amaranthine
I want to die now from all my regrets. – demon slayer/orchid.
"Don't fight for me," she tells him, her small hands on his arm with a surprisingly strong grip like iron.
He doesn't know how she knows about his intent to advocate for leniency. "What about Lotus?" he asks her gently.
She flinches. "I-I . . . ."
He knows that she does want to live, see her brother again, see Gelimer die a torturous death and laugh again happily. He just needs to remind her by stirring the embers until he can reignite the fire within her.
Orchid does make things difficult, though. "I-I'm not strong enough."
"I fought for my brother, too," he reminds her. "I know you're capable of showing remorse. You can still repent."
Her violet eyes fill with tears, but she still smiles. "Do you think so?"
"I know so," he says confidently and hopes he's changed her mind.
She remains still. "No," she says in the end. "I've done terrible things."
"So have I."
"But not many remember it, and you want to repent for your actions. I don't. I'd do it all again to bring Lotus back," she pouts, and a little of the old Orchid shines through the nearly-empty shell she's become. "I'd just make sure that Gelimer died 'accidently'."
She giggles at the idea, and as 'wrong' as it is to laugh at the idea of someone being killed off, he laughs with her. "You don't know for sure that the Alliance will order your execution."
"I do."
There is no laughter now. "And you're not going to protest?"
She shrugs. "I've done bad things."
"But what about Lotus?" they've come a full circle now and it's her move that will decide whether they'll repeat the cycle or start down a new path of options.
Orchid nibbles on her bottom lip, a habit from centuries ago she still has. "I can't face his old body again."
"It's still him -"
"That thing," her voice shakes with anger, "is not my brother."
The petite blonde is upset. He promised himself he wouldn't upset her. "Alright," he says, backing down. He knows when he's lost.
A few minutes of semi-comfortable silence later, he stands up to leave when she speaks again. "And I know you'll bring Gelimer to justice."
She does want to live. But the way she wants to live is an old way, a picturesque world identical to the past when she was young and carefree and happy with her brother at her side. A world that's been shattered by betrayal and heartbreak.
Without that world the little flower girl will wither away. She's chosen to give up.
He leaves her feeling like he's failed.
As sad as it is . . . the Alliance and the Resistance probably won't forgive Orchid like they did to the DS.
The actually-explains-stuff summary: Hearing that Orchid will most likely be sentenced to death, the Demon Slayer comes to try and convince her to fight for her life. Unfortunately, she feels that she doesn't have anything to live for anymore.
(that didn't explain anything.)
The vague summary comes from a sentence in one of the English translations to the Vocaloid song 'Butterfly on your right shoulder'. Neither this song or 'Alligator Sky' is anything remotely similar to this story, but it's what I listened to while writing.
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