Last time I posted one of these, a reviewer requested I not because they're not "Story chapters"... I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. These tell part of the story, often from a Servant who wouldn't get much focus otherwise. So, here we go.

- X Marie X-

Marie Antoinette knocked gently on the door of the room in the Wandering Sea, adjusting the black dress she was wearing, "Izuku, do you mind if I come in?"

There was a muffled noise she decided to take as a no, even if it was like a yes. Swiping her keycard, she punched in the code Da Vinci had given her and watched the door slide open. Stepping into the dark room, she flicked on the light, and quickly punched the button to shut the door. Quite literally.

It wouldn't do Chaldean morale any favors to see their leader in such a disheveled and disheartened state. Izuku looked all the world like he had arrived at the Sea, collapsed into bed and hadn't gotten up in the last three days. And he might not have.

One arm, still with the broken remains of his cane attached to it, sat over his sheets. The pouches and shoulder holster of his Chaldea Arctic Uniform were slung over the nightstand, revealing an empty USP and the four intact daggers of the Spiritfuge, alongside the two broken blades in the pouches.

Izuku himself was still wearing everything of the combat uniform except for his boots, which had been tossed at the wall, leaving a slight dent. His lighter was in his free hand, flicking on and off while the black and green unkempt beard he tended to grow when he didn't have time to shave was larger than she had ever seen it. As rude as it was, it would be fun to tell the girls that it was naturally that color and that curly when this was all over.

"I said not to come in," Izuku croaked.

"Nemo Bakery and Erice asked me to talk to you," Marie said, moving the desk chair so she was sitting across from Izuku. He didn't move from the bed, continued to ignite and put out the beautifully engraved silver lighter, "They think you're not taking what you did well… and having seen you, they aren't wrong, Izuku."

Izuku didn't say anything, just ignited the lighter again.

"Izuku," Marie started, before changing tracts, "Master. What's wrong? You've killed people before."

"That was different," Izuku croaked, "I didn't want to kill those people, Marie…"

"You wanted to kill Gut," Marie finished for him.

"What kind of Hero wants to kill someone?" Izuku said, voice quivering, "I shot him, and he kept coming. I stabbed him and it barely stopped him… I… I… his head… his head Marie…"

The borderline supernatural amount of tears Izuku was capable of releasing came then, dampening his pillow.

"I didn't just beat him to death," Izuku sobbed.

Considering the Count had torn Izuku off Gut, she wasn't surprised by the implication there.

"Izuku," Marie said, "if I could go back to before the revolution and change one thing, do you know what it was?"

"What?" Izuku sniffled.

"I'd execute Robespierre, Danton and Marat," Marie said, "I don't care how despotic it would seem, I would find an excuse to see Charles-Henri execute them all."

"I- I thought y-you didn't hold your execution against anyone?"

"I don't hold my execution against France," Marie corrected, "I don't even hold it against those three. If I had to die for the next chapter of French history to start, then I would allow it to happen without any regrets… but what they did to Louis Charles … what Erice says he's like now because of the Revolutionaries. That he is an Avenger Servant as likely the only class he can be summoned as. That is something I can never forgive those… those… salauds for. My Louis Charles was an angel, and they tortured him to death long before he died from tuberculosis, if it was even that that took his life."

"Why… why are you telling me this?"

"Because the one type of hate most pure, both from how we feel it and how forgivable it is, is hate because of something that happens to those we care about. Do you have Beryl because of something he did to you?"

"No," Izuku said.

"Then tell me why you hate Beryl," Marie said, sitting next to Izuku and taking his hand like he was Louis, moving his head into her lap. So this was why Erice had picked her. Because if there was anyone who understood it, it was her.

"I hate him… because he tried to hurt Mash," Izuku said, tears still streaming down his face, "I hate him because he killed Wodime. And he wanted to hurt Mash again… and he just… just… why wouldn't you want to be a better person!?"

Izuku punctured the question by slamming his broken cane into the was, causing several shards of metal to come flying off the jagged end.

"Wodime made mistakes, but why would you kill him for trying to save humanity in his own way!? And Mash… Mash…!"

"You love her," Marie said simply.

"She was my first friend in a long time," Izuku said, "Her and Roman…"

"Then of course you're angry," Marie said, "That doesn't make you a bad person, Izuku, anymore than I am for hating what they did to Louis Charles."