"Why do आप hide behind those glasses, Shane, when your eyes are so beautiful?" she
whispered in his ear, her light, uplifting voice reverbarating through his mind, so much
like the one he had lost...
"When I wear my glasses, I am The Scarecrow. I am unbeatable, untouchable... Unstoppable.
People admire me for my courage, my daring nature, my stepping into hostile places and
doing what any others would fear to do. They don't know that when I wear those glasses, I
become a different person, someone who I'm not. It's a disguise, my way of hiding my fears,
doubt, and uncertainty... When I wear them, I am not Shane. I am The Scarecrow." Shane
whispered back, stroking her hair, "When I लॉस्ट Gena... I didn't know what I would-could
do. It hit me hard... It was as if when her दिल stopped beating, mine did too."
"Do आप still feel that?" Karya asked as she took a slow sip from the cup between them.
Shane paused, "Yes..."
"Has it gotten at all better?"
Again, the green-on-black hybrid paused before speaking, "A bit... When she died, I did
too... या at least, I tried." he chuckled slightly as he thought about it, how he had been
driven to the point of suicide, when Grant "Mother" the Hedgehog had wrestled him, spoke to
him, made him confident again.
She had दिया him back his glasses...
He continued, "It has gotten better. I still feel so empty, like a part of me is missing..."
"Shane?"
"Yes?"
"How do आप feel to me?"
Shane sighed, "Karya... I know that would want us to be together, a pair... But Gena was
everything to me. You're one of my closest, most trusted friends... Something rare for me
to have. Nothing... Nothing can replace my Gena. I know it hurts you, but I just
don't want to go there with you. Not only can आप never heal my pain of loosing her... But
I can't भालू the meer though of loosing आप too. I will not allow anything to harm
you- ever. You're a wonderful girl... Strong, smart, compassionate, beautiful, loveable...
And, one day, आप will find someone who can appreciate that और than I, and आप will
forget whatever feelings आप ever had for me..."
Karya nodded sadly, not allowing her tears to show. She knew he would say something like
that... She just loved him और than he ever could her.
After burying her head in his chest, and internally mourning that her yearning for this
strange, strange man would ever be her other, she pushed away from his warm embrace, and
pulled a pair of silver, ant-flash wraparound glasses from nearby.
She pushed them onto his face, resting upon his nose and hiding his forest green eyes from
anyone's sight.
"You're not Shane to me..." She whispered, a tear now rolling down her cheek. "You're The
Scarecrow... People need their hero, and that hero is The Scarecrow, not Shane..."
Shane turned his face away, walking away from her. He paused द्वारा the door, hesitating only
long enough to say, "I'm so sorry..." before taking leave.
Karya sat down upon the couch, "To everyone, The Scarecrow is the hero..." she whispered,
"But not to me... I prefer the man without the glasses..." द्वारा now, she was crying her heart
out.
"Shane... आप don't know how much आप mean to me... Without hiding your eyes..."