AN: So the question came up on discord about the end of Enri's life in God Rising, and I felt she deserved an ending scene of her own, so I wrote this, but wasn't sure quite where to put it, so I made it a one shot stand alone. I think it fits quite well. Also, unrelated note, I've been rewriting the early segments of God Rising, VASTLY improving the early chapters, expanding some content, and so on. You'll find the rewrites on royalroad dot com where somehow it has jumped up in the rankings tremendously. Enjoy. And let me hear your thoughts on this one.
...Enri's Home in Carne...Decades after the War for the New World...
Enri lay in her bed and reached over to touch Lupusregina's hand. The maid looked down at her from where she sat beside the bed and let the Grand Matriarch's flesh fold into her palm. Her lifelong bodyguard folded her other hand on top, covering the Grand Matriarch's wrinkled skin entirely.
The bed in which she lay was small, beautifully carved, dark wood and shining brightly when the light through the window struck it. The mattress beneath was soft, as was the pillow on which her head was propped up. Her once lustrous blonde hair was reduced to a faded gray almost as white as Goan's. "Are they... coming?" Enri asked in a raspy voice before a coughing fit took her.
"Of course." The smiling sadist said sweetly, and reached up to caress Enri's forehead. "You know none of them would miss this day. Though I thought you'd go the way Neia did, with a great big gathering. After all, there are so many..."
Enri cut her off by gently shaking her head on the pillow. "No, no this is better for me. Neia went how she lived, in the public eye, I was glad to be there, but... I was never like her, despite everything, I'm still a peasant at heart."
Lupusregina let out a low chuckle and covered Enri's hand again, "Not many peasants have manors, become generals, or governors, or grand matriarchs, they definitely don't often become legends."
"No... not many, but then, I was blessed by god... he saved my life, my sister's life, my village. He gave me an education, a future... a... a best friend of the sort I never imagined." Enri gave Lupusregina a sly smile with just a little turning up of the corner of her lip.
The sun passing outside illuminated the room, and Enri looked to see the trees swaying back and forth in the breeze. "Open the window, would you Lupu?"
"Of course." Lupusregina said, and went to the window opening it up. The breeze flowed in and washed over Enri as she lay there. She shut her eyes briefly and breathed it in. The air was warm, it was like spring, her favorite season. A pair of birds in a branch she could see had a nest and several eggs. A pretty thing to see, on her last day, their vibrant blue as their beaks caressed each other's feather cheeks.
"So long ago, on a day like this, I lost everything, but I also began to gain everything… I can't think of a better day to go than this one." She said as she took a long, labored breath.
"I can... A hundred thousand years from now…" Lupusregina said as she reclaimed her seat and took Enri's hand again, "I'm supposed to be the sadist, but you're taking away my best friend. You're very mean to your maid, you know." Her hand, stronger than any steel, was shaking against Enri's skin.
The [Gate] opened, and Ainz stepped through.
"Majesty… if I could bow and prostrate myself… I would. As it is, I seem to be a bit immobile." Enri said with a bright smile that revealed her still marvelous teeth. She tried to sit up, only for Lupusregina to press her down at the shoulder with the utmost care, before turning to kneel to their master.
"Enri, of course. There's no need for that from one of my most loyal servants." He approached on slow steps, and leaned over from the opposite side of the bed, and pressed his teeth to Enri's forehead.
"I'm grateful you could make it for today, I know how busy you are… there's not much left to say that hasn't been said many times already. I just… I wanted to say goodbye, one by one, to those I loved best in life. If there's something you want to do with my body after I'm gone, be my guest, I won't be needing it anymore." Enri said weakly.
Lupusregina giggled, "I've been waiting forever for a similar offer, and it never comes."
Enri managed a deep red blush, "Always the pervert, I'll miss that."
Ainz managed a polite chuckle, and stroked her cheek with skeletal fingers.
"What do you want done?" Ainz asked sincerely.
"This city, once village, has been my home, it was all I ever had, and then it was all I ever wanted. I want to be here, in Carne, forever." Enri whispered softly.
"Your wish will be granted, your body will be laid to rest with your husband's. I will establish a plot just for your family, distinct from all others. Is there any final wish I can grant, for one of my close friends, from one of my most loyal subjects… if you wish to live on, say it, and I will make it so this very moment."
Enri shook her head, "No, you've already given me more than anyone could ever ask. I'm so grateful, I love you, and if I can borrow the words of your more eloquent late daughter… if I can watch over the living, I will. I'll be cheering you all on from the other side of whatever rests beyond life, until we meet again. Just… see to those I loved and cared for."
"Of course… I'll send in the next now, I've arranged for them all to come here." Ainz said gently, and walked out the door.
Goan, Nemu, and Kuuderika then came through the same gate.
"You're all looking fantastic." Enri whispered, "Like you haven't aged a day."
Nemu bit her lip to stop the quivering, she couldn't speak as she watched her big sister lying there. Kuuderika spoke up in her stead, "We sort of haven't… we're not immortal, but… well it'll be a long time before we have to decide if we want to age or not." The short blonde hair of Kuuderika bounced only a little as she came to Enri's side where Ainz had stood a moment ago.
"Please… please don't do this. Don't go, don't leave us." She whispered and lowered her forehead to her adoptive mother's own. Nemu clasped her big sister's hand gently, and Goan went beside Kuuderika and stroked the top of Enri's hair.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry this hurts you, but this is part of my life too, and I can't give it up. I've lived long enough. Long enough to see you grow up, to grow strong, to grow free, to grow into wonderful adults, all of you. Raising you all… and all my children, I'd take doing that again over a million honors and monuments. My time is now, and I want to tell you… how much I love you all, before I can't say it anymore. If I can keep a watch on you, I will. You know… some of the faith's branches, believe that the much loved dead become angels who watch over those they cherish. If that's true… well you're not losing a sister, a mother, you're gaining an angel. Look after one another, look after your family… and wherever I go from here, I'll be proud of you."
"You were as good as my own mother, and I'll never forget you." Goan said, bowing respectfully, then placing a kiss on her forehead when he could, and one by one they imitated the gesture, and let go.
"Thank you…" Enri whispered.
"No, no, thank you… you saved my life, you were willing to give yours up for me. Nobody ever had a better sister than I did, raising me as if I was your own daughter… giving me everything, even when you were going to go hungry… I'll do my best, to be as much like you as I can be." Nemu choked out as tears began to run down her cheeks.
"No, just be you, that's more than good enough for me." She said softly.
One by one her children and friends came to pay their respects, until at last she was alone with Lupusregina.
There was silence between them as the red haired immortal beauty held onto her. "Please… please stay." Lupus begged her with a bite to her lower lip.
"People meet and part, that's just how things go, it's the cycle of life, and you know something?" Enri asked feebly, turning slightly to the side to hold Lupusregina's eyes in her own still bright and lustrous brown.
"What?" Lupusregina asked reluctantly as she squeezed the feeble hand of her best friend.
"I'm not leaving you with nothing. I'm giving you my greatest treasures, I'm leaving you those others I love, my children, my grandchildren. I'm…" She coughed long and hard, and gripped Lupusregina's hand tightly, "I'm giving you my family, they're yours, and always have been. You may be a monster, and a sadist, and as perverted as it is, I know just what this is going to do to you." She managed a weak smile from her bed and a faint blush came over her again. "But there's more to you than that, I've always known it, our friendship… that was real. You taught my daughter, my children, protected me, carried me… teased me to no end. We shared our lives, and leaving you at the end of mine is one of my very few regrets. I… I hope you like my last gift to you, as much as I've loved you, and this wonderful, beautiful world we all helped to change." Enri whispered, and her eyes began to close.
"I will! I do! I promise! You hear me Enri! I will!" Lupusregina cried out in anguish and lunged to hug the woman of legend. Enri didn't speak, it was clear that she couldn't, only a faint smile graced her lips as life rapidly began to fade away to nothing.
The orgasm that ripped through the sadist was the best in her life, washing over her like wave after wave of crashing pleasure, sending her entire body spasming for several blissful seconds.
As if it had the power to give life to the dead, Enri's eyes managed to fly open one more time, to look across the inches into the golden eyes of Lupusregina beta. And the Grand Matriarch managed to whisper, "Ew. Pervert, I love you." And then she laughed a feeble half breath and managed the miracle of planting her wrinkled lips on Lupusregina's cheek.
Then her eyes closed again for the final time, and Lupusregina Beta, the smiling sadist who took the greatest erotic pleasure in the pain of those she loved best, let out a howl like the wailing of a wolf mourning it's packmate's death. Her fur sprang out and her talons with them, halfway between woman and monster, and still she did not stop the weeping or the howling for hours, not even when those who had waited outside returned to the room to share in common grief.
"Lupusregina…" Ainz said gently, and touched her shoulder, and the fire red haired beauty without even thinking about it, thrust her face and body into the folds of Ainz's robe as he rubbed her back and let her mourn.
One by one, those who loved her, found themselves enfolding their lord, their king in a shared embrace. Ainz felt his emotional suppressor flaring up and working overtime to calm him. Enri's body had long cooled and turned pale as the blood circulation stopped, and while it worked, he blessed and cursed it both at once.
Finally Lupusregina, and the rest of Enri's wailing beloved children, grandchildren, and her little sister, began to run out of tears. "Time to see to her final affairs then. Nemu, you were her sister, can you handle it?"
Nemu swallowed hard several times, and nodded. She ran her hand through her short auburn hair, "Y-Yes, My Lord. I know what to do with her… I just… I don't know how to go on after."
Ainz reached out to touch the cheek of the young woman who was now old by human standards, the freshness of her twenties was still on her face despite being in her eighties. He remembered the day she'd run through Nazarick shouting, 'Gown's friends are amazing', like she'd seen magic of the highest order, which though she hadn't known it at the time, she had.
Now, with the death of her sister, it seemed they shared another bond, as he thought back to the friends who he was still missing, he found the right thing to say, or so he thought, and answered her. "We do it one day at a time, that's how everyone does it. The ache, it seems, of those we lose, never really goes away. We just learn to live with it, it becomes part of us. In a strange way, perhaps it makes those who have it, more complete, because that is also part of love."
"He's the wisest supreme being." Lupusregina whispered and sniffled, and drew herself back to wipe her eyes and nose clean. "Forgive your servant for making a mess of your robe, Your Majesty." Lupusregina said as she fell to her knees.
"What mess?" Ainz asked, and used a routine cleaning spell while he asked the question, wiping away the stains. He reached out and began to pat Lupusregina's head. "You just miss your friend… who knows that feeling better than I?"
"None." She replied humbly.
In the hours after her passing, word spread like wildfire that the Grand Matriarch had died, and from there it swept over the whole empire. A figure who had become a living legend, was now just a legend, descended into history to be studied by academics for generations, and remembered by those immortals who loved or knew her, for even longer.
Nemu had her body taken and buried on the plot that Ainz had provided for them, becoming the first of her family to be interred there, until her husband's body could be moved and laid to rest beside her for the final time. Her body wasn't wrapped or preserved, being a farmer who lived working the land, born of farmers who did the same before her, Nemu knew her sister's wishes. Enri's body was allowed to nourish the soil, embraced by the land she loved thereafter. The stories of her life became ever more popular, and peasant girls in every village who joined in games, always fought over the chance to play the peasant general. Another out of the age of heroes was gone, but left behind her a grand legacy. Her children would go on to become governors, generals, priests, scholars, inventors, adventurers, mages, and people of great renown.
Lupusregina returned to her grave every year to howl in her werewolf form over the body of her friend, and tell her news of what her family was up to. She held to her promise, and remained at the manor with the Sorcerer King's permission, to train the next generation of children from one of the most loyal families. Eventually Enri's manor became more like a boarding house for the children of Enri's descendants to go to for training and education, and Lupusregina got into the habit of telling stories about the war. Though of all the times she loved to talk about most with her friend, the way she used to tease her was always a favorite.
Occasionally, the smiling sadist would visit the enemies of her best friend's descendants, and there would be less enmity for them in the world, one way or another.
Of Enri, Lupusregina often said that there was never another outside of Nazarick that she loved as much, or who loved her as greatly in turn. "She knew everything I was, and accepted it all. What else can you ask out of a best friend than that?"
"She was my greatest rival, the only General to defeat me in my entire life. But she was also my country's greatest benefactor, she helped build us back up, dedicated her life to making the world a better place. Maybe if every country was full of people like her, we never would have needed a war to get there." ~General Boabdil in his memoirs p.52
"She set my people free by the thousands, perhaps she wasn't as strong as I, or as zealous as Neia, but she was a woman of conviction. She did what she thought was right, and if there was any weakness there, it was her kindness and generosity of spirit. Ironically, that weakness became a strength when the time to destroy stopped, and the time to build began. She found her 'third option' to Neia's brutality, and saved more lives than we'll ever know. I was proud to serve alongside her, proud to train her little sister, and proud to call her a friend." ~Zesshi Zetsumei 'Heroes in a Heroic Age' p. 97
"I found a peasant who became a chief, a general, a warrior, a builder, a governess, a friend. People say I made her into all those things, but as a King, as a God, all I truly do is give those who serve me, a chance to be all that they truly want to be, and can be. She showed that people can be what they choose, hero or villain, leader or follower. When her life was in her hands and the tools to greatness were given, she took them up and carved herself into a legend. I was always proud of her for doing that. People often asked if I resented her for pushing so hard against my daughter. I'd be lying if I said I was happy with it. But no, my daughter didn't resent it, so I didn't. Enri saw herself as serving my sense of justice, and I know how much it hurt her to see herself as doing anything to hurt me. But that's who she was, she put herself on the line for what she thought was right, you can't ask for a better servant than one who does that." ~Ainz Ooal Gown 'Heroes in a Heroic Age' p.74
"She showed me what potential talent pools I was missing out on among my people, and so she changed an empire, just by being herself. Hard to do more with your life than that, but somehow, she managed." ~Emperor Jircniv 'Heroes in a Heroic Age' p. 117
"She was my sister, that's all I needed her to be, till I needed her to be a mother, till she had to be a general to protect me, and though I didn't know it, I needed her to be an example. I loved her more than I can ever say, but if you want to know what she was really like? I'll tell you, she'd have happily spent her life living and dying on that family farm, loving me, getting married, having children, and celebrating life and harvest time with friends and neighbors. She never wanted what wasn't hers, never wanted to take what didn't belong to her. But the world didn't leave her alone, didn't leave us alone, so she became what she had to in order to create a world where others could live the life that would have made her happy. And to ensure they could live that life free from fear. That's who she was. Who she 'really' was." ~Nemu Emmot-Bareare 'Heroes in a Heroic Age' P.132
"She took in a stray girl because someone asked her to, then treated me like her own child until the day she died. A more open and loving heart I hadn't had in this world since the day my older sister disappeared, and I'll always be grateful to her. I never cared about her heroics, she was hero enough for me, just by holding me at night and telling me I was safe at last." ~Kuuderika 'Heroes in a Heroic Age' P.147
"Kuuderika is wrong, she did it 'twice'. Because of what His Majesty did before I was born, I have a strong equilibrium in what I feel, but… she could break through it like it wasn't there. She stayed with me at my mother's grave more times than I can count, she never asked me to call her mom, or mother, and still only treated me like I was a son. When I finally started calling her 'mother' she cried, and you want the truth, so did I. She fed me, held me, took care of me, provided for me, housed me… she was the best of mothers. I'll remember her as much as I do the one who bore me." ~Goan Moiran 'Heroes in a Heroic Age' p. 178
"She is one of only a handful ever to really stand up to me. She was in many ways a rival because of that, but I have never had the same resentment for her that my wife does. In a strange way, forcing the issue of the trial did me a lot of good, and did my father's Empire a lot of good. Both at home and abroad. With a violent fanatic on house arrest, forbidden from leaving, our neighbors quieted down a bit. It improved my father's image dramatically for decades, and the surviving Theocracy citizens began to more easily accept His Majesty's rule. Look at it that way, she may have won more than I did. I took lives, she took hearts. I kind of wish I could have been that way myself. So, yes, you want the truth young man, she was indeed a hero. My only real criticism is that her brand of heroism isn't what the world needed at the time, at least not all the way she took it. That's just one old woman's opinion. Oh and, do me a favor, put this in the edition you publish 'after' she's passed on. This is just a little embarrassing, talking about her like she's already dead." ~Neia Baraja 'Heroes in a Heroic Age, 2nd edition' p. 90'
"A lot of people called her a hero, said she saved a lot of lives. Fine. But she did try to get my wife hanged while I was pregnant with our baby. OK she didn't know I was at the time, but if you know anything about her, you'd know that didn't matter. My wife forgave her for it, but I never really could. She says I'm stubborn for holding on to resentment for Enri after all these years. Maybe she's right, and we did kind of make peace, but it's always stung nonetheless. But you really want to know what I think? If I'm being honest, I admired her stubborn peasant ass. No not that way, I grew up a peasant too, but I wasn't a particularly responsible one. Drinking, screwing and dancing was all I cared about. But she was responsible at the age I was irresponsible, she grew up long before I did, despite being the same age. She hurt my family a lot, but she also helped make the empire truly 'whole' through years of effort, parlaying her reputation, her humanity, and her simple good nature… and the name she garnered from my wife's trial, to make it a better place. And that place is where all our children now live. I may never really forgive her, but I'm also really glad she was on our side. There, I said it. Any more questions?" ~Skana Baraja 'Heroes in a Heroic Age' p.188
"She was one of the few in the Empire to side with me over the question of Neia's actions. That, to me, made her legend enough. Not many can stand up to a king and say, 'This person you love is a criminal and must be put on trial' or however she said it, I wasn't privy to the conversation. I kind of think it must have been awkward, probably painful for both of them. But that's the kind of hero she was, she didn't bleed like a warrior, but she was a leader, the kind of leader we needed during the war, who could help heal 'after' the war. I've had a lot of time to think things over in the last hundred years, and despite rethinking everything and changing my mind about a lot, one thing I haven't budged on. And that is that she was the greatest hero of the war, because she was the greatest hero of the peace that came after." ~Gagaran 'Heroes in a Heroic Age' p. 186
"I let her ride me for a long, long time during that last battle. See, now that's the sort of thing I'd say that would make her blush. I still look around for her sometimes when I say something that implies lewdity. I miss her blush, I miss her shout of 'Lupu!' and her constant demands to stay away from her bedroom window when she was with her husband. As a General, she worked as hard as anyone or more, she was up late at night when others slept, then awake before them. As a soldier, she was shit with a sword, but she was brave, always ready to take responsibility. You know she even composed a letter to His Majesty on the night before the capture of Crossroads, taking full responsibility in case it ended in failure, offering to tender her resignation and return to face him if he wanted it? He was right to choose her in every role to which she was set. People often like to credit Neia Baraja for handing him as much as she did, but those who do, forget that Enri built atop the ashes Neia left in her wake. Maybe I'd have had a lot of fun working for Neia but, if I had to do it all over again, and I was given the choice, I'd choose my best friend every time, because that's who she was to me. It's not easy to get a sadist to love you enough to mourn you, but she managed it, now I'm going to be stuck missing her forever. That's the real cruelty, if you ask me. All that aside, she also left me everything she loved, and wonderful memories. And you know that's plenty beautiful too. -su" ~Lupusregina Beta 'Heroes in a Heroic Age 2nd edition p.79'