Chapter 4: Royal First Impressions
Colt's P.O.V.
Several days had passed as my partner and I made our way to the capital. Along the way we encountered villages and traveling merchants being attacked by faceless and bandits alike, although they seemed rather leery of me due to my ominous riot gear; they were thankful for our help nonetheless.
Finally, after SOOO many days of walking, fighting, and scavenging/looting; we finally reached the capital of Hoshido. I changed into Daniel's attire to maintain some form of normalcy. Even if I may receive some questioning looks from the locals, it was still better than waltzing around the place in riot gear.
In terms of weapons, I decided to keep a pair of brass knuckles in my pockets. I would prefer a ballistic fist, or at least a power fist, but that sadly wasn't going to happen. I also had blood-nap strapped to my side, but if it came down to it; I'd rather just beat people senseless than cut them to ribbons. More therapeutic than the latter.
…Alright, so maybe I'm little sadistic when it comes to fighting. Like it's that strange, guys like that are a dime-a-dozen back in the Mojave. Hell, anywhere to be honest.
As for Mozu: I managed to get some leather armor fashioned for her so she would be better protected in combat. It cost me a good amount of gold, but that issue could always be fixed by looting bandits I kill and selling their belongings to traders. She also got better with her bow and her…uh.
Nagonita?
Nagannota?
…Aw screw it, she got better with that damn spear as well.
As we got closer to the entrance to the city, I started to get a little nervous. I had been hearing rumors of the nohrians sending spies to infiltrate Hoshido from some of the villages we passed through. While they may just be rumors, that isn't going to stop the hoshidans from being paranoid. However, the guards didn't stop me when we entered the city.
I looked around the street seeing a lot of vendors selling things like food, clothes, and all sorts of miscellaneous things. I became very interested in a small shop selling miscellaneous curiosities which I had an obsession for. I decided to enter the shop and look around, it was like Mick and Ralph's but less dirty. Not long after looking around; I started up a conversation with the owner on what some of the things he was selling were.
I showed him some nick-knacks of my own and we talked about multiple items in both of our inventories. It was both a pleasant and interesting experience. That is until I realized something that made me break out in a cold sweat:
'WHERE'S THE FARM GIRL?!' I mentally screamed. One moment she's right behind me, the next; Poof. Gone.
I took off towards the exit to find my partner, but just as I busted out of the shop like some crazed kid hopped up on sugar bombs, I slammed into a woman knocking her down in the process. I stopped immediately to help her back up and apologize.
"I'm sorry miss, I didn't mean to knock you- "I tried to apologize before I recognized just who I slammed into: the girl that was at the border. "…down." I finished awkwardly as I helped her up. She was trying to regain her focus as a short girl with salmon colored hair ran up to her to see if she was ok.
"Big sister, are you ok?" she said as the platinum blonde dusted herself off.
"Yes, I'm okay Sakura." She responded to the small girl now known as Sakura. I then noticed that she and the nohrian girl were accompanied by three other individuals. The first one was a girl with neon red hair who didn't seem too happy with me practically running over their friend.
"Hey! Why don't you watch where you going?!" She barked as she glared at me.
"Again, I'm really sorry. I was just trying to find my friend. We got separated and I'm trying to find her." I explained trying to defuse the situation so I could get back to hunting down Mozu.
"Oh really? I doubt that's your true intention. Nohrian." Another voice said from behind us. I turned to see the second individual: a man who looked older than Sakura, but younger than the neon red girl and the nohrian girl. He had a look of suspicion and discontent on his face as he stared at me, as if silently saying "I've got my eye on you".
If he thinks he's intimidating me then I've got some bad news for him.
"I could care less what you think pal. She went off somewhere before telling me where she was heading and now I need to find her before something happens." I respond to him. Before he could say anything, the third and final individual: a girl in a strange white dress with light blue hair, spoke up:
"Does your friend have brown hair with flowers attached to it above both her ears?" she asked with a rather stoic look on here face.
I was surprised how she knew what Mozu looked like, but was glad since she had seen her. "Yeah, you saw her?" I ask quickly.
"Yes. Last I saw, she was heading that way." She said as she pointed west of the center of the capital.
"I see. Thank you miss." I said as I turned around to that direction, ready to set off and find my compatriot, and then explore the rest of the city.
"Hold on." I heard the nohrian girl say behind me.
Shit. I was hoping to get out of this situation as fast as possible, but that's apparently not going to happen. I turned to respond to her.
"Yes?" I respond to her.
"Forgive me for keeping you from your friend but…Have we met before? You look familiar." She said; her eyes focused on me.
It seems I've found myself in quite a situation. She doesn't seem to recognize me, but that means nothing since it's only a matter of time before her memory recalls the fort and by extension: me. Damn it all! What do I do? If I lie and she remembers, she'll call me out, but what happens if I tell her the truth? There's no telling what will happen!
So, what's my best option?!
Corrin's P.O.V.
For a moment, I was unsure if I recognized the strange man before me and my…siblings. But after taking a better look at him, I finally recognized him. He was the same nohrian man with the sleeve-less jacket with the strange emblem on the back of it that was talking to the guards of the "abandoned fort" at the border, he was there when Hans provoked the hoshidans, causing a needless confrontation.
Now that I think back to that time, what happened to him back at the fort? He was surrounded by hoshidan samurai when I last saw him, and even if he got away amidst the confusion; how did he get over the border? Even if they were under attack, I doubt the hoshidans would let him slip through.
So how is he even here? And where did his clothes from before go? He doesn't have a pack or anything with him, so where did they go?
I had so many questions I wanted to ask him about what happened, but realized now would be a bad time, especially around the others. They might get the wrong idea, especially Hinoka since he's already sorta on her bad side at the moment.
"You know this guy Corrin?" my sister in question asked as she turned her gaze to me.
I continued to stare at the strange man. It looked to me as if he wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment. Was he a spy?
No, that couldn't the reason. If he was a spy, he would have done his best to avoid noticeable situations like this. He's probably nervous about me telling the others about seeing him at the fort. Perhaps I should let rest easy.
"…No. I believe I have him mistaken for another." I responded to my sister's question before addressing the stranger once again: "Again, sorry for keeping you. I hope you find your friend." I said as I watched him look at me with a somewhat bewildered face before he began to make his departure. Seems he wasn't expecting me to cover for him. Once he was gone the others spoke up:
"Well he was odd." I heard Hinoka say bluntly as I faced the others.
"I still don't like the idea of leaving some nohrian wandering around the city unchecked. We don't know what he could be planning on doing." Takumi stated as he continued to stare down the path the man had taken.
"True, but he seemed pretty concerned about that girl. Nevertheless; I'll have someone follow him just in case he does try anything funny." Hinoka replied as she left the group for a moment.
"At least he was considerate enough to stop and apologize for knocking you down, Corrin." Sakura said to me.
"Yes, he was." I reply before shifting my gaze to Azura: "Is something wrong Azura?" I asked as she, like Takumi, stared down the road the stranger traveled down.
"No, I was just wondering if he was the one I had been hearing stories about recently." She said before turning to me.
"Stories?" I asked as she nodded.
"Yes. For the past week or so, I been hearing stories about a man in strange armor traveling through Hoshido with a young girl. He; along with his partner, have supposedly helped defend villages from both faceless and bandits." She explained as the rest of us were intrigued.
"Oh yeah, I think I overheard Yukimura mention something about that to Ryoma the other day." Hinoka added.
"And you think he might be the one you've been hearing stories about?" I questioned as she nodded her head again.
"Indeed. Although he wasn't wearing any armor, I've never seen clothing like that anywhere else before. Also, the girl he was looking for: she closely resembled the description of the young girl that was traveling with the armored stranger." She said before finishing: "Curious, isn't it?"
"Yes, very curious." I reply.
"Well let's forget about him for now. We've still got a tour to get back to." Hinoka said with a smile as she and Sakura continued to show me the rest of the capital.
Colt's P.O.V.
"Well, that happened." I said to myself as I walk down a lonesome alley thinking about that little encounter.
That girl…She didn't expose me like I thought she was going to. She actually covered for me despite knowing who I was. Why would she do that? What would she gain from protecting me? Whatever the reason is; I should be grateful things turned out the way they did, otherwise I would be wanted in two lands right now. Thing about notoriety is that it's harder to get rid of than it is to gain.
After wandering around asking people if they had seen Mozu anywhere, I finally found her being harassed by a couple of shady looking characters: one of them had loose brown hair, while the other had short white hair like snow. I don't know how long they had been talking to her, but I decided it was time I sent them on their way.
Once I got closer I cleared my throat to get their attention. The brown-haired one looked annoyed, the white-haired one's face faltered for a second; as if he was caught off guard, but smile anyway, while Mozu looked relieved to see me.
"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?" I asked as I attempted to have a civil conversation in order to resolve whatever issue was at hand here peacefully. The white haired one was the one to respond:
"Not at all, we just thought this lovely, young lady would be interested in a little opportunity we had to offer her." He answered with a smirk on his face.
"Is that so? Well, the way I saw it, she didn't seem to find whatever it was very appealing. So, why don't you two take a hike?" I tell them with a slight malicious tone in my voice. The white hair man responded to my question with same sickening smile:
"Well I'm afraid you don't have much authority to tell us what we can do, friend. Now why don't you just- "I didn't let him finish as I moved even closer to him till I was inches away from his face before speaking:
"Oh, but that's where you're wrong. Friend. I have all the 'authority' I need, and I'm telling you now that it's high time for you and your boyfriend here to start making tracks. Now." I growled at the man. The smile from before was shattered as he was currently trying to keep his cool, but I could see my terrifying presence already taking effect on him. He darted his scared eyes at the brown-haired man who attempted to separate me from his cohort.
However, as soon as his hand touch my right shoulder: I whipped around and back-handed the brown-haired man causing him to stagger before gripping his head and smashing it against a nearby wooden wall twice, rendering him unconscious. The white-haired man then attempted to stab me from behind but ended up getting a dagger in the back of his left leg, courtesy of Mozu.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" He screamed in pain as he raised the knife in an attempt to stab her. Before he could though, I grabbed his hand that was holding the knife and nearly twisted it off his arm to make him drop the knife.
I then slung him against the same wooden wall I bashed his friends head in, as he flipped himself back around; my knee was there to greet his stomach, as he raised his head, I gave his jaw a strong right hook which probably broke it or at least cracked it. I grabbed him by his hair and lightly slammed his head against the wall before drawing blood-nap and putting it to his throat drawing a trickle of blood in the process. My eyes bore into his as I began to speak one final time:
"Guys like you and your friend are scum I've seen time and time again. Always tricking people into doing things they would never do and all for what? A few more pieces of gold at their expense? Normally I would draw this out so I can watch you suffer just like those you've tricked have suffered. But I'm feeling somewhat merciful, so I'm going to give you and your friend one chance to change, and if you don't…then I'll find you and show you both just what a man can do to another man, and I'll take my time doing it." I declared as I watched him shrink before passing out from either the pain or the fear I administered to him, and released him from my grip.
Mozu's P.O.V.
I didn't think things would end up like this. After I entered the capital, I was amazed by how huge the big city was compared to my little village. But as I was exploring, I realized I didn't let my partner know I was going further into the city, and tried heading back to where I last saw him at before he started getting worried.
Unfortunately, as I took a short-cut through an alley way; two men stopped me to ask me a question. I should've ignored them and kept going, but I thought they might've need some help so I stopped. They said they were looking to hire some cute girls for job that would pay well, but I didn't like how these two were looking at me. Especially the white-haired one; Mama always told me that you could trust people like him as much as you could trust a mother cow not to charge you for being mean with her young un's.
Then he said he already made his mind up about what he was going do with me, and started getting closer. I started getting scared until we heard someone make themselves known. I couldn't have been more relieved to see my friend arrive, but as I looked at him; I knew things weren't going to end well.
He started off polite as he always does in these types of situations, then as he started asking about the job they were offering me, he got in the white-haired man's face and he started telling them to leave, but as soon as he finished, the other man tried to grab him and then things went sour fast.
Ever since I decided to come with Colt, I learned how fearsome he was in a fight. Throughout all the fights we'd gotten in; rarely would he show mercy to anyone who crossed him, and that was usually after he finished beating them to a pulp.
I once asked him one night during our journey why he was so merciless, and he told me how he once showed mercy instead of hurting someone who tried to trick him when he was only a couple years older than me, only for person he spared to return with his friends to make an attempt on his life, which they almost succeeded. From that point on, he'd only show mercy if he thought his enemies deserved it.
He told me that finding an honest, good-natured person in his home land; this "America", was as rare as finding gold in a stream of water. The rest would either try to trick him, rob him, or just kill him for fun, and that was what everyone had to go through on a daily basis back in his homeland, not just him.
He said the only reason he was alive was because he had to be not just meaner and tougher, but faster and smarter than his opponents, he became something of an urban legend in a land known as "The Mojave Wasteland" for helping people however he could and said anyone who still attempted to kill him either had a good reason to or just had a death wish they wanted granted.
Every time he talked about his home, it was almost never pleasant to hear about it.
When he finished dealing with those unfortunate men, he turned a look at me. Although he didn't say anything, the look he gave me told me what he was feeling: Anger. I stared the ground, unable to look at him out of shamefulness for making him worry.
We walked back to the main street where he bought a bag of candy and sat on the ground away from the street and the merchant. I sat next to him, and for a moment we said nothing until he finally spoke.
"You okay? You aren't hurt, are you?" He asked calmly as he opened the bag and started to eat it piece by piece, watching the people around us carry on with their lives.
"N-no. I'm o-okay." I respond a little scared of him flying off the handle.
"I see, that's good to hear." He said before eating another piece of candy.
"I'm s-sorry. I-I shouldn't have run off without t-telling you." I apologize on the verge of tears, but then he looks at me and smiles.
"I'm not angry at you, just myself. I let myself get distracted in that shop, and something could've happened to you because I was too busy looking at antiques." He said, taking a handful of candy and handing it to me before continuing: "Just promise me to give me a heads-up next time, okay?"
"I promise." I said as I wipe my tears away and accepted his candy.
Colt's P.O.V.
After Mozu calmed down, we sat in the dirt and ate the rest of the candy I bought. Soon people as well as the vendors, started making their way towards the center of the city. I wondered what the commotion was all about? Hopefully it wasn't something bad happening.
Getting up, I asked one of the citizens what was going on. They told me Queen Mikoto was about to address the people. Made sense; they loved her as much as Sarah loved her precious Vault 21.
Mozu wanted to know if we could go see the queen. I figured why not since neither of us have ever seen her before. If I said I wasn't interested in seeing what kind of person she was or what she looked like; I'd be lying.
And while I also haven't met King Garon in person, I'd sooner piss on a sleeping yao guai than meet Caesar 2.0.
Before I started making my way there though, someone in cloak bumped passed me while moving towards the center of town. Normally, I would just shrug it off as poor courtesy, but when he made contact I felt that same unpleasant sensation from the canyon run through my body once more. Except this time, it felt stronger and more malicious than before.
Mozu snapped me out of my trance and asked if I was okay. I told her I was fine when I was anything but. Whoever that guy is; I need to keep him in my sights.
As we made our way to center of the city I kept my gaze on the man in the cloak ready to spring into action should he try something. When we reach the center, we maneuvered around the crowd to get a glimpse of the Queen. Mozu and I managed to find an empty space that allowed us to see her, and let me tell you: She was absolutely beautiful.
She had black hair that seemed to reach down almost to her ankles with bangs coming down near her chest. Her clothes were what you'd expect a member of royalty to wear: it was a regal white dress with gold ornaments adorning it such as a small flower, and she had a strange, gold tiara.
All in all; she was drop-dead gorgeous. But others were with her: That nohrian girl was there along with Sakura and a man in some type of samurai armor. However, as I began to question why the Nohrian girl was with the Queen of Hoshido of all people, I saw the cloaked man raise his hand towards the queen and saw the nohrian girl's sword fly out to him before he stabbed it into the ground which then caused a shock wave, blowing those around him away violently.
I then saw the sword cracking and glowing like it was going to…
"Explode." I said with wide eyes. I yelled at Mozu to get down as I ran towards the girl and the queen, time seemed to slow as I saw shards of the sword fly towards them both. I ran even harder before reaching them and put my arms up at the last second to shield my face from shards before I felt them impale me.
Now I've been stabbed, shot, impaled, burned, electrocuted, bruised, mauled, and had the all-around shit kicked out of me and somehow managed to survive. But all that was child's play compared to the overwhelming pain wracking my body at the moment. None of the shards didn't hit any vital parts somehow, but it didn't matter since some the shards embedded themselves deeper in my body than the others.
The worst part was that they disappeared as quickly as they came, so nothing stopped me from bleeding to death. An automatic stimpak injected itself into my body, but it only slowed the rapid blood loss, and to make matters worse; it was my only one I had crafted at the time.
As I fell to my side, I struggled to see the samurai attack the cloaked man before I lost consciousness.
Mikoto's P.O.V.
It had occurred. My fears that something terrible would occur had become a reality. When the shards from that sword raced towards Corrin; I stepped in front of her to shield her from them, ready to accept my inevitable demise.
…Or so I thought.
When I felt no pain, I turned to see a nohrian man who appeared almost the same age as my long, lost daughter standing in front of us. He had his arms crossed in front of him as blood began to pour from him…He…He saved us both.
After he fell to the ground, I saw Ryoma attempt to attack the one responsible for this destruction, only for his raijinto to pass through his body before they disappeared. I then saw Corrin kneeling over the nohrian boy's body shaking uncontrollably before releasing a primal scream before her body began to transform into that of a dragon.
"She's awakened." I said as I heard Sakura cry out for her sister.
"BIG SISTER!" she cried out as she moved closer to corrin.
"SAKURA! STAY BACK!" I bellowed out to her. She couldn't be near Corrin; not while she was in this state. She rushed over to me as I saw more of them making their way towards us only to be cut down by Corrin in the midst of her rage.
"Mother, are you alright?!" She asked as she came to my side
"Yes, my child. But this one needs our help." I said to her as I showed her the nohrian boy.
Sakura used her rod to heal him as I lent her some of my magic to help with the recovery. When his wounds finally sealed, I placed my head on his chest to see if his heartbeat could be heard. Thankfully, I could hear it. It was faint, but working nonetheless.
"AZURA!" I heard Sakura cry out. I looked to see Corrin still in her dragon form pinning Azura to the ground. But just as we feared the worst for Azura, Corrin began to revert back to her normal self but exhausted.
Soon, we regroup to see if everyone was okay. Takumi began to yell at Corrin, seeing her as the one responsible for the destruction and chaos caused here. But, I assured him Corrin was not the one responsible as I explained how I knew this day would come.
"You knew something like this would happen, mother?" Ryoma asked
"Yes, as for how and when; I did not know, and it would have become reality if not for this one." I replied as I showed them the nohrian boy.
"Who is this man?" He asked before Corrin answered his question.
"I know him. We met him a few hours ago before all this happened, and…at border in the Bottomless Canyon." She said as the others looked surprised.
"The Canyon...? I thought you told Hinoka you never saw him before." Takumi said with some anger in his voice. Corrin shook her head as she explained how she met the strange nohrian man and what exactly happened at the border.
"No, I saw him at the border in the canyon during a mission given to me by Garon to evaluate the fort there that was abandoned, or so I thought. When my retainers and I arrived, we found that the fort wasn't abandoned as we were led to believe. This man was there surrounded by the guards, but despite being surrounded; he didn't look like he wanted to fight them." She explained before continuing:
"However, before we could report back; a man named Hans who accompanied us by Garon's order attacked one of the guards unprovoked, thus forcing my retainers and I to defend ourselves. As Gunter; an old knight and one of my retainers who helped raise me during my childhood followed me back to the castle while my nohrian siblings; who had arrived about the same time the hoshidan reinforcements tried to end the fighting. Hans appeared and attacked us, he…he knocked Gunter off the edge of the bridge into canyon. When I subdued him, he told me he was ordered by the king to not only attack the guards, but to kill Gunter. Before I could interrogate him further, my sword pulled into the canyon."
"It pulled you into the Canyon?! How did you survive?" Hinoka questioned.
"I was rescued by Lilith: one of the servants at the northern fortress that turned out to be a dragon. After saving me she brought me to place known as the astral plane where she allowed me to rest for a little bit before sending me back to the fort where I didn't see anyone there, until I was knocked out." She finished before looking at the nohrian man before speaking again:
"I thought this man was captured or killed during the conflict, but when the others were showing me around the city, he bumped into me while looking for his friend." She said.
"If you knew him, why didn't you tell us early when he bumped into you?" Sakura asked her big sister.
"I didn't know how you and the others would have reacted if I did. You might have mistaken him as a spy." She responded before apologizing. I looked to Kaze and Rinkah before speaking:
"Take him to the palace to rest. He's wound may be closed, but he's lost too much blood." They bowed before taking the Nohrian man to safety.
"Mother, are you sure this is wise? He could deceive us at some point." Takumi voiced his caution. I could not fault him for this. Ever since the death of Sumeragi and Corrin's kidnapping, he began to harbor deep resentment and paranoia of nohrians. While some are of ill-repute, there are also many who are not untrustworthy monsters as he believes them to be.
"Yes, my son. If not for him, I wouldn't be with you and your siblings right now. He could have died trying to protect Corrin and I. This is the least I can do for what he's done." I said as I saw him accept albeit reluctantly.
"Very well, but I'm still going to keep my eye on him. Just so you don't regret this kindness." With that said he followed the other back to the palace. Ryoma then approached me.
"Mother, you know as well as I that everything that's happened as of late cannot be ignored any longer." He stated before continuing: "King Garon has not only made a failed attempt on your life by using Corrin's blade, but has broken the border treaty and is responsible for the loss of innocent life and senseless destruction caused here. I know you've been doing your best to avoid this outcome; I have as well, but this cannot go on any longer." He stated as I looked down, sorrow and regret churning within me.
"You're right. Even after your father's assassination, I still hoped that some peace could still be made between us. But it seems that was just wishful thinking. If war is what it takes to stop this senseless violence; so be it. Inform Yukimura of my decision and have preparations made." I instructed before gazing in the sky before closing my eyes.
'If only I could tell them, then they would know why I never wanted this to happen.'
So ends chapter four. I noticed the last chapter was pretty short than the others before it, so I decided to make this one a little longer to make up for it. I hope you guys enjoyed it.
Now, to let you guys know: I'm about to start my fall semester and won't have much time to work on my story. But I'll still try to keep up with it as much as possible. Once again, thank you for reading.
Farewell.
