"I don't believe this... I refuse to believe this..." Silvia began, trailing off as she lost her train of thought whilst staring at the demon she once knew.

As Ephram sat across from her, placing his hands down upon the large oak table, he slowly nodded his head in agreement. It was certainly hard to believe he had become a demon, as well as having the power necessary to free her from the Abyss. It would take some time for her to settle with the idea, but he was sure that she would come around eventually. Perhaps living in Hell with him for a while would bring her towards the truth.

The dining hall of Palace Estella was surprisingly quaint for the rest of the palace, as if Aberlain and May had never had too many visitors. The large oak table the two of them sat around was much smaller than he had anticipated, with only four large wooden chairs surrounding it. The hall was decorated in a cozy fashion, with a black marble fireplace against the far wall to warm the interior. It wasn't much to look at, but was still quite a comforting room to find oneself in. A single dim yellow chandelier hung directly overhead of the table, just barely lighting up the small room along with the blazing fire now crackling in the hearth. The only reason Ephram was slightly off put by the room, however, was the large painting of the Rootlord staring down at him from above the fireplace mantle.

The gleaming yellow eyes of Aberlain stared down at the two of them, as if the faded paint they were made from watched their every move. In the painting, the Rootlord wore his long yellow and black robe, black leather gloves, and an extravagant yet simple golden crown with a yellow jewel in the center. Clasping both hands together in front of him, his yellow eyes beamed down towards the table with a certain calculated ferocity in them. Ephram took notice of the small crown in particular, noticing how well thought out and detailed every inch of it had been painted. It was as if whomever had painted the extravagant picture of the Rootlord had gotten every single detail correct, right down to the atom.

"Victor... I..." Silvia's voice cut through the air, ripping through Ephram's train of thought as he looked away from the mesmerizing portrait of the Rootlord.

"Please, call me Ephram. I know I was once the human man, Victor, but that name just feels... wrong to me." He said politely, trying not to upset Silvia any more than she already was. Surely it was a confusing time for her, so it was prudent to tread lightly as he tried to speak with her.

"Alright... Ephram, then. I think I understand a bit more than before, but it's all just... so much." Silvia said, clearly frustrated with this sudden turn of events.

"I understand. I can give you some time alone if you'd like? But we really must talk about where to go from here, whenever you're ready." Ephram said, noticing Silvia look up at him with a confused sadness in her eyes.

"I need to know, Ephram... I need to know. Are you still my husband, Victor?" She asked, looking at him with tears beginning to well up.

As soon as she spoke her question aloud, the regret of asking it had seeped deep within her soul. A part of her wanted to know the answer to her question, but another part of her knew she may not be able to handle the truth.

Ephram took his hat off his head, setting it down upon the table in front of him. Reaching into his pocket for the golden watch he carried, he set that upon the table as well, opening it for her to see its contents. The picture of the two of them stared back at her with nostalgia, a reminder of the people they once were. Time waits for no one, no matter how strong their bonds may be. For their love to reach past the human limitations of existence, they would have to get to know each other once more.

"Silvia... I became a demon for you. To save you. I am still the man you once loved, I can promise you that. I am no longer a human being, however, nor are you. I want the two of us to lead our lives free and happy, away from the troubles this world has thrown our way." He said confidently, trying to reassure Silvia and her doubts.

It was understandable to him for her to be worried about what their future held. As far as he knew, he was the first man alive to ever become a demon. Surely his wife had the insight to see that he was still in fact the man she loves. His humanity may have been stripped from his soul, but the soul itself was still intact. Every memory he shared with her had been restored from the sight of their grave, every loving moment had been rekindled into the scorching fire of passion. He knew that as long as he was alive, absolutely nothing could stop him from loving Silvia.

"Okay... thank you." Silvia said meekly, looking down at the golden pocket watch.

Slowly reaching for the small watch, she looked at Ephram with what he understood to be a forgotten love. Her adoration for her husband was still lying dormant within her, and one day he knew that she would come to love him as a demon as well. They were two sides of the same coin after all, a once married couple turned both angel and demon.

"Silvia, I have a question for you... if it's alright?" He asked suddenly, watching as she stared at the pocket watch now grasped softly within her hands.

"Of course, what is it?" She responded quietly, looking back up towards him.

"When you had... left me, back in our home... did you... I mean, well... I don't know how to say this..." He began, trailing off slowly as he covered his head with his hands, "... do you regret it? Our time together, that is."

As Ephram blocked her from view with his hands, he noticed the room go quiet for a few moments. As the shuffling of feet and scraping of her chair filled the silence of the room, he brought his head down to the table in defeat. Thinking to himself just how stupid of a question he'd asked, he had wished he'd never asked it in the first place. Silvia had too much on her plate already, and the past being brought up now was sure to drive her away from him.

"Raise your head... please." Her voice echoed softly within his mind, filling him with the once forgotten sense of love he held so desperately onto.

Placing his hands down into his lap, he looked up to see his wife mere inches away from his face. As she stared kindly into his featureless void of a face, her hands cradled his head like a mother rocking her child. The warmth of her breath enveloped Ephram as she leaned in close, kissing him gently upon the forehead as she sat down next to him atop the table.

"I'm sorry for what I put you through, the last thing I ever wanted was to be a burden. The only thing I regret is leaving you to clean up the mess I made of my life... I am truly sorry."

Ephram looked up at the smiling face of Silvia, noticing her pained expression. Tears had begun to flow from her now reddened sky-blue eyes, streaming down her cheeks and dripping softly upon his lap as she stayed close to him. The woman he loved had finally returned to him, and Ephram knew that with the steady march of time, everything would one day be alright again.

"You were never a burden to me... never. I would've taken care of you until we were both old and wrinkly. I never once looked at you with pity in my heart, because I know how strong you truly are." He said reassuringly, grabbing her hands from his face and holding them firmly within his grasp.

As the two of them stared at each other for a few moments, not saying a word, Silvia began to laugh quietly. The tears from her eyes still flowed heavily, but the reason for their appearance had changed entirely. These tears were no longer those of an excruciating weight upon her shoulders, but the relief she felt as that weight had been lifted. Her husband was truly alive, staring back at her now as a demon with just as much devotion to her as he held on Earth.

Unwrapping the white scarf she wore around her neck, she held it in her hands for what felt like an eternity. Staring down at it with a mixture of love and regret, she quietly began wrapping it around the neck of her beloved husband. As he was about to ask what she was doing, she put a finger to her lips to shush him as she finished what she needed to do. The scarf shone brilliantly with the contrast of his dark skin, illuminating his soul like a flash of blinding light within a sea of darkness. Putting his hat back atop his head and the pocket watch neatly back into its pocket, she looked him over to admire what he'd become.

"I want you to hang onto that for me, okay? I don't think I can keep it with me anymore... I'm sorry." She said, touching her neck with her hand gently as if trying to forget the feeling of the scarf and what she had done to take her own life.

Ephram nodded reassuringly, running his fingers over the soft cotton fabric of the white scarf resting gently upon his neck and shoulders. He knew the reason she didn't want to carry the scarf with her, and knew that this was now his burden to carry. He would harbor the weight of the world upon his back if it meant the happiness of Silvia would go untarnished, and he saw this scarf as the first step in the right direction towards his goal. A world without hatred and pain was a world he knew Silvia could be safe within, and he would stop at nothing to achieve it.

Reaching out for his wife once more, he suddenly wrapped his arms around her to fully embrace her in a hug. It had been quite some time since he had felt this feeling, and the familiar sense of safety and peace washed over him as he clung tightly to the woman he loved. Her arms reached slowly around him as well, finding their place around him as she warmly embraced him back.

As Ephram ran his hands across her back, he felt Silvia flinch slightly after he had crossed the scars in which her wings once were. Dropping his arms from around her and leaning back to look at her once again, he thought of just how painful it must be knowing she could never spread her wings again. He knew that with everything she'd been through, it must hurt more than anything. First it was her legs that had been taken from her, bounding her to a wheelchair for the remainder of her human life. While her legs had been healed after becoming an angel, the sting of having her wings taken away must've been a similar type of pain to that which she'd already gone through once before.

"Y'know... I miss your handsome face." Silvia suddenly said, smiling softly at him as she ran her fingers across his cheek.

"I do too, honestly... but I think I've grown used to the plainness of my new body."

"You had such nice hair though, it's such a shame." She responded playfully, trying to tease him a bit as she tapped the brim of his hat.

Ephram chuckled at her, thankful that she had started to liven up a bit. It was refreshing to him, knowing her sense of humor hadn't been broken after all.

"I could always wear a wig, right? You wouldn't ever be able to tell the difference." He joked back at her, happy to be bantering back and forth with his wife. It had been far too long since he'd felt this joy inhabit his body.

"I so would! You better not!" She exclaimed loudly, laughter filling her voice.

As soon as she had finished speaking, Silvia stood back up from the table. Grabbing Ephram's hand quickly, she led him out of his chair and to the side of the table. As they both stood silently in the dining hall, Ephram noticed Silvia's eyes begin to sparkle. Something inside of her had been brought back to life, as if the Abyss no longer claimed even a fraction of her soul. Compared to the love they felt for one another, an eternity of darkness was no match.

"If it's alright with you... I'd like to see our home again, if it's possible?" She asked happily, but quickly noticed a change in her husband's attitude.

"About that... I'm not sure if we should go back there just yet. It isn't what it used to be." He said with both frustration and anguish, hurting from the current state their home was in.

"I see... well... what if we were to fix it up together? Just like when we moved in, yeah? Think of it as a fresh start for us, okay?" Silvia exclaimed, excited to see her home once again no matter the state it had been in.

To her, it didn't matter what the house looked like anymore. The memories she and her husband had shared within their home were far more precious than anything else. The only regret Silvia carried in her heart was leaving Victor behind to deal with her death, forcing him to undertake massive amounts of stress that no one should ever have to carry. She knew his shoulders could buckle under the weight of the world at any moment and wanted to show him that there was still love in this world. Their home was the only place she could think of to rekindle the flame of love in his heart. She wanted to prove to him that with a little effort and patience, even something forgotten and alone could shine brighter than any star. Their home was a testament to that notion, that with patience and a guiding hand the future could grow the fruit of progress.