Lady in Waiting

By psychored1911

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem Awakening or Fire Emblem Fates

Chapter 6: Sisters

As the Nohrian rooster crowed, Marth groaned. Morning had come despite the darkness.

She craned her head up from her pillow, finding the girl from that earlier dream of hers hovering over her with a cheeky grin.

"Whatcha doing?" Said the girl, leaning close enough that her nose was nearly touching Marth's.

"You're not confined to my dreams, it seems…"

The girl seemed disappointed. "Not happy to see me?"

"You're… not real." Marth turned away from the 'girl', refusing to look the figment of her mind in the eye. "You shouldn't even be… talking yet…"

"And you know that... why?"

"I've been counting. The thought of you never truly leaves my mind." Marth sat up and picked up her swords leaning against the bedframe, attaching the Falchion to her hip holster and slung the steel estoc to her back-

"Someone's looking to go home."

Marth snapped towards the girl, who was sitting atop the desk, and looking over the books she left out.

"What happened?" The girl asked with a grin. "What made you desire to back to Ylisse?"

Marth clicked her tongue. "It was a mistake…"

"What was-"

"Coming here was a mistake, alright?!" Marth cursed out, getting in the girl's face. "Trying to make a life here, doing my best to put a smile on my face like there's not a care in the world only for me to scream and cry into a pillow. I lost my husband, I left my family, I abandoned… and the worst part…" She grit her teeth as tears started falling from her eyes. "I keep these making mistakes… there's no way for me to take them back… There's no way I can go back. I don't deserve to go back…"

"Can't or won't?" The girl asked cheekily.

"I can't…" Marth cried, dropping her head. "This… damned place… it's not on any map I've ever seen. And the ones from this country have never even heard of Ylisse. So I must also keep my mouth shut about it before I sound more like a madwoman than I already am!"

"Never say never…" The girl leaned forward with a grin. "If the answer isn't so straightforward, start thinking outside the box."

Marth felt her blood run cold as she glared daggers into the girl. "Don't you dare quote Robin to-"

"Really? I think it's rather fitting." The girl snorted, just as Marth's hand reached for her blade. "They're still one aspect about this you haven't checked~! If you ever need me, just go back to the bottle with all your other regrets~!"

And just like that, the girl disappeared, gone with a blink of an eye. Marth could only rub her eyes with a groan before glancing at the bottle of lager sitting on her desk.

"...That's more than enough for one evening, I guess…"

Elise was at a loss. Her attempts to get to know Marth the other night fell completely flat, and now, Marth seemed to be ignoring her. She didn't know what went wrong. How was she supposed to know something as simple as offering her cookies would bring up horrible memories?!

So, now, here she was, slumped over a table in the kitchen, groaning into the tablecloth as the rest of the staff were finishing their morning duties… which she also had to do...

Lilith, clearly concerned for the Princess, set down the pot she was holding and approached. "Lady Elise, are you alright?"

"Yeah, sure…" Elise muttered. "Just peachy."

Cassita, who had been preparing tea, looked over towards the two, picking up the whistling kettle and patting her successor on the shoulder. "Lilith, mind getting us some cups?"

"Yes, of course."

As Lilith headed to the cupboard, Cassita set the kettle down and took a seat next to Elise, and comforted her former charge. "Let me guess, you pushed Marth too hard and now she's avoiding you."

Elise grunted in affirmation. "...Was it really that obvious?"

"Quite." Cassita nodded.

The princess popped her head out. "I just wanted to let her open up to me so I could help her. And now she's avoiding me. What should I do?"

"You're not going to resolve her problems in a single day, I'll tell you that," Cassita told her as Lilith set the cups on the table and began pouring tea for the three of them. "Nor are you going to give up after a small attempt has gone wrong. Heck, do ya' think Lilith here was all sunshine and rainbows back when we first found her?"

Elise popped her head up, curious. "What do you mean? She's as sweet as the day we met. She worked here for years and was made Corrin's head maid due to years of service."

"True, but that's not the full story." Lilith mentioned, gently sitting down herself and taking a sip of the tea. "According to Miss Cassita, when they first found me, I was more or less, how do you say… feral."

This was news to Elise, finding it hard to believe the gentle and caring head maid as some half-mad kid in the wild. "Really?!"

"Yep, you'd think she was more of an animal than a poor young'un." Had to drag 'er back to civilization with rope 'n everything." Cassita said with a shrug. "She would barely eat or drink a thing, and she tried bitin' at anyone who came close. While we sanded out her rougher edges with time, so to speak, it still took months just to get to 'er to sump'n resembling civilized. But we, Lord Corrin especially, did not give up on 'er. And now, look at 'er!"

Lilith smiled reassuringly at the princess. "Healing takes time, milady. Do not be disheartened if you stumble along the way. Or if she does."

Elise took a long, contemplative sip of her tea, before setting the cup down and rising to her feet. "You're right. I am a proud Princess of Nohr, and we Nohrians don't know the meaning of giving up! I don't care if it takes months, or even years; I will get Marth back to her prime, no matter what!"

It was quite a noble declaration, and if it was under different circumstances, she would've garnered applause or adoration. But alas, she was in a kitchen, and all her words really did was draw the bemused (but mostly confused) eyes of the kitchen staff within earshot.

Lilith cleared her throat, presumably to save face for Elise, and addressed the staff with an annoyed glare. "I didn't tell you all to take a break. Get back to work."

With a few grumbles, soon the kitchen was bustling enough that there was no time for Elise to focus on her problems with Marth. There was only work to do, and somehow, that was soothing.

A bit over two weeks ago…

A redheaded young woman endlessly paced back and forth throughout their safehouse in Nestra, to the annoyance of her younger brother, who was casually peeling himself an apple with a knife. Sitting in the corner were their retainers, playing a game of cards while blissfully unaware of their lords' worries.

"She's not gonna be here-"

"Yes, she will. Cut it out, Takumi." Hinoka snapped, annoyed with her little brother's constant complaining.

Takumi rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "It's been more than a week and a half. She should have been back by now."

"Not. Helping."

"Maybe she went back to her own family…"

Now that was a low blow. Reaching her critical point, Hinoka stomped over to him, fed up with his dismissive tone. "We're her family, Takumi!"

"Then what do you think happened to her!?" He snapped back. "For all we know, she could be stuck in a cell or strung up on a-"

"Strung up on what?"

Hinoka sighed in relief while Takumi rolled his eyes as the newcomer entered the safehouse, oblivious to their argument.

"What did I miss?" She asked obliviously as she brushed her silver-blue hair aside.

"Nothing. Nothing at all, Azura." Hinoka walked over and gave her a hug. "How was it? You got what you came for?"

Azura nodded. "I got even more than that. Look at this."

She snapped her fingers, and one by one, her allies, the ninjas Kaze and Saizo, the Flame Tribeswoman Rinkah, filed in, carrying a bunch of files, weapons, blueprints, etc. with them, dumping them all out on the table.

Azura puffed out her chest with pride. "We grabbed all of this right from under their noses, and all the Nohrians will think that their precious border armory burned to the ground."

Takumi blinked, clearly impressed. Hinoka was… a bit less so, and her mouth went agape with dread. "You what-"

"I've never been prouder to consider you family!"

The next thing any of them knew, Takumi suddenly hugged the blue-haired songstress, startling her… as well as everyone within the room. The retainers in the corner stopped their card game just to stare bewildered at Takumi's sudden display of affection.

Hinoka was the most confused of them all, staring at her little brother and sister with wide eyes. Well, her brother's sudden shift in tone would normally be so startling, but something Azura said seemed more immediately troubling. "Wait, you did what to the border armory?"

"It was on fire, so we looted everything that wasn't bolted down." Azura stated bluntly, eyeing the distant little brother suddenly showing her affection. "And not to go off-topic, but who are you and what have you done with Takumi?"

Takumi, realizing what he had just done, immediately released Azura and backed up, clearly embarrassed, coughing into his arm to hide the redness on his face. "S-So, you said you burned down the armory?"

Azura giggled as she gently pushed Takumi off her, with the latter sputtering and coughing into his arm to hide the redness in his cheeks. "Well, not me, myself. It was supposed to be a small distraction, but one thing led to another, the plan evolved with their help, and the next thing we knew, the whole place went ablaze."

"...And you're certain you weren't caught?"

Azura shrugged. "Well, I have faith in Kaze and Kagero's abilities, so there should be little to worry about."

"Come to think of it, where is Kagero?" Takumi asked upon regaining his composure.

"Oh, she's watching over our guests. They're tired, so they went to get some rest; Kagero seems to be quite fond of them in the short time they've known each other. I told you we could trust them." Azura answered.

"...I like them too." Kaze awkwardly raised his hand.

"Kaze likes them too." Azura affirmed, pointing at the green-haired ninja matter-of-factly.

Takumi rolled his eyes. "The less I need to think of them, the better. What do you have?"

"Where do you want to start? We have weapon plans, some maps, important-looking letters…." Azura plucked one particular document out of the pile and opened it up. "This one was quite interesting; it says here it's some sort of anti-armor weapon that they were planning."

Takumi looked over it with a scrutinizing eye. "...I have no idea what they were planning with this ridiculous-looking thing."

Hinoka glanced at the document curiously. "...It looks like some sort of… iron tube bolted onto the latter half of a crossbow…"

"It doesn't seem like it's gotten past the development stage, though." Azura pointed at one excerpt from the letter and read it aloud, "'Due to the lack of resources required to utilize this device, production of this experimental weapon is highly unrecommended at this time.'"

"Whatever, this thing looks unreliable anyway." Takumi said dismissively. "What else do you have?" Takumi went over the pile, callously turning over papers he found uninteresting. "Currently in active development?" The longer he examined the document, the heavier his breathing got and his hands started to tremble. "What the heck?"

Hinoka walked over to him. "What are you looking at?" She peeked over his shoulder to see what she could only call a crime against nature. "What is that… Thing…?"

Present...

Felicia entered the courtyard, a tray full of tea and snacks in hand. She overheard that Lord Corrin was training with Marth over here and wanted to give him her support in any way he could-

"Whoawhoawhoa?!"

…Unfortunately, she lost her balance. Again.

However, before Felicia could fall on her face and spill the contents of her tray (for the umpteenth time that week), Odin, who happened to be nearby, caught her by the collar in one hand, and her tray in the other before pulling her back upright.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks Odin." Felicia said as she straightened herself out. "Is Lord Corrin here? I was hoping to bring him some refreshments."

"Of course he is!" Odin beamed, gesturing to just beyond Felicia's field of view. "Lord Corrin is currently being trained by Marth herself-"

"Uwaaaah?!"

Before Felicia could even blink, she realized the sound she had just heard was coming from Lord Corrin himself as he flew into view in a panic, slamming face-first into the cold dirt ground as Marth slowly stalked her way over like a disheartened predator, sad her prey hadn't given much of a fight. Her dual bronze swords peeked out from under her arms, glinting in the light as she made her approach, shaking her head disappointedly.

"Is that all a Prince of Nohr has? Or are you ready for more?" Marth asked in an almost mocking manner before tossing one of the bronze swords, presumably the one he was using before being thrown into the air, right by his head.

"Nrgh," Corrin groaned, picking up his sword and pushing himself back to his feet, shaken, but not broken. "I didn't hear a bell…"

"Good, try again." Marth gestured for him to come at her.

With a roar, Corrin raised his sword and leaped forward with his sword overhead. Marth ducked under him and caught him by the belt, once again throwing him across the courtyard and into an unwitting Arthur.

"Aah?!"

"Oof?!"

"Sorry, Arthur."

Felicia winced as Corrin hit the ground face-first a second time. "Should… should we ask Marth to take it easier on Lord Corrin?"

"This is easier on Lord Corrin." Odin said with a straight face. "Believe me, she was much harsher when she was training me and the others. She's not throwing rocks at him, so there's that."

Felicia stared at Odin incredulously, then at Marth, who was now chasing a now fleeing Corrin, swatting at his butt whenever she got within striking distance. "...Really?"

While Felicia was looking at the scene in horror and slight amusement, Odin sighed in almost happy reminiscence. "Ah, I remember when she trained me like that!"

Felicia whipped her head towards Odin incredulously. "And you enjoyed it?!"

"Oh, absolutely not!" Odin clarified. "I would rather have a dragon come after my throat every evening for the rest of my life than ever go through that ever again! I did learn how to run faster though. And believe me, such a simple skill was quite necessary when we were growing up-"

"Odin," Marth called out to him, standing above a defeated, unconscious, and sore-butted Corrin. "You're tagging out for Lord Corrin. Show me your skills have not deteriorated after all this time."

"...What?" Odin whimpered.

"Did I stutter? Or has your 'sword-hand' finally dulled beyond repair?" Marth taunted, pointing her bronze sword at her former pupil.

Odin gulped as he walked over and picked up Corrin's discarded bronze sword while Felicia and Arthur carried the unconscious Lord Corrin out of the way. Once Lord Corrin was safely out of danger, Odin took a deep breath and took a stance, baring his teeth and staring at Marth with grim determination. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOHH! My sword-hand trembles! It has long missed the feeling of a blade within its grasp-"

"Ah, so you have been slacking off." Marth narrowed her eyes, flourishing her own blade. "No matter, I'll be sure to correct such behavior out of you in short order."

"Wait, wait?"

"En Garde!"

"Oh, Gods?!"

As the two clashed, Felicia let the unconscious Corrin lay on her lap while Arthur sat down beside them.

"Huh, I didn't even know Odin could use a sword." Arthur commented.

"Get over here, Sir Arthur! I'm training you too!"

"...What?" He whimpered.

A bit over two weeks ago…

"Catria."

"Shh!" Kagero, the ninja, perhaps the quietest one in the room under normal circumstances (and certainly was such before she approached her new friend), suddenly found herself getting shushed by the boisterous, normally-the-loudest-in-the-room blue-haired pegasus rider sitting by the candlelit desk.

Catria made a not-so-subtle nudge towards her slumbering companions and whispered. "Don't say anything! They're asleep."

"Right, sorry." Kagero apologized in a hushed tone. "Let's talk outside."

Catria nodded and the two walked out of the room, with Catria ever so gently closing the door behind her, and then the two of them walking a good distance away for good measure, before joining her new friend with a pep in her step. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to talk some more, it's not every day people from our kingdom meet outsiders."

"Of course, ask away!" Catria beamed.

Kagero's eyes narrowed as she asked, "So, is it a part of your culture to change your name?"

Catria's smile faded. "You really found out about it that quickly, huh?"

"Well, you weren't fooling anyone by calling yourself 'Catria'. You still hesitate when someone calls for you. Is it a cultural thing or is this some sort of strategy?"

"It's a tactic, not a strategy." Catria corrected. "The plan was if things went bad, we would escape from you finding us by changing our names and you'd have trouble finding us."

"I don't think we would have tried to hunt you down; you haven't done anything wrong."

"Do you not remember what Takumi said to my face when he first saw us?"

"Yes, it takes Lord Takumi time to… get used to others. Especially those from outside Hoshido."

"Yeah, I got that impression after the whole 'Off with the foreign barbarian heads' spiel." Catria snickered. "I'd have actually been afraid if it weren't for him clearly trying his hardest to make his voice deep and menacing. Honestly, it just sounded rather stupid and forced."

Kagero chortled at the statement, covering her face, trying her hardest to suppress the sudden urge to laugh. "*cough* Erm, yes, Lord Takumi does have a flair for the dramatic sometimes. I believe he feels the need to project an image of strength that befits a Prince of Hoshido, one that models the Royals of Old."

"Lemme guess, such 'Royals of Old' were difficult to work with, especially with those from other lands?" Catria guessed.

"...The Kings that preceded King Sumeragi pursued a path of isolationism with other nations in times past." Kagero answered reluctantly. "...And admittedly, such policies have made it rather difficult to deal with other nations… and people from other countries."

"Like Lady Azura?"

"...He's quite prickly with her, yes." Kagero admitted. "He's barely shown any affection to Azura for that same reason."

"About that… What's Lady Azura's story?" Catria asked. "If she's not from Hoshido, where's she from? And why'd Queen Mikoto adopt her?"

"...I believe that's something you should ask them yourself." Kagero said slowly. "She trusts you enough, for the brief time you've known her, more than most people she's met."

"Why's that?"

"Because most others in this kingdom don't like her either." Kagero answered with a slight tinge of distaste. "All because of her non-Hoshidan heritage."

Catria furrowed her brows. "That's a little harsh. She's a bit distant, but I think she's a total sweetheart. Kinda reminds me of my older sister, actually."

"Your sister sounds like a person of great honor if she is anything like Azura. I truly hope you find her in our country." Kagero said sincerely, recalling the likely embellished tales Catria regaled her with of her supposedly invincible elder sister that chased away the dark with a sacred heirloom sword.

Catria snorted. "Yeah, it's not like she'd go to that dark and depressing kingdom across the canyon or anything. Heck, I'd think going there would just drudge up more bad memories."

"Kagero, Catria."

The next thing they knew, Kaze appeared right next to the two.

Catria blinked. "How long were you-"

"Long enough," Kaze stated, "Where are the others?"

"Asleep." Kagero answered for Catria. "What's going on?"

"Lady Hinoka and Lady Azura are calling for you. It's urgent."

"Ugh… my arms are so sore…" Elise complained, massaging her aching muscles. "Man, I can't believe you all do this sort of thing all day."

Effie shrugged, munching on a loaf of bread she swiped from the kitchen. "I mean, it could be worse. I hear Sir Gunter is giving Lord Leo the 'Jakob Experience' right about now."

Elise paused, recalling how Gunter criticized Jakob on a constant basis while working the latter to the bone… and then picturing Leo in the same shoes, facing the same treatment. She hissed out a wince. "...Yeah, you know what, I think I have it a bit easier compared to my brother. Thank the Gods, Lilith doesn't have a cruel bone in her body."

The two rounded the corner towards the main courtyard when-

"Whoa!"

"What the?!"

Upon arriving, they found Arthur and Odin on the ground, beaten, bruised, and very much hurt, sprawled all over the ground while an unconscious Corrin was resting on Felicia's lap.

Felicia, who didn't seem as concerned as she should've been, waved them over, "Oh, Lady Elise, Effie. Marth just went to relax."

"Are those two… alive?" Effie hesitantly asked as she cautiously prodded Arthur with her foot.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, they're still mostly intact, I'd say. " Felicia told her, before showing off her faded and cure staff before setting it aside. "I would've tended to them myself, but my staff wore out on Lord Corrin here."

"What happened here?"

"Marth's training sessions happened." Arthur weakly whimpered, startling Effie as he slowly pushed himself back upright and looked at his fellow victim. "Odin, did we offend her somehow? We outnumbered her two to one, but it felt like I was fighting an army by myself."

Odin groaned, barely able to crane his neck towards his heroic companion, "I hate to break it to you, my dear friend… but she was still holding back."

"What!?" Effie exclaimed in Arthur's place. "You call this holding back?!"

Elise winced as she pulled out her own cure staff and waved it over Arthur, healing the heroic retainer. "Jeez. If this is her while hungover, I'd hate to see her fight sober."

"She was hungover?!" Effie exclaimed again.

"Yeah, I could smell her breath when we were clashing… I'm not completely sure." Odin admitted as Elise healed him right up. "Might explain why she was in a foul mood though."

A pang of guilt stabbed into Elise's heart at the comment.

"Ugh… this girl…" Effie sighed into her palms. "I'm starting to question Prince Xander's decision to knight her."

Odin seemed offended at the remark. "If she can take me, Selena, and Laslow on while drunk and hungover, she can certainly take on me and Lord Luckless over here under the same conditions. No offense, Arthur."

"None taken, Odin." Arthur said, taking the nickname with stride. "Though, my station would probably have me called Sir Luckless rather than as a Lord."

Elise rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'm gonna track down Marth. But first…"

She scampered over to Felicia and Corrin-

"Uh, can I help you-"

*wham*

"Gyaah?!"

And kicked Corrin in the shin, her brother's eyes popping wide as he jolted upright.

"Aha! So you were conscious!" Elise pointed at him accusingly.

"No, I am awake because you kicked me!" He groaned, as he got to his feet (well, foot, he was hopping on the one foot now), scratching his head groggily.

Elise grinned mischievously. "So you weren't pretending so you could get spoiled by Felicia?"

Corrin rolled his eyes. "Please, if I wanted to be spoiled by Felicia, don't you think I would've wanted to be awake for it?"

Elise grinned. Corrin blushed, as did Felicia.

"I-I mean… shut up!"

Elise left her older brother to deal with the two retainers still recovering from their recent training, which she was certain was just how Marth excused being able to give her pupils a thorough beating.

"Lord Corrin, please tell me you didn't just leave us to her wrath…"

The winded trio were bewildered as their counterpart stood there, not even the slightest bit winded as she almost absentmindedly twirled the wooden sword in her hand, staring at them with almost marked disinterest.

"Owain, Severa, Inigo." Lucina said tersely, "There are three of you and one of me. Surely you could have done better than that."

"Yeah, well we weren't born with your freakish strength!" Severa growled. "If we had fancy sword training like you did, I'd think the odds would be even!"

"That's what we're doing, Severa. You three are the only ones in our lot who use swords, so it stands to reason that I must push you three harder than the others." Lucina sighed. "We've been through hordes of Risen and yet you still have trouble fighting me, after all these years…"

Inigo put his hand on the shoulder of the increasingly frustrated Severa. "Just be happy she isn't fighting us when she's pissed."

Owain chuckled. "My goodness, how much worse would that be when she's out for blood?"

"You realize I can still hear you, right?"

Owain gulped as Lucina's eyes focused on him in particular as she took a stance.

"Maybe you guys need a refresher."

Inigo perked up, as the other two looked to find the other girl with blue hair marched forward with a surprising lack of clumsiness.

"Heya, sis! Let me take a crack at ya!" Cynthia winked at them.

"Heh, be my guest." Lucina smiled, flourishing the training sword and pointing it at her.

"I'll be more than happy to help you out." Inigo offered.

Severa just swatted the back of his head in response. "Please, you just want to look up her skirt."

"W-What?!"

Cynthia blushed, dropping her lance and pulling down the edges of her pegasus knight uniform down, turning her head away from Inigo with puffed cheeks.

Inigo's jaw dropped and turned to Selena, scandalized. "That's slander, slander I say! I have more than enough honor within me to-"

"Yeah, whatever." Severa waved him off dismissively as she patted Cynthia on the back. "Try not to suck. Got it?"

Cynthia grinned, ignoring Selena's jab and Inigo's pathetic attempts to defend herself. "Gladly. Watch and learn, fellas! For today, you shall see how a true hero fights!" Cynthia proudly declared, "Step one of how to properly fight Lucina: always have a buddy! *WHISTLE*" Hearing Cynthia's call, her pegasus emerged from the sky, swooping in as Cynthia jumped on its back.

"Step two: Have a bunch of spears to throw at her from a distance so she can't just swing a sword at you!" She casually whipped out a pair of blunted throwing spears from the saddle holster and put one in each hand. "Hope you're ready!"

She threw the two spears at her sister. The first missed as Lucina leaned back just far enough for it to barely graze her. The second one was casually parried out of the way.

"Step three: Run! Run far away from her, so she can't get you with any rocks!" She yelled as her pegasus flew in the other direction, far away from Lucina and the others.

This part actually seemed to take Lucina aback, and she turned to the others in confusion. "What do you mean run away!? Get back here!" She yelled as she ran after her.

"And get in the range of your sword? I think not, dear villain!" She prepared two more spears to throw.

"Who are you calling a villain!?"

The three of them looked on in amusement as their friend who was giving them so much trouble earlier was getting flustered by her own sister who was literally flying circles over her.

"And (I really shouldn't be saying this out loud, but a hero always declares their intentions) Step four: hope she doesn't have a bow-"

Lucina perked up at her sister's comment. "Oh, right." She planted her wooden sword into the dirt and walked over to the huddled-over Noire, tilting her head out of the way of Cynthia's incoming training spears before crouching over to the troubled archer with her hand outstretched. "May I borrow that?"

"S-Sure!" Noire all but threw her bow into Lucina's waiting hands, if only to sooner avoid getting caught in the crossfire of Cynthia's volley of throwing spears.

With a smile, she plucked one of the blunt training spears that were so generously left behind by Cynthia and nocked it as if it were a giant arrow.

"You will not stop me!"

With a victorious smirk, Lucina loosed her 'arrow' and it went flying towards the vulnerable pegasus knight above.

"Aw! Me and my big-!"

Marth blinked, having been caught up in old memories again.

"I miss her too."

It was simpler back then, after they all had reunited with their parents and joined them in their war against Valm. Despite being caught in the middle of such a war, such conditions were considered relaxing, luxurious even, compared to the miserable future that they had endured. And such happier times would be cherished by her no matter what.

…Wait, what was she doing again?

Oh, yes. A healer.

After a few minutes of trying (and failing) to find another healer to attend to Arthur and Odin, Marth took a break for a bit, spotting a well by the construction site by the wine cellar. She didn't exactly know what they were building over there, but it was hardly her concern at the moment.

After drawing herself up a bucket from the well, Marth splashed water from the bucket on her face, wiping herself clean with it.

"Perhaps I should hold back even further next time." Marth said to herself. "Ow- Odin's skills with the sword have deteriorated since I've last seen him. But never in my life have I expected him to take up magic of all things."

She stared at the water, waiting for it to calm down. "They're okay. They weren't badly injured. It's just training. I didn't hurt them too badly."

"You're going to hurt them."

"...Well, I didn't cause anything a good staff would-" Marth froze. "...Who said that?"

Cautiously, she drew her sword, setting the bucket down before searching for whoever called out to her.

While she searched for the perpetrator, her eyes flickered, barely a moment, into her reflection in the bucket's water.

Except it wasn't her own reflection that looked back at her, but a pair of glowing red eyes and a sinister grin.

"YOU?!"

Startled, she batted the bucket back into the well, stumbling onto her butt as those red eyes emerged from the well.

"N-No… you can't be real…"

Marth found her hand shakily grasping her sword as the red eyes glowed, the shadows surrounding them taking shape, transforming, changing, as bone, then viscera, and finally skin and cloth returned to one, taking the form of her late, beloved husband.

But those eyes.

Those damned, red eyes. The sinister grin, the sadistic sneer. The pure hate that exuded from his form.

"N-No…" Marth shivered, backing away from the monster that stole the love of her life away from her. "N-No, you can't be real… Why don't you ever just go away?!"

The spectre ignored her, and laughed in his voice, as if to taunt her more.

"Your old friends finally found a new place to call home. Your new friends have only been good to you because they pity you. It's only a matter of time before you become more than a burden for everyone surrounding you."

"T-That's not true-"

"You did cruel things to those you love."

"I-I..."

"You know what you did to him."

"I wasn't-"

"You burdened your family."

"I didn't mean to-"

"You abandoned the one you loved the most."

"SHUT UP!"

"You can run and hide as far as you want, it will never mean you can escape what you know you are. A monster."

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

"...Marth?"

Marth whipped her head up. The spectre was gone as Elise stood in his place.

"M-Marth? Are you alright?" Elise asked worriedly. "You've been kinda… talking to yourself for a bit…"

"I-I'm fine, milady." Marth lied before remembering. "Oh, yes, before I forget-"

"I already checked out Arthur and Odin," Elise finished for her.

"Ah. Right. Excuse me, then."

Marth made to leave only for Elise to catch her by the sleeve. "You don't look fine, Marth. You know you can talk to me if you need to vent, right?"

"I'm very much fine, Lady Elise." Marth attempted to lightly tug her arm free to no avail.

"The last few minutes say otherwise, Marth." Elise insisted, "Why don't you take a moment to tell me about it."

"...I'm fine…"

Elise pulled harder. "Marth, does your behavior have something to do with Robin?"

"...Marth paused

Marth glared at Elise, almost murderously.

But Elise, despite her instincts screaming at her to run away, persisted. "Look, I know your husband passed away, and that his death is haunting you, but you can't live like this."

"You don't get it." Marth pulled her arm more violently.

Elise refused to let go. "Why don't you tell me then?"

"BECAUSE IT'S ALL MY FAULT THAT HE'S DEAD!"

Elise recoiled from the sudden outburst. "What?"

"I can't sleep! I can't eat! I can't do anything without the image of my own husband constantly haunting me! Because everything leading up to his death was all! My! FAULT!"

Rage filled tears poured out of her eyes as she started clinging onto Elise as if her life depended on it.

"I've made so many mistakes… His death won't leave my mind... I-I… I left everything I've ever loved... and it still wasn't enough… and I don't know how much more of this I can take…"

Marth began to cry, falling to her knees as she clung onto Elise for dear life.

"But still, *sob*... I don't want to *sob* move on…" she sobbed into Elise's chest. "If I move on *sob*, then he will be lost to me forever… I can't do that, *sob*... I've already lost him, but I can't give up our memories, *sob* I can't let myself…

Elise barely moved a muscle, except to wrap her arms around Marth and provide her the hug she sorely needed. She didn't even know where to start with fixing or helping her but wasn't about to let that stop her.

"Your family and friends didn't give up on you, I won't give up on you either."

A/N: Sorry for the delay. We just happened to be busy these past few months and weren't able to get any free time in a while. Thank you for sticking around to the end! Another props to SK for doing the beta read and edit for me.

So, anyways we thought it was weird that Azura never had any friends or retainers of her own, despite technically being Hoshidan Royalty now. That's where "Catria" comes in. I don't have to explain who that is, right? It should be a bit too obvious in my opinion. And she won't be the last new retainer for Azura, that's for sure.

Anyways, that's all for now. Please review!