He sat listening to the sound of wrapping bandages and weak sniffles. The Bond made his heart-strings twitch with a piteous emotion. One which he tried hard to quell.<span style="font-style: italic">’This human is ending up to be a lot more trouble than I predicted.’</span>He brushed at his mouth, wiping scarlet blossoms of Ichabod’s blood and licked the bittersweet remnants from his palm. Extra energy coursing through him.<span style="font-style: italic">’His blood is especially sweet and earnest tasting. He’s more honest than he knows. Tch, this human is bait for the Duke! Nothing more. The naïve notion he could keep me gives enough reason why he should die.’</span><br/><br/>However, the uneasy weight of guilt settled into his stomach. Throw in a pinch of understanding the Gambler’s woes and love life made things even harder to swallow for the Daemon. “Yes, Fae… We aren’t too fond of those. Frivolous and arrogant -- the whole lot of them. Sometimes I think I’d prefer you humans to those elusive bastards…” Ruin chimed in eventually after his human counterpart grew silent. Ichabod had apologized. Spoken how he felt about always being alone and how nice it was to finally voice something to another being that could answer back. A blinded face stared into the darkness with his own emotions curling to grasp Ichabod’s. Both knew loneliness however the daemon wasn’t going to admit his – or acknowledge Ichabod’s apology. Ruinegard, the Demon Powerhouse, needed that hate and rage which grew from the loneliness of that small prison. Left with sneering voices and the echoes of his people’s screams. No, he needed to stay burning with vengeful passion against the Duke and humanity. Not console a pawn!<br/><br/>So he didn’t quite understand why he was bad-mouthing Fae to cheer Ichabod up. “They all skip about like they are little girls, and their powers aren’t as great as my kinds. They’d sooner to go consummate with a flower than a face a serious relationship. It was better you were freed then before he spirited you away to suffer a slow death as they sucked your youth from you.” With a huff he laid down. The small of his back pressed against Ichabod’s hip. He’d sleep back to back with the human tonight…<span style="font-style: italic"> ‘Only because if he wanders off or gets cold I’ll be bothered again.’ </span>Ruin thought to himself stubbornly. Justifying his actions so he could feel better.<br/><br/>“Time to sleep now. We need more rest so we may try to be free of this place tomorrow.”<br/><br/>With that he shifted his weight to become more comfortable and fell into troubled slumber. It was many three hours later that he jolted awake. His body weary from holding the barrier so long with Limiter Cuffs holding back his true powers; that and he hadn’t had a decent spiritual meal in a while. The phantasms were beginning to slam their sick corporeal forms against the weakening blue light. He could feel it in his bones. Shaking Ichabod awake he spoke low into the human’s ear. “It’s time to pack up and move on human.”<br/><br/>Once both stood ready side by side, so Ruin could use his sense of smell and Ichabod his torch an eyes, the demon raised a hand. Energy sparked around him as he chanted in an eerie tone that made the Phantasms shriek in ungodly cries behind the barrier – as if in pain. “BEGONE FROM MY SIGHT!” He roared at the end and the barriers exploded outwards banishing the phantasms from the corridors. Ruin staggered a bit, his mana slowly becoming spent. “W-we should head down this hallway. We have yet to try it since the tricks of making us go in circles yesterday. We must hurry. The tainted spirits will return and I don’t have the power to keep expelling them nor will your torches last long enough. Let’s make haste!”