caramatre:
❝ and what sacrifice is it for me to believe in the innate good of humanity? i never believed all were innocent; merely that all have within them the ability to do better, to be more than they are — even the thieves and the killers. not all take advantage of it, but that does not constitute the damning of the whole. ❞
it would be ill-conceived indeed to believe humanity perfect, but lisa never has. she has to hope that some of vlad’s feelings come from a place of concern as opposed to pure and singular anger, lest a weary sadness overwhelm her. her eyebrows knit together, hands clasping white-knuckled as she tries to dispel her frustration.
❝ it’s true that i’ve not traveled far, but for you to stand here and tell me that you never saw the compassion or kindness that i know — perhaps you looked but did not see. my hope was not stolen, and to place it in humanity was not the wrong decision. ❞
❝ i died, but after years fighting for the betterment of my people. i do not regret it. if even a fraction of your revenge effort were directed toward the education of the masses as you educated me, imagine the difference that could have been made. wondrous potential, wasted alongside so many lives. ❞
It was not that they were not perfect. It was that they were all flawed, beyond what he could tolerate. “Your answer has always been education. Even the first time we met, you said that.“ The moment never lost vibrancy; how they walked across the red carpet, the lights of candles falling on her features while she tried to move a monster she just met to become what he hated.
“Education is also only a tool. The reality of your wondrous potential is not one in which humans would dedicate most of it to mend or improve. They would create weapons and find means to achieve mass destruction until the earth was seared and nothing but their works and pockets of survivors remained.“ Hollow as his voice was, his words were filled with ugly truths. The dear, desperate hands he wished to hold- he removed their grasp from his, pulling his own back.
There was a distance between them now. “So many times, all over the world, my dear. Why do you think I could show you this knowledge in the first place? What do you think it is? All of it is from ancient civilizations that drove themselves to extinction. It’s not knowledge that humans lack. These people have no souls. Compared to a soul, knowledge is nothing.” He described solemnly, a cycle that painted the betterment of humanity as illusion. That all he taught her was the very proof of their unchanging nature and inclination towards self-destruction.
“Yes, you died. You died, without regrets. I hope you rest easy where I cannot follow Lisa. But was your hope not to prove humanity to me, that I live as man?“ At the end of his wrath were regrets to last eons. For a moment, the front of hatred fell back to reveal again the fatigue this cruel fate left him with. “That I could find solace in it and remember it, for the eternity that would follow your death? You were mortal. Our love, your death. It was always inevitable. How can I say our hopes were not betrayed, when it was for me to find no more reason to hate their lot? Now I am to live and return forever to a blasted world like this, with nothing but regrets.”











