Fate/Grand Order story · Part 2: Cosmos in the Lostbelt, Lostbelt No.2: The Eternal Icy Fire Century, Götterdämmerung
Section 11 - 5 Node (1/3) Recollection Quest
Lostbelt No.2: The Eternal Icy Fire Century, Götterdämmerung. Thin Ice Hill
2 scenes, 109 lines
1. Before the battle
29 lines
Khh!
Sister Brynhild, how can there be so much difference between our
Performance? Output? Equipment? No, it can't just be that. There's something else going on...
You fight well, sistersbetter, even, than your specifications should allow.
But one of the things I gained in meeting Sigurd was a human heart.
It is something uncontrollable, something wholly different from our natural state. At times, the feelings it inspires can drive one to madness.
Drastic mood swings. Wavering. Faulty functionality. Excessive heat.
...Now that you three have been alive for so long, I see you all have human hearts as well.
You all have intense emotions, and your spearmanship reflects it. I'm so glad to see that.
What...?
Huh...?
Love. Hate. Joy. Grief. They all flicker like flames in the wind.
Sometimes they shrink to embers. But other times, they explode into all-consuming blazes.
But even the tiniest embers show that there is something lurking within your circuits
Th-that's not true!
Don't be ridiculous, Sister. We are autonomous machines.
We may now belong to the queen rather than Odin, but that doesn't mean we've gained emotions...
You're wrong...! We don't have emotions! Do you take us for human!?
We would never allow something so unstable within ourselves!
... ...
...
Oh, Sister... Our sister from Proper Human History! Why did it come to this...!?
First you preach at us, then you tell us we're not even Valkyries!
I knew it, you have gone mad! Your mixed feelings for Sigurd have tainted and twisted you!
Once you were our proud, unwavering, fearless sister... You gathered the souls of fallen heroes tirelessly... No more! Your affections have corrupted your mind!
Thrúd! Your magical energy is leaking... You need to calm down!
Siiiiiister! Aaaaaaaaah!
2. After the battle
80 lines...We loved our sister.
Whenever I see two birds flying up in the sky, I think back to the long distant past.
We loved everything about everyone, though not in some manic, feverish sense.
It was a kinder, gentler love, like the spring sun warming your skin.
At least, that's how it felt to me. And yet...
You threw yourself headfirst into frightfully hot emotions, into feelings so powerful they could and did change you.
You turned from what a Valkyrie was meant to be.
Sister. Oh, Sister.
Even here, in our Lostbelt...
...you followed your heart...straight to your death.
After falling for a human, you gave yourself over to love...only to be betrayed and despised.
And soon after...you died...
You lived for love, were betrayed by love, and died for love.
We were scared. We were terrified.
The way you died was so...so terrible, but so beautiful...
It was unbefitting of a Valkyrie, without valuing heroes' souls over all else.
Your new heart shone so bright we couldn't help but fear it even as we were drawn to it.
But, then again...
Yes, Father. You're right.
...We've been broken for a long, long time. ...We already had our own.
Yes, Sister. We already know what it's like to have human hearts.
We know what it is to have feelings so intense they burn you up inside, like...
...fire...
We don't know what romance is; we know nothing of love.
So then, what is this fire inside us that continues to burn unabated!?
...Ahh, BrynhildSigrdrífa!
I can't help but wish you would call my name...our names...with those icy cold lips.
Even as I bury these awful, hideous thoughts deep within my heart...
This feeling...colder than the merciless ice, and hotter than raging fires...
This is neither love, nor romance.
...This is what humans call "envy."
An enormous spear has pierced us both.
The first of us, Thrúd, did not move to avoid Brynhild's final attack.
The second of us, Hildr, ran towards Thrúd without a second thought, choosing to be impaled alongside her.
The third of us, Ortlinde...saw her two sisters impaled before her very eyes.
Like a human heart...
We're not like you... We're not...
This fire that burns inside us...
...is so very, very ugly...
We could never hope...to be like you...Sister...
Still... Hehe... I should have known...
Even if you are from Proper Human History, you're still our sister... You saw right though us, as you always did...
Even back when you played with us in our childhood...
...all we could manage was to follow you, poorly...
...Yeah. You finally said it, Thrúd.
I feel the same way, of course. I... This is so sad...
I thought we could hold our own at least a little better...but I guess this is our limit.
We can't beat you, Sister. Even if our performance, output, and equipment surpass yours...
...there's no way we could ever kill you.
Even so...I'd say we did pretty well...
I think so, too...
Let's go out together, Thrúd.
Yes, of course. I would be happy to go with you.
Ortlinde... I'm so sorry for dragging you into our self-destruction.
But...once Sister awoke, this was inevitable...
I'm sorry... I can't bring you along.
I know...you're shocked by this, because you're not as broken as we are.
That's why this heart...this envy...this death...is ours alone.
I'm sorry, Ortlinde...our beloved little sister.
We want you to follow your own heart as well, Ortlinde. I'm sure you have one, too...
So follow it, wherever it takes you...
...The two Valkyrie commanders have disappeared.
Fooou...
... ...
This can't be... Thrúd? Hildr?
Ah... Ah... ...Sister...Brynhild...
Why did... I-I don't...understand...
...I don't understand! Wh-why did they...
...It was like...they chose to...!
Ortlinde.
I can hear Sister's words ringing out. The Shadow Border has already stopped moving.
The frenzied giants are far away, and our throngs of Valkyries that once filled the skies...
...are now nowhere to be seen.
The only one left now is the third of us, Ortlinde. And...
"I don't understand."
"I just don't understand. How did it come to this..."
As she spoke those words, Ortlinde took flight, leaving her sister behind.
She vanished somewhere among the clouds, never once looking back at her sister still on the ground.