Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem Awakening nor any of the canon characters from there. As for any original characters that may show up, any resemblance they may have to others is highly likely coincidental. If not and they happen to reference some other character or fandom on purpose or by accident, I don't own that either! (Also don't own the summary quote, which is from InuYasha.)
Other Notes: I have no idea whether or not I'll be able to faithfully write for this all the way until the end. I have a rough idea for the plot in mind, but I'm busy with classes and the like and may have difficulties updating regularly. You have been warned!
Also, on the subject of the plot, it will diverge from the canon plot at times. However, it will also follow the canon plot at other times (because the more things change, the more things stay the same… or something like that). You'll see. Eventually. Maybe.
And one last thing: I might not update much here, but this story will be connected to a tumblr blog dedicated to Fire Emblem stuff, doubling as an ask/RP blog for the MU featured here. You can check it out at high-deliverer-eve
The Wings of Goodbye
Chapter One
Judith was never very much of a dreamer. Then again, when you were born to be a pawn of the Grimleal, it was hard to be.
Even if they were meant to serve you to the best of their abilities.
"Milady," spoke one such minion, as she liked to call them, from the doorway to her chambers. And she truly meant "chambers". Extravagant as her rooms were, they were still cages that kept her bound to this wretched place. "Lord Validar wishes for you to join him in greeting His Majesty."
She snorted, nestling further into the pillows cushioning her back on the wide window seat, staring pointedly outside. "I have no wish to go," she said truthfully before lying plainly, "I am not feeling all that well at the moment."
"Milady," the woman spoke again, somewhat timidly and likely fearing her wrath—or perhaps the wrath of her husband. "He insists."
Annoyance curled in Judith's chest. Of course he would insist. He always insisted when it came to her meeting with Plegian royalty or other rank of importance. Not that it was ever truly for her, thank the gods. No, it was for the parasite growing inside of her, to expose them even inside the womb to the people they would one day have at their beck and call. "And I insist I stay here. This child—" she forced herself to emphasize the word rather than spit it out as she very much wanted to, "—is feeling restless right now and it is making me quite… ill."
She did not know if such a thing were possible as it had never happened before (the being occupying her womb was actually quite placid, if such a thing made sense), but she did not let it stop her from saying it. Thankfully, the little Grimleal minion did not think to question it, stopping her heckling with only a frantic glance to Judith's stomach before retreating. Judith only watched as she bowed her way out of the room, and fought the urge to roll her eyes with every apology uttered.
It was only when the doors shut behind the woman that Judith relaxed, sighing against her pillows. "For all that you are a burden and unwanted," she said aloud to her stomach, "you are quite useful at times. They do not dare push me for fear of disturbing you." Even Validar, her husband to her extreme misfortune, did not chance anything around Judith or Grima's unborn vessel.
Yes. The fell dragon's precious vessel…
In a way, Judith was little more than a vessel herself. Born to the Grimleal to serve it, it was decided early on that she was of pure enough blood to breed in hopes of creating the perfect being that would one day bring Grima to the mortal realm once more. With her and Validar's union, and their subsequent procreation, they received the news that the Grimleal as a whole had been waiting for. The news that their child was chosen by Grima, and would herald the beginning of the fell dragon's return to greatness.
Truly, she pitied the demon inside of her just as much as she hated it.
And she would not live to watch this thing she had grown inside of her become exactly what the Grimleal wished. As soon as it was out of her body, if she survived the birthing process (as she greatly feared it would kill her, bringing a monstrosity chosen by Grima himself into the world), she would leave. If Validar and his minions had their precious vessel for Grima, she would no longer be necessary to keep around, after all. She doubted even they could do something as stupid as lose a child. They would likely protect Grima's vessel with their lives if need be.
(Somewhere, deep in the back of her mind, she whispered apologies to her unborn child. She apologized for many things, from what she planned to do before the child was even aware of the world, to being unable to love them as a child should be loved by its own mother.)
The vessel was born several months later. It was a female, with tanned skin significantly lighter than Validar's but no less Plegian, and hair as silvery a blue as Judith's own. When her eyes opened and settled, Judith was mesmerized by the deep green color that mirrored hers. A warmth bloomed unbidden in her chest…
…And died when the midwife exclaimed in excitement over the child's right hand, showing both parents what Judith had failed to see whilst transfixed over her other features.
The Mark of Grima.
Bitterly reminded of the fell dragon and cursing herself for her near folly, Judith refused to hold the child again. Instead, she ordered what servants were there to settle her in the space they'd set up nearby, making sure they kept the child's right side to her so that the Mark could be seen at all times. She would not be caught unaware again, and the minions happily obliged, unaware of her true reasons.
When another turned to her to ask what she wished to name the child vessel, Judith refused to reply.
"My husband can take care of that," she said as primly as she could while exhausted from giving birth. In her mind, she was already going over the plans she had made months before on how to escape.
"Lord Validar said that you were to be the one to name the child," replied the woman, patient yet firm. She would not leave until Judith gave the vessel a name.
Displeased, Judith eyed the tiny bundle. Her mouth set into a grim line when guilt began to prick at her chest. She was already going to leave the child soon to its fate—what was a little name in the grand scheme of things?
Eyes lowered, the unwilling Grimleal matriarch mulled the thought over in her head. A fitting name for a child with a hopeless future. "…Reverie. Her name will be 'Reverie'."
The other woman blinked in surprise. "That is a bit of an unusual name, is it not?" she asked, before remembering herself, her place, and the status of the woman sitting before her. She paled and began backtracking with admirable speed, "N-Not that that is a bad thing, milady! I-I was just commenting on the, er, unique quality it has…!"
Judith shrugged, eyes flicking back up to the vessel she had just birthed before turning away. She sank back into the bed and stared at the ceiling, willing herself not to count the minutes to her departure. "I like the sound of it. That's all."
And it was fitting, she thought. Reverie. The child was ultimately just a fleeting dream in the wake that was Grima, after all. She would disappear before long.
To Judith's misfortune, when she had recovered enough from birthing Reverie she found that Validar had increased security around her. Not just the child, but her. Discreetly, of course, but Judith was no helpless female untrained in the art of war—she was a full-fledged falcon knight and her honed senses for enemies could feel the unknown presences all around her. They lingered outside of her doors and beyond her windows, but were gone from sight whenever she moved to open one to catch a glimpse of them.
It bothered her greatly to be so surrounded, but after several days of deliberately letting her guard down and no assassination attempts, she decided that Validar only wished to keep her in rather than get rid of her entirely. Which was, perhaps, even more of a bother. As much as she liked to live, dying would have been a much better alternative than having to remain within those walls.
Still, she would not give up trying to leave—she would simply have to lie low for a while. Eventually, Validar would lessen the guard around her and she could escape then. He had done it before, after all. After their wedding, after her pregnancy was announced… She was used to the suspicion by her dastard of a husband, so she supposed some part of her had been expecting this. In the end, it actually worked to her advantage. She knew how he operated on one such thing, at least, which made him predictable. Now, Judith was no genius, but even she knew how to exploit predictability to great effect.
She only wished he would be predictable in other ways, and that the Grimleal was not so fanatical a group. If they had been, perhaps she would have managed to drive a blade through her husband's heart long ago.
She stifled a dark laugh.
That was, of course, counting on the fact that he had a heart to stab, which she very much doubted.
It was several months after Reverie's birth that Judith was awakened in the middle of the night by her cries.
At first, the groggy matriarch could only stare dazedly at the ceiling, wondering what the foreign sound was that disturbed her sleep so. When her mind woke and reminded her of the vessel, she scowled and wondered where the child's caretakers were.
True to her internal vow, Judith had had little, if any, contact with Reverie since the babe was expelled from her body. She gave instructions for other members of the Grimleal to take over watching the infant, which they were only too happy to attend to. They had all but set up a system the last time she checked, where all hours were painstakingly accounted for in regards to Reverie's care. Had it been any other child in any other place, she would have found their dedication rather cute.
So, plainly put, Judith had to wonder why Reverie seemed to be unattended now if she were worked up so badly as to cry continuously with no one to silence her. With a deep sigh, Judith threw off the covers and exited her room, following the echoing screams to the child's room.
As she suspected, the room was empty save for the infant. Even the halls were devoid of life as she approached the room, no one scurrying forth to relieve her of this duty.
Another sigh left her as she crossed the grand room to the cradle. She stopped at its side and peered in somewhat warily, unsure of what to expect.
(She felt foolish at this thought much later, when she gave it more thought. What else was there to expect but a child?)
A crying face met her gaze, scrunched up with the ugly bawling every child makes when upset and unable to comprehend why. Against her better judgment, Judith reached in to pick the screaming infant up, holding her for the first time since her birth.
"Quiet, child," she said in a low, tired tone. "I don't know where your usual caretakers are, but their absence does not give you permission to throw a tantrum."
The crying continued.
Taking in a deep breath through her nose, Judith wracked her mind for what to do while her body subconsciously began rocking the baby in her arms. She was on the brink of triggering a headache from the extensive thinking and lack of sleep when she realized that the cries had quieted down.
Blinking, Judith shifted the tiny body to better view her face and immediately caught a sleepy reflection of her green eyes on the girl's face.
And that was when she realized it.
Carefully, Judith cradled the girl in one arm as she reached up to wipe away the last of her tears.
Reverie blinked back at her before yawning widely. But even then, she resumed watching her mother with her large green eyes.
Chuckling even as her heart began to pound at the implications of her revelation, Judith lowered her head to nudge against her daughter's, breathing in her scent.
Her daughter still held securely in her arms, she walked across the room to sit down at the small table set up in the corner just beside closed balcony doors. As she settled down, Reverie resting against her breast, Judith stared out at the night sky, wistful. Regretful.
"You are not Grima," she spoke aloud, very quietly. Then, stronger, she said, "Not you. Not my Reverie."
She looked down again, one hand going to touch Reverie's right hand. The hand that bore the dreaded Mark.
"You are not Grima," she repeated.
And so she made a new vow.
"I have been informed that you wish to reclaim your maternal duties to Reverie," Validar stated when they met not a few days later in Judith's room, which was quickly being transformed to accommodate both herself and Reverie.
"I did," Judith replied coolly. "And I have."
She stood on the other side of her large bed, where Reverie's cradle was, silently daring her husband to join her, or try to take away her daughter.
He did not.
"May I ask what brought about this… change?" His sharp eyes slanted her way, and she willed herself not to tense under his critical gaze.
"What does it matter?" she asked in response, turning away from him to scoop Reverie's sleeping body from her nest. She glided across the room, petting her daughter's silvery hair in an effort to calm herself down.
She felt Validar remain in the room, eerily quiet. He soon left without another word, but she remained anxious for a while after.
If she predicted him correctly, he would increase the guard around her again, and it would be a long while before it reduced enough for them to leave.
But Judith was willing to wait. There was still time, and she would cling to that knowledge, that hope, that her daughter would not live and die in vain. Eventually, they would escape.
Eventually, they would be free.
It took three years.
Three long years before Validar finally began reducing the watch on Judith and Reverie. Three long years before Judith could sleep an entire night through without waking up in the middle fearing a knife at her throat. Three long years of fearing that perhaps Validar would not trust her again, that he had become so paranoid with the birth of Reverie that they would truly be trapped there forever until Grima was summoned and destroyed everything.
But now, three years were gone, and Judith was finally able to put her plans into motion.
With a pack she had prepared as soon as the guard began reducing on her back and Reverie's toddler body bundled up in her arms, Judith snuck out of her rooms in the dead of night. Quickly and silently, she slipped through the halls to the courtyard where the stables were, entering them and locating her trusted steed, a white pegasus by the name of Ilyas.
Judith set a dozing Reverie down and urged her to be quiet while she readied Ilyas for the ride, saddling up in record speed. When the pack of supplies was securely strapped on, Judith stroked Ilyas's neck in an affectionate manner.
"This is an important flight, old friend," she murmured into the flying horse's neck. "We cannot fail."
And, as if he understood her, Ilyas's head bobbed. Reverie giggled from her bundle of blankets on the floor.
Judith couldn't help a small laugh of her own, but she quickly quieted as she stooped down to pick up Reverie again and place her on Ilyas's back. "Hold on now, okay? I'm coming up." When Reverie obediently clung to Ilyas's neck, Judith lifted herself onto his back. Once situated, she made sure that Reverie was secure, strapping the young girl to her own body, before urging Ilyas forward.
Heart pounding, she directed her mount to an open area clear for flight.
She took in a breath to steady her nerves.
"Okay, Ilyas. Reverie." Judith spared her daughter a smile. "Let's fly."
In the cover of night, the three were nothing but another star on the horizon before the Grimleal even knew what happened. But even then Judith pushed them ever onward for fear of landing too close and getting caught while unaware. Reverie fell asleep in her arms, lulled by the sound of Ilyas's wings beating steadily against the wind.
She was not sure how long they'd been traveling, but Judith presumed it was at least several hours by the lightening of the sky when they finally landed. The presence of trees and the cooler climate gave her the impression that they were around Plegia's border with Regna Ferox or perhaps even Ylisse. She cared little for the details, however, hoping only that they were far enough to catch some rest before taking to the skies once again.
Directing Ilyas to a small glade, Judith slid off his back with Reverie in tow. She settled the sleeping girl against a tree before attending to her loyal partner, setting out food and drink and giving him a light brushing down before returning to Reverie's side.
And as she dozed off, mind aware and ready to jump into action at a moment's notice, Judith swore that her daughter's future would be a happy one.