"And Renault?" Michelle asks, her golden eyes shifting around the forest, as though she expects him to be hiding behind a tree trunk.
You shake your head. "He…had a chance to move on," you say. "Cross over to the other side, you know? And he took it."
There's a second silence, though there's a feeling of uncertainty about this one.
After a moment, Sonia says, "Wait, so are we supposed to be sad that he's gone, or happy that he's in a better place?"
Michelle nods. "That about sums it up," she says. "I suppose we all knew he'd not be here forever, but it'll be odd, not having him floating through walls unexpectedly."
"Or the floor," Fritz says, shuddering slightly. "It doesn't do you any good, being about to put your foot down and seeing a translucent head rising up to meet it."
There's a contemplative silence from your group. It is, everyone seems to agree, going to be different without Renault around.
"Well," Max says eventually, pulling up his trousers and buckling his belt, "we should probably get out of here. From the sounds of it, the demons have all gone." He shakes his head. "They've not been too bad. They didn't expect us to stand and fight; I think that threw them a little bit." He grins. "Well, we threw them as well. That probably helped."
"So, just to check," Sonia says as you begin to walk back along the path that, with any luck, will guide you to the end of the forest, "You did manage to stop Renzfal, didn't you? We're not going to wake up tomorrow morning and see a big red bastard stomping around the grounds?"
You nod, having to concentrate a great deal on managing to keep yourself upright. "He's destroyed," you say. "Or as destroyed as a demon can get." You try to suppress a yawn, but it fights its way out anyway. "After I've had about forty-eight hours sleep, I'll tell you all about it."
After a few moments, you look around. The forest seems quiet, quieter than you might have expected, considering.