Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening, all rights to the owners.
Just a bit further… uh... this is a slog to write now. I like my characters, but this type of story just doesn't work for them, and OCs have always been difficult to use in large numbers when it comes to fanfiction.
Ah well. So be it. Let's get this done.
"It took you long enough to get here." 'Marth' mutters as the two touch down. "Where did you two end up?"
"I was at the far north of Ferox." Ventiel says. With her long, bright red hair she looks startlingly similar to her grandmother. The pegasus she was riding helps the resemblance as well.
"I was at the Ylisse-Plegia border, northmost point." Seraph mutters. Tired blue eyes take stock of the group in front of her. She nods to her brother, Maesus. "Vent picked me up along the way."
"I see we are still missing many of our group." Ventiel murmurs. "Unfortunate."
Marth has to agree. Without Bello, they're down a tactician. Basit and Elise are their heavy-hitters, and both are nowhere to be found. Elise not being around hurts even more now that they no longer have Inanis to frontline for them. And without Velox they're missing their assassin and spy. Dhyey being missing is a bit more manageable, but he is their strongest one-on-one fighter so his loss isn't negligible.
"Still, with the assassination stopped we need to find a way to take down Aversa, not to mention Validar." Soner says quietly. "If we must do it without the others, so be it."
"Indeed." Ventiel nods. "I agree."
"What a shock." Marth snarks under his breath, too low for anyone to hear. "Ventiel agrees with Soner? Never..."
Soner makes a good point though. This war has to end before it takes too long. Ylisse doesn't have the manpower to fight Plegia, and while Ferox certainly does those men come from all over a huge area and take time to mustur. Plegia is going after Ylisse, and if things go poorly then Ylisse will be ruined by the time Ferox can properly stop Plegia. They have to act now, with or without their parent's aid.
"Well, this is quite a meeting! I'm sad I wasn't invited." Aesir chirps as he steps out of the castle. Annabeth is by his side, and waves at them. "And going off without telling me, the Exalt? Wow, must be urgent."
"That's not what we were saying." Marth snaps. "We were just discussing-"
"I know, I know." Aesir laughs. "I was just going to tell you that you may want to meet with the Shepherds if you are so determined to be going into Plegia. They're currently at Fort Striker, just around the south side of the Fey Jungle. I had planned to ask them to make an attack at some point anyhow, and with your backup that will certainly go better."
He pulls out a document and hands it to Marth. The boy pulls it open and reads it, only to end up confused. "This is…?"
"A timeline of Ylisse's attack plan." Aesir hums. "Do burn it before you leave Fort Striker, that's valuable information, but you may want to use our upcoming assault as a distraction to get deeper into Plegia, so make sure to show it to Lucina when you meet up with her."
"Right. I'll show it to… Lucina." It feels odd to him not to say "Mother", but he can't let that information get out just yet.
"Good! I hope everything on there is accurate, because I can't read it!" Aesir remarks cheerfully. "I'll see you later then! Or, well, hear you later. Don't forget to take Yarne with you!"
All of them watch Aesir and Annabeth walk off. Aliud watches them particularly sharply, staring at the backs of his parents as they move away. He just got to see them again, and he has to leave. He didn't even get to talk to them.
Sighing, the Prince of Ylisse turns back to the others. If this is to be his duty, and it takes him away from Ylisstol, so be it.
That doesn't mean he's happy about it though.
###
Running into a familiar face on the way to Fort Striker is unexpected, but welcome, especially since it solves their issue of not having a frontline.
That said, Elise looks like she's seen better days. She's dirty, tired, and her armor has clearly been in the desert. Despite her best efforts there's still visible sand tucked into the crevices of her dull red plate armor.
She greets them with a smile, but that smile falls when she sees that Noam isn't with them. "I guess you didn't run into him, huh?"
"Unfortunately not." Soner murmurs. "Nor have we gotten word from him. If it is any consolation, we have not heard from a number of our companions, so there is no need to worry about Noam especially."
Elise is not happy with that. "He's my responsibility, I'm his employer. I have to be worried. Besides, his prosthetics make travelling on his own more difficult."
"And by 'I'm his employer, he's my responsibility', you mean because of your extremely unsubtle crush, right?" Marth sneers. "Well, we have more important things to worry about than your servant. We're taking out Aversa, come on."
Elise's eyes narrow. Before an argument can begin however, Soner steps between them.
"Sami, be polite." The older boy scolds. To Elise he says. "As impolitely as it was said, we are indeed going after Aversa, and your strength would be useful. As much as you may want to find Noam, ending the war through Aversa will ensure his safety just as much as locating him."
Elise's fist clenches. She takes a deep breath, then lets it out and relaxes her hand. "I don't like it, but fine, I'll come along." Her eyes narrow at Sami. "As long as you can keep yourself in line."
"In line? I'm the leader." Sami scoffs.
"Oh please, we both know Bello would be in charge if she were here." Elise scoffs. "And there's a reason Soner is her second-in-command, not you."
"Because they're cousins? Yeah, but Bello isn't here right now." Sami sneers.
Elise gives him a withering look and says to Soner. "Why are you letting him lead?"
"He's never suggested something that's gone against what the rest of us would have done anyhow, so he was not so much leading as voicing our collective thoughts." Soner says simply.
"So he's not in charge?"
"Not if we don't want him to be."
"Hey!" Sami protests.
"That's fine with me." Maesus grunts.
"No complaints." Aliud nods.
Sami glowers as his limited authority is overthrown. He makes one little comment and everyone turns against him? That's stupid. Everyone here is stupid.
"You wouldn't like leading anyhow." Seraph murmurs beside him. "Too many difficult decisions, too much dealing with minor problems. I'd be a pain."
"Still…"
"People are annoying. Trust me. It's better like this." Seraph says.
"You say that, but you just don't like people."
"And you get jealous at the smallest things, so you're not that much different." The dark mage says bluntly. "You sniped at Elise just because you were annoyed that she's in love."
"Did not."
Seraph's expression is flat, completely unconvinced. "Sami, I'm the last person you're going to be fooling."
Sami snarls, but doesn't say anything. Seraph is right of course. She pats him on the back, totally unphased by his bad attitude.
Unsurprisingly, Soner is elected the temporary leader due to him having some tactical knowledge and being less of an overall ass than Sami.
###
Sitting at a fort for nearly a week is maddening. At least when on the march you have the trip to keep you occupied, but being in the same place all the time eliminates that from the situation. Training, patrols, and hobbies can only keep one occupied for so long. It's worse for some than for others. Severa is faring the worst, but Cynthia and Owain are also going a bit stir-crazy.
It's a relief when the mysterious masked Marth and his companions come marching up to the fort, though Lucina can't help but notice he doesn't seem to be in charge of the little group. That's secondary to the plan the group suggests though.
"A strike on Aversa?" Lucina muses. "I can see the merit of such a move, and I suppose if Aesir has given us permission then we have no reason not to join you in your attack. Truthfully not much has occurred thus far after the initial capture of the fort."
"Then what are we waiting for? I want to get out of this stupid fort." Severa grumbles. "We've been doing nothing for days. Let's move already!"
"Don't be impatient Severa." Lucina scolds. "We need to discuss strategy first."
"Ugh!" The girl complains loudly. She stalks away from the group, irritated.
"Please pardon Severa. She likes to let her thoughts be known." Lucina says apologetically. "Let's go inside and talk."
Lucina insists on carefully scrutinizing every letter of the timeline Aesir sent with them and memorizing the whole thing before they burn it. She, Morgan, Marc, and Soner have a lengthy discussion about exactly what day they need to get where, and if they should wait to do this and that, which is various degrees of infuriating and maddening for everyone else.
Then again, everyone else doesn't understand the importance of good strategy and tactics like the four individuals in the tactics room. It's not as simple as avoiding major enemy formations. You need to approach cities from the right direction to make believable your cover stories, you need good cover stories for such a large and well-armed group to begin with, you need to know what to hide, what not to say and what you should say, and so many more details.
It takes so long, in fact, that they don't end up leaving that day at all. The four spend hours in discussion, making and revising plans and trying to account for every variable. They know there will inevitably be something they missed, but it is better to over-prepare than under-prepare.
It's early the next day when they all set out, and burn the timeline Aesir sent with Marth's group.
Cool, that works. You can see the end coming soon now.
Half-beastdragonsoul2013: They are fun, though I wouldn't quite call them crazy. Bored maybe, with Nathan perhaps being on the edge of a breakdown, but Morgan at least is sane.
Though I suppose no one else knows that. To them, yes, Noire will be the only sane woman.
Guardian54: That is true, though the chance that Nathan will actually think of that is rather low.
Bionic608: Yeah, probably. I've never played that game actually.
