Part 2 of the Hot Springs

DLC

Inigo

Turn 1

Inigo laughed as he gracefully dodged the Risen attack with a slight twirl. The Risen wasn't fast enough to follow his moves and was too late to dodge being stabbed through the chest from behind. "Not your lucky day is it, my friend?" The Risen groaned as it dissolved. Inigo drew his sword and let out a tired breath. He noticed Morgan run up to him.

"Wow, Inigo, that was great! Those moves were amazing!"

Inigo chuckled. "Why thank you. Nice to know I have at least one adoring fan."

"You should really take that on the road."

Inigo started to blush. "I'm not sure if it's quite that good. Mother is a far better dancer than I am. I'd probably just end up looking like a fool."

"Aw, don't be silly. People would be lining up to see it. Oh, and I could totally be your manager!"

"Uuuhh. . ."

"Yeah, yeah, that would totally work! I can be very persuasive you know."

"I certainly won't deny that." Inigo sighed. "Look, Morgan, I appreciate the thought, but I'm not ready to perform in front of people."

"Not with that attitude you won't. You can't just wait for the right moment, Inigo. Sometimes you just got to get out there and show your stuff. Consequences be damned!"

Inigo glared at her. "Easy for you to say. You picked up on tactics like it was breathing. You're almost as good as Father and people know it. Nobody knows me or what I can do and I haven't exactly had as much tutoring as you have."

"I suppose that's fair. But I've watched you dance before. I can tell you're really good and I just know people would love it if you put yourself out there. Why don't you let me set an event up for you and just see how it goes?"

"Inigo shook his head. "No, Morgan. I don't want to. Now please stop talking about it." He quickly walked off leaving Morgan to her own devices.

"Hmm. . .can't talk him into it." A sly smile creeped onto her face. "Guess I need to take matters into my own hands."

Turn 3

"Let's see. Step, step, turn, and step." Inigo carefully performed the steps in the dance as he said them. "Hm, that's better than last time. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this."

"Good to hear!" Inigo spun around and saw Morgan standing there. "You have a show later after the battle. Get all the practice you can."

"Morgan, what are you-wait, a show?!" Morgan nodded and Inigo turned pale. "W-Why, how, who?!"

"I talked to the Anna that runs this place and she loved the idea. She's getting a little stage set up and spreading word. We've already sold half the tickets. Crazy what people will still buy even during a Risen raid."

Inigo stared at her speechlessly. When he was finally able to regain control of his senses, he spoke up. "Surely, we don't have time for this. Father and Chrom certainly won't approve of me wasting time to perform a show."

"Actually, Father thinks it will be a good experience for you. Chrom loved the idea. Especially when Anna gave the Shepherds a discount."

"Well, you can't expect me to perform alone."

"Of course not." Inigo breathed a sigh of relief. "Mother is going to perform with you." And the tension was back in full force."

"Yo got Mother involved in this?!"

Morgan nodded. "Mhm. She was a little nervous too until she found out you'd be dancing with her. She's really excited about it now though."

"W-Why would you do this, Morgan. I told you I didn't want to."

"Because you're too shy sometimes, Inigo. Especially when it comes to things you're actually good at. I know you're going to hate me for this, but I knew this was never something you'd do on your own. Someone needed to give you a little push and I decided it should be me."

Inigo pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

"Yeah."

Inigo looked at her and crossed his arms. "But I suppose what's done is done. I should probably talk to Mother about what dance we'll be doing."

Morgan nodded. "Mhm. Um, are you mad at me?"

"A little, I won't lie." Inigo smiled and ruffled her hair. "But I know what you're trying to do and I appreciate that. Maybe I do need a little push every now and then."

Morgan smiled. "I promise that if this flops, I'll never ask you to perform again. However, I'm pretty confident you'll blow everyone away."

Inigo laughed. "Well, if anyone would know, it'd be you. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Morgan. And. . .thanks for not giving up on me."

Morgan giggled. "Anytime, big brother!"

Cynthia

Turn 1

Morgan laughed as she watched her Pegasus walk around in one of the pools. "Does that feel good, girl? Try not to get too many feathers in it, okay?" The Pegasus neighed as in response and continued walking around in the water.

Cynthia landed her Pegasus next to the two of them. "What are you doing over here, Morgan?"

"Oh, just letting my Pegasus try out the water for a little bit. She seemed a little sore so I thought a soak would do her good."

"Does she like it?"

Morgan shrugged. "She seems to. Why don't you let yours in the water for a little bit?"

Cynthia looked at her Pegasus that let out a tired snort. "Hm, that's not a bad idea." She climbed off and led her mount into the water. "There you go, girl." Morgan's Pegasus eagerly nudged her nose against Cynthia's Pegasus.

"Aw, look how friendly they are," Morgan said.

Cynthia smiled and nodded. "They do get along quite well don't they?" Suddenly, they heard some moaning behind them. The two turned around to see a group of Risen quickly charging at them. "Yikes!"

"We don't have time to get on our mounts!" Morgan said. She readied her lance. "So, um, how good are you at fighting on the ground?"

Cynthia readied her own lance and shrugged. "No idea."

Morgan sighed. "Same here. This ought to be fun right?" Cynthia shot her an annoyed glare. "No? Oh, well. Here we go!"

Turn 3

"It's a good thing Mother and Father were able to come and help us, huh?" Morgan asked.

Cynthia nodded. "Yeah, but they didn't seem too thrilled about us goofing off during a battle."

"Heh, heh, yeah." Morgan rubbed the back of her neck. "Not our brightest moment.

"It's just like back when we were kids."

Morgan tilted her head. "Really?"

"Oh, yeah. You and I were always getting ourselves in trouble. It wasn't even on purpose half the time. I guess we were always just easily distracted. It happened a few times even after the Risen took over."

"I bet Lucina wasn't happy about that."

Cynthia shook her head. "No. She wondered how we were able to keep ourselves alive. Still, we managed. I think it was because we had each other. We always pulled through in the end."

Morgan smiled. "Aw, that's so sweet. I kind of feel bad pulling pranks on you all the time now."

"Oh, I don't really mind as much. You did it all the time back in the future. To be honest, in those couple years you were missing, I was starting to miss it. But now here we are together again still getting in trouble yet still together."

"And now we even have Mother and Father with us this time!"

Cynthia nodded. "Yeah. We're all a family again. A time displaced monster slaying family, but a family all the same."

Morgan raised a brow. "What are you talking about? Monster slaying families are the best kind."

Cynthia laughed. "Yeah, can't argue with that."

Gerome

Turn 1

Gerome grumbled as his masked steamed up again. "Ugh, these blasted springs are making it impossible to see out of this damn thing." He looked around to make sure no one was watching him and took off his mask. He rubbed the moisture from it, failing to take note of his younger sister running up to him.

"Hey, Gerome I was wondering if-Wah! Who are you!?" Morgan screamed.

"Wha?!" Gerome looked up at Morgan who looked like she was staring at a total stranger. "Morgan?!"

"Who are you?" Morgan asked. "How do you know my name?"

"It's me, Gerome."

Morgan glared at him. "Nuh-uh! Gerome has a mask for a face!"

Gerome was dumbfounded. "Seriously?" He put the mask back on. "There. Is that better?"

Morgan's eyes widened in awe. "Whoooaa, it does come off."

Gerome sighed. "Of course it comes off. Why on earth would you think it didn't?"

"Well, I never see you when you aren't wearing it so I was starting to think it was permanently stuck there or something. Of course now I'm more curious as to why you wear it."

"What do you mean?"

Morgan shrugged. "Well, you don't have some hideous injury to hide. You aren't ugly. So why bother wearing it?"

"Personal reasons."

"Liiiike?"

"Like ones that are none of your concern."

Morgan huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, now I'm just more curious."

Gerome turned around and walked away. "Well, too bad."

"Hey!" Morgan shouted. "Don't walk away from me!" There was no response. "Don't ignore me either!" Gerome said nothing as he continued to walk away. "Grr, I'm telling Mom you're being a jerk!" Still nothing. Morgan chased after her brother. "Stop ignoring me!"

Turn 3

"The coast is nearly clear, Minerva," Gerome said to his wyvern. Minerva let out a tired grumble. "When this is over, how about we find a pool for you to soak in?" Minerva perked up a little and affectionately nudged her master. A sound caught her ear and she looked in the direction of it and saw Morgan walking up to them.

"Hi, Minerva," Morgan greeted. Minerva grumbled in reply. Gerome looked at her.

"Is there something you need, Morgan?" he asked.

"Well, um. . ." Morgan started to rub the back of her neck. "I was wondering if. . .if you could take your mask off for me."

"What?"

Morgan fidgeted nervously. "You see, um, I only caught a brief look at your face. I was just wondering if you would let me see it again. Just to get a good image of what you look like in my head."

Gerome just looked at her quietly for a moment. Minerva looked between them as she waited patiently for her master's response. "I don't remove my mask just because someone asks."

Morgan nodded. "Yeah, I figured. I was kind of hoping you might make an exception."

Gerome sighed. "I wear it to hide what I'm feeling."

"What?"

"You asked why I wear the mask. I've seen a lot of painful things in my life. Things that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I wear the mask so that others won't see my pain."

Morgan raised a brow. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"So that you understand why this is such a big deal for me." He slowly reached for his mask and removed it. "I'm only doing this because you're my sister and only just this once."

Morgan nodded. "Okay." She looked intently at his face. "Hmm. . ."

"What?"

"You look familiar somehow."

"You saw my face earlier in case you forgot."

Morgan shook her head. "No, I mean that I know I've seen your face before that. I don't quite know how but. . .I just know I know that face from somewhere. I guess I didn't completely forget you."

Gerome smiled. "That's. . .good to hear." He put the mask back on. "Alright, we should probably get back to the battle. These Risen won't kill themselves."

Morgan nodded. "Right." Gerome was about to climb on Minerva when Morgan grabbed his arm. He looked over his shoulder at her.

"What is it?" he asked.

Morgan smiled at him. "Thank you, Gerome."

A small smile found its way onto Gerome's face. "Think nothing of it."

Next time: Harvest Scramble Part 1

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed.