ASLEEP
Rated T for violence, imagery and cursing
Chapter Five – ...to Hell
This is a long frigging walk. To be perfectly honest, looking back it seems we spent more time going downhill than we did uphill, so guess what we're doing now!
"Can we...tak' a break?" Donnel asked, panting. To be fair, we had just crested this hill that's about five hours away from home. Still, it'll be useful to get my thoughts together before we get back.
"Sure. Kellam, we're taking a break for half an hour." I sigh, slumping against a large boulder and unsealing my canteen. It's fairly hot today, too, which doesn't help. Kellam opted to sink into the ground on the other side of the boulder, while Donnel just collapsed where he was and sighed.
"Thank ye..."
"Yes, thank me." I sighed. "Don't expect to get breaks when you meet up with the people who are meant to be in charge. Frederick would just tell us that we'd have a break after we get there, it's only another five hours."
Kellam chuckled and removed the over sized pauldrons of his armor, rolling his shoulders with a disturbing crack. "It feels good to get that off."
"I can imagine." I nodded, thankful for the fact that all I need to wear is the chain mail with the tunic over it. Anna, in all her red-and-yellow glory, sat on top of the rock after tying her horse to the ground. It's actually not that dumb an idea to keep tent pegs for that purpose.
"I'm glad I don't have to wear armor at all." She smirked, crossing her legs. "I don't let them hit me."
"I'm sure you don't." I groaned. "To be fair, it's not like I allow them to hit me, they just do."
"You might want to work on that." She simpered. I shot a glare at her, sword hand twitching. Oh god, don't turn into Owain. Seriously, that would be disturbing as hell, not to mention hard to explain when he shows up and people think he's quoting me or something.
"You might want to work on finishing your opponents. Because you were still tied up, you ended up healing me, which cost me money that...you...got..." You have to be kidding me. "...you magnificent bitch."
"And the penny drops." Anna said with a smirk. That's...quite horrifying.
"I could have died!"
"You wouldn't, you're tougher than that." Anna shrugged. "Besides, their leader was drunk. Didn't you notice?"
"Way ta make ma revenge less satisfyin'." Donnel grumbled from the grass. "Tha's a lot less impressive if he was drunk."
"You know what?" I frown. "Anna, never play with people's lives again. Some things are more important than money."
"I doubt that." Anna sighed. "But sure."
"Also, break's over, let's get moving." I hauled to my feet. Donnel frowned.
"But it's only been ten minutes!"
"And my mood's been ruined, the sooner I can get home and beat the crap out of a training doll the better." I shot back. "Come on, it's only five hours!"
Kellam snapped his pauldrons back on and was already halfway down the other side of the hill by the time we'd gotten our act together. Donnel was dashing down, not wanting to be left behind, while Anna...Anna was odd. Way to go, Cameron, you messed up big time with this one.
"Are you alright?" I asked slowly. Anna shook her head and sighed.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about it!" She flashed a grin at me. "I promise not to put you in danger any more, okay?"
"No matter how much money it would get you?" I joked. Anna just smirked and started walking.
"Well, there's a point where I'd start considering it..." She trailed off. Well, fine. Point: Anna.
"I hope it's at least four digits of gold." I grumbled, walking after them.
You know, after that debacle, I was expecting to get back home and be greeted normally, have a bit of a break, and then do other stuff for a while, then for the plot to catch up with me.
I did not expect to open the door to see Ricken desperately trying to figure out how a healing staff works while an unconscious Vaike was bleeding from a few dozen places on a cleared table. Once again, the powers-that-be conspire against me it would seem.
Oh, right, authority figure mode. "Anna, get over there and help" I snapped, waving the woman forwards. Ricken turned to me – oh, wow, kid, you look exhausted.
"Cameron! Thank Naga you're back." He sighed, sinking into a chair. Donnel hovered by the door uncertainly while Kellam resumed his usual position in a corner, looking concerned. Well, I'm awake now at least.
"Ricken, what the hell happened?" I know damn well what happened I should have seen this coming you stupid overconfident fool.
Ricken rubbed his face and looked up at me. "Maribelle's estates were under attack by Plegians posing as bandits. She tried to talk them down, but got captured. Vaike tried to rescue her, but got badly hurt and barely managed to make it back here with Maribelle's horse."
Naturally.
"Damn it. Were they even trying to pretend?" I cursed, dumping my sword in the corner. Ricken shook his head wearily.
"Not really. Enough so that we wouldn't be able to prove it, but...it was definitely Army troops." Ricken groaned. "Vaike could rip through a couple of bandits easily."
I gave the wall an ill-tempered kick. "Damn it! Where are Sully and Stahl?"
"They came back an hour before you. Stahl went to inform the Exalt, while Sully went to tell Chrom."
I rubbed my forehead and stared off into space. "With any luck, he'll be allied with Ferox by now. Agh, we can't afford to wait for them to get back. Anna, how's Vaike holding up?"
She looked up from her work, casting aside one exhausted Mend staff and grabbing the second from her pack. "He'll be fine, he just fainted from blood loss and shock. The injuries themselves are superficial, but I'm not an expert."
I still can't get used to serious!Anna. "Right, then. How long until he's up and running again?"
Anna bit her lip and muttered under her breath. "...maybe three hours?"
I nodded to myself and tried to run some figures through my head. "Okay. Okay. Right. People, we've got a three hour break. Get your stuff together and be ready to march, we're going after Maribelle."
Reckless reckless reckless this is so reckless stop diverging form the path so much you fool. Think logically, wait for reinforcements, the game progression will be the same no it won't it changed the paralogues to all one location so it's not guaranteed they might hurt her we can take that chance no we can't yes we can no we can't yes we can no we can't-
"We can't take this risk." Kellam protested.
"YES WE CAN!" Oh, wow, I just smashed a plate. "Kellam, we are not leaving one of our own behind when we could have done something."
Kellam shook his head. "It's too risky-"
"SOD THE RISKS! Kellam, we owe it to her to go and save her stupid, stuck-up noble arse, so if you could PLEASE just SHUT UP and let me THINK FOR A MINUTE!"
Dead quiet. Okay, breathe in and out.
"Anyone who wants to come with me to save her go get your stuff. Anna, are you done with-"
Anna nodded her head. "He should wake up soon."
"Excellent. Pack lightly if you're coming, we need to move fast." I dunk a cloth into a bucket of water and wipe my face. Focus, Cameron, stop being controlled by emotions. This is critical. "Who's coming?"
Kellam, hesitantly, volunteered. Ricken, unsurprisingly, jumped at the chance, the same as Donnel. Wait, where's Anna?
"Sorry, what were we voting on?" The redhead asked as she came back in. "I was just checking my inventory to see if there was anything good for us to use when we go save Mirabel."
"Maribelle." Ricken corrected swiftly.
"Yeah, her." Anna shrugged. I grin.
"Is there?"
"Oh, plenty." She pulls out a bundle of swords, lances and axes that I eagerly reach out for. She pulls them back. "Two thousand gold."
Are you kidding me Anna? Ugh, that'll clear out the purse I landed here with. I think. Can't be bothered counting it.
"Just take the damn pouch." I grumbled, tossing it at her. "Great, now I'm broke."
And there's that stupid smile that makes me flush again. "Alright, someone write a note. Tell Chrom that we're going after Maribelle, but not attacking because that would be stupid. We'll come up with a new plan later."
The looks of relief on pretty much everyone's faces confirmed that I appeared to be acting like a raging bull in a china shop earlier. Well then. Two hours of sleep waiting for Vaike to wake up it is.
Log Entry #9
This is stupid
Shut up, Lucian.
No, seriously, this is a stupid plan
What do you care?
I don't know if you've noticed, but I do have some concern for your welfare.
For reasons as of yet unexplained.
Oh to hell with you too. I can't just care?
You still haven't told me what the hell you are, so no.
Ugh, fine, be that way you stupid Outsider.
What the hell is an Outsider?
Use that brain you were so damn proud of.
Ah. An Outsider is someone from outside this dimension?
An Outsider is a Self-Insert, you idiot.
So I actually am in a bad fanfic?
I chose a term you'd be familiar with for a reason, and that reason was not so you could taunt me.
Sorry, just stressed
Understandable. Not forgiven though. Any more questions?
What's an Alternate?
What?
That's what you called yourself, right? My Alternate?
I'm done talking. - LLA
Well THAT conversation was completely useless. Slam the book shut and stuff it in my pack. Time to leave, Vaike woke up an hour ago. Let's hope this goes well.
The trek took us the better part of two hours on borrowed horses. Ricken managed to give us a rough guide, and once we were in Maribelle's estates Donnel managed to pick up a trail. I guess tracking animals is a useful skill in combat too, actually.
"Nice work, farm boy!" Vaike grinned. Donnel seemed to be in some kind of wierd mix of embarassed, annoyed and proud. Mostly proud.
"Focus, people. They've got a twelve-hour head start at this point, but they're a bigger band and not mounted." I caution. "We should be able to catch them, but we want to stay behind."
It was getting dark by the time we caught our first look at them. On the side of a hill, at a campsite...surrounded by other fires. Damn.
"I count twenty-three fires." Anna hissed, folding away her – well, the Shepherd's now, we had a discussion about her property on the way here – telescope. "That means-"
Ricken moaned. "The whole Plegian army's there."
Well, bollocks.
"Not all of it." Anna shook her head. "I'd say there's ten men to a fire."
"Two hundred and thirty men are way too many for us to deal with, Anna." I mutter. "We need to come up with something smart."
...or, as it turns out, unbelievably stupid. Grimacing, I spat out the mouthful of dirt I'd gotten from Anna shoving my face into the ground.
"I found this one wandering around your camp." She grinned. "I heard Gangrel pays well."
"Kehahaha!"
And there's the son of a bitch himself. Must...resist...temptation...to try and kill him now...Ugh, first impression is that's an ugly boot. Damn, that's not a hand pulling me upwards that feels more like a frigging claw. Wow, you're ugly. Get a haircut and learn some basic fashion sense, man, it'll make a better first impression! What, are you trying to scream 'Evil King' everywhere you go on purpose or something?
"And what do we have here? A little lost lamb?"
Screw you too, Gangrel. I'm making sure you die, and sod the Bonus Maps.
"Listen, you freak." I say very calmly. "The answer to your question lies in a simple set of steps: You give me my friend back, let us go, and then leave our god-damn country and listen to our peace offer-OOF."
Yeah, ouch. I forgot that Gangrel's actually really tough. Ugh. Christ. Well, that's a sure sign my pain tolerance has improved. I barely feel any pain in my gut, even though he sucker-punched it.
"A little lost lamb with a mouth on him, then." Gangrel hummed to himself. "Pahh, throw him in with the other one."
"Hey!" Anna protested. "What about my money?"
You really don't need to act that much when there's money on the line, do you? Well, I hope he offers less than four digits of gold or otherwise she might actually take him up on the offer.
"Kehaha. You'll get paid after tomorrow, we've got a deal to cut. Make sure they don't escape until then."
Gangrel you slime I'm going to rip you limb from limb one of these days I swear – THUNK.
I wake up to someone pushing me desperately.
Oh, hey Maribelle.
"What on earth were you thinking?" She protested, sighing in...relief? Don't get soft on me Maribelle.
"Rescuing you." I grunt. Maribelle glares.
"By getting captured?"
"I'll admit, phase one of the plan is fairly stupid. So is phase two and three. Altogether though, I find they make a picture of great ingenuity."
Maribelle stared at me in disbelief. Hey, I'm telling the truth here woman, don't knock me for it.
"Look, there is actually something resembling a plan here. Now, if you'll excuse me I think Anna was a bit overenthusiastic" Yeah, I hope you heard that from outside the tent you money-obsessed psycho "With the beatings"
Maribelle looked at me with dawning comprehension. "You wanted to get-"
"Stop talking before you give it away!" I hissed quietly. She shut up. "Anna's one of the new Shepherd's I ended up recruiting while we were out, she's great with disguises and stuff like that. I came up with a really stupid plan involving her bluffing her way into the guards for tomorrow and me getting captured."
There was a brief pause.
"From this point on, I'm going to let Robin come up with all the crazy bullcrap." I mutter. "I'm getting a headache trying to keep my own plan straight in my head."
Maribelle bit her lip and looked away. "imsorry."
"What?"
Maribelle cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for how I treated you."
Well that was unexpected. "Save the apologies for later, Mari. We've got to get out of this first."
And all signs of forgiveness are gone. "What did you call me?"
"Um..."
"How...dare you refer to someone above your station in such a way?" She's really angry, isn't she. "You...I...unbelievable!"
"Unbelievable?" Sod it, I'm tearing into her. "You did something stupid, so I had to do something even more stupid to save your overbearing stuck-up ass! I think I'm entitled to one pet name, Mari!"
I am so glad our hands are bound because I'm pretty sure she'd try to scratch my eyes out at this point. Anna stuck her head in.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but...could you not yell?" She begged quietly. "You know, before the other guards make true on their promise to kill you?"
We shut up and resorted to glaring at each other. Anna sighed and went back outside. It's going to be a long night...
A/N: Bit shorter than usual, but for some reason I really like writing Maribelle. I'll get the next chapter up by Wednesday, and for those of you who care there should be a new Time Matters Not up on Sunday or Monday.
Oh, yeah.
And thanks for almost 50 follows, you guys are awesome. Wait, now I have to entertain ~50 people on a semi-tight schedule.
...
Dammit.
- G2G
EDIT 16/05/2013: The entire first segment was added, for the purpose of serving as a 'C Support' with Anna. Added about 500 words to the chapter, too, bringing up to average length. Also expanded on the meeting with Gangrel. After that, the typical spelling, continuity and grammar changes were made.