What's this?

"You know they say 'curiosity killed the cat,' don't you?" Jazariel smirked, leaning against the upper rail that lead to the stairs. Like always his eyes found Doll and fixed on her, though they were warm and his expression was nothing but soft. He snickered to show he was only teasing and descended the stairs, hands in his pockets as he did so. For once his long, white hair was hanging freely and it shifted from side to side with each movement until he reached her, standing a few yards away from her so he wasn't smothering her or being overbearing.

"Enjoying it?" he asked innocently.

Although at first her innocence had annoyed him beyond reason, Jazariel was finding it more and more endearing. "I know you're not," he said. "It's just a saying, it really has no merit." He shrugged, hoping she would find that an acceptable enough answer.

A wide-spanning grin spread across his face though when she asked what it was for and he stepped closer to her, holding out his hand. "Want me to show you?" he asked, his grin decreasing to something a bit more coy. "Take my hand, I think you'll enjoy it."

A soft, single laugh passed through his nostrils and caused him to shake his head affectionately. Dangerous... did she really need to ask him that? He wouldn't put her in any danger. "You should know the answer to that," he said.

He gently squeezed her hand and gently pulled her to him, careful not to tug or yank so that she wouldn't lose a limb again. Once she was close enough, the hand that held hers lifted up and he spun her by her fingers, hoping the resulting reaction would be to make her twirl.

"Do you know how to dance?" he asked.

Jazariel shrugged; if she wanted to hear it then he supposed he would say it. "It's not dangerous," he said, leaning down to whisper it in her ear.

He grinned in pure joy when she spun, pleased that she seemed to enjoy it. He laughed at her question, wondering how exactly to capture the meaning of that word. "Well, simply put," he began, "it's just moving in rhythm. But for a lot of people it can be a way of expression." Again he shrugged before spinning her again, noticing that she enjoyed it, before pulling her close to him again.

Sliding his other arm around her so that it came to rest at the small of her back, Jazariel brought her closer still until he began to sway back and forth with her. He hummed softly, hoping to soothe her and give her something to apply his definition to. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, keeping that position for as long as she would allow him to.

Why did his heart always pound like that when she rested her head against his chest like that? She always did it just so, and even if she wasn't alive, even if she wasn't really real, it was moments when they were this close when he truly thought she was. She could feel, she could comprehend, she could think; and even if she wasn't human... well, neither was he.

Her question, however, surprised him, and Jazariel's movements stopped. His head lifted and he looked down at her, eyes locking on hers. "Love... isn't easy to define," he said quietly. "It's something you learn how to feel and once you feel it you understand it. There are too many different types of love to define what it really is." He paused. "But... I think I may be beginning to feel it for you..."

And at that moment, everything stopped. Pain shot through him, tendrils made out of needles expanding out from his core and leaving not one part of his body unaffected by its agonizing wrath. Jazariel pushed away from her, only to be crippled moments after. He fell to his knees, grasping the floor and gasping for air.

He cursed, looking down at her. He felt like he was suffocating and his heart was racing, his mind spinning because it didn't know what to do. Jazariel knew, though; he knew what he'd done.

He'd just condemned himself.