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"I still haven't forgiven you yet, you know?" His Master shakily tells him this while her face was buried against his shoulder.
And Monte Cristo closes his eyes and softly replies in affirmation, "....Hm."
...That was fine. It was expected, after all.
Slaughtering the makeshift family, creating those residents in the Pseudo-Tokyo, having each of her friends betray her and leave her to descend the staircase in her lonesome... was nothing more than a part of his plan for Ritsuka to move forward, to tear down that wall just so she could see the end of her journey.
Never stopping in her tracks as she walks further and further until her form is nothing but a speck in the horizon, leaving behind footprints for him and those vestiges to gaze upon.
─And yet.
He finds himself in her embrace.
Trembling arms wrapped around his chest as he was instantly frozen the moment she ran up to him before the pillar of light had even died from the summoning, her teeth grit in frustration and angry tears, her desperate hands seeking to capture him, to hold him- accompanied with-
No. He didn't want to- He does not want to speculate on what other emotion she must hold for him now that he had been summoned when it should no longer be possible.
Contempt and hatred... it was simply expected.
Yet knowing his- this Master...
Monte Cristo could not help but bite his lower lip, unable to remove himself from this embrace.
He sighed, clicked his tongue as his gaze turns away from the girl below him, barely stopping himself from returning the hug and instead hovered his hands around her arms, "I've told you before that you must leave our flames behind, didn't I? Yet you still reached out and hoped someone of the Avenger class would answer."
He's sensed the wishes still lingering in that Shield.
Though it may not have been explicitly indicated which Servant of the Avenger class was to be summoned, that deeply sincere wish of 'wanting to see someone again' once more was enough to pull someone of that impossible class out.
...And that connection alllowed him to materialize here.
A connection that should not have been conceivable and yet through that bond they shared, it was─
Her reply- the sound of an angered whimper was muffled. Shaky and weak... Yet he knew what she wanted to say, wanted she meant by this little, fragile sound she makes against his chest.
'Is that so wrong?'
...No. But his worry is her. His worry is for her future. For her happiness. This is why he created that counterfeit world and creating those trials inside her. For the sake of tearing down that wall barring her from moving forward. It was heedlessly cruel, that he knew. Which was why he turned himself into 'determination' while he assigned his other self to take care of their accomplice, their 'regret', their sole worry in this bleached earth.
Monte Cristo couldn't help but clench his jaw tight, and close his eyes shut. He couldn't help but restrain himself from what he truly wants right at this moment.
Then, Ritsuka finally lets go- but just a little bit. She still held onto the edge of his belt as she rubbed at her puffy eyes, her breathing far unstable than he's ever seen. Her glare that reminded him of the anger he incited in her during that time... yet this was completely a different one.
An anger accompanied by something else he himself knew about far too well. Sorrow, hurt, longing, and─.....
...Hah.
In the end, resistance was completely futile, in the face of someone such as this girl in his arms.
He sighed, supposedly to try and sound more cruel yet simply ending up sounding more softly than anything else, "Then, I suppose there is no helping it. You may use these flames as you like - yet I shall remind you that this is nothing more than a temporary Spirit Origin that will disappear as quickly as you summon it."
With a finger, he gently, and slowly lifts her chin to face him, so he may wipe those tears with his other gloved hand, bearing a difficult expression as he himself feels an ache.
The Count of Monte Cristo - the murderer, the demon of vengeance from his story, burning all of his adversaries with his flames of hatred, where not even ashes would remain from their bodies for stepping on those below them and dragging innocent lives into a life of unimaginable pain - feels that same feeling once more whenever Ritsuka moved forward no matter how hellish her trials were, no matter how much force the universe puts on her shoulders, she still continued to to follow her heart.
Never succumbing to despair and bloodshed in this world that is merciless to those who were kind, those who were good, and those... that simply loved.
"So I advise you not to get too close to me," He whispered, low enough only for her to hear, as his thumb grazed against the corner of her left eye, a tender touch against her skin, acting as both relief and irritation at this moment, "Lest you be hurt by the fires I create in this form."
He knew they were both being foolish.
Yet right at this moment, there was no helping himself despite his capacity for great restraint. What he should be doing, was to resist Chaldea's Master and maintain his distance so as not to sabotage all the efforts they went through to surpass the Avenger Ordeal Call.
Yet, he was here. A telltale sign enough to suggest what he desired as well.
Ritsuka cups the hand on her cheek, her grip on his own allowing him to see for himself how she would not let him go no matter how hard he tries for her sake.
And if he was being honest, neither does he.
But his wish, as he journeyed with her, was for her to be happy. And her happiness lies beyond those walls, where a normal life awaits her and no longer shall she be plagued with dangers.
For her to reach beyond the end, as that was her wish from the start. A wish he will fulfill for as long as she continues this descent- this pathway down to hell.
His accomplice's gaze softens, like sunset sinking beneath nostalgic waves, "You're seriously not asking me that, are you?"
He glances to the side as he himself feels scorched instead by eyes that burn brighter than flame, and more radiant than any star.
He simply could not respond to that, for that was a question this foolish girl already knew the answer to.
And he hears her sigh, "...Edmond," (His breath nearly stutters then and there. His heart nearly skipping almost to a stop, hearing that name.)
Then he feels her arms once more around him, wrapping him in an embrace far warmer, far crueler than the pain he himself inflicted on her not too long ago.
"Please. Stay by my side this time."
Longer, her words say, far longer than the supposed goodbye from back then, for as far as she can walk with him. Just a little bit more as this journey is not over yet. (As far beyond even that tomorrow that she yearns for─)
Ritsuka whispers this to him. Calls out to him with that name.
To him, who has been with her since the beginning, with a voice that he could barely hear, a voice of pain accompanied by her lips grazing at his nape and her hands clutching at the back of his vest.
Her hands that were still trembling, her body, her heart that still continued to love despite all that he has done...
And here, Edmond Dantès, Count of Monte Cristo, who was once summoned to extinguish an innocent soul, returns that embrace.
Holding her closer, closer, cupping the back of her head with one hand and the other snaking around her waist, burying his face in her hair, a scent and kind of warmth so deeply familiar to his body that it soothed his ache more than any flame of vengeance could burn, returning the gesture tenfold-
Laughter bubbles forth from his voice, a chuckle of amusement, of the realization of how far he was willing to do anything for this Master- this human who holds a much much stronger will of determination than him, this woman who has come so far, a reminder of how much Fujimaru Ritsuka means to him.
"Then, for as long as you wish it, for as long as it will aid you," He softly breathes out, cradling this radiant star in his hands, "The Count of Monte Cristo shall continue to fight and be by your side no matter where you go. I shall light your way with my flames so you may conquer that brilliant path."
Her answer was a smile as she pulls back and stares up at him, love and affection twinkling in her eyes, ever dazzling, ever bright and beautiful, a glimmer that cannot ever be extinguished as he sees himself so clearly reflected in her amber gaze.
Once again, he was reminded of a memory from long ago.
A dark night near an apartment entrance. In between the small patch of trees as two of her companions take on a stance for battle, while she gave him a fierce look of determination. So much like fire yet even more- far, far more- holding a soul as brilliant and blue as the sky she saw years ago.
And there was no helping the breathless feeling in his chest remembering it, causing him to embrace Ritsuka tighter, bringing their foreheads together, a display of affection he does not mind one bit right at this moment where it was simply them and no one else.
Here, he could feel her heartbeat pounding as loud as his. An unbridled emotion welling up in his chest as they continued to hold onto each other, in this moment where he vows to etch into his Spirit Origin down to the very last detail, never to forget no matter his materialization.
...O' Star who is his destiny, his Master, his accomplice, his one good thing in this life since that fateful day─