Light crept into the wagon, prying Lucina's eyes open. As she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, groggily, she looked outside. In the forest that stretched beyond, the sun stretched over the treetops, painting the leaves gold as they flickered in the wind, crackling and shimmering like a fire burning over the woods.
"Father?" Her voice dipped as she let out a yawn.
Behind her, she heard a giggle. "I'm afraid not."
Lucina looked back, and she saw Aunt Lissa hovering over her shoulder, her face glowing with her usual energy.
"Where are–" Lucina cut herself off, and she stifled a yawn.
Aunt Lissa's smile grew. Lucina couldn't help but feel a little undignified at that, and when Aunt Lissa saw her face morph into a pout, she giggled.
"Sorry," Aunt Lissa said. "You just look so cute."
"But where are we?" Lucina said, wanting to steer the conversation away from that. "Are we home yet?"
"Oh. Right!" Aunt Lissa giggled again. "I just got distracted by how adorable you are, like a tiny Chrom."
"Aunt Lissaaa."
"So business-like. You're so much like your mother, you know that? But if you must know, no, we're not home. We're at Themis."
"But why?"
"Your parents had to visit someone, dear. Little Severa wasn't feeling well, so Chrom thought we should stop by and help."
Lucina's scowled. Her aunt patting her head did little to lessen that.
"Why couldn't you go help?" she said, crossing her arms. "You're a healer. You could go in, heal Severa, and we could go home."
"And pass up getting to spend some time with my adorable niece and nephew? No thanks."
If she was being honest, Lucina would have preferred Aunt Lissa to spend less time around her "adorable niece", but she didn't say it out loud. No one would like her if she was rude, her mother had told her.
"Don't you have Owain?" she said instead. "Why do you want to spend so much time with us?"
At this, Aunt Lissa let out a laugh. Leaning in like she was sharing some big secret, she whispered, "Don't tell Owain, but you're my favorite kid."
Lucina shook her head. "Nuh-uh. I'm father's favorite kid."
"Well, you're my favorite kid too."
Lucina just groaned. She didn't need to be grown-up to know this was going nowhere. Already, the sweet morning air filled her with energy. The more time she spent cooped up in the back of this wagon, the more restless she became.
She wanted to go out and play, if only to get away from Aunt Lissa's dumb questions. Her brother would probably agree with her as soon as he woke up, so she might as well bring him along too, but as she looked around the wagon, her brother was nowhere to be found.
"Aunt Lissa?" she said, sweeping her gaze through the wagon again. "Where's my brother?"
"Your brother?"
Finally, Lissa moved from her place beside Lucina as she followed her eyes around the wagon. A frown crossed her lips, but a second later, it disappeared.
"Oh, he's with your mother," Aunt Lissa said. "He woke up when your parents left. When he realized they were going, he clung onto your mother's dress like honey, so they decided to bring him with them."
This time, it was Lucina's turn to frown. "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"You just looked so cute, all bundled up in your blankets," Aunt Lissa said. "I couldn't find it in me to bring you out of whatever sweet dreams you were having."
Lucina huffed, looking none too pleased about it. She didn't complain, though. She wasn't a baby.
Instead, she turned away to hide her growing annoyance, and she said, "Well, it's not like I'm going to miss anything important. Only dumb people would want to watch healers heal people."
"Hey!" Aunt Lissa's smile vanished in an instant, and it was her turn to frown. "What's wrong with being a healer?"
"Healers are boring," Lucina said. "Swords are better. When I grow up, I want to be just like my father."
"Healing people can be just as cool as swinging a sword!"
"Oh yeah? Prove it!"
Aunt Lissa broke her stare, and she started looking around. Lucina let a smile break through her face. She was sure she had her there.
Then, Aunt Lissa turned back to her and said, "How about I teach you how to heal people, just to show you how cool healers can be?"
Lucina made a face. "No. I don't want to be a healer."
"Just this once? If you don't like it, you don't have to do this ever again."
Lucina turned away. She didn't want to hear it, and she wanted to make sure Aunt Lissa knew.
"If you do it, I'm sure your father will be proud of you."
Then again, maybe she'd spoken too soon. She glanced over, still a little skeptical. "Why?"
"Your father knows how cool healers can be. If you can show him you can heal people too, I'm sure he'll be impressed."
If Lucina was being honest, that sounded fake. Her father was too strong to believe nonsense like that. But... it couldn't hurt, could it?
It felt like it had been ages since Lucina had last visited Themis. It was nowhere new to her, yet she was more unfamiliar with it than she would have liked. It was no Castle Ylisse, but it did have a place in her past. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about it.
Regardless of whatever value Themis may have held for her in the past, none of it mattered now. She was no longer Lucina the daughter of Chrom. She was Lucina the mercenary. It wasn't a name that meant anything, at least for now, but she would make it mean something. She would have to if she wanted to survive long enough to lend her father a hand in the coming war.
It was a simple plan. Having someone tag along for the ride, however–that complicated things a little.
"Surely you could afford us a coin? Maybe two?"
The Anna clung to the side of the red-headed noblewoman as they marched down the dirt path like how she held onto her teddy bear in the other hand. As the noblewoman glanced away, the Anna moved in front of her, still grasping her coat. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucina saw her husband smile, a bemused expression on his face. Lucina was considerably less so.
"Anna," she called after her. "I believe this kind sir would appreciate if you ceased bothering him."
The Anna ignored her, and instead, returned to pestering the noblewoman.
"I mean, you can't expect us to work for free? We can barely feed ourselves right now. We need all the gold we can scrounge up!"
Lucina sighed into her palm, and she pinched the bridge of her nose. While what she had said was by no means false, the amount of discomfort the noblewoman was showing, it irritated her to see the Anna continue in her pursuit.
"Well... um..." the noblewoman mumbled and nervously looked away again. "I'd help if I could but... you see... we don't have much money to spare."
"I'm not saying you don't, but if you can afford clothes like these, surely you can bear to part with two–no, four coins," the Anna said, patting the noblewoman's robes for emphasis.
As the nobleman chuckled at what he probably thought was an "innocent pestering", his wife only wilted further.
"Ah... I... well, the thing is..." The noblewoman's brow creased. "Your... older sister, was it? She said it was fine."
As she said that, Lucina cleared her throat. It should have been a clear message to the Anna, a message that went right over her head.
Stepping away from the noblewoman for a moment, the Anna asked, "Okay, Mrs..."
"Regina, dear."
"Mrs. Regina-dear–"
"No, just Regina."
The Anna let out a frustrated huff. "Mrs. Regina. Me and my mother," she motioned to Lucina, "have been traveling for days. We haven't got a wink of sleep for weeks on end, and–when was the last time we ate? Three days ago? Just take a look at her; doesn't she just look miserable?" she said, and she pointed to Lucina.
Lucina decided then that she had to put a stop to this. "Anna, don't–"
"Ignore her," the Anna cut her off. "My point is, she's tired, she's hungry. Do you really think she's going to act smart right now?"
Lucina didn't think a child would be capable of lying as much as the Anna had just done–she had been an honest girl, her brother had always told her–but it seemed today was a day for surprises. This... this was no better than robbery, but what could she have expected from an Anna. She had to put a stop to this.
As the noblewoman opened her mouth, probably to make a stupid decision, Lucina stepped between her and the Anna.
"Miss?" she said. "May I have a word with my... 'daughter'?"
"Oh! Of course," the noblewoman replied.
The Anna opened her mouth to protest, but Lucina dragged her away before she could say a word. Putting distance between them and the noble couple, as soon as she was fairly sure they were out of earshot, Lucina knelt down and grasped the Anna by the shoulders.
"What are you doing?" she hissed.
The Anna pouted. "What? Do you not want money?"
"Not from them! The woman said they barely had any with them, it is rude to take what little they have."
"But you can't go around saving people if you don't have food."
"There won't be anyone to save if they starve because we took everything from them."
The Anna groaned. "It's just one! I'm sure the next people we save won't be as poor as them."
Lucina's eyes narrowed. Of course, she couldn't have expected anything worse. She started to reply when something stopped her.
Growing up, Lucina had heard her father's friends, especially Vaike, brag about warriors like them having a "sixth sense". This mysterious sense had always enchanted her, since being able to feel things around you sounded so amazing.
Now that she had actually fought back hordes of undead warriors, been forced to survive in a kingdom falling to ruin, and all the other wonderful experiences that came with the end of the world, she could safely say that "sixth sense" was a bit of a lie. In reality, it was more of an awareness, brought by subtle changes in the world around her.
The rustling of leaves. A small twitch in the canopy. A flicker in the gaps between trees. The faint smell of blood. All signs that they were no longer along.
The Anna squeaked as Lucina pushed her out of the way. Her fingers closed around the hilt of her sword. As the leaves above parted, a silver streak tore from Lucina's side. The noblewoman, standing a few feet away, turned just in time to see a purple blur rush toward her. Her lips opened in a scream.
Sparks filled the air as a heavy axeblade ground against Lucina's sword. Lucina grit her teeth, and her arms screamed as her two hands struggled to hold up her sword. Slowly, her strength began to falter under the weight of the axe.
She tried to push back against her attacker, but it was no use. The edge inched closer to her face. As it pushed into the tip of her nose Lucina threw it to the side.
The weapon thudded to the ground. Quickly, Lucina jumped back, and she finally caught a glimpse of her attacker: a large, balding man with a barbarian's garb draped over his muscular body. Streaks of purple ran down his body, and in his hands, he hefted a large iron axe as he watched her with an ugly grin plastered on his face.
Lucina had never seen this man before in her life, neither in the future, or past. It was safe to assume he was merely a lowly bandit, then.
Keeping an eye on the noble couple behind her, Lucina tightened her grip on her sword. It was just one lowly bandit. Even if the man was half as skilled as that bandit leader, she could probably defeat him, no thanks to the clumsy weapon in his arms.
At least, that was what she thought before the second bandit, wearing red in the place of purple, appeared behind him from the forest.
Did I ever mention this fic is my favorite child? Because if not, well... this fic is my favorite child.
Honestly, Anna is such a blast to write. She is best girl, and I will not take any other opinions since this is the internet, so anything you might have to say is going straight into the "tastes like cat food" tier. Jokes aside, I found it a little strange that, while both Anna and Donnel are spotpass characters, Donnel has way more supports than her. Gameplay-wise, I kind of see how it might be an issue if the devs let Anna marry whoever she wanted, but I also think it's a crying shame that Anna has so few supports. Which is probably why I introduced her so early.
I would have liked it if I could've crammed more in here, but frankly, I just didn't have the time to do it well enough for my liking (Anything I write after 11:30 pm is guaranteed to be nonsense. Unless it's Hitting the Books. Somehow). All that's here is some set-up for the following chapters. If you can guess who these bandits are (the nobles are OCs. The bandits are not), you get an internet cookie and my love.
Anyway, I'll see you all next Monday at best, some other Monday at worst.
