2.3: And They Forget

Rien did not need to support Tina. Even with the enormous amount of blood loss the woman had endured, she walked as if nothing had happened. There had been no battle royal in the streets of the City, and there certainly had not been a fall of over twenty stories. It was one of the characteristics of their shared situation. The costume she donned had been discarded...it was amazing how much a simple cape and mask were enough to convince people not to identify her.

That was another characteristic of being one of hers. Not even She would ever recognize you if she released you. And even then, it did not take her permission to allow you to hide who you were. The mask and cape were mostly just affectations of the white-haired woman who now kept pace with her stern successor.

"Have you noticed she hasn't taken another yet?" He finally asked with a frown, not looking up at her while he spoke, his gaze set on the path before them.

"I have. Do you think she's still looking for you in hopes of the rumors being false? She is not, Rien. She'd kill you as soon as she could remember how to undo what she did to you, just like she kills me at least once a week you know that." The woman said bitterly, feeling Rien's hesitance. No matter what the young man said, he had forgiven Her for abandoning him and certainly still longed to be by Her side. In her own mind, Time was fairly convinced that the young man loved Shaen, as absurd as that thought was. So she kept it to herself...just as she kept the fact that she thought of herself in terms of the name that had replaced hers so many years ago. It bothered her that she couldn't break that habit, but then, there were some appealing memories that went with being Time.

Silver eyes turning to other for a moment, she noted that he still was not taking advantage of his powers at all...neither hair nor eyes showed even a hint of color change. Sighing, she turned her eyes forward again, though she only had a faint idea of where they were going.

"No." Rien finally said, though what he was negating was anyone's guess. The youth...well, compared to Time, he was certainly a youth anyway, could be unreadable when he realized he was being read, and apparently, he had recognized that she was paying more attention to him than he had thought. Now his shields were tightened, locked, hiding away everything that he had from her.

Now, more than before, Time thought that he might actually be in love with Shaen.

Poor thing.