2023-11-05: For Her Sake
- Cutscene: For Her Sake
- Cast: Amaterasu
- Where: Laila Belle (and elsewhere)
- Date: November 5th 2023
- Summary: Amaterasu does as she is bid.
BGM: (Shin Megami Tensei IV ~ Ryota Kozuka, Kenichi Tsuchiya, et al. - Cafe Florida) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZscuJCOoIPc
The lights of Laila Belle illuminate the night. To Amaterasu's eye as she stands here in the shadow of a sign high atop one of the Veruni city's taller building, it almost seems an act of defiance -- a shout into an uncaring universe and crueler world that they persist, even so.
There are times when she wonders what it is that they think down there in the city streets. Do they think about tomorrow and the fate that appears at times to await all Veruni no matter how they struggle against it? Or are they able to forget, in the moment, that their otherwise long lives may well be cut too short?
She hopes it is the latter. It would be cruel for every waking moment to be consumed with dread for tomorrow.
Let them instead hope that this night lasts forever.
"My lord."
In this darkest room of the Locus Solus, Amaterasu bends the knee to the leader of the Veruni Radicals.
She had presented herself for judgement upon her return, surrendering herself to the authorities as the architect of Shijie Rohay's murder. And so her case, as it were, had been brought before the highest authority the Radicals had to offer.
Shijie Rohay after all was not just any Veruni citizen, but a major force within the faction, and now she was dead at Amaterasu's hand.
CR-S01 and Rohay's heir had, it seemed, been escorted elsewhere, just as quickly as justice had unfolded for Amaterasu. Whatever else she might say about Shijie Rohay, she had planned her affairs -- and the transition of such matters -- well.
But this is no longer any of Amaterasu's concern.
"Amaterasu..." muses Volsung from his throne. "Long a servant of our cause... and here you kneel before me, having confessed to the murder of our very own. Quite unexpected."
She does not lift her head. She stays perfectly still, content to remain precisely where she is as a supplicant before her lord.
"I ask not for mercy or forgiveness, my lord," she says, for in this alone she has managed to calm her heart. "I will say only this: what I had done, I did for the sake of our people. Shijie Rohay's actions threatened what we might yet achieve. If the humans ally against us, we will never save our people."
There is silence within the chamber. The seconds tick out and still there is nothing -- no declaration of her fate. No further questions. Just what seems an inexorable extension into eternity.
Then, finally--
"Rise."
Without hesitation she complies, as any soldier would, standing to face the man who occupies the throne.
Strange. Is that... amusement? That twist of his mouth, that look in his eyes. Amusement, perhaps if it were wrought in cold glass rather than flesh, for if this is amusement there is no warmth to it.
Volsung waves his hand.
"You are dismissed, Amaterasu. It would be a pity to lose a capable operative over a... disagreement."
Of the verdicts she expected within this chamber, this had not been among them. Her confusion breaks even her composure for a moment--
But only for a moment.
"...Of course, my lord."
What would they do, if they knew the extent of the war that still rages in this city? The people of course know of the fighting, of the scattered sorties that had pitted Veruni against Veruni. They had seen their governmental control pass from one faction's control to another. They knew that their rulers now operated under a paradigm that put their control of the planet as their highest priority.
For their survival could only exist through control.
The overt fighting has long since ended. Yet, control can only be maintained by continued pruning of the tree. So long as there are people who flock to the Moderates' banner, Amaterasu's work must continue -- within and without the city.
It had been for her sake. It continues to be for her sake.
Even should her sister ally herself with the same Amaterasu has long worked to cull.
Even then.
Perhaps if someone were to look up now they may have seen Amaterasu's silhouette. But blink.
But look again--
-- and it is gone.