Another groan, more frustrated than angry this time. He himself doesn't know what he wanted to hear, an excuse for having failed? A confirmation that it had been him? Would it have made a difference? No, he doesn't really care if she called or if he just missed it, at the end of it the result is the same. He failed her.

Ikki turns and takes a few steps towards the door, turns again to approach the bed, and soon he finds himself pacing around the room. Like a caged tiger. Again. Again. Years after it. He's stronger. Older. More experienced. And he still failed the same way. Selphie is safe, alive and back where she should be while in this world, but not thanks to him. Not thanks to anything he did. "Who was the one that found you?" Maybe he could learn from them, who knows.