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Despite the cloudless, starry sky, the sound of thunder rumbled through the crisp, cool air, a bolt of blue-white lightning striking the sand near the lake. Riding this energy were two figures. Athos had taken Nolah to the area he'd taken to residing in his hunt for Theonidas.

The moment they landed, it was interesting to discover that their clothes and hair were completely dry and warm, and the very air seemed to hold an unnatural warmth for so late at night in the desert. Athos slowly released his steel-like hold on Nolah and stepped into the glass hut, removing his suit jacket, neatly folding it and placing it on the small, though pristine bed. That done, he rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and stepped over to one of the larger trunks, blue gaze trained on the cat woman he'd taken here.

"Welcome to my temporary home." He said lightly, though his stern glare spoke of how he was truely feeling. "You're welcome to anything here, as long as everything is replaced exactly how it was." Strange he should offer her anything there, but he knew it wouldn't matter for long. "I can't yet kill you, because Theonidas might not take it so well, so your life is still currently safe." He then opened the trunk's lid and removed a shirt and some slacks, followed by a pair of shoes. "You're welcome to these; they still won't fit, but they will be far more comfortable than what you've got now."

Athos carried the clothing outside to Nolah, placing them into her arms. "Know now that you are my prisoner, and you will answer my questions, or you WILL wish that I'd simply killed you. And I'm a man of my word, m'dear. Remember that." He then waved a hand at the clothes she was holding, indicating she should change. He made no movement that suggested he was going to take his eyes off her for a moment.

Athos calmly watched Nolah as she changed, knowing good and well she could feel his gaze boring into her back. And indeed she was right in that he had no desire to watch her change. It was simply a matter of making sure she didn't try to run off. Though, it would be difficult for her to escape in the first place. They were surrounded by open desert, and Athos had made sure she had no idea where they'd gone.

"It's a pity you've had a bad day." He said, with no feeling at all. Athos pushed his dark hair out of his eyes, watching Nolah take down her hair with simple curiosity. In fact, this was the first time he'd actually looked at her to simply notice her features. Despite all that she'd gone through that day, she was indeed a lovely woman. It didn't surprise him that she had been kidnapped before.

"The second tmie, hm?" He remembered how beat up she'd been and gave a slight chuckle, shaking his head. "Well, I won't hurt you unless I have to. And whatever I do, I can always reverse." The way it was said didn't imply that he'd heal her after what he did. No, it said that he could put her through more pain than was physically possible, simply because he could fix it and do it again and again and again...

"I suppose I should start at the begining. Tell me how you met this Tank you keep trying to find in Theonidas, and why it's so important to you that he comes back."

Athos listened intently to what Nolah had to say, he himself sitting on the edge of his bed. As she talked, he pointed to a lone chair in the room, silently giving her permission to sit in it, should she choose to. "Indeed it seems people there are different." Half of them were from the Swords. And if you were from there, then different was an understatement. They were all literally one of a kind.

The first time she paused, he simply stared at her, waiting for her to go on. It seemed that Amadeus' little trick had completely wiped Theonidas' mind... But this new being that came out of it was disconcerting. Why? Because this mind had been in Theonidas the entire time, beneath his cold and heartless nature. Was the Reaper himself flawed? Was ATHOS flawed?

He shook these thoughts off, though no evidence of such had been apparent on his face. "In other words, this Tank seems to take on the facade of the angel he supposedly was before being fallen?" He raised a thin eyebrow at the cat-woman, the other joining it in a slight surprise at the fact Theonidas had saved her from her first kidnapper. "After he was awakened..." This was mostly to himself.

At Nolah's last statement, he shook his head in an almost apologetic way and got to his feet. "Because it would compromise our cause. He wouldn't be able to do what he was created for. The guilt would overwhelm him, and it'd be the end of it." It was then that Athos was struck with a shaking thought. Was there a kind, loving person within himself as well? And if so, what was to stop this personality from rising...? It would destroy everything...

He shook his head hard, giving a bit of a growl. Then, as if that hadn't just happened, he produced a number of edible things from one of the trunks in the room, all of which cooked right before Nolah's eyes. "You look tired and hungry. Eat, then you're free to rest in my bed if you'd like. But don't worry. I'll be just outside. Don't do anything stupid, cat-girl." He had yet to use her name. Names created attachments, and that wasn't something he needed right now.

"Very little of what you say matters to me." Though that was partially a lie. It seemed that a lot of what she was saying was getting to him, and it was disturbing. This woman seemed to have a knack for bringing out the best in people... Even people who'd lost their humanity far too many years back to count.

But soon, Nolah was asleep, and Athos took it upon himself to walk thoughtfully outside, hands once more in his pockets. He'd set his sword against the wall inside the hut (his gun was still in his suit jacket, that too folded nicely and sitting on the foot of the bed), and was not in the least worried that Nolah might try and use it against him. In all probability, she'd not even be able to weild it. It was far heavier than it looked. The man's cold gaze found the equally cold light of the stars, the entire area illuminated by a crescent moon's pale glow.

For over an hour he stood like this, letting the events of the day replay in his mind: his arrival and finding Amadeus, Theonidas greeting him, then spilling his twin's lifeblood. Then Theonidas' odd actions afterwards... Christophe showing up, and the strange effect Nolah's words seemed to have on himself; moreso on Theonidas. Things had gotten far more complicated than he'd expected.

On that note, he turned on a heel and sauntered back into the glass hut and sat on the edge of the bed, staring flatly through the wall. "Cat-girl..." He whispered, a hand gently shaking her shoulder to wake her. "Wake up. I have another question." He didn't dare look at her. "What is it about you that makes Theonidas want to spare life?" Boy, was that a question that could have countless, and at the same time, not one answer.

The strangest thing about it? Athos almost sounded awkward asking it.

"You can't expect me to believe that you don't know what you're doing to him." Was Athos' first cool sentence, his eyes drifting over to look at the sleepy woman. Her words were both comforting and frightening. It could have been simply that Theonidas had yet to take complete control over himself, and that was why he hadn't killed the rapist man.

But then again, if he was completely aware of himself... "Losing his humanity? My dear girl, Theonidas would never be able to perform his duties if he was humane. You can't lose something you've never had." So she either wasn't telling him something she knew (or perhaps didn't know she knew) or she truely didn't know what she'd been doing to the two members of the Sabers.

And this McKrea fellow... He assumed he was one of those lowlife men who liked to take advantage of women (a dispicable trait, even by Athos' self-proclaimed standards) it wouldn't have been humane to actually let him live, would it?

"You've had enough rest, and the food should have given you plenty of energy." This time he actually looked in her eyes as he got to his feet, tugging the blankets off her as he did so. "Remake the bed; I'll be waiting by the lake's shore for you. And you'd best come to me with something of importance to tell me. Theonidas still isn't the same. He's hesitating, and I wholly blame you. You get to give me reason to keep you alive. Because if your presence will hinder both his and my work, it WILL be eliminated, no matter what the Reaper says." And just because he wasn't sure exactly how to pass the time with this woman didn't mean he wouldn't hold to his word. To Athos, his word was law, and was to remain unbroken; And first and foremost, he'd given his word that the Sabres would do what they started out doing, and if that meant killing the one stopping Theonidas from being completely there, it superceded his promise to keep the young woman alive.

That said, he raised his eyebrows and walked along the sandy beach, taking to staring at the sky once more, his feet just on the edge of the slowly lapping water of the lake's shore.

It was an awkward moment when Nolah simply stood next to him, staring at the water. He half expected her to try and attack him, or perhaps beg for her life... But instead, she coolly did her best to answer his questions. If nothing else, the woman had guts. He listened silently to her explination, deciding it would be easier to address her when she'd finished.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Tank WAS his own embodiment of humanity. I was never quite clear on how they ridded us of our consciences, and perhaps all Amadeus did was simply reawaken it, and it came on with such force that it completely took him over." Was the Reaper really so weak to fall prey to his own mind? "And indeed such things are dangerous," here he narrowed his eyes, though still didn't look at her. "We'd not be able to do what we have to."

At her mentioning his hatred toward her power to bring out the good, he did look at her, his usual smirk vanishing. "I don't think you know what power you hold with him. You'd best learn it fast, Nolah." In her silence, he was indeed tempted to kill her... But something stayed his hand. What it was, he wasn't sure, but something about her seemed important... Even with what she was doing to himself and Tank... It was important she remain alive, at least for a while longer.

So, Athos simply cleared his throat and watched her walk into the water, completely soaking his clothes, which caused a slight twitch at the corner of his eye. Gods, what was he going to do with her now? She really DIDN'T know anything... And he was afraid that if he brought her to Theonidas now, things might go awry. It seemed he was stuck with her for a while. "Gods..." He murmured, absently watching the feline woman swim about the crisp, clean water. Athos ran a hand through his hair and gave a sigh; things were REALLY starting to get interesting. And not in the way he liked it.

The moment that Nolah disappeared from sight underwater, Athos had dove in himself, having reacted more than anything. When he realized what he did, he quickly surfaced, running a hand through his hair, slicking it back and out of his face. It was a short time later that Nolah surfaced as well, and called out her question.

And the answer Athos gave was exactly what she'd expected. "No, I don't." The problem with said statement, however, was the fact that he was in the water, and quite a way's out too. The man was a FAST swimmer, especially when driven by the fact he was trying to catch someone. He gave another sigh; now two sets of his clothes were covered in lakewater.

So, with far more dignity than one might think a man in his postion would have, he simply climbed OUT of the water and stood deftly just above the surface, small ripples issuing out from beneath his feet. "Do you ever take into consideration that you're a hostage and have only so much freedom right now?" He asked coolly, arms crossed in front of his chest. "It'd behoove you to ask permission to do much of anything while you're here."