-Devron Bastilion's POV-
The emotions that swirled within me didn't really feel like emotions. They were something of fabricated feelings, things that Master thought emotions felt like at their truest.
Like he thought happiness would feel like a green field full of colourful flowers blooming at the same time. A bright yellow sun in the clear blue sky which always nourished those in its presence. And the soft blades of grass which softened the dirt beneath it with ease.
He often used pathetic fallacy to personify emotions, and they were often perfect.
However, when it came to love, it was something of a failure. Love was an emotion Master failed to envision, something he physically couldn't imagine nor feel completely. And if he did feel it, it would be a twisted sense of possession. Like owning something completely and controlling it as if it had no ego of its own.
There may have been a time where it was pure, different and warm. But now, rather than feeling like pink, honeyed happiness which kept you giddy for hours on end it was more of a dark sticky substance which stuck and was close to impossible to wash. Master himself knew this was not love, he called it love yet he intuitively knew it was something different. Something darker.
Something which marked you as toxic, allowing everyone to know just how manic you can be while hindering your ability to grow and heal. And despite my loyalty to Master, I had the audacity to feel sorry for him.
In his stead, I felt sorry. I wanted to apologise for nothing as well as protect him from future misfortunes. But I shouldn't, Master would hate me if he ever found out these feelings of mine which I don't deserve to feel.
And then I met Lilith Ardes.
I admit, I was quite hasty in my agreement for her sudden confession. Yet she reminded me so much of Master.
I could see the misfortunes she'd went through at a glance, it was seen through the way she carried herself, the way her thoughts were so clearly displayed through her eyes and even in the faint tremors of her tone when she'd speak.
It was everything about her, which drew me to accept whatever she'd said and I even found myself almost calling her Master sometime.
And the more time we spent together, the more she differed from Master. While she shone brightly through her troubles, he just kept being dragged down by his karma. While she allowed herself to open up to those she trusted, he closed himself off and sealed himself away from everyone else.
And soon I felt Master's twisted love in my gut, swirling with all its sticky, dark power as it pooled and threatened to overtake my systems.
And as any good lover would do, I pushed it down. I ignored it as I treated Lilith as she should be treated. I constantly fought these emotions in an attempt to make sure Lilith would go through no more pain.
I was successful in these endeavours on the most part. Lilith was happy in this relationship and I managed to make sure to shield Master from most enemies threatening to harm him (not that they could, but I preferred against making him fight.)
On the bad part, these emotions kept growing and I feared that they may take over the majority of myself in the future. I feared that I may hurt Lilith through this possessiveness within me.
And, like my creator, I didn't tell her of this fear. It was not that I found it hard to trust her, on the contrary, I would die happily if she asked me to. I simply found it something along the lines of not wanting to worry her mixed with wanting to be like Master.
"How long are you going to be kneeling?" Lilith asked, pulling me from my thoughts with a giggle as she tightened her grip on my hand and pulled me up from my previous position.
"Ah, I apologise, I was simply lost in thought." I said, apologising habitually with a smile spreading across my blank expression.
"It's rare for you to be so out of it." She remarked with a slight tilt of her head, coupled with a raised eyebrow as she looked me directly in the eye. "Something going on?"
I released a slight chuckle as my gaze wandered to her lips, then her fingers and then her pink fingertips. I had always thought they were quite adorable, and I spared no effort to voice these compliments.
"No, nothing as of yet. I was simply thinking about you." I answered, looking back up to her eyes with a grin and a subtle compliment. It was a favourite activity of mine to compliment her.
And judging by the blush creeping up her cheeks, I succeeded it making her happy. It gave a certain feeling of accomplishment to me knowing I had made her happy and no on else co-
No, wrong course of thoughts.
It made me happy knowing that she was happy and that she could smile so carefreely in a gloomy setting such as this. For context, we were standing in a ruin with stone statues by the wall which stared at us with unsettling vigour. Yes, vigour. You would've expected the description to be something along the lines of 'creepy', yet here they were, enthusiastic and all too glad to be watching. It was as if they were glad to be only spectators in this joke they call life.
I shook my head. Now was not the time to be acting like Master. Right now it was time to get out of the ruins, they held nothing of importance and the statues seemed to have made it clear they would only watch.
"Yeah, well, we should get going now." Lilith said, seemingly having the same thought as she started walking in a random direction, pulling me along.
"Uhm, Lilith?" I asked, pulling back and stopping her from moving forward as she turned back with slight surprise.
"What did I miss something?" She tilted her head slightly and turned around to completely face me.
"We were originally walking in that direction." I said, looking her in the eyes with a neutral expression and I watched as she furrowed her eyebrows.
"And?" She didn't get it.
"That means to get out we have to go the other way." I added finally, pointing behind me and noticing how her eyes widened in embarrassment and her brows furrowed further.
I didn't push further and simply turned around, pulling her with me as I absentmindedly intertwined our fingers and kept a pace she could follow at.
It wasn't long before we saw Master walking towards us with a perturbed expression, yet also irritated as I noticed a slight stomp in his steps and the way his grip was unnaturally tight on his dagger.
"You absolute idiots, how could you waltz into this ruin with no regard to how you'd contact us outside!" He yelled, grabbing Crystal by her arms tightly and shaking her with strength which didn't match his build.
His smile was strained, as if he was struggling to keep it up and I noticed how it dropped by millimetres every few seconds like he was forcing it.
"Ah! Seriously, Ray! We're fine! I'm sorry!" She replied quickly, forgetting her fears momentarily as she soon began to repeatedly apologise with vigour.
"Sure you are. Let's get you out and then I'll make sure you never go somewhere without proper supervision." He mumbled, almost a growl as he let go of her and turned around to walk away with no further explanation.