"Where's my husband Tyler?"

I was surprised by the question, but then fear rose in my Emilia's face. I looked to my hands, which had returned to the ichorous green that my body normally showed. "Wh-who-who are you?" Emilia screeched at me, her anxiety kicking in to overdrive. I gently placed my hands on hers, as my disguise fell further.

This was going to be a long conversation, as I flashed back to a different time a decade ago.

/. /. /. /. /. /.

The blood-stained head of my best friend, Tyler, was serene compared to the rest of his scattered body. He's just taken a Holy Hand Grenade for me - and whilst the holy water contained within didn't harm him, the explosive and nails most certainly did. His grip tightened on my taloned hand, before slackening.

"Hey, Lexa, take care of my family for me." The cold clarity within his very mortal voice made me certain that he wasn't coming back this time. His summer blue eyes glazed over as his body finally gave up, blood leaking from all of his body parts across the room.

Being a literal Hell's Angel is hard - luckily, I gathered some skin and clippings.

/. /. /. /. /. /

My face streamed tears, as I realised what this meant. It was finally over. "I can't.....I can't....I won't..." I hesitated, and that was enough. Her face crumbled, and she, oddly, sought comfort in the nearest warm, adult body. Mine.

Touch is the most powerful sense for the humanoid, and to seek comfort is one of the most potent things a person like that can offer. I took it, and we shared our pain.

I don't know how long it lasted, but then it was gone. Her tear-ruined makeup, what little of it there was, showed me her pain writ forever upon my own mind. I couldn't speak, just sobbing salt how I'd torn this family apart with a secret.

"Do you want me to tell you how he....?" I trailed off, looking outside at the day that had moved to a dusky twilight. She nodded, tears threatening again, and not trusting herself to speak.

"He died saving me. We worked together on more...esoteric electrical engineering projects, as well as artefact recovery from dangerous places.

"We were working on a job, and there was some wiring that had gone wrong, and we were testing the electrical circuitry. But something had been connected to an explosive by mistake. He took the explosion so that I didn't."

Not the whole truth, for that would be too much; but enough of it that it would make sense. I continued.

"His last words were to ask me to take care of his family. So I did, the best way I could - but it wasn't forever, as you can see." I gestured to myself, in my natural Mimic body, complete with a mouth and teeth in my abdomen.

Emilia wailed then, just.....gone, sunk completely into her grief. "How long ago was this?" She spoke, completely tonelessly.

"11 years in September." I breathed, tears rising again. "He died a hero, to me. And this, was the least I could do to honour him - to provide for his loved ones."

She asked me to leave.

I wasn't surprised, but it hurt anyway.