Sore.

"I can't feel my legs..."

Currently splayed out on a bed adorned with silken finery, I wait for sensation to return to my burnt out limbs, after having spent the last hour or so ravaging two seemingly inexhaustible monsters known as 'Women'. On the upside, Cilla had fallen fast asleep, now tucked away to my left in the thin, near see-through covers of this pocket dimension's primary bedroom. Bell, on the other hand, was still awake, holding me at my right side, and stoking my scales gently; her own having faded away after the end of the coitus.

"So... that happened." She says. "Twenty years of celibacy sure left me pent up, it seems."

"I can't feel my tail either; or my wings."

"Oh shush."

I look around the room, having been preoccupied with when entering earlier, as I had been carrying two terrifyingly horny women over my shoulders at the time; **** to flop them onto a bed before they started clawing at me. The floor has soft, red carpeting, stretching to the white painted walls. The walls themselves have many a strange object either hanging from hooks, or placed upon shelves. Horns, teeth, pieces of cloth, all neatly ordered; treasures from Bell's adventures prehaps? Most interestingly of all, the ceiling seemed to be glass, peering up to a familiar night sky; not the one I had seen on Ruyanei, rather, the one seen in sparce memories of the nights on Earth.

I wonder what she remembers of Earth?

"So... what do we do now?" I ask, staring into the starry vestige of my life long lost. "Do we... stay together? Help each other remember who we are?"

"I've been thinking about that, but I don't know if you'll like the answer much." Says Bell, sitting up next to me.

"I think... we need to stay apart."

The words hit me like a boulder falling onto my gut.

"Just for now!" She quickly adds, seeing my expressions sour turn. "I can't... I can't risk it, Damian. The memories; they can flood in at the worst of times. You even told me that the Dark Twins informed you that it was a sort of weakness of mine. Which, it is."

She begins to ball up, pulling her knees over her chest beneath the covers. "During the final battle, with the Demon King; Rikard, the False Ruya... something about him, and how he treated Runa... it would keep bringing out the worst of my memory fits. With the memories holding me back, and the betrayal of... Him... we almost lost it all. Elmaria, Alka, Citrina were all dying... then Ariel had to sacrifice himself for us; to save the others, and to bring me out of my stupor. I can't risk that again, and you bring that risk with you tenfold. My duty comes first... I'm sorry."

I process her words, trying my best to find a reason to stay by her side; a justification for the risks she spoke of.

I found nothing, much to my dismay.

Seeing my grimace, Bell says. "It won't be forever, Damian. Once the Dark is set far enough back, we'll have maybe... a few hundred years to get to be together again? Maybe a thousand!"

"How is it fair..." I say, my fists clenching tight. "First, they steal us away. Then, they take our memories. Now, they keep us apart..."

"We died. They didn't steal us; they gave us a second chance."

The images of my reckoning with my Others, arguing with my brother, pointing the firearm at the broken truck driver, and my father weeping over my dying body; it all flashes through my mind.

"Maybe I didn't want a second chance." I say, turning away from the false night sky of Earth, and looking down to my hands; changed, clawed, and scaled.

Clearly unsure of what to say, the Heroine clears her throat. "Well... even if we aren't always together, that doesn't mean I don't love you; or that I can't visit you in what little 'off-time' I can manage. I'd love to stay in touch, and check in on you and your friends every now and then."

Her cheeks begin blushing red as she leans into me, her hand gently moving under the silky blankets towards my crotch. "And, while we're apart, you could... find more girls. Imagine... all this turmoil settles, and you bring home an enormous harem of beautiful women. Mmm..."

I feel her hand begin to stroke my still hardened cock. "I still can't feel my legs, Bell."

"Oh shush." Bell gently pushes me onto my back, straddling me. "One more round? Please..."

"Fine. But then can we please..."