-
"It doesn't matter," he responded. "Madison has told me some about your kind. You're not as immortal as I once thought."
The assassin let his fingers run long her skin. The deep cracks and broken porcelain seemed mended... in a way. Instead of the inky black and seeping void of death, her tainted marks felt coarse to the touch like a wound scabbed over. Some areas seemed healed entirely and others left behind the pinkish hue of a minor scar. His gentle touch slowed and stopped over her stomach. She was quick to clutch his hand and move it aside.
"It that why I have this... thing inside me?" Scarlet hissed, her eyes downcast from his.
"No, that is not related." Lye moved his hand to her chin and forced her to look at him. Instead of a gentle gaze, he looked her over. Specifically, the golden trim that highlighted the depths of the darkness.
"You're a bomb." He let her free and stood to collect some herbs from his alchemy desk. "An unstable force of nature. I already knew this... to a degree."
"Not like that's steam science..." Scarlet muttered. She scooped the frayed and charred sheets around her and tried to cover her exposed nudity. Lye tossed a sideways glare over his shoulder before returning to his mixture.
"What I mean is, you need me. Haven't you noticed that this never got so out of control with... him?" He referenced her brother, keen to avoid the name in her sensitive state. "Despite his actions, you are dependent on another. A companion."
Lye returned to her with a flask of a light brownish color. It's aroma of floral and earthy notes wafted from its lip.
"Here," he offered it to her. "An herbal remedy to help relax the muscles and ease the mind."
With some hesitation, she took it from his hand.
"I don't understand." Scarlet held the drink cupped in her hands and stared blankly at it. "None of this makes any sense."
She felt Lye's hand on her back before he pulled her against him into an embrace. The action unsettled her, and he brows pursed together in confusion.
"Just relax," he cooed. "So long as you never leave me, you'll remain yourself. Keep your distance from anyone else in your past. That samurai included."
-
"Do you think I'm stupid?" I asked, staring down into the floral remedy that he had given me. I'd drink it, eventually. I knew that it couldn't possibly be anything that would be purely beneficial. No. Everything about him, it always had something else to it. Another reason. Another layer. Another motive.
My comment wasn't directed at the concoction I held between my fingers but at his comments. His insistence that I needed someone. Not just someone, but him. "Dependent on a companion..." I repeated his words as I rolled the flask gently to and fro watching as the liquid followed suit. I was aware of his hand against my back and the warmth that radiated from it. I wasn't sure if he was attempting to be genuinely kind or of it was some sort of ruse. I told myself it was a ruse. It always was with him.
With everyone really...
Finally, I spoke. "You've wanted me to stand strong on my own, but I wandered too far for your liking. You thought to have lost control over me." I glanced to the side but could not see his expression. My eyes were met with a tangled mess of red and the side of his torso. I closed my eyes. "You're trying to reign it in. You're trying to reign me in. As a bomb I'm useless, unless used as some form of final gambit." I paused.
I could hear the slow rhythmic beating of his heart from this position, the light thud, thud against my head. I spoke my next thoughts aloud. "Despite everything. You're still but a man." I wanted to feel something in this moment. I felt like I should feel something but there wasn't really anything there. Just reminiscent things stirring beneath a scarred surface. Emotions and feelings I couldn't quite grasp. It was tiring to say the least.
"You don't have to lie to me. I had already made that decision on my own. I don't need anyone else. Everyone else..." I paused, furrowing my brows as my eyes met the liquid. "They tell worse lies. The kind made to build you up only to tear you down. The kind that promises some sort of happy ending."
One hand left the flask and found its way to loop around his upper leg. I squeezed it tightly. "You're stuck with me. And I you." I rose the flask to my lips and let the liquid fall past into my mouth, it swirled around in a myriad of bitter sweetness before I swallowed. It was thicker than I expected. Lye was a master Alchemist and I knew whatever he planned to wash over me, would do so in mere minutes...seconds.
"You once said I would go mad trying to understand you." I lifted my head, which was heavy ever so slightly off his shoulder so I could gaze into his dead emerald eyes. "I think I already have. This...thing...is a liability." His face held no reaction. I sighed as I let my head fall to his lap.
"You once said that there will be a time where we will fight, and I would be the one to take your life. People are coming for you. You're on edge. I will fight them, I will rip them all apart." My words were soft, I felt tired. "Lye..." The way I said his name, nestled there in his lap, I wasn't sure what emotion it was, but it was...something.
"If it comes to it, I'll be damned if I let anyone take you but me."
-
Shattered Soul and Heart.
No Judgement
Rewards:
Lye receives:
1540 EXP
110 Gold
Amari receives:
1615 EXP
140 Gold
Tainted Bushido receives:
125 EXP
15 Gold
Inclusive of Amari's Noble Commerce ability.
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all rewards have been added.