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>The abomination before me fell back with a cry, the crimson arms dissolving as her rib-cage fluidly knits itself back together like lips drawing back together over bared teeth.
>I had won, against incredible odds and revealed the pale and alluring Rose behind the thorns.
>I knelt beside her, scooping her up into my arms and holding her close as she began to cry soundlessly. Grasping my hand in hers as she intoned in measured and composed fashion:
>"I thought I wanted to scare you away and be alone here in the darkness as befits me but you won't leave me be. Why? Why do you want me?"
>I'd been asking myself the same question as I'd prepared and on the way to this derelict place where she had sequestered herself. So my answer came naturally.
>"Because I couldn't be sure if it was what you really want, is it all that you are in so much pain at the thought of seeing if someone can Love you only to have it go bad? I didn't believe it though, I couldn't be sure if you let yourself become a monster so you could drive others away because you really wanted to be alone: Or if it was more that you wanted to test who would want to be with you and see how far they would go. I decided that the real you is worth fighting for, so I had to ask."
