I opened my eye to find myself locked standing in place. Iron cuffs held me at my wrists, almost biting into them. I'd heard a skittering drawing nearer, unnatural in volume, I thought. It had to be from my head being so groggy still. That is, until she slipped around from behind me, taking in my frame I realized. I glanced down to see my tunic and leather armor had been removed. My slacks remained, but my feet were bare as well. Eilsana seemed to enjoy this as she traced her finger down along my sternum to my lean stomach, "I see you're awake."
"What did ya do to her?" I hissed in a low growl, my memory quickly coming back.
"No hello or anything? First thing to come to mind is that little beast you travel with?" she questioned in a hurt tone.
"Ya call her a beast?!" I snapped with a fury in my remaining eye.
To this she quickly glared at me, her eyes spitting with venom as she knew I was looking over her new frame. From the waist up she was the same. However, from the waist down was a large spider abdomen, and the legs to go with it.
"What happened, mix up one of your spells?" I questioned, too angry to hold anything but contempt in my tone.
"When you and that creature escaped my home, I was punished for failing to uphold my the name of my people! This new frame is the result of you slipping away for that sow-!"
"Don't call her that!" I snapped.
I then thought of the horrid scream we'd heard when leaving her manor. A shudder ran down my spine from the memory of a shifting body. The drow then drew closer to me again, a wry smile on her lips as she caressed my cheek.
"However, I can still have some fun in this form...and you, my devoted pet, will be well fit for my needs," she assured.
She turned to look over her shoulder, asking, "Do you have everything ready? I don't want to waste anytime. Especially with that last one you let get loose still out there!"
"If you rush it, you won't get the results you want. He could just be an everyday giant spider if we're not careful," the wizened human warned from his altar, "And believe me, I'm not thrilled that such a prized creature got away! Once I get a hold of her, I'll make sure she's better trained."
"Stay the heck away from Heart!" I about shouted in warning, pulling at my metal restraints.
"I wouldn't worry about her," Eilsana mused while grasping my chin and forcing me to turn my head back and forth, "And once this ritual is done...you won't even remember her."
"These rituals date back centuries ago, I'm surprised you have these," the elderly human mentioned, "And you want me to blend them, yes?"
She gave a nod, "I want to make sure that one way or another, he belongs to me."
"Then we'll help you capture your lost monster before she draws unwanted attention, and you get to be the one to perform such a ritual and take all the credit for it," she gave a wide, wicked grin before turning back to me, "Such a shame though, to waste such a handsome frame."
"Now then, this may or may not tingle a bit...or even burn, I guess you'll find out," the mad man snickered as he jotted down something on his parchment with his quill and ink.
Eilsana attempted to reach up a bit more, using her spider limbs to do so. With this she attempted to hold my face in place to brush her lips over mine. However, I managed to twist and pull away just enough to keep her from doing this. She gave a brief scowl as I glared at her instead. Then her expression twisted back into a cruel smile as she assured me, "You'll change your mind soon enough. Then you'll be mine, and begging to be."
With this, she skittered back from me and before I could try and move, the runes on the floor I now noticed around me began to glow. Together, they each read from a very ancient parchment, neither in which I could see the drawn out image of what I was to become. Though, glancing at the once drow gave me a rough idea of what she had in-store for me. Their chants were steady, and the pressure in me began to build as they grew louder. My core began to burn, but not like that of the guardian curse. This was an icy sensation that burrowed through me. My teeth clenched as their grip on my frame tightened. I had closed my remaining eye in a pained grimace, with sweat beading over my forehead. Then it all paused, as did their voices. I looked to see their faces, to try and read what was happening through a fogging over brain.
His grin was of terrifying fascination. Her smirk was of cruel amusement. Neither were comforting to see.
"He should be ready now," he stated as we all noticed the runes glowing a vibrant crimson.
"This will be satisfying to witness," she assured, "As we strip you of whatever freedom you had, and your warped desires that pulled you away from me."
Before I could say anything, they began. Reading carefully in an ancient drow language that I could only guess at. My only hint of warning was when they glanced at me, or rather, focused on a part of me they wished to change.
First was my overall lean frame as it started to thin out even more. She giggled, "Don't leave him too thin now, he needs some muscle to guard me with."
Next after she began her again, I would feel my skin beginning to itch. Glancing down, my remaining eye widened in surprise to see my flesh beginning to turn gray in shade, parts of it as black as the drow's was. Then with this, came a thin coat of spider hair that began growing in. It stayed fairly light though, and left my face bare thus far.
"It'll help you cling to the walls, that should please you," she teased, "you can go on stealing treasures for me to wear."
My eye narrowed into a glare, as I questioned, "I'm not gonna be your tool!"
"Oh, you won't have a choice as your priorities begin to change," she assured me.
I pulled and fought, but to little avail. For as they chanted, I would feel my hands begin to shift as they had once before. Only this time, rather than talons, they warped into ebony claws, my fingertips becoming more thinned and spindly like the legs of a spider. I tried in vain to twist and contort my wrists to slip out of the metal shackles that held me up. For my head began to cloud a bit from the pressure rising through my changing body.
"What's the matter, my dashing rogue, losing the will to try and get free?" she taunted as I glared at her wearily, "Or perhaps you don't have the desire to leave my side again?"
"Ya think I have any desire to be with a spiteful witch like you?!" I growled.
"You seemed to consider it the other night, didn't you?" she reminded me, causing my stomach to twist a bit.
Before a bit of a smirk began to curve my scarred lip as I quickly recalled, "Ya had to use a cheap spell to lure anyone in. Heart certainly didn't need that."
"Is that so? She didn't catch your interest with that magic of hers? Or...perhaps...the truth of who she is...or at least was?" she then taunted.
"What?" I looked to her with a widened remaining eye.
"Oh...so she hasn't told you the rest? Well, I guess it doesn't matter, now does it? At least, it won't matter to you for much longer," she insisted.
"Now then, would you like to see with more than one eye again?" she then snickered with a false warmness as they continued on with their ritual.
I began to give groans of agony as my face began to ache. The sensation was mortifying as the extra eyes of a spider began to develop, three smaller spaces emerging beneath my natural eyes. Yet I could feel them taking time to open.
"Oh, my dear pet, does it hurt?" she mused, "Tell us, how do you feel?"
Before I could try and speak, their chanting continued, and my jaw began to ache. I writhed and struggled still with all the strength I could gather, but nothing gave an inch. Then the pain in my throat and jawline grew, and the pressure in my body kicked up a horrible heat. My teeth began to sharpen slightly. Then, gradually, something emerged from the back of my mouth, and the sides of my scarred lips widened to make room for what was beginning to jut out from them. I knew without seeing them, looking to the drow through a blurred vision from the horrible pain. The mandibles of a spider emerging and growing out a bit, making it awkward to close my mouth as my sharpening teeth clenched tightly.
"Now, while it may be difficult for me to kiss you as I tried to before...I'll make sure you can hold me quite close, but with extra, strong arms to do so," she assured.
A scream finally tore from my throat, pushing out passed my twisted jaws, as my bones along my ribs began to shift and change. Under my skin, I could feel something trying to develop and find their place to grow out from along my sides. Another howling cry broke through as I tried again to pull free, drowning their ears from any other sound as my voice rang out through the chamber.
Then suddenly, despite their continued chanting, my changes came to a sudden halt. With this, I gasped in short, pained breaths, as I tried to figure out what was happening. They too seemed surprised as they looked around in frustrated bewilderment. At last the chanting ceased for the moment as they turned to one another, Eilsana demanding, "Did you lose the next part? Why has it stopped working?"
"I...I don't know! We were half way through, and everything is here!" he insisted while going over his notes.
Eilsana ripped the parchment from his hands and tried to continue on her own, her eyes spitting with venom as she focused on me. I tried to brace myself through the screaming pain of my body, before realizing nothing else was happening still. This only furthered her irritation as she noticed this as well.
It was now that I noticed that the runes had ceased in their hellish glow. Glancing down, I would catch on quick that one of the symbols had been scratched out. I was careful to make sure they hadn't caught on to this, as I tried to wriggle my twisted hands free still.
Then, before they sensed it, I did. The smell of ozone was caught in the air just before a burst of electricity followed it, emerging from the entrance of the chamber, forcing the two away from me to try and avoid it. Both of them managing to avoid being struck with their own quick movements.
Again, a display of erratic energy filled the room, dancing in a wild fury to drive them further back. I braced myself, but quickly found that it wasn't coming anywhere close to me. However, I looked to see that the wielder of this magic was drawing near instead. My remaining natural eye widened a bit as I breathed out, "...Heart...?"
Despite the strong magic warning the two from coming closer, I could see how utterly afraid she was. Her warped frame made it awkward for her to move still, but she pushed on, and rather quickly. It were as though her focus was tunneled, her eyes just as lost looking as the last time I'd seen her.
"St-Stay away from him, you horrid little beast!" Eilsana commanded.
Yet just as she spoke, we heard the racing footsteps of several men and women rushing into the chamber after her. Guards, shopkeepers, and family members of the missing folk trapped still in their cages, stormed the large room. Before me, a fight between them and the two casters was quickly underway.
Even still...my focus remained...on the one trying to stand before me. Her wings sewn along her arms forced her to lean forward a bit, but still she stood strong. Then she began to push past that weighed down structure of her limbs, and reached a clawed hand up...I braced myself, wincing in lingering pain, before she very gingerly rested it against my chest. Forcing my remaining eye open, I looked over her...and then our gaze met. Those sapphires, though still seeming shattered in some way...were set on me. Pained empathy washed over her face, as though her own agony wasn't even a thought to her...
Hating to see her so frightened, I forced a smile through my warped jaw and simply said, and just as casually as I'd ever sounded before, "...Hey..."
Instantly tears would brim those blue eyes as her hand brushed over my chest still, as though she were trying to wash away the changes I'd endured thus far. She then reached up carefully, and touched the side of my face just as gently. The palm of her warm hand rested against my cheek as she looked up at me.
"...Duke..."
Before I could say anything else, she pulled away from me. I winced at how my face ached with cold in comparison, and the lingering pain from it's change. She then hurried over to the table with parchments and books still scattered upon it's surface. She poured over every word it seemed as I looked on.
It was now that I realized the wizard had been captured. Yet Eilsana was nowhere to be seen it seemed. Then I heard it...above me as I glanced upward. Her hungry violet gaze met with mine as she sneered, "I will finish this, and you will belong to me, my pet!"
She focused a hand on the broken up rune, and began to mend it with a whispered spell. Again it began to glow.
"With you at my side, we will ensnare these pitiful creatures and build our own kingdom with them to serve us!" she insisted before she began to chant.
The pressure in me began to rise again as I felt my frame bracing for the other half of the ritual. Another cry fought it's way out of my warped jaws as venom began to drip from my lips. I looked to Heart, to find her gone again. Panic forced my heart to leap to my throat. My eyes, plural I realized in horror, searched for her in vain, "Heart?!"
"Forget about her, and give in to me!" Eilsana commanded as her next chant began, "Think only of serving your queen!"
As another scream tore from me, I would suddenly hear a metallic snap from above me. With this, I collapsed to the ground, tumbling out of the circle of runes. Gasping as my body was wracked with agony and exhaustion. Rolling onto my side, I tried to look and see what had happened. At first my now blurred vision from panic could only see the broken chain mine had detached from. Then my several eyes focused more, bit by bit, as I watched her swiftly moving along the ceiling of the cavern. Electricity dancing around her in warning, I saw how her claws dug into the rock solid Earth, and had indeed severed iron to free me. Now she was quickly crawling along it, to a very startled dryder, her shrieks of frustration ringing throughout the chamber. Eilsana raised her hand, long nails of her own ready to strike as Heart charged forward and managed to use enough force to knock her down. The two fell upon the ground, both of them struggling to gain the empty hand.
"You horrible creature! I will change you into the lowly beast you are, and slaughter you!" Eilsana screamed.
Heart didn't answer in words, but she managed to dodge the swipes from the spider-woman's claw like nails. Eilsana had landed on her back, but was already trying to use her legs to ensnare the dragon woman struggling against her. Focusing as best as she could, Heart let out a burst of electricity to push the spindly, yet strong legs back away from her. Giving her just enough time to try and hop off of her. Yet as she did, the once drow grabbed her ankle, her nails digging into her ankle, "Where do you think you're going this time?!"
"Heart!" I gasped sharply as I tried to push myself up with my unfamiliar hands.
Heart tried in vain to kick herself free. Looking around, I wondered where the villagers had gone, but found strong webbing having them secured into smaller spaces of the cave. Some were trying to cut their way through, but the sticky substance made this difficult. Others watched on as the struggle between the two continued on. The wizard had a delighted smile on his face as he watched Heart get dragged back closer to a vicious dryder.
I about collapsed onto my stomach, my frame strange to me in it's half transformed state, and wracked with pain. Still I attempted to push myself up as I looked to Heart. I realized she hadn't said another word. In fact, the longer this went on, the more she seemed to give into what was more instinctual.
"What's the matter, you little lightening bug?" Eilsana finally managed to shove Heart down onto her back, "Don't have anything to say anymore?"
She had a strong grip on Heart's throat, who kicked and clawed at her to try and get free. Eilsana ignored the electricity lashing out at her with a protection spell, I realized. She licked her greedy lips, "I think I'll just rid myself of you now. Then he will be mine, mind, body, and heart. He'll forget all about you, just as the world has,...right...Lady Cezanni? Do you even remember at this point?"
Heart only growled back in a weak response as she gasped for air.
"Let me put you out of your misery!" Eilsana giggled, "Not that you deserve such mercy-!"
Eilsana quickly began shrieking and gasping for her own freedom as the chain I still had tightened around her own neck. Their struggle had masked my shaky steps and clanking links of iron I was dragging along. With what strength I could muster, I swung the chain around her throat and began to pull as hard as I was able to. Quickly yanked off of her, Heart was now able to draw a desperately needed breath of air. She quickly started to get up, tears in her eyes as that breath rushed to her lungs. Eilsana tried to claw and swipe at her, but I managed to keep my grip steady and pull her away from my companion.
With this, I continued to pull, making certain that chain didn't loosen. For I knew if she got out again, she'd keep following us. She would keep hunting us down until she caught us, or we killed in the process. I ignored my usual reserves in the heat of one desire. I wanted to protect her!
So I didn't dare loosen my grip on that iron, until that spidery witch finally collapsed to the ground. Even then, I held on with some caution. Once she was still, I turned to look over Heart while catching my own breath. She was looking up at me with pained, frightened eyes, their surface still appearing like shattering glass somehow. As I stepped closer, she tried to push herself up to back away. At first...
For as I took that step, I felt that pain from before drag me down to my hands and knees. Stumbling forward, I about collapsed fully in the rock and dirt. I barely managed to catch myself with my spidery hands. When I looked up, I would find myself face to face with Heart. Fear was in those breaking sapphires, and she shook her head as something began to fall from them.
Yet as I reached an alien hand to her face, I would see Heart suddenly look up passed me. I'd barely heard her as well, as Eilsana gasped and snarled for breath. I didn't have to turn around to see that she was glaring at us. However, before she could make her move, I watched as Heart grabbed the end of the chain and snapped it off from my shackles. With as much focus as she could muster, she then sent a steady, strong bolt up along it and around the dryder's neck. She shrieked and snarled as I looked to see the energy making her body twist and contort. Until at last, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed to the ground. The echoes of her screams swept through the chamber and down the halls, until there was silence again. This time...it stayed that way.
Catching her breath now, Heart then returned her gaze to me.
I barely heard the villagers beginning to cheer as they broke their way through the webs. The doctor from before then hurried over to the table and began looking over the wizard's notes.
"If we hurry, we may be able to revert your changes," he called to me, "Quickly get back in the circle, and I can undo this supposed gift!"
"What about Heart?" I asked.
"I'll see what I can do for her soon, but this has to be done now!" he insisted.
I tried to get up, but stumbled again as my new frame seemed to betray my attempts at moving. Seeing this, Heart swiftly tucked herself under my arm and pushed me up to my feet. With her aid, I was able to get back to the center of those runes.
"Heart, stand back...okay?" I attempted as she helped set me down on my hands and knees.
She looked to me with those lost eyes, and then nodded in understanding as she stepped away.
Then a chanting began again, and those runes now glowed with an ethereal lavender, the light of it encasing me within it. Heart didn't look away as I began to writhe and change. Soft groans pushed their way out of my warped jaws as my new features started to revert. Starting with the spidery skin and hair covering me in it's strange coat. Then I felt the extra eyes in my face close and seal up as though they'd never been there. Next were the arms that had tried to emerge from my sides, my bones shifting back into place as though this hadn't ever happened. Gradually my form readjusted, my lean muscles and frame returning. I shook my head in agony as the mandibles in my jaw started to retract, and the venom was cleared away with them. At last my hands flexed back out into their rightful form, before grasping at the dirt as I was still curled up on my knees.
With another sharp gasp, it was done, and the chanting ceased. My body resisted as I uncurled it, using my hands to push myself up. As I did, I again found Heart kneeling before me...her own changed frame quite shaken, and tears still in her eyes.
I was kneeling myself now as she quickly grabbed hold of my shoulders. With this, I would suddenly feel her lips brush against my right cheek, my left eye widening in shock as I did. Or maybe...it was something else? Disbelief? Yes...disbelief that she would even reach out to me after everything she'd just been through because of me. Even now, as I could see the cord threading her wings to her arms, I didn't believe it.
As she pulled away, I looked to her quite stunned, "...Heart...? What are ya...?"
Before I could find what I was trying to even ask, or say at all, a few of the villagers walked over to us. With their aid, we got to our feet. The mad doctor was quickly bound and hauled off, while others tended to the lifeless body of the dryder nearby. Still being helped, we were able to leave that cavern for good, and the horrors echoing through it. Both of us were hoisted up on a cart with other changed villagers in need of help. Family members did their best to calm their unearthly cries and growls. The doctor remained with us, informing me of how they'd found us.
Heart had gone back to where she'd last seen me when she didn't hear me running in either direction. It had been as though she'd felt something was wrong. That's when she'd seen me being dragged away. Knowing it would be difficult to fight alone, she'd caught the attention of the townsfolk, especially the doctor who was able to recognize her face as I had. With bursts of electricity to catch their eye and lead the way with, Heart brought them to find their missing loved ones...and me...
I glanced over at the young woman sitting beside me. Her legs were pulled awkwardly up to her knees, with her winged arms wrapping around them. I could see her whole frame trembling from the aftermath of everything. Carefully, I ventured a hand to rest on her shoulder, before sliding it along to the other. With this, I pulled her into a hug as I whispered, "Thank you...we're goin' to find a way to save ya, sweetheart."
"We have those that can help her better back in the village, clerics that can undo this. It will take a while,-"
"Then that's what we'll do," I said firmly.
The doctor smiled, "Of course. I was going to say, I doubt you'll need to worry about payment for what you have been able to do for this town. We will find a way to help this dear lass of yours."
"Of mine?" I half scoffed at myself, and yet...I didn't dare let go of her as I felt her lean into me finally.
My grip on her tightened as she clung to me in return.
When we returned to the village, we were quickly escorted to the temple where these clerics were preparing their spells. They'd already gotten word of the need their people were in, as well as Heart. Standing with her, I could feel how frightened she was as they tried to lead her to a healing room in the back of the temple. Her clawed hands gripped the fabric of my tunic, tearing it a bit. Carefully, I placed my hands over hers and looked into her eyes, "It's gonna be okay, Heart...they're goin' to help ya...far better than I can..."
Her grip only tightened, however.
"Miss Heart, please, we can't help you until you let us...!" one of the maidens beside her tried to ease her fears.
"Your companion will be tended to for his injuries while we work on changing you back, but you have to trust us to do this!" Another pleaded.
As Heart refused to let go, some sort of clarity rang in my head as I looked over her. Caressing her cheek, I realized something, and said to her, "I'm not goin' to leave, Heart. I know a lot's happened the last few days, an'...an' you're scared...but I wouldn't leave ya. I just want ya back...okay?"
At last her grip on my tunic eased up, and she was carefully lead away. Only when the door closed, was I brought over to rest my own exhausted form. However, this was hard to do as I could only imagine what she was under-going in the meantime. From under the door, I would see the glow of different spells, and I would hear Heart crying out from time to time. Every time she did, I wanted to rush in and hold onto her, to guide her through somehow. Yet I knew it would be too much of a risk to disrupt them as they were trying to change her back. So I was forced to wait.
While I did, I forced my mind to focus on something else...but only slightly. For I began wondering what Eilsana had meant while talking to Heart? She'd referred to her as a Lady of some sort a few times during the last encounter? Was there something else Heart had left out in her history? Was her family that of a noble line before it was enslaved? Was it yet another reason for me to try and pull away from her before anything else happened to her? My head swam with questions while I pondered over this.
Several hours would pass by, and I had found that I'd drifted off to sleep from sheer exhaustion at some point. Waking up with a bit of a start, I'd almost forgotten where I was...or more so...because I remembered quickly and wanted to know...was she okay?
"Oh, you're awake!" the shrine maiden exclaimed with relief.
"Where's Heart?" I asked, barely noticing that my tunic had been mended while I'd slept, "Is she alright?"
"Well, go see for yourself," she invited with a kind smile, gesturing towards the door.
Quickly getting to my feet, I gathered my composure as I approached the door. Then, taking a deep breath, I released it as I opened the door slowly so not to possibly startle her.
She was standing with her back to me, the loose linen fabric of her white under dress flowing with her unsteady movements. Beneath her long hair that had been pulled into a ponytail with a matching ribbon, I could see the scars along her shoulder blades left from the wings that were no longer there at all, let alone sewn to her. However, passed her short belled sleeves, I could also see the suture scars that remained along her arms. At her waist was a burgundy corset to give the dress a splash of color. She hadn't pulled on her boots yet, as she seemed to be getting used to just standing again on her feet. Her neck was bare, but the sapphire necklace rested on the table side, retrieved for her with her original tunic and gear that had been taken from her. The morning light reached through the windows, caressing her pale skin with it's warmth, and making the blue scales she did still have gleam upon contact.
"...Heart...?" I managed to ask softly, causing her to jump slightly, and then turn around.
Those sapphires of hers found me standing there before her...my knees weak as I watched her. They weren't as distant and shattered in appearance as they were before...but still she looked lost as fear lingered in them. Her voice, though just as quiet as mine had been, was heard clearly still, "...Duke...?"
Never before, had my name carried such a wonderful ring to it. Not as it did now; as with it, she drew me to hurry over to her. In seconds I realized I couldn't hold back as I threw my arms around her, pulling her firmly against me as I did.
"I missed ya so much, sweetheart!" I choked out softly into her ear.
With one arm securely against her back, and my other hand reaching up to the base of her neck, gripping her hair gently, I held her tightly. It were as though I had all the strength in the world...and yet not enough at the same time. Faltering in any way may have caused us both to break. Worst of all was that I knew I had startled her from this abrupt embrace. Nonetheless, I held her still.
Then I felt her wrapping her arms around my lean frame, her hands clutching at the back of my tunic. In my ear I would hear her choking back a sob as her voice trickled into my ear, "I missed you, too..."
With this, she burrowed her face into my shoulder, and allowed those tears she was holding back to fall.
"Hey...hey..." I attempted, "You're safe, Heart...please don't..."
"I was so afraid I'd lose you! That we wouldn't get to you in time! I knew what they were planning to do to you, I broke out of there to try and warn you! And I wound up getting you dragged away! They were going to...! All that you are...would be...Duke, I wouldn't know what to do if that had happened!" she cried, her voice trembling more and more.
"Heart...?"
Barely pulling herself together, she stepped back a bit to look up at me. Those tears welling in her eyes still broke my heart in half. I then began to vaguely wonder, when did she start looking at me the way she did now? In just a month or so, she had grown away from the withdrawn, lonely young woman I'd found that night not so long ago...Through the wall she'd built around herself, I'd somehow managed to break in, and reach out to her...? Bit by bit uncovering the gem of a soul within. She wanted to protect others, to know and understand her magic and how to use it, and just like anybody else, have someone to talk to. Yet not just anyone either.
Looking over her now...I realized that my own vision was trying to blur. She noticed this, and quickly reached a hand up, brushing my cheek as tears threatened to fall. I then caught that hand of hers, holding it gently before bringing it carefully to my lips. With this, I would see her blush again, thus tugging on my heart strings even further.
"Ya went through so much for...?" I couldn't finish asking, finding my voice being stolen away as I held her hand still, and ran my other gingerly along her arm.
The suture marks were still quite red and angry.
"They were getting some bandages for them," she mentioned, clearly looking uneasy upon having attention brought to them.
As though on cue, a cleric brought in the gauze wrappings, and I quickly offered to dress her wounds. Heart tried to insist that I rest, but I wasn't hearing it. Not right now as I looked over her, and saw just how many of those markings she had. Knowing full well that she was recoiling from them a bit. I then asked the dwarven cleric to leave while I tended to Heart for the moment. He gave a nod, and then stepped out.
"Duke, it's fine-"
"Let me do this, okay?" I requested while carefully escorting her to the bed and setting her down next to me.
With this, I began cleaning and then dressing those wounds. As I did, she was quiet for a while at first. The blood that had dried along her skin began to wash away, and her spirits gradually seemed to rise at least. While I wrapped the gauze over those markings, I thought back to the fight again. I ran over the details in my head, what had been said, how Heart had acted while changed and warped like that.
"Luckily, they were able to undo my own spell as well," Heart then mentioned.
I looked to her with concern, "What spell?"
"It's a newer one I was practicing, Mind Sliver, it attacks the mind...I tried to use it to get away from them. However, it backfired, and quite badly...that's part of why I was having trouble speaking...I scrambled a bit of my own head instead of knocking them back with the pain the spell was supposed to inflict on them..." she explained while trying to remember.
"You scrambled who ya were?" I realized, "Your memories an' such?"
She nodded her head, "Between the shock of what he did to me, and that spell, I nearly lost myself...but...something gave me a thread to hold onto..."
I was too stunned to speak myself now. So I continued to dress her wounds, making sure the bandaging gave her room to move her arms without hurting her. Yet when I tried to pull away to put the rest of the med-kit away, Heart quickly caught my hand. In her eyes, I could see she was just as afraid as I was. Of what could change going forward, or what wouldn't change. I knew what I wanted to tell her, what I saw when she looked up at me...even now...
I also knew, that she deserved more than all of this. She'd been through so much because of me. It was true we took turns saving each other...however...I kept being the one to land us in the thick of it. At least it felt that way.
Yet in the moment, despite those fears lingering in both of us, I found myself opening my arms for her, allowing her to hesitantly pull herself into my lap. With my embrace wrapping around her, Heart clung to me in turn.
"I knew there was someone I needed to find...someone that would be in danger if they found them...and when I went to find them, I wasn't even sure if I would know who it was I was looking for...until I saw you..." she said shakily, "When I found you...I felt some part of me trying to reach back out...I remembered you...and I tried to warn you...but you still..."
She tried not to break down again. As I felt her trembling, I hugged her tighter still and said, "Ya found me, didn't ya? If it weren't for you...I'd be lost...in more ways than what they had in mind..."
I risked kissing the top of her head as softly as I could, wishing I could just say what I wanted to her.
Not like this though...no...regardless of who she was before, or who she was now...I knew Heart deserved more than this. If only I could find a way to give that to her, then maybe? Either way, for now...I didn't dare let her go.