Time seemed to freeze, slowing in the moment before death, a moment Dark knew well—
"Stop."
Krad's hand froze where it was. The balance of decision tilted slightly—back and forward in the air. Daisuke's life swung on one end.
Dark moved.
Time quickened again, Daisuke's time, too soon for Dark to stop it.
"Why should I stop?"
"I'll make a deal."
And again, time stopped. Krad looked. Listened.
"What do you have to offer me?"
The moment of thought. Decision. Weighing lives.
"Myself."
And Krad looks up, a slow smile spreading.
"You would give up freedom under oath. A promise that you cannot break?"
"Your promise first."
"What?"
"You will not harm him. Now or ever."
"Done."
A life falls safely back into its course.
He speaks his promise.
"You are a fool."
The chains of geas bind him. He feels his future slip away.
"You are mine now."
The life saved slips out of sight, on its own path. A river flowing far away.
"What have you gained?" the voice of command asks him.
He isn't sure.
But he knows.
