When he sees finally Laura again, he is different. The fire changed him in more ways than one and he cannot help but wonder what the real her would think of him now.

After all, he is barely the same boy she once loved. In a way it cleansed him of his previous innocence, remade him. He has a new name now, with a new, scarred mind and scarred body to match. He's all burnt flesh and twisted thoughts, but it was those same, twisted thoughts that brought her back again so he can't pretend to hate them.

But sometimes, looking down at her, his heart aches because his twisted thoughts have turned her into a monster now, a monster with little semblance to the beautiful girl she once was.

In life she had an incredible, vibrant passion that clashed against the dull restraints of their lives. She was made of living colour, where the rest of his life held none. She was always smiling, laughing, teasing him, and she never seemed to hold still.

He remembered her from the last day he saw her, twirling in the sunflower field, crimson dress twisting around pale legs as she twirled, arms outstretched. When she stopped, she was smiling, her beautiful face flushed pink, intelligent eyes so full of love for him.

Now though, this strange, contorted mass of limbs in hardly recognizable as human, let alone his Laura. It's eyes are dead, hardly a trace of the same brilliance or feeling and it's pale skin resembles that of a corpse.

But it, she, is solid and here, and sometimes, just sometimes, when her eyes are on him, he could swear that he sees a glimmer of recognition. When he speaks, she sways slightly, dead eyes always following him throughout the room.

She is all he has anymore, and sometimes he can fool himself into thinking it's enough.