“Hunter?”

It was accidental, she had not meant to press her lips to his. She knew how much of a issue he had with it, but this? This seemed like he was in pain. It looked as though he were about to lash out at her in any moment. So Scarlet shifted away from him. She slipped her coat on.

“I can go.” she said. “I’ll find an empty room and break in.” Scarlet offered.

“n-n-n-no” His body shook, his hands buried in his hair, and he managed to force the word out through clenched teeth. “n-n-not y-y-your fault.”

Scarlet narrowed her gaze. “Oh? It fuckin’ looks like it. Be honest with me. Fuck. The hell is wrong with you?” She stepped closer and pried his hands away from his hair. “What is wrong with you?” She repeated. Silver eyes spun wildly, the black pupils settling on her.

“head. Like when - tried to remember past. Worse. Lot worse.” Fucking hell - were his eyes bleeding? What the fuck happened to him? She had seen similar...but she didn’t think.

“Someone doesn’t want you knowing something.” Scarlet said calmly, sitting back on the bed. “Something has triggered a connection to that. Your brain is struggling to comprehend with that.”

“n-n-not f-fucking kidding.” He gasped out.

“I can make it stop.” Scarlet suggested. She wasn’t sure how true her words were. “I can dig back further, but you won’t like it.” wild silver latched onto gold-rimmed black.

“I - d-d-don’t want to forget you. A-anything but that.” He forced the words out from between clenched lips.

“Fine.” Scarlet pressed her fingers against his temples, her own head began to thrum with the pain that he was feeling. She caught wisps of things. A tiny drow child - a woman with long red hair, braids wrapped around braids, with wisps of her fringe framing her face. Brilliant green and gold eyes stared out from dark skin. She was short, ample, graceful. The three of them. A family?

Scarlet hesitated.

He actually did have a family? Or was this another fake memory?

Then - blood. She felt a boot pressed against her face, holding her head to the ground. In front of her, tiny, lifeless eyes, staring blankly, a short, stubby arm fallen to the floor, reaching in her direction. Blood pooling around a gaping wound in the chest.

“You fucking magic freaks. Seducing good men like this!” The woman from before, struggling, forced to her knees - and disemboweled. Her stomach ripped open in front wide eyes, and an undeveloped form fell out in a shower of blood. Then - blinding silverlight.

Scarlet drew away. Pensive. She didn’t think those were fake. Fake memories fell apart, they had slivers of lines, threads that could pull everything apart. These were heavily cemented. Real.

“Ky’lin!” A raw, jagged, pained scream tore from the huntsman's mouth. He sagged, a puppet with its strings cut. His body shook.

“Should I leave you be?” Scarlet asked. Something like that, generally warranted time alone. The man shook his head, the only motion other than the shakes. Which were slowly slowly fading. Scarlet was useless at this. At comforting people. Her profession was inflicting pain. Not fixing it.

“Well. I guess that’s another fuckin’ rabbit hole for you to figure out eh?” Scarlet said. A rough laugh tore from his lips - and he slowly sat back. When he wiped his eyes and opened them - the silver was brighter. Shining now. “That’s new.” Scarlet said as she gestured toward his eyes.

“wh-What is.” Despite asking, he lifted one hand up - and caught the soft silver shine on his dark skin. “Ah.” His hand dropped, and he took in a deep, deep breath. Then let it out slowly.

“It's - I'm OK now.”

“Really?” Scarlet asked with skepticism. “Moments before you were writhing around in pain. I only caught snippits of what you remembered, but that’s not exactly ‘fine’ now is it?”

“Well. Not OK. Not fine. I hurt. Moon, do I hurt. But - I know why now. And my head isn't what hurts anymore.” He tapped his chest. “This is. There will be no more frantic motions. So - please.” He patted the bed near him.

“I am not sure I am what you need right now Hunter.” Scarlet said. He snorted. She sighed and shrugged off the jacket and climbed back into the bed.

“For what I ‘need’ she's - dead. Has been for decades. Right now - I need the same thing as you. The warmth of another person nearby.”

Scarlet scoffed. “Right. All I need is to not loose sight of my goals.” She turned to glance at the man who was practially glowing with a silver light. Ironic. If she were healthier she’d be glowing with a golden light. He was that distraction.

“You’re a distraction.” Scarlet said as she nestled back next to him, curling her body around his. He let out a deep breath, and she felt his body relax as he wrapped his arms around her.

“And so are you. But you're warm.”

“What do you need right now?” Scarlet asked. “Just for tonight, give me one thing you need and I’ll give it to you. We can finish our fuck. I can lie with you. I can leave. One thing.” The man had gone through a lot, and she owed him at least that much. He sighed and she felt him bury his face in her hair.

“For tonight? Just - let me hold you. We were already going to do that.” His voice was strained. “As much as I would love to continue our fuck - I don't think right now I could muster the viciousness to give you what you need.”

Scarlet nodded and curled her body around his, again she was pressed half on top of him. Not just out of necessity but from his request. She pressed her hand up to his thumping heart and the other rose up to cup his cheek. She felt wetness. He had been crying.

She couldn’t fault him for that.

“Anything else?” She asked. This time, he didn't use words. He took her chin in one hand, and tilted her lips back. The kiss was warm, and a bit salty from the tears - and tangy, the tang of his skin. He pulled back slightly.

“You - I wanted to do that before.”

Scarlets eyes were wide. He had made it adamantly clear. Painfully so that a kiss was not something he’d ever give. Ever. Not unless he felt affection. Feelings. Scarlet dare not think further on what he may have felt, that was dangerous territory. She took a small breath and pinned it down to the fact that he was grieving and that Scarlet was a replacement or his wife right now.

“And now I have to sort all that back out again. Fuck. Just when I had it down that - well it doesn't matter now. Anything I say right now is going to be - suspect.”

Scarlet pressed her lips against his again to silence him. He didn’t need to worry about sorting things out, he didn’t need to lament over what ifs or what could be. He needed and wanted warmth and comfort. Scarlet was a lot of things, a murderer, a monster, a heartless bitch, but she was also a woman of her word.

He groaned against her lips. “If you keep kissing me I am going to want a lot more, dawn girl.” The Hunter was still in there it seemed. She pressed forward. Scarlet knew he didn’t need sex. Frankly, she didn’t need it either. Despite her earlier feelings she could go back to not worrying about it. Albeit a little harder than before now she knew what she was missing. Still, it was not what her world revolved around.

Her lips pried his open and she kissed him, slowly, softly and with a gentle murmur before pulling away. His hands had come up and cupped her ass, squeezing as she kissed him - and his silver eyes were locked on hers. He took in a slow, trembling breath. She felt the fingers gripping her dig in tighter, bruising her flesh.

“That’s not what you need.” Scarlet said. “Grip any part of me as tight as you want, but we won’t go any further.” There was a wry quirk on his lips.

“And if what I said I needed was you?” His voice was soft. Taunting. He was trying to push it down, and cope with it. Normally, she wouldn’t give a fuck. If that was what he originally asked for Scarlet would have obliged. She would have wrapped her legs around his waist and bounced hard on him.

“I said you got one. You already had that. You’re getting greedy. So no.” He let out a laugh and shook his head once, and closed his eyes. The silver glow cut off as he did so. His arms shifted upwards, pulling her back down, holding her again.

“Very well. Then I guess I'd better get my worth out of what I did ask for.”

“Not my damn fault you asked for the boring thing.” Scarlet muttered as she shut her eyes. Listening to the heavy and fast thump of his heart. She could feel his erection against her leg as it shifted to wrap around him. Well, he wasn’t lying about wanting her at least.

Scarlet was….admittedly confused. The man, it almost seemed like he had some sort of feelings for her but that wouldn’t be it. That was idealistic thinking. She was just growing attached cause he picked her up and out of a bad situation today. Something that Scarlet knew happened. They nearly fucked - well. They did. But not for long. That was hard.

Then she goes and fucks with his brain and he wanted to kiss her? That was confusing. No - no he only kissed those he was close to and Scarlet wasn’t close to him. Sure they had a lot in common but that was that. The two of them were adamant about not forming relationships and not bothering with feelings or emotions.

So why did this feel so strange?