She was stuck inside of a metal tube that was screeching like an angry wyvern and grinding like a sword on the grindstone. Darkness enveloped them, only the odd light illuminating the man-made tunnel like lonely islands in a starless sky. All the others on the train - as Makoto had called it - acted like this was the most normal thing in the world, somewhere even reading books!

Makoto was acting like they weren't riding some metallic dragon! Wait, no it was like a land ship. She was just sitting on the seat without a care in the world as this beast took them where ever they were going. She knew she should have-

Whatever thought had been bubbling inside of her died when the tunnel vanished and gave birth to a city without end at the hour of twilight, the sun dying the sky shades of orange, pink, and purple, as it neared the horizon. Her sense of scale had been way off on how big this city was. Way off. In the distance, she could make out the beak of a great mountain that was spared from the horizon due to its sheer height.

Buildings, roads, and giant towers all blurred together into a massive cityscape. It began to shine, as though the stars did not call the sky their home but rather these buildings clustering in numbers that she couldn't even fathom. The sea of stars before her was just as grand as it was terrifying.

"Does it ever end?"

"Eventually," Makoto shifted onto the seat, placing her knees against it so that she matched her pose to look out the window. She pointed towards the horizon, towards a shimmering sea. "It generally stops at the ocean, that's Tokyo Bay, on the other side of that there are some docks then it turns into mostly farmland." her finger shited to point towards the mountain. "And that's Mount Fuji, Tokyo kind of stops halfway to it. But don't worry, even in Japan there's plenty of green."

"How do you not get lost? Even with a map, I fear I couldn't navigate this city." Sadly, she did not receive her mother's logistical mind, thankfully she did receive her father's ability to get lost in his own castle either. But how they'd feed such a city, or even organize its defenses, what about their leader?

Makoto simply shrugged, pushing a strand of her brown hair from her face and shaking her head to sit back down onto the bench. "We're used to it I guess, its also easy to read the signs and find a train station that has a map of the city, that and most of us have cellphones. I'm sure you'll get used to it." She laughed, "Though, maybe you best not go out on your own for a bit."

Hopefully, there'd be a path home before that came to pass. Still, the history of this world intrigued her, perhaps if she wasn't stuck here she'd be more keen on exploring it. And find out why she was wearing a bunny hat, and probably find out where she could get it. It'd match the bear hat she had at home.

The train stopped twice and Makoto led her through a mile of streets before they arrived at a large building that loomed higher than the castle at Ylisstol. It stood across from the first parts of this city that weren't covered in buildings, it was a large park that had trees and several illuminated walkways weaved through the foliage like sparkling spider webs.

Three flights of stairs later and they arrived at Makoto's home. Or rather what she called an Apartment. It was both smaller than she thought, and yet, larger. The doorway revealed a cozy well-furnished home that was completely separate from the outside world. It was like that city Tokyo simply didn't exist.

She also learned that Morgana was unique and that not every cat talked.

"My sister should be here soon," Makoto, locked the door behind her and began to slip off her shoes, taking a moment to put some slippers on. Oh, it was like that Hoshidan custom.

"I'm already home." A voice came from the down the entrance way, and a tall woman with ashen brown hair appeared, she was by all accounts a very beautiful woman. She paused, looking at her for a moment, a bit of food was pinched between her fingers.

Why was she staring? Did she look funny? Oh! She was supposed to take her boots off! Placing one hand on the wall she began the process of removing her boots, a task that was easier said than done with how long they were. Also, her feet hurt. "Umm," She said, pulling the right one off halfway and forcing a smile. "Hello, I'm Lucina."

"I see that." Makoto's sister - what was her name again? Didn't Makoto say it was Sae? - nodded slowly taking another bite. She had the same brown almost red eyes that Makoto did with all the same fire. Sae turned to Makoto swallowing. "Why is there a Lucina cosplayer in our home?"

There was that word again.

Makoto took a step forward, placing one hand on her shoulder and giving the same kind of laugh her father did when her mother caught him doing something weird. Like eating an orange before peeling it. "Well, she's not a cosplayer, but how do you know who she is?"

"What do you mean she's not a cosplayer? I'm fine with her staying here for a while, but I think I'm going to need an explanation." Sae sighed pinching the bridge of her nose as she deflated. "And here I thought becoming a defense attorney would mean I interrogated fewer people."

With one last tug, she freed her other foot, gods that felt fantastic. "I truly am Lucina, daughter of Chrom and Robin, and princess Ylisse, after saving my world I traveled to other worlds and ended up in the causeway where I battled against Galeem and Darkron, it was there I met Joker and after our victory, I ended up trapped in this world." She grabbed Falchion, holding in front of her while kneeling on a single knee. "Thank you for allowing me to stay here until I find a way back home."

"Wait. She's actually Lucina?" Sae placed a hand against her head and began to massage it, her mother often did something similar when she got a headache - she often named them after her husband. "As in literally Lucina from Fire Emblem? And its Akira's fault?"

"Yes." Makoto sighed, hanging her head down. "Well, mostly, But how do you know so much about Lucina?"

"I'm going to throw him back in jail and throw away the key." Sae groaned, taking another bite of her food. She chewed it slowly staring right at her. "Well, come sit down, I want to hear the full story." She forced a smile glaring at the wall for a moment before turning back down the hall. "For evidence."

Being interrogated - and that was the correct word for it - by Sae was easily worse than any other time she had been, even worse than Fredrick or her own mother. Not that Sae was harsh, simply that she was thorough. Fortunately, Makoto was there as well to take at least some of the pressure off her. It felt like the whole experience had deepened her bond with Makoto.

Sae groaned, leaning back into her chair looking somewhere between pissed off and done with everything. It was the same look her mother had when her father did something stupid - or she did. "So you let both Akira and Futaba attempt to open up a portal to the metaverse?"

"Yes," Makoto winced. "I didn't think it'd actually work and they did go through all the work of-"

"Hacking into a global event and broadcasting a trailer?"

Makoto shrank back down into her chair and looked far to young at that moment. "It was well put together."

"Also," She sat up, sitting with her back straight. "Despite his personality, Joker was a big help in the battle against Galeem and Dakron, he even saved my life twice, so I don't think that he should be punished for his actions."

"I understand your point of view, this is mostly to sate my own curiosity and tease my little sister." Sae smiled, "Besides I'm not a prosecutor anymore even if I am Akira's defense lawyer. It's my job to keep him out of trouble."

Sae stood, popping her neck and allowing herself to relax. "Well then, I won't stop him from trying to get you home Lucina, just make sure he's doing it for the right reason. Now then, I have a case in the morning so I need to study up on it and rest, so try to keep the noise down."

"Wait," Makoto sat back up. "You never explained how you knew so much about Lucina."

Sae paused at the hallway, caught midstep and mid-thought before she continued onwards. "Just a moment, I think I have something."

She looked towards Makoto who simply shrugged.

Sae returned a moment later with a blue object that was the size of a letter with the thickness of a book as well as a cord. She flipped it open, blowing on the inside and removing some dust. "This was a gift from a boy that liked me in high school,"

Makoto gasped, Sae glared.

"I think he wanted to get me into his hobbies, but then he moved and we stopped talking, still, I played the game and its actually the only one I ever played." Sae sat the device down in front of her, there were two screens on it like a T.V. or Makoto's phone. Words that she recognized sat on the top screen. 'Fire Emblem Awakening' "It's the game you're from, or uhh the game you're in. Huh, never thought I'd be talking to someone from a video game. You can play it if you'd like. Makoto can show you how."

"Huh? But I don't know the first thing about games."

"Just put it on easy."

XXXX

Things tended to get boring once the shop closed and everybody went home, it didn't really help that his switch was no fried. He'd have to spend another week's paycheck to replace it, he might even need to buy a third one if he wanted to get Lucina home.

And he really had no idea how on earth he was going to do that. Probably by breaking something, he was good at that. Plus that one really hot goddess lady Palutena said that she was going to try and help. He paused looking around his room, half expecting her to show up if he thought about her.

All clear, it was just him, his plant, Morgana and Futaba's contraption.

Maybe he'd try to google her and Lucina, for research and embarrassment purposes. Futaba probably knew where to find the embarrassing stuff, she'd probably just laugh make a joke he'd only half understand and then send him a link to some subreddit or something. Maybe Mishima would know. He played pokemon.

Holy crap he was starting to sound like his father where all games were pokemon. But they were from Nintendo. He knew that much! He even had one when he was a kid. It was probably still back at his dad's place.

"You've had a rough day." Morgana began, letting out a soft purring noise as he kneaded at his spot on the bed. He really should think about getting him a cat tree or his own bed or something. Morgana let out a yawn looking right at him. "We should probably call it a night."

The cat did have a point, and it wasn't like he was doing anything else at the moment. He stood from his desk, popping his neck twice. The Metaverse had always been draining, but this time it felt different he was a weird mix of could stay up all night and sleep for the next seventy-two hours. Shame he had class in the morning.

Wait didn't Makoto have her college class too? Who was going to watch Lucina. Not that the blue-haired warrior princess couldn't take care of herself, it was just that the way she handled herself might be a little on the stab-happy side. He already unleashed one horror in the form of Haru onto the world he was not going to be responsible for another.

Oh, maybe he should see if -

A buzz came from his phone, followed by another, then another. Hopefully, this wasn't someone Sae yelling at him. Or Makoto informing him that Lucina killed a guy for slapping her ass. Not that he'd blame her. Or the guy, Lucina had a nice butt.

The messages were from Yusuke. It was in his standard three message form that normally happened whenever Futaba asked something from him in the middle of the night. There was the confusion, the acceptance, then the demand.

"Why is Futaba messaging me about… pixel art? And what is this 64 bit she's referring to?" Yusuke's text read. "Why does she need them? What's the purpose? Are we planning another hack?"

"Very well I shall attempt to conquer this medium!" Yusuke's text declared. "Ohh, I can feel the inspiration building inside of me."

"Have Mona take some pictures of you in action poses I will need them if I am to finish by tonight!" Yusuke's text demanded.

It was Ten. At Night. With a shrug, he tossed the phone the to Mona. "Take some pictures, I'll send them."

"What?" the talking cat screeched, bouncing out of the way of his phone. "What happened to bed?"

"Bed can wait." He grabbed a pen spinning it around like it was a dagger before holding it in a very joker like pose. "When Yusuke says pose you pose!"

Morgana groaned. "How on earth am I supposed to use this thing! I don't have thumbs!"

"You repaired our van without them, you can take pictures."

AN: Yea... Sae played Fire Emblem. I bet she even has it on her phone to. Ha Weeeeeeb! Wait... shit.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully next one will have more stuff happening right now we're kind of heavy on the slice of life slowness.