A Walk Among Giants, Chapter 43: Breaking the Ice.
Hi everybody!
Witchy thankies too:
UltimateCCC: Heh. We're not not quite done yet either, just one more! Enter: {Redacted…}
Her vision was blurred and the only audible thing was the ringing in her ears. She was leaned over with her hand over her abdomen after being kicked and shot at the same time. It felt like taking a shot from a pellet gun at point blank range. "What the hell was that!?" Lucina shouted mentally as she looked back up trying to find her assailant. She slowly stood back up and raised her sword again while laughter filled the air.
"You're making it easy." The assailant says as a few bats fly around Lucina, as they disperse the assailant hops out of the batch coming straight at the blunette. Lucina quickly rolls away as a giant demonic fist strikes the air where she previously stood. Lucina only stared with wide eyes while panting hard wondering what in the world that was. She feels something behind her and quickly turns around while slashing only for her sword to meet the bark of a tree instead. "I'm right here!" Lucina hears and looks up only to see a portal open and a giant demonic foot to come down on her. Lucina just laid sprawled on the ground while softly panting and trying to find the strength to stand back up again. She was about to raise her sword again until extra weight was put on her arm making her unable to raise it. "Dreadful" the assailant says while looking down at the beaten swordswoman with a devious smirk. Right now Lucina was wishing she listened to her senses and she and Pittoo stayed inside, but noooo someone just had to go for a walk. She looks over towards her partner still hanging from a net, although he is awake now and looking down at her with a sadistic smile on his face. He gives her a wink and Lucina just looks back up at the assailant who was still keeping a watchful eye on her.
"You lose" Lucina breathed out, however the assailant didn't even flinch as the angel snuck up behind her. She just kicked back and shot off several rounds making the angel stumble backward and fall to the floor while groaning in pain. Lucina just placed her hand around the assailant's boot trying to pry it off of her other arm. Oh how she wished she could be inside right now instead of dealing with this.
*earlier*
"Ladies first!" Raven calls out as she quickly rushes in the doors that Robin just so kindly happened to be holding open. The others however just kinda awkwardly waddled in after the tactician who was frantically taking off her footwear. She takes a moment to inspect them as she had to traverse through lots of slippery and wet terrain in them earlier. "Eh, they're a little muddy, nothing a good soak won't clear up!" She claps before dropping them into a plastic bag and handing them off to a certain Mii to take them away.
"Was that…?" Lucina points as the Mii hurried off.
"So, before anything we should all remove our shoes and whatnot since ya know, Peach would have an aneurysm if anyone tracks in mud onto the floors." Raven ignored the bluenette and turned to the others. There was truth to her words however as there was a rumor that the last person who tracked in mud was made to clean it up by licking the floors spotless. As to the legitimacy of the rumor is still up for debate, due to no one willing to test out that theory as Peach is known for her absurd methods to small problems.
"Erm, Rave…" Robin clears his throat awkwardly, she turns to her twin who was frantically pointing down towards their new guests with his wide open eyes. Eventually she gets the hint after giving him a puzzled look for a full minute. She looks towards where his eyes were pointing only to see that the new smashers were literally bare foot.
"Oh dear, did you lose your shoes?" She asked them, "don't worry it happened to me as well. I had to spend an hour literally searching through a field of tall grass. Those darn portals are so unreliable about getting you to your destination. I thought by now for sure Master Hand would've fixed that." She sighed while slowly shaking her head. The two newcomers just glanced at each other before looking back at the tactician.
"Shoes?" F Corrin asked while tilting her head slightly.
"I think she's talking about those things," M Corrin points at the others who were still slipping off their footwear.
"Raven I'm pretty sure they weren't wasting time by throwing their shoes around to try and find their way." Robin remarked while she turned to give her twin a look.
"It was a smart move, you can't argue with the results!" She replied while wagging her finger at him.
"I don't see how throwing your shoes around helped in the first place, you lunatic." Robin crossed his arms while giving her a smug look.
"Haven't you ever heard of echolocation?" She flat out states.
"You're not a bat!" He fired back.
"I don't need to be, when you have zero visibility, sound is your next best bet to help you navigate." She says as she raises her nose at him.
"Right, I forgot how much of a shrunken version you are." Robin says nonchalant while shrugging his shoulders. Raven gasps before she marches right up to her twin.
"I am not short, we're practically the same height!" She moves her hand from the top of her head to his.
"Please, I have at least two inches on you!" he waved her off with a smug look.
"Yeah, obviously something only you would be proud of!" She fires back with a sadistic smile while his face falls flat.
"Wha- HEY!"
"OKAY!" Marth quickly interjects, coming between them, "let's move on with the tour shall we?" He says motioning everyone else to follow.
"Hold on, what about their shoes?" Raven points back at the newcomers.
"I don't wear any such limiting contraptions," M Corrin states.
"Yeah, it's more freeing this way," F Corrin adds.
"Limiting how?" Robin asked.
"I'm pretty sure humanoids weren't intended to limit and weigh themselves down with such contraptions." M Corrin shrugs.
"I mean, do you really have a full range of motion in those things? You can't cross a stream without them filling with water and staying soaking wet for hours afterwards. You can't walk through sandy terrain without having to empty your shoes every minute. And lastly as my counterpart pointed out, can you deny that you aren't being weighed down by those things?" F Corrin adds.
"Yeah but what about transversing rough terrain and such?" Raven asked.
"You go about it like you would any other terrain." M Corrin shrugs.
"But what about sharp rocks and hot surfaces and worst yet snow? you'll get frostbite!" Raven adds shortly after.
"They're part dragon," Marth adds shortly thereafter.
"Ahh…" Both Robins' reply while they now seemed to be eyeing the newcomers intently as they often did.
"What are they doing?" F Corrin leans over to Lucina to ask, while looking at the tacticians frozen in place with a hard gaze towards the newcomers.
"It's something they do often, it'll go away eventually when they find a new target, trust me." The bluenette whispered back.
"Also, keep in mind I've been forbidden from leaving the castle until just recently, of course now I know why." M Corrin informed the group.
"Yeah, that's true…" F Corrin whispered while she slightly lowered her gaze.
"And yet, you still still believe you weren't a hostage?" M Corrin crossed his arms while she groaned.
"Are you seriously going to start with this again!? Just because you have your twisted vision of the world doesn't mean I'll have the same chaotic ideologies!" She shook her head at him.
"You're just too blinded by their fake affectionate treatments to see it, you're nothing more than their glorified pet!" He states as she scowls at him but he keeps a hard gaze.
"Okay we're backtracking now, so maybe we should split into groups." Marth comes in again with a bored look.
"Shouldn't this kind of thing be like a habit to the Six by now? I mean you guys had to handle the Villagers' debacle. Also the Fitness trainers' if I remember correctly? Which begs the question, how did they handle these two for the first time?" Lucina speaks up before motioning between the two tacticians.
"Uh, well…" Marth rubbed the back of his head, "see unlike all the others, theirs was a special case according to the report…"
*FLASHBACK*
"Hey Shulk I think it's about that time don't you think?" Ike nudged the monado wielder with a wide grin plastered on his face while placing his phone away. Shulk himself grins as they both begin to nudge each other leaving the tactician standing there puzzled.
"You got the call?" Shulk asks before Ike nods and they giggle to themselves and hopping around in excitement.
"Erm, pardon my intrusion but time for what exactly?" Robin spoke up while they both turned to him then back at each other before nodding to one another.
"Robin my friend, do we have a surprise for you!" Ike placed his hand around the tactician and led him away. Shulk squealed in excitement following behind him. A feeling of dread came over the tactician at that moment however. Since he's arrived he's learned that a surprise around here isn't necessarily a good thing most of the time.
As they come around the corner they run into Zelda and Peach coming down the opposite side. Ike and Shulk nod towards the princesses before parting and shoving Robin towards them. Peach was excitedly clapping her hands in rapid succession while squealing to herself. Zelda let out a bored sigh knowing things were about to turn chaotic, it's already happened the two previous times after all. Both princesses step aside and let a cloaked figure step forward towards the tactician. She removes her hood from her head, making Robin gasp in surprise and take a step back.
"Here comes the best part!" Ike whispered while leaning over towards Zelda who was next to him at the time. Zelda still looked quite bored however, this routine was getting to be quite sour for her.
"Why does Master Hand insist on agitating the newcomers?" She said under her breath and crossed her arms. The tacticians however began making a range of motions in unison as if they were in front of a mirror. They then slowly start to circle the other cautiously before stopping in front of each other.
"Fascinating!"
"Fascinating!"
They say in unison, before resting their chin in one hand and giving the other a hard gaze as if to study the other. A puzzled look then came across Ike's face as this is around the time where the others would freak out and start asking questions or going insane.
"Ok what are they doing…" Ike mumbled however the tacticians stood frozen in place with their weird perplexed gazes never leaving the other. "Ok, make it stop, it's starting to freak me out!" Ike states while backing away holding his hands out in front of him.
"Anyone wanna place a bet about how long they'll stay like that?" Shulk speaks up while waving a few smash bucks in the air. By now the tacticians were prodding the other as if they were a foreign object.
"Hmm, I see…"
"Hmm, I see…
*End of Flashback*
Both tacticians just smiled sheepishly while shrugging. "What can I say, we're more curious than we would ever be psyched or freaked out." Raven admits casually.
"Regardless" Marth interjected, "I think we could cover more ground and have an overall smoother experience if we split up." He adds while motioning them to part ways with his hand.
"Right then, let's go!" Raven says grabbing M Corrin by the arm before Robin smacks her hand away.
"Hey, you're over there." He points out while motioning towards where F Corrin and Lucina stood.
"Actually Raven does have an interesting idea, I think we could get somewhere if we mix things up a little." Marth admits while rubbing his chin, "you go with them, i'll go over there with them." He motions Robin towards Lucina and F Corrin, Robin however just awkwardly rubs the back of his head.
"I see your intentions for sure, but maybe this won't wield the results you were hoping for…" He cleared his throat awkwardly while motioning towards Lucina with his eyes. Marth looks between them for a moment before he sighs, he still didn't understand why those two were at such odds. It's been over a year now since their supposed falling out. And then there was that very awkward and stern conversation he had with Chrom.
"Well I suppose I could just…" M Corrin begins as he walks towards Robin, that is until Raven yanks him back by the arm and shoves a piece of chocolate in his mouth.
"Here you should try this!" She says M Corrin looked about to protest but then a look of surprise crossed his face before he focused on enjoying the new delicacy he was just introduced to. "We'll just do it like this!" Raven says taking Lucina by the arm and then pushing her and M Corrin out of the entrance room down the corridor and out of view. M Corrin was too lost in the sensation of trying chocolate for the first time to even comprehend what was occuring.
Marth turns towards Robin who shrugged at him, before they both turn towards the newcomer awkwardly standing behind them. "Well I suppose the first thing we ought to do is get you settled into your new room." Marth spoke up more so to himself.
*later*
"And this is the art room, not to toot my own horn but I'd say I've actually made the most progress here. Then again I'm the only one besides the children who bothers coming here." Raven says as she stands in the doorway of the messy damp room. M Corrin was going through her purse hung loosely over her shoulder, Lucina was a few paces behind them staring down at her phone. "Hey! Are you even paying attention?" She snaps her fingers in his face.
"Of course" he says while awkwardly avoiding her gaze.
"Oh really, what room was this again?" She points towards the room behind her, he peeks over her shoulder looking at all the paint and easels laying about the room.
"Well you obviously make your silly portraits in there" he shrugged.
"I mean, he's not wrong" Lucina says while Raven gives her a look.
"I'd say that's earned another one of those treats you carry around wouldn't you agree?" He says while eyeing her purse and slowly rubbing his arm.
"I'll think about it…" Raven replied while holding the purse closer to herself.
"Raven, you're not supposed to get newcomers hooked on excotic foods. More importantly he hasn't even had his lunch yet you're going to spoil his appetite." Lucina crossed her arms and gave the tactician a look.
"I'm not, calm down!" She waved off the bluenette. She then turned towards the newcomer, still eyeing her purse intently and shaking slightly.
"Oh great, look you gave him chocolate withdrawals!" Lucina motions towards the poor man.
"How do you know he's simply not cold?" Raven states while Lucina rolled her eyes and took out a piece of chocolate she snatched from the tactician earlier. He turns his head while looking at it intently and following her every hand movements, all while a little sliver of saliva hangs from his mouth. She then turned back to the tactician who smiled sheepishly and shrunk a little.
"Okay, maybe I went a little overboard…" She slowly replied, "but hey in my defense it's the only way we've been able to get him to move!" She threw her arms up.
"So am I getting one of those sweets or what?" Corrin interjected looking slightly irritated.
"I think for your own good it's best we hold off on the sweets for now," Lucina replied. He turned towards Raven, however, waiting for her reply.
"I'm afraid she's right bud… We're not supposed to over expose newcomers to new sensations for reasons…" Raven admits and slumps her shoulders.
"Couldn't we make a compromise though? Like a small piece now and then the rest later?" He asked as he intently eyed her bag again.
"Yeah… See the fact that you're trying to bargain means we already went a little over the line." Raven replied while Lucina scoffs at the tactician.
"We? What's all this about we? This is all you missy I'm not taking a fall for your escapades!" Lucina shakes her head slowly at her.
"Yet you didn't do anything to stop it, and so that makes you an accomplice I'm afraid." Raven smiles mischievously at the bluenette.
"No, you're not going to string me along, not this time!" Lucina states and turns her back to them.
"Well unfortunately for you Master Hand assigned you as well as I to oversee the newcomer. Meaning you're just as responsible for what happens here as I." Raven calls out to her smugly.
"You're an evil schemer, you know that right?" Lucina sighs in defeat, unfortunately she was right Lucina was just as responsible for the new guy as she was. All she could hope now is that Marth and Robin were doing just as horrible if not worse at handling their newcomer.
"I said no!" Raven slaps his hand away as he tries to stealthily reach for her bag while they bickered. He snarls in frustration jabbing his arm forward which turns into a lance impaling the bag and ripping it from the grasp of the tactician. She yelps in surprise and stumbles backwards and falls to the floor.
"Quick, don't let him overdose!" Lucina rushed at the newcomer as he greedily rummaged through the bag tossing random objects every which way. He snarls at them and runs off down the corridor away from the two women.
"Ohhh, this is not how I wanted this day to go!" Raven groans as they run after him. When they are right behind him Raven jumps on his back and they both fall to the floor. She tries to pry the bag away from him but he places it in between his teeth before he begins growing in size. Lucina backs up instinctively as he finishes his transformation. A white quadruped aquatic dragon stood before her now with a flailing tactician on its back. He lets out a muffled growl before taking off down the corridor at surprising speeds, knocking over vases, statues and paintings as it stamped through with Raven holding on to dear life on top. Lucina quickly pulls out her phone and quickly dials a number as she hears a loud crash some distance away followed by a roar.
"Yes hello, remember that favor you said you'd owe me? I'd like to cash that in…" She quickly explained as she ran down the hall towards all the loud noises and commotion.
*meanwhile… *
"Hmm hey Marth, who's insignia do you suppose this is?" Robin called over to the swordsman who was currently showing the newcomer how to work the lights in her room. Robin had already made a sketch of it on his little book to study it, Marth stood there for a second looking it over.
"I've never seen it before either, however I do recall Master Hand telling the Six that there was more than one newcomer arriving today. We figured he meant because they are twins but it seems there is one other individual we are yet to meet, and it appears this mysterious individual is to be partnered with our new friend here." He motions towards the newcomer in the back who was flicking the lamp next to her bed on and off.
"They are entirely new as this insignia is not in association with any known dimension." Robin mumbles as he closes his little book and places it in his coat pocket.
"How does this flame ignite and extinguish so fast?" Corrin asked, puzzled as she continued to flick the lamp on and off.
"Erm, well it isn't exactly a flame" Rabin replied. "That little contraption there harnesses the power of electricity to provide the light you see."
"Ooh, interesting…" She says while still flicking the little thing on and off.
"Alright how about we take you to meet with Master Hand?" Marth suggested as she finally turned her attention away from the lamp.
"Ah yeah excellent idea Marth, he can afterall answer some of your most burning questions!" Robin adds while leading her out of the room. As they step outside a loud explosion rocks the mansion making it shake.
"Are we under attack!?" F Corrin shouts in alarm. Marth Just placed a hand on her hilt making her lower her weapon while slowly shaking his head.
"No, that is just sadly a common occurrence around here, trust me after a week or so you'll get accustomed to all the commotion that goes on around here." Marth informs her while she slowly loosened the grip on her weapon.
"Perhaps you should leave that behind, trust me you wont need it outside of the arena anyway." Robin points down at her sword and she looks down at it for a moment looking unsure.
"He's right, besides any conflict outside of the arena is strictly forbidden. Most commotions are always pointless squabbles anyway; it's never anything serious." Marth assured her. After a moment she nods and walks over and places it on her bed. Before heading out and closing the door behind her, sliding the ID card on the reader to lock it. Another explosion rocked the mansion followed by a loud triumphant roar.
"Oh figures, it's him again…" Marth shakes his head slowly.
"Him, who?" F Corrin asked curiously.
"Bowser…" Robin replies, "one of the resident big bads, he also tends to have a bit of a temper most days."
"Why would you so openly house such a villain in your premises?" She asked.
"Well we keep several of them actually, and I guess Master Hand decided to add them to add some variety to the cast." Marth explained to her as they stopped in front of the elevator doors. They dinged open shortly after and Marth and Robin stepped inside while F Corrin looked around the tiny room.
"Master Hand is in here?" She asked, completely puzzled.
"Actually this will take us to Master Hand" Robin informed her.
"Oh a warp room, I see" She said as she stepped in and Marth hit the button for the ground floor.
"In a manner of speaking" Robin shrugged as the elevator began its descent. Corrin clutched the bars on the side of it as she looked around puzzled again.
"Are we falling?" She called out worriedly, that if the mansion was collapsing or something there was no way they would escape in time before the massive structure came down on them.
"Ah here he is, back on the ground floor" Marth says as the doors open up again on a new floor. They walk out and begin heading down the hall while Corrin takes one last look at the elevator as the doors close again.
"It's a more convenient way of getting to different floors rather than using the stairs." Robin says, "of course you are more than welcome to use the stairs still although there is always some complication or other while trying to traverse them." He informed her. And before long they stood in front of what looked like an abandoned room, with old dusty furniture littered around and or stacked in the back collecting dust. Master Hand was in there sitting behind a dusty desk going through some dusty files before Marth knocked on the open door.
"Master Hand we brought you the newest member of the roster" Marth steps aside and lets her step towards the large desk in front of them. Master Hand slowly turns his seat around to face them with his hands clasped in front of his face.
"Ah yes, Corrin-" He paused for a moment and looked around before turning towards Marth. "Er… Where's the other one?" He asked.
"He's currently with Lucina and Raven sir" Marth shrugged.
"We thought it would be a fun experience to split up and mix up!" Robin chimed in while giving the hand an awkward smile.
"I see… It certainly is odd but I guess I see no harm in it. Now as for you young lady I'm sure you have lots of burning questions as all newcomers do. We'll get to that in a second but first!" MH takes out a large packet and places it on the desk with a loud thud sending up a cloud of dust. "This here is the rule book. It also contains our schedules and also it explains how some of the more foreign things work." He slides the large thing towards her and she takes it into her arms. "Now I guess it's time for the one on one portion of your visit I suppose, Marth and Robin would you mind waiting outside for now?" He turns towards the two men.
"Not at all," Robin replied before they headed out. He remembers when he was in this exact situation himself, he was so confused and agitated back then. To think it was due to him never getting over the horrible events of the war back home. He could only wonder what she had to ask since apparently her story was yet to be written.
"Please have a seat," he motioned to one of the seats in front of his desk but she politely declined.
"I'd prefer to stand thank you" she says.
"Suit yourself, so where shall we begin?" He asked while she shifted in place.
"Well first I must ask what happened to the Hoshido and Nohr armies?" She began.
"They are still there I assure you, you are a special case in that unlike every other smasher here there had to be a time based exception made for you. Basically for you it will feel as if time had stopped as you will be returned in the exact moment you left, and no one will be none the wiser." MH explained.
"I see, now more to the point. I can see you are a being of exceptional power not just here either it seems. And this might be a bit of a tall order but is there any way you may be able to help me back home?" She asked while she looked down.
"That depends, help you how exactly?" He asked curiously while leaning forward in his seat.
"Well, I don't want conflict between the two kingdoms and if there is any way I can help prevent that I want to try everything possible. Even if that is begging for the help of a mysterious deity." She says as a sad expression comes across her face remembering the events prior to her joining the tournament.
"Hmm, while your intentions are pure and noble I'm afraid I can't exactly interfere with the events transpiring in your world." He replied.
"Oh…" She says, "it was worth trying I suppose…" She says to herself.
"Fear not, the reason I cannot interfere is because a path has already been laid out for you and your actions are to determine exactly how it goes. If you truly wish to prevent conflict between the two kingdoms then it is within your grasp to achieve this goal. You have plenty of time to think about everything that has transpired there to make your final decision on the matter; however, as I stated when we first met, I have come to offer you a temporary escape." He said as he stood from his seat and walked around his desk with his arms behind his back.
"I… I don't even know where to begin, I'm absolutely positive whatever side I take the other will not take kindly to it and only further the conflict. Part of me wants to return to Nohr and help them change their ways from within to stop the conflict with Hoshido, however I fear that Hoshido may only see that as an act of treason and disown me for my decision. And it goes vice versa with returning to my true home Hoshido, Nohr would only see me as a traitor. I just don't want any more conflict!" She sighs in frustration, she was seemingly placed between a rock and hard place with no easy way out.
"I understand wanting to go the pacifist route, without the conflict you don't have to worry about your loved one's dying in vain. But I know for a fact that you hold the potential to solve the conflict in your own way apart from the dogmatic options unfairly laid out to you. There is a reason you were selected to join this tournament afterall." MH assures her while giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Now besides your home are there any other questions you wish to discuss?" He asked while she took in a deep breath.
"There is actually… Why are there two of me? And more importantly why is he like me yet so different at the same time?" She replies.
"That's simple really, just like your tactician counterparts the reason I decided to include both of you is because despite being the same person. There are still those subtle differences that set you apart and make you unique in your own special ways. Out of the millions of alternative worlds you come from yours was a special case, in which the great hero of the tale was born female instead of male." Master Hand states. "I first discovered this rare phenomenon when I learned all about one of our newest potential arrivals and his world, a young village mayor."
"I see… And I guess that is all I actually did want to discuss with you." She adds shortly after.
"Well I'll walk you out" he motions towards the door and they begin to walk off. "One more thing, I know you and your counterpart will be at odds because of your views. But please I implore you to be civil about such matters as I don't want any more grueling feuds between my smashers. I already have my hands full dealing with some stubbornness, especially one that I never expected to go so bad." He finished as he opened the door for her where the other two sat outside patiently waiting.
"I understand, and worry not. I have no intention of starting any feud no matter how stubborn they may be." She assured the hand, he nodded his head before heading back inside the old room.
"So how'd it go?" Robin asked. She just sighs as they bagan walking down the halls again.
"About as well as you'd expect, I don't mean to be rude but he was no help at all…" She says looking defeated.
"Yeah, yeah I know what you mean." Robin says, "he tends to be so, unknowingly."
"Well I suppose in the meantime we can show you the more essential facilities around here before lunch." Marth suggests before motioning them to follow.
"If you really feel that you are lost with your inner conflict I'm willing to lend a hand, besides I know a few others who would be excellent at helping with these exact situations." He offered, although he was slightly embarrassed to admit it took him a while before figuring out his inner conflict.
"I appreciate that, and I guess I can take you up on your offer." She gave him a slight smile as they walked on. He could now only hope that Raven was getting through to the other Corrin to help solve their disputes.
*meanwhile…*
"Down! Down! Bad Dragon!" Raven shouted as she continued to flick the transformed newcomer on his scaly nose. However all she was accomplishing was agitating him further, bad enough he was focusing on trying not to lose the bag in his grip but now he had to contempt with the tactician on his back. "This would've all gone down easier if you would've just cooperated instead of being so darn stubborn!" She shouts as they continue to wallop down the halls into the library. "No! Not here! Anywhere but here! Turn back!" She begins to shout again as she frantically pulls on his horns.
"HEY!" A deep bellowing voice shouts from above them. M Corrin stops thrashing and looks up towards the upper levels with an angry huff. There was a large figure in an oversized trench coat and a large cavalier hat with a large black feather. The figure raised his head as some steam emitted from his nose. He tossed his coat and hat aside as he stepped towards the railings revealing Bowser. "There's only one rampaging reptile around here, and that sure as hell ain't you!" He calls down to them. M Corrin however responds by shooting a torrent of water up at the koopa king. He dodges out of the way before growling "oh it's on!" He states before jumping off the second floor right towards M Corrin. Raven's eyes bulge out of her head seeing the heaviest smasher dropping right towards her. She lets go of M Corrin and quickly jumps away right as Bowser lands on the newcomer that lets out a startled roar. Debris goes flying every which way as they leave a large crater in the middle of the room.
"Oh come on I just had the floors waxed!" Raven cries out as she stands back up. M Corrin shakes his head furiously as he comes out of his daze. Bowser gets up as well and brushes some debris off himself before getting rammed into a bookshelf by the newcomer.
"That's my personal bookshelf! You know how long it took me to organize it just the way I wanted it!?" Raven calls out while pulling on her hair as she watches Bowser grab the newcomer and smash him right through another bookshelf sending woodchucks and books flying every which way. "That's it!" She huffs while rolling up her sleeves and taking out her sword, it cackles furiously with sparks of lighting as she charges at the two reptiles gripling with each other. She lets out a battle cry only to slip on a book and fall into the crater Bowser made earlier, except now it had filled with water. And with her sword cackling with angry sparks the poor girl ends up frying herself in the makeshift pond. Both reptiles stopped and watched her flail around in the water before going limp and floating to the top face down with steam emitting from her. Bowser just raised an eyebrow before he once again gets rammed by the newcomer, which he promptly tosses into another bookshelf. M Corrin gets out of the debris and begins charging another torrent of water while Bowser's mouth begins to drip with embers as he lets out a challenging roar. Corrin lets loose a jet of water while Bowser lets loose a torrent of angry flames making the two opposing forces clash in the middle. The flames and water moved back and forth as they both added more force to their projectiles while slowly moving towards each other. Drops of water and embers of fire danced around the area where the two opposing forces met in the middle. It wasn't long before both started to turn slightly blue in the face from breathing so hard at each other. They both let out a frustrated growl and dash at each other resulting in a giant explosion of water and fire. They are both launched back crashing through several book shelves from the resulting shock wave which also rocked the whole mansion. The lights flicker around before everything went back to normal, except the droplets of water and fire that gently fell around the vicinity.
M Corrin now back in his human form frees himself from being wedged into a bookshelf on the wall. He falls to the floor along with several books with a loud thud. He groans while holding his head and sits up slowly looking around. "Wha… What happened?" He groaned while leaning back and looking around at all the mess. There were books littered everywhere and torn bookshelves toppled over or shattered to pieces. Not to mention the scorched spots and water damage. A pile of rubble in the back begins to shake and the large koopa emerges from it slowly while holding his head. He shakes the rubble off him before lifting up his head and scanning the vicinity for his enemy. Although all he sees is the toasted tactician still floating motionless in the crater and another silver haired individual in the back looking around dazed. The Koopa King just shrugged him off believing him to just be Robin trying a new look.
"Ha! The blokes' run off!" Bowser states with an amused smirk. Just then Lucina bursts through the back doors out of breath and looking around in a panic. She relaxes a little when she sees M Corrin back in his human form and slightly dazed. She then gasps when she sees the tactician floating face down in a crater of water and she turns to look at Bowser slowly clambering up a pile of books. He turns towards the bluenette and then glances at the floating tactician in the water. "Hey don't look at me, she did that to herself!" He waved her off before he continued clambering the pile of books. "Ask the other guy if you don't believe me…" He mumbles.
Lucina runs over towards the crater and begins to slowly drag Raven out of the crater, weirdly enough despite being in water she smells burnt. Just as Lucina plants the tactician out of the water her eyes snap wide open in a crazed way. Bowser stood atop the pile of books once again proclaiming himself the undefeated reptile king of smash. He lets out a mighty roar towards the heavens, or in that moment the library's ceiling. "AHH THORON!" Raven shouts as she shoots up in her spot.
"Rave NO-" It's about as far as Lucina got before an enormous bolt of lightning struck the crater once again creating another shockwave that rocked the mansion for the second time…
"You see, Ike, a good book never hurt anyone." Shulk says while setting his hand on the mercenary's shoulder. They both were currently walking down the hall towards the library as Ike had asked Shulk to teach him something peculiar. And since Shulk himself was interested in said topic he'd agreed to help Ike do some research in the library. As for the topic in question, well that was something that was just between them for reasons. That is until they feel another shockwave rock the mansion and the library's doors fly open. And it just so happened that a thick book came flying out of there too and struck Ike in the face. The mercenary is knocked off his feet and sent straight to the floor. "Now that's just bad timing…" Shulk says to himself while shaking his head and looking down at Ike who was out cold.
Meanwhile, Lucina was currently making her way out of a pile of broken tables and chairs she was buried under after the blast. She looks to her left to see Bowser wedged into the wall and worst yet upside down, the big guy always had trouble getting up off his back. He didn't seem to be conscious either judging by his limp dangling legs and his one visible arm also hanging there loosely. She looks to her right to see M Corrin crawling out from under a fallen bookshelf and dust himself off. Just before Raven splats down in front of him from seemingly nowhere and covered in soot. "Ayyye, you're human again!" She smiles to herself while smacking him on the leg.
"I don't remember much of what happened here, but I've come to the conclusion that you people are insane!" He replies as he tumbles backwards while the tactician hums to herself.
"Huh… I've been getting that a lot lately…" She says before her sword lands impaling the ground literally right next to her head. "And I'd say I'm insanely lucky!" She smiled again.
"I need some fresh air or something." M Corrin blurts out while trying to make his way through the debris.
"Wait hold on, we need to be accompanying you!" Lucina calls out as she makes her way through the destroyed library after the newcomer.
"Right, you have orders from that funny deity of yours…" he replies but keeps on walking away regardless. Raven stood up from the floor and began dusting herself off while also wobbling back and forth. She was still dazed from shocking herself with enough electricity to put down a whale and then blowing herself up. She was so disoriented she completely forgot that she was flying off the rails due to her library being destroyed. Had she not tripped on that conveniently placed book she would've gone absolutely ballistic, it had taken her nearly the two years they've been there to get the library just right to her liking. Seeing all her hard work snapped her and against better judgment was about to jump into a fray with two beasts with jaws, claws and maws. She stumbles a bit before picking up her sword and sheathing it. M Corrin turns around to face the bluenette following him only to yelp in surprise and stumble backwards. "Oh gods above!"
"What?" Lucina asked, puzzled before looking down at herself, "don't tell me someone washed my clothes with that dye that looks like piss when it's wet!" She exclaimed while checking her clothes, that is of course until M Corrin slowly pointed behind her. She turns and gasps loudly at what startled him, there was a giant red and purple bruise protruding out the back of Raven's head. Apparently blasting yourself into the roof of a library that spans four floors and then landing on your head on the way down would do that to you. "That can't be good…" Lucina says as she winces. "Hey Rave?" Lucina calls out to her as she seems to be looking for something.
"Hold on a minute dear, I think I dropped my brain and I'm just looking for it since I'm feeling extremely light headed." She called back as she stumbled around looking for the thing. Lucina quickly walked over to her, placing her hands on her shoulders and spinning her around. Her pupils were highly dilated which was never a good sign.
"Hey Raven can you follow my finger?" Lucina says while moving her finger in front of Raven's face from side to side. The tactician didn't follow her finger and instead barfed on the floor. "We need to get her to the infirmary quickly before she ends up with permanent brain damage or something. She can't stay like that, Master Hand might send her home due to her inability to fight anymore. And it's not like it'd be much better back home, I mean what use would anyone have for a bumbling drooling tactician!?" Lucina paced back and forth as she rambled while said tactician was bumbling around while drooling.
"You know I think we all need a nap, I say that's an excellent idea! Nothing gets the troops more riled up than the thought of an afternoon nap!" Raven slurs while holding up a finger and looking around at no one in particular. "Yes you're right Frederick! We're all probably going to die tomorrow!" She says while pointing at no one in particular. "Now go to sleep we have a big battle ahead!" She finished and began to settle herself into a pile of books.
"Aaaand now she's hallucinating…" Lucina says with a deadpan look while holding chunks of her hair. M Corrin sighs and walks over taking the tactician off the floor and into his arms.
"As much as I would like to just walk away and forget this whole thing ever happened, I couldn't bring myself to walk away from an injured individual in need of aid. Now where is the so-called infirmary around here?" M Corrin states as best as he could while Raven stuck her fingers in his mouth as if looking for something in there.
"I'm terribly sorry, about that she's just been kind of moody and in all honesty lost since we had a visitors weekend, and then finding out what she thought was a great premonition about her saving the world turned out to be nothing more than a post war mental state." Lucina explained to the newcomer, he silently nodded to her. "The infirmary is this way" she motions and they head out through the back doors of the library. She noticed how out of touch Raven had become but she never said anything to her, she figured that the tactician would find a way to fix whatever ails her. She's done it countless times before with others as she's been the problem fixer, but it seems there is one thing she couldn't solve, herself. At the beginning of the tournament she seems so focused and dedicated, mainly because she thought she was preventing Grima's return. Nowadays she's become more unmotivated and undedicated since she became disillusioned. Although it might not look like it nor seem like it for that matter as she was great at keeping up a public appearance, she now just spends all her time cooped up in the library.
As the doors closed and then fell off their hinges Bowser stirs from his shockwave induced nap. He begins flailing around before un-wedging himself from the wall and falling to the floor. Just as Master Hand came marching into the room, however he only had his undershirt on at the time with his sleeves rolled up. His walking slows down dramatically when he sees the library completely in disarray, and the only culprit around having just released himself from a Bowser sized hole. MH placed his arms on his hips while staring at the koopa in disbelief, just last week he was given a stern talking to about his 'Bowser Bombs' ironically. Bowser looked around before looking back at MH with a sheepish look and holding up a finger. "I know what this might look like, but I assure you it's not what you think, I can explain!" He states while raising up his arms to his sides. Unfortunately for him a certain someone made a hole in the ceiling which was just big enough for the unthinkable to happen. Just before MH was about to speak Ness suddenly falls from the hole and splats down right in front of them. Mega unfortunately, he happened to be carrying a bag of stolen goods that several smashers had been on the lookout for recently. "Ok that I can't explain…" Bowser signs while dropping his shoulders just as MH crossed his arms, he was serious now…
Meanwhile, Lucina and the newcomer were making their way towards the infirmary with the delusional tactician. "That would explain why she thought it was a good idea to get me addicted to that sweet… Soft… Savory…" He trails off before Lucina snaps at him.
"Hey come on dont start with the withdrawals now!" she says while motioning to the tactician in his arms.
"Don't worry it's not as bad as before, the large turtle thing unintentionally knocked the withdrawals out of me." He shrugs, he figured the slight throbbing of his head was worth it if he could get chocolate out of his mind. "Also I would like to apologize for rampaging the way I did, I'm still kind of learning how to control that…" He explained while wondering where he left his special stone.
"Well I guess you're technically making it up to us and especially her by helping get her to the medical ward." Lucina turned and gave him a slight smile.
"Wouldn't it be the most wonderful thing to hear?" Raven states while running a hand down the side of his face. "Especially… Especially considering he leaves her… In the gutters… as it should have happened…" Raven mumbled more so to herself.
"Eh?" M Corrin asked the disoriented woman in his arms.
"He can finally be with his true wife as it was meant to be!" She whispered harshly while gripping M Corrin tightly by his clothes.
"Who…?" Lucina slowed her pace as she heard the disoriented mumbling.
"She's a liar and manipulator, she forced him, she forced herself on him, he couldn't escape… I saw it all… The way she threw herself at him, like all the others wanted to do as well, they're all liars and cheats!" She rambled on this time, gripping the sides of the newcomer's face and shaking it slightly. "The worst of the worst is her though, how she plotted and schemed day and night never leaving his side and prancing around as if to gloat about the attention she got…" She adds and then looks away for a moment, "she stole… My family! And my… My…" She trails off as she slips in and out of consciousness.
"What are you speaking of, who are you speaking of?" Lucina asked as these crazed ramblings didn't seem like something that came out of nowhere, this was no dizzy talk. And now that the silver haired woman had a few screws loose it was starting to seep out, her inner most oppressed thoughts.
"Who else but that scheming lying harlot!" Raven spouts. They turn into another corridor this time lined with windows towards the outside. It was stormy out at the moment and the sky rumbled softly as it poured. Lucina hoped Pit was ok as she had sent him into the city and he gets scared of thunder if it gets too loud. However her mind was a little much too occupied with other matters to really worry about how the angel was fairing out in the world by himself.
"Raven, Who?" Lucina asked more sternly while Raven just looked around as if she was making sure that person wasn't around her.
"She doesn't deserve him! She doesn't deserve him! She never deserved him!" She mumbled while staring straight ahead at the bluenette walking in front of her and Corrin. "Sumia…" She muttered the name as a bright flash illuminates the skies followed by a thunderous roar.
M Corrin ends up bumping into the bluenette who had stopped dead in her tracks. "Uh…" He says while they stood there in the middle of the hall the only sound was the raindrops against the glass.
"My… Mother?" Lucina breathed out slowly as lightning flashed outside. She then slowly turned to face them.
"HUH?" Corrin blurts out in surprise, just when he thought he was out of one tense situation against two separate parties at odds here he was in the middle of another one.
"She stole… baby… And all I could do was watch…" Raven whispered solemnly as a tear rolled down her face. "All I could do was watch…"
"Here, get her inside quickly, she's clearly lost her damn mind!" Lucina burst open the door to the infirmary while ushering them in. Dark Pit who was jamming on his bed with some headphones on jumped in his bed when he was his partner suddenly burst in, along with the lunatic she's always with and some other dude he never met before but seems to also think looking past a thousand looks cool. Lucina parts the curtains to another bed across the room motioning the newcomer over. "Just set her down here while I go get the doctor" Lucina says while she walks into the back office, of course the good doctor was out at the moment on his lunch break, as said so by the note he left on his door.
"Is he in there?" M Corrin calls out.
"Keep an eye on her, will you? I need to head out for a moment." Lucina says while pointing at the tactician biting into her pillow as if it was a giant marshmallow, which at the moment she believed it was.
"Blue?" Pittoo says as he watched her hurriedly race towards the door, he was so lost at the moment.
"Not now!" She raised a finger at him and he just raised his hands up while shrinking back into bed. She quickly dashes down the hall towards the cafeteria to get Dr. Mario before that woman's mind deteriorates any further and she starts speaking even more nonsense. It made no sense, why would she be rambling about her mother stealing her family from her. Last she checked she technically didn't have one, aside from her father which she promptly killed with the aid of Chrom and his army. She thought their worlds were completely parallel except of course with that phenomenon of the hero being a female. So why and or how would her mother steal a family? Steal how? That is until she focused more on what she said earlier. "Lying" "cheat" "manipulator" the puzzle slowly started to piece itself together.
She bursts through the doors of the cafeteria and sees Dr. Mario sat at the far end with a sandwich in his hands. She quickly makes her way towards him and he sighs when he sees her fast approaching. "I'm on-a my lunch break!" He protested and crossed his arms.
"Please this is an emergency, a major concussion to be exact!" She pleads with him and he faceplants into his sandwich.
"How bad exactly?" He muffles out a reply.
"Well lets just say I think the patient forgot where they are, and possibly who they are." Lucina says while he slides out of his booth and begins walking off.
"I need-a vacation…" He groans, if he had a smash buck for every concussion case he's handled, well he'd be in that much needed vacation by now. "Peach, we got-a code pink-a" he calls over towards the princess behind the counter in the back. She gives him a nod and removes her apron while she hurries after him.
Lucina however was now on a different mission of her own, one for information to either prove or quite hopefully disprove all the negative thoughts that began swirling in her head. She quickly heads towards the front of the mansion, if you're ever looking for anyone, always look in the lobby as no matter where anyone is going their path will always somehow involve going through the lobby. And sure enough her intended target comes walking in along with two others.
"Oh this one I actually heard in a market place one from an old sailor!" Robin says with a grin as he halts in front of Marth and F Corrin. "So there was this pirate right, who got his arm stuck at the wheel of the ship. And whenever someone asked him if he was uncomfortable having a wheel on his arm, he would reply 'aye it's been driving me insane!' Heh." He says earning him a short laugh from F Corrin and even a slight chuckle from Marth. It seemed their tour was going way smoother than Lucina's and Raven's is, or was since it abruptly came to a halt. And it seemed they had the bright idea to visit the gift shop too, seeing all the gift shop items they were carrying, and F Corrin wearing a 'I *Heart* Smash' t-shirt over her armor.
"That's funny!" F Corrin says while smacking Robin on the shoulder playfully. Robin chuckled a bit while nodding before turning around and clutching his shoulder in pain, that girl apparently did not know her own strength.
"Hey I have an old one that still gets me whenever I hear it, it goes 'I would eat a clock, but I would be time consuming' heh." Marth says, making the newcomer laugh at his corny joke. Apparently being cooped up and not allowed to leave gave both Corrins' a perplexed look of the outside world, this included humor even bad humor at that. And with someone who's never heard corny jokes that would normally cause someone to look at you funny, Marth and Robin were having a field day unloading the corniest of jokes they've ever heard. Well now that they finally found someone who saw the humor in them again, since corny jokes ran dry a while back in the mansion because there was never a reaction since everyone grew tired of them.
"You're so funny!" F Corrin says while smacking the prince on his shoulder. He just shook his head and laughed to himself a little before turning around and clutching his shoulder in pain. Just then Robin snapped his figures as he remembered something and began patting himself down looking for something in all his pockets.
"Oh hold on, I actually wrote down the funniest thing I heard on TV once, I know I wrote it down somewhere!" He says while rummaging his coat pockets. "Ah I think I left it in one of my note pads, let me run upstairs real quick and go find it, you're going to love this!" Robin says while walking backwards away from them before he begins sprinting off up the stairs towards the upper floors. "It'll be worth it!" He shouts back as his footsteps fade away.
"Bingo" Lucina whispered to herself and left her hiding place and headed towards the elevators.
"So how would you like to tour our theater? I heard they're playing last week's blooper reel from the security footage. There's always some great stuff there that somehow even baffles me despite having seen it all." Marth offered.
"Sure, that sounds fun!" F Corrin replies enthusiastically, she was curious about the so-called motion pictures they told her about…
Meanwhile, Lucina was making her way off the elevator and down the hall rapidly. She wanted answers and she knew if she wanted to dig into the mind of Raven she'd had the best chance of getting them from the person the tactician confided in the most, herself, or rather herself from another world. Robin was a hard man to bargain with as he couldn't be bribed nor intimidated into giving up valuable information, and he probably would be more afraid of what Raven would do to him if she found out he spilled her deepest secrets. She sees his bedroom door wide open and stops within the doorframe watching him rummage through a small desk next to his bed. As she steps into the room the floor below her feet creak alerting him to her presence.
"Oh good you're here, have you seen my old notebook by any chance? You know the one with the blue cover and that weird insignia on it?" He turns around and instinctively backs up into his desk in surprise, instead of seeing Ganon as he thought he would, he was surprised to see the bluenette standing there instead. One who he still recalls loathed him and as he had heard countless times still wished to skewer him sometime.
"Hello Robin" she greets him casually before kicking back at the door to slam it shut.
"Lucina you can't be in here and you know it" He sighs and crosses his arms, "besides that you think I haven't prepared for this? I have prepared multiple contingencies for this exact scenario and if you are still foolish enough to try anything it won't end well for you I guarantee it." He states as he slowly paces around her.
"You're crazy paranoid, you know that right?" She says while giving him a look. He just half shrugs his shoulders and throws his arms up.
"Can't blame a man for preparing for any and all scenarios, no matter how absurd, you never know." He says as a matter of fact.
"Again, crazy!" She reiterates.
"Then, enlighten me? Why are you here? You aren't here for simple chit chat I assume since you still can't bare to look me in the face." He states while she was in fact looking down at her feet. However it wasn't because of her loathing him, which part of her still did, but she was swallowing her pride to be able to continue.
"I need your help…" she says in a hushed voice.
"Come again?" He says, puzzled.
"I need your help ok, and it involves Raven" Lucina says while taking a seat at the edge of his bed. His expression softened after seeing the conflicted look on her face.
"Oh drat, she didn't try making another truth serum did she? Cause last time she ended up giving Roy really bad diarrhea…" He shakes his head while thinking back to the incident. She tried to get him to take a truth serum because she claimed there was something off with her coat, especially since it was Roy who 'found' and returned it to her. And she wanted to get the truth out of him about it, as even though it was her coat, at the same time it also felt as if it wasn't.
"Robin, she gave herself a concussion and then started rambling nonsense. Except it wasn't nonsense, she started saying things that felt like they had been at the back of her mind for a while now." Lucina explained while Robin cleared his throat nervously. "She started talking about my mother…"
"In regards to what, specifically?" Robin asked.
"She was saying my mother stole her family, and said she was a liar and a manipulator…" Lucina starts while Robin goes a little pale. He hoped this day would never come, sure he had a nightmare or two about it but he never thought it would happen. But it seemed his worst fears were realized, the cat was finally out of the bag. "Robin I know she was acting weird all weekend around my parents and I just chalked it up to Raven being Raven, she could be unpredictable most days after all."
"I know you want to ask and I don't know if you want to hear the truth, let alone if I want to share the truth." He replies.
"Robin I know she confides everything to you, even her most inner and most personal thoughts, because who else could you trust more than your literal self with information like that. Robin I know she told you about the exploits in her world and despite what Master Hand has led us to believe, our worlds aren't exact parallels of the other clearly something completely different happened in hers. Otherwise she wouldn't be carrying all this angst she's been desperately repressing. I know she told you everything and I need to know, how did my parents meet exactly? What happened between her and my father? More importantly, what happened between her and the other Lucina?" She says in quick succession, Robin just turned and looked out his window towards the stormy skies.
"Lucina…" he breathed out slowly, "clearly if she chose to withhold this information from you she had her reasons." He replied softly while he thought about everything she had confided in him. She was extremely adamant about keeping it from Lucina; she made Robin swear he would never mutter a single word of it.
"Robin please, I have to know" Lucina stood from her spot and even turned to face him head on. Robin blinked twice before stepping away from the window and slightly lowered his head.
"I think it's best if you forget what you heard and move on. Now if you'll excuse me-"
"No!" She shouts, stepping in his path as he tries to head for the door. "I deserve to know!" She shoves him back.
"You don't even realize what you're asking of me" he says, "if I tell you anything I know for a fact it will strain your relationship with a great friend might I add. We all made mistakes in the past we all wished to forget and this is hers." Robin says before he holds a hand over his eyes.
"You won't be breaking any promises anyway since it was she who, though unintentionally, told me already." Lucina adds. Robin just leaned over his desk.
"I'm not doing this for her sake Lucina, I'm doing this for yours, you're just not ready to hear what transpired." Robin says solemnly.
"If you have any shred of decency and or respect for me you wouldn't keep this from me." She replies. "Show me you're not the heartless man you convinced me to believe you are, if you have any remorse I'm willing to reconcile and make amends."
He finally turns around to look into her eyes, she was completely sincere about it. He had thought for so long now that she had lost all her faith that he cared for her. And the truth was he did still care, deeply, except his blind arrogance led him to believe that distancing himself from her would be the best thing for both of them. He had spent so many sleepless nights awakened by the thoughts of having lost her completely. It was only made worse after he had a deep conversation with Chrom, and found out his fears were more psychological rather than physically. And yet here she stands now finally giving him that second chance he's been yearning for all this time. However at the cost of outing someone else close to him, he knows for a fact nothing good would come of it. However, that still didn't stop him from being in an internal predicament…
Heyyyy guess who's back from the procrastination station!
Hope you enjoyed it and made it worth the wait, I'll see you all next time dear readers!
Next Chapter: The Maiden's Sorrow...