AN: Hello everyone! Sorry it's been a while since I updated anything! I haven't had my computer in over a month due to lending it to a family member because reasons, but it's finally back and I have been able to work on some stuff, thankfully. SO, MOST IMPORTANTLY, CYL2 was finally released in Fire Emblem Heroes today, and a playable version of Veronica (Brave Princess, Colourless horse healer) is FINALLY out– Oh happy day! In celebration of that, enjoy this next chapter of "What's With This Sassy…Lonely Princess?", while I get my free Princess and level and support her up! As always, please read and review, and thank you to everybody who did so last time!

"What's With This Sassy…Lonely Princess?"

Chapter 2: A Mysterious Feeling

The blood of the dragon-god Embla boiled to a near fever-pitch in Veronica's veins, the rage it induced casting a red haze over her thoughts.

It pulsed, hot and violent, in the veins of Princess Veronica, who hid in the woods to the south and watched as the Askrian forces led by that insufferable red-headed commander marched along the banks of the river which led into the clearing where her troops lay in wait.

The power afforded her by the Drakenblut of her royal lineage allowed the Princess to seize control of the will of one of the most powerful heroes in legend, Prince Marth of Altea, as well as several of his closest allies– the Pegasus Knight Caeda, the archer Gordin, and the mage Merric– and force them to fight under her command. Unfortunately, at this particular point in time in the World of Mystery, the young lord had not yet matured into the Hero-King he would one day become and she had to make do with his younger counterpart. Thankfully, however, he was still in possession of the divine sword Falchion at this point in time, and was thus able to present a more than credible threat to the dragon units that her Askrian counterpart was so fond of fielding.

Cracking open her tome, the Princess of Embla muttered an incantation before pricking her finger on the point of a dagger and letting a drop of blood fall onto a blank page. As the lifegiving fluid touched the parchment of the book, it seemed to almost diffuse into the material, disappearing entirely before a red grid showed up, a perfect replica of the battlefield before her. Swirls of ink solidified into the miniature forms of the heroes she had contracted into her command, showing exactly where they stood on the little island at the center of the clearing. Sure enough, the enemy forces also began to materialize onto her map as they drew closer. As expected, Kiran's squadron did, in fact, include a dragon unit. Tiki, from the World of Awakening, if she wasn't mistaken.

She heard the thundering of hooves off in the distant and watched as the miniature horse archer, a woman named Lyn, her tome helpfully supplied, engaged in battle with the Princess' mage and archer both, fending off their distance attacks with her own ranged weapon, which allowed her allies to sneak past unharmed.

Merric, seeing the tactic being fielded at them, cast his Excalibur spell at the mounted bow-woman, forcing her to retreat from the magical zephyr, and used the opening to rush towards the right in order to attack the enemy infantry that was making use of the opening provided by their ally. Through her tome, she saw the Altean mage charge up his spell, ready to unleash the galeforce winds on that insufferable tart, the princess of Askr, before her wretched brother pulled her out of range as the manakete, Tiki, rushed forward to fill the gap, a burst of light concealing her transformation into her draconic form. The blades of Merric's wind spell glanced off of the dragoness' thick hide, before being pierced through by a bolt of lightning emanating from her mouth. The electric counter smashed through the mage's offense, besting him completely, and his likeness went dark, signaling his inability to continue fighting. Growling under her breath, Veronica sent Marth to deal with the impudent creature, Falchion gleaming, backed up Caeda, but at the last second, the Askrian princess leapt forwards, spear flashing, and beat away both nobles' swords, saving the manakete from sudden death.

That marked the end for Veronica. Engaged as they were, neither Marth nor Caeda saw Lyn defeat Gordin until the whizzing of arrows through the air felled the Pegasus Knight and her mount. The prince of Altea turned around in surprise at the defeat of his comrade. This soon proved to be a mistake. As soon as Marth looked away, that damnable spear-princess from Askr knocked his blade out of his hand and sent him into a deep sleep with a strike from the butt of her spear.

"Impossible!' Veronica growled to herself, stomping in anger.

'Why do I keep losing?' she frowned. Her grip on the tome tightened until her knuckles turned white. 'How is that wretched Summoner able to predict and respond to all of my moves? It's as if he's looking over my shoul–'

"Ehhhh?" drawled a voice behind Veronica. "So that's how you do it, huh?" interrupted a voice from behind Veronica, causing her to flinch in shock and drop the heavy grimoire on the forest floor with a thud.

"Hiiiiiee!" she shrieked in surprise, whirling around. "Wh-wh-what are you doing he–"

"Veronica!"

Unfortunately (for the princess, though fortunately for Kiran), Veronica spun around far too quickly, and in her surprise, ended up stumbling and twisting her ankle as she tripped over an exposed tree root.

You know that feeling of weightlessness you feel right before you're about to take a terrible fall or when you're leaning back too in your chair and you can feel your entire life flash right before your eyes? So, as she fell, Princess Veronica too experienced that brief flash of terror. She turned her head to the side and brought her arms up to brace for impact, eyes shut tight…

Only to feel a soft "thwump" as she landed, far less painfully than she had expected.

'Huh? Was the forest floor always this soft?'

Come to think of it, she realized, it seemed like her upper body hadn't even hit the ground. Something was holding her up.

Cautiously, the Emblian princess opened one eye. To her left, all she saw were the trees of the forest surrounding her. But what, then, had caught her, keeping her from hitting the forest floor?

Slowly, she turned her head towards the right, only to see a sight that caused both eyes to go wide, as she saw just what it was that kept her from falling.

Veronica found herself gazing up into the concerned face of Kiran, which was normally concealed by his cloak. Wrapped around her body were the arms of the kneeling Summoner– left hand against her upper back, right around her waist– who held her in a grip that was at once both firm yet gentle; he had caught her such that while her body was held fast against his own, she felt no pain from the grip, merely the warmth from his hands.

She felt the blood rush up to her face, which quickly began to burn a bright red.

"Hawhawha-what are yo–" the little princess stammered before the lump in her throat got stuck and silenced her.

"Are you alright, Veronica? It looked like you twisted your foot. Does it hurt anywhere?" Kiran asked gently.

Her only response was to bury her face in her hands and shake her head, letting out a piteous whine, "Hauuuu…".

"Thank the gods," the Summoner said, letting out a relieved breath, as he slowly lowered the princess to the ground, helping her sit upright. Kiran removed his hand from Veronica's body to clasp her hands in his own. "I'm glad you're not hurt."

"Th-thank you," the princess demurred, looking away from Askrian counterpart.

Standing up, Kiran stretched out his hand to the seated princess, helping her back onto her feet.

"I mean it, you know. I was honestly worried when I saw you trip on that root and fall. Ah, you dropped your book over there," he pointed behind her.

Without a word, Veronica walked over to the fallen tome and picked it up. Without turning around, she began to speak. "Foolish summoner…you are quite naïve, are you not? I could destroy this very instant if I so wished."

Ghostly green flames began to swirl around the diminutive royal as she held her grimoire. Kiran's eyes widened as he saw the witchfire surge around her, casting an eerie glow upon her black-clad form. The interplay of light and shade within the confines of the forest they were in lent the scene an air of something like a painting by one of the German Romantics.

All the awestruck Summoner could do was whisper but a single word: "Beautiful…"

At his word, the wisps of verdant flame began to die down around the princess, and the afternoon sunlight streamed in through the forest canopy again as she turned around with a rueful smile on her face. "Honestly, you are such a fool," she said softly.

"Sorry, what did you say? I didn't quite catch that," the Summoner replied.

"It was nothing," she said, turning around and extending her left elbow. "It seems we've gotten a bit further into these woods than expected. Even I am not certain as to where we are. Let us walk on."

Kiran broke out of his stupor and began to walk past the princess until she cleared her throat. "Ahem," she said, shaking her outstretched elbow a little.

"Huh? Oh!" Kiran realized what Veronica was hinting at, and linked his arm with hers, escorting her through the forest. They walked quietly for a few minutes, with only the sounds of the forest to keep them company.

A light breeze blew through the trees as they reached the edge of the woods. Veronica turned to look up into Kiran's eyes, shaded though they were by his hood.

"So, I guess this is where we go our separate ways, huh? I'm really glad I got to see you again though, even if it had to be this way," Kiran told her. "Speaking of which, why do you do this?" he asked. "You seem like a nice person at heart, Veronica."

"You really are such a naïve fool, Summoner," the princess laughed, mournfully.

"H-huh!? Where did that come from?" Kiran protested.

"Not to mention rude and overly-familiar," Veronica jibed smugly.

"Ah, sorry!"

"Well," Veronica continued, looking away, "it's not like I entirely dislike that, though…"

"Then, do you mean–!?"

Sadly for the two, the moment was interrupted by a triumphant cry from just beyond.

"Well done, everyone," came Alphonse's voice. "We've saved their world and our kingdom. At least for now," said the Askrian prince.

At the sound of her hated enemy's voice, the dragon-blood once again coursed through the princess' veins with renewed vigour, seething with wrath and hatred. Kiran saw her grab her head and watched as her face writhed with anger and pain, and stepped away from her in terror. He saw the sudden attack pass and her face set back into the dull expression it usually held. But now that he had had the chance to speak with her, he could see just how different the Veronica before him truly was from the one he had spoken to in the forest mere moments ago.

"How frightfully boring," she spat out, walking into the Askrians' sight.

"Princess Veronica!" Alphonse cried out.

"After all the trouble I went through, making Marth and those others pawns of our empire...Why did you free them? No matter. I have far more powerful forces at my beck and call. If I wish you dead, they will oblige. And...do I want that? Oh, yes. I very much do. Now, just you wait there while I call them over…" the princess threatened.

Commander Anna, rightfully frightened, sounded the retreat, catching sight of Kiran and grabbing him, before running away with the other Askrians.

"Going so soon? And just when I was getting ready to play!" the princess of Embla chuckled darkly. "I suppose I'll go home.

You'd better get ready for what's coming next. Oh, the Heroes you're going to meet!"

Her grim promise echoed in the retreating Askrian's minds as they left the battlefield.