The Fallen Vampire

Chapitre 249: Devotion to A Cause

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aveena was beginning to lose track of just how long she had been drinking.

in fact, she was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain an awareness of anything other than the sakazuki cup in her hand and the bottle of sake resting just in front of her.

she realized it'd been too long since she felt the burn of alcohol in her throat, and reached for the bottle once again.

once she rattled it around and realized that it was empty, her face soured.

she hurled the bottle across the room and watched it shatter against the wall through her curtain of unkempt hair.

she let her head strike the wood of the table and savored the feeling of her brain rattling around in her skull.

too much silence was bad for her... with no noise to drown out her thoughts, she was forced to think about the monuments to her failures.

she wanted to hear loud, unfiltered and happy laughter.

but all of the people who were capable of giving her that were...

"fuck.."

aveena stood up on wobbly legs.

she made two steps towards the kitchen before her body inevitably took a tumble. but the fall she was expecting never came.

"...thank you." she said quietly, desperately trying to avoid slurring her words.

it didn't work.

she was righted and helped to get to a seated position within the mess hall. her gaze was firmly affixed onto her lap as if she couldn't bear to lift her head higher.

the only way that we can do that, is if we do not fall apart at the seams every time that something goes wrong. the spirit of drifting snowfall will never go out if we don't let it, and the only limiter of whether or not we can grow is ourselves."

taira's face was so close to aveena's that he could have kissed her. his lips continually grazed her own and sent electrical shivers down aveena's spine.

"but no matter what- you cannot give up on me. you cannot give up on our members. you cannot give up on yourself.

if we want to inspire our members to be strong, then we must act as an example of strength.

not by putting on a facade, or acting as a character. but we have to truly be strong in every sense of the word.

we've barely even begun taking the cult to the heights that we promised to take them to. do not force me to do this on my own.."

aveena wiped her face. every word spoken by her husband had rattled her to her very core.

why had she lost her nerve so easily?

was it the guilt? the familiarity of helplessness?

or maybe it was just the anger that she had no idea what to do with. the culmination of her regrets both new and old.

but at the end of the day, it didn't matter. things had happened.

so what was she going to do to ensure that nothing like that ever happened again?

maybe instead of thinking about the fact that her members weren't unkillable, she should be doing her best to make them unstoppable.

"there's... something that i want to do when we get home. will you help me put it together..?" she asked softly.

taira felt his heart vibrate in his chest.

this was aveena at her most beautiful. he might've fallen in love with her all over again in that moment.

his kiss was the best answer he could've given her at the time. and it was a response that she never would have complained about.