Emblemtale: The Ancients- Chapter 4: Twin Sides
Back in Vauland, a hooded figure watched King Valtick's speech and how he had rallied the troops so effectively with simple words, once the throne room had been emptied, the figure made their way deeper into the castle and entered the library, where two men were waiting.
One was a young man with ruddy, red hair, leaning back in his chair with a bored expression on his face "Come on, Livi, this is boring!" he whined, throwing his head back "Why aren't we going to join King Valtick on the battlefield?"
The other was an older man, with long black hair, he was diligently reading through the book in front of him, and without looking up, he stabbed a dagger into the table, scaring his companion "I've told you, Agate; My name is Lavernius, Not Livi..." he pulled his dagger from the table and shifted his eyes towards the new arrival "...So, What have you learned?"
The figure then took of their hood, revealing a beautiful young woman with pale skin and flowing blond hair "It's as I've feared...Father fully intends to join the war as well..." she walked over and sat at the table, letting out a heavy sigh.
"Aw, don't worry about it, Princess Serene" Agate said, patting her back "He's been through a lotta battles, I don't think one more is gonna kill him...well...maybe with these weird rock thingies walkin' around, he might have a hard time..." Agate kept rambling on about the chances of Valtick dying, until he was silenced by a glare from Lavernius.
"M'Lady, I am certain that these reports are false" Lavernius reassured her, standing up from the table "But, if it will assuage your fears, I will set out right away to ensure the kings safety" he placed a hand on his heart and bowed "With your permission that is..." Before Serene could reply, Agate spoke up.
"No way, man!" He yelled, standing up and slamming his hands on the table, knocking some books over in the process "You're just trying to go off and get all the glory to yourself, tryna brown-nose the princess!" He grabbed his magic tome from off the floor and stomped over to Lavernius "But I'm not gonna let you do that, I'm gonna go with you, Livi!"
"It. is. Lavernius!" Lavernius responded, placing a hand on the hilt of his dagger, nearly drawing it "I despise that nickname and you know it!" as they argued, Princess Serene remained silent, but Lavernius noticed she looked as if she wished to say something "Is something the matter, Princess?"
"...I will go to the battlefield myself!" Serene announced, standing from the table and making her way towards the door "I am no longer a child, I can handle myself" She opened the door and looked back at her retainers with a smile "Besides, is it not a Princess' duty to protect the citizens of her kingdom from the horrors of war?"
With a shared look of shock between them, Lavernius and Agate followed Serene as she made her way to the armory, both of them trying to convince her to stay off of the battlefield, though they both knew that there was no way to sway her opinion...
Back in Zephina, the heroes had made there way into the castle and found the Queen sitting on the throne, seeming wistful "Hello, is there something you need?" she then seemed to regain her composure when Asriel approached "Oh, Asriel, is everything alright?"
"No, it's not alright!" Asriel shouted, uncharacteristically angry "How could King Asgore think to run off with these Praetorites roaming around!?" he took a deep breath and cleared his throat "I...I am sorry, my queen, I don't know what came over me, please, forgive that outburst..."
Queen Toriel rose from the throne and approached Asriel, a placid and loving smile on her face "It's quite alright, Asriel, your concern for the king is quite a touching sentiment" she placed bent down, placing her hands on Asriel's shoulders and kissing his forehead "But...you know that he can be quite stubborn, he was set on fighting beside his soldiers long before this whole mess started."
She stood back up and tousled his hair "I am glad to see you have not lost your kind heart..." she then turned, walking back to the throne, as she did, Papyrus watched her and Asriel, rubbing his chin, deep in thought.
"Hmm...Ah!, I've got it!" He said, tapping his open palm with his fist, he then turned to his group with a triumphant look on his face "Fear not, my friends, For I have solved this mystery!" he then turned to the queen and Asriel, who were going over Asriel's report "I have deduced why The Royal Tactician looks so much like the king and queen!" he adjusted his scarf, which had been fluttering majestically behind him, even though there was no breeze "Asriel...Is a magically created clone!, Combining the intelligence of the Queen and the military might of the King!"
Llain could barely stifle his laughter as he replied "Clone, huh? * Snort * you're not that far off, Papyrus" seeing how confident Papyrus was in his answer only made his laughter harder to contain.
"* sigh * swing and a miss, bro..." Sans sighed, chuckling slightly "well, anyway, i'm gonna go see grillby, he should have something to help us with our trip" with that, Sans turned around and waved as he left the throne room.
"Well, while we wait, we should plan our next move" Llain said, turning to Alphys, who had been watching everything unfold silently "You were part of their order, do you have any idea where they could hiding out?"
Alphys nodded and pulled a map out of her knapsack "Before I left, I copied one of their maps and marked several locations that I think are important to them" She knelt down on the floor and unrolled the map, pointing at several locations marked with dark red X's "If we investigate these spots, we should be able to figure out what they're doing, maybe we could even find their main hideout!"
"Alright then!, let's find the closest one and bash their heads in!" Undyne threateningly roared "Those guys are gonna pay for...whatever it is they're doing!" without waiting for anyone to reply, Undyne charged out of the throne room, with Alphys hesitatingly following.
"Well...I'd be lying if I said she wasn't spirited..." Llain spoke, watching as the doors swung closed, he then felt something tugging on his sleeve, he looked down and saw Frisk looking up at him with a worried look in her eye "What's wrong, little lady?"
"Um...I wanted to talk with you about something, if that's alright..." She started, gripping the hem of her tunic with her free hand "I-I know it's selfish, but I thought we could try and find my real family?" she looked back at Papyrus, who was still watching Asriel and Toriel, trying to make connections "What if Papyrus is right? What if I am a Monster?"
Llain took a moment to consider her words "If Papyrus is right, then we'll look for your family while we investigate" he compromised, giving her a reassuring smile "We'll have to pass through some towns along the way, so we're bound to hear something about a missing child, right?"
Frisk smiled back up at him "Right!, Thanks, that makes me feel better, but..." she turned away from him and after a moment, looked back with a renewed confidence "I want to help you guys too!"
"Nyeh, heh, heh! Well said, Frisk!" Papyrus cheered, rejoining the two "We shall all see this through to the end!" as he talked, they noticed that Asriel had finished reporting to the queen, and was making his way towards them.
"...I believe that I have reported all that I can" He said, still sounding a bit upset "Anyway, shall we join the others?, I believe I heard Undyne leave."
"Yes, she did, my clone friend!" Papyrus replied, throwing an arm around Asriel "She and Alphys have gone on ahead to plot our course, and my brother has gone to acquire supplies...at least, that's what I believe he is going to do at Grillby's..."
"Ah, I see, then we should waste no time joining them..." Asriel said, the four of them started to leave the throne room, but Asriel suddenly froze in place "...Wait...clone?" he shook off the strange comment and went after the others, they made their way out of the castle and found Sans waiting outside with a horse-drawn wagon and a man that looked as though he were made of fire.
"everyone, this is grillby" Sans introduced, gesturing towards the man, who silently bowed at the group "he's agreed to join us as our quartermaster; he'll take care of things like weapons and armor, as well as repairs."
"Pleasure to meet you, Grillby" Llain greeted, holding out his hand "I hope you don't mind traveling with a human" he waited for Grillby to shake his hand, but he never did "Oh...I suppose it would be a foolish idea to shake hands with you" Llain instead politely bowed.
"he doesn't talk much, but he's a decent guy" Sans explained, hopping into the back of the wagon, he stuck his head out and called to the others "come on, alphys has already plotted our course, we're headed east" the others climbed into the back of the carriage and they set off.
As they went down the road, Frisk decided to look through their supplies, mainly to allieviate her boredom, as she looked through the chests Grillby had loaded, she found something that had caught her attention; a beautiful white dress with purple embroidery, and it was about her size too.
Once she had found the tunic, she made her way to the front of the carriage and tried to get Grillby's attention "Um, excuse me?, where did you get this tunic?" Grillby glanced back as Frisk held up the clothes for him to see, Grillby had remained silent, but just as Frisk was about to give up, he spoke.
"It belonged to my daughter when she was around your age" He told her, he looked back at the dress and seemed lost in memories for a moment "Ahem, she's much older now, and she's outgrown that dress, so I don't believe she'll notice it missing, you can have it if you wish."
Frisk looked at the dress, slightly awed "Thank you, Mr. Grillby!" she took it and went to the back of the carriage and showed it to Llain "Look!, Mr. Grillby let me have this dress!" Llain looked at the dress and then glanced up at Grillby.
"Guess Sans was right about him being a good guy" he said, Frisk sat across from him, still looking at the dress "Well, we'll need to make some alterations to it when we get to the next town, but I think you'll look pretty cute in it."
As they talked, Alphys joined them "I just finished finalizing the plan with Sans and Undyne" she pulled her map out of her bag and unrolled it, tracing a line from the castle along the east coast and ending at the mountains in the north "We'll hit these spots along the way, and we believe that this last spot in the mountains will be their main base, if we're right about this, we should be able to stop them before they cause any more chaos."
"Alright, let's pray these bastards don't see us coming" Llain replied, looking at the map "This whole thing could go up in smoke with one wrong move..." with that, Llain and Alphys began planning for any eventualities that could occur, trying to ensure that their investigation went off without a hitch...
Meanwhile, Back in Vauland, Serene, Agate, and Lavernius made their own preparations for their journey, making sure that they had enough supplies for the road ahead of them, as he took inventory, Lavernius turned and looked at Serene "You know, Princess, you don't have to do this, we can relay any message you have for the king."
"Thank you, Lavernius..." Serene said, not looking at the rogue and continuing to secure her horses saddle "But any message I have for my father, I would prefer to deliver I myself" once the saddle was secure, she hopped up onto her horse and began riding towards the doors "Besides, If any of those soldiers were hurt, I would not be able to bear their loss, I must make sure they all return home safely."
Lavernius let out an irritated sigh and saddled his own horse, quickly catching up with Serene "But must I remind you that you are the Princess?" Agate soon joined them as well, flanking Serene on her other side "And that these monsters may capture you and try and use you as leverage, or worse?"
"Ha!, You think any of those beasts are gonna get within a foot of her without meeting the business end of that axe!?" Agate laughed, motioning towards the large axe hanging off the side of Serene's saddle "That thing looks like it could do some serious damage!"
"* Sigh * Alright, once again, I shall be the only one going into this with a modicum of reason..." Lavernius snarked, pinching the bridge of his nose "But if the princess ends up bound and gagged in the enemy camp, I reserve the right to snark and say I told you so..."
"Don't worry about it, Livi!" Agate brushed off his comment "If we're around, she won't even know there are enemies around!" as they rode off, Lavernius and Agate began to argue about Agate using that nickname, and Serene could only laugh, used to this display from her retainers...
THE END...
A.N: I hope you guys enjoy the switching pov's, I got kinda inspired to do something like this from Shadows of Valentia, anyway, if you have anything to say, positive or negative, don't hesitate to tell me!