VN Talk: even if Tempest - Part 2: Crius

I struggled over how best to write my Crius entry since I knew I wanted to discuss him as a character without making it specifically about his route. Part of it is because of how his route ends. I was flabbergasted and given the timelooping nature of even if Tempest I wondered if somehow we might pick up again from that ending and then move on to a happy one.

But how? Would there be a new story branch ahead where Anastastia could make a different decision?

As you probably know from my overview post or having played the game yourself, Anastasia experiences every rewind. Regardless of whether a given timeline still exists, she remembers it, and Lucien's route, being the final one, wraps up the overall story--for everyone.

So while I normally do a critique of each love interest's route, it just doesn't make sense for even if Tempest, and I knew that would be the case as soon as I finished Crius's ending. Spoilers ahead, but I have to say that dang I loved the end of his route.

Full disclosure, I am not put off by tragic endings. So hitting the end of Crius's route where he just fades away because he never killed anyone as a Membrum absolutely hit me in the feels and I loved it. Though I liked his mix of being a manipulative flirt in service of a higher duty, I didn't realize how much until Anastasia rewound to begin another timeline. As I played through Tyril's route Anastasia's memories of Crius's had been erased, but she would periodically get flashes of memory regarding what happened between the two of them.

I make it feel (to me at any rate) that she was living a false life this second time around with occasional glimpses of the real one peering through. It's probably felt this way for other players who chose Tyril first and presumably received Tyril flashbacks while going through Crius's route.

Crius's route ending, the timeline when she fell in love with him, is not a terribly good ending, which is why I couldn't really talk about the route as a story. He dies and Anastasia presumably dies from her injuries soon after, which is why she loops back to a different choice, where she chose the Justice card from the Witch of Ruin.

But Crius's personal character arc is worth talking about, because it's a lot more nuanced than we're led to believe.

Though he comes off as a charismatic rake from the very first time he appears in the prologue, he's surprisingly non-flirty. He's fulfilling a request for a friend (Tyril) and is happy to help. Crius has a public face where presumably wines and dines those he wants to assist him, since we hear about those moments, but we don't see them. If not for his posture and character art (and being voiced by Makoto Furukawa), he wouldn't immediately come off as a possible ladies' man.

In fact Tyril describes Crius as a man who carefully uses up his pawns, with Anastasia being one of the rare pawns that Crius has bothered to introduce to him (after her post-prologue rewind to before any of them met). The fact Anastasia is also a pawn, though one he's clearly favoring more than his other cadets, is worth noting.

Crius is a man who cares about very little, because he's living on borrowed time. He has morals, and generally treats people fairly, but he's close to very few people because the future barely matters to him. Even though he's turned into a Membrum in his own route and is compelled to commit a murder of passion, nothing happens on that very first night, because there's nothing he cares about enough that the Witch of Ruin can compel him to murder for it, and that includes Anastasia. The Witch ends up having to make a second Membrum in order for the murder to start.

Anastasia eventually learns that Crius suffers from a progressive disease that gradually robs him of his senses including the ability to feel pain. The only way to cure it is with medicine made from a red Garuda feather, and Crius doesn't do anything to deflect the possibility that the sole reason he is in the Wings of Garuda is in the vain hope that eventually a red garuda will hatch before his time is up and his position will allow him to take advantage of it.

Suddenly the reasons for him being a public flirt when he's not in private as we see him for most of the route, makes sense. He admits he's wringing wealthy women to donate to the Wings of Garuda because the Wings' survival is his only lead to his own survival. Crius is a man just trying to live in a world where there's little else for him to hold on to (since his sister died during his childhood and he does not seem close to the rest of his family).

And when he finally has something he realizes he cares about (Anastasia, after she loses Maya to the second Membrum), it's too late. He's already a failure doomed to fade away. Anastasia discovers the cure for Crius's disease when her garuda undergoes a transformation that conveniently turns its plumage red, but it no longer means anything. Crius spends his last day trying to offer solace for Hugo (who tried to avenge Crius's sister by mass murdering everyone involved) and then saving Anastasia from a misguided attempt at revenge.

Even relatively detached from most people, Crius still decided to plant evidence to suggest he was the murderer instead of Hugo (knowing he'd be dead soon anyway), with his only regret being unable to stay with Anastasia.

I loved the Membrum reveal and how it showed he'd changed. Had he fallen in love first, turning into a Membrum would have been very difficult for him, and it also colored my perception of him on every other route. Since I knew exactly when he realized he was attracted to Anastasia, and it only happens on his route, it was easy to conclude their relationship was platonic on all the others with no sense of potential romance, and for the most part, that works. We see him looking out for her more as a subordinate than anything else.

But knowing Crius and his history made other parts of the game so much harder. When I got to Zenn's route Anastasia is allowed to keep the memories of her lives with both Crius and Tyril, and there comes a point where she as the Membrum needs to pin a murder on another suspect so she can continue investigating another day and possibly win the game.

In theory you can choose any of the witch's chosen suspects, but in practice I think Crius is the only option, and knowing what we do about him, this scene cuts deep. Anastasia always looked up to him, had feelings for him in his route (which is mandatory to play prior to this scene), and though he initially tries to corner her into confessing, fully knowing she has to be the Membrum, he ultimately he dies without objection because he comes to realize that she's on a personal quest she can only accomplish by going through him. The way he goes out, with just a few words to the sister he expects to see again, shows how easily he can allow himself to die and how little holds him to the world. Rubbing the salt on the wound is that one of the ways we can falsely pin the crime on him is tying the murder to the church, making it an act of revenge for his sister's death, which Anastasia only knows about due to her timeloops.

This scene hurts, because Anastasia is doing it in service of her mission, hoping that at the end of the day she'll be able to undo it all and eventually obtain an ideal future where everyone survives. It's a burden she carries every time someone dies and she swears to do better next time. But Crius was my favorite so it was a hefty gut punch on a personal level. I loved it, but as mentioned, I'm not put off by tragic endings.

Crius's story does come to a close though, and being an otome, there is a happy ending for him. Regardless of the route, as long as she has her post-Crius route memories, Anastasia makes sure that he gets his medicine so at least his disease won't claim him, and after Lucien's route completes it's possible to choose an epilogue with any of the men, allowing for a happily ever after.

Personally I thought Crius had one of the better epilogues. Though it's awkward since Anastasia realizes she is remembering a relationship that the current Crius has never experienced, and it's a little odd that this Crius would so easily accept that if they were in a relationship in another timeline it must have been a good thing, I thought it fit with his personality to give it a go. She's asked him for a lot of things over the various timelines, and no matter how odd they might have been, he's always heard her out.

Even in Zenn's route when he spends a fair amount of time working against her, he still made give her a chance to speak. Accepting odd things might just be who he is, and since he has access to his medicine in the final canon timeline, he can finally live for a future with the woman he loves. Most importantly, this Crius makes the voluntary decision to move forward, to make an attachment to someone for possibly the first time in years.