Alas. I am not an option.

And there's no better way to thaw a face, as it turns out, than with another face.

These soldiers had done what they had done, and been done unto in return. This was how it went. In the cycle of slaughter, reprisal begat reprisal, forever.

She had fallen in love with him twice. She loved him now with both loves, so overpowering it was almost unbearable.

The worst moment of one's life could be seared into the memory, brighter than any joy.

Peace is more than the absence of war. Peace is accord. Harmony.

Soon, everything else would come rushing at him. Like the ground to a falling man, it would come rushing up and hit him all at once - the place, the company, her words; one implication would lead to another and shatter him - but around that intake of breath the world hung silent and bright, so bright, and Akiva only knew this one thing, and held on to it and wanted to live inside of it and stay there forever. Karou was alive.