Hey all, what is up? It's me EspeonAuraGirl back with another writing prompt….I know it's been over a year I thought this was dead too. But the FE group I am in recently decided to start doing prompts again so hooray more little short stories from yours truly!
And no word limit this time so I can go all out!
Today's Prompt is: Library
With Halloween right around the corner I decided to do a Halloween themed story featuring the characters from 3 houses. So without further ado let's get to it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem.
Lysithea had been invited by Annette to sit with her and Mercedes during lunch today and Mercedes had invited Ashe to sit with them. Normally she sat with the Golden Deer house but she figured this would be a nice change of pace, especially because she wouldn't be near Claude who constantly teased her about eating her veggies. It didn't help that she wasn't particularly fond of vegetables, so that only made his teasing about her being a child worse.
But here with Mercedes, Ashe and Annette things were quite peaceful. She and Annette were discussing their studying materials though she was mostly helping Annette work out the parts that she didn't understand, while Mercedes and Ashe were discussing cooking and baking.
Yes things were going smoothly and she was just taking a bite of her Saghert and Cream when Mercedes abruptly changed the subject.
"Oh that reminds me! Have any of you heard a rumour going around lately that the Shadow Library in Abyss is haunted?"
Lysithea promptly started to choke, she hated all things dark and creepy but she especially hated ghost stories. Not that she believed in ghosts or anything she just didn't like them. She wasn't scared. Nope, not her. Ghosts weren't real so there was nothing to be scared of. Though telling herself this did not make her legs and body stop shaking.
"WHA-WHAT?!" Annette shrieked right beside her. Phew at least she wasn't the only one scared.
"P-p-please tell me that is a joke, Mercedes." Ashe stuttered looking as white as a sheet. She guessed he didn't like ghost stories either.
"I assure you that I am quite serious. I was going down to Abyss to see Constance when I heard the Abyss Keeper talking about it with the guard that Seteth assigned down there." Mercedes told them looking positively giddy. Great, it seemed that Mercedes was the type who enjoyed telling ghost stories. Just wonderful. "They talked about sometimes hearing eerie laughter at night as well as ghostly sounding moans."
Lysithea visibly gulped and shuddered at this and she noticed that Annette and Ashe did the same.
"Isn't it exciting? To think there could be actual ghosts living in Abyss!" Mercedes then exclaimed.
"Y-you an-and I have very different opinions on the word exciting Mercedes." Ashe said with a stutter.
"Mercie!" Annette whined. "You know I am not a fan of ghost stories!"
"Aww I'm sorry Annie, I didn't mean to frighten you besides it's only a rumour." Mercedes said with an apologetic smile.
"Y-yeah it-it's only a rumour Annette, a-and there is no way it's true because ghosts aren't real!" Lysithea chimed in hoping they could drop the subject if she did.
"Oh dear are you also afraid of ghosts Lysithea?" Mercedes asked.
"O-of course I-I'm not! As I just said, ghosts aren't real! A-and it would be childish to be scared of something that isn't real! A-and well I am not a child!" She exclaimed.
"Oh really now…. Well if that's the case then you wouldn't mind doing some investigating tonight, right Lysithea?" A voice from behind her said, a voice she had hoped she wouldn't be hearing until her next class.
"Oh hello Claude, eavesdropping were we?" Mercedes then asked with a giggle.
"I suppose I was and sorry about that but I just had to make sure you weren't going to be giving our cute little Lysithea nightmares tonight." Claude cooed which only made her blood boil in embarrassment and anger. Why oh why did he always try to provoke her? "Nightmares that would send her running to Big Brother Claude's room crying about how scared she is."
"How dare you?! I would NEVER be so childish! And you are the last person in Fodlan that I would EVER run to in a case like that!" She said in anger.
"Oh my, it looks like someone forgot to take her nap if she's having a temper tantrum." Claude chuckled before turning to the others at the table and ignoring her. This only infuriated her more. "Though since Lysithea is trying to act like a big girl I propose that we do a little investigating into this rumour tonight. What do you all say? You want in?"
"Oh yes! Absolutely! You'll come too right Annie?!" Mercedes said as she clapped her hands in excitement.
"I-I...I guess so b-but only so as to try and protect you Mercie!" Annette said with a whimper.
"I appreciate it Annie, and don't worry I'll protect you too!" Mercedes said with a cheerful giggle.
"Y-you'll come too right Ashe?" Annette then asked the gray haired boy innocently.
"Wh-what?! Um-um no I-I don't think so…" Ashe said becoming paler by the second.
"Oh but Ashe these ladies will need a big strong knight to protect them if the rumours are true!" Claude said with a smirk. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to these fair maidens now would you?"
"B-but y-you'll be there to protect them Claude!" Ashe exclaimed now looking torn between his fear of ghosts and his code of chivalry. She was somewhat glad that Claude was focusing his teasing on Ashe right now, it helped her settle down a little.
"Pl-please Ashe, I-I would feel better knowing you're there with me." Annette said as she gave him a big pair of puppy dog eyes.
"O-oh….okay fine. I guess I am coming too…." Ashe said as he gave in to Annette, not sounding too happy or enthusiastic about it though.
"Oh thank you!" Annette squealed as she hugged him.
"Alright sounds like it's settled then." Claude announced.
"No it's not! I never agreed to this!" Lysithea squeaked.
"Oh? Having second thoughts then, big girl? It's okay to admit that you're too scared." Claude said with another smirk. Oh how she wanted to blast it off his face.
"I-I am not scared! I just think this is a job that should be left up to the professors!" She exclaimed.
"I don't think the professors would put much stock into rumours about ghosts." Mercedes said.
"W-well what about Professor Byleth? I'm sure she would agree to supervise this expedition!" Ashe said. "Besides, going out after curfew is against the rules."
"It's only against the rules if you get caught." Claude told them. "Besides, we'll be sneaking into a library. How can they punish us for that?"
"It's a library full of banned books Claude!" Annette exclaimed a little too loudly and caused some other students to stare at her. At this Annette decided to lower her voice. "We're not even supposed to be going down into Abyss, let alone a library full of contraband. We could get into a lot of trouble."
"Exactly which is why we should just abandon this stupid quest!" Lysithea said.
"Well what if we could get the professor to come with us?" Mercedes asked hopefully. "We wouldn't get into trouble if Professor Byleth was with us."
"Excellent idea Mercedes." Claude said with a charming smile. "I'll go propose the idea to Teach right now and then later tonight we'll all meet up at the entrance into Abyss, any objections? No? Okay then see you all tonight."
Claude then walked off before anyone could protest further. What in the world had she just gotten herself into? She didn't want to go into Abyss at night! Especially not to a creepy dark library that could be full of ghosts! Not that ghosts exist!
"It'll be fine Lysithea, I mean ghosts aren't real th-there has to be some sort of logical explanation for all this and besides there is no way that the Professor will ever agree to this. The chances of this expedition being called off before it ever even starts are high. So there should be nothing to worry about!" She thought to herself as she tried to finish her lunch. But when she headed to her next class and saw Claude standing in the doorway with a smirk plastered on his face, she knew he had somehow talked the professor into going on this expedition with them. Meaning she had no chance to get out of this now. Not unless she wanted to admit that she was scared. And that was the one thing she refused to do.
That night when everyone else was asleep Lysithea snuck out of her dorm room to find Claude there waiting for her. She was both annoyed and relieved by his presence.
"What are you doing here?" She asked in a harsh whisper.
"Relax, I'm just here to escort you down there. I know you're afraid of the dark." Claude answered simply for once, not sounding as if he was trying to tease her.
"I-I am not afraid of the dark! I-I just don't like walking around campus at night." She told him with an embarrassed blush.
"Sure whatever you say, you ready to go? Or are you backing out? It's not too late, you know." Claude told her.
"And give you even more reason to tease me about being a child? I don't think so." She answered with a huff.
Instead of teasing her like she had expected Claude just sighed. "You know, you don't always have to act so tough. It's fine to indulge in being a kid sometimes, it's fine to admit when you're scared. Honestly Lysithea I know you're strong, and incredibly intelligent. I know you worked hard to get here but….overworking yourself and trying to prove yourself to others that you're not weak? Lysithea you're working yourself to an early grave if you continue on like this"
"You don't know anything…." Lysithea said as she tried to fight back her tears. An early grave was precisely why she had to work so hard. He didn't know about the blood experiments done on her and her siblings, he didn't know that she was the last surviving child of the Ordelia family. He doesn't know that she has two Crests.
"Lysithea...I…"
Claude was then interrupted by Annette and Mercedes coming out of their dorm rooms, which were right next to her's. The girls offered to walk with them to meet up with the professor and Ashe and her conversation with Claude was dropped for now. Claude would most likely try to find a way to bring it up another time she was sure but she would worry about that when they crossed that bridge. For now she had to focus on the matter at hand. Dealing with a spooky and possibly haunted library.
"Are you all sure you want to go through with this?" Professor Byleth asked once they were all gathered. "It could be dangerous."
"How dangerous could it be when we have our lovely professor and brave strong Ashe with us?" Claude asked, and it seemed he was back to his usual teasing self.
"H-hey! You're here too Claude! Don't make it sound like you're going to leave any possible fighting, all to me and the professor!" Ashe exclaimed, causing herself and the other girls to giggle.
"Oh but Ashe, aren't you the big strong valiant knight who's gonna protect us all someday? Your legend has to start somewhere you know, and it could start this very night!" Claude said dramatically. "So go on Sir Ashe the Valiant lead us on the quest to the Shadow Library!"
At this she saw Ashe begin to panic as he frantically looked from the Professor to Claude. It was clear he did not want to be the one going down first.
"You know Claude, since you're so brave and fearless, why don't you go down there first?" Professor Byleth interjected as she tried to save Ashe from having a panic attack. "If I recall this was your idea after all."
"If that is my Teacher's orders then I guess I have no choice but to follow them." Claude said with a sigh, probably realizing he had gone a bit too far in his teasing of Ashe.
And with that matter settled Claude led them all down to Abyss with the Professor taking the rear.
Lysithea jumped at every little noise as they descended down the stairway. She asked herself for the millionth time why she hadn't just taken one of Claude's many offers to back out of this crazy idea.
She and Annette screeched and hugged each other in fright when a rat scuttled across their path. How could there be rats in this place when they had so many cats and dogs living around the Monastery!
"Keep it down will you?" Claude scolded them. "You'll scare the ghosts away if you keep screeching like that."
Then just like that an eerie sounding moan echoed throughout the hall as well as a condescending laugh. This caused Ashe to join her and Annette in their screeching as the girls once again hugged each other in fright.
"O-okay we proved the rumours are true!" Annette cried. "Can we please go back now?!"
"That laugh…" Mercedes then said in wonder.
"Y-yes we all heard the laugh!" Lysithea exclaimed, trying to keep herself from panicking. "Now please can we all just go before that ghost gets us?!"
"No, I mean I know that laugh!" Mercedes told them before taking both hers and Annette's hands. "Come on, let's keep going! I have a feeling our ghost isn't so ghostly afterall!"
The six of them then continued on down the stairs and ventured into the Shadow Library. Lysithea, Annette and Ashe had been protesting the whole time but when they entered the library they found themselves face-to-face with Constance von Nuvelle and Linhardt.
Linhardt was sleeping at a table with a book he had been reading open while Constance had various vials of colourful elixirs and potions as well as spell books and potion recipes strewn about her table.
"Ahahahaha! With these elixirs, my goal to restore House Nuvelle is all but guaranteed! Don't you agree, Linhardt? Linhardt? Linhardt! Wake up already! You're supposed to be basking in my genius potion making skills!" Constance said with a glare not noticing the six of them come in.
"Mmm...far...too….loud…" Linhardt moaned in his sleep. She guessed it was his moaning they had heard earlier.
"I see, so our ghosts were just Constance and Linhardt." Professor Byleth said as she shook her head. This drew Constance's attention to them.
"Hm? Mercedes? Professor? When did you all get here?" Constance asked before dismissing the question. "Nevermind, come and reveal my genius inventions! The restoration of House Nuvelle is all but within my grasp!"
"Whew, what a relief. There really are no ghosts." Ashe said as he took a breath and let out a nervous laugh in joy.
"Well I knew it the whole time!" Lysithea said. "I told you all that ghosts don't exist!"
"Oh yes, your screeching earlier was very convincing." Claude drolled.
"Th-that was over a rat! Not a ghost!" Lysithea complained, causing everyone around her to laugh.
And with that the mystery of the haunted Shadow Library was solved and Lysithea could only hope that the rest of her academy days would be more like this, having adventures and making friends rather than dealing with more kidnappings and bandits. For she wanted to make the most of whatever little time she had left in her short life. If she were to die tomorrow then she'd be happy to know she had spent her last day surrounded by friends and laughter even if it was in a spooky library.
Well that one turned out to be longer than I had expected it to be, honestly I hadn't originally planned to put Byleth in the story but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made to add her. And while I had just been planning on having the 'ghost' be Linhardt, adding Constance into the mix was sort of an idea that came to me as I was writing the beginning of this one.
And I had meant for this to be just a humorous story but adding that serious part with Lysithea and Claude….I feel it had to happen since I think I was making Claude come off as a jerk for most of this story. But to be fair, teasing is in his character, and he does care about Lysithea's well-being so I thought that little serious moment was a good way to show that.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed this little masterpiece and will look forward to the next one.