⚔️ // he rounded upon her , raising hellfire as his voice roared. though the hairs at the back of her neck stood tall , and goosebumps shivered down her skin , she didn’t flinch. she stared down the maw of the beast once more , and could only comprehend his sorrow. rodrigue… did dimitri remember something she didn’t? the way he spoke … it was as if even his name was one of the ghosts of the dead. but—…
( moonlight cascaded through the gaping hole in the cathedral. he’d joined her that night , and she had found rodrigue too KEEN to allow her to slip through the cracks when he asked why she remained awake there , praying to the skies. )
if he was gone … if even he was gone , and byleth couldn’t remember —…
i fear i am not a strong enough man to scold His Highness for his foolishness.
i entrust the young prince, and the future of faerghus, to you.
byleth shook her head , and her whole torso along with it. “no.” she halted. shook again. “you’re wrong.”
the cold and the rain as the wind picked up. fading star. falling star. in the throes of this tempest , would her pale light be enough?
she didn’t know. still , she ached with care for him anyways ; wanted to go to him anyways , and dared to draw closer. she didn’t need rodrigue’s urging to close that distance , even if it was only a few steps. “you’ve suffered enough.”
PERHAPS HE HAD BEEN A FOOL TO ASSUME HIMSELF ALREADY BROKEN, for pieces of him fall away still, scattering at his feet like shards of a mirror. they stare back at him, each reflecting a life he... thought he knew; the flames that burned that day, the academy, the blue lions, edelgard’s betrayal... shattered memories he dares not put back together, for they would only cut him open again. he has come undone, and nothing remains---
only the eternal flames await him now.
dimitri knits his brow; is he? is he wrong? does she truly believe in such a folly as atonement? that another purpose awaits him beyond the revenge he yearned for since that day? he is beyond repair, and yet, she holds on to her fruitless hope.
❝ i failed you, did i not...? ❞ the words are leaden to his tongue--- and to his heart.
she approaches him nonetheless. he wants to spurn her, walk away, leave her standing alone in the rain and return to the dark from whence he came... but he stays, stilled by the ache which assails him. he is tired of it all, of running, hiding from her light... perhaps it will burn him away instead.
lifting his head, the tempest king peers at her, briefly taken aback by her assertion... before it fades.
❝ ... hmph. ❞ his tone is hollow, disbelieving, but he resigns to it all the same.
turning away, he raises a hand, appearing to examine it, as though he might find the answers there. his voice drifts into the dead air parting them, unsurely, searching for its footing in the silence.
❝ but... what else is there...? ❞ it was all he had; the only thing keeping him alive all this time, ❝ i have no-one--- and nothing--- to live for. ❞