Aftermath

It appears they will still continue Monty's work without him, but I still feel sad. Upon realizing that, I finally allowed myself to grieve. I guess I felt I didn't have the right to, not knowing him personally or having met him before. But at least now I know I was feeling sad for the right reasons. Here's another vignette I've been working on:

The four remaining apprentices ventured as far as the gate to look at the world outside. It was about halfway through its transformation from Hollow Bastion back into Radiant Garden; while the layout was returning to normal, everything still had an air of gloom and disrepair about it. At a loss for words, Even shook his head and went back inside.
"This doesn't look quite like home..." Ienzo remarked.
"The people have tried to restore order themselves," Dilan observed.
"They won't want help from us. This was our fault, after all." Ienzo began rubbing his eyes.
"Are you crying?" Aeleus asked.
"No. The wind blew dirt in my eyes."
Aeleus patted him on the back anyway. They looked up when they heard someone approaching; it was Kagemiya, of course. "Is everything all right?" Aeleus asked her.
"More or less. The darkness that warped everything has yet to ebb away completely," she replied. "But it'll get there. I know it will."
"It won't be that easy," Dilan pointed out. He and Aeleus went back inside to rejoin Even while Ienzo stayed outside with Kagemiya.
"I'm sorry, Kage-san..." Ienzo muttered.
"I already told you I've forgiven you guys," she said, thinking he was referring to the damage the darkness had done.
"Not that. I'm sorry you had to watch me die back at Castle Oblivion."
"You don't have to apologize for that. I wanted to protect you, but you ended up protecting me instead. Or at least you tried to."
"No. I mean, I did want you to be safe, but my reasons were entirely selfish," Ienzo admitted. "I didn't want to watch you die."
Kagemiya looked confused and a little hurt, but she quickly got over it. "After what you'd been through, it's perfectly understandable for you to be a little selfish."
"When you came straight here after waking up, you seemed really relieved that I was okay. If Axel killed you right after me, and that was the last thing you saw, I felt really guilty while you were hugging me."
"That's because you're a good person. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."