"Come on where is it?" Severa muttered to herself as she dug through a pile of charred wood and ash. It had to be around here somewhere.

She moved another small charred plank and underneath a blotch of white caught her attention. Was that it? She brushed away some of the surrounding ash piles and reached for the soft-looking white patch surrounded by a dust storm of black. She pulled it out of the pile and frowned as she brought it to her face. Specks of dust sprinkled off of the bright white tuft of plumage in her hand. She tossed the feather to the side as it gently floated to the ground beside her.

Severa let out an audible groan. Where the hell could that thing be? It couldn't have burned, could it? No, She shook her head. It had to be around here somewhere. She looked over the pile of blackened ash that was once her tent. She just had to keep looking. She had to find it. If she couldn't…

She winced as her left hand began to nip at her again. Who was she kidding? If she couldn't find it now, she'd never find it at all. And what if she did find it? What good would it do? Why did she care so much about that stupid doll anyway? She looked at her hands covered in a sheet of soot and ash. Her sister's face flashed through her mind. She let out a sigh as a whispering breeze brushed through her hair. A swirl of black ash coated the white feather as it drifted through the air. Might as well go see how Cynthia is holding up.

The white-haired girl rose to her feet and brushed herself off. She took one more look at the smoldering piles of ash in front of her before turning to walk back to their new campsite. A black feather swayed in the wind behind her.

"Severa!" She heard Cynthia call out as the young princess ran up to her. Sparkles of tears splashed into the air behind her.

Severa stopped as the young princess suddenly tripped and face planted into the dirt. She rolled her eyes before giving an exhausted sigh, "You really can't go five minutes without falling over, can you? You're pathetic"

Cynthia let out a muffled groan before peeling herself from the ground. She wiped the dirt from her face and shot a scowl at the mercenary. "What did you say?! I am NOT pathetic!"

Severa crossed her arms and scoffed, "Says the girl who trips more than 15 times a day"

"That was ONE day!" She shouted back. "I've gotten better about it since!"

Severa smirked, "What was that your 14th time greeting the dirt today?"

Cynthia crossed her arms, "I'll have you know it was the 10th" She boasted.

"Wow, a new record" Severa said sarcastically as she tried to suppress a small fit of laughter climbing out of her chest. "Maybe tomorrow you'll walk an entire 2 feet without making out with the ground"

Cynthia let out a frustrated cry, "Fine! A hero doesn't need help from a villain like you anyway!" She turned around and began to stomp back to their little makeshift camp.

Severa laughed, "Call me a villain all you want but you're worthless without my help"

Cynthia stopped and turned around to face Severa once more, "Nuh-uh! A strong hero like myself doesn't need help!"

Severa rolled her eyes and turned around, "Whatever you say just don't come crying to me later alright"

Cynthia scoffed, "I won't need to! You'll see! I can help Lucy all by myself!" And with that, the young princess stormed off.

"Pfft what a loser," Severa said as she went back to searching through the pile of ash.

Once again her left hand illuminated with a faint purple sparkle. The last couple of words Cynthia spoke began to poke at her mind much like the dull searing pain on her left hand. She's heard those words before oh so many times has she heard those words.

"Hyaaa!" A little white haired girl cried out with a hand outstretched towards the training dummy before her. She frowned as nothing happened. Why didn't it work?

With a scowl, she waved her hand again but once again nothing happened. Her scowl sharpened as she tried again and again and again. However each time nothing happened. A frustrated groan vibrated into the air,"Why can't I cast one stupid thunder spell!" She cried out.

What was she doing wrong?! She was doing it exactly as she was taught so then why? Why won't this stupid thing work for her?!

"You're not focused enough" She heard a familiar voice speak up.

The little girl turned to see her younger sister walk up to her, "What?! No! I was completely focused!"

"Well then how come it didn't work?" Her sister asked innocently as she cocked her head, "Papa says all you need to do is focus and it'll work"

"Well it...I…" The young girl didn't know how to respond. Her sister was right after all. She then looked at the tome in her hand. "Obviously it's because the stupid tome must be broken or something!" She said as she waved the tome about wildly in the air.

"Really? It looks just fine to me" Her sister said as her eyes followed the mystical book. "How can you tell it's broken?"

"I-I just can okay! Why else wouldn't it work?!"

"I dunno"

"All right then if you're so sure, then you try it!" She said as she handed the tome over to her younger sister.

"Alright" The little red-head chirped as she grabbed the tome. "O,h but could you hold on to aura for me then?" She pulled a small white stuffed Pegasus from her cloak.

Severa glanced down at the toy, "alright" She said as she grabbed it from her sister.

Her sister smiled "great now make sure nothing happens to her ok?"

"Yeah whatever"

"Alright," The redhead said as she moved into a combat stance and faced the training dummy.

The youngest of the two took a deep breath. She stroked the book with her free hand as a faint yellow glow sparkled between her fingers. Her hand weaved through the air as she moved it in front of her face. She stood still for a moment as the glow in her hand grew brighter until whips of yellow strings began to dance around her palm. Quickly, the young redhead closed her fist and with a wave of her hand shot a small ball of electricity that slammed into the training dummy. A plume of smoke erupted into the air.

The young white-haired girl looked on in disbelief at what just happened. How did she do that?! She made it look effortless as if she's been doing all her life!

"It seems to work fine for me," She said inspecting the tome.

The older sister scowled, "Gimmie that!" She yanked the tome from her little sister's grip.

"Whoa hey, what's going on here you two?" The two girls turned to see their father walking up to them.

"Daddy!" Morgan's eyes lit up as she plucked Aura from Severa's grip and bolted towards him. Her little arms wrapped around his waist. "Did you see that daddy?!" She beamed her signature bright smile at him.

"I sure did," He smiled back and ruffled his hand through her hair, "That was a really good shot, Did Severa help you with that?"

Morgan shook her head, "Severa was having trouble with her tome so I was trying to help"

"Really? so you did that all by yourself then?"

"Uh-huh," the little redhead nodded.

"That's quite impressive, why at this rate you'll be as much of a mage as I am!"

"Really?!" Once again Morgan's eyes lit up.

Their father simply nodded. "Yeah with your level of natural talent anything is possible"

"Little show off" Severa grumbled to herself as her eyes glided to the floor. "I can do that too"

Their father looked up, "What was that Severa?"

Severa looked back at him, "I said I can pull that off too!"

Morgan raised an eyebrow, "Really? But earlier you-"

"That time was different! I j-just wasn't trying is all!"

Their father let out a soft chuckle, "Alright Severa would you like to show us now that you've warmed up a little?"

She nodded, "Yeah, you'll see I can do it all by myself!"

Severa turned around and sunk into a combat stance. She took a deep breath. No big deal, she could do this. All she had to do was do exactly what Morgan did. Alright just focus. Her hand glided over the thunder tome. She took another breath. Focus on the energy around her and let it flow into the tome and then her hand. A faint yellow glow began to sparkle between her fingers. She could do this. She moved her hand in front of her as sparks of electricity began to dance around her palm. Okay, this was it. She had to prove that she could do this that she was just as talented as Morgan. That she wasn't just a disappointment. She closed her hand and waved it forward...

Severa sighed as she moved another charred plank to the side. She clutched her side as the newly bandaged wound began to ache. Why did she care so much? She should be glad she's gone. No one left to upstage her. No one left to look after. No one left to remind her of…

Her lips quivered as she rubbed the droplets of tears forming in her eyes, "...how worthless I am" The words came out light as the fresh morning breeze whisked them away.

Call me a villain all you want but you're worthless without my help

I won't need to! You'll see! I can help Lucy all by myself!

She clutched her head as those words began eating away at her mind. The glow on her hand grew brighter as the pain intensified. What does she care? It's not like it's her problem! She should just let her fail maybe then she would know what it's like! What does she care what happens to her anyway?!

Lucy are you okay?! Come on, get up! Please!

Well you two are sisters after all

Please don't go! I don't wanna be alone again!

"I don't wanna be alone again" She muttered to herself.

For a moment, Severa just stood there as the quiet breeze whispered those words into her ear. She let out a sigh before turning around towards the camp. She only walked about 2 feet before she felt something catch her foot. A wash of pain spread across her body as she face-planted into the dirt. Great now it was rubbing off on her. A groan vibrated from her mouth as she peeled herself from the ground and glanced behind her. She raised an eyebrow as she noticed something white and fuzzy poking out from under her boot. Was that?

She quickly scrambled to her feet and picked up the object. It was soft like a pegasus's hide. She brushed off the dirt and sprinkles of ash. After a brief inspection, tears began to fill her eyes as she brought the familiar stuffed animal to her chest. She found it.

"Geez, all this fussing over a simple fever" Severa said as she placed a wet cloth on Lucina's forehead. "You really are pathetic"

Cynthia crossed her arms and pouted, "Well it just happened so suddenly and we were all out of vulneraries s-so what was I supposed to do?!"

Severa sighed, "Well whatever she's better now but I dunno if that's gonna last for much longer" She looked back at her friend's unconscious body.

Her heart sank at the sight. By the gods, Lucina never looked so pale. Her skin was almost corpse-like in color with the only indication of life being small puffs of breath that would escape her lips every so often.

"Wh-what do you mean?!" Severa glanced back at Cynthia. Tears began to pool in the youngest princess's wide eyes as she looked at Severa. "Lucy's gonna be ok right?"

"I don't know" She breathed another sigh.

"So Lucy's gonna…" She trailed off as her eyes began to screw shut as a near vomit of tears began to ooze from her eyes.

"Oh calm down would you!" Severa snapped, "I didn't say that!"

"Th-then...wh-what do...we do?" Cynthia sniffed as she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Well we gotta find a healer and fast"

"B-but snowy still can't move a-and we just can't leave them here"

"I know that you idiot!"

"So then how do we look for help?"

Severa didn't answer. How could she? Neither of them could fend off a horde of risen on their own especially in their current condition so splitting up was out of the question. The closest town was gods knows how far away so they couldn't do that and a fire signal would only attract more risen. They really were out of options.

"I...I don't…" She looked at Cynthia's sniveling face. It looked like the dam in her tear ducts were on the verge of bursting. Once again Morgan's face flashed over top of Cynthia's.

The white-haired girl reached for the stuffed pegasus at her side and handed it to Cynthia.

"Wh-what's that?"

"Th-this is A-Aura a-and…" Severa's cheeks turned beet red. Gods what was she doing?!

Cynthia looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

Severa shook her head and took a deep breath, "and he promises that everything will be okay"

Cynthia's face lit up as her pigtails perked like cat ears. "Thank you, Severa" She said as she hugged the small stuffed animal.

What's up everyone now this one was a long time coming now wasn't it? not nearly as long as chapter 3 but I wouldn't call 4 months a short wait so yeah. Regardless I really do like how this one turned out and I hope you enjoy. I actually went through a couple of drafts for this one and originally it was gonna be from Cynthia's POV but ultimately I decided to go with Severa. Anywho next chapter is when we'll start seeing some of the other kids and figure out what to do about Lucina's condition so I hope you look forward to that. Anyway, I'll see you all next time with chapter 6 so take care.