The kiss ended too soon, but then Cole was holding him close and there was something else to focus on. This was good, too, the attention and the loving words. He needed this just like he needed Cole here with him and he was tiring quickly. This fight wasn't one he was going to win, didn't want to win, and even his subconscious could do nothing against the magically-fueled barrage working to bury him underneath the power of Belthazor's commands.

At such a tender motion, Chris let his eyes close and the tears fall. It was frustration, it was lament, it was everything shedding away as Cole ruthlessly pulled at the fraying strings of his mind to weave into a tapestry of his own making. There was nothing he could do in the end and soon he couldn't even comprehend why he wanted to change it. He was confused, embarrassed, rather unsure of why this had come to happen, and yet he knew Cole was right about it all. "I don't deserve you," he whispered. Someone so dedicated to making sure he was all right, after he had run away and tried to replace him? "I'm so sorry."