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Chapter Text

Griffith and Guts were standing on a balcony. Griffith was talking to Guts about his dream and how he is ready to do everything for this. Guts was listening, not suspecting that their peace gonna be disturbed soon.

Charlotte emerged, smiling

"Such a pretty pendant, Griffith. I have the same" she shows her behelit "

Old fortuneteller sold me this, saying same words:"For this you would have to pay with everything you cherish."

Both men are frozen still. Guts instinctivelly put his hand over the sword's handle, Griffith pales feeling his aura of perfection is being cracked

"By the way, I overheard accidentaly Casca's talk with Guts. They were talking about this story with Gennon"

Both men were petrified. Yet Charlotte, not changing her cheerfull happy go lucky demeanor, says:"Dont worry, Griffith I understand that you needed money. Moreover most people including myself would sell that wench Casca. But you choosed to sell yourself. Such altruism deserving respect. Judging by your reaction you liked laying with Gennon just as much as Guts liked laying with Donovan. Which means you laid with Gennon not for pleasure, you really suffered, you knew you gonna suffer. Yet still you sold yourself instead of selling her ...Love, such a wicked thing always driving people to do such stupid things..."

Guts felt cold sweat covering him. World around him was crumbling. His secret he didnt share even with Griffith has just left this fragile girl's lips like something mundane. He feels not like a warrior but like a child whose trauma was exposed for laughing.

He looked at Griffith and sees same primordial horror.

"...But I digress. You know what. This story about Griffith with Gennon gave me idea. If you Griffith laid with such disgusting creature like Gennon for some coins...then wont you lay with me, with future queen for the sake of your dream you has been talking about? Right here. Now."

She removed her clothes completely.

Realizing that refusal would mean loosing chance to get the throne and also a risk of their secrets being exposed, Griffith nodded

"As for you Guts...I dont like you, I dont want you, but you will come here closer to help me. Im afraid I gonna be loud so you cover my mouth with your palm. We dont want guards to run here to all this screaming and to see White Falcon as well as Black Swordsman in such situation. I will defend my reputation by saying you both have been raping me, imagine what would happen to you and the rest of Band of the Hawk?"

"Guts, do as she said" Griffith said with hoarse voice.

Guts comes closer, his hand, which was used to a weight of the sword shall now muffle the princess screams while his best friend was selling himself again.

In that moment Guts realises they both are just toys in hands of this wench who turned out to be scarier than any monster upon battlefield.

Chapter Text

A certain incident ultimately crumbled hierarchy of their union. Griffith who saw himself as chessmaster finds out that he is just a figure moved by fragile princess.

Guts and Griffith was standing in a shadow of the castle's abandoned wing. Their hands are covered in dirt and blood of the queen whose corpse they helped to hide. Charlotte left to other room, saying :"Sleep well, my loyal knights"

Guts was wiping his hands against his trousers, his voice was trembling with restrained fury:

"Have you seen it Griffith? She didnt even flinch. She cut that woman's throat and has been waiting for us like she was waiting for a couple of waiters. We were planning all this shit with poisons and crossbows, we thought we are masters of fates...and she just turned us into her personal gravediggers."

Griffith was standing still, looking at emptiness

"Our plan was a garbage, Guts. We have been planing political assassination. She commited act of ownership. Now we are not heroes. We are accomplicies."

"Wake up! She is playing us! You wanted to get the throne but do you understand what you would do upon this throne? She made you recall about Gennon, she knows about Donovan...She holds us by our balls with our own traumas! Griffith this is not Dream, this is a slaughterhouse and we are a livestock,"

Griffith slowly moved his gaze on him, cold fury began to boil in his eyes

"You are right. She knows that I laid with Gennon for the sake of Band of the Hawk's survival. And she knows that for a crown I will lay with her. She understood the most important thing: I cant abandon my goal even if a road to this goal is paved with shit.

She is perfect monster, Guts. She is same as Im the only difference is that she has a status we dont have"

"And what? Do you really gonna lay with her at click of her fingers? Do you really want to "work to make a heir" while I would stand on alert and to gag her mouth with my palm?'

Griffith smirked

"Yes. And you will stand in there, gagging her mouth with your palm Guts. Because if you left she would destroy me. If I fell then you would stay alone with your memory about Donovan without any point in life, with goal, without future. We are in the same cage and she swallowed a key alongside with her stepmother blood

Guts was looking at his leader and for the first time in life instead of White Falcon he sees a child who ready to take any humiliation

Chapter Text

Her words that she doesnt need the throne right now were like thunder among clear skies for Griffith. His whole world build upon "ends justifying means" was crumbling in the face of this irrational fury

"What ambitions Griffith? To run this den of snakes is tiresome, Im not ready yet. When I marry you I would put all the governmental duties upon you cause myself not interested. I killed her not for the throne but because she said words which cannot be forgiven.

And no, I wont tell you what words this was. You are two soldiers. One of you is rude killing machine, another one is a doll devoid of human feelings, dreaming about the crown.

If I reveal something so personal and intimate you would pour a dirt inside my soul, same dirt what she poured inside.

Griffith was frozen still. Cognitive dissonance in his eyes. For years he have been suppressing human feelings for the sake of the supreme goal and now he sees a wench who commited a capital offence just because of vile words.

"You...you have risked everything? My dream, your life, legitimacy...because of words? Charlotte, this is insanity. Words mean nothing in political affairs. Only actions are matter"

He was looking at her with horror, realising that his future wife isnt a calculating parthner, but unpredictable vulcano. He realized that if one day he would tell her some wrong words he gonna face same fate as the one befallen the queen.

On a contrary Guts feels strange perverted respect. Fury is much more familiar for him rather than Griffith's cold calculation.

But her mentioning personal and intimate things, as well as Charlotte's fear to hear vile things in response were making him recall his trauma.

"We wont say vile things" Guys said, lowering his eyes. "We...we know how it is. When you are trampled into a dirt by words then they pretend that this is normal."

Guts understands that it wasnt the throne Charlotte has been defending but remains of dignity. In her he sees not a princess but the same wounded beast as he is. He was frightened by her unexpected actions but her motivation to strike in response to a pain inflicted was closer and more familiar to him than all Griffith's plans.

Charlotte was looking at them both with contempt:

"Dont lie to me, Guts. You would be the first who would tell me it was my fault that my father tried to rape me. And you, Griffith, would be calculating about how it is not effective to be angry at the "truth". You both are dead inside

Thats why you will just help me to hide this meat. This is your only way to light I have been promising you two."

Griffith was grabbing the corpse by its legs silently. His hands are trembling not from heaviness of the corpse but from realisation that he has tied his destiny with a woman whose logic he cannot calculate. He is not longer leading a game, he just cleans after the owner.

Chapter Text

Charlotte was removing her bloodied dress, putting on a clean one. Guts was standing in a doorframe he was huge, and looks ridiculous in these luxurious walls but he was the only one who now was seeming to be a sincere person for her now

It wasnt what you and Griffith thought, it wasnt about the throne. Griffith calculating a profit and you...you just looks at me like Im a beast.

When father began ..molesting me I was horrified. I was a fool I come to her, to stepmother. I thought she would comfort me and reprimand him, tell him to stop molesting me.

And she laughed at my face. She said something like:"Who else needs you but him? Be happy that at least your father looks at you, grey mouse " This laughter...I still hear it

I didnt do it immediately. I was keeping it inside me. Day after day but each time she walks past me I saw enemy in her, enemy worse than tudors.

Today I simply cannot bear it anymore

It was my fault that she told me this, I shouldnt have trusted her "

Guts said:"It is not your fault you trusted her. It is her fault she betrayed you"

"Dont tell Griffith.Please. He...he wont understand Because he is not fully human.

He is a dream, he is a symbol, he is a machine who walks to its point of destination.

He would dissect my anguish to "effectiveness" and "risks". And I...I simply wanted this vile laughter to die. I told you because in your eyes I see the same filth Im drowning in.

You are human, Guts. He is not"

Guts was squeezing his fists so much that his knuckles whitened. He feels a monstrous loneliness. He understands that Charlotte is right:Griffith turns into something standing above or below of simple human feelings. Guts was seeing broken little girl who commited horrible thing to protect remains of her soul.

"I will be silent" Guts says. "But now you are tied to him forever. You gave him the throne and he gave you his freedom. You are deserving each other."

In this moment Guts realizes that he is the only bridge between divine Griffith and insane Charlotte.

He realizes that now his role is not just to be a sword but to be a keeper of Griffith's and Charlotte's shared nightmares

Guts thought:"'Griffith thinks he bought a kingdom. But in fact Charlotte bought us both. And the price was our right to stay human."

Chapter Text

For a long time Guts was silent, digesting Charlotte's words about Griffith being more like object and doll rather than human. It was difficult for him to imagine that someone would be willing to want intimacy with the one whom they deem as "not fully human".

Guts was frowning:"You are talking about him like he is a statue in cathedral. But he is living being, Charlotte. He has bones, flesh, he is breathing.

Why do you choose him while knowing that behind this pretty face there is nothing what can be called a soul."

Charlotte says calmly:"Exactly because of this, Guts.

You dont understand...For me "passion" is what my father has been doing. This heavy breathing, these greedy hands, this lust which was turning human into a beast. And stepmother...her passion was taunting. Im afraid of human feelings because in my world they always inflicting pain on vulnerable ones"

He moves her gaze to a balcony where Griffith was standing.

"Griffith is different. He doesnt have this dirty thirst. When he touches me I feel no lust in him but calculation.

For him to conceive a heir it is like cleaning armours or to plan a battle tactics.

This is a set on neccessary movements. Mechanical act.

It has no passion, which means it has no threat."

Guts flinched, recalling his own outbursts of insanity when he nearly chocked Casca.

"Do you want to say that his coldness is your salvation?"

"Yes. With him I wont be disgusted. With him I wont be afraid that he would loose control and began to receive pleasure from my humiliation.

Griffith doesnt receive pleasure for body, he only receives pleasure from his political power. While Im giving him this power his body would be obedient and quiet tool.

He is the only one who can take me, own me without defiling me with humanity"

Guts feels a cold run down his spine. He realizes that Charlotte has build herself a perfect prison from ice.

Her logic was flawless and horrible simultaneously.

She was choosing "dead" Griffith over "living" Guts because living human is a constant risk of violence just as it happened between Guts and Casca.

Guts realizes: Charlotte and Griffith are perfect match not because they love each other but because they both choosed safety and ambitions over love.

"You are right, he is the best cleaner of armours I know.

But beware if complete emptiness would be found underneath these armours when suddenly you would began to desire ordinary human warmth"

"I wont desire this, Guts. I already saw way too much of "ordinary human warmth" as you put it, enough to cherish cold for the rest of my days.

Chapter Text

Charlotte was standing by a window, looking at a yard, where Griffith was training in solitude. Her voice sounds mundane, almost bored when she was revealing to Guts about how everything has started.

"You know, Guts...I have already slept with him. Back then at a river when he was washing himself. I come to him and offered a deal. I said that in exchange I wont look at other men which means he wont have any rivals in his chase for the throne. I actually never needed any other men but him regardless if he would agree to take my offering or not but Griffith doesnt need to know this, he doesnt need to know that I simply unable to have interest in any other men. I just was ..curious."

Guts gritted his teeth

"You just...come and offered. Like a meat on a market?"

"Yes. I heard your talk with Casca. About Gennon. About that disgusting being and gold he offered to my pure angel. And I thought: if he could lay underneath this monster to earn money for army then why wont he lay underneath future queen for the sake of whole world?

I decided to add a threat to enhance his motivation. I said:"either you agree to do this and Ill keep your secret about Gennon and will swear to never look at any other man, to choose only you as my husband and king or Ill scream for help, guards would arrive, I ll tell the guards that you ripped off my clothes and tried to rape me and then guards would slice you to pieces right here"

With horror Guts asked:

"And he..."

Charlotte nods

"He agreed. And you know, Guts...I liked this but it wasnt like in books.

Physically it was unbearable sharp pain, I had to ask him to cease immediately right I after he began to enter me, I had to ask him to stop and to gag my mouth with cloth because pain was so horrible that I knew I wont be able to hold myself back from screaming bloody murder. I felt each of his movement like intrusion.

But I liked another thing. Throughout whole time I was looking at his face.

Guts, he was changing. His mask of White Falcon was cracking. He was silent but in his eyes I saw how he was hating himself for selling himself again.

For him it was just a set of movements, mechanical work to survive.

No passion, no desire only cold neccessity."

She turns to Guts, sick gleam flashed in her eyes

"It was perfect. He wasnt like my father.

He wasnt thirsting for my body, he thirsting for saving his life and his dream.

His detachment was purest thing I have ever seen in this castle. With him I feel safe because I know - he would never desire me

He will always want only those things which I will be able to give him."

Then there was wedding night. Mechanical ritual

Night after after wedding, Guts was stading outside the door, fullfilling Charlotte's order to guard the peace.

No moans, no words were heard from the other side of the door. Only even, heavy pace and seldom sound of sheets. Griffith was doing his job exactly in that way which he has been promising: without a hint of emotions.

His face is blank sheet of paper. He wasnt kissing her, wasnt looking in her eyes. He was focused on the process like it was a process of cleaning a blade.

For him it was another sacrifice on the altar of the Dream, as for Charlotte - for her it was the only way to own him, to have him without feeling herself defiled by someone's lust

Guts was standing the the corridor, pressing palm to his face. He realizes that Griffith turned himself into a tool completely and Charlotte becomes his owner who wasnt enjoying sex, instead she was enjoying the very fact that divine Griffith was playing a role of her personal breeding stallion obediently

Chapter Text

At morning after the castle submerged into a heavy silencem The ritual has finished, masks being put on again, but air was soaked with smell of cold calculation and supressed humiliation.

Casca's reaction was - her ideal has crumbled.

She met Griffith in a corridor when he was going back from the queen's chamber. He was dressed immaculately, his armours were shining, but his stride was mechanical, devoided of that living grace which used to make Casca's heart still its beating in awe

Casca stood on his way and said:

"Griffith...I saw how you have been exiting. I felt it whole night. Tell me...is it truth? What Sonia is whispering?

That you did this not because you love her but because she ...bought you?"

Griffith stopped walking, his gaze went through her, he said:

Casca, you are a soldier. You know that a victory requeres resources.

Charlotte is my main resource. Yesterday I simply provided legitimacy of our future

It was...neccessary inspection of my assets"

" "Inspection", my ass! You talking about lovemaking like about counting arrows! Griffith I remember the time when you werent like this. I recall how you used to cherish your honour.

And now you are just a tool in her hands.

She is boasting about how convenient you are because you dont have a passion in you.

Griffith, you has become an object! Beautifull, expensive object she is showing off!"

Griffith didnt reply. He just asjusted his cape and walked away, leaving Casca to stand and sob. She realized - the Falcon she has been following died in that night in a river after being defiled by Gennon and today she has buried his remains"

Then Griffith encauntered Guts.

The latter caught Griffith at the wall. Guts looked exhausted, his eyes reddened from insomnia.

"You look contented, Griffith. Fresh, clean...Like yesterday it wasnt you who played role of a breeding stallion by a schedule"

With frightening smile Griffith says:

"You know, Guts...I really contented. For the first time in a long time I feel certainity.

Passion is chaos. Desire is vulnerability. Charlotte gave me perfect conditions: I can rule without distracting myself to human dirt. She wants movements from me - I make these movements. She wants a heir I will give her the heir.

In exchange I receive the world I will build according to my vision."

Guts grabbed him by his shoulders

"Do you hear yourself?! She subjected you to moral castration! She turned your trauma caused by Gennon into your main job! Now you work as professional log for the crown!"

Griffith grabbed Guts' hand suddenly, Griffith's strength felt inhuman

"This is freedom, Guts. Freedom from feelings. Im not afraid of being humiliated anymore because I turned my humiliation into a tool of power. Im happy that now Im a pure function. And you ...you are furious because that pathetic boy who dreams about love and warmth still lives in you.

You are jealous of my coldness because Donovan's fire still burning you"

Guts released him, walking backwards. He sees not a friend but icy deity who willingly carved his own heart from his chest to stop feeling pain.

"Griffith, you have won. You get your throne. But this is not human who sits on this throne. Instead of human there is an armour with empiness inside of it

Chapter Text

Guts was standing at the gates, his stallion was hitting the ground with his hoove impatiently. Guts turns to Casca for the last time, in hope that in her eyes he would see a desire to run away from this golden crypt

"Casca, go with me. There is no life in here anymore. You saw him - he is hollow. He sold himself to Charlotte piece by piece

If you stayed she would devour you next time, she would make a vessel out of you as she promised. Lets go, we will find another way"

Casca was shaking her head, her gaze was fixed to a tall tower, where Griffith's silluette was visible

"Guts, I cant. You are strong, you can live for yourself. But I...I have always been his shadow. If I left then he no longer would have anyone who remember his true self. He wont have anyone who remember how he was like before Gennon, before Charlotte, before this damn crown"

"You wanna guard a corpse of his soul. He said he is happy to be a tool!"

"He lies. He lies to himself in order to not loose his sanity from all the pain. He is fullfilling her whims mechanically because this is his only way to not feel how these walls are grinding him alive.

I will stay. I will be his army, his shield...even if he wont look at me like at the person anymore. I love him, Guts.

Love is not always about happiness. Sometimes love is about standing by your beloved person's side when everything is crumbling"

Guts understands that he has been defeated. He sees how Casca was slowly turning her back to the gates and she goes back into the castle into this cold cage which Charlotte has built for everyone

"Goodbye, Casca. I hope your warmth would be enough to warm this ice.

But Im afraid that you would just freeze alongside with him"

Charlotte was looking at the Guts' departure through the tower's window. She was smiling happily, caressing her own stomach. She has everything: obedient king-tool, loyal rival-handmaiden and power bought at price of other people' souls. She defeated fate itself

Chapter Text

The royal palace's balcony. A crowd was rejoicing in the square. Charlotte was standing in a gown on golden colour, she was shining like saint. A legitimate heir was in her hands. Griffith was standing nearby, frozen still like a silent statue. In a shadow of column Casca was standing behind them, with visibly rounded stomach.

With loud clear voice Charlotte was adressing the population

"My loyal subjects! My consort, king Griffith is the great hero but alas, he also just a human with weaknesses.

His flesh turned out to be weak in the face of temptation, and he granted a common servant with fruit of his passion.

But, your queen, despite they hurted me like this, dont hold a grudge.

This is not the child's fault that his father is sinfulk and the woman is shameless.

Im taking this bastard under my care. He will be raisen as a symbol of my mercy and out house' purity!"

Crowd simply exploded with excited screams:

"Saint Charlotte! Virtuous queen!"

For Griffith is was ultimate death of personality. Griffith was looking at the crowd and there wasnt a hint of usual shine in his eyes. He realizes that Charlotte didnt simply turn him into a tool - she turned him into a laughstock and lecher in front of the crowd in order to look saint in comparison to him

"Let is be as you command, Your Majesty" he whispers. It was the last stage of selfdestruction for him.

He put a bastard inside Casca mechanically at the queen's order, turning their only intimacy into an act of public humiliation.

Now he is just a beautifull cover for her absolute power.

Casca presses her hands to her stomach. She hears how she was being called "shameless servant" and she sees how her future child is already destined to be taken away from her

She has stayed to guard ruins of Griffith's soul but as result she becomes incubator for Charlotte's whim.

She looks at the back of Griffith's head and she sees that he didnt even turn around to her. In that moment her loyalty turns to ash. She realizes - she is not Griffith's shield, she is a part of his lifetime debt he had to repay to Charlotte for what she gave him.

Guts was concealed with jis cape, standing among rejoicing crowd, he was hearing these words, and he sees this idilly. His hand was squeezing the sword's handle with such force that a leather of his glove teared.

"You did this, Griffith..." He whispers. "You allowed her to show you as a lecherous fool and Casca as a whore - you let her do this just so that she wont take away your crown from you"

Guts spat at the ground and left the town. He understood that he had no one to get his revenge on in here. Griffith and Casca choosed their cage on their own accord and Charlotte simply turned out to be the best jail in Midland history.

Charlotte turns to Griffith and Casca when the crowd's yelling began to grow queit, with icy smily she whispers

"Now you two are my decorations. And also when you will give me the next child dont forget to smile"

Chapter Text

Ten years after, Charlotte, Casca and Griffith look just as same as they did ten years ago, though Griffith's facial features kinda hardened, he still was of very rare beauty but of a bit more rugged type now. While Guts was covered in scars and grows visibly older, he was sitting in tavern on the outskirts of Midland. Rich company escorted royal guards in white capes which used to be a sumbol of Band of the Hawk stopped at the door

A boy exited from the carriage. He was about nine years old. His hair was pitch black, Casca's hair but he has cold, piercing gaze of blue eyes, Griffith's eyes. His demeanor is that of arrogant prince but his movements show that mechanical detachment what Charlotte beaten into his father

Guts felt like there was ash in his throat. Guts looks at the child through his cup's edge. The boy noticed his gaze - it was heavy, oppressing gaze - for a moment the child stopped in his tracks. Guts sees this child as a living memorial of his friends' disgrace.

It was horror of recognition :the boy's face have features of the woman Guts loves, as well as features of the man Guts hated and at the same time adored simultaneously. But this child is not a fruit of love. This child is a fruit of order. Guts feels nausea, realising that in order to caress her ego Charlotte creates this bastard like a prized hound

The boy was dressed in silks, he was referred to us as "mercy of the queen", but Guts sees how the boy was looking at the world. There wasnt any curiousity of a child in his eyes - only ice. Charlotte has been raising him in hatred to his own mother(whom this child sees as "promiscious servant") in him and in contempt to his father(whom this child sees as "weak sinner")

Guts realizes that Griffith and Casca didnt just give their bodies for her amusement awat, they also give away a future. This boy is Charlotte's perfect weapon. He will grow up and become the next king, completely erasing the memory about who the Hawks really were.

The boy was walking past Guts, grimacing at the smell of cheap drink. In a whisper very similar to that of Griffith the boy says:

"Why this mercenary looks at me like this? There is so much of dirt in his eyes...Hang him if he dont move his gaze from me."

Guts lowers his head slowly. He doesnt grab his sword. He understands that Charlotte's victory is ultimate. She didnt just break the Falcon, she forces his blood to serve to her greatnessm.

Guts finished his drink, tossed a coin on the table and left into the night.

Chapter Text

Griffith was standing on a terrace, looking at how his legitimate son born by Charlotte and his bastard born by Casca were exercising in sword skills under watch of best trainers. Both of his sons, legitimate one as well as bastard were wearing expensive armours, their swords are works of art, their skin knows no scars from whipping, their stomaches know no hunger

Griffith was thinking:'Look at them, Guts. You have been calling it a cage but look at their hands. These hands dont know a smell of cheap metal, their hands dont know a smeall of mercaries' swear. They would never stand in the baron's tent, trembling from cold and fear thinking about how much their honour costs. They would never drink from dirt rainpools, dreaming about the crown which was seeming like unattainable star for them."

He feels a strange, painfull surge of gratitude to Charlotte. Yes, she break him. Yes, she turned his life into a mechanical ritual. But in exchange she granted his offspring, blood of his blood with somethang what he has never had - right to peace, and greatness without of filth of being raped by dirty old men

Looking at his bastard with Casca's hair Griffith says mentally to himself:

"This child thinks Im a weak sinner. And let it be. He feels contempt to his own mother. Let it be. This is a small price for the fact that unlike me he would never have to sell himself to survive. For us both, on his behalf I sold everything. I have become a tool so that these children of mine could be gods"

In that moment Charlotte comes to him. She puts her hand upon his shoulder it was a gesture of an owner who was checking their property' wholeness.

"Do you see this, Griffith? They are perfect. They dont have that fury and need which you have inside of yourself. I erased your past from them. Are you happy with how you has repayed that debt you owed me?"

Bowing his head, slowly Griffith says with frightening calmness:

"Yes your Majesty. Looking at them I realising that Gennon and other shit I went through was just a soil. Now roses are growing from this soil. My humiliations were...profitable deal"

Griffith found happiness in this. To admit that everything has been for nothing means ultimate death. So he was convincing himself that his role of breeding stallion and beautifull trophy is supreme act of mercy to his children

He looks at how his children were laughing, unaware about price of their laughter, and he feels how his heart was turning into a cold smooth stone completely. Mission is complete. Hawks are flying no longer, they are fed and sit in a golden pigeon-house.

Chapter Text

Casca was standing in depths of a gallery of columns, she was concealed beyond heavy velvet curtains. She sees everything: laughing children, Charlotte's hand upon Griffith's shoulder and - what was scariest for her - expression of peace upon her commander's face.

Casca thought bitterly:

'Look at him. He is smiling. He sincerely believes that he exchanged his soul for their wellbeing. Griffith, you have always been skillfull in turning defeats into victories in your head...

But this is not a victory. This is surrender"

She looks at her son - at the bastard whom Charlotte was showing off as her mercy's trophy. The boy was laughing but Casca hears cold metallic tone in his laughter.

He doesnt know her. For him she is - "that female guard", a shadow from his father's past, she was the one about whom it was obscene to talk about her aloud due to her promiscuoty he heard about.

'Griffith, you think you saved them from humiliations? You just made their humiliation invisible. Are you rejoicing about that they dont need to sleep with Gennons to survive? But they already are sleeping with a monster - with lies you are shoving them instead of the truth. You bought them their peace at price of their right to know who they really are.'

She sees how Griffith was closing his eyes, presenting his face to the sun. He almost looks like saint. But Casca does remember his face in those nights when he was "working hard to make a heir" under Charlotte's voice. She remembers mechanical pace of his movements and void in his pupils

Casca says to herself quietly, tightening her grasp at the sword's handle, nervously:

"Guts was right. You turned into armours. And the scariest thing is that you feel cosy in that armour. In their sated stomaches you found justification for your slavery. And I...I stayed here to guard your cage. But we both are doirmats for Charlotte's throne, and you decided to call it "supreme goal".

She turns away from the garden's idillic view. Her love to Griffith has become a heavy chain. She cannot leave because she was afraid that without her memory about "real" Griffith he will disappear completely, having turned into a decoration..

But by staying she was dying everyday, looking at how he was enjoying his downfall.

Casca thinks:

'Sleep well in your lies, my king. I will be your shadow. But never shall you ask me to share your joy. Because unlike you I remember price of every rose in this garden."

Charlotte was leading Griffith away to the depths of the palace, Casca stayed in a shadow, eternal watchman of the entrance of their ruined lives' crypt

Memories of Casca about humiliating act ordered by Charlotte were horrifying ritual where Griffith fully detached himself from her, turning violence into a dry mechanical act. She was recallinh icy precision of his movements, full lack of emotions and deafening silence of the Band of the Hawk who were witnessing her dehumanization.

For her that moment become a realisation of the fact that Griffith was sacrificing her honour and dignity for the sake of his own survival and status, turning their dream into a cruel deal

For her it was a betrayal during which he was using her body as a tool to please the princess, by doing so he ruined Casca's trust in him.

Chapter Text

For Judea that moment become a point in which his world didnt just crumble but turned into a poisonous ash. Judea has always been eyes and ears of the band of the Hawk, he has always been a person who sees everything and understands everyone better than they understand themselves. But what he saw in dungeons shattered even his calm composure.

Judea was standing at the wall, grasping at his knives so strongly that his knuckles whitened. He wasnt looking at Charlotte. He was looking at Griffith's arms.

As someone who has been mastered in fine movements Judea was seeing that Griffith wasnt just obeying. He was doing this with frightening, surgical precision. There was not a droplet of passion, not a gramm of mercy in his movements - only icy submission.

Judea realised - Griffith switched off a human inside himself to survive and in this process he was using Casca like she was inanimated object

Judea understood - a toss of a knife into Charlotte's direction and guards with crossbows would slay whole Band of the Hawk in a second. He was standing and watching how a woman with whom he was in love, was being destroyed by hands of a person who he has been worshipping/>

For Judea Griffith's actions was willing conscious betrayal for the sake of political survival

After everything rnded Judea found Casca in stable. She was sitting on the floor, embracing her knees, her gaze was directed into nowhere.

Judea approached her slowly, not daring to touch her. He knew that now any touch for her is continuation of that nightmare.

"Casca...I ..." He fell silent, realising that words "forgive me" or "Im sorry" gonna sound like insult now. "I havent thrown a knife at her. I have been standing and watching. Like everyone else. We all have bought our lives at this price.

Do you know what the scariest part it? Griffith havent lost his mind. He has done it because he is a perfect tool. And he turned us into similar tools. Now we are now hawks. We are vultures who are fed upon remains of your and his honour"

He handed her a wine but she didnt move

If you want to go away ...if you want me to cut these guards' throats...then nod. I dont care what would happen to the kingdom or to the dream. I just want you to know: for me you are still the same as you were before the ceremony. And he...he is just an empty armour who learnt to fullfill orders of new owner"

But Casca was silent. Judea understood that she doesnt need him to comfort her. She doesnt need his knives or his loyalty. She already has taken decision to stay in this hell and the only thing what Judea has left to do is for the rest of his days to be a witness of how everything what they has been believing in was rotting slowly.

Judea stayed next to her in silence, knowing that his new role is to be the only share this shame with her in silence.

Chapter Text

Torture chamber. Guts was chained to the wall with heavy chains, his body is battered after fierce but failed rebellion. Shierke, small and defenceless was trembling in a corner, surrounded by inquisitors. Charlotte was playing with a dagger, in a bored tone she commanded to start "cleansing"

Griffith, horrified at the thought of such gruesome things done to a child dear to Guts in front of Guts whom he was still secretely admiring and caring about did a desperate thing - he offered himself in place of Guts, dead silence hang in the dungeons

With a smirk Charlotte says:

"You, Griffith? You wanna add magical blood to my collection? Well, this is rational. Your seed already shown its fertility, as for Shierke...her gift is too valuable for just burning her. Come on do your job"

Guts was thrashing in his chains, his lone eye was soaked in blood and tears of fury

"Griffith, no! Just kill this girl, it would be better! Stop this! You are not saving her, you are killing everything in her!"

Griffith turns to Guts

"Dont look at me like this, Guts. You have been trying to break the wall with forehead and you was defeated. Now I will buy a life for her with the only coin I have left with my body and with your hatred. This is logical. This is...effective"

When Griffith began the process, Guts suddenly stopped trashing and yelling, he fell quiet. It wasnt a silence of surrender, it was silence of inner death. When Charlotte orders Griffith to turn to face him, Guts wasnt looking away from the sight before him.

He was looking at how his best friend, his ideal was turning into obedient animal who was committing violence against a child at a woman's order.

For Guts the world ceased to exist in that moment. He realised, that Griffith was right a system cannot be broken, and the only way to survive in the system is to become the dirtiest part of it

Casca who was standing at the entrance covered her mouth with her hands to prevent herself from screaming. She sees how Griffith she has been worshipping is loosing his right to be called human being completely.

She sees that he was doing this for saving this child but this price seemed worse than death for her. She understands that now Shierke will become the same shadow as Casca herself - a vessel for Charlotte's ambitions.

Casca felt sorry for the girl, and also she feels deep, icy disgust towards Griffith who has learnt to justify any horror with effectiveness and pragmatism

Griffith was doing everything by Charlotte's instruction. He was looking right into Guts' eye, memorising his suffering. But when everything ended and Charlotte mercifully ordered to take Shierke away to "chambers for future mothers" it took him time to stand up.

His body began to shake with uncontrolable. He was trying to keep his composire but when he caught Shierke's gaze - hollow, lifeless gaze of a broken child he sighed, turned to a wall and he began to vomit with bile.

It wasnt just physiological reaction - his spirit was trying to expel that dirt which he has let inside of himself. He understands , that by "saving" Shierke at Charlotte's conditions he destroyed the last respect what Guts could have for him

Charlotte was caressing Griffith's head like he was a loyal hound

"Hush, my king. You did everything right. You saved her from a stake. You are real hero. And dont forget - tomorrow we have a ball due to our wedding's anniversary. You shall shine"

Griffith lifted his head up. His face like a mask but a quiet fire of insanity was burning in depths of his eyes. He realised that for Charlotte he becomes not a husband only but also a toy for the lowest experiments over moral

Sonia's words in this suffocating silence of dungeons sound like death sentence. She was voicing the cruel truth which Griffith has been trying to hide by silks of his dream

After act with Shierkie Sonia comes to trembling Griffith who was still trying to copy with his nausea. She wasnt looking at him with pity - instead there were fanatical gleam and cold triumph were in her eyes

"What have you been expecting Griffith? You was born in a gutter and wanted to sit upon the throne. For centuries this throne belonged to gods by the right of their blood. You thought that the throne will be given to you simply because of your beautifull eyes and victories at battlefield? No, Griffith. For such leap from dirt to nobility a price is always payed in the most expesive coin - ones own innards. You wanted to become a king while being a commoner?

Then work for this. Be the one whom the queen made you - be the tool, prized beast, servant of whims of others. This is the price of your crown"

Guts, chained to the wall, stopped trashing. Sonia's words were hitting him stronger than a sight of Shierke's violation by Griffith

Guts thinks:'She is right...We all have been believing in him being exceptional, in him being above the rules. And in reality he just become indebted to this system and now the system tearing pieces of meat from him as a payment for these debts. Griffith didnt rise above the world. The world devoured him and spat him out in a form of this well dressed doll"

Guts was looking at Griffith and he feels not a hatred by icy contempt mixed with horror. He realizes that Griffith is the biggest looser in the room because he get everything he wanted but lost his right to be himself

For Casca it was crumbling of the myth

Sonia's words become a moment of ultimate revealation for Casca. She has always been seeing a saviour, being of another kind in Griffith

She sees at Sonia whom she used to deem as just a strange girl, now she see a voice of reality itself in Sonia. Casca understands that the greatness of Band of the Hawk was but preludy for this lifetime debt

"Thats how it looks like ..",Casca whispers. "Your dream, Griffith - this is just very long and filthy line to a cashier, and pay to this cashier with us and with yourself"

She was seeing how Griffith clenched underneath Sonia's words, becoming small and pathetic despite the crown. Myth about White Falcon is dead. The only thing which has left is indebter who would pay with his "work" to the rest of his days

Griffith lifted his head up, his voice is dry and hoarse

"You are right, Sonia. I...shall work for this"

He stands up, fixing his clothes with same mechanical precision he shown while "saving" Shierke through her violation, he exited the cell, not looking at Guts and Casca. He accepted his role of elevated slave

Chapter Text

Shierke was crying after events of that night in dungeons. Her astral body, usually pure and shining, growing dull, covering with grey stains. To protect her from unbearable pain and the realisation that Griffith her idol and saviour has become her executioner, her mind began to build defensive illusion

Shierke began to believe that at that night in dungeons Griffith has committed a sacred act of self-sacrifice. In her eyes he is not a rapist but a martyr who took a sin upon himself to save her from purifying fire of Inquisition. In his cold, hollow eyes she began to see "hidden sadness" and divinity

She began to see Charlotte not as a tyrant but as a strict but just goddess-mother who gave her a chance to serve to the great goal - birth of a magical heir.

Shierke began to use her magic to strengthen the palace walls and to weave spells of loyalty for Charlotte's subbordinates.

She held a conversation with Guts after this.

Still chained, Guts was looking at how Shierke was entering his cell. She was dressed in a luxurious white dress gifted to her by Charlotte, golden necklace was on her neck. Quetly, with frightening calmness Shierke says:

"Guts why are you so angry? You dont see...Griffith saved me. He took this darkness upon himself so that I could stay in this world and to do something usefull for the kingdom. He is true king, he is above your petty human moral

Chocking with his own fury, Guts said in hoarse voice:

"Shierke wake up! He trampled you at that insane bitch's order! He is not a saviour, he is broken doll!"

Shierke shook her head, unhealthy magical light flashed in her eyes

"No, Guts. You are weak. You cannot accept a scale of his selfsacrifice. Queen Charlotte said that my child will become a bridge between worlds. This is a great honour

Griffith...he was so kind to me in that night. He was silent because his prayer was too deep for words."

Icy horror engulfed Guts. He understands that Shierke no longer exist. What was before him is magical shell which Shierke adjusted, reprogrammed to her need to copy with trauma. It was ultimate defeat of Guts:he failed to protect her body and now he lost her soul too. He sees how Griffith was standing in a doorframe, watching Shierke's "reborn" - he was watching it with dead, mechanical smile of approval

As for Casca she sees her own reflection in Shierke. She understands that the girl went through the same way - from horror to "love-slavery" in order to not lose her sanity. Casca feels nausea realising that Charlotte was creating a whole dinasty of broken and loyal

"See it, Guts? She understands more than you do. She is gratefull. Griffith worked to preserve her life, and now she is our support. Soon we will have perfect kingdom, where everyone knew their worth and their role in this great work

Guts closed his lone eye, realising that in this castle insanity become the only way to survive

Chapter Text

Charlotte and Sonia invited Casca for conversation. Sonia with her frightening ability to see images from the past began to weave a web from Guts' memories

I a quiet sing song voice Sonia says

"Casca, do you think that Guts is someone you can rely on? That he is a honest, loyal swordsman? Yet his soul is full of nasty secrets.

Do you know that while Griffith was forcing his manhood and his seed inside you to force you to bear a bastard Guts already found another passion? In that fortress...with female apostle. He didnt just fighting her. He tasted her flesh, her demonic essence. He has been defiled by darkness and he didnt tell you about this darkness"

Charlotte adds:

"And this is not everything, dear. Your hero - committed an infanticide. Do you remember little Adonis? Son of Julius?

Guts stabbed him. He stabbed a child who just ended up in a wrong time in a wrong place. Guts killed him in a cold blood, with those arms, with which he was embracing you after this. He hidden this from you because he knew; you would see a monster in him otherwise"

It was bitter revealation for Casca. She was listening and her world blackened.

She feels betrayed: Guts for her was the only pure oasis in this insanity. Upon learning about Adonis' murder she understands that Guts is the executioner of filthy orders - just like Griffith, the only difference that Guts has been keeping silence about this hypocritically

Casca was comparing him to Griffith, she thinks:'Griffith at least not hiding that he sold himself. He does this openly, before our eyes.

While Guts...Guts has been killing little children and slept with monsters secretely, then he was coming back to me and pretending he was saint'

Soon Guts was realised, Charlotte promised to give Shierke to common guards for fun if he misbehaved. When Guts sees Casca he tried to come to her but Casca jumped from him like from plague

"Dont touch me with arms with which you murdered Adonis! You have been silent about that it was you who killed that child...you have been silent about this creature in the fortress...You are just like him, Guts! The only difference is that you are hiding your filth underneat a cape of lone wolf. Griffith at least admits his debt, and you are a coward who afraid of truth about himself

Taken aback, Guts was trying to make excuses:

"Casca, I...it was for the sake of the Band of the Hawk ...it was accidentaly..."

Charlotte was watching it from a balcony

"See it, Sonia? Their "love" is crumbling so easily when you exposed sceletons from his closet. Bow they both are under my power. Griffith is my indebtor, Casca is my vessel, and Guts...now Guts is just broken hound who has nowhere to go."

Now Adonis' corpse and a shadow of the female apostle were standing between him and Casca.

She no longer trusting to Guts, she sees his silence about his dirt as a supreme form of betrayal

Chapter Text

Dialogue in a kitchen lowered a tragedy to a level of domestic poison. Charlotte was erasing a line between the hero Guts and a customer of brothel, turning his past mistakes into systeme of subjugation of women

Charlotte was peeling apple with a short knife. Casca was standing by a window, he gaze was dead but she was forced to listen the queen's words

"You know, Casca, Ive been thinking about that Guts of yours a lot. Men kike him are fond of playing honourable savages. Sword, scars, stern silence ..But the more they swing their swords the more rot they hiding inside. You have been believing that you are only one for him, havent you?"

"I believed that he was honest" Casca said quetly

Charlotte chuckled

"Honesty is expensive toy. And Gutsm mhe didnt just sleep with that female apostle. In her he has been looking for something what he couldnt find in you. Filth is attracted to filth. And what about thise prostitutes he visited during campaignes? Do you think those prostitutes become prostitutes willingly?

Mosr of them are just like you. Someone was sold by their father, someone was kidnapped from burnt village. They were victims of ciscumstances. Guts played saint, remember how outraged he was when Griffith took Shierke? Yet at night the same Guts who so angry at Griffith for this went to these women, who just like you were sold by their fathers or simply kidnapped. He was paying a coin for bodies of women whose lives were ruined by men like him

For him a woman is either a comrade he can use as a shield or a vessel he can buy to rape

Casca clenches the edge of the table

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I tired of your illusions. Griffith is a tool and he isnt hiding it. He is honest in his downfall. And Guts...Guts is a hypocrite. He was scorning Griffith for what Griffith did to Shierke yet himself he has been taking advantage on flesh of those who just like you have been sold for pleasures of men like Guts or men like that nobleman to whom your father sold you

Guts is consumer of misery of others. For him you are just another fortress he took, behind your back he has been slicing children and slept with demons

Charlotte's words landed at the most painfull spot. Casca recalls how Guts was looking at her - with protective tenderness as she thought. Now he doesnt see this as tenderness, she sees that as the rapist's possessiveness. She sees Guts not as a saviour but as a customer who just choosed her as the most expensive merchendise in his collection

Charlotte stood up, putting her hand upon Casca's shoulder

"You and I we are the only ones who know the truth. Men are building empires upon our bodies, calling it "dream" or "survival". Griffith is at least working to repay what he owes to us. And Guts...Guts just run away, leaving us to deal with the dirt he didnt clean after himself"

Casca was silent. In her mind image of Guts was merging with images of Donovan and Gennon - he just like them was the one who takes what he wanted, justifying it by their power or by their pain

That way Guts was left in complete exile. Now in Casca's eyes even his love looks like a form of exploitation

Chapter Text

Charlotte adds:"Griffith told you about Gennon, why Guts havent told you about Donovan?'

Sonia adds:

"By the way if Griffith was bad as Guts talks about him then he would have just done the same thing as your father. He would have sold you but he choosed to sacrifice himself"

This final dialogue put the new wedge inside Casca's mind. Charlotte and Sonia were using the most sacred thing - trust and selflessness to show Guts as a cowardish egoist, and to show Griffith as a tragical hero.

Charlotte looks Casca right into her eyes. Smell of spices and humidity hang in the air, lowering this moment to eerie mundanity

In icy tone Charlotte says

"Casca, think about this. Griffith showed you his blackest wound. He told you about Gennon. He entrusted you with his shame, making you a part of his burden

And what about Guts? Why he was silent about Donovan? He knew that you would understand. He knew that you went through the same.

But he preferred to keep it a secret to appear as a strong warrior for you rather than broken child. His silence is arrogance, Casca.

He wasnt entrusting you with his pain, he just take it out on you"

Sonia emerged from a shadow, her voice sounds like echo of truth:

"And yet another thing...If Griffith was that monster as Guts portrayes him in his drunken alcohol indused crazytalk...then he would simply did the same what your father did

He needed money for army? He could sell you to Gennon or to any other rich baron

But he choosed to sacrifice himself. He laid upon that altar so that you and the Band of the Hawk could sleep so sound

Charlotte said:

"Griffith took the dirt upon himself to protect yoy. Guts was taking you to forget about his dirt. One man gave up his honour to save your life, another man was taking your life to save his honour. So which one of them really loves you?

The one who serving you now by working to pay his lifetime debt upon the throne or the one who run away, leaving you with questions he didnt have a courage to answer?

This argument become unbeatable for Casca.

She began to see Griffith as atoner. In her eyes image of Griffith began to clean itself through his suffering. She began to see his current role of Charlotte's slave as continuation of that old selfsacrifice he did for the sake of the Band of the Hawk.

She began to feel not just loyalty to him but religious worship - he was suffering on behalf of them all.

She began to see Guts as a traitor. Now for her Guts seemed not just rude, but also traitorous. She was discerning his secretivity about Donovan like Guts lack of trust to her, she was discerning his accussations against Griffith as attempt of victimblaming

Charlotte and Sonia exchanged victorious looks. They created perfect picture of the world, where Griffith is saint martyr, Guts is cowardish hypocrite and Casca is loyal keeper of her king's sacred selfsacrifice

In this new Midland Griffith was keep on "working" as Charlotte's slave and breeding stallion to pay his lifetime debt he owed to Charlotte for fullfilling his dream, Casca was keep of being in awe at the sight of downfall, Charlotte was keep on ruling over them all, knowing that the truth would never see the light

Chapter Text

Guts was standing by the castle's gates and heaviness of his sword now seemed as nothing in comparison to the truth poured upon him. He wasnt arguing, he wasnt looking for excuses. He takes his exile as deserved punishment, realising a depth of his hypocrisy.

Guts understands that Charlotte and Sonia were right in the most important thing: he has been judging Griffith while hiding his own secrets made of dirt and blood

Guts knew he deserved punishment for his silence about Donovan. Guts realizes that his secretivity wasnt a protection, it was a form of egoism. He didnt entrust Casca with his pain caused to him by Donovan because he was afraid to appear weak in her eyes. Now he realizes: Griffith who told about Gennon was more honest and more courageous than he is

While Guts bought opportunity to appear invincible at cost of his trust to Casca

Guts knew he deserved punishment for murder of Adonis. He has been voicing outrage at Griffith for defilement of Shierke conducted by Griffith at Charlotte's demand, he was angry at this, showing himself as protector of innocence while at same time he himself stabbed another child in cold blood.

Murder of Adonis was standing between him and any moral trials against Griffith.

Guts understands: he doesnt have a right to express righteous anger while having blood of another innocent child upon his own hands

He also knew he deserved punishment for cheating of Casca with female apostle. Memory about that night in the fortress was burning him more than any wound

He cheated on Casca with being who was personifying all the evil he has been fighting against.

By cheating on Casca with that being he didnt just betray a woman he loves, he also betrayed humanity itself.

He knew he deserved punishment for using prostitutes. Guts accepted Charlotte's condemnation. He, a warrior who supposed to defend weak people, has been using bodies of women who have been strippied off a choice. He was a part of the system which was breaking lives and now he sees himself not as Black Swordsman but as ordinary consumer of other people's misery.

Guts turned his head to look back at the castle. He sees Griffith standing at the wall - Griffith was obedient, broken but he was honest about his downfall in his own way. Guts understands that he himself is much worse than Griffith: unlike Griffith he was has been trying to preserve a halo upon his head while staying knee deep in a mud just like Griffith.

"Princess, you has won," Guts whispers."You show me a bill I cannot pay"

He left into the night, having been stripped of a right to take revenge, stripped of a right to love, stripped of the right to justify himself. His exile is not escape, it is willing incarceration in his own feeling of guilt. He disappears in a fog, knowing that in this castle his name will become synonymous to "hypocrisy" and he was agreeing with this.

Chapter Text

Guts left to faraway lands, where no one heard about Black Swordsman or about the Band of the Hawk. He throw his old armour away, leaving only his old sword, now this sword mostly serving him as a cane rather than weapon

He decided to atone his heavy sins by labour. He was taking a job in the poorest villages. He was cleaning stables, carrying stones, hacking a wood he was doing the heaviest and dirtiest job he could find. Each callous, each flash of pain in his spine is a tiny participle of his atonement for murder of Adonis, for taking advantage at prostitutes (without thinking about how they ended up in prostitution and whether they are really wanted to end up like this), for not trusting Casca with his secret about Donovan.

He seeks atonement not in a prayer but in physical labour, he was hoping that exhaustion would erase his memory about his hypocrisy.

Eventually he stopped talking. His voice grow hoarse then disappeared. Locals are calling him "Mute man" or "Shadow".

That Guts who has been condemning Griffith died in Charlotte's dungeons.

New Guts was just a shell which was living with only one goal - to not cause any harm to anyone anymore

Sometimes during cold nights he was looking at the capital's direction. He knew that Griffith was keep on "working" as Charlotte's sex slave and breeding stallion to repay his debt he owed her for the throne and for how he used to foolishly underestimating her. Casca was keep on bearing bastards Griffith put inside her to pay his debt. Shierke was keep on serving to Charlotte by providing her with magical baby and by using her own spells for Charlotte's benefit.

Guts knew all of this and he took it as correct order:they are living in their golden cage, and he was living in his mud. It was fair.

Guts was sitting in a forest by a bonfire. Vagabond dog comes to him - it was thin, scarred, outcast just like Guts himself. Guts shared his stale bread with it. No pathos, no dream, no great goal was in this simple act

He wasnt fighting against fate anymore. He become a part of the fate - invisible, queit and endlessly lonely part.

He was atoning for his hypocrisy by stripping himself of a right to receive human warmth knowing that in Casca's eyes he forever will stay the one who has beeing lying to her, the one who killed little boy and took advantage at victims of sex trafficking

Chapter Text

It was final act of Casca's psychological destruction, image of Guts turns from shelter to a source of nausea. A thought that he has been taking advantage at women whose lives had been broken by war and poverty was becoming unbearable for her

She was horrified upon discovering such dirt underneath his mask of a hero.

Casca was sitting in her chambers, looking at her hands, Guts used squeeze these hands of her with such sacred tenderness. Now this touch seemed like burn mark for her.

It was hypocrisy of power. 'He has been screaming at Griffith.

He was looking at Griffith like at a monster because Griffith was fullfilling Charlotte's order. But Griffith has been doing this to save our necks from nooses. And Guts? This angry hero, protector of innocence, who has been condemning Griffith for submitting to Charlotte's order - same person was visiting prostitutes simply because he wanted to while Griffith was submitting Charlotte's orders to save us from persecution.

Guts was paying for bodies of these women who have already been raped by life with hunger, kidnappings, with slavetraders. He, the great Swordsman has been buying a piece of their tormented flesh and he was calling it "male needs"

Guts was willing rapist. 'Charlotte was right. Griffith is unwilling rapist, he is a slave of circumstances and of his dream. But Guts...Guts is a willing rapist. He has been using those who didnt have a right to say no, he has been using those whise consent had been bought by their fear of death from starvation.

Guts has been entering them, knowing that hate his touch and this didnt stop him. He is no better than Donovan, the only difference is that his currency was gold instead of brute force"

Casca feels like her intimacy with Guts was defiled as soon as she learnt about how Guts have been taking advantage at those unwilling kidnapped, starving women. Casca was recalling nights she shared with Guts. Now for her it seemed that Guts has been using those unfortunate miserable women to train in order to have experience for her. Now in his caresses she sees a shadow of all those unwilling prostitutes whose names he didnt even bother to learn. Casca felt that her own body is defiled by his touches because he brought smell of everyone he has bought in cheap brothels to her bed

Chapter Text

She found Griffith after his "visit" to Charlotte's bedroom. He was sitting, looking at the wall, hollow and exhausted. Casca comes to him and sat beside him. For a first time in a long time she doesnt feel pity for him, she feels horrifying similarity

"Griffith, you know..."Casca says quetly. "Guts has left. He fled from his truth. He has been condemning you for you have sold your honour for our sake. But he himself has been purchasing other people's honour for some copper coins just to entertain himself during military campaigns.

He is the worst of us all. He is a predator who has been pretending that he is a victim"

Griffith turns his head to her slowly. Weak understanding flashed in his hollow eyes.

"Me and you...we at least do know a price" Caaca whispers, taking his cold hand."We are working to pay our debt we owed to this world. And he...he has been just using the world while the worod has been kind to him"

Casca threw Guts away from her heart. Now he is a symbol of male hypocrisy for her.

She stayed with Griffith not out of blind love but out of a feeling of solidarity between two broken people who have admitted their dirt while Guts has been trying to hide his dirt underneath his mask of righteous anger

She accepted her role of Griffith's "additional wife" and role of Charlotte's tool, thinking that such life is more honest than hypocrisy of Guts

Chapter Text

As a being with magical gift and connection with astral Shierke failed to bear a dissonance:'Divine Griffith, my ideal, did something horrible to me at the queen's order '

Her mind choosed a path of sacralization of violence in order not to burn to ash from the pain.

Shierke began to see Griffith not as a rapist but as a High Priest

She was convincing herself that act of violation was magical initiation.

In her mind Griffith sacrificed his purity in order to save her from fire of Inquisition.

Because of her abilities she feels how sick Griffith feels. But instead to understand that he feels sick from his own actions she was interpreting this as "saint torment of saviour".

She began to follow him like a shadow, trying to "easy his burden", in her eyes fanatical gleam of devotion began to appear, even Sonia was frightened by this fanatical gleam

She also began to accept Charlotte as "Great mother"

For Shierke Charlotte becomes incarnation of a fearsome goddess of destiny.

Sonia accepted logic of Sonia:'You are a resource, Griffith is resource, we are all - a part of the great mechanism" she began to believe that Charlotte gave her the supreme goal - to bear Griffith's child so that this child will unite magic and royal blood

She stopped see her chambers as a prison. She began to decirate them with magical symbols, these symbols were protection charms for Charlotte.

Shierke sincerely thanking Charlotte for "directing my gift to a usefull way," and she was snitching willingly about any hints of doubts among the Band of the Hawk, seeing this as protection of sacred order

As for Guts - for Shierke he becomes an embodiment of a low, animalistic nature, which was a hindrance for the great plan of uniting magic with roal blood through bearing Griffith's baby.

While Guts still was in the castle and was trying to call to her common sense Shierke saw it as a sinfull temptation. She blamed him in that he is too down to earth and too unsophisticated to understand the grace of Griffith's self sacrifice.

She was using her powers to put mental pressure at Guts by transmitting images of his own sins - murder of Adonis, taking advantage at prostitutes. She was doing this with cold belief that she was cleansing Guts through suffering just as Charlotte used to cleanse her by tasking Griffith with taking her by force

The most eerie symptome of her syndrome was that Shierke began to look for physical intimacy with Griffith. She would visit him at time when he was crushed by yet another act of "work to repay the debt owed to Charlotte", and she asks him to touch her again, she was calling it "strenghtening of connection for the sake of future heir". She was turning her humiliation into a religious ecstasy

Shierke wasnt a child magician anymore. She was a High Priestess of New Order. Now her magic was serving not to a nature but to legitimization of Charlotte's power. She was the most horrifying ally of the queen because her loyalty was based not on a fear but on her sincere love to her tormentors.

Chapter Text

Charlotte gathered nobility and clergy. Griffith was standing next to her, his face frozen in a mask of submission, also next to them little Shierke was standing, dressed in a gown of "orphan of noble blood".

With a voice full of fake compassion Charlotte says:

"My loyal subjects! My heart was bleeding when I learnt about this child's fate. My consort, king Griffith, about fourteen years ago, at time when he was roaming through taverns and other seedy places left his trace in life of unfortunate miserable woman...it was either a prostitute or servant

Mother of this girl died in poverty and dirt, leaving the child alone in this cruel world at mercy of destiny.

I couldnt let my husband's blood to rot in a gutter. Now Shierke is under the crown's care. And her existence will be eternal reminder about just how low a man can fall without wise woman's guidance.

Shierke felt twisted gratitude, she was listening this and...she believes. Her stockholm Syndrome was so deep that she accepted these lies like the only truth

She rejected her real past, erased Flora from her own memory. For her it was easier to believe that she was rescued bastard of the Great Griffith rather to remember what he has done to her in dungeons.

She kissed Charlotte's hand in front of the whole crowd. For her Charlotte is a saviour who rescued her from imagined "dirt of taverns" and gave her a status

Shierke was sincerely hating her "deceased mother-prostitute", she was projecting all her pain at that fictional mother-prostitute, despite all this pain in reality was inflicted on her by Charlotte's system

Griffith was standing silent. On a public he was shown not just as a tyrant but as a pathetic lecher who cannot keep his trousers closed even in dirtiest taverns

Charlotte destroyed his image of White Falcon, replacing it with image of Lecherous King who was kept on a leash by his saint wife who serves as the only restrain to his sinfull nature

Griffith understands: this is perfect prison. The more bastards he was bringing to Charlotte(through violence against Casca and Shierke) the more reasons for "mercy" she has, which in turn means her power will be strenghtened

Sonia was looking at this with excitement. When crowd was applauding she wgispers in Griffith's ear:

"Sechow convenient? Now Shierke is not a magical threat anymore, now she is just a "mistake of your past". No one would look for power in her, everyone would see your shame in her. Charlotte is genious, Griffith. She turned your dirt into a fundament of her temple."

Midland sees a perfect picture: mercyfull queen, her husband-lecher and two "rescued" bastards. No one knows that these children - Shierke and Griffith's bastard from Casca - is a fruit of systematic violence and psychological break

Chapter Text

Charlotte gathered boys and introduced Shierke to them. Griffith was standing in a corner, lowering his head, playing a role of living example about "how a man shall not act"

Older son (the legitimate heir of the throne, inherited Charlotte's cold arrogance) said:

"Another one, father? You failed to restrain your low urges again? Mother says you found this girl's mother in some smelly tavern and then after using that woman you left her there, not even looking back at her. You didnt care whether that woman and child you put in her would die from starvation or died in a ditch?"

Griffith's bastard born by Casca(sixteen years old blackhaired boy, his gaze now full of ice):

"You throw this girl's mother away just like you did to my mother until the queen shown mercy to me and mother?

Lady Charlotte says that you dont have a heart, in your chest, you only have thirst for pleasures and cowardicy in a face of responsibility "

Griffith was listening this and he wasnt defending himself. He understands that if he did any attempt to tell the truth "Charlotte forced me to do this", "Shierke is magical child, not result of one night stand" it would be be received like pathetic lies of a looser

He sees how his own sons were growing as his judges. Charlotte has turned his fatherhood into endless torture

For them he is "sinfull root" and Charlotte is a "sun", this sun was saving this sinfull root's fruits fron rot.

Griffith was ultimately breaking by accepting role of "dirty father" so that his children will be able to love "kind Charlotte" sincerely

Casca was watching this scene from a shadow. She sees how Griffith was being lectured by his own son who was using Charlotte's rhetoric.

Casca thinks:'We created these monsters with our own hands. Griffith is silent because this is his form of atonement. He allowes his own children to hate him so that they will believe in sanctity of a system which feeds them. Charlotte is genious - she forced Griffith's children to become his main executioners'.

Charlotte embraced all three children, creating perfect icon of "Mother of nation".

"See it, children? Your father is just a human full of weaknesses. But I always will be here to fix his mistakes. We are a family build upon my forgiveness"

Children are thanking Charlotte in chorus.

This was a full triumph for Charlotte. She didnt just seized a power she also captured a time by raising a generation which will worship her lies as a supreme truth.

Chapter Text

Guts was sitting by a bonfire, listening how vendor was reporting gossips from capital with jou:

"Our saint queen saved a child again! She found the king's bastard in a ditch, she washed this child and take her in like her own ...Such a lecher our Griffith, he cannot stop, but Charlotte is true angel, she is forgiving him everything."

Guts was listening this conversition of a vendor with another vendor, he began to laugh.

Guts recalls how Griffith used to look at Charlotte. For White Falcon she was just a pebble, naive lovesick fool, whose feeling he could play like a fiddle

Griffith believed that he is a great puppermaster and that she is his obedient puppet

A hunter become a prey. 'You thought you caught a little bird, Griffith...'Guts was thinking, looking at the fire.'But in fact you walked into a cage of a cobra. You deemed her harmless and she turned out to be the only creature who devoured you whole, without even chocking."

It was perfect revenge. Guts sees monstrous irony in that Charlotte was using Griffith's public humiliation as a fuel for her sanctity. Griffith has always been cherishing his image of a shining ideal, and now his own children are calling him a lecher according to a script of a woman whom Griffith used to deem as harmless.

Guts understands that Charlotte didnt just win - she turned their lives inside out.

Griffith wanted to be a god - and he becomes a laughstock and sinfull father

Casca wanted to be Griffith's shield - and she becomes mercyfull sinner, sneered at, looked down at by her own son

Shierke wanted to be a magical light and she becomes a tool of propaganda

'You lost by all counts, Griffith,' Guts whispers into a forest's emptiness.

'Your dream has been attained but in that dream of yours you are a main villain of a fairytale written by a little girl. She is playing you the way you would have never imagined.'

Guts put out the fire. He doesnt have anyone to come back for. Those who knew are erased and replaced with dolls in Charlotte's theatre. He is the last who remember their true self, but this memory is his damnation. He left into the darkness, leaving the "holy family" to rot in their golden, deceitfull paradise

Chapter Text

For Judea this new reality become a torture of a common sense. He, as a person who has always been cherishing the truth, sees how Charlotte was erasing his friends' personalities, turning them into caricatures for the crowd' amusement

When Judea hears official version about Shierke - a bastard from tavern he feels nausea. He remembers Shierke as pure magical child. To see how she was shown as a fruit of accidental intimacy of Griffith with a prostitute was a supreme form of sacrelige for him

"She is genious," Judea whispers, looking at the cheering crowd. "She is not simply breaking our bones, she is rewriting our past.

Now Shierke herself believing that her mother was a whore and Griffith was a customer. Charlotte doesnt even allow us to have a right for our real tragedies.

Judea found Casca in a garden, when she was watching the children playing together. Then they had a heavy talk, this talk put them to opposite sides of barricades.

"Casca, have you heard what they are saying? They turned Shierke into a laughstock. They forced Griffith to admit his guilt for a sin which he hasnt comitted - just to cover up a violence he comitted against her. How can you stand in here and keep silence?"

"And what am I supposed to do Judea? To scream the truth? So that Charlotte would command to slay what has remained of the Band of the Hawk? Griffith choosed this way. He is working to repay a debt he owed to her.

He takes this shame upon himself so that Shierke and our sons will be able to live in a palace instead of a gutter. Thus is his self sacrifice. I feel solidarity with his downfall. We both are dirty and these lies is our only shield."

"You feel solidarity?! You call it self sacrifice? Casca, this is cowardice!

Griffith allowing this bitch to wipe her feet with him and to call him a lecher from tavern just to preserve his crown.

You justifying him violating a child by supreme goodness?

You become like him, you are looking for logic in things where nothing but humiliation can be found!".

Casca snapped:"What about Guts? Your honest Guts? He killed Adonis and slept with female monsters, hiding this from me!

Moreover Guts has been taking advantage at women who didnt have a choice, did it for the sake of his carnal pleasure

Griffith did take unwilling women but at least he did that not for pleasure, he did this for our sake!

Judea, he is a martyr. He turns his life into a landfill just so that we can breath. I will be standing by his side because his dirt is honest. His dirt was payed by his skin.

No one needs your "truth", your "truth" would only ruin this fragile peace."

Judea says bitterly:

"You lost your mind. You fell in love with his slavery.

You call him "martyr" because this makes it easier for you to not feel a smell of blood upon his hands.

You and Griffith - you both are dead. You both have turned into shadows, which Charlotte arranging into corners for decoration.

Guts at least have gone. He preserved a human inside him, admitting that he is not worthy to be in here.

And you and Griffith...You and Griffith are enjoying your chains."

"Go away, Judea. If you cherish the truth so much then look for it in forests together with Guts. Here is Charlotte's empire. Here is the truth is what the queen says. And I choosed this truth of hers because I dont have any other truth.

Judea left, realizing that Casca cannot be saved anymore. Her stockholm syndrome and her solidarity with fallen god named Griffith have become her second skin. She was defending Griffith not from enemies but from realisation of how pathetic he was, and this made her united with Griffith together as one - they become two puppets who were believing sincerely that their strings are rays of glory

Chapter Text

Griffith turns from supreme deity into emotional bankrupt. Having lost respect of Guts, respect of Casca and even his own self respect underneath Charlotte's oppression he found poisonous comfort in adoration of the very same person whom he has broken.

After another humiliating ball, during which Charlotte has been calling him "my reformed sinner" Griffith enters Shierke's chambers. He feels himself dirty, hollow and endlessly lonely. But here, in semi-darkness Shierke is awaiting him.

Shierke doesnt look at him with contempt like Guts, she doesnt look at him with bitter solidarity like Casca. She looks at him with religious excitement. For her he is a martyr who sacrificed himself to save her.

Griffith who has always been despising human need in emotional warmth suddenly caught himself at the fact that this adoration is neccessary for him. In the world where everyone including his children were shaming him Shierke was the only mirror, which shows him Saint King instead of a monster or slave.

Intimacy with her becomes like a medicine for him. Initially he has been visiting her at Charlotte's order to "enhance her loyalty with your body". But now he comes to her on his own accord. He began to like this intimacy because Shierke was giving herself to him not out of duty like Casca, not to humiliate and dominate him like Charlotte and Sonia - unlike all of them, unlike everyone he has ever slept with she gave herself to him with fanatical passion. For Griffith it become the only moment when he feels himself powerfull.

Shierke was caressing his hair

"My king ..You are suffering so much for our sake. I feel your pain, it is like cold wind from astral. But here you are safe. I will never condemn you like they do"

Griffith closed his eyes, pressing himself to her:

"You are only one who sees ..You are only one who doesnt remind me about price. With you, Shierke, Im not working to repay my debt I owed to Charlotte. With you Im..."

He fell silent, not daring to pronounce "happy". This isnt happiness, this was addiction of a victim to their own reflection in another victim's eyes

Sonia sees this magican intertwining of their auras and she feels nausea. She understands that Griffith degraded completely: he was looking for love in a child whose mind he has maimed. This was "love" of two cripples who were propping each other just not to fall into abyss

Charlotte was watching this through her spies and she was laughing. For her it was supreme triumph. She hasnt just submitted Griffith under her power, she also made him love his own humiliation.

"Look at him, Sonia," Charlotte says, sipping her wine.

Our great Falcon found comfort in his victim's embrace. He become so pathetic that to feel himself like a man he needs a broken girl's adoration. Let them indulge themselves. It will make him even more obedient.

Griffith ends up in the scariest trap: he began to appreaciate his own stockholm syndrome as well as Shierke's stockholm syndrome.

He wasnt dreaming about freedom anymore. He was happy to have these hours in darkness, where he could pretend to be a god for the one who forgot the truth. This is ultimate death of White Falcon and birth of Hangman-Lover who found peace in the very heart of his crime.