Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
asaviorshand) wrote2021-06-11 03:44 pm
asaviorshand) wrote2021-06-11 03:44 pmIC Inbox - Isle of Avalon
[For now, you just get the default automated message. Dimitri will need some time to figure this out.]
asaviorshand) wrote2021-06-11 03:44 pm
It's OK! No harm, no foul.
Thales... The name was unfamiliar to him. However... "She had not mentioned anyone by that name, no. But given what Kronya and Solon had done, it's entirely possible that she did, but simply by another name. She did, however, mention Cornelia and...and Lord Arundel."
The last name was one Dimitri spoke reluctantly. He had no indication of how Edelgard felt about her uncle after everything that had happened so far. He didn't know how mentioning his name would go over. But as Byleth had mentioned him as one of the people working behind the scenes, it was something they'd have to discuss.
When Edelgard asked him if he'd learned why she took up the name "Flame Emperor," Dimitri shook his head. "I didn't, no. Given everything that was going on, it was but one detail lost among many, I'm afraid."
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"If Arundel is dead, then your Fódlan is in better standing than you realize." She carries on, somewhat relieved. "And you have accomplished what I currently have been unable to." Thales still carried a great deal of influence within the Empire, and could not simply be removed by force. To do so would tear apart the Empire at a time when unity was needed more than ever. "Unfortunately, I will require a more...surgical approach in removing him." Surgical. For a moment, a look of disgust crosses her face. She hates that word. "Those who slither will be lost without his will to guide them and their powerbase in the old Empire smashed. You would do well to capitalize on that when you return, if your Fódlan is to have any chance of prolonged peace. You must run them down to their lair, before their forces have a chance to rally and regroup under someone else." It's strange, to speak so clinically, in so detached a manner, about a world in which Edelgard had died, her dreams unfulfilled, to the man who killed her. And advising him on how to proceed, even. But it was what it was. His Edelgard was dead, and Dimitri and his Byleth left to pick up the pieces. Edelgard would give what advice she could, if it gave them more of a chance to build something better. "Had I the location of their base I would give it, but Hubert has so far not been able to run it down, though he believes it may lie somewhere close to Alliance territory, somewhere in the Empire's eastern borders."
She takes a sip of her drink. "Intentionally so, I imagine." She replies, before squaring her shoulders. "What I am about to tell you is an intensely private matter, known only to a handful of people." In Avalon, only Byleth knew. "I am trusting that this will remain so, Dimitri." There's a great deal she will not discuss, but after everything he'd been through, after he'd tried to reach out to another her, and in memory of what they had once been to each other, she will allow him in, just a little.
"I called myself the Flame Emperor, because I bear two Crests within me. The Crest of Seiros that runs in the Imperial bloodline...and the Crest of Flames."
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"It was pure chance that I had the opportunity to slay him. He had overextended by invading Deirdriu with a detachment of Imperial forces, and Claude led them into a trap with himself as bait. When we arrived to aid the Alliance, he and his men were in the city and trapped between two forces." Dimitri frowned before saying the last part: "Frustratingly, he insisted on taking all of his secrets to the grave." That last part frustrated him beyond belief. He had needed answers about what happened nine years ago, and all Arundel would do is taunt him and tell him to go fight Edelgard. Even if he had decided it was more important to know who among the living were among the conspirators, he still wished he could have learned more of the truth.
And then...and then Edelgard dropped one more bombshell on Dimitri. That caused his eye to widen and his jaw to drop in pure, undiluted shock. "The Crest of Flames!?" Fortunately, he kept his voice down as he expressed his surprise. "By the goddess...that's -- that's insanity..." He had already known that the Church possessed the Crest of Flames and the ability to access it, given what he knew about Byleth's past. But to think that Edelgard herself had access to it, too...
Dimitri took a deep breath to compose himself. "I knew there was something different about you from the moment we met at Garreg Mach. I had noticed the change in your hair, and in your overall demeanor. But, the Crest of Flames..." He ended up trailing off there, unsure how to finish that thought. Instead, he moved on to another.
"I take it that was not always the case. Something happened between your departure from Faerghus and your arrival at Garreg Mach." It was the only way to explain the change. Dimitri knew that Edelgard wasn't the only person to possess two Crests -- Lysithea had been unable to hide both of hers, after all, even if he never learned her story. So it stood to reason that Edelgard would have something similar in her past.
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"The Insurrection was the culmination of Thales' plan to coil himself around the heart of the Empire, to gain access to its resources and troops. His people hold much hatred for the Goddess, and see themselves as the only true inheritors to Fódlan. All who dwell under its skies are merely beasts to be exterminated so they can take what they see as their rightful place, and the Empire was to be the means by which Thales accomplished this. But he has always been arrogant and oversure of himself. I am not surprised when he took to the field personally he found himself overextended and cut off, especially by Claude." If only it would be so easy when it came time for Edelgard to end her Thales' life.
"If I had any answers to share with you I would, but I've told you all I know. Thales has always been careful not to let slip more than was necessary." Why they hate the Goddess so, how long have they dwelled beneath Fódlan, and what drove them there, and how they could possibly wield such powerful devices as the spears of light that created the Valley of Torment, and destroyed Arianrhrod. "Even without Thales' leadership, they possess technology far beyond our own. That will make their survivors dangerous, especially if you must meet them on their home ground."
And beyond that... "Yes. The Crest of Flames was implanted within me after I returned to the Empire. It was not by choice. Thales provided the former Prime Minister with everything he would need to forge a perfect Emperor, a weapon of conquest that Ludwig believed would be used to restore the Empire to its ancient glory." And who would be dead before their fourtieth year, leaving the von Aegir family perfectly positioned to take control of the Empire, and Thales had been perfectly content to let that little man think that. "And thanks to Imperial tradition, my father had left plenty of progeny for them to make that Emperor. Eleven children, of whom I was the third-youngest."
She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes for a moment. "I was the success. It did not come without cost." And that's all she's going to say about that.
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"I understand. And I thank you for telling me all of this. When I have the opportunity to return home, I will ensure they meet their reckoning with nothing held back. That is a promise." Even if the Edelgard here comes from an alternate timeline to the one he knows, he can tell how much she detests the Agarthans. It might do her well to know that they would be dealt with, no matter who Byleth sides with and leads to victory in the end. And while Dimitri has abandoned his pursuit of revenge, he still wants to deal with them to ensure that no one has to suffer the way he did. They would cause no more insurrections or assassinations, and ruin anyone else's lives.
When Edelgard relayed her experiences with having the Crest of Flames implanted, Dimitri's expression changed. He had heard that Edelgard had siblings, but she was the only one still alive. He hadn't known what killed them. Now...while he didn't know the details of what they suffered, it wasn't hard to see that they did in fact suffer.
"...I'm sorry. I can only imagine what you must have experienced." And yet, it wasn't too difficult to understand how she might have felt. Both Edelgard and Dimitri were sole survivors of horrific experiences that shaped them going forward. That much he could relate to.
"I'm starting to understand where you were coming from during the war. Why you hated the Crest system so much you were willing to tear it down, no matter the cost. It wouldn't surprise me if you told me that focus is what kept you alive." Again, Dimitri was leaning on his own experiences. He knew better than anyone the degree of willpower a clear, defined goal and enough hatred could confer upon a person. He still would not condone Edelgard's methods, but he could at least understand where she was coming from. And he could use that understanding to prevent a similar tragedy from ever playing out again.
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She nods again simply. "Thank you." For a moment she hesitates. "I am sorry as well. For your father and step-mother." She was not responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur, but they are the words she would have uttered, or put into a letter, if she had been able to all those years ago, if the memory of her time with Dimitri had not been taken from her. The grieving she could not join him in. "I wish I had been able to tell you that at the time."
In many ways, Edelgard was the opposite of Dimitri. He had been driven forward by the voices of the dead urging him on, to wreak bloody vengeance on those who had wronged them, real or imagined. The Tempest King had never escaped that, while the Savior King in front of her did, and found a measure of peace.
It was not the voices of her dead siblings that drove Edelgard on. It was the deafening silence. All the words never said. All the experiences she might have shared with them that would never be. Only silence, forevermore.
"May I ask you something, Dimitri?" She asks, raising her cup. "You know I think, that in my world many of the Blue Lions, and Golden Deer, followed me into my revolution." Mostly because of Byleth, but they all became trusted members of the Black Eagle Strike Force, no matter their origin or background. "I may not have been close with all of them, but I know their stories. Why they elected to stay with the Empire and fight for my new world. When you have purged Those Who Slither from your Fódlan and settled into your role as king, what becomes of the Crest system?" The church still exists in his world, with Byleth having taken Seiros' place as Archbishop. A truly incomprehensible development to her, but Dimitri's Byleth was far enough removed from her own, especially by the difference in gender, that she could separate him, from her. Like they were simply talking about two different people who happened to share the same name. In a very real way, that's still true. "Do you believe your Byleth will work with you to eliminate it?"
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At least he was able to maintain his composure enough to listen to Edelgard's question. He, too, had found that many students from the other houses joined his cause, and while they were likewise there for Byleth first and foremost, they also helped him in his cause and he tried to learn what he could about them, as well. "The Crests themselves are...well, I lack the ability to simply make them cease to exist. And they have utility -- such as how invaluable the Crest of Gautier has been in protecting our northern border from incursions from Sreng. But the prestige they grant...I do wish to do away with that. I want people to be rewarded for what they do, not who they are."
Dimitri locked his eye with Edelgard's. There was a sense of purpose within his gaze. "I will move power away from the aristocracy and toward the people. I am tired of watching the strong trample upon the weak, and thus will give the weak what they need to balance the scales. I want commoners to participate in politics. They should have the ability to seek redress for their woes, regardless of who or what is responsible for them. I want to ensure their voices will be heard, and that their will shall have influence." He then closed his eye again briefly, before opening it and adding, "And I have no doubt that the Byleth of my world will work together with me to achieve that goal. I would move mountains for him, and I know he would return the favor."