Ricken POV

A harsh knocking at the door pulls me away from my pillow, stained by silent tears and mauled from my rage. I take a deep breath and walk slowly to the door, hearing a thump and something sliding down from the other side of the door. I pull it open quickly, looking down to find Sophia, bloody and filthy, naked once again, hair letting off a bit of smoke.

"Sophia?" I whisper, unable to think this could be real. I stare into her hazy eyes as she begins tilting down towards the floor, dropping just in time to catch her head before it hits the hard floor. I pull her close and inhale, smelling the bitter scent of blood, and her own breezy scent that never seems to go away. I let out a shuddering breath as I pick her up and carry her into the room, leaving the door wide open as I rush her to the bed.

"Ri-Rick-en…" she stutters, burying her face into my collarbone, shivering horribly.

"Hush, you're gonna be alright." I whisper, pulling back the blankets and placing her gently in the warm bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. I grab the Vulnerary, still with enough of the potion for two healings, and pull out the cork, turning back to find her staring at me, tears falling freely from her eyes to stain her skin. I brush the tears away as I lift the bottle to her lips. "Just relax, okay? You're gonna be alright, they're coming for us."

She nods slowly, and her trembling begins to subside. I move the bottle to her lips, and let a small trickle of the potion fall into her mouth, making sure to give her a full dose before putting it away and taking off my outer robe, reaching under the blankets to wrap her into it so she will be decent when the Shepherds get up here. "I-I…"

I put my finger to her lips, silencing her. "Don't talk, you need to rest." I rub my thumb along the skin of her cheek, pale and even grayish from blood loss and exhaustion. My vision blurs as I give her a weak smile, which she returns as she rapidly falls into the realms of dreams. Shamelessly, I allow the tears to fall into my lap, so glad she returned from the dead once more, relieved she went against all odds to return to me like she promised. Slowly, I ease myself to sitting against the headboard next to her, keeping my hand in contact with her as I move, and slowly, my eyes begin to droop shut.

Robin POV

"Robin, come on! We need to finish Walhart now!" Chrom shouts over the roar of battle as Yen'fay's soldiers clash with Walhart's. "The sooner we get to him, the sooner we can search for them!"

"Right!" I take his offered hand and we charge ahead, Lucina and Yen'fay behind us. We follow the Conqueror into an extravagant throne room, where he sits atop his horse in armor matching his own.

"Walhart, your reign is over!" Chrom shouts, raising his blade in defiance of the proud emperor's condescending glare.

"Hmph, a noble sentiment shared by that rascal Plegian. It is such a shame that she died though, it turned out she was weaker than I thought." He actually seems to have regret, for once.

"Fie, she lives now." Yen'fay shouts, breaking my sudden shock. "I have seen her with my own eyes this night."

"What did you do to her?!" I yell, charging up a Mjolnir behind my back, where he can't see the electrical cloud building up.

He turns his icy, empty glare onto me. "I gave her the punishment she deserved, and she was to receive more, until you arrived." He raises his lance. "It matters not whether she lives anymore, what matters is whether you fall like that foolish Khan before you or bow down to me!"

He charges at Lucina, who is pulled aside by Yen'fay at the last moment to avoid the lethal strike. I scream in fury, "Checkmate!" and unleash the lightning upon him. The metal conducts the electricity just as I had planned, frying him and dealing so much damage that he and his horse collapse, though he continues to breathe, even though the breaths are ragged and gurgling.

"Well fought… pup, but you are… just the same… as me… bringing peace through… war…"

Chrom steps up to the fallen Emperor, Falchion in hand and raised to end the Conqueror's life. "Where is Ricken?"

"Yen'fay ought to know… where my final guests were housed…" With that small riddle, Chrom drives Falchion into the weakest point of Walhart's armor, ending his life.

Yen'fay and Lucina turn to us, the former gesturing to the entrance to the hall. "There are two places for us to search: the guest wing and the dungeons. It is likely they were held in the guest wing, as he liked to make any guest comfortable, and the young lady said Ricken was safe. It will take a while to search every room though, as the guest area of the palace is quite extensive."

I turn to Chrom. "We can ask Panne if she could pick up a scent of either of them, and that would save us some time." I suggest as we begin walking to the entry way of the room.

Chrom looks down and stares at something. I then look down and gasp at the droplets of blood, starting in the center of the room and leading out. "I don't think we'll be needing any help tracking." Lucina whispers, to which we all nod.

Yen'fay takes the lead, as he must surely know the way around the palace the best out of all of us. "We must be alert in case there are any guards, although they are most likely all on the battlefield at the moment."

The blood trail leads us through three flights of stairs, down several twisting halls, and past a room filled with giant tubs of water, one boiling hot and the other cold and heavily scented with blood, the stench lingering with us as we leave the room and turn the corner with the trail. It leads us to a human shaped puddle of blood in front of an open door, the room itself dark with only a flickering candle within, sputtering in the last moments of worth. The door is stained with hand prints of blood, both reptilian and human, and the trail goes inside, vanishing into the dark. Lucina picks up a torch from one of the sconces in the wall and enters the room first, sword drawn as she leads us in. The moment I look out the window, I can see the battle is won, now that Walhart is dead and his soldiers are free. I turn to look at a mass in the center of the room, finding first the outline of a bed with white sheets, then a figure under the sheets and one on top of the sheets in a sitting position, eyes reflecting the torchlight and showing relief.

"Captain?" Ricken's voice whispers cautiously.

"Ricken?" Chrom asks, sheathing his sword and approaching the bed slowly. Lucina goes to what must be the hearth and lights up the logs, casting a gentle glow over the room as we stare at Ricken, whose hands are stained red with blood, as well as the sheets and his clothes. "Gods, are you hurt?" Chrom asks, voice rising.

"Quiet, she's asleep." Ricken turns to his left, where he runs his hand down a bloody face etched with pain and fear. "I'm not hurt, but she's in really bad shape. Walhart… he ordered her to be tortured once every two weeks, and made her suffer one night with her injuries before he would send a Vulnerary to heal her." A tear falls down his cheek as he stares at Sophia, running his fingers through her hair. "She's been so scared, I have no idea how she's survived so long."

I bite my lip as tears fill my eyes, and step over to him, wrapping him in a hug. "Thank you for being there for her when I couldn't Ricken." I sob into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry I wasn't able to help her."

He returns the hug, then we both pull back as Sophia lets out a pained whimper, flinching in her sleep. After a few more flinches, her eyes shoot open in a panic, and she lets out a small shriek, to which Ricken pulls her up and into his lap, revealing her to be wearing his outer robes, which I now realize he wasn't wearing, instead he wears a plain white shirt and brown breeches. She clutches at his shirt and cries in hysteria, making Lucina look away with eyes clenched, holding back tears.

I realize Sophia is trying to say something, and pay closer attention. "I-I… wa-wan-nt… R-Rob-bin…" I hear between her sobs.

I sit on the other side of the bed, and whisper, "I'm here, Sophia, I'm right here."

She immediately looks up from Ricken's shoulder, and I gasp at her appearance. The light masks the worst of her injuries, but there is no mistaking the swelling of her face and eyes that is not the result of her tears, dark bruises littering her face and neck in both random spots and in handprints, and various cuts and signs of her nose having been recently broken. A thin trail of dried blood falls in tear lines down her cheeks, and a cut in her scalp leaves a thicker trail down the side of her face. But her eyes are the most heartbreaking- filled with nothing but fear and pain, bloodshot with exhaustion.

"You poor thing…" I open my arms, and she falls into me, sobbing once more. I run my fingers delicately through her hair, blood staining my fingers and getting under my nails as flakes of dried blood fall from her scalp under my gentle treatment. "I'm here honey, I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere."

She cries herself out on my shoulder as her wounds seal up under the influence of the Vulnerary Ricken had mentioned, falling asleep in my arms. Yen'fay offers me a warm, wet cloth to wipe her face with, which I gracefully accept. "Had I known this occurred, I would have found a way to smuggle them both out."

I shake my head as I wipe away the blood. "There was no way you could have known, and we wouldn't have known to listen until the Demon's Ingle, when we saw Excellus speaking with you."

"Fie, I still ought to have tried to see what that foul creature had in mind. I shall never forgive myself for this atrocity."

Chrom rises and pulls Lucina into his arms, where she begins to calm down. "Yen'fay, you are the only one blaming yourself here. I will not hold anything against you, ever, but I acknowledge that this is something you must do for yourself."

The king of Chon'sin offers a small bow to the prince. "You have my gratitude for understanding this matter." He turns to us once more. "But for now, I do believe the much more pressing matter will be to get the young people here the help they will be needing after this ordeal."

Lucina gathers herself and pulls out of her father's arms. "How can we possibly do that? There's never been a true survivor of the Inquisitor or Walhart without permanent mental and physical damage."

He regards her with a stony look. "Peace and relaxation, as well as somebody to talk to, always helps the healing process. The few people that were released from a far lighter treatment of the emperor were always taken in by Chon'sin, where they left leagues better than they had arrived. I am positive that if both were to stay in my country for a time, they would have far less scars than if they did not."

Ricken sighs and looks into the hearth. "Anything, if it will help her."

Chrom looks between the two with a confused look, but seems to set the thought aside for the moment. "The offer is most generous of you, Yen'fay, but would it be too much trouble if we were all to take a rest in your kingdom for a rest before the journey home?"

"You have protected my sister and liberated this continent from a tyrant, the least I could do is offer you a place to rest for as long as you and your people need." He takes the bloody cloth from me and steps into what must be a washroom before returning with a few more wet cloths, offering one to Ricken, another to me, and using the last one to wipe off Sophia's hands. "I will arrange for a boat to bring us to Chon'sin as soon as possible."

Chrom POV

I find Ricken sneaking back towards Sophia's room when I cough, making him jump and look around in fright. I step out of the dark corner so he can see me properly, and he visibly relaxes. "Captain, why are you still up and about?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I give him a look, and he bows his head. "Why are you sneaking off to Sophia's room in the early morning? You ought to be in your own room."

"I-I… couldn't really sleep. We've been in the same room all this time, and I've gotten used to her always being right next to me." I notice a faint blush staining his face, and realize my guess from earlier may not have been far off the mark.

"You've become protective of her, she is fully relaxed around you, and she was wearing your robes when we found you. I have the impression that something else has been going on between the two of you." His face burns even more, and he starts fidgeting. "Is this true?"

He looks up at me in fear. "Yes, I'll admit to it right now, but I had no intention of it happening like that, or for a long time! I didn't do anything that she didn't let me, and I would never hurt her, I swear on my life!"

I sigh and rub my temple. "Ricken, you're going to have to tell Robin in the morning, I hope you realize that?"

He pales so suddenly it would be funny if the situation wasn't so extreme. "I know, and I'm afraid of what she'll do to me, not to mention what the other ladies in the Shepherds will do when they find out." He whispers, true fear reentering his tone.

I pat his shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze. "This is not to reach the ears of any other Shepherds. I will try to keep this in the family as much as possible, but just be prepared for the consequences." I glance around the hall, then whisper in his ear, "I don't mind that it's you with her, and neither does Robin, it's just that we worry you two are going to rush things." I then pull back from him. "Is there anything else that I should be aware of?"

A whimper echoes from her room, and his head swivels in her direction almost out of reflex. "She has nightmares about it if I'm not there. That's the other half of the reason I tried sneaking out."

I walk with him to her room and let him in. We find her with tears on her cheeks, teeth clenched, and limbs flailing under the sheets. He goes to her and puts his hand to her forehead, immediately calming her and waking her up. "Ricken…?" she asks, voice lost and shaking.

He shushes her and presses a kiss to her forehead. "It's alright, I'm right here." She nods slightly, then grabs his arm as a stuffed animal and falls back asleep. Ricken turns back to me. "It's the only way she can sleep through the night nowadays."

I nod in understanding. "If it helps her, then so be it. I will let you be, though I expect you to play it off much better when the others ask you about it. Good night, Ricken."

Alright, I like how this one went, so I hope you guys do too. Let me know how I did on this, and I am fairly pleased at how this story is going along.

I do not own Fire Emblem Awakening