Chapter Thirteen: Reconciliations
Lady of Naga: Lucina
The morning came, and I rose with the sun, shaking my head; wishing I had never fallen asleep. My dreams had been of the future, replaying every fight I'd ever had with Grima. Every slash, every block, every motion, replayed in slow motion.
The Mila tree had been the focus of my dreams in the end.
Only the second time I had crossed blades with the Fell Dragon, I had been outclassed in ways that even now, I barely understood. Fighting with a desperate abandon to even survive, Grima had toyed with me. His strikes were lazy, and when he struck with force I always found myself thrown back, reeling from the force of his blows.
Then, something had changed. At that moment I missed the shift in the tone of the battle, however looking back, it was obvious. Grima's movements had become erratic, almost jerky, as though something was holding him back. A desperate fire danced behind his eyes, almost as if he felt the tide of battle shifting. Or, as I now suspected, as though his body wasn't obeying the commands he gave it.
The opening. I could still remember dancing under a powerful two handed strike from Grima, the Falchion almost singing with power in my own palm as I brought the blade up to strike the Fell Dragon, or at least his puppet across the neck.
The holy blade of Naga had cut flesh without pause.
And then I had almost died.
Gri still bore the scar from that blow, I knew, from that first encounter just after my arrival, the image of the Lady of Grima standing before us at the Outrealm Gate still etched into my eyes.
In almost removing Grima's head, I had sparked an instinctive reaction from either him or Gri, which had unleashed a blast of magic, and teleported the monster away. I had found myself standing in a field of his reanimated monsters, keeping my feet by will alone, bleeding from injuries I didn't know I had.
Speak to me again when you finally have an out, a way to fucking die, the other person fucking screws it up. Those had been her words.
"She…." I closed my eyes. No matter the avenue I tried to address the problem from, I came back to the same point. Grima and Gri were distinct people, despite one deriving her name from the other. And I had blamed her.
Not for the first time I wished that I had found my friends again. For all their insanity, we balanced each other out, in handling these problems. Nah and I tended to be far too serious, which was juxtaposed against my own sister, Owain, and to a lesser extent Inigo. Brady and Yarne's reticence would always stand opposed to Kjelle and Severa's hotheadedness, and on and on. The various personalities we presented molded into a somehow effective group. Somehow.
Throwing aside such thoughts, I grabbed my Falchion from beside the cot I was sleeping on, and started for the training grounds. It was obvious I was not going to be sleeping, so I might as well spend some time doing something productive instead.
As I moved through the camp, I was struck by how similar to the camps we had used it the future it was. Father and Aunt Emmeryn's tents were in the center of the area, defended by the rings of other tents, with a sparing field to the west, and a makeshift armory to the south.
The pegasi were stabled in the same place, and horses tied as well. I shook my head. Robin and Morgan must have studied the same books of tactics.
The sun had only crested the horizon a short time ago, so I suspected I would not encounter any others at the training field, which suited my purposes. While I show some of my skill in blades fighting Robin, and then later against Father in a spar, I was hesitant to display the full skills I possessed.
As I approached the field however, flashes of light and cracks of magic became discernable. Frowning, I broke into a jog, feeling a both confused an intrigued. Who would be up this early, and practicing magic as well?
As I got closer, two forms became visible. One of them was Gri, her form easy to identify, her cloak flapping as she danced under a series of attacks from someone wearing the armor of a Pegasus Knight. I frowned. Whoever it was, red hair ruled out Mother. To my knowledge the only member of the Shepherds who was red haired was
Severa's mother, Cordelia spun, throwing a low powered blast of lightening at Gri. I frowned when I noticed the bolt was tinged with black lines. Gri ducked another blast, her cloak flaring dramatically, the orange runes along the length blazing to life as the over wash of the magic brushed against her.
"Grima damn it!" I blinked, having never heard Gri swear, and surprised she swore by the god that possessed her. The woman jumped back, magic flashing as her cloak took a direct hit. "Damnit!" She repeated, although the delighted expression on her face implied that, for whatever reason, Gri was pleased.
"Sorry!" Cordelia sounded anything but sorry as I approached.
"That is what my runes are for." Gri retorted, rolling to her feet. I had drawn to within a dozen feet of the duo, apparently one learning from the other. Why Gri would teach anyone else magic, or how to mix regular magic with Fell magic, I wouldn't have the first clue. "Hello Luci-Marth." Turning to face me, Gri caught herself halfway through saying my name, and I gave a mental curse. There was no chance Cordelia wouldn't notice.
"Huh?" Cordelia turned, examining me closely. "Oh!" She exclaimed, obviously having been too engrossed in sparing to notice I was approaching. She turned on Gri, asking some question I ignored.
"Lady of Grima." I inclined my head to Gri, just a bit. "I did not expect to find you here." I turned to Cordelia. "I don't believe we've met before." I sent a brief prayer to Naga that she hadn't noticed Gri's slip, although if Severa was to be believed, her Mother was too sharp to miss such a slipup.
As it happened, the God I championed was not smiling upon me. "Cordelia." She opened her mouth to go on, then stopped herself, and shook her head. "I'm going to guess your name isn't Marth."
"In Naga's name." I groused under my breath. I swore I heard Gri spit her own curse, to the opposite god. Of course it wouldn't.
"Nope. Not Marth at all." Cordelia grinned. I glared at my opposite from the future, expression closing down by the moment.
"You made the mess." I glared at Gri, halfheartedly. The realization of my missing the point did not lend itself well to continued arguing with her. She shrugged.
"I blame you." Her words bit, carrying the weight of a life I had realized I knew nothing about. "For the most part." She added the qualifier a beat later, a downward curl of her lips indicating perhaps she wasn't happy with herself.
Our eyes locked, the question of what to tell Cordelia flickering. It was hard not to flinch, open hostility pinning me in place.
"You are correct, my name is not Marth." I allowed, tearing my expression away from Gri. It wasn't going to get anything done lying about it.
"And I'm willing to bet there is a history between you two." She added, now smiling a little more. That elicited a glare from the both of us, and a thrill of fear down my back. If she could work out that, what else could she figure out?
"And what," Gri's snarl was low, a buildup of magic starting, "Causes you to think that?" I gave a sharp nod in Gri's direction to show my agreement.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "The fact that you two are glaring death at each other. Your tone of voice when speaking to each other?" She shrugged. "It's obvious really."
"In Naga's name." I swore, before realizing that it was the same way Gri swore. That was a feeling I didn't find myself comfortable with. "This wasn't supposed to happen." Gri snorted, her eyes swirling with annoyance at what was perhaps an obvious fact.
"I'd point out, Lady of Naga, that you should have known. Or did Morgan not bother to point out the likelihood of someone figuring out your little ruse?" Acid dripped from her words. I refused to give her the pleasure of getting a positive answer out of me. Morgan had, indeed warned of such an occurrence, but Morgan's plans had not accounted for the Lady of Grima following us back. None of us had expected something like that.
"I would argue that this wouldn't have been an issue if you hadn't decided that butting your nose in was a good idea." I spat back. The animosity from the other woman was getting under my skin, despite having little heart to the retort. "The entire situation was under control, and then you decided to join in." Cold fire danced in Gri's eyes, her rage seeming to flare up at the suggestion she wasn't needed, or had made it worse.
"Oh?" The typhoon of power was building again. "Need I remind you, Lady of Naga, that you never once wounded him, except for the one time I interfered, and you managed to mess that up?" Not this again, please?
"Need I remind you," I snapped back, memories of the dying, the screaming, the blood flashing behind my vision, "That he teleported away before I could finish the strike?" She sneered, almost draconic in nature.
"Ever heard of a stab through the heart?" Twisted amusement flashed across her face, as though a round-about discussion of her death was funny. "Much faster and more efficient."
"I point out, that if he could heal from near decapitation, I am quite certain repairing the heart would be of little difficulty." Morgan and I had talked about killing Grima, and come to the conclusion that, the only way to kill him, or perhaps Gri, was decapitation. Or just overwhelming him with such power he couldn't recover. Neither of which were good options.
"Wait wait wait." Cordelia waved her hands, head snapping back and for the between us. I jumped, having momentarily forgotten she was there. Oh gods. Gri and I had…oh gods. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. Panic formed in my gut, a ball, reaching out tendrils to the rest of me. "What the hell are you two arguing about? And who are we stabbing in the heart?"
"Grima damnit." Gri repeated. "That is a long story." It was a token attempt, the same sort of deflection Morgan might have offered, a way to push the conversation back. If Severa was any indication of her Mother, it wouldn't work.
"As you pointed out," Cordelia retorted, "I took to magic with great ease, so we have time." And, it seems, Severa was.
"We aren't going to win this argument." I muttered, knowing Gri would hear me. The Lady of Grima grunted. I faced Cordelia, considering for a moment how to proceed. It was, perhaps, inevitable that my secret would get out. That left the only option as keeping the issue from getting worse. "I need your promise to tell no one else." I requested, hoping to at least mitigate the mess that would result from this.
Cordelia frowned. "Why?" The question as pointed, if simplistic.
"Because, as you have by now guessed, there is more to either of us than meets the eye, and at this point, knowledge of such things would be…. bad." A weighty silence followed the proclamation.
"I see." Cordelia frowned. "Whoever you are," she addressed me directly, wearing the sort of severe expression her daughter was famous for."I don't know enough to trust you, but I'll trust Gri enough to take her word for the moment."
I inclined my head. That made sense, although it wasn't a ringing endorsement of either of us. "My name is Lucina." I told her. "Gri and I are…." I tried to find a mild way to explain.
"We have traveled time." Apparently my opposite had no such issues, bluntly dropping the fact upon the Pegasus knight. "Our future was…not a pleasant one." She sighed. "To answer your question about us knowing each other, in the future, the two of us were on opposite sides of a war, in various states of willingness. Lucina gave me," Gri pulled her cloak aside to reveal the bright white scar on her neck, "This." Her lips twisted in bitter amusement.
"Perhaps my greatest regret is not finishing the job." I admitted. Gri snorted, waving an indistinct hand.
"That makes two of us." Cordelia blinked, caught off guard by the. "It would have been kinder for me to die that day." The purple haired woman elaborated. "I was not a willing participant in war. Quite the opposite."
"Oh." There was a pause. "I'm sorry." Cordelia murmured.
"Nothing you could have done about it. The only failures were my own, and I've had to live with that fact." The self-loathing was buried in those words, I thought. Not for the first time, I wondered what went on behind Gri's mask, a question that was building more and more since that contact in the forests.
"Still." Cordelia shook her head. "No one should have to suffer through that." The softer smile Gri gave her was strained, I noticed. That was new. The Lady of Grima's control was far too great to be strained by such a simple remark. So, what was I missing?
"Again, nothing you could have done." I felt like Gri was repeating an oft used line, much the same way my acceptance of apologizes from the future became rote. "In any event," She glanced at the sky, "I should to check up on Robin. And if she is awake, yell at her." Before another word could be said, there was a clap of thunder, and Gri was gone. Teleportation magic. Fantastic.
"So…" Cordelia turned to me. "What is there between you two?" I groaned. What had I done to deserve to this.
"Besides mutual animosity and distrust, nothing." I replied, hoping my words were more confident than they sounded in my head.
"Nonsense." Cordelia's expression was that of a wolf who'd cornered its prey. "It's plain as day to see that there is something more between you two than that." I considered lying, before I realized there wasn't any point. Besides, as Morgan often told me, the only person I could lie to was my sister, and even then I wasn't very successful. Something about Cynthia let me get away with it out of pity, or some garbage.
"Doesn't matter regardless." I shrugged, drawing my sword, before glaring. The usual comforting warmth that accompanied the sword was gone. I sighed. Something I had done had pissed off my sword apparently.
"And why's that?" Cordelia pressed. I desperately wished the woman would go away at that moment.
"I spoke from anger, and that was that." I replied, dropping into a stance. "I highly doubt she will ever trust me again." In truth, I wasn't certain of that remark. Still, it made sense; having been burned before, the Lady of Grima would not trust me after I did the same. Even if now, I wanted her too.
"I doubt it." Cordelia shook her head, still wearing that same satisfied expresison. "Just talk to her. I imagine it would do the both of you good."
"I doubt it." I started into my practice, controlled careful strikes as I worked into my forms. Spinning, I flipped Falchion behind my back, as if to deflect a blow, the spun the divine blade back into a high guard.
"Goodness. You are quite skilled with a sword." Cordelia remarked from the side, apparently willing to let the previous subject drop. I felt a bit of heat rise to my checks. Being complimented was something I had to adjust too, and it was a slow process. Amongst the hell the future had been there had been no time for compliments or praise. Either you lived or died, and that was all the remark on your skills that was required.
"I'm not sure about that." I replied, pivoting, and without hesitation, driving a whirlwind series of blows into an imaginary foe. "Gri is far more skilled that I am." Pivoting on my left foot, I spun so that I was facing Cordelia once more. Her head was shaking, her bouncing back and forth.
"No, Lucina, you are the better swordswoman." There was quiet surety in her words although I had no idea why. "I have never seen someone quite so skilled." I snorted. Then she had never met her own daughter. Severa could run circles around me when in the mood. "Your skill with a blade aside, I do have a question for you." I nodded, taking a deep breath.
Falchion hummed in my hand, as if knowing what I wanted to do. The blade wasn't sentient so to speak, however it did have a sort of presence to it, along with being overflowing with Divine magic. I had talent of harnessing this power, shaping into magic, however I could draw the power of Naga into my body, where it allowed me to push my physical limits. Move faster, hit harder, react swifter.
"Ask away." I pivoted again, Falchion moving only a dim white line in my vision as I replayed the strikes from my duel with Grima at the Mila tree. Overhead block, twist to the side, deflect sword to the left, stab.
"Why do you wish me to keep you name a secret?" She asked. "I can understand not wanting anyone to know you came from the future, assuming you truly did, but why you name?"
I ducked under an imagined slash from Grima, stepping forwards, Falchion flashing upwards. In my mind's eye, the razor edge of the blade slipped through the flesh with ease, until that flash of light.
"The reason for that will not be apparent for some time yet." I replied. "Suffice to say that the future I come from is not as distant as you might believe." I couldn't see Cordelia's face, leaving m no means to gauge her reactions. "I have lived a short nineteen years. In that time, I have spent more than ten with a sword in my hand." My head bowed. "I wish to spare myself that agony." Twirling Falchion, I returned the blade to its sheath, before nodding slightly to Cordelia. "I must be going."
Without waiting for a response I strode away from the training ground, feeling drained. However, I did not get far, before I almost walked into Gri. Years of forced situational awareness meant I felt her presence long before we could have made contact.
"What do you want Gri?" I failed to keep tiredness out of my voice. Our eyes met, and I was struck the tiredness in her. The stance, the beginnings of shading beneath her eyes.
"You and I need to sort things out between us Lucina." Just like the first time she had said my name, I shuddered, the strange tingling running up my spine. No iceyness to her now, just the words, plain, and without ornaments. "Otherwise, we might as well tell the entire camp."
Cordelia had implied as much, a roundabout way, and I had to bite my tonge to prevent myself from saying so. "I'm guessing you didn't run away to check on Robin." Gri snorted, although the reason escaped me. Perhaps she realized I was dodging the point.
"Robin will be out of it for at least hours yet." Gri replied, waving a hand, as though it was a forgone conclusion.
For a moment, we stood in silence, the echoes of our argument the previous day hanging ominously over our heads.
"It's pathetic." Gri spoke first, shaking her head. "It took me centuries to come to terms with things, and just when I think I have, all that came crumbling down in a matter of seconds." It was odd, the words weren't' back by an expression, or even much inflection.
"It isn't an easy situation to be in." As I was learning rapidly. "I…" What could I even say? That I didn't blame her? those words seemed paltry in comparison to the history piled up between us.
"Yes." Her head shook, violently, causing her hair to obscure most of her face. "I lost control yesterday… I'm sorry."
Mentally, I was reeling. The Lady of Grima was…apologizing? "We both share some fault in that." More than some fault, really. "I…I…"
"You find yourself caught between the narrative that Grima and I are one and the same; and the reality that none of my existing actions line up with that idea?" Was I that transparent? Or was she simply that observant? Then again, hundreds of years had probably given Gri more skill at reading people than we could ever get.
"You aren't Grima." It was easier to say that words than I expected. "I know that. But at the same time, everything about me screams that you are my enemy." Even then, standing in front of her, Falchion cried out to attack her.
"Knowing that, and accepting it are very different." It was an odd musing, but apt. "It's strange, in a sense, standing next to the woman who I spent years resenting for not killing me." There was a long silence, I found myself unsure of what to say for that. I suppose if someone deserved to contemplate suicide, it was the Lady of Grima, for she had suffered enough, if the theory of her being possessed was right. "Perhaps that is a weakness, resulting from a slow descent into darkness."
So she was possessed? "I doubt it was weakness."
Hair shadowed most of her face as she turned towards me again. "And how is it not? I was weak, let him have control. And now we stand here, in a past that shouldn't exist, as pair of enemies stuck between that, and the knowledge of what might come."
And I thought my sister could be overly poetic. "Gri. I am the person supposedly gifted with the powers to end Grima, and I failed. Over and over, and only against him at his weakest. You cannot blame yourself for not being able to prevent him from eventually possessing you." Her lips parted to form words. "And by your own admission, you did manage to fight him."
A snort. "I'm not sure that is a rosy picture to be painted." With a sigh, she waved a hand. "And where does any of this leave us Lucina? Is there a chance for us to work together enough to send Grima back to the hell he crawled out off?"
And that was the question. Gri had, despite everything, had extended those proverbial olive branch to me, even in the light of yesterday. She was here, with the Shepherds, with the promise to protect my Father. Which, given the rumors about the fighting from two days ago, seemed like she was doing well enough at it.
"The only thing we can do it try." A helpless shrug was all I can do.
Reaching up, Gri pushed her hair back, giving a slow nod. "We're never going to leave history behind us, I think." Her hand came to rest on the hilt of her own Falchion. At my hip, my own blade protested. "We still need to sort out difference out." Giving a nod, I offered her a hand.
A/N: And…. done. Blergh…. but I'm on time! Aura can't yell at me now. And I'm sorta happy with this one. Some backstory things happening here, and more funnies of arguments. And also, I can have a reasonable explanation for promotions when those happen! Huzzah! That'll be for a later explanation though, not really relevant now. As always, major thanks to Aura of Twilight, for putting up with my crap when writing this thing, even if I'm sure only a third of it makes sense at the time.
Speaking of Aura of Twilight, I finally know what her FFN is! Angel of Darkness and Light. (We can now expect me to forget this by next week… sadness) She just put out a Fire Emblem crossover with RWBY, if anyone here is interested in both those things. She puts up with my crap writing my own things, so if you're so inclined, so show her stuff some love.
Reviews, comments, questions, constructive criticism are always appreciated.