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Dancer moved to pick Meno's things up and put them where they needed to go then returned to wash his hair for him. But he stayed quiet, not sure what to say.

So he simply dropped into the role his life had become, the role he knew so well.

When Meno's hair was clean, he helped him out of the tub, dried him off, then helped him into his clothes. Only then did he move to change his own clothes.

He dressed simply, though, in a pair of pale gray tights, matching knee-boots and jacket, with a white tanktop underneath. A touch of magic brushed and braided his hair back but he used a brush on Meno's hair, knowing the Alichino would tell him how he wanted his hair if he wanted something done with it.

Dancer felt the words like a blow to his heart, but there was nothing to be done about it. He simply lowered his head in silent acceptance. Once the guard entered to stand at the door, he actually felt his heart breaking.

He'd obviously done something unforgivable this time and ruined everything.

He turned away from the door and did as he was told without a word. He prepared a meal that was very intricate and kept him busy. But it didn't stop him from thinking and feeling. So the meal wound up with an extra spice of a few tears...

To say that it was painful was a massive understatement. It blacked him out and dropped him to the ground without the ability to make a sound to alert anyone to the fact that there was a problem in the room or elsewhere.

The blacking out part would have been good but for the fact that the pain continued, almost amplified by the fact that he was unconscious. It felt like every nerve was on fire, like molten lava was being poured through his muscles and organs. Everything hurt in ways he'd never felt before.

Not even his worst punishment under Deluge had been this bad.

So Dancer was unconscious on the floor of the bedroom, a few traces of blood trickling from his eyes, nose, and mouth. Not much, but enough to show that he'd been through a major trauma.

It was the feelings and sensations of his soul being returned to him at the moment of Meno's death, the soul he'd willingly given up, binding himself to the Alichino. It was always painful to have a soul pulled from the body but even more so to have it returned so suddenly, with no preparation for it.

So, for now, his body rested where he'd fallen beside the bed he'd been setting to rights. His long silver and white hair spread out in an arc around and under him from spinning a bit as he'd fallen. At least he was wearing a pair of simple loose linen pants as he'd been cleaning up the rooms, though his upper body was bare and covered with a sheen of sweat that spoke to what his body had just gone through.

The only question that remained right now was when, or if, anyone would think to come check on him...

After a few more moments of laying there, the collar around his neck that marked him as a slave broke open and fell away from him. One last parting gift from the one he'd called Master... His full freedom...

But was Meno actually dead? There was no telling at the moment. Everyone would know that the Alichino had left with Ren and Gin to go to the battle but only Esabel would be able to tell just who had survived or not, if she even knew. The visible evidence would say that he was, with the freeing of Dancer as that visible evidence, but there was no real telling since there were no bodies left to tell who had died and who hadn't.

So the question was ambiguous at best and unanswerable at worst. The two had held no other bond beyond Meno holding Dancer's soul, so Dancer would have no way to tell if his beloved was actually dead or not. But the actions would leave him to think Meno dead, so the result was still the same.

Truthfully, only Meno would be able to answer the question. If he was alive to answer it...

While Lily could heal him physically, the psychic wounds of having his soul returned to him so suddenly were more than a bit shocking to his system. Still, he did come to once she started shaking him. It started with with blinking his eyes open a bit, slowly revealing one pale blue and one pale green eye in the process. Then he sat up fast with a shocked gasp and looked around the room frantically for a moment before it sank in for him.

Then he scrambled away from Lily without seeing her, dropping his luscious a** onto the floor and scooting it along the floor until his back hit the wall and he couldn't go any further while panting for air, "He's gone. My soul is back. So he has to be for me to get it back. That means he's gone and I'm alone again. What's to happen to me now? What do I do?" he babbled a bit thanks to the shock as his hands moved over his body a bit.

When he came to his neck, he froze almost totally, his eyes going even wider when he felt his slave collar gone.

Maybe he'd get back to normal in a bit, but it was all more than a bit shocking for him right now.

Of course, his actions probably told Lily more than anything else would: that Meno had gone with Ren and Gin...

Dancer shook his head with tear-filled eyes, "There is no choice... He made me promise... made me promise that I wouldn't go off and get myself killed... that I'd live if anything happened to him... I promised him, so I don't have a choice now..." he told her in a slightly broken voice, revealing to her that Meno had to have seen this coming and seen to it before her choice.

After a moment, Dancer revealed his inner strength to her by sucking in a shaking breath and blinking the tears away before lowering his head to look at his shaking hands, "What would you have of me, Mistress?" he asked her in a whisper, automatically thinking that she meant him to serve as her slave, as he had with Meno.

Admittedly, his final days with Meno hadn't been the best; had, in fact, been pretty painful on the heart. But he'd loved the Alichino with every bit of himself and had simply accepted it as part of loving him.

All of that brought him to this moment, though, agreeing to serve Lily without protest.

He gave her a small sad smile even though he didn't raise his eyes just yet, "Actually, I've fought being a slave for most of my life... First with my father, then when I was caught by the guards... Only Meno made it okay for me... I actually wanted to be his..." he said softly, his voice shaking a bit whenever he spoke of Meno.

After a moment, he cleared his voice a bit, "My name is ShadowDancer... Dancer for short... I'm a demonic hybrid. My mother was a Were Snow Leopard. I was raised by my father though... Until I killed him and escaped..." he introduced himself easily then wondered what he was supposed to do now.

He was in unfamiliar territory with this situation. He was almost painfully beautiful but had some pretty major self-esteem issues going...

As Dancer got to his feet, it became obvious why Meno would have claimed him from the pillow room to begin with. Dancer was beautifully masculine from top to bottom. Nicely muscular without being overdone, just nicely athletic. His bare chest revealed his gold-kissed skin, the mark of his Incubus heritage. His ankle length silver and white hair was the kind one just had to touch and play with. Add in his eyes and the skin-tight tights he was wearing, and it became very obvious that he'd be one of the few slaves that people actually fought over to possess...

But when she introduced herself as the new leader of the Re, he stumbled in his tracks and raised those eyes to her face, now wide in shock from her implication.

"Then Ren and Gin..." he started but stopped in soft horror before he tried to figure out if he should be sympathetic or not. After all, he'd been doing his best to avoid Gin and his experiments since he'd been captured. But these were Lily's parents they were talking about, so...

So he had no idea how to react to the news.

He knew he should be collecting his things and getting himself dressed but he found himself frozen by her news.

Dancer gave her a slow nod once he figured out that she was serious about what his reaction could be then answered her actual question, "Yes, actually. Men are my preference. But I'm not... unskilled... with women. I had to be very skilled while in my father's house..." he told her as simply as possible.

Thankfully, her looking him over had reminded him that he was half naked and in no condition to be leaving the rooms. They'd get mobbed.

He scrambled to dig in one of the smaller trunks and came up with a set of clothes he'd designed himself at Meno's request. This one was a full tunic type of top but belted tightly at the waist and fit his upper body nicely, the teal color actually worked well with both of his eyes and set off his hair. A pair of dark tights went under that and laced knee-boots completed the outfit.

He didn't think he had the time to brush and braid his hair so he used a touch of magic to do it. Then he used his magic to collect the rest of his clothes, bathing things, and hair brush into the small trunk then picked it up and balanced it on his shoulder as he offered his arm to Lily for the walk to wherever she wanted to take him.

"Whatever my skills are, I can cook and clean with no problem," he finally told her, letting her open the door for them both then leading her along the hallways. In that moment, he looked more like an escort than a slave....