Battle is waged and Keiji fights alongside Felicia and Corrin to defend the Astral Plane.
Shattered
"Keiji," Felicia shouts, parrying a swing from Selena. "Go on! You can do it! I'm here to support you!"
Invigorated by your beloved's encouragement, you lunge at Charlotte. You must to defeat her if you hope to push these Nohrian sadists back. The countless fallen soldiers scattered all around serve to fuel your inner-fire. Too many good people lost their lives this day. Many more will follow unless you stand.
Indeed, the only way is forward. For Hoshido. For your departed father. For Lady Corrin.
You'll never see another sunrise if you die here. You can't let that happen.
Swinging your katana wide, you push Charlotte onto the defensive. "Dammit!" she barks, levelling a hateful scowl. "What's with you?! It's like you're a totally different person this time." Teeth gritted and eyes trained upon you, she leaps in for another swing.
Whatever she fights for, you won't be deterred by her rage. You sidestep, your senses sharpened.
"Damn you, you bastard!" the blonde screams, red-faced and furious. "Stop weaving around!"
You're getting into her head. Good. Now all you have to do is wait for an opening.
Jumping backward, you land several feet clear from your foe.
"Alright! That's it!" Axe held overhead, Charlotte rushes you with a berserker's battle cry. "You're done!"
Urgency ignites in your mind. You need to move out of the way, now. A second too slow and you're dead. But if you can just draw Charlotte a little closer first. Closer. Closer still.
"Got you," you say calmly, sidestepping. Charlotte's mighty axe crashes down into the concrete path beside you, cracking it.
Now, she's wide open. You inhale and exhale to center yourself. In and out.
Ready, you toss your blade to the floor and lunge. Twisting a leg outward in a sharpened kick, you shunt your boot into the girl's side, hard.
Charlotte snarls with pain and crashes to bloodied ground in a heap, her axe clanking to the concrete beside her. Laid sideways, she curls into a ball and clutches her side. You quickly reclaim your discarded katana and stand over her. You will be her judge, and her executioner.
"D-Damn you..." The bested lassie spits red, her expression distorted with pain. "M-My rib- Dammit!" She desperately tries to struggle onto her knees, but can't manage it. Again and again, she attempts getting up, anguished tears streaming down her cheeks by the third attempt. "I-I can't go out like this," she laments. Finally, and through sheer will alone, the blonde lifts up and shakily supports herself on all fours.
You raise your sword, ready to deliver the killing blow.
As you bring down your steel however, Charlotte chokes out a frightened sob. "Momma, Papa, I let you down," she whispers, crying.
Your blade stalls an inch from her neck. The conversation shared with Corrin over dinner flashes through your thoughts.
"I want to believe there's a way we can do it - to see people of Nohrian and Hoshidan upbringings together."
You understand the meaning of her words with greater clarity, here and now. At least you think you do.
"A kinder world," you utter thoughtfully, retracting your blade from Charlotte's neck.
For Corrin, a kinder world is one where Hoshidans and Nohrians exist as one. For you, such a world would be one where the common folk need not suffer through endless wars without purpose. A lofty goal, but one which can only be reached through effort.
And you'll start by tempering your resentment, just this once.
"If you're gonna kill me then just do it," Charlotte tells you. Head held low, she coughs painfully. "I'm a disgrace..."
"Not today." You shake your head. "But cross me again and I'll not hold back." You sheathe your blade. Then you kick Charlotte in the head. Knocked out cold, she slumps in a heap on the ground. You kneel and press your fingers to her neck, checking for a pulse. "She'll live."
"Keiji!" Felicia screams, plunging you back into the battle at hand with frantic urgency. You look in the direction of the maid's voice, finding her backed up against the central square's sundial. Selena - the twintailed redhead - has her cornered. Although she tries fending her off, Felicia trips and loses her balance. Yelping, she stumbles and falls onto her backside. Dropping her daggers as she lands, she's defenceless.
"Hold on!" you call out, taking off on a run. "I'll be right there!"
Felicia shakily rises to her feet as Selena closes in. An agile kick knocks the sword from her attacker's hand.
You're close. Felicia is almost within reach!
Selena is undeterred by her foe's strike, however. Smirking coldly, she draws a knife from her belt. As though a spectre, she looms over the maid.
You touch a hand to Felicia's shoulder, ready to pull her away. "Gotcha!"
As you do, Selena swipes the sharp of her blade across Felicia's face. A soul shattering shriek leaving her, the maid falls limply into your arms.
The world around you slows, overtaken by absolute horror.
"M-My eyes," Felicia squeaks, shivering within your protective embrace. She clamps her gashed eyelids shut. It doesn't stem the flow of blood. "My eyes..."
"Got you," Selena sneers, retracting her knife. It drips a dark, violent crimson. "That'll teach you for trying to fight me."
Memories you of all the time you and Felicia spent together as friends over recent months surge through your mind. Even before her romantic confession, she was one of a few you felt safe letting nearer your ailing heart. Clumsy but well intentioned, she means the world to you.
And all you can do now is cradle the wounded lass.
"I-I wasn't going to let anyone harm you," Felicia utters weakly, raising an aimless and blood-soaked hand toward you. "I did a good job, right?" Even more blood spills from Felicia's right eye as she tries to blink. The gouge is far deeper. "You're not wounded, are you Keiji?"
"I'm okay, Felicia. There is nary a scratch on me." A lump clogs your throat, your eyes welling with pain. You swallow, feeling sick with grief.
"That's good... I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if anything had happened."
You clutch Felicia's ailing hand and squeeze it tight. "You did-" You pause, fighting back the urge to cry. "You did a fine job. Just rest now."
"Keiji," Felicia rasps. "I-I can- I can barely see anything... Your face is just a blur. It hurts. It hurts so much."
An invisible knife plunging through your chest, you grit your teeth and fight your misery. "Just stay still, okay? Save your strength."
"Uh-huh. I-I'll stay right here."
"Good girl." You lean the maid against the sundial with extra care.
Rising to your feet, you crush your misery into the pit of your stomach.
And then twist it into the purest of anger. Molten hot and unrefined.
Your skin sizzling, you swing around and lock eyes with Selena. You made a huge mistake by being merciful today.
You draw your katana, snarling like a violent animal. "But not twice..."
Selena's face drains of its color. White as a sheet, she holds out her knife to deter you. "Keep back!" she warns. "T-This is war! She had it coming!"
"Tell that to those who love her, you Nohrian filth."
You rush the redhead. In a single swift flick of your blade, you knock the dagger out of her hands. Tossing your sword, you rush Selena head on and knock her to the ground. Wanting the girl to suffer, you press your boot into her tummy, and she screams.
"You monster," you hiss through bared teeth. Restraint's chains binding you no longer, you apply even greater force against Selena's tummy. Again, she howls in distress, and you revel in the soul-piercing melody that falls out of her mouth. "You're all cruel and uncaring. Every. Single. One of you.
You'll break every bastard Nohrian who stands before you today. One at a time. Starting here.
"Pray to your Dusk Dragon-"
A Wyvern's howl blasts through your ears and makes your head spin. Mighty wings beat overhead, an overwhelming gust of wind kicking up.
You crane your neck in the howl's direction and level a stare. Your eyes shoot wide.
A draconic beast of scale and fang is veering right-
Your feet leave the ground and you're tossed into the air.
You blink. Then you land back on the ground with a bone-jarring thump. The taste of metal taints your mouth. Vision skewed and ears ringing, you make out two swirling colors before you - purple and deepest black. Almost unnatural, the two pulsate in tandem with your beating heart. "Awwww... aren't you precious?" calls a sultry woman's voice through the haze. "But you won't hurt my little birdy. Not if I have anything to say about it."
Your sight falls back into proper focus - battle's chaotic melee returning with it.
A woman towers over you as though a giant. Long and wavy purple hair pools past her shoulders. Banded armor hugs her every curve tightly in a perfect protective embrace. Kneeling before, she touches a cold and unwelcome hand to your cheek. Her lips curve upward into a disjointed smile; she closes in. "Look at you... acting so tough. It's adorable," she chuckles coldly. Her hand repositioning around your neck, she presses her fingers into your throat.
Your entire being screams out in urgency as the air leaves your lungs. "You're a cut above the average swordsman," the woman comments with a sinister hum, pressing her thumb deeper into your neck. "But that doesn't mean you'll hurt my retainers." She leans in closer. And closer still. Madness alive in her eyes, she laughs a deranged laugh. "You Hoshidans don't see the bigger picture, and worst of all, you have taken my darling sister away from me."
An almighty dragon's roar sweeps across your senses - Corrin's roar. The woman relinquishes her hold upon you and slinks out of your sight.
Released, you force air into your lungs with an immense gulp. Your neck burns red hot from the pressure moments before.
"It's me you're looking for Camilla," Corrin declares off to the side of you. "Take your hands off of him."
You blink. And again. The woman choking you was Garon's eldest daughter - an icy revelation. "Witch," you wheeze.
And to Hell with her. You can't lay around here any longer - pain be damned
You push a second mouthful of air inside yourself. A second passes. Two. Three. Energy returning to your body, you lift your back from the concrete and sit upright. Then slowly, you get to your feet. Merely being upright again awakens a dull pounding in the front of your skull. Worse, each laboured breath causes your whole body to ache. Exhausted, you fall against the sundial near Felicia.
"Camilla!" Corrin yells furiously, "This has gone on long enough!"
"Indeed it has, my darling sister," the Nohrian princess agrees. "And now it is time for you to come home, with me."
The two royal's stand off by the eastern gate. Princess Corrin (having transformed back into human form) exchanges passes of her shining Yato blade with her axe-wielding sibling. The two look evenly matched, with neither one giving an inch. The entire battlefield has fallen still in awe of their display.
Finally, Corrin is able to knock the axe from Camilla's hand with a wide swing of her sacred sword. Jumping from reach of an additional swing, the bested Nohrian flips back her locks defiantly. She raises an arm, and snaps her fingers.
Horns sound from all sides. Nohrian knights and spearmen take it as a signal and quickly tighten their ranks into walls of blackened steel. They're organized, regimented. Perfectly disciplined. Row by row, they begin withdrawing out of Fort Dawnlight's gates.
Another wyvern roar then tears through the sky overhead. Standing tall, Camilla points a scathing finger at Corrin. "Consider this a warning, dearest Corrin. When next we meet I will take matters far more seriously." Retracting her digit, she blows her sibling a kiss. "Until that day, darling, do keep well."
Selena stumbles into your vision and takes her place to the left of the Nohrian royal. Charlotte falls in at her fight. Encircled by a half-dozen knights, the trio make their escape. Gods do you want to give chase, but merely moving sends a stabbing pain through your left side.
You try to stand the same, but quickly realize it won't happen. Better instead that you save your energy.
Hoshido's rank-and-file forces fare little better than you, all the while.
What few soldiers that remain in fighting condition are bloodied and tired. You notice Subaki is still standing, Light Dragon be praised. Although he's propped up by Lady Sakura. Hana is with them, likely having mustered from the barracks while you were busy fighting.
Putting Yato away, Corrin turns her back on the retreating Nohrians. Likewise taking in the carnage all around her, she falls onto her knees and weeps into her hands in full view of everyone. Her clothes tattered and spattered red, she is far from a majestic leader. Ryoma rushes over to the girl and kneels beside her, offering a comforting pat on the shoulder.
"They've crossed the line," you speak hatefully, hand balling into a rageful fist. "But I'll make them pay, I swear."
Still leaned against the sundial beside you, Felicia lets out a tiny, pained whimper.
You don't falter for a moment, throwing up an arm for attention. "We need a healer over here, right now!"
Too many good lives have been lost today. You won't lose Felicia as well!
Night has fallen. The moon sits high above - a silent onlooker. Shining stars dot the skies.
Two days have passed since the attack and spirits couldn't be lower.
It falls upon the shoulders of the shrine maidens to heal those injured in the wake of such horrific clashes. You don't envy their lot in life, having a mother who chose the same path. And while you don't yet know specifics, you overheard a soldier saying Hoshido's casualties may number as high as one hundred.
Such horrible thoughts can wait, however. You have a job to do.
"Keiji? Are you still here?" Felicia wonders, her voice small and uneasy.
"Of course I am," you answer, re-entering the tent. "I was just getting a bit of fresh air."
The maid sits on your bed in her nightclothes. A thick black cloth handkerchief wraps around her head and covers her eyes. For the last two nights, you've helped bathe and care for her. She's slept beside you for comfort's sake, too. The one thing you haven't been able to do however, is ease the pain in her heart.
Nor her tears when being told her sight will never be the same again.
You sit down with Felicia, joining one of your hands with hers. She squeezes your fingers earnestly, lovingly. You squeeze back.
Shutting your eyes, you recall a shrine maiden's earlier visit.
Smiling tenderly, the white-robed healer (a young lady) holds out her staff. "Now, we're going to finish closing your wounds. Hold still, it might sting a bit."
"Oh wondrous Light Dragon," the shrine maiden begins her incantation, "Please lend us your aid in mending this poor soul's wounds." Soothing golden energies glow from the jewel at the tip of the healer's staff like rays of sunshine. They bathe Felicia's body from head to toe.
You can't help but marvel. The maid's smaller remaining cuts and scrapes close up with ease. It's like they were never there at all.
You take off Felicia's bandage. Her gashed eyelids have closed as though they never sustained the awful injury.
Felicia sighs with relief. For the first time since sundown, she's finally at ease.
"Okay... that's the worst of it dealt with," the shrine maiden says, lowering her staff. "Now, Felicia... Will you open your eyes for me?"
"Uh-huh." Felicia nods and does as asked. Her right eye is scarred and washed out. Its ocean-blue light is gone.
"That's very good, Felicia," the shrine maiden encourages. "Now, I'd ask you to look across to Sir Keiji. Can you see him?"
An abrupt pause. Felicia tilts her head to one side. "Only in the left and he's very blurry. I can't focus without my head hurting."
The shrine maiden sighs, relieved. "Light Dragon be praised, you still have one working eye."
"But..." Felicia wrings her hands in her lap. "What good is it if I can barely see...? I'll never be able to help Lady Corrin like this."
You stay quiet, still hoping beyond all reason for something positive to come of this situation.
Felicia huffs frustratedly all the while. "...Well?" she pleads desperately.
You have to do something to help the poor lass. Anything! Thankfully, something comes to mind.
"We'll send you to my mother, in Izami," you tell her. "She's Head Maiden of the local shrine there."
"I see no problem with that, Miss Kasumi is very skilled," the shrine maiden agrees. "Though I would also have a word with you, Sir Keiji. Outside, if possible."
"Of course," you nod, approving. "Felicia, I'll be right back."
"A-Alright."
Together, you and the healer step out into the night.
You have a question and one alone. "How bad is it?" You have to know, for better or worse. "Felicia is... very special to me."
The Shrine Maiden looks away from you, nervously running her fingers along the edges of her tunic. "Miss Felicia is lucky, but her situation remains far from ideal. Her left eye will recover with the help of spellcraft. But her right was punctured beyond repair."
Which explains its being gray and faded. "Meaning it's dead," you state grimly.
"Yes, I'm afraid so."
"Dammit all, that red-headed bitch," you grumble, recalling Selena.
"But not all hope is lost," the shrine maiden insists. "Miss Felicia responds very positively to magic, likely because of her origins as an Ice Tribe daughter."
You don't care for long-winded explanations right now. "Which means?"
"Provided her treatment is both regular and carried out by an artful practitioner, her sight will recover quickly."
You exhale deeply, honestly relieved. "Thank goodness." You bow for the shrine maiden. "I appreciate your help, and your honesty.
"Anytime, Sir Keiji." She bows in return. "And now, I must be on my way. I have many other patients to see." The lassie frowns. "Too many."
Waving off the healer, you return inside. Felicia is curled into a ball on the bed with her knees hugged to her chest, fast sleep.
Lucky escape or no, looking at the disfiguring scar trawled across her right eye makes your blood boil. "...I'll get even, for you, and for everyone," you pledge at a whisper. Fetching a blanket from the foot of your futon, you drape it over the sleeping maid.
You know what you have to do next. As a warrior. You'll take the fight to the Nohrians the first chance you get.
You were merciful today, and still you suffered for it.
Next time there will be no forgiveness.
To be continued...
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