AN: Hey again :)

So! It's been awhile. Like a long, long, LONG while, but after plenty of brainstorming, outlining, procrastinating, and writers' block, I think I'm just about ready to show you guys the rewrite of this story!

Before that however, I want to pay homage to this lovely story here. I loved writing it, loved hearing your guy's love and feedback every week, and love what I wrote-rough around the edges as it is. I will always cherish this story and hold it close to my heart, so it felt wrong to leave it discontinued in incomplete like before.

So, to thank this story and my loyal readers as well, I've written a little mini ending to "wrap" the main story up. It isn't the ending I wanted, and it isn't the ending either you or this story deserves, but I wanted to give you both SOMETHING and this is what I came up with.

Enjoy ! 3

Dimitri couldn't help but touch the spot just beneath his eyepatch again and again. It was as if he had to keep reminding himself that his eye was gone forever. The dull, throbbing pain should have been enough—that and the fact that half the world was forever lost to him no matter where he turned. Yet again and again that finger was, rubbing beneath the gauze caked in dried blood.

He was a coward. And what did he have to show for it?

His finger nudged the gauze again. It was the only thing that could move, really. His body felt like a prison in and of itself, weighed down by heavy azure blankets, deceptively cozy. An untouched tray sat on his night table mocking him; he couldn't reach forward and take it to his lap even if he wanted to. It'd gone long stale anyhow.

His eternal half-gaze was torn from the ceiling and towards the locked doors (locked for what reason, Dimitri wasn't sure. There was no way he could leave on his own willingly or otherwise), as a lock turned and a shadow darkened just beneath the door's frame. Trepidation shot through his veins, though he tensed his muscles to stop them from shaking. He wasn't going to scream or beg. Not again. It didn't matter what they did, he would—

The left of the double doors opened and the fabric of a red dress slipped through first—not the dreary black of the bird masked fiends and their accomplices. A pale hand pressed against the ornate blue surface next, and then finally a lithe body slid through the gap, shutting the door behind her.

Dimitri's eye widened and he let out a strangled gasp. She, in turn stared wide eyed at him before sorrow lowered her brow and wet the edges of her eye. "Dima," she said softly, and his own eye blurred with tears of its own.

"El?" he whispered back, daring not to hope. Daring not to let himself believe this was anything more but a cruel trick from Arundel. But as she slowly stepped forward and grew in his sights, he felt his resolve waver. All that helplessness and guilt and self loathing faded away like ice beneath the kiss of summer sun.

He'd betrayed Fearghus for her; he could surely let this small thing, this brief moment of respite and relief wash over him too by her command. By her very presence.

The closer Edelgard got to the bed, the more Dimitri could see her trembling. His heart clenched. Did he look so monstrous now? But…no, no, it wasn't only fear. There was something else that struck lightning across those lilac eyes and it was something far more passionate than just fear. "What have they done to you?" her voice was a harsh rasp filled with agony.

The last time he'd seen her like this was…well it was the last time he'd seen her. Hair a mess, magic wild, pleas and sobs spilling from her lips. He hated it, hated seeing her like this. He wanted to get up and comfort her and he moved to do just that but his screaming muscles, dizzy head, the heavy blankets and Edelgard's voice over his pained grunt: "Don't strain yourself," ended the plan abruptly.

Dimitri squeezed his eye shut against the sudden swimming in his vision and only opened it when he felt Edelgard's body spur the mattress to creak and sink just so. He let out a breath and smiled weakly. She was so, so beautiful. He wished he could raise a hand and cup her cheek, wipe away the tears with his finger. "Why are you here?" then quickly added, "I'm glad, but—"

"Arundel wanted me here. A dramatic announcement revealing your status as a living man to get Faerghus on Adrestia's side." She said, eyes scanning his form for anymore obvious injuries beyond the eyepatch. "They're going to explain away your injuries by invoking the Church."

"Did he—did they harm you?" Dimitri questioned. The political nonsense had flown through one ear and out the other to make room for more important matters.

Edelgard let out a watery laugh as she shook her head. "You're the one bed ridden, stiff-limbed and missing an eye, yet you ask me this?"

"Did they?" Dimitri repeated. His single eye scanned her face and her neck and any part of her that was uncovered by cloth to see if he could catch any new bruises or scars. She in turn stared at the gauze around his eye.

"Yes," she said, and Dimitri's eye widened once more before narrowing. A snarl twisted his lips and her sad smile broadened slightly. "They sent me your eye."

Dimitri froze before his face then twisted further. Of course they—He would do something so sick and twisted. Of course he would. He shook his head in disgust. "I'm sor—"

"Stop it." and there was a glimmer of that strength he so loved. Her face and voice soon softened a moment later as she took in her surroundings. "Was this always your room?"

"Yes."

She paused before looking down at him. "Did we play here?"

Dimitri's face softened too, and his smile matched hers. "Yes."

Her smile broadened and she closed her eyes. She was trembling again, and a tear had slipped from beneath her lashes. "I wish…I wish I could…"

"It's alright, El," Dimitri said softly. "We can make new memories."

She scoffed as she opened her eyes and glared into the distance. "Painful ones, perhaps."

"No." Dimitri braced himself with a deep breath before moving his arm up and pushing away the blankets with it. A bruised and scarred and not dissimilar from hers rested atop her gloved hand, and she stared at with wide eyes horror. "Not only painful ones. Do you remember the play we watched? The one where the actor writhed around on his stomach—?"

"And you laughed and laughed while I slowly died inside? I do." Her soft smile returned and she placed her other hand overtop his own. "Did I tell you Manulea and Dorthea blackmailed me into it?"

Dimitri chuckled. "It sounds like them."

"Yes," Edelgard agreed, her voice tinged with an addition of sorrow. "And then…and then you showed me that puppet show."

Dimitri nodded. "Do you remember when we danced atop the Goddess Tower?"

"And then you made me hit my head and I remembered you. Yes, I do."

"I did not," Dimitri said with faux indignation, and Edelgard laughed lightly. Dimitri glanced down at their hands and then said, "Do you remember when you saved me from Miklan? And we sat by the fire and…"

Edelgard slowly lifted her hands so that she could relieve one from its glove. She placed it back atop his and twined their fingers together. "I do," she said in a quiet voice.

"We'll have more memories like those, El. More dances in the moonlight, more instances of baring ourselves to each other, more terrible plays. You were always the one who saw the future, and I want you to see it now again." He paused and looked away for a moment before turning to her again, burning her face into his mind as if it would be the last instance of seeing it. "And if…if there is nothing more but pain before us I suppose…I suppose we still have now."

She returned his weary smile. "It was always the thing we avoided at all costs wasn't it, 'now,'"

"Let's change that, shall we?" Dimitri said, squeezing her hand tighter.

She squeezed his hand back and after a moment of hesitation, lay her body gently atop his. It was heavy, but not to the point of being painful, and her cheek pressed against his neck and her heartbeat beating, beating, beating against his created a soothing rhythm that had him letting out a sigh of contentment. "Alright," she said. She closed her eyes. "Alright."

He turned his head so he could plant a kiss on her forehead, then closed his eyes as well. "Alright," he agreed.

Fin.

AN: Well...that's it.

I have one more thing to leave you guys with, a date! Chapter One of "Let's Die Together: Rewritten" will be released March 31st on both and Ao3! (so next Friday). It will be posted as separate story to this one, which I will leave up.

If you'd like to see me give this another ago, I hope to see you there! If I don't I'm still thankful you chose to follow this story to the end.

Until next time,

Fantasy Fan OUT!