Chapter Thirteen: Shenanigans

(Hershel's POV)

I was in the bland and white dreamscape once again, only this time; it wasn't very bland…or white. Now it had trippy, multi-colored walls and various bits of furniture scattered about the room.

I cast my gaze about the room and, just as I had before, found Omofrisit sitting at the usual table, which seemed to be the only thing in the room that was still white. Omofrisit was not paying any attention to me; instead, he was focused solely on the book he was reading. I took a seat at the table and cleared my throat, so as to make my presence known, he merely held up one finger, implying that I should wait.

I sat back in my chair and began studying Omofrisit himself. He was no longer a half-formed abomination; he now looked like a normal person. He had a soft, pale face, and a thin golden tiara running through his light purple hair and around his forehead. His clothes consisted of long purple Mage's robes and white pauldrons.

He slid a bookmark into his book and looked up at me with a smile. "So, what do you think?" He asked.

"What do I think of what?"

He gave me look that clearly said 'you're an idiot'. "What I meant was; what do you think of my new body?"

I stared at him for a second before answering. "Well, it's certainly…interesting." I said. "But what's up with the purple hair?"

"I'll have you know it was quite stylish back in the day." He snapped. "But interestingly enough, this is actually the body I had during my previous life."

"Really? Was your name Omofrisit back then too?" I asked.

"No, it was Lyon, and I was the prince of a large empire." He said, looking lost in his memories. "But enough about that, that's not why I called you here. I called you in here to let you know that by the time you wake up, I will have a physical form in the real world, specifically, this form. So while you're sleeping, you'd best come up with an excuse for Lon'qu as to why there's a third person in your room."

"Wait…what?...I don't understand…I thought it was going to take much longer for you to manifest yourself in the real world." I said with much confusion.

"I told you might be as short as a week or as long as a few years, and apparently, it only took a couple of weeks." He explained.

"A-buh, wha?"

"You're obviously too frazzled to understand it right now, I'll just send you back to sleep, I suppose." As soon as he finished talking, the all too familiar hole appeared beneath me and I was plunged into the depths.

I awoke to the familiar sight of my room and the sound of Frey snoring in the other bed. I sat up, rubbed my eyes and began to prepare for the day ahead of me until I noticed another person in the room.

After being startled and inspecting the person closer, I realized it was Omofrisit and remembered my conversation with him the night before.

"Hello." He said with a simple wave. "I assume you have your excuse ready?"

I sighed and tried to come up with something quickly…but there's no way Lon'qu would buy anything that I came up with, there's was just no good excuse for a strange man appearing in my room in the middle of the night.

"Omofrisit, I think you know very well that I can't come up with a good excuse, so…could I ask for your help in coming up with one?" I asked.

"Well, you could ask, but I don't think I would answer you." He said with a grin.

Great, now what? I had absolutely no way to explain this…unless…

"Omofrisit, Lon'qu hasn't come to get us yet, but he'll be here soon. I need you to follow me; I'm going to hide you in a different room until later, is that acceptable?"

"Aahh, now you're using the ol' noodle." He said. "So, where are we going?"

Without explaining my plan to him, I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the room. We ran down hallway after hallway, avoiding people whenever we could and playing it cool when we couldn't. Eventually, we made it to the training room. We dashed inside and I went straight to the broom closet and opened it.

"Quick, get in." I said.

"Okay, but, a broom closet, really?" He said, looking not altogether pleased with the arrangements.

"Yes, no one will find you in here. Now hurry!" I said urgently.

He sighed in resignation and entered the broom closet. I shut the door and ran back to my room as fast as I could.

When I arrived back at the room, Frey was nowhere in sight. I could only assume that Lon'qu had already retrieved him and was now looking for me. I decided my best bet was to go to the throne room, on my way there, however, I was stopped a couple of guards who told me that Frey was waiting for me outside.

What? Are we leaving already? But…that means I need to go get Omofrisit, and I just spent all that time hiding him too. Gah! It can't be helped.

I told the guards to let Frey know that I would be out in a few minutes. They nodded and left to deliver my message. After they were gone, I once again, ran as fast as I could back to the training room and opened the broom closet, Omofrisit was nowhere to be found, but there was a small note on the floor. I retrieved the note and read it.

'I was found, I'm blaming it on you –Omofrisit'

Great, now I had to go get him from the dungeon.

I made it to the dungeon and was now checking the cells. Some of them were empty and some of them had people who looked like they wanted to hurt me, but none of them contained Omofrisit. As I continued my search, I found one cell with the door wide open, I walked into it and found a dead prison guard and yet another note.

'You're too late; I made a prison shank and got myself out. I'll be waiting outside. –Omofrisit'

I sighed. Why couldn't he wait in one place?

I left the dungeon and headed outside. Per the usual, there was snow covering every surface, nothing escaped the cold embrace of the snow. I began to shiver as I looked for Omofrisit and Frey. I eventually found them waiting in the horse stable, having a friendly chat. As I drew near, they noticed me and greeted me.

"Hey, Hershel, where have you been?" Frey asked.

"Yeah, where have you been?" Omofrisit said with a sly grin.

"You know very well where I've been, Omofrisit." I said, visibly in a bad mood.

"Oh, you two know each other?" Frey asked.

"Yeah, we go way back, me and Hershel." Omofrisit said. "We've been friends since birth, practically."

I sent a glare in Omofrisit's direction and mounted a horse. "Whatever, let's go, we're burning daylight." I said, still a bit miffed.

"Someone's got an attitude today." Frey said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on let's go, the sooner we get there, the sooner we get paid." I said.

Without another word, the other two mounted their horses and we were off to Ylisse.

A/N: Well, not sure how I did with this one. It seemed a bit rushed, but I couldn't write it any other way. So tell me what you think through either PM or Review, and as always:

Thanks for reading!