"Chroooom, I'm co-co-cold!" Lissa whimpers, visibly uncontent with the sudden shift in weather. After continuing their march, the weather soon goes from pleasant warmth to freezing cold accompanyed by a steady stream of snowflakes in an unbelievably short amount of time.
Realising her brother isn't listening, she turns away and starts pouting. "Hmpf. Never mind."
Much to her surprise, she suddenly feels the warmth of a cloak being draped over her. Shocked, she turns around to find Robin smiling at her.
"What?" the tactiacian asks the stunned girl. "You said you were cold, right? That better?" he continues.
"Well, yeah it is, but what about you?" she counters concernedly, moving to give him his coat back.
"I'm fine, don't worry. I'm pretty sure you need it more than me. Have you seen how much you've been shivering the past few hours?" he asserts with a gentle smile.
Giving a defeated sigh, she obeys and puts the cloak on correctly. Due to her smaller stature, it's end drags through the snow at their feet and her arms vanish completely inside the sleeves. "You know, if you ask me, you really should've picked a brighter color for your cloak," she jokes.
"I'll remember to consult you should I ever be in the need of a new coat," Robin plays along. Turning to his blue-haired companion, he asks with a concerned look, "Hey Chrom. What's wrong?"
"Hmm?" he replies blanky, face reflecting his surprise. "Oh sorry, I was just.. thinking,"
"About what? Are you worrying about Sumia?", Robin questions.
"How did you know?" Chrom inquires.
"Well, I figured you we're worrying about something because you were frowning for a while there. And I assumed it was Sumia you're worrying about because you constantly throw glimpses towards the sky," he admits.
"It was that obvious huh.." he mutters, once more looking at the sky. "I just can't help it. She should be here by now if she's travelling by pegasus. What if something happened to her?" he wonders aloud.
"She'll be fine, Chrom," Robin says without a doubt. "She wouldn't have stayed behind to care for that pegasus if she didn't think she was up to it. So, all we can do right now is trust in her and that she'll meet up with us soon."
After taking a deep breath, Chrom opens his eyes, visibly calmed down. "I suppose you're right," he agrees.
"Soooo, you're worrying about Sumia, huh?" Lissa asks with a cheeky smile.
"So what?" Chrom asks annoyed. "Anything wrong with that?"
"Oh, no no no. There's nothing wrong with worrying yourself to death over a beautiful, determined woman you deeply care for," she practically purrs out the last few words with a teasing tone.
"Exactly," Chrom agrees, initially oblivious to what Lissa is playing at. As he finally understands, his face flushes with bright red color and he nervously spits out, "Wait what?"
While Lissa bursts out into hearty laughter, Robin too is unable to hide a small smile and soft chuckle.
The familiar scene is soon interrupted by Frederick. "Milord. We have arrived," he informs curtly.
"Good," Chrom sighs, relieved to finally be free of the mocking by Lissa. "Is something wrong?" he further questions, something in Fredericks mimic putting him off.
"Indeed, there appears to be a problem. You should see for yourself, milord," he replies, beckoning him towards the fortress appearing in front of them.
As they stride towards the fortification, Robin notices several long-spear wielders readying their weapons. As his brain begins processing information and working out possible plans, he nudges Chrom with his shoulder and warns, "Hey Chrom, they are getting ready to attack. Be ready."
Giving a brief nod of understanding, Chrom stops several feet before the walls and calls, "I come in the name of the Halidom of Ylisse! I wish to speak to the commanding officer!"
A few shouts from the soldiers atop the wall later, a female figure clad in heavy armor appears in their sight. "Who goes there?!" she demands.
"I am the prince of Ylisse, Chrom. I come to seek an audience with the Khan," he answers, raising his hands in front of himself in an attempt to reduce the hovering hostility.
"Hah! Prince of Ylisse my ass! If that's true, then I'm the empress of Valm!" she spits scornfully.
"I beg your pardon?" Frederick questions. "You are speaking with Ylissean nobility, so I ask of you to act with an appropriate demeanor!"
"Still going on about that, eh? I've seen enough 'Ylissean nobles'! I have orders to end all you impostrous brigands should you cause problems!" she warns.
"Brigands?" Chrom repeats confused. "I think there has been a misunderstanding," he attempts to reason while taking a step forward.
"Not one more step, lad! I've got lancers on the ready, so you should either piss off to where you nuisances came from or prepare to fight!" she advises, motioning towards the soldiers on either side of her.
"Chrom this isn't-" Robin begins warning, but is ignored.
"Please, listen to us! We have official documents proving our claim!" Chrom pleads.
"Enough!" the commander shouts. "I've had enough of your games. All troops, attack!" she orders.
At once, eight long-spear wielding men aim at Chrom, preparing to fire. He brings his cape and arm up to protect his face in an attempt to shield himself as best as possible, realising he has no way to dodge.
Surprisingly, the moment his body is riddled with spears never comes to be. Instead, Chrom feels himself being swept off his feet and lifted into the air by a white blur. After taking a moment to regain his bearings, he finds that he is sitting atop a pegasus soaring high in the sky, sitting behind the reason of his worry just a few minutes ago.
"Sumia?" he brings out, still not quite able to comprehend what is happening.
Sumia turns around and offers a warm smile. "Don't worry captain, I've got you. You might want to hold on tight though – it's going to get bumpy!" she says confidently before heading into a nose-dive to return to the ground.
As the winged steed touches the ground softly after extending it's wings at the last moment, Chrom looks around to see what is happening with his comrades. He sees half the Shepherds to his left, including Robin, fighting a group of about four enemies, and another battle between the other half of his companions and an equal number of enemies.
"Sumia, we have to go help the others!" he exclaims, pointing in the direction where he sees the tactician.
Giving a nod, she tugs on the mount's reigns, signaling it to fly to their destination a short distance from the ground.
-A few moments earlier-
Much to his surprise, Robin does not need to incorporate the death of their captain into his plans as he is saved in the last possible moment by a winged horse and it's rider. However, instead of breathing a sigh of relief and relaxing, Robin doesn't waste a second and begins shouting out orders, "Listen up guys! We've got enemies to our immediate right and left, to avoid having to deal with being surrounded, we'll split into two groups and engage them seperately!"
As soon as he is certain he has the attention of everyone, he continues his briefing, "Stahl, Lissa and Vaike, you're coming with me to the left! The rest of you will take the right! Also, don't forget our diplomatic mission still stands, so don't do anything that could further complicate the situation! Refrain from killing anyone if possible in any way, even if it's more difficult. Only inflict fatal wounds if your own life is in immediate danger! Understood?"
After receiving a sign of confirmation, be it a 'Yes, sir!', a nod or even a warcry, he gives the signal to move out.
The enemies facing Robin and his group are a single soldier with a sword, an archer and two axe-wielders. "Vaike can you take both of those axemen for a little while?" he questions while running towards them.
"'Course! Two of those weaklings aint even close to the Teach's prowess in battle!" he boasts. "Or these babies, for that matter!" he adds, flexing his arms.
"Stahl, you take the sword guy, I'll take the archer! Lissa, stay covered!" he orders, choosing to ignore the last part of Vaike's statement.
While Stahl and Vaike engage their designated targets, Robin skids to a stop, tome in hand. He closes his eyes and focuses solely on the sounds of battle, shutting out any other thoughts. He reopens his eyes to find the world moving in slow motion once more, allowing him the time to carefully aim his spell.
"Fire!" he shouts and time goes back to normal. The magical spell produced by him flys past the heads of multiple people before hitting the bow of the archer opposing them, reducing it to ashes. Not missing a beat, he rushes towards the axmen occupied by Vaike and smacks the hilt of his swords into the side of one of their heads, making him crumple to the ground unconscious. Using this opportunity, Vaike pushes the other one back before punching him hard in the face, causing him too to faint.
Turning to check on Stahl, he realises that the cavalier isn't in need of assistance at all, the swordman opposing him laying defeated and even the disarmed archer laying on the floor, unconscious.
Before he can say anything, however, he hears the flap of wings and directs his gaze towards it's source. He sees it just as Chrom and Sumia get off the pegasus and head towards him.
"Here I was thinking you might need help," Chrom sighs ironically. "I appear to have been wrong."
"Oh, we're fine, that much I can assure you of," Robin counters with a smile. "But you seem to have needed that help you speak of more, eh?" he continues. "I told you everything was going to be fine, by the way."
"That you did, my friend," Chrom agrees, with a soft smile.
"Hey, uhmm, I hate to interrupt and all, but I found this, Robin. You might want to take a look at it," Stahl cuts them off, holding up a key for the others to see. "One of those guys had a key on them, I'd think it goes to some kind of gate into the fortress."
"That would make sense," Robins says, a hand at his chin. "We should group up with the others first though. We don't know how many more soldiers are inside there and there's a high probability we'd be ambushed if we just waltzed on in."
"That's true, I guess," Chrom agrees. "Well let's get going then," he suggests turning around.
"You and Stahl go on ahead of us," Robin declares. "I want to talk to Sumia about something. I'll be coming in just a minute, make sure the area's clear until I'm there."
He gets a nod from the two men and is left alone with Sumia and Lissa. "So, riding a pegasus now, are we?" Robin asks with a smile.
"Oh, yes. After I was done with tending her wounds, I flew on Snowflake to catch up with you all. Thank the gods I came when I did," she answers, shuddering lightly at the end.
"Snowflake?" Lissa questions.
"Oh, that's what I decided to call her. I spent most of my time catching up with you trying to come up with a fitting name for her. Then, all of a sudden, it started snowing and I thought it was fitting," she explains.
"Well, as great of story that may be, we should really get going now," Robin interrupts. "Lissa, I want you to ride along with Sumia. That way, we can keep you out of danger more efficiently and you'll be faster to reach those in need of healing."
Receiving a nod from the yellow-haired girl, he continues, "That being said, you should still try your best to help the others with fighting, Sumia. When you see an opportunity to strike, take it."
"Alright, I'll do my best Robin," she assures, a look of determination taking over her face.
"How well do you think you can deal with ranged attacks?" he asks.
"If it's javelins we're talking about, Snowflake should be fast enough to dodge the. Pegasi are also very resistent when it comes to magic, but as far as I know there aren't many Feroxi mages so that isn't of any concern," she recounts.
"What about archers?"
"Those would pose more of a threat. Usually, an arrow won't outright kill a pegasus, but if it's aimed well, it could injure it's wings, which would bring it back down to earth in a rather painful way," Sumia answers.
"I see. In that case, focus on getting Lissa to where she needs to be for the time being. When you're absolutely sure there are no archers left or when I give you the order, you can take on a more offensive role," Robin decides. "Let's get going now."
While Robin gets going immediately after his last sentence, Sumia and Lissa take a little longer to get on the pegasus. Still, they overtake him soon due to the winged beasts naturally high mobility.
-At the same time, a bit further away-
"So, are you alright, Captain?" Stahl asks worriedly. "You did almost get impaled after all."
"Oh, I'm fine, thanks to-" Chrom begins, but is knocked off his feet mid-sentence.
"What the-? What was that?" he asks confused, looking around desperately, trying to find the cause of his fall. However, he does not notice anything that comes into question.
"Uhh, sorry captain," a new, calm voice apoligizes.
"Wait.. Kellam?" Chrom questions, finally able to make sense of the situation.
As if to validate his suspicion, a man clad in huge armor appears in front of him, causing Stahl and Chrom to jump slightly.
"Kellam?" Stahl too inquests. "You're here too?"
"Well, yes. I 've been travelling with you this whole time,to be precise. It's just that nobody noticed me," he confirms, a tinge of disappointment hidden in his voice. "I've been standing right here the entire time, waving my arms around and whatnot. Sadly, noone's noticed me until now."
"I'll never understand how you manage to just disappear without anyone noticing.." Chrom muses, adding a brief sigh. "Anyway, I take it you heard everything Robin said then?"
Kellam nods and adds "I was just about to head over to help the others. I think I would have scared them more than I would have helped though, so I'm glad you finally found you."
"That's true, I suppose," Chrom admits. "Let's get going then," he suggests and the trio gets back into motion and heads to the rest of the group to assist them in battle.
When they reach the main part of the Shepherds, they see Frederick riding towards them. "Milord!" he calls out. "We have taken care of this side. There were unexpected reinforcements, but luckily there haven't been any severe injuries and the lighter ones are being treated to by milady Lissa as we speak," he reports.
"Good. Anything else I need to know?" Chrom asks.
"Indeed. The route used by the aforementioned opposing support remains open and useable and I suspect it leads to the top of the fortress where their commander is," Frederick adds.
"But?" Chrom questions, sensing something to be wrong.
"However, there is no way to be sure of whether or not there are more troops awaiting us through said entrance."
"I see. Secure the entrance for now, make sure no enemies break through. We'll wait for Robin so we can make the final decision as to how we deal with this situation," Chrom orders.
"As you wish, milord," the great knight abides, bowing swiftly before turning around to pass along the orders.
"Let's get ready as well. Stahl, help Frederick make sure everyone else is ready. Kellam, you get to the front and prepare yourself," Chrom requests of the two men at his side.
They both give him a nod and Stahl rides ahead of them to join his senior, while Kellam moves as fast as he possibly can to the described position. Chrom too heads to the others to call out orders if needed.
When Robin reaches the others, they are already in their designated positions. He makes out Chrom in the front of the group and progressses to him.
"Chrom!" he calls.
Gaining his attention, the lord turns to the voice calling him and beckons Robin over. "Good, you're here," he says. "We have a way to enter the fortress, but don't know if or how many enemies are up there."
"Is everybody ready?" Robin asks.
"Yeah, but aside from Sumia we wont be able to take any mounts. The only way we have up to their commander are some stairs leading to a doorway. We can fit one, maybe two people at once through. Got any ideas?" Chrom informs.
"Maybe," the tactician answers. Pointing at Kellam, he asks "Who's that?"
"Oh that's Kellam. He's been with us all this time," the blue-haired noble clears up. Noting Robin's confused look, he adds "Long story. Why are you asking though?"
"Judging by that armor, I assume he can take a few more hits than the others, right?" Robin questions, a plan forming in his head.
"Let's just ask him," Chrom suggests. "Kellam! Get over here for a moment! Frederick, you too!"
After trudging over, the knight salutes before speaking. "How can I be of assistance?" he asks.
"Kellam, this is Robin. I'm sure you've heard of him already, but he's our new tactician. He saw you standing over there and wanted to know something from you," Chrom informs.
"You saw me?" Kellam asks, surprised at someone noticing him by themself.
"Uhh, yeah? Is that something unusual?" Robin questions, now his turn to be confused.
"Well, sort of. What did you need?" the heavily armored man requests.
"Right. I wanted to know how confident you are in your ability to take hits. For the plan I have in mind to work, I need someone who can take the brunt of their attacks for a moment without taking too much damage from it. Think you can do it?" the tactician inquires.
"I suppose I'd be fine. As long as there aren't any mages, I can do that," he confirms.
"Good. I've got a plan then," Robin says, turning to Chrom.
"That's what I like to hear. What do you have in mind?" he inquires.
"You mentioned that we can funnel one or two people through the doorway at a time, so we'll send those first who can take some hits. Kellam will lead the charge, followed by Sully and Frederick. Your job will be to make space behind the entrance for the others to follow, meaning you'll do your best to push the enemies back. When there's enough space, Stahl, Vaike and Chrom will follow. The last two will be me and Miriel," Robin begins explaining his plan. "Sumia will take Virion with her to provide cover from the air as soon as Miriel and I take care of the archers, if there are any. When everyone is ready, Frederick, Sully and Kellam will lock lances and push forward until we reach the commander. From there, Chrom and I will take care of her while everyone else covers for us."
"Sounds good," Chrom acknowledges. "Frederick, inform everyone of their roles and get ready to head in."
After around a minute Frederick is finished with his task and the rest of the shepherds are ready for the battle.
"Listen up everybody!" Robin shouts for everyone to hear. "These next few minutes will be the hardest of this confrontation by far. I want you all to do your best when it comes to fighting for each other. Help out those near you when they are in trouble and don't be afraid to ask for help!"
Receiving reassuring nods from all those around him, he gives the command to commence the assault. As planned, Kellam takes the front and charges up the stairs and through the doorway to the top of the fortress. Expectedly, the enemy is set up in defensive positions, with lancers in front, their weapons extended before them. Just behind these soldiers are several axe and sword wielding men, waiting for an opportunity to strike. At the back, three archers are stationed, arrows aready notched and ready to fire.
Kellam reaches the top, but, somehow, isn't noticed at all, despite his rather loud entrance. "How come noone ever sees me.." the knight mutters with a sigh. Shaking it off, he swings his weapon in a wide arc in front of him, breaking off the tips of several lances.
Still unable to spot the heavily armored man right in front of them, the soldiers start panicking, a few stepping forward, only to collapse instantly. Maintaining some sort of reason, the archers let their arrows fly and after several from each of them, an arrow clangs off Kellam's armor, giving his position away. Finally able to see him, the rest of the conscious lancers and a few sword and axe wielding foes lung forward, attacking him from all sides. Still, they are unable to harm him, as he maintains his defensive stance before sweeping several soldiers off their feet with another swing of his lance.
Immediately after, some more sword- and axemen rush forward, but they too are intercepted, this time by Frederick and Sully who follow shortly after Kellam. Frederick crushes one soldiers wrist with a well-aimed strike and throws him into another by kicking him square in the chest, painfully entangling the two on the floor. Sully smacks the blunt end of her lance into the face of an axe-wielder, using his confused state to do the same with his ribcage leading to him doubling over and collapsing to the floor.
All the while, Kellam continues pushing forward, knocking people over and disarming them, creating more and more space for the rest of the Shepherds to follow.
Next to follow are Stahl, Chrom and Vaike. While the axe-wielder runs to the side of Frederick and Sully to aid them, the other two rush past them. They reach Kellam's side and assist him in stunning their oppponents.
"Watch out!" Chrom suddenly hears, causing him to turn around to the voice calling out to him. He sees Robin and Miriel and the former points past the blue-haired noble. Turning back around, Chorm barely manages to dodge an arrow, silently cursing himself for forgetting the archers. As he readies himself to charge them, three spheres of fire soar past him, each hitting it's mark, either striking an archer's arm or his bow, rendering them defenseless. Having taken care of the rest of his enemies, Kellam slams into one of the archers, smashing him into a wall. Stahl follows, bringing the hilt of his sword down on the heads of the remaining two, causing them to crumple to the ground.
Alll foes currently unable to batte, the Shepherds use the opportunity to rest briefly. As they move to engage the female commander, a new, almost even larger group of enemies emerges from the inside of the fortress.
"Stay calm!" Robin advises, while the two troops get ever closer. "If you can make a way for Chrom and me to get though, we'll be able to finish this!"
The Shepherds let out a fierce warcry as they collide with their enemies. While Kellam simply plows through the first five or so who oppose him, the others are stopped right at the beginning, at least for the moment. Every single Ylissean is locked in one on one, or in the case of the bulky knight and Frederick one on four or so, doing their best to punch a hole in the enemy's ranks for Robin and Chrom to slip through.
Sumia, the risk of being shot down now dispersed, flys around the battle, bringing Virion into positions where he can effectively fire arrow after arrow from the sky. Nearly every one fhits it's mark, nailing a soldier's shoulder, hand or arm, in any case giving nearby Shepherds the possibility of easily dispatching of the wounded enemy.
After a few minutes, Robin finally sees an opportunity for himself and Chrom. "Let's go!" the tactitcian says to the noble, practically pulling him in the direction he wants him to go. He let's go shortly after so that he can charge the soldier in their way. Robin jumps at him, using his sword to knock the axe out of the way. He does not stop before him, though, as his jump carries him into his opponent, making both of them hit the floor. Robin, however, simply rolls after the collision and stands back up.
Seeing two of the supposed brigands break through, several Feroxi turn around to engage them in order to defend their commander.
"Stay where you are!" she barks fiercely. "I'll take care of these two."
Surprised by the barsh tone of her order, the soldiers turn back again to continue their fight.
"Are you sure you can take us by yourself?" Robin asks in an attempt of provocation.
"I am in no need to justify my actions to lowlifes such as you," she spits, lowering her lance and charging them.
Chrom rushes forward to meet her and rolls to the side as soon as she tries to swipe at him with her weapon. After completing his evasive maneuver, he slashes at her with his blade, but she makes no attempt to even dodge, as it bounces harmlessly off her thick armor.
"And you think you can harm me with those-" she begins mocking, but is broken off mid-sentence by a ball of fire slamming into her chest. "Damn, you.." she huffs, clearly having taken damage, now turning her focus to the source of the magic attack.
The Feroxi commander now charges Robin, who pulls out his sword and gets ready to defend. She brings her lance down from above his head, which he blocks with great trouble. Unable to move momentarily, the tactician is sent flying a few feet because of a hefty kick to his torso, knocking the air out of him. Before the heavily armored woman can finish him off, Chrom attempts to bring his own weapon down on her head with a loud shout, forcing her to react by bringing up her shield.
Robin, now back on his feet, uses the opportunity to try a slash of his own. He aims for the spot where the armor is weakened by his fire, but is again thrown to the side, this time due to a mighty swing of her lance. Chrom too is sent flying by a shove of the greatshield.
"Is that all you have to offer? I would have expected more after your show of arrogance earlier," she taunts, pointing her spear towards Robin.
The two men get back to their feet and reenter their fighting stances. Instead of mindlessly charging in, the two of them circle around the Feroxi for a little while, searching for the optimal attack point. An idea popping into his head, he signals for Chrom to attack. The blue-haired man obliges and charges her once more, again being blocked by the great-shield.
Robin however expects this and shouts "Get out of the way!"
Chrom follows and leaps sideways just before several fireballs hurtle past him, all colliding with the greatshield causing it to heat up.
"Gahh!" the commander grunts and let's the melting hot piece of metal fall to the floor, her vulnerable side now unshielded. "That's it!" she yells furiously and punches Chrom hard in the stomache, causing him to double over in pain. Not concerning herself further with him, she charges Robin and stabs at him. This time, he doesn't manage to block her attack as smoothly and has his shoulder impaled by the metal tip of her lance.
Despite the immense pain filling his entire arm and the loud scream he lets out, he manages to firmly grip the wooden shaft with both hands. "Now, Sumia!"
At his order, Sumia swoops down from above and buries the tip of her own weapon inside the immobile and vulnerable Feroxi's side.
Now letting out a cry of pain of her own, she drops to her knee and lets go of her weapon. In an instant, Chrom is behind her and holds his sword against the side of her neck.
"It's over. Command your men to stop fighting," he growls, in between pants.
Acknowledging her defeat, she grunts before shouting "All units, stand down!"
After a brief moment, every single Feroxi soldier obeys and lays down his weapon.
"You fought valiatly," Robin notes, offering his good arm's hand to pull up the Feroxi commander. "May I ask for your name?"
Initially shocked by the amout of hospitality and good will from an enemy mere seconds ago, she takes his hand and heaves herself up. "I am commander Raimi of Ferox," she informs. Turning to Chrom , she bows and continues "I must apoligize for my rash actions, lord Chrom."
"No worries," he assures. "You did what you considered right for your country, there is nothing wrong with that. Besides, it all turned out alright."
"Still, it could have gone differently," Raimi reminds. "But, no matter. Allow me a small amount of time to fasten our defences. My best soldiers and I will accompany you personally after I request for an audience with my Khan."
"Please do so," Chrom agrees.
Giving another bow, the Feroxi turns and leaves to prepare for the upcoming journey.
"So," Robins begins after a brief silence between him, Chrom and Sumia. "I'lll go get my shoulder looked at and make sure the others are ready when Raimi returns."
Receiving a nod from Chrom, he places his hand on Sumia's shoulder and says "You did well, Sumia. Good work," before leaving.
And that's that! I'm a day late of my initial plan, but at the same time this chapter is much much longer than what I thought I could get done. Thanks to Dark Hyrule, jv1991, Lobsterdude611, Milkoe777, nhkosoy, Ohmega ZodiaK,Riku Uzumaki, Sparda065, Warlord of Chaos and Yuki2311 for following! It means a lot!
On to the reviews!
Blooperfiction: Glad to hear you enjoyed my own ideas! Also, you're definitely right when it comes to the whole 'he' thing, I'll make that a point of emphasis for myself when I get back to writing! I didn't have the time to make sure I did better in this chapter, but I'll revisit every chapter sometime in the near future to fix that to the best of my ability. Maybe even this week, should I feel good enough to do so.
pkmn2112: I promised you I'd get back to your review in this chapter, so that's just what I'll do now! Again, you totally got me with the Stahl and Miriel things, I'll try not to let that happen again. If it does, be sure to point it out! Of course, I'll continue working on my tenses, but when it comes to the other point you raise, I can only say I'll try my best. You're actually the first to even mention the battle scenes (as far as I can remember), so I didn't really know if what I was doing was good or not. Glad to hear that you like them! Also, again, Lon'qu and Cherche are awesome. I absolutely love the two of them, and it really is a shame there isn't much fan work to be found featuring them. If I had to say, I think most people don't really pair them up because their first appearances are so far apart and most players would have already gotten a different S-Support on Lon'qu by the time Cherche joins. Oh yeah, before I forget it, please continue to grammar-nazi the hell out of me! It keeps me focused, so to say, and it definitely helps me with the issues my writing has!
drunkdragon: For about the millionth time, I apologize for the first chapter! Even though I stand by the point that it's hard to deviate from what the game gives you in the very beginning, but still, I should have found some way to do my own thing. Saying that, I'm happy that the other chapters have become better (in comparison with the first at least). Sooo, I think I have to apologize for this chapter as well. I get the feeling I didn't get enough of my ideas through, be it because of my lacking focus/concentration or because this is just what I pictured for it. Don't worry though, I will continue to make changes (starting again next chapter) and I have a bunch of rather big changes in mind for the future, so look forward to those!
Spiner909: Again, sorry for not being able to make the story unique. I'll do my best however to fix that until Cordelia enters this story!
Prescribed-Madness: From a lot of Stahl to practically none. I swear, I'm not trying to tease ya here, he just didn't fit into my ideas too well. However! Do not fret, for there will be more of him to come!
Gallian Squad 7: Thank you, sensei. *bows* Can I call you that? I'll just call you that until you tell me to do otherwise. Would you mind showing me some examples for my filler problem? It'd help tremendously to have someone point some out so I can try to avoid that in the future. Also, while I haven't gotten to it just yet, I'll definitely take a look at the guide you suggested in the future!
Alrighty, that should be everything for this week. Seeing as I probably won't directly reply to your reviews this week with no chapter to do so in, feel free to send me a PM if there is something you think is urgent or you just wanna talk.
So, as always, this has been D4v3Hunter and I'll see you in a while!
