Scenario:Black Knight - Beyond Hope and Prayer

Beyond Hope and Prayer

The Black Knight reflects on her journey. To get back her best friend, the Black Knight joins the Seven Luminary Knights and rises through the Empire's ranks. However, Prime Minister Freesia exposes the flaw in the plan to use Lyria's powers to save Orchis.

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Black Knight: I was an ordinary child just like any other. I loved reading, as it much easier than talking with others.

Black Knight: When my mother passed, I was unable to contact my skyfaring father, and instead came to Mephorash as a student.

Black Knight: Little did I know that it was there where I would meet the one who would change my life forever.

Princess Orchis: Hey there! My name's Orchis. What's yours?

Princess Orchis: Apollonia! What a pretty name! Hmm, we need a nickname for you though... How about... Apollo!

Princess Orchis: Hehe, you like it? Come on, I'll show you around!

Black Knight: Her name was Orchis. The princess of Erste. Even in winter, her smile was as warm as a summer breeze.

Black Knight: My days with her could only be described as happiness itself.

Black Knight: However...

Black Knight: That fateful day... everything changed.

Black Knight: I didn't know at the time, but the queen and king's lives had been taken by the rampaging Deus Ex Machina.

Black Knight: Orchis's mind was stripped from her body, and all that seemed to be left was an empty doll.

Black Knight: I had lost all hope, I was broken. But from that despair was born a new hope. A hope that would push me ever forward.

Black Knight: I decided to bring her back, and I wouldn't let anything stop me until I did. I used everything I could. All that this world had.

Black Knight: I trained my body, filled myself with knowledge, and used that power to become a Luminary Knight, as well as Erste's top advisor.

Black Knight: I found a way to bring back Orchis using Lyria and the doll.

Black Knight: Almost... Just a little more and I can finally meet Orchis again.

Orchis Doll: ... Apollo.

Black Knight: But what used to be nothing but a doll to me had turned into something more... Someone more.

Black Knight: I had strived for so long, but I started to doubt whether I wanted to sacrifice the soul that was born from that doll.

Black Knight: I was a fool. Why get sentimental after I had long since passed the point of no return?

Black Knight: I had given up everything for that one purpose, yet my heart began to falter. And at that most vulnerable moment...

Freesia: While it's true that Lyria has the ability to bring back one from the verge of death...

Freesia: ... it's not as the philosopher's stone you dream it to be.

Black Knight: What?

Freesia: That power uses Lyria as a vessel, and fuses the vessel with the sky itself to harness the power of the sky realm.

Freesia: In other words, it can be used once, and only once.

Freesia: To put it frankly, the Orchis you knew is never coming back.

Black Knight: No... It can't be...

Black Knight: All that I had worked for, the path that I was taking, was all for naught.

Black Knight: I had nothing left.

Black Knight: Despair and emptiness descended upon me, and numbed me to my very core.

Beyond Hope and Prayer: Scene 2

Adam explains that the primal beast Deus Ex Machina can be used to get back Princess Orchis, but only at the sacrifice of doll Orchis. The Black Knight agonizes over this bitter truth.

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Black Knight: As Yggdrasil Malice rampaged through Lumacie's forest, I became separated from (Captain)'s crew.

Monster: Grrrowwwr!

Black Knight: ...

Black Knight: I laughed at myself as I swung my sword. Is my life even worth protecting?

Black Knight: I saw no more reason to live, but nor could I use death as an escape... I rued the day I was born.

Black Knight: Sturm and Drang then found me, and took me back to (Captain)'s crew.

Black Knight: By then, I was a shell devoid of feeling itself. People spoke around me, but I did not hear their voices. My eyes were open, but I saw nothing.

Black Knight: I thought I would just stay like that forever, rotting away with time.

Black Knight: But then the doll... the girl. She rekindled the flame within my heart.

Orchis Doll: Will you... ever forgive me?

Yggdrasil Malice:

Yggdrasil Malice: !

Orchis Doll: ...

Black Knight: Even if all my plans have been ruined, even if my dreams have been crushed...

Black Knight: I'm not leaving you behind, Orchis!

Black Knight: To me, the doll had become something more. It wasn't the same Orchis I knew, but it had grown close to my heart all the same.

Black Knight: I gave up on the goal that I had devoted my entire life to achieving. Or so I thought I did.

Black Knight: When we infiltrated Agastia, General Adam revealed to me the truth of the situation.

Adam: Deus Ex Machina does not have the power to destroy minds.

Adam: Princess Orchis's mind must still be in Mephorash. We just needed a way to connect to it.

Adam: As long as you have Deus Ex Machina, there's still a chance to bring Her Highness back.

Black Knight: Adam's words were both a blessing and a curse to me.

Black Knight: I had finally found a way to bring my best friend Orchis back.

Black Knight: But at the same time, it would mean the sacrifice of the girl whom I used to call a doll.

Black Knight: I knew she was an important part of my life, and that made it all the more difficult to face my hesitation head-on.

Black Knight: However, I could no longer prolong my indecision...

Rosetta: Looks like we're in a bit of a pickle here, aren't we...

Rosetta: Strategically, we're in a pretty bad position, and if we try to get away, we'd be cornered before we know it.

Black Knight: I volunteered to distract the imperial soldiers while (Captain)'s crew escaped.

Black Knight: Or perhaps I simply wished to use battle to distract myself from the pain that raged in my heart.

Beyond Hope and Prayer: Scene 3

Freesia, having made a pact with Mithra, blocks (Captain) and company on their way to destroy the reactor. The Black Knight encourages them to rewrite the future using Akasha's power, while she distracts Freesia in battle.

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Black Knight: Having fended off the soldiers, Furias, and Gandharva, (Captain)'s crew and I returned to the Grandcypher.

Black Knight: There, I revealed to Lyria my decision.

Lyria: Black Knight... What are you going to do with Orchis?

Black Knight: I...

Black Knight: I want to revive her.

Black Knight: Her smile... I want to see that smile on her face again. That's all.

Black Knight: ... I lied. It wasn't that simple.

Black Knight: But, I thought that I couldn't possibly have everything I wanted.

Black Knight: If I choose one, I lose the other.

Black Knight: And if so, then not just for her smile, but for all that I had sacrificed, I chose.

Black Knight: I still wavered with my decision, and could not bring myself to meet the girl's eyes.

Black Knight: We then entered Agastia once again, and infiltrated the tower.

Black Knight: We raced to stop the reactor, but the Freesia whom we'd thought we had defeated appeared before us again.

Freesia: I will... achieve my dream. No matter how many times I'm torn apart... I will!

Freesia: Now! I've taken that vow! Hear me, Mithra! So that I may obey this pledge!

Freesia: Give me... the power to triumph!

Black Knight: Looking at her in that state, I saw myself.

Black Knight: Twisted, battered, and no matter how many times she gets knocked down, she crawls back up until she gets what she wants.

Black Knight: Bound by her past, she sacrificed everything, just as I did.

Black Knight: That's why I suggested she be erased from the annals of the future.

Black Knight: Akasha controls all history. The past, present, and future.

Black Knight: If you can erase her existence from the future...

Black Knight: Her pledge and all will be erased, and we might be able to stop her.

Lyria: But... if we do that...

Black Knight: Enough! Just go! We have no other choice!

Black Knight: I confronted her, as one deluded derelict against another.

Black Knight: We had both clung to our hopes and dreams for so long, but the time was coming when we would both have to let go.

Beyond Hope and Prayer: Scene 4

The Black Knight challenges (Captain) and is defeated, but Princess Orchis is able to give doll Orchis both a new body and a new name: Orchid. Now with more than she could have asked for, the Black Knight feels both joy and a vague sense of emptiness inside.

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Freesia: Ah...

Black Knight: Hmm?

Freesia:

Freesia: Ahh...

Black Knight: ...

Black Knight: They chose not to erase Freesia from the records of the future.

Black Knight: Though I find their decision naive, it is the choice they have made, and it is who they are.

Black Knight: No one knows of the path Freesia will take from here.

Black Knight: But without a doubt, (Captain) has saved her from her past.

Black Knight: Just as they did me...

Lyria: Why... Why?

Lyria: Can't you accept Orchis for who she is right now?

Orchis: ...

Black Knight: To be honest, I can no longer bring myself to call her a "doll."

Black Knight: Even so, I must bring her back.

Black Knight: For the people of this city, for her resting parents, for the me I once was...

Black Knight: I am who I am... And I will not—can not—break the oath I vowed to myself.

Black Knight: And if not for that... I simply want to see her smile, once again.

Orchis: ...

Black Knight: I would be lying if I said I don't have any second thoughts about this.

Black Knight: You must know that this is not easy for me.

Black Knight: Honestly, I can no longer choose. Whichever road I take, I lose one or the other, when I wish to lose neither.

Black Knight: But... Without a choice, one cannot move on.

Black Knight: So show me. Show me which is stronger. That which gave birth to this black armor, or that which built this armor up...

Black Knight: Show me, and I will be at peace with whatever may come.

Black Knight: I entrusted into the hands of (Captain) and crew the future which I had once thought would be mine alone to create.

Black Knight: I accepted my defeat, and made peace with what would become of it. That I would never see by best friend, ever again.

Black Knight: But just when I had let go and come to grips with what was to be, hope appeared before me.

???: She gave me... a new name.

Orchid: It's "Orchid." I want you call me that from now on.

Black Knight: She went from "Orchis" to "Orchid." She received a new body prepared by Adam, and said she wanted to be by my side.

Black Knight: That day, I vowed to never again lose what I held dear to me...

Black Knight: ... and they lived happily ever after. It sounds just like one of the fairy tales Orchis and I would read together, with a happy ending.

Black Knight: Waiting together with Orchid for Orchis to awake, it feels like a dream. I can't believe it.

Black Knight: It's almost too good to be true.

Black Knight: And it almost makes me scared.

Black Knight: I'd been working towards this very dream. And now that it's about to come true, I wonder...

Black Knight: ... I wonder at all the potential tomorrow holds, and all the joy it would bring.

Black Knight: I pray for the day that I can see both of them, smiling together.

Black Knight: For me, for who I am now, that is all I wish.