[ She'd never liked the thought of it-- the fact of it, really. The Saints had always been willing to lay down their lives for what they believed in, and that cause tended to be (for the most part) to protect their goddess and the world they lived in. They had always been prepared to fight to the death, to live short lives (and she wonders if Dohko will forgive her, briefly) and when Sisyphus had swept into a kneel before her and sworn to protect her even beyond death...

She had dearly hoped it wouldn't come to that. But it had, and he had kept his promise, fulfilled his duty-- he had no further obligation to her. ]

You've been my support countless times, Sisyphus... but you have no duty to me anymore.

[ If she cries in earnest now, she isn't sure when she'll be able to stop. Before that happens... she wants to do this much for him, to gather up what strength she still has.

And so, even with watering eyes, she smiles. ]

I am no longer your goddess. Merely Sasha.

[ She's certain he's noticed by now, that the overwhelming and gentle cosmos she'd possessed was no longer there. ]