//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: All That Lingers 
// by Ice Star 
//------------------------------//

She returned on the second night, her crystal coat glittering like tears, and stood like it was she who was the ghost and he who was the god.

"Why?"

It was all she had asked him.

He finally looked away from the clouds covering the moon — the simple movement of the sky seemed to make him vanish — and calmly rested his red eyes on her, and they looked at her simply as though she was a passing friend, or at the very least, somepony that he knew well enough, and there was no sign of corruption in them.

"I don't think there was anywhere else for me to go. Why do you think I'm here?"

She looked at the ghost with nothing but distrust. "To haunt me."

He didn't smile, but there was life in his eyes that the rest of him didn't have, and mystery as well. In the darkness, Cadance could see that he did not have a crystal coat or eyes... nothing marked him as having anything to do with the ponies he once enslaved. Only a fuzzy winter coat, visible no matter how pale his form was, suggested anything to do with the north.

"That's a shame. I don't plan on doing any haunting."

"Why not?"

Sombra's gaze changed, and she saw mischief in his eyes. "How on earth does haunting sound worthwhile? Aren't there better things to do than wallow in grief over something lost?"

Was that a knowing look in his eye or had he always had that? Cadance watched him somberly, quietly. She wanted to shiver at something cold that wasn't there.

"Then if you aren't here to stalk me and try to proclaim yourself victorious when you lost the empire already, then what do you want to do?" She did not manage looks of suspicion well.

Sombra, the ghost of the castle, managed a small shrug under his crimson cape, trimmed with warm fur. It was probably only as real as he was. "Are you going to try and ignore me, She Who Visits Twice?" He kept a neutral expression, but his tone had some warmth.

"I might," Cadance said levelly, standing straighter and taking one small step away from him. Her gold shoes felt heavier than usual. She still thought of the Ball. Of everything else. Everything but kingdoms and goddesses and her subjects.

"You couldn't ignore me if you tried," Sombra said, stoic expression fading once to allow a momentary wry look. "But I have to say, you're dreadfully boring, and standing here is certainly worthwhile, isn't it? If I were still alive, I'd be shivering."

A sarcastic ghost. Cadance shrank into the hall shadows. Would it always be the same hall with him? 

"You're not going to be taking the Heart." It was a simple and distant response, and while odd coming from her, she wanted to be distant with him, and regal. She wanted to be a princess with him when all his gaze said was that she wasn't.

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Death does that," he said dryly.

"Alright," she breathed, relaxing slightly. "Then what is it that the newest resident of the Crystal Empire wants to do?" Her smile was small and forced.

"I miss dancing."

Those three words shattered the night, and Cadance did a double-take instead of looking at King Sombra, her familiar, instinctive wariness broken as she stood by him, and replaced with foggy trails of confusion. 

"Dancing," she repeated numbly, not wanting to question why. The word felt like a question to her.

He just nodded, eyes never leaving her.

"Would you care to?"

He nonchalantly held out a hoof.

Reluctantly, with feelings of her own disgust still felt, Cadance took his cold hoof in her own with the mechanical attempt at natural grace she would often show a particularly forgettable guest. Only her expression, which she knew still bore those hints of contempt broke this illusion, adding an odd imperfection. She, too, felt stiff with his hoof holding hers and simply being out of practice.

As if there were anything simple about it.