UPDATE # 12
PROGRESS: FAIR
CORRUPTION OF FILE: UKNOWN.
REBOOTING SYSTEM SCANNERS…
ANALYZING…
"Knoll's log number… What's the number after zero? Oh right- silly me… Knoll's log # 5: It's been an hour since arriving back at Nagon Rue, capital of the eastern Khan, Flavia. Who of which is now having her army get ready for the war with Plegia. While she is doing that with the other Shepherds, I have snuck out and continued my- eerr *Click*" I stop the audio log, and think a little, should I record my meeting's with Chronos and all the other crap I'm put through? No… this might be taken by someone and my secrets will be exposed, and that is a worst case scenario. Now that I think of it; I think one, two, three, and four come before five.
+Knoll, quit talking into the recorder, joking on math numbers, and hold the lance again. I think I finally understand what this things really is.+
So here is the deal, after the event with Lem- I still don't know the name. After that stuff, Chronos came back. He said he left me after the Scorpion fight to check around for Naga's and Grima's movements. I then told him about the new weapons the Interferer gave the Forty(minus four) Assassins.
We are, or Chronos is, studying these mysterious magic weapons.
I hold up the lance, despite the cold, it feels so warm.
+… Alright plant the lance on the ground one more time.+
I do as Chronos tells me, and my necklace starts to glow blue, as it does, the Lance cracks and breaks and a small red glowing orb comes out from the broken lance.
"What is that?"
+Knoll… this is a fire spirit.+
(WHOA, WHAT?! You mean like Neptous?!)
+No, not a major spirit like Neptous. This is a normal fire spirit.+
The small red orb dances around and then vanishes.
+He said thank you for freeing him, he was forced into that lance by a mysterious power.+
(But what does this mean?)
+Something terrible, do you remember when I told you about how the spirits were now more involved in the realm of humans/mortals?+
(Yes…?)
+The Interferer is using the spirits as a medium to enhance weaponry, making weapons on parallel with Falchion that are easily attained.+
(Everything is hard enough with the upcoming war, now we have to worry about the underworld's greatest fighters with weapons on par with Falchion? What the freak are we going to do?!)
+We stick with our plans: Head to the Mila Tree and find the Spirit trying to save the other spirits. We can't handle this situation without more information.+
(So I guess we will simply prepare for the dessert trek… I still wish there was a way to save Emmeryn.)
+…Understandable, however we can't.+
(Yeah yeah, I understand… I'm going back to the barracks now and train up on my sword and lance skills.)
+Alright, goodbye Knoll.+
I throw away the lance, and head back down.
I was absolutely terrible in the fight against Arson. I know he had a more powerful weapon, but if I wasn't so zippy I would have died instantly. The thing is: even if I train hard right now, I don't think I'll be able to change much if something like that happens again soon. We are also going to face Gangrel's army later on, and I doubt I'd stand a chance against a royal guard, let alone another F.A.
If I try Sully's training regiment again I'll die before I get in shape…
I sigh; I was only able to do well against the Brothers of Death because I relied on trusting my movie instincts and it caught them of guard. So far I relied on distractions to let my opponents guard down for one second, and I know I can't rely on that forever.
So the question is how do i get stronger quickly? Hey? Isn't that Fortuna training with her lance down there?
"Hey! Fortuna!"
She looks over, sees me, and then looks disappointed. Is she still angry over that?
She then says, "Hello Shepherd."
"You can call me Knoll, or what Gaius calls me Loony. I think I actually got used to that."
"…" She just looks at me oddly.
"Hey mind of I spar with you? I was completely overwhelmed in my fight against Arson, one of the Forty Assassins." I take a practice blade.
"Alright." She agreed to that a little too quickly. "I heard from Gaius that the lance was on fire, but it didn't harm the user." We bowed and began to spar. Why do I have an odd sense of déjà vu?
"Yeah, he casted a fire spell on it and it was set ablaze. When I *dodge* tired it out this morning- *slash* It accidentally broke." Suddenly she stopped moving in that moment for some reason.
She seemed to be shaking for some odd reason; was she too cold or something? "You- YOU!"
"Are you OK? Are you feeling chilly or something?" I ask. She suddenly lunges at me very quickly and starts attacking faster than a while back- Holy Snap?! I can barely keep up with her movements.
"I can't believe that you already broke such a powerful weapon! Do you have any idea how useful its power could have been in the upcoming war?!" She jumps spins her lance and- Crud! She is out to kill me! RUN FOREST, RUN!
She runs madly at me, ans she screams like a banshee while doing it, "IDIOT! *smash* BAFOON! *bang* PIECE OF CRAP! *crash*" Holy snap she is breaking those wooden dummies with a practice lance! Why can you not channel that towards the bad guys, Woman?!
I run away from her and spot Cordelia and Lon'qu talking to each other. I scream, "HELP ME!" but I run away from them since Fortuna is right behind me.
"GET BACK HERE, SO I CAN KILL YOU!"
…
"… What was that?" Lon'qu only stares as Knoll leads a mad Fortuna into the city.
"I have never seen Fortu so mad at someone; what did Knoll do?" Cordelia wondered.
Oh man an alley. Oh no a dead end… My End…
I turn around and see an angry looking Fortuna with a- is that a Killer lance?! What the heck?! I know! I'll try to reason with her!
"Listen Fortuna, your letting you anger cloud your judgment. (She is acting like a crazy lunatic cartoon!)"
"Oh no, I'm thinking quite clearly…"She said darkly. Snap! This is gonna hu-
"Excuse me?" I small voice comes out of nowhere.
I look over and see a little girl with a few matches. She is covered in fur clothing and looks really scared, but it's hard to tell because it's a little dark here.
"Close your eyes, sweetie, you might not want to see this." Fortuna tells the girl.
"Oh No! I'm not letting you kill me over an accident!" I hide behind the little girl; she kind of smells for some reason.
"That weapon could have helped us greatly! Now stop hiding behind a little girl and accept your fate!" she yells at me.
"Are you still mad that you thought I flirted with you that one time?!" She suddenly has a red face; I think I just made her madder.
"Why you-"
"Um…" the little girl speaks again.
"Oh sorry about that." I say to the little girl. "We are just having an adult argument."
"Don't treat her like she your kid or something!" she needs to calm down.
"Calm down, honey, you're scaring the kid." …Uh oh.
I think her rage broke. She is just looking at me with death glares, but suddenly asks, "What is it dear?" to the little girl.
It looks like the little girl is about to cry, poor thing, we traumatized her. "Wou- would you- would you like to buy a match?"
A match? Why is a little girl selling a match- hey… Is she holding her stomach? Is she hungry?
Fortuna asks, "Why are you selling matches?"
"Hey Fortuna? Do you have any money on you right now?" I ask.
She looks at me confused. "Do you actually want to buy matches?"
"No, dinner; Hey little girl, wanna come?"
"Really?" She looks at me with huge eyes.
Fortuna looks angrily at me. "What? Hey?! I don't know what you're doing but I am not buying us-
"*Sigh* How did you do this?" Fortuna glares at me across the seat booth and the little girl holding up a knife and a fork waiting for her order.
"It wasn't me…" To be honest she only said yes because the little girl would have cried if she said no.
"Thank you Sir and Madam!" the little girl said.
"Um… It's fine dear… What is your name again?" Fortuna asks the little brunette.
"My name is Maci. What's yours?" she says almost like a cute anime kid.
"I am Fortuna and he… is trash. Don't ever be friends with someone like him." *Sigh* Being picked on by the hot girls, it's junior high all over again.
Yeesh woman, "Why are you so hostile to me? It's not like I mean to do those things that make you mad. Oh and my real name is Knoll." I say to Maci, but Fortuna's glare still hasn't let up.
A waiter comes in with our food (actually just Fortuna and Maci, she refused to buy me anything.) and tells us, "Here are your orders, ladies. Oh and sir and madam? Please do keep it down; you're disturbing other people and couples here."
"Oh sorry about- Sir?" Odd, its almost as if he was suggesting..."We are not a couple." I say to him.
"Really? The way you both bicker is like that of an old married couple." That sounded kind of rude to me for some reason.
I seen a vein pop up on Fortuna's face, "Sir we are not a couple, please don't mention anything relating me to this… thing."
OK I'm tired of that. "Really? Really?! I have no idea what your problem is, but you are driving me crazy woman!"
The waiter laughs and we both stare at him weirdly; he then says, "Oh, I see you both will live a happy life together then."
Both Fortuna and I stammer, "WHA-wha-what?!"
"This is from experience; the couples that always argue with each other openly are always the ones that live a long and happy marriage." I think everyone in the restaurant is looking at us now.
"Don't put me in the same boat as him!" Fortuna gets up from her seat and points to me.
"Dear dear please stop." An old lady from one of the other tables came over to us. "I don't think your daughter can take her parents arguing in front of all of us."
Why is everyone getting the wrong idea?! If she was with me it would only be to kill me and steal my money easily! (If I had any.)
"Mam you misunderstand, Maci here isn't our daughter." I try to tell her.
"Oh!" now a different man comes. "How could you deny your own daughter? Even if she was adopted, you must love her like your own!"
PEOPLE STOP MISUNDERSTANDING.
Fortuna address everyone in the restaurant, whom of which are now all looking at us, "People we are not married, not a couple, Maci here isn't our daughter, and don't just assume things!"
"*Cough* *Cough* *Sniff*" Whoa Maci are you crying?
"Look what you two did!" Another annoying person butted in to this debacle. "How can your family stay together through something like this?!"
"Sorry Knoll, I think I'm a little allergic to the spice." Maci says.
"It's fine. Fortuna just pay these people and let's just leave." She huffs. Why do I have a bad feeling for this?
"You pay…"
"I don't have money! You said you were only going to buy yours and Maci's food! Please don't be an unreasonable bully."
"Are you some cheapskate or something sir?" a woman asks.
"Worse I'm broke. It's supposed to be her paying." I point to Fortuna who is still staring at me.
Can this day get any worse?!
Uh oh! I didn't mean-
"You don't make a lady pay!" some people scream.
I whisper "I don't think of her as a lady."
BANG!
Fortuna looks at me with a forced smile with veins popping out of her head. Di- Did she hear me?
"Dear? What was that?"
This won't end well.
Sunnuva-
=Outside=
"What's going on here?!" Lucile just stared as there was some riot going on within a building.
"Whatever trouble they have, I don't think it's peaceful. We have to go in there and-" Chrom tried to convince Frederick, Lucile, and Lissa to calm down the people inside, but before Chrom could finish a sentence, a body is thrown out of a door specifically Knoll landed on his backed and looked to his friends with his eyes facing different directions and spinning.
"Oh hey Cap. Why do you look like a girl?" Knoll said to Lissa.
"Come back here! I am not doaaaah- Uh, Captain… Back so soon?" Fortuna said.
=Bathing Tent=
"I never have been so embarrassed in my life and it's his entire fault! I'm glad that the owner didn't press charges." Fortuna was seen naked in a tub of water washing with Marci.
"*Cough*Fortuna why do you hate Knoll so much?" Marci asked as Fortuna was washing her hair.
"*Sigh* It does sound unreasonable doesn't it? The truth is I don't necessarily hate him, but he reminds me of someone I absolutely despised."
"Who?" Maci looked at her with big eyes.
"He reminds me of my father. My father was a lunatic; he had a psychotic breakdown a little after I was eight. He would always break things and one day… He killed a house maid. He was sent to an asylum for the rest of his life and my mother died a few years later over the grief and worry she felt for her husband. I don't hate Knoll because I have seen him fight with courage and I have seen him care deeply about people around him with a goofy smile. I get angry with him because I don't want him to be anything like my dad. There are always rumors of him being insane, and Sir Frederick even said once that Knoll thought of himself psychotic. They don't understand what that actually is like and I hope that they never find out." Fortuna explains to Maci.
"Now it's my turn to ask you a question… Aren't your parents worried about you? I was surprised Knoll wanted you to stay here for the night and more so when you agreed. What about your parents?"
"Uhh… *Cough*"
"You need to go back sometime… Look after I get you cleaned up, I will bring you back to them ok? I'll make sure you won't get scolded or something." Fortuna smiles.
= Later in the main lobby of the barracks=
"I just don't get why she hates me… I try my best not to hurt anyone's feelings, and even if I do I make sure to apologize quickly." I say.
"Hey Loony are you talking with yourself now?" Gaius comes in and tells me.
"Huh? Wha- Kellam!? Did you leave while I was talking to you?!" Dude that was rude.
"Knoll, I am still here." A small voice speaks out.
Yeesh sorry, guess my mind has been thinking about Fortuna so much that I forgot my friend's habits.
"Sorry Kellam, after being scolded by Frederick, Captain, and Lucile I just want to go to sleep and have a good rest for tomorrow. I bet your day was better than mine." Gaius comes over and sits on a couch nearby.
"Yes, it was the usual for me. However, on my way back I heard a sad story at the grocery store. I heard the vendor talk to a lady about how one of the town orphanages closed down." Kellam said.
"Ouch… That's gotta suck for the kids. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up like me or something." Gaius noted.
Kellam continued, "The Orphanage was able to give almost all the kids a home before it closed down."
"Wait- almost?" I ask.
"The vendor was saying how there was one child that was abandoned. I heard them say that no one wanted her because she had a terminal disease. Some of the officials were actually too afraid to go near the child because they feared it might spread to them." Kellam continued.
"That sounds terrible, so what happened to the kid?" Gaius asks.
"After the caretaker of the orphanage left, the kid mysteriously disappeared… Just like someone I know." Kellam hung his head down.
"Wait a sec- what were her symptoms?" Please don't be a coincidence.
"I think she was coughing a lot."
Uh oh.
"Gaius did you see Fortuna and Maci, the little girl, with her?!" I ask.
"Yes, she left to bring Maci back home a while back." He told me.
I run out and take my boots and coat because its really cold out at night here.
Shoot, I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner. She sold matches? I thought she was just poor, but she didn't have anything. She smelled weird to me because she probably didn't take a shower in a while. It also explains why she coughed so much I thought she had cold. I really hope this weather doesn't make things worse.
Where would Fortuna take her? Would Maci even tell her where to go for her home? I wished I asked Kellam where the orphanage w-
What the? Did I bump into someone?
"Oh, I'm so sorry dear." A big old lady apologizes. I spot on the ground a small dog.
"No it's my fault; I was looking for some people… Do you know where the old orphanage was?" I get off the thick snow and try to find out where they went.
"Oh sorry dear, but I don't know. I'm heading to make a cup of tea for that nice doctor I came from and maybe for that poor wee girl in his care."
"! Where is this doctor?" I ask her.
"Two buildings to your left; it should be open, and it has a red cross on the door." She tells me.
I run in the direction she said and yell, "Thank you!"
I get over to the said building and I see Fortuna with tears in her eyes.
"Knoll!" She was sitting in one of the seats.
I sit next to her and she tells me what happened.
"Maci was quiet at first… But then she led me to a condemned building. I scolded her for not telling me the truth, but she suddenly started cough badly and then she collapsed. I quickly took her here." She was crying. "I'm so sorry; I didn't know she was sick. I wish I saw earlier."
"Well… while we are on that topic… I guess it was stupid of me to take lightly how I broke the fire lance. I didn't really think properly of my actions." Yeah I mean I just brought it to Chronos without even considering how it would help us in the fight against Gangrel.
"Actually, I unjustly accused you and treated you poorly; you didn't mean to break it after all. I'm also sorry…"
"…"
"…"
"Pfft… hahaha!" We both start laughing. "Ha- oh we are both crazy in that regard weren't we? No wonder people thought we were a couple." I say.
"Still- I don't think we should be laughing in a hospital…" Fortuna tells me. "The doctor told me not to come in as they give her a check her up… I'm worried about her."
"Don't worry about it so much… I'll stay here the whole night here with you if I have too."
Fortuna's face got red for a sudden, "I-it- you make it sound like a bad thing!"
"Sorry sorry" I laugh and wave my hands in front of her.
"You know, I was wondering…" I asked. "How did you end up with Philia's Knights; how did Sumia end up with the Shepherds; and how did Cordelia get stationed in the border?"
Fortuna smiles softly, "Well that's an odd story; you see I could have also been stationed in the border with Cordelia, but…"
"…Sir?"
Uhh… What?
"Ahh your awake. If you can wake up your wife you can see your daughter now."
"She is not my-" I realized that something was leaning on my shoulder and smelling really nice.
Oh snap- Fortuna is sleeping on my shoulder! Uhh- Uhh- I know gently nudge-
"Miss wake up." I hate you Doctor Man!
"Mmm… Wha-"
That doesn't look-
SLAP!
=Later=
"I' am so sorry! I just instinctively decided to slap you." She told me.
"It's fine. So doc? How is Maci?" I ask.
"She seems to be doing fine. I was inspecting her for the last two hours… Her symptoms at first seemed severe. However, when I took a better look something was off about her fever. I can not quite explain it, but she will need to stay under your house care for the next month. No going outside and no traveling."
"Wait but doctor…"
"I am Dr. Vindaloo"
"Dr. Vindaloo, we are not this girl's parents" I say. I then tell him about what happened.
"Oh then there is nothing I can do for her, nothing at all."
"What bu-"
"She at least needs someone to take care of her, but I don't think any of you two can? Can you?"
"…" That is so unfair; I can handle another little girl dying.
*Knock Knock*
We all hear a knock on the door. Who would come this late?
The doctor opens the door and the old lady I met a little while back came.
"Oh Dr. Vindaloo, I came here to give you some tea. I put a wee bit of vinegar in it." I don't think you put vinegar in tea- Why do I have a sense of déjà vu? Wait a sec.
I quickly greet her again. "Hey! Hello again!"
"Oh hello there, sir would you also like some of my tea?" The old lady asks.
(=Recommended song- Last of the Starmakers (cartoon song)=)
"No thank you, but I- we really need your help." I ask her.
She replies with, "What is it dear?"
"Fortuna! Knoll!" Maci happily yelled from her bed.
"Maci, we would like you to meet Muriel." I introduced her to the nice old lady.
"Hello dear, I was asked by these nice people to take care of you."
"Really?" She asked.
"Oh it will be fun and I'll teach you me secret recipes."
"You mean I get to stay in a home?" Maci asks.
"I have quite a lovely home, you'll enjoy my husband and our pet."
Maci smiles wide and says, "OK!"
"Well kiddo this is goodbye, you caused me quite the trouble today." I bend and rub Maci's head.
"Thank you Knoll! Thank you Fortuna!" I promise not to forget either of you now.
"We've got to hurry now, me favorite time of the day is on." Muriel said.
We all waved goodbye to Muriel and Maci. I found myself walking alone back with Fortuna, and it's in the smack dab middle of the night again isn't it? We are about to go to war and I just messed up the only two nights were I would get a good night's rest…
"Wow the stars look pretty tonight." Fortuna tells me and I look up. sure enough, the stars were brighter here than at my home.
"So Fortuna? Think you and I could bury the hatchet?" I joke to her, but then she looks at me with a soft and kind look. Whoa she looks really pretty.
She then tells me, "Consider it buried six feet under... Knoll." She smiles sweetly and walks back towards the barracks.
She said my name... And looked really pretty doing that... *Sigh* at least this night is finally going to end and I can catch what little sleep i can.
But hey I guess that I could give a up a few hours to sleep. Especially, if it means I get memories to last to the end of my days with a girl worth sharing those memories with. (End Song)
"*Yaaawwwnnn* Ugh didn't get much sleep last night." I speak my thoughts out loud.
"I heard you were up all night with Fortuna, did you kiss and make up?" Vaike teased.
I decided to actually try trolling with Vaike for once. "No, I slept with her." I smirk. He suddenly looks at me with his mouth wide open. I laugh and say, "I'm just kidding Teach. Though you are half right, I did apologize to her."
"Haha! Good one, you actually had me fool, I mean there was no way someone like you could score with someone like her." He hung his arm around me.
I sigh and peak over to Streaky. Since Streaky here is a wolf, I'm going to assume that it will get dehydrated easily from the hike to the dessert. I'm going to have to stock up on a lot of water for the both of us. Good thing we just still here at Nagon Rue and have only left recently.
Funny enough, we all have to leave through the Long Fort. Maybe I can meet Sagit again; he always seemed like a cool dude. He is the first sniper I have seen that can fight close range with a bow. Speaking of which, the Master and Second seals are coming in the next mission right? I wonder how they are going to work.
Odd… why is it suddenly so cloudy in the distance? Why do I hear alarms… Wait a sec.
"Shepherds! To Arms! The Long Fort is under siege by Plegians!" Chrom yells.
What? When was this?! This wasn't in the game! Those things in the sky, aren't those wyverns?!
I hear a voice saying familiar dialogue in the distance. "By moon's end, they'll be erecting statues of me in the capital! Ho there! Ylisseans! Give me the emblem and spare yourselves a gory end!"
Yep the actual boss of chapter seven. Go figure, shame on me for thinking I wouldn't see him. On the plus side we are fighting with Raimi and potentially Sagit. The downside, there are twice as many wyvern knights and pretty sure some of them are actually Wyvern Lords.
I hate being the Restorer.
I'll have to cut this one short too. I have some personal stuff to organize so the chapters may actually come slower than I originally expected. After the last three chapters, I'm going back to the usual chapters being around 5000-6000 words approximately.
The Story:
Now we see how spirits are actually factored in to one part of the world of mortals: Being placed into weapons. We will call them Possessed Weapons for now. (Darksiders 2 FTW!)
Just when Knoll assumed he was out of Chapter 7, it turns out he hasn't even started it yet! Once more the events in the story have been destroyed. But as Knoll will find out soon, It isn't just the events that are slowly starting to change…
I thought maybe I could make Knoll in this chapter start to develop feelings for Fortuna. Since most of the Fire Emblem world simply relies on three or four conversations to be partners in life, I wanted the relationships to grow a little more slowly here. It also give me a chance to lengthen the story.
I realized in my story there is a huge lacking in bonding for supports and love interests for the pairings in this story. I'm going to have to put a little more work into which characters I'm going to put together. This chapter is a little slow less than what I usually write because I wanted to focus more in building the relationships between characters. This actually gave me an idea of somehow making an adventure out of the support conversations, so I'll see what I can do in the future.
I also noticed I oddly have my character avoid the main group consisting of Lucile, Chrom, Frederick, and Lissa. Maybe in the next chapter I'll have to bond my character with them because for some reason I find it hard to write about their characters.
The inspiration for the Support Chapter:
The little Match Girl- A sad animated story of a homeless little girl selling matches. Here is a link to the video I saw for this:
watch?v=yUSzQBaWq0Q
The inspiration for Maci. Who would have died in the cold if not for Knoll.
Muriel and Dr. Vindaloo- From one of my absolute favorite kid shows, these guys are based on the Indian Doctor in Courage the Cowardly Dog and Muriel the kind and loving woman who adopted Courage off the street.
I thought it would be a good idea to somehow mix these stories to someone without a family to go to a place where a person will care for you despite all their faults.
Surprisingly being one of the only kid shows to ever scare me, I absolutely enjoyed their music. Sometimes it had a soothing feel to it at the end of each episode.
With that I am ending my thoughts/Rants/Explanation/Author's notes here.
Thank you for your time and please review.
Wakka Wakka!
One more thing- Happy Fourth of July!
