Fiore suppressed a frown at Aria's sudden, impulsive words.
Human beings ... always saying things they didn't mean ... making promises they couldn't keep
....
Everyone said they would be there, and everyone left him alone at the end. His own parents, siblings, friends ... everyone faded away with time.
Fiore was not about to make the same mistake of believing in a hollow promise again.
Outside, though, he showed no signs of his inner storm, smiling at the girl and using his gentlest tone.
"Thank you."
How old was he...? The question was, again, too closely related to the life he had chosen to leave behind. He couldn't answer it. He wasn't fully ready to remember the heartache his past seemed to be made up of yet.
Not now, not ever.
"Wonderland does not really have the conventional sense of time as in your world." he replied, "We Chains don't age, and neither do we die of natural causes. The only reason a Chain ages is if there is some change of the flow of energy inside Wonderland that inspires, requires or otherwise forces them to change."
As the Duchess grabbed her hand and began running, Belca elicited a low growl in the back of her throat. She knew the other woman was doing it for their own good but really, being dragged around like this, like a rag doll was simply humiliating. However, she didn't try to protest. After all, the Duchess' house had just been razed to the ground, she felt like the other deserved a break.