[Closed] When you can no longer run...

[unyieldingmarch]

Who: Edelgard von Hresvelg & Various
When: April 2020
Where: The Mirror House
What: Memory Share.
Warnings: Warnings for the following: Violence, language, blood, death, warfare, religious/anti-religious themes, human experimentation, mental health, insanity, and body horror.


Some OOC Notes:
This is going to be a closed catch-all for Edelgard's memory share threads. I will be posting individual starters in the comments, so please assume that all CWs that apply for this log apply to each thread.

I apologize for those that missed my initial plotting post at the beginning of the month, but I've got a lot of threads planned and won't be able to take on more memory shares at this time. Thank you for your understanding, I'll make sure to hit more people next month!


Edelgard's Mirror, The Beginning:

The mirror, Edelgard's Mirror, is an ornate affair. The kind of thing that one would expect to find associated with someone who's influence has shaped a continent's future, for better or for worse. It has an eagle motif worked around the edges, though with considerably more going on. Wings ringed with golden, thorny vines and topped with roses made seemingly out of ruby, the wood has a more bony appearance, as though it'd been carved out of the remains of some great beast. The mirror at the center calls, and pulls the viewer inside...

Comments

For Felix

[unyieldingmarch]

...When Felix's vision clears, the sight he'll bear witness to is a familiar one. One that he'll doubtless find discomforting, given who's mirror he's currently in. The gates of Fhirdiad stand open, held wide by the great chains that are used to secure them, and troops in Adrestian colors march inside...led by a group of officers. Edelgard, Hubert, Byleth Ferdinand, and all of the other Black Eagles...as well as Several other familiar faces. Barely visible through the fog of war, it seems as though their entire former class, save four, is gathering and preparing to head into the city.

A gasp from behind heralds the arrival of Edelgard, the Emperor moving quickly to stare up at the gates with a pensive, worried expression.

"...This is a thing I had wished to spare you the sight of," she hisses under her breath, clearly vexed.

[finesseblade]

Felix stands pale as ash, staring down the gates of Fhirdiad, a place he should know, a place that should be familiar, like the gaping jaws of some unknown beast. It's Fhirdiad, but not as he remembers it. Imperial colors pour through the gates, and there's a tension in the air he feels like he could reach out and touch.

He catches sight of himself through a break in the line of soldiers—haggard just as he'd expect, but with a look like the hard edge of steel on his face as he strides for the gates, as though this isn't the heart of the place he once called home.

The only thing that stops him from running after his own doppelganger is Edelgard's voice suddenly behind him, as though he didn't just watch her walk through the gates.

He grits his teeth, pivoting sharply back around.

"And what if I don't want to be spared?" he asks harshly. "I'm not so fragile that I can't stand to see this."

[unyieldingmarch]

"I didn't say you were fragile."

Edelgard's eyes flash as she meets his, her lips pressed into a firm, hard line.

"The sight of someone's home burning is not something anyone should see, no matter how strong. I can't stop you, but I still wish it were not so."

She brushes past him, marching towards the gates, towards the phantom forms of the Adrestian Imperial Army and it's battlefield commanders. The final class of Garreg Mach Monastery, standing quietly as the Emperor confers with Hubert and Byleth, watching at the ready, yet still murmuring with concern.

"Come then and see what that monster does."

[finesseblade]

The hairs beginning to grow on the back of his neck stand on end. So this is that moment in their diverging histories. Byleth told him how Fhirdiad burned—but it's one thing to hear of it, and another entirely to be here in the moment, waiting for the fires to start.

He stares back at her, tight expression mirroring her own—and then averts his eyes, scowling.

"You aren't the only one wishing," he mutters quietly, trailing after her through the gates. And though this is a dream, he keeps one hand on his blade, the tension in the air palpable enough to put him on edge.

The streets inside the gates are largely empty, which means one of two things. Felix grits his teeth.

"Are the people still inside the city, or have they fled?"

Actually you know what, I'm just going to link the video. Run from 4:38 to 9:02

[unyieldingmarch]

Edelgard frowns, looking down at her hand.

"You already know the answer to that. Rhea...Seiros..."

And then the speech begins, Edelgard's phantom calling up to the battlements.

A scene plays out. Two scenes...one from Edelgard's memory, and one she had not. she of course hadn't seen the conversation on the battlements clearly...but now? she watches in horror at the insane orders being given.

"Catherine..."

[finesseblade]

Just like that, Fhirdiad goes up in flames, the fires sweeping through the city casting an ugly orange glow against the night sky overhead.

As the flames rise, Felix's stomach drops into his boots.

There's a harsh scrape of steel, and he takes half a step forward with his hand on his blade before he remembers that no matter the smell of smoke in the air, this is a dream.

"That vile—"

He grits his teeth, the words dropping off into an unintelligible, animal snarl. There's something terrifying about watching a city he knows so well burn, knowing its people are trapped like rats inside her walls—and worse, knowing there's not a damn thing he can do about it.

Not this version, anyway. But a flash of teal and fur in the crowd striding forward reminds him that someone did.

"Did you make her pay?" he asks, deathly quiet now.

[unyieldingmarch]

"Seiros? Yes. She is dead. Byleth and I killed her personally."

Edelgard, unbothered by his outburst, gives him his space and watches the battle begin. It's a brutal thing, and the vision is already beginning to fade a bit. But that doesn't make this any less terrible. Watching it play out at this distance is strange...

Truly, her heart goes out to Felix.

"The Church's reign, her reign, they are ended. Catherine and Cyril surrendered when she fell, but Gilbert Dominic died in the the battle."

[finesseblade]

Felix doesn't need to see the battle up close to know its fury; the bone-white wings of the Immaculate One sweep over Fhirdiad, fanning the flames as she circles back to confront the Emperor and her Professor in front of the palace gates.

The very air shakes with her howling. He grits his teeth, turning his back on the distant battle.

"Then I suppose that's all I can ask."

He glances at her, eyes narrowed sharply.

"When you go back—if you ever go back—do right by the people of Faerghus. They've been through enough."

It does not have the tone of a request.

[unyieldingmarch]

Edelgard meets that stare, gaze as unyielding as ever. That's not a request, but it's also not something she wouldn't already be doing.

"I will do as I have done since the beginning. Fodlan will be well cared for, you have my solemn word that Fhirdiad will be rebuilt, and it's people will be sheltered and cared for."

She doesn't hesitate in following up with a directive of her own.

"If you make it back to your version of things...treat my people with the same respect."

[finesseblade]

He stares at her for a long moment, unmoving, gauging. In the distance, the great dragon screams out what must be her death rattle, a sound that echoes through the whole citt. He supposed that this is, once more, all that he can ask of the Flame Emperor.

Eventually, he snorts, as though he can't believe she's even asking the question.

"Nothing would disgust me more than to stand idly by while people suffered, even in Enbarr."

Felix nods, a single incline of his head in her direction. This, he doesn't hesitate to give her.

"You have my word."

[unyieldingmarch]

"Good enough."

She can't really be too thrilled about it, because it means that in some reality...some broken timeline...Fodlan will continue to suffer under it's status quo. But telling Felix about Those Who Slither in the Dark is another matter entirely. It touches too close to home.

"...Have you seen enough to know that she is dead? Or should we go examine the corpse."

She would also much, much rather be gone from this memory. Triumphant as she was, seeing a city burned and people dead makes her stomach a touch queasy.

[finesseblade]

His eyes flicker upward to the red glow of flame cast angry against the sky, the lines under his eyes seeming to deepen for a moment as his expression goes dark. Felix may not express himself so openly as she does, but he would be lying if he said he didn't feel much the same.

This was an evil thing to have to witness, and he does not relish it.

"I've seen all that I need to see," he mutters, the weight of it suddenly settling wearily upon his shoulders. He believes her. She has no reason to lie to him, or to have allowed the Archbishop to live in secret.

He turns his back on the smoke, the fires, the chaos that still reigns in the city in the aftermath. He only wishes it were so easy to put this from his mind as from his sight.

"Let's get out of this place."