Hotaru
i'm still here but all is lost
It does help, somehow the need to be strong for him intertwining with the starving creature inside that has needed physical affection since the fire. "You made it here, did you not?" she points out in a murmur against the crown of his head, gentle fingers untangling an errant curl. "Our Gods may have died, and yet we're still here somehow." In some ways she still wishes she wasn't, but it's a dark thought that Ru knows she'll never be free of. That what if. As he straightens and his hand finds hers, she finally blinks and tears her gaze away from the sky, the wetness of her cheeks and the thick film in her mismatched eyes the only sign of her grief. Still holding tight to her control. It's for naught when he asks - when his warm hand squeezes her own, and his question pierces through to the heart of the matter. Fire burns up her throat, clicking as she swallows spasmodically, fingers twitching beneath Sah's.
"He...The Voice's creations, the failed ones, they became the monsters of LongNight. He was caught outside, and -" shoulders shake, and the hand at his head tears away to clasp over her mouth, fingertips splaying to dig into the soft flesh of her eyes as a gurgle of noise too hurt to be human escapes. When Kiada had told her she'd somehow held it together, her niece already so distraught with her own guilt and the belief Hotaru would hate her. She can't, now. It flows between her fingers in a torrent of choked sobs, teeth gritted against the overflow.
