Thank you berry much to my reviewers: HoneyGoddess57 and classofthetitans711 as well as my alerters/favers. Ya'll are awesome! =)

On a side note, I finished reading Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare for the third time a few days ago after getting it as an early Xmas gift. Is there anybody else who absolutely adores it as much as I do? =D

The character for this chapter is Jay.

…

Forthright Affinity

…

Steel: a cold iron, one enduring the heat of a single moment. As if he could touch its scarlet mired blade, the boy reached out and drew more than he felt required. The grey of the blade was not one to seek a bitter revenge, not one to hail an impassive strife. It was meant to bereave the selfish vanity only of those who deserved it, not spill guiltless blood. And such is how it was wielded.

Somehow the silver sparked, even in the darkness – a beacon of light, a glint of optimism that shone among a sextet of fellow warriors. A gleam of light to guide them to a long-sought victory. The steel of the leader's heart was not one to flee, instead to protect. The leafed bend of the sword would defend from heated wrath, like a silver canopy against a blackened sun.

But the double edge would often show in the sword's spirit, leaving him open, but leaving him fierce and prepared for smiting hands. The hilt was the heart, and the heart was in a form of pure gold; sturdy and clear-minded as a glass splinter. The hands that grasped the hilt were as rough as the sword's spirit, working endlessly towards one plausible gain.

The sword's point was sharp, invulnerable and deadly… but it was easily obfuscated by the souls of what it pierced. Blood would run its length, like insignias of barrenness, of empty lives. The sword too inflexible to bare it all in one blow.

There, within its golden heart, lay a precious burgundy gem; its hue epitomizing the fragility of what lay beneath the gold and silver wreaths. The metal was a hard shell, a means of barricading and encompassing its crux, so as to guard itself and stay as a whole.

The gem rested in the reach of only its owner, its guardian. For no other blinking soul was to look upon it, lest it shatter… and carry its armour with it.

…

I was in a bit of a mood, so sorry if it sounds morbid. When the word 'sword' appears, I am being ambiguous and it refers both to Jay and his Xyphos.

For accompaniment, search kuroshitsuji melody on youtube and choose the first video. I was listening to this when I wrote it.

It just gave me muse.

Symbolism is everywhere.

Thanks for reading! Have a lovely day. Please leave a review if you liked it, or even a suggestion for another character.

Love,

Toymaker

||...Absence from those we love is self from self - a deadly banishment...||

~ William Shakespeare