Lewis rolled his eyes. “Right. A schedule. From breakfast to lunch, read. Take a five minute break to tidy the room, then read.” He twirled his finger in the air. “After that, you set down your book for tea time and a side book of poems. And then back to the main….romance novel. Such a busy schedule…” For the most part, Lewis was gone throughout the day, but it did seem like every time he came for Simone, she was reading. He didn’t really care, but he wondered if all that reading was good for her.

“You should get out more. Walk around. Learn a skill. All that reading won’t do you good in the real world.” Reading was a luxury for him while growing up. Time spent reading was time that could have been stealing. As such, he barely did it. At most, it was to learn about weapons, poisons, or anything else that might aid his assassination techniques. Anything for pleasure was strictly a waste of time.

Simone looked at him with an amused look on her face. “How do you know what I do when you aren’t here?”

It was obvious she never left the tower. “On the contrary, I like handicrafts a lot. I tend to do that when you aren’t home. It takes more focus. When you are here I–” She caught herself and she huffed a bit as she choked down a few words. “Anyways, I read when I know you are coming home just in case you want anything from me. I knit when you aren’t here.”

She tilted her head. “And when the messenger boy comes to deliver messages to you I chat with him too. I don’t leave the tower because you don’t like it when I wander… Remember?”

Lewis started to say something, and then stopped. He opened his mouth again, but couldn’t seem to find the words. She was right about a few things, but that wasn’t the problem. At least, not the one that Lewis was focused on. It was…a different one. He opened his mouth again, and finally managed to say something.

“What…do you talk about with the boy?” Out of everything that she had said, that was the thing he managed to get out. The boy was about a year younger than Lewis, and no more than a messenger for the whole temple. His name was Jack, and from what Lewis could remember, he was an apprentice potions maker. In his spare time, he earned a little extra silver playing messenger.

“I barely get any actual messages…why does he come here so often?” That annoying feeling was there. It was one he couldn’t quite recognize. But it was there. And it was annoying. And for some reason, that put Lewis on edge. What a stupid emotion…

She tilted her head, “He brings what the kitchen is cooking on the daily. Now that someone is here all the time it's worth the trip. He also tells me if the library has any new books in.” She was trying to think about what angle Lewis was coming at but for the life of her she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“I always talk to him through the door if it makes you feel better. Open it only long enough to get a message if he has it.” What was this feeling he was giving off? She couldn’t place it. “He once asked me if you were as big of an asshole as you can come off as.” She said it with a smirk.

Then it hit her. The look on his face… More so it was his eyes. She calmly walked up and clapped the sides of his cheeks with her hands holding his face. “Lewis?” She waited for him to look at her. “Are you jealous?”

Lewis looked at Simone with a dead stare as she clapped the side of his face with her hands. “Me? Jealous? Why the hell would I be jealous?” Was that the emotion he was feeling? What a pain these emotions were. Ever since that damned dream of hers, he was feeling more and more of them. He took a step back from Simone and scoffed. “Of course I’m not feeling jealous.” The tone of his voice, though, said otherwise.

“I have work to prep for…” he said suddenly as he started towards the door. “…I’ll be busy for the rest of the night.”

Her Return

Simone stretched her arms as she laid with Lewis in the comfortable bed that they had stolen from Ayaa. This was one of the last few days of their honeymoon and today they would be returning to the tower for the first time… As husband and wife. “Mr. Terrowin,” her eyes sparkled a bit as she nuzzled his neck and pulled her head away from him. Lewis had been dead asleep. Lewis had been holding tightly onto her since she was reborn. “Mr. Love of my Life,” Simone cooed as she kissed his jawline. “It’s time to get up and you are holding me tightly.”

She could hear him grumping at her as his grip tightened on her naked form. She chuckled a bit. She could feel his love and his fear that if he opened his eyes she wouldn’t be there.

Lewis, I’m right here. She rubbed his hip softly. It’s time to go home today.

Yesterday had been the last full day in Jayou and today they would be returning to the tower. Together as one. It had been two months since she was last seen and she wondered just how people would respond. She knew Lewis hadn't told anyone his plans. She knew he had suffered in silence. She kissed his cheek once more and gave him a love filled smile.

Lewis barely heard Simone when she tried to wake him at first. After nearly two months of self destructive behavior while waiting for her, this week long vacation was just what he needed to get back into form. When Simone spoke inside his mind though…Lewis' eyes shot open when he heard her voice in his head. It was still something that was new to him, and it was impossible to ignore. It was definitely going to be a change. After all, they could hear each other's deepest and darkest thoughts no matter how hard they tried to hide them."I don't want to go," Lewis complained. Simone's death had changed the way he had viewed the world, and how he viewed her. To everyone else, he seemed normal, but to Simone, he was more vulnerable and open. It was a frightening change for Lewis, but he was sure that Simone was welcome to it."Fine," he said finally as he sat up in the bed. "Need to give that girl her room back anyway.". The assassin smirked. Their first encounter was quite the unique one, and poor Ayaa had caught them in a rather ravage scene.  He stood up out of bed and stretched. There were light marks that were still healing across his body, leftover from the night before. "Let's get going then…" Lewis was not looking forward to this.Almost an hour later, a gate opened into the center room of the tower. At once, it was apparent the state of the tower. The fireplace that was normally lit was cold, and it looked as though it hadn't been used the entire time Simone had been gone. Bottles littered the floor, and if anyone bothered looking, would find them strewn about all of the rooms.Lewis glanced down at one of the bottles, and kicked it under a couch. "… it's uh….not as bad as it looks."

Simone wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled at him, “You don’t have to lie to me. It looks horrible.” She shook her head at him as she looked at all the ale bottles. “You love me so much…” She put her chin on his shoulder. “You missed me a lot?” She smirked a bit. “Or did you miss how much I warmed your bed?” She was teasing him. “Or… did you miss how you would steal stuff out of my hands and I would try and get it back?”

Was it everything?

She nuzzled her head against his neck.

“Please don’t drink like that ever again… Not in sadness anyways.” She frowned and kissed his neck now. “I couldn’t watch you do that to yourself in sorrow.” Her stormy eyes were full of love and devotion.

“I am glad… that you missed me though.”

The door was still wide open. There was something special about crossing the threshold of their home as a married couple. It been but a simple request from Simone and an innocent one at that.

"Simone?" Jack stood there staring at her. She barely looked like herself. The way she held herself… The way she looked was even older. "I thought… I thought Lewis sent you away."

She turned her head and looked towards the boy who doted on her. "He only gave me what I thought wanted. Freedom of the permanent kind." It was the way she said it that made Jack's eyes widen as he caught the hint.

"But… You look… different."

You can explain if you want. It's not much of a secret… Not really. My real body is dust.

The fact that Lewis was now with Simone made all the difference in how he saw the room before him. What he thought was an escape from his reality was really a nightmare that had dragged on for far too long. It had been that drunken visit to Lady Angela that had awoken him from the nightmare. Well, more the strike from Lady Angela for disturbing her rest. It was that moment that things started to change for the better.

“I can’t make any promises,” he replied as he glanced over to her. “If anything happens to you…well, I’m not sure I would contain myself.” That was the truth. Now, more than ever, he felt a powerful bond with Simone. He would move the heavens and the earth itself for the woman beside him. That feeling washed through the resonance, and Simone felt it too. The intensity of it all was almost overwhelming.

Lewis was brought back to reality, though, when he heard Jack’s voice. The young man had grown some stubble since their last encounter, and looked quite tired. Perhaps he was busy learning his potions. Or, maybe, worried for Simone. Despite his willingness to back off, he still held a strange fascination for the girl.

“Oh, I killed her,” Lewis said with a smirk. “And then I brought her back.” Lewis was grinning like a mad man. “Want to see me kill her again?” Simone had said ‘if he wanted.’ What he wanted to do was enjoy his time alone with Simone, but that didn’t seem possible.

Jack stared at the couple. “Whatever, freak,” he snapped at Lewis. “Simone. Obviously he’s lost it. But…” Simone looked different than he remembered. But it was still Simone, right? “He’s a drunk asshole who’s come unhinged. I don’t know what kind of freedom he gave you, but it can’t be worth it.”

Simone cuddled her head into his shoulder and smiled a bit, “Oh, he isn’t lying though. See I’m not human anymore.”

Jack’s eyes got large and looked at Lewis, “You made a deal with the damn devil.”

“I’ve heard her called that,” Simone shrugged and from Lewis’s memories she knew that Jack had seen Angela when she was sick. “However, my darling Jack. The Simone you knew is all washed away~ I’m the real Simone that was hidden.” Her pretty little eyelashes batted at him.

“Did death make you crazy?”

“Did you ever wonder why he wouldn’t let me leave? Why he brought me here in the first place? Why would someone like Lewis waste his time on a little girl?” She stared at Jack and gave a playful smile. “Because I was cursed to live and die. A cycle of endless pain. He was contracted to kill me and he did… Only to find the younger me before him.”

Jack was catching on as his eyes got bigger, “How old are you?”

“Over fifteen hundred. Though this body was created in Lewis’s image of me,” she looked down at it. “I do wonder why you picked this form.” It was the form from the tower. When he first met her real form.

Jack backed up, “You both are cursed.” He ran away. Most likely he was speaking of what Lord Raith might do. They were blessed by the Goddess Angela. They knew it was a problem.