Lucien was nearly sweating with anxiety as she approached and looked up at him. At the first touch of lips, he was relieved as the kiss seemed mild and most perfunctory at best, the kiss of someone who did not know how and was just guessing. So he had been right in his fearsome assumptions that this couldn't be-

Then her arms were about him, her small body pressed hard against hers so that he could feel her softness and every curving grace of her body. The kiss became heated, and in becoming so also was terrifyingly familiar in such a way that he could not help but to respond in kind. Her kisses were desperate, his were hungry. Lucien's hands dropped to her tiny waist of their own accord to find her hips and pull her even closer to him. Even as Cassie's brain burst with memories of their times together, the painfully sweet recollections that were Lucien's bubbled over and poured from out the dark recesses of his mind and into his soul. His body knew what his mind did not want to accept: this was Cassie. Whatever else she was, she was still the woman he loved.

When Cassie let go and stepped back, apologizing, it was like losing her all over again. Lucien stood there, mouth slightly agape and eyes tearing. Yes, it was the woman he loved. And he had betrayed her. Even though they had never formally said the vows, they had promised themselves to each other for eternity in their romantic youth and foolishness. Yet, when she was gone and past any hope of recovery? Lucien had fallen apart in the end to find solace in Pony's bed. He had given up hope that Cassie might ever return, and now that she had he could feel nothing but guilt. There was loathing in his eyes as she stammered her apologies for being so forward, but it was not directed towards her. It was self-loathing.

Pale and weeping silently, he slowly shook in head in despair. "No... no, no, no... It is you. Oh, shit. No, what I have I... I gave... I didn't want to..."

Babbling through his emotions, Lucien backed away from Cassie, the turned and ran out of the cavern with his hands gripping his skull despondently. Now that he knew it was her, had to accept that it was his beloved, he couldn't face her. Facing her would mean also facing himself. And that he just could not do. Not now.

Seconds after he had fled, a voice chirped from the one table. It was Liana. "I would go after him." Pause. "If I had a body. You have a body. You should go after him. He is... distraught? Profile indicates that in such a situation, Lucien may require careful monitoring. Self-destructive behavior is probable at this juncture."