Please note that this was created upon the release of Chapter 124 of Edens Zero. Any missing/outdated information is due to the oneshot being a reflection of Justice and Elsie's battle only, without future knowledge.
On a side note, I swear Mashima has a thing for making his favourite characters (and us) suffer.
War Changes Us
Disclaimer: I do not own Edens Zero. All rights go to Hiro Mashima.
Elsie dreams of many things...especially answers to all the questions she has for Justice.
However, there's one answer she can never get in her dreams.
"Weren't we supposed to get married and save Kaede Cosmos together?"
He's always silent, and that, is what startles Elsie the most.
.
.
.
She rages upon seeing Shiki so helpless, so vulnerable, and-
His fate is in the hands of her sworn enemy. In another universe, she would have cried for Shiki as Justice finished him off.
Elsie furiously intercepts the attack, staring at Justice squarely in the eye.
Many thoughts run through their heads. They both have changed, they will tell each other. War has brought grievance and forced them to abandon their titles as royalty. Now, he is a soldier and she is a pirate. It hurts their pride, knowing they have lost everything, only to become a worser version of themselves.
Regardless of what they used to be, they stand before each other as traitors to one another. She wishes it would be as simple as calling them former lovers.
There's no room for such a title, not after the lengths he has went to in order to hunt her.
Elsie would never apologize for her actions, and Justice would never see past her crimes.
They ruined each other, be it intentional or not.
His eyes widen in surprise upon her presence. "Elsie..."
He dreads seeing her face, despite the beauty within it. There is nothing noteworthy about a traitor in his eyes, other than the fact they went against him. No room to imagine what they could have been rather than what they are, either.
Her face contorts into disgust for what Justice was about to do without remorse. Even if his quarrel is with her, she finds it unacceptable to try and kill her comrades.
"To think you would have the gall to show your face to me. Elsie Crimson." He says bitterly.
She does not relent; in fact, it fuels her righteous anger. Her first instinct is to transform in preparation for a battle.
Give him the chance and he will gladly kill her, make her grave for the sake of his grudge against her. "I'm through playing games with you," she asserts her voice throughout the area. "Begone this instant!"
"For violation of Cosmic Travel Laws...and multiple other crimes..." she notices he is hesitant on listing them, especially in front of Shiki. "I sentence you to death!"
Shiki wonders what she's done to have an enemy obsessed with having her head. He hears his heart pounding in his ears, knowing what this threat before her is capable of doing.
Simultaneously, they summon their katanas and formerly clash against each other.
The waves of energy from their clash results in Shiki losing his footing, forgotten, for the battle is intense between Elsie and Justice. They don't for a moment consider the well-being of the surroundings.
Shiki is back on the ground, staring up at the spectacle wondrously. How in Cosmos do they both reveal themselves unscathed while he's battered?
"You've gotten better, Justice." Elsie remarks. "Or should I say...James Holloway."
She is the last person he wants to hear his name from. He knows she's trying to make a point about their past. Keeping his cool, he replies, "I abandoned that name long ago, you traitor to the Fatherland."
Elsie's lips form a thin line, trying to find the right words to say to him. There is no point in reasoning with him. Elsie comments, "A nation like that had no meaning."
Preparing for his big attack, Justice retorts, "That meaningless nation...is where I lost everything. Because of your treachery."
Not a moment later, she's sent flying into an abandoned city of Foresta. Shiki panics, calling out for her. She lands against the walls of a ruinous building, with Justice pursuing her shortly after.
Elsie processes what he's said, and scoffs internally. He's not the only one who lost many things from the war.
He's about to annihilate her with a powerful kick, causing her to leap before he reaches her. Elsie cries out, "I lost everything too...my parents, my siblings, my friends, my eye."
Ironically, the only thing the two have left from the remains of the war are each other. But nothing about their fight allows them to come to that realization.
"If you hadn't betrayed us, neither of us would have lost anything."
And Elsie knows her so-called betrayal is what drives his ambition to seek her. Elsie isn't sure if his speculation is correct, but she would never forgive herself if she hadn't done anything about the situation.
Convincing herself to be in the light, she refutes his statement. "No, someone had to do something, or we would have lost even more."
"We would have lost the entire Kaede Cosmos!"
How can you not see that? Why do you insist our losses meant nothing? We may have lost our home, but there is still something left to save.
That reason alone allowed Elsie to continue on, despite losing too much to even have a purpose for living.
He still denies it, "Twisted logic!"
"If there was any justice in you, you would have seen it! You would have seen how powerful the government was, and what they were plotting!"
Justice does not buy into her reasons, finding them to be excuses.
He sees them as ways to justify the tragedy befalling their planet and onto him.
And he sometimes wishes she had faith in his plans. "I was going to change it! With my faith in justice, I would have made a better nation!"
Elsie thinks his fruitful ideals are merely unattainable dreams. She still appreciates his hope, for it was nothing she held after discovering the government's plans. "We were too young to have that kind of power. And there wasn't enough time."
Why can't they both understand? Why are they so twisted? Why, why, why?
Elsie knows his hatred for her is justified. She makes no effort to change his opinion about her.
She says, devoid of hope, "That's why I told everyone the truth about the government!"
"And that's what started the war!"
He doesn't care what reason she had to expose the government. There is nothing left of them.
"It was the only way to right what was wrong! But of course, you wouldn't understand! Not with your sense of false justice!"
Justice sneers at her. He thinks she doesn't have the right to say anything. Not after what she's stooped to. "And now the mighty princess is a lowly pirate! There truly is justice in the Cosmos!"
Their hands are intertwined, foreheads in contact, and nothing about it is romantic.
Her momentarily smile catches him off guard. "Do you remember the last time our faces were this close to each other?"
Justice breathes. Of course he remembers. Those were the days they spent their time together. Bound by a political marriage they were, both Justice and Elsie made the most of it.
Justice sighs, he knows Elsie's playfulness is still a part of her. Her teasing in the past got the most of him, and now he's speechless in front of her.
What purpose does that memory serve? He will never understand what goes on in her head.
"What do you say? Do you want to finish what we started?"
Justice stares at her. He was never fond of jokes, she knows this.
"That is not funny."
"Who knows?" she insists almost maniacally. "Maybe it will engender forgiveness in our hearts."
Engendering forgiveness, he knows it's nearly impossible. They have been long since past it.
Just like the kiss she is insinuating.
He grasps her chin, and the gesture startles her. "Hey! Are you serious?"
Internally, he smiles. It's all a decoy, and he knows perfectly well how to distract her. She suggested the idea, and it will be her demise.
He simply states, "It will engender nothing."
Justice chooses his words carefully. Elsie does nothing but smile, it's insincere.
As he leans down closer, Elsie speaks, "You're a brave man."
She knows he's distracting her, and vice-versa. There is no romantic pursuit in the action, they're merely distractions. Although the gesture means nothing to Justice, Elsie differs on the matter.
If she was going to be kissed, it would only be him. Her sworn enemy. Her former lover.
She does not know which title to cherish more.
Their katanas dive into layers of flesh and bones, garnering surprised reactions. Perhaps they expected a different outcome, but everything about this is simply normal.
They pull away, blades coated in blood. The blood of the people belonging to the same planet.
She breathes heavily, shivering despite herself. "Wonderful! A first kiss to remember, James." Elsie cares not to discard the taste of metallic blood from his mouth.
He cannot tell if she's being sarcastic, but she seems almost relieved.
For a good measure, Justice spits out the tangy remains of blood in his mouth, disgusted by the unwanted intimacy. Elsie almost seems hurt, but smiles when he says, "I knew it would engender nothing."
Elsie understands there is nothing to love about one other. The betrayal stung worst when they both penetrated their blades into one another. And she now realizes there is no hope for them.
"I will kill you." He vows in all seriousness.
With blood seeping out of her mouth, she determinedly answers, "Yes...it seems this is our fate."
For the war has changed them both, their childhoods are merely phantom memories, replaced by these new ones.
.
.
.
"When will we stop ruining ourselves over the war?"
Justice smiles, it's an answer she's finally able to get in her dreams. "Never, I suppose."
They are both content with his response, because Justice and Elsie are past the point of reconciliation.