Disclaimer: Fire Emblem is solely owned by Intelligent Systems. TearRing Saga belong to Shouzou Kaga. That one non-canon character that will be revealed belatedly is mine.

Inspired by George Orwell's 1984
Posessing elements of Dark Souls and Bloodborne
A dystopian, crossover take upon the Fire Emblem series

Fire Emblem: From Light to Night

Chapter 1: Simple, Yet Slow

Cheine was a simple guy. He liked sweets. He liked skipping stones and making small talk at work. He was especially fond of makeup and the many wonderful things he could do with it (although that was a secret he kept to himself), but just in general, Cheine really liked the simple things that life has to offer. That, and smiling.

Unfortunately, the slums of Lumen was not usually a place to offer such small luxuries.

Cheine always found it funny how a city named after light, in their world named of the light, a city that promised comfort and peace, could have something so dark and vestigial as a slum. Still, it existed, and he lived in them too, and under a very strict law to always have his head covered. Well, just his head. All the other heads with their ordinary black, brown, gray or white hair were fine. The authorities didn't like red hair, apparently. Hells, even the Triune didn't like it all that much too, seeing as how a Saint actually had to visit him at his birth, whenever that was.

Right. Where was he? In the alleyways, waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and not enjoying anything while waiting. No one rushed rushed in Lux. "Haste makes waste," as Mira, the goddess of Peace said. Cheine thought that was a bunch of baloney but never dared to voice his thoughts. No reason to cause harm to himself, after all. Besides, he could think of a few lives that would be a bit sad for him if he was gone for far too long before he was inevitably forgotten about.

Cheine didn't like being bored. Even here in the poorer district, there was no trash to distract him (thanks, Health Director Maribelle), just him and his worn boots to kick around in. He pouted at his slight, trivial misfortune.

"Psst!"

Well, his inward complaining would have to wait.

Cheine turned around, smiling brightly at his best friend, who was masked and beaming as usual. "Lucina!" he cried out joyfully.

"Sh, not so loud," she whispered, bringing a finger up to her lips, turned up into a sneaky smile. "I can't have my guards know I'm here. We have around... I don't know, half the day at best? Maybe we might be lucky and Kris would tell Chris to let me go free for now, I don't know." The first Kris was probably the man, the second his twin sister. Or maybe it was the other way around? Luci's bodyguards always struck as a mystery for him.

Lucina, or Luci as Cheine prefers calling her, was always such a sweet little soul, too good for the lowly redhead to even have him be an option of being the slightest bit interesting for her, and yet they're still friends. For that, he would always be grateful. Behind the mask she always wore, he knew that her eyes must be crinkling in happiness.

"Awesome! And I'm off today!" He grabbed her hand and ran off to his shared living quarters.

It was decent, at best. Cheine did his best to keep it moderately clean, even though Forseti never cared about "such trivialities". Speaking of the eccentric, he only glanced at the pair before gazing back outside the window, something that he always did whenever Lewyn was out at work.

Darned shut in. He was only in his middle ages; it wasn't as if he wasn't capable of doing work too. However, that's his own business. Cheine never minded, unless he wanted to buy something that was a bit pricier than what was normally sold.

Luci was already used to his strangeness long ago, and it didn't deter her and Cheine's excitement as she set a bag down on the floor. The boy put down his hood, sighing in relief from the dark, clothed confinement and eagerly opened it. His eyes sparkled with a childish happiness as he brought out various foundations, powder, eyeliner, and just a bit more.

"Is this from the new line by Pent&Louise?" He asked, picking up a container of bronzer. Luci nodded, taking out some mascara.

"I believe you wanted this. I got really lucky with it too. I attended supper along with Father and Mother with the Ilian sisters, and the youngest one, Shanna, gave it to me for free," she said, groaning in utter hatred as she remembered the event. "It was terrible, but at least they had nice horses. I still don't get why Father doesn't let me ride any." She stuck her lower lip out and pouted childishly, setting the cosmetic product down and taking a long, thin piece of cloth out. "By the way, try this!"

Cheine took it from her and inspected it. It was made from fine-quality silk, and probably must have had an original purpose that was not being a headband, but... "Woah... now that's really nice. Oboro?"

"Yes." She sat on the ground together with the redhead, her jittery bouncing up and down giving away her excitement. "I just want to see if it fits you..."

Cheine laughed and quickly tied it on, shaking his head back and forth with exaggeration and laughing. "Of course it fits, and it looks good, of course!" He winked jokingly as Luci laughed. Somewhere off to the side, Forseti snorted in amusement. "Thanks for the stuff, Luci."

"No problem!" They rose up and properly put away Cheine's new playthings, getting some water to drink before setting it down and setting themselves on some chairs. Luci took her hands out, fisted with the exception of her index fingers pointing at him. Cheine looked at her, confused.

"What is this?" he asked, slowly imitating her hands. She did strange things like this too. Was this a new "game"? She started doing so every once in a while since a few years ago. No one else did such things, at least not in the slums. Maybe it was a thing that the blessed-blooded do. He smiled in anticipation.

"A new game. Forseti, do you want to join us?" she offered, looking hopefully at the chocolate-haired man, still sitting and staring out of the window.

He looked back towards them and smiled before shaking his head. "No need. You two enjoy yourselves." He returned his head to the exact same position, as if he was keeping some sort of vigil over the sky.

The two teens shrugged, and Luci commenced the game.

"It's called 'Sticks', and it's a math game of some sort. You really need to use your brain. You still remember your numbers, right?" she teased, nudging Cheine's wrist.

He blew a raspberry and poked her back. "Look, just because I'm not little 'Miss Demon-slaying Genius' doesn't mean I'm dumb!" he defended adamantly.

"Yeah, but a certain someone had a lot of trouble between twos and sevens and multiplying to twelve~" she egged him on, smiling slyly.

"Luci, that was six years ago!"

They laughed and played together. Cheine quickly picked up the rules and soon was having a competition with his best friend on who could win the most rounds in one hour. It was times like these that the redhead didn't mind life at all. Sure, Lumen was boring and dull, and it seemed that everyone did not live and work for a purpose (unless you were a soldier or a saint), but everyone was united in the war against Nox, no strife and conflict arose within this nation of light, and people like Luci existed.

She taught him so many things when she came to his life. Not only did he discover his love for dressing up and mimicking any face that he saw, but also how he found so much enjoyment from these new "games" that she shared with him, something that he saw that no one else did. Maybe others too play "games"in privacy, and they weren't something to be done in public? She even introduced him to something called "questioning". It was a strange thing to do, almost heretic, but Cheine seemed to revel in such a strange thing that he wasn't very sure if the Triune would have approved of it. Speaking of "questioning"...

"Luci, I have a question."

She looked up from their game, nearly on the verge of losing. She didn't look like she minded it though. "Yes?"

"Did someone teach you these things?"

She pressed her lips together, her stance becoming more contemplative than the simple reasoning she needed for "Sticks".

Why did her mask, innocently resembling a butterfly, seem... oppressive?

She smiled. "A friend in the military."

"Oh. That's cool." Must have been his imagination.

And so they kept on playing until Luci asked a question of her own. "Do you ever feel like... there isn't enough for you? Like, life just seems so... lifeless?" she asked him, completing his four fingers into five with her own single finger, putting it out of use. Unfortunately, he was able to separate the remaining two on his other hand and share a one with his hand that was recently defeated. It was his time to be thinking seriously now, more serious than he was used to.

"Well... I guess. It seems like I have no purpose, no goal, and neither does anyone else, but I don't mind it too much." He laughed to himself as he suddenly came to a strange thought. "I think my purpose for living is waiting for you to come visit me whenever you could."

For some reason, Luci frowned. "That's sad, Cheine."

He shrugged and won this match, starting over with a new one. "Not really. It's nice to be able to live for moments like these, you know?"

"I suppose so."

They continued playing for a long while, their chatter filtering out into a nice silence, not like the stifling silence of Lumen when he was out on the streets, rushing to the quarters right before curfew.

"Lucina."

Forseti's sudden voice startled the two of them, and Cheine nearly fell of his chair from the sudden surprise. "Hey, Forseti-"

"General Sirius is around."

For some reason, Luci started panicking, her face flushing in shame, and sunk to the floor. Cheine didn't understand at all her actions. It was just a passing soldier...

Cheine thought over his guardian's words and ran over the words "General Sirius".

"General".

What was a General doing in the slums?!

For some inexplicable reason, Cheine's heart began thumping loudly as he sat too, nudging alongside to Luci. Forseti kept his vigil at the window, looking out passively. "It will storm soon, Luci. You should go home now."

She squeaked out something that wasn't understandable, now at a dark corner away from the window, where no one looking outside in could see her. Cheine completely understood her. Sure, Sirius was not a behemoth of a man, unlike a few other notable Generals, but he was deadly skilled in everything he did, whether it be combat, leadership, observation, or picking out the best ripe tomato to cook for dinner, or smash into juicy smithereens.

Alright, so the last comparison may have been a small tall tale, but anyone with as frightening a mask as him, which was completely white, save for a black slit for his eyes to see through, could not be a nice man at all.

Still, he poked his head out, peeking at the window to take a small glance at the General.

He was facing the window, seeming to already stare right into Cheine's soul. He froze in fright, not knowing what to do. One gaze to Cheine said at all.

He knows.

The redhead collapsed to the floor, forgetting that he was not allowed to show his red hair to anyone outside of his guardian (and his guardian's younger brother), visibly shaking in fear. He looked up at Forseti, still staring out the window like how a child would eye at candy while passing a shop. Unsurprisingly, he was not fazed at all. Apathetic and lethargic as he was, it could only hold true that he feared nothing as well. Surprisingly, however, he rose from his seat and slowly ambled towards the door, confirming Cheine's childish fear. He looked at Luci, and her quivering lips gave away her guilt.

There was a series of soft knocks on the door, and so Forseti opened it, smiling civilly at the blond man, even bowing a little. "Good afternoon, most honored General. What may I assist you with?"

Luci didn't dare take her eyes off of her knees. Cheine followed suit. More chatter followed at the door.

"Your highness," a voice said. It wasn't too deep, but instead soothing and pleasant and not at all oppressive.

"I'm sorry-"

"You're skipping out in your miracle lessons," he stated. He almost sounded like... a father?

She whined in response and turned away. "You know I'm terrible at miracles, so why even continue?"

A sigh rung out and thumping footsteps, not at all like Forseti and Lewyn's lighter ones, approached closer. "We went over this conversation, Lady Lucina," the other person said, not unkindly. Despite her previous complaints, she didn't resist when a gloved hand reached out and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her up until she decided it convenient to stand without support. "I told the others that I sent you out into lone training today. You were very lucky that I could cover you, otherwise, goddesses know what might happen. Come along now."

Cheine looked up in curiosity, and immediately regretted it. A masked face looked down at him, shadowed by his own figure.

"Thank you very much for keeping her safe," he said, to the other's surprise.

The redhead continued to stare at their direction long after they left as Forseti continued his usual vigil.

"Cheine, you still look like you just saw a demon," Lewyn pointed out at dinner later that evening. The sun had long set, the fireplace now providing light for the family of three, if they were even a family. The meal was mashed potatoes and a large bowl of salad, and a terribly tiny bit of meat. Water was provided, of course, and the food provided just a bit of color as a stark piece of contrast to their uncomfortably white walls.

"B-b-b-but he just..." Cheine was unable to complete his sentence, still halfway frozen in a strange blend between fright and relieved astonishment.

"Is it really that strange for others to show human compassion?" Forseti asked, spooning a mouthful of the white mush into his mouth. He savored it slowly, even if it was mostly tasteless, save for a small sprinkle of salt. Inhuman, Cheine thought.

"I-i-i-it's just that..." He trailed off, looking back to his food, still obviously flabbergasted by the events that took place earlier in the day.

"Perhaps he didn't expect a General to treat us so amiably, Father. Did he ever react to your hair, Cheine?"

"No," the redhead mumbled. He stuffed forkful of salad into his mouth to feign busyness. "Noaugh dah ah know o'."

"Can't hear you," Forseti lightly scolded.

He swallowed it all down with an unnecessarily loud gulp. "Not that I know of. I mean, he wears a mask, for the goddesses' sake. How could I ever know?"

The two men, the elder with brown hair and his son with black hair, looked at him, then shrugged. Great help they were. At least Lewyn was sane.

The eldest one stood up from his seat and sighed, his plate completely clear, and suddenly, Cheine was painfully aware of just how little he ate tonight. "I shall be returning to bed. It'd do well for the both of you to follow my example as well; Cheine, do you not have an early shift tomorrow morning?"

An unenthusiastic sigh from himself as well. "Yeah... Five o'clock sharp." He stood up as well and left the dishes for Lewyn to wash. A soft promise for a filling breakfast reached his ears when he passed said companion, and he gave a grateful smile to him.

Cheine woke up to a sound. He couldn't quite tell what it was, and when he tried to get back to sleep, he found himself tossing and turning instead. He looked over to his sides: the wall to his right, sleeping Lewyn to his left, Forseti's empty bed next, and a small window showing the dark night sky to the far side.

He yawned and quietly got off of bed, shuffled his feet into cool, fluffy slides. He hobbled on a line between too tired to move but too awake to sleep, but he willed himself to walk over to the kitchen, hopefully to get a glass of warm water to soothe himself back to sleep.

He managed to the doorway and open it just a bit when he heard voices. Two voices.

One, he immediately made it out to be Forseti's, but... who was the other one?

Belatedly, he realized that they stopped, and he shyly looked down.

"Cheine?"

He didn't reply.

"Go back to sleep. You have a long day ahead of you."

He shamefully dragged his feet back to bed. Who knew that childish guilt could lull him to sleep so fast?

A/N:

Thank you, beautiful sophomore reading list, and Linked Horizon's Jiyuu no Tsubasa (Wings of Freedom).

Hopefully, you are interested. Just as a note, I deliberately made the hair colors different. You'll know sometime in the following chapters.

Fire Emblem: Echoes - Shadows of Valentia asked my expectations out on a date, took them to a romantic candle-lit dinner to feast upon the finest of cuisines, took it back to the beautiful castle where FE:E-SoV resided, and made sweet, sweet, wonderful love to it as it fucked my expectations to death.

Reviews, commentary, criticism, flames, all welcome!