"How was that? Is it good enough to feed your endless yearning for affection?"

Oberon's voice is as hazy as a dream; the kind of tone that makes the younger dazed.

"It's fine to crave it, Ritsuka. We all need love in our lives," - he says - "I just hope you won't forget something..."

"...No, I'm not."

The Master feels his guts cramped answering those words. He doesn't forget. The fact that Oberon's affection is just some kind of pity lying between lies and toying will forever be printed on his brain as if it were pressed on by a heated branding iron. He doesn't forget. It's just sometimes the solution is to drown in delusions.

"Good child."

He shakes Ritsuka's arms away with the sweetest smile ever.

"You know, I'll never take your dreams away from you."