Here's a new chapter! Got a bit distracted over spring break, but here you go! We finally start the actual fighting of Chapter 8 and semi-conclude Ares' character arc of the past couple of chapters. I'm not done with him, but I've about got him at the place I want him now, and there is other people I want to focus on. I have difficulty deciding, so I'd like for you guys to tell me who you'd like to be developed more, I don't want to leave any character untouched. Is there any character that I seem to be putting two much or to little focus on anyways? It feels like Arthur has gotten the most attention, and Oifey the least, but that might not be true.
Anyways, I had a pretty decent birthday, and I'm back at school where I am told that it was my "golden birthday" (apparently the term used for when your age coincides with the day of the month you were born on, 19 on the 19th of March in my case), and with a clearer idea of what I want to do. I knew all along that I wanted to be an English major. Now I've decided to be an English major with a concentration in film studies with a history minor. I think that course of action will better accentuate my strengths. I write Crusaders Reborn while I envision everything like a TV show anyways, and if I write for TV, then I can actually translate the action scenes I come up with into something other than a brief summary. Plus, a childhood friend of mine that i'm still in contact with is in film school and actually won a local film festival prize last year. So that means I have a potential contact in the future.
I got the Roy amiibo via pre-order... and of course it doesn't work with Fates, which was the only reason I bought it. (Well, sorta. I just want all the Fire Emblem characters in physical form. I'm missing Lucina and Corrin, who doesn't even have a release date yet.)
Ok, enough rambling, and on to the chapter. Read, review, and enjoy!
The generals Muhammed and Ovo were nearing their targets. Normally, they worked well together and were well coordinated. However, they were feeling a little extra competitive today. After all, if they delivered a crushing defeat to this particular enemy... well it meant that great rewards would lie in their future, and whoever delivered the more decisive victory... well, chances were that they would be allowed to pick their reward (within reason), and Muhammed had just one thing on his mind... Agustria. He wanted to be made ruler of Agustria. Now, normally this would be overly ambitious for a man of his station. However, such a lofty goal was indeed, somewhat plausible for him. He had never actually known his father, but his mother had always claimed that his father was none other than High King Chaagal of Agustria (As if that were a good thing to boast about).
Thus, Muhammed had always perceived himself as an uncrowned and unrecognized king, and he wanted to be crowned and recognized. In his mind, he stylized himself to be like one of the hidden princes out of the stories. He'd dreamed of claiming Agustria his entire life, and thus, he had developed something of a superiority/inferiority complex, and saw himself as much better than his own men and was extremely self conscious. Therefore, as his troops neared Alster, he became overly eager to prove himself, so he cried out to his men "Come on men! The rebel army is nothing to fear! Now fight and reclaim Alster! Fight with all your might and any who disobeys me shall lose their head! Now ATTACK!"
Now, Ovo had been observing Muhammed, and he knew exactly what his long-time comrade had in mind... and frankly, he was a bit miffed about it. So, before the signal was given or even before everyone on his side was ready, he declared to his horse-bound troops ""It's a straight shot from here to Leonster. Now charge in and put every ounce of your strength into your weapons! We will conquer them swiftly, and surely! We will not let Muhammed's squad show us up! I will hear no excuses or protests! Do I make myself clear?!" when his troops answered him in the affirmative, he gave the order to attack.
Fortunately, whatever happened to Julia was not serious, and the next morning, she was back on her feet. This, however, did not prevent the others; especially Seliph, Lana, and Ulster; from bombarding her with "are you alright?"s and "does anything feel wrong?"s. She had to constantly reassure them that while she had no idea what had happened to her, regardless, she was perfectly alright. She was almost relived when Lewyn came by with the scout's report on the enemy movements, forcing them to lay off on the interrogation.
Conveniently for them, it had been assumed that most of their forces had been stationed at Leonster, and thus, the forces approaching Alster were much smaller in number (As Bloom's priority was wipe out the enemy first, take back the castles second). This could work to their advantage. They could crush the smaller forces then sweep back up to Leonster. However, not convinced that the Leonster forces could hold out to the enemy's superior numbers (despite the fact that they had just survived a six month long siege), they decided that once most of the soldiers attacking Alster had been dealt with, they would have most of their mounted units ride north in order to reinforce Leonster while the foot soldiers finished the job.
All of the soldiers agreed to this arrangement. That is, all except for Ares. After the briefing, he pulled Seliph to the side. "Seliph, I would like to remain with the foot soldiers in fighting the enemy troops that are coming here."
"Why? Oh! It's because of Leen, isn't it? You're worried about her safety. I'm sure that she'll be fine, but if you are really that worried about her..."
"That's... a factor, but it isn't quite the issue here." said Ares, who proceeded to pull out the packet that Nanna had given him from his coat. "Back in Leonster, I met my cousin, Nanna, and she gave me this. Inside... is confirmation that you've been told the truth and that I've been fed lies my entire life. My father's demise was the work of High King Chaagal, not your father, I know that now." he sighed. "That is why I need to confront this general."
"While I'm glad to hear that from you, I'm not certain that I follow your logic. I... I think that you're leaving out an important detail or two, Ares. I do not see what that has to do with you needing to face this particular general." said Seliph, perplexed.
"The reason why is because, based upon the reports of ours scouts, I am certain that the forces that are about to attack Alster are lead by General Muhammed."
"And I take it that you know this man and that he is significant?" asked Seliph
"We've met once or twice. He's nothing special in terms of skill. The significance behind him, however, is who he claims to be... the bastard son of King Chaagal. He doesn't boast about it as much as he clearly wants to, but he does regularly make the claim. Nobody knows whether his claim is actually true or not, however, it's something that he's ALWAYS claimed, and I have heard it said that he indeed greatly resembles the late, unlamented high king, apparently about as closely as I resemble my father, so there might be some merit to his claims. For that reason, I must face him, regardless of whether he truly is Chaagal's son or not, in order to right the wrongs done to and by my father. Please, Seliph. Allow me to do this. I need this in order to attain peace of mind."
Seliph closed his eyes. "I cannot argue with that reasoning. In your position... I'd probably request the very same thing. There is a chance that Leif is going to request something similar so... Very well then, I will inform the others so that no one will steal your kill."
Before Fee could leave on the mission to Leonster, she was stopped by Arthur, who seemed oddly on guard and concerned. "Fee, please be careful. Don't go flying off all alone in order to try and do a reckless solo mission in order to impress your father or anything like that, okay?"
Fee was taken off guard by the sudden remark "Arthur! You sound like you are genuinely worried about me!" she exclaimed.
"I suppose I am." he said. "Look... I don't know if it's a mage thing or not, but I've had this sense of... foreboding, since... well, since about when Julia had her fainting spell. I hate to sound archaic but, I can sense a dreadful presence nearby. I suppose you can say 'by the twitching of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes'." he said, cracking a brief smile.
Fee giggled a little at that "And here I thought that you only thought about yourself and your own interests. Nice to be proven wrong. I suppose I should have paid more notice to those brief displays of real emotion."
"Real emotion?" asked Arthur.
"A lot of the time, your emotions sound faked, like you're a bad actor trying to get his lines right. It's rare for me to hear you display any signs of real, convincing emotions. About half of those times have been in relation to your sister, who hasn't even been with us for more than a week. I guess I'm becoming your only other emotional exception. Huh, I don't know if that's sweet or creepy. Heh, if it's the latter, the next thing I know, you'll be watching me sleep."
"I already do." said Arthur bluntly.
"Oh, well there you-" then her eyes popped. "Wait.. YOU WHAT?! YOU WATCH ME...?!" she cried, waving her arms and face turning crimson.
"Calm down. I'm not peeping on you. I only do it when we're sleeping in tents, so you are always decent when I watch you. I don't try to sneak into your room when we are at a castle so as not to risk indecent exposure. Anyways, I have trouble sleeping at night. Insomniac and a night owl, you know? So I like to stand guard outside your tent. I've been doing it ever since we joined this army. Partners, remember? And partners watch over each other. I figured you'd want a bodyguard anyway."
"Not when they sleep!" Fee cried, crossing her arms over her chest, as if to cover them. (As if that would do any good, she was fully dressed.) "Can't a girl have some privacy? Why don't you watch your sister instead of mooning over me?"
"I've been watching over my sister while we've been at the castles. I can alternate. Besides, I'm not 'mooning over you', as you put it. I'm not interested in getting laid, and I don't think that we're actually using that term properly anyways. Besides, how much privacy will you have if some ruffian, soldier, or beast bursts into your tent in the middle of the night?"
"I'd take care of him! I sleep within reaching distance of my lance! Don't you think I'd wake up if someone broke into my room or charged into my tent?"
"No. I've noticed that you're a very sound sleeper. You could be staying in a castle room and I could break in carrying a chair and blindfold, put the blindfold on, spend all night in the chair, and leave the next morning, still wearing the blindfold and carrying the chair, and you would never notice."
"Is that a bet?"
"What?"
"Do that, and if I catch you, you stop watching me sleep."
"And if I win?"
"You won't. It's an impossible and unprovable bet." said Fee smugly, arms folded.
"Humor me. What would I win? How about money? Say... 2,000 gold. That shouldn't bankrupt you. Then I could buy a little something for myself and for Teeny."
"Fine! Bet's on Arthur!"
As the two forces approached one another, Blume was taking extra precautions. He thought that maybe if the army couldn't take down the rebels, then maybe an assassin could. And the perfect man for the job had just arrived, followed by two others.
"King Blume, did I hear correctly that you were in need of my services?"
"Ah Faval, I've been waiting for you. Yes, you heard correctly. Let us sit down." said Blume, rushing over to greet him.
Faval rolled his eyes "Forget that! I'm a busy man. If you want something, then just spit it out and send me on my way to get the job. Based upon the summons, I assume you're in a hurry to get this done, and rush jobs tend to be sloppy, so I've got no time for word games."
Blume wanted to shout at him for his insolence, but he held his tongue, barely. After all, he did have something of a point. "Yes, yes. I have summoned you for a purpose. I want you to assassinate the leaders of the rebel army, in the case that my own army fails to take them down." said Blume folding his hands "these rebels have given me a lot of trouble."
"Yea, about that." said Faval "There is one little problem with that. It's that I don't give a damn. Find some money grubbing moronic murderer to do your dirty work instead of badgering me.
There was fire in Blume's eyes, but he cooly said, "I understand that you have several orphans under your care. I'm sure the money would be appreciated. After all, I've heard that your sister has resorted to theft to make ends meet. Then again, I suppose that isn't to particularly bothersome."
"Patty really goes out of her way for those kids." Faval grumbled, knowing that he'd been caught. "Fine. I know I'm going to regret this later, but give me good money and leave the orphanage kids out of your child hunts, and I'll do your dirty work. But only this one time, do you hear me?" turning to his two companions, he said "Daisy! Asaello! Let's go!"
Being mounted while his enemies were not, Ares quickly located his opponent. "Muhammed, I thought that it might be you."
"Well, well, well. It's the lesser prince himself. Here to prove where your loyalties lie at long last? You can prove yourself by eliminating these rebels!"
"Oh, I'm here to prove my loyalties alright." said Ares, drawing his sword with a sweeping motion that killed two of Muhammed's soldiers. "to the son of my father's friend!"
"Really? How shameful of you Ares. How would your father react to you fighting your rightful king?"
"It doesn't matter what my father would have thought. He... his final acts were those of a fool."
"What?! You've always held your father in such high esteem! Why deride him now?!" asked a bewildered Muhammed.
"Do not misunderstand. I still respect him for the man he was. But he chose a misguided sense of honer over reason and his loved ones. I will not make the same mistakes. I will not serve a king that nobody loves. Let's face it Muhammad, if Chaagal really IS your father, it was because he raped your mother and she just used his status to make herself and you seem better!" This enraged Muhammed, and with a fierce glow in his eyes he advanced on Ares.
"Yes, come to me Muhammed, and I will do to you what my father should have done! to your father who was just as much a bastard as you!" and that began their clash.
Teeny saw them fighting, and decided to help out. She knocked Muhammed off of his feet with thunder magic. Ares quickly dismounted and knocked Muhammed's lance away. Ares grabbed him by the collar and was about to finish him off, when he heard Teeny scream. She had been cornered by an armor knight and a couple of mages. Ares dropped his foe while kicking the lance away, and came to her rescue. "Go find your brother!" he shouted. She nodded and ran off. Suddenly, Ares felt a sharp pain in the lower left part of his back, he spun around only to get an arrow lodged in his right hand, making him drop his sword.
Muhammed was crouching, firmly holding a Brave bow. "You should have joined me! You would've lived." he proclaimed.
"No!" cried Leen, who was suddenly present. She leapt forward and drove the tip of her Defender sword through the back of Muhammed's head then pulled it out. He survived the wound, but it made him keel over, vomiting blood. Ares captured his opportunity. He approached, carrying his sword in his left hand. He stuck the end of the Mystletainn in the hole Leen had created, and drove it all the way through, decapitating him. After shoving the body aside, he dropped to his knees in a daze.
"Ares?! Are you alright?!" Leen cried, suddenly scared. She ran and knelt next to him.
"I... I'm better than alright. I settled the score. I feel... I feel..." He looked at Leen with an adoring look. Suddenly he seized her, pulled her lips to his and kissed her passionately.