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Never Again...
Herald shrugged, but looked back at her when she looked out at the stars. "Our strengths compliment each other," he explained as if his decision was all about strategy. "Your strength is speed and agility while mine is strength and stamina." He looked up at the stars as well. That was something he knew how to make. It was one of the few things he had been able to see from his cell while he was growing up.

Never Again...
Herald listened to her quietly. "The stars....like I said I saw them all the time. It was often....the only thing that reminded me there was something beyond the Arena." He'd never told anyone this before, not even Eric; that he had thought about life outside the Arena even while he was there. Sometimes on those cold nights in the cell he would think of a warm bed or of friends or of something else. But he had buried those feelings deep and let his bloodlust take their place. They had come less and less often until they had stopped coming at all. "When I came to after being taken from the Arenas, I had all but forgotten about the stars until I saw them that night. It was like something I had thought about for a long time had...." He stopped. He was revealing too much. No one would ever see him weak. Never.

Never Again...
Herald nodded as he stretched out on the bed. "Screaming and darkness..." he repeated quietly, looking back at the glimmering stars for a moment. He wondered what else he could do with the realm. If there was anything he could do to let her forget all of that. Nothing jumped to his mind. He frowned slightly before looking back up at the ceiling. It made sense to him why the people who had thought of him as their friend had wiped sections of his memory; why they didn't want him to go back and look for his old life. Still, he would have stopped them if he could have. No one messes with his mind. The lights inside the castle flickered gently. What a change from before. It was practically the opposite. He had survived; fought his way through hell, through countless opponents, achieved his own body and finally finally made his own way. It was what he had wanted. He never expected someone else to share it with him. Their own private world; their secret. She was an enigma to him as was his feelings for her. He didn't understand them at all. The only clear thought he could glean from them was that he meant for her to stay safe here and that were it not for her, this world would look much harsher and foreboding. Its beauty was for her sake.

Never Again...
Herald shook his head. "It's fine," he told her, looking up from where he lay on the bed as she stared out the window into the sky. After several moments of silence he reached up slowly and put his hand on her shoulder. "You'll be okay here," he promised her.

Never Again...
Herald looked at Emma for a moment. Next thing he knew he was pulling her towards him and into his arms. He wasn't even thinking of why. "Emma....I want you to stay here with me...." He admitted after several moments. He could hear a ringing in his ears and his veins felt like they were on fire but he continued to hold her, hardly knowing what he was doing.

Never Again...
Herald couldn't explain why he had taken Emma into his arms, but now that she was there he didn't want to let her go. He rested his head on top of hers when she rested hers on him. Thank you he thought but couldn't bring himself to say. He thought about what he had seen in the future. Was that how it was going to be? He had read Eric's mind while they were separating; how he had predicted Mirai to be the oldest one and then Herald's son to be the next oldest followed by Eric's. Mirai was already born and she had aged relatively quickly, though he wasn't planning on children anytime soon. In fact, he still wasn't sure he was planning on children at all. Such an alien concept. But this was all new to him. He held her quietly, not saying a word. Finally he spoke. "We'll make it. Whatever Divine tries to do, we'll survive."

Never Again...
After a moment, Herald laid down, pulling Emma with him as he lay his head against the pillow. Despite himself he was glad they were in this together. Before he would have wanted to create a realm all by himself with no one else there. But now he was glad he had Emma with him. He looked down at her for a moment before he looked back up, thinking about how much and how quickly things had changed since he'd gotten his own body.

Never Again...
Herald settled Emma into the crook of his arm as the lights dimmed, seemingly in response to the fact that they were both tired. One of the perks of having one's own realm. Herald looked down at Emma when she opened one eye and asked him about tomorrow. "I was going to do something about Divine....but perhaps it's better to say here and make sure this place is settled in....you and me..." he added quietly. He looked back up at the ceiling, giving her a gentle squeeze as he thought about how to improve the realm. A smart person would probably ask Charlotte or someone with experience about how to make a realm better, but he would rather slam his head against a concrete wall then ask any of them for help. He would figure it out himself, as he always had.