act29side

It's almost time to make good on our promise, isn't it?

As you said, this is a good place to play... or listen.

Is this my deepest memory?

Yes.

Sorry.

Why apologize?

Very few have invited me to play their heart's music of their own accord. Most did whatever they could to escape. Yet you have bared your soul to me... For that, I am grateful, and overjoyed.

I just thought I could show you the death of the Witch King through my memories.

My music simply follows the melody of your heart. It cannot decide what you recall. All I can do is feel your emotions, and recreate them.

Sounds like sculpting, then.

You could say that. I discover and record, rather than changing one's true visage.

There is only one reason we cannot enter the Witch King's Spire in your memories.

Whenever you recall his death, there is a... hand that truly moves your emotions.

A hand that grabbed you amidst that great flood of Arts.

Whose hand was it?

Whose hand was it?

It was...

Look out!

They're coming one after another. Federico and I will try to hold them off.

You're blind, and it's too risky. Grab my hand and stay close.

...You're so much like him.

You mean... my father?

This is just like when he grabbed me under the Witch King's Spire... He grabbed the hand of a servant he'd never met, and protected me through one wave of Arts after another.

...You were in the Spire the night the Witch King died.

You never told me that was how you met.

Ja.

I had just lost my sight, and was cowering before the half-collapsed stairs. Neither the Witch King's guards nor the Twins' soldiers would have paid any heed to a humble servant.

Instead, a squad from Sturmland found me.

It was led by Werner, looking for his missing father and brother in the Spire.

His heart must have been fraught with worry, but he couldn't ignore me shivering in a corner, and pulled me out of the ruins himself.

...That sounds like him alright.

I would have done the same.

You're both good people. Very good people.

It's such a shame that...

Why are you covering my ears?

No need to be afraid, Viviana.

It'll pass. This will all pass.

What's happening?

The music has changed.

It's... It's hideous!

My head... who's attacking me?! It's like someone stuffed a thousand screaming fowlbeasts into my brain!

These fireworks, too! The colors! It's so crass!

This is wrong. This isn't right. Am I playing it wrong? Is <i>everyone</i> wrong?

Herr from Sturmland? Are you alright?

D-Don't touch me! I don't know who you are, and I don't want to know! Are you the one who played it wrong? Are you trying to break something? Everything?

Ugh—euuggh!

Something went wrong with the melody?

But how could everyone be wrong at the same time?

And how could a simple mistake lead to something so... painful?

Look at the Twin Empresses' Spires.

It's him. Herkunftshorn. I'd recognize that anywhere. His power is eating away at the Güldenesgesatz!

The Witch King's remnants... where are they?! I knew there were some left. It's time to fight, Lessing!

...You're not affected?

By a few dark clouds? After what I've had to live with in my head every day of my life?

...The Güldenesgesatz itself, though.

It made me miss Urtica. Now <i>that</i> is deeply disturbing.

That's the power of the Movement.

It defines Leithanien and its beliefs.

I don't want someone else deciding what I should miss, what I should love, and what I should praise.

But I'm guessing that whoever it is that's sabotaging the performance is after more than just pranking the Kaiserinnen and the nobles outside Zwillingstürme.

Enemy on your left.

I know. Your side, too.

Let's do this together.

I didn't think anyone would retain their senses.

For once, I'm grateful for everything you've done to me. Pain and chaos in my brain are like old friends by now.

...Good work.

You too.

So why are <i>you</i> acting just fine while everyone else is in agony? I'm beginning to suspect that you're a Lich-sculpted wooden puppet.

I was trained from a very young age to deal with this kind of situation.

And what kind of situation would that be?

The collapse of the Güldenesgesatz.

...Please tell me you're joking.

Do you see the golden glow rising over the edge of the amphitheater?

I've never seen so many Gesatzswächter in one place at the same time.

Her Majesty's order—

Surround Gnade Avenue and Macht Avenue.

Do not allow the corrupted Güldenesgesatz to spread.

So many Gesatzswächter... and Gendarmerie.

The entire Zwillingstürmeshof will be on lockdown before long.

Haha, it's no use! It's too late.

Herkunftshorn is back! The one true king has returned to a Leithanien that rightfully belongs to him!

Quiet, please.

We're leaving.

Viviana...

Cora, please, promise me... Don't say or do anything for now.

I might have tried something if it were just Herr Reiner, but there are too many of them, and each one the equal of a Knight-Champion.

Why do you not speak? Why should we hide now that the curtain is about to rise?

Our dream, our obsession, the moment for which we have given both blood and soul is finally upon us!

So why is there no joy on your face?

Concertm—

I told you to be quiet.

You knew.

Since when?

I visited Marigold Alley before I went to see Arturia.

I wanted to see those drawings again, the images that gave me such warmth.

But I didn't find anything.

All the drawings, the ones with marigolds in them, the ones with clues leading to the Witch King... All gone.

You took them, didn't you?

I only needed to take the ones containing the clues.

But I couldn't bear to part with the marigolds either.