His companion, for the time being, was a shifter who hadn’t shifted back. Their conversation was aimless and somewhat broken. It was enough to keep his mind focused for a small time. She wasn’t really that much of a conversationalist but that was okay. He supposed she had been through enough anyways. He sat in front of the fire on a log, his back bent as green eyes stared into the fire that took several minutes for the speckled mare to calm down about. He held a stick loose in his fingers drawing in the dirt and every now and then poking at a burning log. He was tired. Probably more so emotionally than anything else. He’d been through enough to give anyone a hell of a time and he was steadily closing in on his taxing time.

He listened to Jema now as she seemed to get uneasy and before he could say a word to her she had taken off. The sound of her hooves disappearing into the forest was all that was left. He wasn’t going after her. If she wanted to run then fine but he wasn’t going to spend his time chasing her. The moment he thought that though was the moment he felt a little guilty. His brows furrowed for a moment lifting to his feet about the time she stumbled into sight.

His fingers tightened around the stick subconsciously as his face fell less than amused by her drunken stupor and swagger. She spoke his name instant recognition lightening in his eyes betraying the bitter thoughts he had. It was at that moment he wished he wasn’t an immortal but instead something more powerful than what he was. One could say it was spite and as much as he wanted to be angry with her, he really couldn’t. He was happy to see her despite her being an utter mess. She stumbled once more muttering something. He wanted to move to help her, he wanted to start getting her sobered up but then he forced himself to remember. She had a mate, one… and two, did she help him when he needed it most? So he stood there before sighing softly and tossing the stick into the flames watching it engulf. ”Amazing you even found me with how much of a mess you are right now.” his voice was flat, betraying him almost immediately. Sighing quietly almost feeling as if he was a pawn in her game. To agitate, to get attached and then rip herself away and make something else hard for him. What next? She already ripped herself away, she made getting a job terrible…. What else is there? His self-worth? ”What do you want now?” he asked as he finally looked back at her. ”Wanna see the damage you did? Get one good final look before you fucking run off yet again with some fucked up cryptic message?” The words were humorless as he rolled his eyes. "Cause baby, you won."

He never wanted to be this cold with Branwen but she had to realize, she wasn’t the only one hurting. She shouldn’t be so selfish in thinking it was only just her. ”Or did you wanna come so I can help you once more out of another goddamn mess you made and leave me high and dry? No thank you, no go fuck yourself, no nothing.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he stood there, watching her, pitying her. He felt sorry for what she had let herself turn into because obviously, it wasn’t working. "What the hell did you do to yourself, Branwen." he sighed and looked away finally uncrossing his arms and debating on just walking into the woods after Jema. Anything was better than to be toyed with right now. "I'm sorry if I did something to make you be this way but I can't please everyone. That's been a hard lesson to learn but I have come to accept it. Because as much as you care about someone, you can't make them care about you and you certainly can't make them do to you as you do to them." She was a bitter lesson to learn but boy did he learn it and even now, much like her her, he had changed.

”Seems like you aren’t the only one who doesn’t listen, hm.” he said straight after her. It wasn’t like him to be so callous towards someone especially not with someone he felt specifically drawn to. In all his years he had never had someone just relentless stay in place. He had no moments of peace. ”Well shame on me for getting attached to you.” He growled not even meaning to but it slipped. His muscles were tightening in his shoulder blades and up to his neck, hands tightening around themselves which he had carefully placed them in his pockets. She soon started speaking again and saying she didn’t want his help and that she never intended to hurt anyone. With every word she spoke that was what was making him lose his resolve. It was steadily breaking. He didn’t like seeing her tore up and much like the last time he had seen her, he could see the constant battle she had. His outer shell that was hardened with his irritation was beginning to crack.

But then she dared to speak again.

His brows furrowed, the wall immediately replacing itself. ”Oh come off of it. Don’t become even more pathetic and embarrassing than the state you are already in.” His words were harsh but they were truthful. Was she actually asking him to kill her? She was barking up the wrong tree if she actually thought he would go through with it. His jaws tightened but his jade colored eyes stayed on her even as she moved forwards and attempted to pressure him into it. Swaying as she made her way over and attempted to shove him but instead her hand just barely touched him. Her hand lay just above his heart and he was tempted to step back and let her fall again but he refrained from doing so. Instead, his eyes dropped to her hand and for a moment he stared at it. Then quietly he lifted one hand from his pocket and placed his hand over hers for a moment. He held it for a moment an almost encouraging squeeze being given as his eyes avoided hers. He couldn’t stare at her eyes with a made connection. Though having worked with Ymir some on it, he had gotten a little better but with Branwen he didn’t trust himself.

”You know what the worst thing that’s about my power” he asked though didn’t really wait for her to answer. ”I can’t make myself forget.” with that he delicately removed her hand and off of him. ”You being gone wouldn’t lessen my ‘burden’. It’d make it worse because unlike every other damn person in this world, I’m stuck with my memories. I can’t get rid of them.” His brows furrowed for a moment. ”That goes for you too. I can get rid of your memories, the ones that plague you. Everything you don’t want to not remember, I can get rid of or replace them with a happier time….. Even make you forget me.”
Then his head shook. ”But I won’t kill you.”

It was a harsh thing to do and he realized that after he had done it. However, he needed to. If she was going to run again he didn’t need to feel attached anymore. He didn’t need to feel like she was holding him at a suspension only for her to drop him again. It was hard. He was yearning to tug her close to him and drink her in but he was resisting and boy was he resisting hard.

The reality and the weight of the matter seemed to come in through the drunken fog she had submerged herself in. She stood in silence for a long time, cradling her hand almost like he had broken it. It only then did he see the smallest movement come from her and then soft words soon following. It was spoken with a sense of hesitation but the more she seemed to steady herself in this misguided direction, she got a little more confident in her choice.

She wanted him to delete all of it.

”I don’t want you to forget me…” he said. The tremor in his voice was very evident and felt far more real than he wanted it to. It shook about as hard as his core was though his features remained stoned. But what could he do? If that was what she wanted who was he to tell her no? his eyes dropped for a moment as the silence between them grew before she finally spoke up again. Her words were breathy and though part of him was glad she wanted to keep it even if… perhaps…. He wouldn’t be in it. Breathing through his nose he lifted his head and stepped towards her she lowered to the ground sitting. It was probably a good idea so she didn’t fall over. ”Are you sure?” he asked as he crouched down in front of her. ”Once it’s gone…. It’s gone.” he wouldn’t be able to recreate the memory at least not exactly as it was stored. There would be something wrong with it because it wasn’t his to remember….

It was then after a moment he allowed his knees to hit the ground and grabbed her gently by the shoulders before leaning in and pressing his lips into her own. At that very moment his hands had touched her and his eyes on her she was out before their lips met but he still wanted just one more taste… one more time.

It was a blast all at once while he had been in her head. The sounds of her voice feeling up his entire body, the images in front of him raced in small clips, racing through each one of them until finally settling in front of him as though they were video files that could be played. As if hitting a rewind button he siphoned through them and even meeting the man – at least not face to face – that she claimed to be his mate. It was funny how when he watched all of this he could feel the emotions radiating off him as if in those moments he was her. As he watched everything play out in front of him he took the bits and pieces that made her believe she was a terrible person. The attacks on the men, then getting locked away, what she had done to him…. Everything. It was gone. Soon his attention turned to Connor one in which he felt all of this had unintentionally come from. He wouldn’t remove that memory of him being her mate as he wouldn’t do that to either one of them nor would he remove the dark cast he put on her, shadowing over her wolf and turning her psychotic. Instead, he reordered it. Instead of the two of them sharing a follow-up and Connor denying her feelings --- he made it to where Bran removed herself from the situation entirely. In their last meeting at the barn, he had then changed it to where she hadn’t caused him issues even if in reality she had. Instead, he had made it to where she would remember coming as human and finding him at work only to pull him aside and tell her of her findings of this mate she had named Connor and not understanding the dark pull she had because of him. It all ended with a hug and nothing more as he gave simple reassurance.

The things he moved and added were small and simple. Rerouting the bad and keeping the good. Keeping her whole as the same Branwen but without the drudgery of being someone fueled on darkness. He wouldn’t reboot her that way. This was something she would be forced to face again and he didn’t want her to have to restart from the beginning when she had already come so far. Instead, he was attempting to give her the tools to better help her understand and grow to overcome her dark demons that would eventually resurface.

It took time but he finally finished coming back to the real world in an instant but because of the work he had done on Branwen, she would sleep. Quietly he pulled himself into a stand and lifted to his feet and gave a whistle to Jema who had taken off earlier. He doubted she had gone far even if she did kind of leave him stranded. Once she came into view he pointed towards Branwen. ”Yes, I know. She’s a wolf but she is my friend.” he said. ”I am going to take her to the inn that is close by to get her off the ground. Will you come?” he asked her. He really didn’t want to leave her out there by herself. It wasn’t his ideal spot. A bit of blood started to trickle from his nostrils and sighing quietly he brought the side of his wrist to it to stop the bleeding before eventually bending down and picking up Branwen. ”Come on if you are coming…. I’d rather you did but I won’t force you to do something you don’t want to. You know that.”

He was leaning on his elbows with his nose in a book. Fingers slid over the pages of his free hand while the other propped his head up. He hadn’t slept and was doing his best to stay awake in case Branwen had stopped breathing. He’d had it happen before. Going in and doing a major remove was not only harmful to him but to her too. The mixing and matching could cause the brains waves to go haywire and shut down and go into a coma-like-state. He was worried and it showed. If she didn’t wake up he wasn’t sure what he would do. So he distracted himself with conversations with Jema now and then as he checked on her, reading, doodling…. Anything there was to keep himself up.

Then there was a soft voice.

His head shot up and he glanced towards Branwen who looked perplexed at where she was and why. A small smile graced upon his lips before she seemed to suddenly get an embarrassed look on her face. He may have…. Cut some of the aspects out about Connor and that was one of the things he had to do to lessen the dark appeal. ”No. We didn’t.” he said assuring her. ”How you feel? You fell like a rock.” he was sure she didn’t remember much if anything at all he would gladly let her know she had asked him to but for now, he was going to go about things a little more delicately until her head could handle it. As it was just getting up and being conscious after a big removal…. It wasn’t an easy thing to come back from. He was just like he didn’t put her body into shock and shut it down.

”Just a night.” luckily. It could have been longer and he had tried to prepare himself for that but it seemed to all be working out in their favor. She was okay. ”You did but not from alcohol.” he said carefully. ”We’ll talk more in a bit about it. You hungry?” he asked tipping his head. ”We can head out and grab something to eat.” Not only would the food ease her hunger which he was pretty sure she hadn’t had much of anything but alcohol last night but it would also get the brain back onto a better path of recovery.

He was about to push himself up into a stand after she stated he shouldn’t be a tease but her attention was quickly drawn elsewhere. ”I got bored.” he spoke in an almost tiny but embarrassed voice. He wasn’t much of an artist nothing like the ones who could see their pictures for money but he wasn’t entirely bad either. Perhaps it was something he could probably brush up on and become quite good at it. No less it wasn’t anything he did but out of pure nerves. He feared for Branwen’s life when she hung in the balances a like that.

Pushing it away when she finally directed her gaze elsewhere he pushed his chair back about the time she spoke his name in a panic. ”What? What’s wrong?” he asked her. Jade eyes stayed on her as she seemed to stumble a bit. All fear that had washed away with her awakening was suddenly replaced. Had he done something wrong? Was she going to die right in front of him regardless if she woke up? She was searching around for his arm and he immediately grabbed for her so she didn’t fall and hurt herself. She kept saying she couldn’t see and he bit his lip. ”Alright, take it easy.” he said. He was trying to not show fear in his voice but it was very evident he didn’t know what was going on. ”Maybe it's from when you fell? Your head. You said it was hurting perhaps you got up too fast.” but that shouldn’t cause total blindness should it? Still holding onto her he lifts to his feet and shifted around the table. Now he could use both hands. ”Or maybe… it was from my power.” he said quietly. He didn’t want to think he had caused this.

”I’m sorry Branwen.” he said softly. ”If I did this… I was only trying to help you because you asked.” she probably wouldn’t understand but it wasn’t a memory he had completely taken from her either. ”You see when I use my power and do a big memory sweep like I had on you… It can cause the brain to go into a sort of shock. You can only imagine how that would be its like surgery on the brain but without the scalpels and the blood. You came to me last night drunk and asked me to remove some memories because you couldn’t handle it any longer.” he wouldn’t dare tell her what they were only because they weren’t his memories to give back or even hint at. He didn’t want to plant false memories of what was actual memories of hers. ”I think your brain may be having a hard to readjusting to it or maybe it’s rejecting. I’m not entirely sure.” or maybe it was the fall. He couldn’t catch her when they both went under and though she was sitting when she went that wouldn’t stop her from hitting her head with absolutely no restraint after being knocked out to catch herself. ”Maybe It will clear up if we get you some food. I have heard that it helps strengthen the process a little….. Gives the body to process healing a little faster.” but he wasn’t entirely sure that would work. He never heard of someone going blind, death maybe but not blindness.

He knew that was likely incredibly hard for her to understand. At least right now it would be as her brain was trying to recuperate from the memory displacing. He felt bad. He didn’t mean to break her brain. As she held onto him he moved in a little closer allowing her to feel the reassurance she was getting by his being there. Except what she couldn’t see was the look on his face that read guilt. He lifts a hand and rests it gently on the side of her face as he stared into her vacant eyes. The best thing about it was he had learned to control it but since she wasn’t able to actually lock eyes with him, his power wouldn’t immediately activate. Rubbing his thumb along her cheek, he leaned in and rest his forehead against her own. ”I'm really sorry, Branwen.” he said softly. ”Had I known it would affect your eyes I wouldn’t have done it.” He was hesitant as it were anyways. She had made this decision when she had been intoxicated. He shouldn’t have done it in the first place.

She asked him to help her to bed and he did so. He led her carefully forward and moved her towards the bed. Once he was sure she was stable in doing so he let her do as she wanted to. ”yeah but it shouldn’t have progressed it like this. Hopefully, it is just temporary.” his voice was much quieter. He didn’t feel right now. If it was swelling on the brain that had affected her eyes then would it get worse and shut her body down? Was her eyes just the start?

”Nonsense. I can if you want me to… sure. You aren’t upset I did this?” he asked her. He felt like he did it at least. Some people’s brains were just not receptive to this type of procedure and it was as risky for them as it was himself. He moved onto the bed and grabbed her hand to let her know just where he was. ”I feel like this is my fault.”

She doubted it but he doubted her. In his mind, if he would have gone with his instinct she would still be able to see but he remained quiet on the matter and just listened as she tried to deny what he said. He felt like deep down though she was probably blaming him for it. As she explained that she must have felt terrible for her to even ask. ”yeah, we will do that and if it doesn’t clear up maybe we should seek out a healer or something.” though more magic honestly made him weary. If magic did it wouldn’t magically make it worse? Or perhaps they would just blame him for being so foolish. He didn’t know and it was beginning to hurt his head just thinking about it. He looked down at the time she spoke again and could see her eyes starting to waft shut. ”I will be here.” he said.

-- morning

He did sleep in for a little while but eventually, he couldn’t lay down any longer. He got up and checked on Jema and spoke with her for a little bit before sauntering off and grabbing breakfast. He knew that Branwen hadn’t eaten in quite a while and so he got her some sausage and a breakfast muffin along with some orange juice. She would likely be waking up relatively soon. He set it on the table and sat down in the chair and stared at her on the bed.

His mind though was getting away with him. He kept up a couple of times to check on her breathing and to listen to her heartbeat. He hoped and prayed that she would be able to see when she woke up. That her eyes would magically clear up and that whatever it was that caused the problem could just go away.

Seeing her stir he held his breath for a moment. ”Hey..” He said as if to draw her attention. ’How you feeling?”