An Ending Without Salvation
Captain.
I'm the kind of person who could shoot you without the slightest hesitation.
I doubt I'd even feel a single pang of guilt.
My revenge against Morcerf, or the life of someone I only met recently...
If I had to weigh the two, I would choose revenge without a second thought.
So... step aside. I'll shoot if I have to, but I'd rather not.
I'm not the one you should be weighing against your revenge.
Haydee is.
...
Captain. Even then, nothing changes.
Such sentimental appeals won't reach me.
I'd just shoot you, then shoot Haydee as well, and choose the path that ultimately leads me to Morcerf.
And even after all that, not a single tear would form in my eyes.
I see. So that's how it is.
And yet you still refuse to move, Captain?
Of course.
...I simply can't understand you.
Why... would you make this choice?
There's nothing for you to gain from any of this.
A mere week ago, you didn't even know we existed.
I still can't understand why you would risk your own life just to save Haydee.
You're wrong.
Hmm?
Haydee isn't the only one I'm trying to save.
I'm trying to save you too.
...What are you talking about?
I'm the one pointing a gun at you... Your life's the one in danger, not mine.
And yet you claim you're standing in front of the barrel to save me?
If you shoot Haydee here...
Your revenge will never truly be complete.
...Nonsense.
The entire point of my revenge is to find Morcerf and kill her.
And Haydee's body contains the Void Force that Morcerf left behind.
If anything, killing Haydee is precisely what will complete my revenge—
And then what?
Then...?
Let's say you kill Haydee and find the trail.
You find Morcerf and kill her. What comes after that?
I wondered what you were getting at, but this is nothing more than sophistry.
After that? Why should there need to be anything after that?
If everything happens as you say, then my revenge will already have succeeded.
Once it's all over... there will be nothing left.
No. You'll still be there.
You, left with nothing in your hands.
And what's wrong with only me being left?
How is that... any different from how things have always been?
The only thing I have left is revenge.
Cristelle... You're arrogant.
Arrogant...? How dare you say such a thing to me!
You're presumptuous, conceited...
And you think far too highly of yourself.
...Fufu. Captain, if you're trying to shake me with insults, stop wasting your breath.
Do you really think that will make me change my mind?
Do you really think you made it this far alone?
...
...You have a point. I wouldn't have made it this far without Haydee's help.
But if necessary, I will gladly live with the sin of abandoning her.
I, Cristelle, would not care even if my soul fell into hell for the sake of my blood-soaked revenge.
...*Sigh* I truly can't understand you.
Can you... not see the barrel pointed at you?
Even if every question you've asked is entirely justified...
I still can't understand why you'd risk your life to stop me.
Why not simply look the other way?
So now it's my turn to ask.
Just what... are you doing all this for?
I...
I couldn't answer her question right away.
She was right. Why was I standing in her way?
Truthfully, my connection to the two of them was shallow enough to call us little more than passing acquaintances.
So why was I taking such a risk for them?
Pwahaha!
After all that talk, you can't even muster up an answer for yourself, Captain?
If you're standing in the way of my revenge out of such a shallow sense of pity...
A thick anger seeped into Cristelle's voice.
If that's all this is...
Then I'll shatter that pathetic hypocrisy of yours with my own hands.
The heavy air around Cristelle began to churn violently.
Through the strands of hair whipping in the wind, her red eye fixed itself on me.
My vision wavered for an instant, and everything around me began to turn red.
My chest tightened, as if someone had seized my heart with an iron grip.
Kgh...!
The arrogant one isn't me, Captain. It's you.
...You say you'll save both Haydee and me?
Enough of your childish fantasies!
You want to save everyone? Truly?
You even want to save me after I've completed my revenge?
Don't make me laugh.
You know nothing about suffering. You don't know what true hell is like.
Ufufu... Of course you wouldn't.
Have you ever had a nightmare that wouldn't end even after you opened your eyes?
Have you ever lived through days when even closing your eyes could bring you no peaceful silence?
This eye...
It shows me hell without end.
A hell where I can only watch helplessly as ruin unfolds clearly before my eyes.
A place where everything destroyed by a single mistake collapses before me, and I can't even offer repentance.
Every single night. No, even at this very moment!
The screams blaming me and the wet sound of blood splashing around my feet never leave me!
You'll... never know.
What it feels like to lose everything precious to you again and again, every moment of your life.
What it feels like to kneel in that hell before her nauseating sneer.
The humiliation of groveling at her feet, offering to do anything to make it stop...
Even knowing it's useless. Even knowing that when I lie down the next night, that vile vision will only repeat itself.
I can never escape that endlessly repeating purgatory.
There is only one way to break that cycle...
Morcerf's death.
I couldn't refute her.
I couldn't know her pain.
I couldn't know what she'd been through or what had driven her to swear revenge.
I could understand her words with my head, but couldn't fathom the emotions within them. I couldn't reach those feelings.
Even so...
I still think this is wrong.
An ending where she has no choice but to kill a precious companion with her own hands for the sake of revenge.
An ending that corners her until it's the only path left.
I couldn't see it as anything but wrong.
You really are... selfish.
I have no intention of indulging your pathetic hero act any longer.
Haydee has to die here.
She will become the signpost that leads me to Morcerf.
If you still insist on forcing your way... then try stopping me by force.