You make sure I always see the daylight

A frown pulled at Manea's lips as she listened to Alastor speak, biting back her own interjections and denials she wanted to make in favor of letting him share what was heavy on his mind. Every example he gave felt twisted by his own self loathing and guilt, but she didn't stop him and instead listened quietly and intently as he spoke about the possibility that Relm might have still killed herself regardless of what he gave her, how all of these examples from the span of his life was proof of how dangerous he was. His father's murder of his siblings, his mother's suicide, all of the wolves that had left him for one reason or another... all twisted in his mind to be his fault. Still, despite all of that, what hurt her the most was the certainty that he would eventually cause something to happen to her or one of their children. It wasn't said as an if or a possibility, but as if it was only a matter of time.

"Your father was a sick brute and the fact that you couldn't defend your siblings when you were no more than a child yourself is not your fault. You did not drive anyone to anything–not your mother, not Relm, not Lurid, and certainly not Seraphina. Your father abused you and Lurid abandoned you. Not the other way around," she insisted as she caught his cheek in her paw, pulling his gaze back to hers regardless of how much he tried to look away. She knew how hard it was going to be to get him to accept the truth so all she could hope was that the sincerity and the love in her gaze could sway him, even if it was just enough to get him to listen and consider. "You care so deeply about every wolf that enters your life and that is one of the things about you that I love and admire the most. For someone so ruthless you are also one of the most caring wolves I've ever met. You gave me the life I had always dreamed of. You have been a better father to our children than I have ever seen from any other brute. That is who you truly are. Anything else happened around you, not because of you."

She paused, stroking over his cheek for a moment to let her words sink in. She wasn't expecting him to change over night. This was something she had to remind him of and work with him on each time something pulled him back down toward the darkness she had been trying so hard to combat over the years that they had been together. She had grown to accept that there was no real fix or cure, there was only taking their lives together one day at a time and being his rock whenever he needed her to be. She was more than happy to do that for him again and again for the rest of their lives if it meant she got to keep the brute she loved at her side. He was worth anything and everything to her. She leaned down to press her lips gently to his, giving him a tender kiss before she added quietly, "Don't let the things that have happened to you pull you away from me. From your children. I need you. They need you. All of you."

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"