"Hey, wait up!" Brandon called. He fell on all fours panting, getting back up to follow Shiro. Shiro couldn't hear his calls. He couldn't hear anything to be more exact. He was lost, lost to his own thoughts. He felt that he couldn't breathe, that the entire world was an ocean and he was all the way at the bottom.

"Shiro!" Brandon cried, catching up to him and grabbing him by the shoulder. Instinctively, Shiro swatted the hand away, throwing a punch at Brandon's face.

"Ow, the hell..." Brandon cried, staggering back as he held his bleeding nose. Shiro realised what he had done, rushing to him.

"You alright."

"No, duh." Brandon said, "What' wrong, man? You didn't have to attack Vincent and all."

Shiro took a deep breath, sitting back down on the snow and sighing. He wrote on the snow down near his feet.

"My sister...is dead."

Brandon's eyes widened. "Wh...what? But how? He just has his rei."

"That's the thing, Brandon. A rei won't desynchronize with its users side unless he or she is dead. Reis are like parasites. They need a host to survive. Once the host dies, the rei becomes like Spearhead, without an owner. Just a piece of junk until someone else is compatible and then it moves on."

Brandon remained silent, unable to say anything to comfort him. Shiro continued.

"I should have known. All this time I waited in the Inquisition. I waited for days, until they became weeks, then months, then YEARS!!" Shiro punched the ground in a fit of rage. "I should have known all this time. I just didn't want to accept it."

Shiro covered his face as tears streamed down his face. He tried to suppress his cry, but it came through in the end.

"Most people don't know this, but she never wanted me to be an inquisitor. She wanted me to live normal, have some friends, all that stuff. Haha." Shiro laughed. "That's why I kinda envied you."

"Me?"

"Out of everyone in the inquisition, even amongst the recruits, you're the most normal, Brandon. No bad history, no burdens, haven't been through any trauma, haven't seen someone die, haven't even killed anyone. Just another average guy who happened to walk into hell on his own. Like Blake did."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Brandon stared at Shiro bewildered. After a few minutes, Brandon burst into laughter, much to Shiro's surprise. Brandon stopped laughing before speaking.

"Yeah, I guess I knew that all along." Brandon said, "I knew that I was normal right from the start. But then I wasn't going to let that stop me."

Brandon paused.

"When my uncle died, to be honest I didn't really know him. Never met him before, never even heard his name from my dad. But at the funeral, I realized that that body in that grave could have been anyone, whether I knew the person or not. So that's why I joined."

Brandon stood to his feet. "I may not be able to choose my own path but as you said, I'm just another average guy who walked into hell. I chose to walk into hell, just like your sister did. And just like you did."

Shiro looked at him for awhile, unsure if it was the same naïve Brandon he was talking to. He smiled and got up to his feet.

"By the way, where's Jake?"

"Right here.

"Hey Jake, where have you been?" Brandon asked Jake. Jake approached the two inquisitors, a wry smile on his face.

"Why the long face?" Shiro asked.

"More importantly what's with the mark? Did you get tackled by a daemon?"

"You could say that." Jake said, putting his arms around the two of them. "C'mon, lets go. We have to get something to eat."

The three reached the empty road, with no car in sight.

"Well that's a bummer." Jake said.

"A bummer indeed." A familiar voice said. The three turned to see a the taxi driver. "Heard you needed a ride...of course, you still have to pay."

Earlier

Jake watched as Vincent and the man walked away, both talking to themselves about time wasted. Frankly, Jake didn't care. He was happy to not have to deal with rogues anymore. He stopped, turning swiftly. Something was off. Someone else was here.

And he was right as a figure emerged from the bushes and grabbed his face, slamming him into the snow. He struggled to free himself, grabbing the figure's arm and pulling it close to his, headbutting the figure. He jumped to his feet to face the figure only to be shocked by who it was.

"It can't be..."

"Why," Sakura said, "Have you seen a ghost?"

The Sakura now and the Sakura then were two completely different people now. The long silver hair was cut short and the green eyes were now dulled. She now had one arm, with more scars on her body than Frank.

"That's impossible. Your rei."

"A parasite has no use for a host who is on deaths bed, Jake." Sakura said, "And as you can see, this place is protected. Garnet and Harriet caused quite a ruckus but I dealt with it so leave."

"Shiro is here..."

"Don't you dare play games with me, Jake." Sakura said, menacingly. "I know who you are, I know what you've done and I know what you're still doing. Talking about being the nicest inquisitors. You disgust me." Sakura turned to leave. "What Garnet and Harriet did, playing with these people's lives were despicable, but at least they were still inquisitors. They never faltered from their duty. Even Jacques realizes the wrongs he's done and tries his best to make up for them. You? You're the..."

"Look Sakura, Shiro is..."

"Leave my son out of this." Sakura said.

Jake looked at her confused. Son?

"One day, your crimes will come out. Trust me. That day is much closer than you think." And with that, Sakura disappeared, leaving Jake alone