"Milady, please-"
"Stop talking. You're wasting your energy."
It was a pathetic sight, really. Seth leaning on Eirika, who stood several feet shorter than him, through Darkling Woods. Seth was hit badly by a cyclops, and Eirika refused to just leave him.
"Milady, your energy would be much better spent fighting inside the temple-"
Her voice was stone cold, "And your energy would be much better spent on staying alive."
Seth clenched his teeth. She would risk all of her energy, for what? To save a man doomed to die? Seth remembered his words to her; If you cannot send your men to die, than you are not fit to rule. Yet here she was, blatantly ignoring him.
"Milady…"
"SHUT UP, SETH!"
Her sudden burst of anger caught him off guard, "I'M NOT LOSING YOU, TOO!"
That was it. It wasn't that she wanted to save him, it was that she didn't want to lose another man. Another person she cared about. Seth could feel his tears starting to form. All his princess wanted was to keep some humanity, to keep her life as it was, to keep everything as it was. Seth knew, however, that it could not be so. He felt it the minute he needed her help to stand. He knew this would be his last few minutes alive, and here it was; dieing while listening to his Queen crumble underneath the hell known as reality. Nevertheless, he readied himself. He would say what he needed to say, what she needed to hear, what she didn't want to hear.
"Milady, let me say one thing…"
Her voice felt distant, "Seth, stop-"
"No." He was adamant in wanting to speak- he would make her hear him out or literally die trying, "Milady, it has been in honor serving you."
Eirika started to cry, knowing exactly where he was going with this, "No… please,"
Seth knew that it was now or never, either say this now or forever damn himself for not being able to say it, "You have been one of the most wonderful women I know… I was blessed to be able to serve such a great queen. But… you need to learn that I won't live. No matter how much you want it to be so, people will not survive battles. All I ask is this…"
She was crying, tears causing her vision to blur, "Seth I will not take some death wish-"
He cut her off, "You think I want to die? Eirika, I want to live. But I won't, I know I won't, and I think you know I won't as well. All I ask is this; Please, don't cry for me. Don't cry for any soldier lost. Don't cry for us. We die serving our country, and it is a life we are proud to live. So please, don't cry for us. We have no sorrow in our deaths, and neither should you."
She looked at him incredulously, "Seth…" Suddenly, she snapped, ethicalness of what was happening causing her to scream, "NO! I command you, Seth! I order you to live!"
"Ha! As if an order would make a difference!" Seth thought. But his voice was cracking, "I'm sorry…. I can't…"
Eirika stood there, for several minutes, hoping he would finish his sentence. He did not. It was there that she learned the meaning of death. Her father was the coffin, and Seth was the nail in it. She realized just how cruel the world was. She learned how the Goddess has a cruel way of handling the innocent. She realized just what it meant to be 'fit to rule'. She sat down, her hands trembling, and she closed his eyes. She did many things after that; she fought with her friends to stop the demon king, she said farewell to these friends, she buried Seth next to her father back at Renias… But there was one thing she didn't do.
She did not cry.