The Life We Deserve

The Countess and Beatrice

## Trophies

"**The Life We Deserve**" is the twelfth chapter of *A Plague Tale: Requiem*.

## Plot

### Synopsis

> Beatrice and Lucas found Amicia and Hugo's tracks again. Reunited at the Count's palace, Amicia told her mother everything they had found out. Beatrice is proud and admits how wrong she was. But the Count betrayed Amicia to offer Hugo to his wife which meant killing the rest of the family. In a brutal confrontation, Emilie executes Beatrice in front of Amicia. When Hugo wakes up to see the carnage, he unleashes the rats and devastates the Palace with Amicia by his side. Emilie is devoured in front of the Count, who swears to find them again.
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### Summary

#### Leaving La Cuna

Hugo, Amicia, and Sophia plan to leave La Cuna. On their way to the harbor, a soldier arrives, recognizing them as the guests of the Count. He tries to bring them to the palace, where they have guests; Beatrice and Lucas have followed them to La Cuna. Sophia agrees to leave and prepare the boat while they go retrieve Lucas and Beatrice.

The soldiers are fighting to keep the rats at bay. Amicia and Hugo see one soldier with a Greek fire cart that shoots fire, like they saw in the Order's temple. The soldier explains they aren't planning to evacuate the island's people until they have “regrouped” in the palace.

Inside the palace, the soldier escorts them through soldiers and survivors, including wounded, bitten, and dead. Hugo is distraught to see children among them.

Amicia and Hugo reunite with their mother and Lucas. The de Rune siblings explain what they learned. Beatrice is proud of Amicia for everything she has done, even when the rest of them had given up. The four plan to depart La Cuna and retire in the de Rune's mountain home, but a soldier arrives and announces that the Count has summoned Amicia. She attempts to refuse, but the soldier reminds her that he is the Count of Provence.

#### Refugees in the Palace

Amicia follows the soldier to the Count, where he is directing his soldiers to handle the rats. When he finishes, he walks with Amicia further into the palace. He talks about the tragedy of the rats as well as the fact that they signal the coming of the Child of Embers.

Suddenly, the Count attacks Amicia. He kicks her down a set of stairs, dislocating her right shoulder and rendering her sling useless. She crawls backward while he approaches her. He tells her he is sorry, but the Countess is certain Hugo is the Child of Embers. Amicia pleads that they don't understand, and their religion is completely wrong– only for the Count to confess that she is probably right, because he invented most of it.

He explains that the Countess was abused by her parents until she attempted suicide. The Count brought her to La Cuna and offered her the story of the Child of Embers; he says “Not only did she believe it, she turned it into hope for the people.”

The Count reaches Amicia just as she lifts herself on an altar. He swings at her with his sword, but she knocks him in the head with a candelabra. Amicia, desperate to reunite with Hugo and escape the Count, runs away.

#### Deadly Trap

The Count chases Amicia through the palace. She enters a kitchen, where she shuts the door behind her and barricades it. A maid shouts, confused. When the Count bursts in through another door, Amicia hides behind a dresser, but the maid gives her up. The workers evacuate the kitchens while Amicia attempts to evade the Count.

Through the kitchens, Amicia squeezes through a gap in the wall. While she runs down a corridor, he emerges on the other side and she turns into a winding kitchen, running from him while he shouts at her. She knows that if Hugo is taken from her, he will submit to the Macula and unleash a plague, but the Count isn't in a listening mood. She runs down a set of stairs and finds herself in a cellar.

#### Escape from the Cellar

The cellar exits are blocked by portcullises. Amicia and the Count play a game of cat and mouse. She turns the cranks to lower the portcullis when she can, then evades the Count when he catches up to her. She can lure him into side rooms then sneak out and lock him inside briefly.

Amicia lowers the gates and runs down a hallway. She locks a door behind her, briefly allowing her safety from the Count. Forcing herself to continue forward through the hallway, she is extremely weakened and in severe pain, but determined to find Hugo.

She exits the tunnel and finds herself in a large outdoor theater. There are cultists in the stands. On the center stage, the Countess has Beatrice restrained for what appears to be a ritual sacrifice. Amicia stumbles forward and furiously shouts at the Countess. She asks where Hugo is. Lucas, who is being held by a soldier nearby, shouts that he is inside. The soldier punches him in the gut.

Before Amicia can leave, the Count ambushes her and knocks her in the head with the butt of his sword. She falls to the ground. While he speaks with the Countess, Amicia kicks the sword from his hand and picks it up, determined to beat him. He is too excited about the fight to refuse, and takes a nearby soldier's sword before engaging with Amicia. Extremely weakened and using one hand, she fights sloppily and he defeats her easily, slashing her three times while Beatrice and Lucas cry out. He then cuts off her braid.

Beatrice begs the Countess to save Amicia, appealing to her “from one mother to another.” It works, and she tells him to stop. She returns her focus to Beatrice, whose last words are to Amicia: “I'm so proud of you.” The Countess slits her throat while Amicia screams.

#### Reaching the Limit

Hugo wakes up in a bedroom in the palace, disoriented. His door is unlocked and he is unguarded. He leaves, wandering the halls in search of Amicia, Beatrice, and Lucas— and eventually finds the theater, where the Countess stands before his dead mother and the Count stands over a bleeding Amicia. The Count and Countess panic.

Hugo, enraged, summons an enormous swarm of rats, devouring the cultists. Soldiers drag the Count inside, planning to get the Countess from there. Lucas joins Hugo and Amicia in the center of the theater.

Amicia encourages Hugo to embrace his powers. He directs the rats to kill soldiers who are attempting to kill Amicia. Once he is fully overwhelmed and the soldiers are all dead, Hugo directs the rats at the Countess, who is trying to reach the Count on the second floor.

Hugo passes out from the strain while soldiers hold the Count back. He screams that they will never leave La Cuna and he will have his vengeance.

The ground beneath Hugo, Amicia, and Lucas collapses. Amicia shields Hugo with her body.

Lucas wakes up in the underground area of the theater. He calls for the others; Amicia responds. She sobs over Hugo's body and begs him to wake up. Eventually, he starts coughing. The trio console each other in the rubble.

## Trivia

* This chapter is one of the composer's favorites because it has one of the biggest climaxes of the game.
* During the section while the soldier escorts Hugo and Amicia through the soldiers and survivors, the player is meant to feel disconnected from what is happening because they're more focused on the feeling of life and death.
	+ This section is also an allegory for Amicia struggling to fight against the inevitable.
* The music during the Count and Amicia's duel in the theatre is inspired by Terminator 2. Specifically, the scene where the T-1000 is beating Schwarzenegger with a metal bar, and how the music seemed to move with the swings of the bar.
* This is the chapter where Hugo dies. He overcharges his powers and submits to the macula. Even though he wakes up at the end of the chapter, he is already dead.

## Gallery

Navigation

* I – Under a New Sun
* II – Newcomers
* III – A Burden of Blood
* IV – Protector's Duty
* V – In Our Wake
* VI – Leaving All Behind
* VII – Felons
* VIII – A Sea of Promises
* IX – Tales and Revelations
* X – Bloodline
* XI – The Cradle of Centuries
* XII – **The Life We Deserve**
* XIII – Nothing Left
* XIV – Healing Our Wounds
* XV – Dying Sun
* XVI – King Hugo
* XVII – Legacy of the de Rune Family

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Olivier Deriviere's composer walkthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ctu6sRPRTM&t=591s