I've now got a cover art, made by yours truly! :D check it out
This will be the last chance to send questions to the characters. If you have something to ask, you're doing it now. Not tomorrow. Not the day after. Now.
After some important insight on people's part in general, particular thanks to Kidemonas and Undeadmonkey-sama, I have come to this conclusion: I will finish the first book of TOS, then I will take a pause that I was gonna take regardless. I will play RD, for the sake of both of my current fics, and then I will change whatever I have to change about Celsius. So, without much further ado, let's get riiiight into the chapter!
Read and Review, or else I will make an omake where I kick y'all in the balls.
23: Tying loose ends up in my noose
When I came back to my senses, I was back in my own dimension. The grassy hill, the pile of stuff, everything was there. Everything, except for…
"Where the hell is everybody?" I wondered aloud. The frostbite and bruises on my body had thankfully disappeared, making it far easier to get up without my whole body screaming in protest.
"They left." A childish voice supplied from behind, scaring the shit out of me. "Gah! Oh, it's you Law." I sagged back on the ground in relief before the meaning of what he said actually sunk in. "Wait, what?! Where'd they go?"
He shrugged. "Nicholas said something along the lines of "He completed the map, and I've never been one for mushy goodbyes, so I'm out." Pretty sure he moved on to the afterlife."
I stared at him incredulously for a second before chuckling. "I really am a bastard, am I not? Couldn't even bother saying bye." I shook my head, laughing quietly. "So, what are we gonna do now?" I asked.
He shrugged. "You tell me. What, all that bravado from earlier is gone? Just like that?"
"Wha- No!" I shouted.
"Then go ahead, make this a world where people don't fear Grima. You have my power. Now shoo." he said, making shooing hand gestures. "This place is a mess. And considering I don't feel like staying any longer in that empty head of yours, I gotta make some changes." he raised one hand in the air and it began snowing. It seems that he got Celsius' powers as well. "Go away. You've still got a nutcase redhead to talk to. Ah, by the way" a flying book hit me in the chest, making me let out an 'oof' as it fell into my hands. "Everything you need to know about Ice magic" I read. "When did I get this thing?"
"The Royal Archives. Did you already forget?"
"Dude, that was like, 9 chapters ago or something. Gimme a break." I said, casually slamming the back of my hand into the 4th wall.
"You can have it. I certainly don't need it." he smirked cockily, starting to build something out of ice. Okay then.
"Alright, then… Law, how much time do we have before I have to meet Anna?"
"Well, the battle took about half an hour, you stayed down for like an hour, you were there for another… eh, I'll say you got thirty minutes to test your new toys out."
A smirk came to my face as I flipped open the book, uncaring of its contents, just wanting to test the magic within out.
I poured magic into the book, eager to spread frozen destruction upon the land. Nothing happened.
A frown came over my face as I realized something.
I have never actually tried using tomes, since they're either really old and lack the finesse of thousands of year of magical research, or they're really new and in a language we cannot read.
Not being able to read doesn't bother me that much.
Nope.
Not at all.
Not a single bit.
Maybe a little bit.
Just a teeny tiny bit.
Just a miniscule teeny tiny bit.
It bothers me a lot.
It fucking bothers me a fucking lot.
"Well, time to read the instruction manual." I said aloud.
At least this thing's in Ancient, which is roughly the same as english.
So.
What have we learned from 30 minutes of skimming over the book's content while finally understanding stuff that we previously didn't understand from Magic for Beginners by Merric (which happens not to be the Merric we know, surprisingly) or whatever it's called?
A lot, actually.
Basically, the four great magical elements are Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. Long ago, the 4 elements lived in harmony.
Then everything changed when the Earth nation attacked.
No big surprise there. Basically, Earth magic was wiped from the continent in a crusade in a time long before Anri himself. That's why Medeus was so scary, nobody actually knew how to deal with him when he pulled Earth once again out of his ass.
Anyways, Earth magic got destroyed. Considering Water was its counter (in a weird square elemental thing where WaterEarthFireWindWater, however that may work) it quickly fell into disuse, leaving only Fire and Wind, one being militarly the strongest. And then, outta nowhere, BAM!
Lightning magic came out and wowza, it countered Fire Magic while being countered by Wind! And somehow everyone forgot about the two other elements.
How does that tie into Ice? Well, Ice is, quite simply, the direct consequence of Water being little more than a concussive blast that's way inferior to Earth, or a cutting edge that's inferior to Wind. The only thing it was good at was mudding the battlefield so that Earth mages wouldn't be able to attack well. When Earth got eliminated, Water did as well.
But then, out of nowhere, a guy who can turn Water into a decently useful element by making it very very cold so that it can stab things better who also happens to be the author of this book!
He died. He literally died, the only thing he managed to do was make Fimbulvetr, his masterpiece, a widely known spell.
I'm getting sidetracked here. The important thing is, what I've actually been granted is free access to temperature regulating magic without costing me mana. And when I say temperature regulating I don't mean that the room is slightly chilly, I mean that if I don't like someone I can literally send them to Absolute Zero temperatures. Granted, their innate resistance WILL fight me, but still.
Will I do that if I have a say in it? No.
Will I keep it as a trump card? Hell yes.
So what am I currently doing with all of this knowledge?
I'm skating on the frozen ground like a child. It's so much fun.
"You are a child. Stop forgetting that." Law called from the roof of the house he was making.
"I won't." I sighed. Granted, it's actually a really good way of testing my powers if I freeze the ground just as I'm stepping on it, but still. I'm having more fun than I've ever had in weeks. Who knew that being on the verge of death nearly 24/7 would be not fun? Cue dramatic gasp.
"Your body is waking up." Law mentioned from the roof of icy house that he was creating. At first I thought he was pulling an Elsa and creating an ice castle, but this looks more like a house. It's even got a chimney!
What would an ice house need a chimney for?
I also have noticed that I can use Celsius' power a lot better than my own. Sure, a low ache had settled in my body from the mana usage, but it is so much better than when I tried using a Fire or Thunder spell. Perhaps I'm more talented for Light magic.
Also, I noticed that despite the loss of my herculean strength caused by the Emblem, I still had the Basara tiger outfit (that I proceeded to throw on the ground because ugh, it's trash) and within me I could still feel a power of defiance, that wanted to subvert the roles of weak and strong. Rend Heaven my mind helpfully supplied.
"Law I'm about to have a nervous breakdown. I promoted at level 17 instead of twenty aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" a snowball to the face promptly shut me up.
"Thanks… Now that I think of it, does this mean I should reclass now? Quixotic is a trash ability anyways…"
The shrug that came from Law was almost audible.
"Well, time to head back to the real world." I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, a redhead was staring at me. She scoffed in exasperation.
"Finally! Do you have any idea how long I've had to hear you sing that stupid "Never gonna give you up"?!"
Did
Did you just-
(Yes, it appears I have Rickrolled Anna.)
You glorious bastard. I love you.
"Whatever, let's get this over with." Anna scoffed. "You know what you're here for, tell me this one wish-" Suddenly, a feeling of anger that I'm 90% sure wasn't mine surged within me as my throat let out a low growl.
"(Three.)" My fingers unconsciously grasped the Naga Icon that was in my inventory as I tried to make any sense of this situation.
Anna seemed to be sweating bullets as she saw a not-so-veiled threat (even though I had no idea how Law managed) before sighing. "Fine. Tell me these three wishes and let's just get this over with. What do you want? Money? Exp? I've got it all."
I blinked. This was way better than I expected. I stroked my chin in thought. "Well, I certainly didn't plan for three wishes but…" I sighed, my mood turning sour once again.
"I'd like to make my family worry no longer. Can you send an Einherjar of me in the… huh. What do I call it? Whatever, send an Einherjar of me to my house so that my family can at least stop looking for me." Anna's gaze softened as she realized that, somehow, I'm not a baby-eating monster.
(You did entertain the idea of Communism for a while.)
Shaddup.
She snapped her fingers, saying "Done. Two wishes left."
"Second… well. There's no way to say this softly. I've fucked up and badly. I need you to undo Cordelia's death." Anna frowned at me, before saying: "Death's a rough experience, especially when violent. Don't blame it on me if she goes nuts." I nodded, confident that she would be fine. She had to be.
With a snap of Anna's fingers, we were in the Plegian desert, right next to a redheaded cadaver and her pegasus. "The other knights wanted her to survive, so she ran but… she didn't make it in the end. She's actually pretty far from the rest of the bodies." Anna frowned. I looked around myself and noticed, on the horizon, the border pass from chapter 5 (of awakening). Brings back memories.
"Alright. Before we do this, lest too many people see me, what's your third wish?" She said, tapping her foot on the ground in annoyance.
I wracked my brain for anything to ask of her before saying "Meh, I'll take a rain check. I really don't have anything to ask for right now." She gave me an incredulous look. "Seriously? You can ask for literally anything and you can't think of a SINGLE thing to ask? Really?"
"Yup." I said, popping the p. She groaned dramatically before muttering "This kid's nuts…" A snap of her fingers, a staff appeared in her hands. She begun muttering some chant before lifting her staff up in the sky, shouting "Aum!" A bright golden light engulfed Cordelia and the horse who… did nothing.
(Well, to be fair, she resumed breathing. That's a plus.)
"Isn't she gonna wake up?" I asked. Anna shrugged. "It depends. She probably needs some time to rest." And with that, she warped away. The sun was starting to set. I looked at the no-longer-dead redhead. She still looked like she's gone through hell (and she probably has), her armor bloodied as she unconsciously hugged her spear to herself, cuts in the armor littering her body until a particularly nasty hit to the side finished her off. The pegasus didn't look any better, the scar of a lance passing through its ribs clear as the day on the armored steed.
I sighed. Apparently, I was stuck babysitting miss Knight Paragon till she woke up. That's nice.
Lying against the horse using him as a sort of cushion, I prepared to take watch. After ten whole minutes, a whopping new record of attention span from me, I decided that I could practice my new cool (heh) powers.
I whisper-shouted "Blizzard!" and to my command, a ball of ice appeared, floating in my hand. It was the most basic spell out of the book I had read, and currently the only one I could cast. The familiar ache in my arm settled as I started modifying the ball's shape. What was cool (heh x2) about this was that, so long as you still held this thing you could modify its shape as you wanted. I practiced molding the ball in my hand, even managing to make a middle finger with it before letting it rest again as a simple cold blue glowing ball. The fact that such a beautiful thing will become my main tool of death…
I sighed.
(Nick, are you alright?)
"… What begs the question?" I ask aloud, since nobody's near me.
(I'm literally monitoring your emotions. I can see when you're sad.)
"It's just… I don't know. I expected to be happier. But then I realized, with everything that I've done, I'm simply back at square one. I mean, sure I've revived Cordelia and she'll be hopefully ready to kick ass and marry Chrom so Lucina finally gets off my back, and I've finally given some closure to my family, but what then? I simply undid two of my many mistakes. I haven't really helped any. You could argue that I've saved those villagers, but again, Anna would've done it anyways.
"And look at the bad things I've done… first things first, I've become a murderer. Killing people simply doesn't bother me. Sever a spine, pierce their throat, drown them in their own blood, destroy the heart… Now I've got even more tools of destruction. And it comes to me easy as pie.
"My bad decisions have killed Donny's village. They've destroyed Frederick's leg. Condemned an entire platoon of pegasus knights. Made my family search futilely for a useless son for 2 months!"
At some point of this rant I've began crying, my once bored tone turning downright desperate, between all the "Hics" and "Sobs". I sound pretty pathetic.
" *sniff* And what have I done to make up for this? Nothing!" I shout. My own voice comes off as much higher than expected and I wince. Looking over at Cordelia, she's still sleeping soundly, thank god. I sure didn't want to have to explain that one.
"Now, that is not true." An extremely high pitched voice sounds from behind me. The fact that it's apparently canonical that Lilina sounds exactly like her Heroes voice actor is a little weird, but whatever. "I clearly remember that you saved the Exalt's life from death. And the farmboy's, and made Marth strengthen Ylisse's militia, and-" She was listing off things, but I cut her off.
"Ah, right, Lilina." A broken laugh escaped my lips. "Thanks for reminding me. News flash, I managed to lose Roy and was too chicken to tell you. Pathetic, isn't it?!" I asked, turning towards her. Her lips were set into a thin line. "I know. I've always known. But it's okay, Nicholas. We'll find him, right?" I simply buried my face in my knees as Lilina gently patted my back.
"I'm not cut for saving the world… I can't do this alone… and now, Nicholas' is gone too…" I mumbled, my face still pressed in between my knees.
Eventually, my sobbing faded to sniffing, who then faded away to nothing. Lilina kept me distracted by talking to me till I was better.
"Thanks, Lilina…" I said, a loud yawn ripping itself out of my mouth. She simply smiled at me.
"Man, I really needed to have a good cry." I said.
(I'm gonna make you cry repeatedly if that makes you less depressed, even if it doesn't make a sliver of sense.)
'No thanks. I'm going to sleep.' I called back Lilina's card into my hand. With another mighty yawn, I let myself fall down into the sand and let oblivion take over.
I was lazing around on my bed, having just failed another attempt at playing Rekka no Ken HHM, but still glad that the summer had finally kicked in so I wouldn't have to go to school.
The door burst open, revealing the figure of my brother in his Avatar: The last airbender t-shirt. Without so much of a warning, he tossed himself onto me. He was completely damp with sweat. "Levati." I said, making no move to remove it. It would be futile anyways. "No." He replied. Seems like he would remain there. I picked back up the WiiU controller, but a phone was quickly shoved in my face.
(Levati = Get off.)
"Evoca. Ora. Adesso. Subbito." I sighed as we both got up for the summoning ritual, that consisted of summoning each other's heroes and whenever we got a 3-star we would pass the turn to the other while playing Filthy Frank's "OH FUCK YEAH THIS IS THE SHIT" whenever we found a 5-star or Wrys. Don't ask why. Please.
(Evoca. Ora. Adesso. Subbito. = Summon. Now. In this moment. Instantly.)
Who am I talking to?
Anyways, we got there, in front of the PC, put on the youtube video (skipping a Pantène ad, I swear to god I dye my hair ONE TIME and this shit happens) and pulled out my own phone. 41 orbs, and the Bridal Blessings banner on. Let's do this.
We put the phones side by side and I got two greens, one blue and two colorless. I shrugged; there were much worse pulls than that. He, on the other hand, got four colorless and a red. Lucky bastard.
We made our picks, him picking the green one while I chose one of the colorless.
Tap, tap aaaaand… smoke! Yes!
I found (on his phone) Bridal Cordelia. Damn, this was a lucky one. First summon.
He turned my phone for me to see that he had found 3-star Sheena. Too bad.
I now picked for the both of us; Red for him and one of the two colorless for me.
Tap, tap (x2) and… no smoke on either. "*sigh* Che palle…"
(Che palle = Balls...)
Priscilla on mine and Chrom on his. He saw him and said. "Beh, almeno posso passare Etere a qualcuno." I don't know why, but seeing him treat Chrom as just Aether fodder made my blood boil. I frowned at him, but kept a few choice words to myself.
(Beh, almeno posso passare Etere a qualcuno. = Well, at least I can now pass Aether onto someone.)
He got the phones back. He picked the colorless orb for the both of us. Smoke appeared, blah blah blah, 4-star Lissa for him and Kagero for me.
"Nooo, Lissa fa cagare! Ha pure delle IV da schifo!" He said, after noticing her 6 Atk stat. I pressed my lips in a thin line; again, I had no idea why I was mad, but it made me want to punch him. I wasn't gonna punch him on a whim, but still.
(Nooo, Lissa fa cagare! Ha pure delle IV da schifo! = Nooo, Lissa sucks! Her IVs are also garbage!)
He picked the green orb for me and another colorless for himself. Both flukes. Another Sheena for me and a Saizo for him.
I then noticed that he had run out of orbs, tossing him his phone that he put away while staring eagerly at mine. Only a blue orb remained. Maybe I could get bridal Caeda?
"Dai, evoca!" he told me. I tapped the pay button, then the blue orb and finally the summon button.
(Dai, evoca! = Go on, summon!9
Smoke, beam of light… "Eh?" I asked. A reflection of myself, unblinking stared back at me.
"Hello. I've stumbled through yet ANOTHER portal. While I'm here, do you need anything of me?" He asked through text. I looked back up at my brother in question.
"Ma che cazzo-?" I asked him. He simply looked at me pointedly before asking. "Well, this is the life you chose for yourself, is it not?" he said, my mind barely noting that there was a language switch.
(Ma che cazzo-? = What the fuck-?)
"I mean, after all you've decided to forsake your family like a coward." He spat those words out with as much venom as possible. "Ironic that you've become someone who gets featured in Heroes is it not? You're anything but a hero, after all." I stared at him, the tears starting to pool up in my eyes.
"Anyways, it seems you just can't stay down like the cockroach you are. So I'll just keep on killing you. Let's begin." A sadistic smile appeared on his face as a bow appeared in his hands.
"Die." He said. I didn't even bother trying to protect myself, I couldn't. Not against him. He started shooting at me in various places, my body littered with arrows and looking like a reverse hedgehog. Basically all of my body was pierced but my chest. "Go to hell, you little coward." He said, shooting the last arrow.
I woke up with a gasp to a very weird scene. Plegian soldiers keeping a knife to Cordelia's neck while they were trying to restrain her, and some of them around me with weapons in hand. The ground around me frosted, one of the idiots who tried to sneak up on me suffering frostbite all over his leg. Serves him right.
I springed up, taking notice of the remaining 11 soldiers (and 5 wyverns) after Cordelia had gotten three and four of the damn things.
(She's good.)
"Alright, so, what do you want?" I asked. What appeared to be the leader stepped up.
(Vasto.)
"Well, it appears that one of the pegasus pansies we thought we had decimated survived. We were merely finishing the job, you see." He chuckled, and all of the other men laughed with him.
"Any change you're gonna be a bright man and we can talk this out?" I asked. They all seemed to find this funny, because they started laughing. However, the leader held up a hand to shut them up. "Alright, let's see. What could you possibly have that we cannot loot from your dead body?" He sneered, and all of the other guys laughed. I started laughing myself.
Let's hope this works.
(What are actually the odds of it working?)
Pretty good. Fifty-fifty. It works or it doesn't.
"The lives of your men." I said, summoning four icicles around myself and pointing them at his men menacingly. "You've already lost three of them, do you really want half your squad to go into the grave with them?" I kicked the body that was close to me for scenic effect. He was a blonde haired thief, looked no older than seventeen. Around his wrist was a bracelet that felt like it had a lot of chaotic mana, and on his hand a mark of the branded.
What a terrible character.
(But-)
WHAT. A TERRIBLE. CHARACTER.
I turned back towards Vasto, who was now glaring at me. I grinned.
"This is a hostage exchange. And-" I shot one of my icicles to the thief that was trying to go around me, hoping I wouldn't notice, impaling him. "Anyone else feels like being a smart guy? No?" Vasto glared at me, gripping the steel axe in his hands in a white knuckled grip. "You release her, without chasing after and you get to live the rest of your pathetic life until you'll inevitably be sent to the front lines by the mad king and I'll come with you without putting up a fight. You don't, and maybe you get to kill me, but are we taking chances? I'm a Shepherd. This would be child's play for me." That… wasn't a lie. I could definitely take these guys on right here and now, but…
I'm not gonna risk it. There's Cordelia with a knife at the throat.
He looked around, his glare still trying (and failing) to set me on fire. He raised a hand, saying "Let her go."
The one with the frozen leg said "But boss, she's killed Finn, Gary and-"
"I said let her go. It's not worth it. We've got a bigger prey to bring to our king now." He grinned ferally at me.
"Nick, wait!" Cordelia shouted, struggling against the man holding her. "You don't have to-" but I shook my head. "Soldier, report to Captain Chrom stat. Don't rest until you've arrived. Got it? Your sisters didn't die for you to throw away your life." I barked out, my face turning deadly serious before softening up a bit. "I guess this is my way of making up for saving me a while ago." I smiled reassuringly at her.
(Abusing rank AND trauma in a situation like this, really?)
It worked. Cordelia momentarily sprung at attention, before putting two fingers in her mouth and whistling. Her pegasus immediately arrived from the spot where two of the goons were trying to restain it. She jumped on it. "I'll come back!" she told me, before flying off towards the outpost. After making sure that she was not even a tiny speck in the distance, I let down the arm I had been keeping up this whole time.
Vasto started to walk towards me. "I guess I know what it feels like to have your comrades in danger. You've just killed one of my men. So I guess you're nothing like that little piggy you used to call Hierarch." He said. "But believe me when I tell you that, when we arrive, rest assured that I'll have you skinned alive by the week's end."
"Ah, no, I don't plan for that." I took a step back. "Cordelia's gone anyways, I've no need for martyrdom. You can leave now, down four members and get away with your tail between your legs or I can kill you here and now and nobody will ever remember your pathetic life."
(That was morbid.)
And demoralizing. That's the plan.
He looked at me before him and his crew started laughing. "You, one kid against all of us ten?" he said. I simply began pulling on my fingers, hearing the satisfying crack into them as I started creating more icicles.
"You're right." I said. "You definitely should've brought back-up."
(Ugh, witty one-liners, really? What are you, a fanfiction protagonist?)
I shrugged. I was feeling pretty badass now. And these guys? They had just signed up to become target practice for my new powers.
"You finally wake up, friend. Gregor doesn't know what you had, but it was strong stuff, yes?" a figure asked. I shook my head.
"Good thing Gregor finds you. Bad slavers around these dunes. Gregor knows, he was one of them once! He got better though."
What kind of mess have I gotten myself into?
Hello ladies and laddies! Here's the review answers. Also a bit of pre for the second main character of the fic. Well, I mean, I guess you could consider Rose a main character too. So third main character. But I digress.
Since everyone seems SO hellbent on making me have romance I'll give it another thought. Maybe. You'll see.
Also, I have started a new fic! It's called New Game Minus and it's a collab between Kidemonas and myself. Check it out!
Below are the answers.
Scorin: It's not just the idea of people trying to decide my love life. The idea of letting people decide it was mine to begin with. But the very concept of shipping my own character with someone, when I actually got down to writing was just… weird…
Also we're totally having a post-game where Nick goes on a journey to retrieve Einherjars, and he'll mostly be by himself aside from a few meetings with other shepherds.
Never been one to get a feel for battles either. It's a constant tug o' war between "Am I making this realistic" and "Am I making this entertaining" it's exhausting.
Ehh… sorta. It's kind of a recurring joke in the Fire emblem community that by all means Lilina should use Armads, and then Onmi (the creator of FE: Maiden of Darkness) goes and whips out an axe animation for Lilina that is god tier. It's easy to get inspired like that. Ah, that, and Oni Chieftain Sakura.
To be honest, I'm not sure. In the post-timeskip, they're all underage besides Belle, Lucina and Laurent. Shipping kids just feels… meh. I don't know. I'll think about it.
Guest 2: Do you have any idea of how weird it is to write sexual tension about myself? *shudder*
Well, okay then. Good thing he's ded I guess.
Yes.
I probably will give an in-game explaination for it, like "Nick tries to troll Tiki and Tiki goes into a long winded explanation."
And the rest of the questions will be answered at a later date by Nick himself.
Scorin: it's legit what I've been trying to do with the questions for the characters that FUCKING NOBODY IS SENDING. *pouts*
