tampered | closed;

They do know everything they need to know, Tyr thinks. The present is more important anyway, especially since they won't be going to either of their homes for a long time.

Her question seems entirely normal to him. It's where he would assume her mind would go. He shakes his head easily. "No. Some were just blindly loyal to the Emperor... My father and the other Great Generals fought directly under him during the War of Succession- before he changed. There were some who fought for the Emperor to their deaths... However, all the Great Generals saw what became of the Emperor and joined the Liberation Army."

Rita agrees with that--it's another reason she hasn't pried too much before now. But even so, she does want to hear what he's done.

She almost misses the detail. All the Great Generals... Just to be sure, Rita nods and clarifies, "So your father did, too?" But Rita's not very subtle, so there's an edge of uncertainty to her voice.

He killed a lot of people and could kill again. Tyr would never even think of it that way, though.

Tyr nods. "Of course. At first, he didn't want to turn on the Emperor, but when he admitted defeat, he joined our cause..." After saying that, his voice takes on a note of pride that only an idealist could have, "And he was loyal to creating a better country to the end."

Oh, Tyr... He thinks his father's still alive. He doesn't remember that they fought, and the Soul Eater...

She stares at Tyr and her expression is downcast and almost pitying. Finally, Rita's at a loss. She doesn't want to upset him again, but she can't just lie and carry on like nothing's wrong. Still, she should find out more... A long moment goes by before she swallows and simply says, "So...what about after that?"

He's not going to just drop it, though. His father is a great man, and she's acting like there's something wrong, like something is seriously wrong with history.

But he knows his dad. He'd always be a good person.

"What's that look for?"

Of course he'd notice. Rita tries not to be too blunt about it, running a hand through her hair as she simply says, "That's not how you told me it went before."

"Maybe you're not remembering it correctly," he responds, a hard edge to his voice. This is one thing he's not going to be wrong about. Just thinking something about his father was changed makes him tense.

She knows this conversation isn't going anywhere good, but she isn't wrong. There's something messed up in Tyr's mind. "No, you told me what happened. He never joined your side, Tyr. The Soul Eater, it--you know," she finishes lamely. Ugh.

His cheeks burn red, and he's close to simply standing up and leaving. No-one needs to die to make him want to run away.

Still, he just looks at her in a hard way. "Why are you telling me this?"

What's all this going to accomplish? His father- The Soul Eater never killed him. He's on missions again so it couldn't take him.

He can't stay mad at Rita and beneath his anger...this really hurts.

"Because it's reality!" She almost feels like the bad guy here, but while she wants Tyr to be happy, she doesn't want him stuck with memories of false happiness.

In a softer tone, she adds, "It's not like I want it to be that way, either. But your memory of that's changed, too."

It's not reality. He shakes his head stubbornly; he feels so heavy right now. "That's not right..."

Maybe she's cursed. Maybe the City has messed with her. Maybe it's not even really Rita. These are all possibilities, but none of them seem right. No-one else is having this problem. She's not saying this to anyone else.

But he really doesn't want her to be right. He never got to see his father much back home, but he was always there. She can't take that away from him...

"Sorry. But it is." She doesn't like it, but she needs Tyr to understand that it's the truth--that something's wrong with him.

After a moment, an idea comes to her. She has to admit it's pretty morbid, and she doesn't like asking it, but if it's the connectiong... So she ventures, "What do you remember about Gremio and Ted?" For once, there's no distate in her voice when she says their names. This isn't about how annoying or weird she thinks either of them are.

A little shock runs through his body when she says their names. By now, he knows where this is going. Murdered, tortured, abandoned. He doesn't want to know the specifics. These are the people he cares about most back home. They're his family.

He doesn't even answer her before pushing himself off the bed to leave. There's something wrong with her if she's telling him this. He knows they're okay.

"Hey!" She starts when he moves, and scrambles off the bed after him. "Tyr! There's something wrong with you, and you know we need to figure out what it is before it gets worse!" If he's going to try running away, then she won't hold back from being blunt anymore.

He could yell at her, tell her that there's nothing wrong with him and everything wrong with her, but he doesn't. This conversation is over. The fact she's being blunt already is the reason why he doesn't want to be around her.

If she's not fast enough, he will literally slam the bedroom door in her face.

No way, no way is he just running away from her. She calls his name again and dashes after him, reaching out to grab him--his arm, the back of his shirt, whatever he reaches. There's something horribly wrong with his memory, and she isn't letting it carry on.

"Leave me alone!"

Tyr spins around quickly and yanks himself away from her. She's not herself. The Rita he knows wouldn't try to do this to him. In an instant, his eyes are as distant as they are cold and hurt.

"Tyr-!" The idea of putting him to sleep flits through her mind and is immediately dismissed. As annoyed as she is, she isn't forcing him into restraints (an idea that almost makes her sick) unless he's dangerous.

Instead, she balls her fists and insists, "I want to help you! You know something's not right, so stop running away!" And she raises a hand now to jab a finger at his chest, just to emphasize her point.

There's no hesitation in him when he grabs her hand too-tightly and shoves it away. She's wrong. She's not really Rita, she can't be. He's beyond being argued with, though, and he can't stop himself even if he tried.

His mind goes blank, and a shadow appears behind him. It's not anything like the Soul Eater, but Rita can't really get a good look before it lashes out and severs her head from her neck.

Rita only has time to register something and open her mouth--either to yell at Tyr before realizing it's there, or maybe in surprise--before it happens.

The only thing she's conscious of is a strange, sickening sensation she can't make sense of and the room becoming a blur. She's dead almost immediately: the body simply crumpling the floor in front of Tyr, and the head fully several feet away.

When Tyr comes to, he's on the ground as well, curled up in the hallway between his room and the kitchen. He doesn't even know why he passed out... His eyes are still bleary when he picks himself up off the floor and looks over at Rita's own form curled up close to his.

And the expanding pool of blood around her body, coming from-

Tyr skitters away from her body in horror, eyes wide and suddenly very awake. He doesn't know if he screams or not; the blood rushing through his body is deafening, all he can see is her blood, and he's afraid to let his eyes follow the path of the blood splatter.

"Rita...?" he attempts shakily. Maybe this is a dream. Right, like one from the Soul Eater. It feels real, but...

It feels like he's sitting there and shaking on his hands and knees for a long time as a few minutes pass and all the happens is her clothes and hair turning a ruddy black as her blood soaks in. Her mouth is open in a scream - did she see something he couldn't? - but he never heard a thing.

He didn't do anything to save her. He let her--

Her blood is still warm when he inches closer to her again to cautiously gather her up off the floor. For a moment, he just wants to hold her until he wakes up, but part of him knows that isn't going to happen. And part of him knows he can't just pretend that will happen and he can't just sit in her blood and grieve her.

It's so hard to push his emotions away and carry her to bed to lay there. And then cradle her head and try to rest them together against his watery eyes. He tells himself it's for her dignity that he covers her up, but that's not really the case at all.

With the bedroom door locked, he folds himself into a ball in front of it, head buried in his arms. He won't let anything happen to her again. He promises.

There's absolutely nothing Rita can do for him. For the moment, for twenty-four hours, she doesn't exist as anything more than a body in two pieces, blood leaking until eventually it congeals and her body cools.

It isn't until the next day that she wakes up--back in one piece--and she immediately knows something isn't right. She's cold, she has no heart beat--she's dead. Her heart would freeze for a moment if it hadn't already. Once she makes that realization, she bolts up from her position-

And there's a blood-drenched sheet slipping down to her lap.

What happened? What happened? She doesn't know...

She doesn't know what to do besides numbly look down at the sheet and her pale hands.

"Rita," Tyr starts, immediately woken up from his stupor when he hears the bed creak and she sheet fall.

Her skin is pale and bloodless. Her hair is still matted with her own blood, but she's alive. In a way. He rushes over to her bedside to be with her again.

"I'm sorry," he chokes out. He hasn't moved from his vigil for more than a few minutes in the past 24 hours. Even dead, something told him not to leave her.

Tyr's voice partially breaks her out of her stupor and she turns to look at him. There's blood spatter down the front of his clothes...

"Tyr...?" Well, her voice works. She's still really weirded out, because the biggest question on her mind is... "What...what the hell happened?" She doesn't remember any pain, any injuries, not even dying, but the blood is pretty telling.

And there's so much of it everywhere. Behind Tyr's bedroom door, it looks like a massacre. He didn't bother to clean that up anymore than he did himself or her body. He still feels sick.

Her question triggers the memories instantly, too, and he's so quick to shake his head. "I don't know..." She died. Just like she said his father did and Gremio did and Ted- Did they die like she did, too? He hates not knowing now, but he still doesn't want to.

He realises he should be more in control of himself, but he can't answer her now.

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