A/N:

Oh boy. This chapter... This chapter! It's... a big one. Both in length and plotwise. Well, I rate this M for a reason, and you'll see why. Quicky note though. Part of this chapter was supposed to be a part of the last one, but it just didn't make sense there, and this helps my plot out better, so yeah. Ahem. Anyway, please enjoy.


Chapter 2: Thirst

Lucina lay on her cot in the medical tent, waiting. She had been through too many examinations by their healers, each telling her to wait for someone else's opinion. Why they were keeping her there was far beyond her, though now she was getting rather irritated. She was fine, no wounds were found, and she had been cleaned off. Her "Marth" garb had been absolutely ruined by the stains, and there was no way to salvage the fabric. The only way she could wear the garb again would be to create an entirely new outfit. It was very upsetting, as that had been with her for years, through the hell of her own timeline and into this one. Lucina now merely wore a plain cotton shirt and trousers. The only thing Lissa could find that would fit her that she was comfortable enough to wear.

Lucina shifted on her cot uncomfortably. The ruins were still on her mind. Who knew what power that crystal held and what it did to her. The Shepherds that went in were probably back by now.

"Nngh…"

The groans of pain from others receiving aid cut Lucina out of her musings. Their last battle with the Valmese was a harsh one. News of Yen'fay's death hadn't spread as quickly as they would have liked, and there were units still carrying on as if the foreigners still posed no threat.

Something about her stay here was… off. For one, the healers weren't telling her anything about why she was being kept. Then there was the fact that she had this… thirst. She was given plenty of water, sure, but it wasn't helping at all. Nothing helped.

"Lucina?" Lucina turned upon hearing the voice. Before her now stood the woman of ivory skin. Her hair white as snow. A smile held its place on the woman's face as the grandmaster looked down at the princess. "I er… brought you something." She said, placing some clothes she had carried along by the base of Lucina's cot.

Lucina sat up and unfurled the items in front of her. As she held it up, she realized these were the garb Robin normally wore which the Shepherds dubbed her "tactician robes". These were what Robin had worn when Lucina was discovered in the ruins. "M-Mother… Thank you so much." Being able to wear her mother's tactician robes was a great honor. Of course she'd accept.

"You don't mind?" Robin asked, nervously placing a hand to the back of her head. "I-I mean… we are about the same size and I thought… well, what else does she have to wear-"

"Mother. It's fine." Lucina said, trying to reassure her mother.

"Right." As Robin got up and was about to leave, she turned to Lucina once more. "You might want to put those on. It's almost supper and I'm sure you don't want to go out looking like you do now. Lissa told me she'll be taking you over, and you know how she'll be." She said with a slight chuckle. "And Lucina. Feel better." The queen added before taking her leave.

I feel fine.


The tactician's garb was quite different than Lucina expected. Compared to what she used to wear, this wear was incredibly light. It surprised Lucina, to say the least. After all, she had seen these robes take great abuse from spells in battle, yet never once was a mark left behind.

Lissa was accompanying Lucina on her way to the mess tent. Her aunt was as energetic as ever. She did seem to take great pleasure in providing Lucina with tales of her childhood. Tales of Emmeryn and Chrom. Lucina loved listening to them, though not this day. "Hey, Aunt Lissa?"

"Yeah?" The ever-energetic cleric replied.

"Why am I being kept at the med tent?" She asked. "I mean, I'm fine, right?"

"Well… yeah, but…"

But?

"But we're just getting weird results, ya know? We cleaned you up, and you look fine, but… we just weren't getting a pulse."

What?

"-Which is weird, yeah? I mean, you would obviously be dead if that was a thing, and you're not a risen, that's for sure."

"Yeah…"

"But that's just some weird result." The cleric said, looking up at her niece. "You are good to go."

"Thank the gods." Lucina thought aloud. Then she realized what she said and took one quick glance at her aunt. "I mean, that's good."

Of course Lissa just burst out with laughter after that statement. She just continued on until they reached the Shepherds' mess tent.

As Lucina entered, she spotted out her family quickly enough. It was rather hard to miss the arm wrestling match between her father and Vaike. Morgan was cheering Chrom on, meanwhile Robin could only hold a hand up to her face.

Lucina approached her family, finally hearing a clunk as the winner of the competition was decided. "Ha! Looks like Teach just taught Student!" Vaike announced in victory.

Lissa burst out in laughter, meanwhile Lucina stayed back a ways watching as her father rubbed his arm and Morgan burst out at him, "C'mon, Dad! You could've beat him!"

"Oh yeah? Why don't you try then?" Chrom said with a gesture toward his friend.

"Father, I don't think Morgan would be able to best Vaike in a strength competition." Lucina added in, drawing the attention of everyone at the table.

"Don't worry Sis. Dad was just joking." He said with a nod toward the Shepherd's leader.

"Oh." Lucina knew that she had troubles with jokes, it was no secret to the rest of the Shepherds either. Henry was one that carried on like everything was normal, but there were still certain Shepherds who used this to take advantage of her. Luckily for her though, there was usually someone around, such as her mother or Morgan, to explain things to her.

Clearing her throat, the princess sat down at the table just as Vaike left. "So, remind me who was on cooking duty today."

"Frederick." Chrom answered.

"Don't you always know who's on cooking duty?" Lissa asked, sitting down next to her brother.

"W-Well… yes, but…" She searched her brain for some excuse she could use, and just went with the most believable thing. "But with today's hectic events, how am I to remember such details?"

Everyone did seem to accept Lucina's excuse. Stahl soon took his turn to sit down with the family and chat away with the others, his plate full of food as ever. As much as was on it, Lucina's gaze kept drifting toward the slices of meat he had taken. "Venison, right?"

Stahl stopped mid-sentence with Chrom to answer his niece. "Yeah! You should've seen that deer pack we found today!"

"But deer don't travel in packs." Robin added.

"Well you should've explained that to the buck then." He said, taking a big slice and tearing into it. "Because they were vicious. I'm surprised Sully's horse wasn't one of 'em."

The statement cause the queen to visibly shiver, and Chrom certainly teased his wife about the Vaike incidents enough. It was certainly a tale Lucina wished to know more about. She would probably ask for the story sometime later, but for now… "Excuse me while I fetch some of that."

Lucina headed off toward the serving table where Frederick had already seemed to divvy out plates for the Shepherds. Complete servings of meat, and vegetables on each one. The Shepherds did always seem to have their best meals when Frederick was on duty. Lucina grabbed her plate and headed back to the table her family was seated at.

As soon as Lucina herself was seated, she dug into her meal. It smelled good, not grand, though she could tell Frederick added plenty of spices both familiar and foreign. She left her vegetables behind for now, because all that was on her mind was that venison. She was so excited to eat that her first bite was rather disappointing. It was too dry. Much too dry for her tastes. Lucina took a moment to get a closer look at the meat. It was certainly cooked through rather thoroughly. No red visible.

"Mm. Sure good, huh?" Stahl said after Lucina had taken a few more bites.

"Yeah…" She replied, looking down at her meal, rather disappointed. Looking through the crowd, she needed to find Frederick. His head was visible above the crowd, heading straight toward this group already. It sure made things easy for her.

"How does everyone find the meal today?" Frederick asked as soon as he approached the group.

There were plenty of replies around the table about how great it all was. Lucina though just stared down at her unfinished plate. "I don't like it." She said.

"Oh?" Frederick didn't seem offended by this. He did seem rather curious though. He did live to please the royal family, so he would gladly take anything to become better for them in the future. "Pray tell, what displeases milady about today's meal?"

Lucina looked back down at her half-finished plate, then back to Frederick, who was looking expectantly down at her while waiting for an answer. "The meat is dry, there are too many spices on it and the vegetables, and they happen to be undercooked and not really a good match for each other, if you ask me."

This time, Frederick did look offended. He always did take pride in his cooking, but no one has ever said anything quite like this since his early days, and even then, he was quite young. "Forgive me then. I will try to better the vegetables in the future, but the venison? Never has anyone told me I've overcooked meat."

"Well, it's cooked through too much." Lucina added, gesturing toward the piece she left on her plate.

"Milady, tis for the best. T'would not do for one of our warriors to fall ill due to undercooked meat. They already suffer enough under those who are still unable to make edible-" Chrom coughed to cut Frederick off, and it did work. Not everyone at this table could actually cook. Only Morgan and Stahl could actually do so well. "Tis only for safety." Frederick added once more.

"Very well." Lucina commented quietly. She couldn't make Frederick feel worse. Someone who took as much pride as he did in caring for others didn't need to feel like he failed anyone.

Once he left, Lucina pushed her plate over toward her uncle, who she knew would gladly accept it. "I'm just not very hungry. I'll just be getting my belongings and head back to my tent."


Lucina was famished. What little she had eaten for supper was at least something, so it should have been able to hold her over for some time. Though it wasn't. It wasn't helping at all. She was so hungry, so thirsty. She would do anything for something fresh.

Such was the state of her mind that she walked right by her setting in the med tent. Forget about the pack she needed, she just walked right by. Walked to the back of the tent. No one was there, no one would see if she "visited" one of the more critical units.

Sliding back the partition, she approached an unconscious soldier. He looked so peaceful in this state. He wouldn't know. Checking her surroundings one last time, Lucina drew the partition back into place. No one came in. No potential witnesses.

She knelt down next to the man. The soft, steady beat of his heart was driving her mad. She needed to do this, damn the consequences. The princess pulled back his collar to expose his neck. This was the best way to get what she wanted.

Her lips drawing ever closer to his bare skin, she let out her breath. This is what she wanted, what she desired. She bit down. She didn't intend to bite all the way through at first, but the sweet taste only made her lose control. What she wanted at supper, she was surely getting now.

The warm liquid which filled the wound, drizzling down the man's neck and onto the cot, it was the nectar of the gods. Lucina never thought she'd enjoy its taste so much. Her experience with blood in the past gave her enough of a taste for her liking. Now though, now it was the greatest thing in the world. She couldn't get enough. It sated her hunger, her thirst. She had never felt so satisfied before.

Even as she had seemed to have her fill, even as she was as she coughed up the excess, staining the scene ever more, she still needed more.

These minutes were filled with bliss as the man bled out. Lucina had taken her fill, and then some. The princess' senses returned now as her desire had been sated. The smile on her face had disappeared as she realized what she had done.

Her hand wiped away at her face, it was covered in blood, his blood. Wh-What have I done? Lucina had killed the man. His blood was on her hands now. If anyone came in and saw them like this…

She ran. Lucina ran back to her tent. No one could see her like this. She entered her tent and closed the entrance as quickly as she could. She looked around for something, anything that could get the blood off her face, off her hands.

"Lucina?"


A/N:

So this took me... two sittings to write. Wow. Haha. Well, I have it planned out quite extensively, so that's a thing.

Doozy, huh? Gotta admit, I've never quite written vampires like this before... in fact, this is my first vampire story, so... wow. It is a fun one to write though and I'm having plenty of fun with it.

Haha. Anyway, be sure to leave a friendly review, if you may.

This is squish bidding you a good day. :D