I re-wrote the first half of this chapter. And removed any mention of Robin in the first chapter. Feel free to reread and see what's new.


The second Lucina entered the clearing, the cavalier's arm slung around her shoulders, his wife was on them.

"Reginald! Where did you run off to?" Her eyes trailed down, and when she noticed the trail of blood running down his shoulder, her eyes widened. Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," the nobleman, Reginald, said. "It's just a scratch."

"I don't think it looks like a scratch," Regina said, frowning. She touched the fresh gash on his shoulder. At his pained hiss, she added, "It doesn't sound like it either."

"You don't have to worry, dear. I can walk it off."

"You say that, but you look like you're about to fall over. You need a healer!"

Reginald huffed, and he brushed her hand off his shoulder. "We don't have time for that."

"We'll have even less time if you bleed out on the road!" Turned to Lucina, she said, "Could I have... you know..." She motioned for the cloth hanging off Lucina's arm, the part of her cape that had been severed off.

Lucina smiled, and she handed it over without complaint. Shrugging off an injury, even one as large as that, seemed like such a Sully thing to do.

I can see where Kjelle's mother got her attitude from, she thought.

Reginald mumbled and complained as Regina wrapped the cloth around his arm, and Regina let out a string of apologies every time Reginald winced in pain.

"It would be wise to make sure the cloth is tight enough around the wound," Lucina called out, stopping Regina just as she was tying a knot with the cloth. "You want to make sure the blood won't leak out."

Regina gave her a quick nod, before she undid the knot and tied it again, tighter this time, much to Reginald's chagrin. Lucina found herself reminded of Brady and Noire in a way. Even in the past, she could still find bits of the future, it seemed.

"Where did you learn about healing?" Regina's voice snapped Lucina out of her thoughts, and she glanced over.

"Oh, I picked up a bunch of things from a relative of mine." Lissa's face came to mind.

"Dear, where's the medicine?" Reginald cut in.

"Oh! I–I had it right here with me," Regina said, patting her pockets. "It was right here, I swear."

Behind her, the leaves rustled. Lucina tensed, and her head snapped around, ready for anything. To her relief, it was only the Anna stumbling through the bushes, bent over and gasping for breath, her hair hanging over her face in slick stripes of bright red.

The moment she saw her, Regina's face lit up. "Darling," she said. "You wouldn't happen to have the medicine I gave you to hold, would you?"

"Huh?" Anna took a deep breath. "Yeah, I still have it. Why?"

"I'm going to need it back now."

"Oh! I'll need a minute to find it, okay?" The Anna turned around without missing a beat and set her backpack on the ground.

he rummaged around for a bit, mumbling and tossing things every which way. A map flew past Lucina's head, followed by a sack of coins and a sharpening stone. Every time Lucina thought the girl would run out of things to toss out, the Anna always seemed to find something else to throw out, until the pile next to Lucina reached halfway up to her knee.

After a minute of searching, the Anna said, "That's funny. I could have sworn I put it in here."

"You still had it with you when you ran off, right?" Regina said. "M–maybe you dropped it on the way?"

"Maybe."

"I just hope it isn't broken. We really need it."

An image jumped to Lucina's mind, and suddenly she recalled something breaking over Victor's eyes and spilling over his face.

"Wait a minute," she said, whirling on her. "That medicine you two mentioned, you didn't happen to throw it at the bandits, did you?"

The Anna's eyes widened in realization, and she hit her forehead. "Oh yeah! That's where it went! Silly me."

"What?" Regina's panicked voice cut through the clearing. "You can't be serious! Our son will die if he doesn't get that medicine!"

"Calm down, Regina," Reginald said, pulling her close. "Deep breaths. There's no need to panic yet. I'm sure we can–"

Lucina froze. "Your son?"

Whatever Reginald said next, Lucina missed it, too busy reeling from the shock.

Kjelle never mentioned any uncles or aunts, she thought. Sully must have been a single child, so that means... these people aren't all that important after all.

"Hey!" Lucina blinked, and she found the nobleman giving her a worried look. "Are you okay?"

Lucina just nodded, and she took a seat on the ground. Behind her, the two nobles started to discuss something. What it was, she was sure wasn't all that important anyway.

"Hey, it's not that big of a deal!" the Anna's voice broke through, the one familiar voice in the air. "You say medicine is expensive? Not if you know the right seller, and I just so happen to know a few."

"Thank you for the offer, but we would prefer to see a doctor for medicine," the nobleman said.

Anna waved her hand dismissively. "Medicine is medicine. How hard can it be to find what you need? If you know what you're looking for, I can guarantee I'll be able to find it for cheaper than any old four-eyes is going to be able to sell it for." She paused, and she tapped her chin. "You did remember what it was, do you?"

"I have it written down somewhere." The nobleman turned around to reach for a satchel slung over his hip. As he did, the cloth wrapped around his shoulder twisted, and he winced.

"You don't look well," The noblewoman stepped in, and put a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Are you sure you don't want to sit down?"

"I can sit down later. We have to get home!"

"I'm sure Duke Themis has his best mages looking after our son."

"But I want to get back and help!"

"You can help if you let your wounds heal."

Lucina watched the two bicker, and she found herself growing impatient. This argument wouldn't matter in the long run, at least considering the fate of Ylisse. She had a long time to prepare for the end of the world, and she didn't want to waste it listening to two very unimportant nobles argue about a stupid wound.

She was so distracted by the argument, she didn't notice the Anna sit down next to her until she spoke.

"They're awfully worried about it."

Lucina almost jumped, startled by the Anna's sudden appearance. "Huh?"

"The cut. It's not that bad, right?"

Strangely enough, Lucina felt the need to defend them. "Not everyone is used to the ways of war, you know. A wound a soldier can shrug off might kill an untrained nobleman."

The Anna's brows drew down. "But he's not untrained. Look, he has armor and a weapon. He's obviously a horse soldier."

"He may be trained, but he isn't trained enough." The hesitant look in his eyes when she yelled for him to kill the bandit came to her mind. Beneath her mask, her eye twitched just thinking about it.

"Oh. Okay."

The Anna let a few more seconds pass in silence, much to Lucina's relief.

"Why don't you help him then?" the Anna said a moment later. "You said you know how to heal people. I have a healing stave in my backpack, and you could probably get him patched up in no time. Plus, you could charge him extra."

"It would only slow me down."

"It can't be any slower than this." The Anna motioned to the two nobles, still arguing.

Lucina let out a slow breath. "Sometimes the best tools are the ones you keep hidden. In this case, they'd expect me to do something about their son."

Fat lot she could do about that. The conclusion was already set; in the past, without someone like her to protect them, the bandits would have robbed them off all their possessions, the medicine included. Their son would have died, with or without her help.

"Okay. I understand. If you stay with them, you can't go find more people to work for. I can understand that."

Lucina's mask hid her frown. Of course an Anna would think like that. It didn't stop Lucina from feeling offended.

She had sold her services as a mercenary, and that came with an Anna-like stigma she wanted nowhere near her. She would have to work to change that. She would be nothing like Anna, that she knew.


"I don't think I like this, Vincent."

"Calm yourself, Victor. I'm just as angry as you."

"Cutting off my arm like that, who does she think she is?"

"She's not going to live long, Victor, I can tell you that."

"You're taking this remarkable well, don't you think?"

The two bandits shut up in an instant and turned to look at the boy standing behind them, his slick hair shimmering in the sun like it was streaked with grease.

As soon as he laid eyes on him, Vincent sneered. "What was your name again, boy?"

"Garrick."

"Well, Garrick," he said, practically spitting every word, "What do you mean by that?"

Garrick snorted. "I've had men cry for their mothers like a newborn babe when I remove even one of their fingers. Compared to that, your angry ranting is almost serene."

"What in Naga's name does serene every mean?" Victor screeched, and he motioned to the place where his arm had been, now bandaged over. "My arm's cut off!"

Vincent patted him on the back. "There there, Victor. Don't take a crack at the boy just because he's throwing around big words like one of those fancy noblemen."

Victor let out a growl, but he didn't add anything. With that, Vincent turned his attention back to wrapping the bandages around Victor's torso, briefly lifting his other hand to let a vulnerary drip down into the wound.

"You're not going to get her away with it, are you?" Garrick asked. "That mercenary cutting Victor's arm off, I mean."

"What made you think that, boy?" Victor said. "We're the strongest in the kingdom!"

"You're the strongest in the kingdom?"

"Of course! Me and Vincent killed an entire group of priests once. If it weren't for those pesky knights, we'd be ruling up there in the capital. If we let one pesky sellsword get in our way, no one will respect who we are!"

"Why don't we go on the hunt right now, Victor?" Vincent said. "To show the boy how it's done?"

"Yes! I say that's what we do right now!" He shot to his feet and, turning to the boy, he said, "Just you wait. That mercenary's head will hang on our wall by sundown!"

The two bandits gave a loud cheer and turned to follow the dirt road, brightly lit by the sun high in the sky. A cool breeze swept through Garrick's hair as he stood to follow. He watched as they walked, shouting at each other about what they planned to do once they caught up to the mercenary girl. They were so absorbed in plotting their revenge, they never noticed the smirk that spread across Garrick's face.

Is this the best Ylisse has to offer? he thought. If it is, then we'll have no problem taking over surely.


Not my finest work, but it gets the job done. Anna says some things, Lucina learns a few more. If any of you were expecting Sully... well, I'm sorry to disappoint.

Also, Garrick is here. Remember him?

Honestly, unless it's Ardri, I find it a bit hard to write for those one-off Fire Emblem bosses. I should really try to make them more distinct.

Also, cover art; I did this one too. Took me most of my free time from design class over the span of several weeks, but I gotta say, I'm (mostly) proud of what came out.

I'm trying to get back into an upload schedule, and with my schedule a little bit clearer, I can do more writing, so there's that.

I'll try to get an update out by March 16th.