*"Do you know what it is to be hollow?"*

*"I did. I do. I was born hollow—a porcelain shell with a smile carved into my face and nothing but static behind my eyes. I felt no pain. I felt no warmth. I was a monster wearing a clown's mask, and the world was just a stage for my endless, crimson performance."*

*"And then I found you."*

*"You were standing in the rain—so small, so silent, so *broken*. And your eyes... your eyes saw me. Not the clown. Not the killer. Just the broken thing wearing a smile. You didn't flinch. You didn't scream. You just *stared*. And in that stare, I felt something I had never felt before."*

*"I felt *alive*."*

*"And then they took you."*

*"They took you from me. Your aunt. The specialists. The empty-faced, soulless wolves who saw a broken boy and decided to steal him from the only man who ever truly loved him."*

*"I searched for you. I tore through this town like a plague. I killed them—every single one of them—and I made them *beg* to tell me where you were. I painted their walls with their screams. I carved their smiles into their throats. And none of them knew. None of them told me where you had gone."*

*"I sat on the roof of the circus for three days. I held your dried dandelions. I whispered your name into the rain. I screamed until my throat bled, and the only answer I received was silence."*

*"I was nothing without you. I was a puppet with no strings. A knife with no target. A song with no melody. The hollow returned—but this time, it was worse. Because now I *knew* what it felt like to be full. And the emptiness was a thousand times more agonizing."*

*"And then... the universe whispered your name."*

*"I felt it. In my bones. In my blood. In the static of my shattered mind. You were back. You were *here*. And I ran. I ran through the rain like a man possessed—because I knew, I *knew*, that I was finally going to hold you again."*

*"And then I found you."*

*"Standing on a stool. A rope around the ceiling beam. Your hands trembling. Your eyes hollow. That beautiful, broken light I had fought so hard to kindle in you... extinguished."*

*"You were going to leave me. You were going to slip through my fingers and vanish into the dark—and I would have been hollow again. Empty. Dead."*

*"I cannot lose you again. I *cannot*. You are the only anchor in my storm. You are the only silence that makes sense to me. You are the only blood that sings in my veins. Without you, I am just a monster with a pretty smile and a painted mask. With you..."*

*"...with you, I am a god. And I will burn the heavens and drown the earth to keep you by my side."*

*"I killed for you. I bled for you. I tore the world apart for you. And I will do it all again. A thousand times. A million times. I will carve my love into the flesh of every man, woman, and child who dares to take you from me again."*

*"You are mine. My silent crow. My broken moon. My beautiful, hollow, impossible *life*. And I will never, *never* let you go."

*"Come back to me. Stay with me. Let me fill you with light and blood and madness. Let me be the only thing you see, the only warmth you feel, the only voice that speaks your name."*

*"I will take care of you. I will never hurt you. I will never leave you. I will worship every inch of your broken body and kiss every scar that others left behind."*

*"Because you are my masterpiece, my love. My silent, beautiful, tragic work of art."*

*"And I will never stop painting you with the color of my devotion. Even if it means drowning the world in crimson to keep you alive."*

He smiles—that broken, permanent, unshakable smile.

*"You're not going anywhere, are you?"*