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If you are defending the civilians whose safety is your responsibility, and you are losing the battle — is it better to allow them to be slaughtered, or to resurrect your shinobi who were willing and did already die for that same cause?

（ it is a purely philosophical question. he can understand both sides of it without issue. but he enjoys debating such things with her, to see where her clever mind may carry her. ）

This is assuming that said resurrection will not revive them as creatures who will pose an equal threat to said civilians, if not carefully controlled?

[Which is, really, the core of why necromancy is banned, why it's reviled. The Dead need to feed on Life in order to remain in Life, and if left to their own devices, are not picky about where said life-force comes from.]

I could see why someone desperate enough might see it as the right choice, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to do it.

No. There is no ferality associated with this jutsu. Those brought back in this manner have their personalities intact, but they are under the control of the one that summoned them.

（ he has never seen it done personally, but spies have an alarming tendency to learn things they shouldn't. he knows how hiruzen died. what he died doing. ）

But it is natural to hold opinions based on your own world. You are remarkably open-minded about it, despite all you have seen and known as Abhorsen.

I see. Then using it only to revive allies seems advisable- even with a short leash, given control of their faculties and sufficient motivation, one bound could easily make themselves distinctly unhelpful.

[She's absolutely thinking of Mogget as she says this.]

（ it's like she's reached directly into the future and saw itachi being a fucking shit about edo tensei or something... he made it as difficult as (in)humanly possible for kabuto to do anything, because he's Just That Asshole. ）

Presumably. I doubt I will ever encounter this technique directly in my lifetime, and stories told about it tend to... obfuscate the details.

For understandable reasons. With magic that's forbidden... stories tend to obfuscate how it's done, although that can also lead to misunderstandings regarding the true nature of things.

[At this point, Sabriel's sure that no one living could tell her the true nature of Mogget, or his binding. Possibly not even Mogget, even if he wanted to.]

Mm.

（ and, moving right along and changing tack — ）

What is your opinion on those who are brought back from death by the powers of this place? Or those whose regret involves overturning deaths?

（ he's not exactly #askingforafriend but he is curious, given her aversion. ）

Well, those being revived are being restored to true life- and thus, not my problem. As for overturning deaths... I'd be a hypocrite if I objected, given my own regret.

[Given that she's doing this to undo the deaths of her friends.]

Oh?

（ it's not a topic they've spoken much on, but he does have a spy's natural curiosity for such things, as tools of leverage if nothing else. ）

[Sabriel hesitates for a long moment before speaking.]

I was facing a Greater Dead creature- one that had killed several Abhorsens, and that several more had dragged deep into Death. But Kerrigor wouldn't die- not properly, anyway.

But- he had a weakness. He was using his original body as an anchor, but he'd put it in an ensorcelled coffin and hidden it in Ancelstierre. So when I realized where it was- I was able to recruit the soldiers at the perimeter to help me, but there weren't enough Charter mages to force the coffin open. And Kerrigor was coming to stop us, so...

[Sabriel looks down at her tea as she speaks.]

I told Colonel Horyse that the Senior magic classes could help. And- they did. Kerrigor was dealt with, but at a high cost.

（ he can tell that this is a source of shame and great grief for her. it is in the set of her shoulders, the way her fingers grasp the cup, the way her gaze averts and drops, her eyes looking fathomless and dark as a void. it is a mark of how unalike their worlds are, he thinks — because to him, that is no different than children from the academy being promoted to genin to fill out the ranks of a battalion going to war. losses are expected and inevitable, and often necessary. shinobi children were afraid, but knew to walk towards death regardless of that fear.

there was no other option. cowardice was worse than death. men like hatake sakumo were made an example of.

he killed his first man at four. he came near to death he was seven, clutching a knife in his gut that had been meant for another. he is aware that it is — not normal. not a thing expected or demanded of people whose lives have not been intertwined with war in ways that cannot be undone. normalcy is a concept he has only recently begun to taste, and applying it to the deficient areas in his life is still not within his capability. some things cannot be put away so easily.

yet, he is caught up in the relentless tide of her empathy. he does not think it is weakness, to wish things undone. nor that she laments those taken. for a moment, he does not recognize what he is feeling towards her, the emotion something long buried and lost. he corrals it, assesses it as dispassionately as an anthropologist might study ancient bones —

affection, he eventually concludes. a tiny, guttering flame that — if left unchecked — may build to the same sort of conflagratory warmth he felt when listening to shisui speak about the future, and the peace they would bring and all the things they would accomplish together.

imagine a world where we can be whatever we want. what do you want to be, itachi? shisui had asked him once with a broad smile.

he blinks, and the moment shatters back to memory. ）

You made the correct choice.

（ is what he decides to say, eventually. ）

I believe that if there was another way, you would have done it. Did you make provisions in your regret for how else he may be dealt with?

[Part of the reason Sabriel was willing, even reluctantly, to speak of this to Itachi, was because she did not expect him to judge her. He seems no stranger to making hard choices.

Everyone she's told about her regret has been sympathetic, hasn't judged her for what she'd done. But the guilt still gnaws at Sabriel. She'd nearly died herself then, dragged back by her predecessors because there had to be an Abhorsen, so she wasn't allowed to die until there was one who could replace her.

Her classmates had not been so fortunate. She looks back up at Itachi as she speaks.]

My regret was to undo their deaths... not the choices that lead to it. They did not die in the process of opening the coffin, but rather, when Kerrigor and his forces attacked immediately after. If he had been delayed even slightly, or if their injuries were not as extreme...

[Sabriel shakes her head, as though she's trying to get something out of her ear as she falls silent.]

But no, there wasn't another way. Not one that had any chance of success, at least.

I see.

（ everything has a weakness. there is no spell, no technique, no summon that lacks it. even susanoo is not without flaw. ）

Do you expect you will remember all you have come to know here, upon returning?

（ he knows that viveca has been... vague on the matter, from what he has been able to unearth. but sabriel likely holds her own theories. ）

I am not sure, but I suspect so. There are objects and knowledge I'd like to bring back with me. Particularly the knowledge.

[Sabriel thinks of the notes she found in Kilnan, discussing how to use magic to travel between worlds... and how to make objects come alive, which strikes her as far less interesting.]

That knowledge would also disrupt the natural order of our worlds, which may appeal to the chaotic nature of the orbs.

（ look it makes sense to him, okay. ）

It would. Although that's assuming there's a single way things 'should' be.

[Which isn't something Sabriel believes. In some vague idea of fate, perhaps, but not that there's a single, immutable future.]

Hm.

（ he and blue had a conversation about fate not too long ago, and he'd told the man then that if he believed in it, he would not be here. ）

It is also possible that what we are doing does not affect our 'prime' universe but simply will create offshoots of it, timelines that ripple outwards from the changes we wish to make.

（ but if it is only in one life that sasuke gets to grow up with a family, happy and protected — does it matter? he would still gamble everything on that one life. that one chance. would still die to bring it into reality. ）

Perhaps. From what my cousins have told me, they See many possible futures... and through their actions, and the knowledge they share with others, they seek to prevent some futures, while ensuring that others come to pass. But there is no single future that is 'supposed to be'.

[At least, that's what Sabriel's been able to make sense of from the Clayr's explanations. That rather than being predestined, people's actions and choices shape the future.]

（ he cants his head faintly. ）

Your cousins?

The Clayr. They can See the future in the ice... and in some cases, show it to others.

[Like they had to Sabriel, outside the palace. It had been just one strange discovery of many that day, and far less upsetting than most.]

They're distant cousins- as are all the bloodlines tied to the Charter in the Old Kingdom.

（ prophecy, of course, is an ingrained part of what it means to be uchiha. he considers that, red eyes drifting to focus on something she keeps on a shelf. perhaps it's a book he's noticed, or some little knick-knack picked up from one of the other worlds. ）

I cannot say if I think anything good can come from divination. Some things are not meant to be known.

[Sabriel has accumulated a small collection of items- most of them books of Charter magic, requested from Viveca, but there are a few other objects as well- such as a dagger from Gyeonje, and several of the items she was recently given as gifts- including Itachi's own, placed next to Newton's book-lamp.]

And some things are more of a burden to know than they're worth- that is why some books are enchanted to alter the reader's memory, to suppress some knowledge unless it is truly needed.

But I'm not sure if the Clayr can shut themselves off from their Sight, any more than I can shut myself off from Death.

（ hm. there are genjutsu traps that are similar, but it's an incredibly difficult thing to do. sometimes, the way odd parallels run intrigues him. ）

No. Innate abilities are troublesome in that respect.

（ he could choose not to use the sharingan, but what shinobi would fail in their duty of using every tool at their disposal to assure victory? he never could have accepted a life as a normal civilian, let alone as anything but an uchiha. ）

[Sabriel just nods in agreement.]

You can't exactly ignore them, even when they're unhelpful. And they're often attached to some form of legacy.

（ the word legacy is not without meaning to him. he is silent a moment, as if considering her words, and then he stands, gathers up the medical book. ）

I should return to my quarters for the evening. Thank you for your time, Sabriel-san.

（ polite, as always. ）

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bindsthedead - 2022-01-06 23:37 (UTC) - Expand