[ She'd had some suspicions about that, but the confirmation of it is a rather chilling one. Would she come back, she wonders? Or is she simply too fragile to begin with? But there's no use lingering on it. ]

[ Except even as she thinks that, she's shaking her head at him, a frown pulling at her lips. ]

You don't have to apologize to me. And you don't have to pretend not be sad, either.

[ Not that she would encourage him to be, exactly, it's just, ]

It's alright, you know. To feel whatever you're feeling, I mean. I don't think dying is something that you're supposed to be okay with right away.