"Yeah. I am feeling a bit better. You can set me down now, thanks." Kei nearly dropped the boy the moment he said he didn’t need to be carried anymore. Once he was sure Niall was safe to support his own weight Kei collapsed on the ground in front of him dramatically. Both literally and emotionally he felt lighter and he let out a huge sigh of relief. He slumped forward so his arms hung loosely in his lap and looked up to meet Niall’s now working eye. “I don’t think I could have gone much longer. You’re so much heavier than you look.”
He reached to his bicep and worked the stinging muscle. Eos was busy with Niall’s injuries, which were understandably the priority, and he watched her carefully before looking at Niall. Although Eos was busy healing all of the injuries his face was still swollen, and Kei suddenly felt irrevocably guilty. Niall’s injuries were his fault, if he hadn’t killed in that village the people wouldn’t have lashed out the way they did. Niall would have been able to pass through fine, and he wouldn’t have had to go through all of that. No one deserved to me tortured. He was grateful to Eos though, the little bird was irreplaceable at this point. Her abilities were saving Niall from a long bout of blindness that he would have had navigate through until his eye had healed. “A phoenix will only cry for something it cares about. Eos cares about you a lot so she is willing to give you her tears.”
He tilted his head back to look up at the sky. They had managed to stop in a small clearing where he could see a patch of sky. The last of the day’s light was gone, and he could see the speckle of stars illuminating the night sky. He briefly considered the fact he had never been away from the underworld for this long, and he loved it. The mortal world was so much better than the place he was born. Eos and Niall were the best things that had ever happened to him. Kei decided what he was feeling at the moment was happiness, and he found he didn’t want to let it go.
"Thank you, Keisuke. You didn't have to save me, but you did. I am surprised and so grateful. I am in your debt.” Kei raised an eyebrow in surprise as he lowered his gaze back down to Niall. He hadn’t even considered the idea of leaving the boy behind, especially since the whole ordeal was his fault, not that Niall knew that. He gave the boy a soft smile, the fire coming off of Eos was hopefully enough to illuminate it, and felt the corners of his eyes crinkle with the smile. “I would never abandon a friend, you owe me nothing.”
It was, however, Niall’s last statement that had his back straightening and the relaxed atmosphere he had felt moments before dissipate. He had simply been running blindly, away from the village and away from the pull of the door. He raked his gloved hands in his hair and fell backwards with a soft thud. “Oh no. I have no idea. I got us lost, in the woods, in the middle of the night. Oh no, OH NO, oh my, oh my goodness.” Panic set in quickly, he could feel Eos looking at him in confusion, but it didn’t stop the panic. Humans did not do well in forests, in the middle of the night, with no survive equipment. They were simply no good, much too fragile. Niall was his only friend besides Eos, what was he going to do if he died? He was the worst, the absolute worst.