[private] you're a room without a key, a field without a fence.

[ghaul]

GHAUL

i can take you there, but baby, you won't make it back

His vision is dim by the time she finds his broken body at the borders, but he can hear her voice as clear as anything. Despite the way this agony grips him, he smiles when she touches his chest and he croons softly to her. She is a sanctuary for his heart even when everything feels like hell. She asks questions and he can hear the rage in her voice but he only shakes his head and laughs gently in response. Clarissa is still pristine, still the pure and perfect vision of the way he wants the world to be. He won’t ever let blood defile her.

“You are terrifying, my pyre,” he tells her with a cough. “But you are the divine. Heal me, and I will deliver justice.”

He lifts his head weakly and kisses her as much as his fading strength will allow. She could easily cast the false idols into a burning river if she desired and he knows this all too well. But why should a perfect being ever be made to work like the dogs of war? It is his duty to purge the filth from her path and render unto Clarissa that which is hers – peace, beauty, and everything in between. He coughs again and the sound is wet and vile as he struggles to regain his breath.

“Twin flame,” he whispers, and the sound comes out in a desperate wheeze. It has become so hard to see her, now.

@[clarissa]