"What's that supposed to mean?!" Rean asked.
Ashe beat on Den's back again before huffing. This sucked. This sucked so much.
"You guys weren't supposed to help him!!! Who side are you on?!"
"The side of you not doing something stupid," Den replied. "Your new friends may not know, but it was INCREDIBLY obvious who you wanted to see down there when Claudien called Chrys'a and I. That's a bomb you don't need to step on, Ashe."
He looked at the other two. "I'm sorry she dragged you into her mess."
"I am right here!!!!"
"I'm fine," Crow assured him. "But, uh...is the person she wanted to see really that big of a problem? She described him as being kind of a salty asshole who might just tell her to fuck off and figure shit out for herself anyway, but..."
"He IS a salty asshole," Ashe spat. "But..."
Den's ears wilted a bit as he looked at the other two again. And then glanced at Ashe. "...It would have been a big problem for Ashe. And she knows it would have been. I get needing answers. I do. But..."
How did he explain it?
"...He and I share a bond that is hard to explain," Ashe murmured. "In a way, our souls are tied. In a weird, inexplicable way. And he already told me the world he wanted to save is not the one that I am fighting to save."
She smiled sadly.
"I suppose I was just looking for a way to hang onto him..."
Rean frowned as he mulled that over. "So. You guys were lovers?"
"...Nah."










