Chapter Text
Marianne didn’t need her pessimism to tell her she wasn’t supposed to be here. Aside from the fact she had been kidnapped, for want of a better word, Rhea, Catherine and Sylvain had turned their noses up at her as she had passed them. Felix’s hand held her arm tightly, as he pulled her past them and into Fhirdiad’s throne room. In only two years since their last encounter, Dimitri had let himself fall even further in terms of his physical appearance. While his hair wasn’t particularly neat as a student, now it was basically a mop, covering much of his scarred face. The neat uniform of a house leader was dispensed with, replacing it was the rough and rugged Faerghan coat of a king.
“Why have you brought me this?” Dimitri asked, glancing over Marianne. She remembered the Dimitri who danced with her as a student. Back then, his eyes communicated hope and affection. But not now.
“You need something to pull yourself together. Faerghus needs you in better shape,” Felix told him. Marianne considered the man who Felix called ‘boar’. Perhaps Felix was overestimating her ability.
“I do not need a queen. I need revenge. The pleas of those who have fallen, the screams of those who have suffered… nothing less than Edelgard’s head will satisfy me. Surely you could have managed that with the force you used to get me this?” Dimitri asked.
“I brought a token force and used very little violence to make my way through Edmund territory, locate Marianne, and bring her here. She’s concerned about you too, and came willingly. The destruction of Edmund territory wasn’t my doing, and I executed the one responsible before I returned. Killing Edelgard wasn’t going to happen- I was lucky to avoid Hilda as it was,” Felix explained. Marianne felt a pang in her chest. Hilda came for her when she was in trouble. She abandoned her… she had to go back. And yet… Dimitri approached her, holding up her chin to consider her face.
“I desire some time alone with her, if you don’t mind,” Dimitri said.
“Tch. Don’t break her,” Felix scoffed, leaving the room. Marianne had the feeling Felix would remain outside the door until he was challenged or Dimitri proved himself capable of not breaking her. Dimitri’s rough hands came forward, with one running around her body while the other holding her hand. She wasn’t particularly comfortable with the chances of her not being broken.
“...Do you still think of me as lucky?” Marianne asked. Dimitri grunted.
“My revenge is what matters,” Dimitri said. Marianne felt her heart plummet, realising just how bad Dimitri was. She wanted to ask Felix if it was too late to go back to Edmund and ask for Hilda’s company, but odds were it probably was.
“I… I won’t get in your way, Dimitri. Where would you like me to stay while I’m here?” Marianne asked.
“Do as you please. I have no need of someone who will not pick up a weapon and fight alongside me against the cold hearted killer of millions your friends call an ally,” Dimitri snarled.
“Lady Edelgard is not cold hearted! She fights for a better future, a world where Crests no longer dictate the lives of their owners. She’s not like you,” Marianne said. Areadbhar jumped from where it sat and came rushing down on Marianne, stopping hairs away from Marianne’s neck.
“...You didn’t dodge,” Dimitri muttered, after having left the Relic in place for a few moments.
“Why should I? I can’t go back home and I can’t help you. If even you, the only one who ever talked to me because I was interesting, the boy who taught me to feel hope, want to kill me, then maybe I should just die,” Marianne told him.
“...You can’t die, Marianne,” Dimitri said, in a tone that hardly encouraged her to take him at his word.
“And why is that?” Marianne asked.
“Because I don’t want you to haunt me like everyone else is,” Dimitri muttered. Marianne huffed.
“It’s about you, is it? You don’t care about me. You don’t want to listen to me. And you admit that if I die and start whispering in your ear to go throw your life away to kill Edelgard, you would listen then. What kind of king are you?” Marianne asked.
“I may be a bad king, but Edelgard is a worse empress. I would gladly sacrifice myself if I could tear Fodlan from her crimson hands,” Dimitri snarled.
“I’m afraid I’m no help to you there. If you ever want to do something more productive, you’ll know where I am,” Marianne spat, storming from the room. Felix was waiting by the door, as expected.
“If you want to return to Edmund, I think I can arrange that,” Felix told her. Marianne looked back at Dimitri through the gap in the door before it closed, seeing him returned to his throne and sunken again.
“Hilda would tear the Faerghans who escort me back apart. I don’t want to do that to you. I’d rather stay in Fhirdiad and wait for Dimitri to think better of himself,” Marianne said.
“I repeat my offer. I would love to leave Faerghus and support Annette, but I can’t bring myself to turn my back on Dimitri. Please, Marianne, don’t let yourself suffer the same fate. You still have friends who’ll care about you,” Felix insisted.
“...If I can return Dimitri to his senses, perhaps it won’t be one or the other. Perhaps I could have Dimitri and Hilda on the same side, rebuilding Fodlan free from the tyranny of Crests,” Marianne said.
“I’d avoid talking about that tyranny of Crests thing in front of the Seiros faction,” Felix quickly interjected.
“...Felix, what helps you to fight on?” Marianne asked.
“If I must be honest, the idea that the boar will get himself killed before I do. Annette’s beaming face is all that keeps me going,” Felix said.