Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Chapter 38: Millicent

A/N: I take liberties with the lore in this chapter. One of those cases where the answer really boils down to 'it just works because I want it to work'. I mean, there's also some logic based on game mechanics behind it... but at the same time, it really does just work because I want it to work.

-x-X-x-

Nothing lasts forever. But... as far as ends go, Millicent finds there's much to appreciate in this one. She might not have all the answers she sought... and truth be told, she still doesn't really want to go. But at the same time... she's lived long past her expiration date, hasn't she? This... this is where it ends for her, beside this pool of Scarlet Rot.

After the moment at the Church, where Millicent had felt very much like an intruder, but hadn't been able to stop herself from... taking part, she and her Tarnished savior had made their way further on. Backtracking a little bit, they'd gone Southeast from the Apostate Derelict, and quickly arrived at the town of Ordina.

Unfortunately, she could not enter the Evergaol with him, as it only allowed one at a time. Instead, she was forced to stay out and wait for him, feeling somewhat useless. But eventually, he returned, looking no worse for wear. Millicent could only assume that it hadn't been too difficult of a task, but at the same time, how would she have known just from looking at him? She'd never seen him take a blow anyways.

With the candles lit, the Waygate to the Haligtree had been opened. They were finally making progress. Millicent was thrilled... but also weary, to say the least. And as she and her Tarnished had traveled Miquella's Haligtree, as she'd recognized more and more of her surroundings and discovered more and more about her nature, Millicent had come to realize the truth about herself.

She'd shared it with him, of course. How could she not? The moment she'd come to understand her own self, she had made him aware of it, as they'd taken a moment to rest at a Site of Lost Grace in a Prayer Room deep within the Brace of the Haligtree.

"Allow me to explain myself, Brave Tarnished. I am of Malenia's blood. But in what capacity, I know not. I could be sister, daughter... or merely an offshoot. Whatever the case is, I am certain of a kinship between us."

She wasn't sure what reaction she was expecting from him. Disgust? Rejection? Certainly, she both feared and anticipated these things. Obviously, she should have known better. Her Tarnished had simply nodded, smiling at her knowingly, in complete understanding. Sometimes... sometimes it felt like he knew more about her true nature than she herself did. But that was impossible, was it not? Nevertheless, Millicent had pushed forward.

"There is something I must return to Malenia. The will that was once her own. The dignity, the sense of self, that allowed her to resist the call of the Scarlet Rot. The pride she abandoned, to meet Radahn's measure."

Millicent had finally understood. Why she had been saved. Why the Tarnished had been roped into helping her in the first place. She was a contingency. A fall back solution. The needle that had been used on her... it was never meant for her. Or rather, never meant for her by its original creator. It had been repurposed by someone else.

And it was not just her, either. Millicent was not surprised, when she and her Tarnished had been waylaid further in by her sisters. She... wasn't sure how she'd forgotten them. She wasn't sure how she remembered them, either. Her sisters, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. But was it her own? And yet, she had been able to name each of them the moment she'd laid eyes on them.

Mary, the Eldest Sister. She who favored the scythe. Maureen, the Second Sister. She who favored the polearm. Amy, the Third Sister. She who favored the sword. And Polyanna, the Youngest Sister. She who favored the knife and incantation.