14 – WAR COUNSEL

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The Third Timeline

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Chrom and I retreat to the tent the Feroxi have pitched for us and he draws the curtains closed so we have privacy. I sort through all the events and visions of the past two days and wonder how I am going to make sense of them.

I've been in shock for so long, carried along by adrenaline. Now the panic that should have been my immediate reaction to such horrors hits me. I shiver and stagger down to my knees, my heart pounding and my breath catching in my throat.

"Gray! What's wrong?" Chrom asks, his hands holding my shoulders.

"I- I can't breathe," I gasp. I curl inwards and choke, anxiety shutting down my body. Instead of the core of magic in my chest, I feel a heavy leaden weight, crushing the breath from my lungs. I cough and manage to break through the panic enough to take several shallow, rapid breaths.

"Gray, look at me. Look at me," Chrom says, taking my face in his hands gently. "Open your eyes. Look at me."

I force myself to focus on his face, still choking. The world is spinning around him but his eyes are steady and bright.

"You're safe now," he says. "I've got you. You're safe here with me. Whatever has happened is past. You've survived it and now you've come home to me. No – keep your eyes open. There you go. Look at me. I love you. I love you and I will never leave your side again. I will keep you safe and you will keep me safe."

His words pull me back to the moment and I gasp air into my lungs. He holds me as I hyperventilate, rubbing soothing circles on my back. I cling to him, crying against his neck. "I'm sorry…" I sob. "I'm sorry, I- I just-"

"Sshhh," he whispers and presses his lips against the top of my head. "I've got you."

After a few minutes, I pull myself together and sit back, slowing my breathing back to normal. "I don't know what came over me," I say.

"I've seen it many times before," he says. "Lissa calls it a panic attack. It happens when a soldier comes home from battle and the atrocities they've seen sink in."

I shiver and glance up at him. "Thank you for calming me down."

"I meant what I said. You're safe now."

He gets up and pours a jug of water into a bowl, placing a rag in it. "Here, heat this a bit with some of your fire," he says.

I obey, drawing flames to my fingers and stirring them into the water. Chrom takes off my torn clothes and gently wipes the blood and ash from my skin. I close my eyes and feel the warm water washing away the anxiety in my spirit.

When he's done, he leads me over to the pile of blankets and lies down, pulling off his own clothes. I settle down beside him and he kisses me, moving his lips across my neck and my chest.

"I still can't believe I'm here with you," I whisper.

He props himself up on his elbows so he can look at me. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

"How are we so lucky?" I say. "We keep finding each other, in every life."

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"The version of myself I see in my dreams, he's from a past life. For a time, his life that I'd see pieces of would predict what happened in mine. Our paths are separating now; things are happening differently. But you are the one constant. He loved you as much as I do."

"I wonder if that's why I'm so drawn to you," Chrom says.

"Some things don't change," I say. I kiss him, hungrily this time, my tongue in his mouth. I push him onto his back and climb on top of him.

After we are satisfied, he picks up my hand and intertwines his fingers with mine. "No sparks this time? Did you not-"

"No I did," I tell him with a smile. "I just don't have much magic in me right now."

"I brought you here to rest. I'm sorry."

"I don't think I could have rested until I'd had my fill of you," I say.

"And have you?"

"For a short while."

Thoughts and memories have been swept from my mind and I fall asleep next to him, dreamless and still.

Chrom wakes me reluctantly after a few hours and says, "The Khans are meeting soon with Emm. We need to be there."

I mumble an acknowledgement and roll over.

"Gray…"

I groan and force my heavy eyes open. "I'm awake."

"We must speak before we meet with them," he says. "It wasn't the time for words earlier but now I need to know everything that happened after I left with Lissa."

I bolt up and look at him. "The Fire Emblem-?"

"It's safe," he says.

I comb my hair with my fingers and dress, then sit on the grass in front of Chrom and tell him as best I can of all that had transpired.

I tell him too of my visions all along, leaving out only the nightmare where I had killed him with the Levin sword. I tell him of male Gray and the woman before him, of how our timelines repeated but as time went on, my life started to depart more and more quickly from their previous fates.

"So the man Gray and I won the war against Gangrel?" he says at the end.

"Yes. When Emmeryn sacrificed her life their soldiers deserted. She was the reason we won."

"But now things have changed. Instead of sending assassins they sent the entire Plegian army."

"And this time I killed Aversa. I believe she was the dark mage summoning the Risen. She was the most powerful mage I've ever seen."

"That's something in our favor then."

"When they figure out that Emmeryn didn't die in Ylisstol they will come for her again."

"Then we will be ready for them," he says. "Gangrel will not get his hands on her and we will win this war with her still alive."

"We will," I agree, but I have a growing fear that the Exalt's death is somehow an integral part in this war. Lucina had told Chrom in the second lifetime that even though she prevented Emmeryn's death from the way it happened in the first, it could not be stopped from happening again in their lives in a different way.

Now I had saved Emmeryn again. Would that ensure her survival? It had not worked for Lucina. Could an army of Feroxi and my visions of the future be enough to stop the cycle of death? What if we can't win this war without the role her death might play in it?

"Gray," Chrom says, drawing me from my thoughts. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"You fought to save my sister, knowing it was certain death. I can never repay you for that."

"I'm pretty sure I committed treason."

"Legally, yes," he says. "But I would have done the same. Emmeryn had to be saved from herself. I'm sure in her heart, she feels gratitude to you as much as she feels grief for leaving Ylisstol behind."

"She saved my life too," I reply. "I was helpless against Aversa. Emmeryn saved us both, at great cost."

"Then I am indebted to her for the rest of my life too," he says. "Come, we must meet with Flavia and Basilio."

"Chrom, do you really believe me when I talk about my dreams? I know I must sound crazy talking about past lives but I really feel quite certain that my theory is true."

"Honestly," he answers, "I'm not sure I believe that there have been other versions of ourselves fighting these same battles. But I will say this: I hope you are right. Any insight these past selves can offer us as to how to win this war will be needed."

His words inspire a wild idea in my mind and I follow him distractedly to the war counsel with the Khans. If I could see the whole picture, would it change things? How could that be done? Hypnosis? Magic?

It hits me right before I step foot in the meeting tent.

Dark magic. Unlike fire or wind or electricity, it isn't clearly defined and its uses are almost infinite. Dark magic comes from the power of the mind, and that is a power no philosopher, scientist or physician knows even a fraction of.

Dark magic is outlawed in Ylisse, but luckily, we have a Plegian here.

I focus on the discussion between the Khans and Emmeryn and Chrom but I stay quiet for the most part. My gift is for the flow of battle not for the strategy of an entire war.

It takes them several hours to decide on a course of action as Emmeryn wants to immediately reclaim Ylisstol, Flavia wants to march our full force into Plegia, Basilio wants to lead a group of assassins across the border to kill Gangrel, and Chrom wants to keep Emmeryn and the Fire Emblem safe. He acts like a mediator between each of the leader's priorities.

I wonder why he considers himself only a fighter. He has a different kind of cleverness from me or from his sister and I admire it. His intelligence lies with people. By the end of the counsel, he has managed for each leader to achieve a part of their plans.

Flavia will lead the majority of the Feroxi army to Ylisstol and keep the Plegian army holed up in the capitol and she will get the fights she wants. Emmeryn will travel to Flavia's stronghold in Ferox with the Fire Emblem to stay guarded by the Feroxi nation guards that remain there in case of a counterattack by Plegia.

And Basilio will get his assassins. With the Plegian forces trapped in Ylisse, it will be our best chance to strike Gangrel.

"And what of Chrom and I?" I ask.

"I've seen you fight, boy. I would like your sword at my side," Basilio tells Chrom. "And you, young lady," he says to me, "I don't know much about you, but charging singlehandedly into the capitol to save the Exalt was one fucking stupid idea and I can tell you are a child after my own heart. I would like your magic with us in Plegia."

"My place is with my sister," Chrom says.

"Chrom," Emmeryn speaks up, "as much as it pains me to see you risk your life, I feel that your courage would be wasted waiting in Ferox with me."

"She's right," Flavia says. "There's nothing you can do that ten thousand Feroxi guards can't do. The Plegians don't have the numbers to hold Ylisstol, protect their border and march on Ferox. It is the only safe place left on this continent."

"Frederick, Lissa and Sumia will be with me," Emmeryn says, "and Gangrel will not even know I am in Ferox. He might not even know I am still alive yet."

"I agree," I say. "Our priority is to protect the Exalt and yet the most effective way to do that is take out Gangrel. His army simply wants our land. He is the one who wants the Fire Emblem and her life."

"Will you stay with Emmeryn then and protect her?" Chrom asks me.

"I do not like the idea of leaving that woman alone with the Exalt and your treasure," Flavia cuts in. "Take Gray to Plegia with you. Perhaps her inside knowledge will be of some use to you."

Emmeryn glances questioningly at the East-Khan and I have to put a hand on Chrom's arm to keep him from responding angrily to Flavia's insinuation.

"I would not be parted from Prince Chrom," I say. "I will go with him and Basilio to Plegia."

"Then there is nothing left to talk about. My army will march in the morning on the capitol, the Exalt will fly to Ferox with the pegasus knight, and Basilio's company will leave tonight," Flavia snaps.

"One more thing," I say. "I would like to take the Plegian who helped us escape with me. He will be a great asset to us."

"I was going to kill him before he causes trouble," Flavia replies.

"With your propensity for trying to kill your potential allies, I wonder we are all standing here today," I say. I regret the petty words immediately, but resentment is still stored deeply in my heart for the way she risked Chrom's life in her tournament.

"Peace, Gray," Emmeryn says. "I will not stand for the man's death either, Khan Flavia. Let him accompany them to Plegia."

"It's your risk not mine," Flavia says and leaves the tent.

Emmeryn offers a polite nod to Basilio and leaves, Chrom at her side to discuss her flight to Ferox.

"Tell me," Basilio says to me. "What did you do to piss off Flavia?"

"I told her I'd strike your champion dead if he tried to kill Chrom."

He laughs. "You do have balls. Where do you come from, Gray?"

"Plegia," I answer and walk away.

"Well fuck," Basilio says.

I search through the camp for Henry and catch sight of Basilio's shy little bard. I smile at her. "Olivia, right?"

She nods. "Have we met?"

It occurs to me that it was the male Gray who drank the night away with her back in Ferox, not me. "I don't think so. But I've heard you're the best dancer in Ferox."

"I don't know where you heard that," she replies with a nervous laugh.

"From many, and I'm honored to make your acquaintance. I'm looking for someone in the camp. Perhaps you can help me?"

"Who are you looking for?"

"A mage. He's got silver hair like mine and a pet crow."

She blushes. "I saw him. The others are saying he's a Plegian, but he's so cute. Did he really fight in the Plegian army?"

"He fights in ours now," I tell her. "And he'll be flattered when I tell him you think he's good-looking."

Olivia looks up at me in terror. "No, please!"

"I was teasing you. I won't breathe a word. Do know where he is?"

"He's on the edge of the camp, over there," she says, pointing towards the stand of aspen trees to the east side of our encampment.

"Thank you," I say.

"Don't tell him!" she calls after me.

I find Henry far away from the other tents. He is fast asleep on the ground with his back propped up against the base of a tree. Jasper sits on his shoulder, keeping watch.

I'm a little scared to wake Henry lest he hex me in alarm so I nod at the crow. "Tell him I come in peace."

The crow cocks its head at me and caws in Henry's ear. He jumps and swats at Jasper, who dodges easily out of the way. "I told you I was not to be disturbed," he grumbles. He sees me and frowns. "You woke me for her?" he asks the crow.

"Thank you, Jasper," I say. "I must speak with your friend."

I'm not quite sure if I'm playing along to get on Henry's good side or if some part of me actually expects the bird to understand me. It does seem pretty intelligent, or at least very loyal.

"He must have taken a shine to you. Last time he woke me for nothing I hexed him into a duck," he says.

"You can do that?" I ask.

Henry stares at me unblinkingly. "There is little I cannot do."

His deadpan expression starts to waver after a second and he cracks up laughing. "No, I can't turn things to ducks. Gods, woman!"

"That's a shame. I can think of many situations where that would be the most useful spell in the world."

Henry stops laughing abruptly and looks at me. "What are you here for? Did the Feroxi send you to kill me, because if so, I'm offended. I hoped they'd at least send that great beast Basilio. He'd possibly put up a good fight."

"None of us are going to kill you. I'm here to talk."

"Oh joy."

"I want you to accompany me to Plegia on a mission."

"What's the mission?"

"We're going to kill Gangrel."

"Sounds alright," he says and closes his eyes to go back to sleep.

"Great. I'll wake you when we are ready to leave."

"I'll turn you into a duck if you do," he says with a smirk.

"Fair enough."