Work Text:
The two lovers sat on the third level of Garreg Mach, one that was previously only for the archbishop, but their occupying forces often snuck up to the observation deck up top, at least the soldiers who weren’t still fervent believers. It was one of the few locations Edelgard felt comfortable enough to spend time with Dorothea that wasn’t one of their rooms. The songstress’s fingers slowly traced down the side of Edelgard’s face, before leaning in and kissing her in secret. It was always cute kissing her, she was this imposing emperor that commanded hundreds if not thousands of soldiers, yet still was bashful from the smallest kiss.
Dorothea pulled back with a smile, “Edie, why are you so nervous about us?” she asked, “I know none of our friends would be weird about it,”
The pleasant smile on her face quickly faded, nervously looking down, “No, it’s not them. It’s just…” she paused.
Anxiety crept into Dorothea’s mind, her gorgeous emerald eyes looking upward at the night sky, “It’s not because I’m, you know, not noble?” It would make sense if it would be a scandal for the Emperor of Adrestia to be with a commoner.
Edelgard’s eyes grew wide as she took her hand, “no!” she exclaimed, the urgency surprising them both. “It’s just -” She couldn’t let her misunderstand the reasoning behind this paranoia if it may lead to that kind of assumption. “It’s not our friend’s I worry about, or even the army. I want nothing more than for the world to know. There’s just other people I can’t let know who I’m close to,” she explained. Even just saying it out loud made panic gnaw at her very soul, as if speaking it outloud will invite them.
“Like… assassins? Or is it like bandits where you think I’ll be kidnapped for ransom?” Dorothea asked.
She stayed quiet before answering, not giving the answer much thought, rather trying to keep from reacting to the memories of the girl with brilliant ruby eyes and hair, “...something like the two mixed together,” she said, glaring at the ground, “except… I fear there won’t be an offer to get you back,” she raised one of her hands, placing it on what looked to be over her heart, but Dorothea did not know the horrid, jagged scar that was there underneath all these layers. “My enemies have already had their turn in cutting into me, so they know to hurt me now is to do it others,”
She said she was enrolling in the military academy to better serve her. She went a year ahead of Hubert and her, saying she’ll try and look for anything of interest to let them know. She believed in her. She didn’t even know when she was really gone. She only learned from it when Baron Ochs came to the capitol in a frenzy looking for his daughter, believing in the rumor she ran off with someone. After all, why would the school notify the princess of Adrestia that a baron's daughter ran off with a boy? They communicated through mail, so it wasn’t uncommon for her to not receive word from her for a month or more.
Dorothea could tell this was bothering her, placing her hand gently on her leg. “What makes you think something like that will happen?” she asked.
Edelgard didn’t respond.
She remembered the detailed reports Hubert debriefed for her as he sent Vestra spies to lurk in the abyss while gathering information from above. She suddenly vanished one night. It was her turn to go into town for supplies, but she was so caught up in a book, time slipped her by. She then ventured out into the darkness towards town, a guard she waved at to be the last human to see her alive. Both her and Hubert knew well what that pattern meant, yet both seemed to push that back as an impossibility. They so desperately wanted it to be not true.
The brunette cautiously scooted closer, not wanting to crowd her if she needed space, but she didn’t reject the advance. “I take it that it's happened before then…” she said softly.
Again, Edelgard did not answer.
They damn near ripped the continent apart searching for her. Hubert fought with his father who was frustrated with him using the Vestra engineers on what he saw as a pointless search for some random noblewoman. That Hubert needed to learn to not always indulge his Hresvelg, especially one that was a teenage girl. It was a wonder that Hubert waited a year to exact his judgment upon his father after a remark like that.
Dorothea wrapped an arm around her shoulders, “hey, it’s okay,” she leaned down to the shorter woman with a smile on her face, “I’m tougher than I look. Besides, we have spooky Hubie in the shadows, nothing will get past him,” she tried to assure.
Except the one time it did. It was burned into her mind how Hubert looked that night, utterly exhausted, and the rare emotion on his face, one of deep remorse, “She is exactly where we have feared. I have no reports on whether the sightings of her were really-” he cut himself off, his head hung low. “Lady Edelgard… there’s… there’s nothing we can do, I’m so sorry,” It was there both of their well crafted masks of stoicism broke. She remembered raising her fist and slamming it on the table out of frustration, her crest activating and ended up splitting the old oak piece down the middle. She just started throwing anything she got her hand on, even in her blind fury making sure none flew in Hubert’s direction. Books, inkwells, vases, ornaments, anything that wasn’t wasn’t bolted to the ground flew across the room.
It was only when she grabbed the lantern that illuminated the room did his hand grab her wrist. She knew what she was doing. She was ready to burn down the entire damn palace. She didn’t care. Every fiber of her being was screaming in agony. When he stopped her path of destruction did that horror finally grip her. Tears filled her eyes. She hadn’t cried in front of Hubert since they were children. As they streamed down her face, her knees gave out, covering her face as she wept. She knew exactly what was happening to Monica. She had seen it happen in front of her through the bars of her cell. They had done it to one of her older sisters, Liesel. If all but their one successful experiment vanished that would cause quite the stir, meaning a few of them had to be copied. It was unspeakable. This feeling of utter powerlessness was sickening for both of them. To know where their comrade is, to know the danger that awaited them, but unable to do a thing.
It would be a suicide mission if they went alone, and enlisting the aid in any outside source would only draw attention to them and ruin everything they were working towards. At the current time, there was no one who could challenge her uncle’s peers, it didn’t matter even if they brought in the damn church for help. There was no stopping Monica’s horrible death, if it hasn’t already happened. She trusted her with her whole heart, yet this is how she repaid that loyalty.
Edelgard cautiously rested her head against the other woman’s shoulder. Thankfully she wasn’t wearing her crown, only having her hair in a side ponytail. “Since… that incident, I think that’s why Hubert’s security is so tight here,” she commented. Any time her uncle was within a county’s distance of Garreg Mach, he had every single one of his men in his battalion stand watch over any and all entrances to the vast complex. No one was getting in without being seen and certainly no one will be taken out. It wasn’t exactly hard to notice the sudden increase in security, but no one has seemed to know the cause for it. After all, he’ll do it even if her uncle’s destination was elsewhere to have absolute certainty there will be no surprises. Not again.
“A coincidence, we merely chose her for her rare crest,” her uncle assured her in those hollow words. He gave a cruel smile, “maybe that’s what made you close to her, on a subconscious level you were making friends that would aid in our goal,”
She just stared at him. It took everything in her to not lunge forward to try and strangle the life out of that man. She couldn’t, not with their plan for the future. It was her only comfort in all of this, just chanting her mind that she had to bear this for Fodlan’s freedom. She had to tell herself that. She had to think of some reason for Monica’s death to not be utterly meaningless.
“Well, that is… depressing to know, but at least this means it won’t happen again, right?” Dorothea tried to assure.
“What do you say, Edel?” her cruel double would later ask her. Edelgard couldn’t let any emotion show, everything she says or does will be used against her. Everyone here was fooled but her and Hubert. Krona was a horrible actor. She acted nothing like Monica. The most discomforting part of it all was the face. She passed as her if you weren’t well acquainted, but it was just so slightly off, it was unsettling. Her eyes are what stood out the most, those venomous eyes that gleamed with that malicious glee in all of this. She should have never mentioned to her uncle that Monica was her friend, now Krona was attached to her hip, no doubt trying to get her to break just because she could. She allowed it. Edelgard surmised this torment was her punishment for her failure to protect the real Monica. She vowed to herself to never let this happen again.
“I hope so,” Edelgard said, closing her eyes as Dorothea kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry, this is all so horribly depressing, something I’m sure you didn’t need tonight.” she said in a sigh. She really was doomed with any romantic venture, wasn’t she?
“Hey, I’m the one who asked, so blame it on me for bringing it up,” she said, “but I’m glad you told me, now I know why you are so jumpy about all of this. I don’t know the details, but it’s not just me being able to zap a guy across a field, you have all of our other friends too now to help. We’ll just have Petra snipe them before they even get inside here - wait, no better idea, we’ll just throw Ferdie at them saying they’d really like to hear about horse care maintenance. We’ll annoy them to death!”
Edelgard let out a snort before giggling at the sudden change of mood. She was right, though, it was no longer only her and Hubert against the world. She had so many others to rely on and now, someone to love.