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Two Worlds of a Misguided Tactician

Chapter 1: Sin

A lone figure worked quietly and diligently into the night. Her desk, lit by a single candle, had various documents and reports scattered about. Allowing her eyes and brain a small break from the complex papers that sat in front of her, the young woman let out a small sigh and began to massage her temples with her fingers. Her liege, although a benevolent, just, and exemplary ruler, was not particularly keen on the economic side of running a kingdom; thus, the burden fell upon her to oversee this daunting aspect. Still, this never bothered her.

After all, this was a small price to pay for the horrible atrocities she had committed.

Besides, even though economics was not her specialty, she was quite adequate at it. In a weird way, it was relaxing and served to keep her wits sharp when war was not about.

"Working late into the night again, I see."

Allowing a small smile to grace her features, the young woman cracked her head towards the direction of where the voice had come from and gave a small bow. "Yes, Your Highness," she said before resuming her attention on her documents. While this behavior would be considered rude by many, she knew that her liege was not one for such details.

King Marth slowly emerged from the shadows of the room. The moonlight that shone through the large window illuminated his handsome face.

That handsome face was marred by a frown.

"I worry about you, Katarina."

Katarina gave a pause, her right hand gently setting the quill down onto her table. A puzzled look crossed her face. "What do you mean, Your Highness?"

"Your work has consumed you, Katarina. Tell me, when was the last time you took a prolonged break from all of this? Have you been talking to your friends?" the king asked, already well aware of the answer. "Cecille is quite worried about you, you know."

The tactician did not answer. Guilt plagued her before she quickly squashed it with logic. "If I do not work, then who will? Who will oversee the trade routes of Altea? Who will ensure that the kingdom wi-"

"That is what my advisors are for, Katarina," Marth admonished gently, his eyes brimming with compassion and worry. "Caeda is also quite worried about you. Ever since Kri-"

"Please do not speak of him."

Tense silence settled in between the two. Although the dark obscured his vision, Marth could still make out Katarina's trembling right hand. The king sighed and walked over towards the young woman.

"It was not your fault."

Katarina did not reply as her body began to shake as well. Whether it was due to anger or anguish, Marth did not know.

"We were all hurt deeply, Katarina," Marth continued as he placed a hand on her right shoulder. The shaking stopped. "But he would not want you to despair like this."

"No. This is my punishment," Katarina whispered, her eyes glazed and soulless as tears threatened to stream down her beautiful face. "I have brought nothing but misery for everyone here, yet, I am treated with unprecedented kindness."

The king gave a small smile. "Kindness is a gift, not a form of payment. It is something we willingly choose to give to you. Katarina, all of us are worried about you. So please… come back to us."

"I… I cannot."

Silence once again settled in between the two. Sighing, the hero king ran a hand through his hair before turning his attention back onto the purple haired woman. "Then at the very least, take a break from all of this. Like I said earlier, ever since the incident, you have buried yourself in your work. Take some time off. Talk to your friends once again. At the very least, go outside and get some fresh air. Tell me, Katarina, when was the last time you set foot outside of the castle?"

It was something she could not recall, begrudgingly. Unable to argue against her liege, Katarina gave a stiff nod towards Marth. "You are right, Your Highness." The woman began collecting the documents in front of her. "I guess a day away from all of this would not hurt me."

"A week."

"Excuse me?"

"You will be taking a vacation, Katarina. Somewhere away from all of this. The location of your vacation is up to your discretion. This is an order, not a request. Should a guard catch you attempting to get back into the castle, I will have him send you away until the week is over,"

Katarina sat in her chair, shocked. "I… I…"

"This is for your own good," Marth told her gently. "If anything, then please do this for me. I cannot bear watching one of my comrades waste away like this."

"…Very well, Your Highness," Katarina relented, her shoulders and head dropping slightly in defeat. "And I am guessing this vacation will begin tomorrow?"

The king nodded, obviously pleased at the outcome. "And I will not mind if you decide to stay away for an extended amount of time. If anything, this vacation should be at least a month."

Katarina sighed and then gave the king a wry smile. "I assure you, Your Highness, that I will be back promptly in a week."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Marth replied with a bitter smile. "Although I guess I must take the small victories whenever I can. In that case, tactician, you are dismissed from your duties until you have completed your given respite. Sleep well."

"… Good night, Your Highness."

"Hahaha… So what will you do now, boy? Strike her down?"

Please…. Anything but this….

"Damn you!"

No…

"Enough of this. Go forth!"

No…

"Katarina… Wai-"

"NOOOO!"

Sweat profusely dripped drown Katarina's face as she was jolted wide awake. Her breathing, erratic and heavy, would not settle down as the tactician did her best to calm herself down. The woman slowly sat herself upright.

That nightmare again.

"Kris, I'm so sorry," Katarina whispered to herself over and over again as she placed a hand over her stinging heart. Each beat of heart brought excruciating pain for the purple haired woman, though she did not mind the pain.

This was merely her punishment.

"King Marth, you were wrong… I do not deserve kindness," Katarina muttered,wiping her eyes with the sleeves of the white blouse she was wearing.

Wait. White blouse…?

Katarina froze, eyes widened considerably as her mind began to suddenly take notice of her surroundings. Why was she wearing a white blouse when she clearly went to bed with the work clothes she always wore? And this bed… It was much firmer than the one she was accustomed to. It was precisely then a single thought dawned upon Katarina.

She was not in her room.

"Some tactician I am," Katarina thought to herself bitterly as she mentally berated herself for not noticing her situation much sooner. "Instead of properly acting like the tactician I'm supposed to be, I wallow in my depression…. It's no wonder what happened to Kris happened. After all, if I was a lot more attentive, the-"

"You awake in there?"

"Middle-aged woman. Most likely a married. Probably the one who brought me here, although she doesn't seem to hostile judging from the hesitancy and fluctuation in her voice," she thought as Katarina inferred as much as she could from that single line. The best thing to do in this situation would be to invite this person into her room and extract as much information as possible. Hopefully, the exchange would go smoothly. Clearing her throat, Katarina called out, "Yes, I am."

The door swung opened and a stout woman walked in with a wide grin. An inn-keeper to be exact, judging by the clothes and manner the woman carried herself. "Thank the gods that you woke up. You sure did give me and my husband quite the scare when we find you passed out just like that!"

"Passed out…?" Katarina asked, a magnitude of questions rushing into her mind at the acquisition of that tidbit of information. Why would she be passed out in the first place? What about King Marth? Just what in the world was going on?

The woman frowned. "Yes… My husband and I found you unconscious on a small island south of here. Couldn't just leave you to die like that, so we brought you here."

More questions popped into the young tactician's head. How in Naga's name did she end up passed out on an island when she was positive she went straight to bed after talking with King Marth? Did someone somehow smuggle her out of the castle? And if so, how did they even get past all of the guards?

"I-I see… You have my gratitude," Katarina thanked, giving the woman in front of her a deep bow.

The woman waved a hand and rolled her eyes. "Please, it was nothing. Just doing the right thing."

"Still, there are many people who wouldn't do the right thing," Katarina replied with a small hint of a smile. "I must thank you, Lady…?

"Oh, where are my manners? You can call me Rose, dear. None of that fancy 'Lady' stuff. My husband and I were never ones for formality," Rose dismissed.

"Ah, my apolo… I mean, uh, sorry," Katarina muttered awkwardly to the now laughing woman. It wasn't too often that she was given the opportunity to speak informally. Working with the most important nobles and leaders of a kingdom did not offer such a luxury. In fact, the last Katarina could recall speaking such casually was with K… No, now was not the time to dig through old memories. "Anyways, Rose, I'm Katarina. Sorry for, er, causing you all this trouble."

The brief look of surprise did not escape Katarina's eyes. "Oh… That's, ah, quite the name," Rose muttered, her mild discomfort obvious to the world much to Katarina's confusion. Rose shook her head. "Anyways, it's not a problem. Think nothing of it."

Katarina gave a small smile. "But I insist. I'll be sure that you receive at least some kind of gift as soon as I get back home. Speaking of which, where exactly are we, Rose?"

"Southtown, honey."

Southtown? Katarina frowned. That was not a familiar name, which was unusual since she had to be knowledgeable about every city that conducted business with Altea. Perhaps it was from a kingdom that did not interact with Altea? If so, then it would be likely that she was quite the distance away from home.

How troublesome.

"I see. And where exactly is Southtown?"

"Huh…? You never heard of Southtown?" Rose asked, her eyebrows raised in skepticism. "I mean, I know we're pretty small, but our town is pretty well known… Maybe you're not from around here? Ah, no matter. Southtown is part of Ylisse, honey."

Ylisse? Damn, an unknown kingdom. That would probably mean in a long trip home.

"Is that so? And how close is Ylisse to Altea?"

The small skepticism evolved into complete disbelief. "Altea…?" Rose shook her head. "Honey, are you okay?"

Katarina shot the woman a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"Honey, the kingdom of Altea was dissolved several centuries ago."

Author's Note: Just an idea I had after finishing up Awakening and Shin Menshou. Fire Emblem is sooooo good. X.X I wonder how many hours I've put into just those two games...? Anyways, Shin Menshou made me adore Katarina. I just wish that the game had gone more in-depth with her personal background and how interactions with other characters. It's such a shame that the vast amount of units makes it hard for Fire Emblem to properly go in-depth with each character. Oh, well. Can't get everything you wish for.

And to those who are wondering about the progress on Spiraling Destiny and Mirror of Dreams: I'm getting there. I currently have written about 40 pages for Spiraling Destiny and about 10 for Mirror of Dreams. Hopefully, I will be able to crank those next chapters out as soon as I can. My apologizes to those who are still faithfully waiting.

Anyways, thank you for reading. I would appreciate any feedback or comments since those words are what help me continue writing.

Currently listening to: Compromise by Stan SB

~Goojila