Noctisardor Bypass to love is to destroy

Shadow let out a gasp, the previous hardening of his expression falling away all at once. It was like the mask had cracked, revealing his face raw. He wasn't nothing without the mask, though. Barely. Crëyr preferred the Shadow without the mask.

He had his silver eyes fixed on her. Perhaps he had seen something that had triggered an emotional breakdown— she didn't know nor could she guess what, but right now, in this moment, she did not want to know yet.

His large, strong frame came to lean on her again, and the grayscale girl decided to relax and release the tightening of her limbs. What he then said surprised her, like everything he had said in the past twenty minutes. Right now he didn't seem to be being sarcastic.

She didn't think it was, anyway. Brave, strong. Perhaps they were words to describe Draenen and Gwilym— she was cautious and noticing, though she did not know what type of "brave" and "strong" Shadow was talking about. Or preferred. Was that brave or strong to him? She wasn't exactly wild or reckless like Draenen— she knew what a gift like was, though she preferred to show it in a different way.

"Perhaps, in time he would learn that to love might not always end in death and destruction."

"He would have been willing to?" Crëyr said, her voice drifting and light. "Yes, he would. Perhaps I see it now."

He continued to speak, asking her for answers and her opinions. "Both," She replied quickly. "Both. Love makes you strong, builds you up, fills you with the... well, strongest force on Earth— all of a sudden there will be a twist of fate and it'll bring you to their grave." She paused. "My opinion, I think? I've never truly experienced strong, true love before but, well... I feel strongly about it. In time I'll grow to think more about the emotion, maybe."