[No.

Hubert had known, of course, that failure was a very real possibility. Indeed, the prospect of it had loomed ever larger the further that Faerghan forces encroached on Imperial territory. They'd have been knocking at the gates of Enbarr next. Victory, at that point, would have been nothing short of a miracle; Hubert and his lady had accepted this with set jaws and straight backs, as they had done with all things.

But for it all to be ripped away now? To be denied the dignity of a death in service, to deprive Edelgard of seeing everything she'd worked for to its bloody end, even if it was not one in her favor--the unfairness of not even being allowed a death on their, on her, own terms nearly takes his breath away. That the rest of Fodlan had apparently burned as well matters very little to Hubert. Edelgard was all that truly mattered to him anyway, and it's her death that throws him.

Especially considering that Hubert himself still lives. Somehow.]

[It takes an embarrassing amount of time for him to recover from the rebirth process. He simply lies on the floor for solid minutes, stunned and disbelieving, shaking with horror and an old and familiar kind of rage. And then, after several moments, with cold. It's that that makes him finally get up. He will have time to dwell on his failures later, but simply rolling over and waiting to die is not in his nature. He will need to learn everything he can about the current predicament if he wants to decide how to proceed.

That he is naked is of no real issue, aside from the obvious vulnerability it gives him. Similarly the wet only serves to make him cold, which is hardly a real problem. There is a crystal embedded in his chest just below his ribcage, over his solar plexus; trying to remove it yields no results, which doesn't surprise him, but he huffs out a dismissive scoff anyway.]

Ridiculous.

[No point hanging around here, even to help the other awakeners orient themselves. Hubert has no intention of simply staying here and waiting for something to happen; the light indicates there's a cavern entrance, isn't there?

Unfortunately, the weakness of rebirth means his body refuses to cooperate, and all he can manage is standing on shaky legs and bracing himself agains the cavern wall. His goal is to head toward the light to outside and get his bearings, but the journey proves very slow going and he threatens to slip several times. Not that he'll let it stop him.]

[Unfortunately, he doesn't get far. The soldiers outside the shrine subdue him humiliatingly quickly, though in Hubert's defense the nature of their bond-magic is completely alien to him.]

Unhand me.

[They don't, of course. They barely acknowledge him beyond one pulling him along a little too roughly when he tries to get mouthy; there'll be a decent bruise forming on his forearm later. Hubert can't actually resist them, due to the whips, but the mutinous expression on his face indicates he would very much like to.

There is a moment or two where he finds he's able to resist the whip's influence enough to stubbornly dig in his heels when the soldiers tell him to move, but all this gets him is being shoved forward instead and he does not try it again. It's more prudent to bide his time and look for better opportunities later.]

[Hubert's petty acts of rebellion are enough to get him a whip permanently tied around his wrist, which is frustrating but not something he can say he is that upset about, considering he'd be a captive either way. Actually, he seems to take a weird pride in the fact that the soldiers find him annoying. He doesn't regularly sass them, but he does smirk whenever they have to take extra effort to keep him in line.

For the most part, he keeps to himself and away from the other captives, but there's a limit to how much he can do that with how packed in they are. As long as he's going to be shoved in next to a stranger, whether on the cart as it makes its journey to the next shrine or by the campfire at night, he might as well gather information.]

And where are you from?

[His tone is almost sarcastic. He's not exactly curious, or really does he care at all, but the more he knows about this supposed multiverse the better. It's clear most of these people, if any, are not--were not--from Fodlan. Hubert does not like being in the dark, as far as information goes. Otherwise, well...

Closer to the end of their journey, within the forest ruins, his interest becomes a bit more genuinely concerned. In his experience, few good things come from rituals.]

What have you heard of this ritual?