Dimitri clutched his head as a screaming pain rang loud through his brain. The various scars along his battered armor ached in a silent scream as rivers of blood dripped onto the floor. A scramble of voices echoed all around his head and blended over and over again.
"You must kill her!" His father's voice screamed out to him.
"You have to avenge us!" Glenn's voice then spoke up.
Avengeuskillhermakethatwenchpaydimitriyouretheonlyonewhocandoit!
More and more voices then joined in as their scorched and mutilated faces were forced into the forefront of his mind. Dimitri placed his hand on a nearby tree as every word ripped at his heart. The old scars that made their home there flared to life as his chest pounded with agonizing pain. The grip on his hair tightened. The sound of splintering seemed to squeak into the air.
"I-It hurts…"
"S-Somebody...help…"
"Father! Mother where are you?!"
More and more memories of that day began to claw their way to the surface. It was like it happened yesterday. A sea of flames, ash, smoke, and corpses flooded through the city. The symphony of agonizing screams of pain that rung in his ears. The smell of scorched flesh and rotting corpses that filled his nose. All of it was still so clear and standing atop that mountain of chaos was a single silhouette of a single woman in red and black armor.
"I'll kill her" Dimitri muttered to himself, "I'LL KILL THAT DAMN WENCH WITH MY BARE HANDS!" He screamed out as the tree beside him snapped like a twig and fell to the ground.
"Did you hear something?" He heard a new voice speak up nearby.
"Yeah it sounded like it came from over there"
Dimitri looked up to see several imperial soldiers come into view from the forest ahead. He narrowed his eyes. Rats, nothing but rats, that work for that woman. A maniacal grin then formed on his lips.
"Like moths to a flame", he said to himself before charging headlong into the sea of soldiers.
"Who is this guy?"
"He's charging right at us!"
"Is he out of his mind?!"
"What can one guy do against all of us?!" one of the soldiers said as he thrust his lance forward and pierced Dimitri's shoulder.
These rats must pay for their sins!
However, Dimitri remained unfazed and simply reached for the man's head. With one hard squeeze, a loud scream hit the air as a fountain of blood sprayed from his head.
"Albert!" One of the other soldiers cried out and turned to Dimitri, "Bastard!"
Two soldiers then attacked him at once. Dimitri jumped and kicked them to the ground. He tossed the bloody and mangled corpse in his blood-soaked hand to the side and pulled the lance from his shoulder. More soldiers began to charge. Dimitri twirled the silver lance in his grip and threw it forward. A geyser of blood shot into the air as it impaled another soldier clean in the face. He grabbed another soldier's sword and with a kick tore away his arm.
"DIE!" three soldiers all shouted out as they charged Dimitri's blindspot.
Dimitri merely grunted in pain as three spears drilled through his flesh. A splash of blood spilled into the air.
"D-Did we get him?" One of the soldiers asked.
He received his answer when several more pained screams shot through the air.
"Is this really all you rats can do?" Dimitri said as he dropped yet another headless and bloodied corpse to the ground.
"What is this guy?"
"I-Is he even human?"
"He's a monster!"
"FALL BACK! WE MUST REGROUP!" their commander called out.
"As if you can escape the punishment for your sins that easily!" Dimitri cried out as he pulled out the last spear and gave chase.
A symphony of agony induced screams rang out across the forest. One after another, The imperial soldiers dropped like flies into the thick river of blood below. A soldier screeched out in visceral pain as Dimitri ripped apart his torso. Another didn't even get the chance as he vomited blood from his crushed throat. Twisted necks, dismemberment, ripping out organs, and suffocation were only the beginning as Dimitri showed no mercy in these acts. He didn't let up for even a second. He couldn't let these rats live with how much blood was on their hands. He would show them the same mercy they showed to all the innocence they've slaughtered. The villages they've raised and the people whose lives they've ruined. They were nothing more than beasts not unlike himself, and beasts have no right calling themselves human.
No matter how much pain he was in. No matter how many wounds covered his body. No matter how much his head rang loud with that screaming pain. This was nothing compared to the pain they've caused to others or the pain he felt that day. He would just get back up and drag his feet forward. The only thing that mattered to him now was the tributes he had to pay to the dead with that woman's head. No matter what he had to endure or how alone he was, this pain would protect him.
"Is that really what you want?" He heard a familiar female voice speak up.
Dimitri momentarily stopped his rampage. He dropped the corpse in his blood-drenched grip and clutched his head. The pain in his head only intensified as all the voices grew far more chaotic and frantic.
"Is that really what you want?" The female voice asked again.
"BE QUIET! I have to do this! It is my duty as the sole surviving member of the tragedy!"
"You look so sad…" The voice spoke again, "Is this truly what you need to do? Is this truly what the dead would want?"
"SILENCE!" Dimitri screamed out, "What do you know, HUH?! You have no right to criticize my actions!"
"I just don't want to see you hurt yourself anymore"
"ENOUGH! I'VE HEARD ENOUGH!"
With that, the voice faded away with the others. Deep ragged breaths pumped themselves from Dimitri's chest as he stood there in an ocean of blood. He pulled his hands from his face and looked around at the carnage site. Severed limbs, heads, organs, spines, bones, and all manner of mangled corpses seem to float along the crimson sea of despair around him.
He took a moment to look down at his hands all drenched in blood. He really was a beast. A demon who murders for the sake of pleasure. Yes, one day he too would have to pay for his sins.
"DIE MONSTER!" He heard a soldier cry out.
He turned his head as a lance was shoved into his right eye. He grabbed the lance's shaft to keep it from going deeper as he stumbled back. He looked over at the soldier in front of him. His body froze at the sight of his icy cold almost inhuman glare. For a moment, he saw a reflection of himself glaring right back at him.
"JUST DIE ALREADY YOU DAMN BASTARD!" The soldier cried out as he desperately tried to shove the lance deeper into Dimitri's skull. "YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY COMRADES!"
Dimitri tightened his grip on the lance's handle and in no time at all broke it in two. The soldier fell to his rear shaking uncontrollably. Everything was so dark at that moment. It was hard to see but one thing remained clear. He looked down into the soldier's face and through the blurry haze existed eyes full of fear and regret. And for a moment he saw Edelgard's body flashed over top of the soldier. He put his hand to his face and let out a dark chuckle which soon turned into a bone-chilling laugh.
"YOU SEE THIS EDELGARD! DO YOU SEE WHERE YOUR SINS HAVE BROUGHT YOU?! YOU CONTINUE TO LIVE ON THIS PILE OF CORPSES AND SUFFERING! WELL, NO LONGER! THE DEAD MUST HAVE THEIR TRIBUTE!" He pinned the soldier down with his foot and grabbed his head, "and I will see it paid..." He said in a cold deathlike tone as he mercilessly ripped the man's head from his shoulders.
What was it that I truly lost that day?
Well, that was a thing I wrote. I had this idea rattling in my head for a while now ever since I finished Azure Moon back in august but only now am I actually putting it to paper. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed. Also whoever gets the song references gets a cookie.