Severa's Tale: Act II
Puppets Don't Cry
Section A
Finale
Author's note: I recommend listening to listening to Ink Long Dry from Final Fantasy XIV when you see one * mark, then listening to Counterattack from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 when you see two ** marks.
Darkness enveloped Severa and Lucina after they ran into the gate. The most Severa could see was Lucina, who she quickly placed back on the ground. A purple decoration was on the floor as well
"Is the gate still-" Lucina turned around; the gate was gone and in its place was more darkness. The red glow underneath Severa's eyes disappeared, meaning she had lost her supernatural powers and they no longer had a source of light to save them from the darkness.
*A light flicked to life dead ahead. More followed until the darkness was soundly beaten, revealing a massive room freed from its jaws. The lights were purple, luminescent balls that sat on various tables, all of which were empty.
Shelves lined with books towered above Severa and Lucina. Severa pointed up with an agape jaw to various books flying in-between said shelves amidst the haunting glow. Lucina's gaze, however, was somewhere else. Specifically, the window hanging on the back wall of this library.
She peered out to see an endless, black void that stared back at her. "I don't think we're in Ylisstol…" A chill rush went down her back; she instinctively grabbed her sword and bent her knees. "Who's there?" She turned around and unsheathed her blade.
"Apologies." Her eyes grew wide as Validar stood before her. Or, at least, a shadowy outline that looked and sounded like him. "Do you know where the meeting room is? I seem to have gotten lost."
"Um…" Lucina paused; her gaze searched for an ambusher waiting to strike. "I… don't know where that is."
"I see." The outline let out a sigh as it walked away. "I guess I am cursed to walk these twisting halls forever…" The outline disappeared past a bookshelf while another outline walked out.
"Severa?" Lucina called out. "Where are you?"
"Over here!" Severa's voice echoed from her left; Lucina scrambled in that general direction until she came across Severa hugging a book. The flying tome struggled to break free from her embrace as she held it against her chest. "I finally caught this stupid thing, and I wanna see what's inside."
Severa smashed her fist into the front of the book, seemingly knocking it out and allowing her to place it on a table and open it. Lucina inspected the front of the cover to see '07/09/25' printed in gold numbers. "Day twenty-five of the ninth month of the seventh year." Severa began to read a random page aloud. "Today, I remembered that her name started with an S." Severa held the book up to a light to see if there was anything else written on this page.
"Who's 'her?'" Lucina asked as she pulled a chair out next to Severa.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Severa flipped to the next page. "Harken, my damned mind. Reveal thine secrets." Her eyes scanned through the rest of the book, which seems to be poetry written in lines. "Why must thine dreams serve as heaven and hell?
"Which one of you dolts have seen the twenty-fifth book in the ninth volume of the seventh year?" Severa and Lucina looked up as the familiar voice of Validar echoed through the library. Suddenly, the book slammed shut over Severa's hand and began to move.
"Ow!" Severa exclaimed as she felt the book clamp down on her fingers. "Ow ow ow ow ow!" She grabbed her clamped hand with her other and tried to pry it out. Lucina helped in the tug of war with the flying book.
Eventually, they were able to yank Severa's hand from the leather-bound jaws of the book and allow it to fly away. Severa cradled her red, inflamed hand. "Was that… Validar?" Suddenly, the shadowy outlines of Validar made sense.
"Hello? Am I talking to myself, or-" Validar's voice called out, then his laugh echoed from a different direction. "Oh, be quiet and find me that book!"
"Is your hand okay?" Lucina asked.
"It'll be alright." Severa stood up and put her hand on her side. She sprinted off in the direction of Validar's voice while Lucina followed.
After running past what seemed like an endless amount of bookcases, Severa eventually came across the source of the voice and drew her blade. "Alright, Validar! Where the hell are we-"
She cut herself off when she realized she was brandishing steel at a shadowy outline of Validar who was sorting books. The shadow turned around and faced her with the black shape it called a face.
"I beg your pardon, young lady, but can you lower your voice?" She couldn't tell if it was smiling politely or scowling. "Have you seen the first book in the sixth volume of the thirteenth year?"
Lucina looked at her left to see a book with the numbers '13/06/01' on the front. The tome sat on a table, abandoned and longing for a home.
"Here." Lucina handed the shadow the book, who eagerly took it from her grasp.
"Thank you, Lucina." The shadow placed the tome in an open slot of the bookcase.
"How did you-" Lucina's shoulders tensed.
"It's right here, in the third book in the second volume of-" The outline spoke as he pulled a book out from the shelf.
"Give me that!" Severa could only hear that damned phrase so many times before it became grating. She opened the book and scanned the first page. "Day three of the second month of the fortieth year. Lucina and her companions have been drawn to Ylisstol like flies to honey. Grima is afraid of the Emblem and wants to acquire it, be it peaceful or forceful. He has every right to so fervently afraid of the damned shield, but I worry he is too soft on Severa. One of these days, she's going to be his downfall."
Severa closed the book and slowly looked up to Lucina. They both had the same blank stare as their minds raced to the same conclusion.
Today was the fourth of February.
"I'll be needing that back." The shadow held his hand out for the book, which Severa provided him with.
"Attention all library staff!" Validar's voice called out from directly ahead. "Our annual roundtable will be held in five minutes!"
"If you'll excuse me," The shadow bowed to the two. "I must be going now."
"Can we follow you? We're new recruits and we don't quite know the map to this place yet." Severa smiled as she turned to Lucina, who confusedly looked from her to the shadow.
"But we're-" Lucina spoke and Severa replied by covering Lucina's mouth with her hand.
"Very excited to work here!" Severa continued to smile while Lucina's muffled voice escaped from her hand. Eventually, Lucina's eyes lit up and she stopped mumbling.
"Yes. We're very excited, yet we're also lost." Lucina nervously coughed into her arm.
The shadow simply stood there; its lack of a face made it hard to read whether it bought their fib or not.
"Follow me." It spoke as it walked off with Severa and Lucina close behind. Down they went past even more bookshelves and tables until they stood before a massive, stained glass window. The picture depicted the symbol of the Grimleal in red and shone down upon the floor. "Right through here." The shadow pointed to a door underneath the window. "You two might want to improve your skills in lying." He spoke as he opened the door and walked through it.
Severa sighed as she opened the door behind him, revealing a circular room lined with rows of seats. In the middle of the room was a circular platform with the symbol of the Grimleal adorned on it. Lucina noted that they had stepped onto the circular platform from the door, which had disappeared from behind them.
"Uh…" Severa looked around to see shadowy clones of Validar sitting in the chairs and reading books. "Are we supposed to be here?"
"Is everyone present?" A voice called from ahead of Severa and Lucina. "I count eleven members, so yes. Any objections to calling this meeting?"
Eleven identical voices responded with an approval. "Without further ado…"
Validar stepped out onto the platform; his smile disappeared the moment he noticed Severa and Lucina. "Oh, right. You two are still here."
The purple lights dimmed, and in their place, the floor lit up like a massive lantern. Validar lifted a tome in the air with his fingers and began to mutter an incantation. **"I shall sweep the rats from my home and deliver them to Master Grima!"
The symbol of the Grimleal appeared behind Validar, constructed of orange lines and eyes. The symbol bent and shifted like a moving painting as the lines and eyes transformed into new shapes. The eyes clumped together to make a large, orange pile that floated next to the lines.
With a snap of Validar's fingers, the two shapes merged and were enveloped by a purple light. When the light disappeared, the shapes had fused together to make a morning star with a flail. The eyes jutted out and resembled a pile of spikes while they were attached to the two lines.
He flicked his wrist, smashing the end of the mace down onto the ground where Severa was. She dove out of the way and looked at the spiked ball that jutted out of the ground. The floor had cracked from the impact.
Lucina drew her blade and charged Validar, only to be blasted with a cloud of purple smoke from his free hand. She could hardly see through the cloud as she swung her blade aimlessly, only to feel a sinking in her gut when she noticed him standing further back.
He moved his hand in a swinging motion; Severa noticed that the morning star was being dragged sideways through the ground, with the chain in between heading right for her legs. She leaped over the chain as though it was a jump rope, but Lucina was knocked to the ground by the magic chain.
"Hey!" Severa called out as Lucina groaned from the floor. She looked on at Lucina with the heavy gaze, at the pain that she herself had caused to her friends. Validar cackled with glee as he brought the chained ball above his head in preparation to smash it down on Lucina. "If you only care about me, then act like it!" Severa positioned herself between Lucina and Validar. "Just don't hurt her!"
"As you wish!" Validar smiled as he twirled his finger, causing the chain of the morning star to wrap around Severa like a snake. Her arms were bound as she felt the chains from the magic weapon scratch her skin. "But first, I won't take any chances!"
Sparks of lightning crackled and jumped between the chains. Severa screamed in pain as she felt the electric jolts course through her body.
"No!" Lucina thrusted her blade into the ground and used it to pull herself to her feet. She then sprinted to the chain and gripped her blade with two hands as she smashed it against the chain. Her sword bounced off the enchanted metal; her arms shook as electricity jumped from the chain to her sword.
"Foolish girl!" Validar continued to laugh as she dropped her blade and spasmed. "It is your destiny to lose!"
Her nerves calmed as she focused on Severa's pained, scared eyes. She paused; a hesitation. How many more were going to be hurt by her failures?
"Just… go! Run!" Severa groaned. With a deep breath, Lucina bent down and picked up her blade. Her mind flashed back to the burning forest, to the face Severa made as she told Lucina to run. Her grip tightened as she brought her sword above her head and aimed it at the chain.
With a scream echoing out of her lips, and her grip on her sword tightening, Lucina felt something new in her father's blade. A voice that spoke to her mind. One that had persisted since the age of the Hero King, or at least she thought.
The voice told her to stand and fight. To fight and protect those she loved.
A massive, shining blade of light exploded from the Falchion and extended the reach of the blade threefold. She smashed the sword upon the chain, shattering it and severing the connection between the ball and the handle. "What?" Validar almost choked from the shock as his weapon faded to orange dust.
Severa tumbled to the ground and laid there while Lucina quickly checked her pulse. Unconscious but safe. The light from her sword pierced the darkness of the room and made Validar's skin crawl. "You think you can win with that insignificant parlor trick?"
Lucina replied with silence as she glared at Validar with the anger of a raging bull. She dragged her sword along the ground as she slowly approached, grunting with every step she took.
"For… For the murder of my father..." She grunted through her teeth. Validar's eyes widened as he backed up to the edge of the platform. "For… the pain you've inflicted on my friends..." Her demented grin was the only thing in Validar's recent memory that actively scared him.
"Now, listen, young Exalt. I had no intention of harming he-"
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Lucina screamed with a volume that shook the floor as she thrust her blade into Validar's chest. He wailed in agony as he felt the disgusting light course through his body. Lucina's stalwart stare and grimace remained visible, even as Validar's grey blood flew from his wound to her face.
She slowly, painfully pulled her blade from his chest and brought it to his neck.
"This… This isn't over…" He glared at her as he held his chest. "Damn you both!" He quickly snapped his fingers, creating a gate behind Lucina.
Winds lashed at her back, pulling her towards the gate. She stood her ground as she continued to glare at Validar. Her gaze was broken for a moment when she saw Severa's unconscious body tumble into the gate from the winds.
By the time her gaze returned to Validar, he was leaning over her with a clean chest and an unbroken face. He brought his foot up and smashed it into Lucina's gut, kicking her back and throwing her into the gate.
The gate of the Grimleal disappeared after the two girls were sucked in, leaving a tired Validar and ten clones of himself standing in an empty room. Validar groaned as he waved his hands, dismissing the clones and giving him room to think.
He exited the room through a back door and stepped into a new one, which contained nothing but a desk and a massive painting on the wall. Validar seated himself at the desk, of which a book titled '40/02/04.'
"Day four of the second month of the fortieth year." Validar read his writing aloud as he used his quill to write his thoughts. "Lucina has killed me today. I only have ten bodies remaining. In other, more pressing news, I remembered something new about her today."
Validar looked up to the painting, which depicted a man with black hair standing next to a woman with white pigtails. Their small son stood between them, smiling with his short, white hair. Whereas the father and the son were painted with an excruciating attention to detail, the mother was unfinished. Her eyes, for example, were simply unpainted spaces on the canvas.
He raised his hand to move a paintbrush against the painting with his magic. He began to paint palm trees and a beach in the background, "Today, I remembered that she loved the smell of the beach." That was all he remembered of her, barring what he had written down and forgotten the next day.
Sand flew from Lucina's mouth as she pulled her head out of the ground and dusted off her tongue with her hands to remove the grains from it. She looked around from where she sat; all around her was the blue sands of a desert and nothing else. The moon hanged in the sky above while Severa laid at her side, with Falchion sticking out of the ground close by.
Lucina sheathed her father's blade and sat down next to Severa, who was still breathing. Tired, but breathing. Her posture shifted from a sit to a lying position next to Severa as she questioned what her father's blade had done.
And with that, I'll see you folks in the next few months with Puppets Don't Cry Section B: Severa's Bizarre Adventure to Rigel.