Rosciel:
Rosc looked ready for bed, but sleep was the last thing on his mind.
He wore nothing but a pair of black pajama-pants as he sat down on his window-seat and pulled his dark cello close. MC hopped up onto the seat beside him and Ban moved to his feet, both minipets curling up. Ripley was already asleep on his pillow. The soft curtains were drawn over the window, casting the room into near darkness, not that it bothered Rosc any. Light, dark, didn't make much difference to him. He was nothing but a shadow, a figure cradling the tall instrument.
And he'd left the door cracked ever so slightly.

Gone were the wraps and the blindfold, though his eyes were closed over the empty sockets, small scars on and around his right eye where his aunt had a tough time forcing his eye open so she could remove that one, too. She had torn his upper eyelid almost in half, but that scar had healed well enough that there was just a small, almost completely faded jagged line. The old, slightly raised scars of deep claw-wounds and skin sewn back together littered his torso, as if he had been attacked by a wildcat. His hair was wet and somewhat damp after the shower he had taken, hanging loosely around his face instead of being tied back.

The incubus found the lighter bow simply by touch and moved it slowly across the strings. Before he even knew it, he was playing the song he had written for his Black Swan.
Sin.
It was so hard knowing who she was and yet keeping his own identity secret. The charming guy who had twirled her around the ballroom, who had confided in her over eee!-mail, who had listened to her rants, who probably knew her better than her own family. Why couldn't he be him now?
"Because you're not what she wants," he said to himself and leaned his head against the scroll of his cello. He wasn't perfect, not in the long run. It was only an illusion that he had been dark and undamaged at her parents' party. She had said she would care about her Raven no matter how he looked, but... No, he couldn't not believe that. She would never be dishonest, not about something like that.
But on top of all of that, he couldn't be what she wanted in life. He couldn't care about status or power. How could he when he had seen what family honor had done to his mother? His father's fallen status had driven his aunt mad, he knew that. The last thing he truly saw was golden hair. Amber eyes filled with mania and tears. Eyes that once held love in them when upon him. And the fingers that pried open his eyelid, that clawed at his skin. Fingers that thrust into his deep blue eye. How could he care about status after what it had done to him?
All he cared about was staying alive.
Surviving.
And her.

"I'm an idiot..." he said with a sigh. She had him caught, somehow she always had. No matter how hard he tried, no matter what she did, he just couldn't help it. The moment his gaze had settled on her in that ballroom, he was gone.
And she had tried to set him up with another ghoul.
He couldn't blame her. She knew nothing about who he was. Even if he told her now, if he came right out and told her who he was, she would hate him for having kept it a secret, he knew it. And here he was playing her song, hoping to lure her in, to get his execution over with. Let her come, let her find out, let her yell and hate him. Or if she embraced him... Either way, this needed to be done.

His bow stilled on the strings, fingers freezing on the neck. Could he really do this? Could he ruin all that he had, change what was between the Raven and his Black Swan, show his beloved how damaged and insecure he really was? She had seen both sides of him now, the devoted and intelligent young demon with no aspirations but finding a way to be with her and the wounded animal wary of any hand outstretched, wondering if it would harm him at the first sign of his trust.
He felt a weight on his leg and set the bow down on the seat beside him so that he could scratch MC's head between his ears. He got a nuzzle in return, and Ban's head settled on his feet. It wasn't often that he got like this, but when he did, he was glad to have his pets around. Well, any of them but Bob or Cathal. Prancer and Villi tended to give him his space, though. MC, Ban, Ripley, Thistle, they were the ones who cuddled with him when he was hurting, who nuzzled him until he reached out to feel soft, warm fur.

Sin:
Sin sat quietly at her vanity brushing her hair, the usual 100 strokes before bed. She finished and rubbed a dab of moisturizer across her skin her fingers massaging slowly until no trace remained. Then she slipped on her robe and moved to sit down and type an eee!mail to her Raven. She closed her eyes and slowly smiled at the memory of him, a painfully fading memory. As each day passed she found herself grasping to remember how his voice sounded, how dark his hair was, how closely had he really held her? It was painful to know she couldn't see him, hold him, that the words typed on a screen was the deepest connection she had ever had. She sighed and moved away to sit on her bed and hug the purple horned bear she had been given to him for Scarentines. Then she brushed her lips unhappily with a slow finger, Rosc had kissed her, she had kissed Barth, but the one kiss she had really wanted didn't seem to be anywhere near close coming. She sighed and glanced back at the screen trying to think of what she would say. She'd had an amazing time at the dance, but the picture he had painted of a quiet night together listening to music, savoring each others company...that sounded perfect.

Then she blinked and slowly turned her head towards her door her eyes widening for a moment. It wasn't possible...she stood and moved to her door slowly easing it open and glancing up and down the hall. She pulled her robe tighter drawn out of her room by the hauntingly familiar song...her song. She slowly followed the music the slow strains of the cello drawing her nearer and nearer. She felt in an odd trance like state, her bare feet soundless against the rich hallway carpet as she came to a door slightly ajar.

Abruptly the music ceased and she slowly stepped inside the darkened room her eyes narrowing as she tried to see in the darkness. She reached out in shock, it couldn't be?

"Raven?" She murmured softly and stepped closer to the seated figure with the cello. If only she had looked at the door, seen who's room it was to know her mistake. But the wings looked dark without light and the shape was at once strange and familiar to her.

Rosciel:
Shitshitshitshit.
Rosc sighed, there was no going back now, not when she was suddenly in his doorway. A small smile moved on his face, but it was bitter all the same.
"Yes, my Swan... I..." He was finally here, she was finally here, and damn be he didn't know what to say. Wings at his back, he stood slowly, moving so that he could place his cello back in its cradle.

"There are lights, but please don't turn them on," he asked, hoping that she would listen. He didn't want her to see him, not just yet. Oh, oh Jack, his blindfold, his bandages. He moved quickly to his chair to grab his coat, putting it on and closing it over his scars. He didn't want to put his blindfold on, not now. It could give it away, she could see it. There wasn't anything wrong with putting the coat on, he had told her he was scarred, she could assume he didn't want her to see them. He had told her such in their eee!-mails.

"Close the door?"

Sin:
She felt a sudden surge of excitement bubble up inside, it was, though it seemed impossible. His voice was achingly familiar now as if she had heard it over and over. She tried to move closer but she stopped as he told her about the lights. She didn't want to trip, and suddenly she wished she weren't in just black shorts, a mere tanktop, and a robe. Didn't this moment deserve a little more elegance? The first time he'd seen her she had been at her finest, her hair up, her gown gorgeous unique, heels adding to her height. Now she just felt...plain, she back up and closed the door without even looking at it. She probably would have done anything he asked in that moment, she was so shocked. She slowly moved towards him again in the darkness finally her fingers grazed his shoulder. Slowly she smiled and then shook her head.

"I can't believe you're here why...why didn't you come find me? Have you transferred? Can't we turn on the lights, I haven't seen you since...I can't see in this total darkness." She narrowed her eyes, normally her vision even at night was superb but they were plunged into shadows that barely allowed her an outline. She had sensed his movement though to grab something, cloth? Had she stepped in on him without his shirt on? She slowly ran her fingers down his shoulder and over until she found the opening of his jacket and lightly tried to tug it aside. She blushed and moved to withdraw her hand, what was she thinking? Except she hadn't been thinking at all, all she wanted to do was hug him, tell him how happy she was that he was there. She stepped closer to wrap her arms around him.

Rosciel:
"I..." Rosc started to answer her questions but Sin's hand was terribly distracting. And then she was hugging him and before he could stop himself, his hands were on her cheeks and he kissed her. It wasn't anything heavy, just a quick peck on her lips.
"Don't hate me, but I've always been here." He paused to kiss her again, deciding that was the best course of action. Confession then a kiss, confession then a kiss.

"I saw you, wasn't sure at first, but I eventually figured it out. I had to get up the nerve," he stopped again, just holding her face in his hands, rubbing her cheeks with his thumbs. Had he really dreaded this? To be able to have her smiling up at him? To see her happy she she looked at him? To hold her again without her feeling guilty?

No matter what happened, it was worth it. Just for this one moment, it was worth it.

Sin:
She smiled at the first kiss and then pulled back shocked by his words. She leaned in again as he kissed her and laughed shaking her head. "That's impossible I would have noticed you." She smiled and then blinked surprised. He was serious? He had really been there all along? How? She pressed closer her head nuzzling against his shoulder as she kept her arms around him. "How have you managed to keep hidden? Right here...you must have only just arrived...a few days ago?" She thought of the gifts then that had arrived before Scarentines. Had HE placed them in her room himself? How could she have failed to notice her Raven right under her nose? Was he missing classes? She always kept an eye on new students...it didn't make sense.

Rosciel:
Rosc held her close for a moment before lightly pushing her away, so that he could look down at her, so that she could look up at him.
"Sin, when I went to your family's party, I was wearing more than just a mask and a suit. The kitsune had given me an illusion, probably at my mentor's request. I don't know where or how he got it, but it altered my appearance, to help me blend a bit more..." he explained, wondering what she would do, what she would say. It was the only time he had lied to her.

"My hair, my wings.... But nothing more than that." He should have told her more, should have brought up the eee!-mails where he had talked about looking slightly different from what she had seen him as at the party. How he'd asked her how she thought he would look with blond hair.

Sin:
"Your hair?" She slowly slid her hand up along his back and shoulders, up the nape of his neck to run her fingers through it. "Can't we turn on the lights...I...I can barely see anything in here..." She slowly slid her hand away from his hair and smiled. "It feels the same..." She lightly touched the top of one of his wings "these do to...but they look lighter..." She had to narrow her eyes trying to discern colors from darkness. When the door had been opened at least a sliver of light had remained. She slowly tugged him closer while backing up eager to find a source of light. She felt something touch the back of her legs and sat down on the bed tugging him to sit beside her. "Where's the light?"

Rosciel:
He couldn't avoid it. Sin wanted to see him. Wasn't that the point of this? Rosc sighed and kissed her cheek, whispering in her ear.
"I'll get it."

And then he stepped away, reaching for the lamp on one of the bedside tables and turning it on. The glow from it wasn't very bright, mostly because the only creatures in his room that could tell how bright or dim the lights were couldn't really tell Rosc. But it was enough to illuminate the room, showing the three minipets scattered around the room, the sparse furniture, and the incubus standing before her, his brows creased in a concerned frown above closed eyes.

Sin:
Sin smiled and leaned into the kiss happily relaxed as his voice caressed her ear. She saw the shadowy figure step away, and the blinked at the sudden light, it was dim but her eyes had been trying to focus on sheer darkness. Then she looked at him and her chest tightened, her jaw almost dropped. She jerked suddenly to her feet her eyes looking around, she had never been in Rosc's room before, but the foxsquirrel on the pillow...was Ripley. The incubus in front of her...was Rosc. For a moment she was silent, her lips parted in shock, her eyes narrowed as she just...stared.

Then her fingers started to curl inward, fists formed at her sides. Her body tensed and the smile was long since faded into a narrow line. "You?" Her voice was cold, accusing, she sounded as she felt in that moment, betrayed. "You were...here...all this time...the..." She froze for a moment her narrowed gaze of assessment turning into a hostile glare. "the day we met." She stepped away from the bed towards the door, but refused to turn her back to him.

Rosciel:
There was an almost audible grinding sound as Rosc's jaw clenched tightly at the look of shock that crossed her face only to be replaced by a coldness he had dreaded.
"Part of me wasn't sure, not until your eee!-mail. After that... I told you I met a ghoul, we'd got off on the wrong feet but I wanted to fix that." Sitting beside her in Human Studies, snapping at her in Music class but apologizing at her dance. Trying to get her date to the Scarentine's dance... Damn Arachne and that creepy patchwork. He'd tried to make it right. He was trying now. But it wasn't going well.

"Sin, I'm sorry..." Apologizing wasn't the hard thing, not when he knew he was in the wrong. And he was, this time. He shouldn't have kept this from her. But what else could he have done?

Sin:
"Sorry? Of course...of course your sorry...you should be after what you've done. This whole time...you must be rather pleased with the results of your little experiment." She walked back towards him and for a moment she just felt the pain, the betrayal, the sudden sense of loss. She had thought she had someone special, to trust, someone who knew her, and it seemed as if Rosc had suddenly taken it all away. Her fist snapped out before she could even think about what she was doing, where she was aiming. His eye perhaps, but with such a wild throw who knew?

She backed up then her hands going suddenly limp at her sides before she brought them back up her nails running into her hair as she clutched her suddenly aching head. She felt the sudden sting of tears behind her closed eyes and clenched her teeth. No...no she couldn't cry here, she wouldn't cry here not infront of him. She felt her body tremor for a moment then lowered her hands and glared at him. "I shouldn't have hit you...you're not worth hitting. You hid behind your precious mask and coaxed everything you thought you could get out of me."

Rosciel:
"What? Experiment? It wasn't like-" But before he could finish, her fist connected with his cheek and eye, sending him stumbling back into the bedside table. Pain lanced through his face and a hand came up to feel the wetness there, to cover the eye she'd hit. A trail of red slid down to his chin to drip off.

"I just wanted someone to talk to," he replied, his voice low and shaking with shock, hurt. He'd deserved everything she was giving him, but that didn't stop him from hurting from it. Somewhere, deep inside, he'd hoped she would remember what he'd asked, to remember all he had said to her over their eee!-mails.

Why had he, really, though? Why had he eee!-mailed her in the first place?
Because she was someone to talk to, someone who didn't know he was a b*****d son of demons who'd dishonored their families, blinded, maimed, and orphaned by his father's sister, didn't know how to gain favor in his club, didn't know his social status, didn't know how damaged he looked.
Someone who could only judge the inner part of him.

Sin:
"Don't lie! Don't you think you've done that enough?" Her throat tightened painfully and she stepped back again. She saw the slight streak of blood and felt her chest tighten again, aching. She wanted to hold him to wipe away the blood and apologize for hitting him...no that was what she would have wanted for her Raven...if she hadn't found out that all along it had been Rosc playing the puppet master to her emotions.

"I can't believe...I felt...guilty for kissing you...you knew all along...I'm surprised I couldn't hear your laughter all the way down the hall!" She glared and took another step back then it gripped her another surge of anger, but hitting him was painful for her as well, she found that despite her fury she didn't want him to be hurt physically. She wanted him to ache inside the way he had made her feel as if her heart, her ribcage, everything was being shredded. "Of course...it wasn't really even that good of a kiss..." Her voice cooled and slowly the well practiced mask of a slow smirk curved her lips. "Not like Barth...when I kissed him...that was REAL...warm and long and I really felt something."

Rosciel:
"I don't lie." Rosc seemed to crumple for a moment before he stiffened, for the first time since she'd entered the room returning to his mask. His posture was rigid, his face (What could be seen under his hand) cold and empty.
He moved then, walked to and then around Sin, giving enough space that she could tell he wasn't heading towards her. He left a tiny red trail on the plush black carpet as he stepped to the door.

"You don't want to be here anymore." It was an empty statement, low and almost clinical. He didn't know what else to do. It gave him some comfort to know that she was hurt about what she had shared with him, had said nothing about how he looked. But... But how she could think that way he had no idea.

Sin:
"You're right...this is the last place in all of HalloweenTown that I would want to be." She flicked her hair back and moved to slip past him cringing away from him as if she expected the slightest touch would cause some horrible disaster. She put her fingers on the doorknob and then turned slowly to glare at him. "If you tell anyone about this...ruse of yours...about the things you lured out of me...I promise I'll find a way to make you pay for it..." She swept open the door and stormed out slamming it behind her and standing in the hallway her breathing frantic, as if she'd been running laps. She slowly looked down at her knuckles and frowned rubbing the blood off, his blood.

Rosciel:
She was out the door and slamming it in his face before he could even think to open it for her. But he could still feel her on the other side, somehow he just knew she was still there. Both hands and his forehead pressed against the door as if he was a starving animal pressed against a glass box containing food. His eyes were open again and the injured socket leaked blood as if he was crying.

A moment passed and he moved away, picking up a book from his desk. Oh, it was probably something he needed for class, but at this moment all the hurt and anger and frustration of having her only to lose her with the flick of a lightsw- He dropped the book and grabbed the lamp instead, yanking the cable violently out of the outlet.

And he threw it out the window, shattering the left glass pane.
Coming to this school was simultaneously the best and worst thing he'd ever done.