crushes
Due to a mishap with Ricken and a fire tome, majority of the tents had been burnt down and the Shepherds had to resort to sleeping in more crowded tents in the warmer weather, right before the big fight against Gangrel and his army. Needless to say, some people were very uncomfortable with these new arrangement, and a lot of people had things to say to Ricken…once he got back from a quest with Chrom and Robin.
One tent, a tent full of uncomfortable, whiny and disturbed Shepherds, was still awake in the darkness of the night, with but a single candle to illuminated their crowded sleeping space. And it happened to be full of six unhappy and lonely bachelorettes.
Tharja stood half in, half outside the tent, looking off into the distant with her tomes clutched closely to her chest. She mumbled something under her breath, before chuckling darkly, and sighing. The other girls tried staying away from her as much as possible.
Olivia was rather close to where Tharja stood, but sitting down and still inside the tent. Her thin blanket was wrapped around her from the waist down, and her head rested on her knees, as she played with locks of her hair.
Lissa was on the opposite end of the tent, her cleric uniform discarded to her side and wrapped up in her sleeping gown. She was makeshift drawing with the end of her staff in the creases of the tent. She'd sometimes cast her gaze to her little pouch, where she was hiding some frogs.
Cordelia and Sumia sat beside each other, the former talking about tactics and the latter listening in intently, as she picked petals of the large pile of flowers she had collected earlier this day. By coping with the heat, the two girls had tied up their hair behind their heads, and their armour lay in piles beside them.
Maribelle, the last of the six girls, and rather dramatic about such heat, was fanning herself with her hands as she prepared hers and Lissa's bed. Her hair was sticking to her forehead, and she kept having to brush it off, for it to re-stick itself back on. She muttered insults under her breath.
The sun had disappeared behind the horizon, leaving only its lingering light and scorching heat in presence. Maribelle had finished preparing the beds for the designated healers and was very much fatigued. Lissa snorted upon seeing her best friends ruffled appearance and crawled over to chat with her, accidentally screwing up her own bedding, much to Maribelle's horror.
"Lissa! I had just finished smoothing out the creases of your sheets!" Maribelle sighed, placing her hands over her eyes in frustration. The royal chuckled and crawled over to Maribelle's side, patting her back soothingly, yet rather mockingly too.
"I don't care about things like that, Maribelle," she smiled. "I toss and turn in my sleep anyways."
Maribelle scrunched up her face, as she stared at her best friend's laughter-contained expression. Lissa's cheeks puffed as Maribelle stared at her, before she burst out laughing and rolled around on the sheets. The other healer rolled her eyes and pulled her hair off her face once again.
Across the tent, Tharja came back in, a devious smile on her face as she drifted over to her bed. Olivia, being whacked in the face by the tent flaps, put and hand to her face and pulled away from the mouth of the tent. Eyes were focused more on the dark mage as she sat on her bed (which was separated from the others) grinning to herself.
Lissa looked over at Maribelle, seeing her become somewhat riled up with Tharja's behaviour. Before things could go out of hand, Lissa put a hand on her shoulder, and kept Maribelle from interrogating the other girl.
"Hey, I know what we should do!" Lissa exclaimed, attracting the attention of everyone in the tent. "Lets have a girls' night together!"
Cordelia chuckled. "I don't think your brother would be too happy if we went out to drink tonight."
Lissa laughed in response, snorting a little as she stopped. "Not that kind of girls' night. Like, a pillow fights, scary stories and talk-about-boys girls' nights." She reached over and grabbed her pillow, tucking it under her arms. "But more on the boys." She giggled, looking over at Maribelle, who simply rolled her eyes.
A few of the other girls blushed, and the princess laughed. "Oh, so you guys do have interest in boys?"
Olivia, who was blushing the most, hid her face in her hands, Sumia looked down at the flower in her hands, in an attempt to cover her blush and Tharja giggled rather creepily. Lissa laughed at the other girls, paying no attention to Maribelle's request to not go through with this chat.
"I'll start," Lissa began, placing both her hands on the pillow. "I have a crush on Vaike!"
The response to her confession was fairly minimal. The other girls knew how open Lissa was around everyone, and it would've taken a blind person, likely hexed by Tharja or Henry, to not notice how much Lissa adored Vaike. She would constantly use her staff to heal him, and would do anything she could go stay by his side.
Although, her proclamation made the other girls a teensy bit worried, since she now had nothing left to share and was now going after the other girls' love interests.
"Alright, so who do…" Lissa began before closing her eyes and extending her hand, waving it back and forth from left to right before stopping. "…you have a crush on!"
At the end of her pointed finger was Cordelia. The pegasus knight cleared her throat awkwardly, before turning to Lissa.
"Do I have to share it publicly, or is it just between us?" she asked the princess, keeping her voice low, aware of the other tents around them.
"Just us. I promise nothing will leave this tent!" Lissa answered. "Now, tell us."
Cordelia didn't need to be told twice. She took in a deep breath, looking down at her hands for a moment before raising her head and facing everyone else. She met everyone's eyes with her own and slowly exhaled.
"I…have a crush on Chrom," she answered. There wasn't much of a response, other than the awkward whistle that came from the princess.
"But he's married, so you'd be some sort of homewrecker if you do become a couple," Lissa told her. "But there has to be someone else. A second place, maybe?" She threw her hands in the air dramatically, before crashing them down on her pillow.
Cordelia sighed again. "Well, I've gotten to know someone else a bit more," she began, adjusting the collar of her shirt. "Stahl." Sumia gasped, surprised by her friends sudden revelation, and Lissa shared her reaction. The other two girls, fairly unknown to Stahl, both accepted it with little judgement but Maribelle snorted.
"Ah yes, Stahl," she said, a smug look on her face. "He's a fine knight, but is he worthy to take your heart?"
Cordelia flushed. "Well, he's really kind and has a lovely personality-"
"Hey, Maribelle be nice," Lissa told her best friend, frowning. "It's nice to see Cordelia fawning over someone other than my brother." Upon saying this, the red haired girl flushed.
"Wait, you knew?"
Sumia cleared her throat, tapping her friend's shoulder. "Um, Cordelia, I'm pretty sure everyone knew." The other pegasus knight groaned, distressed, and dropped her head into her hands. Sumia chuckled softly, and Lissa snorted with laughter.
"Hey Sumia," Lissa said, a faint bit of laughter still lingering in her tone. "Who do you have a crush on, since y'know, Chrom has been taken?"
The other pegasus knight froze, feeling her own cheeks redden and looked down in embarrassment. Like Cordelia, many people knew of Sumia's infatuation with the leader of the Shepherds, and were rather comforting to her once he married the head tactician.
"Um," the pegasus knight hummed, uncertain. "Well, I have been spending more time with Frederick lately."
A goofy grin spread out on Lissa's face. "And?" Sumia looked up for a moment, meeting Lissa's gaze before quickly dropping her head again.
"Well…yeah," she mumbled. "I kinda do like him."
And like that, a thunderous laugh from the princess erupted and she was rolling on the floor, her head thrown back and loud laughs escaping her chest. Sumia's cheeks reddened, as Olivia and Maribelle managed a weak chuckle too, but more directed at the young princess's reaction.
Lissa finally pulled herself up, wiping imaginary tears form her eyes and grinning. "You mean, you like Frederick the Wary? Stoic-faced Frederick? No-fun Frederick?" Sumia just nodded, and Lissa laughed again. "Oh gods, that's hysterical."
She froze for a second. "I mean, no offence. But yeah, I can see you two together, and I'll think you'll be adorable!" Lissa grinned, leaning over hug the tomato faced Sumia. Cordelia also offered her support, after getting over her own embarrassment.
The other three girls say in silence, not wanting to interfere, in fear that they would get called upon next.
"Hey Olivia," Lissa sang after her moment with Sumia passed. The pink haired dancer froze, expecting what was to come next, and managed a weak smile.
"Yes?"
Lissa's devilish grin reappeared on her face and she twirled her finger in the air. "Who do you have a crush on?"
Being shy, and not very sociable as the other Shepherds, Olivia blushed and was already hiding her face in her hands, trying to block out the rest of the world. It didn't help that the other girls were now all focused on her, so she knew that she had no way out of this one.
Olivia rubbed her face into her hands, muttering words that only came out muffled. Lissa exchanged a look with Maribelle, and the troubadour just shrugged, before the other healer turned to the pegasus knights who were also unsure of what to do. Lissa sighed.
Maribelle, taking control over the situation, patted the dancer's back. "There, there," she said soothingly. "No one's going to tell anyone about anything that goes on inside this tent."
Olivia looked up at Maribelle, cheeks red and her own hair sticking to her sweaty forehead. "You sure?"
The urge to peel the pastel pink hair off her forehead bothered Maribelle but she pushed it down. "Just say it before Lissa begins nagging you for an answer." Olivia nodded her head before turning to the rest of the group, breathing in and out in large breaths.
She inhaled one big intake of air, before letting it all out at once. She inhaled again, but paused.
"IhaveacrushonLon'qu," she exhaled, before closing her eyes and looking down at her lap. The other girls, who didn't understand what she said, gave her a puzzled look.
"Could you repeat that, please?" Cordelia asked. Olivia blushed again.
"I have a crush on Lon'qu," she repeated, speaking much slower and softer. This time, everyone heard her and the reaction was fairly substantial, but mostly surprised.
"Lon'qu?" Maribelle questioned. "Isn't the one who has a fear of women?" Olivia nodded her head shamefully. Maribelle pressed her lips together. "I guess, you two are both rather secluded and shy. Your personalities don't clash with each other's."
Lissa snickered. "I didn't know you were a love doctor, Maribelle." She poked her friend in the sides, making her squirm uncomfortably. After seeing Maribelle wriggle around a little longer, Lissa began laughing again, throwing her head back as she did.
Rolling her eyes, the troubadour cleared her throat, bringing back the attention to the main topic. "So, who is going next?"
"Don't you mean, whom is going next?" Lissa teased, earning a soft slap on the back of her head from her friend. "How about you go next, Maribelle?" All eyes turned to the troubadour, wanting to hear who she was romantically interested in.
Her face heated up, and she fanned her hand rapidly, blaming the weather for her reddened cheeks. Lissa and Sumia, knowing Maribelle well enough to know that she was indeed lying about her blush, began giggled and laughing, whilst the others waited for her to confess.
"I…do not have a crush," she stated, after an extravagant amount of time. Tharja, who had been rather quiet for the duration, rolled her eyes.
"If you don't tell us now, I'll cast a little hex to make you spew nothing but truth," she told her darkly. "And soon after, you'll be spewing more than just words." Heads turned to the dark mage, before scooting away from her, wanting to keep their distance.
Maribelle, being the one she addressed, felt her cheeks redden even more. "Well, if that's the case," she began, casting a look of desperation Lissa's way. "I guess I may as well share…" She looked over at Lissa, who appeared the most intrigued of the others.
"Keep talking," Lissa sung tauntingly. Maribelle had to refrain herself from hitting Lissa again, already exceeded her self-made limit, and instead just turned her head away.
"I solemnly swear that I don't have a crush," she said, raising her left hand in the air. A few of the other girls groaned, and Lissa narrowed her eyes.
"Oh Tharja-"
"Ugh, fine!" Maribelle interjected before she could get hexed by Tharja. Lissa stopped mid sentence, turning towards her friend with a devious grin and Tharja had already begun preparing her hex, much to Maribelle's terror.
She looked over at the other girls, seeing all of there curious and interested expressions, leaning closer towards her to catch the one name that Lissa had been trying to get out of her. Maribelle sighed, closing her eyes and, once again, pulling off her locks of hair from her face.
"If I had to pick-"
"Just say it already!" the other girls chorused, and Maribelle noticed a purple haze form around Tharja's book, and gulped. She distracted herself by toying with her parasol, spinning it in her palms.
"Gaius," she mumbled under her breath. "I like Gaius."
All went quiet. Of all the people in the world that the girls would've expected Maribelle to pick, she said Gaius's name. The shock and surprise of the other girls was quite obvious, and even though having a crush on Gaius didn't seem to irk her, the reaction to it sure did make Maribelle's cheeks turn red.
"W-What?" she stuttered. "I do."
It was at this moment that Lissa let out a small laugh, followed by Cordelia, then Olivia and soon all of the girls were laughing together, which made Maribelle's temper flare.
"What are you laughing about?" she shouted angrily.
"It's that-" Lissa had trouble talking, by how hard she was laughing. "You…"
"What she's trying to say is," Cordelia said, stifling a giggle. "We've all had a crush on Gaius at one point."
Maribelle's expression said enough about what Cordelia had said. Her cheeks flamed and she turned her head, trying to shield everyone from seeing her redness. Her embarrassment was clear and her whole demeanour was shrinking.
"So you're telling me this is all an act? The lot of you have already discussed your crushes?" she accused, pointing a finger at everyone. "That you've all played me like a fool?" Sumia and Olivia, sobered up, shook their heads and Cordelia chuckled.
"No, the five of us have had a discussion before," she admitted. "It was when Lissa was talking about the males of the Shepherds. After a rather tedious discussion, Lissa came to a conclusion that Gaius was the one that everyone had an interest in. Chrom was a close second, but Lissa and Tharja were against it."
"He's my brother!" Lissa shouted loudly, pulling multiple faces of disgust. Cordelia chuckled.
"Which is why Gaius was unofficially named the best male Shepherd, by a somewhat unanimous choice," she concluded. This newfound information only made Maribelle feel more embarrassed.
"So why is it funny that I like him?" she asked, her tone still defensive. The other girls shared a look but Lissa seemed to know the answer, placing a hand on Maribelle's back and grinning.
"Because," she hummed. "I have a feeling that Gaius likes you too."
Maribelle's cheeks lost a bit of colour, but she still could feel the embarrassment. She turned to Tharja, and pointed at her. "Now, you tell us!" She demanded.
Tharja gave her a deadpan stare, and clutched her tome closer to her chest. "My heart belongs to Robin, and Robin only. No one could separate the bond that's between us." Her face went dark, and Maribelle looked confused.
"But she's married-"
"She may be married," Tharja interrupted, her voice slick and mischievous. "But she will ditch Chrom sooner or later." She began giggled maliciously and the other girls scooted further away from her. The dark mage sighed dreamily, most likely in a fantasy with Robin, before turning around.
"I'm off to sleep," she mumbled before ducking under her covers. "Don't let the scary monsters bite." Knowing Tharja's potential, the other girls shuddered, some more visibly than others, and all began making their decisions for bed.
Olivia was the next to fall asleep, curling herself into a ball on her bed, followed by Sumia and Cordelia, who fell asleep side by side, and soon Maribelle even drifted off to bed, too embarrassed to think about making sure Lissa was alright.
Speaking of said princess, a mischievous grin broke out on her face, and she reached under her pillow, where she pulled out one of Anna's recording tomes. She covered her mouth, giggling quiet and turned to the tent wall. She lifted the side up, revealing a thin strip of grass and slid the tome towards the next tent.
A hand from within that tent grabbed the tome, sending Lissa a thumbs up, before dropping the folds of the tent, and Lissa was quick to follow.
Maribelle stirred besides her. "Is everything alright, Lissa?" she grumbled. Lissa smiled and nodded her head.
"Everything's fine. I'm gonna hit the hay!" she told her, lying down on her bed. Lissa's eyes were open, as she reached her hand under her mattress and pulled out a beautiful ring. She smiled at it adoringly, kissing the gem, before sliding back under the mattress and drifting to sleep.
「＊」
A few weeks later, after a recent patrol with majority of the Shepherds, it was discovered once again that half of the tents had been reduced to a pile of ash, and the culprit behind this one was none other than Chrom's son Morgan. And not only that, but with only half the amount of tents left, the Shepherds had to once again scramble into crowded tents.
Although, one tent, a tent full of half boys and half girls, were still awake at this time of night, feeling rather annoyed and uncomfortable with their tent-mates. Not only that, but the lot of them had all recently been reunited with their parents too.
Owain, who was one for the first of the grown children to join the Shepherds was sitting in the corner, a wooden grip in his hand. His whole right arm was wrapped in a bandage, after being ambushed by a large group of Risen once his sword broke. Lucky for him, Brady had been their to heal his wounds.
Speaking of Brady, he was also in this crowded tent, and was situated next to Owain. His stave lay next to him, and his violin too, but he sat against the side of the tent rather bored as he plucked lint off his robe.
The other male in the room, the sweet talking Inigo, sat on the other side of Owain. He was chatting to the girl next to him, who was giving him nothing but cold stares and sarcastic remarks. In fact, Severa had almost broken Brady's violin over his head, and was only restricting himself from doing so because she didn't want to cause any drama.
Cynthia sat near the mouth of the tent, stroking her pegasus's head softly, easing it to sleep. Like her mother, a pile of flowers lay nearby so that once her pegasus was asleep, she could begin her flower fortunes.
Noire, the last person inside the tent, was sitting in the corner, curled up to herself with her bow laying across her lap. Her mother had taken her talisman away, so she was left with herself and her bow and was feeling rather alone and scared.
After a while, the silence began to bother Owain so he stood up, bending his knees so that he wasn't poking through the tent and grinned. "Hey, my mother told me a story like this before." The other child Shepherds looked at him curiously, or somewhat emotionless and bored like Severa was.
A lightbulb went off in Cynthia's mind and she quickly jumped to her feet. "Oh! Oh! I remember! My mother also told be a similar story!"
Severa dropped her head into her hands, embarrassed by the other two. "Gosh, this is so cliche." As she said that, Inigo was next to spring out of his seated position, joining Owain and Cynthia who were standing up.
"My mother happened to retell a story like this too," he grinned. "Such an amusing story to listen to."
The other three Shepherds, Noire, Severa and Brady, gave the three of them a confused look before Noire lit up in recognition and slowly stood up, using her bow as support.
"As a matter of fact," she murmured softly, "I did over hear my mother talk about something like this once. When she was practicing her memory-erasing skill on me." Everyone gave her a curious look. "I-It didn't work."
Severa groaned. "Could one of you please tell me what story it is you all know?" The four standing child Shepherds looked among each other, all sharing a knowing look, but made no move to tell her.
From the corner of her eye, Severa saw a look of recognition on Brady's face and tensed. She glares at him from the side, clenching her fists tightly. "Don't do it, Brady. Don't you dare leave me on the floor."
Brady gave her a half smile, looking rather red. "Sorry, Sev. But everyone's standin'. I don't wanna be left on the floor. Plus, I know this story too." He stood up, joining the others who were standing up, looking rather pleased with themselves. Even Noire had a smile on her face.
Severa groaned again. "Gawds, you're all just a bunch of nerds." She turned away and began playing with her ponytail. "And do you have to stand? Geez, can't let those air-filled brains of yours fly away now, can we?"
Owain chucked to himself, before crouching down besides Severa. "C'mon, Severa. You're mother should have told you this story too." She just stubbornly shook her head.
Cynthia also crouched down beside her. "Are you sure?" she asked, and was about to say more but Severa slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Geez, you're all super cliche," she grumbled, standing up with them. "No, I haven't heard this story before. …Not like I wanted to anyways." She crossed her arms over her chest, and looked away, a little bit of blush reaching her cheeks.
"Of course you want to," Inigo chuckled. "It's a story of love and romance."
Severa gave him a deadpanned look. "They're the same thing, you idiot."
Inigo looked rather taken back, his charming smile dropping and holding a hand to his heart. "Severa, they are not anywhere near each other. You see-" It took one dead stare from the mercenary to silence the other mercenary.
Noire, who was the closest to Severa of all of them, gulped and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "U-um, do you wanna hear the story?" Severa looked at Noire, and simply shook her head, having nothing snarky to say to her. Noire nodded her own hair, shakily, and stepped back cowering away once more.
"I honestly don't care if you want to hear this story or not," Owain stated proudly. "I will use my outstanding story telling skills to retell this story as best as I can, with added entertainment."
Cynthia nudged Severa's shoulder with her elbow. "Just a heads up, no one will actually die in this story." Severa rolled his eyes as Owain got into his story telling zone.
"It was a night just like this one," he began. "With more heat, and shorter tents. Six of the Shepherds were forced into a small crammed and stinky tent, with nothing else but blankets and my mother's trusty staff."
"And my Ma's!" Brady called out, raising his own stave up.
"Yes, and Brady's mother too. But back to the story, so all of these six Shepherds had one thing in common. They were all women, and they were all unmarried and possibly infatuated with Chrom. Not only that, but they were all quickly lassoed into a game, made by my very own mother, where they were forced to share their crushes." Owain moved his hands around dramatically, clutching the hilt in hand tightly. Severa, and a few others, just blinked.
"My mother started and initiated such showdown. Afterwards, she single handed convinced all the other girls to share their love interests in front of them. Cordelia was next, followed by Sumia, then Olivia, Maribelle and finally Tharja, and by that time, all of the six women had told the others their love interest."
A look of realisation hit Severa and as she was about to speak, she was shushed by the others around her.
"Afterwards, it was revealed to me by my own mother, than each of the women ended up marrying the man they confessed to have a romantic interest in. She married my father Vaike, Cordelia married Severa's father Stahl…" As Owain revealed this, Severa looked rather surprised, and wanted to say something but was interrupted once again. "Sumia married Cynthia's father Frederick, Olivia married Inigo's father Lon'qu, Maribelle married Brady's father Gaius and Tharja…"
"She didn't marry her love interest," Noire concluded, poking her fingers together. "B-but she married someone else." Owain clicked his fingers at Noire excitedly.
"Yes, Tharja did not marry her love interest, Tactician Robin, however she married fellow Plegian dark mage Henry, who is Noire's loving father," Owain struck a pose as he pointed at the archer. "And that also makes Noire a full-blooded Plegian." Noire blushed and hid her face in her hands, a trait that another one of the mothers once had.
Severa, after a moments of silence, cleared her throat. "So you're saying that all of our parents were in the same circumstances as us, and ended up marrying their love interest because of it?" She snickered. "Wow, that is really cliche."
"Actually," Owain began, his glorious story telling voice dropping. "There was one other aspect to this story that my mother told me." The others looked at him intently. "She, um, recorded everything they said on a recording tome, then handed it to the tent across from theirs, which happened to be the same tent that contained everyone's love interest." He paused for a second. "But don't tell mother I told you. She said not to tell anyone."
The rest of the children stared at Owain, wide eyed and jaw dropped. Severa was the first to snap out of the gaze and chuckled.
"Wow, now that's a plot twist," she admitted. Brady was the next to snap out of his gaze, a little more irritated than Severa was.
"So ya sayin' that it wasn't fate that brought Ma and Pa together?" he asked the myrmidon aggressively. Owain hesitated before nodding. Cynthia stood up next, followed by Inigo, both of whom didn't look very happy.
"Mother said…" Cynthia paused. "That she…"
"And what about…" Inigo tried, but failed to speak, blushing somewhat. "And the…"
Severa rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, before the next person to snap could actually snap someone. "How about you think of it this way. Do you think it was just the tome that made our parents fall in love with each other?" The response she got was…unresponsive. "The answer is no. You don't get married because one person likes you, you get married because both people love each other. Which means, there was an obvious attraction on all of our father's side, because if there wasn't, then none of us would be here."
Her words sunk into the others around her, and they nodded their heads, understanding what she had meant. The four said their apologies to Owain for snapping, and their thanks to Severa for making sure things didn't turn out as badly as it could've been, without her stepping in.
Cynthia chuckled, looking over at Severa with a cheeky grin on her face. "Hey Severa, don't you think that speech was a little…" she trailed off in search of the right word. The mercenary, gave her a look.
"A little what?" she asked her. Cynthia shrugged, before realisation hit her.
"Don't you think your speech was a little…" instead of pausing to find the word, she paused to draw out suspense, to which Severa was getting a little worked up about.
"Don't do this again, Cynthia, or I'll break all your lances," she threatened, shaking her fist.
Cynthia just grinned smugly, before finishing off with one simple word. "Cliche?"
this took forever to write omg. i'm surprised i even finished it lmao. i did kinda rush the ending, so apologies for that. i just really wanted it done by today.
but tell me what you liked about it! i'm interested to hear what you think about it!~
- Blue