EXECUTION IV

[faentasy]

Execution IV

Today is another day, today is Sunday, and therefore brings execution tidings. After last week no one would blame you if you decide to skip out on these ghastly proceedings, but perhaps the sentenced are worth this much.

The first magical barrier holds two women: one of course being Rika, and the other Edelgard, despite (or perhaps in spite of) the words exchanged between the two at trial on Friday. The second magical barrier holds Moriarty with Koto opposite him, the difference in stature large enough to be some kind of cruel joke which is just Hamelin's style.

And Hamelin for his part is there of course, seemingly in good spirits even with an extra sharpness in his eyes. No one has forgotten what happened here last weekend, but the story must go on.

Comments

[eternaljune]

[Rika kneels down and uncorks the bottle, taking a swig of wine from it before nodding.]

You mentioned you'd lost them to that man...am I similar to one of them?

[crimson_flamel]

Well, I thought you were, at the start at least. Princess Adeleigh von Hresvelg. She was two years younger than me, she'd be sixteen now.

[Edelgard takes the wine and takes a swig herself, grimacing and passing it back to Adeleigh before continuing.]

...most of my family were in different cells during the experiments. I was with Adeleigh, and my older brother, the only other person with a crest among the rest of my siblings. We were the ones with a high chance of survival. The only ones, really.

[Her expression is sad, and bitter. This entire situation... hits too close to home.]

I guess I like to present myself as less sentimental than I actually am. She never went through the full extent of what you went through, despite the odds she didn't make it too far but she's the one I remember best. In terms of general personality, she was a lot like what you presented as. I guess it ties back to what you said before, are we defined by what happens to us, or is there a core to our identity untouched by circumstance? I don't know if it even matters in the end.

[eternaljune]

I see...

[There's a sense of pain, knowing what Edelgard's been through, and the doom her siblings suffered. It's enough to drive Rika to drink once again.]

There was time where the Rika Furude I acted as existed without the burden of her fate--that was the girl I hoped I could continue my life as, rather than the one who watched Rika Furude die over and over.

So who's to say? I suppose circumstance drives our actions and how we choose to cope with that, but...I think there are parts of a human being that are unchanged.

My friends killed each other in timelines past, and yet--when they saw fragments of them, they resolved for better. Keiichi resolved never to doubt his friends again after remembering what his paranoia did to them...and he managed to break through the tragedy I thought was inevitable. So which one of those is the real version of him?

I've considered those questions for years and didn't have an answer. Perhaps...they both are. And perhaps we'd both be similar people regardless of if tragedy decided to color our lives or not.

[crimson_flamel]

[Friends killing each-other in timelines past. She wonders if such a thing could be tracked in her world. How many times did her classmates turn on her? How many times did she order their deaths? How many times has she cornered Claude and Dimitri in those woods...

But it doesn't matter for her, not in the same way that it matters for Rika. The past is meaningless, the present is inconsequential, only the future remains.]

I think you're right, really. I don't believe there's a version of me who would have been satisfied by this world, and I don't believe there's a version of you who wouldn't grow to be too clever for her own good.

But the things we went through never should have happened. They were not necessary, they didn't serve a greater purpose, and they weren't fair. What could have been doesn't matter, only that they never happen again.

And that goes for this accursed game as well.

[eternaljune]

...that much is true. We both faced a senseless amount of suffering that no young girl deserves.

The only way we can destroy those cycles of pain is by refusing to accept them as impossible to break, right? That's what I admire about you, Edelgard. To be able to fight against fate with no guarantee that you'll get to try again...that kind of resolve is incredible.

That's why I know if anyone can beat this game, it's you. ...I'm alright with dying if it means you can make it through this. Don't submit to it like I did.

[The wine is almost gone.]

[crimson_flamel]

...Your faith means a lot to me, Rika.

And... to the best of my ability, I promise, I will destroy this game, and I will destroy it's masters. It's all we can do. I don't believe in revenge as a motivation, but I will break the wheel of suffering. That's the promise I made to myself all those years ago, and once again I will make it to you.

[She stands up, wiping tears from her eyes.]

Well. In that sense, there's no point delaying the inevitable, is there? I'll let you have the last sip, as a parting gift. Shall we?

[She offers a hand up.]

[eternaljune]

[Rika feels herself starting to cry, but she doesn't let herself despair--not when there's someone that has her utmost faith in front of her. With that, Rika finishes off the wine, and takes Edelgard's hand with a smile.]

Mmhmm...

[Rika's voice shifts once again, sounding much closer to the soft-spoken kind girl she first presented herself as.]

Mii! You and everyone else fight with everything you've got, alright? I'll be cheering you on from wherever the others are.

[crimson_flamel]

[Edelgard almost chuckles at the shifting of her voice. She was rather naive, in retrospect, even if it's more complicated than a simple deception. She pulls Rika into an embrace, and anyone watching can visibly see the dagger pointed right where her heart would be on her back.]

I will. Give our regards to the other side. And despite everything, remember that you are our dear friend.

[She gives the girl a moment to respond, before she plunges the knife deep into her heart.]

[eternaljune]

...yes, I will. Thank you.

[In all the one hundred years Rika has spent dying, she can't remember anyone ever doing it mercifully. So to be held close and with comfort as the end comes is a welcome change.

Her body seizes up when the knife pierces her heart, her hand clutching Edelgard's back as she convulses, but there's little strength to it given how efficient the death blow is.

It's also a welcome change to not to feel overwhelmed with despair at dying once again. As the strength leaves her body and her hand falls limp, Rika can't help but smile as if drifting off into a peaceful sleep. Edelgard is so warm...maybe it'd have been nice, to be born in a world where they met as far more adjusted people?

...well, not that she'll ever know if that's possible.

Rika Furude is dead.

[crimson_flamel]

[Her grip on Rika's body is tight as she convulses. She doesn't let go until she's entirely still, and she pulls her dagger out of the girl's body.

She lowers Rika gently onto the floor and brushes her fingers over Rika's eyelids to close them.]

Farewell.

[She stands up and points a violent glare at Hamelin before turning away, dagger in hand, to leave this awful scene.]