"Sentinel.....is he..?"
Sombra's body flickered out into a dark mist that broke apart into the air. Disappearing like it never even existed...Sentinel Heart rubbed his neck absently and felt the rough scar under blood stained fur. After all the heartache, suffering and pain...it was finally over... The King of Shadows and Crystal was undoubtedly dead. Sentinel even felt a small smile cross his face. In a way it felt like a victory in a long war, he almost started to cheer in triumph we it not for a quiet sniffle braking the cold silence...
"Please tell me he's gone..." Dusty said, biting back the want to just fall on the ground and wish the world to go away...
Sentinel sat down again and rubbed the scar on his neck absently, wondering just how neither of them were cold when the snowy winds howled against the shell of a fortress. It took Sentinel a moment to understand but when he felt the scar...he understood what Sombra said in his final moments.
"Dusk, do you remember what happened now?"
Dusty nodded; it took time but his memory was coming back and forcing him to see the result of his actions, the blurry image of himself with unfamiliar eyes and that burst of power fueled by his anger and confusion that Sombra nudged and pushed until...
"How did we get here...?" Dusty asked himself.
Sentinel looked up at the colt; not sure what even happened after his injury...
Perhaps the princess was looking for them, maybe the guard was still trying to gather what might be left of the throne room. Dusty gave into his emotions and let his weak legs rest; laying on the cold ground and keeping his stare on the spot where the last of his father burnt away into dust and ash..tears welling up to blur his vision.
I want my mom...
"We need to find warmth..." Sentinel said just to break the focus off of Sombra.
Dusty nodded slowly but didn't budge, after such a exhausting trip the only thing he wanted was to feel the blanket and pillows of his bed back home. To go home and pretend that this was all a bad dream would be a welcome mercy...
Sentinel found enough books during his search for an exit in a run down library to burn for warmth, with a little help from Dusty's small bit of magic left in his system. No windows were low enough to climb out and the entryway was sealed by fallen debris. Both of them were laying down across from each other close to the fire. The pages turned to embers and floated in the air lazily, neither of them could know how much time had passed but seemed that the temperature was dropping fast. Sentinel sighed quietly and put his head down on his hooves, eyes heavy and body shivering. The guard fell in and out of sleep until the fifth time he woke up; Dusty was sleeping against Sentinel for warmth...
"You...you're just like him, arnt you..?" Sentinel said to himself...
The guard tensed up when Dusty woke up as well, they both were running on light sleep; hoping that maybe rescue was outside.
"..Like who?"
Sentinel lifted his head slowly and wanted to rub the scar again but for the sake of not disturbing Dusty more, he didn't move more than to lift his head and check the still sealed and broken entryway. It took a little internal debating but Sentinel sighed and decided somepony might as well know before he dies..
"I had a son...Steel Courage. Hard headed and short tempered. If you were his friend though he was the kindest soul you can imagine..."
Dusty looked less sleep logged and noticed Sentinel throw a few more books onto the fire from the pile at his side with a quick fling from his mouth. The fire flickered stronger and the warmth just made him want to go back to sleep, the look on Dusty's face meant he wanted more details.
"He died...long time ago..."
Dusty's eyes went wide...
"Cancer...It was hard, being a corpsman, I knew every stage and pain that he went though but couldn't do a thing to save him."
Sentinel lay his head back down and started thinking about trying to find a new way out of the fortress; anyway that would spare Dusty more suffering like Steeley...
"I just can't watch another kid..."
Dusty put his head against Sentinel for what little comfort he could offer; it almost made the guard laugh that this young colt was reassuring the old stallion to keep his mind out of the melancholy pit of the past. Sentinel closed his eyes and waited for the fatigue to take him again, head lowering to the ground again and slow breathing another sign of his and Dusty's impending doom...
"- Their in here!"
Sentinel lost track of time again but he heard the rock being chipped at outside; rescue had come and the fire was out for who knows how long. Dusty no longer shivered against the cold but instead he felt stiff against the guard.
"...Help.." Sentinel said weakly.
"Out of the way!" A concerned female voice shouted, purple shine wrapping the rocks and ice and in a blinding flash they disappeared. Letting in the light and warmth of the sun but obscuring any vision that Sentinel might have left. The rescue was too late...Sentinel felt his head become heavy and his heart no longer had the strength to beat...
I want my son....
"No, no, no, no no no!" She echoed between heart shattered sobs...