Um, hello? Oh good, good! You're reading the AN. Now, lemme give you details. This is something (a secret project I've been working on) that is inspired by a variety of fandoms and books, movies, shows and is set in the FE:A universe. With a twist. The idea to do something like this was not my own and was done by Cormag Ravenstaff in his fic Final Emblem: Dawn Over An Old World. ...I think I got that right. Erm, anyway, I do not own the books this takes ideas from; Percy Jackson (briefly), Hunger Games (briefly), Game of Thrones, the Ascendance Trilogy, the Maze Runner Trilogy and Graceling. I do not own the shows; Once Upon A Time, Merlin or GoT. I do not own the movie, Inkheart. And last of all, I do not own the games; FE13, Shin Megami Tensei, Phoenix Wright or Dungeons and Dragons. Though these are all listed, I might not draw influence from all of them or change my mind and/or add more in the future. The only things I do own are my OCs. I will not be accepting any forms, so hold your Word Docs please.
We good? Cool! Let's begin.
The Halidom of Ylisse is a land living in fear. Plegia is a war torn kingdom. Ferox is a barbaric empire crushed by depression. Valm is the enigmatic land across the Great Sea. The gods have abandoned these two continents; every person, save for a few. In these lands monsters and Cranks run rampant, bringing adversity upon those who live there. It's time for a change; time for heroes to arise, but the question is: Who?
I screamed, waking with a cold sweat. It had happened again; I'd subconsciously ventured too far into the dark recesses of my mind.
Darkness. Fire. Death. Screams.
Those terrible visions haunted my dreams. Fiery infernos. Knells of death. The horrifying screams of Cranks, people driven to the brink of madness. Yokai, demonic beings, tormented the living. Risen, the living dead, prowled the earth. I never understood why such movies played in my mind as I dreamt, but they did. And that was not all, unfortunately. Enigmatic figures would call out to me. They were shadows and when I tried to respond, they'd vanish as if never there.
Footsteps echoed in the hall just outside of my medium sized room. Looks like I woke him up again, I thought. The dreams weren't extremely common, but each time I had one, I'd wake with a scream, and in turn wake him.
He opened the door, a candle's flame lighting up the room and casting a shadow on his features. "Did you have another dream, Erin?" he asked, stepping in and shutting the door behind him.
"Yeah, Stahl," I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. It wasn't like the dreams were that terrifying; they just repeated themselves as if forewarning something. Something bad, no doubt. But what was there to do? Drop everything and go on some epic quest without direction? Well, that's what I would do, if I didn't have obligations to my family. They came first after all. "I'm sorry for waking you again."
Stahl shook his head, making his way over to the side of my bed and sitting down. Taking one of my hands, he said, "It's fine. You can't help if your dreams are filled with moldy food and potato monsters." I rolled my eyes and laughed at his antics. "Mom will need help tomorrow in the apothecary. You should try and get some rest."
Our mom owned an apothecary in the lower districts of Ylisstol, Ylisse's "shining capital". Sure, the conditions were nice, but it still felt confining and the nobles and other boys and girls were relentless with their teasing. My brother had it far worse, being made fun of for practicing a "woman's art" and that he should be training to be a knight like only men should do. Hmph. I would sooner beat up those bullies than accept the fact that I couldn't achieve such a thing and that my brother couldn't be a medic.
"All right. I'll get to that. Good night, mah brotha," I said with a laugh, earning a sigh from Stahl as he left the room.
Stahl wasn't really my brother, but my step brother, therefore not by blood. Yet it still felt like we had that connection. When I was younger, my mother mysteriously vanished, leaving me and my dad with no place to go. Dad found a home with a childhood friend of his and her son, who was only a few months younger than me. Stahl had recently lost his father and brother, and was a bit on edge with the addition to their household, probably feeling as if his dad and brother were being replaced. After a while he just got used to it and accepted us. Eventually, they got married, my dad and his mom, leaving us in our current situation.
Deciding that I actually should take Stahl's advice and sleep, I rolled onto my side, pulled the covers over my face and shut my eyes.
~0~
"UP AND AT 'EM!" Stahl burst into the room and pulled off the sheets.
"Gods, Stahl...I'm supposed to be the one waking you up…." I murmured, struggling to reach the soft wool sheets and pull them back up.
"Oh, but not today!" He stripped the bed of the sheets altogether this time, making them a messy heap on the wooden floor.
What was so important about today? Why hadn't he mentioned this earlier this morning? Did he just find out? Did Dad get the day off with double pay? That last one was a longshot, but I still hoped. He was never home.
"What's so special about today?" I decided to keep my other questions to myself and just have Stahl tell me. "The air still reeks of Risen, herbs are still withering, the water supply is still low, food is still less than appetizing."
"Don't you remember? It's your birthday! It's not every day that you turn fifteen!" He smiled down at me, only getting a groan in response. "You don't need to be so down about it! The weather's actually nice for once, so why don't you enjoy it? Maybe we could go for a walk or take the cat out?"
I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes. "Yes, but maybe later. You interrupted my sleepy time…"
"Birthday or not, Mom needs help today before we even get to that. C'mon!" Stahl continued to pester me. When he realized I wouldn't let up because of that, he began to poke me. Repeatedly. On the shoulder. Repeatedly.
"Okay, okay! You win, just stop!" I jumped up and out of the bed, reaching for some form of day clothes. "Now out, so I can get dressed!" Stahl nodded and left with a "Yes'm!"
~0~
?
Two Weeks Prior
He ran through the streets of the Plegian dukedom, jumping over boxes, sliding through alleyways and ducking under eaves. Behind him ran vigils of the lord of the land. They threw blunt objects at him to slow him down, not wanting to accidentally kill him. Hmph, he thought. Those vigils would enjoy the prospect of killing me, even if it cost them their lives. That fool of a nobleman should've hired better soldiers.
"Is that all that snake's got?" he yelled to them cockily. "Some nobleman he is; he can't even hire good enough soldiers to chase down his own damn son! Maybe you should just-Oof!" One of the blunt objects hit its mark, knocking the boy onto the ground. He skidded across the rocky dirt street, tears appearing in the clothes he wore under his coat.
"Hmph. You were saying, lordling?" The soldier walked over and pulled his head up by his white locks. "We're taking you straight back to your father. Try anything and we'll make it a hell." His other two soldier buddies laughed from either side of him.
Oh. No. Caught again. Whatever would he do? He had gone over many outcomes and this just so happened to be one of them. This precise scene had about a twenty-five percent chance of playing out. He'd definitely make it out this time. With a smirk, he jumped up abruptly and kicked the guard that held his head in the stomach. Pulling out a sword, he brained the other two guards with the pommel and broke into a run.
"I believe the question is: You were saying?" The lordling said, rounding a corner, trying to reach the entrance to the city of Validar. Much like most nobles, he named his dukedom after himself. Very few had a small enough ego to not.
In mere minutes he was at the entrance, at his first step of the staircase of freedom. He just had to make it through these treacherous walls. Just a few more steps and he'd be out of this hell. Just a few more-Wait. What was that? His well-trained ears caught onto the sound of charging magic. He desperately leaped forwards, hoping the blast that was coming would miss. It did not. Grima's Truth hit him head on, slamming him against the wall of a sandstone house.
"You thought you could escape?" The spell's caster stepped out of the shadows, revealing a tall man that was rather skinny. Snakelike. "You cannot escape your fate, Robin...Or should I say, False Prince."
~0~
?
Present Time
She sighed, listening to her instructor drawl on and on about needlepoint. Hah! As if a princess needed to know all of that! Oh, but she needed to be 'a proper lady of the court since she would never have the throne.' That's what they always said when she protested to sitting through these classes. Emm had been understanding, when Lissa had gone to her, but she had also said that it was tradition that the eldest princess knew needlepoint. Lissa found that rather funny because their mother hadn't.
"Princess Lissa?" the instructor called, trying to force her attention away from the large, twenty-four paned window. Lissa had known this because she had counted it about two hundred times in the past twenty minutes. "I know this is boring, Lady Princess, but you must learn it."
Her instructor was a rather plump, old woman named Helena who had a heart just as big. She would always treat Lissa with respect and listen to her when she was down, unlike the other nobles or indentured servants. And Helena wasn't just her instructor, but the woman who had taken care of her and her brother when they were young. She never had helped Emmeryn; she'd attempted to, but the then-young Queen wanted to stand on her own two legs.
"If it's so important, then why does it have to be so boring?" Lissa complained, putting her face on the table that sat between them.
"You have to make some sacrifices in order to please others sometimes, Lady Princess." Helena said halfheartedly. This had been the umpteenth time she had explained this to the princess in the past twenty minutes.
"But…" Lissa pouted. "Can't we do this some other time? I really wanted to go out into the town today."
"Fine-" The older woman barely got the word out before Lissa stood, dropped everything, grabbed a cloak and ran down the hall. "-but not until after….." Helena sighed and began to clean up the spools of thread, loose strings and needles.
~0~
Erin
Present Time
"I'll need you to head to the market and get some bread and feed for the horse. I also need some fresh burdock root for a salve to heal rat bites. Could you perchance collect that from the woods?" Mother asked us. Gods, she was relentless, even on her daughter's birthday.
"Yes, Mother," I replied, taking the basket and gold our mother held out, and stepping out the door. When my face met the cold, late January breeze, I let out a sigh. This would be a long day. Chores and more chores, and no fun. "It's not fair...I wanted to relax today."
"It'll be over before you know it. Then we can head off and do other things." Stahl said. "Mother needs the help, so that isn't an excuse to not do anything."
"But…." I sighed again, accepting defeat. "All right…Let's just get this over with."
Stahl clapped me on the back. "That's the spirit! Now come on!"
We made our way down the cobblestone road to the marketplace. People bustled about; couples holding hands, vendors yelling out and Annas haggling with idiots that think they were getting good deals. As we reached our first stop-the bakery-Stahl pushed the door open, holding it open for me and I huffed in annoyance. I didn't need his help to open a damn door.
The bakery wasn't among the other stalls in an attempt to keep the bread and treats fresh. The owner look up from the newspaper that he had sprawled across the counter, having heard the bell ring. He was a kind middle aged man with receding black hair and an apron hanging over his pudgy shoulders. "Ah, if it isn't August's kids! Tell me, how's that old man of yours doing? Is he still hammering away at those weapons of his?"
"Yep. He's doing well, Mr. Friar," I said politely, looking at the man's wares. "We were wondering if you had any sourdough bread in stock?"
The short, heavy man nodded and turned to face the racks of assorted bread. He walked down the row and pulled out a tray that held four loaves. Turning and heading back, he placed the tray on the counter. "How do these look?" he asked.
Stahl seemed to enter a trance as he looked at the good smelling loaves. "Perfect. And how much would two cost-"
"Stahl, we only need one," I sighed. As per fucking usual. "Don't tell me you're going to waste gold on another and keep it for yourself!"
Stahl rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I-I would share with you, of course!"
"No, you wouldn't."
"Oh, come on! Please-"
The baker let out a hearty laugh, cutting off our sibling squabbling. "I'll just give you these four for free. It's on the house. After all, it's the little lady's birthday, isn't it?" I couldn't help but laugh at that because I was taller than him by a lot.
"It is, but I couldn't just take those from you without-" The man cut me off with another laugh.
"That's quite all right, lass. I have many more where that came from."
Stahl nodded furiously in agreement, wanting nothing more but to eat the delicious bread. I simply shook my head and accepted the gift. "Thank you. I hope you have a nice day, sir." Friar smiled and waved in response as the siblings left the shop with the ring of the bell.
When we stepped back out on the street, I turned to Stahl, a loaf of bread already in his mouth. "Are you really already-" I stopped that train of thought, sighing. "Well, anyway, I want to go see father at the forge."
"He'sh profly bushy," he said around the loaf. "We shouldn't bofer him."
"Don't talk with food in your mouth." I said for the umpteenth time. Stahl simply stuck his tongue out, chunks of bread flying at me. Shaking my head, I wiped it away. "I'm sure he isn't too busy to see his daughter on her birthday…..Well, I guess he probably is...Let's just head home then."
~0~
Lissa
Present Time
Lissa pulled the hood of her dark green cloak up, having abandoned her normal dress and donned a casual outfit, and ran past the guards at the palace gates. They paid her no mind, thinking she was just some commoner who had had an audience with the queen. Then had also been the perfect time to go, since the guards had just changed shifts, so the ones that were there before wouldn't call her out for not entering earlier.
The streets of Upper Ylisstol were as bustling as ever. Children ran about and dogs barked, parents watched and couples held hands, it was nothing if not an ordinary day in Ylisstol. Lissa sighed, hoping something exciting would happen, otherwise her trip and risk of being holed up in the castle the rest of the week wasn't worth it.
As if summoned by her hopes, a man ran through the streets in a garb she hadn't seen before. It was a flowing dark purple cloak with a gold trim, the…the Mark of Grima on the back of it! No wonder he was being chased by the royal guard. He was thought to be a spy. Lissa felt something inside of her pull in his direction, wanting her help him. And Lissa did.
The princess ran after the white-haired man; grabbing his arm forcefully as she caught up. He looked at her in shock, struggling to get out of her weak grip.
"Come on, this way!" she said; the man stopped struggling. "You're not from around here, are you?"
The man chuckled. "You could say that. Aren't my clothes a big giveaway?"
"I suppose...Well, welcome to Ylisstol then!"
"Good to be here."
At that they both burst into laughter, quickly rounding a corner and ducking into an alleyway. They kept going until they reached the walls that surrounded the palace. Finding a hole in the side near the gardens, Lissa crawled through, pulling the man in behind her.
"You should be safe here." Lissa said, pulling off her hood. "Why were those palace guards chasing you anyway?"
"Palace guards?" The man raised a brow and then realized what she meant. "You mean the guards that work at this fine estate? Hell no. Those were some men the man chasing me hired. They weren't trying to capture me because I'm Plegian. They want me because…." he trailed off, not knowing what he should or should not reveal.
"Oh, good. I won't have to go tell my sister about those idiots later then," she replied cheerfully.
"Your sister?" The man looked from the girl before him, to the palace and back again. "Does your sister happen to be the exalt?"
"How else would I know about that hole in the castle wall?"
"Right...My name is Robin. Is it safe to assume that you're Chrom?" Robin asked, not knowing much about Ylissean royalty, or naming systems, she assumed.
"Hah! No, that's my thick headed brother!" Lissa laughed openly at Robin, causing him to blush in embarrassment. "I'm Lissa. Youngest, brandless, princess of Ylisse! Well, only princess considering that Emm's queen now..."
"Apologies, milady." He bowed his head. "I'm not exactly familiar with Ylissean-"
"Oh, cut the formalities! You're fine!" Lissa forced Robin to look up at her. "So! You're going to need a place to stay, right?"
Robin stared at the princess for a few seconds, wondering how to respond to her sudden intimacy. It must've just been an Ylissean thing. "Uh, I-I guess I will...Perhaps I could get a room at the inn-"
"Nope! You're going to be staying right here lest those blackguards try to get you again! C'mon! Let's go see Emm!" She grabbed his hand again and pulled him through the castle gardens, to the throne room.
~0~
Robin
One Week Prior
This time Robin knew he would make it. He had slipped a sedation potion into all of the guards' drinks an hour prior, and they should be kicking in right about now. All he needed to do now was to sneak out and get to the desert. Once there he'd be able to walk to a bordering village and pay someone to caravan him to Ylisse. When he crossed the border, he would be out of this man's power to capture. Well...That was what he hoped.
He had planned everything carefully: the route, means of escape, even his 'escape' a week ago. Now everything was falling into place. Nothing could stop him this time. Nothing. He was completely sure of it. Validar could not take him alone, no matter how powerful he was, Robin was younger and quicker.
The noble made his way through the labyrinthine halls and through the front gates, full of gusto. This was his brainchild that came from many, many years of planning. Each step was carefully executed. He had to make the guards think he was predictable, and then hit them hard with facts and logic that made their brains explode. That is how Robin envisioned himself handling them anyway, being a million times smarter than all of them combined. He made a mental note to keep his ego in check.
There it was. The city gates. They were only a mere twenty feet away. This time he would make it out. He turned and faced the city one last time.
"False Prince, huh? More like Master Tactician...Hm. I like how that sounds. Master. Tactician." Robin chuckled to himself, turned and stepped through the gates.
~0~
Erin
Present Time
It had been a long day indeed. And finally...We were home and ready for dinner. And that's when everything would change.
"Stahl, Erin...We need to talk."
AN: Phew! This idea has been clawing and biting at me for a while now. I needed it to happen. So bad. Well, um...Yeah. Shit and shit. If you can, please do leave a review, I'd like to hear what ya'll think.
