You think I'd get better at this eventually

Any thought or misconception of this being his moment his soul was taken into the forever beyond were instantly shattered when his seraphim's angelic expression of worry and love shifted into a righteous fury, and then... Smack! A dull thud landed on his chest, not enough to hurt, but enough to earn a throaty oof! from the male as he was forcefully snapped out of his delirium. Kitsune's sweet voice was chastising him, punishing him verbally for being so reckless and refusing to let the gods claim his soul so long as she had a say over it. Then came the question of if he could walk or not. Kumiho groaned again as his muscles protested the experimental movements he tried to do, but overall he was still able to move without any pain. Just a lot of soreness and aching throughout his body. "No, leave me to die. I deserve it," he groaned dramatically, flopping out across his back and staring up at the bright blue sky overhead. Anything so he wouldn’t have to see those tears on her face and feel his heart break knowing he had been the cause of it. "I'm sorry, Kit. I meant to be back so much sooner, but I did it! I-"

A moment of cold panic washed over Iho from his brain down through his body as a paw lifted to his neck, feeling about for the pouch he had tied around his neck during the storm. When he felt nothing there, his heart missed a beat. Icy blue eyes shot open wide and he scrambled to right himself, gasping in horror as he realized there was nothing hanging from his neck. "Oh shit! Oh no no no! Where'd it go?!" The arctic brute scurried about in the sand, looking around nearby in vain for the pouch that had disappeared from his possession. It was only once his gaze lifted out to the sea, its waves lapping calmly at the sand like some kind of cruel joke did he realize the truth of what had happened. "No..." The cure he'd found for Venom, the fix for Kit's mother's blindness... It was somewhere out there, likely sunk to the bottom of the ocean and completely ruined with saltwater. His mouth hung slack, staring blankly at those glistening waves. All that time… All that effort and struggle to try and be a hero for her… just gone.

Iho’s body slumped back onto the warm sands, his shoulders falling along with his collapsing emotions. His heart sank into his stomach as the cold realization that Venom’s one shot at regaining her sight back had been stolen away by a vicious twist of fate. He had been spared a watery grave only to lose the sole reason he had ever left Ashen—and by extension Kitsune—behind. That time he’d never be able to regain, all gone to waste with one wave. It was almost too cruel to imagine, and incredulous tears started to appear at the edges of his eyes. "It’s gone… It’s totally gone… I- Kit, I-" Iho stammered, not sure what to even say in this moment. How did you go about apologizing to someone who you’d promised a miracle, especially when that miracle had been found. He’d fucked up badly. Now Venom would likely remain blind for all her days, Kitsune would hate him for being gone so long and failing so epically. And who would blame her?

"Speech"