Rainy Way Back Home

Silence.

The air was dominated by that emptiness as the conclusion to my first argument with the empress truly dawned on me. I didn't even understand what had suddenly caused me to become so serious. 

Cacophony sat across from me, absently flipping through the pages of the manga she had slammed down moments earlier. Her fingers brushed over the artwork, but I could tell she wasn't really looking at it. The usual playful arrogance in her expression had dimmed, replaced by something harder to read.

I swallowed. I thought I'd seen most of the expressions that Cacophony had to offer, but this was uncharted territory.

The rain had started at some point during our argument, tapping lightly against the window. It was the kind of quiet drizzle that blurred the world beyond the glass, turning the streets into a smear of dull gray. The storm in my head hadn't passed, and from the look on Cacophony's face, maybe it had reached her too.

An uncomfortable feeling dwelled inside my chest. While I said this was the first time that the Empress and I had an argument, that didn't quite express the full scope of the situation. 

In all honesty, this was one of the few true arguments I've ever had. 

For a loner such as myself, there aren't many times I'd get to argue with someone. That's without factoring in the Dark King stuff. 

People don't talk much about what happens after you argue. I mean, what should you do? 

Should I try to apologize? But, I definitely wasn't wrong. Sure, I might not know what caused me to unload all of that, but I definitely wasn't wrong. 

Then, do we just let this unease marinate in the air? That doesn't really sound right... 

I tapped my fingers against the table, the sound barely audible over the rain. "So… are you going to say something, or did I actually manage to make the great Vampire Empress speechless?"

Cacophony didn't look up at me. She froze for a moment in thought before flipping the page she'd been staring at. By chance I happened to notice that she flipped it the wrong way and went to a previous page that she'd already looked at.

"…Hmph." Her voice lacked its usual lilt, but the smirk she forced onto her lips was still there. "I was simply allowing you to believe you'd won something. I do so enjoy your little moments of self-importance."

"I see..."

Normally, I'd be relieved to get off her radar after pushing a sensitive topic, but this time, I wasn't so sure.

The rain outside picked up, shifting from a drizzle to a steady rhythm against the glass. It felt like the world itself was pushing us into silence, urging us not to continue down this road.

Still, I've never been one to fall in line with the rest of the world just because the world wanted me to. 

"Cacophony," I said, as a bead of sweat dripped down my cheek. "Are you upset?"

She didn't answer right away. Her fingers paused over a page, tracing the lines of a panel—a character frozen mid-motion, mouth open as if about to say something.

Finally, she scoffed. "Please. I have lived through ages of bloodshed and conquest. I'm the only person with the right to hold the entire world in the palm of my hand. As great as you may be, do you truly believe a few words from you would be enough to upset me?"

I shrugged, "Sounds to me like you underestimate the greatness of a Dark King. Words from one such as myself hold a lot more weight than even I can imagine." 

Her red eyes flicked up to meet mine, sharp and assessing. My finger curled and scraped against the dark wood of the table.

Cacophony hummed, a vague sound of amusement, before closing the manga and setting it aside. "Veri, I won't fault you for being born in his era. As such, I won't fault you for thinking like one who lived through this peace, but don't simply trample upon what I was born into." 

Her words were sharp and held an edge to them that was clearly meant to serve as an end point for our conversation. 

The rain outside grew heavier, the steady patter against the window stretching into an unbroken sound. My fingers curled into my palm, and I exhaled through my nose, forcing myself to ease the tension in my shoulders.

Both the ache in my chest and my resolve to push forward had been completely exhausted. With nothing left of what had pushed me forward, I had no reason to overexert myself. 

"…Fine," I said, pushing myself up from the chair. "I'll drop it."

Cacophony smirked, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Good. A servant should know when to hold his tongue."

Her words were primarily intended to tease, but they held quite the undertone.

Still, our little spat was over, even if there were a few bitter sentiments that remained. 

Content with my eventful day, I began to climb the stairs to head for my bed to take a well-earned rest. However, there was one thing that stopped my advance. It was something that I should've already figured out by this point. 

I have absolutely rotten luck.

Before I could even reach the third step on my way up the stairs, I felt a sense of light-headedness overcome my entire body. Deep in my gut, I could feel that something was shifting. 

It was as though all of the bottled up emotions that I'd been holding from the day I was born were all manifesting in reality. 

A sharp, sickening pull tore through my gut, sending my balance into freefall. The stairs, the walls, the dim glow of the rain-streaked window—everything tilted. The sensation wasn't just dizziness. It was as if something had grabbed hold of my very being and wrenched me out of sync with reality.

I blinked and I was lying sprawled on the stairs. I guess my legs had given out at some point, but I didn't even realize it. 

There was a loud ringing in my ears, a deafening sound that distorted my world even further. 

Before long I saw the sharp crimson eyes of the beautiful empress perched over me. Her cold, slender hand was covering my forehead and her lips as she said something that I couldn't make out. 

Despite all of her earlier words, I could make out a kind of panic in her eyes. Not wishing to leave her in distress, I opened my mouth to fix all of her worries.

'Ha! You thought a sudden bount of sickness could make me fall? Of course not! I am the strongest, most great, most—'

It didn't matter.

I tried to answer, but my tongue felt heavy, my throat constricting. Every breath felt like dragging air through broken glass.

Everything was slipping from me so quickly that I couldn't even register what was happening.

I let my eyelids droop, the exhaustion pulling me under. The last thing I felt was the distant sensation of fingers ghosting over my wrist—so light, so fleeting, I might've imagined it.

Then, the darkness took me.