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Dissonant Hearts (Degusaurusrex x AndrewS)

"I pity whoever tries to spook you." He laughed. Even after his strength was gone, hers would still remain, all of the magic she had been given and the spells she had imprinted. "I believe you, though. We just need to get through this. If we can, then we can get through anything." He nodded, definitively, his grip on her tightening ever so slightly, fastening what was already a rather snug and secure hold around her.

"Have you noticed a change in Ignas?" Isen asked, feeling as though the demon wasn't listening at that moment, anyways, given the silence they were allowed to sit in. "He seems...different. A little less demon, a little more...human? Or, at least, normal. I...I know I shouldn't feel this at all after everything that he has done to me, and to us, but I would really like to find him the truth about the girl he cared for."

"He isn't going to stand down, he would trade his life for hers without a moment of hesitance. So, maybe love is a waste to us, but not to him. Not to them. I might have fucked it up once before but I won't let you take from them what was taken from me."

What Ignas had said during their confrontation with Danica bounced around in his head. It was the moment where he knew something had changed, that there was capacity in the demon's wretched heart for something more than hatred and pain. It was when Isen realized that everything they had been told about Ignas and the witch he loved was true and not just some lie or game the demons were playing because they had their feelings hurt with each other. What had been taken from him? And how could they get it back? Maybe things didn't have to be like this anymore.

"He stood up for us against Danica. For the first time, I felt like we were honestly in sync about something. Not out of necessity for survival...or a begrudging alliance. It felt like we were finally on the same page. He felt this way about someone too. I know it. I know that it's all true." It was embarrassing for him to admit it, secondhandedly, drawing attention to how he supposedly felt about Adelaide, but it felt necessary for his explanation of his thought process. "If we can get her back, or find him closure...I think we have to try."

They would find a way to try. That's what they did. A friend of theirs had imparted that onto them.
 
"Saying that Ignas seems to have some human to him is both as strange as it is true, but you're right." She sighed. "I do not like him, but I trust him more than I did when we first met." He hadn't tried to kill her in some time, after all, and even his rage directed at Danica had spared her physical body the brunt it could have bore for the obnoxious demon.

"We will search for this witch and do what we can do bring him some closure before this is over." Whether they could find sufficient information, much less the witch, was another story entirely, but she was willing to search. "The chances of her still being alive, much less reachable are... Slim." She sighed again and lifted her head to gaze at him tiredly.

"But Nikolai and Lorelei will look, and if we find her, we will make the journey, if only for him to see her face once more." She sat there for another moment before sliding off of his lap, shifting the sheets and getting comfortable on the bed with a small smile directed his way.

"Thank you. I'll try not to sleep too long, just wake me if anything happens and I'll get moving. I just need a bit of time to recover from Danica's tantrum."
 
Isen was glad that Adelaide was on the same page as him. In a strange way, perhaps Ignas had earned his chance at redemption; or Isen wanted to believe that he would, that he was worth it the same was as Isen himself had to accept. "Thank you. I'm sure they will turn up something." Isen nodded his head, hopeful, despite the longshot odds they were up against.

"No, you get some rest. You've been through more than enough today. Cresthaven is fine for now, you can sleep." He reassured her, his hand running across her back, rubbing her shoulder before she got off of his lap and settled herself in at his side. Isen leaned back as well, taking his place at her side, eyes averted skyward towards the ceiling of their bedroom. "Sleep well." He told her, shortly, allowing her to drift off to a well-deserved sleep. They still had a ton of their day left to work on their tasks, but for now, she could rest.

When she was out, he inched himself off of the bed and walked outside of the room. Isen saw that Lorelei was still awake, moving through the pages of a book. He was hoping he'd be alone to have a conversation with Ignas, Lorelai wasn't exactly the person he wanted to see right now, alone, but he couldn't just awkwardly shuffle past her or back into his room. He had a question to ask her, anyways.

"...why did you help me?" He asked her, blunt and to the point instead of making awkward small talk, recalling her unexpected aid when he was trying to cook for Adelaide.
 
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She had been through a fair bit that day, but the worst was yet to come. There was still so much they had left to do, so many people and things to handle before everything was said and done, and that was if they both survived it all. If she perished before it was over, Isen would be left with Ignas still bound to both the blade and him, and the DSTF would continue to reap chaos until someone strong enough to destroy them came along. That was an unacceptable scenario.

The hand moving over her back was a soothing motion that helped her to drift off to sleep, and Adelaide didn't stir when Isen shifted away and left the bed, or even when he left the room entirely. She was far too exhausted for anything other than sleep, and even Danica was keeping quiet and allowing her magical host to recover some of the energy lost at her outburst from earlier.

"What?" Lorelei glanced up from the book and frowned at Isen. "Why did I help you with what?"
 
"When I was in the kitchen, trying to cook for Adelaide. You helped me." He pointed out, reminding her of the act of kindness she had inexplicably shared onto him. Of course, she'd decide to act coy to the inquiry. "Why did you decide to help me?" He asked, a second time, sighing. He got a little closer, though wearily.

"I appreciated it. I don't meant to sound like I didn't, it was just...surprising, that's all." Isen suspected he wasn't going to get a proper answer, so he shook his head and dismissed it. "Nevermind." With intent of walking straight past her, he delayed himself before slipping out of the room, coming back again. If she wouldn't answer that question, maybe she would answer another.

"Any luck finding the spell we need...?" He didn't even know if Adelaide had put Lorelei up to it yet, but subtlety was far from Isen's strongest suit and he was already annoyed by the lack of response from before.
 
"So what?" Lorelei gave him a slightly annoyed look from her seat and shrugged. When he rambled slightly and then dismissed it entirely before walking off, she raised an eyebrow and watched as he almost immediately turned tail and came back to where she was. Surely it wasn't just that question that was bothering him so much. No, this had to be about Adelaide's current condition due to the demoness in her ring, the reaper was clearly worried about her and it almost made Lorelei smile.

Almost.

"Do you think I would still be here reading through all these books if I had found it?" She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before picking up her tea and sipping it. "I'm old, Isen, but that doesn't make me an expert who can magically find a spell at the exact time that we need it. Believe me, I don't want her shackled with that demon bitch anymore than you do. But I can't read nonstop or my eyes will probably fall out of my head. When I find something out, I'll let you know." She went back to the book with a curse and shake of her head, finger moving slowly over the lines of foreign text printed onto the old pages.

"She's too old to be useful, reaper." The voice that came from the doorway was full of disgust as the witch spoke, standing beside Nikolai who only gave Isen a pained look and shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, you can't expect traitors to come through for you."

"Enough, Claudia." Nikolai put a hand on her shoulder and nodded toward where Isen was standing, nudging the angry witch forward even as she cursed and glared at Lorelei. "Tell him what you found out."

"...I think I found the witch you wanted for your demon. Problem is, it seems she's dead."
 
Isen couldn't get a read on Lorelei at all. She seemed like she cared, and like she couldn't care less, both at the same time. He wasn't sure if it was indecision, guilt, or maybe she was just guarded...or she just didn't like him very much. He let the conversation end where Lorelei had left it. He didn't have the energy, nor the patience, to argue with her about it.

Another voice drew his attention away from his dismissal, Nikolai and and another witch at his side, baring news.

She was dead? Had Ignas heard that?

"She's dead?" He questioned, out loud, wanting more clarification. How could she be dead? Was it the DSTF? Isen's heart felt like it was dropping out of his chest. It was unlikely she was still alive, given the state of their world, but he had wanted to be hopeful, for Ignas' sake. Now, he just felt regret and sadness, human emotions he once more wished remained foreign to him as they once had before.

"You know for sure?"

"Isen..."

"Check again. You have to check again."

"Isen..."

"What?" He asked, having not heard Ignas in his head the first time, his voice raising for the second, speaking to someone nobody else could see.

"...thank them for trying."

Thank them? Since when did Ignas thank anybody for anything? That in itself was cause for concern for the well-being of the demon. "We knew the chances were small, anyways. Thank them for trying."

"He...he says thank you?" Isen relayed the message, a hint of confusion in his voice. "I need to tell Adelaide...we'll be back." He shook his head, turning to wake her up and fill her in on the sudden, depressing news.
 
"Well then." Lorelei sighed again, uncertainty written across her face as she put a bookmark on her current page, closed the book, and left the room. That was not the news she had been expecting to suddenly hear, and since her kindness did not extend to Ignas in any way, she left the room quickly and left Isen to speak to the witches.

"That's what everyone says, and the last place she lived has been untouched for some time," The female witch shrugged even as Nikolai sighed and shook his head at her. Despite his aversion to demons as a whole, delivering the news hadn't been his favorite thing to be involved with. "So, yeah."

Surprise flickered across both her and Nikolai's face as Isen relayed the message, and after giving the female a sideways look Nikolai pulled her out of the room and departed for some time to give Isen and his demon some privacy. Danica, however, had been listening to the conversation despite the fact that Adelaide was asleep, pacing around inside the confines of the ring and observing the incoming damage control that would need to be done.

Clever witch.

She prodded at Adelaide's mind as Isen entered the room, rousing the mage from her sleep to give a sleepy mumble and rub at her eyes. The look on Isen's face spoke volumes, a sense of dread filling the air as she sat up slowly and ran a hand through her loose hair. Whatever he was coming in to say, it wasn't good.
 
"Hey, did I wake you up?" He asked, as he crested the door frame and stepped back inside of her room. His body language, and the tone of his voice, made it clear that whatever he had come to do wasn't something that was going to make either of them happy to talk about. "We found out some news, I figured it was important enough to interrupt your nap for." He sighed, sitting himself down on the edge of the bed, turning to face her from that position.

"One of Nikolai's friends found out what happened to the witch we've been looking for, the one Ignas loved." Isen explained, his eyes meeting hers, solemnly. "She didn't make it. She's been dead, for a while now, it seems."

Isen remained quiet for a few moments, letting the point sit in and hang between them. He wasn't sure if he expected Ignas to chime in, to say anything at all, but he remained, understandably, quite quiet within Isen's head.

"I was really hoping that this would work out for us, that we'd catch a break. That something good might happen for us, for once..." Isen lamented, shaking his head. It had been one set back after another. One loss, and one heartbreak, after another, in such a short span too. How were they going to keep this up? They still had no end in sight to their DSTF problem and it felt like every time they tried to get ahead, something sat them back more steps than they had moved forwards.

He knew he couldn't give up hope. But right now felt pretty hopeless. It reminded him of the way it felt when they knew Samara was gone...and this witch was a stranger to him. For Ignas, it had been a life time of regret and pain, of separation and lack of closure, brought to an abrupt conclusion just a day or two after resolving to try and find her again. Old wounds, resurfaced, then torn apart.

"Anyways, you can go back to sleep. I'm sorry for waking you. I'll try to keep him from doing anything stupid."
 
"'s fine, what's wrong?" The fact that he was sitting by her rather than just spitting it out was slightly more worrisome. Was he expecting her to faint from the news or something? Whatever it was couldn't be that bad, or so she thought.

"Oh." What the hell was she supposed to say to that? A week ago, she would have shrugged and said it didn't fucking matter, that the demon didn't deserve anything good in his life, but now she wasn't so sure. The fact that Ignas wasn't saying anything just made her more concerned about the matter, and in the midst of it all she could feel a surge of pleasure from Danica, followed by a sharp pain in her head before she shook it.

"You don't have to leave." Her hand reached for Isen before she realized she had started to move, grabbing onto his sleeve and holding on as she watched him. "Stay. It's not like going back in the other room is going to accomplish anything." He wasn't the one searching for spells to separate demons from humans, and the aid he was offering Ignas was now moot if the witch was dead. Was she really dead, though, or was that just what the evidence suggested? If the witch had managed to escape the clutches of demons in the past, why would she suddenly be dead now? There had to be more to the story, but that meant that they needed to investigate it more, and... And...

What was she supposed to be doing again?

Adelaide's fingers toyed with Isen's shirt as she gave him a smile, scooting across the bed to move closer to him before she shifted to her knees and leaned up to brush her lips over his cheek. She could feel the pain radiating from the demon inside of Isen, could feel the stress and uncertainty from the reaper housing him, all thanks to Danica enhancing her senses, no doubt.

"Don't go." The next kiss was closer to his mouth, both of her hands moving to grasp the front of his shirt and tug him closer now as she sighed quietly. "We don't have to be alone for this. None of us do." Why did she care whether either of the demons were alone after this news? Something felt off.
 
"You don't have to leave."

Isen had already resigned himself to doing so, but her sudden request gave him pause. Her fingers tugged at the fabric of his shirt and he felt them against his skin, through it, any time she touched. It was still a surreal sensation being able to actually feel her touch, it made it all the more difficult to actually stand up and leave as he had originally intended. She got closer, her lips against his cheek. His head turned, slightly, ever so subtle. "Adelaide...?" He asked, sensing that something was strange about the way she was acting.

Her hands grasped and her lips traveled. It was bold. It felt like she wasn't herself, but he couldn't deny the way the extra attention made him feel. His own hand lifted, slowly, coming to a rest upon the small of her back, waiting there as she continued to get closer still.

"I'll stay." He told her, with a short nod of his head. "But are you sure you're feeling alright? Something feels...strange."
 
"Stay." Her back arched slightly under the hand resting there as she shifted closer to him again, confused by the sudden mixture of desire and the need to be close to him that had risen from her half-asleep mind. Surely this couldn't all be because of the trouble that had come to them, because of the bad news about Ignas' witch?

You know you want to, sweet girl.

Her fingers tightened in his shirt as she slid into his lap, tucking her legs on either side of him and finally making contact with his mouth in a slow, sweet kiss. Something was strange, but she found that she didn't have the ability to stop herself from touching him, from kissing him and making herself at home in his lap now that he'd agreed to stay.

"We don't need to think about anything bad." She murmured the words softly after breaking the kiss, gazing at him with half lidded eyes and wetting her lips. "Just the two of us, no pain, no sorrow."
 
Adelaide took her perch upon his lap and Isen froze in place, practically staring at her in confusion. His fingers curled against their placement on her back, pressing in ever so slightly through the cloth of her shirt. She had basically ignored his question, that wasn't like her. None of this was. He couldn't deny that he didn't like the attention and the affection, even if he didn't necessarily know what to do with it, but he still couldn't help but feel a pang of concern inside of him, even when she told him not to think about anything bad. They had gotten horrible news and suddenly, she wanted to be intimate in a way she normally wouldn't dare to be?

The way she kissed him shut up his over thinking, at least for a few moments. "Right...nothing bad." He repeated as her lips parted from his, their soft, slow approach still lingering where they had made contact.

"Isen." Ignas's voice was the last thing Isen wanted to hear in his head at that moment, but yet, there it was. "The witch is acting funny. You should do something about it."

Isen groaned, but that noise could have been misconstrued for something else given their circumstance. His free hand lifted, pressing against Adelaide's shoulder, gently, easing her back as she broke the kiss.

"Maybe we should just talk about what's going on. You're acting really weird, are you sure you're okay?"
 
The way he groaned made her shiver slightly, followed by an immense annoyance at Ignas interrupting her moment with Isen. How dare the demon interrupt, how dare he try to destroy the moment simply because he'd lost his own witch? That traitorous bastard!

Wait, what?

Adelaide blinked, tilting her head slightly as Isen eased her back and giving him a confused look. Why was he listening to Ignas and stopping? Better yet, why was she having thoughts about how the demon was a traitor when he'd never betrayed her in the way he apparently had his own kind? When Isen questioned her current condition she laughed, the sound leaving her mouth before she even realized what was happening.

"I'm fine, Isen. Do you not enjoy me touching you?" There was that pain again as she winced, feeling as though her words weren't entirely her own as her eyes flickered briefly and her fingers dug into his skin through the shirt. "I thought you liked me kissing you. You don't want to have some fun?"
 
"That isn't what I-" He protested, practically stammering as he did. He was uncomfortable with her advances, but it wasn't because he didn't want them, it was because of how seeing her act this way, and feeling her touch him this way, made him feel. He continued to feel as though something was off about this entire thing, like it was being orchestrated. She was never this open..and what did she mean by 'fun'?

Ignas made it a point to suppress what Isen was feeling, not allowing him to turn as red in the face as his embarrassed mind wanted to be when it tackled connotations head on.

"...Adelaide..." Her name left his voice, a little heavier than it should have; heavier than it normally did. His body was still reacting, physically, despite his mind being divided and Ignas manipulating what he felt.

"I've never been more ashamed to feel the same things you're feeling." Ignas grumbled. Their connection meant that he was well aware of what Isen was feeling in that moment too. Her touch, her body against his, the way her finger tips pressed in against him and how soft her lips felt whenever they met his...

The hand that pressed against her shoulder dropped, to her hip, holding placement upon it's curve, hesitantly as he looked up at her. He was trying to discern whether this was actually real, or if it was some sort of trick being played on them. It had yet to come to his mind that perhaps Adelaide was being controlled by the demon inside of her and Ignas too was flustered enough by the advance that he wasn't quite there yet either.

Maybe it wasn't so bad to let go? He cared about her, it wasn't like he didn't want to...and she had all of that magic inside of her, she wasn't fragile, the physical enhancements he had wouldn't hurt her. And there was the fact that he could even feel her touch to begin with. It had been too long since he had felt anything like that, innocent or not.

"Isen, are you really considering this? Witch. Send me away. Do your spell, I don't want to be here for this..."

Isen's head lifted, angled, his lips brushing against hers, giving in to temptation for a brief moment before pulling back again, hesitant, as his fingers brushed across her lower back. "This doesn't feel right..." He admitted, again, sighing, his warm breath lingering against the place where his lips had touched.
 
"Yes?" The way that he said her name sounded strange, but everything about this seemed almost like she was in a daze. Was she dreaming, maybe? She could hear Ignas' complaining distantly in the back, further away than it normally sounded as she felt Isen's hand trailing down from her shoulder to hip to hold her there. Her lips were nearly on his again when she heard Ignas again distantly, commanding her to spell his presence away so he wasn't forced to be a part of what was going on.

Commanding her, how dare he?

There was that strange feeling of annoyance again as she huffed, the sound muffled slightly by Isen's kiss before she leaned into the touch and felt a sliver of amusement move through her. The annoyance had changed so quickly into amusement, the feeling lurking inside her all too familiar and foreign at the same time as she tilted her head to look up at Isen and then grinned.

"Oh, come on Ignas dear, you know you want this too."

Danica's voice slipped through the haze and melted together with Adelaide's, a sliver of orange breaking through those blue eyes before it disappeared again and she had worked Adelaide's arms to wind around Isen's neck and hold on firmly.

 
"Oh, come on Ignas, dear, you know you want this too."

Isen's eyes shot open upon hearing the change in Adelaide's voice. Of course, it made sense now. How had he missed it? He felt a little flustered, now, for being so caught up in her touch, in her affection, that it had slipped his mind entirely. Ignas seemed to realize this as well, at the same time, the realization dawning upon them both. Isen's hands lifted up, again, pushing against Adelaide's shoulders, easing her off of him and back onto the bed.

"I-Isen..." Stammered Ignas.

"I know." Isen responded, saving him the embarrassment. "I'm going to kill her."

"We're going to kill her." Ignas added, correcting Isen's declaration, which in of itself came from a place of anger that Danica was having so much fun manipulating Adelaide's emotions and toying with her body like some kind of twisted up marionette.
 
"You're not going to do anything because you can't, not without hurting your precious little mageling." There was the haughtiness in Danica's voice, the demoness clearly pleased with herself while simultaneously annoyed she'd outed herself too quickly. "You can have her back, you're both so boring!" She huffed before falling silent, blinking as Adelaide hazily stared at Isen while she registered everything that had just happened.

"I'm going to murder that bitch!" She gasped and jolted back, heat creeping into her face as she looked down to make sure all of her clothing was in place before she scrambled off of the bed. As if things weren't already enough of a pain in the ass and complicated, now they were going to be incredibly awkward as well. How far would the demon have actually taken things before she stopped? Would she have stopped, or would she have actually allowed Adelaide and Isen to.. To..

"Fuck! I'm sorry!" She was practically radiating heat with her embarrassment, unable to bring herself to look at Isen despite the fact that it wasn't technically her fault that Danica had done that. Still, she had been caught off guard and exhausted enough that she'd allowed the demon to take control of her body twice in the same day, and she muttered a string of profanities under her breath as she started for the doorway.

"I'm, uh, I'm gonna go make some coffee."
 
Now that the charade had been dropped, Isen felt dirty for even going along with it for a little while. He should have seen through it from the start, but he had let a human emotion cloud his mind again. "It's not your fault." He reassured her, quickly shaking his head. She was bright red, obviously extremely embarrassed once control of her body had been returned. They needed to get Danica out of that ring. Isen no longer cared if doing so would kill her; it wasn't like she deserved the mercy to begin with. "Hey, listen. I mean it. It isn't your fault..."

She excused herself with haste, leaving Isen alone with Ignas.

"Now, do you see? Do you see why I wanted nothing to do with that imp?"

"We need to get rid of her."

"We do. But maybe you should go talk to the witch first."

"With how quickly she just left, I think she probably wants some space."

"Isen...you're honestly so dense. I don't know how you've even made it this far with her to begin with given how oblivious you are to everything. Go, you idiot."

Isen sighed, standing to listen, heading back out towards the kitchen. He didn't want to see anybody else from the revolving gang of people who seem to come and go from the shop, perhaps feeling as though they were doing a walk of shame even though nothing had actually happened between them. He sought her out, hearing the faint hum of a mug as she prepared her coffee, awkwardly filling in the place beside her with an ungraceful, nervous step.

"Mind making me one too?" He asked, hoping Ignas would allow him to taste it, if only to give them a reason to talk.
 
Adelaide jumped at the sound of Isen's voice coming from beside her. She's busied herself so quickly and so deeply in making coffee that she hadn't heard him approach, her head turning before her eyebrow lifted at his odd request. Not only did he not require food or drink to upkeep his body, he hadn't liked it the one time Ignas had allowed him to taste it, so why was he asking all of a sudden? A part of her wanted to ask, but the other part was still so flustered that she only nodded in response before fetching another mug.

What was she supposed to say about what had just happened? What could she say about it? She could apologize, sure, but technically it was Danica's fault for the spectacle she'd made of herself, the demoness had caught her off guard by swiftly taking over when she was barely awake and still recovering from the earlier possession and fight. The amount of magic she'd harnessed and expended was exhausting despite the infinite stretch of the ring's power, and it showed on her face as she sipped her own coffee before getting to work starting on Isen's requested cup.

"Was there something else you needed?"
 
"No, not really." He admitted with a subdued shake of his head.

"It's an excuse to talk to you, witch."

Isen practically groaned as Ignas outed him immediately. "Well, yeah..."

Ignas shifted the magic inside of Isen, granting him the ability to taste again, temporarily. "You two take care of that. I...need some time to myself." Ignas had received some horrible news just before the awkward encounter with Adelaide and Danica, Isen couldn't fault him for needing some time away, but at that moment, he felt like he desperately needed the third party to mediate the conversation.

Isen's eyes dropped down to the two mugs, glancing back and forth between them both. Hers was already in preparation while his was in the early stages. He knew he probably wouldn't like the taste, but now, he had no choice but to at least try it since he had requested it and he knew wasting coffee wasn't something she'd be happy about otherwise. "So..."
 
"An excuse?" The eyebrow went up again as she got the machine brewing a second cup for the reaper, and for a moment she almost thought to laugh at Ignas' bluntness and Isen's awkwardness at the situation. That was ruined by the reminder that the demon, while a pain in her ass and having done some terrible things himself, was hurting from losing someone he cared about, something Adelaide was painfully familiar with.

"Something doesn't feel right about that whole thing, if I'm being honest. Witches are pretty good at hiding things, and if there's not an actual body or a gravestone.. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being hopeful." She sighed and sipped more of her coffee with a look of contemplation. "I think I need to look into it more. If anything, if she is gone, if there is a stone, maybe visiting it would give Ignas the proper closure."

"As if he deserves such a thing."

"Danica, you shut your mouth right now or I'm going to do it for you as many times as I need to in order to never hear your voice again." The responding silence was beautiful, even if Adelaide could practically feel Danica sulking inside her jeweled prison.

"And I don't know why that one thought it was a good idea to pull her stunt right after finding that out, as if we weren't strained enough with the news. I get trying to distract people but that's not... Wait. Danica, were you trying to distract us from the witch?"

Silence.

"I'll take that as a yes. Great. Now I need to figure out what the hell you know and won't tell me, right?"

More silence.

"Well, fuck me, two demons in foul moods, just what we needed."
 
Isen was tired of the games Danica was playing, but maybe he was just tired in general. His heart felt heavy. He hadn't yet gotten over the pain of losing Samara, of reliving the death of his sister, of the torture he was put through at the hands of the DSTF and now, he felt the grief that Ignas felt as well. He saw what happened to someone after losing the person that they cared for most and every time he looked at Adelaide, he wondered if a similar fate awaited him at the end of this journey.

Isen let out a sigh. He was unsurprised that information was being withheld from them. At this point, he would have been more surprised if they knew everything or that she was telling them the truth.

"She isn't going to help us. Her ego is probably still bruised from getting rejected again." Isen shot back, hoping she heard that comment loud and clear. "If you think she's hiding, or faking her death, it's something we should definitely look into but...first..." Isen awkwardly continued. He could barely look her in the eye. "About what happened back there..."
 
"It's possible she's hiding. I spent years hiding, so have many others because we were tired of being hunted down and exterminated." She shrugged, looking uneasy when he trailed off and struggled to look her way.

"It's my fault." She dismissed it quickly, her cheeks heating up again as she took his ready mug of coffee off its seat and held it out to him. "It's fine, it's my fault for not being on better guard after what Danica pulled earlier." It wasn't that she wouldn't have done something like that with Isen, eventually, but not in that way, and she wouldn't have been so forward. No, Adelaide was much shyer than the demoness had made her appear, and she was still rather embarrassed by it.

"I'll make sure she doesn't do it again."
 
"It isn't your fault. It's hers. Trust me, I know what it's like having a passenger in your head who can mess with your mind and your emotions." Isen reasoned. Ignas had made him do so many terrible things against his will; it was honestly a miracle Isen even wanted to help him find his witch in the first place, but that was more of a testament to who he once was a human than anything else.

Isen's mind drifted elsewhere. He couldn't feel the response of his body properly, nor the heat that flooded his face in awkward embarrassment, as a statement toyed with the end of his tongue, threatening to pass his lips in a way that he couldn't take back. He fidgeted awkwardly, looking down at the mug and taking it into his hands. "For what it's worth...it wasn't that I didn't want to...you know, do that with with you." He admitted, unable to look at her directly. "...just...not like that."

He lifted the coffee to his lips to take a sip, mostly to fill in the tension-filled silence he had created with his candidness about a new level of intimacy they hadn't yet reached. He wasn't opposed to the idea, it just couldn't be something they were being made to do by their demons. The fact that he could even think the thought 'their demons' was concern enough by itself. His face contorted at the taste. It wasn't any better than the first time, but at least it wasn't mixed improperly like his attempt at making it himself. This would take some getting used to. And he wasn't just talking about the coffee.
 
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