A one-shot based off of Chapter 25 in Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest. 2,241 words. Readers are encouraged to review. Please enjoy.
"Are you happy with your choice, Azura?"
The ninja sat across the room from her, kneeling on a sanguine colored cushion not so far a hue from his hair. He took deep breaths and watched the maiden carefully with his only good eye. Candlelight danced across his face. He kept his hands on his thighs, but his body was poised to strike at any moment.
"You sided with a nation of cowards. A king that would execute a whole crowd of innocent people simply to parade his power! Commanders that would send their children to die at the front lines of battle…"
His glare hovered towards the girl standing beside her.
"Who's the brat?"
Azura winced. She instinctively motioned for her daughter to get behind her. She clutched her lance, ever so slightly lifting the butt off the ground- showing her once-older-brother's retainer that she was armed and ready to fight if need be.
"Nina. Velouria. Take your cousin with you and leave this room," Azura ordered, a slight waiver in her voice.
Nina was clutching her forearm and breathing heavily while Velouria pressed her sleeve to her cheek. "That's him," Velouria growled, her ears flattening a bit under her red hood, "He gave me these cuts, Auntie Azura!"
She moved her hand and revealed a large gash on her cheek. Quickly covering up the wound with her blood-stained sleeve once more, she backed towards the entrance, Nina following suit. "Be careful!" the braid-sporting thief warned, "He almost killed us!" Nina grabbed at her smallest cousin's arm, in an attempt to pull her out of the room, but the girl protested.
"C'mon, Midori!" she hissed through her teeth, fearfully watching the standoff.
"No!" Midori yanked away from her cousin. Pig-tails slapping against her sweat-beaded face, she looked at her mother. "I'm not leaving you alone, Mom!"
"So she's yours, then?" the ninja inquired in a gruff voice, "I suspected so. You Nohrians love to pair off and bring children into a world they don't belong in. I've heard about your realms, or whatever you call them. You stuff your children in an incubator and in a few months time they grow into pigs for the slaughter? It's fascinating, really."
"You know nothing of the Nohrians, Saizo," Azura retorted. She maintained a straight face to the best of her ability. "They are not as monstrous as you suspect."
"I don't suspect," Saizo growled, "I know."
He rose to his feet, his gaze boring into Azura's as he inched toward her. He had yet to raise a shuriken, though his fingers hovered over them. He stopped just a few yards away from the white-clad princess.
"As we speak, your tactician is plotting to murder Lord Ryoma. I'm sure the other royals are to meet a similar fate, if they haven't already."
"Truly, you know nothing at all. Our plan is not to take the life of your master, nor any of the Hoshidan royals." Azura closed her eyes and sensed Midori had disobeyed her. Her daughter was still standing behind her, though the other girls had fled.
"How wise- I should hope your victory does not ride on killing my lord." Saizo's eyebrows furrowed. "Because I can assure you, none shall succeed in doing so."
Azura choked on her own tongue and took a few steps towards Saizo. Fear gripped her with its icy claws and her voice could no longer hide her desperation. She didn't wish to raise a weapon against one of Hoshido's best ninja- especially not this one. She was far from prepared for this fight. It was unlikely, but if she could just get him to believe her words, surely there would be no need for this violence..?
"Please, listen to me!" she begged, "Ryoma is not to die this day-"
"DO NOT SPEAK HIS NAME!" Saizo's dead eye flew open, as it often did when he was angered.
"Saizo… I promise you. I speak the truth. Our tactician is no monster. I have never been ordered to kill a single Hoshidan since I sided with Nohr. Those who fight alongside me would tell you the same. How can I convince you of this? What proof do you need?"
The auburn-haired retainer practically ignored her. He rolled his head around and cracked his neck. "Tell me, Azura. Where's your head commander, now? The one you abandoned your homeland for?"
Azura swallowed. She knew, of course. Everyone knew, by this point. The crown prince of Hoshido had challenged his long-lost sibling to single combat. No one knew what was going on behind the locked doors of the throne room. Sealed away in what might as well have been their own world, the Nohrian noble and fearsome samurai could very well have killed each other by now. The thought of the two lying dead on the floor chilled the songstress to the bone.
For that reason she had to get those doors open. And the only way to do that was to defeat at least one of Ryoma's retainers. Kagero's state was unknown to Azura, not to mention the troops who had gone after her. This could be very well their only chance to get into the throne room. It was up to her.
"There is no convincing me that they will both come out of this duel alive. And the victor will not be your beloved traitor," Saizo lifted his shuriken. The blades caught fire.
"Mom!" Midori cried.
"Go!" Azura snapped.
"Please, Mom! You can't fight him by yourself!"
Saizo's eyes burned with the flames of his weapon. Knees bent, he slunk towards Azura. The water maiden held her lance above her head, the tip pointed directly at him.
"You didn't have to spare those girls, Saizo. I know somewhere inside you, you do not wish to fight." Azura managed to muster some aggression, though this encounter was far from what she had hoped it to be.
"Unlike King Garon's dogs, our army values life and innocence. You should tell your child to run."
"I won't leave you! We'll fight together!" Midori jumped to her mother's side, her own weapon raised high against Saizo.
"Daughter, you don't… you don't understand…" Caught between a truth and the dishonesty she was so comfortable with, Azura couldn't bring herself to admit why Midori had to go. Her child was a capable fighter, no doubt. But Azura was the only one in the room that knew why this was so wrong.
If only it was Leo attacking, or Camilla. They had no ties to this man. Why had destiny led herself and her daughter to this? Anyone else could win against Saizo. Anyone else could put a blade through his body without remorse.
Azura could not.
What was she going to tell her husband?
Her hands were clammy, wrapped around her lance. She found herself shaking. She knew Saizo was fully ready to punish her for her betrayal. It was possible that she would not make it out of this encounter alive.
"Very well. Know you will not be shown the same mercy my last two opponents recieved. They did not decide to fight for Nohr. You did."
"If you remember correctly, I did fight for Hoshido. But no sooner than I resolved to stay was I sent out to the front lines to be sacrificed!"
"Sometimes, no matter how grim things may seem, you do not surrender."
"I never did. And I do not intend to, now."
Azura rushed forward, fueled by a protectiveness of her daughter. Better it was that she be the one to attack Saizo than Midori. Propelling herself off of the ground, she swung her lance out, aiming for the ninja's side.
She had only managed to get a single hit in before the head caught on the edge of Saizo's shuriken. With just a flick of his wrist, he had managed to rip the lance out of her hands. She let out a yelp. It flew far behind Saizo and crashed to the ground.
Stumbling backwards, Azura felt a drop of sweat run down her face. She was going to meet her end sooner than she thought. Her opponent seemed totally unaffected by his earlier wounds. And there was no way she could run to her weapon. It was Saizo's move, now.
"Unlike you, I believe in Hoshido. I believe in Lord Ryoma!"
With that, he leapt forward, holding his shuriken above his head.
In that moment, time seemed to slow down. The ninja's body flew towards her as if he moved through molasses. She could see his eyes: wild with vengeance- his muscles rippling. In that moment, Saizo was no longer a man. He was a fire demon. He was a monster. Revenge was all he had. Protecting his lord, and most importantly Hoshido, from the devils some called "Nohrians" was all that mattered. And in that moment, nearly crazed with rage and distress, he had made the one mistake ninja were never supposed to make.
He let his guard down.
The little pigtailed girl, with her turquoise hair and her yumi, skidded in front of Azura. In a matter of milliseconds the string was taught with one of her last arrows. And in even less time she let it fly.
Saizo had never let his guard down before. Not like this. When enemies leapt in the way of other enemies, they were taken down without hesitation. Swordsman, healers, mages, it didn't matter. Emotions never got in the way. But that girl…
He twisted his body mid-air so his weapon went nowhere near her. Instead, the shuriken went into his own arm for a second, before he reflexively yanked it out-seized by a sharper pain in his face. "AUGH-!"
A horrible sound echoed through the room. A stomach-churning, blood-curdling "shrk", as an arrow went into Saizo's only good eye.
Azura's heart stopped. "G-Gods…"
Midori froze solid when the ninja collapsed to the ground, writhing and squirming on the ground like a dying insect. He was trying so desperately not to scream, but it proved to be somewhat impossible. He held his hand over his wounded eye, the arrow sticking out between his fingers. He maladroitly tried to push himself off the ground with his other hand. Blood poured down his face and dripped off of his chin.
"ARGH- HAH- DAMMIT! DAMMIT!" He slammed his palm in a puddle of his own blood and crumpled. He couldn't stand. Dragging himself away from his dumbfounded enemies, he flopped on his back, letting out short, painful wheezes.
"I… wasn't aiming for…" Midori croaked.
Without so much as thinking, Azura found herself lingering toward the man's fidgeting body, silently sweeping past her daughter. Her lance lied not far away from the spot Saizo had crawled to. She quietly picked it up.
The Nohrian army was not to take lives.
As the maiden drew closer, she heard Saizo muttering to himself in between groans. "Can't… do it… can't hurt you… can't…" He was blinded, no doubt. He grabbed for his shuriken upon hearing Azura's footsteps, but he dropped it no sooner than when he sensed she was directly above him.
"I have failed… Lord Ryoma…" His body was convulsing. The arrow had obviously pierced deeper than the eye. "I've failed him j-just by… attempting to murder his beloved sister… He watched you grow, Azura…"
"Saizo… you said you wouldn't hold back." The songstress clutched her weapon tightly, as if it could protect her from her sorrow.
"That girl… she is yours… and Kaze's…" He took a sharp breath.
"Yes."
"… She has his eyes. I couldn't… when she has his eyes…"
He moaned again. His face was clenched in agony. And yet he continued to speak, though his speech was deteriorating and his voice could barely be raised above a faltering rasp.
"Kagero is dead. Your group can reach my… lord…"
All Azura could do was pray that none of her Nohrian accomplices would interfere in Ryoma's fight.
"My words… remain true…" Saizo's hand slowly slipped from his wound. "I will always believe in Hoshido… We will win this war… Perhaps… had I been a better brother… K-Kaze would have seen that."
Azura raised her lance, flipping it in her hand so the blade pointed downward. She held it over Saizo's chest, where his heart was. She had to be strong now. For her daughter. For Saizo. For Kaze.
"Take care of him. Spend every moment… you can with him. For me…" He winced. "Please, before you end my life… what is her name? Your… daughter."
Azura closed her eyes and fought the tears that gathered at the brinks.
"Her name is Midori."
Saizo made a noise as if he were laughing. His body flinched violently once more. Water poured from his pale eye, washing away some of the blood smeared on his face. Every second with that arrow in his head rendered the ninja progressively incoherent. However, in this moment, he was smiling behind his mask. He could see his twin, now with this brave little girl- a girl that had dared to protect her mother in the face of danger… from her monster of an uncle. Midori…
"Midori… sounds like a name h-he… would pick…" he whispered, "I would have loved to meet… her…properly…"
"In another life… maybe I will…"
Azura lifted her lance, unable to conceal the water cascading down her cheeks.
Then Saizo was no more.