I Plead, Your Majesty, For Forgiveness

Chapter 14

The fault is ours.

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Emotional intelligence meant nothing if he couldn't fathom his own. Standing there, watching his past action and venom he spoke without a trace of memory tore him apart. The spill of first blood was from himself, watching the peaceful wind break skin and organs as the one he looked up to most lay below his judging eyes. He hated it, but he couldn't turn away. He could feel his own palms shake by his sides, feeling that pathetic lump of sorrow build at the back of his throat that he couldn't swallow. He wouldn't dare.

Alarms wrung inside his mind, striking too late as he witnesses the past unfold. How could he do something like that? Especially to them? And he couldn't have even been the only one: those wounds... Their eye? Their neck? The Ley Line closed up, but everything he felt just worsened as his attention shifted. Images of his past merged with the present, swapping the places of the two he held dear as he replays watching the life leave both. He didn't want to be left alone. He wouldn't be left alone. He can't be left alone. The lump grew as his eyes stung, escaping and leaking through the cracks of a wall of strength he thought he built so well. But it crumbled like nothing as his palms held his strands of hair, disturbing the tresses in braids as well as the accessory that sat so delicately on the crown of his head.

He didn't deserve forgiveness, he didn't deserve this affection. He murdered them in cold blood, but yet they cradle him like he's a Saint. He knew the Creator was all-loving, so sweet and gentle with their actions and words, but he didn't believe someone could be so dismissive in a context like this. He greedily accepted it though, needing the warmth of an embrace as he remembers what was taken from him decades ago. How could he be something he fought off? A tyrant of life. Is this what allowed Dvalin to be swept from under his care?

Is this what allowed him to revel in defeat?

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Venti soon pulled himself together, hesitantly letting the wind around replace the embrace of the deity he adored, and let out a shaky breath to rid the remaining balance of worth he held. He lifted his gaze to the Creator, but the smile he struggled to send laid strained. [Name] gave an anxious smile in response, observing as he slowly began to close himself off once more. He shouldn't do that, they softened their expression, this might've been what was taken advantage of: just like with Dvalin. ​​​​​They took a step closer, cupping the cheeks of the Archon silently.

"Huh?" He voiced his surprise and confusion, similar to a cat that was pet so suddenly, as the Creator stroked away the drying tear stains: breaking the stream as well as his insecurity. The flush of his cheeks remained disregarded as they wiped just under his eyes, following the structure of his socket, before they let go with a satisfied nod.