You make sure I always see the daylight

The touch of his wife's paw upon his foreleg pulled Alastor back into reality from the dark void that his mind had become. She kept him grounded, anchored in reality as his mind tumbled over itself like turbulent waves in a roiling stormy sea. He could feel the seams of his sanity straining, fraying, like a pillow overstuffed to bursting. A dull thud beating inside his skull with his heartbeat trying to break its way out. Thu-thump. Thu-thump. Together they sat in morose silence while the inferno incinerated all that remained of Relm Abraxas before his very eyes, the glow of the flames flickering in his blank ebony stare. And still, the beating carried on. Thu-thump. Thu-thump. The animal inside his head was silent. The demon was catatonic. Lying in wait, ready to burst, or finally giving in and letting himself perish? That would be fine. It was what he deserved. He had failed her. He was a failure. Always a failure. Unable to protect. Cannot protect. Failure. Miserable fucking excuse of a wolf. Not worth the life I gave you. Do the world a favor and just crawl off somewhere to die like your sisters did. Alastor's jaw clenched. Those words that had been dead for half a decade haunting him, plaguing him, whittling him away and eroding his sanity.

Manea squeezed his foreleg and the voices vanished. Now there was nothing but silence and the crackle of the burning pyre. Alastor blinked, some awareness and life returning to his glassy gaze then as he looked over at his mate. She asked him if there was anything else he wanted to say or do before they left. Left? Alastor couldn't comprehend leaving. Leaving felt wrong. Like he was supposed to stay here and pay his penance for failing Relm. For failing everyone. The dire brute's obsidian eyes lifted to look back at the burning pyre. Committing the sight to memory. This was his sin to carry; his fault, his punishment. "No," he responded, words terse and tone curt. Without another word, Alastor rose to his paws and waited for Manea to lead him away. He didn't care where they went. He just wanted to fade away into nothingness like the ashes falling off the smoldering wood. It was what he deserved.

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"