A/N: Ok, it's been some time since the last story I posted, and there's plenty more in the works. There are others that I would have liked to post before this one, but this story was the only one I had finsihed. I'm sure everybody has done their own take on this, but I wanted to add mine, white noise though it may be.
After listening to the song The Hardest Thing by98o (best I can do for that sign) I thought, this would be perfect for Elincia when she has to basically sentence Lucia to death. Now, I realize the song had romance in mind, but I thought I could apply the same thoughts to a relationship like the one Lucia and Elincia have. It's been a while, so I might be a little rusty.
Elincia walked slowly away from the prison cells beneath the floors of Fort Alpea. She had come to this place with resolve, and she had vowed to leave the dungeons with the same strength of mind. Indeed, her back held her straight as she walked with purpose in each stride. As she neared the door, however, the queen felt a slight tingle within her legs. Her back hunched slightly, but it could not compare with the sudden icy pang in her heart at what was soon to happen. From where she had just come, the cruel words from the man in his iron cage continued to echo through the small room and through her ears. Her enemy, Ludveck, continued his relentless assault, though not with sword or spear, but with his taunts and venomous words.
"Can you live with this, Elincia?" he shouted out. The queen noted his disregard for her title, for he knew that such trivial things such as respect were of no value here. "Can you truly live with this? Can you wake up every morning and go to sleep every night knowing what you have done this day? Do you not love Lucia? Can you really bear the sight of her dangling like a child's puppet?" To this, Elincia gave no answer, and when he heard nothing, the former duke cried again, "Do you love her?"
That question did not cease even as Elincia shut the door behind her to leave the traitor alone to ponder his own fate. "I have no doubt yours will be the same as Lucia's," she said once he could no longer hear her.
Slowly, the queen began the long walk through the winding stairs leading from the prison. Her pace slowed as she felt his words strike her repeatedly. Elincia winced as she felt the bruises upon her heart, much like the bruises that her foes had left surely upon the body of her dear milk-sister, and as she continued onward, she felt her resolve slowly wavering.
"Do you not love her?"
Though Elincia's ears could only hear the crackling of the hanging torches and the clicking of her heeled shoes, her mind could hear the hateful question resounding without end. The queen thought of the silence that she had given in reply, and when she considered it, she knew well that she had spoken lies; each unspoken word. She knew not how she had kept such a deception in the face of a man given to deceit. She wondered how she might keep such a false face when she again faced the soldiers gathered outside.
Her footsteps slowed again. All at once, Elincia recalled the thousands of words she had spoken to Lucia, the thousands of memories they had shared, and the thousands of sisterly gestures they had exchanged. All of them seemed now as ghosts to the queen as she walked in the solemn stillness through the halls and through the corridors of her heart, surely haunted by her milk-sister.
Elincia thought back over the life that she and Lucia had shared. It was a life far better than even those whose kinship was marked in blood. She remembered the many amusing misadventures they had shared as young girls. The queen had lost count of the times when she and her milk-sister had cast aside the stifling protocols of their stations and carried on as though they were but commoners. On many occasions, when the days grew warm, the two children had gone out properly dressed, as Elincia's nurse had thought they should, and they had returned later with their clothes and faces thoroughly and thoughtlessly dirtied. They had stood beside each other through the scolding of Lucia's mother, and later in the night, they had laughed of it.
Even in the days when illness or a poor dream hung around Elincia, she thought of how Lucia would remain with her through every moment of it. Such love the princess equally gave, for she would often do the same for her friend. When the summer years turned to winter as the Mad King brought his cold iron and steel into Crimea, Elincia's thoughts could not divert themselves from her friend, and she would go to sleep wondering where she and Geoffrey had gone. Did they sleep well? Were they fed? Were they even alive? She loved Geoffrey as any sister would, but it was Lucia whom she shared the stronger bond.
Elincia could also not help but remember the maiden night she had spent as the new queen. As the mistress of the royal house, the room that her mother and father had called theirs had now passed to her, yet she felt she could not accept her place upon the throne, let alone the bed of her family. The palace seemed so strange, so foreign to her, for it was so unlike the villa or even her cabin aboard ship or in the tents along the battlefield. The shadows of the bedchamber bore a strange resemblance to the defeated Daein army: cold and unwelcoming towards the queen. The bed she tried in vain to sleep in felt as stone to her back, despite its gentle design. More than this, Elincia thought her parents lingered still as she ran her palm across the bed. Lucia had come to her that night, and the visit had brought some familiar comfort to the frightened monarch.
Each memory brought a fleeting comfort to the queen. Though the remembrance was sweet, it only left a bitter taste in her mouth and an equally bitter sting in her thoughts. Elincia stopped where she stood, wiping a stray tear from her eye.
"This is wrong," she said quietly through a sob. "I've lied to Ludveck, but can I lie to his men? Can I lie to Geoffrey? Must I lie even to myself? What sister ever would knowingly condemn her sibling and still love her?"
Indeed, she had never held such feelings as hate towards the lady, but Elincia knew that, for the sake of her kingdom, she must do this hateful thing. Yet, as she reached the top of the winding stairs, she thought of Lucia scaling the steps of the gallows. If only she were a better queen, this rebellion would not have happened. If only she were a better sister, Lucia's life would not end today. Surely, she could offer her own life in exchange. The queen pondered that thought. Would the rebels put a noose around her neck if she allowed them to do so?
It would surely show to all that she was a strong queen and a loving one. Yes, she could make such a proposition, but at once, Elincia knew she could not do even that for Lucia. She was the last of her father's line, the only heir by rights. Her hands and heart were bound to her kingdom, for at this moment, she truly considered even Crimea a chain.
She had fought for her country and her people. She had seen men die to defend her, die to support her, and die to reclaim what was theirs. Nevertheless, Elincia considered the price of Lucia's life a far greater cost than any other, though she was saddened by each loss from war. By all measure, a single life could not tip the scales when the lives of her own soldiers were stacked against it. Yet, she would have gladly now traded the reward bought by the loss of hundreds away if only to spare the life of one far dearer than they.
Was not Lucia's life worth more than the lives of men she knew not? Was one name, known and loved, worth discarding the memories of unfamiliar names? Surely, Lucia was, but Elincia could not speak such words, for though she held the power of a queen, even such power bound her to this saddening road.
She knew she must tell the horrible lie to her soldiers, to Geoffrey, to the traitorous mob awaiting her, and still to others who would today lose a comrade, a daughter, and perhaps a lover as well. She knew that she must hide such truths from all who would use them to bring her ill.
"This is wrong," Elincia repeated, unable to bear that woeful knowledge. "Has Lucia not served me well, not just as my friend, but as a loyal follower?"
She thought of all Lucia had done for her; the service she gave and the courage she showed. She had raised her blade and bent her knee in the name of Elincia. Lucia had taken wounds for her and showed more care for the life of her ruler than her own. Such things, the queen knew well, should not go unrewarded, and a criminal's death was no reward at all. Lucia had more than earned all the riches the queen held in her vaults. She had more than earned any payment her heart desired. Deeds such as hers merited more than a painful death at the hands of the enemy.
"Lucia doesn't deserve this," Elincia said as she neared the doors leading outside. To the queen, Lucia deserved to die in peace and comfort. She deserved to live to a great age and die by the fire in her own house. A woman such as Lucia ought to have seen her queen's hand taken and perhaps her own, to have her children playing at her feet, to have a husband who loved her. Though Elincia knew Lucia had no interest in such things, the queen wondered if she might have married later in life. "It should be me," the queen said before she stepped out to let her worst deception leave her lips. "I should be the one they hang, Lucia, not you."
Looking behind her, for a brief moment, she heard the laughter of two young girls, as they childishly made merry with the other. Before her eyes, she saw herself and Lucia as they once were, and she smiled at the sight. The two children carried on, innocent of the world around them. They ran together, they laughed together, and they exchanged whispered words together, even though Elincia could not hear them. She lingered there in enjoyment as she watched the scene, but her smile turned quickly to a longing look of heartache. Soon, all such notions would be merely ghosts to the queen, as the two children were.
Elincia allowed her tears to flow freely as the image faded from her sight. She was glad no one had followed her or that any soldier could see such tears. She knew well that it would affirm Ludveck's words, and yet she wished to speak the truth even one time before she must utter the first lie and, surely, the worst she would ever give. With the glaring eyes of the archway staring ahead of her, Elincia spoke through the tears.
"I do love you, Lucia, even if you will never hear it again." She would soon take those words back, and she would never say them again, save before she laid herself down to sleep, if she ever could. With her previous resolve again wavering, she stepped outside to face her enemies before the truth grew too hard to hide away.
She walked slowly past Geoffrey. From the corner of her eye, she saw a look of uncertainty to greet her. Her mouth remained an expressionless line as she stepped to the parapet. Her soldiers had gathered around her, as she expected they would, and though she could not read their thoughts, Elincia was certain that each man wondered what order she might give. When her eyes fell upon Lucia standing below the hateful hand dangling, she again wondered if she could tell this untruth.
The queen wished for some way to prevent this, to appeal to any of the rebels, but she knew too well that none of the men under the banner of Felirae held to any decency as did their lord. She could not let them see her doubt that she could say such false words.
And so, at length, the queen took her eyes from Lucia. "Rebel soldiers, hear me! I am Queen Elincia of Crimea," she declared strongly, even as she felt the utter dishonesty behind her tone. Yet, she knew that Lucia would surely find pride in those words. With such knowledge, Elincia waited for the rebels to give their answer.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. It's been some time since I did anything for Fire Emblem, so it may not be very good. Originally, I intended to include a little something in this, something of a wink at my big Fire Emblem story, The Twin Blades, but it just didn't seem to fit. It would've been something for the readers to see it and realize who I was talking about. I really wanted to, but it just didn't mesh with it.
Anyway, thanks to all the readers. It does a lot to know my work is enjoyed. A big thank you goes to HaveAHeart0301, my amazing beta. Without you, my work would suffer too greatly.