Guardian Moon-Dimitri and Catherine's Paralogue: Melted Heart

Catherine swiftly approached the heroes once she saw them arriving at Ylisstol. "It's about time you got back! Listen, there's an emergency in my home. We need to go to Charon right now."

Caspar unsheathed his axe. "What's wrong?"

Catherine beckoned behind her. "There's a group of thieves attacking my family manor! My folks are all gone visiting House Gautier to help them fight off the Sreng, all except my sister! They're holding her hostage!"

Dimitri's voice hardened. "I have no sympathy for those who take captives. Have no fear. We will save her."

Emmeryn said, "We will . . . take care of things . . . here. You go."

Morgan nodded. "Yeah. We'll protect all the holy places here while you go off to save Catherine's sister."

With that promise, the army bolted back to the portal to Fódlan. Rhea was right there at the portal entrance. "I've already secured passage to Charon. Carriages are waiting in the marketplace for you. Once you've saved Mary, feel free to rest here."

The carriage ride to Garreg Mach to Charon, thankfully, was very brief. Everyone made it to the luxurious manor. The thieves were like ants, dragging expensive items outside of the building for their own profit. The leader threatened, "If you come any closer, say good-bye to Baby Sister!"

Catherine lamented, "We have to do something!"

Byleth suggested, "We can split up into two forces. One small, the other large. The small division can rescue Mary while the large one can be a distraction."

Catherine took a deep breath. "Sounds like our best option. I'll lead the small team."

Khalid vigorously shook his head. "No! If you're not on the battlefield, they'll tell something's off. Leave the stealth work to Byleth and me. We'll lead the covert team."

Caspar let out a deafening war cry and charged at the enemy. Catherine followed suit, screaming, "YOU CAN REPENT IN THE PIT OF DARKNESS, WORTHLESS WORM!" The ruffians jumped forward, and soon, there was mass confusion on the battlefield.

Linhardt, Owain, Byleth, Silas, Khalid, and Dimitri snuck away and cautiously crept around the perimeter of the manor where a few bandits stood watch over the back entrance. Khalid whispered, "Linhardt, Owain, I want you to cast a spell the same time I shoot an arrow. We'll take all three of them down at once."

Owain somberly bobbed his head up and down. "On three. One, two, three!" Linhardt cast a deadly Cutting Gale, Owain a Thunder, and Khalid fired an arrow. All three targets crumpled to the floor simultaneously.

Silas complimented, "That's some impressive teamwork right there."

They hunkered down in the shadows, careful to avoid detection, and slipped into the back now that the watchmen were out of the way. Dimitri murmured, "We'll have to search the house for Mary. Keep an eye out."

The secret group went through the dwelling, eliminating any scoundrel they saw. On the staircase to the second floor, Dimitri noticed that in one of the rooms there was a frightened petite woman around his age next to two giant men, each holding one of her arms. He nudged Silas. "I believe that's her."

As Silas craned his neck to look, the stair creaked. One of the oafs hissed, "What was that?" He lumbered out of the room and walked in on the party. "Hey! What've we got here?"

Dimitri simply flew up the remaining steps and impaled him straight through the chest, and in a millisecond closed in on the other attacker. The rest of the team scrambled to keep up. The other man made a move to sink his axe into Dimitri's flesh, but Dimitri parried the attack and disposed of him as he did the first.

Dimitri offered his hand to the bewildered woman. "Are you unharmed?"

She tentatively took it. "Yes. My name is Mary, daughter of Lord Charon. Pardon me for staring; it's just that you look like someone who passed away a while ago."

Khalid guffawed. "He does resemble the late Prince Dimitri, now that you mention it."

Dimitri scowled. "Thank you for that astute observation, Khalid."

Mary's eyes widened. "Khalid, like King Khalid of Almyra?"

Byleth simpered. "He sure is. And I'm Queen Byleth. We came here to save you from those scum."

Mary curtsied. "It's an honor to meet you, Your Highness."

Linhardt immediately turned around to go back out. "Alright. Now that the maiden is safe, let's go get this fight over with so I can return to my nap."

Owain's nose wrinkled. "We have a long quest to partake, and you speak as if we have already surmounted the tallest peaks!"

Mary pursed her lips. "Um . . . what?"

Dimitri held his head in his hands. "Ugh. Worry not; I'll explain everything later. Linhardt is right that we need to finish this onslaught and get you to safety."

They all scurried back to the fray. The disgruntled leader demanded, "Kill the girl! Show them the error of their ways!"

Catherine wheeled around to where the covert team was before they left, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw them all back. "Just you try it!"

Byleth squinted. "Wait . . . I recognize that leader. He was one of Pallardó's mercenaries that tried to bamboozle Anna out of her faire share of the treasure we found a while ago."

Khalid commented, "Still sleazy. Got to give him bonus points for consistency."

A few underlings reported, "The woman's nowhere to be found, and everyone guarding her was found dead!"

The leader swore. "What?! You're weak enough to be killed be a puny girlie? A puny girlie with no weapon?! Pathetic!"

Catherine lunged at him. "You've picked the wrong family to mess with."

"Oh please. We're making off with your family's wealth as we speak! We're going to live the rest of our lives as kings!"

Catherine snickered. "Right. You're acting as if I cared about money!" The leader swung his axe, but she deftly dodged and cut him down with the satrine Thunderbrand. As she stood over his body, she squished his face with her boot. "Hmph. I'd say he looks better that way."

With the head bandit down, the others scurried away, but Felix, Sylvain, Ingrid, Subaki, and Dedue blocked off the exits. The rest of the heroes mercilessly crushed the enemies and reclaimed House Charon's valuables.

On the way back, Catherine filled in her sister on all that transpired, from the new religion to the evil plaguing the worlds from the shadows. When the carriages brought them all back to the monastery, everyone sat the long roundtable in the Cardinal's Room. Rhea spoke, "I'm so glad that you are safe now, Mary. I'm sorry that you went through that experience. You are more than welcome to stay at the monastery until your family returns."

Mary smiled. "Thank you, Lady Rhea. Thank to all of you for saving me. If you don't mind, I'd like to repay you somehow. Can I join you in the fight? I want to help protect everyone!"

Catherine shut down, "Absolutely not! I am not putting my baby sis in danger! These fiends are a thousand times worse than those thugs!"

Shiro suggested, "Maybe she can train to get to that point. I'll help her master spear combat!"

Catherine rolled her eyes. "While she stays here, fine. But I expect that once our family returns from dealing with the Sreng, you go back and will definitely not join the army."

Mary grinned, happy to be of assistance and the newest member of the hero team.