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Dreamer – Part 07

The carriage sliced through the night.

The worn wallpaper adorning the carriage’s walls fluttered with each jolt. Curled up on a modest seat, Victorique de Blois, her golden hair cascading like the tail of an ancient creature, wept.

Her cheeks were pale, and her green eyes—the same green eyes that her mother had, currently as vibrant as the coming of spring—were wide open in fear, and dark as a mysterious lake hidden in the depths of a forest. Her diminutive frame, wrapped in a blue dress, quivered slightly.

Beside her, Brian Roscoe, resting his cheek on his hand with a displeased look, huffed, “How long will you keep on crying, squirt?”

His voice carried a subtle mix of gentleness absent just moments ago.

“I’m not crying.”

Surprised by the calmness in her voice, Brian studied her with a frown. Victorique stared back at him with sad, green eyes.

“Hey, Brian.”

“What?” Brian snorted, discarding the gentle tone completely. “You annoying brat. It seems you have not inherited Cordelia’s elegance, femininity, strength. You are far from a proper lady. An uncivilized, poorly-raised child.”

“Have you ever been torn between two emotions?” Victorique asked softly.

Outside, car horns blared and engines roared. The sound of hooves clattering was grating to the ears. Moonlight poured down on the two Gray Wolves through the tattered curtain.

Brian grimaced. “Of course! Always! Even now!”

“I see.”

“We wanted to get closer to Cordelia. Always, always. But there was a voice that stopped us. We stood for a long time in the middle of two conflicting emotions.”

“Hmm.”

“Even now… I feel glad for yielding, but I also regret not being able to stay behind.” Brian stared out the window. “I want to protect the squirt as promised, and at the same time tear off her throat. I think about moving forward, about turning back and dying together.”

“I feel the same way, Brian.”

Leaning against the wall, Victorique stared intently at the stained ceiling. Hooves clopped. Eerie moonlight poured.

“At the moment, I believe I should move on, and similarly—no, I feel the strong urge to return.”

“Hmm.”

“There are two people I want to see again. Up ahead is that boy, Kazuya Kujou. The thought of seeing him again makes my chest ache. But behind me is my beloved maman. I want to go back and be with her. I don’t mind dying there,” she said sorrowfully. “There are temptations in the path ahead and behind me. There has never been anything like this before. Do humans live in such agony? I never knew. The true suffering of living, being torn away from the people you cherish, the horror of losing them. Brian…”

Brian remained silent for a while. Then, he let out a hesitant sigh.

“In that case, you should move forward, squirt. Because behind the path, where Cordelia is, is the past, and up ahead where the boy is, Kujou or whatever, is your future. Cordelia left a message for you: ‘to the future.'” Brian shot Victorique a hateful glare. “She meant that you should live on. Running back to her in tears won’t make her happy. She sacrificed herself for the future, after all.”

“But Brian…”

“We’re nearing the harbor.”

Outside the window, the car horns and artificial lights were fading away. The surroundings were dimmer now, and the sound of the waves could be heard.

“It’s time to bid farewell to Sauville. Listen, squirt. it’s best if you don’t return to the Old World. Understand?”

“Where… Where am I going?”

Brian furrowed his brows. “The United States of America—the New World. It’s the safest place out there. A haven where the Ministry of the Occult or the fading ancient gods that rule the Old World from the shadows won’t find you. A civilization devoid of mysteries, miracles, or invisible forces—purely scientific and plebeian.”

“I see.”

“We concluded that it’s the most suitable place for you, the last descendant of the ancient ones, our potential, to thrive.”

Brian produced something from his chest pocket. A square object of some sorts. The moment Victorique laid eyes on it, she yelped in horror.

It was a passport, affixed with a black-and-white photo that bore a face resembling Victorique’s but undeniably belonged to a different person. A calm-faced warrior with eyes ablaze like embers in the depths of darkness stared back at her.

It seemed to command her to go. A wolf howling at its cub to depart, to never look back.

Cordelia Gallo was written in the “Name” field.

The face in the photo shattered Victorique’s last bits of composure and reason. She tried to move, her body dulled by the effects of the drug, but Brian pounced on her, holding her as she thrashed about.

“Stay still, squirt! Damn it. Don’t you ruin the plan now!”

The carriage stopped. The driver descended from his seat, his boots clicking as he hurried over. The door swung open, revealing a young man—his formerly pointed golden hair now tousled and disheveled, possibly undone while being cradled against Brian’s side. Grevil de Blois leaped in, the curls on top of his head resembling partially melted ice cream. He restrained his struggling half-sister with Brian.

“Ouch, that hurts! Stop biting!”

“Wh-What is my brother doing here?”

“You’re not even going to listen to your brother at the very end, huh?”

With the combined strength of two adult men, they somehow managed to subdue Victorique. Her emaciated, petite frame, draped in a blue dress, trembled. Tears like snow threatened to spill from her green eyes.

“I want to see maman. I really want to… I don’t want to never see her again!”

“Stop acting like a child, squirt.”

Victorique glared defiantly at Brian. “But I am a child. I’m only fifteen… Not a hundred and fifteen, just fifteen… Maman…”

“You will go nonetheless,” Brian said, flicking Victorique’s pudgy cheek.

Grevil raised his hand to do the same, but when his eyes met Victorique’s terrifying gaze, his spirit broke, and he slowly lowered his hand, hanging his head.

“Are you really Cordelia Gallo’s daughter?” Brian bemoaned. “She trod a much more arduous path than you ever did. She lived fighting against a cruel fate.”

“B-Brian…”

“Your supposed brilliant mind won’t get you through the challenges ahead. Show indomitable courage.”

“Indomitable courage,” Victorique echoed.

She slowly rose and gazed into the distance. The evening moon hung outside the window, casting a pale glow.

“That’s what the boy possessed,” she said.

“Hmm?”

“A mediocre prodigy, a pumpkin head, an oaf, and a worthless reaper. But he protected me numerous times with the power he had.”

“Hmph… True.” Brian nodded thoughtfully. “He stood his ground against me at Saint Marguerite Academy’s clock tower, Marquis de Blois at Beelzebub’s Skull, and Jupiter Roget at the Phantom theater. All to protect you. He was quite the daring kid.”

“He… Kujou is no longer at my side. Now is the time for the greatest adventure yet, but the storm had swept him away from me.”

Brian and Grevil, with their fiery red and golden heads, stared at Victorique.

“In that case, I will become Kujou,” she said. “I will possess the indomitable courage he always displayed, instilling it in this weak, fragile heart and body of mine that’s constantly afraid of the future.”

“Exactly, squirt.” Brian nodded. “Live on… Become Kazuya Kujou, brave and upright to a fault. Embrace Cordelia Gallo’s strength and beauty. You will…” He paused.

A distant whistle pierced the air.

Victorique, unsure if she could match the wisdom of her mother or the courage of Kazuya, clenched her small fist anxiously, trembling.

---

In the stone chamber…

Marquis de Blois’s arm slowly rose. The final moment was imminent.

Int that instant, Cordelia’s green eyes glinted eerily, and she burst into loud laughter. She began mocking Marquis de Blois with her whole being.

“Albert, with the pride of the Gray Wolves, allow me to foretell the future.”

“What?”

“For all eternity, your soul will not know peace. Twisted by power and the occult, aging without knowing love, your pitiful soul will not find rest. Even in death, it will wander aimlessly on the earth.”

Even in the dark stone chamber, Marquis de Blois’s complexion visibly changed.

“Someone like you can never truly crush the souls of us Gray Wolves. Even if you take away our freedom, our will, our lives. The same applies to the little cub.”

“You witch!”

“It seems our long sixteen-year battle is finally reaching its conclusion tonight. Albert!”

“Ugh…”

“Stalemate!”

“Kill them!” Marquis de Blois signaled.

Instantly, bayonets descended toward the floor where Cordelia and Brian sat. Rifles unleashed fire. The stone chamber was shrouded in deafening gunshots and gray smoke, making it nearly impossible to see anything.

There were no screams, neither male, nor female.

Gunshots reverberated once more.

Marquis Albert de Blois’s dry laughter rumbled in the darkness, low, heavy, and trembling, cutting through the stagnant air.