Chapter Fifty-Two: Personal Requests
Tactician of Ylisse: Robin
Do you see, Chosen? Grima's voice bounced around my skull. As often happened, I did not see, but arguing with the Fell Dragon sounded like a less than ideal situation. Come. Luckily I sat alone in my tent, otherwise, I might have been answering some uncomfortable questions when I awoke.
As the world resolved into the swirling black void, I once again found myself staring at my mirror image. Teeth bared in a pleased smile, Grima's expression morphed in displeasure as the shadows spun the other member of these little meetings took form. Feet alighting on the ground stretched.
"Grima." Resolving more clearly than ever before, their voice created a new set of ripples in the ethereal fabric of the dream space. "This is an inconvenient time." A more civil tone, but carrying a hint of warning none the less. While I knew the other did not care for the Fell Dragon, they rarely implied inconvenience at these occasional meetings. I suspected that whoever the person was, they believed Grima would do this more often to annoy them.
You do not need to concern yourself. The Fell Dragon sneered. You are not required here. Our third guest rarely cared for Grima's wants or desires, so I doubted the admonishment would care.
"Probably not, but I feel it is my duty to ensure what poor fool you duped into making a deal with you is properly informed of what they are getting into." The void realm bent and twisted as their magic went to work, a display of casual willpower and strength I could only compare to Morgan's overwhelming might, well beyond my own abilities. "Then again, this one appears more sensible, so we shall see." A flash of outrage passed on Grima's features before the Fell Dragon schooled their features. "Do not deny it, Fell Dragon, this one doesn't grovel at your feet."
It does not matter. Turning to face them, Grima's attention causes the dream world to contort once more, under the shattering weight of a God. They will do as required. A pause, weighing on all three of us. As will you, in the end.
A deep resonant laugh filled the air. "Will I?" They gestured to me, and I felt the briefest touch of alien magic. "Will they?" Not if given a choice in the matter, but that hinged upon determining Grima's end goals, beyond just resurrection. A word, Arcane and outside of my understanding rang, prompting a howl of rage from Grima. Purple and black clashed, some new struggle playing out with magic instead of words. "Enough. I grow bored of playing games." 'Eyes' glowing, the figure brought a hand up, a sudden wash of that same alien magic filling the void. "Now go!" Stepping forwards the specter released a wave of purple fire that washed harmlessly over me, locking Grima away, and dulling the Fell Dragon's roars of rage. "This will last for now."
"What are you doing?" At my address the other turned, form wavering under direct scrutiny, facial features betraying some degree of strain. "What is your stake in this?" Asking who they were wouldn't help, I already knew. They just didn't answer that.
For a long moment, the figure considered, scrutiny weight and uncomfortable. "I suffered Grima's tender mercies once, girl. As decisions go, dealing with Grima is a poor one, although I suppose I can understand why you might do so." They stepped close enough to reach out and touch, although I could not muster the strength to do so. "You are different than most of the Fell Dragon's toys, so I hold out some hope that you might realize your folly before you are consumed." I planned to, although with such limited information. "Simply remember, Chosen of Grima, that others are watching." Before I could reply, they clapped, sending the ethereal world into a whirlwind of shards, and me back into the realm of the waking.
-FE:DUL-
Heroic Princess: Cynthia
Being back to flying felt amazing. I felt somewhat bad leaving Severa alone for a while, but she could handle herself, even if Lucina probably wouldn't enjoy the results. Swooping around the tree, I had to wonder at everything that happened when I was hurt, but I would worry about it at a later date. Two whole armies stretched out, organized rows of tents and people, something I couldn't remember ever seeing before. Below, a few Ylissean Pegasi circled on regular patrols, something Morgan would appreciate, although none of them paid me much attention. If I squinted, I could pick up the flashing red of Cordelia's hair, before circling around.
Finding Mother from on high proved quite a bit more difficult. In the end, I landed towards the middle of the camp, in the area that someone set up for the pegasi to take off from. A few people milling about smiled and nodded in my direction, although I got a few suspicious looks as well.
"Cynthia, right?" I turned, face to face with Stahl. "You're looking for Chrom?"
"Yup!" Pausing, I cocked my head. "How'd you know who I was?" I hadn't been down here besides to find Severa.
Stahl laughed. "Everyone from up in the tree talks about you, and Chrom said Marth…er…Lucina had a sister, and you look like her." He paused, before laughing a bit. "And I think all of us remember you from back in Ylisse." I didn't think I'd made an impression on anyone quite like that.
I'd worry about making an impression later on. "Yup. She's my sister. And I'm looking for Mom, actually."
Stahl nodded, frowning in thought. "Well, she should be with Chrom. I think they're meeting with Robin about something or another." That sounded promising, and Robin seemed like Dad's version of Morgan. "Guessing you know where to look?" Must have shown on my face.
"Yup!" Patting my Pegasus on the side, I turned to leave. "Thanks!"
As things went, finding the tent where they were planning didn't prove too hard. Morgan set things up just like Robin did, and they were standing outside when I approached, which made things even easier.
"Cynthia." Smiles and nods all around, as Robin caught sight of me first. "What brings you here?"
"Just trying to catch up on what happened while I was sleeping." It seemed best to avoid the topic of what happened, for now. "And make sure Lucina and Morgan actually told you everything, and that Lucina doesn't have some stupid idea about running off alone again." Which, I already knew she did, because Lucina was super predictable if a bit silly.
Robin chuckled, shaking her head. "I will leave the three of you to handle that, as I need to find Arielle and ask her a few questions." I doubted that she'd have much success, but I admired the effort none the less
"Good luck!" She smiled, nodded, and swept off, in a manner that reminded me, Morgan. "Sorry about lying to you before." Both my parents blinked in reply. "In Ylisse. We lied about who we are." Pausing to think about it, I corrected myself. "Well, sort of. Morgan lied, but we all didn't correct her about it."
"It's alright." Mother metaphorically waved my concern off. "I don't think we completely understand, but none one is going to blame you, after what we have been told about your future."
"Agreed." I didn't have a good idea what to expect from Father, but his smile proved somewhat reassuring. "If we were to blame you, we would have to be quite annoyed with Lucina, and I got the distinct feeling that would be both useless, and ineffective." Probably yeah. Getting mad at Lucy never worked well, as she'd either just ignore you, or worse, she'd have some perfectly sensible argument that you couldn't argue with. "And given that we only just convinced her not to run off on her own, I'd rather she stuck around for a while, instead of being so angry with us that she leaves again."
"We'd all rather stay." Somehow Mom and Dad did something I couldn't do in years in a couple days, somehow. "And if you didn't, she'd listen to me." I might be able to force that issue, now that Mom and Dad were right in front of us, probably. If not me, Morgan. Although I didn't think Morgan liked that idea. But I'd have figured it out.
"And we are glad you are staying." Mother agreed, a somewhat awkward smile on her face. "And it's good to see you are alright, Lucina mentioned you were injured in the fighting." She'd spent a fair amount of time around Robin, that's for sure because that was a Robin question.
While I knew that would be asked, I still grimaced. "Before. I was flying patrol, and we got ambushed. The others didn't have much experience and…well…" I almost died." But probably shouldn't tell them that part. Mother's expression twisted in horror and pain, obviously understanding. "I got better so it's alright."
"No, that is not." Father took a deep breath, as though trying to calm himself down. I'd seen Lucina do that before. "It's not alright at all Cynthia. You shouldn't be having to risk your life like that."
"Grima killed everyone else. We didn't have a choice." I dropped some of my usual cheer at that admission. "Either we fought, or we died." That caught them both off guards. "Lucina fought with us, and you've seen all the crazy stuff Morgan does. We believe in them. They're heroes." And, for me, that was all that needed to be said.
-FE:DUL-
"You taught me to fly." It felt weird, just walking around with Mom again. Lucina mentioned that things felt odd, with our parents knowing, but I didn't really get it until I was walking around with her again, in a place that I didn't associate with Mom at all. I didn't think of her as a warrior, she'd always been just Mom, or sometimes the Exalt when people were being super stupid. "And fight, too."
Mother studied me for a few moments, before giving a long sigh, one I knew meant she didn't like something. "You make the future sound as grim as Lucina does." No way I did that, Lucy made everything sound hopeless and grim when she talked about it.
"Maybe. I didn't tend to worry about that stuff to much. Lucina was older, so I wasn't going to be Exalt, so I just trained to be a Pegasus knight, because it seemed cool and heroic. Fighting against bandits and stuff is all I really wanted to do." And that didn't turn out well. Or, it did, right up until everything went wrong. "I wasn't about to let my sisters just run off and fight monsters alone after all. And, well, someone needed to keep Lucina form moping all the time."
Mother hummed, a quick smile playing across her face. "Hopefully even that becomes a thing of the past."
"That's the plan!" And with so many super smart people, we'd figure out how to make that happen. "And we're just talking about gloomy stuff again." I didn't plan on that at all, but I wasn't the best at planning. I left that to everyone else for a reason.
"I suppose we are." A reluctant admission, to me. "It's…there are so many things about you that we don't know about you, or what happened. I think everyone is trying to understand both what happened to you, and what you want from us."
"Just be natural, and everything will work out!" Turning to walk backward, so I could face her, I tried to smile encouragingly. Probably failed, but I tried none the less. "Nobody knows what they want, we're all figuring it out ourselves. Everyone knows they don't want to be like Morgan, but nothing else really.
That one caught her quite off guard. "Morgan and her Mother don't get along?"
Making a face, I tried to figure out a good answer, without making Morgan angry. "They get along, it's just…Morgan and her Mom have a weird history, with Morgan be left with us, and her Mom vanishing, and being possessed, and all the weird stuff that happened. If you watch the two of them together, they're always tense, playing some kind of game with each other. Lucina says dealing with them at the same time is a total headache, because it's not that they fight, it's that they are having a strange game of one upping each other."
"I would believe that." A twinge of amusement crossed Mom's face. "Arielle could be quite a character when she wants to be." She paused for a moment. "What is the relationship between her and Lucina?"
That brought me up short. How to explain that? Should I even explain it? "That's…kind of a mess. Lucina says everyone thought they were together or something like that, when they were traveling with you guys?"
A nod. "We did. They obviously knew each other well, so everyone assumed there to be a past between them." Well, I guess I understood that, and could understand. "When they fought together, it reminded everyone of seeing partners who'd been in battle together, constantly covering the gaps in one another, and acting in sync."
I could see that. "Neither of them talks about it, really. I don't think either of them really know what to call themselves, so they just don't." That would be like Lucina, thinking about it. "You'd have to ask her; she might tell you more than she'd tell me." I doubted it, but Mother could ask. "She's a storybook hero, devoted to defeating Grima, and everything else comes second." Mother blinked, surprised. "Somewhere in there, I still have a sister, but she'd buried under layers of duty, and fighting and self-sacrifice." I'd never told anyone that before, and it hurt to admit.
Mother quite obviously didn't know how to respond to that.
-FE:DUL-
"Cynthia." Nah was standing by the altar when I landed atop the tree.
"Hiya!" Nah and I usually didn't talk much if we hung out, usually just silently commiserating over the stupid stuff my siblings did. "What's up?"
"You are aware that Morgan, Arielle, Lady Tiki, and I are leaving for the Divine Dragon Grounds in the morning." I knew that Morgan, Tiki and her Mom were, not that Nah was going on. "Morgan asked me to come along." Interesting. IT did make sense though. Morgan always had a soft spot for Nah, in a different way than Lucina and I.
"Okay. You want me to make sure Lucina doesn't do something silly?" Probably that. Or maybe something else.
"That, yes." Nah took a breath. "Keep an eye on Robin."
"What?" Robin? Why did Nah want me to keep an eye on her? "Why?"
Nah considered me for a long while. "When you see her next, remember than you are a child of the Exalts line Cynthia, and that Divine power touched you just as much as your sister. If you must, you can wield Falchion, and we both know that." Nah deflated, losing her serious face, and just looking tired. "She uses Grima's magic. Like Morgan except…"
"Where would she learn it?" Nah dipped her head in agreement. "I…do my best." Spying on Robin felt wrong, somehow. She was Dad's best friend, and helped them lots.
"Thank you." Turning, Nah's eyes drifted to the sky. "I would do it myself, but I believe I am needed with Morgan."
"Why?" Nah usually wasn't this mysterious.
She didn't say anything for a long time. "A feeling." That would be all I'd get, and I knew it. "We should return long before you need to do battle with Walhart." That was good. "Be careful, Cynthia."
"You too." She smiled, eyes staying on the stars.
AN: Gotta admit I don't like this chapter very much. But, it needed to happen, so done is done. I don't really have more to say as a result on this one.
Next chapter is up at www .(p)atreon . (c)om /soulmuse , sans the silly formatting, as always.
Reviews, questions, concerns are all appreciated, otherwise, I shall see you next week with our next installement.
