"Wh-what…Art…what happened to me?" Seirios asked in a hesitant voice, his lips trembling as he looked down at his body.
Emotion threatened to overwhelm him, but he held them at bay. Instead, he looked down at the grinning chimera, its body positioned low to the ground as it stood on all four of its limbs.
"A-Art…?"
"You…it caught you in an illusion," he finally answered, feeling despair beginning to claw at his heart. Seirios turned to look at him, his eyes wide and filled with so much fear.
It was a look which didn't suit his normally cheerful face.
The chimera croaked mockingly at them; it's singular eye dancing with mirth.
"I'm…I'm going to die, aren't I?"
Artorias' kept his face carefully blank at the question, pulling on years of mental resilience to now show even a lick of emotion.
Because such a question, coming from the first family he had felt any sort of kinship with in almost a decade, broke his heart. He may have been annoying, and too smart with his mouth.
But he was still family. Family which he had clung to almost desperately after spending so long on his own.
He didn't want to answer the question. He wanted to run away, to close his eyes and let the shadows swallow him whole.
Watching Solthia die in his arms had fractured his heart. Having Seirios meet a similar fate would undoubtedly shatter both his heart and any remaining sanity he had left.
The chimera turned its singular eye to him, the amber almost goading him to speak, mocking him for staying quiet.
In the end, his silence told Seirios everything he needed to know.
"H-Huh…so this…this is how it ends for me…?" Seirios crumbled to the floor beneath him, his body no longer having the energy to keep itself up. Wet, devastating sobs left him, as he shook on the ground.
The chimera cooed, a vile imitation of care as it looked down on Seirios. Pride glowing in its eye as it stared at the one, it had so thoroughly broken.
"Leave."
The chimera turned to look at Artorias, curiously tilting its head, the half destroyed headcloth on the side of its head falling with the action.
"Leave, now." Artorias repeated, his eyes narrowing. "Go lick your wounds and take this as your victory."
It was a gamble for him to make, but if it meant he got to spend Seirios' last moments with him, he was ready to make it.
The chimera froze at his words, its single eye widening a fraction, before it quickly grinned. It released a mocking cry at him, before standing back up to its full height.
One of its clawed hands moved to its chest, before plucking three of the many destroyed scales, and throwing them at his feet. Its eye narrowing almost challengingly at him.
The message was clear.
"The next time we meet, only one of us will survive." He warned the abomination.
It seemed almost at his words.
Screeching at him, the morning star on its tail began to glow, releasing the cloudy substance from before which it wrapped around its body and brought up to its back, creating wings.
Before it took off though, the chimera pointed at Seirios, before cooing once again, and pointing at him. Another mocking laugh echoing from its beak.
'That will be you next time.'
"Well see." He said through gritted teeth, his body tense as he watched Seirios slowly beginning to grow quieter.
It shot him one final glare, before turning its damaged body and spreading its wings.
The chimera didn't look back as it took to the sky.
He watched it fly for all of a second, before pushing off the ground and running to Seirios' side, his weapons clattering on the ground as he slid next to his cousins broken body.
"Seirios?" he asked cautiously, gently moving his body so he laid comfortably in his arms.
Seirios groaned from beneath him, his eyes fluttering weakly.
"It's cold…" he whispered pitifully. "…Why is it so cold?"
He couldn't hold the tears in any longer, letting them flow freely.
"I-I don't know Seirios…but, but it'll be okay. Next time you wake up, you'll be all nice and warm," he told him, giving him a wobbling smile.
Seirios grinned weakly. "You really think so?"
He hummed, nodding his head and not trusting his voice to crack.
"Heh, you're so shit at lying." Seirios snarked, blood dripping down his chin. "Did you at least kill that bastard?"
"Soon," he promised, a weak grin on his face.
He could taste the salt of his tears.
"You better…" his voice sounded wheezy, as if breathing was becoming a struggle. "…I want it dead, for killing me Art…promise me, you'll get back at it for this."
"I will, even if it's the last thing I do, I'll skin it alive myself," his voice was thick with anger, mixed with the overwhelming despair and anguish he was feeling.
"…That's the spirit…" he chuckled weakly. "…Turn it into a cool…cloak or something…I always…I always wanted one…"
Artorias laughed with him, though it sounded more like a chocked sob.
"How about I turn it into some boots instead?"
Seirios laughed along, though it sounded more like a weak gasp than any actual amusement.
"Only…Only if you…step into some…shit with it…"
"It's a promise."
Seirios' lips turned up at the corners.
"Hey…Art…?"
"I'm here, Pavo."
He snorted, his slowly duller growing eyes looking into the sky.
"Do you…do you think…I'll see Maren…again?" he took a rattling breath. "…I want to…say sorry…to…her…"
His cousin's body slowly began to grow slack in his arms, his eyes growing wistful.
"I know you will,"
Seirios' smiled at his words.
"Thanks…Art…for sticking…by me…I really…really…" Artorias didn't beg for him to stay awake as his voice slowly grew quieter.
Because death was the end of everything, and Seirios had been marked by its unholy touch for too long.
The only thing Artorias could do, before that spark in his eyes was snuffed out, was offer him comfort.
"…I really…wanted to…get back alive…with you…Art…"
"…Me too Seirios…me too…"
The life in his sparkling sapphire eyes dwindled away into nothing, his body going completely still in Artorias' arms.
He didn't say anything else.
He didn't have to.
He had done all he could.
The world around him grew still, and he finally closed his eyes, letting the tears fall down his cheeks. His mind grew taunt, his body turning numb and his heart…his heart turned hollow.
Through all of it, his soul went unnoticed.
Quietly thrumming, in its own world of shadows, it began to eerily glow.