[001] 'Cause you won't rewrite history to commemorate the likes of me

[goldenherd]

WHO: Claude von Riegan
WHERE: The no-good very bad arrival labyrinth, a random side-street
WHEN: July 2nd, or like, whenever really
WHAT: Claude aggressively masks his way through a nervous breakdown
WARNINGS: Violence, discussion of character death and feelings of guilt/trauma surrounding that, racism/xenophobia, jaywalking

1. The Labyrinth

Claude's not really expecting to wake up. He's not a religious man, and even if he were, the faith he grew up with had a lot more to say about returning peacefully to the land than any notions of a conscious, waking afterlife like some sects of the Church of Seiros seemed to believe. And he is dead, he's sure of it. The last thing he remembers is kneeling next to his mortally injured wyvern while Teach stood over him with the Sword of the Creator in hand, raised up like an executioner's axe. That's not the kind of thing a person walks away from.

He shudders, lying in the grass and admittedly a little scared to open his eyes. Raising a shaking hand, he presses it to his shoulder and finds it uninjured, despite distinctly remembering one of Bernadetta's arrows finding its mark there. Huh. Come to think of it, he isn't in any pain at all right now - aside from the fact that he seems to be lying on top of his quiver, which is really more uncomfortable than actually painful. Sucking in a sharp breath through his teeth, he sits up and, bracing himself, opens his eyes to see... a castle?

No, not just any castle. A monastery. Garreg Mach Monastery, in full bloom of spring, as it had been when he'd first set foot there some six years ago. The patch of grass he's found himself in is the lawn outside the classrooms, still decorated with the livery of the Kingdom, the Empire, and the Alliance. He frowns. Hadn't Edelgard started using this place as a base of operations? Had they simply knocked him unconscious and brought him here to be healed, for some reason? He guesses they could be assuming he had some valuable information to give them, on what might be left of the Alliance's resistance, or... elsewhere, but why dump him outside, with no supervision in sight? And, more confusingly, why leave Failnaught lying right next to him?

Frowning, he picks up the heavy, intricate bow, expecting it to judder unsettlingly to life in his hands, but it doesn't. There's none of the lightness and thrum of energy he's accustomed to feeling when he touches it, no subtle red glow or flexing of its spines. He's only just starting to contemplate why that is when he sees a flash of bright pink hair out of the corner of his eye, disappearing into the old Golden Deer classroom.

"Hilda?" He calls out without thinking about it. But no, that can't be her. He saw her fall, helpless to do anything from up in the sky on wyvernback. Whoever it is, though, is the only person he's seen so far, so he gets to his feet and follows after, only to find -

All of them. They're all here. Lorenz, Leonie, Raphael, Ignatz, Marianne, Hilda, Lysithea, standing with their backs to the door but unmistakably themselves. Claude swallows hard, trying to keep a level head. This could be some kind of trick. It has to be. Half of them are dead, and the others are scattered to the winds. There's no reason for them all to be here.

He wants to say something witty. Greet them like it's nothing, like he isn't tearing himself apart wanting it to be real but not trusting it to be. Lorenz speaks, though, before he can come up with anything.

"Disgraceful," he says, still facing away. "I knew you were unfit to lead all along, but this? It's utterly shameful."

Oh. Well. That's to be expected. Claude swallows hard. "Yeah? But tell me how you really feel, Lorenz," he says, but there's no bite to it, no playfulness. Just exhaustion.

"This is no time for jokes, Claude," says Ignatz, reproachful and sad. "If that's even your real name?"

"You lied to us," Lysithea adds before he can cut in, scornfully. "You've been lying to all of us since the day we met."

"We would've followed you anywhere." Raphael's broad shoulders sag, but neither he nor any of the rest of them look at him, all facing the front of the class. "Some of us followed you to the end. And you lied about everything."

"You guys, I -" Claude chokes, unsure of what to say. A part of him knows by now that this isn't real - can't be real, but it's not enough to keep him from feeling every accusation like a knife to the heart. Especially not when Hilda speaks up, her voice colder than he's ever heard it before.

"If I'd known you were one of them -" and the word drips with a visceral disgust as she says it. Them. Lower than the lowest of vermin. "I would've never listened to you." The others murmur their assent, some more hesitant than others but all in agreement.

"You shouldn't have listened to me," Claude admits, quietly. "Maybe you would've lived, if you hadn't. I'm sorry." It feels hollow, saying that. But it's all he can offer.

2. A Random Street

By the time he makes it out of the labyrinth, night has fallen over the city, making it that much more overwhelming to step into suddenly. Claude has never seen this much glass in his life, much less buildings this tall or lights so bright, and he gawks up at the glittering windows against the black sky while trying to make sense of it all. Thankfully the street he's on is a fairly quiet one, because in the process of trying to estimate how tall some of these buildings are he wanders off the sidewalk and into the street.

"What is this place?" he asks himself, squinting up at a distant point of light like a very slow, blinking shooting star as it crosses the sky. He's just craning his neck to watch it as it disappears behind a building when something very fast, very shiny, and very large zips past him, swerving to avoid hitting him and making a loud, terrible noise as it does so. A man leans out the window on the left side and shouts at him.

"Watch where you're going!"

"It's everybody's road!" Claude shouts back, though by then the thing's already disappeared around the corner. He sighs, shaking his head, and wanders over to a nearby stoop, sitting down on the steps and pulling the little glass rectangle and accompanying booklet that he found out of his pocket, propping Failnaught up on the wall next to him. Might as well try to figure this thing out while he's got nothing else to do. The booklet says that to activate the thing - a "phone," apparently, you just have to press your thumb to the surface. Which he does, to... absolutely no effect.

"Huh," he says, brows furrowing slightly.

(It doesn't occur to him yet that his thick leather gloves might be getting in the way.)

Comments

[droptheious]

Varian's face fixes into a thin-lipped semi-grimace. He has so many opinions on magic, but a few people here have made it clear it's a close-minded view which rankles him a lot.

"I guess I just prefer things I can study and replicate," he very almost says real things, but stops himself just in time- at least he doesn't seem to be judging Claude on his comment. "Neither of them are things I'm good at, honestly. Science is where it's at for me."

He likes science, it makes SENSE to him.

"A lot of people who arrive here have found the abilities...limited. They start to grow again, seemingly at random. It might be the same for the bow?" he nods enthusiastically." Of course!!! I'm happy to try and explain anything, too!"

[goldenherd]

Now that gets an even more confused look out of him.

"I think we maybe talking about slightly different things," he says. "Magic's plenty measurable and possible to replicate, back where I come from. I'm not much good at it myself, but there are scholars who devote their lives to its study and refinement. And to writing extremely dry treatises on the subject that get assigned as reading in schools."

How many nights had he spent trying to parse the dense academic language of The Benefits and Drawbacks of Runic Circle-Based Foci in the Context of Combustion Spells again? Too many to sit here and listen to someone try to claim magic is incompatible with the scientific process without at least some objection.

"Anyway, hopefully you're right about that - though I can't say I'd be too disappointed if I never had need to raise my bow again. And thanks, I appreciate that. I'm a pretty quick study at most subjects, but I think I may be a little out of my depth here."

Whole new world with new rules that run totally counter to his expectations in some places, and all. Without knowing where to start, it'd be difficult to learn much of anything.

[droptheious]

"Yeaaaaah, it's less so back home. It's more...linked to specific items which are magical. It's a lot harder to replicate and it's usually...uh chaotic anyway."

One day, Varian will learn to accept that the two are interchangeable sometimes. After all, Demanintus used both and he's Varian's hero. He just needs to learn to be less salty about the entire process.

"Oh, trust me, there's a good chance you'll need it here, the spirit gates open every month and from what I've seen, there's usually some danger involved."

He's not been here long, bubt he's been here long enought to figure that one out.

[goldenherd]

"Really? I have to admit, that's sort of hard for me to imagine. Magic's just something most people learn at least a little bit of no matter who or where they are, where I come from. Like reading or math."

Usually just enough to get by in whatever social station they find themselves in, but almost always something. He's tempted to ask about what sort of magical items exist in the world, but decides against it for the moment, getting the feeling that this boy isn't too enthused about the topic and he'd like to make a good first impression here.

"Oh, well. That's a little disappointing, but I guess it's a good thing I'll be prepared when the time comes." He sighs. "This is my first time hearing that, though. What are spirit gates, and what makes them so dangerous?"

[droptheious]

Varian lets out a soft snort, like the comparison to math is somehow offensive but not enough to kick up a big fuss about.

"Yeeeah, it's nothing like learning to read or math, they're completely different."

Claude is dead on the money, it's Varian's least favourite subject ever. He's made a wise life choice today!

"Oh right! They open up every month...well, some of them. Some of them are open always," he hums. "I can show you one of the ones that's open always if you prefer? It might be...easier to explain it that way. It's basically a doorway into another dimension."

[goldenherd]

Claude's capable of making good decisions sometimes! Like right now, when he decides to drop the subject of magic entirely for the moment, because that's clearly not going anywhere productive any time soon. Maybe later, though. Seems like a pretty easy way to get this kid riled up, if he ever wants or needs to for some reason.

"A doorway to another dimension sounds pretty dangerous in and of itself, but I'm guessing there's more to it than just a worry of it closing on you and getting trapped somewhere, right? Anyway, if you've got the time, sure, I'd love to see one of them for myself." Claude stands, stretching, and picks up Failnaught. A thought occurs to him, and he holds out his other hand. "I'm Claude, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

[droptheious]

It's the best way to get one (1) lanky teenager very worked up. You never know when you need a skill like that in your back pocket!

"That IS what's happened here- I mean, for those of us trapped here. The spirit realms usually close within a month, except for the ones that have stayed open," he's pretty excited about this and it's evident in his tone. "I've been studying those ones to build a portal of my own, so I can get us back to our home realms."

Because like hell is he staying here if he has the knowledge to build a portal and get out of this place. He smiles, taking the proffered hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Varian."

[goldenherd]

Claude all but kicks himself for not making the connection immediately, when Varian explains. In his defense, this has been a lot to take in, and he's very tired. He shakes Varian's hand.

"Oh, so realms like the labyrinth I came out of open up here all the time, but they're not always labyrinths and people don't always come stumbling out of them. Have I got that right?"

He still can't help but think about Professor Byleth cutting their way out of the hole in space that Solon tried to trap them in, in light of all this. From what little he was able to glean about that incident from talking to the students who were actually present for it, though, that place was much more empty than it sounds like Varian is saying the spirit realms are.

"Really, though? Sounds like a pretty massive undertaking, but I guess if it's a phenomenon that occurs naturally here there must be a way to force it to happen in a more controlled way, especially if it's regular enough to be measured and studied. How's that coming along so far?"

[droptheious]

"Weirdly, the labyrinths are pretty common, but they look...different. Like I had a lab of my failed inventions, I had a friend who's labyrinth was her old tower prison," is he going to expand on tower prison? absolutely not! "But the labyrinths are how we get here. The other gates open into...well, just about anywhere."

He knows it's hard to explain, but he knows the stable gate that they're heading towards will help colour in the rest of this picture. It really is something someone has to experience to really understand, he's found.

"That's exactly it. I figured it out back home, so I know how to build one already, that's the easy part," he chunders away exitedly, it clearly means a lot to him. "It's just a case of powering it- which we're working on and then making sure it links to the right worlds. I'll figure it out."

He's pretty confident about that much! They come across the stable gate and Varian grins, waving at it.

"Here we go, this is a permanent one. There's not much that's dangerous on the other side so it's a good one to go to."

[goldenherd]

"Right, I figured that must be the case. It wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if everyone came through the Officer's Academy where I went to school to get here."

And he opens his mouth to ask about the whole tower prison thing, but then he gets entirely distracted by the building they're in. It's very large, the floor raised slightly with parallel sunken sections on either side, leading into dark tunnels disappearing off into the distance. Claude wanders as far from Varian as he can while still being in earshot to take a closer look, only to leap back in surprise when a loud honk sounds from down one of the tunnels, a great rumbling shaking the floor. He raises his bow, a hand on one of the last few arrows in his quiver.

(Thankfully at this time of night, the building is mostly deserted. Someone on the opposite platform gives Claude an odd look, but just shuffles away from where he's pointing his bow rather than say or do anything about it.)

"You're absolutely sure whatever's about to come down that tunnel isn't dangerous?" he asks, glancing sidelong at Varian so as to keep his gaze on the bright light making its way closer at considerable speed.

[droptheious]

Varian's kind of glad to not have to go further into the tower thing. It's a whole mess of trauma for Rapunzel and his own memories of the one Cass made after the fall of the original aren't too pleasant, either. Luckily, they're distracted by the honking which makes Varian furrow his brow.

"Uhhhhhh, I mean, it doesn't normally work that way?" he's sounding a little less sure about that now. "But I guess there's always a chance yours is...different?"

[goldenherd]

Claude just gives an uneasy hum of acknowledgment and pulls the arrow from his quiver, nocking it but not drawing it back just yet. The light in the tunnel grows closer and closer, until suddenly a great wall of sound and gleaming metal comes rushing out of the darkness.

To his credit, Claude does not shoot the express train to Stardew Valley as it grinds to a halt in front of them. He does back up a few feet from the platform, though, looking deeply alarmed until something clicks into place and he can piece together what's going on from context.

"Oh," he says, putting the arrow away again. "I get it. It's like those metal carriages I saw on the road outside, just bigger. And way louder. Okay, sure, that makes sense."

[droptheious]

Varian heaves out a breath of relief. Oh, oh that makes so much more sense now.

"Yeah, it's called a train. It runs on steam rather than gasoline. It's pretty cool, though right? And safe!!"

He's mostly sure it's safe anyway, he's only been on it once. He moves to a carriage, jumping into the open door.

"Um, come on! We ride it through!"

[goldenherd]

"I don't know what gasoline is but - a steam engine is able to move all of this?" He gestures broadly at the train, looking deeply impressed as he steps in after Varian with only the slightest bit of hesitation. "I've only heard of them being used for small things, and mostly novelties at that."

Little whistling toys and amusements, but he knows there were scholars working on more practical applications too - back in Almyra, at least. Since coming to Fodlan he hadn't seen a single sign of anything similar, and he suspects he knows why that is.

"So, what should I be expecting here? You said there wasn't much danger here, but aside from that, I mean. Have you been through here before?"

[droptheious]

"Oh! It's a chemical mix of hydrogens and hydrocarbons. It uses a spark to fuel the uh...cars you might have seen around? The horseless carriages," look, at least he knows the best way to refer to them to someone from the technical past. "Anyway yeah, steam was only ever used for small things for me, too. From what I've studied I'm only a few years away from a machine like this, though."

If he remembers this place once he gets home, he's absolutely gonna make one. It could make travel through the Kingdom for everyone so much safer and easier. No more worrying about highwaymen! It would be a perfect follow-up to his hot water system.

"Uhhhh, like, once?" he admits. "But what I saw of it, it was a lot of farmland and this weird little village? Maybe some mines?"

[goldenherd]

"I don't know what hydrogens or hydrocarbons are either," says Claude, cheerfully. "But I'll take your word for it!" He gets the picture, at least. Some kind of alchemical solution that provides enough energy to turn the wheels of those cars without any need for a draft animal to haul them around. Neat!

"Sounds like you're pretty confident in your skills as an inventor. Thinking of taking some of the wonders of this place back home, once you get that portal working?"

Because he has to admit, he's strongly tempted to try as well. He's no scholar of this kind of thing, unfortunately, but even getting his head around something as simple as how the lights here work could prove revolutionary back in Fodlan or Almyra. It's just a matter of whether they'd even have the tools to build what's needed, back home.

"Well, that sounds nice, in a pastoral sort of way. I'm guessing there's some way to tell that it's actually a different world, and not just this train taking us out to the countryside."

[droptheious]

"Oh. They're um...chemicals. I guess it's...pretty complicated, sorry."

At least Claude isn't accusing him of witchcraft which is what happened at home more often than not the second he started talking about stuff like this. He'll take it!

"Oh yeah, absolutely! I could bring so much to my people from here. Like electricity!! That would change everyone's lives for the better!"

That had always been a driving force for him, after all. Okay, most of it was to make his father proud of him, but he's got that now. He can focus on the betterment of his homeland. He just has to...get back there first.

"Apparently it was originally accessed through the gates. It went away like they all do, but this one...came back. I didn't get to witness it happening, it was always just...here for me. But yeah, definitely a different world, so they say...anyway."

[goldenherd]

"Hey, don't worry about it," says Claude, wanting to be reassuring here lest Varian start thinking he shouldn't try to talk about this stuff with him. "I don't know a lot about this kind of thing, but I'm here to learn. I actually know some basic alchemy myself, but it's mostly to do with medicines."

And poison! Which he will not bring up right away. That's not a first meeting kind of discussion.

"And, right? Even just being able to light buildings without having to use fire would be pretty revolutionary, I imagine - much less all the other things that must run on it here. Anyway, interesting to know that the gates shift around like that. How long have you been here, by the way?"

[droptheious]

Well, at that, Varian does perk up a bit.

"I'm really happy to teach you what I know," a beat. "I... didn't actually know a lot about medicines so maybe we could exchange knowledge on that one?"

Look, poisons are awesome! Varian knows lots about poisons! Just not...the other way around.

"Exactly! Not having to worry about oil lamps or candles. Just being able to flip a switch and wham! There's light. They don't know how good they've got it," he's so jealous, gosh. "It's pretty cool, I guess it's a lot to do with the shifts in reality here- I'm still studying it. I've been here for about three months. Not long, really."

Long enough to be trying to get OUT, though.

[goldenherd]

"I'd be happy to," says Claude. "Although I guess how much help I can be may depend on how similar the plants and other materials we can get our hands on here are to the ones back home."

Even moving across the mountains from Almyra to Fodlan, he'd had to learn to make some creative substitutions to almost all of the concoctions he knew how to make. Being in a whole different world entirely could easily prove to be an even bigger hurdle on that front, but he's willing to see what he can do.

"Really, though? Seems like you don't waste any time. How close to getting a working portal running do you think you are, anyway?" Not that he's really in a rush to go anywhere, personally. He has no idea what would happen if he tried to go back, for one thing - being very likely dead and all - but even if that weren't an issue, maybe it's just... for the best, if he doesn't show his face around there for a while.

[droptheious]

"Oh yeah, I've definitely noticed a difference in the flora here compared to home. Some key ingredients are missing for some of my chemical compounds and I haven't quite got the hang of growing them myself yet."

Because the whole magic powers thing is pretty hard to get his head around- he's not convinced he'll ever really ace it. But then, he doesn't plan to stick around long enough to have to do it. Shame he's unaware how badly that will go wrong for him.

"I shouldn't think it'd be that long now- a couple of months at most, really. The trickiest part was finding the means to power it. Now I have that, it's just a case of marrying the two together."

[goldenherd]

"Yeah? And what means would that be? I imagine opening a doorway between dimensions would take a lot of power, much less trying to do it in an controlled, directed way."

Oftentimes with magic, at least, the hard part isn't harnessing the energy needed to start a fire, or summon gusts of wind, or anything like that. It's about keeping it under control, stopping the power from exploding out in every direction. But it sounds like Varian has that part figured out, at least.

(Ha, ha ha.)

[droptheious]

"Oh, I'm gonna use some God blood. Because we have a God here...apparently."

He doesn't sound SUPER convinced but he's rolling with it.

"I have an associate here who understands portals being powered by something similar. We'll be working on that to make a functioning portal."

[goldenherd]

"Yeah? So I've heard."

In that time bullshit way of running multiple intro threads at once. Claude also sounds skeptical of the notion, for what it's worth.

"You don't sound the most sure about that, but I take it you've had the chance to check it out for yourself? Whether it's the literal blood of a deity or not, all that really matters is that it gives off the energy you need, I guess."

And there's ways to measure that, he knows. The potential energy output of a given fuel source is pretty easy to measure, all told, given the right tricks and tools.

[droptheious]

"Yeah, honestly that's not how I powered my portal, but the blood is how it works in another world so I figured I might as well use something readily available than try and work out something new."

He shrugs.

"Tests seem to be working well, anyway."