[Hm. Well. His reaction surprises her out of her anger. What they did to him? It couldn't be - the memory of another person, who had a "Goddess" planted inside her as an infant. Could it be so similar?]
What did they - ?
[But before she can answer that, the barrier again brings them someplace else. The room you’re in is windowless and pitch black, though by this point your eyes have adjusted enough to the dark. This room is unmistakably a dungeon - a dungeon beneath the palace in Enbarr, a place that is supposed to be your home. The air is stale in here, and though you think you’ve forgotten what fresh air on your skin feels like, you haven’t gotten used to the smell of mildew and blood that permeates these rooms, or the cold, or the sounds of rats crawling nearby, or the clink of chains whenever you try to move.
Nor have you gotten used to the silence from the cells nearby. When you were first brought here, you weren't alone. There were ten others - eight of your elder siblings, and two younger than you. Now, most of them are dead. You lay here, quiet, your hand wrapped around your dagger, as each of their corpses were carried out. You can still hear the ragged breathing, not far away, of one of your brothers. He doesn't sound as though he has much time left, judging from the others. You would hear the occasional senseless babbling from your younger sister in her own cell, but it's been days since she last spoke your name. You aren't sure if she's been killed, or simply succumbed to madness.
There are people around you, but you've learned not to think about them, because your hatred for your kidnappers is too white hot and distracts you from your focus, which is - surviving this. There are instruments, and surgical tools, and vials of foul smelling liquids, and strange religious objects. Something between a medical procedure and a ritual is occuring, but all you can feel is the pain, as you're cut open and your veins, your blood are on fire.
It's hard to tell the passage of time, and you've been through this many, many times before, but this time something is different. This time, you don't feel ill and frail and sore, your hair isn't falling out or turning white from the strain. The fire in your blood remains, and you feel something you've never felt before, in your entire life as a helpless political pawn. You feel strong.
You can hear it in their voices, as well, their excitement, as they draw your blood and reveal the new crest they have successfully infused into your blood. In your previous life, before all of this, you like any good princess had studied the minor and major crests, and you recognize this one, though it has not been seen for centuries. The Crest of Flames, last belonging to an ancient king who, depending on the tale, was a monstrous tyrant or a mighty hero. A far more powerful and portentous crest than the minor Crest of Seiros you were born with, to the disappointment of your father and his court. The bearer of such a crest has the power to shape the future of the continent. And in that moment you know that you will shape that future, a future the monsters who abducted you will rue, a future where your siblings would never have been killed, a future where children will not be sacrificed merely to fulfill the whims of fanatics who believe the empire's heir must be endowed with a powerful crest.
For the first time in the months of your imprisonment, you see the way ahead, and aren't merely clinging to scraps of hope in the dark.]
Edelgard von Hresvelg. [The voice speaking to you is pleased, but it sounds like buzzing in your ears.] You are our greatest achievement. You will shape the future of Fódlan.
[Smile. Don't let them feel your hate, because it is not the time yet.]
I will.
[But it will be a future you will regret. For all of her siblings, and all of the other innocents sacrificed before them, she swears it.
And with that, the barrier and the dagger both fade away.]
[...that's a lot. But he gets the feeling, has felt that desire to make people regret-- for a moment, he's somewhat grateful he doesn't remember anything they must have done to him to integrate him with his ability, because he has no doubt that it wasn't kind.
It's a little hard to watch, but then he's used to hard things and to the fact that the world is just like this; he doesn't flinch from it, just exhales a slow and heavy breath once the memory and the barrier have both broken, and all he has to say at first is:]
[It still isn't time yet. And they are loathsome, but they have enemies in common.]
It would have been pointless. Those people are not the cause of what happened. Strike them down and others will take their place. I mean to destroy all of it. The nobility that sought to seize power this way, the crests that are the source of their fanaticism, the church that teaches them to believe these things. When I have conquered all of Fodlan, these things will be confined to history, and a thousand innocents just like my siblings will be spared suffering. And then, once that is accomplished, I can pursue my petty vengeance against these monsters.
And that is why I must not remain here, Chuuya. I must return home. The path I set out on that day is still waiting for me.
[-he can't help but crack a faint grin at that, actually, giving his head a slight shake.]
You know-- that all sounds sort of like someone I know, back home. I think the Boss would've approved of your methods.
[It sounds similar to his methodology. Prolonging things like revenge for the sake of what needs to happen, conquering for the sake of fixing a bad situation... those are things Chuuya understands, even if he's often more driven by the urge to take revenge himself. But that's why he's not the one at the top.]
...we'll do what we can to get people out of here. Promise you that. I've got work to get back to myself-- not as big as yours, sure, but I don't really intend to let myself get stuck here forever either.
[She sighs. He's seen this very personal part of her now - a part she's only ever shared with those closest to her - but that doesn't mean she can trust him any more than she did before. And yet, she sort of wants to. It's lonely, to carry all of this alone.]
I told you before. I'm not accustomed to relying on others to do my work for me. And what Polly has asked me to do is unacceptable if I don't know whether I'm misusing it in a way that will help the demons evade destruction.
If Polly doesn't know, then I definitely don't-- I know what she's running with you guys, but I can answer less than she can about it.
[he pauses there, though, considering a moment.]
...but it might be good that you're not used to that. I have a feeling that we need someone like you around here to help figure out what's going on-- someone we can count on to do what they have to, when it comes to it.
Ominous. [It doesn't sound like Chuuya is suggesting an ending here where everyone holds hands and wishes away the demon. There are things that some of the others might not have the nerve to do. She nods, however.]
I can. I will.
[After a moment.] You never told me, you know, what they did to you. You've seen my secrets now. Tell me yours.
I'm not the kind of optimist Carly apparently is, all right.
[They've already lost people-- he's not sure what that means for them, in the end.
... and he's quiet, for a few moments, when she prompts him-- but she's not wrong. He's seen hers, and it feels a little like she has a better chance of getting it than most here.]
My ability's not mine. I'm an experiment in creating artificial gifted-- I just didn't have the full picture, in what you saw. The first time it was fully unleashed, the rumor was that some kind of god's wrath did it; I knew it was my doing, but not anything about myself.
[It was all he had to go on, and what kind of kid destroys part of a city and assumes they're still human with those kinds of whispers going around?]
So in other worlds, the same type of schemes to occur. That is good to know. If I am to create a world free of such cruel experiments, I must anticipate that.
[She does get it, and her attitude towards him softens a little. You do learn to create hard barriers around yourself, when that is your only means of survival.]
I knew a woman, when I was a student. As an infant, some magic was done to her, and a being -- a being some view as a goddess -- was put inside her. I don't know whether that being was good or evil, but I do know the infant was intended to become nothing more than a vessel for her. A tool of the church. A weapon to be used against heretics like myself.
Nonetheless, she made her own choices, and was the bravest person I've ever known.
So I find it easy to believe you have made your own choices as well. Easier now, perhaps. I had thought all four of you might have become the tools of something else. [But it sounds like she no longer thinks so?
Hope this change of heart doesn't bite me, Siz, in the ass.]
[Because he has little doubt about what they intended him to be. You don't create someone with his kind of power unless you want a weapon to unleash, and he knows well enough how hard it is to move past that.]
Then she must have been someone strong, if she could go against it. I never had to deal with the people who ran those experiments myself.
[Technically. He did probably kill them without actively intending on it.
He sets that thought aside, managing a faint grin at her words.]
But I got there eventually, yeah-- I think I've done pretty well for myself. The boss is the only one I'll let myself be a tool for, and I gave myself out of my own volition that time.
[After a moment where it seems like he might have finished, he adds:]
If we were from the same place, though... I think you might be the kind of person I could have followed, too.
[She smiles at that comment, a little wry, since here she isn't exactly a leader.]
If it is so, then let follow me here, to the best you are able within the confines of your role. I ask no one for unearned fealty; only that you lend me your strength when the time comes.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
doublesmall) wrote2019-10-20 07:23 pm
no subject
[He snaps that out almost reflexively, though he still doesn't quite look at her; his hands clench at his sides.]
I just- didn't know everything at the time. I'm human. What they did to me wasn't.
no subject
What did they - ?
[But before she can answer that, the barrier again brings them someplace else. The room you’re in is windowless and pitch black, though by this point your eyes have adjusted enough to the dark. This room is unmistakably a dungeon - a dungeon beneath the palace in Enbarr, a place that is supposed to be your home. The air is stale in here, and though you think you’ve forgotten what fresh air on your skin feels like, you haven’t gotten used to the smell of mildew and blood that permeates these rooms, or the cold, or the sounds of rats crawling nearby, or the clink of chains whenever you try to move.
Nor have you gotten used to the silence from the cells nearby. When you were first brought here, you weren't alone. There were ten others - eight of your elder siblings, and two younger than you. Now, most of them are dead. You lay here, quiet, your hand wrapped around your dagger, as each of their corpses were carried out. You can still hear the ragged breathing, not far away, of one of your brothers. He doesn't sound as though he has much time left, judging from the others. You would hear the occasional senseless babbling from your younger sister in her own cell, but it's been days since she last spoke your name. You aren't sure if she's been killed, or simply succumbed to madness.
There are people around you, but you've learned not to think about them, because your hatred for your kidnappers is too white hot and distracts you from your focus, which is - surviving this. There are instruments, and surgical tools, and vials of foul smelling liquids, and strange religious objects. Something between a medical procedure and a ritual is occuring, but all you can feel is the pain, as you're cut open and your veins, your blood are on fire.
It's hard to tell the passage of time, and you've been through this many, many times before, but this time something is different. This time, you don't feel ill and frail and sore, your hair isn't falling out or turning white from the strain. The fire in your blood remains, and you feel something you've never felt before, in your entire life as a helpless political pawn. You feel strong.
You can hear it in their voices, as well, their excitement, as they draw your blood and reveal the new crest they have successfully infused into your blood. In your previous life, before all of this, you like any good princess had studied the minor and major crests, and you recognize this one, though it has not been seen for centuries. The Crest of Flames, last belonging to an ancient king who, depending on the tale, was a monstrous tyrant or a mighty hero. A far more powerful and portentous crest than the minor Crest of Seiros you were born with, to the disappointment of your father and his court. The bearer of such a crest has the power to shape the future of the continent. And in that moment you know that you will shape that future, a future the monsters who abducted you will rue, a future where your siblings would never have been killed, a future where children will not be sacrificed merely to fulfill the whims of fanatics who believe the empire's heir must be endowed with a powerful crest.
For the first time in the months of your imprisonment, you see the way ahead, and aren't merely clinging to scraps of hope in the dark.]
Edelgard von Hresvelg. [The voice speaking to you is pleased, but it sounds like buzzing in your ears.] You are our greatest achievement. You will shape the future of Fódlan.
[Smile. Don't let them feel your hate, because it is not the time yet.]
I will.
[But it will be a future you will regret. For all of her siblings, and all of the other innocents sacrificed before them, she swears it.
And with that, the barrier and the dagger both fade away.]
no subject
It's a little hard to watch, but then he's used to hard things and to the fact that the world is just like this; he doesn't flinch from it, just exhales a slow and heavy breath once the memory and the barrier have both broken, and all he has to say at first is:]
Did you kill them?
[Sounds a lot like he sure hopes she did.]
no subject
[It still isn't time yet. And they are loathsome, but they have enemies in common.]
It would have been pointless. Those people are not the cause of what happened. Strike them down and others will take their place. I mean to destroy all of it. The nobility that sought to seize power this way, the crests that are the source of their fanaticism, the church that teaches them to believe these things. When I have conquered all of Fodlan, these things will be confined to history, and a thousand innocents just like my siblings will be spared suffering. And then, once that is accomplished, I can pursue my petty vengeance against these monsters.
And that is why I must not remain here, Chuuya. I must return home. The path I set out on that day is still waiting for me.
no subject
You know-- that all sounds sort of like someone I know, back home. I think the Boss would've approved of your methods.
[It sounds similar to his methodology. Prolonging things like revenge for the sake of what needs to happen, conquering for the sake of fixing a bad situation... those are things Chuuya understands, even if he's often more driven by the urge to take revenge himself. But that's why he's not the one at the top.]
...we'll do what we can to get people out of here. Promise you that. I've got work to get back to myself-- not as big as yours, sure, but I don't really intend to let myself get stuck here forever either.
no subject
I told you before. I'm not accustomed to relying on others to do my work for me. And what Polly has asked me to do is unacceptable if I don't know whether I'm misusing it in a way that will help the demons evade destruction.
no subject
[he pauses there, though, considering a moment.]
...but it might be good that you're not used to that. I have a feeling that we need someone like you around here to help figure out what's going on-- someone we can count on to do what they have to, when it comes to it.
no subject
I can. I will.
[After a moment.] You never told me, you know, what they did to you. You've seen my secrets now. Tell me yours.
no subject
[They've already lost people-- he's not sure what that means for them, in the end.
... and he's quiet, for a few moments, when she prompts him-- but she's not wrong. He's seen hers, and it feels a little like she has a better chance of getting it than most here.]
My ability's not mine. I'm an experiment in creating artificial gifted-- I just didn't have the full picture, in what you saw. The first time it was fully unleashed, the rumor was that some kind of god's wrath did it; I knew it was my doing, but not anything about myself.
[It was all he had to go on, and what kind of kid destroys part of a city and assumes they're still human with those kinds of whispers going around?]
no subject
[She does get it, and her attitude towards him softens a little. You do learn to create hard barriers around yourself, when that is your only means of survival.]
I knew a woman, when I was a student. As an infant, some magic was done to her, and a being -- a being some view as a goddess -- was put inside her. I don't know whether that being was good or evil, but I do know the infant was intended to become nothing more than a vessel for her. A tool of the church. A weapon to be used against heretics like myself.
Nonetheless, she made her own choices, and was the bravest person I've ever known.
So I find it easy to believe you have made your own choices as well. Easier now, perhaps. I had thought all four of you might have become the tools of something else. [But it sounds like she no longer thinks so?
Hope this change of heart doesn't bite me, Siz, in the ass.]
no subject
[Because he has little doubt about what they intended him to be. You don't create someone with his kind of power unless you want a weapon to unleash, and he knows well enough how hard it is to move past that.]
Then she must have been someone strong, if she could go against it. I never had to deal with the people who ran those experiments myself.
[Technically. He did probably kill them without actively intending on it.
He sets that thought aside, managing a faint grin at her words.]
But I got there eventually, yeah-- I think I've done pretty well for myself. The boss is the only one I'll let myself be a tool for, and I gave myself out of my own volition that time.
[After a moment where it seems like he might have finished, he adds:]
If we were from the same place, though... I think you might be the kind of person I could have followed, too.
no subject
If it is so, then let follow me here, to the best you are able within the confines of your role. I ask no one for unearned fealty; only that you lend me your strength when the time comes.