Asch snorts lightly. "If you came from a world with blades, you wouldn't even have to ask that question," he says. "Blades get stupid about their siblings. Irrational love kinds of stupid." The idea of not wanting a relationship with Luke, even a weird alternate human Luke, is completely foreign to the blade mindset.

Trying to explain that, though... "Blades live virtually forever, but we also don't. We can still die, even if that's only a return to our cores until the next time someone picks us up. Most blade lives are shorter than those of humans, and for most blades dying is starting over. No memories except your name and the most basic foundation of who you are."

Asch takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "To not take the opportunity to love someone because it might last only a short time? That's a risk in any relationship a blade might have. We can't afford to be daunted by it." If they were, they'd have nothing at all.