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[Colour=Pink]"It's okay,"[/colour] she whispered frantically.  Barracker stiffened up. [Color=Green][i]It is not okay.[/i][/color] [Colour=Pink]"It's okay."[/colour] She held on tight to him.  Barracker’s breathing was still irritant but his voice stayed level.

[Color=Green]“MacKensie, I…  This is not normal.”[/color]

[Colour=Pink]"It's okay, my friend."[/colour] Her voice was soothing and soft but this affliction had plagued his mind and body, and soul for years.  [Colour=Pink]"You are not alone.  We are Second Chance.  You need not turn away.  It's okay."[/colour]  

[Color=Green]“MacKensie Trydant, your words are whole-heartedly felt but you are holding a monster.”[/color]  Barracker said through gritted teeth.  

[Colour=Pink]"You are not a monster.  You are a righteous.  You are a defender."[/colour]

[Color=Green]“And you are angelic.  As merciful as ‘The Mother’.  I do not deserve this.”[/color]

  [Colour=Pink]"It is not your fault that you carry this affliction.  You are no less a Paladin.  The gods allow you.  A hero who protects the innocent."[/colour]

The Ranger wore the Paladin down to silence, he simply could not contend with her kindness.  And there they remained, with her arms around him, for a long moment.  Until she came to sit next to him.  Then there was further silence.  He still felt shame but not because of her, she had a way of making it not awkward.  It was quite settling in a way, comforting you might say.  

[Colour=Pink]"How did it all begin?""[/colour]  She asked tentatively.

Barracker for a brief moment tensed up, remembering that day so vividly.  [Color=Green]“Another time my friend,”[/color] he replied weakly.  [Color=Green]“It is too much for me right now.”[/color]

[Colour=Pink]"How has it affected your life?"[/colour]

This question, he could answer.  So he vented off some distraughts he had about how life had handed him a twisted fate.  [Color=Green]“Well, the innocents fear me.  My home city has outcasted me and so I outcasted myself from my loved one.”[/color]  He sighed with love on the mind.  [Color=Green]“Evelyne.  Oh, Evelyne.  The love of my life.  I pushed her away.  Distancing myself was all I knew, and all I could do.  A Vampire Paladin… a monster that hunts monsters. She did not deserve to be chained to such a twisted joke.  ‘The Order’ have not forced me out, but they all have made it clear that I do not belong.”[/color]  He paused to let her absorb his story. [Color=Green]“And then one day, the High Septum suddenly forced me into the path of you all.”[/color]  He chuckled.  [Color=Green]“Areleth often does things like that, but this seemed like such a bad idea.  On the day I was to meet your leader, I asked Hades for a sign. I asked him to reveal my destiny.  And no less than an hour later, James revealed your party name…. Second Chance.”[/color]  He smiled with both pain and pleasure.  [Color=Green]“Second Chance.  And you have all been so accepting.”[/color] 

Barracker stopped and then let MacKensie respond.  [Colour=Pink]"We are from another world. I died in my world.  Second Chance really is [i]my[/i] second chance at life.  At companionship.  Please, Barracker... let it be [i]your[/i] second chance too."[/colour]

Barracker placed a hand on hers and thanked her deeply from the bottom of his heart.  Then he agreed to accept her offer for this second chance.  And then they remained in silent companionship for a short moment before he asked politely to be left alone in the shrine room, so that he could practise his worship to the shrine-statue of Hades, that had been the only witness to their touching encounter.  

Once alone and finished with his worshipping, he stood up and his face hardened.  Sterner than stone, his fists clenched.  [Color=Green]“Viktor Battousai, we will meet one day out there on the battlefield.”[/color]

He went to the temple dormitory and found a bed to sleep in.