So. Ready for the next chapter? I bet you do seeing how it tells what happened to Aiden and junk. I'm a horrible person but at least you guys are strangely liking this story. Which is weird seeing how this fanfiction is basically the worse thing next to cancer and Hitler. But seeing how you want to get on with it, I'll shut up now. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter Twenty Two: Survivor
"Ugh… What the fuck happened?" I say, waking up. I don't really remember going to sleep inside of some ruins. My head is killing me! Where am I- Oh yeah… I remember now. I raise my head up and inspect the damage my body received while I flew down that little slide. I cringe when I see my arm; it is unnaturally bent backwards. I don't think that is good. I sit up, pain arching throughout my body. I find that my entire foot is bent to the side. That also can't be a good thing to have. I feel my forehead and sigh when I touch some dried blood. I also notice a silvery glint shining a couple steps away from me. I bet that is my sword. I hate slides so much right now.
I am sitting in the middle of basically a crypt with no exit in site. Fucking fantastic I must say. But I better start exploring. I need to find Anna. I did leave her a fucking skeleton Sage! How is that even a thing? I don't know but it kicked my ass. But how am I going to walk? Oh gods… This is going to be a very cringey thing to do.
First, I grab my bent arm and start to pop it back into place. I hope that it isn't that broken so I can't use. At first, it's just dull pain when I try to pop it into place. But when my arm finally pops into place, Oh boy. I wish I could tell you the pain I experienced but I don't have the words to describe it. However, the good news is that I can move my arm and hand a tiny bit! That's just all I can do. Now it's time for my foot. Turns out popping one's foot back into place is less painful then one imagines. Just a simply crack announced its replacement into it's original position. At least I can limp now. But I have to get up now.
I lift myself up to a kneeling position using my good arm as the majority of the lifting. But now here comes the hard part. I place both hands on the ground and swiftly push myself up. Pain shoots through me from my foot and I fall back down onto my ass. I am going to have to do a couple tries for this. I try again and manage to stand for a couple seconds before I am put back on my ass. I guess I am going to need some leverage.
I turn to face my sword, the blade itself stuck to some rubble that may have come from my fall, and I start to crawl towards it. I use my good arm for the majority of the crawling due to my other arm swelling up in pain with every move I do to it. I guess I can't use that baby until I find a Heal staff and a Cleric. I manage to reach the rubble and push myself up with help from the rubble. My entire body is screaming in pain from having to walk but it is slowly fading. I grab my sword' handle and try to pull it out of the rubble. But I can't pull my sword out. It is lodge into the stonework pretty deep. I grab the handle with both of my hands now and pull on it with all of my strength.
The sword's lower part suddenly rips away and I am sent sprawling back. I groan and look at my now broken sword, just a handle and a broken blade barely able to deflect an enemy's weapon. I bet my father would kick my ass right now if he saw what I did to his sword. I guess I'm not going to use some leverage to help me walk. But I wonder if I have any vulneraries. I check my pockets and pull out a broken vulnerary. Great. No way to numb the pain now! Fuck my life!
But I have to find Anna. I don't think she can take on an undead Sage by herself! What kind of… friend would I be if I just left her to die? I can't someone as amazing as her die! I better stop talking to myself and hurry up on finding Anna. I use the rubble again to help me stand up and I am able to limp. But every step I take is filled with pain. I hope I find Anna soon. I find what looks to be a walkway heading down a dark tunnel. I think this will lead to an exit.
I travel down the walkway and through the tunnel. I exit the tunnel and enter a musty looking armory. I look around at all of the weapons and armor and sigh. It's all rusty and useless. Even the spears aren't good enough to be my walking stick. I limp through the armory until my good foot hits something. I look down and see… a crest covered in metal. I pick it up and look over it. I can't really distinguish what it really is but the way it is shape resembles a shield. Sorta like the shield that the old Heroes use to own. I think Anna would like this. I turn it around and see a usable carrying strap still semi-fresh. Not only that but a little lever that I have no idea what it could be for. Better keep it just in case. I shoulder the crest and continue on my way.
I exit the armory through a little side door and find myself in a hallway with rooms lining all down it. Every room I look in seems to be some sort of bedroom with the bare necessities plastered in it. I guess this is where the soldiers use to sleep. I mean it makes sense seeing how close the armory is to these rooms. I continue on my way and find myself in what looks to be like a mess hall. I guess this where the soldiers use to eat. All over the floor are bodies of Soldiers, Fighters, and Archers. I guess they were surprised during an attack on the castle. I shrug and start to try to find an exit when I heard something.
I turn around and watch in utter horror as a skeleton Fighter rise up and stare at me with vacant eye sockets. It then picks up a rusty iron axe, barely attached to it's handle, and charges me. Fuck me! I scramble to the side and manage to dodge the attack. I trip over some skeletons in my haste and barely dodge another strike from the skeleton. I roll to the side, a chop from the Fighter's axe missing my chest, and swing the crest at the skeleton's head. It connects and the skeleton's skull shatters from the blow. It crumples to the ground and doesn't come back up when I wait for a few moments. I slowly stand back up and look at the crest. Some rust appears to have been blow away from it and I just see part of a noble's crest on it. I don't recognize the family so they must not have been important enough for historians to remember them. But back to the action.
I wait a bit more for any more skeletons to appear but none do. I sigh in relief and go back to limping. I exit the mess hall and find myself in front of a big staircase. Fucking fantastic. I want to die right here and now. I start to limp up the stairs, my hand on the wall to help me keep going. I manage to make it to the top in a good twenty minutes before something tries to fuck me over again. Two Risen Soldiers are fighting five skeletal Mercenaries and I am about to be in the middle of it. I groan and unshoulder the crest. I start to twirl it around so it has some momentum before I break an enemy's skull with it.
A Risen finishes off a skeleton and notices me just twirling the crest. It screams at me in the usual Risen fashion and charges. I stop twirling the crest and swing it and the Soldier's head, hoping it would be enough to kill it. It does connect, crushing the Risen's skull and making it disappear in a cloud of black smoke. But the Risen's spear manages to glance my wounded arm and I have to choke down a cry of pain from the burning sensation the spear left. A skeleton notices my moment of weakness and rushes me, swinging its blade to kill me. The blade connects; giving me a long, bleeding slash down chest. I identically swing the crest again and it kills the skeleton in one hit as well.
Luckily, the other enemies kill each other and I am left all alone. Again. With a ton of new wounds. I fucking hate this so much right now. I press a hand to my chest in a futile effort to stop the blood. I need to find Anna fast now. She has the heals and I really need the heals. I continue on my way and before I know it, I find myself in the same library that me and Anna used to get to the throne room. I hope Anna is still there! I start to stumble/run towards the still open secret tunnel and rush through it. I make it back to the throne room and… no one is there. There is no Sage, Anna, anything. It is just empty. Oh gods; I'm going to die here aren't I- Holy shit!
I am forced back by a gust of wind and rock all of the sudden. I sit up and see Anna, covered in dirt, bruises, cuts, and sweat, fighting off the Sage who is looking like she hasn't even been touched. I better go help Anna before she gets her ass kicked! Or at least try to seeing how I am basically shit right now. I stand up and rush to Anna, twirling my crest for some extra power.
"Duck!" I say, swinging the crest at the Sage's head. Anna ducks and the crest's momentum continues uninhibited. But the Sage blocks the swing with a fucking magical shield that makes the crest bounce off, leaving no damage at all. Suddenly, a stone pillar slams into my stomach and I'm sent flying back; Anna following me after another stone pillar. My vision blurs as I throw up vomit and blood. I'm so fucking done with this shit right now.
"Aiden! You came back." I turn and see Anna kneeling over me, that fancy staff that caused all of this in her hands.
"Yeah. You are not going get rid of me that easy… Can you heal me please? I hurt all over." I say, coughing up some blood as the pain starts to settle in. Anna stands up and lifts that fancy staff up into the air. I didn't know it was a healing staff- I smell something I never thought I smell again. It's her scent. I've missed her damned scent so much. But that scent also caused everything to end up at this point. I look down at my body and notice all of my wounds completely healed. I pat my arm and find that it doesn't hurt anymore. I stand up and I am able to stand like I usually stand. This staff is fucking fantastic! And painful. But I shall not think about that smell. I still have work to do.
I turn to say my thanks to Anna but she tackles me to the side as a blade of yellow wind slices the area we were at a couple seconds ago. I draw my sword and- oh wait, it's broken. Fuck me! I draw my broken sword and hold up the crest like a shield, my hand holding onto the lever, while Anna goes into her usual battle stance. If we manage to break the Sage's shield, then we can kill it. I look at Anna and she looks at me. We stare for a moment and nod at each other. We then rush the Sage who casts several boulders and yellow wind blades at us. I block a boulder and jump over a blade of wind before I'm knocked towards Anna. I slam into Anna, both of us giving yelps of pain and surprise, before the skeleton casts something deadlier than the other spells it has cast so far.
It raises its hands in front of his face and back down to it's waist before spinning around in a circle. It then casts a spell with a spear made out of wind appearing and flying towards us. It's so fast that we can't dodge. I glance behind me and see an unfamiliar site. Anna, fear all over her face. I don't like that face. I am able to take one step forward and push the crest out as a shield. The wind spear hits the shield head on, knocking me past Anna all the way to the throne. I lay on the ground, groaning in pain when I hear… lightning. Why do I hear lightning? I sit up and see the lever I was holding onto had been pushed and the crest was glowing in a strange light. What the fuck?
I pick the crest up but suddenly lightning bolts crash all around me until my vision is just pure white. I close my eyes in fear of this madness. After the lightning noise disappear, I open my eyes and look down at my body. Holy fucking shit! I'm wearing a shining new set of plate armor. I look over and see that I have two shoulder plates but they don't have any Ylisse symbols on them. I also realize that I am holding a brand new shield. I turn the shield around and my jaw drops at the crest it has. It's my family's fucking crest! A sword surrounded by ivy is the design and I know it because my father has a shield with the same exact symbol on it. I look at my sword and my jaw drops a bit farther. My sword; it has been fucking repair, sharpened, and cleaned until it looked brand new! What is this magic? Why are we not mass producing this?
I look over at the Sage and smile. It's time to kick some ass. I rush the Sage but stop halfway there. Why? Because I am going to do something amazing! "I'll show you my power!" I shout at the Sage before I execute my move. I throw my shield up into the air and somersault after it. I manage to jump halfway between my shield and my original position and I fly downwards towards the Sage. I slam into the skeleton, the impact instantly breaking its shield. I jump back and then rush the Sage, my shield reaching the peak of its flight. I deliver a devastating combo of slashes, swings, and stabs as my shield falls to the ground. I take one step back, catch my shield, and slash the skeletal Sage in one crushing slice. The slice is visible in the form of a dazzling golden light. Reminds me of the ancient skill of Sol.
The Sage crumples to the ground and doesn't get up again. I twirl my sword around and sheath it. That felt like pure badassery. I turn to look at Anna to see what she thinks. She is simply clapping with a little smug grin on her face. Oh great, time for some teasing.
"Well, well, well; Mr. Hero. You look quite dashing in that outfit." Anna says, that smug grin on her face growing by the minute. I can already tell she is losing the battle to hold in the puns as well. Better beat her to it by changing the mood.
"I'm glad you're still alive Anna," I say, giving her a small smile. She drops her shit-eating grin and also gives me a small smile.
"Thanks handsome. I'm glad you came back to me."
"I told you; I'm not that easy to kill. Are we still going treasure hunting? I think the Risen may have heard the battle." I say, looking at the tunnel entrance, waiting for a Risen to pop out.
"I don't care about some stinky Risen! Just think of the cash we are going to get if we find more stuff like this!" Anna holds the staff above her head. She has her usual smile on her face again and I can't help but laugh. This is just like Anna. Nothing can ever faze or change her. I'm glad about that. Might as well show her what I feel.
"Hahaha! Never change Anna," I say to her. I softly grab her by the chin and turn her head to the side, her cheek facing me. Ohgodsjustdoityoupussy! I swiftly kiss Anna on the cheek and step back. "Let's go. Can't keep all of that treasure waiting." I turn around and start to walk towards a door that appeared when we killed the Sage. My cheeks are hurting like crazy right now for some reason. I should see a Cleric about that.
So. Here is the end of the chapter. Are you glad it is over? Now our little Mary Sue is even more OP than before. I bet you hate me for that. What am I saying, you do hate me for that. Well, I'm pretty sure that's how OP Mary sue- I mean Aiden can get now. So be glad for that as well. Now I am going to work on the third part of this little arc. Bye.
