“I meant you.”
At first, elation erupted in his barrel as her words washed over him. His thick neck relaxed slightly, head turning somewhat towards her. But then doubt, dark and overwhelming, drowns any relief he might have felt. She might think her words to be true— but did she really love him? He searched for her cerulean eyes that were hidden beneath her thick, full lashes.
“How can that be true, when I became Cal? That your mind made the monster of your past. After all that he has done to you…” his low voice trailed off into weighted silence. He turned his head fully towards her, hesitantly reaching his muzzle towards her neck. She had cringed from his touch before, so his movements were slow and halting. He didn’t want to have her shrink away from him again… He couldn't take her looking at him like that again. Her look, that feeling, would haunt him for months (years) to come.
So, as slowly as he had reached his muzzle towards her, he took it away. Perhaps in fear of her rejected his touch again, perhaps in defeat of what she had made him while in the clutches of her hallucination. Regardless, he took his large muzzle away from her and once again face the endless horizon, neck low as his mind silently trapped itself in misery.
@Rexanna