Two swords clashed against each other in the corridor. Chrom circled his foe, weighing his options. The man was giant, with a stature to match Frederick, and the black great sword he wielded was no ceremonial piece. The blade radiated power, exuding a pressure that made him want to fall to his knees. It wasn't a weapon of a king, but of a conqueror, a weapon made to subjugate and enslave those who faltered against its might. Chrom had only heard of such power in ancient myths and legends, and though the Falchion was one such divine blade, it had never exuded such primal power to him.
The crowd around the two princes eyed the fight hungrily, anxiously awaiting the next move. The Shepherds had never heard of such a fighter before, nor his country, yet he could match Chrom, their leader and hero of the Plegia-Ylissean war. Many around him displayed different levels of excitement or disinterest of the match, yet Chrom only noticed one pair of brown eyes, meticulously deciphering the bout. Robin's eyes darted over Xander, analyzing every stance, every motion, every breath, and breaking it apart in her mind, trying to find a similar style or connection she could use to make sense of the man. Yet of the thousands of books she'd read over her life, all the histories and tactical manuscripts, she found nothing connecting this man's style to her world. He was utterly foreign, as if he had dropped from the sky, which she supposed he had.
Chrom's eyes shifted towards the tactician's, and Xander reacted, springing forward. A long step, swinging with the full length of his sword, he closed the distance between the two in a heartbeat. Chrom startled, and ducked while parrying, barely avoiding the blade's tip by inches. Chrom lashed out with his fist, nearly breaking his knuckle but catching Xander in the chest, his armor barely softening the blow.
Xander recovered quickly, and their swords clashed against each other furiously, each clash exuding such pressure that some onlookers were unable to stand and sat down. Xander had the advantage, the man's stature and blade brought such force to his blows that had Falchion not been divine, it would have shattered. Chrom adapted his style, changing to a one-handed stance, and brought in punches and kicks against Xander, hoping to tire the prince into a mistake. Xander slowed, yet his technique remained flawless, each strike a well-practiced blow, as perfect as the arm scrolls Xander had meticulously studied in his youth.
Xander swung high, and Chrom ducked, delivering a savage kick which knocked the prince back, but did not topple him. Chrom jumped back, out of the range of the Xander's sword, and weighed his options. He was out of breath, but there had to be a way to defeat this man, he just had to figure it out. Robin was a genius at planning, leading troops through a battle so perfectly it was like a well-rehearsed dance, Chrom had none of her talent. What Chrom lacked in large scale planning, he made up for in spades with individual combat. Robin's eyes didn't see Xander the same way Chrom's did, they lacked the raw intuition and instinct that made the prince the best swordsman House Ylisse had seen since the Hero King. He noticed the rigidity of Xander's form, how his eyes shifted for a moment when Chrom did an unorthodox movement, adapting a learned style to the situation. Xander lacked the ability to quickly adapt to dueling circumstances, never trying a new technique or style, he searched through his mind for a previously mastered technique, something that would work against his opponent's current method. Though he obviously had mastered a great deal, there had to limits to his knowledge. If Chrom could find that one weakness, that one unorthodox technique Xander hadn't mastered a counter to, he could defeat him.
Suddenly Chrom was on his back, a dark blast slamming into his chest and knocking him to the ground. Purple energy pulsed though Xander's sword, and he set the blade down, breathing heavily. Chrom got up to a silent room and felt horrific shame. He had been defeated, Ylisse's mighty prince had lost to this stranger. He looked at the blonde prince, seeing how uneven his breath was, he realized how close the match had been. The shame passed, and Chrom laughed, approaching Xander as he sheathed Falchion.
"That was a good fight Prince Xander, I've never met someone quite so skilled before.", Chrom said, extending a hand to the dark prince. Xander took it and gave a rare smile.
"May I extend similar accolades to you, you are quite the talented swordsman. Very few have every pushed me so far, you had me on the ropes so to speak.", Xander said. The two princes left the castle courtyard and headed inside the castle halls. Robin paced behind them and went up to Xander.
"That blast, what was it?", Robin said, her eyes burning with a thousand unanswered questions. "And why didn't you use it earlier? Is there a limit to its use, or something else I haven't considered?".
"Well,", Xander looked a bit flustered, "I didn't use it due to my own hubris. I thought it would be more honorable to fight without Siegfried's ability, but I realized how patronizing that was, fighting you with a handicap, I do hope you'll forgive me.", Xander said.
"Nothing to be forgiven for, though I admit you caught me by surprise. We must have a rematch, you won't beat me with the same trick twice, I guarantee it.", Chrom said.
"Of course. As for its ability,", Xander looked at Robin. "It operates on a similar principal as a Levin sword, allowing the wielder to strike from a fair distance away. However, while a Levin sword's might match the wielders magic ability, Siegfried matches my strength, hitting my foe with the same force as any swing of my blade would cause. In addition, as it is nearly impossible to parry, the only way to avoid it would be to dodge it. Though once you know what to look for, it is quite easy to avoid. Corrin and her brother have taught me that very well.".
"Corrin has a brother?", Chrom said. Xander's face lightened, thinking about Corrin.
"Yes, in fact she has many siblings. Her blood brother is quite a skilled swordsman, for some reason he reminds me much of you.", Xander neglected to mention that he was Corrin's stepbrother, though he didn't know why. His face darkened, and he looked down the long hallway, towards Corrin's room.
"How is she doing? I haven't spoken to Lissa about her today.", Chrom said. It had been two weeks since the foreign pair had arrived outside of Ylisstol, yet Corrin had not awoken. Her wounds had healed, but she would not stir. Chrom feared that she may never wake.
"She hasn't improved, nor declined. She remains in stasis.", Xander said. His lip twitched, and his eyes looked as dark as a moonless night.
"When she recovers, you and Corrin must meet with us.", Robin said. "We can eat or go somewhere around Ylisstol, but I would very much like to learn more about both of you and the world you hail from. Consider it a royal request.", Robin said. Xander smiled.
"Of course, we would be honored. Now I must be heading out, good night.", Xander said, turning down the hallway towards Corrin's room. When they had brought her to Castle Ylisstol, Xander had been adamant about her having a ground level room, though as to his reasoning Chrom was at a loss. Robin and Chrom continued down the hallway, walking under the warm torchlight.
"I can't believe you accepted defeat so easily, a year ago you would have challenged him to a rematch on the spot.", Robin said. Chrom looked at her and shrugged.
"I've learned that there are things more important than pride.", Chrom said, gazing at Robin. He stopped walking, and Robin halted, and turned around. Chrom leaned forward and kissed her. They kissed for a moment, then Robin pulled away, her face a deep shade of red. She frantically looked around the empty halls, searching for any guards or onlookers.
"Chrom! You can't just do that out here, what if someone saw!", Robin said. Chrom smiled at her, despite their marriage and child, Robin couldn't stand public displays of affection, always turning as red as a tomato. Which just encouraged Chrom to do it as much as possible. He draped his arm around Robin and held her hand, then they walked down the hallway. Robin seemed relieved that no one was around, and leaned into Chrom, entwining their fingers together.
"We should check on Lucina before we go to bed, do you think she's still asleep?", Chrom said.
"She was when we left, but she's such a turbulent baby, so I'll give it fifty-fifty odds. Let's go check.", Robin said. Her and Chrom walked down the hallway, and climbed up a flight of stairs, entering a large room where Lissa sat in a corner, snoring. In a cradle lay a small baby girl, with blue hair, blue eyes, and the Brand of the Exalt covering her left eye, sleeping peacefully.
…
Xander walked into Corrin's room, which had a lone candle lit near the window. Corrin lay still, her consistent breathing the only sign of life. She looked pale, but healthier than she had so many years ago, alone by that cold window, mind shattered by loneliness. She looked tranquil, as if she was in a peaceful dream.
Xander walked to the candle and put it out, as he had done numerous times before. He pulled up a chair across the room from the princess and leaned back. Cool wind tickled his noise, and soon he had fallen asleep.
…
"Ahhh", a loud yawn woke Xander up. He opened his eyes, bright sunlight burning them. Too many years in Nohr, he would never be used to Ylisse's sun. He blinked a few times and looked around the room, then his heart stopped. Corrin was sitting up, looking very groggy, but awake. She looked around the room, then saw Xander. Her eyes must be playing tricks on her, because it looked like Xander was crying.
"Xander,", the silver haired princess said. "Where are we?", Xander didn't answer he just smiled. He was so happy, Corrin always had a bad habit of sleeping in, but now, she was finally awake.
…
Author's Notes:
Hey guys sorry about the wait, I've been a bit busy with stuff. I've been working on a book, which along with school and my job has eaten up a lot of my time. I couldn't just abandon this story though, it's honestly one of my favorites I've ever written, and I hope this chapter was satisfactory. I'll have to change the schedule to once every few months, so this story isn't dead, it'll just take a fair bit between parts. Unless I go on a writing binge, but that's a little unlikely. Thanks for reading this, if you have any suggestions or comments, leave a review, I read them all.
As for the story itself, right now I'm keeping the character count quite low, with the four characters depicted here taking precedence. The reason being is the massive amount of interesting characters in both games and trying to include to many of them in every scene would be trying, though I promise next chapter will have more characters in it.
On a side note I'm totally pumped for the new fire emblem game for switch coming out, and the new smash bros! I'm a Corrin main there, she's just so much fun to play as.
Thanks for reading this story, I'll update it every few months, please look forward to it.
