Author Notes:
-This story will roughly follow the Valmese arc of the game, albeit I will take liberties at several points. Some of the supports will be respected, the others might be redone.
-I will mention references to supports at the start of every chapter, you can read them on websites such or serenesforest if you feel so inclined.
-Italic will be used for flashbacks and dreams.
-I do not own Fire Emblem and do not make any profit from this story. You can read whether you played the game or not, but there will be spoilers.
-I edited parts of the prologue after I published it, thanks to the advices of WritersBlah (on Discord), without who that story would be too lifeless.


Demons of our Past – Prologue

"Curse Virion! Of all the days to get assigned to patrol duty."

Thick dark clouds were covering the sky, pouring their contents on the people unfortunate enough to be outside, including the red-headed knight. As the only wyvern rider of Rosanne, she was quite frequently sent alone on patrols around the country, a task that she usually quite enjoyed. Today was an exception, the sudden rain making the flight of her beast slower and troublesome. The darkness didn't help, giving her a harder time to keep watch on her surroundings.

"That damned womanizer. I swear the only reason he sends me on these stupid patrols is to get more space to keep wooing women. Of course today had to be rainy, I bet he's having one too many chuckle from his castle thinking about us." She kept ranting both to herself and her wyvern, attempting to get rid of the frustration welling up inside her. She knew she was being unfair to the man, he couldn't have known that a storm would suddenly hit the country, however nobody but the flying beast could hear her anyway. Besides, for all his flaws, she knew the man wasn't malicious.
A loud cry suddenly escaped the maw of the black wyvern as she turned her head to the rider, or at least as much as heir reins allowed her to.

"What was that, Minerva?" The rider pulled on the cuir-bouilli restraints to slow down the beast and carefully monitored the lands below. She soon recognized the source of the creature's distress: a couple of hundreds of meters further, she noticed several torches advancing on a lone cart, cornered near the river bank that marked the border between Rosanne and its neighboring country, Chon'sin. She tensed up, uneasiness spreading up through her body. People definitely were up to no good, and it seemed she would have to be the one to deal with it. She could tell the wyvern shared her agitation, the beast was staring at her with insistence, slowly switching her course to the scene below.

"I see them. Let's go!" She let go of the reins, grabbing the weapon strapped to the beast's saddle. Despite the woman's slender, or at best average build, it was a massive battle axe almost as tall as her and passed down through generations in her family.

The wyvern flew at full speed towards the commotion. As they drew closer to the scene, she noticed five thugs wearing ragged attires threatening a couple of middle-aged merchants. Two of the bandits were standing in the back, bows in their hands. The wyvern rider slightly changed their course to aim for them. The earth briefly shook as the creature landed on the closest one, cruelly digging her claws inside the man's back. The rider made full use of the general surprise, using her wyvern's momentum to cleanly cut through the second ruffian's neck. His body collapsed as the survivors turned with bewildered eyes. Minerva was already in the air, landing between the merchants and the bandits, protecting them with her massive body. They walked back a few steps and turned tail in an attempt to flee. They were never given the chance however, the wyvern's towering wings catching up with them before they made any meaningful distance.

Her rider jumped down from her back, leaving the axe strapped to the saddle. Three bodies laid around them, their blood soaking the mud they were laying on. The beast scampered to the closest one, opening her jaw as she stopped above him. Cherche followed her, pushing the wyvern's head without any fear. "Don't eat them yet, Minerva. I still need to check on their bodies."
She frowned as she reached the first one: burnt by the creature's fire as he tried to flee, a nauseating stench was emanating from his charred body. She didn't bother inspecting the body, deciding the other two would have to be enough. Besides, most of its outfit and weapons were destroyed. Gashing wounds and bite marks welcomed her as she walked to the other ones. Neither of them had a pulse, which was hardly a surprise: struck in the back as they ran, they didn't offer any resistance. More intriguing was the red fork was stitched on each on their clothes. Probably the symbol of their band, she thought. She stood up and gently tapped the wyvern's back before walking away. "Stay here, Minerva."
The knight could feel queasiness spreading through her body, but attempted to fight through it. While she abhorred killing people in cold blood, she knew they would have returned to their business before long if given the chance. Besides, she had no way to bring prisoners along. Looking to her side, she caught her reflection on the river's troubled waters. Her deep pink colored eyes were the same color as her hair. A black outfit covered most of her bodies, leaving her back and the sides of her legs open to the air. She was wearing plate armor, keeping the exact same spots uncovered. The armor extended to her neck, from where two metal parts stood, shaped like wyvern wings and protecting the sides of her head. She frowned: some of the bandits' blood had sprayed on her face. Crouching, she attempted to wash most of it, shivering at the contact of the river's cold water. Once satisfied, she stood up, heading to the surviving couple, busy bringing their cart back on the road.

She raised her voice as she came close, her wyvern staying behind to not cause needless fear. "Are you both unharmed?"

The merchants wore long tight dresses, clothing typical of Chon'sin. The man turned to face the wyvern rider as she spoke, while the woman tried to calm their two horses. "Aye. Thanks to you Milady. Were it not for you and the wyvern, we would have been lucky to even keep our lives." The man had replied in typical Chon'sinese fashion, both old-fashioned and direct while remaining polite.

"Are you two merchants? What were you doing in Rosanne?"

"Aye, again. We sold some of your city's last harvest and bought some of your people's goods. Hopefully they'll fetch big good prices when we return."

The rider brought her hand to her chin, pensive. "Weird. Bandits are rather uncommon in Rosanne. It's a small country."

The woman fidgeted behind the man, visibly uncomfortable. She eventually raised her voice. "With all due respect, Milady, they weren't Rosannian thugs. I recognize the red fork on their clothes, they're from Chon'sin. I'm afraid there are more of them left hiding in some nearby forest."

A somber look appeared on the man's face. "They're the ones who killed our daughter. I didn't think they'd still be here by now, it happened more than ten years ago. She went out for a picnic with her friend and…"

"Dear! Quit bothering Milady with our misfortunes, this is no concern of her." The woman had interrupted the man before he was done speaking. The knight's curiosity was piqued, however. Perhaps they'd have more information on these outlaws.

"Quite the contrary, in fact. I wish to hear more, if this is fine by you. As a payment for my timely rescue," she added with a smile.

The man brought his hand to the back of his head, rubbing it slowly, as the woman walked to the cart, skimming through its goods. "'Tis the least we can do, I suppose. Her name was Ke'ri. She was always glued to a slums boy, named Lon'qu. We disapproved of it, of course, he was just some poor boy that our daughter happened to take a liking in. Still, we decided to let her do as she pleased, she seemed happy…"
He paused, seemingly unsure how to proceed, as he scratched his head even more furiously. He needed a few moments before being able to speak again, his rhythm now much more hacked than it ever was.
"Well, that fateful day… They left for a picnic by the side of this same river. It was pretty common, really. They'd always go out to some place or another. They… They got ambushed by the very same ruffians that attacked us. The boy was good with a sword, and our girl loved taking fencing lessons from him, but there were too many of them. When the militia came to the scene… Our daughter was amongst the bodies. She died to keep the boy alive, he told us as much. 'Tis our greatest shame, really. We blamed the boy instead of the ruffians, and he fled the country out of guilt. Heard he crossed the ocean and reached Regna Ferox. It's only when we found our girl's personal diary and realized what a good friend he was to her than we understood we were wrong."

The woman was back, a book in her hands and squirming again, seemingly having trouble looking the knight in the eyes. "Say, Milady, do you happen perchance to leave Rosanne, during your missions?"

The redheaded woman nodded, feeling a bit confused. "It did happen and will most likely happen. Why the question?"

The man turned to look at his wife for a few seconds before giving her an approving nod. The woman walked forwards, holding the diary up for the knight to pick. "We know it's a long shot, but we don't know anyone else who'd have a more realistic chance. Could we ask you to hand Lon'qu this diary and tell him we are sorry, if you ever happen to meet him?"

The wyvern rider grabbed the book and placed it under her arm, in an attempt to protect it from the rain. "Of course, I don't mind. You are good people, both of you. Blind misdirected hatred is the cause of far too many ills in the world."

The couple climbed on the cart, the man giving one last look at the knight. "You give us far too much credit, Milady. Might we learn your name, so that we can praise it when we return home?"

"Cherche. My name is Cherche."


That's it for today, thanks for reading. I'm planning, for now, to release one chapter every Sunday. There should be around 18 chapters in total, I have written the whole plot already so don't worry about me quitting before I'm done publishing the story. Don't hesitate to point out any mistakes I could have made: any criticism is good criticism.