Best Friends Forever

[Briarheart]

[[Closed to Amari.]]

For the first time in... shit, ever, I was at peace.

No, like... Actually, finally, completely chill.

Not a single care floated around in my noggin. Nothing was wrong anymore! It was just me, an overwhelming sense of relief, and the cold embrace of the abyss.

I was dead.

Finally fucking dead.

Horray! Go me!

After months and months of trying to get myself killed, I finally did it! ...well, we did it. Me and Amari. My ol' friend. Best friends, until the very end. Tried to take her with me, just to stick it to Ulroke one last time, that silver-haired fuck. Take away his last grasp at power and the backup she had in the oven. But, nah; it wasn't meant to be. The baby wanted her alive--and we all know the moment you have a kid, it is in full control of your next nine years until you can sell it for labor in the mines.

...The company would've been nice, though. As it turns out, death was pretty boring by yourself. But, on the plus side, I didn't get to see any of the charred, cut up, or chewed remains of any of the villagers we killed! That would've been pretty awkward, right?





I wonder how Hyperion is doing.





Hopefully she hasn't gone into the basement.

That's the last thing she needs. Poor thing, it'd break her heart to read all those journal entries I wrote. The ones inked with desperation and depression. The ones about how I wanted to find a way to kill myself. The ones where I talk about how I'm being consumed with madness, and her increasingly incessant attempts to cheer me up were going to get her hurt.



Oh well. What's done is done.

I'm dead, and she's not.

I hope she finds her own peace, once she's done freaking out about me disappearing in the night.

I bet that's what she's doing right now. Crying, screaming, calling out for me, even though my ashes are blowing in the wind half a world away. Poor thing'll move on eventually, I suppose. I just wished I could remember if I programmed her with the ability to accept that I'm well and truly gone. I'd hate for her to spend the rest of her life wasting away in the old fort.

There's only one thing left to wonder, though. Something picking away at me in the back of my mind. Like the tiniest needle poking me.

If I'm dead, well and truly dead...

...why am I able to think?







No.



NO.



NO. NO NO NO! NONONONONONONONO HOW DARE YOU WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU CAN'T FUCKING DO THIS TO ME

When I came to, it was in the pitch black of nighttime. A chill in the air rattled my bones, and there was just the slightest pain in my neck. I reached up with a briar-knit hand and wrapped my fingers around something that was dangling across my shoulder. With a quick yank, I ripped it free and brought it up for closer inspection in the shining amber light of my eyes. The object was the shattered top of a small glass vial attached to a silver necklace. Strange.

Not nearly as strange as the fact that I was apparently sitting on someone.

Glancing down at the stranger, I could barely make out the soft, angled features and gold-rimmed eyes of a familiar face. As if the mop of crimson hair wasn't a dead giveaway.

And here I sat upon the Ar'Tuel, completely buck-ass naked, bearing myself in a way that I'd never done before. All my vines hanging out all gross-like and shit. Thankfully the candles in her quarters had already been snuffed for the evening.

“'Sup,” I said, thinking of nothing better to say. I wiggled my tush around just a little bit, adjusting to the odd sensation of her squishy curves underneath my cheeks, getting a better seat on Amari's chest. “You're still fat, I see.”

[Amari]

ok so this still requires some editing but its better than it was. Still on pain killers and nosleep what is life

----

Scarlet was by no means a heavy sleeper, however, as of late, she had been so exhausted. So run down...that the only time she did sleep was when she was at breaking point. When her body could simply no longer function. Sometimes...she'd pass out mid sentence, other times - with her blade deep in a mans chest. (This happened once, Advencia had to wrestle the blade away from her and drag her ass back to the bed.) something about something here, to tie into the next sentence So her initial reaction to many a pound of writhing plant and womanly charm upon her form was not to awaken and rip apart whatever was on top of her.

Instead Scarlet gave a small murmur and reached out with splayed hands, still blacked by the corruption that swelled from deep within her turbulent soul. They grasped at whatever matted ball of vines they could - which just so happened to be Madisons' waist and pulled tight. Gripping the writhing plant woman tightly to her in an unconscious hug. Most would wake at the feeling of a probably angry writhing plantlike woman ontop of them.

Most were not Scarlet.

The redheaded assassin sighed wistfully and pressed herself into the crook of Madisons neck. The Briarheart responded with a sharp inhale then with reciprocation. The gnarled vines that represented her maw gently rubbed against Scarlets cheek and four glowing eyes closed as Madison's body eased into Scarlets sleeping form. Scarlet didn't wake.

It wasn't until the vines that enguled Madisons hands had wrapped her in a half-hug and had cut off Scarlets circulation did she cough, and with a groan pushed Madison off her. "Fuckin'...what? WHAT? Advencia fuck off."

"Not Advencia sweetheart, and quite frankly. I'm insulted." Madison spat back.

Now, Scarlet was used to hearing Madison's snarky voice in her head. The only problem was this was not in her head. This was beside her. It took a few moments for Scarlet to shake the shroud of sleep from her mind. "Madison, the fuck you doing in my bed?"

There was a moments pause before Scarlet scrambled backward, not so gracefully doing a backflip off the bed to land on her quite naked ass. Two red snakes sprouted from her back and hovered behind her, hissing in Madisons direction. Scarlets hand whipped up to her neck, where the vial containing Madisons ashes usually sat. It was gone. Broken. All that remained was a shattered glass shard and a smattering of leftover ash across her clavicle.

"Wait? What the actual fuck? Madison?"

Scarlet felt her breath catch in her throat. She felt her chest constrict. Who the hell did Madison think she was? She fucking died. She died and now she was sitting there on the bed, no doubt stark naked, as though everything was fuckin' hunky dory? That wasn't fair. That wasn't fair!

"This isn't fuckin' fair!" Scarlet spat as she pushed herself up off the ground, wincing as she held her still healing abdomen. Fucking kid. Fucking magicyte poisoning.

"You got to be dead! You got your release! What did I get!" Amari slapped her chest, between her breasts. She had to deal with the loss of her best and only friend. She had to deal with the reality of what she was. Nothing. She had to be taken away to some Dark-Elf-Dickweed to have the kid ripped out of her so she could run the hell hole known as the Seventh Sanctum. Lye was gone, thayne knows where. And now she was here. Picking up the damn pieces.

She hurt. She really fucking hurt.

"You can't just do that to me!" Scarlet gulped as she broached the gap between the two. She gripped Madisons shoulders and squeezed hard. There was smoke rising from where her skin made contact with the vines, an unwitting effect of her corrupted body. "You can't just leave an come back! That's not ...." Scarlet lowered her head, shaking it as red curtains of hair fell in cascades over her bare shoulders.

Her voice broke, shaking, barely above a whisper.

"I missed you."

[Briarheart]

Even though her body and soul were still corrupted, her mere touch able to destroy my body if she held me long enough, I did not fight Amari's sleepy embrace. My waxy green flesh smoldered and cracked underneath her blackened fingers as she held me. The newly-regenerated briarheart beating hard and fast inside my chest kicked into gear, sending out pulses of healing energy to fix the damage the scarlet-haired assassin was causing.

I just laid there, completely stunned, unsure of what to do.

The Maddy from several.... how ever long I was out--the unit of measurements for those; days, weeks, months, whatever--however many of those ago would've punched hundreds of sharp, poisoned thorns into her soft, pale flesh. Then I would've scolded her and wagged a briar-knit finger in the air while she writhed on the floor a bleeding, dizzy, nauseous mess.

But... Even though she was unknowingly trying to kill me again (and doing a poor job of it, I might add!), I felt something odd stirring inside me. Something foreign and unfamiliar.

I couldn't stop myself from wrapping my arms around the woman as she nestled her face in the space between my neck and shoulder. I pulled Amari closer, closing my eyes and breathing in deep. I... I missed her dearly. I shouldn't have pulled her into the airship. Shouldn't have forced her to slaughter a village and then me in an attempt to end my existence. I couldn't imagine what she must've gone through since then. Being forced to tear your best friend's heart out and completely atomize her body can't be good for your mental state.

These suspicions were confirmed when the Ar'Tuel finally realized what was going on, tumbled out of bed, and summoned up a couple crimson snakes ready to bite the shit out of me.

While the assassin woke up in a hurry, I rolled over to the edge of the bed and sat up, elbows resting on my knees, a soft glow in my amber eyes. I sat there in complete silence while Amari let me have it, screaming at the top of her lungs, her disbelief of my unwanted resurrection bleeding over into pure hysteria about how I died but didn't take her with me. I winced as she latched onto my shoulders, shaking me, smoke rising from where my flesh was burning away bit by bit. But I remained silent. Let her get it out of her system.

It wasn't long before she broke down completely, the initial shock beginning to wear off. In that moment I could see how exhausted the woman was, her head hung low, red locks of hair cascading down and covering up her face. Her whispered admission cut me to my core. Those three words, "I missed you", made me realize how much of a selfish idiot I was that day in the snowy wastes, covered in blood and death.

All I ever wanted was the best for her. A poor noble's daughter, touched by a lineage left by the wayside by the march of time, kidnapped and coerced by a madman who molded her into his personal assassin and mother to his heir. In my own insanity, I thought stoking the corrupting fires that burned inside her until she exploded was the answer to both her problems and mine. But something kept Amari alive--and she continued to suffer, Lichensith's plans continuing to unfold all around her, nobody for her to confide in, nobody to save her.

...Gods above, I'm an asshole.

An awkward stinging sensation in my eyes reminded me that I had tear ducts, and they too had regrown. My shoulder protested as I reached up, grabbing the woman by the back of her head and weaving my fingers into her hair. Slowly, I urged her closer, until I could press my forehead against hers.

I closed my eyes before whispering, "Amari... I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that to you."

Had I said anything more, the cracks in my voice would've given way to sobbing. Can't be doing that; I have an image to maintain.

[Amari]

"Amari... I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that to you."


Scarlet had so much to say to those words. So many thoughts and responses ran through her head. Damn fuckin' right Madison shouldn't have. Where was Scarlet's death? Where was her reprieve from this wretched and cold world? Why the fuck did Madison get to go out in a literal blaze of glory whilst Scarlet picked up the pieces? And why did the plant-ridden bitch think she had the right to use a dead name like Amari?

"Amari is dead and you know it." Scarlet muttered as she pulled away from Madison and pushed crimson hair back and away from her face. Her trembling breathing stilled as she attempted to regain her composure. She was the current leader of the Crimson Hand, at last until Lye returned. She had to... she had to be strong and do away with stupid emotional outbursts like this. Fuck, its what got her in this mess in the first place. It's what got Madison killed. Granted..by her... but still.

Scarlet had always allowed Madison to call her by that name, a name that belonged to a person who no longer existed. Someone who had hope, someone who loved unconditionally and chased idealistic dreams and notions. Someone who wanted more for the world and those around her. Scarlet never really commented on Madisons use of her name. Madison was her best, and only friend. Scarlet didn't mind because when Madison called her Amari...it made her feel less empty, less alone but hearing that name from Madisons briarknit lips...she wasn't sure how to feel about it anymore.

"I always heard you. You had snide remarks about every fuckin' little thing I did..." She muttered as she stood and headed over to a dress mannequin. "Telling me I should drink more, even though I was pregnant. Chiding me for sleeping with the drow. Telling me he was an ass for taking advantage of a weeping woman...." Scarlet continued, speaking absently as she picked up a thick, plush dressing gown from the mannequin and draped it over herself. The black material dragged against the floor as she walked over to the closet. "Was that you? Was that actually you?" Scarlet asked as she turned over to look at Madison.

The briarheart woman shifted awkwardly on the floor, her four yellowed eyes seemingly shifting away from Scarlet. "No. You were just batshit insane. Listen I-"

'WOMPF'

Whatever words Madison had to say were muffled and lost in a ball of wrinkled clothing that Scarlet had thrown at her. Nothing too fancy, a pair of pants. An old shirt and jacket. All belonging to Lye. Scarlet doubted Madison wanted to wear any dresses - and she wanted to keep what little useful clothing she had for herself. Lye wasn't here. He wouldn't miss them.

Madisons face scrunched up as she began pawing through the discarded material. "Smells like sadness and anger."

"Mmm... I could really use that right now." There was a pause. Scarlet shook her head. "Lye, not the sadness or anger. I have enough of that in spades." Turning back to face Madison Scarlet gestured toward the door. "Shall I get a retainer to bring us some hot chocolate? I am sure you have a lot of questions. I think we both do."

[Briarheart]

At just the mere mention of hot chocolate, my mouth began to water. If there was anything I could be thankful for now that I'm alive again, its that I get to have that stuff once more. Sweet, chocolaty goodness. With a bit of honey, a pile of marshmallows, and just a pinch of ground red pepper.

"Sure," I said as I began putting on Lye's old clothes. It felt great to not feel the cold Salvar air kissing every inch of my exposed shame, even if it meant wearing the assassin's rags.

Ama--excuse me.

Scarlet called out to a guard to have some delivered to her chamber. I stood there, looking like a right idiot, the pants just a couple sizes too big in the waist and long in the leg, the shirt falling all over my upper body, the jacket draped over my shoulders like a tarp.

I examined myself in the mirror, or tried to--the glare from the lights of my eyes shone too brightly on the reflective surface--before turning to the Heir Apparent of the Crimson Hand. "How do I look," I asked with an arched eyebrow.

Scarlet's lips pursed as she took in every detail. "Like a cactus fell into a hamper."

The same could be said about you, I thought bitterly as I continued to adjust the outfit bit by bit with some pins and clips that were stashed on a nearby vanity.

The two of us remained silent for the next couple minutes, occupied with our own thoughts. I couldn't tell you how upset I was that my grand exit turned into nothing more than an extended nap. I worked so hard to make sure I couldn't come back. Tried so many times, tried so many ways. That stupid weed growing in my chest, beating behind my ribs, pulsating with fresh life. I wish I could tear it out and toss it into the fireplace, but that was one of the first things I tried however long ago it was that I tried them.

I... I had so many questions. A lot of them started with why. A few started with how. There were a handful of who's and when's and what's, but I'd get around to them eventually.

The chamber's door creaked on its rusty hinges as I was about to ask the first of many things. A familiar figure emerged from the shadows of the hallway. She was short, blond, exceptionally pretty by necessity, and incredibly surprised to see not one but two people in her master's room. It was a surprise that her massive knockers didn't carry her momentum forward any further and knock the two steaming mugs off the silver tray she held.

Advencia's eyes blinked furiously as her jaw opened and closed repeatedly before finally stammering out a single word. "M-Madison?"

"No," I smirked. "It's Britney, bitch."

The succubus stood frozen, her gaze fixated on me as I approached and snatched the two hot cocoas off the tray. "Thanks, sweetie," I said as I turned to hand Am-- Scarlet one. Gods above, this name thing was going to be rough. She used to not care if I called her by Amari. But I suspect that after what I pulled on her, I no longer have that privilege.

I brought my drink up to my lips and took a good, long drink. It was plain hot chocolate, of course. Apparently nobody else bothered to teach the rest of these assholes how to brew up a proper mug of the stuff. Nor had they restocked the marshmallows. Those were always my favorite bit.

Closing my eyes and savoring the flavor anyway, despite the small aftertaste of disappointment, I exhaled deeply. I didn't want to have this conversation. I wished terribly that I was still dead, my consciousness still offline, my bits still floating in the aether while my body remained in a commemorative vial around Scarlet's neck.

But, it had to be done, I suppose.

"So," I finally asked the Ar'Tuel. "How long was I gone? What have I missed?"

[Amari]

Scarlet had dragged furniture around the room. The movement clearly bothered her as she winced from the pain that ebbed from her abdomen, such an easy task clearly took more out of her than it should. She was still recovering from being forced to give an early birth, along with magicyte poisoning - one of her few but most dire weaknesses. With a bit of effort she had cleared up a side table and set two chairs on either side of it. Quaint. Cute. Intimate. Definitely not the words that would usually describe Scarlet, nor Madison.

Then again the redheaded assassin never expected to be sitting across from her former best friend, no, still best friend? She wasn't sure... regardless. She didn't expect to be sitting across from her nursing a cup of hot chocolate. "I used to keep a stash of Marshmellows on hand for you, but - you've been dead for several months. What happened in that time?" Scarlet sighed as she leaned back in the uncomfortable wrought iron chair. "What hasn't fuckin' happened? I don't know where to begin, and I know you hate my rants."

Madison cleared her throat. "Actually. I want to hear. All of it." Madison shifted her softly glowing eyes up to Scarlet. She was serious. Pensive, but serious.

Well.

That was new.

"I...well...Okay." Scarlet began, feeling equally as awkward as Madison. The assassin shifted her weight, looping her leg around the chair she shifted it closer toward the Briarheart. No longer were they sitting opposite each other, bu close enough that their shoulders touched. Scarlet never feared Madison. Not for a moment. Even when she was innocent, when they had first met - she had held nothing but respect, and curiosity for the plant woman.

Scarlet wasn't sure where to start, so she started just after Madisons death. How Scarlet had saught to end her own life, but no matter how hard she tried the child inside her would not allow it. That in a drunken mess of a night she bedded a powerful drow whom she had taken on as her personal Hunter. Scarlet smirked at how Madison almost spat out her drink when she explained exactly who hunter was. How he was close to a thousand years old, that she was his wife in a previous life.

Scarlet sighed, "I swear - silver hair, it must be a fettish for me at this point. I think the only man I've fucked that hasn't had silver hair was the Telgradian." She lifted her cup to take a deep drink of the sickly sweet hot chocolate. "So don't go dying your plant tendrils silver, I may just jump you next."

Madison stilled and set her own cup on the table with a heavy thud. Oh, that's right. She was very anti sex. Oops.

[Briarheart]

And listen to it all I did.

Scarlet scooched her chair closer to mine, and we sat there, leaning against one another, watching the dull fire crackling in the fireplace and sipping hot chocolate while she filled me in on everything that happened in the months I was dead.

Apparently Ulroke was still fucking about with whatever agenda he had. The assassin hadn't shown his face around the Seventh Sanctum since before I dropped in with that airship.

Oh, and the Ar'Tuel had her kid, which was evident by the lack of bump on her. It was an emergency birth, though--induced by magicyte, which had poisoned her so bad that she was still feeling the effects of it. The kid was being raised by Advencia (who I'm sure was absolutely thrilled about the task), stashed away in a place where Lye wouldn't be able to find it should he ever return.

And then she found another guy to bang. No surprise there, really. Did kind of shock me that the dude was over a thousand years old, and that Scarlet discovered she was his wife in a former life. It's a small world after all, isn't it?

But then she told me about the times she tried to kill herself, overcome with grief and stress after our... after our little adventure in a remote village in the snowy wastes that no longer existed. Just the pain and sadness in the woman's voice as she opened herself up to me... I felt like I should say something to comfort her, to tell her everything was going to be alright--except, yeah, I was a few months late to that party. And a lot of this was my fault to begin with.

Fucking... what would Hype do whenever I unloaded on her? Whatever it was, that always seemed to help make me feel better.

But she was specifically designed with a sort of healing aura and comforting pheromones... A custom-engineered Hug Elemental who would diffuse any situation with a smile and an embrace.

I'm just a pile of acid and plague wrapped in vines and moss.

It didn't stop me from trying to be a good friend, though. T'was the least I could do after tricking her into helping me commit suicide, right?

Flipping through my memory for how Hype went about this sort of thing for a moment, I snaked my arm around the backside of Scarlet's chair. Slowly, ever so slowly, I reached up with my briar-knit fingers, softly buried them in the Ar'Tuel's hair, and began running them through her crimson locks, tracing thin lines along the curves of her head as she continued to spill her guts out. Sensing that she might need just a bit more of... of whatever this is called, I gently tilted her head towards mine until we were resting against one another.

Hype would also softly hum a song while she did this, but fuck that I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket to save my life.

As I continued to run my fingers through her hair, I could feel wisps of her corrupted soul leeching into my skin, slowly nibbling away at the waxy surface of my vines while my briarheart woke the hell up and started to heal the damage. Thankfully, it was more of a dull itching sensation than outright burning, both on the side of my head and in my fingertips. But I'm a big girl. I could take it.

What I couldn't take, though, was Scarlet's joke about dying my vines silver and jumping me. I nearly choked on my cocoa, and had to set my cup down on the table. Everything was now incredibly awkward--the chamber's walls were closing in, the air grew thicker with the silence. Take a deep breath, don't make eye contact.

"But you should totally make things even worse," my asshole brain commanded.

And so I did.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," I said, a dismissive chuckle rolling off my tongue. "I don't... yeah, I don't really have anything to bang, anyway. After I got torched the first time, I found out that that stuff was one of the few things that didn't grow back. B-but, I'm sure if you pressed down hard enough, you could part some of the vines there enough to stick a couple fingers in--"

Ah gods no fucking shit goddammit what the fuck are you saying, Madison?! Too awkward! Too awkward!

Deep in the darkest corners of my head, my subconscious mind beamed proudly, satisfied with how thoroughly I ruined a moment.

[Amari]

This time...

This time it was Scarlets turn to choke on the sickly sweet brown nectar of the sugar fae.

What the fuck did she just say?

Was...

Was Madison...coming onto her?

did all that time betwixt her buxom bosom cause the Briarknit woman to have some semblance of feeling? One that wasn't utter contempt and rage, one that wasn't vittrol? Scarlet shook her head. "Madison. Don't start tempting me with some mission impossible into your *ahem*" Scarlet coughed and quickly bought the cup up to her lips once more. If her mouth was full she wouldn't need to be thinking about such deviant thoughts. Not that she was mind you, no. Madison was... a friend. Besides, she really didn't need to add another person to the tally of people she slept with who either died or abandoned her. It'd be better if there was some sort of virus that just... stopped all that needless sex and hormones.

No procreation. Let the shitty world die out.

Scarlet shut her eyes, letting Madisons strangely comforting briarknit fingers combing through her wild crimson locks.

"See if you were to woo me, right about now - you'd stick your hand on my leg. Or - if you were the titfaun you'd just straddle me and take out the middleman. I'm sure vines are a good substitute for things"

Oh yes. That's it. Get your best friend back and push her right the fuck away again.

Scarlet sat up and smoothed out her clothes. "You're the only one allowed to call me Amari. I catch anyone else doing it and I'll fucking knife them in the spleen and feed it to Advencia on a silver platter." Scarlet paused, frowning. She turned away from Madison. "It's... fucking depressing to think that you're the only real friend I have aside from Aure. I mean... even Lye. He trusts you more than me. I'm not clueless. I know he sent you off somewhere. Course - god forbid he wants anything to do with me. Fuck."

Scarlet slammed her cup down on the table.

"I unno where he is, and I'm meant to be looking after his entire organization. Bit hard when I have no fuckin' clue what he wants of me. Never fuckin' good enough am I?"

[Briarheart]

I could taste the bitterness in her words as the Ar'Tuel lamented about Lye and her place in his life. Didn't take an apprentice empathomancer to see that it cut her deeply to be nothing more to the bastard than a place to keep his limp bits warm during the long, cold Salvar nights. Which, in turn, made me feel like an asshole when she brought up the fact that he gave me the map leading to the First Sanctum, and not her.

But... Fuck it. He wasn't around anymore to skulk in the shadows and glower at me if I were to tell her about it, so what harm could it do?

"He sent me to the First Sanctum," I said plainly. Didn't bother to check for any response as I plowed on through. "He was the only one to know of it's existence, right? So you'd think that there lay the biggest weapons and darkest secrets of the Crimson Hand. But when I looked around, all I found was dust and ghosts. The last remnants of the shell of a man that became the Master Hand. Relics of a life long since forfeit, left to rot away as the years pass."

I continued to watch the flickering flames in the fireplace and play with Amari's fiery red hair, the tips of my fingers running along her scalp. The itchiness was becoming more bearable as the magic coursing through my vines restored itself to full power. "I assume that he set up the place long after his wife and kid died. Found portraits of them together as a happy family underneath some sheets. Lots of furniture and shit too. Probably from his old house. Not sure why he'd keep them there, though. Perhaps he used it as a hideaway when he needed to get away from it all.

"As he handed me the map that night, he told me that once I saw it all, I'd appreciate what everything's been about. All of his machinations, his games within games, all of this bullshit." An unreadable look passed across my briarknit face as I continued. "I hesitate to call it a manifesto, but I found a small journal that contained a lot of ideas and plans. Ramblings of a broken man more often than not, but I can see what he was trying to get at."

I wasn't sure if I should go further in-depth on the matter. As the two of us sat there pressed against each other, best friends until the end, I decided that I'd drop the subject and try to ease her depressed feelings on being nothing more than a tool.

"It's got nothing to do with him wanting anything to do with you. Honestly, I think he gave me the map because I'm one of the few people to ever get the upper-hand on him." I offered a soft shrug of my shoulders. "Shit, I took control of the Hand from him and buried him under the mountain for a year. Aurelianus and I tortured and re-educated the poor bastard the entire time. I don't know what truly went on inside his noggin, but maybe a bit of his humanity came back. Maybe he developed a bit of respect for me. Or could've been fear, or subservience, or whatnot." I made the conscious choice to leave out the second journal I found, the one where he wrote out his thoughts and feelings about that year festering in his own dark prison, the one where he called me one of his few friends in this cold, cold world. Amari didn't need to know that. It'd probably break the poor girl even more.

Maybe I should've dropped that little truth bomb when I had my hands wrapped around her neck, desperate to find a way for her to trigger her soul blowing up half of Salvar.

But it was time to truly change the subject. Lighten the mood a bit. Was getting too morose in the chamber.

"Titfaun, though?" I allowed myself a smile. "That's a new one. I'll have to remember that in case I ever see Philomel again. The thought of her straddling someone's pretty scary, though. She always seemed a bit heavier than she really looks. Wouldn't want her to break my hip."

I leaned in closer, inches away from Amari's ear, mischief in my voice. "I bet she bleats during it, too. Just like a goat."