Preparing herself for the worst in the world through Ahren's eyes, a sudden, strong and comforting embrace came as an shock to Poe. Her arms flexed and eyes rounded out when he took her, resisting in halfhearted instinctual confusion. But his strength and conviction outweighed her by far, and she quickly softened against his body, tilting her dark head up to stare through thick hair at him.
"I won't let anyone hurt you ever again," struck a chord deep in her gut, some piece of an inner child that wanted so completely to believe him. To close her eyes against the foam dripping down his chin, the manic eyes and the stench of disease that was braided into his scent she knew. She could curl up in with him, in the great arms of this brother or lover or friend (a distinction that didn't matter in her fairytale or her heart), and they could protect each other for the rest of their days from all of the bad things that had bit and barked and outright tortured.
It was a fairytale at best, that was very certain. A mysterious disease was gnawing away at Ahren's body and mind, and Poe did not doubt that there would be plenty of pain in her own life, that Ahren would be unable to shield her from. Perhaps she even knew, somewhere deep down, that it would even take her away. But Poe was still a child at heart, and her love of this man was too wide to allow a distance from those crazed words and firm grasp. So she smiled at played the fool, believing if only briefly that he spoke the truth and that she could reciprocate them just the same. They would carry each other through this storm on a feather and a thread, fending off personal monsters from both sides. A happy ending would be short-lived, but a flicker could go a long ways in pitch darkness.
