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The sounds of battle echoed through Marianne’s head from somewhere far away, hollow thumps and distant yells thrumming across reality as if on some other plane. It was like she was hearing them from inside a fishbowl, the clash of steel and the spilling of blood nothing but a faint idea somewhere far outside her reach. Her eyes blurred and her stomach swam as she tried to sit up, shapes and colours forming somewhere beyond comprehension as she tried to remember what had led her here. She remembered…
A knock on her door.
A cloth over her mouth.
Falling.
A golden-eyed monster, dripping with blood.
A plucky group of saviours, ready to fight.
A desperate truth, one she refused to face
And then nothing.
But darkness.
And light.
Marianne gasped, the world suddenly coming sharply into focus as she felt a chill run down her spine. The creature from before, the monster, it had blossomed into something even more great and terrible, nothing but gnashing teeth and tearing claws standing tall over the fog. There were people standing against it, blurs of yellow and green and white and purple, all moving through the gloom like specters as they fought the monster before them. All but one, someone pink who stood her ground between Marianne and the beast, with her axe held tight in hand.
Hilda.
“Claude quit messing around!” Hilda huffed, her nails digging into the wood handle of her axe as she stared off against the beast. “Can’t you stop this already?”
“Hey, it’s not in our hands you know. If we want to calm this Shadow, we’ll need Marianne to-” Claude paused, the yellow blur taking shape as he stepped out of the fog and smiled down at the blue-haired girl. “Hey Marianne, not to rush you, but if you could accept that Shadow of yours to calm it down, that’d be-”
“Don’t be a fool Claude.” Lorenz coalesced from where the purple blur had stopped, a sneer on his lips. “Marianne has already accepted her Shadow, that’s caused the very problem we find ourselves in now!”
“Sh-Shadow?” Marianne blanched, her eyes going wide as she looked past them all to the beast still thrashing and crashing through the fog. It… it was her. That was right, that monster was her. She knew it as soon as she saw it, as soon as it spoke, it was her, her, her. “It- that- it’s me..”
“Yes, exactly. Usually accepting one’s Shadow is the key to stopping such brutish behaviour, but it seems today is an exception.” Lorenz huffed as Marianne began to hyperventilate, her knees drawn tight to her chest at the sight of herself roaring and slashing through the gloom. “So then master tactician, a backup plan would do us well at the moment.”
“I’m working on it.” Claude waved Lorenz away, which only seemed to annoy the purple-haired boy more. Not that Marianne noticed, her vision swimming as blood rushed through her ears and she felt darkness calling back on her. “Couldn’t hurt to try again, right? So how about it Marianne, think you could-”
“Hey!” Hilda finally broke from where she was standing guard, instead turning and placing her hands on Marianne’s shoulders. The sudden contact shocked the blue-haired girl, her focus coming back from the edge to look into Hilda’s pretty pink eyes as she grasped Marianne tightly. “Ignore those two catfighting bozos, alright? I’m right here for you Mari, right here.”
“Catfighting?” Claude echoed, befuddled. “We’re not catfighting, are we?”
“Well you’re definitely not helping!” Hilda stomped her foot, making both boys stand up a little straighter as Hilda pulled Marianne into a hug. “Mari, that’s not what you’re like, okay? You’re not some big bad evil monster.”
“B-but I am… I…” Marianne stared over Hilda’s shoulder at her other self, the vicious, unlovable beast that had dwelled inside her heart now let loose. “H-Hilda, that’s me… you should- you need to get away from me!”
“No way.” Hilda’s voice was soothing, somehow soothing, as the other girl wrapped her arms tighter around Marianne. “Because maybe there’s a part of you that’s like that. Maybe there’s a part of you that’s angry, and lonely, and afraid. But y’know what Mari? That’s not all you are, not at all!”
“But…” Marianne shivered, burying her face in Hilda’s shoulder as the beast roared with a vengeful cry that shook Marianne to her bones. “B-but I’m dangerous…”
“And you’re kind, and you’re smart, and you’re really cute!” Hilda reached a hand up, cradling the back of Marianne’s head. “That monster might be a part of you, but it’s not you! You’re Marianne, and you’re beautiful!”
“I…” Marianne choked back a sob, the tears in her eyes blurring the world as she looked up from Hilda’s shoulder to the creature before them. It was a mess, a whirling mass of teeth, and claws, and anger, and… fear. It was afraid. So afraid. Just like she was. But here, in Hilda’s arms, before God and the people risking it all to come save her… she could also be brave. “I’m… beautiful.”
The monster froze, its wailing stopping as the beady golden eyes amidst the storm of teeth and claws all turned to stare at the blue-haired girl. Marianne felt their pressure, their piercing, demanding gaze. But she also felt Hilda’s hand at her back, at her neck, at her heart and her soul. She shakily pushed herself to her feet, the pink-haired girl at her side as she stared up at her other self.
“Y-you’re me… but y-you’re not all of me. We’re parts of each other, I-I think…” Marianne stepped towards the beast, Hilda’s hand moving from her back to her waist as she allowed the other girl to stand up for herself. “And so… if- if I’m beautiful, then so are you!”
The beast’s eyes flashed, looking for a moment as if it were about to kick back into motion. Then, with a sound almost like a cat’s purr it dissolved, darkness shifting downwards into the shape of a woman with a horse-head draped in olive laurels. She nodded at Marianne and Marianne nodded back, a silent understanding passing between them before she disappeared and Marianne felt a weight lift from her shoulders.
It was done.
“Finally!” Lysithea groaned as she emerged from the fog, a meek looking Ignatz at her back. “Really now, did that have to take so long? We could have been over and done with this far sooner.”
“Kinda ruining the moment here Lysithea.” Claude snorted, tilting his head over to where Marianne was resting her head against Hilda’s shoulder. “Give them a sec, would you?”
“W-wow, that was-” Marianne gasped as Hilda picked her up, a laugh escaping her lips at the pin-haired girl spun her in a circle. “Oh!”
“I knew you could do it Mari!” Hilda’s eyes sparkled, her arms tight around Marianne’s waist as the newly Awakened girl felt like she could float up and away in her elation. “I’m so proud of you!”
“Th-thank you Hilda, I… I…” Marianne’s eyes fluttered, a sudden exhaustion filling her heart even as everyone’s smiles filled her heart with warmth. “I’m……”
Darkness took her them, the call of sleep slipping her away from the others for now. But that was alright. She’d be back soon.
Both of them would be.