Hello! I'm back...with an incredibly short Chapter unfortunately...*sighs* It was my intention to make it longer but I wrote the last line and I was like right! That's the perfect ending for this Chapter, everything else I had planned can wait for the next one. xD I wonder how people will read into the last line? Is it being literal or is there something more behind it? Only time will tell.
Speaking of time, sorry for the long absence from this and from 'Reasons to Fight' as well. So much has been happening in my life including studies and health issues and health issues that have suspended studies and 'Three Houses' came out and I've been playing other games and reading and then to top it all off, I discovered the addictive art form that is diamond painting and it has actually taken over my life! It's pretty much all I ever do these days. =/
Not that any of these excuse my keeping you in suspense for so long especially since I have other ideas bouncing around in my head. I may finally update 'Reasons to Fight', and I want to write a story for the Dimitri/Byleth pairing, or maybe write more LeonxFrey fics, since 'Rune Factory 4 Special' is a thing. guys! Or maybe write about my new fictional husband who is Date Masamune from the phone Otome 'Samurai Love Ballad: Party'. I love him, he's the best precious cinnamon roll husband. xD
So...there is a lot but I've really missed writing fanfiction and every time I received a review for this since I last updated nearly a year ago, I've just felt the guilt piling on me and so I hope that you like this. I think the direction I want to take this story in has changed a lot since I last updated this but I still aim for the same things, to keep the characters as close as to how they are in-game as possible and to never write something that I don't see potentially happening if the story was officially continued. So for anyone who reads the last line of this Chapter and panics, don't, I can't guarantee that everyone who has loved this story from day one will love it at the end, in the same vein, I can't guarantee people who hated this story from day one won't love it at the end but regardless of what happens, just know what I love writing this story for you lovely readers and I will do all I can to make your reading experience a pleasant one.
My love always,
VampireMassacrexx.
*Spoilers Warning* Definite spoilers about the 'true' end of 'Awakening'. Also spoilers about other elements of the plot throughout the game.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with 'Fire Emblem [Awakening]', its locations, characters etc. All rights go to their respective owners.
Rated T. (*Warning* Contains a reference to torture and child on parent abuse but it is minimal, nothing graphic is discussed and it was hinted at in the last Chapter (if you can remember that far back.))
Together Again? Revalations
The doors thundered closed behind both him and his daughter, Chrom flinched slightly at the sound, it was deafening to his ears after being locked up in that cell for what seemed like forever.
They stalked closer to the large throne that loomed over them, it appeared to have about fifty steps leading up to the disinterested woman above them. She was playing with a ball of fire magic and didn't even bother to look at them even when Samael spoke to her.
"I've brought them, Calypso."
"Did they put up much resistance?" She asked although it was obvious that she really didn't care how Samael responded.
He clicked his tongue and raised an eyebrow before replying. "Not as much as I'd hoped, My Lady."
"Hmm..." After that she waved her hand to dispel the fire and finally turned to face them. She was wearing a fully black dress and was still wearing way too much jewellery (especially bangles) to be real however she had now removed her black wig, revealing the ashen hair that matched her daughter's signature colour. Her charcoal-rimmed eyes swept over the room before landing on the three figures that now occupied the space before her. "How are you liking my dungeons?" She drawled, her thumb resting against her bottom lip as she contemplated.
Neither Chrom nor Lucina responded to her question and she huffed in annoyance before stalking down the stairs to stand before them. There were no guards to watch over her and keep her safe but both father and daughter knew that to act now would be a fool's errand.
"Why did you wish to see us?" Lucina rasped.
"Hmm..."- Calypso tilted her head from side to side.- "...Because I was...bored."
Suddenly, anger crashed over Chrom like a wave; she thought of them as nothing more than mere toys, like a cat messing with its prey before devouring it. "'Bored'?! How dare you, I would've rather suffered a slow and painful death within the cells without hearing nor seeing another person for the rest of my days than be brought here for your 'entertainment!" He spat out the words at her.
Anger flared in Calypso's eyes in response- she was a lot more expressive in her responses here than she was on the battlefield, it was like she was a completely different person now, but she wasn't, she just felt so out of her element as Scorchfell's ruler, she had no desire to be a queen but she'd been forced to become one to benefit both herself and her daughter and as such, she found the palace so claustrophobic and oppressive, it made her more vulnerable and withdrawn than she normally was...
...But they weren't to know that, were they?
She quickly recovered from her sudden burst of emotion. She gazed at her son-in-law, his nostrils still flaring with his own anger. "I also had a question to ask of you."
Lucina's head jerked up. "A question?"
"Where did you meet my daughter? How did you meet?"
Samael-who had been standing next to Lucina in silence- stiffened slightly at the line of questioning that Calypso had chosen to follow.
"What does that matter to you?" Chrom asked her.
"It's rude to answer a question with a question, young Exalt. So answer mine before your daughter faces the consequences." She nodded in Samael's direction which finally broke him out of his stupor long enough to remove a blade from his side and press it against Lucina's throat, his hand wrapped up in her hair, forcing her neck to brush the tips of its edge.
"Okay fine!" Chrom shouted, panic filling his features. "Just...just...don't hurt her...please!"
"Then speak."
"I...found Robin...in a field."
Calypso froze for a moment, clearly not believing his story. "A field? Really? You met the love of your life...in a field?"
"It may sound odd but it's the truth, she was lying there helpless and with no memory, I helped her, I saved her, I became her friend and then later her family, you on the other hand are nothing to her; you've done nothing for her."
"Except bring her into this world for you to fawn over so pathetically." Calypso countered before waving her hand. "Remove them from my sight, I am done with this nonsense."
Samael nodded and started to drag them back to their cells but on their way out Lucina thought she overheard Calypso whisper this:
'...If that man isn't lying- …- How did... why... a field?'
Meanwhile, in another room, Robin was sat upon her bed with her arms wrapped around her legs, tears were streaming down her face from the pain of her newest wounds curtesy of her son. The lashes the whip had left were still stinging after she'd applied salve to them yet again just a few moments ago but it wasn't just the stinging that made her cry.
It was how miserable her life was right now. When she'd first awoken from her slumber after she'd sacrificed herself, she was in the middle of nowhere; there were no towns, no landmarks, nothing and so she had walked and survived until she finally found a town to stay in. She asked around to hopefully find directions back to Ylisse and back to her family but no one there spoke the same language as her. Her only hope was to pour over some books in their local library and hope that they had either a book that was already translated, a book that could help translate or a book with a map and eventually she worked out she was in an entirely different continent than to the one Ylisee was located at.
So she started to prepare, she started to try using the little of the local language she'd gleamed from texts to help her get a hold of supplies and she'd started to pen a letter to Chrom explaining that she had awoken, that she was so thankful to him and the Shepherds and that she'd be returning home as soon as possible.
However...it wasn't meant to be.
She hadn't been able to find someone who was capable of delivering the letter safely to Ylisse, fed up with her lack of luck, she'd decided to go for a stroll through the town. She didn't get very far before a tingling feeling on the back of her neck and her instincts alerted her to trouble near by. A young man was being harassed by two taller, bulkier men. She could hear them shouting a question at this man that he clearly couldn't answer and he was being shoved against a wall repeatedly in the hopes that it would somehow jog his memory.
She sighed, she knew that she should just walk away...but she was a Shepherd, if Chrom was there- even if he was on his own, he would've stepped in to help no matter what and she knew that she had to do the same now.
As she snuck closer to the three men, she could hear that they were asking him where they could find something but the man just kept shaking his head and crying out in pain. Blood was dripping from a corner of his mouth. She hid behind a nearby wall and quickly gathered her courage before summoning a ball of thunder magic and launching it just above one of the attacker's heads to distract them so the other man could escape.
"Whose there?!" One of the men snarled as the victim tried to sneak away unnoticed.
'He needs more time.' She realised and so she quickly jumped out of the shadows, revealing herself to the men. She'd expected their response to be quick, for them to attack her as a 'thanks' for helping their prey escape. But instead their eyes widened when they saw her.
"You!" A man with mismatched eyes gasped out, so many emotions flittering across his face in a second that it was hard to keep up.
"Leave this place, now." The other man said. "If she sees you..."
"If who sees me?" Robin asked, her confusion evident.
Just then a feminine voice spoke up from behind Robin, fairly far away but getting closer. "Samael? Kage? What is taking so long? We need to find-" She cut off instantly as Robin turned to face the new arrival and Robin herself became speechless; the woman in front of her looked exactly like her! The same eyes, the same hair, the same features only the newcomer looked older than her.
Suddenly a sly smile spread across the woman's face. "Well, well, Samael, it looks like you've found us something of even greater worth. Your haul greatly makes up for your failures tonight. The young boy will be pleased to be reunited with her." She looked over Robin's shoulder then, addressing the two men directly. "You know what to do." She said before turning on her heel and stalking off.
Robin was still frozen in shock- a fact that cost her dearly as a hand covered her mouth from behind and her world went dark.
After that, everything in her life had become bleak again and after learning the truth from her mother well...she knew she wasn't worth enough to even justify the only things that brought her joy like Chrom and her babies and her friends. When she'd discovered the truth, she'd tried to give herself over to the darkness like Morgan had, she didn't want her baby boy to suffer alone and so she tried to make herself enjoy working for Calypso- to mimic her sadistic smile and her flirty wit and for the most part, it had worked.
Until she'd been reunited with Chrom.
She knew that day would come, when her mother had found out that Validar's plan to resurrect Grima pretty much succeeded, she knew that the ones who served Naga had no doubt played a role in her daughter's life. But she didn't know quite how much. Robin had led her mother to believe that Validar had broken her out of the dungeons when she was coming of age (even though she couldn't remember how she'd ended up in that field) and so she hadn't been all that close to Chrom and the Shepherds and had just been tricking them by becoming next in line to the throne and having a baby with the man she was 'pretending' to love in an effort to protect them from whatever she was planning for them. But regardless of her attempts, her mother still decided that when the time was right, she would reunite with them and by doing so, had broken some of the resolve she'd found during her time in Scorchfell.
Chrom was still a clumsy, strange and yet considerate and protective man she fell in love with. When she'd found out that he really had spent those past two years searching for her, her heart and allowed itself to swell with affection. None of this was helped by Lissa's kindness and the younger Lucina's bubbliness. Her taunting of Frederick about whether or not she did have memories or not was her last-ditch effort to warn them something was wrong. She couldn't outright tell them what had happened and what she had learned in case they tried to still rescue Morgan and baby Lucina- which they no doubt would've done- and still found themselves facing Calypso's powerful magic and tactical prowess which not even Robin had been able to compete with when they'd put it to the test. 'Frederick the Weary' would no doubt find out that Robin had all of her memories in tact, that she was acting, that she knew why two of her children were missing. But her mother must've predicted Robin would try something like that after all- she was willing to sacrifice herself, even for friends she didn't apparently care about all that much. apparently. No doubt her mother found that suspicious and planned to invade the town bordering the desert to thwart her attempts at redemption.
Because that's all she'd been aiming for...redemption. Her mother's truth, her truth was even darker and more sinister than being a host for 'Grima the Fell Dragon'. It didn't involve playing host, destroying worlds or killing hundreds of thousands of people. No, all it was was a spell and three little words,
'You're still cursed.'
*Cue spooky music*. xD Like I said at the beginning, don't panic, this story isn't going to go all si-fi on you or introduce fourth wall breaking themes but it is a curious line to consider. What does it mean? Why does it hurt Robin so much and make both her and Morgan want to do all of Calypso's bidding? Is it the truth at all or a lie conducted by Calypso to lure her daughter and grandchildren to her? Let me know what you think.. Until next time. xXx
Update 20/08/2020: I changed the ending to this Chapter as I wasn't impressed with it.