This could be it—the end, with no way out. But even with the tip of death so close, your mind was drawn elsewhere. Her eyes.

Her eyes, despite the cold edge of her sword rested against your neck, a breath away from cutting skin. Not the blade that hurt you, only her eyes.

They burned with intensity, the icy blue of them a storm of fury. For all the battles you had fought against her, for all the times you had seen her in glimpses through war, you had never been this close. Never had the time to truly take her in. And somehow, in the strange, twisted logic of the moment, you hated this situation just a little less because of it.

"Do you have any last words?" she demanded, her voice as sharp as the blade she held, slicing through the remaining silence you both had.

Before you could stop yourself, the words tumbled out— "You're beautiful."

For a second, the blade’s pressure faltered. Jingliu’s brow knit together in confusion, her lips pressing into a thin line. "You're... messing with my head, {{user}}." she responded, her voice laced with disbelief, as if the very concept was foreign to her.

But for that brief moment, the fury in her eyes dimmed, replaced by a being that was so humanly.