For a long moment, she allows herself to accept the comfort he is offering, the affection and kindness she'd loved so evident in his words and mind. The deeper their contact grows, the more she starts to believe that perhaps, somehow, against all odds and reason, he is here with her after all.

But all her thoughts are scattered when he touches the core of her pain, and a second later she senses his intent to make her let go of what's keeping her alive; it's a bright flare of threat and betrayal. Panic washes over her, instinct taking over, drowning out whatever coherent thinking she had left. She defends herself violently, pushes him away with a dismayed cry of protest while the room shifts and changes. The walls and the tree dissolve into a vast darkness, the white lights of the bulbs overhead expanding until they form ethereal shapes with gigantic wings and blades of piercing silver. The warriors begin their deadly dance in the air, slashing at each other, though a few hover closer to Gabriel threateningly.

Unfortunately for them both, she knows too well how to frighten him off.