cancry | halcyon days

[So, things were going fine- they were planning to counter this strange contest Esme had dropped in their laps. Kingslayer was willing, at least little, to talk to him again. He had recently been cleaned up by Ruin so no longer looked (or smelled) quite so feral. Lion was doing okay.

Lion is no longer doing okay. And can be found pacing the Executor House like his namesake. Occasionally stopping to write frantically on a piece of paper on the dining room table but never sitting down for long.

If anyone pauses to read it he won't stop them: it's three lists of names, each under an animal-based title: Blue Lions, Black Eagels, Golden Deer. Next to the Lions list, he has an arrow- Source of my name???? and more arrows pointed to the House Leader slot of both the Lions (`me`) and the Eagles ('other House Leader, can't remember them. Why? I can remember Claude but not them...`) and at the end of the Lions list (`4 others here, but can't remember them??? One was a retainer to me I think? And the other three are in a lot of memories- we were close???`)

And above all the lists, underlined and circled: Professor Byleth Eisner

He's having a bad time]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh -- hmph. Well, it must be important enough to distract you. Who were these people?

My classmates.

I see. You must have been good friends, but something's concerning you beyond that, isn't it?

Yes. there are memories missing of that time still. or more specifically, people.

Just don't let it distract you. We've got someone to take down who nearly wiped us all out because we decided to be nice a moment. You know that.

I do... that is why I'm sorting this now. It would be a disaster if I pushed it back and had a bout of memory induced madness like-

[Kingslayer]

-others have at the worst possible time.

Whatever happened with them, you think it's enough to make you go Kingslayer?

As it is right now? Likely not- but I am still missing people that should be on this list. And I also remember... events. Events that caused me to act irrationally in the memories. So I would rather be prepared.

...Someone betrayed you, then.

[where did you get that from --]

[He looks shocked, but then nods firmly]

Yes.

[He doesn't remember the Flame Emperor's identity yet- but he knows now that Duscur was a plot of some sort, and that rage that took years to boil in his life has now returned in moments]

Not only that, but I have seen atrocities committed on others. Things no decent human being could see and not be overcome with rage. But we can't afford me remembering such things mid-battle and attacking wildly. Not after all the planning everyone has worked so hard on.

[Wolfsbane isn't... surprised, probably. But she nods with a frown.]

Of course. We have to be calm and think about this, not rush in swinging. [hypocrisy, thy name is Wolfsbane] Though I must admit you're right, it'll probably come to blows eventually. Esme... She's got to have a power of her own, as the ruler of this level. Probably stronger than the average Executor.

[He nods]

Part of me hopes she surrenders once he cut her off from her power but... someone willing to murder as brutally as she has is unlikely to do so.

...and part of me also hopes she doesn't for exactly that reason.

[He won't feel an ounce of guilt in taking her head]

You know it's what she deserves. Who knows how many times she's done this? Taking our future because she'd rather just stick around until she wastes away into a Revenant?

Exactly. It's more for the sake of our softer hearted members that I'm willing to let her 'live' at all. Creatures like her deserve no mercy- but we are not beasts, so we can give it even if it's not warranted.

...in moderation.

[She's killed, but she isn't as detestable as the monsters he's just remembered- but it's a close thing]

...

[Something doesn't sit right with her, but she just sighs and thinks.]

I'd rather make somebody suffer if they hurt me. It's something in here, something intense, and at times I don't know if it's what I truly feel or ought to.

'Ought to'... I know that feeling too. I've had detailed thoughts on things I could do to those that took people from me, when I was alive.

But I know that it's not 'proper' and it makes me feel guilty. But if that's true shouldn't thinking about it at all make me feel that way? I'm not sure. In that at least you're not alone.

...very well.

[Wolfsbane shakes her head.]

I shouldn't be discussing this anyway, it isn't as if it matters. We should be taking her down, and anyone else like her. And whatever Ernesta did to me, whyever I started to hate her so much it burned, and whatever happened in your life, that's the same too, isn't it?

[He nods]

If you hated this Ernesta so much, she must have done some horrific crime against you- such rage never comes from nothing.

[You sure, Lion, you sure]

I don't know what it is. She was important to me before, but then something happened. Something that made me want nothing more than to make her suffer. Maybe it's the same as what happened to you.

Betrayal of a close ally... I can't say for sure, but that feels right.

We can only hope that we didn't end up the only ones down here, then. [Well, there are a lot of dead people here, but you know what she means.]

Yes... the idea of dying without appeasing the dead- failing... I can not accept it.

I know most of our group died young, but we can't have failed if this was that important!

As more memories return... I'm sure it will make more sense.

It had better. I know I must have won GRANBELM. Something like that was too important not to.

halcyon days

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