[ no, he hasn't. for her revival makes old wills resurface... a million atrocities that she paid for, has to pay for again. this isn't something that can change, so long as she doesn't.

regardless of the nature of the circumstances. dante's absence is a palpable thing, a "try again, and again, and again" failsafe that's no longer there to cover up the scars left by his inexperience and incompetence.

but if that's all it takes to get him to step back into being too afraid again, maybe his resolutions weren't as meaningful as he thought. so, it's... this fear, amplified... it's not enough. they're barbs, not vines. he has to refuse them — her — tying him down. ]

I... Why are you always...

[ in a stable mind, this might even be funny. he can't come back now... not immediately. and she has, inexplicably.

right now, though, there's just the fact that she Is. here, somehow, with the slivers of power that he's given her. the ones he's slowly been trying to claw back, up until the point where demian— ]

I... don't understand why you're here. But, that — I've figured more than that out. How, where... It— doesn't matter, because I just... You, in two... I just have to see that again. This time, I...

[ kromer's wrong. always. he knows what the answer to the riddle is, what she means, but...

the most important building to him — which now has to be be wherever he makes it, wherever he is, thanks to her — has always been home. ]