The hallway was eerily quiet as Mercedes walked. She almost felt a need to tiptoe so her shoes didn't echo quite so loudly. Breaking the silence felt like breaking the gloom and right now, it felt almost blasphemous. As she got further down the hall, she could hear… something. But what? It grew louder the closer she got to Annette's room. Was that muffled crying? From Annie?
Mercedes rushed the last few steps to Annie's door, knocking softly. "Annie, is that you?"
A muffled, gasping sob, "Oh, Mercy…"
That was all the permission she needed. It'd been years, but somehow, it didn't feel unfamiliar at all. She quietly opened the door and stepped inside. Annie was curled up into a ball on her bed, clutching her pillow in a death hug. Her makeup streamed down her face.
"Oh, Annie. I'm so sorry." Mercedes sat on the bed next to her best friend. "I know you used to have a crush on Dedue. I'm so sorry that he's…"
She couldn't even say the words. While they knew from the get go it wasn't going to be a perfect reunion, they hadn't expected what happened to Dedue. It brought them all down to a horrible low, but it seemed like it hit Annie the hardest. Except for maybe Prince Dimitri.
"I-it's okay, Mercy. My crush faded with all the war going on, but I still remembered him fondly. I… I was hoping to see him again. Maybe, I don't know, maybe a part of me did want to see if I could rekindle my old crush."
Sitting up, Annie released the death grip she had on her pillow and hugged Mercedes instead. She returned the gesture. Letting her best friend cry on her shoulder was the least she could do to help.
Once she calmed down again, Annie pulled away. She scrubbed at her eyes with her fists and smoothed down her dress. It really only smudged her makeup further and did nothing for the wrinkles in her skirts, but Mercedes knew her well enough to know it wasn't for show. It was for herself as she tried to regain control over her emotions.
"Okay, I need to be done." Annie finally said, wiping more at her eyes. "I need to stop being so selfish."
"Selfish? How are you being selfish? You're heartbroken, Annie. It's okay to mourn."
"But what about you, Mercy?"
"Me?" The thought brought her own tears back to her eyes, but she pushed them back. Annie needed her to be strong.
"Yes, you. I know you're hurting too. Seeing Prince Dimitri like this. I know you liked him back at the academy."
Mercedes couldn't help it. She looked away from Annie. The tears were there. Red, hot, and ready to brim over.
"I don't know, Annie. I just don't know." She sniffled. "We- we all thought he was dead. Killed for crimes that didn't seem possible for him to commit. I mourned then, along with everyone else. It was then my childhood crush died. But now… I was elated to see him alive that first instant I saw him. I know we all were. Yet, it didn't take long to see that something wasn't right. He's not the Dimitri any of us knew. I don't think I could love this Dimitri as I loved him before."
The tears started then. She couldn't hold them back anymore. The shudders racked her body as she sobbed. Annie pulled her into her arms. Stroked her hair as she cried. Mercedes wasn't sure how long she cried. A horrible thought bubbled to the surface in her mind. One that made her want to cry harder.
Yet, she stilled her sobs enough to try and choke words out. "Annie?"
"Yes Mercy?"
"Do you think, seeing Dimitri like this, do you think he did actually kill his uncle?"
For a moment, Annie was silent. Then it was two moments. Despair started to rise inside of Mercedes' heart.
"No."
Such a short statement, and yet it broke Mercedes' downward spiral. "Wh-what?"
"No, I don't think he did. His family meant to much to him I don't think he could hurt his remaining family. I think losing his uncle, being framed for it, and then losing Dedue pushed him over the edge to this. I remember seeing him after we found out it was Edelgard who was the Flame Emperor. Finding out more of what happened to his family was the driving force behind the breaking in his soul we saw then." Annie sniffled again. "Aren't we just the pair of girls? Crying over crushes we had five years ago."
Mercedes sat up and pulled her best friend into a return hug. "No, we're doing more than that. We're mourning old friends. Good people who are now gone. We should do something in their memory."
"Oh, I know!" Annie pulled free from Mercedes' embrace and hopped off the bed. From her bag, she pulled out a candle. "It's not much, but we can light this candle in their memory tonight."