tvk | ⚔ 016; [video]

I-if anyone has a moment, I'm having a small problem. [This was the understatement of the millennium.]

I'd like to ask how...h-how...er...forgive me, I am having some trouble articulating things today. [Diarmuid adjusted the glasses he wore, seeming hesitant to look directly at the camera at first.]

Imagine one that...has gone through life without anger or hatred. This individual had never felt spite, resentment, or even a shred of those kind of things. He did all he could to put others and their happiness before himself and his own, finding contentment and joy in doing so. But after a certain point, that person...he found someone that did something so deplorable that it left that person filled with rage and spite.

He found someone that he hated. And no matter how he tried, that person could not simply forgive what was done to earn that hatred.

I beg of you, Prospero. Someone please tell me how that person can go back to the way he was. Before he could feel anger and spite, back when he could still grant forgiveness.

[Diarmuid looked away for a moment; he was unsure, even worried.]

Fionn, Grainne-- [Gods, what would they think of him when they knew?] ...there is something I have not yet told you. Forgive me for not doing so until now.

Arturia... [Another pause. She had been there when he had died, she knew the horrible rage he had unleashed that day. Cursing her, Kayneth, Kiritsugu, even the Grail itself. Again he worried that she must secretly detest such a hateful spirit.] When you have the time...I would like to speak with you. Please.

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I.. I do not know, Diarmuid.

[ For she's incapable of hate. While she did think that way of her previous master, it was brief and dismissed by the end of the Fifth Holy Grail War. ]

I'm sorry. I...can't imagine what you must think of me now.

I only regret that I fail you now when you need me most.

You're here. That's all I could ever wish from you.

Being here is only a nuisance when I cannot say the words you need to hear.

Your companionship is worth far more than you know.

.. I urged him to leave for I cannot protect him.

[ What is keeping a secret from someone as dear as him? ]

You probably made the right choice.

[Because daaaaamn, Prospero.]

Though I am certain he would not listen.

He refused to.

.. If you dare strike an unarmed man, Diarmuid, I--!!

[ Just going to cut herself off because what is being torn between honor and friendship? ]

I had to reassess what it meant to be a prosecutor and whether prosecutors had any place in a just world. To do that, I would need to come to understand what a prosecutor truly was, what one has the power to do. Until I could answer all of that, I had no rightful place in the Prosecutor's Office. If I could find no satisfactory answers to any of these questions... that was the condition under which my proclamation would become literal.

The journey was not easy. There was even a moment when I might have faltered, had a stray dog not insisted on offering her comfort. Ultimately, the solution began with realizing that there was, in fact, one man whom I still trusted: Phoenix Wright. I had grown uneasy and uncertain as to my own path because despite my having perceived his goal as my defeat, what he had truly done was to prove me wrong, time and again, when others might have given in -- including the one time when proving me wrong did not involve my defeat, but my acquittal. Was arguing until the truth remained the true purpose of court? I recalled that Father seemed to believe so. Wright had believed it when I echoed Father's words as a boy.

This is one of the reasons why I say that understanding is the key to not just appropriate action, but also virtue -- it is when I began to truly understand the shared purpose of prosecution and defense that my first inappropriate hatreds could be vanquished. To truly hate something, one must see no place for it in an ideal world.

Arturia...you know me better than that. I give you my word I won't kill him, no matter how much I hate him.

If you feel the need to do so.. seek me out. I will fight on his behalf so long as he is an innocent in this realm. We expect to wake up in a different time or place as part of our agreement with the Grail. For an ordinary person to wake up 20+ years into the future.. it will shake him to his very core. Not only that, he loses what it is that makes him feel important and unique.

He is going through what we did, except instead of rejoicing over a second chance at life.. it is one of regret and fear.

I don't believe you. Why not?

I don't know. I'm certainly not lying.

You're right, I know. I know that, but I... I won't protect him anymore. I can't justify it to myself.

Y-yes, understood.

[He'll just do that. Taking this totally seriously.]

I know. I shall take it upon myself to do so in your place.

[ It's that simple to her. ]

Arturia...why? Tell me why you believe he's worth it.

[There was no accusation to his voice. All he wanted was an answer, so he could try to understand just what on earth was wrong with him.]

For while this man was a criminal in another life, essentially he has started anew here. [ She might just start to feel guilty for defending him by this point. As the one who understands Diarmuid's reasons for hatred, she should be more lenient towards him. ] Has he done anything to earn your ire other than request further information? Furthermore, what can he do?

[ Besides potentially work alongside his fiancee to kill Saber a billion times. ]

Say cruel words to you that you can choose to not hear? This city is small, but it is easy enough to avoid people. [ She's a master of this. ] You know his number, so why answer if he calls for you? When you see a reminder of a moment of weakness.. [ Did she just swallow hard at that? ] .. then you can choose to run away or you can choose to grow stronger from it. If you only discover hatred, then I am uncertain as to what tell you.

...you're...you're right.

[He glanced away, obviously uneasy.]

I'm sorry, Arturia.

[ Getting up from the bed, she'll move over to where he is. ]

Diarmuid.

...what is it?

Because when you say "I'll be fine" you mean "I'll be fine without your support" and you're wrong.

I don't think I'm wrong.

Shush. You need me to be here for you. And I am.

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