" The way you look at the fawn. The grey one knows nothing. If that isn't love then what is it?"
unprompted in response to this | accepting.
"That's..." That's different, she was about to say, but her voice faltered. It wasn't that she didn't believe him, or even herself for that matter, but the kind of 'love' that they spoke of was another entity. One that was commonplace and often used for subjugation, one that was designed to take away her autonomy.
And who was she, if she was not free to be herself? She was not a thing to be owned.
"My love for my daughter is not an obligation. And it never will be." She stamped her rifle on the ground, using it as a crutch to hoist herself up onto her feet. The love she held for her daughter burned brighter than she could have ever imagined... just as strong and fierce as the love she held for her husband.
Alucard.
He was a monster, a troublemaker, a routine cause for the occasional headache, but he had helped her redefine everything she thought she knew about love. Well, maybe not where the rest of the world was concerned, but between the two of them, they understood each other. More than words could say. As strange as it was, in some roundabout way she knew that his intentions were pure. That he wouldn't lead her astray, or force her to be something she wasn't.
That he would let her be the purest form of herself, however tender, however cruel she was meant to be. To keep her and their daughter safe from harm.
"... My love for them was not brought upon by anyone else. It wasn't something I did to please. It's not a chore... it's a comfort for me.
My love for them doesn't give me any reason to feel afraid."
@xaallo, @alucrd
