Here are some of the things that is both a delicate challenge of the Crimson Flower Rhealeth fic that I feel would be best to express over here. Sorry but when it comes to horror, I don't like breaking the illusion until it is over so I don't want to break it on Ao3:
1. It is dark for a reason. The story of Crimson Flower is a nightmare scenario for anyone caught in the role of a Manakete and even many other vulnerable people. For what Slither would do to them would be heinous, horrifying. And for one who thinks "I detest war and death," the pursuit of it would cause such internal turmoil, spiraling into worse and worse feelings. It's sickening, it's meant to be heartwrenching. The pro-war ideology being espoused is one that will kill someone like Byleth if Byleth seeks to be a defender of peace.
2. It is not a story that wants to deviate from the plot of Crimson Flower. I have other stories planned for that. Parting Light and the subsequent story (tentatively named Piercing Darkness), are about stories that allow themselves to diverge in significant canon ways. Wrapped-In-Black is a transformative expansion of that long ass essay I did. Another world, another timeline, Byleth and the others should win. This is not that timeline.
3. The Lords are allowed to have such strong feelings for Byleth regardless of the route. So does Rhea. With that in mind, I think it is appropriate to mirror what happens in Silver Snow by having Rhea still adore Byleth no matter what confusing thing is between them. Just like Edelgard in Silver Snow. The more they think about it, the weirder it gets, but they love each other still, because they still make each other happy. And even for a brief moment, they can choose to have a glimmer of happiness in such a depressing timeline. This story is a tragedy where between the cracks in the narrative, Byleth is slowly losing herself, killing her heart and Seiros's as the story demands.
4. The story of 3H is constructed to paint Rhea and the Church of Seiros in a very, very unfair light. Aaaand they're religious genocide surviving outcasts in Fodlan, and I do not like that the game goes out of its way to stack the deck in every way to justify the genocide's continuation. While I am to show off many of these issues as a direct consequences of a narrative built to screw over the Nabateans, and use that to my advantage by showing that actually much of what's going on with the Nabateans is a literal case of scapegoating, there will be things I will probably not cover. The Printing Press shit that I see people get upset about Rhea doing literally comes from a library of dubiously sourced books, and never plays a single point in either 3H or 3HP. And if the game doesn't think it's relevant than neither do I. "That's a nice argument, Emperor, why don't you back it up with a source?"
5. So, this will hopefully be satirical enough to portray the story as one of the emotional manipulation Byleth is being forced through in order to justify the horrors. I'm trying really hard not to change the things the Emperor says or realistically do, but show how devastating it is to both put someone through and how it hurts the family and friends watching. If she really does say stuff along the lines she does, then I'm gonna have the route not give it to her.
6. Sothis is secretly Zangetsu. And the odds of Byleth using Getsuga Tensho go up by 10% every battle where the SotC isn't used.
7. I'm a freaky pervert. Sometimes I write things because I like queer fanservice. I write problematic content for the thrill of it and for comfort.
8. For as long as I'm writing 3H, I'mma be building a story about deprogramming and deradicalization against Slither and the Empire. But that's a long con. I don't want to give up every detail, but everyone fighting against both factions is fighting for some kind of survival and peace. I usually don't get bored without significant cause, but I also write really loooong journeys. This is the first with multiple individual fics though.
9. Be gay, do crimes. I'm just a gal who writes darkfics for fun.
