Gaius' throat closed up as he saw Faelan's pain, feeling it echoing his own. The reality of it was a weight on his chest stealing his breath, and he crumpled the letter in his hand, his fist shaking around the parchment. There was agony, most definitely, but anger was rising too, thick and hot as he saw the younger man attempting to deny the reality facing them both. It was so unnecessary! Sirius had gone and left him, left them, and for what? Some misguided belief that he was saving the world, as though what as happening had been his fault to begin with!
"He is," he said raggedly, his face so pale that his dark eyes seemed to blaze in his face. "I don't want to believe it, either, but he is. He chose this, without telling us... without giving us a chance to find another way!"