Title: tremble
Word Count: 183
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Fandom: Fire Emblem (set in Awakening)
Pairings (if any): Maribelle/Ricken (friend or ship, take your pick)
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con etc): N/A
Summary: He tries so hard to be strong. He's tired of everyone treating him like a kid. But...


The tome fell from his fingers, which then curved to hold his face as he hunched over. Maribelle took a step forward to examine him for injury, but he shouted, "Don't look at me!" She flinched back and watched as water dribbled from his hands, darkening the soil and staining his book.

"Ricken..."

"I was scared," he choked. Arms began to shake, but he still refused to look up. "I was fighting, and I was scared, and I didn't know what to-" He gave a large sniff. "I didn't know what to do!

"I want to make Chrom proud and be brave like him, but I-I'm so scared of dying and I don't want to be-" His voice was raw as he concluded, "Because if I am then that-that makes me a coward, doesn't it?"

Unable to hold back any longer, the blonde embraced him, encouraging his grief and frustrations to pour out with his tears. And she helped him clean up before the others arrived, so that everyone would only view Ricken as the brave young man he wanted them to see.


Prompt: "One more time before I go, I'll let you know/That all this time I've been afraid, wouldn't let it show" ("Battle Cry" by Imagine Dragons)


-Dragon