Sinjoh Ruins || Late Morning || 61
"Good idea." Azelf nearly sighed with relief. The other adult present agreed with him. While he may have been able to argue, he definitely didn't want to right now. "I remember the way we came if anyone else can't, but I agree the shelter sounds like the best idea right now."
"That's fine!" Azelf glanced over at Gold and his beaming, smiling face. There was something a touch unsettling about it. Azelf couldn't say for sure whether Gold was putting on a brave face, or was in denial, or something hadn't clicked yet. "We still have Lexa and Bitey. They'll keep us warm enough to get back to that cabin and then from there we can rest up again and get back into the ruins. Easy peasy! It'll be ok, guys. We got this!"
He gave Gold a weary smile, interupted by Anubis's sad little voice. "No... We don't... But...neither do we have a choice. I just want to go home..."
Azelf floated a little closer, intent on comforting him, but Lexa pulled him closer to her and Azelf decided it would be better not to crowd him. Anubis was easily overwhelmed, sometimes. "We'll go home one day, but for now we have to go one day at a time. Come on kids, let's get out of this depressing cave."
"Wh-where...? Where will we g-go...?" He turned back to them to see Prince staring up at him with frightened, exhausted eyes. The sight wedged the knife a little deeper into his soul.
"I have an idea," the pixie soothed. "But like I said, it's better if we get somewhere safer than this, first. If we need to rest there's- there's that cabin we spent the night at."
---
It took a little while to return to the cabin, and, once reminded of its existance, he brought the group inside to rest a bit from the wind. It was a strange experience, returning to this place after all that had happened...
We left this place this morning so full of hope... He wanted to cry. But he swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Okay," he murmured, settling down near the empty fireplace. "We can stay here awhile. Gold, you... really don't recall what happened?"
At his affirmative, he groaned inwardly. Oh, he desperately didn't want to do this. "We found Arceus, in a manner of speaking. We opened a path of communication, at any rate. He... he either cannot help us or won't. We don't know which; he didn't speak and wouldn't answer us. Guinivere grew upset shortly after this and for some unknown reason, she scooped up Cynthia, and ran. Silver left shortly afterwards. That leads us to where we are now."