You shouldn't trust me.

"why do you trust me?"

"Hm?"

The god shifted from his spot, perking up at the sudden question as they turned to look at the other, the feathered wings on his head shifting, almost in an uncomfortable motion.

"I mean, *why* do you trust me? You know what I've done."

His right-sided head wing shifted, hiding more of his eye while the other wing folded in as Senzai kept his gaze towards the rubble and dried-blood on the ground.

"I am *not* good, yet you come here still, I could — just, why?"

Silence hanged in the air as the moments passed, the stench of dried blood blurred from the rubble. A black substance splattered across some of the broken buildings and rubble, the other main 8 on patrol as the two stood in one of the many abandoned shops — Mal's face remained puzzled, then shifted to thoughtful as he glanced over towards a section, stepping over the rubble and reaching down, Senzai could only grit his teeth as his eye narrowed, looking off to the side.

"You can't just say you don't know, I know you do, this *entire place* shows you that I'm—"

"I don't think that way you could say"

His eye blinked in momentary surprise at the interruption, turning his gaze as Mal stood back up straight, now holding two cans of soda, looking out the broken window and towards the rubble that covered the district.

"Well, I do know what you've done, you aren't innocent, but I don't consider you a monster, and you shouldn't either"

Their shoes crushed against some pebbles as they stepped over the rubble, going back over to Senzai as he stood confused, the feathered wings lowering ever so slightly while the god offered him one of the sodas, although somewhat dented, it was still good — after a moment, he took it, simply holding it as he glanced down towards the beverage as the other tapped the lid slightly, the tab opening with a small fizz while his remained closed.

"I can't really do much physcially, but I'd like to think I've made progress helping you, don't you think?"

A small smile formed on the god's face as they looked towards Senzai as his eye narrowed at the sentence, keeping his gaze focused on the soda in hand.

"..I trust you, It may not seem logical but hey, they say you have to be a little crazy yourself to help crazy — in a nice way to put it!"

"....You called me crazy"

Mal blinked when Senzai finally spoke up, thinking back to the words he just spoke up as a bigger smile came to his face

"I called me crazy too! my reason for trusting you is crazy"

The god lifted up the soda, taking a drink as Senzai stared at the tab, putting a claw under it and pulling, the soda fizzing out. He closed his eye, opening it again once he heard a gagging cough as a black substance coated the ground more, Mal heaving heavily while the vision of his left eye was taken up more and more as the goo covered half of his face.

Desperately, the god tried to cover his eye, to try and retain his vision, only leading to the black substance spreading to his hand , panic rising as they felt another surge in their body, coughing out the substance once again onto the floor as they fell onto their knees — Senzai could only let out a heavy sigh, laced with regret that he could not stop now as he walked towards them. Mal's vision grew darker, the feeling of a heavy weight becoming increasingly more as his conscious struggled —

He expected them to have been harder to get, or perhaps time had passed quickly during the brief recollection, Senzai shook his head once, it was time for them to sleep before the pain hurt too much.