Phantom Hollow [MATURE] Sorrowful

She admitted she regretted her wrong doings. In Ensio's icy eyes, there was no judgement. He just nodded, stating simply. "We cannot change the past. Only learn from it." Then, she asked him a question that made his heart quiver. His expression twisted, growing somewhat pained. "I can tell you with all certainty, that it is. Think of your mother. Of the sacrifice she made. Would she wish this for you, to throw your future all away?"  The answer, he reasoned, should be obvious.

He was trying not to get emotional, but the pain was there on his face. Swallowing the hard lump in his throat, he moved to her side and motioned gently for her to lay with him on the ground. Studying her for a long, drawn out moment. A great breath was drawn in and let out slowly. His glacial eyes held her burning yellow ones fast.

"Sovereign...we are more alike than you realize. I know your pain." His pale toes curled and flexed. "I have known loss and betrayal. What it is like...to lose everything." He was not trying to compare himself to her. Only to turn the pages back, exposing his scarred over wounds of the past. "My parents are long gone. My father, struck down in his prime by a terrible accident. My mother...she...couldn't take it. I watched as she wilted away and then took her own life. My brother and sister...even my cousin....they all dispersed. I don't know if they are even still alive."

He grit his teeth then. "I had to endure the slow loss of my family while another stood in their place. With no rightful claim to what we had worked so hard to build. I struggled to trust them...questioned myself. Eventually, I gave in and dropped my guard. We abandoned my birthplace, my home land. Tried to start anew, and I followed. It worked out, for a little while. But it didn't feel...right. Then, my initial fears were solidified. The outsiders...the usurpers..." He could not contain the hatred in his voice now. His lip curled, tears beading at the corners of his eyes. "...they abandoned us! Everything they had made. Left us...me, without a word, without justification. I should have known never to trust them, I was so foolish."

"You and I, Sovereign, are not all that different. We are all that is left of our families. I trust no one. Not even the tawny woman by the lake. But you..." His tone and eyes softened. "...I promise you this. I will not abandon you. Never. We both have been through too much pain."