i'll walk through the shadow with you

Having to keep the girl he loved away from him was one of the most difficult things he'd ever had to do. Romulus, who had spent every moment since his arrival in Auster trying to support and empower Lillith, was now forced to keep her away from him for her own sake. He refused to jeopardize her already fragile health. Who knew what these crystals could do to her? He didn't care if they were all over him; he was healthy and his immune system was strong. He could withstand whatever demons were doing this threw at him. He would protect Lillith from all this one way or another.

The pain in her ruby eyes broke his heart, but he had to remain strong in his will. Roman didn't want to keep her at bay. He wanted to scoop her up and snuggle her by firelight and tell her everything was going to be okay. He had to do what he had to do though. An Armada followed his duty to his family first and foremost, and Lil was his family now. When she reluctantly agreed to stay back, he slowly dropped his paw, still fallen back into a seated position while he stared longingly at Lil, unable to think of anything else to do.

"Hey, hey... I'm not going anywhere," he said with a crooked smile, trying to reassure her. "I'm just a little more... spiky right now is all. We'll figure out a way to make me normal again. We just have to be strong, okay?" It was a gentle lie meant to soothe her fears. Roman had no idea what was happening to him. He could very well have been turning into a crystal himself, or the gem fragments could break off into his bloodstream and cut him up within, or his heart could fill with crystals and stop beating at any moment, or any other number of horrible evolutions this sickness could take. But he had to lie. He had to so Lil wouldn't break down.

"Speech"