My heart, in all it's pieces, will forever love you;

He didn't understand the foreign gestures she was doing for a moment, the removal of her gloves was never an action he had seen nor fathom'd. But as she did so, his green hue's seemed to stare back into her own. He could see she was searching for something within his own, and perhaps she found it. For the next action she took seemed to be entirely driven by her own desires, a completely selfless or selfish action that he couldn't decide which. A step forward, follow'd by a hug which caused him to do a sharp intake of breath.

The profoundness of the moment was not lost upon him, his mind running a million miles per hour as her arms wrapped around his torso. His body temporarily frozen as he came to terms with the action she did, the soft rising of his chest was felt. But now that she was pressed to his chest she would feel the thrumming of his heart, beating steadily and quickening in pace. A heart which she knew beat for the nation he— they made. In that moment his arms rose softly finding themselves around her, bronze arms tanned with scars from a lifetime seemed to wrap around her slowly. Tightening enough to commit this moment to memory, a memory that not even a thousand lifetimes would ever vaporize.

He held her there, silently, for who knows how long. He did not wish to let go, to ever let go of this moment. A shaky breath was inhaled his figure only bent ever so slightly due to their height difference, before finally he spoke. A voice which was his own, but hushed and tinted with far too many emotions to fully understand.

"If there has ever been one common trait between life, death, and love; dearest Abalia, it is that it does not discriminate between us sinners and saints."

For all his strengths and faults he had perhaps fallen in love with a woman who could potentially never return those feelings, but that was not his tragedy to claim. It was her own, and perhaps the sole reason that as he held her he resolved himself to face the truth of the matter. Every flirtation, every wayward look, was not his attempts at finding a partner— it was his attempt to push these feelings away. And despite it all, despite how foolish he was being he could not. This was not a choice on his part, to love this woman, it was a feeling so deeply interwoven into his heart that he purpose had slowly began to change over time.

The heart which beat for Vastime, had changed. It now thrummed with reckless abandonment for a woman, and if he was to perhaps find peace before his timely demise, he would need to reconcile the two. But there was the question of, what if he survived? What then? Does he go about his days as if this never happened, do they return to business? As much as they both might hope for that, in his heart of hearts he knew things would never be the same. Not tonight, and not ever again.

He closed his eyes his face contorting into something like pain, a heavy breath being taken.

"I believe, I had no choice in this matter. If it was destiny, or perhaps, a feeling which I could never shake. But I choose to pursue it. I choose to be here. I choose to, gods be damned, to try."

The man would pull back ever so slightly, if only to look at her in those sharp eyes. This, perhaps, would be his most human and beautiful act. But the greatest foolserrand of his life. But that it seemed impossible, to this man, was not a reason to strive. He had came into this night with the intentions of baring his soul and leaving, to accept the reality had given him. But as the night progressed, as everything began to change he could only bring his hand to brush a stray piece of hair from her face. Someone like her should never have a single piece of hair out of place, immaculate and unwavering. But in this moment, that facade was breaking. His hand didn't move once it moved the hair.

He saw the humanity within her, or perhaps it was his imagination. But it was enough, it was a spark that consumed now his every waking moment in a inferno.

"If there is a reason, why I am here, when so many have tried. The gods be damned, I'm willing to wait for it. I will never, love someone as I love you. Even as I walk towards my inevitable demise, I have done the impossible all through my life... what is one more?"

Indeed. Even as his eyes seemed to become misty, a heaviness to them. Not because of an overwhelming sadness but just how raw he felt. An emotional vulnerability to him that had been buried so deeply, that she was only one who saw it with no strings attached. If there ever was a man who had braved the impossible, who sought what others deigned as unobtainable, it was he. That it was impossible, was not a justification to stop. It would never be.