GRATUITOUS DEATH AHOY

[ungratefuloz]

oh boy, look at the time! time to cry!!!

(catch all for the last words meme, aka bakerstreet's only good meme--)

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[darkbishop]

[Dorothea's always been far too clever for her own good. She knew not to approach it too soon, and even in her final moments she knew to ensure the safety of as many as she could. She gave her life to protect others, and it's thanks to her that Dedue won't take any more lives today.

But it feels hollow here and now, knowing that the one life he did take is one of the most important ones to Hubert.

Dorothea presses a kiss to his gloved hand and Hubert distantly wishes he hadn't been wearing the damn things, for once. Or even better, that he'd realized all of this sooner and thrown caution to the wind and acted on it and—

There isn't any point in beating himself up about what-could-have-beens. He knows this. There isn't any time for it. Not when these are likely her final words.]

As though I could ever forget? As though I would ever want to? Dorothea—

[He starts for a moment, like he's going to do something, anything but—]

...Rest well. We'll make the world you hoped to see a reality. I swear it.

[Not just for Lady Edelgard's sake, but for Dorothea's as well.]

[selfdisdain]

[It's enough.

With one final grip on Hubert's hands, Dorothea's last bit of strength leaves her slow but sure. She isn't suffering anymore; she finally has the answers for so many questions that had been on her mind, and if she had the opportunity to do it again...

Dorothea would do the same thing, because the rest of them will live to see the new world Edie ushers in.

Dorothea finally perishes.]

[darkbishop]

[Dorothea is dead.

Eventually, Bernadetta approaches him. Her touch on his shoulder is light, fearful, but it reminds him where he is; what he's fighting for. Hubert tasks Bernadetta with finding Petra and having her take Dorothea's body back to the Monastery. Eventually they'll hold a proper funeral for her, but for now there's a battle to win.

Lady Edelgard doesn't need to ask when he rejoins her, and offers her condolences afterwards. She tries to keep it off her face, but it's obvious she's just as devastated by this loss as he is.

The funeral is a beautiful affair, and Dorothea is laid to rest.

The world they proceed to build is one that will slowly heal the damage the Church and Crests have done to Fódlan, but it isn't the world Lady Edelgard or Hubert truly wanted.

How often do you think about her? Lady Edelgard asks him one day, long after Those Who Slither lie dead and the crown rests in the hand of her successor.

Every day, without fail. He replies to her knowing, wry smile.

Do you think she'd be proud of us?

I think she'd be disappointed you even have to ask.]