The next day, they didn't talk to each other... again.

Liv had fallen asleep. When she had woken up, Fabian had left.

She could only imagine what was going through his mind as they sat at the table with his father, eating breakfast. His father probably didn't suspect much. They had been quiet. To him, his son just seemed sorrowful about losing a friend.

Liv could see the guilt all over his face. It was kind of annoying to look at if she was being honest. She was a little guilty too, however. After all, she couldn't help but feel shameful pride at being able to make Fabian do something so unthinkable to him as breaking whatever vows he had.

Though she didn't feel guilt at her actions, Liv had also caused problems for herself. She had to admit she liked Fabian. Maybe she would have even used the word 'love' if it wasn't so inexplicably repulsive to her.

So while Fabian tried to wrap his head around how to justify or repent for his actions, Liv wondered where she could or would take the relationship. If it was to last, they would have to escape the temple and create whole new lives. The only way that could be plausible was for Liv to give up her eyes. Inu would certainly have liked that. But where would they go? The temple was a safe place as it was, but Fabian's father had made it fairly obvious that he would rather die than see his only son married to Liv.

In any case, Liv's selfish and desperate desires as well as Fabian's repressed ones had backfired. And quickly at that. One night and suddenly they were knee-deep in shit.

Liv glanced at her dining companions and sighed. 'This isn't going to end well is it?'

***

After a regular day of uninterrupted training, Liv returned to her quarters only to find one handsome young man lurking around the corner, pretending to gaze outside.

Liv opened the sliding door to get Fabian's attention, but he didn't move his gaze. She rolled her eyes, asking, "You want to come inside?"

"No," he answered with an emotionless voice that didn't even sound like his own. Then he turned to face Liv with an unprecedentedly serious expression. "Could we talk outside?"

Liv knit her brows. "Sure," she answered, stretching the word as she moved to follow his lead.

Fabian turned and walked wordlessly. It was dark outside and the night was covered in a thick mist, but Fabian knew the streets well and navigated without problems.

"Where are you taking me?" Liv asked, her voice unintimidated and her hands behind her back.

"Somewhere quiet," Fabian answered, his voice muffled as he spoke ahead while Liv followed behind.

"It's quiet right here. Tell me what you want."

"Somewhere more quiet. I'm taking you to the gate."

"Banishing me at night? A little low don't you think?" Liv waited for an answer. Fabian seemed to wait for something else. The silence was unbearable, so she decided to continue. "In these robes no less? Or are you going to strip them off me like you stripped my other clothes?" Fabian flinched but acted like he didn't. What was he trying to achieve through that act of his?

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Liv remained quiet for the rest of the journey out of pity. When they finally made it to the gate of the temple, they took a passage to the top of the wall. As they walked along it, Liv could imagine the mountain she and Inu had been on before all this. She couldn't see it due to the mist. It would surely have been a beautiful scenery otherwise.

Liv shifted her focus back to Fabian who sat down and wrapped his arms around his head. Only when he was sure that nobody else was watching, could he drop the act.

"What do you want to do?" Liv asked as she sat down leaning against the opposite side of the wall, her voice coming out softer than she expected.

"I don't... know," Fabian said seeming to barely hold himself back from whining.

Then Liv asked the question that had really concerned her ever since she pulled Fabian down the night before. "Do you hate me?"

"What?" Fabian lifted his head. "No, of course not. I care about you, Liv. I really do. However," he said, putting a hand on his robe, "this is my life."

Liv swallowed dryly, looking down at her limp legs. "Yeah, I figured you would say that."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. This makes things more simple. Let's just forget about this whole thing. I temped you into it, anyway."

Fabian suddenly jumped to his feet. "You did not. It was my sin. I will not hide behind excuses."

"You're a better man than me. Or human. I'm not much of a man now, am I?" Liv chuckled to herself without moving her gaze from her feet, her posture growing looser. "Maybe that's why these things happen to me."

"Okay, get up." Fabian took Liv's hand and pulled her from the limp mess she was to her feet. She stood before him with her gaze tilted down, feeling even shorter than usual compared to him. "Come on and straighten up. Things aren't so bad." Fabian took her shoulder to try to lift them.

Liv just collapsed onto him and wrapped him in a hug. Fabian said something, but she didn't hear anything as she pressed her face up against his chest. "I didn't want it to end this soon."

"I'm sorry," Fabian said. She could practically sense his hands over her as he remained unsure how to respond.

"You said that," she mumbled into his robes.

"Then I'll say it again. I'm sorry."

"Not an apologia?"

"No. Just an apology."

After those words, Liv felt his hands descend and embrace her back. Once more she felt that warmth. For the moment, that was enough.

"Liv."

"Fabian?"

"I think you deserve a good life."

Liv went silent. After digesting the words, she said the only the she could. "Thank you."

Then it was quiet again.

Oh, but too quiet. Something always had to ruin it all. Liv broke off the hug and avoided Fabian's eyes as she realized she had gotten some snot on his robes. She looked around dubiously, unable to calm the eeriness building in her heart that seemed to beat faster and slower and then faster again.

The air was wrong. Liv squinted at the mist and clasped her hands together discreetly in curiosity. Space didn't fold. It just wavered.

Was it exhaustion? The mist? Neither seemed plausible. Whatever it was, wasn't something good.

Liv turned to Fabian. "We should head back. I'm—"

Fabian's eyes went wide. They saw something behind Liv. He was about to open his mouth. He didn't have to. Liv knew. She turned, knowing she couldn't teleport. But death was already upon her. It came in the form of a spear. Or something like that. Liv could not tell. It went by too fast, flying through where Liv had been a split second ago. By the time she had turned around, it had already slit the side of her neck open.

As she was consumed by utter shock, staring into the mist where the projectile had come from, she could hear the spear smashing into the ground behind her. The thunderous sound shook her from shock and with horror something unthinkable occurred to her. A thought that shot her up with physical pain more intense than anything she remembered. It was an inescapable sensation like being burned alive.

When she finally turned and saw what her life added up to, her legs turned to nothing but a pair of hopeless, useless sticks of flesh. She collapsed with no regard. Her cheek onto cold stone. Her head spun as she felt blood pour from her neck.

The spear had eaten through Fabian's heart. And as she tried to gather herself to crawl towards her love's corpse, her world was consumed by a man's cruel laughter. Right then, that simple act of laughter was crowned without rival as the most evil thing she had ever experienced.