Marianne and the Forbidden Codex: A Fire Emblem Three Houses story

Heartbreak, Part Two

Hilda, facing Marianne, was looking at her friend tensely. «I just can't take it back... I'm sorry, Marianne». Meanwhile, the light blue-haired girl was still in some strange shock. Hearing from Leonard about this situation had already been painful. However, seeing proof of the fact from her friend was too strong. She was still somewhat in denial about the situation.

"I still don't understand... what Leonard did to you."

"He used my body mercilessly, just like a beast," Hilda replied, covering her neck. "Leonard is not the sweet and loving man you thought you knew. And without a doubt, that bestiality was expressed about me."

"Why would he... that?" Marianne crumpled to her knees on the ground.

"I provoked it," Hilda replied, surprising Marianne even more. "A few nights ago, I questioned him because I saw Lysithea proposing. I felt that he was a freeloader. I attacked him with my axe," Hilda rubbed her arm, looking down. "There, he told me to attack him, that he didn't deserve your love."

"How did he ask you to attack him?" Marianne asked, puzzled.

"Yes... That display of loyalty and righteousness disgusted me. I got angry; then I attacked him while he kept that monstrous appearance and didn't fight back, as if he showed a moral superiority to the point that made you want to vomit. I attacked him until I got tired. Then, a strange feeling was born: Why couldn't a man have that courage and loyalty towards me?"

"I don't understand; You're supposed to... You were supporting me."

"But I can't go on," she replied, her eyes glassy. "Last night, as you asked me, I went to see him. I saw him asleep. I changed one of his bandages." she went on, inadvertently touching her lips, a gesture that said more to Marianne than a thousand words. "I kissed him. I got carried away. He didn't wake up, but in a dream, he took me and kissed me," Hilda was speechless for a bit. Then he went on. "The worst thing is that I couldn't leave, Marianne... But he said your name at the end of that dream and our meeting."

"So... who was he thinking when they did that to you?" Marianne asked desperately—. "Did he do something to you but dream of me? ... I do not understand anything."

"He could have dreamed anything, but the one in front of him was me. And with me, he should take responsibility and stay."

"And why would he stay with you, Hilda?" the young woman questioned, feeling desperation and anger challenging to recognize in her.

"He loves you, but that's just romantic," Hilda said again, her expression and voice hinting at cruelty. "To me... He desired me, and he will do it even more since with me, he will stay. He must take responsibility for what he did to me."

"I don't want... I don't want to finish our relationship," Marianne demanded, starting to cry, unable to look Hilda in the eye.

"I'll make it finish. I'll give him the passion that beast inside him wants," Hilda snapped, feeling even more cruel. "He doesn't want to get on with a prude like you..."

Marianne couldn't recognize Hilda. It seemed like another person. However, the only thing that mattered to the girl was that her friend was going too far. Hilda, for her part, stopped when she realized that the beast was her. The violence of her attack on Leonard and his devouring her had overpowered her. She wanted to be able to be more beastly than that boy who only got carried away in a strange trance by mistaking her for Marianne.

In the same way, Marianne felt tremendous guilt for reaching out to Dimitri and giving him certain illusions. But she also wanted to go back to Leonard and find out what had gone through his mind and what those powerful traumas had made him so irrational.

On an angry impulse, Marianne lunged at her friend. Hilda couldn't see his face. Suddenly, he felt a blow to his face. The girl had given her a slap that stunned her, but less so than the following words.

"You lie!" she yelled angrily. "I severed his back as he accepted the monster I was becoming and calmed me down with a prayer! That's the real thing to me! Come to your senses!... You're my friend!... I can understand your wounded pride, but I don't want to end this without trying one last time!"

Now it was Hilda who collapsed to her knees. She froze. It couldn't be that that shy girl from earlier had hit or yelled at her. He repeatedly apologized to her. Marianne was no better than before. The woman felt she was losing a great friend just for holding a feeling also seen as lost.

Even if he named her in the middle of that act, what Leonard was doing was not right. The composed and romantic attitude that she was used to did not fit with that attitude during her dreams. She shuddered to think that she had seen him sleep a few times.

Marianne apologized to Hilda for slapping her. Hilda didn't answer. She didn't deserve to forgive anyone. She was the one who should apologize, too. Still, on the ground, she looked up at what had been her friend until recently.

"I wanted to support you with him... Why did everything turn out this way?" she asked, crying. "I wanted to boost you, not destroy the beautiful love you were cultivating... I felt something strange inside me because of him; romantic, but also..." Hilda didn't dare to talk about sex in front of Marianne. "... Have you felt it too?"

"Yeah, I felt it... And I also wanted to feel what you two did, and you haven't dared to say," Marianne said, determined, despite her insecurity and nervousness. "I'll try to see if the beast inside Leonard, as well as mine, was the one that attacked... If not, we should step aside or wait for him to decide too... I don't know."

Hilda shook her head. He didn't want to get involved anymore.

"Excuse me, friend... Really," Hilda repeated the exact phrase a few times, crying. "I hope you forgive me... But I don't know if I deserve your friendship."

"I don't want to stop being your friend," Marianne replied, crouching down. "We'll clear this up... I'm sure."

Hilda hugged Marianne, crying. She couldn't call. She felt like she didn't deserve it. She couldn't even tell Hilda about her encounter with Dimitri. Hilda herself thought that she did not deserve to be blamed for this. The damage was enough.

Marianne thought again that the Goddess's designs were strange. If this were a test, she would just let himself be carried away by her will. If she had put a friend and a man in her path, she had to discern what meaning each one had in her life finally. But she wasn't a saint either. Pain, anger, and regrets were eating her alive again for that moment with Dimitri. Or even because of the desire to be treated the same as Hilda Leonard.

Marianne had already entered the fort again. She felt how her whole body trembled. She felt defenseless but strong at the same time. She never expected to yell like that at anyone, least of all her dear friend. She understood she could hate her for it, but she tried to see the plot from the outside and realized that not even Hilda had considered an ending like this. Despite this, the confrontation between the two had been inevitable, and one with Leonard would be inevitable.