Chapter Twenty-Six: War Has Come

(Robin's POV)

We were in now in Plegia, storming the countryside and making our way to the palace. We had run into a few groups of bandits and brigands, but nothing as organized as the group before us. Based on their robes, I could only assume they were Grimleal. And they were not happy to see us.

The battle had been relatively easy, mostly because Chrom wouldn't tolerate being impeded. At some point, a large mercenary man and a small girl had become entangled in the battle. Chrom either didn't care or didn't notice them and simply continued to fight, so I went ahead and made sure they were safe. Lucky for us, the mercenary was looking for work, and the girl turned out to be an extremely grateful Manakete.

From my current point of view, the war seemed to be tipped in our favor. We hadn't had a single casualty, we were nearing the Plegian palace, and we had gained a few more allies.

In terms of winning the war, things were looking up. But that still didn't make it right. This war was going to destroy at least one country, but it remained to be seen whether it would be Plegia or Ylisse that was destroyed. And to make matters worse, there was no trace of the old Chrom that everyone knew and loved. He was becoming more and more bloodthirsty by the minute, and I still couldn't deduce why. Surely this was about more than just Emmeryn. If that was the only reason, then Chrom had a weaker mind then I had thought, but I hoped that that wasn't the case.

Hopefully a miracle will occur and we can negotiate with Gangrel. More bloodshed is pointless.

(Colm's POV)

Tch! Why did I have to stay here? Why couldn't I have gone back with the report? Now I have to sit here and stare at a battlefield 'Just in case something happens'. Yeah Right, as if anything's gonna happen on a battlefield who's battle has already ended.

I sat down on a rock and tried to find something to do. There were dead bodies, there was sand, and there were dead bodies half buried in sand…It didn't take a lot of thinking to realize that there was nothing to entertain myself with, although I suppose I could loot the bodies. No self-respecting thief would pass up such a chance.

Let's see. Gold, weapons, gold, and gold. Well, regardless of who won this battle, it would seem that I am the true victor.

Just as I finished gloating to myself about the things I had looted, an arrow lodged itself in the sand next to me. I jumped away in panic and looked around for the source of the arrow. Some distance away, I could see a girl with her bow raised and an arrow nocked. And if I didn't know any better, I'd say she was aiming at me.

She let the arrow fly and I swear I could feel the arrow nick my ear as it passed. I scrambled to my feet and ducked behind the nearest rock.

"Come out, coward! Face me like real man!" She said.

It sounded like she had some kind of accent. But I couldn't quite place where it was from. She shot another arrow right over top of the rock, causing me to instinctively move my head down farther.

"Why are you attacking me?!" I yelled from behind my rock.

"You are enemy, yes?"

"….No?"

"Lies!"

Oh, she's sharp.

The arrows continued to fly overhead, which gave me exactly zero chances to peek out from behind my rock and figure out how close she is. But I needed to know where she was in relation to my rock. I took the chance and leaned toward the side of the rock…She was right next to my rock…with her bow aimed straight down at me. I raised my hands in surrender and gave an uneasy smile. She smiled back at me, and then promptly put an arrow through my knee.

"AAACCCKKKK! GAAHHH! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?" I asked through the excruciating pain.

"Yumiko could not let you escape." She said matter-of-factly.

"Wha-? Who is Yumiko?"

"I am Yumiko!" She said angrily.

Ahhhh, yes, that would make sense.

"Well in any case, due to your bright idea to put an arrow through my knee, I will probably be dead before the day is over!" I said angrily, still clutching my knee in pain. "Unless I somehow get medical attention posthaste, that is."

She seemed to ponder my words for a bit, mulling something over inside her head before getting an annoyed look on her face and reaching down towards me.

"Wait, what are you doing?! Get your hands off me!" I yelled in protest.

"Stop flailing like dying fish and sit still! I'm trying to get you to healer!"

I immediately ended my struggle and looked at her in confusion as she picked me up bridal style.

"So wait, let me get this straight. First, you try to kill me, and then you shoot me in the leg, and now you want to help me? How exactly does your brain work?"

"Look, you are no good to me dead. Judging from equipment, you are thief, yes? And I need help from thief." She said.

"So why couldn't you hire a thief in town?" I asked.

"Because I needed to find thief that is easily defeated."

Gee, thanks a lot.

Conversation ceased after that and I was left to my thoughts as she carried me through the desert.

Now that I wasn't arguing with her or in excruciating pain, I actually took in her appearance.

She had jade colored eyes that complimented her olive tan complexion quite nicely and her dark violet hair was tied into a braided ponytail. Her outfit consisted of a short tunic, purple on the left side and violet on the right, ending above her knees with a tightened leather brown belt just above her hips, worn over a sleeveless white shirt and a light brown hooded cape that reached the middle of her back. She also wore knee high boots and dark violet fingerless gloves.

She saw me looking at her and gave me a scowl. I recoiled under her gaze and tried to look anywhere else.

"Ahem, so uh, where are we headed?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Umm, Yumiko hadn't really thought about that…" She said as she slowed her pace.

"Well then, would you mind taking me to Castle Plegia?" I asked hopefully.

"And why would Yumiko do that?"

"Because I need a healer and you need my help, isn't that what you said?"

She once again mulled over what I said before making a frustrated huff.

"Fine. Which way is castle?" She snapped.

Not daring to say a word in case I made her even more mad, I simply pointed in the direction we had come from. She turned around with an exasperated sigh and began the trek towards the castle.

(Hershel's POV)

I opened my crusty eyes and licked my dry and cracked lips as I awoke from my nap. I didn't bother to survey the room for some kind of miracle for two reasons; for one, the candles had burned out and second, I had long since accepted my death as something inevitable. After all, the most strenuous thing I could do was read the books on the shelf next to me, of course, I can't do that anymore anyway seeing as the last candle burned out long ago.

At this moment, I was contemplating committing suicide just so I could get out of here, but I was too much of a wuss to do it. Tch, even on my death bed I was too much of a scaredy-cat to do something that might cause pain.

Did I really deserve this punishment? At first I thought I didn't, and then I thought I did, and I've gone back and forth over and over again. And I couldn't help but contemplate it once more, sure I killed the Exalt, but shouldn't I have been given the death sentence instead of this cruel torture? Surely that should have been the case, and that would mean that Gangrel was in the wrong here. But nothing was going to happen to Gangrel despite passing an incorrect judgment simply because he was the king…Well that doesn't seem right, does it? Surely Gangrel deserves some form of retribution.

That was it. Gangrel didn't deserve to make such a judgment and get off scot free. That means that I can't die until I see him on the receiving end of judgment.

I must escape. There's no time to lose, I'm getting weaker by the minute and I can't afford to waste any energy. But how can I get out? Think think think….! Certain Dark magic spells have explosive properties! But, the candles have all gone out and I don't have any such spells memorized…grrr, there has to be a way out!

(Robin's POV)

"What are you saying, Chrom!?" I shouted, shocked.

"We can't trust Gangrel, Robin. If we try to negotiate, he'll try to kill us. We're better off just starting the attack and catching them off guard." Chrom said.

"But we could avoid so much bloodshed if we just negotiated with Gangrel to get Hershel instead of killing thousands upon thousands of people just to achieve the same goal!"

"Fine." Chrom sighed. "Against my better judgment, I will negotiate with Gangrel."

Against his better judgment!? I don't even know who he is anymore, but he's certainly not Chrom! Chrom would have done everything he could to avoid causing casualties on both sides!

(Omofrisit's POV)

The Ylissean forces had made it to the palace and were now right outside the gates. I peered down at them through a window in the throne room and spotted Chrom and Robin. They seemed to be arguing about something, Robin was making large gestures with his arms that I couldn't understand and Chrom seemed to be telling him no. But now it seemed that Chrom had given in to whatever Robin was saying.

I watched them a little longer, wondering what they were doing before Validar walked in.

"The Ylisseans have requested a negotiation." He said.

"Show them in." I responded as I continued to watch out the window.

Validar grudgingly bowed and left the room. With everything going on, I had almost forgotten that Validar hated my guts, and it brought a smile to my face thinking about the fact that he couldn't do anything about it. I returned to my throne in anticipation of my visitors.

I wasn't kept waiting for long. Validar quickly returned with Chrom, Robin, Frederick and Lissa in tow. Validar walked up to stand next my throne and the other four stopped a fair distance from me.

I could tell they were confused and slightly shocked at the sight of me sitting on the late king's throne. Lissa hid behind Frederick as soon as she saw me, I assume she was reminded of when I trapped her and Chrom inside orbs of Dark magic.

"I see, so this is where you scurried away to, Omofrisit." Robin said. "But enough about that, where might we find King Gangrel?"

"In the graveyard." I responded with a smirk.

Robin was visibly taken aback.

"So then, judging from your statement and where you're sitting, I suppose we can assume you are the new king?" Robin asked.

"You would assume correctly." I said.

"This is different from what we expected, but it changes nothing. We have come to negotiate for Hershel Wile, the murderer of the previous Exalt." Chrom said.

"Ah yes, well there's just a small problem with that. See, we don't have him either." I explained. "Gangrel hid him and wouldn't reveal his location. And as you can see, he took his secret to the grave."

"So I guess its war then?" Chrom asked.

"If you so choose." I said with a nod, still smirking.

"Very well." Chrom said.

He turned and began walking out of the throne room with the others close behind. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I saw a smile on Chrom's face as he turned away. Just as planned.

A/N: Hey guys, how ya doin? I know this is kinda really late, and honestly, I have no excuse for the lateness of this chapter and I apologize profusely. I hope I can be forgiven.

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Thank you for reading, and please continue to do so!