Chapter 11
The battle took a lopsided turn upon the arrival of Selena, Camilla, and Beruka, Camilla's other retainer. Camilla in particular was extremely strong, and with the added assistance of her and her retainers, it wasn't long before Takumi and his forces had been successfully driven back. However, there was hardly any time to celebrate, as the Nohrians needed to head up into the mountains, having learned that the Rainbow Sage resided there. If the Hoshidans were already in Notre Sagesse, it was likely that they had were on their way to the sage as well, or even worse, they were already there.
As they continued their long and arduous trek up the mountain, Elise let out yet another irritated sigh. Odin seemed very engaged in talking to Selena, sharing a lively conversation with the woman. Before that, he had been talking to Nyx while the group took the ferry across the waters to get to Notre Sagesse, so it had been a while since the man and Elise had been able to talk. While normally this would just make the blonde Princess sad, Elise was both jealous and annoyed instead, given how much Odin was chatting with these two other girls. For her, the last thing she wanted was more competition for Odin's affection.
Corrin, on the other hand, was quite pleased to see Odin chatting with women other than his youngest foster sibling. This, for the time being, proved to him that Elise and Odin weren't dating, at least not yet, which came as a bit of a relief. He still had to find out more, hopefully from Odin's manual of justice, but at least he now knew he still had time to do so.
"Are your legs feeling weak, my little Corrin?" A soothing voice asked from behind the man. The Nohrian Prince turned around to see Camilla coming up behind him. The busty wyvern rider gave the man a coy smile as she approached. "Oh, you poor thing…here, hop into my arms and I'll carry you up the rest of the way!"
The others got a good laugh out of this, which caused Corrin's face to become flush with embarrassment. "Camilla," He groaned, "I'm a grown man. I can handle walking up a hill. If anything, it would probably be me carrying you!"
"Ooh, you would?" Camilla cooed, her eyes lighting up. "Aw, my little Corrin, you're growing up so fast!"
This time, Corrin chose to ignore Camilla's comments, instead trudging on ahead. Odin and Selena chuckled at the sight, having slipped to the back of the group.
"Anyways, what's been up with you?" Selena asked, turning back to Odin. "How have things been, hanging with all these weirdos?"
The dark mage laughed quietly in reply, cracking a smile. "Quite good, actually!" The man confessed. "I have been quite busy with Lord Corrin, Sir Niles and…" Odin trailed off slightly while gazing towards Elise, "…others, over the past while. These Nohrians, they are good people."
Selena noticed Odin's slight pause, and watched his eyes pass over the young Nohrian princess. "Rrriiigght…" She drawled, a slight smirk forming on her face. "Some more than others in your eyes, it would seem…"
"What do you mean?"
The red-haired mercenary rolled her eyes, motioning towards Elise. "I'm a girl. I also have these two things called eyes. They notice things for me."
"By the Gods, how does everyone notice?" Odin cursed, kicking at the ground as Selena let out an amused laugh. "It took you what, a whole two seconds?"
"Yeah, something like that," Selena teased with a wink, before her smile quickly turned to a concerned frown. "You know a relationship like that would never work out, don't you?" She told the man.
"You've hardly even met her," Odin snapped back, motioning towards Elise. "She knows of the darkness within me, and, to quote her own words, she finds it to be 'cool'. So, by my own assessment, I think we are perfect for each other."
"It's not a matter of whether she's as weird as you or not," Selena retorted. "It's a matter of remembering why we came here in the first place. You do remember why we were brought here…don't you?"
"Of course! The labyrinth of darkness within my head is an inescapable death trap!"
"Right, right…then you'll remember that we're heading back to Ylisse when we're done here? And that you won't be able to take Elise with you?"
There was an awkward silence between the two as Odin scratched his head. With everything that had happened, he hadn't even pondered to think about that, and what would happen between the two once he went back home.
"I'll be able to take her with me, I doubt Anankos has anything against some extra passengers for the ride home…" Odin replied, although there was already a hint of defeat in his voice.
"Even if he did, would you really be willing to rip her from her home, and everyone she knows here, and take her to a foreign land? If you're that selfish, then you're not worthy of her hand in the first place," Selena scolded. "Look, it's best not to get too involved or attached to the people here. Remember what we're here for, what we're fighting for, and where your real home is. Okay?"
Odin sighed, nodding his head in compliance. Selena was right. There was, simply put, no way he could think of for this relationship to work.
However, that didn't mean he wasn't going to stop trying. And, in the dark mage's opinion, it was time to bring in some more outside help. Niles sounded like a good enough place to start, but there was another, much more intensive idea he had in mind.
The dark mage said goodbye to Selena, heading to catch up to the others, and look for Nyx. He was going to need some help from another dark mage to pull this off, although he couldn't tell her of what exactly he had in mind. There was some very, very far away 'outside help' that he needed to get.
After all, if there were anyone who would give him honest advice, it would be his family.
Special thanks to Niom Lamboise for plenty of new ideas for this story. If anyone has ideas or suggestions for what they would like to see, feel free to send me a PM. I can't guarantee anything making it in, especially with my own plans for this taking priority, but if it can work and I like the idea, I'll do my best.
Anyways, thanks as always for your support!
-Nate