EDELGARD

[applechemist]

i'll put something here later

Comments

[hegemonstrous]

Go on. I would like to hear what you have to say.

[Honestly. This side of Escha, where she's disagreeing with her, she's interested in. The Escha that killed a demon who wanted to kill her.]

[applechemist]

It doesn't matter, now.

[ Whatever it is, Escha really doesn't want to go into the details. ]

I don't want to, um... Set a precedent for ignoring evidence and believing obvious fake clues, instead.

[hegemonstrous]

If it's an option where no one has to die, it's worth hearing.

[Just because she's visiting Escha on her tragic pink haired protagonist death bed doesn't mean she's going to be polite about Escha trying to evade a conversation topic.]

[applechemist]

It isn't an option anymore.

[ And if Edelgard weren't so intimidating, Escha would probably leave it at that, but... Edelgard... Scary and pretty... ]

... Tamamo is immune to being killed by an exorcism this week. Just this week.

[hegemonstrous]

Oh!

[Covering her mouth with a hand. She. She did not expect that.]

So that's why - that was clever of you.

[applechemist]

[ Not clever enough. ]

I thought enough people knew... The evidence was poor; it was more like a signal.

[hegemonstrous]

[Well, now she feels foolish, but - ]

Enough didn't. And you didn't say so openly. You were protecting someone, weren't you?

[applechemist]

[ Escha nods to... Part of that, and ignores the rest. ]

I couldn't say so openly. It's against the rules.

[hegemonstrous]

Hmm. Still. Had we known there was such an option -

[Considering that, but.]

It can't be helped now.

[applechemist]

Right. It's too late, now.

B-but, um... At least it wasn't someone else, you know? Someone who wasn't immune and wasn't awake.

[hegemonstrous]

I don't understand why you think you're more deserving of death than anyone else. It's not the way I see things. You did nothing more than fight for your own life. If you'd chosen to sacrifice someone else to continue living, I'd find no fault with that.

[applechemist]

[ She shakes her head quickly. ]

It's not like I'm more deserving, I just - at least I was involved. That's better than... Nothing? [ kind of? ]

B-besides, I'll get to see Logy again.

[hegemonstrous]

No. There's nothing fair about it. We sacrificed you, instead of sacrificing someone else, because it was easier than acknowledging that someone innocent had to be sacrificed.

[applechemist]

... It's not as if I'm happy about this. But I don't think I could point at anyone else and say "take them, instead."

[ Except for Tamamo, but... Well. Escha didn't even feel great about that one, and she would have been fine in the end. ]

Nobody had much real choice in this.

[hegemonstrous]

[Hmm. Something about this is getting to her, somehow getting under the skin of her cool exterior.]

I wish there was more time. I think I could have taught you to value yourself a little more. Hopefully we'll meet again, and there will be time on that day.

[applechemist]

I value myself plenty. There are just some things I'm less good at, that's all.

[ Like framing people or protecting people or framing people to protect them. ]

I hope that we get to meet again, but I also hope that it's not for some time.