Hm... Seems the cynicism of my previous chapter's A/N's scared people away... or maybe it was the awfulness of the first nine chapters of the story... Hard to say. I'll refrain from being *too* cynical here, it is supposed to be funfunfun! ^_^
Anyway, this is it. The last, final chapter of this, my first real fan fiction. It's hard to believe that something I started writing four years ago in response to another fanfic whist I was sick has taken me this far... Really, it's kind of pathetic that it took me four whole years to finish this. Alas, some people never finish their stuff, so I suppose it isn't that bad...
Enjoy this chapter, please, and also remember this: I don't own the Fire Emblem; at various points in history, Ike, Eliwood, Roy, Ephraim, Sigurd, Marth, and Chrom have owned them (to name a handful) but currently, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems possess its powers.
Chapter Eleven
The Fortress
For the first time since they'd left Reglay, they'd encountered terrain that was less than ideal. Shortly after turning off of the roads, the company came into the foothills of the mountain range separating Bern and Lycia. The terrain became quickly rocky and their pace slowed massively. It was tedious to lead the horses over the pass and Hugh volunteered to take the horses back to Pherae. Despite the vast protests of Lugh and Lleu, it was necessary. The day was already growing short and they'd only just entered the mountains. Hugh found himself beset by hugs and well wishes that he returned in no small amount before he departed.
On foot and without horses to contend with, the company found it surprisingly easier to navigate the mountains. Erk remained ever determined as though a divine force was guiding him and petty things such as injury, starvation, or morale would not deter him. It was a taste of a cause for worry for the twins. Not long afterwards, they came to an outcropping with a rather spectacular view. Ahead was a small valley. Surrounded on all sides by mountains twice the elevation of the hill they were on, the valley was more of a bowl in shape. In the middle was a small hill and upon it looked to be the ruins of a castle, about a mile distant from their position now. Several of the towers were inaccessible and crumbling and the wall was in pieces. The valley was peaceful; shrubs, grass, and wildflowers bloomed in all sorts of colors and all the vegetation seemed to be intruding on the castle. Not a sound of activity came from the castle.
"Are you sure this is it?" asked Chad.
"Positive," replied Erk, "I took the exact same route up here nine years ago and was captured just a few miles to the south."
"The place has really let itself go," commented Lleu, "was it this dilapidated when you escaped?"
"It was the middle of the night," replied Erk, "I didn't notice."
"It doesn't sound like there's anybody in there;" said Cath, "let's just go now."
"No, not yet," said Erk, "it just may be that that's what this mercenary group wants everybody to think when they find the place… especially after Bern lost the war." He put his pack down and sat on the grass, "No, it's best we wait until nightfall, just to be on the safe side."
There were some shrugs before everybody else followed suit. Sophia got into a conversation with Erk and Lugh discreetly poked his brother. When Lleu looked at him, he nodded away from the rest of the group. Lleu followed his brother quietly away, probably to have a word with him. "What's up?" asked Lleu once they were on the other side of the hill, out of earshot.
"I'm worried about Dad," said Lugh.
"What do you mean?" asked Lleu.
"Lleu, look at that fortress," said Lugh, "it's obviously been abandoned for years. You and I have both seen our fair share of run down forts."
"Your point?" asked Lleu.
"What if dad didn't escape from the fortress? What if the mercenary group was destroyed and he was released? What if he wandered for years on his own?" offered Lugh.
"Those are big if's, Lugh," said Lleu, "Why would he do that? How could he forget us for years and years?"
Lugh leaned towards his brother, "What if mom died years ago? What if he went crazy with grief?"
Lleu processed the possibility. "You're jumping to conclusions," he said to his brother.
"Maybe," Lugh nearly muttered, "but you can't deny it's a possibility."
"Fine, it's a possibility," Lleu crossed his arms defiantly, "but even if it is, so what? He's our father and he's back in our lives. Shouldn't we be grateful he came back at all, Lugh? If he is… insane… then, well, we should help him! He's the only family we've got left if mom's really dead." He looked at the ruined fort, choosing his words carefully. "Lugh, just having my dad back in my life has really changed me for the better," he felt the gold band encamped in his hair, "Look at me now, I'm a freaking Archsage and I have a girlfriend… that's better than where I was two months ago, ready to throw my life away to the darkness… Daddy coming back into our lives showed me just how much I have to live for. I don't want to lose him again. Not so soon after he came back…"
Lugh felt tears in his eyes when he brushed his hand against them. "Okay, Lleu, I get it," he said and he let out a long sigh, "I guess we'll know for sure what the real story is tonight." Lleu nodded.
With the three girls chatting a number of feet away and Lugh and Lleu talking to each other on the other side of the hill, Erk found himself alone. Well, mostly alone. Chad rested against a small embankment and stared longingly at Lugh and Lleu. He looked a little melancholy and sad; though Erk had noticed Chad was often like this. "Are you alright, Chad?" asked Erk.
Chad regarded his best friends' father, "Just a little left out… to be honest."
Erk moved and sat at the boy's side on the embankment, "I suppose it's because of me, isn't it?"
"Well, I…" began Chad, "It isn't like it's your fault or anything…" The purple-haired man looked at Chad before the latter continued, "Lugh and Lleu had a life before they came to the orphanage; they had you once. I never had anything like that. For a long time while we grew up it didn't matter, though. We were pretty much the same age, we had to help Father look after all the younger kids. We were like the triplet older brothers of all the Little Ones… Then Lleu ran away as soon as we heard Bern had invaded Sacae… and, well, one war later they found out you were alive. It makes me realize that we're not really brothers, we're just friends and you're my friends' dad."
"You know it doesn't have to be that way if you don't want that," mused Erk.
"Huh?" asked Chad.
"You've been a brother to my sons when they had nobody else in the world," said Erk, "I can never repay you in any way for that, Chad. Please know that." He studied the intensity of Chad's eyes. The boy was far more intelligent that he probably ever let on. "But perhaps you'll allow me to be your father?"
"You mean you'd want to… adopt m-me?" asked Chad.
"Only if you'd want to," said Erk.
Those eyes were near tears of joy… but Chad would never let that on. He tore his gaze away from Erk's. "Why would you do that?" asked Chad, "Just because I'm your sons' friend doesn't mean I'm worth adopting…"
"I think you are," replied Erk, "I think you're worth more than you think you are."
Chad kept his cool demeanor. "I'd have to think about it," he nearly muttered.
Erk could see in a subtle way that the boy was basking in long overdue joy and love… but he still remained cold as a sort of defense. "I understand, of course," Erk said. He realized he would be blessed to call this boy his son.
The sun was beginning to set now as Lugh and Lleu rejoined their father and friends. Erk stared at the fortress, Chad, Cath, Jenifer, and Sophia seated beside him before Lleu and Lugh squeezed in. "Nine years I've been dreaming of this moment," he told his sons, "nine years… Now that I'm here, it just doesn't seem as fulfilling as I thought it would be."
"We create the size… of our problems in our heads," mused Sophia, "sometimes when we face our opposition… it seems smaller than we thought."
"Not everything like that can be overestimated," countered Lleu, "I mean we faced off against freaking dragons. That's not something that's ever taken lightly."
"That's true," Sophia muttered.
"In this case," said Erk, "I guess all that is left to do now is sit and wait. Underestimating or not, making a mistake would be more than unfortunate."
The sun set beautifully through the mountains. All the time they observed it, the fort was silent, continuing its look of abandonment. The stars came out and most everybody took the opportunity to get some shut-eye. Erk stayed awake as a vigil. They couldn't have a fire but most of them worried more about being assaulted by wild animals than being discovered by a nearby fort that—at best—wasn't very active given how abandoned it looked.
The stars glistened and rotated as the night continued. It was incredibly still out. Only a breath of wind would penetrate the calm. It was like the night itself was asleep, pleasantly sighing only once in a while. Looking at the stars and recalling the fuzzy memories of his star charts for this time of year, Erk decided it had grown late enough. The men of this fort would scarcely conceive of an attack in the wee hours of the morning.
Erk poked his son sleeping at his side. By the robes, it looked to be Lleu. The boy stirred from his slumber and looked up at his father, who said, "Time to wake." Lleu helped Erk wake everyone else without much mishap. Erk looked at the assembled friends of his sons. They didn't look like much, really just a group of children barely old enough to be considered teenagers… Of course most of them had faced off against dragons and the previously most powerful nation on the continent. In a way, it was perfect; any opposition inside might hesitate when they saw a small boy faced against them… before being burnt alive by one of Erk's 13 year old sons.
Still, seeing such young faces in the dark prompted Erk to say a few words. "Listen," he said, "this has been my mission… my dream for a long time. I've brought you into a mess that should be my problem alone. To be perfectly honest, if you were mercenaries… or even if you all were older, I wouldn't be saying this. I don't doubt your abilities but I want you to know that I won't force you to accompany me into that fort. Many men who occupy that fort will die tonight. We'll be killing them, their crimes over the years more than justify such death. You may have done things like this in the past, but if you don't want to be responsible for more death for my sake, please don't hesitate to say so."
Erk waited for the responses… but no one said a word. A moment more passed before Lugh ignited a fireball, illuminating his face with dark shadows. "Dad, we're all in this with you until the end," he said, "now let's go get Mom back!"
There was a round of cheers from the other 12 and 13 year olds (though Sophia was in her eighties or so). Erk couldn't have found a more deadly group of young teens if he tried. "All right, then. Let's move," he said.
Lugh doused his fireball but it seemed that whatever lingered in the fortress hadn't taken notice of the light anyway. They made their way down the hill and into the valley. Chad and Cath lead the group at this point; their eyes more acclimated to the darkness than their friends. They crossed a dilapidated moat. Most of the water had gone and they could cross over the remainder with ease. "This brings back memories," muttered Erk, "it seems they haven't done well over the years."
"To the point where they've abandoned the castle for some time?" offered Cath.
"It may be possible," said Erk, "no doubt something has happened recently…"
They climbed up the embankment leading to the castle and came to the collapsed wall. "Easiest castle I've ever broken into," commented Cath quietly.
"What do you see?" asked Erk from the side of the embankment.
"You'd want to see this yourself, I think," said Chad. One by one the others joined the thieves inside the fort's courtyard. Most of the interior of the fort was open; there was otherwise a stone keep of sorts on one side opposite from the group and entrances to a few towers that populated the walls. It seemed there had once been tents pitched all along the dirt ground inside the fort but all that remained of each a dozen or so tents were stakes on the ground and a charred square of burnt canvas.
"I guess it's safe to say nobody's here to slay anymore," said Cath. From her bag, she produced a pair of torches. She lit them both before handing one to Chad. With this, they could see more clearly the ruined ground that had once been the heart of a bandit's fort.
"My God," remarked Erk as he approached the new centerpiece of the fort. There were dozens of bodies piled into a heap that looked to have been burnt, though the people had probably been killed prior to being set alight. There was a head on a spike, staring ominously out into the distance, and stuck to the spike above the head was a piece of paper, seemingly rather official. Wincing with a bit of a frown at the gnarly stench, Erk took the paper off of the pike with the rotting head and said, "Could you bring that torch over here, please?"
Once Chad obliged, Erk read, "By order of High Queen Guinevere of Bern, the Golden Hand of Bowlhollow Keep are hereby sentenced to death by assault…" he mumbled a bit, skipping over bits that weren't as important, "…charges are as such: banditry, damage of property of Bern, damage of property of Lycia…" he mumbled some more, evidently there were a fat lot of charges, "…withholding prisoners of war, withholding citizens of Lyica and of Bern, and withholding property of the Kingdom of Bern." He let the paper fall to the ground, "How ironic," he said.
"What do you mean, dad?" asked Lugh.
"This couldn't have happened more than a week ago," said Erk, indicating the corpses, "Nino and I went to all that trouble to escape this place when in a matter of weeks we would've been liberated." He shook his head and looked up at the keep. "Where did they take her?" he mumbled.
A small light appeared in the keep's highest tower window; a candle's flicker. "Dad!" gasped Lleu.
"I saw it," said Erk, "c'mon." They all raced for the keep's entrance. The great wooden door opened with minimal effort on Erk's part. He gestured for his companions to stay quiet and behind him. He ascended the spiral stone staircase leading to the tower atop the keep slowly and quietly, ever ready to charge a spell in his hand.
As he approached the door of wood leading to the top of the tower, he looked back at his companions. All were as ready as he was, for a fight, for a surprise, for anything; spells or daggers in hand. Erk was ready for answers to questions lingering far too long and with that, he pushed the door open.
A figure in a cloak turned around with a casual smile on his face. He sat on a stool at a bedside, another figure lay upon it. The room had once been the fort commander's quarters but most of the opulence had been looted or otherwise destroyed. The solitary candle lit the room from a small table by the sole glass-less window.
Erk had calculated several possibilities but not this. The figure on the bed was a woman, dressed now in a simple cotton gown in undyed beige. She slept so peacefully. Her long hair was brushed and washed; it would flow down her sides and past her rear if she was standing. Her hair was like snow fallen onto still green leaves; much of it was white with small instances of green. Her face was hardened by years of pain but had retained a softness that attracted kindness and love. Tears in Erk's eyes filled in happy wells, "Nino."
As Erk walked over to the bed, the other figure watched him with the same small smile. He'd seemed to know Erk was coming. Dark clothing was complete with cloak and dagger, but the face was familiar. Deep tanned skin, brick-red hair, and sleeveless arms with those mirrored tattoos. His eyes had changed the most. No longer staring with death, he had a certain peace within them that one could imagine would be found after dying. His chin had matured a little, but he otherwise looked largely how he did 20 years ago. "Jaffar?" asked Erk.
Jaffar nodded serenely. "It's been a long time," he uttered in his deep, murmur prone voice.
"I assumed you'd be long dead by now," said Erk.
"Just the way I like it," the assassin said.
Erk shook his head, "Nino… How'd you know she was here? How'd you get here?"
"You look upon Ström, Minister of the Free Isle of Rùm," spoke Jaffar. His vocal tone changed, no longer quiet and with the confidence of a fearless leader or father.
"You jest," said Erk.
"Do I look like a jester to you?" asked Jaffar as he slipped into his previous voice. He smiled wider, "If I were born dead, such a title befits a suitable afterlife. Bounty hunters chased me for seven or eight years after we defeated Nergal," he turned his gaze to Chad and the boy found an unusual sadness in Jaffar's eyes, "I could never stop in one place for more than a fortnight… Companions I may have had died around me because even if they couldn't touch me, they could touch those around me…" He looked away, "I finally faked my own death convincingly enough and retired The Angel of Death for good. I ran for a few more years just to be safe… sometimes I forgot what I was running from.
"Then I entered the Western Isles," he continued, "I'd been travelling Elibe since before I was old enough to walk… but the tranquility of the west astounded me the most. I was caught in a rebellion on a small island a day's voyage west off the coast of Fibernia. I guess my experience worked best amongst the forces against Etruria and they made me their leader of sorts. It was the perfect cover… a new life, a new name." He looked back at Nino, "But even I can't keep running forever. I arrived in Bern not long after the end of the war… to look for Nino. I found this place when the Bernese were storming it and I took charge of her. Before I had no way of helping her, but now… I return the kindness she once gave me all those years ago."
Erk turned over Jaffar's story in his mind. He looked at his wife, "How is she?"
"Healing slowly; she needs rest now more than anything," replied Jaffar, "she's experienced so much… pain."
"I know," said Erk, "for the longest time I was powerless to stop it… seems even when I sought the help I needed I was too late." He looked at Jaffar, "Again I am eternally in your debt, Jaffar."
Jaffar nodded quietly. "Are these your children?" he asked.
Erk smiled warmly, "And their friends," he added. He introduced everyone as the sky grew lighter outside.
"Should we destroy it?" asked a boy's voice. There was a fog of darkness between Nino and the source of that voice.
"Leave it," said the voice of her husband, "let it rot where it is." She grew excited, trying to draw herself towards consciousness… but it was as though she were swimming toward a surface of water covered in ice. It was as if the ice blocking her from the consciousness she so desired hit her in the head and knocked her out… all was silent then.
A few fragments ebbed toward her from across a sea of darkness. She heard the boy's voice again, though no words could be deciphered. She heard Erk again… a girl's voice… cheering… more voices in conversation… but as soon as they came, they departed, leaving Nino as frustrated as before. She was exhausted, even trying to piece together all the events and time leading to now was too much of a task for the moment. She had to convince herself that she needed rest…
"It's certainly a fascinating tale, Erk," said Eliwood to Erk, "you should probably write a book about it." They walked down the central street of the town of Pherae. Despite being the late morning, activity in the town could best be described as sleepy. It was still a bit hard to believe two of the greatest heroes of an age came from this humble place.
"Perhaps," replied Erk, "but there's no telling if there aren't other places up there in the mountains holding all manner of prisoners illegally…"
"I guess it proves the legacies of Desmond and Zephiel will haunt us for several more years at least," said Eliwood, "had it been any different, Erk… if Hector and I weren't trying to appease Bern for so long… had I known how futile it would be…" Eliwood looked at Erk with eyes of regret. "I wish I could've saved my friends in time… Rath, Lucius, you… Hector…"
"It's all in the past now, Lord Eliwood," said Erk.
"But I had the power to do it!" protested Eliwood, "And instead of being the leader I should have been all those years, I fell for the twisted lies and stupidity of politics!" He sighed, "And in so doing, most of my friends are dead and even more suffered."
"You had no way of knowing how it would all turn out," Erk said, "all we can do now is act based on the best information available."
Eliwood nodded, "And hopefully things will finally turn around. With Guinevere on the throne in Bern and my son in charge of Lycia… perhaps there's hope. Perhaps I can finally deal with kidnappers and bandits like a proper Marquis…"
"Don't get too ahead of yourself," cautioned Erk, "you still have to ask your son before you can order an army to traipse through the wilderness." A grin grew on his face.
Eliwood laughed loudly, "Oh, you don't have to remind me." He put his palm on his forehead.
Cath watched Eliwood as he and Erk continued down the street out of earshot. From her place lounging against a shop's wall she seemed in a trance almost as she pondered what she'd eavesdropped. Chad crunched on an apple beside her and stirred her from her thoughts. He met her dirty look with a lazy expression. "He regrets a lot," said Cath.
"Who?" asked Chad.
"Eliwood, moron," replied Cath with rolled eyes, "Didn't you hear what he said as he walked by?"
"Sure I did," replied Chad.
"Well… do you think he means it?" asked Cath.
"Probably," said Chad, "not all nobles are corrupt and evil. Some are even human."
She rested her chin on her knees pensively, "I wonder if my father…"
"Sometimes they want to help but they can't," said Chad, "sometimes they realize the only way they can help the people they love is doing something they know is wrong… 'cus if they don't, even worse things will happen… I thought you'd have figured that out by now, Cath."
Cath slapped the boy on the cheek, "Cut me some slack, okay? Maybe it takes some time to get used to an idea."
Rubbing his cheek but with a grin, he said, "No wonder you're so bull headed."
"You! I'll get you for that!" she cried. Chad jumped up and ran for it while laughing. Cath chased him around the street and giggled.
Eventually she caught him and tickled the daylights out of him. "No more!" he pleaded but she just responded to him with giggles. After what seemed like twenty years, she relented, letting Chad finally have a breath. Cath looked up with some alarm on her face and Chad spent a few seconds realizing what she was looking at.
The man from before, the one who'd tended to Nino, now leaned against the wall of a building just a few feet from them. He had that same strange smile he'd had before on his face. Cath absently looked from the man, whom she remembered being called Jaffar, to Chad… there was something similar about their faces to be sure… Cath began to understand Chad's usual death-scowl a little better when she looked at the man.
"Who are you," asked Chad, "really?"
In response, the man played with a dagger for a moment. "I once tried seriously to start a family," Jaffar said, "I'd been travelling with a young thief for some time… She reminded me of Nino initially but there was so much we had in common. She was on the run from bounty hunters as was I… It wasn't long before we fell in love. We hid as she grew heavy with baby. I really thought I could protect her… but it was not to last. Not long after she gave birth bounty hunters sprang on her while she gathered herbs in a field. Our baby was without mother weeks after he was born… I knew I couldn't protect my son forever, I knew the life of a fugitive wouldn't be good for him. I gave him to an orphanage in the care of an old friend in Araphen… the boy was still so young but already I could see he'd have a beautiful head of sandy blond hair… his mother's hair."
Cath looked from Chad to Jaffar a few more times. Chad had tears in his eyes. Cath grew impatient with Chad and so asked the question for him, "You're his father?"
Jaffar shook his head, "I don't deserve to be called that by him," he said, "a father would've raised this boy despite everything and no matter the circumstances." He turned his head in order to try and conceal the tears in his eyes, "A father wouldn't dump his infant son at an orphanage so he wouldn't be slowed down… The pride I feel now in seeing you, Chad… I don't deserve to feel it."
Chad jumped up and ran down the street. He had to hide his crying. "Chad!" cried Cath. She turned to Jaffar, "A father wouldn't feel regret right now either," she said before hopping to her feet to follow Chad, "Chad!"
Jaffar turned over what Cath had said in his mind, "No I suppose not," he noted quietly. He held his head in sorrow.
It had been a long time since Nino had awoken in a bed. She slowly sat up, taking every movement gingerly in the fear of experiencing too much pain at once. It had been so long since she hadn't been in pain… she hardly recognized it. The sunlight poured in from a window on the right. There was a garden out there and in the distance, across a grassy plain filled with farms and homesteads, she saw mountains capped with snow.
She looked at her hands. They looked so old and wrinkled, she could scarcely believe it. It had been a long time since she'd looked at her hands in broad daylight. She looked beyond her hands and found two grass-headed figures passed out with their bodies halfway resting on the foot of the bed. They were boys… twins… and suddenly Nino realized who they were. They were her babies, her sons. The last time she'd seen them they were little tikes that called her "momma" and spent whole days picking flowers for her. Now they were young men. They'd grown so handsome, Nino's heart filled with pride… but it was a regretful pride. So much had happened, frankly way more than she supposed. She had never wished for all the things her sons had probably experienced in her absence.
One of her sons stirred from his slumber, the other soon followed… so much like how she remembered they used to do. One looked at the other in wonder, responded in kind by his brother. One, dressed in a yellow tunic, hugged her tight, the other followed seconds later. She felt the warmth of these boys… these young men upon her. "Momma," one whispered.
She smiled and held tight these enormous boys with her aged hands. "My babies," she whispered. They were a trio glued together for some time. They let the years lost to them fall silently to the ground because in that moment what they had lost didn't matter; only what they had found. When she finally let go of her sons, she looked at them, studying the 13-year-old's faces. "So," she said with a smile, "which one of you handsome young men is Lugh and which one's Lleu?"
Lugh smiled at Lleu, the later mirroring him with a shaking head. They obliged their poor mother quickly. Their father had always been able to tell the twins apart, their mother always had a slightly more difficult time. "I love you, momma," said Lugh, "You haven't changed a bit."
"Oh, now you're exaggerating," she chuckled, looking at her hands… her chuckles turned to sobs. "God, what have I done?" The brothers exchanged a glance and hugged her once more.
"Chad!" cried Cath, running through the streets of Pherae. She caught the sound of crying on her ears. Stealthily she moved towards the sound and found Chad in the corner of a back alley, knees against the sandstone wall. She approached him calmly, sympathy in her eyes, "Chad?"
He looked up, puffy eyed, before attempting to hide his tears. "Chad," she soothed. She knelt at his side, despite how grimy the alley was. She sighed a little and gently probed him with her fingers. "C'mere," she said, slowly pulling him into a hug.
"No," Chad sobbed, "I don't deserve it! I'm a baby for crying when I have nobody to cry on!"
"You are not and that's not true," she spoke, "You have me, right? I'm here for you, Chad." With a little force, she was able to bring him into a hug. He almost unloaded on her when she finally succeeded; her eyes grew wide in surprise for a moment as Chad bawled. "It's okay, Chad," she said softly once he resumed his quiet sobs. She stroked his fuzzy dirty-blond hair with her fingers.
He sniffed a few times to let the tears flow. After a few sobs he grew quiet. "I love you," he whispered into her ear.
Cath grinned, "Me too, fluffy head. Don't be so afraid of crying in front of me… Just as long as you don't snot all over my clothes…"
Chad laughed. He squeezed her tight and kissed her, "Thanks Cath."
"Any time, partner," she winked.
Something of a festival had sprung up in the town once word got around that Erk and Nino were back. Nino went outside to view the commotion with her two sons at her side. Erk saw the boys were her height now. They looked so grown up now. Erk moved towards his wife, who locked eyes with him and smiled. He enveloped her in his arms and held her tight; his lips met hers in a kiss so long desired by both that it felt like their first… It was the relief both had been waiting nine years for, the sign that all their pain had ceased. The brothers hugged their parents and the townspeople cheered. The family was together again.
Lowen, Rebecca, Wil, Harken, Isadora, and Marcus were all there to wish the two well. Other members of the community all praised Erk and Nino. Evidently in the six years they'd lived there, they'd left more memories in the minds of the people of Pherae than they'd thought. It was a long night of merriment and music, Erk and Nino twirled around happily in dance for what seemed like hours.
When it was over and the next day dawned at the inn, Erk and Nino had breakfast with their sons… now three as they'd decided to adopt Chad more or less officially. Cath, Jenifer, Sophia, and Hugh ate at the next table, participating in the conversation. "What should we do now?" asked Nino. "Not to rush things, but… life does go on."
"Perhaps we should fix up the old house," spoke Erk.
"No," said Lleu. Erk and Nino looked at their son, "Sorry… but there's too many memories there."
"Besides, it's not big enough," said Lugh.
"Big enough for what?" asked Nino.
"We still have to collect the little ones," said Chad.
Lugh nodded, "We can't leave them to be orphans too… they've been through a tough war as much as we have."
"Hm," nodded Erk, "where can we go, then?"
Lleu looked at Lugh, who said, "I have an idea…" He explained about his idea of taking a moldy old castle in the Western Isles and turning it into a renowned magic school. Orphans of all sorts would be welcomed there and though magic would be a focus, Chad would teach art and in time they'd offer other subjects.
"That's a wonderful idea!" exclaimed Nino, "It'll be perfect!" Erk nodded with a smile.
"How 'bout you guys?" asked Lugh to the brothers' four friends.
"Might be fun," shrugged Cath, "maybe I could be your treasurer or something… You've got to have fundage for something like this. You can leave that to me." Chad's brow furrowed in worry, hoping Cath wouldn't raid Etruria's royal vaults… or worse, get caught.
"Yeah, I might go too," said Hugh, "might as well stick with family for now. I could help recruit too…"
"I am happy… where ever you go… Lleu," said Sophia. Lleu smiled, he'd like that.
"I should probably get back to my family first," blushed Jenifer, "but maybe I can join you soon… I hope…"
"Then let's start our journey back," spoke Erk.
"Tomorrow," said Nino, "it wouldn't hurt to spend an extra day in Pherae."
"Alright," said Erk, "I suppose Lord Pent can wait for our success on the edge of his seat an extra day."
Two weeks and one gained deed later and the trio dismounted before the castle Lugh had been talking about. Erk, Nino, Sophia, Cath, and Hugh were already inside the ancient fortress, attempting to make it habitable. Lleu, Chad, and Lugh had gone on a supply run to a village fifteen miles away. They'd seen the castle before, of course, so Lleu was puzzled at Lugh, who stared at the place intently. "What?" he asked.
"It needs a lot of work," spoke Lugh. He studied the moss-covered battlements and the ruined walls.
Chad chuckled, putting his arms around his brothers, "Guys, if the last year has taught us anything, it's that the three of us can do pretty much anything. You really think we won't be able to fix up a moldy old castle?"
"I didn't say it was moldy," protested Lugh. He nodded, "But yeah, you're right."
"Agreed," said Lleu.
"Alright, guys," said Lugh, putting his left fist down, joined quickly by Chad's and Lleu's, "let's get to work." With their three-way fist-pump, they set about unloading supplies.
Jaffar's fate... rather interesting, no? I suppose him becoming governor of a minor Western Isle is no odder a fate than the myriad of others fanfic writers have concocted for the Angel of Death... right? Anyway, the important thing is that he still stalks (more or less) Nino and kinda repays what she did for him in FE7...
I somewhat realize the ending is anti-climatic. I think it's more interesting this way, rather than a quasi-stereotypical "storm the fortress" sort of ending... Let me know what you think of it in the reviews *cowers in fear*
Maybe a tad too much fluff and drama for my tastes... said the author of this fic, but I finished it! That's the important thing! I feel rather accomplished to have finished something I started that wasn't a one-shot!
A review of doom and daisies would be kind! ^_^
...Oh, and stay tuned for an epilogue of joy!
