Prompt: "Did you get my letter?" serepulchure

"…Did you get my letter?"

Her voice was greatly at odds with her surroundings. Bright and clear and with a genuine affection to whom she was speaking, utterly unsuited for stone walls and adamantine bars surrounding the maximum security cell Serenity was peering into. The inhabitant of said cell made no attempt to reply to her question. Not that she'd expected him to, to be honest. She'd just needed something to fill the silence.

"It's alright if you didn't," she continued. "Really it was just the usual report on how Gravelyn was doing. She's learning to talk at an astounding rate; maybe by the time I see you again she'll be speaking in sentences! That'd really be something, huh?"

Her hands clasped and a smile made its way to her face. Serenity paused in her chatter to take a few mouthfuls of the tea she'd brought along for the meeting. Her conversational partner on the other hand remained as he was, sitting on the wooden bunk hanging in his cell; arms crossed, shoulders back, head high.

Red eyes staring at her from the moment she'd come in to the moment she would leave.

Serenity paid him no mind. She finished drinking her tea and wracked her brain for something to say.

"There are some people in the Locker trying to see if it'd be safe to live in the ruins of your old fortress. Just a few, mind, and mostly mages that can pick up on any sort of energies that might be inside. They're also trying to document any changes to the natural wildlife in the bay. Things seem to be pretty fine so far, but there's no harm in being sure. What else…?" She trailed off.

"Some horned folk have started appearing in town at night, and people are starting to get a little concerned—"

"Why do you keep coming here," a voice interjected.

She jolted back to attention, peering back at the man in the cell. Shadows hung around his form. Some were naturally occurring, formed by the lamplight bouncing off the walls of his cell. Others were formed by his own dark magic. His red eyes pierced through the shadow, digging into her skin.

"I'm sorry?" Serenity said, somewhat nervously.

The red eyes narrowed. "Why do you keep up this nonsense? Sending letters, making visits, prattling on about nothing to me as if I were a friend. You've already taken my daughter from me, is that not enough that you must take my time as well?"

She was taken aback by his words. Why—?

"I just… Thought you could use some company, that's all. Aren't you lonely at all in here?"

"No," came the curt reply. There was a harshness in made her squirm in her seat. "And you and I both know that is not the only reason that you continue making these little visits. Why not admit it outright instead of dancing around it with meaningless words?"

For a few moments, she was stricken silent. She did have another reason for coming, true, but… The fact that he regarded her presence so bitterly stung. Serenity found herself swirling her tea in lieu of an answer for a while, trying to find the right words to say.

She said, "I suppose then, that I thought you needed someone to show you what kindness is again. That maybe there was still some good left in you. Maybe you just needed a friend."

"And this is what you truly believe?" he asked.

Hesitantly, she nodded. He growled in response, turning away from her and heading deeper into his shadows until she could no longer see him.

"Then you are a fool."

NOTE: This was supposed to be a romantic fill. This is not by any means romantic.