[M] Echoes of Betrayal

[Tolvo]

"I don't truly know. it just felt like, we had a purpose together. That serving you meant something." When he stammered to himself Kanon looked at him confidently until he took her hand. "So cold." She got even closer to Arael, almost as if she were to touch his face. "We always equate the cold with numbness. But your hand, gives this corpse goosebumps. Dead, undead, it doesn't matter. It makes me feel alive. And that matters to me."

[Evening Rain]

Arael felt it too. The chill heat that tingled in his empty heart.

"How?" He murmured softly at the marvel of this new sensation. He had not believed such a thing possible.

He gently lowered his brow and pressed his skeletal forehead against hers. The light in his eyes softened, dying down to a dull glow.

"How can it feel so... warm?"

[Tolvo]

"Even though we live as dead, and live in such eternal coldness. There are always embers, always sparks. And it seems we've found something between us we could kindle." Kanon put her other hand on Arael's face and stroked his jaw gently. "We've been so focused on the fight, on the crusade, we almost missed what was right before our eyes."

[Evening Rain]

Kanon's hand gently caressed his jaw, repeating a motion that he had so often taken. It was strange... to be touched in that way by another living being. Unliving. He was forced to remind himself, as his fingers tightened slightly around Kanon's hand, and one of his fingers brushed the skin on the back of her palm.

Perhaps Koryza was right. Perhaps this truly is a thing of beauty.

He let his forehead rest against hers for awhile longer, savouring the experience, before pulling back.

"Perhaps... and yet... I have to ask myself, why? Why do you care for me? The rugged warrior of the Burning Isles, who died in battle at my command." He fell silent for a moment, before expressing his fear into words. "Could it be that... whatever it is that you feel for me... could it simply be the result of being bereft of purpose and hope? That you're willing to stand at my side simply because of my power?" He watched her intently. "Where does loyalty end and affection begin, Kanon?"

[Tolvo]

She smiled, closing her eyes and shaking her head slightly. "I don't know. I don't know if we can apply logic and reason to this. We both felt it. I have been searching for something, that is true. Does that mean what I've found here isn't worth trying? Does that mean what we have here isn't real?"

[Evening Rain]

"Hmm." Arael wanted to believe her. Perhaps he truly did. But it was so alien to his calculating mind to trust in burgeoning emotion, and disregard logic in the process. Could it really be that this was... destiny? That whatever it was she was searching for could be fulfilled by his broken soul? Is she attracted to my power? It could not be... Arael refused to believe that she could be drawn to his personality. Cruel, cold and emotionless as he was.

And yet, the persona she wore in battle was similar to his own. Were they two kindred spirits, who had been drawn together so that they might shed their masks and find comfort in mutual understanding?

Perhaps that is all we need. Just one other living being to understand what really goes on beneath the surface.

"I do not know if this is real or not, Kanon." He murmured gently. "But I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt."

He gave a bitter chuckle, the warmth still tingling at the back of his spine, accompanied by prickling angst. "I wish I could trust more easily." He admitted. "Even now I feel a sense of... paranoia. That this is just a cruel trick. Despite all the loyalty you've shown me, I suppose I'm still afraid to feel."

[Tolvo]

"Paranoid? I suppose I can understand. Truth be told I'm very nervous about this." Kanon began to undo the straps of her torso armor. She removed the strips and plates of steel and ron and let them rest on the floor. Underneath the armor she was wearing a jacket with sewn in mail armor. She undid the front of it and exposed her chest to Arael. Her hand went over her chest as she seemed to be feeling for something. "Sometimes, we have to go with our soul instead of our brains. And my soul is calling to me, calling to you." Her hand moved from the spot as she stood close to Arael. "Feel for yourself, my heart, it's beating. It hasn't done that in some time."

[Evening Rain]

Arael tilted his head as Kanon began to remove her armour. A Deathborne's heart could not beat. How was that possible? It had no function. Unless... Unless emotion can reach the heart. Unless it can summon up life from death. Arael extended his hand and pressed it up against Kanon's chest, feeling for the impossible. Her flesh was cool, and yet...

Thump. Thump. Thump.

She was not lying.

Arael felt it too. His soul, his injured, yearning soul was calling out for comfort.

But he had no heart, and so no matter what he felt - it existed only in his mind and his soul.

Abruptly, the lich pulled Kanon into an embrace, made somewhat awkward by his skeletal frame. He held her as a child holds his mother, letting the tender contact remind him of years gone by.

Suddenly, the lich pulled away and stepped back - holding himself up regally, so different from the vulnerability he'd just shown.

"Never betray me, Kanon." His voice was stern and cold again as he put his fears into words.

[Tolvo]

Kanon began to retie her jacket. She turned away from him and spoke a bit more coldly than she had been. "Of course." The kensei was back to her typical self. Once again she donned her armor and put on her mask before walking over to the window to gaze out at the moon once again.

**