She is strong, but she will never believe those words.

At least, she will never believe those words coming from his lips. Instead, he looks down at the one-eyed girl, watching the erratic and shallow palpitations of her chest.

Breathe in. Breathe out. You're capable of it.

I know it.

"Are you truly that weak without him?"

He means what he says, for his mind tells him that the answer should be "yes", yet his heart continues to say "no".

Get up.

I know you can do it.

He lifts her hand, thumb rubbing against the smooth crest of her ring. "He has no use for a little animal like you."

"Show him that you are worthy."

He watches as a soft, indigo flame ignites from the ring, and he draws back the covers to watch her stomach rise, the empty cavity of her body filling itself with illusory organs. There will be a day when lies will no longer be able to sustain her body. After all, it isn't healthy to feed a mind lies to keep itself alive.

Then again, he has deluded himself for ten years. The truth is meant to set him free, but instead, it has tethered him with false hopes of being more than just another cloud in the sky.

Within the lies is the truth; within the truth are the lies.

As he goes to set her hand down, he thinks that she must have given his hand a slight squeeze.

It's just another lie.

"Mukuro-sama…"

There's a smirk on his face, because he knows that the words that have given her strength once again were his own and not the other man's.

But he's as good of a liar as either of them.