>>5131505"Guts wished to become your equal, Griffith. He told me as such. I was surprised as you were to hear that he'd leave your side, but his reasons were sound." You calmly explain what happened between you and Guts. "He left of his own accord. I thought it was you who said that for someone to be your equal, they should strive to have a dream of their own--"
"I KNOW WHAT I SAID!" Griffith raises his voice as his emotions reached a boiling point. It was very out of character to see a man so calculating, reduced to such childish outbursts. "Had I been aware that he was there hearing my conversation with Charlotte, I would have worded things differently. Should Guts find a dream of his own... Should he aspire to be my equal, he would never come back to the place he was previously..."
"How can you be so sure?" You ask while the leader laments on his loss of what should be a mere soldier of countless of his.
"Guts is different from the others. I've known that since the start. He... I... For all these years..." Griffith stumbles through his words as twin streams of tears fall from his cheeks, his hands moving away from his sword and covering his face, not wishing to be seen in such a pitiful state.
"He was the only one that ever made me waver, reconsider my dream, and even forget it entirely. I know what the pursue of dreams does to men like me. All the paranoia, the weight of all your losses, the corpses piling up on your every step... I was merely protecting him... all of them from having to carry that burden. It's not a weight every man is born to carry, and that is why I wanted him to be mine forever. I couldnt stand the thought of him leaving!"
Surely you were expecting a fierce confrontation from Griffith, maybe for him to keep shifting the blame to you. Hell, even for a fight to break out. But for him to break under pressure so easily... It must have been something that's been eating away at him for the past two months. Had he not have a noble acquaintance to speak this out to, you can only wonder of what he would have done to sabotage himself with his isolation of his own creation.
>Slowly take his sword away from him.>Did you see Guts as more than a friend to you?>Does this really matter when your dream is so nearly in sight? Only a few more days and the king will announce your ceremony with Charlotte.>You should be proud of serving as his motivator. Not lamenting his leave.>Have faith in him. Surely he'll come back to visit. 