There would be tears. The floodgates had already been breached; between finding two of his friends' bodies under his roof and the growing chaos within Trench, the well was dry. Quietly, Oscar regarded both the stranger and his beast for a moment before slowly shaking his head.

"I don't know," he repeated, more firmly as he reached for the strange internal balance born of a fate not meant to be his that had girded him through disasters already. This was difficult, but not impossible.

He had already seen hell, and lied to her face.

"We found her body in her room, already cold and starting to decay. Whatever happened to her... it wasn't natural.