True Friends
My body feels like it's going to split in half. My eyelids are boulders. All is darkness. Pain. Still, I suppose dying alone after being consumed by the power of the seed is a fitting end for me.
I never had any bonds I could believe in. My father hated me, and I've never even seen what my mother looked like because no portraits remain of her.
You can't deny the truth of my words, Albert. Not when you have also chosen to betray me.
Yurius: (He chose to flee. In the end, I really am alone...)
Yurius: (No matter how much power I gained, I was always destined for a pitiful end.)
Albert: Yurius! Open your eyes!
Yurius: Al...bert...?
Albert: Yurius! Thank goodness you're— Urrgh!
Euden: Hold on, Albert! We'll heal you!
Albert: No. I'm all right. But even if I wasn't, it would be a price well worth paying in order to save my friend.
Yurius: Did you seriously keep holding on to my hand? You could have died!
Yurius: How is it possible to be so foolish?
Albert: If that makes me a fool, then I am content with it.
Albert: Even if you can no longer believe in me, I won't give up on trying to save you. I won't leave you—not ever.
Yurius: How can you still have your head so far in the clouds?!
Yurius: I toyed with you! Betrayed you! And you STILL call me a friend?! Oh, it must be wonderful to be strong enough to feel that way!
Yurius: What is the source of your power?! What drives you?!
Albert: Bonds, Yurius.
Yurius: What? That couldn't possibly...
Yurius: There is nothing I despise more than the idea of bonds! Nothing! I lost my mother! I was loathed from birth by my father! I have no friends—I HAVE no bonds!
Albert: But you do. You are, and will always be, the finest friend I have ever known.
Yurius: !
Yurius: Speaking to you is threatening to split my very mind. It makes me want to believe in things that cannot be real.
Yurius: I have come too far to be permitted to turn back, and yet the friendship you talk of is... Aaaargh!
Vice: Okay, what now!? I thought we stopped all this noise!
Aoi: Look! The seed is rising out of his body!
Euden: Albert's words reached him, and because of that...
Euden: This is our chance, Albert! Destroy the control device AND the seed!
Albert: Return my friend to me, you abominable seed!
Albert: ROAR, THUNDER!
Albert: LIGHTNING BURST!
Yurius: Graaaagh!
And with that, the mysterious disappearances occurring across the land came to an end.
The seed of the abyss was destroyed, the people imprisoned within freed, and with the Halidom's support, they began to return to their former lives.
One day, at the Halidom...
Sophie: I'm shocked by how quickly you recovered from all of this.
Sophie: It's hard to believe you were unconscious for so long after the seed was destroyed.
Yurius: I can't deny that was in part due to the unrequested devotion of a certain someone.
Albert: Ha! I was just so happy to have my friend back that I couldn't help myself.
Yurius: Honestly...
Euden: It's good to see everyone getting along. Er, but about the tentacles on his body...
Sophie: A lingering effect of the fusion, I'm afraid. They can be suppressed, but as for fully removing them...
Sophie: Well, he was simply fused for too long. Frankly, it's a miracle he's even alive.
Yurius: I likely owe my survival to the fact the dragonblood within me was weak.
Yurius: If it was as strong as that of the Alberian royal family, I would have completely fused with the seed.
Yurius: Heh. I have always cursed my weakness, but in the end, it actually saved my life. What a terribly infuriating thought.
Albert: Oh, Yurius...
Yurius: Fear not—I have no intention of saying I would rather die than live in shame.
Yurius: Even if they are not being made public, I have committed countless crimes.
Yurius: Hundreds were consumed by the seed because of me—and though they all miraculously survived, that does not make what I did any less vile.
Yurius: I have a duty to spend the rest of my days atoning for these crimes as I can.
Euden: Well, I'm glad you've accepted that, but what changed in you?
Yurius: I decided that I want to try...believing.
Euden: Oh?
Yurius: All this time, I have been convinced that I was powerless and insignificant, and so sought power in an effort to change that and become someone.
Yurius: However, this meddling fool risked his life to tell me that I already AM someone— his best friend, in point of fact.
Yurius: Part of me still thinks this to be utter pablum, but all the same, I've decided I want to try once more to believe in the "bonds" he so fervently talks about.
Yurius: Who knows, maybe they will prove another way to make me stronger!
Albert: Honestly, Yurius.
Yurius: Besides, I haven't the strength to resist any longer even if I wanted to. All that is left is for you to mete out my punishment.
Yurius: What will you have me do to atone, Prince Euden?
Euden: I think your knowledge—along with what remains of the seed's power inside you— can be of great use to us.
Euden: I want you to help us. That will be your punishment.
Yurius: And you truly find that sufficient?
Euden: I get that you're trying to say I'm being naive and foolish again—but honestly, I'm just glad you're alive.
Euden: So as long as you work to atone for what you believe you've done, I'm fine with it.
Yurius: Simply calling you "naive" is an understatement. Your personality must put your retainers through a terrific amount of anguish.
Yurius: Much as our friend's nature causes the Knights of Levin untold trouble.
Albert: I resent that accusation!
Yurius: Regardless, if that is the punishment my captors have chosen, I will abide by it.
Yurius: But if I am to be helping you, Prince, there is one thing you should know.
Euden: What's that?
Yurius: The last of the seeds is currently in Prince Phares's possession.
Together: !
Yurius: I planned to recover it from him after consuming all of you, but as you see, I failed rather spectacularly at that.
Yurius: Still, it goes without mentioning that it is far too dangerous a thing to leave in his possession, so I wish to recover it.
Yurius: So while helping you, I also intend to clean up my past mistakes. Are you amenable to that?
Euden: Of course, Yurius. Welcome to the team.
Yurius: I look forward to serving you.
Yurius: As one of the Knights of Levin, I pledge you my undying support, Prince Euden.
|