The pain faded slowly.
Dante came back to himself in stages: first awareness, then sensation, then the gradual return of thought. He was lying on the floor of Eclipse's chamber, his body trembling with aftershocks of whatever had just happened to him.
But something was different.
He could feel the blade. Not just physically, not just the weight of it against his hip where it now rested, but inside him. Eclipse's consciousness had woven itself into his own, creating connections that went deeper than muscle or bone.
They were partners now.
Truly and irrevocably bonded.
"THE PROCESS IS COMPLETE," Eclipse said, and now its voice was intimate, speaking directly into his thoughts rather than echoing through the chamber. "WE ARE JOINED. UNTIL YOUR DEATH OR MINE, WE WILL BE ONE."
He pushed himself to his feet, swaying slightly. "That was... intense."
"THE BONDING ALWAYS IS. YOU SURVIVED IT BETTER THAN MOST."
"Most?"
