L
Corvo's hand slipped from my cheeks the moment his phone started ringing. The sudden sound sent a shock through my system but I calmed when he barely moved. He pulled his phone out and pressed it to his ear with ease. His one hand played at my hair on the back of my head, holding me still while he spoke, not facing me but the area above my head. His touch alone kept my heart rate slow, but every time his fingernails scraped between the hairs on my head a shiver brushed through the muscles underneath my skin.
"Hello?" He asked, his voice strained. Corvo cleared his throat quietly, but with my ears so close to him I heard every adjustment he made to his voice on the inside. His heartbeats that clunked inside his chest every second. A calming sensation that made my ears ring in delight. The voice on the other side of the phone grumbled through the speaker so I couldn't hear, but I could tell they weren't overwrought to speak with Corvo.
"Excellent," Corvo said, tangling his fingers through my hair. Every time his fingertips touched my scalp a new match sparked on my head, leaving a spare flame in its wake. I looked up at him and watched him speak. "Tell him we'll be on our- wait trace amounts of what? L told me about that earlier but she didn't elaborate too much on it. We'll be there soon."
Corvo hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket, and looked back down at me. As soon as his gaze rested on my face I forced my eyes away from his red form. I couldn't look him in the eyes, not after what I did to his family – to him. He had to of noticed, because like before, Corvo hooked one of his fingers under my chin to bring my jaw back up so I was forced to look at him. He dipped his head to seemingly match my gaze despite his knowing that I couldn't really see him.
"Roddy wants to speak with us over at the hospital," he said with a small grin. I nodded once and shook his hand away so I could turn my head back down. "L," Corvo stopped me audibly, but no matter how much power he put into his voice it didn't affect me like it did his pack members. "Why won't you look at me?"
"I don't know what you mean," I muttered and hopped off the bed. "Thank you," I turned abruptly and bowed my head slightly, as if I'd forgotten to show appreciation for what he'd done for me so far. "Everything, really," I added after a slight pause in case he came after me but Corvo hadn't moved from his place beside the bed except to turn on his heels and follow my movements with his eyes. They pierced the space between my eyebrows and ricocheted around in my skull. My eyes caught glimpses of white dots that flurried around in my vision until I shook the feeling of his stare off me. With Corvo in the room, the smell of detergent was nonexistent, and instead the intense peppermint that wafted off him lingered in the air around us.
"You don't have to thank me," Corvo responded, sighing; a sound I knew too well. I'd begun to bother him with my incessant need to thank and apologize, yet the way he said it, void the sigh, I couldn't help but wonder if he liked it when I showed gratitude for what he did. "It's what m-," he stopped himself and rubbed the back of his head with his hand, unsure of what to call us. I shrugged at the mental note shared between us. We were a mystery in the mate world, rejected but accepted. I had no other choice at this point, and Corvo, at least from what I presumed, had others knocking on his door waiting.
Our world froze for just a moment while Corvo and I both decided what step to take next. On one hand, he could've brushed past me but instead, after several moments of mutual silence shared, he came up next to me and grabbed my hand without so much as a gesture first. His fingers tangled between mine and squeezed so our palms connected just slightly at the ribboning grooves. A tingling fire sparked, but it tuckered out into a kindle as the shared touch steadied. I couldn't help but jump slightly at the sensation, I still wasn't used to it and I knew Corvo wasn't either. He learned how to hide the surprise.
"Do you think that'll ever go away?" I asked and looked up at him, careful to avoid looking directly center mass of his head. Corvo didn't look down, but started walking with me tailing next to him. I returned my gaze to the path in front of us. I was completely oblivious to where we were headed, but trusted that Corvo wouldn't let my head knock into any pillars strewn at the edges of the hallways. I practiced keeping my hands at my sides, to not have them out in front of me at a downward angle. With him around a feeling flooded my bones and blood, allowing me to lay a smidgen of trust in him.
"I hope not," he responded quickly, and shut the door to his bedroom after we exited. "It's a sensation nobody else here shares," he added. We approached, and descended the stairs without problems this time around. Corvo's hand went from mine to the area just above my waist while I took each step with precision. He walked patiently behind me without so much as a fuss about how slow we went down.
"I'm sorry," I mumbled, unconscious to the way I apologized. Corvo didn't seem to notice, but huffed after I reached the last step. I hopped down onto the third floor of his pack house, and waited. His hand rejoined mine and we tackled the rest of the stairs with ease as he could walk beside me instead of behind. Corvo took notice to alert me of the last step of each flight, and I appreciated it, making sure to thank him again.
"Where is everyone?" I asked, painfully aware of the echoing silence that filled the great entry hall of the pack house. Corvo seemed to ignore my question, leading me toward the front door. But just when I thought he brushed it off, his voice filled my ears.
"I told them all to make themselves busy elsewhere for a while," Corvo said and threw open the front door. "You seemed uncomfortable before when they were here," he said. I let the door shut behind me, and we went off the porch together, and into a car I assumed was his. He helped me in the passenger seat and shut the door once my legs had swung in. I sat there, hands in my lap, unsure of what to do while he went around the other side of the car. My fingers fidgeted with one another unconsciously. The hair on the back of my neck frizzed up from the seat but I pushed my skull into the leather headrest to silence the free-thinking hairs. The driver's side door opened with an audible sound from the car. Corvo climbed in and started it up, pausing to look over at me. A soft hum of music played from the speakers in the back of the car. The smell of leather filled the car. Polished until the shine reflected off the glass and nearly burned the seats. My nose quivered; I longed for Corvo's scent back but the leathery odor didn't go away. It lingered, a heavy blanket in an otherwise spacious car.
"Are you alright?" He asked and reached a hand over to search for mine. But I refused this time. I had a choice to take his hand or leave the hidden barrier between us enabled. I chose the latter. Having a choice made the dopamine in my brain fire off at all angles.
"Yes," I said with a nod.
Corvo didn't say anything, but watched me for a moment, his eyes tracing over my face while I stared down at my hands on my lap. I watched the red forms tackle with each other. All of a sudden the car jerked forward. Before my near heart attack in the bathroom after seeing my reflection, I never thought to look down at my own body and see the red form that encased me. I never imagined seeing my own body again, even if it were the color of the same blood that flowed through me.
"It's a short drive, just up the road, but I figured you wouldn't want to walk there," Corvo said. His attention didn't leave the road, but he kept his hand over the center console, palm flat toward the roof of the car in case I changed my mind. I watched it with my peripheral. A few times my hand jerked slightly to grab a hold of his but my other kept it from getting too far. I turned to the window and let my forehead rest on the glass. A chill reverberated through the thin skin on my forehead, and I shivered.
*****
The hospital was full of red figures. All blurry and quick moving through my vision. Rubbing alcohol and soap filled the hallways in a must that we waded through. It was as if we were forced to walk slower through the hallways because of the clouded smell that trickled around us in thick wafts. I trod carefully, making sure to keep close to the large red figure next to me. He didn't reach for my hand after we got out of his car, but kept only a shoulder away from me. Several people stopped what they were doing and bowed their heads at Corvo, but he waved them off as if he weren't their Alpha.
"Corvo," a man, Dean if I remembered correctly, came at us, his pace quick while he weaved between the crowd of people. "You got here quickly, and L it's a pleasure to see you again," Dean stopped a couple feet away and tipped his head once in respect, but Corvo didn't take notice.
"Hello," I said and looked up at him.
"How are you feeling?" Dean asked, as if he were speaking with a five-year-old coming in for a check-up with their parent. A buzz went through my nerves but I shook the anger off before it grew into something else. A flash of the rogue that attacked Roddy came into my mind, and a growl came up my throat. I swallowed hard, hoping to silence it but I was too late. It slithered between my teeth, the snarl low and angry. The two men noticed but ignored the gesture. I wasn't a threat to them. If anything, I was a feral rogue-criminal in need of taming and nurturing. That by itself sent another fuse into overdrive.
"Alright," I nodded, forcing a smile but Dean must have seen right through it because he exhaled audibly and turned his attention back to Corvo.
"Did you get her wounds cleaned?"
"As best as I could, but I know they'd heal faster if," Corvo said and nudged me with an elbow to get my attention. "If you'd let a doctor, say Dean, take a look at them."
"No," I shook my head and frowned. I wasn't priority, especially when Cole was still out there, drugged and afraid. I didn't want anyone to see what the rogue Alpha did to me. I handled worse back with Peter; there was no reason I couldn't handle this by myself. "Where is Roddy?" I asked, hoping to direct attention from me and back on the person who needed our help.
"He's down the hall, I'll take you there," Dean said. A moment of quiet passed between the three of us, one that included a silent conversation between Corvo and Dean. I stood awkwardly, arms tied together around my chest. Around me the smell of sterile equipment and medicine lingered, fanning every time a curtain or door flung open. People stopped to look over at us, and whispers floated about between the pedestrians and nurses. At first the words stuck to me like sweat but I brushed them off without much effort. I'd spent most of my life taking insults from others, the entire Lycan world convinced I perpetrated the most heinous crime of the century. Their words hardly stung anymore. They were ant bites compared to what I took from Peter and his goons.
Dean turned on his heels and headed down the hallway, and Corvo snatched my hand without permission again. We walked together, his middle fingering rubbed the divot between my second and third knuckle. The movement lifted me off the ground, the warmth between us intensifying the longer he did so. I struggled to get my hand free, and he barely detected my discomfort. We passed by several open doors, with red figures in most of them, and several of the figures that we passed turned with us. I knew they recognized me, but something kept them quiet. A threatening glare from their Alpha probably did the trick.
We stopped at a door, and Dean entered first. Roddy lay in a bed, the majority of his body covered so I only saw his shoulders and above.
"Roddy," I squeaked out and tore my hand away from Corvo. I pushed past the two men and headed for the bed. Roddy turned his head to me, and his shoulders fell at the sight.
"Hey," he said and reached out with his hand. "You good?" I took his hand in mine and mimicked Corvo's movements when he held mine.
"Yes," I said. "Your leg?"
"I get to keep it," Roddy chuckled. "Thanks to that guy over there I'll be good to go as soon as my wolf decides to wake his ass up and do his job."
I grinned widely, my attention breaking as footsteps came up behind me, and a large, warm hand rested on my shoulder. Dean came around the other side of the bed and worked with something next to Roddy. I couldn't see it, my vision completely obscured by black except for the human forms of red that filled the room.
"You'll have a limp probably for the rest of your life because of how deep the bite wounds went." Dean said with a broad smile.
"I'm sure Cole will think it's hot," Roddy said, probably rolling his eyes. I laughed nervously, the subject breaking through a sensitive barrier in my head, and I reached to touch his arm. Our skin connected, but no warmth spread through me like when I touched Corvo.
"I'm glad you're OK," I said, and Roddy returned his attention to me.
"You need to get yourself looked at," Roddy said.
"No."
"L we found trace amounts of MAD in Roddy's bite wound, and we're worried you might have the same." Dean interrupted before Roddy had the chance to counter my despicable argument against treatment. "Roddy's fine, and the MAD didn't affect him thankfully, but we need to make sure it's not in you."
"If Roddy is fine, then so am I," I growled, my hand tightening, an unconscious movement I didn't realize I'd done until the man in my grip shuddered from my pinching hold on him.
"L, hey," Roddy said. His hand rested on top of mine. "Look at me," he ordered. I couldn't refuse. "You're allowed to accept help here," he started. "Nobody here wants to hurt you."
"I am not priority," I said slowly, matter-of-factly. "You are."
"L-,"
"No," I put my other hand up, knowing that it would silence him. Corvo let go of me and moved to the end of the bed, and leaned on the footboard, his hands wrapped around the bar.
"Roddy," Corvo said, masking the electric tension between Roddy and me. I didn't move, but allowed my fingers to loosen and let Roddy's skin breathe underneath my palm. The man in bed settled, his breathing evening out, and he turned to Corvo. "Tell me what happened," Corvo said once all attention was on him, except for me. I took the chance and freed myself from Roddy, and fled toward the door. A bubble of anxiety lurched in my stomach. The thought of hearing the events of the last several days made me want to throw up and cry. I couldn't bear to hear it again, especially after living it and seeing what it did to Roddy. Nobody chased after me, nobody called. I shut the door behind me and left down the hallway, my hands out in front of me in case I came in contact with anything in my path. Without someone else with me to keep my path straight, I was exposed to ordinary dangers normal people avoided by simply side-stepping.
"Miss," someone called from in front of me. I stopped, searching for the voice's origin. One of the red figures, a taller, slim form, came toward me, their steps focused. "Are you alright?" They asked. I nodded and went to move around them but they held out a hand to keep me from getting around them.
"I am trying to leave," I said. "Not leave-leave, but just the inside." I tried my best to explain, and they seemed to catch on because their hand dropped to allow me to pass.
"There's a patio down the hall and out the double doors," they said. I thanked them with a knowing look and passed the form, our shoulders barely brushing. Her directions would've been clear to someone with perfect vision, but without any idea where the wall ended and the doors began, I was at a loss and at potential to look ridiculous in a hospital full of people. If they hadn't already figured out who I was, then they were sure to find out soon, especially if they saw my face. I kept my head low, hoping nobody could see my eyes or face for that matter. My hand found a wall on my right and I followed it. Every so often the tips of my fingers went over a knot in the paint; it felt like poorly written braille with only one dot per foot or so. A pattern unknown to me, or by the person who painted the wall. As if I fell off a cliff, the wall vanished and paned glass replaced the space between my fingers and where the wall used to be. Cocking a brow, I pushed on the glass and it swung open. A rush of evening breeze came through the door and threw my hair back over my shoulder. I stepped outside and let the door close behind me. It clicked shut. I walked out on the concrete terrace, hands outstretched to reach the edge without bumping into it first. No other heat sources were in the area, allowing me to finally take a lonely breath without someone else's opinion as to how I should cope. The end of the patio came faster than I expected. The palms of my hands touched cold, rough concrete capable of slicing open the thin skin on the undersides of the wrists, and my fingers curled around to see how wide the railing was, and to my excitement it reached almost a foot and a half outward. Without another thought I gripped the edge and hopped up sideways so I could perch. I swung my legs over the side and settled, sitting on the ledge, my hands facedown and flat next to my body on either side.
Out past the hospital the evening sun blazed into my vision, a great ball of red that twinged on the edges every time I blinked. It sunk lower and lower each time I looked at it, and I was unsure how staring would affect me considering the blindness that plagued my eyes. As a child, I learned never to stare at the sun for too long, and as a teenager I was taught the sun would kill me, and now I could hardly look away from it for fear of it disappearing with everything else in my life. I barely blinked, hoping to look at the bright red orb in the sea of darkness until it sunk past the horizon and vanished from view.
I swung my legs, my ankles hitting the concrete wall behind them with a soft thud but I didn't stop. Emerald pack smelled different. Of pine and musky ocean water just out of arms reach. Mountain snow hinted in the mix as well. It tickled my senses and stuck inside my nose on the little hairs that inhabited both sides. I took in deep breaths of the air, allowing it to fill up my lungs, and I breathed out easy through my nose. It cleared my sinuses, a rinse I didn't realize I needed. It was as if all the troubles in my life vanished in that singular moment, and I could breathe easy for the first time in my life. My senses overloaded with the scents of the forest beyond, and I couldn't help but take them in my arms and hold them dearly. A day could come that I wouldn't experience this again. I needed to savor every molecule, every snippet of pine trees and wildflowers that I could before they all vanished and I was left with nothing but frozen stone and a leaking ceiling.
The door to the patio wrenched open behind me. My nerves frizzled, the hair on the back of my neck standing up as I gripped the edge of the railing with my fingernails dug into the solid stone.
"L," a familiar voice and smell invaded my ears and nose. I inhaled deeply, a soft smile coming to my lips that I knew Corvo couldn't see as he approached. "I've been looking for you," he said.
"I'm sorry," I said almost out of instinct. It became our greeting. One I couldn't change even if I wanted.
"Don't apologize, I was just worried," Corvo came up on my right side, and leaned over the edge with his elbows resting on the concrete barrier. "How'd you find your way out here?" He asked, but immediately backtracked with a slug in his throat while he struggled for words. "I-, I mean not that but how did you know this patio was here?"
I couldn't help but chuckle, the expression on my face strained into one of joy but I kept my face hidden from him. "A nurse pointed the way," I responded. Corvo leaned back and hopped up onto the ledge with me. He settled quickly, keeping his hands on his lap where they rested atop his thighs.
"I needed to get some air," I said out of the blue. A rush of summer breeze strangled my hair, sending it flying behind my head. I pushed a hand through the mop to try and tame it but the strands continued their mutiny from solace. A shiver ran through me but I kept it soft so I didn't lurch violently. "I can't go through that again – when you asked Roddy what happened. I just couldn't... I can't-,"
"You don't have to explain yourself to me," Corvo took one of my hands in his, and squeezed. Warmth filled my bones, breaking down the frozen shields over them that chilled me since I left the hospital. "It has to be hard, knowing Cole's life is in jeopardy."
"I listened to him cry for Roddy," I stared out at the horizon. "It's haunting, Corvo. It terrified me because I realized that I knew nothing about them and yet they risked their lives for me. They're wanted now because of me. Cole and Roddy had a choice and they chose to jump off that cliff, to kill for me," my head whipped around to face Corvo. He watched me, quiet.
"That's what packs do, L," Corvo said once he knew I wasn't going to say anymore. "They protect and back each other no matter what. Cole and Roddy had a responsibility, whether they knew it or not, to follow you off that cliff and protect you. L you are more important to the Lycan world right now than you realize."
"I'm a criminal who escaped death," I scoffed and shook my head, and faced the sky again so I didn't have to look at the large form next to me. "That's not much to celebrate."
"You're a martyr for those who've been wronged by the Council. You did what no one else ever could, and got away with it."
"Is that something to celebrate?" I questioned.
"Yes, in a way."
"I don't feel like celebrating," I said. "I've killed people, Corvo. I murdered your father and yet you're still able to look at me in the face without anger."
"My father was mad, and if you hadn't killed him when you did someone else would've."
"That doesn't make it right," I sighed. "I killed him. You should hate me, and instead you're calling me a martyr to the cause! What cause is there, Corvo? It doesn't exist, and it never will." I sucked in a breath, my ribs murmuring under the heavy pressure of my breaths.
"My father would've never wanted to live that way. You did him a favor by ending his life. If he knew of the disease that plagued him he would've wanted someone to put him out of his misery. And if it weren't you it would've been me, or Damien, or Jeffries. You sent him out fighting and that's how he'd want to go."
"He's still dead because of me," I choked out.
"For all of us, it's probably better that way. He was dangerous to himself and others, and he had no idea what was going on around him or in his brain. If he had lived much longer the consequences could've been catastrophic."
Amazement shot through me. How Corvo could speak of his own father like that, like his death meant nothing. I swallowed hard, and thought of my own parents. They sacrificed themselves for my sister and me. And they never expected what the outcome of that day would be. How their last living child was made a scapegoat for the crimes of unknown Lycans.
"Tell me something, Corvo."
"Hmm?"
"When you first realized that I was your mate, what was the first thing you thought of? And don't lie to me with some fluff answer that'll get my heart rate up. I want the truth." I faced him again, urging him to answer me. To lie to me.
"Honestly?" Corvo asked, and I nodded hard. I could take it. "I was horrified at the idea, and wondered what my siblings would think."
"Not your father?" It didn't sting. The fact that he was willing to tell me the truth and not grab words out of the air lifted my spirits a little.
"My father and I never had the kind of relationship where I spoke with him about relationships and other mundane things," Corvo shrugged.
"Why?"
"I'm the eldest, and I was raised to take over once my father handed me his throne. He raised me to be an Alpha, not a son."
"You say that like it never affected you."
"It didn't," Corvo said. My brows pulled together, and I looked at him. Really looked at him, like I hadn't ever done so before this moment. "I had a different relationship with him, and I was okay with that. My siblings, on the other hand, were enamored by him. They loved him more than anything, and he them."
"Were you ever jealous of that?"
"No; I knew my place, and that meant I would never have the kind of relationship with him that Ethel and Damien did," Corvo sighed and adjusted his body on the ledge. "Maybe that's why I'm saying these things to you. Why I'm able to let my father's death rest and forgive what doesn't need to be forgiven. Him dying didn't affect me the way it did my siblings. I was sad, angry at you, sure, but the longer you were gone the more I realized you did me and my family a favor." I returned my gaze to the setting sun, a fingernail on the horizon that I could hardly see except a thin half-moon of red that glimmered amidst black. Another shiver ran up my back, and Corvo took notice to this one. He squeezed my hand a little tighter in hopes that his warmth seeped through my pores but it did little to the inside ice that formed the longer we stayed out on the patio. The sun set completely, leaving the sky beyond the hospital terrace a blackened wasteland made up of Emerald territory. Above me, distant twinkles of stars rained about through the sky, but they were nearly invisible unless I strained to see them.
"Another thought went through my head as well," Corvo said, his voice pitched and weary. My ears perked but I didn't look at him, instead keeping my focus on the dark landscape. "I was afraid of what you would think of me."
"Wha-," I started but Corvo cut me off.
"I locked you in a cell while you were here and demanded to know your life story. You must have been terrified," he said. I grinned a little, and he must have seen that because his shoulder bumped mine causing me to sway to the left unconsciously.
"I've been through worse," I shrugged, and turned my eyes down to my lap. My thumbs twiddled. "It was protocol, I'm sure."
"Doesn't make it right,"
My lips quivered, clutched together.
"Corvo I wasn't completely honest with you," I said, unable to keep my mouth shut any longer. Consequences were sure to hurl at me by the dozens but I needed to get it out, and quickly.
"Oh?"
"After I jumped, Margette – the wolf-thing inside me -, she brought back some of my sight," I said quickly, my words nearly slurring together.
"What," Corvo scoffed, surprised, "that's amazing."
"It's not as spectacular as you think," I said, drained. "I'm still pretty much blind but I can see heat signatures, not cold or anything like that, just people heat and other really hot things like the sun."
"So you can see me?" Corvo asked and turned on me, his hand outstretched toward my face. I didn't flinch back, but returned the gaze, a thin smile played on the edges of my lips.
"You're bright red, and fuzzy," I stifled a laugh at the thought and sight of what he looked like to me, and how he must have imagined my view of him.
"Fuzzy?" He mocked offense, but I saw right through it.
"Blurry is a better word," I corrected.
"But you can see me," he insisted.
"Yes," I nodded. Corvo reached out, his fingers touched the tops of my cheeks, and pressed his palm to me once he knew I wouldn't move away.
"That's... that's amazing L," Corvo breathed.
"Back when I was with Peter," I started, flipping the conversation to something without a compliment added. "He taught me to fear the sun, that it would punish me for everything I've done to the Lycan world."
"You believed him?"
"I had no other choice. I was with him during my adolescent years, and he was the person I relied on for outside information. I feared it so much, that after I escaped to Ruby from here, I hid in a closet for almost two days because I was so scared that the sun would burn me alive."
"I'm sorry," Corvo started but I squeezed his hand to stop him. "L,"
"Margette helped me. She forced me out of the closet and broke that fear. After I went completely blind I missed the sun. I wanted nothing more than to see it one more time before I died. And now... it's not the same but it's something. Now I see a giant red ball in the sky. It's blurry on the edges too, and sometimes I think I can see the flares around it but I never stare too long. I don't know how the whole sight thing works for me now," I said and turned to look back at Corvo.
When he didn't respond, and looked away from me, I started back up again. "I'm sorry... for everything."
"You have nothing to be sorry for."
"I killed your father. You're now an enemy of the state along with me and the others," I held in a laugh and shook my head. "I should've never run into your territory in the first place. If I had kept running I could have really escaped, found some cave and just died."
"Don't say that," Corvo snapped. "You stumbled onto Emerald land for a reason, and if I could go back I'd do it all over again for you."
"I've ruined so much," I said. Cold tears dripped from my eyes. I didn't care to wipe them away, my hands too busy keeping warm on my lap. Moving them meant forcing them into the chilled breeze that rushed through the patio with nearly enough strength to knock me off the ledge. Wolves howled in the distance, their hollers echoing in the trees and sky above.
"Hey," Corvo squeezed my hand to grab my attention. "You've ruined nothing. Others have ruined everything around you, and if I have to walk behind you and pick up the ashes for the rest of my life then I will. I will protect you, follow you to the ends of the Earth and back. Nobody will ever hurt you again, or ruin anything again. I promise you," he said, his voice small. It barely came out as a whisper, and if not for the Lycan hearing I was born with I wouldn't have heard it. Corvo's hand emitted a soft warmth that beat through my hands the way blood did after running for miles. The intense pounding of pressure underneath my skin. I held onto him for dear life, my knuckles white. Our fingers laced together like a scarf, knitted tight and tied off to prevent unraveling. We didn't look at each other, at least not directly, but I knew he kept his peripheral on me. Underneath the gaze of Corvo, I felt safe and protected from all those who tried to end my life and mar my name. The sun had set on the day, and the moon glowed in the distance, accompanied by companion stars glimmering in the galaxy. Corvo and I were two of those stars. A hundred lightyears away from each other, but meant to be. Part of the same constellation, the same group of twinkling lights that lit up the northern sky. Fate had brought us together, tore us apart, and allowed us to find each other again. I only hoped that this time neither of us let go and watched the other be dragged away by foes much more powerful than both of us together.