Tanner didn't know what to make of Andrea. The woman was a selfish beast. He'd decided that in his heart, so he couldn't understand himself. He couldn't understand why he didn't just request that the visits stop.

Being stabbed, for any reason, was unforgivable. Still, he'd started giving himself a pep talk. He started fixing his hair. He used what little energy he had to hide his scars and bruises in a thin image. It wouldn't last long, but he just needed it to last until Andrea left again. With Andrea forcing him to take energy each time they met, he was sure he could waste some of his current power without worries. He'd get more soon.

When he found himself looking forward to the visits, going through the day with a bit more pep in his step or counting the days down until they met, he was careful to ignore his own actions. That was something he later regretted when he waited in vain at an appointed meeting, his hair slicked back and his clothes as neat as he could make them.

He'd meant it when he told Andrea that there was no "you and me," but after, with how utterly mortified Andrea looked, he'd regretted being so blunt. Every meeting, he had to tell himself that he was just being honest, that it was best to keep on his guard.

Forty-five minutes passed, and he found himself pleading, hoping, willing Andrea to at least come for the last fifteen minutes of it. If he could just see her face, that would have been enough. When there were only five minutes left, he actually felt upset and worried.

Even when he didn't want Andrea there, he still enjoyed the woman's company. She made Tanner laugh. The way she'd see things all gray and dark, the way she'd just keep talking even though she didn't get an answer, and especially the way Andrea told a story. She wouldn't just do the voices; she'd do the gestures that people did, too. She had a way of describing it so well that Tanner felt like he had been there.

Even at the very last minute, the very last thirty seconds, Tanner watched the mouth of the cave, wishing with all his might that he'd at least see Andrea's face before he had to go back into the prison.

As he was led away, he tried to look to see if Andrea was just late and had meant to come. Tanner felt like he was dying inside.

***

The next two weeks were the longest ever. Tanner was less enthusiastic when he entered the cave for the meeting. Fifteen minutes passed, and he found himself hating Andrea with everything in him. He used all of his energy to make the image this time, hoping he could get more from Andrea to compensate for it. The image faded halfway through, revealing his dirty face, littered with darkening bruises. His clothing, the only set he had been given, was closer to rags than actual clothes. His pride hurt, he waited, filthy, intending to tell Andrea off when the woman finally arrived.

At the sound of the footsteps, he stood, his heart pounding out of his chest. He was surprised to find himself glad. He was actually glad. He looked down and around him, hoping he could find a way to get some energy somehow, from anywhere, anywhere at all. At his weak power level, attempting to garner energy from stone was not only dangerous, it was stupid. But for a split-second, he considered it.

When a blond man entered the cave, he stopped himself from rushing in for a tight hug. The sight of Met standing there made him close his eyes. He relaxed, hunched over, and braced himself on his knees as he sighed in relief.

"Dad."

Met looked heartbroken at the sight of him, and he took a moment to speak which was uncharacteristic. When Tanner met his father's gaze, he could tell from the forced smile that the man was trying not to let it show.

"Hi, I'm glad I made it in time. Andrea begged me to come talk to you."

Tanner was suspicious. "Why? What did she do? Why didn't she come?"

"She thought you'd be mad. You can only have one visitor, and she wanted me to come in here and tell you that she was hurt last time. That was why she couldn't come. She was sure you wouldn't believe her. Can't imagine why."

Deep down, Tanner was happy to hear that Andrea's absence was due to an injury. Maybe the noblewoman was as injured on the outside as Tanner felt torn apart on the inside when she hadn't shown up.

"Hurt how?"

Met opened his mouth to answer but hesitated instead. "Unfortunately, that part she made me promise not to tell."

Tanner gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Dad...."

"All right. She's doing the Assist training, but she's pushing herself too hard. Trying to get ready before you're out, or whatever. But she's just not very good at it. She was pretty hard of hearing last time. Had one of your brothers talk her into catching a fireball."

Standing to his full height in record time, Tanner asked, "What? What idiot would do...?" He paused then sighed. "Queen?"

"Who else?" When Tanner growled and kicked the ground, Met exhaled, exasperated. "So am I done? Can I just tell her that you're not mad and that she can come back?"

Tanner considered it and shook his head. "No. Tell her not to come back. I...I shouldn't encourage this stuff. I want nothing to do with her. I just want to get out of here and get on with my life."

"You know...." Met sighed. "She's going through a lot right now. The patriarchal figure of her family hanged himself last year after the audit."

"I know." Tanner shook his head with a sigh. "I saw the dead energy linger around her for a bit. It's gone now, so it must be at peace."

Met's stunned look made it clear that he hadn't anticipated that answer. He looked suspicious, and Tanner was sure he knew why. Tanner's own gentle nature was the culprit. Tanner knew without a doubt that his father had come with the expectation that he could cut Tanner's usual bleeding heart open and call it a day. Met hadn't expected his son to be defensive, ready to deflect any suggestion.

"So it's over then? You're done with Andrea?"

"Don't act so sad about it." Tanner felt hurt by the situation and the trick. "You're the one who begged me not to go back there when I finally told you who Andrea was. Isn't that why you forced Queen to come with me? I thought you'd be happy now that I'm over her."

His father looked at him for a long time before shaking his head. "I would be, if you were actually over her. The visits here were a bad idea because you seem more infatuated with her now than ever."

"Yeah," Tanner muttered, tight-lipped. "What gives you that idea?"

"Because you don't want her to come back. If you really hated her, you'd love to see her wasting her time, trust me."

Tanner clenched his jaw, struggling to find a response that would be satisfactory. His mind was a blank, however, so he settled for honesty.

"She's a liar, and a thief, and she stabbed me. If the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as they say, then she's a bad apple anyway, so it's better for me if I let it go."

"And the job you left behind? It's still there if you want it. You had requested a family-sized flat. That surely wasn't for just you alone."

Tanner swallowed down his automatic response. It was a defense mechanism, but he didn't need it against his own father. "That was naïve and foolish of me. And that was before I experienced a knife to my belly. I don't need any of it."

Met studied him and asked, "So what will you do in the meantime? Are you sure about this? It's not like you can ever find another mate. You only have the one. You plan to pine away forever?"

"Why not?" Tanner shivered at the idea, but he dug his heels in the proverbial dirt and refused to budge. "Tell her I wasn't here. Tell her...tell her to just go away." He warned, "If she comes back again, I won't be here; she'll waste her time."

Before Tanner could walk away, Met raised his hand to him. He reached into his jacket for a cube and a small box which he held out.

"Here's a recording of Andrea's last Assist training report. The box has some supplements for you. They should help you build up your energy level. Only use it in case of an emergency."

"Th-thanks." Tanner squeezed the objects in his hands until they faded into his palm. "I'll keep them in mind." He called out as he walked away, "Tell Mom not to worry, and tell Andrea not to come. I'm not going to be here. I mean it."

True to his word, he wasn't there when Andrea arrived two weeks later, dressed to the nines. From a distance Tanner watched the woman. Andrea, carrying her own assortment of treats in a basket, stood and waited for nearly an hour. Then she put the basket down and looked through it just before it was time to go. She retrieved a small silver cube which had been tucked in with the treats, and she squeezed it to record a short message before leaving early.

As soon as she turned to leave, Tanner decided to come out of hiding. Tanner watched Andrea's blond hair as she disappeared out of the cave. He wanted to call out, but words failed him. When he was close to the basket, he fought back a smile. There was no one to see him or disapprove of him smiling over that evil beast Andrea, so he gave in and simpered as he sat and reached in to find the cube.

He studied it and went to the wall and pressed it there. He needed energy to run it, so against his better judgment, he popped a supplement into his mouth and touched the rough surface. Andrea's image appeared on the wall above his hand; she stood too close when she recorded it.

"The last time I saw you, we had four more visits left. I missed one, then Met came to one, and now you didn't come to this one. We have one more left, but...I'm not gonna come. I can't. I can't stand the thought of it. I'll be waiting for you when you come out. Know that I'm waiting for you. I just want your friendship. I know you think little of me, but please don't hate me too much by then, all right? This is not a trick, and this isn't an empty promise. I'll be waiting. I'll see you in three weeks."

***

Tanner had worked hard to save the supplements, and on the last day of his incarceration, he took them and used the energy boost to make an image of himself in a nice suit. He knew looking like that would give his interest away, give his infatuation away, but he couldn't stop himself.

There was no one waiting for him at the gates of Cerberus when he exited. He felt awkward standing around waiting for someone to come, and, after two hours, he finally left...alone.