The air was silent and cold, grief was whispering behind the ears of the two of them, their mistakes suddenly having more weight than before as they were brought to the surface. Minutes went by, but it felt as if the two had been wallowing for days until eventually it was all cut in two words. "I'm Sorry" Said Raphael as he wiped his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. His body now shaking from his crying, his tears soaking his fingers. "I should have been more thoughtful, I didn't think you could see me, I thought I was alone in my suffering, I didn't know I was hurting you too." He said as he stood up and walked towards her shakily, with regret in his voice.
He reached his hands out to her as a gesture for a hug. The Devil glanced at him, reaching her hand out to his and standing with the grace of a flower coming out of the winter. "People are really never alone when they're suffering, but people can never notice that others are there. I try to help, I don't enjoy seeing people suffer, and that's why I am down here, it was because I cared that I was put here as punishment." She said as she wiped a single tear from her porcelain cheek, her eyes resembling emeralds in cold rain. Shared tears were present from them, they both cared about him, there was a shared remorse and a divided opinion.
"It doesn't seem fair that you have to watch us suffer, Devil, It isn't fair that you have to see it all and be forced to deal with us." Raphael said as he stood in the gravel, finally trying to collect himself and stop his tears. "Almost everything in a person's life isn't fair, that's how He made life." She replied, holding Raphael's arm with care. "I guess it was in part my fault, I thought I could deal with it all and then it bottled up into a poisonous jar until it sets off like a bomb." Raphael said as he slowly began to walk again. "I know, I'm sorry that it all had to get turned into a punishment. This is one of life's unfair things unfortunately." She replied as she began to let go of Raphael's arm.
"If I knew you had been watching me, I would have tried to be different, I wouldn't have hurt you somehow, I thought my whole life that no one cared about me, I thought I was this piece of paper being written on by everyone around it, used up with no care." Said Raphael as he rubbed his neck red. "You should never have to change who you are, some people don't care about you, that's life, but there is always someone who cares about you, always at least one." She replied with a soft and beautiful certainty in her voice. It didn't matter in death but those few words would have been a warm assurance in passing.
After a brief period of trying to recollect, the two began to walk once again, the gravel growing silent as they stepped along the path. The two didn't talk for a while but as they walked Raphael felt different, he was in a way happier, he felt so good about having let his feelings finally flow out to someone, one person listened to him, a little too late. The silence was strong but he felt safe at the very least, the punishment of his action still lingering within his mind as he walked but he had a weight lifted off of him at the very least, a shackle and chain removed from his ankle letting him feel free for the first time in 13 long, crushing years being quiet.