After a deadly battle with the revived living mountain Geolus, Arthur had lost everything. In order to defeat his enemies he had lost his friends, family, and the love of his life. However, when Arthur is unexpectedly sent back in time to the day of...
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Arthur Leywin
It's funny how history is doomed to repeat itself if one is not cautious of the past. My past life as Grey and this one blended together at the image that displayed itself before me.
Tessia... no, more accurately Cecilia's near lifeless body rested on my aether blade. The overwhelming mana that had previously been resting in her body threatened to burst out if I made even the slightest move.
How had things come to this? How had my life once again fallen apart without my notice?
"Grey... I'm sorry." Cecilia spoke, her voice coming out in raspy whispers. A faint, self-deprecating smile hung on her lips. "Just like last time, I ruined everything and left you to pick up the pieces."
I wanted to agree with her. Because of her, I had lost everything. My home, my family, my first love... but I knew it wasn't her fault.
"Cecilia, you're not the one to blame. This was all Agrona's fault." I said, my own voice sounding like grunts as I held up my own injured, tired body. Yes, this had all been the workings of Agrona Vritra. From the very start, he had intended for things to end here.
The ruler of Alacrya had truly outsmarted everyone. No one could have possibly known what that monster had been planning all from the start. Cecilia hadn't been the weapon we thought her to be. No, she had simply been it's core. She was simply a tool to bring about the revival of the living mountain, Geolus.
While still barely maintaining my aether blade - the only thing preventing the large currents of mana from escaping Cecilia's core - I looked around the large structure where I stood. The cave like structure was the heart of the large monster. Large leafy tendrils sprung from various places in the heart, binding Cecilia and siphoning her mana.
Even now, looking at everything, I struggled to believe it. I remembered when I had barely defeated the Alacrian leader, after I was able to break into the 3rd layer of my aether core. Even with that newfound power, I was hardly able to leave a scratch on him. It was only when Regis, my companion and friend, had burned his remaining life force and pushed it into the destruction rune that I was able to defeat him. Even then, the Vritra had smiled and told me that everything had gone according to his plan.
My painful memories of the past were interrupted by Cecilia coughing up a mouthful of blood onto the floor, before choking out a weak statement. "Grey, I'm not going to last much longer. Once I'm gone, the mana and aether inside Geolus will go berserk. You should run away as far as you-"
"I'm not running." I interrupted. "Not like I can, considering the state I'm in. But even if I could, what's there to live for anymore?" My words seemed to weigh heavily on the girl as her head fell in defeat. We fell into silence for what seemed like forever.
Sounding even weaker then before, she rose her head with a determined look and finally broke the silence. "I guess I owe this to you then Grey. It's not much, but I hope that you two are at least able to say goodbye." The girl said, before putting on a tearful smile. She took a deep breath, and then slumped forward once again.
I held my breath, not sure what the girl had meant. Then, her form once again began to stir. She lifted her head, and gazed into my eyes. What I saw was not the eyes of Cecilia, but of the woman I loved.
"Tessia?" I asked, not daring to hope that I would ever be able to see her again after Cecilia has told me she erased her.
"Art?" Tessia said, tears already filling her eyes. I moved forward, still careful to keep control over the aetheric blade which was the only thing keeping us both alive, and wrapped one arm around her, pulling her into the deepest hug I could. We sat there is silence, comforted in each others warmth.
I could hear her voice trembling as she spoke once more. "I- I thought I would never see you again."
"Me too. I'm glad we were wrong." I said, struggling to hold back my tears.
Her voice, once again choking up, spoke. "It's not fair. Where's our happy ending?" She asked, her sobs increasing in intensity. I wanted to crack a joke, make fun of her for acting like a princess in a story book, but I felt the same way. After all of our struggles, after all of the losses - the death - I still held on hope that I could find a solution. In the end, I just wasn't enough.
Tessia started to shake as she said," I-I wanted to keep our promise. I wanted to end the war, get married to you, have a family with you-" her words grew more and more sorrowful as she shared her wishes with me. Wishes that would never come to be. My own sobs broke free as I held her closer. We continued to hold one another, talking about a future that would never come to be. Finally, she reached up and cupped my face in her hands, pulling me into a deep kiss that told me more then words ever could. About her pain, her regret... her love.
Soon after, she died in my arms. I felt my heart shatter looking at her lifeless form, the tear streaks still evident on her face. And I wondered, what would I have done differently to change things? However, thinking like that was useless. I had already failed my second chance. There likely would be no third, as there wasn't a mad-minded Vritra pulling on the strings of fate this time.
Steeling my resolve, I let the aether blade I was holding dissipate. Incredible amounts of mana burst forth from Tessia's broken core, and aether leaked from the living mountain who, without Tessia, was dying once again. My vision filled with a bright light before fading to black.
I let myself relax as my body faded to dust. I hoped that there was some kind of afterlife where I could spend my time with those I had lost, but I didn't hold out hope. My first life on earth had introduced me to various religions, but if such a thing was true I would likely end up in some form of hell for all the choices I had made.
Still, despite my doubt I saw a small light at the end of a long tunnel. The thought arose in my head that there better not be a choir of babies with wings singing at the end, but then I realized that this whole situation - even that thought - was awfully familiar.
"Congratulations, sir and madam. He's a healthy boy!"
And thus began my third life.
Author's Note: Hello everyone, I was just finishing up volume nine of TBATE when this idea of Cecilia being used to revive Geolus popped into my head. This might just stay as a sort of one shot, as I'm not too sure where I would take the story and honestly I'm not confident in my ability as a writer (this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction). However, if I did continue this it would likely be about Arthur fixing his mistakes and trying to resolve conflicts - aka very wish-fulfilment-like. Anyway, I hope you guys liked chapter 1 of To Right My Wrongs.
3/23: New Cover! Took my original hand-drawn cover and ran it through ai a few times and it made this! Quite a bit better than the previous one, right?
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