ASLEEP
Chapter Twenty – S
"How bad is she?" I sigh, running a hand through my hair. An exhausted Anna slumps down next to me, breathing heavily.
"I think she'll be up to fighting, but not 100%." She sighed. "Gods, I can't imagine the things they'd done to her."
So, turns out Phila was in a much worse state than she was letting on, as the Plegians had broken out every torture trick in the book – and Gangrel was smart enough to realize that Phila was the only one who knew anything.
After her initial collapse off her pegasus when we landed, we discovered multiple burns, scars, and odd distorted patches of skin that Anna claimed were rushed healing of broken bones. No wonder she got one-shotted during the cut scene, she must have been a complete mess. Thankfully, Robin had the foresight to send a healer.
"...how are you?" I asked hesitantly. Anna groaned and glanced into the air – oh, wow, she's pale.
"I'm not sure." She chuckled. "It's just...healing takes a lot out of you, sometimes."
We sat there in comfortable silence for a few minutes, staring at the stars, before she groaned and rolled over.
"I miss my bedroll already."
I chuckled and just kept looking at the sky. Well, okay, there's not a single shared constellation. Wonderful, even more small things I don't know anything about. "Try and sleep anyway."
"You're not making any effort." Anna shot back.
"I can't sleep without something on top of me." I shrugged. It's true, I've never been able to sleep without a blanket or sleeping bag or something on top of me. I don't know why. Still, there was a brief stunned silence as Anna processed what I said.
"That...wasn't exactly subtle, but sure."
Oh. Oh.
"What? No, I was telling the truth DON'T LIE DOWN ON ME-"
Too late.
Okay, Cameron, you are faced with a situation most people would kill for. Don't fuck it up. Don't make any comments about how awkward it is, and for the love of god don't say she's heavy.
...
I'm having difficulty breathing.
"This is comfier." Anna sighed. Hurk. Get off of me.
"For you, maybe." I groan with difficulty. "I can hardly breathe."
"Are you saying I'm heavy?"
DANGER.
DANGER, WILL ROBINSON.
Thankfully, I don't have to respond to that loaded question because she rolled off, laughing. "Oh, you should have seen your face."
"Who are you, Lissa?" I grumble, pulling myself up into a sitting position. Anna sighed and glanced at everyone else, where Julian was currently trying to retrieve his portion of tonight's meal from Kylar, who had stolen his bowl and wasn't giving it back.
"I don't think I'd want a mount." She smiled. "He makes it look like more work than it's worth."
"Actually, I'm convinced that's just how they work." I smirk as Kylar grabbed his sleeve and proceeded to engage in a fearsome tug-of-war with his rider. "I almost get the impression that they hate each other."
"LET GO OF MY SHIRT, YOU DUMB BIRD!" Julian's scream spread through the camp, attracting a small crowd of women that immediately began cheering for Kylar. I probably shouldn't read too much into that.
"I can see why." Anna giggled. "...so, is there anything you want to tell me?"
Oh, boy, she's looking kinda...can't tell if that's pissed off or scared. Maybe both. Well, sod it.
"Julian and I are going to do something incredibly stupid tomorrow." I sigh. "Okay? I told you in advance, you're not allowed to hit me."
"What exactly?" She narrowed her eyes and glared at me. Wow, scary woman.
"We, ah...might...be going after Emmeryn on our own. NOT FOR GLORY, for...reasons."
"Reasons." Anna said flatly. Okay, that's a dangerous tone of voice, danger zone has been approached, spill everything before she kills you and ruins your first even successful romantic relationship.
"...okay, story time." I grumble, pulling myself up. Okay, let's just check there's nobody else in earshot...there isn't good. They're all cheering as Kylar hoists of Julian into the air by the back of his shirt – huh, that is impressive FOCUS. "You know that universe I come from? Through the outrealm gate?"
"Yeah?" Anna murmured, snuggling up – why is she doing that that's really distracting, please stop.
"Could you not? I need to concentrate for this." I sigh. Anna shrugged, and just stayed there. Okay, so she's at the arm, but at least she's stopped moving. "...fine. Okay, long story short: This world was a story where I come from, and one of Gangrel's assistants summon a bunch of archer risen, and shoot down the pegasus knights, making Emmeryn jump so that Chrom doesn't give him the Fire Emblem and bring around the apocalypse."
Anna blinked. "...well then."
"Yeah. So, thing is, Julian's going to grab her while I make sure the assistant doesn't summon the risen."
"You could have told me that you knew everything that was going to happen." She said, slightly miffed. I just shrugged.
"Minor stuff's been changing anyway, and if we pull this off everything changes and prior knowledge becomes completely useless."
"You are so lucky that I'm used to crazy things like this happening." She huffed. "Seriously, though, you're not pulling my leg are you?"
"Woman, what would my motivations for that be?" I frown. "...and your reaction to the Exalt committing suicide is 'well then'?"
"You're going to save her, right? It's a non-issue, so...'well then' works." Anna shrugged, smiling. "Thanks for telling me this in advance."
"Yeah, well, I figured if I can't stop doing stupid things you might want to know before I do them." I groan. I really need to fix this improvising habit of mine.
"Oh, I don't know. It's kind of cute, to be honest. I've always been a little impulsive myself." Anna grinned at me, and wait isn't that kind of what she says in her S support with Robin?
...
oh god no. I'm sure as hell not ready for this.
"So, I've been thinking – we should get married."
...and there goes my sanity, and any semblance of an actual relationship with this madwoman.
"WHAT?!"
yeah, that seems like an appropriate response.
"You. Me. Aisle. After war." Anna said slowly, pointing back and forth.
"Anna, we've had one date! ONE! Hell, we've only kissed once, and to top it all off we might not even come back –" Why have we attracted a small crowd. Why and how dammit Julian you can't even distract people properly WHAT GOOD ARE YOU?!
I feel like I'm getting railroaded into something – wait. Okay, this is a long shot, but what if we have a future kid and time needs us to be married and...uh...let's not go there...before a certain point so s/he can be established in the timeline?
If this is the Old Man fucking with my head I'll actually kill him. Not sure how, but I'll find a way.
You know what? Sod it. She's stuck with me through all of this shit, even though we have only had one date, and the end of the war's still a way off (probably even longer than it is in game, seeing as we'll be saving Emmeryn so the army won't fall apart) so there's plenty of time to adjust to the idea.
...and now the crowd's staring at me. Seriously?
Anna, stop quivering your lip, it's not helping.
"-fuck it. Fine."
"See? Was that so hard?" Anna sighed, leaning back. "Oh, by the way, I still expect a ring."
"Yeah, yeah..."
"And a proper proposal."
"Yes, dear." I groaned. The crowd looks disappointed.
"Issat it?" Julian asked incredulously. "No...kissing, or passionate embraces, or stuff like that?"
"Julian, while I'm pleased that you are beginning to reveal to the world that you are a romantic sap, reducing any credibility you had even further -" I could have sworn Cordelia chuckled at that "-not everything is like the storybooks. Now piss off, I need to sleep." I grumbled. "And get a fresh shirt, you've got Griffon drool all over that one." Julian groaned and walked away, wiping at his shirt with a look of disgust, with the other pegasus knights wandering off too. Wait, did Cordelia just bite her lip while looking at us?
...I really hope we didn't give her any 'ideas' for how to approach Chrom, especially seeing that he's pretty much got his eyes set on Sumia at this point. If she does make her move and get rejected, I hope I'm nowhere near the fallout. That sounds like a crap thing to think, but there's not much I can do for her – I had, what, two sentences of conversation with her?
Why have I just managed to stop thinking about the fact that I'm engaged now? You know what? That's just how this world works, fuck it. We're in a war, people do stupid things when they don't think they're going to live – oh.
"Anna..." I said slowly. "...if this is just to reassure me that I've got something to go back to in order to make sure I didn't do something calamitously stupid, I was already aware of that and wasn't planning to do so. Are you sure you want to get into this?"
"Impulsive, remember?" Anna grinned. "...oh, yeah, and my birthday's in four days so if you could hurry up and do it properly by then that would be amazing. Get a good ring!"
"Impulsive isn't the same as...well, decisive!" I ran a hand through my hair. Does she just not get how serious this is or something. "Anna, I've had friends and family have their marriages fall apart because they rushed in way to fast. I...I don't want to be that guy, who looks you in the face and lies."
"That rhymes." Anna smirked, motioning for me to continue. Well, it should rhyme, I stole it from a MIKA song. I probably shouldn't quote the rest, considering the song's called 'I Only Love You When I'm Drunk'.
"Not the point, Anna." I sigh. "Look, I'll admit it. You've been my first...well, everything. Kiss, date...uh..."
I can't even fucking say it, can I? What kind of coward am I?
"Same here. What, is that not a good sign where you come from?" Anna smiled. "Besides, my parents were each other's first everything. Seems to be a good track record."
I groan into a hand, shaking my head. "Anna, I'm going to be perfectly honest here: I want to do this. Alright? I'd probably have fucked up everything in relation to you if you hadn't initiated all of it, so thanks for doing this, but...isn't it a bit early?"
Anna shook her head. "Nope, never is. Oh, yes, and by the way we're going to have to be working hard or we're not going to be able to rent a big enough hall for all my sisters and the army. So, one last check: We going through with this?"
"...like I said before..." I groaned, smiling despite the oncoming migraine. "Fuck it. Fine."
"So, you gonna finish that thought?" Anna grinned. "First kiss, date...what else?"
She's really gonna make me say it, isn't she?
Fine, then.
"...I love you, Anna. Now please stop pushing me about it."
What have I gotten myself into this time?
Quite honestly, as she kissed me I found myself not caring at all.
A/N: This is shorter than normal (By a lot) because it was originally the first half of one massive chapter detailing all of CH9 in-game, but I decided that this could be the brief calm-before-the-storm moment and I can have the full battle posted either later today or tommorow (I'll save the 20 chapter patting myself on the back for then). I'm hoping to have a break chapter done on Anna's birthday for in-universe reasons, but if I miss that deadline no biggie. I'm hoping to wrap up the first war with Plegia by the end of the month, at which point I'd take a month off from this to finish Fool of Fools and get some Time Matters Not/Sillies/Oneshots written up and out of my half-finished folder.
And that's why Fool of Fools hasn't updated for two weeks despite being a daily series. Either way, since this is CH20 (Multiple of 10!) there's the obligatory alternate-POV, this time a Julian segment, of one of his later visits to the Blue Room and his first encounter with Gregor.
**PARALOGUE – JULIAN I**
"Of all the games to play, did it have to be this?" The old man sighs, twirling his handlebar mustache. I just reached into the bag and pulled out yet another sourcebook. Old Man, you say you'll play an Earth game with me, you play THE Earth game.
Also playing D&D with a god is possibly the single most awesome thing I will ever do in my life, and I ride a Griffon.
"Hey, you wanted to kill time with me, this is what you get. What, are you not gonna summon some Einherjar and order them to play?" I huffed, dropping it on the table. "So...you DM'ing or should I?"
"This is stupid." The old man sighed, brushing down his red robes and leaning over the table. "...I'll play a Dragonborn Paladin."
"We're not playing 4th, 4th is stupid." I grinned. "We're playing 2nd. You didn't answer my question."
The Old Man groaned and sunk back into his chair. "Fine, fine. I'd summon some Einherjar...if I was Old Hubba. I've told you, I've told the other one-"
"Other one?" Interesting information. Wonder who that is.
"No business of yours." The old man snapped at me. "Not yet, anyway."
I opened the adventure module and shrugged, skimming it before frowning.
"Do you hear a faint rumbling?" I casually asked him. The old man glanced up behind me, froze, and smiled.
"I'm...just going to go."
With that, he vanished, and the blue room suddenly became very wet.
"GAH!"
"SKREE!"
"WELL YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TOSSED A BUCKET OF WATER ON ME IF YOU DIDN'T WANT SOME TAIL FEATHERS PULLED, YOU DUMB BIRD!"
Wait...griffons can't fetch water.
"Ach, it wasn't the griffon that soaked you..." A large man rumbled. I smiled weakly and ringed out my shirt.
"Well, mister, you've got five seconds to explain why you did so." I said half-hardheartedly. "Before the bird and I decide to play tug-of-war with you."
"Skree."
"Gregor just wanted to ask if you could give lift to...not any village in a few hundred meters." The mercenary smiled. "Gregor kind of made employers very angry, as he quit. I didn't want to do what they did. Normally very reliable, though!" He added hastily. Probably thought I wasn't going to do it without being paid. "Gregor also generous, pays very well."
"You're a mercenary?" I asked, fixing Kylar's saddle as he kept an eye on Gregor for me. Gregor nodded eagerly. "Got contacts?"
"Yes, many!" Gregor grinned. "Gregor well-known sellsword of great value! Just slow to get places!"
"Recently, we've found ourselves in a bit of an, ah, monetary shortage." I grinned as Kylar blinked lazily. "What say I take you where you need to go, and you let me in on your contracts?"
"Skree."
"Okay, let Kylar take us where we need to go, and you let us in on your contracts." I changed once I finished clearing out my ear. Bird's loud.
Gregor narrowed his eyes at us. Hey, pal, I'm telling the truth. This bird is expensive to take care of. Then he gave out a booming laugh. "You care greatly for mount, is good! Gregor accept!"
"Then Julian and Kylar look forward to a long and beautiful partnership." I smirked, shaking his hand as Kylar wrapped his claw around us, making Gregor sweat. "Oh, and don't call the bird a mount, or even call him a bird. I'm the only one he lets get away with that."
"SKREE!"
"...point taken." Gregor winced, slapping the side of his head to clear his ear. "Still, closest contact is in Ylisse. Might want to get moving, ya?"
"What's the rush?" I asked, looking over his shoulder – oh, that's the rush.
That's a large mob.
"In fact, no time like the present!" I grinned, pulling myself up and giving Gregor my hand. "Hold on tight, this guy's fast. Got everything?"
"Ya, made sure I did." Gregor rumbled. "Gregor travels light."
"Alright, then. Let's go, Kylar!"
Flying feels free. The wind, the swaying, the speed – it's incredible. It's only enjoyable when you don't have a large mercenary clutching onto you and screaming in your ear. Well, this is my life. Wonderful.