[GrayGriffin]

"Why are we here, Quicksylph?" asked the Lunafly, wings flittering as he flew across the cliff, dipping his wings in the water's spray. "You told me you wished to speak to me about something. Well, what is it?"

"You," she replied. "Joe, you have changed so. When I first knew you, you were innocent and childlike. Now...you kill without mercy. You cannot even be considered a bounty hunter now. You would even kill a child, a young Lucain pup, if you wanted blood!"

[6, 1]

[GrayGriffin]

"Kill...a child? An innocent? Quicksylph, you think too much. I...I would not do that." Joe's voice was thick and strange, as if he was trying to convince himself more than her. His antennae shifted, the metallic balls on the end bouncing slightly.

The Qucksyph watched silently, her eyes following the gleam of the metal. She sighed, lowering her head. She still remembered the day she'd first met him...so long ago.

[7, 2]

[GrayGriffin]

"Has no child died at your bladed wings?" demanded the Quicksylph. "Have you truly not slain one? Or did you slay by the heart, a quicker, deadlier plunge?" Her voice had changed harshly, turning into that of an automation, or a machine. The usually bright colors of her body were dulling, and she flew into the air to more-or-less face Joe.

"I...I...I have not touched any child!" he replied, sinking slightly. She moved to keep up.

"Your words have. The blood you spill has."

[8, 3]

[GrayGriffin]

"What do you mean?" he asked slowly. He knew what she meant! Yet he didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to face the monster he had become...

"I heard how you threatened a child at the Trader's Outpost. You were banned from it, were you not?"

"I-I-it was a misunderstanding!" exclaimed Joe. "I merely wanted to gain the pet he had obtained, so I offered him a trade. It is not my fault if he misinterpreted the gesture!"

She snorted derisively.

[9, 4]

[GrayGriffin]

"Yes. But I hear those pets you intended for trading were starved and abused," the Quicksylph continued, poking at the Lunafly's wing. A small hiss of steam escaped, burning him slightly. He yelped, backing away from her, not knowing what to say.

"They are free now!" he exclaimed. "We let them go. It was Oath who was charged with looking after them in the first place!"

"They were free beings! They should have had the power to choose their own destiny! It should not be necessary to grant that power!" The Quicksylph was angry now, her colors turning bright and flashing.

[10, 5]

[GrayGriffin]

"..." Joe didn't know what to say now. The Quicksylph...was right. He had done too much to hurt people. And he had hurt children too, even if he had not slashed them with his blades. His words, the attacks he had done on their family...that was what had hurt them.

"You know what you have done," the Quicksylph continued. "You know."

[11, 6]

[GrayGriffin]

"I...know? I told you already, I have harmed no one!"

"Liar, liar, pants on firrrrrre," hummed the Quicksylph, her voice recessing to a childish, almost playful tone. It had been the young Joe's favorite rhyme, and now she directed it at him. "You are deep enough in a hole, don't dig yourself deeper."

"Well, you shouldn't make a mountain out of a molehill!"

"So this is a battle of idioms? Well, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me."

"You have no bones."

"Ha," she replied. "My point it that you have hurt people, and are too ashamed to speak it."

This time, the Lunafly didn't know what to say.

[17, 7] [Messed up Joe's postcount earlier]

[GrayGriffin]

"Fine. Fine! I hurt people! I injured them! I killed them!" His voice rose, higher and higher in pitch, and if he had eyes he would have wept. "Even in this form, I'm still a killer! But it's too late for me now, and you know it! You can't save me, Quicksylph! You should know that! You've tried enough."

He began to flutter away from her. "Just stop." She stared after him, then followed.

[18, 8]

[GrayGriffin]

"I will never give up on you," she said. "Do you not remember how we were bonded?"

"And then I died, and the bond was broken," he said bitterly.

"It was not," she hissed, and suddenly sped up so that she was in front of him. She reached out a gentle hand that brushed across his wing. Instantly, he felt a tingle, and suddenly emotions were pouring into him.

"Wh-what is this?" he whispered.

"The bond," she replied. "You've never let me touch you until now. But you can feel it. It is still there. Just like the soul of that dear young boy was still there."

[19, 9]

[GrayGriffin]

"Stop," he whispered.

"I was harsh on you," she replied. "You may not want to admit who you have hurt, but you also do not want to admit you were once innocent. But you were. Joe, you were."

"Shut up," he said, drawing away from her once more. The beautiful feeling vanished, but he didn't care. He wanted to fly away from her, fly as far as he could.

"If you try to fly, you know I will follow."

He froze, then turned and began to fly as fast as he could. She glided after.

[20, 10]