Ahoï!
First warning! This chapter is short! Around third-teen thousand words!
I've been stuck on it for two months and I'll explain to you why at the end of the text.
Please enjoy!
And happy late holidays~
We arrived at Ylisstol.
The rest of the trip went peacefully, but…
A certain sight made me realise something.
"The exalt is your ruler, yes?" asks Robin.
"Yes. Her name is Lady Emmeryn" answers Frederick.
Emmeryn…
I completely forgot about her.
I couldn't help but have a look at Cirus' reaction.
My friend joined the Shepards one month ago.
Surely, he already thought about what was going to happen to her.
Seeing my worried expression, he gives me a tap on the shoulder.
Ow!
Dude. I know that I'm a manakete and that I possess Natural Armor to my AC and Damage Reduction (Dungeons & Dragons terms…), but giving me a tap with a metal gauntlet still hurts, man.
"Hey. On va s'arranger pour la sauver. Ok? " (Hey. We're gonna do everything to save her. Ok?)
"… Yeah."
Oh yeah.
We can do that.
We can save Emmeryn because we know how we can prevent her from dying.
That's a relief.
… Right?
I… didn't even dared meet Lady Emmeryn.
I just wasn't ready.
So I followed Virion and Sully to the barracks with Donnel at my side.
I just… told Chrom and the others that I was too tired and needed some rest from the journey.
To be fair, we barely slept last night, thanks to the earthquake and the Risens.
So, that doesn't count as a lie!
… it's just… not the prime reason…
"What about you, Donnel?" I ask the farm boy. "Don't you want to meet the Exalt?"
Donnel's face turns red like a beet.
"I ain' even darin'! I nearly fain'ed when I learn'd that Lord Chrom and Missy Lissa were both from the royals! Imagin' meetin' the great land ruler afte' that…"
Fair point.
"Now, where could she be?"
Mh? Virion is shaking his head as if he was looking for somebody?
"Looking for someone, Virion?"
"Indeed" the lord answers.
"Perhaps another damsel that picked your interest?"
"Oh yes she did! For many years now."
Heh?
'For many years now'?
"Um… Who exactly?"
"He's speaking of my master."
A grumbling voice just echoed behind me.
That… was a strange voice-
"YAAAARGH!"
DRAGON!
WYVERN!
UNATTENDED WYVERN!
AAAAAARGH!
I'm on my butt, trying to back away as fast as possible from the draconic-threat.
Please tell me she's gonna leave me alo- NO SHE GOT EVEN CLOSER TO ME AND IS STARING RIGHT INTO MY GODDAMN SOUL!
But right at the moment when I'll probably let go of my sense of bladder-control…
"Minerva! Down, girl!"
…
The wyvern is turning her head behind her.
"But Cherche! This men is different!"
…
"This is no reason to scare the new recruits!"
… Oh crap.
Best girl's here.
"Please forgive Minerva. She's quite the curious creature."
Cherche.
"… Oh. You DO seem different."
Aren't we supposed to meet her AFTER the two years time-skip?
"… Are you alright?"
"Gim! Y'all righ'!?"
I take my breath back. I look at Donnel whose staring at me with a worried expression.
"Yeah! I'm alright."
I stand up, shake my head and stare at the wyvern rider.
Virion chuckles.
"Gim, please meet my most loyal and beautiful retainer, Cherche."
"I'm… I'm so glad- I mean, um… Nice to meet you. I'm Gim."
Ahem.
So. I told you guys earlier that Lucina was my waifu from Awakening…
Well… let's say that… if I was in Robin's shoes, Lucina would be my waifu.
But if I were anyone else's…
"Heh heh!"
SEE!
SEE THAT SMILE!
THAT!
THAT'S THE SMILE OF A WOMEN THAT IS BOTH BADASS AND WOMENLY!
She's a fighter, a maid, a wyvern rider and such a caring soul.
…
And that makes her "best Awakening girl" in my book.
"It seems that you got Minerva's attention. Perhaps it's because…"
She steps up right in front of me and reaches her hand toward my elf-like ear.
My face turns red like a beet.
"Are you a manakete?"
I step back, out of shyness.
"Y-Yes. I am."
She joins her hands and beams a smile at me.
"Goodness! What a rare sight!"
She's studying me from head to toe.
I appreciate the attention, but this is a bit awkward…
Oh yeah, Donnel.
"Uhm, this is Donnel! He's a boy from from the south that joined the ranks too."
"Mhm. Nice to meet you, Donnel."
"Ahm. Tha pleasure's mine, ma'am."
"And I'm Minerva."
Oh gods she's back.
The wyvern's head is hanging right over Cherche's shoulder.
"H-Hi, Minerva."
"And you smell good."
"Uhm… Thanks?"
Funny (and so GOSH DARN CUTE) how Cherche is chuckling at the discussion that I am having with her wyvern.
To be fair, there probably aren't a lot of people that can communicate with Minerva.
"So Virion, how was the mission?" asks the wyvern rider.
"Well, how about we get this conversation over a candle dinner tonight, my dear Cherche?"
"Not really."
Ouch.
"Come, Minerva. I'll polish your scales."
"I do like getting my scales polished!"
"See you later!"
Aaand, they both leave.
Cherche is so awesome!
I mean… just look at that bare-back…
It looks really impractical for an armor to be that opened in the back, but seriously, I ain't one to complain.
Haaah…
… Oh.
"Well. Huh… Virion?"
Virion passes a hand in his hair with a faint distress in his voice.
"Ha ha ha! Th-That was Cherche, my loyal subordinate! I… I, huh…"
Oh gods.
I almost feel pity for the poor guy.
Nah. Who am I kidding?
I'm not a fan of gigolos.
Sully gives a "gentle" tap on Virion's shoulder.
"C'mon, scruffy. Just go wash your face. The journey's been pretty long for a fragile noble like you."
"I… A fair point, milady. I shall be on my way to my quarters to get my much deserved beauty-sleep."
And like that, Virion walks away while Donnel and me waves at him without a comment.
"Wow" exclaims Donnel. "Are all woman in the Shepards lookin' that tough?"
I can't help chuckling.
"I sure hope so."
Well…
I any way, Cherche is definitely in the top five…
… Or top three.
… Number one?
Probably number one.
"Way to go, Marth!"
The "mysterious swordsman" walks out of the arena.
Undyne is waiting for her.
"I can't believe that you actually won against Lon'Qu! The greatest swordsman of the Shepards!"
"I didn't won" replies Marth.
"Heh?"
"… I think he saw through my disguise…"
"… Oh. Wow… Talk about exploiting a weakness."
"…"
"Well. Now you'll be able to fight Chrom in the arena in front of thousands of people!"
"…"
"... Marth?"
"What about you?"
"Mh?"
"You'll probably fight your father as well."
"…"
A wide grin appears on Undyne's lips.
"I can't wait…"
"Mister Marth!"
A voice is heard through the corridors of the arena.
Marth suddenly stops walking and Undyne turns around to face where the voice comes from.
A red hair swordswoman runs toward the pair of fighters with a smile.
She's wearing green clothes under her light leather armor and owns a long sword with a hilt made of red and gold at her belt.
"That was an amazing show of swordplay you showed us. And you too, miss… Undyne?"
"Why, thank you!" answers the dragoon.
Marth keeps her back to the swordswoman.
"It wasn't much."
"Well, I'm still glad that you get to fight for the West-Khan. So, I'll wish you the best of luck!"
"… Thanks, Mana."
The mysterious swordsman walks away.
Undyne turns her head between Marth and Mana, waves at the swordswoman and follows the blue swordsman's track.
The redhead giggles.
"Hee hee! She called me Mana! So adorable! She DOES know who I am. But…"
She crosses her arms.
"That Undyne… Is she a future children too?"
MANA
WILL CUT YOU IN A MISERABLE PILE OF SECRETS
Weee! Mana!
That makes three outta five of my friends that you'll see in this fanfic.
Fun fact!
Mana is nicknamed as such, because her name is "Marie-Pier".
For short, we just call her "MP".
In gaming term, "MP" means "Mana Points".
Thus, she got the nickname "Mana".
It's the little things. :)
So. Explanations time.
The main reason why I was stuck on this chapter for so long was because I had a hard time with... Cherche.
What I wrote was my legitimate reaction if I were to meet her face-to-face, BUT, that's something I was kind-of scared of.
You see, I told you some chapters ago that I'll have four Supports with four different ladies. One of which will be possible for me to S-Support in the end.
And with that, I'll want YOU GUYS to vote which girl I should marry in the story.
What I was scared of is that, in this chapter, I would make it sound way too obvious that I'd want to marry Cherche when, on an author point of view, I'd like to marry ANY of those girls, each for a different reason.
The first would be the most "cannon" choice.
The second is the female character I like the best.
The third I think is an interesting choice and her son is my favorite future children.
And the fourth would give me my least favorite future children, but would make a VERY interesting Support between Gim and him (plus, her mom is, like, REALLY HOT!).
So, while writing this chapter, I thought I was glorifying Cherche WAY too much to make her look like the other girls had a chance at my "eternal affection".
I even thought that I should just make her appear at the same time than in the game and replace that possible Support with another character.
But, in the end, I want her to be there.
I liked what I already wrote about her and decided to leave it so.
I'll just have to work on those Supports to make every relationship interesting.
In any case, thanks for reading all the way over here!
I have one week of vacations left, so we'll see what I'll do outta my free time.
Peace out, mah dudes!
