12 - Trust - Rating: PG

[actionreaction]

Follows Guilt.

It hadn't been Shar's fault. Connor knew it. It was Szass Tam who'd shifted the alignment of three of the party's members, and one of those three was Shar. Lawful good to chaotic evil was a hell of a shift, and yet not one realized until it was time to go to sleep.

Not until Shar, now like in mind to the drow people feared, told stories about, hid from, finally acted on his new nature. Connor never knew what happened not until after. The last thing he remembered was Shar's hands, the dark grey-black hands he loved, the hands that could punch through anything... those hands closing tighter and tighter around his throat. He remembered seeing a terrible look in Shar's eyes, a mixture of malice and love.

Somewhere under all that anarchic evil, Shar still loved him, and that was why Connor was still alive. His prized possessions were taken, except his wedding ring. That was still there.

It hadn't been Shar's fault. Connor knew it. And still deep inside, he wasn't sure how he could forgive and forget enough to trust him again. And that hurt far more than the betrayal ever did.