Well Together
Wuya stood behind him, her words hissing softly by his ear and her hands massaging his collarbones. "We worked well together, in the other world."
"This is not the other world." Yet Guan let his eyes close, relaxing into the position that had become so familiar there. She had interrupted him at training and refused to leave, quickly insinuating herself closer than he would have allowed had it not been for...
"It is still food for thought, wouldn't you agree? Could we not... work well together here?"
"I had lost my soul in the other world. It was merely the alliance of an empty shell with a... with you. It is not the same."
A chuckle, felt through his back rather than heard. "Chase Young is an empty shell. You... I don't believe that you were the same as him. You were capable of... well," another chuckle, "things that Chase Young is presently incapable of."
"You suggest that the potion could have affected us differently?"
"You are very different." Hissing breath in his ear. He tried to ignore it.
"Explain."
"Hannibal Bean had merely to appeal to Chase Young's vanity. You were tricked by a manipulation of the heart, believing yourself to be following your closest friend."
"I know this. You have not explained your meaning."
She drew away a little, irritated, withdrawing her hands to his shoulders. "Loyalty can never lead a person to true evil. In that world, we were both a little less evil." Her lips smiled against his neck. "I could be 'trusted' with my powers, remember? But only because you were capable of trusting me with them."
"There are not degrees of evil. There cannot be."
Wuya clicked her tongue. "You suggest that Jack Spicer is as evil as Hannibal Bean, Chase Young, or even myself?"
"There cannot be." The repetition was a little less sure. Wuya's hands dropped to his chest, rubbing in small circles, and Guan fought himself. He had not suppressed his memories of the other world, and there this would have been the initiation to touching of a more intimate nature. He could not let those thoughts cloud his thinking.
"There are." She was becoming impatient, her breath hissing over the back of his neck. "And perhaps even degrees of losing your soul."
No, he should not let her actions sway him into agreeing. "What are you trying to suggest?"
She kissed under his ear. "Perhaps if you were a little less good, I could be a little less evil."
"Could be?"
"Would be." The room was quiet but for Wuya's breath. "An alliance, perhaps?"
"Against what?"
"Must an alliance be against something?"
There was a long pause, then:
"Perhaps not."