The Second Replica
Having completed another step in his goal to demonstrate his science was the ultimate way to save innocent lives and to ensure those lives had the most joyful life as possible, Kiran knew he had to wait before the symptoms were visible in the test subjects.
Given that, he decided it was a good moment to take care of certain things he wanted to do.
His first desired stop was to visit the blacksmith.
He first entered his room. He closed the door and approached the closet as he began to take off his tactician clothes.
As he was getting dressed in his old blue earth outfit he felt more relaxed.
The only difference to the usual was that he left the blue sweatshirt behind since the weather had become warmer compared to how it was like to the first months he had been living in Askr.
Yet, he wasn't going to leave the Espada Maestra... he, however, didn't bring the silver sword with him.
He wouldn't need it anymore after all.
Having worn that while walking through the castle many times by that point, the soldiers didn't give looks at him anymore. Or better said, the lookings weren't as many as before. The difference this time was the fact that the people staring were the few ones that noticed a new detail on his left hand.
Without gloves, his triforce was perfectly visible.
He raised his hand a little in order to watch his mark. If they asked him where that thing came from he doubt anybody would believe if he told them the truth.
At least it wouldn't be as uncomfortable or dangerous as explaining why he had some quintessence hidden inside his lab.
He rubbed his chin as he took into consideration he also saw some quintessence in the bacterias he analyzed... an interesting detail to study deeper in the future.
As he kept advancing, he didn't notice a green-haired girl running at him.
"Hermano!"
At first, he frowned in confusion... then his lips became curved as he remembered he asked Nino to call him that way.
He turned around and hugged her tightly.
He enjoyed a lot caressing her hair.
"I thought you'd prefer to be spending time with your little boys or... that monk." Kiran narrowed his eyes as his face denoted signs of rage.
Nino, being the innocent adorable little girl she was, didn't find weird Kiran knew she had been talking to Arthur recently. "I wanted to hang out with you."
"Really?"
"Well, you said we're siblings now."
"Technically." he shrugged. "I guess I should get fun with my hermanita."
Of course, when Nino paid more attention to her hermano as both began walking...
She pointed at Kiran's left hand "Did you have that all along?"
"Um... no, It's something new."
"Oh." Luckily, she didn't ask for more details.
"So, what do you want to do?"
"Well... I'm not sure."
"If I remember well, I had ordered a bike for you. Let's go for it."
Nino's eyes brightened. "Oh! yes!"
Of course, once they were walking... or rather, pedaling through the town, Nino smiled a lot. Of course, bikes were more normal to see, but Kiran's clothes were still weird for the commoners. Both parked in front of the smithy.
Inside, Kiran made the rings jingle a few times. This time, however, it wasn't the blacksmith. Instead, the one who appeared was a young man. Nino, on the other hand, decided to take a look at the weapons on the walls.
"I guess Mr. Flint is not present right now."
"My father is not feeling very well, he may be sick but we're not perfectly sure."
"I hope he gets better... anyway, I'm Kiran, did he finish what I ordered or I should be back another day?"
"Kiran? let me see." The man began to search inside the boxes of requests.
At first, he showed him some swords or lances he couldn't recognize as the Espada Maestra Dorada (Golden Master Sword)... then Kiran facepalmed as he got an idea. He showed to him the back-side of his hand.
"It mush have engraved in the blade this symbol."
After that, it didn't take more than seven seconds when the sword was placed on the table.
The guard didn't look like wings this time, it was simply curved. The color, as the name suggested, was gold.
The red grip that, according to a theory, was supposed to be the Hero of Time's blood after his defeat against Ganon in the third timeline, was present. The pommel was silver and the blade itself was slightly different.
The new sheath's main color was also red but in a lower tone. It had two green gems, the rest of it wasn't very different compared to the other sheath.
Kiran's smile was just as big as when he hugged Nino as he placed the bag with the money and put the sword on his right side of his hip.
"Thanks a lot."
"You're welcome."
Nino's curiosity got interrupted when Kiran put a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want anything from here?"
Nino looked at the floor. "Llyod and Linus once tried to teach me to use a weapon but... I was just a failure..."
"I see... well, perhaps you don't necessarily need to buy a weapon. Do you have something that might come to be useful for a mage?"
The man scratched his hair. "For a mage... for a mage... mmh... well, I have this tiny shield. It can be held with the arm itself rather than the hand. It's not big protection but against some arrows, it may work."
Nino's eyes laid on the shield. It wasn't exactly cute but...
"Is that of your liking?" asked Kiran as he saw Nino grabbing it.
"Yes." she nodded and smiled.
"That would be then." Kiran pulled out more money from his bags. Both thanked and left the place.
Outside, Kiran helped Nino to put the shield on her back as they still have to travel using their bikes... or at least that would have been the idea if Kiran hadn't seen that, not that far from the smithy, was a jewelry store.
"Hermano?" Nino raised her eyebrow as Kiran stopped after pedaling so little... and entered the building.
Kiran had to admit, the gems they had would be pretty beautiful for a woman... he, however, was here for other things.
Nino didn't say anything else as she stood by Kiran's side... which gave a wrong idea to the owner when she appeared.
"Good morning, what can I do for you? getting a present for your girl?" she smiled.
Kiran grimaced while Nino rubbed and looked away. "She's not my girlfriend... I mean... she must not be older than eleven years old!"
Nino, however, responded something a little different as she seemed offended. "I'm already seventeen years old! hermano "
"Oh?..." Then he remembered something. "Well, what we consider a year is different... how long is the year in your continent?"
"304 days, with eight months of 38 days."
"304 days... not very different to Askr.. mmmh." he turned to see the woman at the other side of the counter. "Could you please wait for me a second?"
"It's okay."
Kiran began to calculate... 17 multiplied by 304 and divided by 365... 14.15... "Em, when is your birthday?"
"I gotta admit I'd hope we could share the birthday party... it's in a few days."
So she practically was 15 years old already... "That means... OH MY GOD! You're very small!"
This whole time he had thought Nino was a very young girl... instead, she was a dwarf!
Nino looked away, still not in good humor. "One day I will grow!"
This was the first time since they met that Nino wasn't enjoying when Kiran hugged her. "You're adorable, you're adorable, you're adorable!"
He quickly realized he shouldn't behave that way in public... he coughed as he let Nino stand on her own and turned back to the woman.
"Sorry about that... em... do you have rings?"
She raised her eyebrow. "Now you have changed your mind?"
"Eh... no... I want one for my index finger."
She nodded as she pulled a paper out from a drawer that helped to determine which size of a ring would be good for each person.
"Well, I have a good selection for you."
"I suppose you have, but I want a specific one that I highly doubt you have one even similar... not because it's very complex but rather because it's so simple that normally a noble wouldn't want it."
"Could you describe it to me?"
"It's a silver band, with a symbol of the infinite."
When Kiran drew, the woman rubbed her chin. "It's simple... but it must be beautiful in silver."
"It is."
"I'll see how much time it takes to get it crafted."
"Thanks."
When both had gone out of the store, Kiran sighed as he placed a hand on his forehead. "Are you sure you don't prefer to go with your kids?"
Nino, a little more relaxed, looked at him. "You don't want me here?"
"No! em... what I mean is... let's face it, we're not having such an amazing adventure or anything that would make it worth to follow me. I mean, we're just going from store to store and not doing anything that interesting."
"But I really want to spend time with my new hermano."
"The question is, is it fun? probably no... it's because they always left me alone and I don't know how people in this kind of world get fun... I mean, there are no videogames, there aren't any movies, there's no Internet... we should probably do something you want."
Nino hugged him. "It's fine, hermano... perhaps we should go to the library."
"You know how to read already?"
"Not much but... Lugh and Raigh helped me a lot."
"If that's what you want." He kissed her on the forehead and then, both made their way to the library.
Sharena felt a little sad. As much as she wanted to have fun with one of the heroes from the World Of Awakening... they weren't in the right humor to do that.
However, even if they were more than eager to talk to her, she knew she must hang out with a pretty special person this time.
She was looking for him, yet, she didn't know she wouldn't need to. In the very second she crossed a hall... her brother appeared from the corner, hugging her and, instantly, assaulting her armpits.
The laughs of the princess filled the corridor. As she tried to back off, the only thing she accomplished was to fall, making the things easier to Alfonse to tickle her without giving her a single moment to rest.
"Wanna give up?!" He smiled.
"YES! YES! YOU WIN! YOU WIIIIIIIIN!"
Eventually, Alfonse felt mercy for her and allowed her to stand up.
"Let me guess, I'm the one you wanted to see."
"Don't forget we are going to create new memories for us."
"That's true... but first... since you didn't find me because I was the one that went towards you... you'll have to find me!"
Alfonse turned around and quickly ran in the opposite direction as Sharena stayed there. She shook her head as she began to count.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine... ten!" She ran as fast as she could through the castle.
Her first attempts were to search behind any kind of columns, boxes, inside the rooms she would be allowed to be... where did he go?
It took her at least one hour and a half to notice her brother had managed to be following her, being behind her all along, she would have never found him... if she hadn't seen his face reflected in the armor of a soldier as she asked him if he had seen Alfonse.
"How you accomplish such a thing?!" demanded Sharena.
"It's not that hard, walking slowly and you pretty much stop making even a single sound... to you."
Sharena felt insulted, yet, she hugged him. "Have you thought how are we gonna tell this to mom?"
The prince gulped. It wasn't that the thought hadn't crossed his mind... it's just that he didn't want to think about it... if the bond he had with his sister suffered some damage... the one with his mother even more so. He gave a more sad smile as he spoke. "Not even sure how to begin..."
"Well, we'll figure it out then."
"But not right now... please..."
"Yeah, you're not ready... let's go to the town! we need to get something for Kiran! remember the little idiot is gonna have the best birthday party he ever dreamed about!"
Alfonse giggled as Sharena and he began to make their way to the town.
"So... when the... kingdoms of Askr... and Embla... were born... their..."
"Respective founders."
"Respective founders... were blessed... with the powers... of the dragons... of the same... names..."
"Your progress is decent." Kiran shrugged.
"It's not good enough... when you were half the age I am right now you were already beginning your second language." Nino sighed as she kept reading.
"True, but considering the differences between worlds, it's not a fair comparison." He caressed her hair... he still wondered what allowed these alien humans to have such an amazing variety of hair colors...
"Do you know only two of them?"
"Kinda... I mean, I desired to learn Japanese and French but I got summoned before that was possible... I got some notions of them but... they are pretty basic... it makes me wonder how this translator Breidablik gives works. What kind of magic does it use?"
"Who knows? magic is just that awesome." Nino smiled... while Kiran could only think: Yeah... so awesome that it seems fake...
He, of course, hadn't forgotten the fact he still had his doubts... he hadn't found any kind of crack in the environment. Something that, given the weird nature of the place, could perhaps lead him to a crystal he should destroy...
It's not like he didn't have this kind of problem back home. Even some of his science books played with the idea of everything being a simulation... yet... imagining Nino might be just a product of his mind... or a computer or anything!... just felt so wrong... ah, yeah, and all the others, too.
"It is... I think I should go to train." Kiran commented.
"Perhaps I would do the same, Lilina and I wanted to add some new spells to our collection... before I go... again, thanks hermano."
"Hey, I'm partially rich, if you want something... just ask for it."
They hugged each other the last time. Then both took different ways...
Kiran didn't advance much though... as a wind spell threw him against a wall.
"GGGrrrrh... grrrrhh... esa dolió bien culero... (That was painful as hell...)"
When he noticed who was standing in front of him... the green hair and black mage clothes told the whole story.
"Raigh?... what the fuck is wrong with you?!"
"That's the same question I have for you, asshole!" his wind magic flowed around his hand... kinda like the Rasegan. "Confess... what are your intentions with my mother!"
"I thought you didn't consider her your mother, pendejo." Kiran growled as he quickly placed his right hand on the Espada Maestra Dorada, prepared to slash in case the moment arrived.
"Shut up... giving her presents, kissing her... just tell me what you want and perhaps I won't curse you."
"You know" Kiran scratched his hair "Normally hearing that you're going to curse me wouldn't have scared me... but given the existence of "magic" in this universe... it does not sound as stupid as it would back home... but also, let's be realistic, whatever shit I tell you is not gonna make any difference. They would be only stupid, empty and simple words against facts."
"... At least you're not as retarded as other motherfuckers I've met."
"Do you kiss your mom with that tongue?"
"Did you kiss your own one with yours?"
Kiran smiled even more and laughed. "I was expecting that answer, I just wanted to hear it actually... you're lucky I sent Kagero to watch that monk, otherwise you would have a dagger about to cross your head from back to front."
Raigh frowned. "So... you don't trust him too..."
"Perhaps by different reasons to you, I don't know, but yes..." he shrugged.
"... Is this the part where you tell me we're not so different?..."
Kiran laughed as if the world ended tomorrow. His smile resembled more to a bastard than anything else. "Well, heck! yes! I mean, I'm a scientist doing weird, questionable experiments while my friends are looking at other places. You're a dark mage which, regardless of any kind of moral code it's followed here, makes everybody not trust you because your magic is intrinsically creepy... wanna see the compound I extracted from corpses since the last battles?"
Raigh sent his magic to... the air... and... smiled like a bastard. "Sounds good."
Kiran stood up. "You're gonna love it. Once I show you all the creepy shit I know and can do, you're gonna want to teamwork with me. That's for sure."
Right now, in the moments I'm writing this chapter they let us know Altina is now part of the FEH family... and she doing dual-wielding is just perfect. I mean, I kinda laugh at the fact her swords' auras are blue and golden while Kiran's Espadas Maestras are... well, blue and golden so... shit XD (I mean, I know it might be purple in some games, but in Wind Waker it was totally blue and Kiran preferred the blue so...). While it's true that the Master Sword "rival" from FE is technically speaking the Falchion... I had already imagined what is gonna happen when Ragnell or Alondite make contact with both Master Swords.
Speaking of that... a little minor spoiler... Ike is not the strongest hero here!... well, it's kinda obvious because of Altina but she's not gonna appear in my fic. What I mean is that there's a certain hero Alfonse hasn't heard about that, due to certain power he has, can beat Ike. That's everything I'm gonna say.
Of course, in order to keep the continuity, I couldn't leave behind the siblings of Askr. I decided to leave Robin a little out by the moment, we already had many chapters with her.
I suppose that when you read Nino saying she's 17 years old your minds kinda exploded. Let's remember that the year is different for them. Actually, I had this planned since the very moment Kiran calculated his Askarian age (he's barely an adult now since he became 18 but in Askr he's considered as 22 years old). Remember how Lyndis was supposed to be fifteen in Japan but they made her eighteen in the rest of the world? well, let's do some math stuff.
18 x 304/365= 14.9, pretty much 15
The calendars in Elibe might be a little different but if they based it in the constellations and the sun the same way we do, then the variety would be tiny.
Now in Nino's case, as we saw before it's like this:
17 x 304/365= 14
Because yeah, in the Japanese version Lyn is just a year older than Nino... given the fact different women develop differently, I don't see weird that Lyn already begins to look like a Milf.
This way we could create an "in-canon" reason for this detail. In a way, I also used it to mock to the loli-style design they gave to Nino, I mean, in her artworks from FE7 she actually looks 14 years old.
As Gordin would say: Five points to they who discovered this and they have an idea of what ring Kiran wants.
Anyway... time to answer reviews:
Blexan22:
That's the thing with this kind of character.
Let's say Kiran has, by the moment, 4 basic personalities.
Kiran: The scientist one that enjoys learning.
Kira: The sadistic side that enjoys making criminals suffer.
Luis: The one that enjoys loving his friends.
Luiz: The depressive and nihilistic side.
And no, thanks to you for telling me that.
There's another guy named Broko that explained better a concept I had wrong but I'll explain it another day. Thanks to him, too.
