Disclaimer: No one is delusional enough to think I hold copyright on this.

Warnings: Would death be a warning?

A/N: The foreshadowing went 'boom'. And I decided that Shingen needed more love, although he doesn't actually… do… much. But we've seen a good bit of him, so really, I think it's alright. And I actually don't mention the outcome of the battle :o ...Huh.

Locked in a Cage
16
(Angels Fall Down)

He witnessed it.

He saw it; heard it. He was there, and knew the rawness of reality right before his eyes.

It hurt.

He didn't move from where he stood – despite how much he wanted to turn away from the sight – as one of them (dressed in blue, although it was hard to tell with the blood that now stained it) struggled to stand.

The person who stood before them did nothing to help; completely still, as if in shock. The spears he had been using to wreck havoc not long ago lay on the blood-stained ground, left to roll away.

Someone, not very far away at all, was sobbing brokenly. Like there was no more hope in the world, and perhaps death was the only answer left for them.

And it felt like there was nothing left.

The stench sickened him to the core, yet he remained there (still unable to turn away) as they continued to cry for the loss – the pain that was definitely there.

They had been gods and goddesses, yet, when it all came down to it, they were still human. And humans shouldn't have had to face such horrors. It was as if evil had caught them in its relentless hold, and had dragged them down.

Tears ran unchecked, as he watched the one dressed in black collapse before his fallen companion, the reality finally touching the corners of his mind.

What Shingen saw, he hated.

But he still could not turn away from it. This was the reality he had accepted.