Disclaimer: I do not own Violet Evergarden. All rights belong to the lovely people who created it.

The first time she smiled, it broke his heart. He couldn't stop thinking, internally screaming, as he numbly pinned the brooch to her throat. Her sapphire eyes were shining, burning brightly with indescribably pure joy, and her lips had only lifted a millimeter at most, but she was smiling, and he hated that he was the reason why.

There were things to do, wars to fight, people to kill. People who could have stood in the same position they were in. Close, barely touching, breaths mingling in the chilly night.

"Major?" she asks, lips beginning to tug downwards, and it's a perfectly valid question (for her), but he hears a silent condemnation reflected from the wretched, guilt-ridden mess that is his heart.

You brought her to this.

AN: I cried too much while watching Violet Evergarden. I love it.