“Caellus!” shouted the assassin. His voice bounded and echoed off the walls, stirring motion from some of the cells’ occupants. Silence worked its way back into the dungeons until the signature percussion of boots on stairs grew to the foreground. Caellus emerged around the corner. Sure enough, his left eye was shadowed by bruises and bandages. The little succubus did not lie about their exchange.

“Sir?” Caellus asked with a strain. His hand gripped at the linens wrapped around his torso. Past his fingers and through the white, blood from a re-opened wound began to spread.

“Our new guest, please see to his injuries,” Lye ordered with no concern toward his associates’ own condition.

Caellus nodded with a snarl. The servant closed the cell behind him and began tending to the samurai before Lye turned for the stairs. His boot landed on the first step before he paused and turned a smile toward the Ixian. Then, he continued on to join Amari in their quarters.

She sat comfortably on the throw in front of the fireplace, his leather jacket crumpled on the floor beside her. The flames of the fire were small. Just lit. She glanced over her bare shoulder at him as he came in, her black and red eyes stared at him for a moment before she turned back toward the fire. “Come morning, I will deal with the ronin. I’ll break him, and give him the tools to become something more, something entirely beneficial to the hand- and if I break him beyond repair-” Scarlet shrugged. “Then I suppose Advencia will have a full meal, as will the boars.”She said evenly, standing she lifted her arms high above her head and stretched.

So many accomplishments in a day, but as he looked at the cracked demoness in front of him, the air of success grew stale. What stood before him didn’t feel like a colleague, or even a person for that matter. She felt like a force of nature embodied.

“Fine,” the word left his lips flat and devoid of his devilish interest. “If any of the Ixian remains in him, I would like to know more about his fellow survivors.” The assassin walked behind Amari. His hand cupped at the back of her head, turning her gaze toward his. Black cracks etched across fair skin, her deep green and gold eyes now demonic sclera with piercing red. He saw no fear, no happiness, no sorrow, regret, determination. He saw nothing.

She turned to Lye, black and red eyes glancing up and down his form as though assessing his worth. “I can’t believe I actually loved you, what stupid notions I had…” She glanced away, her eyes turning to the fire. “To think I wanted nothing more than to see you smile in earnest. I suppose that is what drove most of my actions.” A cold laugh erupted from Scarlet as she shook her head. “How pathetic, honestly. I have to admire your patience. I’d have done away with someone like that long ago. Talk about stockholm syndrome. Hah.” She shook her head, and looked up at him. “You have your doubts, even now, don’t you?” She asked.

“I do,” he replied hesitantly. Despite their progress, Amari always returned with some moral plight to pull her back to the world Lye so desperately fought to expose. He searched his mind for more words to say, but kept his lips sealed. He lost the way to express the creeping dread and uncertainty inside.

Scarlet padded across the floor toward him, “Here.” Before he could resist, or fight, she had her fingers pressed against his temples, urging him to rest back against the bed. The world around him blurred and warped, and with one last gasp, he was trapped in her memories.

Memories of their time together, of her alone. Fighting, always fighting. With herself, with others, her own emotions. The emotions, they weighed heavily on Lye’s chest. He saw himself through her eyes, and felt pangs of pain, concern, and worry. All things Amari had once felt for him. He watched as she carefully pat away beads of sweat from his head as he slept, and stole kisses from his unconscious form. He felt something he had thought he forgot, something that was lost to him in another life.

Love.

It was earnest, and cautious, but it was there - and he watched through her eyes, as he literally beat the sentimental feelings out of her. Hissing words of warnings. He felt the ache she felt.

Too labored with her influence, the back of his mind struggled against a chained nostalgia. These feelings, both hers and her own, cried out from the recesses of his mind. They clawed at the forefront and skewed her visions into his own memories.

As they came in waves and snippets, small glimpses into the life she lived, and how she lived it for him. Finally, the memories died down, spiralled into the moment she stopped fighting her corruption. His chest burned and ached, then there was an overwhelming feeling of emptiness as she pulled away. Breathing heavily. Her own eyes clouded by the shared effect of her ability.

Scarlet stumbled back a few feet, hitting the fire poker with her back. It clambered to the floor, she pressed her back against the stone of the hearth and slid down. It took a few minutes for her to regain her composure.

“That’s all gone now.” She muttered darkly. “So really… I should thank you.”

His eyes burned. To what effect, he blamed her influence. The pit of rage inside him welled for a moment and snuffed out pathetically to something stronger. Of what, he felt unsure, but he felt confused. Where was his fire, his anger? She couldn’t do that to him, she should pay. But… had she already paid?

He looked up at her through the recoil of whatever she did. His emerald eyes glistened in the firelight and brimmed at the lids. Even with his brows furrowed in anger, the expression lacked the honed edge of a knife.

“You…” he began, truly unclear how he wanted to continue that sentence. “Don’t do that to me again.”


The command fell weak from his lips as if it were not earnest. He rose from the bed, her hands sloughing off him as opposed to his aggressive deflection or iron grip. From there, he walked to the corner of their room and braced himself against the wall. Head hung low, he glanced to the mannequin where Isabelle’s dress used to sit.