isleofavalon | closed log; But you went away, how dare you

Entry tags:

fate/sn: caster (medea)

closed log; But you went away, how dare you

🧙 WHO: Maribelle & Caster.
⚔️️ WHAT: Good friends and former roommies had a falling out. Now it's time for a confrontation. No guarantees of a reconciliation. Caster's gunna Caster. Maribelle's gunna Maribelle.
🕒 WHEN: Early July/Late Afternoon
🗺️ WHERE: Caster's Home/Room.
⚠️ WARNINGS: N/A, will update if needed.

After hearing the same piece of advice over and over from various individuals, Maribelle finally took it - perhaps she'd known this was what she should have done all along, but she could be frightfully stubborn. So could Caster, apparently. But it was Maribelle who "broke" first, and hoped the letter she sent via her familiar would be well received. It was short, simple, and right to the point.

Dear Caster,
I wish to speak to you in private about us. I will be waiting at [x] date and [x] time where we used to live together.
I understand if you do not wish to do speak to me. If you do not appear, I will not bother you further.
Sincerely,
Maribelle.

Now, all she could do was wait... and try to plan out what she wanted to say. What if Caster wasn't truly sorry at all for what she'd done? What if she had nothing but scorn for Maribelle even attempting to reach out? She sighed, rubbing her arms as she waited outside, her mind and heart aching.

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Caster had been lurking at the Red Springs when the note finally arrived- that familiar was one she recognised immediately, and although the temptation was there to just burn the letter without giving it so much as a glance... she was so tired.

Private, hm... a small, paranoid part of Caster's mind wondered if she intended to bring along some 'friends' to target her. But Maribelle was an honourable person- that was, in fact, the issue in this case.

She'd always known that her companion was a different sort of person to her. Someone who balked at unsavoury tactics like the ones she usually deployed. But Maribelle had trusted her- and she'd done so in kind. And, perhaps, Caster thought that would be enough that she'd stay by her side.

...No. The truth was, in the madness of her grief, she didn't care about the consequences. She'd expected to come out of this alone.

As it was, she did find herself heading back to her old home with her dragonic familiar on one shoulder- a home she'd barely visited since their fight. Caster hadn't felt safe all alone. Despite the weather, she hadn't shed the dark cloak.

Just as well. Somehow she felt strangely cold when she saw the woman waiting for her.

"...Maribelle."

It was difficult to tell how Caster was as the older woman approached, given the cloak - she could only hope Caster was well, whether she deserved to be or not.

Still, her presence at all made Maribelle feel both tense and relieved. What an odd sensation. She tried to keep her face natural, and bowed her head once before stepping aside to allow Caster inside.

"Caster." She gestured to the door. "After you." A pause, and then, a little quieter, "Thank you for coming."

"Very well." She entered the living room, darkness curling about her hands as she shot a glance around, just to make sure they were alone. Well, if need be, she had Rule Breaker with her.

The quiet thank you wasn't lost on her, and she offered a show of hospitality in turn- dropping her magic and lowering the hood of her cloak- before turning to face her former companion. Thankfully, her scars from the battle were easily hidden, but the red, tired eyes less so.

"...You wished to speak with me about the battle, I take it."

Edited 2021-07-08 15:28 (UTC)

Maribelle followed her inside, closing the door behind her. It was now or never, no going back.

She lifted her head, trying to face Caster eye to eye. "I'm not here to... put you on a 'guilt trip', as I've heard it called." A new slang she's heard, but not unwelcome, perhaps something to bring back to her realm. But anyway. "I'll admit, it's been difficult to reconcile ... the woman I knew, and what I saw that day. It was almost like you were two different people. But... the fact is... I miss the woman I knew. And I know you're still here."

As if Caster held any guilt for her actions. No- no, she didn't. She met Maribelle's eyes, listening.

"...I told you as much when we first met, didn't I? That I was that sort of woman? One who called upon any number of dark magics here and during my lifetime- and did I not tell you of the bloody quests I carried out shortly after I arrived in this world? Besides, if you cared to look up my legend, my name was immortalised in Myth for a vengeance like this one."

Caster sighed, heavily. There wasn't much energy in her voice to argue. "I don't know why you ever believed I was anything other than a selfish, wretched witch. Anything other than someone who would commit any evil to get what I want."

Gods, the urge to argue was tempting - Maribelle did want to rant and rave and yell, but she held it all back. It wouldn't help here, that's not what she came here for.

"... I guess it was just easier for me to... sweep things under the rug, so long as it was in the past. So long as I never had to see it for myself. Then I could tell myself all the little white lies I needed." That maybe Caster held back on the bloodier quests. That there was more the stories behind the title of the witch. It had been foolish, perhaps even childish. But then Caster had brought out the wickedness to the forefront, with her declaration of revenge and all the damage it brought.

"That was selfish on my part. I called myself your friend... yet ignored and twisted your deeds to suit my own narrative. That was cruel of me... and for that, I do apologize." She even followed suit with a small bow of her head and chest.

It was sincere and genuine - Maribelle didn't give apologies like this easily. After all, she rarely saw herself in the wrong.

The apology wasn't what Caster had been expecting- if anything, the ranting would have surprised her less.

So she had been blissfully trying to ignore all of Caster's darkness. Perhaps she'd never even looked up her legend for exactly that reason. "...Back home, most people did the opposite- twisted my being and my legend to call me a witch responsible for all the world's evils. I can't say I hate the fact that someone tried to see the best in me."

Caster hesitated, not sure where to go from here. The fact still remained that Maribelle had seen exactly how awful she really was, now she couldn't lie to herself about Caster's true nature anymore.

"Perhaps I owe you an explanation, all the same. For...what happened, that night."

"Perhaps that would be best." Maribelle agreed, and moved to take a seat. That meant she meant on staying here for... who knew how long? Until she was satisfied?

"I won't force you to divulge any more than you're comfortable with... but I do want to understand what happened better. I want to understand you better." Not the witch. Not "Caster". Not the whole black Caster saw herself as, or the whole white Maribelle tried to paint her with. She wanted to know Medea.

A heavy sigh escaped her as Maribelle took a seat. Even if she came to understand who Caster was- what then?

"I doubt it will make any difference to how you see me, but...my last memories of my world were one of the battles of the Holy Grail War. You don't need to know the details, but Archer had betrayed me and unleashed a barrage of weapons against my Master- my- my Souichirou-sama." Her voice wavered as a fresh ripple of pain went through her. "...When I first arrived in Avalon, Saber told me that I'd died protecting him. I was content to leave it at that, but..."

She paused, waiting to see if Maribelle had anything she wanted to ask, before she carried on.

The only questions Maribelle had were obvious answers - Souchirou was obviously someone Caster loved very deeply. It did make her rage more understandable - history was filled with those with wounded hearts who went mad when they were separated by their loved ones.

Archer's mere presence couldn't have set Caster off, since he'd been there a while before Caster set her plan ablaze. But if Caster was content to have been the shield if it meant Souichirou lived... then the anger that followed could only have been the result of one action.

"... You discovered... your beloved had been killed." No doubt by Archer.

At the comment, fresh pain twisted its way into the woman's face. "...Even without my magic empowering him, he- he didn't leave the battle whilst he had the chance. He went to attack Archer, regardless, and-"

She couldn't carry on with that sentence, but after a pained silence, she forced herself to remember the words Saber had told her. Her beloved's last words.

"'This is something I started, I can't quit without seeing it through'... perhaps he still wanted to win the Grail for my sake- or wanted to avenge me- I don't know for certain.

...I wanted to know the truth, so I confronted Saber the night before the trials. That was when she told me."

Caster had been so sure of the outcome. That without her, Souichirou would have lost his reason to fight and have abandoned the battle- but instead of that assurance, the news had left a deep wound on her heart. One which Celliwig's Trials had only deepened.

Silence hung in the room. One could have heard a pin drop. Maribelle said nothing, watching Caster's face.

Eventually, after a long, agonizing moment, she rose from her seat. Quietly, she walked toward Caster...

And then, with all the gentleness she had within her, held Caster.

She had thought maybe the revelation came the day before the flames - but not so early, not when she and Maribelle were still living side by side. When Caster had her world devastated, Maribelle just... hadn't noticed. She only thought it was the trials giving Caster grief, and nothing more than that.

"I owe you another apology," Maribelle said softly, her own eyes watery. "... That you were suffering so deeply, and that I never took a chance to ask. I do not know if I could have given you the comfort you so deserved, and I doubt I could have healed the scars such knowledge gave you... but for not seeking you out further... for not even inquiring why the trials affected you so... this is my blame, and one I cannot ask forgiveness for."

Caster's face was distant. A quieter version of that pain she'd shown on her broadcast- eyes almost clouded by a simmering anguish that had long since burned out. But a tension shook her out the grief-haze as Maribelle approached, stealing herself to be slapped or yelled at for everything she'd caused in her madness.

But instead, she held her.

In the aftermath of the Trials themselves, Caster didn't sleep much. She snuck out late into the evening after a couple of the trials, even phoned a close friend in the aftermath of the Siren trial to check he was okay. But she never spoke to the cause of her pain- or that the trials were simply rubbing salt into a deep wound. Caster was distant- at once restless and exhausted- but the trials alone could easily have explained her mood.

She hated it- the way fresh tears sprung up in her eyes as Maribelle held her- her slim body tensed up for a moment until she slowly, slowly started to settle. And she shakily put her arms around her, craving the comfort it offered.

"...you saved my life, after that Siren posed itself as him. I haven't forgotten that." A small murmur, an acknowledgement of her apology at least.

That would have been a mere 5 days after learning of his death. And why she'd run to the Siren so willingly.

Tears ran down Maribelle's face, and she made no move to pull away. She wasn't sure when she'd stop crying or let go of Caster. She definitely didn't want to do the latter anytime soon.

Excuses were not the same as acceptance. Caster still did wrong by all of Avalon, and by Darin - but if something so devastating had happened to Chrom or Lissa, and had Maribelle held such power, could she honestly say she wouldn't do the same? She'd like to think she wouldn't, that clearer heads would prevail - but there were very few guaranteed certainties in life.

"I wanted to be the kind of person you could rely on... the one you could come to, when your heart was shattered. I still want to be that person for you. I still want to be your friend."

"Still? Even knowing the sort of evil Witch that I am? Perhaps... at least I should be the one apologising to you, for concealing the worst of my nature until then."

Her voice was just a murmur, as she continued to hold onto Maribelle. A small part of her mind was screaming- reminding Caster that this friend could simply turn on her again, the next time she unleashed her wrath in such a way.

She never intended to excuse her actions. They were evil. Dark magics and betrayals fitting with what she really was- what point was there in trying to claim they were anything else? But her vengeance was never without reason. It seemed now, at least, Maribelle understood that.

After a few long, agonizing moments passed without words, Maribelle managed to collect herself. She wiped her face with one hand, before pulling back enough to look at Caster's face.

This next step was, perhaps, one of the most important.

"... As deeply as I feel all I have said... I cannot be a part of your life again until you address the true innocent party in all of this. Darin."

It becomes obvious within seconds that Maribelle doesn't know Darin's already buried the hatchet, more or less. But even so, she needs to hear from Caster.

"I consider him... a friend, of sorts." Not that she ever would tell him! It's none of his business! Even though he considers her one too. It's complicated. (It isn't.) "And I need to know that, at the very least, you have apologized to him for what you've done."

"I was surprised to hear you two were friends...but he has a stubborn tendency to befriend everyone," she said quietly.

"...We ran into each other in Celliwig, and spoke about what happened. About everything that lead up to this. For some reason that man refuses to hold any of it against me."

And Caster herself was very conflicted about that. But, well, the fact remained that he wasn't nursing a grudge.

"He forgave me."

Relief floods through her like a mighty river. There's not even a second of doubt in accepting Caster's answer - after all, a lie like that would be as easy as asking Darin, and she didn't think he'd go along with a ruse. She exhales deeply, a hand on her chest.

"... If the main victim in all of this has shown you so mercy, then I hardly can do otherwise. And I must admit... I'm happy to hear it."

A small smile. Not a full, strong one, but it's there nonetheless.

Still, one must be proper about things. A slight bow of her body, before she asks...

"May I move back in, Medea?"

That's how strongly she felt about being friends with Caster again - using the sacred True Name.

A weak, tired smile came into Caster- Medea's own face. It was comforting, to hear Maribelle speak to her as a friend once again, and she lowered her head respectfully in turn.

"I'd like that, yes...I've not been back here too much recently, it's too quiet when I'm alone." She'd need to move her belongings back in, wouldn't she...? Most of them were still at Morgan's dojo or her temporary lodgings at the Red Springs.

"I'm sure it will take us a little time to truly trust each other again-" After all, Medea couldn't quite shake the anxiety that Maribelle would abandon her once again, and she was sure Maribelle would take a little longer to trust that she wouldn't unleash bloody vengeance in Avalon a second time. "-but I do want to try."

"I've been... surfing the couch, as it's called." She's pretty sure that's what it's called, anyway. "But... as long as we're confessing things, I do have one more thing to share."

Thankfully, judging from her blush and awkward throat clearing, it's nothing harmful or hurtful. Just a tad embarrassing.

"I... well. As I left... Despite all the hurt between us, I was still very concerned about you, so... I had my familiar watch over you. Just in case you needed help." Then, added very quickly with some fluster, "N-Not that I think you're a child, or that you need watching, or anything of the sort! I just... it was all I could think of to do to help you."

"You as well, hm?" But she didn't elaborate on where she'd been, instead focusing on whatever embarrassing secret it was that Maribelle had to confess to her-

"Wait, what...your familiar was watching me? How much did it..."

Medea trailed off. Had it seen her break down after Maribelle left her at home? Those eerie nights where she lurked at the Loch Manor? The many, many times she'd cried whilst Klaudia and Morgan did what they could to remind her to eat or care for herself?

Her own cheeks went a little red at the thought of that.

Maribelle shook her head, hoping to prevent Caster from revealing anything embarrassing by accident. "I only wanted it to alert me if you were in danger. Anything else, it wasn't to bother you." Also, she didn't really know how to "talk" to a familiar, so if the bird had caught anything it shouldn't, the secret stayed with it, apparently.

"Of course, now I can tell it to stop the watch... but if it made you uncomfortable, then I will give you yet another apology."

"I see...that is a relief. But no, it didn't make me uncomfortable, I'm just surprised," Medea hesitated. "I assumed you'd be plenty content to abandon me regardless of what came to pass."

"...But I misjudged you in that sense."

Maribelle was only offended for a quick second, but, well - this entire conversation had proven they both didn't know each other as well as they'd thought. So she took it gracefully, sitting back in her seat.

"It seems we've both been doing a lot of that lately... and it may come to pass that we'll get hurt again. But... now we can try this path together with a little more faith and knowledge. I'm willing to try."

"...As am I. I would like to try that, as well, to learn to trust one another once again."

Finally, a small, tired smile came back into Medea's face- it was hard to smile these days, but...it was there. Just a little.

It would certainly take time, but this was far better than having Maribelle as an enemy. And behind all her spite and rage and everything else, Medea had missed her in the interim.

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closed log; But you went away, how dare you

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