Author's note: Occurs after "Turning Point"/"Apotheosis".
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Forgive me.
There was no way to ask your permission, or to prepare you. It wasn't something I wanted to do. There was no other option.
I did understand what you were trying to tell me - please believe this. I knew the face I was revealing would no more be the man I knew than the mask that covered it. I only wish it could have been by your choice.
It's so strange. We had to take away everything to get to your wounds... the mask, the wig - I never thought of it as a wig, did you know that? - the gauntlets that you so hastily put back on that first morning...
We had to peel away all of it, leaving behind a stranger in your place. Someone silent and bleeding who looked more dead than alive, staining my sheets red.
This body I tend isn't you. It's just something you've left in my care until you come back. It's something of yours, so I cherish it. I try to care for it the way I've seen you do for all your treasures here.
I remember watching you with your roses, once. Even with your gauntlets, I could tell you were aware of every last petal. You handled them so gently...
(Can you feel when I touch you? Do you know I'm here?)
This body isn't you. It will be, when your voice comes from its mouth again. When its hands make your gestures, when its head tilts the way yours does when you're thinking. When its arms go 'round me to dance again.
I'll be here, waiting. Please come back soon.
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- Finis -
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(Postscript: This very likely makes more sense inside my head than outside it, my apologies. I'm endeavoring to write out the events between "Apotheosis" and "Speechless" in some coherent manner, at which point I may just incorporate this bit into the larger whole. )