[Blade doesn't say anything for little while, but eventually, he sits down on the floor next to Venti. Not close enough to be alarming, but... a tentative sign of trust.]

It's... difficult to explain, [he says finally.] I am not sure I understand the entirety of it myself.

[He runs his other hand over the bracer. He can't detect anything from the other one, which means it probably doesn't exist. Maybe it's better that way. But part of him is... almost hopeful, every time he does. He never even met the owner of the other bracer until a few days ago. It isn't like he wants to live in a past he doesn't recall either.

... It's all a big soupy mess in there and he's aware of it. And underneath it all, the demon waits. Give in, it says with more feeling than words—it rarely ever uses words. Give in to the violence.

He ignores it.]

In my past life, there was someone I... [No, he won't sugarcoat it.] We were engaged. We knew it would not end well. He was immortal, and I was not, but that didn't stop us.

[...]

I died protecting him. After that... there was no saving either of us from whatever atrocity we committed. What we became.

I died and came back a thousand times, unable to rest. As for him... we met again with new names. New faces. I pursued him endlessly, and he killed me over and over to defend himself.

[He recounts all of this with such resignation, as if he's narrating someone else's life. And in a way, he is.]

I did not break the cycle in this life. I nearly continued it. How much of it was the beast, and how much of it was me? I do not know.