AN: I know, I know - it's about damned time.
On one hand, maybe I should have done a better job of hiding the magical ghost of the Hero King Marth whom I constantly hold in card form from Nah.
But, on the other hand, Nah's a magical little girl with weird, pointy ears, who can transform into a dragon, and has traveled through time itself to put a stop to an imminent zombie apocalypse and gigantic god-like dragon of destruction from destroying the world. Besides, we all couldn't just sleep in the middle of that field undefended, and the Einherjar of Marth doesn't really seem to need sleep.
Bottom line: how was I supposed to know that seeing an odd-looking stranger in our group who looks sort of like her princess friend from another time and watching me transform him into a card right in front of her would cause Nah to freak out so much, and start muttering a bunch of inconceivable gibberish about Lucina and phantoms?
Still, my explanations don't seem to have meant anything to Alex, since she's still yelling at me about it.
"Look, she was going to find out sooner or later about the card dude. In this case, it just happened to be sooner. How does that hurt anybody?"
"Well, you could have picked a better time to get careless with your Einher – whatever the hell it's called – than right before our plan to take on an entire band of slavers!"
Alex makes sure to whisper that last part. She peers over her shoulder at Nah, making sure that she didn't hear her. The manakete shows know signs of having heard us, walking a good distance behind us, staring at her feet.
Needless to say, Nah's been traveling with us ever since Alex and I rescued her from that insane haunted house. The best reason that she could come up with for this was that she was lost and that she was searching for her parents, and that we seemed like the type of people she could trust. We didn't bother to ask how she had managed to get lost in a house like that in the middle of some island she apparently hadn't ever heard of, since we needed a reason for her to travel with us as much as she did.
Alex has deduced that, since Nah went through the trouble of finding a reason to come with us, she must have recognized us from the future.
Or, maybe she really is just lost, and needs someone to help her find her place in the world.
In any case, Nah obviously hasn't told us anything about coming from an apocalyptic future. The way she was acting, she seemed to be relieved we even managed to swallow the fact that she was part dragon.
I'm just curious as to whether or not she'll find anything suspicious about all of us coincidentally bumping into her friends. She's a smart girl, and, if my memory of this game is correct, has some pretty obscure manakete powers involved with something that could help her detect lies – she might just be able to figure that something is wrong.
Oh, just shut up. You're over-thinking these things way too much.
"Hey! Don't just zone out on me!" I hear Alex shouting at me, snapping her fingers in front of my face.
"Huh?" I mutter, eyes widening.
"I said, you could have picked a better time to get careless with Marth than right before your plan to take on an entire army of slavers!"
"Oh..." I mutter before shrugging. "Yeah, you have a good point there."
"Damn right, I do."
"But still, what's done is done. I can't really do anything about it now. Besides, now I can use Marth in battle, and Nah seems to have settled down from her little morning freak out."
Alex scoffs, and holds her hands behind her head. "Whatever. Let's just hope you don't send all of the other kids running by showing them your blue manservant."
"Hey, if all of them are going to follow the lead of some girl masquerading as the Hero King, they may as well get a chance to meet the real deal himself. Er... A phantom representing the real deal himself, that is."
Alex just rolls her eyes. "Whatever you say... You seem to enjoy being the 'leader' of this little group of us."
"Hey, I'm not saying I'm a master tactician like Robin, or anything, but, out of the three of us, I'm the one who has the most experience in this world... time... place. Plus, I can control a card guy."
"Fine, fine. So, mister 'leader', what exactly is your plan for the rescue of Noire? I can't help but notice that, during our long march to this certain Paralogue, we've taken a pretty big detour when you took us on some big walk east, and then turned us up north."
"You noticed that, huh?" I say, reaching into my bag, and pulling out my map. I open it up, and take a look at our general location.
"Well, if I remember correctly from the game, the place where we'll find Noire is somewhere around here," I say, placing my finger around our location. "I'm just trying to avoid a big fight when rescuing Noire by having us enter the Paralogue... place from the east, rather than the south, like we do in the game. That way, we can just find Noire and run out of there without having to take on an entire army. We might have to fight, like, five people at most."
"That's wishful thinking, don't you think?" Alex says, frowning as I put the map away. "I'm just saying, we're probably going to have to take on a pretty large amount of baddies – things never really seem to be that easy."
"Oh? And what about that extremely short visit through that haunted house? I'd say that that was pretty damn easy."
"Yeah, yeah... But that's different. We were facing nearly mindless zombie killer things. We're facing... well, intelligent people in this case. Besides, by following your plan, I'm pretty sure that we missed out on a few treasure chests there."
"Well, unless you have any skill with lock-picking or stuff like that, or a few keys that can somehow unlock pretty much any treasure chest that I don't know about, then there really probably wasn't anything we could have done."
"Oh... Right..." Alex mutters. "...Do you think that key thing really works in this world? I mean, you just have one key, and t can open any treasure chest or door?"
"I... honestly have no idea. I more or less try to avoid thinking about the things that don't make sense in this world."
Key word: try. Come on – thinking about weird stuff like this is fun. Admit it!
Alex shrugs. "Yeah. That's probably a good idea."
"...You're not going to freeze up again, are you?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Well, I'm just saying that the last time you went and took somebody's life, there seemed to be some... complications. You did sort of get to kill a bunch of Risen at that big mansion the other day, but you really only witnessed the death of one or two them. And Risen are just dead things. I just need to know that you're not going to let yourself get killed after you go ahead and blow somebody's head off."
Alex pouts her lips and frowns. "It's... a life-or-death situation. I'm sure that I'll be able to concentrate on the battle and swallow whatever feelings I have to throw up, even if I do see a few organs flying here and there."
I nod. "Good. You do that."
I look over my shoulder at Nah. "You doing okay, there?"
Nah looks up at me, and frowns a little bit.
Oh, come on. I didn't sound that condescending when I asked that, did I?
"I'm fine. I just never thought I'd ever meet a swordsman that you could hold in your hand."
"Good," Alex says, "because, according to some rumours we've heard, there's supposed to be some sort of band of slavers traveling around this area."
Nah begins to pick up her pace and make her way towards us, frowning. "Really? Is that why we've been traveling in what seems to be a wide circle lately? Are you guys trying to bump into them?"
Alex turns to me. "His idea. Not mine."
"Uh... Look, I'm just thinking that, should we just happen to find these guys, then we should probably... you know... give them a little trouble."
Nah gives me a blank look. "...I know you guys said that you were just 'wandering the lands aimlessly', but... picking random fights with a group of bad guys for no apparent reason? Maybe I'm not as safe as I thought, traveling with you guys..."
"Relax, we're all really capable fighters. You won't die with us."
"We're also very humble," Alex says, rolling her eyes.
"Unbelievably so. And, like I was telling Alex earlier, I'm hoping we won't have to fight off every one of these guys. At the very least, I just want to see if they're taking anybody hostage, and free 'em if that's the case."
"...Is there any particular reason for this?" Nah asks. "All of this seems pretty... I dunno... Random? Totally unprovoked?"
"What, you don't want to help people in need? You'd rather just let these guys run around free?"
"It's not that, it's just... you don't even know if there's a problem at the moment – you two said that you only heard about this from a rumour. And... there's only three of us. I mean, yes, I can turn into a dragon, but-"
"Four," I correct her. "The blue card guy makes four. He can do more than just watch us while we sleep when I tell him to."
"...Right. Okay. Whatever. We may as well just get this over with."
"I AM THE FIRE AND FURY! ALL WHO DEFY ME WILL PERISH! REPENT, SCUM! REPENT THOUGH IT WILL SAVE YOU NOT! REPENT AND DESPAIR!"
The sound of a crazy woman screaming travels through the otherwise silent air, and is immediately followed by the sound of insane laughter.
Well, finding Noire was pretty damned easy... Now for the hard part.
"Wait a minute... I'd recognize that insane cackle anywhere..."
Hiding behind a group of trees covered in snow located pretty close to the remnants of a building that Noire is standing in, Alex and I turn to Nah, who is frowning intently at the direction of the recent screaming.
"Is it a bad guy?" I immediately ask, remembering that I need to at least try and act as if I don't know who these kids are. "Because it kind of sounds like that's a bad guy."
Nah sighs. "No, I... It's complicated, but... that person who was screaming – she definitely needs our help."
Nah sticks her head out from behind the tree she's hiding behind, and surveys the area. Alex and I turned to do the same.
"So, it looks like there are more than a few people riding horses towards that girl..." Alex mutters loudly. "And a few of those horses seem to be equipped with a pair of wings..." Alex then turns to me. "Do you really still think we can pull of your whole 'rescue and run' plan?"
"Well, we can... We can certainly try... And... L-look, we're wasting time just talking here! Let's just go and save the girl, and we'll just have to improvise, okay?"
"And, that pretty much means that we're going to take on an entire army... Great," Alex sighs, before we all run out from the trees.
I pull out Marth's card and summon the fighter while Nah takes hold of her dragonstone, and quickly transforms into a flying lizard of doom. This catches the attention of the slavers, who stop for a moment to take in the sight of Nah, but then recover from the initial shock of seeing a dragon, and charge ahead, with some of the people moving towards us, and the others continuing to run towards Noire.
"Okay, Marth-y! Our goal is to protect the girl in that destroyed fortress over there! Got it?"
"As you wish. I will answer your call."
All right, I guess that step one is running to Noire in that fort... thing, while fighting off these enemies. That probably means that step two is running like hell out of there, also while fighting off any enemies that get in our way.
Seems simple enough.
Blast a fireball here... Blast a fireball there...
Blast a bomb to get that annoying horse out of my hair...
...Yeah, okay, song-writing isn't your thing. Let's... try and not do that ever again.
Nah's destructive capabilities as a dragon seem to be... well, awesome. I mean, don't really see what's going on, since I have my back to her, but her attacks certainly sound fiery and powerful from here.
The numerous screams from the enemies are a nice touch, as well.
Alex seems to be doing pretty well, too. I've only taught her three spells so far – Fire, Thunder, and my trademark bombs – but she's easily able to take down plenty of these baddies, even if she is mostly using the spell I came up with.
And besides that, she doesn't seem to be showing any signs of letting anybody put a spear through her, although I wouldn't be surprised if she vomited or froze up as soon as we got out of danger.
As soon as Alex and I get close enough to Noire and her nearly destroyed fortress, I hear the girl scream, "BLOOD AND THUNDER! TAKE ONE STEP CLOSER, AND I'LL-"
"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" Alex shouts, waving her hands in the air. "W-we're not the bad guys! Okay? We're here to help you!"
Noire begins to put her bow and arrow down, and her face changes from her creepy talisman mode, and takes on a much more frightened expression.
"H-hold on... What are you talking about...?"
A large shadow falls over us as Nah flies over us, breathing fire at the people out to kill us. I immediately turn my attention away from Noire and Alex, and turn around, holding my sword in my right hand while blasting magic at whatever enemies I can see with my left. I motion for Alex to come ad help me. After a moment or so, I notice that Nah's fireballs stop flying everywhere.
"Noire!" Nah shouts while in her dragon form. "For the love of gods, don't shoot these people!"
Noire slowly tilts her head upward.
"No, no, no no nono!" Nah screams. "Don't freak out, don't freak out! It's me! Nah!"
"N-Nah?! Wh-what are you-"
"Look, I get that you two apparently know each other, but could we maybe hold off on the introductions until after we've escaped a situation where people are trying to kill us?!" I shout, hacking at a Bow Knight who got unnervingly close. "I know I said that we're capable fighters, but I thought that the giant dragon with us would be breathing fire at everything instead of chatting up her friend!"
"S-sorry!" Nah shouted in what I took to be the most apologetic tone one could achieve with a weird, echo-y dragon's voice. "Come on, Noire! We need to get out of here!"
"Huh? Y-you mean... there's actually a chance that we can-"
"YES, THERE'S A CHANCE WE CAN MAKE IT OUT!" Alex screams, her face contorted in a painful-looking fashion. "WE WOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE IF THAT WEREN'T THE CASE! NOW CAN WE PLEASE JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE?!"
...I figured she'd freak out sooner or later. I'm just grateful that she's just screaming instead of rolling around on the ground.
"Eep!" Noire cries, taking a step away from Alex.
"We should listen to her, Noire!"
"A-all right!" Noire says, looking at her flying reptilian frend. "L-let's go!"
It's about freakin' time!
"I-I'll help you take care of these-"
"PLEASE JUST KILL THESE PEOPLE INSTEAD OF TELLING US THAT YOU WILL!"
Noire squeals once more.
...These two aren't exactly getting on the best terms with each other, are they?
Still, Alex does have a point, and, even if it takes her a moment, Noire seems to figure out this as well, and proceeds to fire her arrows at whatever slavers she can get at. She actually steals quite a few of my kills.
There are so many... Why are there so many? Why did the gods decide to make the bad guys of this world much more plentiful than he good people here? How did they even do that? Did they just make the bad guys of this world incredibly horny? Or was there some baddie in this world who went Genghis Khan on everything and left a bunch of evil offspring that then went on to form numerous bands of evil people? Why do I keep asking these questions? Why do I think that a good time to be thinking of these questions is in the middle of a battle?
Who the hell cares.
The three of us slowly begin to make our way out of the rubble of a building we were standing in.
Screw it... We need to get the hell out of here... We have to at least try and outrun these people...
I blow an Arcfire at a pair of Paraldins charging at me. The fire stops them in their tracks, but they manage to withstand the attack. I then blast a pair of standard Wind spells at them, knocking the riders off of their horses, and throwing the horses onto the ground.
Let's see... Alex and I are fending off the people coming at us from the north, while Nah breathes fire everybody coming at us from the south. Noire just seems to be firing arrows here and there...
It'll probably be easier for us to just run south while Nah provides us with cover.
Well, that's that. Let's just get this over with.
"Okay... Marth?"
"Yes, master?"
"Uh... I'm going to let loose with some pretty big magic. Until then, I want you to cover me. When I finish my attack, I want you to run south," I find a brief moment to jerk my thumb south before continuing to fire magic at the enemy, "and just kill every enemy you can lay your eyes on."
"As you wish."
Out of the three magical elements of this world, I'd have to say that Wind is my favourite. It's quick and easy to use, and has a pretty large range of effect, even if it doesn't necessarily have the murderous capabilities of the other two elements.
In the end, even if it was a bit risky, it probably takes me about six seconds to sheathe my sword, charge up an incredibly powerful wind spell with both of my hands, and let it loose, blowing away the huge crowd of slavers in front of us.
Unfortunately, I can still see another wave of enemies coming at us right after these people.
I turn around, and shout at Alex and Noire, "Come on! This way! Hurry up! Now! Like, right now! Just run and kill!"
It takes the two of them a moment to do what I say, but we do start to rush through the huge crowd of enemies. Some of the paladins seem to have a pretty high resistance, so it sometimes takes an ax to the head along with a bomb in order to properly motivate them to get the hell out of our way.
Let's see... We'll need to cross that bridge that leads south, as well as that bridge over there that leads west... Then we just run through that snowy forest over there, and we should be able to lose them in those trees, unless all of them decide to dismount...
Tch... Step two is so much more tedious than step one...
"Huh... You... You guys think we lost 'em?" I ask, gasping for air, and taking a cautious look behind us. The snow crunches beneath my feet as I stumble around a little bit before I lean against a leafless tree for support.
"If... we didn't... I'd be more than willing to just burn down this forest and take them down with us..." Alex sighs.
I can't help but notice that most of the pain and fatigue I'm experiencing doesn't seem to be a result of the running. I guess I'm only now starting to feel the payback from using that much magic back there.
"I... I'm quite certain that they won't be catching up with us any time soon," Nah states. She's holding up a steady pose, but it's easy to tell that she's just as exhausted as any of us. "I wouldn't be surprised if they've already given up on catching us. You know, unless they happen to be exceptionally proud, and simply want to kill us for the sake of having us answer to them after killing so many of their men and robbing them of their would-be slave."
"Great..." I sigh, seating myself down and leaning against a tree and dropping the backpack and violin I'd been carrying on my back in the snow. It's slightly uncomfortable to be sitting in this snow, but I'm dressed in my armour, so I don't mind. The only comfort I expect from wearing this is the comfort of keeping all of my body parts in one place.
"So... Who's your friend?" Alex says, doing the same thing as me. She nods her head towards Noire, who appears to be in much worse a condition than either of us – she shivers while clutching her bow, and her eyes are unnervingly wide.
Nah stays standing up, and looks at her friend. "Oh, this is Noire. We... Well, let's just say that we were allies of a sort when something happened that caused us to separate."
I raise an eyebrow. "So... you two... aren't friends anymore?"
"No. I mean, something happened that literally caused us to separate. We couldn't find each other for a little while," Nah says, frowning at Noire. "...Right, Noire?"
Noire doesn't respond.
"...Right," Nah answers for her friend.
"...Is she all right?" Alex asks.
"I'll... be fine..." Noire mutters.
"She... That is to say... Life-threatening situations aren't exactly her thing," Nah says. "Plus, she's anemic, so..."
"Ah," Alex and I say simultaneously.
"Here," Alex says, rummaging through her backpack. "You should definitely eat something..."
We stay seated in that part of the forest for a little while, eating. Nah would constantly eye the direction we just ran away from, cautious of any enemies that may have ended up following us. Once all of us begin to feel more ready to begin traveling, we get up, and begin to head west.
Welp. Next stop, Kjelle.
"So... Y-your name was Alex, right?" I hear Noire ask.
"That's right."
"And... You're Lucas?"
"Yup."
"R-right... Er... W-well, thank you for helping me back there. I'd probably be dead right now if it weren't for the three of you..."
"It was nothing," Alex says, smirking.
"S-so... Wh-where are you guys headed, anyway?"
"They don't really have any goal in mind," Nah answers. "They're just... wandering the world, more or less."
"R-really? You mean, you're not part of the Sh – ow!"
"Oops! Sorry! I tripped!" Nah says through gritted teeth.
"Huh? O-oh! I... S-sorry..."
"...What's she sorry about?" I ask, trying to stifle a grin.
"Nothing! N-nothing..." Noire grumbles.
I feel as if I may as well answer the question Noire was trying to ask.
"Well, I wasn't always just wandering around aimlessly. I used to be part of this odd group of fighters called the Shepherds. But I left them a little while ago."
"Really?" Nah asks curiously. "Why? I-I mean... I've heard of the Shepherds, so... it just seems odd that somebody would want to leave them."
I shrug. "Well, things were getting boring. And besides, I'm kind of in a situation where I'm in the need of some answers."
"...He's an amnesiac," Alex says, pointing at me.
Nah and Noire mumble a few things, and I can make out an, "Oh really?" and a "How about that?" The two of them don't sound entirely surprised. I guess future-me went and pulled the amnesiac card as well. That's pretty lucky.
Alex begins to speak, "So, Noire, once we reach the next town, what's your plan?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, I... W-well, I don't really have anywhere to go... A-and, I'm friends with Nah, so... I was kind of wondering if I could just stay with you guys? Th-that is, if it's no trouble..."
"Sure. We don't mind," Alex says.
"Really? Uh, thanks..."
"...She's different," I say.
"Huh? Me?" Noire stutters. "H-how do you mean?"
"I mean, when we first heard her," I say, looking at Nah, "we heard some... well, insane screaming. Nah, you said that Noire was the one screaming?"
"Er... Yeah. You see, her mother... Well, there's this thing with dark magic, and..." Nah sighs in defeat. "Noire, just show them..."
"Huh? You mean, you actually want me to do that?"
"It'll be easier than trying to explain everything..."
"O-okay... Uh..."
"...Could you hurry up?"
"SILENCE, FOOLISH DRAGON WOMAN! DON'T YOU DARE RUSH ME! I SHALL TOUCH MY TALISMAN AT WHATEVER PACE I DEEM FIT, AND YOU CANNOT COMMAND ME TO DO OTHERWISE!"
Nah turns to me and Alex. "See?"
"...Huh. That's, uh... interesting," I say. "So, she just touches that talisman thing, and that happens?"
"MUAHAHAHA! THAT IS CORRECT, MORTAL!"
"Okay, Noire, that's enough," Nah says.
"BLOOD AND THUNDER! STILL YOUR TONGUE, DRAGONKIN! IT IS ENOUGH WHEN I SAY IT IS ENOUGH!"
"Noire."
"A-all right..."
...Well then. Our group just got much more interesting.
We continue to walk west. Before long, the trees begin to disappear, and the snow begins to pile up at our feet as we head deeper and deeper into Feroxian territory. A cold, biting wind blows, and hits me in the face.
Actually, no, the wind doesn't bite... More like the cold wind comes and punches me in the face, knees me in the groin, steals my wallet, kicks me once more while I'm on the ground, spits on me, and then tosses me in an alleyway dumpster on garbage day.
As things begin to freeze up, Alex and I both summon a flame in our hands to warm everybody up.
Shit... How would my family react if they saw me here?
...Mom would probably be freaking out, and trying to get me to put on about twenty more layers. Despite the huge flame in my hands.
Dad would probably laugh at me, and make fun of me for 'being so weak that I'd let a little cold like this bug me', while standing in the thirty other layers that Mom made him wear.
My brother... Well, he'd almost definitely be looking at Noire and Alex, trying to decide which one to hit on. He'd almost definitely go to Alex, since she's not carrying a visible weapon on her.
Now that I think about it, Sis is probably the only one who would question how in the world I was able to stand having my hand set on fire.
"...Say, what happened to that blue guy?" Noire eventually asks. "Nah, didn't he look kind of like-"
"Yeah. He did. Er... Lucas, could you just show her, so we can get this over with?"
"Huh? Oh, all right," I say, grabbing Marth's card, and summoning the fighter.
"Eeek!" Noire shrieks. "Wh-what just happened?! Did he-"
"Yes," Nah interrupts, "he did."
"Er... My apologies," Marth says. "Did I offend milady in some way?"
"BLOOD AND THUNDER! OF COURSE YOU HAVE OFFENDED ME, PUNY, BLUE MAN! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ONE TO REACT WHEN YOU SUDDENLY JUMP OUT IN FRONT OF ME AND OUT OF WHATEVER DIMESION IS HELD WITHIN THAT CARD?!"
"...Card? My apologies – I'm afraid I do not follow. Are you feeling quite all right, madam?"
"Aaand, back in the card you go," I say, holding my hand out and catching the magical essence that transforms Marth from human to card.
"Eeek! Wh-what just happened?! Did he-"
"Yes," Nah interrupts, "he did that, also."
Alex laughs. "So, what do you think of that fifth member of the group?"
"BLOOD AND THUNDER! SHOULD THAT TINY STICK OF A MAN SHOCK ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, I SHALL-"
"Oh, look! We've finally reached civilization!" I call out.
"FOOLISH MORTAL! DO NOT INTERRUPT ME, LEST YOU DESIRE TO FACE MY-"
"Noire," Nah cuts her off. "Please, we've finally reached a town with other people. Do try to stop screaming and frightening people."
AN: I'm going to go ahead and give my excuse for why this took so long without using the letter 'I'.
My computer was not well. People attempted to solve the problem, but the laptop refused to get better. So, we purchased a new computer. Unfortunately, the document for Chapter 52 was nearly completed on the old laptop, so a redo of the chapter was necessary. Work on already stated chapter proved arduous due to my constant lack of contentment for already stated chapter, as well as the obstacle of a new, hard-to-type-on keyboard.
Damn you, new keyboard...
