[Those words hit harder than her magic ever did, and the stunned silence speaks for itself. She loved him? Him?]

[No one had ever spoken those words to him before. Not in the way she meant them anyway. And then there she was...sobbing into her one free hand...]

[Dumbly he looks down at her hand in his, small and delicate by comparison. Lady-like despite the scales. He finds himself tracing them with a thumb, calloused finger to rough scales.]

[It didn't feel so bad...really.]

[When he snaps himself from his thoughts, he peers at her from behind his bangs. There was a lot he didn't know. There was a lot he wasn't sure he'd ever know. But he knew that right now, seeing this beautiful woman so distraught, over him no less, hurt his heart to its very core.]

[He takes her hand, still in his, and lifts it to place her palm gently on his cheek.]

...I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I've...if I've hurt you or made you feel something you didn't want to. I don't...I really don't like hurting people.

And...if it's all the same to you...I'd like to learn about the person you fell for. To find out if that person exists somewhere within me. Because if he does...

[He places his hand firmly over hers.]

...No one deserves to be alone forever. It's no fun. Trust me.