Cost of the Crown (Heralds May Die)

Leo slowly picked himself up off the floor of the carriage after some time of lying down while feeling an odd, buzzing feeling run through his body.

“Ugh…” he said to himself as he clutched his stomach. “Why...why would Akame do that to me?”

Leo remembered Akame telling him that she was going to give him a “sneak peek” of what was going to happen to him tonight.

“Is she planning on killing me?” Leo shuddered at the thought. “Why couldn’t she just do it then and there with the power she has? Why go through the trouble of showing me and having me learn about the atrocities she committed? And the most puzzling question of all, what did she have to gain…”

Leo got out of the chariot that had docked at Princess Celestia’s castle. As he entered the castle, the royal guards bowing and opening the front doors for him, he felt something different about them, like there was an aura about them that he couldn’t feel before…

Soon you will see…

As Leo navigated his way through the castle and made it to the entrance doors of Celestia’s throne room, he finally finished his sentence in thought…

“...by proving to me that I have a soul…”

Pushing open the doors and walking into the throne room, Leo was surprised to not only see the ghosts of his fallen comrades again, but Akame and Vincent as well. His astonishment was shared by Princess Celestia, who was wearing a dumbfounded look on her face as Akame was trying to explain everything to her with her trademark sick smile and smug attitude.

“In short,” said Akame, “Numdust fell thanks to the efforts of the Jaegers and Vincent here was reformed thanks to the efforts of the Nightbringers. Is that a satisfying enough summary for you?”

“...No.” Celestia replied bluntly. “I want to know why two of my most trusted heralds are dead.”

Akame then snickered as she and the others turned around to face Leo.

“I believe that’s your cue, Leo…” Akame told him.

Leo froze in fear. Worriedly, he tried to contemplate a response as quickly as he could. His fears were slightly abated when Celestia chimed in, saying…
“Hold on, what does Leo have to do with this? I was talking to you.”

“Oh ho,” chuckled Akame, “what more do you want out of me regarding that matter? You know what I told you earlier today…”

“Indeed I do,” replied Celestia sternly, “however, I also know how you tried to dodge nearly every question I asked that involved specific details. I’m not concerned with the process of how Gordon and Ricard died, but why. The reason you have yet to tell me even as you return my men to my throne room as demons and ghosts. I have every right to a full explanation.”

Akame sighed and shook her head, still grinning.

“Well,” she said, deciding to submit, “if you must know, I was getting a bit tired of you refusing my offers to transform more of your subjects into immortal soldiers of the darkness. So I decided to compromise by giving your second-highest ranking squad a bit of an upgrade to put them on par with the Nightbringers.”

“And that’s the reason why you and those slimeball gods staged this war?” Celestia asked angrily.

“?!” everyone else in the room went. “Staged?!”

“No,” replied Akame, “that’s only part of the reason why we staged this war. You’ll find out more of the reason tomorrow…”

“Then I guess we’ll just have to prepare for tomorrow then…” Celestia retorted, staring Akame down.

“A smart move, that would be.” Akame said, not at all intimidated by Celestia’s glare of fury. “I’ll just give you some advice before I make my leave. Vincent would make a great new leader for the Jaeger Raid. As for Leo, he can operate more than well enough on his own.”

“Me a leader of such a prestigious squad?” Vincent thought. “Even after what I did?”

“She’s suggesting that I fight solo?” Leo thought. “If I am to longer be the Jaeger Raid’s captain, that leaves no reason to “upgrade” me, thus no reason to kill me. Are her intentions for me less sinister than I thought?”

Akame snickered to herself once again, knowing what Leo was thinking as she cast a teleportation spell on herself.

I’ll let you be the judge of that…

Akame then looked at the place she had teleported to with malicious intent in her eyes.

Or should I say your wife…

It was revealed that the place she was standing in front of was none other than Leo’s house…

Meanwhile, at Celestia’s palace, the four royal guards felt that they too were owed an explanation not only after what they heard from her and Akame, but also from what they heard from the Nightbringers. Before one of them could raise a hoof though, Celestia quickly said…

“You don’t have to ask. I know I have some explaining to do here myself.”

“Yes please,” replied the royal guards, “tell us. What is your relationship with Akame? How did things begin with you and her?”

“Believe it or not, that’s a question I sometimes ask myself.” Celestia said in self-reflection. “As I wonder how it ever came to this…”

Celestia looked out a window to the right of her solemnly as the royal guards staring at her shared her somber expression.

“I suppose the best way I can explain it from the beginning is this…” Celestia told them, preparing to recount what had happened. “A little more than a decade ago, I met a strange character when I went out to the balcony to raise the sun one morning. It was an alicorn who introduced herself to me as Akame, a messenger sent by the greater gods. When I asked her who these greater gods were, she replied with…”

The creators of this world, the precursor to the Spiriting project.

“The things she proceeded to show me to prove she was who she claimed to be changed the way I viewed the world forever…” Celestia continued. “I told Akame that I had never felt so small before, and to my shock, she shared my feelings. For she herself was only a creation of the higher powers that govern our world. She is not a true alicorn, but a devil god who takes the form of one. Created from pure darkness, she had been sent to our world to create more servants of it. For Equestria had to become a great force of both light and darkness in order to survive against what was yet to come, an army of 5,000 demons. She told me that was the reason she was here.”

“Akame also told us that was the reason you agreed to take part in something so heinous…” the Nightbringers thought, unmoved by all of this. “Too bad that isn’t the reason we’re still angry at you…”

“Knowing now that Equestria would be ravaged by devils if I were to remain idle,” said Celestia, “I realized that I would have to listen to Akame to stop such a disaster. She told me that she only needed a group of fifty-one orphaned children. Fifty-one orphaned children that would have to endure torture and suffer in darkness for only a year. As much as I did not want to have any of the children of my land suffer, I thought it could not be avoided if I wanted all of my people to not perish. And so, I helped her gather fifty-one orphaned children and allowed her to send them to hell.”

“So it’s true…” the royal guards said with looks of disappointment on their faces.

“There is no justification for what I did.” Celestia responded shamefully. “Though it was all I knew to do to save my subjects, that doesn’t make it right. For a year, back then, I tried to comfort myself by telling myself that there was nothing else I could have done and that it was for the greater good. But when the children whom I had abandoned were brought to me on the day of their “graduation” and I saw the contempt they had for me that they struggled to hide, I had never felt more ashamed of myself. I knew then that I was no better than Akame. The devil army was defeated, but I had committed a terrible sin. And such has become the story of my life for the past decade now. I allow Akame and the gods that work through her to do terrible things because I still can not find a better way to keep my people safe...”

Everyone in the room began to feel sorry for Celestia as they saw her struggle to avoid crying while she knelt her head. Even the Nightbringers couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for her, even if it was only fleeting.

“Oh, Your Majesty…” Ricard said compassionately. “We are truly sorry you’ve had to endure such hardship for so long.”

“Thank you for your sympathy…” Celestia replied. “...but I am hardly deserving of it. As an immortal goddess, ten years of suffering is hardly punishment for my wicked deeds. Not only that, but I’ve reaped the rewards of my sin as well. My name has become more recognized and praised than ever since Akame began creating soldiers of the darkness to bolster the Equestrian army. “The leader of Equestria’s best and only defense against the demons” is a title Akame allows me to take credit for. Though I call it a “reward”, it pains me to think of how my subjects would look at me if they knew the truth. They’d probably look at me just like those children did that day…”

“Speaking as one of the children who looked at you angrily that day…” Dante intervened. “...I’ll have you know that everything you’ve told us up until now is not the reason why we’re still mad at you.”

“What is the reason then?” Celestia asked.

“It is not something as trivial as a grudge against you for what you did in the past.” Vergil said. “We know that the past is gone. Our concern is what you are still doing in the present…”

“I understand…” Celestia replied, thinking they were referring to the things she was still allowing Akame to do. “Please know, however, that Akame taking my place as the ruler of Equestria will change nothing. Like I said, she allows me to take credit for her work.”

“That’s not what we meant…” Trish retorted. “What we are still upset over is the lack of love we have received from you…”

“Hmm?” Celestia responded, her face growing more sullen. “What do you mean?”

“Does never coming to visit us even once while we were in hell ring a bell?” Dante asked indignantly.

Celestia closed her eyes and bowed her head.

“Forgive me please…” she said remorsefully. “I was young and couldn’t overcome my guilt. I was immature and didn’t want to face what I had done like a child…”

“We do forgive you…” the Nightbringers told her. “However, we’ve already told you. This is not about what you did in the past. This is about now. Can you look in your heart now and honestly say to us that you love us while thinking about what you do?”

Upon hearing that, Celestia was speechless. She knew where they were going with this and became frightened as she realized that what they suspected was true. Never could she say something like that without pushing the haunting thoughts of her regretted deeds and what her name was still being built on out of her mind. Eventually, the emotional turmoil was becoming too much for her to bear and she started crying. She then teleported to her bedroom without saying another word. She laid on her bed clutching her pillow, holding it up to her face as she cried.

“WHY?!” she screamed as she pulled her head away from the pillow and looked up. “WHY MUST THIS BE MY EXISTENCE?!”

Soon, she slumped down with her head on the pillow again, sobbing loudly. Princess Luna overheard her sister’s loud cries and came into her sister’s bedroom to see what was the matter.

“Sister?” Luna asked Celestia as she entered the room. “What has happened?”

“Oh Luna…” Celestia replied sadly. “I don’t know what to do anymore…this has all gone too far and there’s no turning back...”

“Is this about Akame again?” Luna asked.

“This isn’t just about Akame.” Celestia responded. “This is about me too. It’s easy to look at the circumstances and say that I don’t have a choice but to do what Akame tells me. But watching my heart slowly decay over the years has been anything but easy. I don’t get like this just because of what others say. I get like this because of what others say that is true. I can’t honestly tell my subjects that I love them after everything I’ve done.”

“...” Luna was at a loss for words. Eventually, she decided to say to her sister…

“...Please tell me exactly what happened. I want to know so that I may console you better.”

Celestia remained silent for a short while before making her reply.

“When the Jaegers and the Nightbringers returned,” explained Celestia, “they witnessed one of my meetings with Akame. They know what I did with her in the past and they called me out on what I continue to do with her today. Even though they did so in a civil manner, it hurt me even more that they had the right to say what they did.”

“...Where are they now?” Luna asked curiously.

“They are likely still in the throne room,” replied Celestia, “patiently awaiting my return. But I can not face them right now. I can not pretend that everything is alright in front of two men that were just killed because of me…”

Luna froze upon hearing that.

“No…” she thought. “She can’t mean…”

Luna then quickly rushed out of Celestia’s bedroom and dashed through the halls.

“At least I have more of a reason to believe Ricard will be safe than ever…” Luna remembered herself saying.

“How…” Luna thought, growing angry at herself. “How could I have been so naive?”

“Ricard is one of the new heroes, along with the rest of the Jaeger squad…” Luna remembered Akame saying.

“I actually trusted her,” thought a regretful Luna, “even after everything she’s done! I was naive in my optimism because I desperately wanted to see him alive again. I didn’t want to see him…”

Before Luna finished that thought, she burst through the doors to Celestia’s throne room and saw the Jaegers with the Nightbringers. To her great dismay, she saw that Gordon and Ricard were now ghosts. Trotting ever so slowly into the throne room, she was slowly approaching the heralds, who had turned around to face her upon hearing her barge in. Seeing Luna come close to him with a look of horror on her face made Ricard nervous as he remembered his promise…

“I’ll talk to you soon…”

“Your Majesty…” Ricard said as he and Gordon flew close to Luna, who got down on the floor sobbing.

“Ricard…” Luna told him sadly. “I am so sorry…”

“Now I know how Sister feels…” she thought.

A crestfallen and grim expression formed on the already guilty Leo’s face as he saw Luna weep for Ricard and Gordon, the burden on his conscience growing greater…

“How…” Luna started to ask. “How did this happen?”

Leo couldn’t take it anymore. Clenching his front hooves he prepared to confess in a loud voice…

“IT WAS BECAUSE I-”

“Failed to protect them.” Ricard finished for him. “That’s how he sees it. But that’s not how we see it. It was not his fault.”

“?!” Leo was astonished that Ricard did not resent or even blame him for what happened.

“It was Numdust who killed us and him alone.” Gordon followed up. “Leo’s not to blame for us letting our guards down.”

“Of course he’s not…” Luna said, beginning to scowl angrily. “However, it is not Numdust alone who is responsible for this...the real villain behind all of this is Akame!”

“...” Leo and the Nightbringers were both speechless, each for a different reason. Leo, because he had never expected to receive no hate or condemnation for what he had done and the Nightbringers, because in spite of not fully agreeing with what Luna said, did not feel any drive to defend Akame after what had recently transpired. Vincent, on the other hand, felt a calling to say something to Luna.

“Your Highness…” Vincent said to Luna, putting a hoof on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. “I understand you are very upset right now and angry at Akame. But I must share some of the blame as we-”

Vincent paused as Luna suddenly turned her head around to face him, having abruptly perked up. Staring directly into his eyes for some time, Luna finally said…

“Vincent...honey...you’re alive! I can sense your true presence...you’re no longer possessed!”

Luna then abruptly jumped on Vincent and began hugging him, to the utter confusion of everyone in the room.

“Daddy!” Luna exclaimed. “It’s you! The real you! I’m so glad you’re back!”

“...Honey?” Leo said, perplexed.

“...Daddy?” Dante said, puzzled.

“Wait…” Vincent said, recognizing two familiar presences inside of Luna. “Jill? Valentine? Are...y-your souls...?”

“That’s right…” Luna replied, speaking in Jill’s voice. “Princess Luna was so gracious that she allowed us to live on inside of her…”

Vincent was at a loss for words, not only at the realization that such a thing was possible, but also at how joyful his wife and daughter were to see him again even after what he did.

“You...you do not hate me?” Vincent asked in confusion.

“Of course I don’t hate you.” Jill replied. “Obviously, I absolutely hate that we had to suffer such a cruel fate, but I can forget that hatred knowing that it couldn’t tear us apart forever. Nothing could ever do that…”

“My dad is no murderer!” Valentine exclaimed. “The murderer is that awful demon! I know you love us and Equestria more than anything! Anything that says otherwise is nothing but a big, fat lie!”

Vincent was moved by his wife and daughter’s words.

“What the Nightbringers told me was true…” he said in thought. “That demon deceived me that night...I could never bring myself to hate my family and betray my country no matter what…”

Vincent did become hesitant, however, when he remembered who he was now…

“While it warms my heart dearly that you two want nothing more than to forgive me and see our family reunite,” said Vincent solemnly, “I must be honest with you in telling you that the crime I committed is not the only problem. I am a half-devil now. I am not sure how-”
Vincent was interrupted by Luna’s right hoof being brought to his lips, followed by Luna saying in Jill’s voice…

“Vincent...if there is one thing that Valentine and I are sure of, it is that we are not complete without you. Sharing thoughts of Luna’s mind, we know what half-devils are from her knowledge of the Nightbringers, the same way we share her ability to sense others’ souls now that we are in her body. We know of the pact and we do not care. Regardless of what it says, you are ours and ours alone.”

Vincent started to cry.

“We just want you to come back home.” Valentine said through Luna.

Vincent then embraced Luna tighter than ever, crying his eyes out, refusing to hold back any tears. It was soon that he stopped, however, when he began to feel Jill and Valentine’s presences leave Luna’s body. Stepping back, he looked up and saw two spirits floating above Luna. The spirits then flew towards him and entered his body. Vincent convulsed, feeling changed as he began to exude an aura of darkness and light around him. Looking at his hooves and seeing the aura, he felt that his epiphany was complete…

“Now I understand…” he said. “This is not me being spared the rod...this is the punishment decided for me by the divine. For destroying their home in favor of walking a dark path on my own, I shall become their new home and walk my dark path with them…bearing hatred in this cursed body forever...”

“Vincent…” Luna responded, fully conscious now. “Know that all punishment from the divine is given with love. More important than paying for your sins is accepting that love…”

“I know.” Vincent replied. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for keeping their souls and giving me this opportunity to be with them again.”

“You don’t have to thank me…” Luna replied. “That’s what gods are for.”

Luna and Vincent then hugged each other. After seeing all this, both the Jaegers and the Nightbringers were touched...but at the same time, puzzled. Looking over at them, Luna could tell how they felt and decided to tell them…

“Please forgive my sister’s abrupt departure, but I feel it’s best to leave her alone right now. In her stead, I shall grant you all permission to return to your homes.”

And so, the six heralds returned to their homes, ready to finally end a long and busy day that night. Vincent, however, stayed behind, his situation having to still be explained to the rest of the royal guards. As Luna went out to the castle’s balcony to raise the moon and bring out the stars of the night sky, Leo watched from the window of his bedroom and wondered…

“Was Ricard right after all? Have I been too cynical without even knowing it? As well as too hard on myself?”

Leo then looked over at his wife, Terra, sleeping in the king-sized bed that they shared together.

“Terra…” Leo thought as he got into the bed and under the covers. “As happy as I was to see you when I came home, I couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t right. You kept rubbing your belly and whispering something that sounded demonic. Even though you are still as upbeat and bright as ever, I just feel uncomfortable around you right now. Like there’s something inside of you that’s unsettling me…”

Spoiler alert, there is. Your wife is going to give birth to a demon child.

Upon hearing Akame say those words in his mind, Leo almost literally jumped out of bed.

“What the fuck?!” he shouted in his mind. “You again?!”

Being scared and unsure of what to do, Leo instinctively rushed to where he had taken off his armor when he had come home and grabbed his sword.

Good, good. You already get the idea…

“What idea?!” Leo replied.

You’re going to end the problem before it begins...

“No...you don’t mean…” Leo said in horror as he soon found himself holding his sword over his wife.

“What’s going on?!” he shouted as he also found himself struggling not to stab his wife through her womb. “TERRA, WAKE UP!”

Terra simply moaned in her sleep.

She can’t hear you...the darkness inside of her has put her into a deep sleep. The same way I am manipulating the darkness inside of you…

“YOU TWISTED FUCK!” Leo shouted. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!”

I know what you did today. How you killed your friend to save your country. And now, I want to see if you will kill your wife and child to save your country.

“WHAT?!” Leo bellowed.

By order of the greater gods, your wife has been impregnated by the forces of light and darkness. Soon, she will give birth to the daughter of Fluttershy and the son of Noimman. Though Fluttershy is a good god, Noimman is a devil god more terrible than I…

Leo’s jaw fell slack.

Yes, you know what could come about if such a child were to be born. You must kill him and Terra to ensure no harm comes to Equestria. If Terra were to survive, she would divorce you for certain and simply become impregnated with Noimman’s child again.

Leo started crying as he realized the insane dilemma he was trapped in.

“I love Terra more than anyone…” he thought. “But I also love my country more than anything. All those ponies who would suffer if Noimman’s child were to follow his predecessor’s example...that’s a risk I can’t take...I’m sorry Terra…”

Leo was about to let the darkness take control of him and stab Terra before he remembered something else…

“There is no justification for what I did.” he remembered Celestia saying. “Though it was all I knew to do to save my subjects, that doesn’t make it right.”

“Failed to protect them.” he remembered Ricard saying. “That’s how he sees it. But that’s not how we see it. It was not his fault.”

“Obviously, I absolutely hate that we had to suffer such a cruel fate,” he remembered Jill saying through Luna, “but I can forget that hatred knowing that it couldn’t tear us apart forever. Nothing could ever do that...”

Finally, Leo remembered the aura of darkness and light he saw around Vincent’s body and realized not what he had to do, but what he wanted to do…

Leo then began fighting the darkness that was controlling him harder than ever as he brought the blade away from Terra and towards him. The last thing he spoke was…

“I’ll trust you, Ricard…”

*shing* *splat*

Akame laughed as she watched Leo stab himself in the heart and lie on the floor dead.

“Finally…” Akame said, her physical body manifesting over Leo’s corpse. “The final ghost is born…”