainly wished that it would stop sticking its nose in his life.