Scorin: I guess. I was testing out different POVs than the one from my character and got a little carried away.
Guest 2: Quartermaster fic…? Uhm…?
Also, per se I wasn't setting up more than Nick and Lissa because we didn't get to see the rest of the characters and I already changed my mind. Also, Nickcina is horrible. It would be called Luck. OwO
E-50MasterRace: Aight.
Undeadmonkey8: :D I'm glad my story is comprehensible. I try hard to make sure that everything makes sense, even though a lot of stuff apparently slips me. As for the second point… I wouldn't call it "leaning", it's more like "gently bashing it with a hammer". That's also part of the reason the Annas hate Nick. I'll try my best to make the POV switches more apparent.
Squeaky Floorboard: I see what you mean. Romance wasn't going to be a big part of the fic anyways but, yanno. A vote's a vote.
Current votes:
Lissa: 3
Lucina: 3
No Pairing: 2
Sully: 1
You are a reader. That's good, isn't it? But let's take it to the next step. Become a Reviewer.
EDIT: I had apparently forgotten to add line breaks and it was really fucking confusing. Thanks to Guest 2 for making me notice that I'm a piece of garbage who forgets to add them!
Chapter 21: Pain
I'm currently standing in a rather… cosmic tearoom. There's no other way to explain it, the pattern of the walls, ceiling and floor is a starry sky which has as its only furniture two chairs, both occupied at the moment, and a table which has two cups and a kettle in between. It's all very nice, were it not for the very angry red-head staring at me, wearing nothing but a towel to hide her modesty. It's a rather confusing thing, this gamble I'm taking.
(GAMBLING GAMBLING GAMBLING-)
Hush! Now it's not the time to meme. I mean it's always the time to meme so long as it doesn't kill you, but right now it just might.
"Could you tell me just what was so important that one of my sisters had to warp you to this cosmic plane to talk to me? It better be a very good reason, or you'll find that I can cut much more than prices and dimensions apart." I cringed at the phantom pain while imagining what she would do before sighing.
"I need to ask a favour of you." I said evenly, letting as little emotion in my tone as I could.
"A favour." Anna deadpanned. "A favour." She repeated, seemingly growing angrier before her tone dropped to a saccharine voice. "Tell me, on a scale from one to ten, how attached are you to your arm?" I recognized that line. Bad stuff was about to happen, but sadly, she didn't seem like the kind of person to take my silence as an answer. "Ten, and I would like it to stay that way for the foreseeable future before AAGH-" I grit my teeth as my arm was severed by a wind blade on everything minus one small tendon which was holding strong to keep my arm attached to myself while I was bleeding profusely.
"This better be reasonable if you want that arm to be fine once again." I didn't know why she hated me so much, so I wanted to be quick and pray for the best. I summoned the heal tag before grabbing my arm and putting it back in place before dumping all ten uses of the heal, effectively reattaching the arm as the card shattered. The pain didn't fade, if anything it became stronger. Tears stinged at my eyes as I muttered a string of curses in every language I knew as my breathing accelerated. I was hyperventilating, I knew that, but I couldn't do anything about it. Anna began readying another wind blade as I dropped to my knees clutching desperately my arm before everything felt as if I had shut down. Soon, however, I was ejected from my own body and I found myself staring at a bright blue sky while lying down on a grassy plain. The pain didn't subside at all, but I found some sort of peace from staring up at the sky and soon my breathing evened.
A figure decided to lay down next to me, the only clear feature to my tears filled eyes being the bright mop of green hair. We actually looked sorta different now that I changed my style, but similar enough to pass off as brothers.
"Are you alright?" Nicholas asked. Biting my tongue till I actually drew blood to avoid insulting him, I instead let out a strangled "What do you think?"
He sighed. "Well, since I'm finally meeting you for real, introductions are in order. I'm Nick, and you're also Nick. I don't know if you remember the method we used to distinct ourselves." I nodded.
"So, you're here. Care to share what happened?" He effortlessly picked me up and sat him down, rubbing soothing circles on my back while muttering something strange. He eventually guided away my hand which held my arm in a death grip before a glowing hand settled on it.
"This was done messily. Did you heal yourself?" I nodded, before gasping as a spike of pain lanced through my arm once again. I tried to grab it once again, but Nicholas held my hand in a steel grip refusing to let me touch it.
He summoned a sword from the ever growing pile of stuff that was on the ground. "W-what are you gonna do with that?!" I asked in fear. Having my arm cut off TWICE was not in the plans.
"Celsius, Sephie! C'mere!" He called to the spirits completely ignoring me, who I noticed by now were battling against one another. The two both jumped back at being called, staring dead into the eyes of each other before nodding and releasing their battle stances. When they arrived, Sephie was looking at me weirdly while Celsius was looking furious.
"Did he die already?" Sephie asked with as much nonchalance as humanly (spiritly?) possible. Nicholas shook his head.
"No, but he came damn close. Lawrence's in charge of his body right now. Now, I need you to heal him up as soon as I cut his arm." What?!
I turned to him, afraid of what he would do before he sighed. "You've healed incorrectly your arm. If you want it to be any sort of functional anytime soon, I'll need to fix this mess." I gulped, imagining losing my arm completely. But the alternative…
I shook my head vigorously. Sadly, it seemed like I didn't have an option, because he simply grabbed my arm without letting go. "Celsius, numb him down." She mock-saluted before grinning sadistically "This is for forgetting me in here for weeks! Go numb to your very bones! Frost Ozma!" And with the chant from a rather questionable game I felt the cold seep into my body. I felt my natural resistance fight against it like it had done any other time I was attacked, but it was being overwhelmed. Soon, my body began to freeze over and tremble and then-
Shink!
A sword was brought down upon my arm as I stared at it. I feel like I should be shocked, but I cannot feel much of anything now. The numbness wasn't only to my body, it was also to my mind, the coldness taking over inch by inch.
"Reattach it." I deadpanned. Sephie nodded before starting to work her healing magic (which I didn't know she possessed) as my arm was reattached. I felt the feeling of fatigue as my body worked alongside hers to make me a functional human once again and fell on the ground once again, about to pass out. However, no matter how much I tried to effectively pass out I found out that I couldn't.
"You wanna pass out while already being knocked out?" Law asked, amused. "Fuck you." I replied. He chuckled and lied down on the grass next to me, waving a hand in dismissal for the spirits to leave. In the distance, I saw Fairess and Yutis looking smug over a hogtied Fenrir who tried to snap their jaws at them.
As my feelings started to return, I was presented with a peculiar request.
"Tell me of your travels up until now." He asked. "Law didn't get to report to me since he had to deal with you, so you're now stuck until he's done using your body." I pondered over the question for all of two seconds before "No. It's your fault I'm stuck in here, since you didn't save the Annas for God Naga Kami knows what reason, so you're the one who has to tell me a story." I know I was acting like a child but honestly, I was so done with everything. The gravity of the situation was catching up to me, and I was slowly going insane.
"Fine." He pouted at me before gaining a wise quality to his face. "This is a story of fallen kings, broken friendship and a chess game." He began.
"Get into the portal, everyone!" Nick shouted, desperately cutting through horde after horde of Risen just to buy them enough time. One after another they went, trying not to notice that this was their final goodbye. Until the last one, dear Rosie, clutched to him like a child until she was forced to go in as well. He hoped that the slightly delayed entering wouldn't be a bother to her.
Finally, the portal closed behind him. Only then did he stop. Only then, he allowed himself to stop killing the Risen. There was no longer a reason to. He had won. He had lost.
The risen stopped attacking him as well, looking curiously at him almost as if they had a soul, and Roy was looking at him torn between pity and understanding. A flick of his wrist meant that Roy was no longer there, instead returning to a pocket that he had specifically made for his Einherjar.
A giggle tore its way out of his lips, growing to a chuckle till it became a full blown laughing fit while he crashed to his knees while looking at the sky, the ever present giant dragon looking back at him. It was a hollow, broken sound created by a hollow, broken man. Somehow that thought made him laugh even harder. Archers had their bows pointed at him by now, but he paid them no mind. He knew that they wouldn't, couldn't kill him, even if he had no energy to move. He felt completely and utterly drained.
After regaining his bearings, he began thinking about his whole adventure. It was curious how he had went from studying in a college to being a regular footsoldier, grow up in the societal ranking that Plegia held before becoming what was known as Nicholas, Wings of Terror and King of Plegia before he became… this and the world started crashing around him. Not much 'Wings' now that he had sent Zephyr away anyways.
"Marth, Boey, Merric, Arden, Finn, Roy, Nino, Marisa, Mia, Micaiah, Catria, Linde, Corrin" He chuckled at the last one, still not believing that he got his hands on an Einherjar from a later game. "I set you free from your contract. You now belong to nobody." And with that he had sealed the deal. He was truly alone now.
He felt the smooth sensation of the wind gently caressing him, trying to comfort him, to steady him but it was too late by now. There wasn't much left to comfort anyways.
He felt the eerily familiar sensation of dark magic being used in the surroundings as a Druid appeared. Couldn't have been older than fifteen, the boy looking at him in disdain. "Father wishes to see you." And without asking for any sort of permission, not that he needed any, grabbed his wrist and teleported him to Robin.
'Being warped always sucks' he thought drily as he thankfully managed to maintain his stomach into his body. He would've said lunch, but it was such a rare occurrence when he ate nowadays. He looked at the room he was in. His old home, specifically Plegia castle's throne room. He felt the sensation of being at home, staring at his throne where currently a raven haired girl was lazily petting a wyvern while reading a book.
"So you've finally done it." Robin commented behind him. "You know, I would never have guessed that the plan you had actually mentioned seeing in the future would be the one you chose." He bent down to pick Nick up, letting him put most of his weight onto him despite the fact that he could just lift him up.
"Well, you know what they say." Nick chuckled painfully. "Why fix what isn't broken." Robin let out a hum of agreement. Slowly, but steadily, he carried Nick to the throne where Morgan and Linfan both stood across from him staring. "Well, my old friend. We should finish this." He said once seated. Right now he felt much older than he was. Robin snapped his fingers and in between them appeared what appeared to be a chess board. It indeed was one, but its significance was more symbolic than that.
On Nick's side, a lone blue King stood surrounded on every side by red Pawns who flooded the board. He was doomed, anyone who knew chess' rules would know it. "You're cruel, you know that?" He looked at the piece and with a single poke, it fell.
"It shouldn't have been this way." Robin said.
"No, it shouldn't." Nick easily agreed.
"For someone who shouldn't have existed, you were a thorn in my side for the longest time, you know that?" Robin pointed out. Nick let out another hollow laugh at that.
"You know what they say about roaches, they're the hardest to kill."
Robin didn't answer that, instead staring at him for several seconds.
"I've won. I've actually won." He said, although it sounded more like a question.
"Indeed." Nick answered. He stared back at his adversary, who had long since accepted the idea of being a dark god and was a lot less raging than the one in canon.
"It shouldn't have been this way." Robin repeated.
"No, it shouldn't have been." Nick easily agreed once again.
For what felt like an eternity, they were just staring back at each other, the victor and the loser with neither feeling like the winner in this situation.
"I shall make this quick." Robin finally said.
"Thank you." Nick breathed out of relief, closing his eyes. For several seconds, nothing happened until he felt the hum of a massive amount of mana being charged up.
And soon, Nick was no more.
"Woah." I said. "That's rough." The feelings had returned to me, thankfully without the shock of my arm being cut off twice before I said. "Wait, did the magic affect my physical body as well? I haven't thinked of it until now." He asked. Nicholas nodded before flicking his nose, muttering a 'thought'. "Phew. So Robin was a lot less Grima than in the original timeline? That's interesting." I nodded once again, glad that this trainwreck of a situation was over. "Now will you tell me what happened?" This time it was my turn to pout, crossing my arms over his chest in a childish way before a great joy filled me at the fact that my arm worked once again. "Fine. After I left, with my mind still more blank than Sora and Shiro combined, I saw this kid running towards me…
The child in front of her was clearly in a traumatic shock, she knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to care about it. Not after what his other iterations had done to her family. Suddenly, however, he stopped crying, wiped a hand (the one that hadn't just been freshly reattached) over his face to remove the tears and snot that had welled up and looked up at her.
"Anna. What the fuck?" Someone else asked. She shrugged.
"I wouldn't have let him die. Besides, this was payback for not saving my sisters in the other timelines. Just because he saved them once doesn't mean he gets to bother me for favours." She said, an air of dark nonchalance hanging around her. A part of her mind thought with childlike glee that she could manage to be intimidating even with a towel hung around her chest, but she quickly squashed it down. It wasn't the time for divine insanity.
Law seemed to ponder over her words before sighing. "He's really different from the rest, you know. He's really trying to set things right. Plus, you really owe him now."
"Oh, I do? And for what?" She was genuinely curious about what could a mere mortal say that could sway a god?
"Gods aren't allowed to interfere with the mortal plane. It's the very reason you haven't saved them yourself right?" She nodded. What did this have to do with oh no
Nick smirked as he saw the realization dawn upon her face.
"Naga will have your ass for what you've done Anna." He winked, taking out a Divine Icon. She contemplated very seriously murdering the kid then and there, but he was right. She definitely didn't want to deal with an angry mother of all dragons. She was strong, she could even take on Grima herself if she truly wished to, but she wasn't that strong to be able to take on her. Plus, what would people think of the Anna name if she didn't repay a favour? It'd be a multi-dimensional disaster.
"So I owe him one favour for my sisters and one for the… arm…" She growled. He nodded. "Go ahead, shoot, what do you want. Riches, immortality, DLCs? I can do anything." He held the face of someone who had just won the lottery for a few seconds before growing serious once again. "It isn't my duty to ask. I'm connecting you once again to the main personality. Try not to be murderous in my absence." He winked at her before his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he fell to the ground.
"Rebooting Nick version 5.1…" She heard the boy mutter. "Update available. Update to version 5.1.1?" She was about to dismiss him before hearing a confirmation sound from him.
" will be updated to version 5.1.1. Estimated time: 3 hours." Oh for the love of herself someone was messing with her. She groaned, bringing both hands up to her face to massage her temples. "Well, first things first, I need decent clothing…"
I stared up at the sky, pondering my current situation while the spirits kept battling (it was amazing how much they could go at it without getting tired) and Nicholas took a nap. It really was something straight out of a movie, wasn't it?
…
I sighed as I didn't hear the usual noncommitting reply from Law. So he was out there braving Anna, huh? I hope he didn't get the both of us killed. It'd be a real shame if he-
*pop*
A toddler materialized, falling on top of me with an oof. What the hell?
"Hi!" He waved his pudgy little hand in front of my face. "I'm Lawrence!" Oh. "Why are you a toddler?" I wondered out loud. He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it was my creator's decision-" both hands flew up to his face as he realized something. "Creator?" I inquired. He got up and tried to run, but with those tiny legs he was going nowhere. I picked him up by the arm, completely uncaring of his discomfort right now. I had always assumed he was just a speck of personality from my crazed mind. He thrashed in my grip, even going as far as biting me before realizing he was going nowhere.
"So, decided we wanna talk?" I asked, raising an iBrow.
He desperately looked around before his eyes landed on the other me who was currently stretching. He looked in our direction and shrugged at Law's pleading gaze.
"Fine." He pouted crossing his remaining arm over his chest. Is he crossing it if there's only one arm? Food for thought. "Let me down first." I complied, making him rub his reddened wrist while glaring at it like it offended him.
"So, what do you want to know?" he asked, sitting down on the grass. I pondered over it, before asking.
"Well, first things first, what are you?"
"Really old." He deadpanned before sighing. "I'm a part of my creator's consciousness, the third Nick to ever enter this timeline. He sent me to aid Nick" he nodded towards my other self, who was currently… rolling around on the floor. Like a cat would. Completely disregarding this conversation. "And then I was passed on from him to you. My role… strictly speaking, I make sure you don't fuck up too badly, become evil or go insane." I raised an eyebrow at his choice of language considering how he looked. "Although with you I could only run damage control." He grinned, and soon we both chuckled. Man, I really am insane. "Anything else?"
"Well… what is this place?" I asked.
"It's the third to the right and then straight to the morning. I wish I was joking but circa 6 lightyears away there's Neverland, but we do not wanna crossover any more than we are doing right now."
If the distance that my eyebrow went up only today stacked it would've already flown off. He explained. "Anyways, right now this is… the first dimension you've linked yourself to I guess." I raised a hand in a go on gesture, asking him to elaborate. "Well, since you absorbed so much mana from the Gate that your heart started to reproduce it, you can technically make dimensional gates. You've been doing it unconsciously already when you sent items here. Maybe one day you'll learn how to teleport yourself and other people. As for exactly what this place is… I think it's the place where both me and Nick were banished to by Grima. Literally erased from existence in that timeline." I pondered over the answers he gave me before nodding.
"Anything else I need to know?"
He grabbed his chin in thought before starting to list things. "Well… for one, you use the Shadows of Valentia kind of magic rather than the regular kind. To put it simply, you use HP to cast. Which, considering your paper thin defences, is bad news. What else… you need to use the divine icon for the luck boost and… you're no juggernaut. Stop trying to tank and start dodging. The soldier is like a lance myrmidon, act like it."
"Well that's great because now we have a few hours to spare and I know just how to fill them!" Nicholas chirped from behind me, making me have a mini heart-attack.
"Yeah? How so?" I turned towards him.
"Well" he said with a smile that promised pain. "What do you think about finally taking your spirit trial? That's what this map is made for after all." Celsius, who was currently standing like 5 feet away having paused once again her brawl with Sephie, cracked her knuckles while grinning menacingly at me.
"Well, shit." Nicholas chuckled evilly at me. "Lucky for you, the odds have to be evened a bit if you even want a fighting chance. This-" He took out the Final Emblem from his pocket despite the impossibility of the action "Will make you the peak of your potential. You'll have the ideal male body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like" We both laughed at the inside joke. "Jokes aside, you get this thing, makes you a 20/20 for a battle. Also" He suddenly grew serious. "Do not lose. This is your life at stake. If you fail, your soul will be forfeit." I nodded. Despite my reluctance and the very high chance of dying, I wasn't going to back down. I needed this. I was too weak as I was now, too often have I danced with death because I couldn't bring enough to the fight. But with the power of a spirit…
I was about to get my ass handed to me, wasn't I?
Howdy fellas! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me remind you that the Q&A is a thing that exists, so please send me questions. After next chapter will be the last chance you get to send me questions, so if you've got anything to ask to the characters do it. Next chapter's a bossfight!
Here's Nick's current stats.
Nick
Otherwordly Soldier
Lv 16 (+24!) Exp 32
Class: Soldier (Basara!)
Stats: Hp: 28 (+22)/28 Str: 14 (+13) Mag: (14+21) Skl: (15+17) Spd: 18 (+14) Lck: 9 (+13) Def: 9 (+5) (+5) Res: 20 (+24) (+5) Mov: 5(+1!)
Skills: Riposte; Toss; Rend Heaven: Inflicts damage equal to Foe's Mag or Str; Quixotic: user and enemy skill activation rate increases by 15%
Items: Uruz; Algiz; Fire Card 10/10 ; Thunder Card 9/10; Elixir
Supports: Miriel B;Kellam C;Marth C;Roy B;Ricken C;Sully C
Status: Awakened: Maximum potential for the unit. Lasts for one battle.
