L'Amour Detruit

by SousChefSean

The Breidablik creates a contract between Summoner and Hero, giving the two a much stronger bond than they would have otherwise. But very rarely, the contract and bond become too strong. And the Hero becomes far too attached to the Summoner... (Yandere One Shots)

1. Ayra - Eliminating Type

AN: Happy Halloween!

---

Ayra – Eliminating Type

---

When all you have is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail

---

Ayra had never been much of a romantic.

Her youth had been spent honing her swordsmanship, mastering the demanding Isaachian style with no thought spared for frivolities like love or tea parties. Even when she became an adult and capable of bearing children, she never wasted time trying to find a partner – her brother had already sired a son when she was just leaving adolescence. Shannan was the heir to the throne and continuing Od's bloodline was his burden to bear, leaving her with no obligation to do the same. With Isaach facing imminent destruction in war and ensuring Shannan's safety as her top priority, she could not afford to let herself be distracted by childish delusions of romance.

Denigrating herself as Cimbaeth's sellsword further injured her tattered pride, but the ultimate humiliation was surely allying herself with a Graanvale nobleman. She had no doubts that Lord Sigurd was an honorable man who travelled in equally honorable company, and she owed him a great debt for his service rescuing Shannan – one she had paid the ultimate price repaying – but she could never truly stomach fighting alongside a noble of Isaach's sworn enemy. She always kept her distance from the other members of Sigurd's merry band, emotionally if not quite physically, in spite their occasional efforts to the contrary.

She watched, with only the slightest pang of regret, as the men and women of the company opened their hearts to one another and were blessed with child. Any occasional contrition at seeing the newly blossoming families was ruthlessly quashed – she was a princess of Isaach with a debt to repay and a prince to safeguard. Nothing else mattered, and with Shannan quickly growing into a fine young man himself, that left her obligation to Lord Sigurd as her sole concern. With head held high and sword firmly grasped in hand, she joined the Chalphy prince as he marched to weed out the conspirators against him.

She is proud to say she died in the same manner she lived.

Arvis' treachery should have been the final chapter in her story…and yet, against all reason, she still drew breath. She was no longer in Jugdral or any land known to it and in the company of total strangers, but she quickly decided it made little difference. Someway, somehow, Kiran had restored her life, and she found herself with a new debt to be paid.

It took a while before she truly appreciated how much simpler things were in Askr. Zenith was no less tumultuous than Jugdral, but at least the bloodshed was straightforward. She no longer had to grit her teeth to fight alongside her allies or fear underhanded machinations flipping the status quo on its head. Kiran told her whom to kill and she killed them – it was a basic system that demanded nothing of her save the skills and experience she'd spent her life honing.

In all honesty, she'd never intended to get close to anyone in the Order of Heroes, platonically or otherwise. She'd kept herself closed off for so long, and Sigurd's army had no qualms giving her a wide berth, so she'd just assumed things would carry on the same as always. The first few times someone tried to make conversation, she brushed them off or scolded them for wasting time. But the Order's members were nothing if not persistent, and every day saw someone trying to chat her up at some point or another. A few, like Prince Ephraim or Karel, had an understanding and only troubled her for a mutually beneficial spar, but in time, most decided she wasn't worth the trouble and left for greener pastures. The end result being that while most heroes at least had a professional respect for her abilities, practically no one personally liked or enjoyed being around her – with one exception.

Kiran always paid her a visit, day in, day out.

She tried telling him off at first too – their tactician had better things to do than waste time making small talk with her – but he gave as good as he got. He was particularly fond of reciting an adage from his world: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," he'd recount with a wry smile. She knew damn well she wasn't the only one he stopped by to see, so his excuse of taking a little break to keep from burning out didn't hold much water, but it wasn't long before she realized she was the only one he made sure to visit every day. He didn't even try to chat every time – sometimes he'd just sit on the side and watch her train.

One day, she finally grew tired of indulging his trips and lowered her blade to address him directly. "What are you getting out of this?" She didn't bother clarifying what she meant, knowing Kiran at least respected her enough to not feign ignorance and yank her chain.

He gave her a dry look in response. "Come on, Ayra, I've told you what happens to Jack enough times now."

The same pretext as always, but one she wasn't letting him get away with anymore. "Stop playing games." She fixed him with a critical glare. "If a break was all you wanted, I'm the last person you would go to. What does seeing me do that you can't get from anyone else? What's so important that you have to get it from me every day?" Her tone made it clear she would be less than pleased if he tried to dodge her questions.

He got the message loud and clear, putting his hands up in a conciliatory gesture with an apologetic smile. "Alright, fine, you win. Honestly, I'm surprised it took you this long to call me out." He locked his fingers together and let his hands rest between his open legs. "Well, you know I stop by here every day. Do you know who else I pay a visit to in my spare time?"

"From what I overhear, anyone and everyone. You don't have much consistency beyond me."

"Yeah-huh." He nodded along, denoting her answer as correct. "A good chunk of those are cordial visits – just making sure everyone's doing alright – but the rest are for making observations. For what it's worth, my trips here are a little from column A, a little from column B."

She blinked once in disbelief, hooked on his penultimate sentence. "Observations," she repeated, not quite sure she'd heard him right.

"Sure!" he affirmed, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "You were one of the first Heroes I ever summoned, and you made one hell of an impression. No offense to everyone else, but it was pretty clear nobody else was as disciplined and driven as you. You're more or less the standard I measure everybody up against. I come here every day to study your form and movements and then go watch someone else to see how they stack up and what they do differently."

Ayra couldn't believe what she was hearing; he was practically trying to learn her style just by watching her. She couldn't help but put her hand over her eyes and lightly shake her head. The worst part was that she'd come to know Kiran well enough to realize his absurd approach actually made a fair bit of sense from his perspective – as a scholar from a world where swordsmanship was a dead art, he'd probably come to understand a great many things through detached 'observations'. Unfortunately for him, this was the kind of skill that could only be grasped through practical experience.

Wordlessly, she grabbed a practice sword from the weapons rack and brought it over to push into his confused hands. "You want to learn how I fight? I'll gladly help – but you'll learn my way."

He wasn't stupid and quickly understood her meaning, though he clearly didn't agree. "Oh come on, Ayra, you know I'm not a fighter," he protested. "Aren't there, like, fundamentals I should have before trying to learn specifics?"

"A fair point," she conceded, pulling him to his feet and dragging him into the training ring with her. "Lucky for you, I'm a patient woman and you're a fast learner. You'll have all the information you want in no time at all. Now, get into a fighting stance."

He complied with surprising swiftness given his apparent reluctance and assumed an awkward posture, his training sword gripped in front of him. One look at him had her shaking her head and stepping forward to correct him. "All wrong. Just at a glance I can tell your legs are too far apart and you're holding the handle too tightly. Here, be more like this…"

For the next hour or so, she had him practice sliding in and out of an ideal stance. It was rough going at first, but she hadn't been doling out idle flattery when she called him a fast learner – by the end of the session, he was more or less able to get into the right position from any number of test swings. "This has been informative, but I do have to get going." He told her after returning to neutral from an overhead chop. "Robin and Soren want my thoughts on this new mage formation they've been working on."

"Very well," she conceded, "but I expect to see you back here tomorrow. You've made time for me every day thus far, so I don't want to hear any excuses about your schedule being full." Her demand was delivered with an attitude that promised he would dearly regret it if he pushed his luck and tried to weasel out anyway.

"I got it, don't worry!" he quickly assured her, placing the training blade back on the rack. "Believe me, I know better than to make you mad. I probably won't make it at the same time, but I will be here. You can count on that."

And so he left, his steps wearier than when he'd came in. Ayra returned to her own training, though she refrained from straining herself too much – she had a duel with Ike scheduled in about half an hour, and it wouldn't do to face him with anything less than full strength. She steeled herself for the coming bout and began mentally reviewing what she knew of the mercenary's style. While her focus should've been fixed solely on the imminent fight…she couldn't help but notice how empty the training room felt now that Kiran was gone.

---

If nothing else, Kiran kept his word. He did indeed return the next day, and didn't even try to run when she told him they'd be clashing blades that day. Nor did he skip out the following day, or the day after that; he always dutifully showed up to Ayra's spot, at some time or another, to learn her lessons. It got to the point when he began planning his schedule around gaps for training. When he told her when he'd be free to make his visit, Ayra found herself altering her schedule around him much the same way. Whenever he came, she made sure she had no other obligations and wouldn't be worn out by particularly strenuous exercises. Occasionally, one or both of them would be preoccupied with a mission and the day would be lost, but such circumstances were discussed well in advance.

Training him, she was reminded of the lessons she gave Shannan during their time on the run. Obviously, her nephew was the better student of the two – Od's blood and a childhood spent revering the sword masters of Isaach ensured as much – but Kiran's diligence was at least commendable. He learned fast, though he lacked the instincts necessary to truly wield that blade as she did; she blamed the peaceful life he'd led before Askr for that. All the same, passing her skills on to an eager pupil was…enjoyable. She was surprised to find herself waking up one day and actually looking forward to her session with Kiran. She wished that she could recall Shannan's instruction as fondly, but his training had been fueled by a sense of rushed urgency that afforded her no time to enjoy the mentorship role. Now, however, there were no concerns like finding food or escaping pursuers to sully her good mood – there was only Ayra and her student.

Seeing Kiran had become so ingrained into her daily routine that, on the one day he failed to appear at his promised time, she took it far worse than one would've expected. She'd been told to expect him in the evening, in the last hour before dinner, but he never came through the doors of the secluded training room she used. At first, she merely thought him late; he'd never been tardy before, but was bound to get stalled by something sooner or later. Then, one minute turned to five, and a feeling of dread began growing in her gut. Once five minutes became ten, she was seized by a spike of fear and began racing through the possible calamities that could've befallen him.

Had he been abducted? Assassinated? Grievously injured in a spar? Bedridden with a debilitating illness?

She promptly bolted from her relatively isolated training dojo and made haste to the caste proper in search of answers, her steps driven by a panic she'd not felt since the days of escorting her nephew out of Isaach. Were she in a sounder state of mind, she'd have noticed how none of the heroes she passed looked remotely perturbed or out of sorts. If anything, most gave her odd looks when they saw how anxious she was, especially given her reputation as perpetually cool and collected.

She threw open the doors leading to one of the castle's central halls and saw him standing on the other end waving off Sigrun, the pegasus knight captain from Tellius. When he turned his head and saw her gaping at him, he winced and nervously averted his eyes.

"Hey, I'm sorry I'm late, it's just that my meeting was really dragging on and –"

Whatever words would've come next were caught in his throat when she closed the distance between them and frantically gripped his shoulders. "Are you okay?!" She implored, a frenzied glint in her eyes. "You're not hurt or anything, right?!"

Kiran only managed a few stunned blinks before stammering out a response. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Like I said, I just got held up a bit in my meeting, that's all." At his assurance, she let out a deep, relieved sigh, her hold on him loosing in turn. "I think I should be asking if you're alright. Seeing you this out of sorts…it isn't like you, Ayra."

Isn't like me? She thought, a considerate frown growing from her lips. Now that he pointed it out…she realized he was right. What had she just done? Fly off in a blind panic because her protégé was a little late to their training session? That was completely out of character for her…what had possessed her to react like that to something so minor? Since when did the proud princess of Isaach abandon her composure at the slightest bit of tardiness from her student?

"Don't take this the wrong way," Kiran began, drawing her attention back to him, "but I think that maybe you've gotten wound up a little too tight. Remember what happens when you're all work and no play? All you've done for weeks on end is train and fight, and I think the stress of that might be starting to get to you."

Her gut reaction was to refute him and insist her time was being put to good use…but the way she just acted made her acknowledge that perhaps he had a point. It would explain her uncharacteristic behavior as well as anything else. She'd just gotten a little high-strung and it was affecting her judgement, that was all. With that in mind, maybe she did need something of a break, if only for a little while.

"…Perhaps you're right." She conceded, her head hung low. "But what would you have me do? You can say 'play' all you want, I'm not degrading myself to chasing butterflies with the manakete children."

"Funny as that would be to see, I'm not so heartless I'd order you through that for a laugh. Given what's gotten you like this, you should probably avoid physical activity anyway. Just go sit down somewhere quiet and read a book or something. You know, give your body a chance to unwind and relax."

Despite her best effort, she couldn't keep from scoffing and rolling her eyes. "Oh yes, that sounds wonderful. There's nothing I'd rather be doing than reading insipid fairy tales and trite love stories." She'd overheard enough mindless gushing from that one Ylissean pegasus knight to know using books as escapism would do her more harm than good.

Her snark earned a deadpan stare from Kiran. "You know, Ayra, there is this little subset of writing called nonfiction. It's incredible – you actually learn something from what you read, so you can still be productive without being up and about."

While that was true, Ayra still wasn't particularly enthused. Wasting hours digging through the castle library looking for a subject she actually cared about would just make her more anxious when she thought about how much time she was losing. If only all the pointless chaff had already been filtered somehow…

"What books do you have in your office?" She asked, looking him dead in the eye.

"Huh?" He responded, having been caught off guard by the unusual inquiry.

"You have a lot of books in your office, right? I've seen them the few times I've been up there. What are they about?"

"Uh, strategy and tactics mostly." He answered, still a bit flustered by the turn her train of thought had taken. "There's also some history here and there. Oh, and a few on politics and etiquette – Clarine said I should be ready to deal with any unpleasant nobles, summoned or otherwise." Well, that didn't sound so bad. It would serve her well to brush up on tactics, for whenever Kiran wasn't around on minor missions. Even reviewing her knowledge of statecraft couldn't hurt, in spite of the fact she was too dead in Jugdral to put any of it to use.

"That should suffice." She informed him. "I'll be up after dinner to start browsing if it's alright with you. You still have that couch by the wall for me to sit at, right?"

"Sure, I don't really mind if you – wait what?" He interrupted his answer with a befuddled widening of his eyes. "You want to stay in my office while you read?" She might've been seeing things, but she could've sworn his question was punctuated with a slight reddening of his cheeks.

"Why wouldn't I? I need somewhere quiet – despite how many people visit you, the library would have far worse traffic. And I can just put whatever I take back on the shelf without wasting time."

Much to her annoyance, he cocked an eyebrow and perplexedly peered at her. "Well, I guess that's true, but wouldn't it be better if…" She raised an eyebrow of her own, challenging him to refute her. She was victorious, as he soon chuckled and shook his head with an affable grin. "You know what? Never mind. I'd be happy to let you crash on the couch at night. Consider it repayment for all the sword lessons so far."

Ah, how kind of him to remind her. "Speaking of, don't think those are over." She let her lips curl into the ghost of a confident smirk and poked a finger into his chest. "Just because I'll take it a little easier in the near future doesn't mean you get an excuse to skip practice. Teaching you has been the most relaxing part of my day for a while now, so if I need to unwind, that's the last thing I should stop doing."

He didn't take long to add a dauntless edge to his own grin and pull her wrist away. "What, and miss out on getting wacked in the shin every five minutes? Wouldn't dream of it."

She shook her head in equal parts exasperation and playfulness. "You wouldn't get hit so much if you fixed that flaw in your guard I keep telling you about. For the dozenth time, stop letting your arms lock up when you block high."

He put on an air of faux rumination before defeatedly shrugging his shoulders. "Sorry, can't visualize whatever it is you're talking about. Guess you'll just have to show me in person tomorrow." She let out a light-hearted hum of contentment, now reassured that they'd still be spending time together. "But that's a future problem; for now, let's just get something to eat and then I can help you pick out something to read."

She silently nodded and followed his lead towards the dining hall. She hadn't expected things to turn out the way they did, but found she had little to complain about. True, cutting back on her training somewhat rubbed her the wrong way, but she'd honed her skills to the point that a little rustiness was far more preferable to losing her mental fortitude the way she had. And…a not insignificant part of her felt that being with Kiran longer more than made up the difference.

---

She never would've imagined it, but Kiran had been right: reading did relax her. Or, at least, reading with him in his office in the evening relaxed her. When it was just the two of them, the sound of his quill scratching on parchment the only noise in the room, she felt more at peace than she had in years. Before, her nights were spent falling into bed with her muscles still tightened from a day of exertion. Now, however, she could practically feel her body unwind as she spent the early hours of the night reclining into Kiran's couch.

That wasn't to say it was a perfect state of affairs. Kiran, being as important to the Order as he was, invariably had guests even that late at night. Most were there for legitimate reasons, and as such Ayra had little difficulty blocking them out while she read. Though, on a handful of occasions she could hear an inquiry about her presence forming, but Kiran was reliable enough to always pull their attention off her. What was far more dreadful was the occasional child or airhead who came in purely to make inane conversation or try to drag Kiran off for some pointless nonsense or another. The latter especially put a scowl on her face and made it impossible to think about anything other than how much she wanted to tell them to shut up and leave. Again, Kiran stepped in and mollified them before she could lose her temper, usually with an assurance he'd be happy to entertain them the next day.

However annoying all of that could be, the most insufferable part of their arrangement was the fact that Kiran was inevitably pulled away to attend to genuine business a handful of nights. In his absence, she could feel the rumblings of the same frightful anxiety begin to claw at the corners of her mind. Left to her solitude, she found herself unable to effectively read the words on the page of her book, let alone comfortably relax. Only his return soothed the growing tension and brought back her peace of mind.

Coupled with their training sessions in the daytime, Ayra was starting to see Kiran as an irreplaceable part of her daily life. Which, she rationalized, must've been why she became so incensed when he was forced to leave during what she'd regarded as their time together. Sure, she still missed him somewhat outside of those moments, but his absence then as at least expected. Besides, she couldn't very well win spars if she was too worried about what Kiran was doing, could she?

After several weeks spent reading with Kiran late at night, she was passing through the castle halls on her way back to the training grounds after lunch when she unintentionally eavesdropped on a conversation around the corner that froze her in place.

"–someone other than Ayra of all people." A young girl's voice said.

Ayra had never cared much for gossip, seeing it as a waste of time that only tended to bring about infighting, but she was also rarely the subject of it. Add to that the fact that something in that girl's tone didn't quite sit right with her, and it was little wonder she decided to discretely peer around the wall and listen in.

"No, I swear it's true!" A little blonde girl with purple highlighted twintails exclaimed. Elise, she thought her name was, was speaking with an older blonde in a large hoop skirt with much messier twintails and a small brunette in a yellow dress. They were, respectively, Corrin, Chrom and Ike's little sisters, whom she'd often seen healing their older brothers after a training bout. "Just ask around, tons of people have seen it! Not only do they train together all the time, but she's started spending every night up in his office with him!"

Well, it was obvious what these rumors were about. "Okay, so they're around each other a lot." Lissa admitted. "But being in a relationship?" Wait, what? "I mean, have you ever actually talked to Ayra? I watched Lon'qu of all people fall in love, and I can't see her together with anyone, let alone Kiran. He plays around with Fae and Tiki for Naga's sake! Can you imagine him with someone like Ayra?"

Considering I'm the one he makes time for every day, yes, I can imagine it! She internally fumed as her pretty features distorted into an ugly grimace. She didn't even fully understand why this pointless conversation was getting her so riled up – she just knew she was going to strangle that Ylissean brat if she didn't shut her mouth!

"I kind of agree with Lissa." Mist confessed. "Ayra's…not exactly the most loveable person around. She beat Ike in a spar a few weeks back, and instead of helping him back up or anything, she just told him what he did wrong and walked away! I know Ike didn't really care, but I thought it was pretty rude. And she's apparently like that to everyone. Plus, there's a lot of people who look up to and admire Kiran – if he wanted to be with someone, there are bound to be other options. Like, um, Lyn or maybe that Genny girl. I bet those would be cute couples!"

What the hell was that supposed to mean?! Ayra angrily thought, her hands clenching into fists as she grit her teeth. What, was she not good enough for Kiran?! The sheer nerve of that impertinent little –! I swear, when I get my hands on those two…!

"Oh, you two are hopeless!" Elise berated them. "Xander's not all that different from Ayra, and he and Mozu are really sweet together! Just you watch, I'll bet Kiran and Ayra officially announce it any day now. And they'll be an adorable couple. Opposites attract, after all!"

Lissa gave her Nohrian counterpart an unimpressed look. "If Ayra was capable of being attracted to someone, maybe you'd have a point. Don't get your hopes up, Elise – of all the couples I've seen in my life, that one's the most unbelievable."

Elise merely pouted and shook her head as she and her friends walked off down the hall. When they began to leave, it took every ounce of self-control Ayra had to not lunge forward and start throttling those two infuriating twits. Thankfully for them, she wasn't so mad that she couldn't understand that wringing the necks of Chrom and Ike's little sisters over petty slander wouldn't end well for her. Unfortunately for Ayra, that meant she had no outlet as she stood there, visibly shaking with fury.

Who do they think they are, deciding what I can or can't feel?! Excuse me for not swooning at every vaguely attractive fool who crosses my path! And Kiran should be looking at 'other options'?! It's none of their business what he and I do with our time! Besides, it's not like… As her livid thoughts reached their conclusion, her smoldering flames of rage were doused by an icy bucket of clarity. …It's not like we actually are together.

She sighed and unclenched her fists, letting them hang limp as she cast her eyes to the stone floor. What was she doing? So what if the girls wanted to frivolously gossip about possible relationships? Why did she care so much what they thought of her and Kiran? Even if she did feel something for him…he'd never reciprocate it. She was just his trainer and the reading was a way to repay her for that – he'd said as much himself, right? There was no point in getting so vexed over something that would never happen anyway…

Still, unpleasant rumors were something Kiran should know about. As the summoner and tactician, his reputation was important to maintain in the Order. He deserved to know about anything that might put that in jeopardy. With that in mind, she turned around and headed further into the castle, towards his tower. It was a short trip, bereft of any interruptions; most of the other heroes were starting their afternoon training, making the halls relatively empty. One quiet knock on the door later, she heard his voice beckon her inside and made her entrance.

"What can I – Ayra?" He began what sounded like a recited stock greeting before noticing whom his visitor was. "I thought that our session was in three hours? Not that I mind you coming to see me, but you almost always stick to your schedule."

She came to a stop in front of his desk and crossed her arms. "I was on my way back to the training grounds when I overheard some rumors that you should know about."

"Rumors?" He sought an explanation with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. It would seem that some people have taken notice of how often we're with one another and have concluded that we're…" she nervously pinched the fabric of her gloves and diverted her eyes off Kiran, "…involved with each other. Romantically." She awkwardly added the final bit of clarification with a faint hint of heat in her cheeks.

"O-oh." She could hear the dumbfounded shock in his voice even as she still refused to look at him and see the look on his face. "W-well, that's…"

"I should've expected it, really." She admonished herself. "A man and a woman, spending so much time alone together…it's only natural people would start gossiping. Given how I'm seen by most of the Order, I understand if…" …if you'd rather stop being around me. She meant to say it, but her chest started aching so much at the thought of doing so that she couldn't form any more words.

"Well, I for one can think of worse things being said about me." Kiran spoke up in her unexpected silence. "I-I mean, if those rumors were, you know, true…that wouldn't be the worst thing ever, would it?"

…What? She finally turned her gaze back to Kiran and saw him nervously looking away himself, his cheeks flushed red as he wrung his hands together. "You…don't mind?"

"Why would I?" He responded before anxiously coughing into his hand. "A-after all, who wouldn't want to be with such a strong, beautiful, courageous woman?" He seemed to think that was the wrong thing to say, given how he winced the moment he was finished, but Ayra could feel her heart pounding and the heat in her cheeks intensifying.

Almost unconsciously, she walked around his desk to stand directly in front of him. "Do you really mean that?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper and twinged with a ghost of hopefulness.

Now that she was so close, Kiran thought it appropriate to rise to his feet himself. He did his best to cast away the nerves plaguing him, his face rapidly steeling into an expression of total seriousness. "I'd never lie about something like this. I've had feelings for you for most of the time you've been here. To be honest," his composure faltered and he shamefully glanced to the side, "I came to visit you so much because I was hoping you'd offer to train me. I didn't think you'd take it well if flat out ordered you to do it, but it was the only way I could think for us to spend time together." Again, he couldn't help but wince at his own actions. "In hindsight, that was really creepy and annoying, wasn't it?"

Just like when she'd first demanded to know why he was always trying to visit her (a moment which now felt like a lifetime ago), Ayra couldn't believe what she was hearing. But whereas then she'd felt exasperation and even annoyance, now she felt flattered and flustered. "Has all this been your idea of courting me?"

"Well," his lips curled up into a sly smile, "I couldn't just buy you flowers and chocolate, right? You did tell me not to bother with gifts at the first Winter Festival." His smile soon gave way to another uneasy frown. "So…what do you say? I mean, I kind of just poured my heart out to you…"

Her head dipped down to the ground as she considered his question. She knew what she'd come up there intending to say – and before she could say it, her heart ached too much to let her speak. With that in mind, along with how furious she'd become when Mist and Lissa insinuated they didn't belong together or how angry she got when people interrupted the two of them, she'd have to be a fool to deny to herself what she felt:

She loved Kiran.

And now that she'd admitted that fact and had it reciprocated in kind, there was no more reason to hold herself back.

"I think," she began pulling off her gloves, "that congratulations are in order. If you were devising a strategy to win my heart," she pulled her head back up, her face wearing its first genuinely happy smile in years, "then you've executed it perfectly." Her now bare hands rested on his still gloved ones. Kiran, his own lips quickly widening into a beaming grin, understood what she was doing and took his own gloves off in turn.

Now, with both of their hands free of restrictive cloth, they instinctively wrapped their hands together, their fingers coiling around one another. While they had sometimes made contact with each other during spars, Ayra's long gloves and Kiran's baggy coat ensured their skin never touched before now.

"…I know very little about this." Ayra confessed. "Being in a relationship, I mean. I've seen men and women get together, but I've no experience with it myself."

Kiran lightly chuckled at her admission, his warm gaze never breaking from hers. "Well, I never had a girlfriend back home, so this is all new for me too." He gently squeezed her hands. "We'll learn all about it together. No outside standards, no stupid norms – we can just figure things out at our own pace."

She returned his tender hand squeeze with one of her own. "I'd like that." She did at least know that many couples hugged and kissed to convey their affections, but she was still quite a bit stiff in that regard. The last person she'd hugged in ages was Shannan, and he was her nephew – a familial hug was rather different from a romantic one. For now, just winding their hands together was enough for her.

"Though, in regards to those rumors," Kiran began, looking more serious once more, "do you want us to make an official announcement or something? I don't care what anyone thinks, but if you'd rather people not know, I'm fine with keeping quiet."

Surprisingly, she had to pause to contemplate her answer. In the past, she'd have immediately advocated saying nothing. She knew very well that a public declaration would see her swamped by heroes eager to offer congratulations and hear how they'd fallen for each other. Ordinarily, she'd have done everything in her power to avoid having to go through that. But if nobody knew they were an item…

"Plus, there's a lot of people who look up to and admire Kiran – if he wanted to be with someone, there are bound to be other options."

Her eyes darkened as Mist's words resounded through her mind. She knew she wasn't popular – if people thought she was still without a partner, she wouldn't exactly have to fend off a line of suitors. Kiran, on the other hand, was held in very high regard. It hadn't happened yet that she knew of, but he was bound to be the recipient of someone else's affections sooner or later, especially when the Day of Devotion next came around. She had full confidence that he'd reject them for her, of course, but that didn't mean she didn't start to see red at the thought of another woman making a move on her lover. Making their relationship public would make it unambiguous that Kiran was hers, and hers alone. The looks on Lissa and Mist's faces would just be the icing on the cake.

"Let's tell them." She finally answered. "It'll be aggravating to put up with all of their reactions, but I'd rather endure that than let anyone think they have a chance with you."

Her reasoning earned her a reassuring grin from Kiran. "Don't worry. We'll make sure everyone knows that we're meant each other." She returned his smile with a content one of her own. Their hands ceased their directionless mingling and locked together, fingers intertwining. Ayra had never had someone special like this before and never expected to get one. Now that she did, she only knew one thing for certain:

She would go to any lengths and stop at nothing to keep Kiran by her side for the rest of their lives.

---

Being in love was a rather novel feeling; at first, Ayra had thought it nothing but a boon. When they declared their relationship to the Order, it was hard to beat the feeling of smug pride that washed over her when she saw all the shocked faces. Not everyone was caught flat-footed – Elise was the first to offer congratulations and did so almost immediately (though not without an exclamation beforehand about figuring it out), with Sharena not far behind. Ayra gratefully accepted the Nohrian's well wishes, appreciative that she'd gone to the trouble of defending the Isaachian in her gossip circle.

Soon, countless heroes were lining up to offer words of encouragement or seek her opinion on a suitable gift to christen the new couple. The whole ordeal was an annoying slog, with the last part being especially so. No matter how many times she curtly answered that she didn't want anything, some scantily clad dancer or sheltered princess insisted that she think of something. Equally as frustrating was their refusal to accept her given story for how they came to be together – apparently, 'it just happened' wasn't seen as good enough for the rumor mill. A particularly insulting highlight was when Mist tried to smother her disbelief and present her compliments. She must've not had much confidence in herself, because she shamefully scampered off the second Ayra shot a furious glare her way. That earned her a few judgmental looks, but she couldn't have cared less.

Frankly, she envied Kiran, who was almost immediately dragged away by Hector and Bartre to toast pints of ale. Getting ridiculously inebriated wasn't the wisest way to spend an evening, but it sure beat putting up with a slew of inane inquiries. Then again, the way he clung to her shoulder as she dragged him up to his tower in the late hours of the night made her glad she was sober enough to commit the experience to memory.

The following days were some of the happiest in her life. On paper, nothing had particularly changed; she trained, sparred, taught Kiran and then read in the latter's office as she always had. The difference was in the little details: she was more driven in her training than ever before, motivated now by a need for the strength to protect her loved one that she'd not felt since escaping Isaach with Shannan. She was no more lenient with Kiran than in the past. If anything, she was even harsher than she had been, but he took it in stride and understood it was her way of trying to convey how much she cared. With Ayra's nonexistent aptitude for traditional romantics, they were both aware the swings of her sword were the best way she had to communicate her feelings. Which wasn't to say there weren't conventional tender moments here and there – when Kiran was mostly reading through paperwork at night, he would often bring it to the couch so they could lean into each other and share a little intimacy.

They must've carried on like that, content to love and be loved, for a week before Ayra realized love was a double-edged sword.

She had been ascending Kiran's tower, eager to spend another quiet evening with her arm locked around his, when another person came down heading the opposite way. Another woman, to be exact. Ayra didn't recognize her – she was a tomboyish brunette in a green shit with an orange bandanna wrapped around her forehead and a bow slung over her shoulder. The stranger gave her a friendly wave as she passed; thankfully, Ayra managed to wait until she was out of the girl's line of sight to start glaring a hole into the back of her head. What, exactly, had that tramp been doing alone with her lover?! She was torn between slamming the girl against the wall by her throat and demanding answers or getting them from Kiran himself.

Ultimately, the stranger was spared solely by the fact that Ayra knew Kiran would never be unfaithful to her. That said, she was still livid as she surmounted the last of the stairs and went into the office. Kiran glanced up from his papers before his face broke out into the same exuberant smile he always had when he saw her.

"There you are! I was just starting to feel a little lonely, and then the most perfect woman in all the worlds walked through my door. With timing like that, you ought to–"

"Who was that girl with the bow?" She interrupted his spiel without a hint of warmth in her voice.

"H-huh?" He sputtered, caught off by guard by her cutoff. "You mean Tanya? She's from Jugdral, same as you. I just summoned her yesterday."

Well, Ayra sure didn't know her, which meant she must've been from the same era as the adult Seliph and all the other grown up children of her peers. "Tanya…" She rolled the name over her tongue, venom dripping from every syllable. "Why was she up here?"

Kiran raised an eyebrow and slightly leaned back at her hostile tone. "She just wanted to know when and where the archers usually train and who would make for a good competitor to measure her skills against. Yeah, I know Klein is supposed to be in charge of telling new archers that stuff, but she apparently couldn't find him and was a little unsure of how to speak to a nobleman like him anyway."

Kiran's explanation did nothing to quell her burning acrimony. Oh, she was sure that's what Tanya said she was there for and that Kiran believed her, but she'd learned the hard way that only a fool took a stranger at their word. Who was to say the little wench didn't have her eye on the summoner and was trying to feel him out? She glanced back at the stairway behind her and grit her teeth at the thought of letting the tomboy just walk away like nothing happened. Maybe she'd ask her to spar later and 'accidentally' break her elbow with a well-placed blow…

"Ayra!" The urgency with which Kiran called out to her shook Ayra from her dark machinations, causing her to turn back to him in surprise. "Geez, I must've called your name three times before you responded. Are you alright?"

For all she knew, some whore was scheming to try and take him from her, so no, she wasn't alright. Her cold fury returned in full force, making her eyes narrow into slits and her fists clench tight enough to turn her knuckles white. "I don't like it when you're alone with other women." She informed him, her tone icier than the frozen wastes of Silesse.

He was taken aback by her inimical attitude but quickly recovered and set his face into a challenging frown. "Maybe I don't like it when you spar with other men."

Her eyes widened at his counter; she didn't give off the impression of being more engaged with random sparring partners than him, did she? "T-that's – I don't see them as anything but benchmarks to measure my skills! What we do is special, it's not like I –" She ceased her frantic justifications when she realized Kiran was struggling to stifle laughter.

"Ayra, I'm just kidding." He waved his hands in a soothing gesture. "Well, mostly kidding. Maybe it does bother me a little bit, but I understand you're just doing what you have to in order to become as strong as you possibly can. It's the same on my end – roughly half the Order is made up of women, so as the summoner I don't really have much of a choice in occasionally having to speak to them one-on-one."

He walked up and started gently rubbing the exposed skin on her upper arms. "We've both got jobs to do if we're going to win the war, and sometimes that means putting up with unfavorable circumstances. What's most important is that we know we love each other; when we finally win, nobody else will matter anymore and it'll be just the two of us. But until then," he gripped her arms to convey the severity of his next statement, "we just have to deal with it. I know you hate it, but Tanya wasn't the first hero to privately talk to me and she won't be the last. There's nothing to be done but bear through it. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

Oh, she understood perfectly. She understood that Kiran didn't. Lovable fool that he was, the man was just too naïve and trusting sometimes. She supposed he had to be to recruit as many varied heroes as he had, but that didn't mean his attitude wouldn't cause him trouble. Case in point, this nonsense of letting the Order's women think they were allowed to be with him in any private capacity. Ayra was no fool – she knew that sooner or later, some freshly summoned harlot would get it in her head that she could try and take him from her. Arvis had been kind enough to teach her to only trust most people as far as she could throw them, and it was only a matter of time before that belief was vindicated.

Not that she would ever say as much to Kiran. If her lover was anything, it was sure of his beliefs; that conviction tended to be what drew people to him in the first place. Trying to make him see the brutal truth of the situation would only cause pointless arguments. If he was unwilling or unable to recognize potential dangers to their relationship…then Ayra would just have to take care of them herself. Infuriatingly, Tanya was off limits for now – if anything happened to her so soon after Ayra let her newfound contempt for the girl show, Kiran would instantly connect the dots. She could, of course, convince him it was necessary if she had to, but that would mean time together wasted on heated debate instead of loving affection.

"…I understand." A little white lie was harmless in the long run, especially when it was for Kiran's own good. "Though speaking of when it's just the two of us, what are we going to do once the war ends?"

"Oh, well, I figured we would probably just stay here. Alfonse won't take too long to become king and I imagine he'd be able to hook us up with some jobs. You can't exactly go back to Jugdral, and as for my world…" His eyes drooped and he dejectedly tilted away his head. "Let's just say there's no evidence of that road opening up any time soon." He gave a quiet, resigned sigh. "Honestly, even if you and I could go there, it's not really the kind of world you'd want to live in – there's no place for warriors like you there anymore."

"It makes no difference." She dared to reach out and wrap her arms around his chest in a stiff hug. Now that she understood how many dangers to their love were lurking in the Order, she placed ever greater value on the intimacy they shared, which partly meant pushing the envelope on how she conveyed her feelings. Kiran, apparently surprised to see her take the initiative in furthering their physical affection, stood there stunned for a moment before wrapping his own arms around her. Ayra gently hummed and closed her eyes as she gripped the fabric of his coat in her hands and rested her head on his shoulder. "Like you said, as long as we're together, nothing else matters."

And I'm ready to do whatever it takes to make sure we stay together…

---

Ayra thought she'd been ready. She knew it was coming and had been psyching herself up to deal with it when it happened, but she saw now that nothing could've prepared her for actually seeing it unfold.

It happened roughly a week after the incident with Tanya, who had fortunately caught on very quickly not to try anything. Kiran had lost track of time strategizing in his office and as such was running late for dinner that evening, while Ayra herself was already served and seated. The two always ate together, obviously, but with how crowded the dining hall got at rush hour, it became impossible to pick anybody out from the throng of bodies. All she could do was sip from her ceramic mug while she stood from her seat and scanned the room in hopes of getting lucky (not to mention also resisting the urge to lose her cool the second he wasn't perfectly punctual again).

And then she saw it.

He was standing in line waiting to be served when Prince Marth's descendent, Princess Lucina, began to strike up a conversation from behind him. That sight alone was enough to tighten Ayra's grip on her mug, but then she started smiling and giggling while they talked. Kiran, to his credit, maintained a neutral expression as they spoke, in stark contrast to Lucina's vapid grin. He likely didn't notice, but Ayra could see how Lucina's smile was just a little too wide, how her eyes lingered over Kiran's for just a little too long. There could be no mistaking what all of Lucina's subtle mannerisms indicated.

Then she patted him on the back, and the mug in Ayra's hand shattered.

Lucina was a dead woman. Ayra didn't know how, when or where, but she was going to kill that girl if it was the last thing she ever did! Gods, she wanted nothing more than to lunge forward and cleave her head from her shoulders right then and there, but she was just barely cognizant of how poorly that would go in such a crowded room.

"Ugh, what the hell, Ayra?!" Some red cavalier seated near her complained at the drink from her mug splashing on him. "Gods, what's gotten under your skin this time? You look like you just watched someone kill your family or something!"

She probably did look beyond furious, didn't she? That wasn't good – Lucina had many friends, and letting her intentions show would only make it harder for Ayra to dispose of her. Her only saving grace at the moment was the sheer density of people making it impossible to tell what she was specifically scowling at, but it wouldn't be long before someone noticed Kiran in her general line of sight and put the pieces together.

She was left with no recourse but to storm out of the dining hall back to her training area, where she could at least try to cool her head and start planning away from watchful eyes. She wanted to secure Kiran, but with Lucina still hovering nearby she wouldn't have been able to get close without snapping and cutting down the little whore right then and there.

Which led to her current situation, slashing at her training dummy in what was proving to be a mostly futile effort to calm down. How could she have been so stupid?! How naïve and wide-eyed did she have to be to think that a public declaration of their relationship would be enough to deter anybody? She knew firsthand that overt threats only made your enemies more careful about how they backstabbed you. What kind of childish idiot assumed that would-be homewreckers would only come from newly summoned heroes who didn't know their place?

Not me. She vowed, performing a horizontal slash that disemboweled an imaginary Lucina. Not anymore. To think I was gullible enough to believe a broken bone would've stopped Tanya! No, there aren't any half measures for fixing this. Either I kill that bitch or she just licks her wounds and tries again.

She had, for the sake of argument, already entertained thoughts of alternate solutions. Telling Kiran would accomplish nothing, as he'd already proven himself too blind to see when other women were scheming to try and steal him. Lucina herself would obviously deny any attraction to the summoner and would only be put on guard by a direct warning. Nor could she seek anybody else's help – Lucina, as one of the most beloved heroes in the Order, was almost the total opposite of Ayra when it came to public perception.

Leaving the matter alone was doubtless the worst choice of them all. Try as she might, Kiran would reject Lucina as many times as he needed to. His faithfulness wasn't the problem. What would be a problem was the way Lucina would surely try ever greater measures to win Kiran over. When he refused to give in to her temptations, she would inevitably attempt to take him by force. He may have improved by leaps and bounds training with Ayra, but loathe as she was to admit it, Lucina was a formidable opponent and would almost certainly be able to overpower him if she put her mind to it. Once she'd done so, she'd be able to have her way with him, stripping him of his honor, dignity, and even his clothes…

NEVER! She swore as both the training dummy and her practice sword splintered into hundreds of pieces from the force of her blow. I'll never let that happen! Kiran is mine! MINE! I'll kill everybody in the whole damned Order before I let anyone take him from me!

Which only left her with the matter of how to do it. While she'd love nothing more than to walk up and best the girl in a duel before taking her life, that wasn't really an option. Calling it a 'murder' left a bad taste in her mouth, as it implied she wasn't fully justified gutting Lucina like a fish, but the fact remained that a murder was how the others would see it. She needed to be discrete, which meant killing her away from the castle. Even if she knew how to set up a trap within the castle proper, it would be all too easy for someone else to spring it or for one of the Order's spies to catch her in the act.

So she needed to be able to catch Lucina out away from the castle, and the only way to do that was to be on a mission with her. It wouldn't be as simple as asking to go out on patrol with her – if she specifically requested to work with Lucina and then she turned up dead, all suspicion would immediately fall on her. Especially since the Order had yet to suffer a single fatality yet; whoever first died, their death would be subject to intense scrutiny. Infuriating as it was, it seemed her only chance was to keep her ears open and wait for a chance to join a patrol she knew Lucina would be a part of. From there, it ought to be easy to cut her down and make it look like a lucky shot from some random Emblian.

All she could really do was increase the number of spars she had with the Ylisseans Lucina was closest to and hope one of them would let something slip. If nothing else, she likely had a decent bit of time to spare – Lucina at least seemed patient and thus wouldn't be hasty in either an initial confession or any drastic measures once that was shot down.

Ayra just needed to mimic that patience and bide her time. An opportunity would present itself eventually. When it did, there would be nothing between the tip of her blade and Lucina's heart.

---

Fate quickly proved to be on her side. How ironic, considering Lucina and her simpleton of a father were always preaching about how they could challenge what fate had in store for them. Judging by how it only took three days for her to hear Maribelle idly reveal that Lucina had asked to go on the next patrol to the outlying ruins, Ayra thought destiny seemed rather in a rush to be rid of Lucina.

Becoming attached to the patrol was a trivial matter. A few words to Kiran about how she hadn't faced a real battle in a while and wished for more experience fighting in collapsed architecture were all it took for him to add her to the roster without a second thought. The patrol itself was a minor enough affair that Kiran wouldn't personally bother with overseeing its execution, nor would any other tacticians, ensuring she didn't have to worry about a flawless strategy covering any holes in Lucina's guard. Her only potential obstacles were the other members of the patrol: a mage boy named Ewan, an armored princess named Sheena and an effeminate priest named Lucius. She had no particular enmity for any of them (and wouldn't if Sheena knew what was good for her and stayed away from Kiran), but if they got in her way, she was prepared to do whatever was necessary.

The actual trip to the ruins they were supposed to clear out ended up being the worst part, if only because Lucina wouldn't shut her mouth and kept making small talk with the group. It was bad enough Ayra had to walk by the girl for several hours without slitting her throat, but listening to her sickeningly saccharine voice was making it genuinely difficult to keep her sword in its sheathe. Mercifully, Ayra's anti-social reputation meant Lucina never tried speaking to her directly, which was probably the only thing that kept her wrath in check.

A couple of sanity grating hours later, they arrived at their destination: the largely collapsed edifice of an ancient fort that a handful of Emblian survivors from the most recent battle were suspected of hiding out in. While the crouched behind nearby shrubbery to hide their presence, Sheena produced the most recent layout of the fort Askr had on record, which had been given to them to help plan their attack once they saw the state it was in.

A quick glance between the blueprint and the real thing revealed exactly what Ayra had been hoping for: while much of the structure had long since fallen apart, the central wall which divided the barracks and the courtyard was still intact, effectively splitting the ruins into two halves. She was thankful she'd spent all that time brushing up on her strategy with Kiran, because now she could envision a plan that would isolate her and Lucina while still putting the other three in roles they wouldn't question the necessity of.

"Sheena, you take Ewan and clear out the barracks on the left." She ordered, much to their surprise. "The closed space will make his magic more effective and make it harder for them to get around your guard. And you'll be able to protect him better if something goes wrong. That fallen tower has roughly divided the courtyard in two – Lucina and I can handle that." She had to resist the urge to spit Lucina's name or start glowering at the thought of her.

"That seems a most reliable strategy to my eyes." Lucius concurred. "I think it best if I stay back towards the middle, so as to be able to heal anyone the moment they suffer harm."

Ayra's eyes widened by a fraction when she realized the implications of Lucius' position. Damn it, he'll be able to see Lucina from there! I need to convince him to stay by the barracks so he won't be able to help her before it's too late. "No, stay close to Ewan. He's the one who would need healing fastest if anything went wrong." For once, her blunt nature was advantageous, as it added an authoritative edge to her words.

"Hey, I don't need Lucius to babysit me!" The redhead protested. "With Sheena nearby and all I've learned from Saleh, nobody's going to so much as scratch me!"

Stubborn brat! Just do what you're told! She'd come too far to let a headstrong child stop her now. "I should hope not. But if something happens, you'll be the worst equipped to deal with it. Unlike the rest of us fighters, you've no armor to absorb blows. And given your age, I doubt you've much experience coping with an injury and fighting through pain. We can deal with getting hit – you can't."

Ewan looked like he wanted to keep arguing, but Lucina of all people cut him off. "I think Ayra makes a good point. She and I know how to handle ourselves if things get rough, but I don't believe you've been in very many real fights, Ewan. It's good to keep a healer nearby for your first few battles just in case worse comes to worst." Ayra had to stifle a bark of laughter – the poor fool was signing her own death warrant and didn't even know it. Well, so much the better for her.

"Alright, I get it." Ewan reluctantly acceded. "So, Sheena, Lucius and I handle the barracks on the left while you and Ayra clear out the courtyard on the right?"

"That would seem to be the plan." Sheena confirmed before turning to both sword wielding women. "Stay safe, you two. Keep a sharp eye and a stalwart heart."

"The same goes for you three." Lucina reciprocated with that same nauseating smile she flashed at Kiran. With swift nods, they departed to prepare their attack from the appropriate position, leaving the princesses alone. "Well, I suppose we'd best ready ourselves too, right?"

"…Indeed." She answered without a hint of emotion in her voice. Gods, she was so close to seeing Lucina dead at her feet, she could hardly contain herself. It was just like when she faced down Cimbaeth after Sigurd rescued Shannan for her – the anticipation of killing someone who'd personally wronged her sent shivers down her spine.

Their own preparations took only a handful of minutes. A quick scan around the ruins revealed about seven Emblians in the courtyard: three in the half closer to them and four in the half further away. "I'll take the ones on this end." Ayra declared, hoping to convince Lucina to put herself further away from any potential help. "I'll cut them all down and ensure none slip away to attack Lucius and Ewan from behind."

"That's a keen assessment." Lucina praised, as if honeyed words would absolve her of her crimes. "It would indeed be best to make sure we let no trouble befall our allies. I'd ask you to make haste and assist, but I doubt there'll be anyone left to fight by the time you catch up to me." Her boast was punctuated by a challenging grin that devolved into awkward laughter when Ayra offered no form of response. "Well, uh, let's be on with it, shall we?" Her answer was the drawing of her sword, which Lucina quickly mimicked. A few moments later, they heard the first confused scream from the barracks, prompting the two of them to rush into the fray.

As planned, they split up immediately, leaving Ayra to slay common Emblians that were barely worth her time. Honestly, when one trained by sparring with the likes of Hector and Navarre, most opponents faced in genuine life or death battles just felt like a joke. Still, Lucina was just as adept at cutting the Emblian chaff, which meant Ayra couldn't afford to play around. She was working on borrowed time – ideally, she'd have taken her time ripping Lucina apart to make her pay for her transgression before finally killing her, but the fact of the matter was the others could clear out the barracks at any moment and ruin her opportunity.

She killed her three targets in what was likely record time before peeking over the mossy stones to see Lucina still dealing with two opponents. Perfect. She thought as she pulled a nicked blade from the grasp of her freshest corpse. If she was going to pin Lucina's untimely death on Embla, it only made sense to use an Emblian weapon to do the deed. Besides, her own sword was a masterpiece of Isaachian craftsmanship; why should she taint its noble steel with Lucina's filthy blood?

As stealthily as possible, she crept over the fallen masonry towards Lucina's exposed back. The two Emblians she was fighting saw her approach and doubled their efforts, hoping not to have to face two heroes at once, but that only convinced Lucina to stop messing around and finish the job. She was so focused on doing so that she failed to notice what had even set her foes off in the first place, leaving her with a false sense of security as she severed the spine of her fourth and final adversary.

At long last, it was time for Lucina to pay for trying to come between her and Kiran.

Logically, Ayra knew she should just thrust straight through Lucina's heart and be done with it. That would be an instantly fatal blow and leave no time for the others to catch her in the act. But on the other hand…the blow would be instantly fatal. Lucina wouldn't feel a thing. After what she'd done, a quick and painless death wasn't good enough. After all, she'd left Cimbaeth twitching on the ground with his organs pooling around him, and she wasn't about to completely throw away her standards for retribution. Any alternatives would definitely cost time…but Ayra couldn't live with herself if she let Lucina off easy; it was a risk, but one she was willing to take. If she just angled her strike a little to the bottom right, she would still deliver a lethal wound, but one that would see Lucina gasping and choking on her own blood. Yes, that will do nicely… she decided as she aimed her borrowed sword at Lucina's unsuspecting back.

Really, it was laughable how easily her weapon slid through her target's skin like a knife through paper.

Lucina, to her credit, did respond to the pain by attempting to swing her Falchion at her sudden assailant, but Ayra stopped that feeble attack by reaching out to grip her wrist mid-swing. Then she dared to look back, and the sheer shock and dismay in her branded eye gave Ayra a rush of satisfaction like nothing else. There really was nothing quite like exacting revenge on an insufferable wretch who'd been utterly convinced they'd never have the tables turned on them.

"Let me make this clear, since you didn't seem to understand the first time." She hissed in her quarry's ear. "Kiran is mine." She punctuated her claim by grabbing a fistful of blue hair and throwing Lucina to the ground, the Emblian sword still lodged in her chest. Just as hoped, blood began to pool both from the wound and her mouth. While Lucina grappled in vain with the blade protruding from her body, Ayra walked away to drag an Emblian corpse over to use as the central prop in the story she'd feed to the rest of the patrol. Said Emblian had died from a stab wound whose direction of attack was impossible to determine, meaning Ayra could easily claim to have stabbed him in the back when she saw him do the same to Lucina.

Speaking of, the Ylissean seemed to have given up removing the blade in her chest and was now weakly reaching out to Ayra with a pleading look in her eyes. Honestly, that was just insulting, beseeching help from the woman whose lover she'd tried to steal. Ayra wanted to snap every bone in that begging hand under her boot, but staved off for the sake of maintaining the story.

Looking at Lucina, with blood dribbling down her chin as her cries for help manifested only as pitiful gasps for air, Ayra couldn't help but feel something was missing. It was certainly a pathetic and humiliating end, but she couldn't deny feeling a little let down, especially in contrast to how she'd made Cimbaeth suffer at the end. Lucina deserved a more painful death, but Ayra couldn't risk doing anything more without drawing suspicion. But then how…

Ah, of course. She realized with a triumphant grin. How could I forget? It's not enough to break a person's body – sometimes it helps to break their spirit as well. She'd have to remember to thank Arvis if he ever got summoned, at least before she or someone else from Sigurd's army killed him for betraying them. By showing off Deirdre's treachery at the Belhalla ambush, he destroyed Sigurd's will before striking him down. It was the same principle here: if Ayra couldn't rend Lucina's flesh any further, she'd have to settle for crushing her soul.

"Let me see if I can remember…" She kneeled down and looked Lucina in her rapidly fading eyes with mocking nonchalance. "You travelled back in time to prevent some world ending cataclysm, right? And without you there to guide your parents in the past, the same apocalyptic future you were trying to stop will happen all over again, correct?" Despite being on death's door, Lucina's eyes still managed to widen ever so slightly in numb horror when she realized what Ayra was implying.

"That's right, Lucina." She taunted with a small grin of faux compassion. "You're about to die – and everything you've ever fought for is about to be for nothing." Her last dying gasps became increasingly frantic and she mustered the strength to desperately reach her hand up in one last futile gesture. Now, to finish her. "Your family, kingdom and world will be destroyed…and all because of your failure." Ayra watched with smug satisfaction as Lucina's eyes produced a few final tears and her last breath came out as a distraught whine before her hand fell limp to the ground and the light left her eyes.

That was a proper way to exact revenge. Ayra felt happier already, knowing she could go back to embracing Kiran without having to worry about Lucina's machinations. As stressful as it was to have mortal enemies, the satisfaction of finally killing them made it all worthwhile. As a final check, she pressed two fingers against Lucina's neck. When she felt no pulse, she wrapped the hand of her chosen Emblian corpse around the hilt of the sword stuck in Lucina. Now, she just had to put all those childhood lessons on acting for the sake of the courts to good use.

"Lucius!" She cried out with the most authentic urgency she could muster. "Lucius, get over here now! Lucina's been stabbed!" She kneeled to the ground and cradled Lucina's corpse in her hands to make it look like she was trying to examine the extent of her injuries. It wasn't long before she heard the trampling of three pairs of feet making their way around the corner.

"By the Gods!" The priest gasped in shock, Sheena and Ewan not far behind him. "Please, let me not be too late!" He rushed to Ayra with surprising swiftness despite his long robes.

"I just finished my portion of the courtyard when I saw that scum attack her." Ayra gestured to the body she'd placed. "I ran him through in kind, but I was too slow to protect Lucina."

Ewan and Sheena could only stare in stunned shock as Lucius frantically removed the sword from Lucina's chest and began trying to use his staff the mend the damage. "No way…" The mage uttered. "She's going to be okay, right Lucius? S-she's not going to die just like that, r-right?"

The blonde's answer was to drop his staff and slump his head. "Lucius, say something!" Ayra demanded for the sake of her ruse. "How quickly do we need to get her back to the castle so the rest of the healers can save her?" When his only response was to begin feebly shaking his head, Ayra had to stop the gratification she felt from showing on her face.

"This can't be…" Sheena whispered. "Of all people, why Lucina…? How?"

"This is all my fault…" Lucius muttered. "Had I only hastened here the second we were finished in the barracks, I could have saved her life. My sloth has cost us the life of a dear friend and comrade."

"If there is any blame to assign, I alone should bear it." Ayra declared, fully aware of the irony at play. "We followed my plan and I'm the one who told you to stick with Ewan. Thus, I'm the one who's liable for this horrid turn of events." Truth be told, 'horrid' wasn't really the right word; she thought 'splendid' was much more fitting.

"You got that right!" Ewan affirmed, his cheeks wet with fresh streaks of tears. "I told you I didn't need Lucius hanging around me! If he'd stayed in the middle like he wanted, Lucina would still be alive! This is all your fault, you…you murderer!"

Oh, if only you knew…She mentally mused. That was one way to vindicate her belief that everybody else would see her rightly extracting vengeance as murder. She could only imagine the look on his face if he knew the truth.

"That's enough, all of you!" Sheena shouted with a slam of her tower shield. "What's happened here is a tragedy, not a competition to find the guiltiest soul. Lucina is dead because a cowardly Emblian backstabbed her, not because her comrades in arms tried to formulate a plan that would protect the most vulnerable of their number. She was an honorable, compassionate woman, and she'd be ashamed to see us bickering and fingering blame at each other. The guilty party is dead by Ayra's hand and so justice has been served. That's all there is to say on the matter."

Well, Sheena got one part right: justice had indeed been served, even if not in quite the way she thought it had. The pink princess's speech sucked any fight out of Ewan, leaving the group in a feeling of subdued emptiness. "So…what happens now?" The boy questioned, his voice devoid of all emotion.

"We return Lucina to her friends and family and lay her to rest in a manner befitting of one so gallant and beloved." Lucius informed him, standing back up with his staff in his hands once more. "I would carry her, but I'm afraid I've not the strength for it. Princess Sheena, would you be so kind?"

"Of course. Princess Ayra, could you hold my axe for me?"

"Sure." Lugging around Sheena's massive axe wasn't particularly enjoyable, but it was at least better than having to hold onto Lucina's corpse. The Gra princess brushed her hand over Lucina's half-lidded eyes, shutting them forever. Now that she held the bluenette in her arms, even Sheena's eyes grew misty. The surviving members of the patrol began their slow march back to the castle, their spirits defeated and their hearts aching.

All except Ayra, who brought up the rear with a pleased grin.

---

To say the Order had been devastated by Lucina's death would be a gross understatement. Ayra had been right on the mark when she assessed that the princess was adored by nearly every hero, and most were now torn between depressed grief and righteous fury. A few Ylisseans in particular weren't sure whether they should blame Ayra for her death or thank her for 'disposing' of Lucina's killer. But in the end, as usual, she was largely left alone by the rest of the Order.

Kiran took Lucina's loss rather strangely. She expected him to ramble on about how he should've been on the patrol to make a better strategy, but when she delivered the news, he just looked at her with this vacant, troubled stare. A second later he was broken out of his reverie by countless heroes demanding to know how they'd retaliate. For the next few days, she barely ever saw him as he was dragged from meeting to meeting by the likes of Alfonse and Robin.

It wasn't long before a massive funeral service was held, the attendance of which was unfortunately mandatory. It took a considerable amount of willpower to not roll her eyes at the sight of so many hardened warriors brought to tears by the death of a single comrade. She lost everything short of Shannan at Belhalla, but nobody ever saw her breaking down into hysterical sobs, did they? Countless heroes stepped forward to offer prayers or words of Lucina's 'noble character'. The whole experience was downright nauseating in how pathetic it was; Ayra had practically done them all a favor, killing that rat before she could show her true colors. Naturally, she declined to step up herself – she doubted she could say one positive thing about Lucina with a straight face.

When all was said and done, the whole affair left the Order with a renewed sense of purpose. Being reminded of their own mortality and the lengths to which Embla could go reinvigorated many heroes who had largely become complacent. Really, Ayra deserved praise and thanks for doing something that finally kicked their lazier members into shape, but she knew better than to say as much, even with the accepted cover story.

Perhaps the funniest detail of all was the fact that her intentionally crueler choice of wound was taken as proof that the damage was inflicted by a delirious Emblian not thinking clearly. Soren, being the paranoid twit that he was, had brought up the possibility of foul play, but the likes of Kaze and Jaffar ruled that a treacherous assassination would've struck directly through the heart to kill as quickly as possible. They reasoned that a traitor would never risk a wound that wasn't instantly fatal and provided the slimmest chance of discovery. She supposed that, on some level, they were right: Ayra was no traitor, as she'd only been doing what was necessary to protect Kiran.

On the subject of her lover, Ayra was growing increasingly exasperated by the endless meetings he was stuck in. Thankfully, once the funeral passed, so too did the initial intense burst of activity heralded by Lucina's death. It took a few more days, but she was finally able to catch Kiran alone in his office once again.

"Are you doing okay?" She asked the moment she got a good look at how drained he was. There were deep bags under his mildly bloodshot eyes, and he slumped forward on his desk instead of sitting upright. "I know it's important, but you shouldn't let yourself dragged through non-stop strategy sessions. You haven't forgotten what happens when you're all work and no play, have you?" Her inquiry was delivered with a teasing grin that quickly morphed into a concerned frown when he barely reacted. She walked around his desk and slowly wrapped her arms around him, hoping the hug would help his mood.

"Has Lucina's death really hit you that hard?" She questioned, trying her best to keep any frustration out of her voice. The girl was dead and gone; she shouldn't have been able to keep meddling in their relationship from beyond the grave.

"…It's not just that." He finally answered, his voice quiet and afraid. "It hurts for me to see her gone as much as it does anybody else, but there's more to it than that. I…I just…" He suddenly gripped Ayra in his arms, hugging her far more tightly than she had held him.

"What if it had been you?!" His plea was followed up by a distressed sob, the tears of which she could feel against her cheek. "What if you'd been the one to get killed while your back was turned?! If you'd swapped places with Lucina…if you'd been standing in her shoes…I could've lost you!"

Ayra's eyes shamefully lowered to the floor. How could she have made Kiran worry like that? More than that, she should've realized immediately what was troubling him and moved to assuage his fears. No time like the present. She thought as she soothingly rubbed her hands along his back. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll never leave you alone, I swear."

"But how can you know that for sure?" He rebutted pulling his head back to look her in the eyes. "If even Lucina could die like that, how can you be certain some punk won't get lucky? When I realized how easily it could've been you, I couldn't help but think about what it'd be like to live without you…" A fresh set of tears began rolling down his cheeks. "I can't lose you, Ayra! I don't know what I'd do with you gone! I don't know–"

Whatever he was going to say, she silenced him by pressing her lips against his. The kiss lasted only a second, barely long enough to taste the salt from his tears, but it was more than enough to leave Kiran staring at her in speechless awe. "You'll never have to find out." She assured him with a soft stroke of his cheek. "We'll always be together, no matter what happens. I understand that you're scared…but I have something Lucina didn't pushing me to make sure I never die." Her lips curled up into a tender smile. "My love for you."

This time it was Kiran who wordlessly lunged forward to capture her mouth. This kiss was somewhat less chaste than the first, lasting several seconds before he pulled away. "I love you too. So, so much…" He resumed his tight hug, their heads once more resting on each other's shoulders. "I swear to never leave you alone either. Come hell or highwater, nothing is ever going to come between us."

"That's right. I'll personally make sure of it." Wrapped in each other's warm embrace like that, Ayra lost track of time. Moments like this were what made life worth living, and when the war finally ended, their days would be filled with nothing but such moments. Someday, they'd live together, start a family, and never have to put up with interlopers ever again. But until that time came, Ayra would have her work cut out for her getting rid of any harlots who sought to undo what she and Kiran shared. It would be a thankless, difficult job, but it would all be worth it for times like this. She had no doubt she needed to get to work planning how to kill off the next one who reared their head…

After all, didn't Mist say Kiran had plenty of admirers?

---

I was really unsure if I should actually upload this thing. My excuse, at least for the first chapter, is that it's October and thus in-season.

Why did I even write this? One, I need experience writing romance for Journey Through Pressure. Two, I do like yandere stories and this one yandere manga I was reading got cancelled in the summer, so I wanted my fix but had no outlet. Three, most yandere fics in Fire Emblem feature male yandere and I wanted to add some variety. Seriously, check the tags on Ao3. And most female yandere are the same handful of characters every time, which gets boring.

The title of the fic translates to "Destroyed Love" and was taken from a My Dying Bride song about a romance that starts out sweet and loving and degrades into possessive obsession. This'll be a series of one-shots where each one features a different Heroes girl in a different yandere archetype. Some will just be mostly creepy, some will be outright violent and dangerous, none of them will be good people. Ayra might've been the protagonist here, but as a deranged, paranoid, homicidal psychopath, she was absolutely the villain too. I should hope you hated her for murdering Lucina for an incredibly minor offense. On the other hand, I also hope you thought the romantic moments were sweet and cute, since the contrast between the two is the whole point of yandere. Not every chapter will be from the yandere's point of view, but this one kind of had to be since Kiran had no clue what Ayra was up to.

Ayra was an Eliminating Type, meaning her key trait is ruthlessly killing off anybody and everybody she sees as romantic competition. The more I wrote this, the more I thought it fit; Ayra's a pretty vindicative character who's seen in both Heroes and Genealogy threatening to do whatever it takes to kill someone for crossing her. That opening line about a hammer refers to her preferred problem-solving method: killing people is how she usually fixes things, so she applies the same method to love rivals. Kiran got off pretty easy this time, since she was more concerned with hurting perceived competitors than him, but not every archetype is so stable and forgiving. In at least a couple of these, he'll meet a gruesome end.

I hope you liked this shameless, edgy nonsense, but I very much understand if you didn't. Please leave comments, good or bad, since your feedback is how I learn (especially in this case where I'm trying to get practice on romance). Thank you for reading.