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
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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."