Manfroy - Gran 766

It was all in place. Finally, after so many years… they were about to witness the dawn of a new era. The reconstruction of the Loptyrian Empire… finally, their people would rise and take their proper places. Finally, they would not be viewed as less than the dredges of society. Finally, they wouldn't be captured, tortured, burned alive… finally…

"I knew things would run smoothly," I whispered, walking carefully through the halls. Now would be the perfect time, but I had to be cautious. Arvis and 'Diadora' were in meetings. The children were in lessons… save for Prince Julius. He was in his room, laid up with another illness. A shame that their beacon of hope had so sickly a body, but such things could be dealt with. If everything went absolutely perfect… well, then it wouldn't be fun. "Everything worked out." Though, it was a struggle trying to figure out how to deal with the more… unexpected things. I certainly couldn't have guessed that Sigurd would find Cigyun's daughter first, and father a child with her. Not to mention Prince Julius having a twin sister, one with that cursed Naga blood… "Children are easy to kill. It'll be fine."

A whisper caught my ear, and I turned to see Moira hovering nearby. Her ghost, really, trapped in the mortal plane because of the violent, inhumane, undeserved death she had suffered. Though, her ghost didn't bear any signs of the flames that killed her. She was as young and vibrant as she had been just before they had been captured, except for one thing. She wouldn't smile. Just as she had since he became the High Priest, she stared at him, silent, unsmiling.

"We're almost there, Moira. Almost there…" I clutched the sacred tome to my chest, unable to keep from smiling. "Soon, we'll…"

Finding the hidden village in the Spirit Forest hadn't been too hard, nor had it been difficult to set up spies, waiting for any of Maera's kin who broke the taboo and had two children. But the tome… it had taken decades of searching to figure out where the Crusaders had hidden it, but thankfully, its intended guardian of this era had been an idiot. Hezul and his wife, Gwyneth… the treacherous thieves… after the Empire fell, they hid the tome in a special vault in their home castle, Agusty. Every single one of Agustria's rulers had been entrusted with the secret of what laid in that vault. Well, almost every single one. Chagall hadn't. Chagall hadn't, because he had killed his father. And so, Chagall hadn't thought anything of it when I asked to look in the vault, and had 'graciously' let me keep the 'old book' within. And once I had it, I didn't have to deal with that imbecile anymore. And since he decided to continue being an idiot, he ran headfirst into his death and put Agustria into such chaos that they welcomed Grannvale's soldiers.

"Just wait a little longer, Moira. I'll raise our people to new heights, and they'll see the sun, just as they should. And we'll get revenge on the people, the society who condemned so many of us to death for crimes that weren't even ours…!" And then she'd smile again. She'd smile, because her death would be avenged at last. Our parents' deaths would be avenged. Surely, she'd smile at that.

But she wouldn't smile now, not even a little hint of one. So, I turned away, walking a little more quickly to move the final piece. One more move and then it was checkmate. I had gotten Cigyun's children together. They had birthed a child of Major Loptyr blood. Now, I just had to give him the tome, and Loptyr would be reborn. His Empire would be reborn. And it would be so easy. After all, there was no one around his room, and when I stepped inside, he was fast asleep. All I had to do was put it in his hands and…

"Take one more step, Manfroy, and see what happens." Alicia's hard, cold voice made me whirl, and I had to flinch back when I saw the staff in her hand. She had hit me once, and I still remembered how my head had rung. It hadn't been enough to stop me from reclaiming Deirdre that day, but it was enough to make me a bit wary now. "Get out," she ordered. "I'm in the middle of treating him."

"Surely, I can assist," I offered, doing my best to smile. But it only got me a glare. She, alone, knew that I had arranged things here, and she had no care of pretending politeness, as her brother did. "I do know healing arts, just as you do."

"Get. Out." She stepped around me and actually shoved me out the door. "Time and time again, you try to hook your claws into Julius, and I will not stand for it."

"I am simply trying to help." I did my best to look affronted, but really, I was annoyed. She was the most irritating creature I ever had to endure. "After all, I-"

"Get alone with him again, and I will burn you alive!" She snapped, eyes burning with intense fire, and I flinched automatically. Fire… I hated fire. I hated fire more than anything. It galled me that I had to interact with Fjalar's brats to make this work. I hated that line almost as much as I hated Naga's.

"It's not nice to bluff." Still, I wouldn't let her see how uneasy I was. "Nor is it nice to-"

"You want to see if it's a bluff? Someone else tried it, and they were soon proven wrong." The air suddenly heated up, and I stumbled back a bit, alarmed that she would call on a 'Final Strike' right here. And then I cursed, because that let her know that she had gotten under my skin. "You're so arrogant, so cocky. You think the war is over, don't you?" She regarded me with a pitying look, one that seared. "It's not. You won the battle, but the war continues, Manfroy. You have your victory now, but by the time the war ends, you'll find that victory had gone up in flames, and all you will have will be ashes smothering your last breaths."

"Quite the boast."

"It's no boast. It's a promise." She turned away, heading back inside the room. "But enjoy your victory while you still have it, I suppose. Revel in it. It'll make me laugh all the more when you've lost."

"As if you'll ever see that." Growling in frustration, I decided to simply accept the loss and leave for now. That woman really would kill herself to stop me, and I couldn't have that. Not when everything was so, so close…

It would be fine. I just had to wait a few more months. Her body was falling apart, after all. She'd be dead before the end of the year, and then I could make the move. Moira just… had to wait a little longer. Just a little longer...

I should've known that woman would be more annoying in death than she had been in life. Likely due to her influence, Prince Julius was rarely left alone, even when sick. It was beyond irritating, to be so close to true victory and be so far. But, by far, the most annoying thing was…

"Hey, creepy-pedo-skulking guy, you're in the way." Was her son. Conall had been brought to Belhalla scant weeks after her funeral, and delighted in being defiant and troublesome. "If you continue being in the way, I'm going to push you," the boy continued, looking right at him. He met my gaze without the slightest trace of fear or deference. "Well, I guess it's rude to push, but it's rude to stand deliberately in the way too, and I'm a kid, so I get away with more."

"Such a delightful worldview," I managed through gritted teeth. I hated children at the best of times, barely tolerating even Sara, but Conall more than tried my patience. "You shall be a wonderful member of society when you get older."

"Oh, then I can be just like you!" Conall smiled innocently and I scowled. "Whatever. You. In way. Needs to be fixed."

"And just what, exactly, am I in the way of?" I looked around for emphasis, showing it was just us. ...Just us… I could get rid of the nuisance right now. Blame it on an assassin… it would be so, so easy…!

"Aw, I was hoping you'd be stupid and fall for it." Conall huffed, and I slowly began calling on a spell. So easy. So, so easy. "That's no fun. Oh well." He began to skip off without another word.

"Now, now, surely you shouldn't be so rude as to leave so abruptly." I almost had the spell ready. Almost… "After all…"

"Meh, Diadora hasn't gotten etty-whatever through my thick skull yet." Conall grinned, shifting to skip backwards. "And I want to get to Julius before you do."

"...What makes you think I was heading to Julius?"

"You're always stalking him. Like a mangy, starving cat hunting for a meal." He then frowned, making some frustrated noise. "Wait, I don't like that. Mangy, starving cats are still cute, and you're not. Bad ana… ana… whatever."

"Quite the thing for a child to accuse a person of." I had the spell. I could deal with this brat right here and now…!

A whisper in my ear, and I looked to the side to see Moira's ghost had appeared again. As always, she was silent and unsmiling. But this time… this time, for some reason, she was crying…!

I lost the spell entirely in shock, wondering what would've brought her to tears. Was it because I was too focused on inconsequential things? Was it because despite my words, she was having to wait even longer? I was doing my best, though. These children were irritating nuisances, but just that. Was she angry that I didn't just shove them to the side? There was already quite a few deaths, but what was a few more? And why should I care about killing their children, when they had never cared about killing ours?! Yes, that had to be it!

I whirled, prepared to cast and throw a spell, but Conall was gone. I was alone in the hallway, breathing heavily. But then, slowly, I made myself calm down. No, I couldn't do something like that. Prince Julius was still young. Even when he became Loptyr, we needed political allies to lay down the framework of the Empire. I had played this game of mine slowly just for that reason. Everything had to be done subtly. By doing this, we could ensure that any hope for resistance and rebellion came far too late.

"I'm sorry, Moira, but please, wait for me," I said to her ghost. I looked around, but didn't see her. "I will see this through. I will see the Empire rise. I will see our people prosper at long last. I will see your death avenged. Just wait, Moira. It will be done."

And when it was, I wouldn't see her tears. I'd see her smiling again, because our people would finally be free. I just had to be patient.

Author's notes: And here's one on the list of 'I didn't expect to do one for them'. The incident shown in the first scene was briefly described by Ishtar in her oneshot. Moira is a character who was mentioned in Memoirs of Velthomer, as part of his backstory. The 'Sara' mentioned here is a playable char from FE5, and Manfroy's granddaughter. Gwyneth is the POV char for Memoirs of the Crusaders, and I used the tome being in Agustria as a reason why Manfroy was pulling strings there (besides Chagall just being easy to manipulate). And I figured there had to be at least one incident where Conall's total lack of tact nearly got him killed.