"Fall back!"
A panicked shout rose from the knights. Like a wave of armor, the seventeen of them remaining scrambled away from the bright red flames splattered over the road. Against magic, their armor would offer little protection, and it showed from the way they pushed back, forcing her, Emmeryn, and the nobleman away as well amidst a storm of hands and elbows.
"Mage!" someone yelled.
Lucina didn't think that needed saying, not as she watched another Elfire spell arc through the air and crash into their ranks. Flames scorched against their armor. As the front line stumbled, Tomas' knights were quick to charge in.
Lances and shields flew left and right. Blades scraped against plates of heavy armor with a horrible screech. Splotches of red marked steel spearheads whenever they found their mark, and as the Royal Guard finally pulled away, among the dead, Lucina caught a glimpse of another dead guardsman among the corpses.
Only sixteen remained. Emmeryn was going to lose.
Lucina didn't have to be as sharp as Uncle Robin to realize that. Only the best knights made it into the Royal Guard, that she had no doubts about, but the Redwind knights held the advantage of sheer numbers. Out here on the streets, they would be whittled down one by one until they were too tired to defend themselves.
Being badly outnumbered was nothing she hadn't faced before, but there wasn't much she could do, tied up as she was.
"Untie me."
"What?" Emmeryn's gaze snapped onto her, absolutely appalled by the suggestion.
Lucina met her eyes, unwavering in the face of Emmeryn's burning glare. She'd hate the idea, Lucina knew, but amidst that fear, she caught that same flicker of fear and panic she'd seen down in the dungeon.
"I'm–" Lucina hissed as another Elfire spell tore into the road, the force of the blast blowing a gust through the line of knights. "I'm no stranger to uphill battles," she said. "Set me free, and I'll gladly join your side."
"No," Emmeryn said, clenching her fists. "No! I don't need your help!"
Lucina's eye narrowed. Leaning as far as her bonds allowed her to, Lucina looked Emmeryn in the eye. "You're badly outnumbered and outmatched, and you don't have a clue what to do."
"I... I do!"
"Do you?"
"Yeah!" Emmeryn's shoulders lifted, and she rose to the challenge. "Tomas! He taught me all about it! War and stuff."
"And where is Tomas now?" Lucina said, nodding back toward where she'd last seen him. "Your Grace. He is trying to kill you."
"Kill me?" Emmeryn looked taken aback. Shaking her head, she said, "No. No, Tomas would never do that!"
"That's not what it looks like to me."
"That's because you don't know him!" Lucina's eye widened. She leaned back as Emmeryn stepped toward her, her gaze burning with anger. "You don't know him at all! Tomas–he served under my father for over forty years! Not for one of those years has he ever taken a day to stop working, not even when he was sick, and he has been by my side for my entire life. He is patient, he is wise, he is everything I need to be–"
"And you don't know a thing about him either."
Emmeryn froze. "What?"
"You heard me. You don't know a thing about him."
"No, you're wrong!"
"Then who is he?"
"He's my teacher, and my father's loyal advisor!"
"And?"
"And he taught me everything I know!"
"And?"
"And... And he served under my father for over forty years," she said again. This time, though, she sounded less sure.
"A person can hide a lot in forty years," Lucina shot back.
A voice in the back of her head told her to stop, told her to be patient. The girl in front of her was nothing more than that: a girl.
But Lucina had spent the last week being patient, and she was done with it. Here and now, this was her last chance to get through to Emmeryn, and by the Gods she was going to take it and run as far as she could go.
"You can know a person for their entire life. You can think the world of them, look up to them from as far back as you could remember, but if you never get the chance to truly know them, they won't hesitate to leave you for dead the first chance she gets."
Someone cried out. Another blast of fire magic licked the floor, another body hit the floor. Fifteen left.
Again, the Redwind knights surged forward. Firelight trickled through the line of knights defending them, casting Emmeryn's face in a red glow.
Emmeryn's shoulders fell. Doubt swam in the glossy moisture over her eyes, and for a moment, a pang of guilt passed through Lucina's heart. She needed Emmeryn to see she had no other option but to set her free, but seeing her like this: directionless and confused.
She really was more like her than she'd have ever thought.
"Emmeryn," she said, softer now, "you need to face things as they are. If you don't, and if Tomas does kill you, who do you think he'll go after next?"
Emmeryn turned away.
"Captain Madeline said she was going to get help. She'll be back, she has to!"
"And what will you do until then?"
"...I don't know."
"If you don't want to die, you need to use every advantage you have. Be willing to do whatever it takes to stay out of reach, no matter the cost. Right now, I'm willing to help you out if you'll set me free, your father's killer or not. What will you do, Your Grace?"
"I... I'll win this." Emmeryn pushed her away with a scowl. "I'll win this, and I'll do it without your help. You'll see."
Emmeryn couldn't see how she won this. She had learned battle tactics from Tomas, that was no lie, but learning about it and actually having to do it were two different things. Everywhere she looked was a mess of steel, fire, and blood. All the shouting, all the noise was invading her head, cutting her thoughts to ribbons.
She couldn't think like this!
"Lord Bartholomew!" she asked desperately. "What do I do?"
"Your Grace, I–" The nobleman but himself off to hurl another Flux spell at the enemy. "Your Grace, I am hardly the sharpest when it comes to battle tactics."
"Please, can't you try?"
That gave him a pause. Ducking behind cover, Lord Bartholomew looked all around them. His red eyes scanned over the brawling knights, the scorched cobblestone road, before finally stopping at the homes towering over them.
"The walls." He pointed up at them. "We have to bring them down."
Emmeryn followed his gaze, and her eyes widened. Of course! She'd been so dumb not to think of that. "If they can't reach us, we can still win!" Then she paused. "But... everyone else won't like it."
"Your Grace, I don't believe we should be worried about that right now! If we are to survive, we must push through!"
No matter the cost, the prisoner's words burned in her mind. Emmeryn glanced back at her from the corner of her eye. Her brows were pulled down, watching carefully.
Was this what she was looking for?
"We can't," Emmeryn said
"What?"
"We can't!" she said again, louder. "There has to be another way! Or... or–"
"Arcfire!"
Another blast cut her off. She flinched and looked away. Wind rushed past her face, blowing her hair to the side. Heat washed over her. All around, weapons clattered to the side as a bright orange painted the walls.
Emmeryn pulled her arm away from her face to see the hole blown wide open in the line of Royal Guards. Three more bodies littered the floor.
She froze. The entire battlefield was in her view, from the knights throwing themselves against the Royal Guard, to the fires raging in the streets. The tips of a dozen arrowheads returned her gaze through the cracks.
And they were headed straight for her.
"Your Grace! Look out!" Lord Bartholomew lunged for her. He reached out his hand, but he was too far away to reach her.
Something bit down on her arm. Emmeryn barely had time to gasp, barely had time to think as she was dragged down to the floor.
The arrows flew overhead just as her back slammed into the road. She looked over her shoulder to see the prisoner, her teeth clamped around her arm.
She'd saved her. Against everything she had done, she'd still saved her life.
"Lord Bartholomew!" Emmeryn yelled, words tumbling out of her mouth as fast as they could as her heart pounded in her chest. "Bring down the walls!"
Trails of dark magic hurled through the air, curling clouds of purple haze around walls of stone and wooden support beams. One, two, then three blasts struck the buildings around them.
Dust hailed onto the streets. Cracks split the wooden beams down the middle, crawling higher and higher until, with a groan, the walls came crashing down in a torrent of bricks and splinters.
Panicked shouts rose from the knights as a thick cloud of dirt swallowed them up. One by one, Royal Guards stumbled back into a line of ten. The Redwind knights did the same through the smoke. Between them, a field of rubble blocked the road.
Lucina breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, the noise stopped. For a moment, she could breathe.
Why Emmeryn hesitated to bring down the walls, she wasn't sure.
Something twitched in her mouth. Lucina looked down, and it was then that she remembered she had yet to let go of Emmeryn's arm.
As soon as she spat it out, the girl wiped her sleeve over her shirt.
Lucina took the chance to ask, "Are you unharmed?"
"I... I think so," Emmeryn said, and she looked herself up and down.
As she did her eyes strayed back to the Royal Guards muttering uneasily in front of them. A delicate hand, so clearly untouched by the harsh world, came up to brush a stray strand of hair out of her eye. A trickle of blood passed over her pale skin, unnoticed.
"Please, let me help," Lucina said. When Emmeryn glanced back at her, she could still see a faint flicker of fear pass through her eyes, but she didn't shy away as she had before.
It was something.
"Help me?" she muttered. "Why... why would you help me? You killed–you killed my father."
"We're all in this together, aren't we?"
Emmeryn's mouth opened. Then it closed. Emotions flashed across her face, confusion, surprise, anger.
Lucina could already see the answer forming on her lips: a firm denial. She winced and looked away. Maybe she'd pushed too hard?
"I don't know," Emmeryn said instead.
Lucina blinked, surprised. When she turned her head up, Emmeryn moved her gaze away.
"I just don't know." Her fists clenched.
"Emmeryn. Trusting me is your only choice right now," Lucina said.
"Trust you?"
"Yes," Lucina nodded. "I can help you. I want to help you."
"You... you want to help me?" Emmeryn glanced at the rope binding Lucina's arms. She tore her eyes away almost instantly, but Lucina had seen her look, she had seen her consider. "No. No, I'm not going to–"
Then someone cried out. "Backup! We need backup!"
Emmeryn's eyes widened, and she snapped her attention across the field of rubble. Lucina followed her gaze. Just on the other side, a pair of Royal Guards stood back to back, their lances brandished against the countless Redwind knights surrounding them.
The Redwind knights descended upon them like a flock of wyverns.
"Joseph!" One of the Royal Guards on their side reached a hand out despairingly. "Hold on, I'm coming for you!"
"Wait! Don't go!" Emmeryn tried to say, but her small voice dwindled before it could reach their ears.
A knight broke away, running into the field of rubble with a shout. Another followed, then another. Emmeryn could do nothing to stop them, her protests too weak to reach their ears as one by one, the line dissolved into a half-hearted charge.
"Elfire!"
Then the fireballs started hailing from the sky.
Someone screamed, flung into the air by a wave of fire. A cloud of dust scattered over the ground, and ten became nine. Two of the guards gave a panicked shout. Armored feet kicked through the rubble, men scrambling to duck behind cover. Most of them managed to avoid being hit. A few of them weren't so lucky.
Guard number nine flew back, his chestplate bent by the heat. Another blast threw guards eight and seven into a wall, plates of their armor ripped apart.
And Emmeryn watched, helpless to act as everything fell apart.
"I'll do it," she blurted out. She fixed her gaze on Lucina, resolved. "I'll set you free."
Falchion let out a silky hiss as it drew free from its sheath. Lucina trailed after it with her eye, and, without a word, raised her bindings to Emmeryn.
With a single swipe, Falchion's blade cleaved the rope in two. The cord flopped to the floor, and as Lucina rubbed the red marks on her wrist, she shot Emmeryn a grateful look.
"Thank you," she bowed her head. "I promise you won't regret this."
"Please, just protect me already!" Emmeryn said, waving her hand behind her.
"Of course!" Without a moment to lose, Lucina jumped to her feet.
An Elfire spell slammed into her chest before she could take a step, and a blistering heat tore into her skin.
Emmeryn watched in horror as the girl tumbled past her, her clothes a burning mess, before coming to a sudden stop over the wall with a sickening crunch.
Emmeryn looked back across the field. Tomas's grin was there to meet her, wrinkled and just the tiniest bit crooked.
She'd never seen that look on his face before. It scared her.
"Elfire!"
His arm thrust toward her. Fire erupted from his fingertips. Her eyes wide, she stood frozen as the flickering streak of fire got bigger by the second, her feet stuck to the floor and her fingers squeezing the hilt of the sword in her hands.
He was really trying to kill her.
Falchion swept up to protect her, batting the attack away with a sputtering sound. The force almost ripped her hands off her arms.
Tomas didn't stop there. Of course he wouldn't. Spell after spell hurled itself at Falchion, each one coming closer than the last to tearing it from her grasp. With each step back, Emmeryn glanced around wildly, searching for someone who could save her, anyone who could save her.
Among the rubble, the Royal Guard struggled against the oncoming wave of knights as they surged through, and six became five. Lord Bartholomew was huddled down not even twenty feet away, a fallen wooden beam the only thing between him and a shower of arrows. And behind her, the girl from before lay sprawled across the street, the slow rise of her chest the only sign she was still alive.
Another fireball slammed into Falchion's blade. Red hot strings curled around the metal, flicking sparks into her arms. Without meaning to, her hands let go. Falchion hurled away, far from her reach, and bounced off the girl's unconscious body.
Her gaze snapped to Tomas. His scary grin grew wide, drawing her heart up into her chest. His hand raised one last time. Orange sparks danced in her eyes.
"Wait!" she yelled.
Tomas looked back with a scowl. His hand closed around the half-formed spell, snuffing it out with a hiss.
"Wait?" he snarled. "I've waited forty years for this chance, and I've had enough. I refuse to wait another second, not for you to listen, and certainly not for you to burn away."
"You can't!" Blinking away the faintest trace of wetness, Emmeryn shook her head. "Tomas, please just wait! Can't you remember all the time I spent with you? Does all that mean nothing to you? Do I mean nothing to you?"
"No."
It hurt to hear that. Like a fist buried into her stomach, it left her reeling. But she refused to look away.
"You have served your purpose. I have no need for you now." The corners of his lips twitched up. "But, it doesn't have to end in your death. If you surrender now, I'll let you and your family leave with your lives. A much more pleasant idea, wouldn't you agree?"
Emmeryn stopped. They couldn't leave. If they left, where could they go? Who could keep them safe?
"No. We can't leave."
Tomas just sighed. "A shame."
He tucked his sleeves in. Unfurled his hands. He flicked his arm out, and with a shout of "Elfire!" sent one last fireball toward her.
A snap cut through the air, magic meeting metal. Wisps unfurled out from the touch. A faint trail of smoke clutched weakly to life, and with a faded crackle, vanished in the breeze.
Emmeryn opened her eyes. A single blue eye looked back, a storm of green shimmering and twisting inside them. Fierce, heavenly power radiated from inside.
Her cape fluttering behind her, her deep blue hair flowing like a river, the girl stood guard, her lips set in an unbreakable line. Though patches of her clothes had burned away and scorched lines ran down her chest, Emmeryn could see no wear in her skin. It was as if the spell, the same one she had seen send her flying, had never touched her.
Before her, Falchion glowed brightly.
Tomas's eyes grew to the size of the moon, his mouth agape.
"That's–that's not possible!" he stuttered. "You–how did you–Only members of the Royal bloodline can wield that blade. Just who are you?"
"I," Lucina growled, her voice seeping with power, "am Marth."
A shout tore from her lips as she charged.
That seemed to shock Tomas back into action. He fumbled back. His hands scrambled to pry open the tome in his hands, and the spell's incantation burst out from his lips.
"Elfire!"
Again, a bolt of magic erupted from his hands. Lucina cut through it, and again, it fizzled away.
She could feel her wounds closing with every step she took. Energy surged through her, and as the burns spread over her skin faded into a cool touch, her muscles, tired and weary not moments before, rushed to life.
Tomas only grew more desperate. He stumbled, he tripped, and he kept moving back, anything to get away from her.
"Elfire!" he cast again.
Lucina swiped it away with ease.
"Elfire!"
His attack flung itself straight into the path of Falchion's gleaming blade.
"A-archers!" he screamed, a third spell forming in his hands. "Shoot her! Shoot her!"
Over his shoulder, Lucina saw a group of archers aim at her. Their arrows drew back on the bowstring. She twisted her blade to the side, watching and waiting for them to make their move.
The first archer lurched forward. His bow clattered to the ground. He reached a hand up, pawing pathetically at his back, before his face struck the floor, a bright yellow javelin impaled through him.
The archers, seeing one of their own fall, spun around as fast as they could. Lucina, on the other hand, couldn't say she had ever been happier to see the Pegasus Knights drop down from the sky, shredding the archers before they could let their arrows fly like a giant white beast.
A flash of red entered her view. A Redwind knight, clutching his side, staggered into her path. Specks of blood dribbled over the floor as he wrenched his lance free from another knight's chest. She didn't slow down for him. By the time he saw her coming, it was too late.
A single silver line drew through the air. Falchion cut through armor, flesh, and bone. As the knight's body toppled to the floor, Lucina pushed on through.
With the archers gone, the Pegasus Knights turned their weapons to the Redwind knights. Lances rained down as if they were carried by hurricane winds. They struck against armor, plowed lines through the debris. Split between the dwindling Royal Guard and the Pegasus Knights, the Redwind knights could do nothing to defend themselves against the onslaught.
One by one, steel spearheads found their mark through the armor. One by one, the Redwind knights fell.
But Lucina only had eyes for Tomas.
His foot caught on a stone. The spell he cast flew over Lucina's head. In his other hand, the Elfire tome crumpled, its rich red cover turning to an ashen grey.
"Mercy!" Tomas shrieked.
His cry fell on deaf ears. Lucina leaped forward with a shout. She leveled Falchion's tip over his chest, and she thrust it forward.
Tomas hurled the expired tome at her. The spine slammed into her, and the last traces of magic grazed her chest. A pained grunt slipped through her lips. A cool feeling pooled over her wound and, in seconds, it was gone.
It hadn't hurt, but it had been enough to throw her off. She slipped, barely keeping Falchion from flying out of her grip.
Above her, she saw Tomas reach into his robes and pull out an Arcfire tome. Tongues of fire licked his hands. A blinding yellow light burst to life over the palm of his hand.
A silver tip pierced through his chest. Eyes wide, Tomas glanced down at the blood oozing through his robes. He took in a shuddering breath. With a cough, his legs gave out, leaving him to collapse onto the floor.
And Lucina found herself standing before the Pegasus Knight captain, towering over her with a bloodied lance.
"Your Grace, are you safe!?"
Lord Bartholomew rushed to her side the moment all was calm once again. He reached for her, before he stopped, thought better of it, and looked her over instead. She could see his worried gaze scan over her, feel it stop at every dirty smudge on her yellow robes.
"I'm fine," she said, brushing it off. She could worry about how she looked like later; what she was worried about right now was the girl who had saved her. She had lost sight of her right after she...
She...
Her eyes drifted over to the armored body sprawled over the ground. Just the sight of it made her sick, and yet she couldn't look away.
Emmeryn had seen the girl slice through a man with Falchion like it was nothing. It should have glanced harmlessly off his armor; Falchion would not cut for anyone not a part of the royal family.
And yet, it had cut for this girl.
"Lord Bartholomew," she whispered. "You don't think she could be..."
The nobleman followed her gaze, and when he saw the body, he shuddered. "I... I don't know. There's a slim chance–a very slim chance, but I'm afraid I can't say for sure."
Someone cried out. It took Emmeryn a second to recognize the voice, and when she did, she gasped. Emmeryn ran forward, pushing through the few remaining Royal Guard as she stepped over the mounds of debris.
She found Captain Madeline sitting over a pile of stone bricks, a stunned expression on her face. In her hands, she held a headless silver lance. She almost cried with relief.
Falchion stood to her right, its blade plunged into the ground.
"Captain Madeline!" she said, coming to a stop by her side. "Where is she?"
"Ah... where is who?"
"The girl! Marth!"
Captain Madeline blinked. "She pushed me down and ran. Where to, I can't say." She started at her broken weapon, then over to Falchion. "Your Grace. I hope you don't mind me asking, but... who is she?"
"That's what I need to ask her!" Emmeryn looked up at her with pleading eyes. "Captain Madeline, you have to find her!"
Captain Madeline blinked back. Slowly, she pushed herself to her feet. Her steps were unsteady as she moved through the rocky terrain, her hand raised to catch the attention of the pegasus knights hovering overhead. As her armor shifted with her gait, Emmeryn caught sight of a few cuts running over her arms.
With Captain Madeline gone, Emmeryn lowered herself into her seat. She let her gaze run over Falchion, its blade gleaming brightly in the sun, and as she did, she noticed Tomas's body lying just beyond it.
It didn't feel real. She didn't want it to be real. A part of her brain refused to believe this was real. If she just reached over and touched it, it would vanish, and the real Tomas would appear at her side, comforting her, telling her everything would be okay.
She knew that it had to be this way. He had tried to kill her, after all. If he was still alive, she and her siblings would have to flee from Ylisstol, where they would always be in danger.
But she had still thought the world of him.
It all felt like a dream. Everything and everyone moved around her in ways that made no sense. There was no left or right, no up or down. The world just kept passing her on by.
Not for the first time, she wanted to be able to wake up from it. Wake up to a world where her father was still alive, where the only thing she had to worry about was leaving the comfort of her bed and making it to Tomas's lessons on time.
Faintly, she heard stones click against each other as Lord Bartholomew sat down beside her. An arm reached over her shoulders, keeping her on the ground.
Emmeryn let her head fall into her hands.
Again, Lucina had run.
She ran away from the carnage she'd caused in the streets. She ran away from the girl she'd left to bear the weight of the kingdom. She ran away from her family.
All of this was her fault. If she hadn't been here, this attack would have never happened, and Tomas wouldn't have decided now was the time to turn against Emmeryn. With Tomas dead, she had lost a vital piece of information. If she stuck around, who knows what else she might lose.
She had already done enough damage. She needed to find a way to get out of here.
Pressed up against an alleyway, safe to say, she hadn't had much luck with that. The skies were swarming with Pegasus Knight patrols looking for her. Just a few blocks away, she heard a group of soldiers ask someone if they'd seen a "blue-haired girl" pass by, and as the setting sun dyed the road a fiery orange, she started to resign herself to the cold Ylissean night.
There's always tomorrow, she told herself as she reached down to wrap her cape around her body. Maybe by the morning, they'll be a little less alert, and I'll be able to sip out with the crowd.
A chill passed through her clothes. Lucina gripped the edge of her cape and pulled tighter, but her thumb slipped through a hole in the fabric.
Oh. Right.
Shadows passed over her from the townsfolk rushing to their homes. The sun disappeared beyond the horizon, taking with it the warmth it brought. The long shadows beneath her melted into the dark. Overhead, the sky peeled back to reveal the stars, and as Lucina rested up against the cold stone wall, she began having second thoughts about leaving Falchion behind.
If she had Falchion, she wouldn't feel so vulnerable right now, so weak. It wasn't as if the Pegasus Knight could have stopped her; when Lucina cut her lance in half, she'd been too stunned to pose a threat.
But in the end, it wasn't hers to take.
A shadow fell over her, and Lucina tensed. When she looked up, though, she just found a merchant's cart blocking the end of the alleyway. She sighed in relief. For once, it seemed as if fate had decided not to throw her into the dragon's maw.
As she eyed the cart, a thick white cloth draped over the goods stored in the back, her ears caught the sound of conversation just to the right, and an idea came to her mind. A bit of a desperate one, but desperation was all she had left.
Forcing herself to her feet, she stumbled over the cobblestone toward it. Slowly, she pulled the cloth up, and, with a quick look over the street around her to make sure no one was watching, she dragged herself inside.
The interior of the cart was stale and dry. Lucina had to suppress a cough from breathing in the air. The moment her eye quickly adjusted to the dim lighting, instinct kicked in, scanning the suspicious lumps and goods for any sign of danger.
Two wide red eyes stared at her. Lucina stared back. She blinked, taking in the little red-haired girl sitting across from her, her hair tied up in a small ponytail, and the teddy bear clutched in her arms.
Internally, she panicked. If this girl ratted her out, the guard patrols would find her for sure! Lucina pressed a finger to her own lips and shushed her in hopes that she would understand.
When the girl didn't respond, her fear only grew. She patted down her sides for something, anything she could keep her busy with. The bag strapped to her belt was empty–of course they would be, she'd been in a cell just a few hours ago. She had nothing with her except her clothes, her cape, and the tiara sitting atop her head–
Lucina's fingers closed around it. Her heart clenched at the thought of giving it away–she had it with her for so long that just handing it over felt wrong–but in the end, her better sense won out, and she ripped it out of her hair.
The girl's eyes lit up as she handed over the golden piece. She took it quietly. When her eyes met Lucina's again, she nodded, and she shuffled deeper inside of the cart.
Once the girl was out of sight, Lucina finally let herself relax. The floor rumbled. The cart began to move again, and as Lucina leaned up against the shaky wooden frame, the dull thud of wheels rolling over the stone road resounding through the floorboards, her thoughts wandered back to her father.
Fourteen years. That would be how long she needed to stay away. He wouldn't like it. He had been devastated when she said she would leave, begging her to come back as soon as possible. She felt the same way.
But he needed to grow up without her, as much as it pained her to admit. His place was here, in Ylisstol, where he would become the brave and noble man who could face down the Fell Dragon.
As for her place... well, she had the next fourteen years to figure that out, didn't she?
End of Part 1-1
And thus, the story continues.
So this took a while to get out. I came up with a draft the first week I was supposed to update, but on Saturday I went over it and I was not happy with how much I had. The next week, my computer decided it had had enough of being alive, and while it was dead I decided to add more stuff to it and now, this is the longest chapter in the story so far! And now I can actually say I update once in a blue moon, because tonight is actually a blue moon.
Now we're back on track with the original story. Lucina is leaving Ylisse! Emmeryn has to deal with the mess she's left behind (Not sure if I ever got to that actually. It's been some time)! Except now she kind of has an actual reason for leaving Ylisse, and she has actually caused some damage to the past. Fun times!
On a more serious note I've been rather busy with life things as of recent. Finding enough time to write has been a bit tough (though I managed), but I have been putting other things to the side for it, namely college research and all that stuff. As a result, I've decided to take a little break from this kind of serious writing, at least until I get all the other stuff sorted out. I don't expect it to take forever, and I do want to be back by Christmas break, but until then, I leave you with this.
(And then he was never seen again)
(If anyone wants to actually check up on how the story progress is going, feel free to PM me, I'll try to get back to you within a couple-a days)
