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That was a lot to take in, a lot to chew on, and apparently he and his friends didn't quite have the time to digest everything. Now, especially, was a difficult time to process everything that had just occurred. It was easy, from that point on, to boil things down to the simplest of measures; however cheesy it may have sounded, it was probably wise to find Thael, or Olivia, or Emily. He needed some form of clarity that the current events swirling in his head didn't quite provide. What was there in front of him, however, he could clearly process: the mud in his face and the grime rolling off him was very real, as was the pain in his side. So much for rest and recuperation, though that didn't seem to necessarily matter, as it was his choice to continue on.

The tree was the next thing to come to him, radiating its intense heat in a flurry, though he felt more relaxed than worried. His spirits tensed for but a moment before relaxing around him, swirling in a radiant blaze of ecclesiastical light. It didn't last for much long, though, as everything settled into a calming glaze in the back of his mind. The next to come were his friends, or what was left of them. He could have sworn he'd seen Thael in the bunch, at least on the catwalk with—Roy shook the thoughts out of his head. That didn't concern him as much as the lives of his friends. They were all there except for a few and Olivia seemed determined to find the rest, wherever they were.

It been only mere moments before Roy left completely, the tree, his friends, everything, down the muddied tracks and to god knew where. And all the searching he felt he needed to do then, all the shouting for them, specifically him, felt completely useless then. Guess he could call it intuition that Thael and all of them were much too far and it all found him staring quietly at his muddied shoes, sitting on a random rock in the desolate ruins. He'd barely heard the rustling in the leaves and the fall of footsteps behind him. It was obvious who it was, but Roy's eyes never left his feet. She'd seen him distraught before, but this didn't really look much like a distraught Roy or a spurned lover. It was more dejected, like everything seemed to crash down all at once and he'd just given up.

"Hey, have you seen Thael anywhere? I can't seem to find him," Olivia inquired.

"No, he's not here; I have no idea where he is, either."

"They're gone, aren't they?" he mumbled. He didn't bother looking; Olivia cared far more about their tight knit family to look for him a few minutes after he'd left. "I don't want to talk about what happened, Olivia, if that's why you're here."

As she approached and met Roy’s presence, Olivia gently placed a hand on his neck which followed her movement down his shoulder and arm to his hand, as she came around to face him. She crouched by his side, gently squeezing his hand with hers. “Hey… we’ll find them, okay?” she said. Olivia softly pushed Roy’s chin up with tip of her fingers, so that he would meet her eyes. “We’ll find him, I promise,” she continued, after which her lips lightly touched his cheek, as she stood up. “Come on, I’ll walk you back,” Olivia said.

The touch was softer than before, as if something had changed inside Olivia; the static to her touch was replaced with a much kinder gentleness. Roy responded only with a small smile, however, as he acknowledged her presence with the grin and upturned brows. His eyes searched hers for a moment, as she spoke to him, but couldn't hold for but a few seconds as they fell to her fingers on his chin.

"I wouldn't promise something like that," he mumbled, but grinned to lighten the tone of his words, "I don't know if finding them is our top priority, though." Roy let his gaze return toward Olivia's, his grin all but vanishing, replaced with furrowed brows and pursed lips. His jaw sharpened as his teeth clenched down and his eyes darted away as Olivia kissed his cheek. He stood with her, keeping the sternness glued to his features.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Roy asked. Olivia halted her apathetic pace for a split second before continuing to walk alongside the boy, locking arms with him: “We’re not going to die. What a thing to say.”

"I've run this through my head a million times and none of the outcomes are good, at least not for us. So, why not leave a few of us? Why not give us an out, give them an out?" Roy made a noise in the back of his through, then coughed and looked away. "I can't... I can't bare to see any of you die, but you know I wouldn't leave. I'm not going to make assumptions, but give a person a good enough reason and they'll be gone before you know it. So, why not give whomever you can salvation? Let them decide because I can't bare to see any of us die."

The palm of his hand stopped the tears that pooled in his eyes the moment he felt the sting. He pressed them against his cheeks and let them fall to his sides. "I want to find Thael, more than anything right now. But the truth is, I shouldn't because dragging him back into this will put his blood on my hands and you know it. But I—Olivia, I don't know what to do anymore and I'm sorry. I will follow you to the ends of the earth, but not if Thael dies. Not if we bring this kind of suffering onto him; we let him, them go and do this with whoever is stupid enough to come. Please, promise me that, Olivia. If you're going to promise anything, promise me he won't die in all of this."

Olivia stopped their treading again by standing in front of Roy. “Hey… hey, sweetie” she said and wrapped her arms deeply around his neck, standing on the tip of her toes, catching his eyes wherever they went: “Listen, nothing is going to happen to Thael, or anybody else for that matter. I wouldn’t allow it for anything in the world. Whatever happens, nothing of it will be your fault,” she said and released her embrace of the boy, catching a few droplets of tears that were running down his carmine cheeks, with her fingers. “I need you, here and now, to be strong” Olivia dusted his shoulders and straightened his apparel, and then she gently pushed his chin up again. “Okay?”

"That's a lot to ask of me, Olivia," Roy said, though smiled in spite of himself. He gestured toward where they'd come from and continued, "I think our priority is keeping them safe first, though. Make sure they get out of this alive with the rest of us, right? I don't know what else do to aside from giving them an out, but I trust you, Olivia; I think we all do." Gripping her hand as she released him, Roy gave her a soft smile with eyebrows raised. He gestured against toward where they'd come from, but waited only for Olivia before he began to move. 

The girl locked arms with the boy as they began to move towards the tree. “He has destroyed our lives, Roy. We owe it to ourselves to see this through, and get to the bottom of whatever it is that Sam is doing. I’m not so sure how safe things will be, but I… we need to do this,” she said and paused for a moment, staring into the ground before her. “It’s the only thing that has ever mattered.”

"We..." he started, clearing his throat, "We've got a long way to go, don't we? I'm scared of where this road leads us, but I'm willing to follow if you're willing to lead the way."

Olivia shot a glance at the distant horizon through the broken houses and ashy structures of the ruins, and all that she could see were immense, intimidating mountains. “Haven’t I always tried to steer the boat for all of you? I can’t imagine a day or a circumstance where I wouldn't want to,” she said and sighed, “I love you guys with all my heart, and if it ever comes down to it… I…” Olivia hesitated at the thought of it; of choosing between her friends and Samuel. She did not have an answer. For a split second, she feared that she would choose him over them, but she did not say it. “I’d see to your safety before my own or anyone else’s.”