Lucien grimaced as he shivered on the ledge, her words merely adding to his guilt and confusion. How could she love him if she didn't remember him?? It didn't make sense! And if she was remembering flashes of their time together it only made him feel all the more horrible for he had betrayed those memories by turning to Pony. Adding to the morass of emotions the weigh down his reason was the faint heartbeat of that hope he thought long dead; [i]'We can be happy again...'[/i] Could they? Could they be happy? He could not see how it was possible for them to be as they were before, both of them having changed so much in just that one year: he mentally and emotionally, her physically. Even should they strike some sort of accord, found some new happiness, what of Pony? Was it fair or kind to her to just cast her off? True, Lucien did not love her but he was fond of her, not to mention indebted to her for keeping him going. What about Toni, for that matter? He could not see any reconciliation there at all, and that would be a strain to any relationship reforged with Cassie. If they could reforge it. And how could they if she couldn't remember...

His thoughts continued that inevitable locked circle that wheeled about his head until they sped together faster and faster into tight spiral of despair. He was so close to stepping off the edge, his foot hovering there and held up only by three words: [i]'I love you.'[/i]

The sound of Cassie yelping, then screaming for him, broke through Lucien's mix of remorse and dismay. There was not reasoning now, no anxiety or fears of the future brought out of the past but only the moment of NOW. And in that moment, Cassie was in danger. 

The salvager became the robot, his body reacting instantly without conscious thought as he snapped his head to listen to where the echoes might originate from. He backed away nimbly from the outcropping to wordless slid down the scree. The cavern had become his favorite retreat from the world, a place where even Pony didn't dare follow him. Lucien knew the place by feel and there was only one section in The River Bank where Cassie could have slipped so. He quickly shucked of his boots and socks, tossing them in the direction of the access tunnel. The cave's floor here was such that he would need the flexibility of his toes and bare feet to traverse it. Barefooted, Lucien dropped to all fours to crawl down backwards along the slope with fingers and toes seeking out every possible crevice and ripple in the rocks to keep from slipping. When he felt his toes touch the frigid waters, he began to edge to where Cassie had to be. "Cassie. Grab my legs, they should be right next to you. Grab them and then climb up on my back. I can pull us up from there, I can... I can carry you piggy-back just like we used to do."