The Citadel of Sorcery

[YOLF]

Edelgard

The unchanging tone was no more unnerving than some of the enemies she'd faced in her lifetime. It should have been nothing. But to Edelgard, it was somehow no better than being alone. Maybe worse.

She spoke unsteadily. "Here is... fine. I will wait."

Pulling her feet up, crossing her legs on top of the couch, she forced herself to lean back. Edelgard wondered if Sakura would be upset for this abuse of her place. Maybe she would be frustrated, and regret giving her sympathy. What was the point of a warrior that was so brittle, or a protector that was so easy to fool?

She closed her eyes and breathed shallowly.

[SINIB]

Edelgard

The unchanging tone was no more unnerving than some of the enemies she'd faced in her lifetime. It should have been nothing. But to Edelgard, it was somehow no better than being alone. Maybe worse.

She spoke unsteadily. "Here is... fine. I will wait."

Pulling her feet up, crossing her legs on top of the couch, she forced herself to lean back. Edelgard wondered if Sakura would be upset for this abuse of her place. Maybe she would be frustrated, and regret giving her sympathy. What was the point of a warrior that was so brittle, or a protector that was so easy to fool?

Rin

Rin simply bowed. "Very well. If you have any need for me, please just call for me, and I will assist you at once."

The servant then walked over to a wall and melded into it, flattening against it before turning to the same color and texture of the wall.

[SINIB]

Sakura

2:00 am Nexus Time

Sakura, finding herself out of the grasp of the terrifyingly powerful demon, and still remembering the feeling of being filled up by her immense prick, how unearthly good it felt...

She shuddered, grasping herself to stop shaking. She was too powerful. Too enticing. She couldn't even hope to resist if Elizabeth decided to make her a concubine. She wouldn't even be able to think of such a thing.

It scared her a little.

The shadows ate her up, and she found herself at the foot of the lapis spire. She sighed, and slowly walked upstairs. She opened her door, and walked inside...

[YOLF]

Edelgard
2:00 AM Nexus Time

The aimless warrior stirred to wakefulness, and after a moment, jumped to her feet. Edelgard was standing in front of Sakura, her face stained by exhausted lines and panicked shadows. Those feelings had settled in hours ago, like plaster on her otherwise firm skin.

"Sakura," she began, but soon trailed off, hesitating in how to phrase her request. In what her request even was.

Seeing the caster, belatedly realizing she did not know when she'd dozed off, Edelgard felt like it had been an uncountable amount of time since they spoke. It did not soften the harshness on her expression, but the little differences in Sakura's appearance, the shifts that might have gone unnoticed to a casual observer, made the Forsaken refocus slightly.

She extended a fist and opened it. On her palm lay splinters and dust that could only barely resemble a ghost of the weapon the girl had seen before, which in Sakura's mind had been equal to a legendary treasure.

"I don't... know why. It broke. I don't understand." Edelgard said quietly.

[SINIB]

Sakura

Sakura's crimson red eyes stared at Edelgard, her face filling with ever more concern. The door slammed shut behind her, latching once more.

Then, she understood. She grabbed the elf-girl and pulled her into a hug, pulling her head down to her chest.

She remembered feeling comforted by her mother, before she'd been thrown away. Edelgard could feel the girl's beating heart against her head.

"Magic is confusing and strange." She began stroking the girl's hair with one hand, her other hand resting against her back. "How long have you been here?"

[YOLF]

Edelgard

Magic is mad. It's unpredictable. It's what ruined all of them, and she only learned it because she needed help, but in the Nexus it had not helped her even once yet! All she had to show for getting involved with sorcery here was pain and anxiety.

The drum of Sakura's heart was distant in Edelgard's ears. Her breath was erratic against the mage's skin, and her posture drew in on itself. "Don't know," she said, tightening her fist around the remnants of the nameless spear again, pushing it lightly against Sakura's belly. "You do these things. You understand better. Why did it break? Look at it."

She did not look up to meet the girl's eyes.

[SINIB]

Sakura

"Rin." She ordered curtly. The familar pulled herself out of the wall and bowed. She walked forward and took the remnants from Edelgard's outstretched hand.

Secretly, Sakura was relieved. Edelgard had gotten herself into something dangerous, and she was too simple minded in her thoughts, or too focused to care about the consequences.

Sakura lifted Edelgard up and began walking to the couch. "I'll do my best." She answered softly. "My honest guess would be that its creator is no longer with us in this realm, however."

[YOLF]

Edelgard

She winced like the sword that had been pointed at her gut all this time was finally driven in, and came out the other side. Its weight sank into her iron stomach, and mechanically she followed Sakura to the couch.

Edelgard had been sitting there for too long before, pondering useless things like her future, and implausible things like what she could possibly do for the young mage in this citadel, before her thoughts melted into restless sleep. If she sat down it was all going to come rushing back again, but she couldn't avoid it.

She swayed awkwardly on her heels. Her heart should be roaring, her hands tensing for blood, her very self furious for this deception. All those grand plans, those great promises and that refuge of purpose, and it was gone, just like that?

Yet the only thing Edelgard wanted to break was herself. She saw nothing else.

[SINIB]

Sakura

Sakura laid her friend down on the couch, wishing this news would hurt her less than it had. She sat down herself, and placed Edelgard's head on her thighs, resting her there.

She began gently petting her hair. Silently, she thought back to when she'd lost everything she believed in. She remembered the dagger that was buried into her heart when she'd found out she wasn't needed or wanted by her own family. She recalled the feeling of fear and loss upon finding herself in a foreign country across the world, where day and night had been swapped. Where night lasted forever.

And then, she remembered her sister. Her auroa borealis. The one beautiful thing in her life.

"You're not going to be abandoned, Edel. Just take deep breaths, and remember that."

She was afraid more complicated words would unnessecarily confuse her.

[YOLF]

Edelgard

She breathed in, and her throat trembled like it was frostbite and sharpness that invaded it. It was what she expected. The only thing Edelgard remembered from growing up was fierceness, and gentleness was so distant that these gestures felt new.

Gentleness from afar, reflected but not felt, given shallowly but not received, those things she understood. But the Forsaken were not soft, their land was not kind, and they could not breathe without armoring even their innermost parts. They would have suffocated in the pit they dug themselves, had they not torn out what was unneeded. But it hurt to do so, every day and then some. Edelgard's failures were a thesis written on these premises.

Did comfort have the right to be anything but illusion? Was refuge anything but a complacency? Was self-sacrifice not a poison? Edelgard could not change these things. She was more prisoner to them than most of her kinsmen; and when she remembered this today she hated them too.

She scoffed at Sakura. "Swears who? Thoughtless."

[SINIB]

Sakura

"Swears me." She immediately answered back without skipping a beat, as if she had been expecting such an answer. "I wouldn't say it if I hadn't given it a lot of thought. Every day at the Clock Tower, I faced constant discrimination for the circumstances of my birth. People would attempt to steal me or to take me away. To many, I was seen as a useful tool."

She suddenly flicked Edelgard's forehead, and it felt like Sakura was stronger than she previously had been. "But that's not an issue here. You wear your emotions on your face. You don't try to convince me of your benevolence with stupid platitudes and nice words. You're honest, and that's why I like you. That's why I've gone out of my way to help you out. Because I trust you'd do the same for me."

[YOLF]

Edelgard

She blinked, and one of her hands came up on its down to slap away the fingers that had flicked at her forehead - but there was little strength to that rebuke. Instead, Edelgard felt, as if starting from that touch, all of her senses awaken in fire, the previous numbness of her perception painfully diminishing.

The Forsaken opened her mouth. A bundle of knots strained in her entrails, pulling her in every direction at once. For one instant though, they loosened. Enough for her to let out a breath she was holding in like a lifeline.

"Schemers. I hate them too," she said, miserable yet calm.

[SINIB]

Edelgard

She blinked, and one of her hands came up on its down to slap away the fingers that had flicked at her forehead - but there was little strength to that rebuke. Instead, Edelgard felt, as if starting from that touch, all of her senses awaken in fire, the previous numbness of her perception painfully diminishing.

The Forsaken opened her mouth. A bundle of knots strained in her entrails, pulling her in every direction at once. For one instant though, they loosened. Enough for her to let out a breath she was holding in like a lifeline.

"Schemers. I hate them too," she said, miserable yet calm.

Sakura

"Hah. Yes, I hate them too. They like to make everything out to be so unnecessarily complicated."

[YOLF]

Edelgard

Complex. Yes. It was... excruciatingly painful to have to think so backwards and twisted. Edelgard felt a headache come on just remembering her experiences, and wished she could just close her eyes and let it go away. Was she allowed to do that in Sakura's lap?

The forsaken groaned. "Should sleep. Tomorrow I'll... listen."

[SINIB]

Edelgard

Complex. Yes. It was... excruciatingly painful to have to think so backwards and twisted. Edelgard felt a headache come on just remembering her experiences, and wished she could just close her eyes and let it go away. Was she allowed to do that in Sakura's lap?

The forsaken groaned. "Should sleep. Tomorrow I'll... listen."

Sakura

Sakura blinked. "Ah-I guess it is late, isn't it? I don't feel it at all..."

It was strange, feeling as wide awake as if it were 12 pm at 3 am. Like she was supposed to be up and about right now.

"Oh well." She shrugged before leaning back, allowing Edelgard to rest up against her. A shadow wrapped itself up around her before depositing a blanket over the exhausted girl, as well as the laptop Sakura had purchased.

She quietly began searching for a place selling one of these daylight rings. She'd send Rin out and make her buy her one before dawn.