Hey everyone! Two things.
1. Sorry for the major delay in this upload, and the shorter length of this chapter. I...may or may not have possible accidentally spilled coffee over my laptop the day after uploading Ch.11, which in turn, caused my laptop to fizzle out. And my dumbass decided to save my story progress on my laptop alone, so good-bye to that. So now, like a smart person, I'm writing everything from here on out on Google Docs and saving it to my Cloud so that I won't lose my progress and can continue writing on any device.
2. Huge thanks to all of you. This story broke 10k viewers a couple days ago. Ten. Thousand.
That's like...a lot. I know there's a lot other FanFics out there that have hundreds of thousands of views, but for me, even 1,000 views wasn't expected when I first started this story. And now we've gone 10x that amount (did I math right? I hope I did. Math was never my strong point), so seriously, thank you all, readers, reviewers, followers, favorite-ers alike.
Enough of that, here's Chapter 12, 'Prelude to Disaster'! Enjoy!
A small family was hiding in a small cupboard in their home. The mother was desperately holding onto her son and daughter, both no older than the age of eight. All three of them were clearly terrified, and the mother had her arms wrapped around her children in a protective manner.
"Mommy, I'm scared," the daughter whimpered.
"Shh, everything's going to be okay, everything's going to be okay," the mother whispered, stroking her daughter's hair. Despite her words, she held fear in her heart that none of them would survive the night. Her own words served as a reassurance to herself more than anything.
Outside of the cramped cupboard, dull footsteps could be heard along with raspy voices. The scratching of metal could be heard from swords and axes being dragged through the floor. As the footsteps drew closer to the cupboard, the mother hugged her children tighter. Both of the children had tears pouring out of their eyes from pure terror, but they were smart enough to at least cry silently, as any noise would without a doubt reveal their hiding spot.
The mother peaked through a crack in the cupboard's door, catching a glimpse of one of the monstrosities lurking outside. It was human in shape, but also couldn't be anything further from one. Its skin was a dark purple color and rotting in multiple places. Dark grey slime oozed from orifices throughout its body, and one of them was missing an entire arm. Their eyes were the worst part, however. Gleaming red eyes that seemed to penetrate your very soul shone menacingly in the darkness, leaving a trail of red light in their wake. The people of the land called these monsters, Risen, and aptly so, since they were dead bodies that rose from the dead by a dark and powerful magic.
The nearest Risen suddenly turned its head, its beady red eyes meeting the mother's. Letting out a terrified gasp, the mother quickly moved her head away from the crack. She waited, counting the number of her heartbeats, hoping that the Risen had only looked over by coincidence.
Her fears unfortunately became reality when the Risen let out a raspy growl and its footsteps could be heard coming closer and closer by the second. The footsteps stopped right in front of the cupboard. For a brief moment, nothing could be heard except for the mother's own heartbeat. Then the Risen swung its axe down on the door, tearing away a large chunk of wood.
Both of the children let out a terrified shriek, screaming at the top of their lungs as the Risen grabbed door and yanked it off of its hinges. Towering over the crouched family, the Risen raised its axe once more. The mother pulled her children in as close to her as possible, using her own body as a shield when a sudden crash sounded from across the room.
The Risen turned its head in time to see the flash of iron before it was decapitated. The horrified family slowly looked up as the Risen's head fell to the floor with a sickening wet thud. As the rotten corpse disintegrated into a purple mist, they saw their savior standing in their midst.
A girl, looking to be around the age of seventeen or eighteen was looking down at the family. Even with the dirt and grime, the mother could see the girl's natural beauty. Navy blue hair flowed down behind her shoulders in twintails and her scarlet eyes shone brightly upon seeing the family.
"I found survivors!" the girl called out to her left.
Hurried footsteps came from the other end of the room. Another girl appeared next to the first girl. Like the former, the second girl had the same navy blue hair, only hers flowed freely down her back, stopping just under her shoulders. Also like the first, the second girl was also quite beautiful, but unlike the first girl, her eyes were a cerulean blue instead of scarlet.
"Great work, Severa," the second girl said, placing her hand on the first girl's shoulder.
"Of course, did you expect anything less?" the first girl, Severa, scoffed. Despite her harsh words, the mother could tell that she was happy with the praise given.
The second girl looked at the mother. Her cerulean blue eyes seemed to pierce through her. As the mother paid closer attention, she saw a small mark, one very familiar, emblazoned on the girl's left pupil.
"My name is Lucina, and this is my sister, Severa," the girl said, holding out her hand.
The mother reached up, grabbing Lucina's hand. Despite her young age, Lucina's hand felt strong and comforting. Then it finally clicked in the mother's head.
"Princess – no, Exalt Lucina, and Princess Severa," the mother gasped, quickly standing to her feet and bowing.
"Please, Lucina is just fine," the Exalt warmly smiled.
Upon seeing her smile, the mother's tears finally spilled out. Such warmth was a thing that was thought lost in this forsaken world, and seeing such as kind smile from the Exalt reminded the mother of days long past.
"The Exalt and Princess?" the boy chirped, staring at Lucina with wide eyes.
"We rescued by Exalt and Princess!" the girl chimed in, beaming.
Lucina smiled at the children. Her strong presence alone seemed to take away their worries and fears.
"My comrades are gathering at the town entrance," Lucina said to the mother. "We'll escort you there and to a nearby safe area."
The mother broke down into sobs of relief and joy. "Oh, thank you, thank you!" she sobbed, grasping Lucina's hand.
"Luce, we need to go," Severa warned. "There were far too little Risen in the area, so we need to leave now before we're ambushed."
Lucina nodded at her sister's words. The Risen always traveled in large groups, so where one was, the rest would most definitely follow.
Severa walked ahead of the group, making sure that the way forward was safe to travel. Both her and Lucina ingrained a teaching into every fiber of their beings from a young age from a certain tactician.
'Rushing leads to carelessness, and carelessness to trouble. But being fast doesn't mean being careless, so when needed, hustle, don't hurry.'
"Tch, I know, Robin…" Severa muttered to herself.
"Severa? Did you say something?" Lucina asked from behind her.
Severa shook her head. "It's nothing, Luce."
The group continued forward, hiding in the shadows whenever they came across a few Risen. Under normal circumstances, Lucina wouldn't hesitate in taking out two or three Risen, especially with Severa at her side. But with the two of them acting as both escorts and guards to civilians, even a small risk could easily escalate into a disaster. Silently, Severa lead the other four through shadows and alleys, avoiding the undead at all costs.
Up ahead, the main road could be seen, and turning the corner would be the town entrance. Severa quickened her pace slightly, stopping just at the corner. She peeked around the wall and saw…no one, which was planned. Extending her hand out into the street, Severa snapped her fingers twice, each one causing a small blue spark to alight per snap.
Before entering the town, Lucina split her friends up into four teams: Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow, with the last one only consisting Nah and Cynthia as they watched the skies. They needed a way to communicate with one another, so one of their members, Laurent, thought of quick sparks as signals. One spark would mean that the group was returning, two would mean that they found survivors or civilians, and three would mean that they hit a snag, or complication, and each group would have their own colors to go with it.
Both Lucina and Severa weren't the most efficient in magic, but they were adept enough to cast what was dubbed as D-Rank spells such as the El-casts, so lighting a small flame was a piece of cake.
Lucina waited patiently for Severa to give her the signal to move up. After a few seconds, her sister looked back, nodding. Lucina quietly moved up with the small family behind her, stopping just behind Severa.
"Red team is at the entrance, farthest house on the right," Severa whispered. "Green team is a little ways down the street, no survivors."
Lucina bit her lip. Of the three ground teams, only hers was able to save people. "Okay, let Green team go first since they're further into the town. If they get ambushed, we'll be close enough to help," Lucina whispered.
Nodding, Severa extended her arm into the street again. Lighting a small blue flame at the tip of her index finger, she made a quick series of signals. Down the street, a green O was spotted, letting the others know that they understood.
A moment later, four figures emerged, quickly moving down the street. As they got closer, Lucina was able to make out her friends, Owain, Inigo, Kjelle, and Brady. The four didn't make a single sound (Kjelle had taken off her heavy armor for this mission) as they quickly ran by Lucina and Severa. Owain gave them a quick nod as he passed by.
Lucina watched as they made their way towards the town's exit, and the far right house's door opened. From it, Red team ran out, consisting of Gerome, Yarne, Noire, and Laurent. The two teams crossed the town walls, vanishing behind them. A second later, a red circle appeared, giving Lucina and Severa the 'Go' to make their way down the road.
Lucina and Severa quickly turned the corner with the family, quietly running down the street. Halfway down, however, rapid red sparks came from the village entrance.
Danger.
"Hide!" Severa hissed, ducking into an alleyway.
Lucina crouched behind a large pile of rubble while the mother and children hid behind a destroyed wagon. Peeking over her cover, Lucina looked down the road from where they came from. What she saw made her skin crawl.
A wall of rotting purple skin and red eyes could be seen as a large group of Risen bumbled down the road. Lucina didn't even have to count to know that the number of Risen was around fifty, greatly outnumbering the Lucina's group by at least five-to-one.
Biting back a curse, Lucina ducked under her cover once more. With luck, the group of Risen would turn a corner and they could go on their way to escape. If not, she and her friends would have to high-tail it out of there. Despite their slow and awkward walk, the Risen could run at alarming speeds, and Lucina wasn't sure that she'd be able to protect herself, her friends, and the family all at once while on the run.
Lucina waited, her hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to draw it the instant she saw a Risen turn the corner of her hiding spot. The guttural growling sounds drew closer and closer, then stopped just on the other side of the rubble. Lucina drew her sword out an inch before a loud clattering sound came from down an alleyway just to the her left. At once, the Risen turned towards the sound and started moving down the alleyway in the direction of the sound.
Letting out a deep breath that she didn't know she was holding, Lucina slowly peeked over the top of the rubble, checking for any Risen. Once she was confident that none of the undead remained, she stood, signaling the family and her sister that it was safe. The group ran down the road as fast as they could.
"Lucy! Severa!"
The two royals were tackled by a brunette the moment they cleared the town walls.
"Hello there, Cynthia," Lucina smiled at the pegasus knight.
"I was so worried!" Cynthia cried out, hugging the princesses tighter. "I thought the Risen would find you and Severa! Thank the gods that Laurent got there in time!"
Lucina arched an eyebrow. "Laurent?"
She looked over at the mage, who simply nodded.
"I caved in a portion of a house to distract the Risen," Laurent explained. "It was quite the tedious task at this distance, and I was worried that I wouldn't not be fast enough."
"You have my gratitude," Lucina thanked the mage.
"I hate to break up this moment, but shouldn't we be going?" Severa huffed, struggling to push a clingy Cynthia off of her. Despite her efforts, Cynthia held fast to the princess who couldn't hide the smile on her face.
"You're right, we should go," Lucina nodded. She looked back towards the family that she and Severa rescued. "We'll be safe soon - " her voice fell short upon seeing the family.
A dark purple energy was swirling around at the mother's feet, and soon rose to envelop both her and the children in a mass of purple energy. The children of the Shepherds each readied their weapons and wordlessly formed a circle around the mass, unsure of what to expect. They faltered, however, when a cackle came from inside the dark mass. The energy dissipated, and from where the family once was now stood a hooded figure. Dark magic swirled around the figure's body, making it difficult to discern any features aside from two glowing red eyes.
"Grima…" Lucina gasped.
Each one of her friends took a step back, startled at the unexpected arrival of the Fell Dragon's avatar.
"I must applaud you, little princess," Grima laughed, his very voice sending shivers down her spine. "To think that you've gotten this far is quite a feat."
Grima looked down, opening and closing his hand as if he was testing it. "I was not expecting the family to be in hold of so much magical energy. Perhaps the children had great potential had they grown up. No matter; they're now serving a greater purpose, to be a part of me!"
Lucina let out a yell as she lunged forward, bringing Falchion down on Grima's neck. Grima merely laughed as the blade passed through his body harmlessly. As Lucina jumped back, Gerome and Owain both attacked, bringing down an axe and sword respectively. Like Falchion, both of their weapons passed right through Grima as the avatar cackled as their efforts.
Raising an arm, Grima released powerful wave of magic around him, sending Lucina and the others flying in different directions. Before they even landed, Grima started casting another spell, causing the earth to shake and split apart.
"All your efforts are for naught!" Grima laughed, spreading his arms wide. "And I shall personally see to your end, here and now!"
Lucina stood on shaky feet as the ground around Grima's avatar collapsed, creating a large chasm, with bright purple light pouring out from it. From the depths of the chasm, a bloodcurdling roar sounded as a gargantuan dragon flew out from the ground and into the skies. A city-sized dragon loomed in the darkness as it let out another roar.
"Mankind has lost!"
Grima's voice from the dragon rang and echoed through the air, his voice sounding like a knife scraping against metal.
"You cannot change the past," Grima continued, as if he knew of their plan to travel through time. "There is no future for mankind!" Six gleaming red eyes shone from Grima's head as he opened his eyes, gazing upon the future children. "Each of your fathers and mothers...are dead, little ones."
Grima laughed as he arched his head back. Purple fire started to gather around the dragon's maw, glowing brighter by the second.
"Now it is your turn...to die!"
Grima's voice sounded directly in each of their heads as the Fell Dragon unleashed a torrential stream of purple fire down upon the children.
"UWAAHHH!"
Lucina shot straight up on her bed, breathing heavily from her nightmare. Cold sweat was pouring down her face and her forehead was in quite a lot of pain. Looking around, she slowly calmed down, realizing that she was residing in the room of an inn. The threat of the Fell Dragon was only in her dreams and she managed to control her breath.
"Urrgghhh…" A groan came from the ground next to her.
In confusion, Lucina looked over the side of her bed to see a familiar white haired tactician sprawled on the floor.
"Robin? Why are you on the floor?"
"Errgg...good morning to you too, princess," Robin muttered, sitting up while rubbing his forehead.
"Did you hurt your head?" Lucina asked.
Robin glared at her. "I didn't hurt my head, you did."
Lucina scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, not sure what he meant, her own forehead throbbing as well. Her eyes widened as she managed to put two and two together.
"I hear you screaming pain as I walked by your door, so I enter, only to see you in a nightmare," Robin explained. "I rush over in an attempt to wake you when you decide to headbutt me as hard as you can."
Lucina blinked. "Pfft...ahaha...ahahahahaha!"
"This is what I get for trying to help out: a headbutt and laughter at my pain," Robin grumbled.
"I-I'm sorry - no, I'm not sorry," Lucina admitted, laughing harder. "It's your fault for entering a girl's room without asking."
Robin threw his arms up into the air in exasperation, mumbling a string of incomprehensive words under his breath. Despite his actions, Robin bore a smile on his face.
After the attempt on Emmeryn's life, Robin and Lucina snuck away to a small cafe. The two spent a couple hours sharing stories (mainly about Chrom and his mishaps), eating some sandwiches, and trying a new drink that the owner of the cafe called "coffee", which Robin liked. Unlike tea, it had a much stronger flavor and an aromatic smell. The two then rented separate rooms at an inn before resting for the night.
"I've been meaning to ask this for a while," Lucina started, swinging her legs off the bed. "Would you mind having a sparring session with me?"
"I'm not against it, but may I ask why?" Robin asked, slightly surprised at the unexpected question.
"I saw the way you fight last night and it dawned on me how weak I am," Lucina explained. "In the inevitable wars and many battles to come, I must get stronger in order to protect my father."
"Fine by me," Robin shrugged. "Would you like to go to the castle's training grounds?"
Lucina shook her head. "I wish to avoid as much contact with the Shepherds for now."
Robin nodded. "Alright, we can head to the outskirts of the city then. Not often do the Shepherds go there, or anyone in fact."
"That sounds perfect."
"But first - " Robin stuck up a finger. "Let me buy a sword. I've gone without one for a while now and the lack of one has been biting me in the ass for far too long."
About time you got a new sword.
Hush. At least I remembered this time.
Just don't try and use reinforcement magic on it for now. You saw how poorly it went the other day.
It'll come in time...and with practice…
Which is something that you can't really afford right now since you're about to go sparring with the princess. It'd be a shame if your sword broke in the middle of your sparring session.
Then I'd use my fists.
Very civil.
I don't like you…you know that?
Heh, sounding a lot like a certain prince that we know.
I take it back. I hate you.
That's even more spot on. *clap clap clap*
ARGH - Wait...how the hell did you clap with the hands you don't have?
...that's a good question...and one that I do not have an answer for…
Gods dammit.
To be fair, me, this is you you're speaking to.
Don't you dare step into that topic again, or I swear -
What, you're going to harm me? Good luck with that.
AAAAGGGHHHHHHHHH!
"It was Plegia! I'm certain of it!" Chrom yelled, slamming his fist down onto the table. "They'd do anything for the Emblem."
Chrom, Emmeryn, Frederick, and Phila were gathered in Emmeryn's room. Chrom called for a meeting immediately in the morning to discuss the matter of the assassination.
Looking over at his older sister, Chrom spoke again. "Emm, you can't stay here. Come to Ferox where it's safe."
"And leave the people undefended?" Emmeryn replied. "War is at our borders, Chrom. Do you expect Ylisse to stand against Plegia without a leader?" Pausing for a moment, she continued in a softer tone. "They must know that their exalt stands with them."
"But what if something happens to you? What then?" Chrom asked.
"Your Grace, perhaps you might relocate to the eastern palace for the time being?" Frederick suggested.
"I must agree with Frederick, milady," Phila said. "The other kingdoms would know nothing of it, and you would be safer."
"Yes, please. At least that," Chrom urged. "I can't leave for Ferox with you right in harm's way."
Emmeryn stayed silent for a few second, mulling over the suggestion. "Very well," she finally said.
"Thanks, Emm," Chrom let out a sigh of relief. "I mean it. We'll escort you to the palace before we head north of the border." Standing up, he continued. "We'll leave tomorrow morning."
Frederick shifted slightly on his legs. "Milord?"
"I know what you're thinking, Frederick, but half of the Shepherds are out fending off some bandits on an island just southeast of Ylisstol, so we'll have to wait for them," Chrom explained. "Not only that, it's midday now, and Robin's been off Naga knows where ever since last night. I'm not going to leave without him."
"Very well, milord," Frederick aptly said. "I'll notify the other Shepherds."
"Thank you, Frederick."
"Robin?"
"Yes, Virion?"
"May I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Why are we laying down in the town-square?"
"You know that girl that you tried to flirt with? Red shirt, white skirt and leggings, golden colored hair, cute little bow on top?"
"Ah, yes, she was a fine woman, and her black haired companion was a beauty despite her efforts to hide it underneath that dress."
"The girl in red punched you in the face and knocked you out while the other said something like 'Unacceptable!'".
"Oh...I-I see…"
"Yup."
"But that fails to explain why you're lying down on the ground alongside me."
Robin turned his head to look at his friend. "I'm lying down next to you so everyone would think that we're just relaxing. If it was just you, then it'd be quite obvious that you were unconscious."
"Ah, you have my sincerest of thanks, my dear Robin," Virion said.
"None needed," Robin replied. Rising to his feet, he dusted himself off before extending his hand to Virion. "It seemed only fitting to help out a friend."
Smiling, Virion took Robin's hand. "Even more-so then."
"Come on, Frederick is calling for the Shepherds, and I'd rather not be late," Robin said. "Gods know what he'll think of as punishment, and I'd rather not go through an extra hour of his training."
"I shudder at the thought", Virion said. "Let us make haste then, shall we?"
"Race you there?" Robin grinned, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
"I, Virion, raciest of racest, gladly accept your challenge," Virion bowed. "May I suggest that the loser buys the winner a round of drinks?"
Robin's grin widened. "Looks like you'll be buying then," he chuckled, before vanishing into thin air.
"Wah - what?" Virion stepped back, startled at Robin's sudden disappearance. Looking around, Virion saw Robin in front of the road leading to the castle gates.
"I'll see you in the castle!" Robin called out, vanishing and re-materializing further down the road.
"That's cheating!" Virion yelled back, running after Robin.
"That...that's cheating...teleporting is cheating…"
Virion was hunched over as he gasped for breath, glaring at a smiling Robin.
"You never said that the use of abilities was not allowed," Robin replied, handing the archer waterskin pouch.
"I did not know...that you could...teleport…" Virion said between gulps of water.
"To be fair, the last time I tried it I ended up teleporting in the opposite direction that I wanted to go," Robin recalled. "And the first time I tried it, heh, I was rendered unconscious for a few days. The second time, I expended all my mana and ended up in Rosanne. Took me another few days to warp back to Ylisstol."
"Rosanne…" Virion murmured, a shadow passing over his face.
Ah, that's right, Virion's the duke, Robin remembered, seeing his friend's face.
"Don't worry so much about Rosanne, Virion," Robin said, clapping his hand onto the archer's shoulder. "They'll be fine on their own, and they'll manage for another couple years."
Virion was taken aback at Robin's words. "How do you - "
"I'm from the future, remember?" Robin grinned, spreading his arms wide. "Your country and its people will be safe, Duke Virion."
Virion's eyes widened upon hearing his old title before his eyes softened. "Thank you, Robin," he said. "I feel as though a large burden was lifted off my shoulders."
"Happy to be of assistance."
"Now then, that's enough wallowing in pity. What say we find ourselves some lovely ladies as we dine on some wine later today?" Virion offered. "I trust you'll be able to keep me company, for just earlier, I was talking with a man who had a great taste in women."
"That sounds like the Virion everyone knows and has different feelings towards," Robin laughed.
"Of course. And this man was unlike anything I've ever seen. A light blue colored top with a white fur lining, black pants, gloves that reached up to his elbows, and the most fabulous of hair styles, second only to mine," Virion smiled. "And like you, he was suffering from amnesia!"
Robin perked up. "What was his name?"
Virion paused, his brow furrowing. "Well now, that's quite strange. I can't seem to remember."
"Really?"
"I'm afraid so. I'm cycling through every name that I've come across recently, but none of them seem to ring a bell."
"Not much we can do about that then," Robin sighed. "Though, you are buying the drinks when we go since I won the race," Robin added, grinning maliciously.
"Very well," Virion sighed. "Though next time, teleporting is not allowed."
"Ha! Fair enough," Robin chuckled. "But that doesn't mean that I can't fly with the use of wind magic."
Virion was struck speechless at Robin's comment as he tried to find the right words to make a retort when a cheerful voice called out from further in the castle hallway.
"Robin, Virion? Will you be joining us for the meeting?" Sumia called out, grabbing the two men's attention.
"Yeah, we'll be there soon," Robin answered, looking over his shoulder.
"To refuse an invitation from a beauty such as you would harm my soul," Virion added, flaunting his hands.
Sumia blinked. "Umm...sure? I'll see you two there, I suppose," Sumia said quizzically.
"Heh, I don't think Sumia understood the not-so-hidden meaning behind your words," Robin said as he stared at Sumia scratching her head as she walked down the hall.
"Ah, yes, but all the more worth it in the end," Virion replied, smiling. "Women that are a challenge are always worth it in the end, for they are the grandest of women."
"I'd tread lightly around both her and Frederick if I were you," Robin cautioned. "Frederick might not be so keen on your advances on her."
"Whatever do you mean - oh. OH!" Virion's eyes widened as he figured out what Robin was implying, causing the tactician to burst out laughing.
"It's a maybe between those two," Robin added. "I'm not too sure if they'll fall for one another in this world."
Virion frowned. "Be that as it may, I would rather not get on Frederick's bad side. The man can get quite terrifying if he wishes."
"Pfft, that is indeed true," Robin laughed, walking down the hall. "Which is why it's best to not keep him waiting, right?"
The two walked through the halls of Ylisstol castle and towards a room designated specifically for the use of Shepherds by the Exalt. Upon entering, Robin immediately noticed that only a portion of the Shepherds were there.
Seated around a large table was Chrom, Frederick, Sumia, and Stahl.
"Where are the others?" Robin asked, taking a seat next to Chrom.
"Maribelle is helping Duke Themis with some internal affairs, while Reina took Lon'qu, Lissa, Miriel, Gaius, and Kellam to fend off some bandits just off the southeast border," Chrom explained. "Panne, the taguel, vanished off into the night. Sully and Vaike are still in the infirmary and should be getting out - "
"Who's still in the infirmary?" a husky voice interrupted Chrom, followed by the room's door being flung open. Sully and Vaike both entered the room with haughty grins, having bandages wrapped around their head and midsection respectively.
"Sully, Vaike!" Chrom exclaimed, surprised at their arrival. "Are you two well enough to be moving around?"
Sully scoffed. "Of course, it'll take a helluva lot more than that to take me out," she replied while Vaike just laughed beside her.
"Glad to hear it," Chrom smiled. "Please, sit," he waved his hand over a couple of the many empty seats.
"Now then, shall we get on with the meeting?" Frederick stated as Vaike and Sully took their seats. "As you all know, assassins managed to infiltrate our castle and almost got to the Exalt. Since we have no leads, we will be escorting the Exalt to eastern castle tomorrow morning."
Stahl raised a hand. "Why the eastern castle?"
"If the assassins managed to get inside the castle once, then they can do it again," Chrom stated. "And I can't leave for Ferox to gather reinforcements while leaving Emmeryn in harm's way, so she'll be relocated for the time being for her safety."
Silence crept up around the room.
"We really are going to war, aren't we?" Sumia said quietly. Her hands were trembling lightly on the table.
"Don't worry, this one won't be nearly as long or as costly as the previous one," Chrom promised the pegasus knight as Frederick placed his hand reassuringly on her shoulder.
Oh? Nice, Frederick, Robin smiled to himself.
"Will all of the Shepherds be coming along?" Robin asked.
"Yes, I can trust no one else to come with us to protect Emmeryn," Chrom answered. "We also can't afford to bring too large of a group else we'd be noticed, so the Shepherds are a perfect group of escorts." He looked over at the two bandaged Shepherds.
"You better bet that I'm coming along," Sully said, pointing a finger at Chrom before he even had to chance to say anything else.
Vaike slammed his hand onto the table. "Don't forget about me, either! I missed out on the fun last night, so I am not going to miss this one!"
"Vaike, if all goes well, there won't even be any fighting this time around," Chrom pointed out.
Vaike blinked. "You're right, but you'll need me if something does happen," Vaike said.
"He raises a good point," Robin laughed.
"Just...everyone just prep up for tomorrow," Chrom groaned. "We're in for a long march which take a couple of days at least, so just be ready for that."
With that, the Shepherds all stood to leave. As they were leaving, Robin tapped Virion on the shoulder.
"Play you in a game of chess?" Robin asked, receiving a wide grin from the archer. "Loser buys the drinks."
"It'd be my pleasure," Virion replied.
Lucina rolled her shoulder, wincing as she stretched her sore muscles. She hadn't expected her spar with Robin to be so taxing on her body, and she was greatly paying the price for it. Every inch of her body was aching in pain as she started to make camp in the middle of the woods just off the main road.
The sun was starting to set so Lucina quickly gathered some firewood and piled them in the middle of a small ring of stones. Not a minute later, a fire was lit and Lucina started to roast a rabbit she had hunted and skinned earlier. Game was plentiful here compared to the future, and she was thankful that she had taken hunting lessons from both Gerome and Noire.
As her dinner was roasting, Lucina started to set up her hammock on a nearby tree. For such a simple design, the hammock proved to be very comfortable, especially compared to having a bedroll on a ground.
After setting up her hammock, she returned to the fire to check up on the rabbit. Seeing that it was still undercooked, Lucina sat down as she stared into the flames. The scene was greatly similar to her past, only this time, she didn't have the comfort of her friends. Her heart panged with worry as she thought of them. She had no way of knowing if they made it to this time safely or not.
"I hope you're safe out there...all of you...and especially you, Severa," Lucina whispered to herself.
"Achoo! *sniff*"
"You okay there, Severa? Didn't catch a cold, did you?"
Severa whipped her hair back. "I'm fine, Cynthia, it's just a sneeze."
The two girls were walking down an old road in a forest on the outskirts of Chon'sin. They had found each other almost instantly upon exiting through the portal and had been traveling together for a couple of weeks now.
"If you say so!" Cynthia chirped. "Maybe someone's talking about you?"
"As if," Severa scoffed. "Why would - "
"What ho, dear cousin and gallant pegasus knight!" a new voice yelled out from behind them.
"Oh gawds," Severa groaned, turning around. "Of all people, why did I have to get stuck with you two?"
Two boys around the same age as her walked up behind them. One was in a yellow coat while striking a very curious pose while the second ran his fingers through his grey hair.
"At least you only just met up with Owain," the grey haired boy said. "I had to deal with him for the past week! With no one else!"
"Wow, I almost pity you, Inigo," Severa said, rolling her eyes.
"Aw, come on guys!" Cynthia smiled. "At least we found each other, right?"
"Yeah, on the other side of the world. We were supposed to arrive near Ylisstol! How did we end up in Valm?!"
"Fret not, dear cousin," Owain exclaimed. "For we are but legends in the making, and - "
"And we're separated from the others and our parents by a large body of water," Inigo cut it, much to a disapproving Owain. "To make matters worse, Walhart the Conqueror is on his path of conquest, so the chances of us getting to port and hitching a boat to Ylisse is pretty small."
"Ah yes, Walhart the Conqueror!" Owain started again, waving his hand around dramatically. "A worthy opponent for the Scion of Legend!"
Three different reactions came from Cynthia, Severa, and Inigo as they watched Owain go about his theatrics. A giggle, rolling of eyes, and an exasperated sigh came from each of them respectively.
"I must say though," Inigo looked over at Severa. "Your new hair color suits you quite well."
"Sh-shut up about that!" Severa said, her face turning as red as her hair. "It's not like I wanted it to change! It just changed color the moment I arrived here!"
"Don't worry, Severa!" Cynthia comforted the princess. "Red matches you just as well as the blue did! Better, in fact!"
"If...if you say so…" Severa mumbled. "But don't think what you said makes me feel better or anything!" she huffed, briskly turning around and walking away.
Cynthia and Inigo followed Severa down the road.
"Why did her hair change though?" Inigo whispered to the pegasus knight.
"I dunno," Cynthia shrugged. "She told me that her hair was blue until she left the portal. When she landed on the ground, her hair turned red."
"I wonder if anyone else's hair color changed."
"Maybe. Imagine if Lucina's hair also turned red; that'd be quite the sight."
Inigo laughed. "Yes, the princess clad in blue with bright red hair? What a clash of colors. Though, it wouldn't be far off judging from her fashion sense. Good thing Severa and Gerome helped put together Lucina's outfit."
"Her fashion sense is pretty bad," Cynthia giggled. "Which is weird since Severa is the exact opposite."
"Same with their personalities," Inigo added. "It's hard to believe that they're siblings from the way the two act. It's like night and day."
"By the way…"
"Yes?"
"Where's Owain?"
Inigo paused, turning around to see that their fourth companion was still flaunting about in the same spot he was before.
"Damn it, Owain…" Inigo grumbled.
"I'll get him," Cynthia offered. "Go catch up with Severa."
Inigo sighed again as he watched the pegasus knight run off. Despite their harsh childhood, Inigo was impressed that Cynthia was able to keep up her bubbly personality.
"Ah, Severa's getting away!" Inigo reminded himself. "Severa, wait! You and I have yet to grab some tea!"
Nothing much going on in this chapter. Action stuff will be in the next, so for those of you who like that, I hope you can be patient.
So, as I said earlier, laptop fizzled out, so pretty much this entire chapter was typed up on my phone, which is another reason to the major delay. Typing away on the phone is nowhere near as fast as typing on a keyboard, and it doesn't help that auto-correct is an absolute BITCH!
Half of the words kept getting swapped out for something else even though I typed it out correctly, such as "he" being swapped for "be", and "Severa" for either "Severe" or "Selena", which aggravated me to no end. Adding the words to my phone's dictionary didn't do crap either *angry huff*
As for my laptop, I unfortunately lack both the time and money to invest in a new one or repair it (stupid-ass college tuition and other over-priced crap. My wallet is crying). If all goes well, I'll be able to bring it to a repair shop in the next coming week(s), but until then...yeah...
Once again, thank you for reading, hopefully you enjoyed, and thank you all. 10k+ views. Wow. I still can't wrap my head around that.
Anyhoo, I'll see you in the next!
P.S. If you readers wish to start reading another FanFic of FE:Awakening, I recommend checking out LucythePir8's latest story. It has a great start and comes in at a very unusual yet fantastic angle.
Along with that, may I also recommend Captain Jack X's story, "Fire Emblem: The Next Adventure"? Also has a great start, and a character that's very similar to one of mine appears in there thanks to Captain Jack X's generosity.
Enjoy both of their stories, everyone! :)