I got my hands on Fire Emblem Awakening. Time to desecrate that, too. Okay, fine. I loved Fire Emblem Awakening and the Support System has some pure gold. The most glittering of them all to me was the Maribelle and Olivia Supports.
How to Be A Heartbreaker:
Chapter 1
The girl's dances were so beautiful and intricate. As an esteemed noble like her saw performers left and right, Maribelle knew what qualified as the highest caliber and this girl was surely it. Her twirls were eloquent and graceful, her long rose-colored hair swirling and swishing in a mesmerizing fashion. They were so loose and unrestrained, the complete opposite of Maribelle's curls, which were set up through curlers each night and had to undergo a rigorous process for their contained perfection. Her clothes were loose, presumably because she needed free movements, but it somehow made it easier for Maribelle to study her complete movements.
It was also nighttime and the shading from the sleeping town on different parts of the girl's body provided for some sensuous forms of chiaroscuro as she danced across the woods.
The only thing that was disrupting the gracefulness of this girl's private performance was her own reactions and movements. "ONE and TWO and THREE..." she kept counting, rather unevenly, Maribelle, thought, as she would sometimes count to eight, sometimes to seven, and once she counted to eleven. "One more pirouette aaaaaand... Hold for applause! Yay, Olivia! Woooo! Standing ovation! Olivia's the best! Marry me, Olivia!" She would say this in a tiny whisper and made fake shouting noises.
Silly little thing, Maribelle thought as the girl held her stance. She was standing on one leg, the other was held high in the air almost completely backwards. Despite her heavy breathing, she managed to keep that position still.
Maribelle decided it was time to step out of her hiding place behind the tree. "You dance rather well."
Olivia, still in her balanced position, fumbled forward with her remaining foot, but caught herself as her face showed complete surprise. "Eeeek! Maribelle! How long have you been standing there?!"
"From the beginning, darling. I didn't mean to spy, but your dance was so wonderful! I just couldn't bring myself to interrupt."
"But it's so late! I saw you and the rest sleeping in the barracks!"
Maribelle let out a polite titter. If her curls were down, they would have bounced alongside her tilted head. "Oh, darling. These are my lands, after all!" After Chrom's army had defeated the Mad King Gangrel and avenged the Exalt's death, there was a little bit of a lapse in the army. While many had wanted to return to their normal lives, they had realized that they had close calls with death and had wanted to get in on some extra training. Maribelle had put her land, Themis, to use and had allowed for those to train with Frederick, herself included, as was Olivia.
There was also the occasional Risen skirmish, but that had also served as practice for the army.
Despite how peaceful things were, they always needed to stay prepared and Maribelle wasn't a good sleeper, anyway.
Maribelle knew the real reason why Olivia stayed behind and it was also for the same reason Maribelle had also opened her lands to Chrom's troops: Chrom was looking for a wife.
Emmeryn hadn't even looked at a single male during her time and now she was gone without an heir. Chrom and Lissa were unmarried and had no children, either, and if an assassination attempt were made on either one, then Ylisse would go to flames as families like hers and that of Ricken's and Sumia's would fight over their possible lineage to Marth, showing all kinds of papers and stretching truths about their ancestor's deeds.
The kingdom was stirring and gossip was everywhere. This had been the second time in such a short timespan where she had encountered other member's of the Shepherds engaged in nightly activities.
Maribelle recalled how during the other day, she had caught that street urchin who damned her father stirring in her kitchen the other night, looking for some of those teeth rotting candies he was so fond of. Or rather, he wanted to make one for himself.
"You! What are you doing here in the kitchen! Out!" Maribelle had jumped up to his level and gave him a well-deserved slap.
"Calm down, Twinkles. I just need to find the sugar here. Got a recipe here for honeysugar and I'm not gonna waste it," he said while massaging his stinging cheek.
"Honeysugar?" she said. She instantly regretted asking.
"Yeah. You get some sugar and pour honey on it."
Barbarian, she thought. "The kitchen is for the Shepherds, you uncouth slob! Get out or I will call Frederick and he will make you do night rounds for your inconsideration." But he was unperturbed by her threat.
"I thought I told you to calm down, Twinkles." He relaxed his stance and leaned on a countertop. "Hey, what if I told you some info you don't know about yourself and in exchange you could give me my sugar."
"Information? On me? What could you possibly have to tell me about?" The urchin slid up on the countertop and sat there. His legs dangled for a second, but then he perched them to reach his face. Maribelle hated herself for being caught off-guard. This thief had something of a talent for catching her like this, especially when in battle.
"It has to do with your future and it could be quite a doozy. Do we have a deal?" He already could sense the interest on Maribelle's face as though she were some kind of butterscotch.
Maribelle shook her head and sighed. She took out the master key hidden in a necklace that reached down to her chest and opened up the pantry adjacent to the kitchen full of the supplies. She got inside and took out one of the bags of sugar. She sighed again for a moment, unbelieving she was resorting to this man's bribery.
"Good." He said when she stepped out and locked the door. He jumped out of his spot and whipped out the jar of honey he had hidden in a pocket as he poured sugar on an empty bowl he took out of one of the lower cabinets.
"Now what is this information you've got for me?"
"Ah yes. Emmeryn's dead, which is such a shame, really. She was such a nice lady." Maribelle glared at his nonchalance as he squeezed the jar of honey into the bowl of sugar. "And poor old Chrom is the new Exalt to be. Though we're really the same age, but still."
"Please get to the point."
The urchin huffed. "Fine, Twinkles. Have it your way, then. I heard Blue and Freddy talking in Freddy's study about potential queens and there's a shortlist of five girls." Maribelle didn't breathe as he said this. "You can see where I'm goin' with this, don't you?" He began grinding the bowl and continued to speak. "You, Stumbles, Bubbles, Miss Stay-Out-Of-The-Kitchen, and the Babe."
"I don't speak Ruffian."
The urchin sampled a honeysugar and smacked his lips. "Needs more sugar. You, Sumia, Robin, Sully, and Olivia."
"Me?"
"Why not you, Twinkles? You're one of those royals. So's Stumbles. Blue likes Bubbles' brains and thinks Sully's pretty hot. Don't get me started on how he even looks at that dancer chick. I mean, who wouldn't with that body she has." As she heard his words, Maribelle had felt a sudden rage and had booted that annoying ruffian from the kitchen with his stupid midnight snack in hand.
And here she was now with the dancer in her element and even then she was so introverted and wilting that she put Sumia to shame. Everything that came out of her mouth was either a stutter or she spoke in such a low voice that it took Maribelle all of her listening power to understand her.
Truth be told, Maribelle liked managing what she knew she could do, like her estate. She had been trained to help run the estate from such a young age and was studying to be a magistrate. But that was the thing. She was training to be a magistrate, not a queen. The idea of running a kingdom was a tall order. But Maribelle was a believer in all things fair and if this girl who clearly needed confidence and resolve to match that poise and dignity had a shot at becoming queen, then why wouldn't she help her? She had so much potential and her dances could inspire nations and be the subjects of books to come about the Dancing Queen of Ylisse.
"When you dance, you're so...daring! You stand tall and proud, completely unafraid to meet the watcher's eye. You exhibit great strength and dignity." Maribelle wasn't one to give compliments unless she truly meant it.
The girl stumbled on her words, unable to meet her face. "Oh, er. Yes, I'm sure you're right... I guess. But—"
"Ugh. Very well. If you won't do it yourself, I'll just have to aid you. You'll grow a backbone if I have to drag you there kicking and screaming!" The flames of the fire that Olivia had made struck brilliantly for a moment. "Pluck! Grit! Dignity! Resolve! Pick any noun you like! Hmm... I'll have to think about the best way to whip you into shape. This may take a bit. I'll let you know when the first lesson is ready." Maribelle left into the night and finally found the need to sleep, even if the curlers in her hair made her toss and turn endlessly.
The next day after their training regimen, Maribelle had overseen some of the estate expenditures and stayed behind while Chrom's army dealt with some Risen over at that village child's town.
When she finally had time for herself, she made a beeline to her father's library slash study.
"Now where are those books on conversation?" she asked to the empty room.
It was tidy and if it weren't for the maids, then this place could easily gather dust. Despite that, some of the books were centuries old and the scent of the books always overwhelmed Maribelle whenever she walked in. She flicked her parasol and used it to skim for any book titles that could potentially help the poor dear.
"Iron Fists, Parasol styles, Armies and Guardians, Feelings and How to Destroy Them...No, no, and no!" She kept skimming with her parasol. "Proper Diction: A Beginner's Guide? No. She is not a child," she said while wrinkling her nose. She went over to another bookshelf. "Bought for the Duke's Bed?" In the picture was an illustration of a man with rippling muscles and a woman not unlike Olivia with a shy grin being held in his arms. "Perhaps later," Maribelle said while tucking the book in her pocket. None of them needed to know her weak spot for badly written romances.
When she turned around, she saw something moving underneath a curtain. Maribelle angrily sauntered over and pulled the curtain. That redheaded ruffian was there. "You! You urchin!" She gripped her parasol with ferocity and thwacked him on the head. She had wished she had her book of Elthunder, but alas.
He laughed, his green eyes glistening with mischief under the light of the window. "Bought for the Duke's Bed?"
"I did not expect for someone like you in this room. I'd expect you as nothing more than some illiterate scrum. What are you doing here?"
"I wanted a cookbook. I'd expect you to have something alongside that but instead I found little Twinkles here finding romance books. Here to fantasize about Blue? I saw more romance books around—" he pointed but Maribelle decided he needed another good whacking on the head courtesy of her parasol.
"Be quiet, you insufferable brigand! You continue to fly by my side like a persistent urchin despite your claims of being a changed man."
"Ouch! Okay, you win, Twinkles. You said somethin' about conversation, eh?" he said while scratching his head. "I found this inside daddy's study." He took out a tiny weathered book that really looked more like a pamphlet from his satchel. "It looked pretty neat."
"How dare you!" Maribelle snatched the weathered book from his hands. There was some kind of a sticky substance on where his hands were and the book was missing pages, including its title. Maribelle reminded herself to get a shower afterwards from how sticky the book proved to be. "And if I see you loitering again, I will demand for Frederick to give you special training."
With that, she spun around and left the library with the overwhelming need to wash her hands.
After her longer-than-usual shower, Robin had approached her while she was brushing her hair with her custom made brush. She had a paper pad on both of her hands and a quill rested on her ear. Robin was typically in charge of arranging the battles, but would often come to the women for consent while Frederick or Chrom would handle that for the men.
"Hey Maribelle. We need you to help fight the Risen for tonight's battle. Is that okay because some of the other Shepherds are kind of tired?"
"Oh of course, darling! You needn't say another word!"She had just learned the study of becoming a Valkyrie in battle last month and was eager to master all of the spell textbooks. Besides, she was a better night fighter.
"Good, I'll mark you down! Thanks Maribelle!"
She got dressed in her Valkyrie attire and readied her steed for battle.
A/N: In case anyone is wondering, Maribelle has reached B support with Gaius. Also, I didn't expect Gaius to be this involved in the story, he just wanted to be written and that's the way the sugar cookie crumbles..