pssssssst - Hubert/Dedue but it's Dedue having to kill Hubert :))))
Anon. Anon I hope you understand that this is what you wrought. THIS IS WHAT YOU BROUGHT UPON YOURSELF BY ASKING, I HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY BECAUSE I A M N O T
this was all written late at night and it shows bU TI NEED TO GET IT OUT
Hubert gazed around him civilians fled, attempting to escape the carnage only to fall prey to it. Despite himself, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt - ridiculous, considering all he had done to practically drown in blood. And yet, he couldn’t help but ask himself. Had this truly been what Lady Edelgard wanted? Innocents falling left and right as Imperial soldiers put up one last fight against the Kingdom troops?
If this had been what he wanted went unasked, because he did not deserve to ask for anything. Not when...
Hubert looked up from his musing to find the man who he had not seen for the past five years, and yet foolishly, foolishly still allowed to stay in his heart. The man who, once upon a time, had tried to help him find pastimes beyond serving Lady Edelgard. The man who, all those years ago, had somehow found his way into Hubert’s heart without Hubert even realizing.
Dedue Molinaro. The right hand of Prince Dimitri. Hubert almost wanted to laugh - of course they would end up facing one another here and now. Why wouldn’t they? Why wouldn’t fate throw what he himself had left behind right in his face, right within his reach and yet so far out of it all the same?
Tch. Here he was getting distracted by his own thoughts. He had more important things to focus on over waxing poetics about fantasies. (Never mind how a voice in the back of his mind insisted they weren’t fantasies, they were what he willingly threw away like a fool.)
“Hubert, stand down. You know as well as I do that fighting at this point is futile,” Dedue said to him, slowly approaching him with a hand on his axe.
“In your own words,” Hubert began, raising his hands for a spell, “you should know as well as I that I cannot do that.”
And thus their battle began - though, honestly, he couldn’t in good conscience call it a fight. Hubert knew. Hubert knew, he knew, he knew that he is much faster with spell-casting, more accurate with his spell-casting. He had been training with it for the past five years, after all. And yet, yet, somehow this time was different. Dedue managed to strike him down, just as Hubert fired off his first spell - only for it to miss entirely.
The first and only time Hubert ever missed a spell. On purpose.
Pathetic, wasn’t it? As Hubert laid on the floor, pain radiating through his system, he couldn’t help but laugh to himself. Sacrificing everything, leaving everything behind for his liege - and yet here he was, throwing away a chance to at least weaken the Kingdom army simply because he was too weak to harm the Duscurian that still held a place in his heart. He expected to be left behind, expected to hear the clanking of Dedue’s armor as he walked away and left Hubert to the solitary death he more than deserved. He closed his eyes, simply waiting for death to come for him.
Hubert’s eyes opened in surprise as Dedue gently picked him up, holding him close. The surprise was enough to dull the pain that Hubert felt at the motion.
“I could still try and heal you,” Dedue quietly spoke, “and I could bring you back with me.”
At that, Hubert simply laughed, only ending in a cough that left a coppery tang in his mouth. “You know that would not work.”
Dedue’s grip tightened, if only slightly. “I do.”
Hubert simply stared up at Dedue, truly taking in his new appearance. His face was much more scarred than it had been when he last saw him five years ago, and yet still as handsome as ever. His hair was different as well. They both stayed silent, knowing that Hubert would be dying soon enough. He was fine with that. He deserved death for all he had done after all - and yet, despite that...
“Before this war began,” Dedue said quietly, “I had planned to ask Lady Edelgard if I could court you properly. If I could bring you with me to the lands of Duscur, once His Highness had begun returning the land to my people.”
“Oh?” Hubert felt a faint surge of surprise at that. A small grin appeared on his face. “I admit, I did not know much about Duscur before meeting you.”
“That would have changed.” Dedue’s gaze had grown soft, a warm smile on his face - if Hubert hadn’t been forcing himself to stay so focused, he would have said it was the same as the smiles he gave him during their Academy days. “I would have shown you the lands I grew up in, would have taught you our culture...”
Dedue trailed off there, though the silence wasn’t for long. Hubert chuckled. “Seems I would’ve become...quite the expert.”
Even if his vision was beginning to fade in and out, he couldn’t miss the way Dedue nodded in that slow and sad way, the way one does when they’re lost in thoughts. All the same, Dedue still kept his gaze focused on his.
“Perhaps. And perhaps we could have settled down together. No doubt we would have to travel often for Lady Edelgard and His Highness, but we would have somewhere to settle down when we were not needed.”
Hubert hummed. A future where he and Dedue could have lived together, spent their days and nights together when they were not needed by their respective lieges.
(A future you could have had, had you not been so cowardly, a voice in the back of his mind hissed.)
“Perhaps...I imagine there would have been...a garden...” and even if Hubert knew he did not deserve it, did not even deserve to think of it, he was selfish enough to want to indulge himself in this fantasy.
“There would. I would have you help me, though you’d likely complain on the odd occasion.” Dedue chuckled, and how quiet and sad that chuckle was. Not at all like how Dedue’s laughter should be.
“Only sometimes,” Dedue repeated, and through the haze Hubert imagined Dedue could see that he was slipping under. “Though I imagine there would be some plants you’d have liked to grow.”
“Yes?” Dedue sounded almost frantic for some reason. Why? Hubert would be dead soon. It’d be better for Dedue if Hubert was dead, which he would be soon. He wouldn’t have to fight him ever again.
“...’m sorry ‘bout all this,” and Hubert choked out a laugh, no matter how it hurt him, no matter the last dredges of pain crawling their way through his veins. “...wish I was...was braver...”
Dedue tensed. All the same, Hubert continued.
“...could’ve...could’ve been with you...n’ matter how selfis’..” and Hubert knew he was slurring, knew he was mumbling, knew his time would be up soon but he had to get it out. “..’n I’m sorry...for doin’ this t’you...”
His vision was nearly gone now, but he could still see Dedue’s expression twist at that. He couldn’t understand what made him look so upset, so hurt.
“Hope....hope you find someone...someone who deserves you...’n better than me...” Hubert managed one last breath, just to finish his selfish, selfish statement. “...l..love you...”
Of course, it’d only be when he was on his deathbed that Hubert would finally say how he felt. He could scarcely feel Dedue’s shaking. “I...I love you as well...”
And that was the last thing Hubert knew.
(Dedue was quiet, still holding Hubert close to him. No, not Hubert anymore. Hubert’s body. Because Hubert was dead now. Dedue felt his body shaking, but he could barely even think about that when Hubert was dead and gone, never to come back. And Dedue had been the one to kill him.
He heard the clanking of His Highness’s - of Dimitri’s armor as he approached.
“Dedue...?” He heard him call cautiously, but Dedue did not move.
“Please...Please leave. I...I need a moment alone.” He forced his voice to be as steady as possible, tried to force down the sobs that wanted to crawl and fight their way out of his throat. He did not hear anything for a few moments. He only held Hubert - Hubert’s body - closer as he hunched in on himself.
“Please..” He heard himself shakily ask. There was another pause before he heard Dimitri walking away.
It was only once he could no longer hear Dimitri’s footsteps that a sob choked him as it climbed out of his throat. Then another. And another.
And then Dedue was left sobbing, wracking his body as he cried tears he hadn’t cried since he was young. Sobbing over what he could have had, and what he had now lost.)
