FE Fates Chapter 5
The Fall
"Alright, we're finally here." Called Azura as they arrived at the Bottomless Canyon.
"So...What is it you wanted to show us?" Jakob asked.
"Well… This may sound a bit strange. But to get there we need to jump off the canyon." Azura explained.
"And you expect us to believe you? Total rubbish, come on Corrin and Felicia. Enough of this nonsense." Jakob said, angry.
"Wait." Corrin called. "Azura, what is it you want to show us?"
"I can't say it up here. Please, I promise once we get to the bottom, all will be explained." She promised. Corrin stood up, wondering whether or not he could trust her.
"Milord, please is this even debatable. She wants us to suicide." Jakob reasoned.
"I'm with Jakob on this one Corrin. I don't really want to risk it." Felicia agreed. Corrin thought it over but finally came onto a reasonable conclusion.
"We will jump." Corrin decided, leading to a shocked look on both of his servants faces.
"Milord, please. You can't be serious." Felicia said.
"Yes, I am. I trust Azura and I trust her when she says she will show us when we make it down there." Corrin told them.
"But...I'm so scared of heights." Felicia said, scared.
"If it will make it any better. I will jump first." Azura said.
"Yes, that will be thankful. Thank you Azura." Corrin thanked. He then turned to his two servants. "Please, I need to see what is down there."
"Fine, fine. I will jump. But only because you're my master Corrin and I respect your decision." Jakob finalized. Corrin then turned to Felicia and saw the terrified look she had in her face.
"Felicia, if it will make it any better, we can jump together." Corrin said, hand outstretched. Felicia took his hand and agreed, feeling stronger with Corrin by his side. With that decided, Azura stepped onto the bridge, and saw them ready to jump. She then fell into the canyon with grace. Jakob then stepped onto the ladder, and jumped off as well. Felicia and Corrin then stepped onto the ladder and Corrin spoke to her,
"Are you ready?", earning a nod from Felicia. "Well, here we go." And they jumped. The rush of falling off the bridge was intense, and Corrin could spot Azura and Jakob further down below. Azura seemed calm and gentle, floating like a leave through the air, while Jakob seemed a bit more flustered and frantic, trying to reach out for something to grab onto. But his fear was nothing compared to Felicia's. She was screaming all the way down, and was desperately trying to keep her maid outfit down. She had never done anything like this before, and the only reason she could bring herself to do this was because of him.
Felicia glanced over at Corrin and saw the most fearless face on him, the kind of someone who was ready to dive straight into danger,
"Corrin, I love you." Felicia thought. " I have and always will, ever since the Northern Fortress, I have loved you." But she then remembered that it will never happen, Corrin can't marry a maid of all people. She still has the memories from that special night and though she knew they weren't real, they felt real enough.
Before they knew it, they reached the canyon floor. Or at least what they initially believed to be the canyon floor. What they saw when they landed seemed to be a completely different land than what they were used to. It was a land filled with green and floating islands. Corrin, Jakob and Felicia were completely astounded by the sight this world they had just arrived in.
"What is this place?" Corrin asked.
"This is the ancient city of Valla." Azura explained.
"Well, how come we've never heard of this Valla?" Questioned Jakob.
"For the same reason I was not able to speak of it in the world above. A great dragon cursed this world, for anyone who speaks of Valla will disintegrate into ash." Azura explained, earning a bit of silence from the group.
"Well, that would explain why she couldn't speak of Valla up above. But, how are we going to even get back there?" Felicia asked.
"Leave that to me, but first, let's continue onward, there's a cave I know of. We'll be safe there." Azura said, and then she led the party onward to the cavern. Once inside, she turned around to speak to them. "We should be safe in here. So, as I was saying, Valla is currently in control of King Anankos. He made this land the way it was, desolate and barren. He destroyed Valla and now seeks to destroy both Hoshido and Nohr next. He's the reason Nohr and Hoshido are fighting. He wishes to weaken them both, and when the war is over, strike and destroy both of our countries, manipulating King Garon to do his wishes."
"So in order to stop this war and end the true threat to the world, we must defeat this mad king Anankos?" Corrin asked and Azura nodded. "Then we need to tell everyone up above of this news."
"I'm sorry milord, but if my memory serves correctly, then if we speak of this world beyond its border, then we will be disintegrated into ash." Jakob corrected Corrin.
"Yes, that's what happened to my mother queen of Valla." Azura explained.
"But wouldn't that make you a Vallite princess?" Asked Felicia, and Azura nodded once again.
"I must say it is great to speak of this place once again. Before, due to the curse, I had to pretend that this place didn't exist, that my parents were non- existent." Azura said. "It's a great burden to unload."
"So what's our plan? We can't simply stand around and let Anankos lay waste to Nohr and Hoshido." Corrin asked.
"Wait, I sense a presence that wasn't there before." Azura suddenly spoke. "Yes, a large number of enemies, coming from inside the caves."
"Great, I thought we came inside to avoid conflict." Jakob said, getting his dagger ready.
"Everyone get your weapons ready." Corrin ordered, and a swarm of purple soldiers came rushing at them. Some looked like ninjas and others like soldiers, but they weren't quite human. Azura used her dancing technique to overwhelm the soldiers, easily avoiding their lance attacks and striking back fast and hard with her naginata. Jakob was dispatching some of the ninjas easily using his pure strength, while Felicia was able to use her dagger to weaken some of the enemies for her allies to take them out. Corrin was fighting completely recklessly however, charging straight into the enemies and using his legendary blade Yato to cut them down. Azura noticed this reckless thinking and reminded herself to warn Corrin about this next chance she got. Jakob was eventually pinned down by a mercenary, but Jakob was able to get his hands around his neck and snap it. Corrin tackled the man he believed to be the leader, and charged at him, challenging him to a duel. This man had a steel axe and was very strong, his swings knocking Corrin back with every blow. Azura, Jakob and Felicia were too far away to help Corrin, needing to stay back and defeat the horde of soldiers heading at them. Corrin eventually was knocked off balance and fell down, with Yato falling too far from Corrin to reach. The soldier raised his steel axe high above his head, and brought it crashing downward, only for it to be blocked by an iron lance. Corrin looked up to see a man riding a horse wearing big armor stopping the axe from killing him. Corrin took the opportunity and rolled over to his blade and stabbed the Fighter, killing him instantly.
"Thanks for the help. I'm Corrin." Corrin thanked.
"I know who you are, Master Corrin." The person said, but Corrin recognized him instantly.
"Gunter?" Corrin said, surprised to see his old guardian still alive after Hans killed him. Jakob and Azura were killing the last of the soldiers, with Felicia healing them up from the battle. They came up to Corrin, and Jakob and Felicia were shocked to see Gunter before them.
"Gunter, what are you doing? How are you here?" Felicia said, shocked.
"Yes, please. I would like to know as well." Jakob agreed.
"Well after Hans knocked me off the bridge, I fell and fell, until I hit the surface, except it wasn't what I expected." Gunter explained."Please, how have you been Master Corrin."
"Well, pretty good. I mean as it good as it can get when your families are both trying to kill each other." Corrin explained. "I'll explain later."
"Well, I don't mean to pry, but now would be a good time to call Lilith to take us out of this wretched place." Jakob spoke, slightly impatient. Corrin agreed and called Lilith to take them back to the astral plane, or Fort Corrin, as Felicia dubbed it.
When they got there, Felicia immediately went to her room, to ponder over some of the events that took place today, while Jakob went to the mess hall to perform his normal butlering duties, as that helped him take his mind off of things. Gunter was caught up by Lilith on all of the strange things that were going down, but it was much easier to inform him as Gunter had already been to Valla. Corrin went to his private quarters and laid down on his bed to think about everything, Valla, Garon and how they were going to warn his siblings of this danger. He was startled by a knock on his door,
"It's open!" He called and the door opened. It was Azura. "Hello Azura. What brings you here?"
"Hello Corrin. I've just come to warn you of our most recent battle." She gently said.
"What about it and be careful. I don't want you disintegrating into ash." Corrin warned, earning a smile from Azura.
"No, it's just regarding your battle technique. You fought recklessly and too aggressive. The key to saving the world and reuniting Hoshido and Nohr is you, Corrin. I just want you to be more careful." Azura warned, and Corrin nodded. With that Azura up and left the room, leaving Corrin to continue thinking, but he added 'Azura' to wishlist of ponder. She was very mysterious and perplexing, but also comforting and beautiful. She sure made Corrin's head hurt.
Meanwhile…
The hooded figure entered a town deep into Nohr control, corrupted by criminals and gangs. The two warring gangs were in a conflict at the moment, each firing their arrows and taking cover from behind building walls. The hooded figure saw this conflict, and decided to take the innocents away from the danger and into their homes, killing everyone who stood in his way. Even though the hooded figure was getting the innocents to their homes, the gangs were still killing all the innocents in their path. The gangs continued their fighting until they heard one voice that instilled fear into them,
"I will erase you!" And before they knew what hit them, a giant tree burst from the ground and destroyed one of the gang's number's before doing the same to the other. The figure heard this and looked from the alley he was hiding in to see what was going on out there. He saw a blond man wearing armor and riding a horse, as well as a white haired man with an eyepatch wearing a cloak and another blond haired man wearing a yellow cloak.
"Wait, what. No it can't be!" The hooded figure murmured and he left his alley.
"Odin, Niles please destroy as much of the gang's resources as possible." The man on the horse instructed.
"Where will you go my Lord Leo." the eye patched man said.
"I have heard that the dark mage Zola is in Hoshidan territory and his methods have caused Nohr great shame. I will travel there alone and you two report to father that the gangs have been taken care of." Leo instructed, taking off. Niles and Odin started to move back home, after destroying the gangs.
"So, Odin. What would you think if I asked Lady Camilla out on a date?" Niles asked.
"Odin Dark is not trivialized by such questions. He is not blinded nor fueled by emotions, for only the darkness inside him controls him." Odin dramatically responded, earning a scoff from Niles.
"Whatever, I can't believe I thought asking you would be any good anyways." Niles responded before being knocked out by a lightning bolt. The hooded figure came down on Odin, and before he could bring out his tome, the hood pinned him against the wall.
"Pfft. If you think Odin Dark is afraid of you, think again. For the only thing Odin Dark fears is the slow darkness encircling his mind and body." Odin confessed, earning a chuckle from the hood.
"You never changed did you Owain." And with that, the hooded figure let down his hood to reveal his white hair and face, the same man who helped the Shepherds defeat the fell dragon.
"Robin!" Odin, or Owain realized.
So, truth's out! Yes the masked man is Male Robin! I'm really excited to see how this will connect the Fates story over with Awakening and how it will turn out. With Robin now stuck on Nohr, and him interacting with the Fates story, I think it will be really fun to view and especially to write.
Regarding next chapter, I think I will make the next one about Felicia's backstory and there was one suspicious thing she said this chapter that will kind of clue you in as to what the chapter will be about.
See you guys next time and have fun reading!