Now, I AM SORRY THIS IS SO…LATE. OKAY BUT IT IS BACK. I WAS BEING A SINNAMON ROLL AND SINNING ALL OVER FIRE EMBLEM: FATES – CONQUEST, ALL RIGHT?! THAT IS MY REASON. I'M DOING NOHR. SO, LIKE, UM, …. *cough* Which route are you peeps doing? Who are you supporting? Personally, I'm picking Xander. I have a thing for princes with hella hair, you see. *gestures at entirety of story* And I will shut up. Because I am pretty sure, half of you considered that last sentence a spoiler. Woops… Hah hah… Anyway.
If nothing in the inner monologue makes sense, then I have succeeded. That's what I intended on happening due to the established character of our lovely narrator. Basically, if you hadn't noticed yet (It was subtle and hadn't really been established) she's pretty irrational and a tad explosive when upset. That is all. I bow out. Your chapter awaits.
Chapter 23
~Corn Husks to the Wind~
I never thought it'd turn out this way. I thought we'd win. We didn't. She's dead. The exalt is dead when we could have done something. Yet we did nothing. We sat by and did nothing. But do you want to know what hurt the most about it all?
It was the look on all of their faces. We promised to use everything in our power to save her. There was hate. There was rage. There was anguish, distraught yells, dread and that horrible look of betrayal.
Then we ran. We fled Plegia. And found ourselves in the bordering mire. There was a marshy, barren wasteland that situated itself right in our path. The Midmire.
Needless to say, as anyone who's played this game knows, this is when shit got even more real than it already was.
"Gods...Must they really do this to us?" I muttered, rather loudly from atop my horse, gaining the attention of many Shepherds.
Frederick glared, his murky brown eyes turning into a dark flame. Rage. Barely contained rage. "Perhaps we should leave you here to deal with them. I'm sure you could succeed at something, if your own life were on the line."
I looked away, biting my lip and bowing my head. It wasn't worth yelling at him over. None of this was. Yet I wanted to get mad. I wanted to throw a punch at him; end his hurtful gaze.
You know, it's funny, isn't it? How someone you care for can turn on you in an instant. Love you, and then hate you as much as they did love you.
I guess this is just that moment where I'm not wanted anymore. I'm a broken weapon, uses expended and now it's time to throw me away. Like they all do. People only seem to come and go in my life; few staying as long Rei, Lucas and even Brandon, Dusty and Noah, who I'd never thought I'd grow close to. So now it's time for me to clamp up and move on. Turn into a statue and retreat into myself. Forget. Run.
I don't belong anymore.
"Milord?" I heard Frederick say to our currently vegetative leader. He gave no response, only the hard, set expression of a man trying not to cry. Well, cry any more than he had.
Despite how I felt, I refused to let Frederick keep me from his side. It wasn't because I'm an inseparable gi—ex-girlfriend; it was because I know what grief does to people. Majora's Mask taught me as much. I know he'll break the second we reach Mustafa's forces. I know that he'll try to kill them all in one mighty fit of rage. And I couldn't let the people he will rule think of him as a mad tyrant who goes slaughtering with his family on the weekends. If they are to follow him, it shouldn't be out of fear, but awe, because of his charisma and unwavering strength. Physically and mentally. He is the exalt now. Well, rightful heir to the title, which I am sure he will give up to honor Emmeryn.
"You mustn't hold it in, Chrom," I whispered, not expecting to be heard. "If you want to cry, cry. If you want to get mad, get mad." That was only met with silence. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a breath. "...Gods! I know you are mad at me! Yell, scream, kill me for Naga's sake! End it now before you regret not doing it…" Like me.
My words fell on deaf ears. It was true. No one cares anymore. Just as I thought.
"Why would I want that?" So the vegetable speaks. But why doesn't he want me dead? Emmeryn's death is my fault, isn't it? I don't deserve to live.
"I-It's my fault! I could've saved her if I had only been faster. If I had only been able to defeat Aversa before she could..." At the mention of the she-witch's name, I recalled the feeling of thunder magic racing over my body, incapacitating me. I had been completely useless. I felt tears roll down my cheeks, though I wasn't only sad, I was happy that I was showing some emotion when it counted, for once. "Don't you see?! I deserve to die!"
"..." Chrom looked over, his building rage finally showing itself. "Don't...Don't you say that! I don't need to lose another person to this godsdamn war!" Another person indeed. I knew he was thinking of the poor men and women that had died, and of his sister. He was a man with a mighty burden on his shoulders, and he didn't any more of this. Yet I just couldn't let it go.
"That's just too bad." I made my words sound as dark and harsh as possible, hoping it'd soften the blow, if that makes any sense. "You can't keep everyone alive. This is war, after all. Lives are going to be lost. What's the difference if it's mine?" The words sort of just hung there for ages. While I waited for a response, the sky finally opened up and unleashed the violent torrent of rain that the dark clouds and sadness had hinted at. It was as if the heavens were mourning the exalt, just as much as we were. And this just made the morale drop even more. It was becoming terribad. Very terribad.
"Someone's suicidal today." Aquarius's voice echoed in my head. In all honesty, she was the last person I wanted to hear from right now. She could've easily helped me out when I had been shot down by Aversa. She could've helped saved Emmeryn.
"Shut up, Aquarius. You're some emotionless deity; you wouldn't understand."
I heard a growl come from her; a prelude to her angry rant. "I understand more than you'll ever know!"
"What?"
"You may think I'm just a goddess, but gods lose things as well. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you stop acting like a selfish brat."
After she said that, I felt as if several arrows had pierced my body. Selfish? Emmeryn died because I did nothing. It's only fitting that I share the same fate: Death. That is not selfish at all.
...Right?
Hearing no response from any of the people I was holding conversations with, I continued. "The death of the exalt is entirely my fault. I...I knew this would happen. I know every single major event that will occur. I could've prevented this."
"...Yet you said nothing of it?" Oh gods...was that a growl? Chrom growled at me? I guess that's justified. I'm a bitch who jumped in and screwed with all their lives, and didn't have the decency to help clean up her mess. So why wouldn't he? I guess he hates you now too, huh Erin? Great job. Maybe you'll get a nice, quick death. Hmph.
Wiping my eyes, I made a decision; to antagonize the prince for his safety. I'm too dangerous – we're too dangerous – to be around and useless if I – we – can't do anything to keep people alive.
"Yeah. That's right." I sneered, feeling the Shepherds' surprise and their harsh glares that were filled with betrayal. "I never gave a fuck about anyone, if that's what you are saying." I spread my arms out as if accepting a hug. "You may as well kill this monster now."
"What are you doing?!" The guardian of the cold winter cried, trying to stop whatever I was about to do.
"Telling the truth and facing the consequences of lying. I never said anything about knowing the future; only that I wasn't from this world."
A series of impacts almost concussed my brain as if Aquarius were using all the power she had in there to stop me. "That isn't the wise decision!"
"No, but it is the right one." The repercussions didn't cease. "We may be one in the same, but at least I have my morals in place."
"Lying is the only—" I cut her off, not wanting to hear more of her delirious babble.
"Once you're done spinning your lies, the spinning wheel does not stop. It just makes more and more thread, and you're left with a mess to clean up."
"..."
"Stop lying." Chrom furrowed his brow; his now-raw baritone voice snapping out of my muse. How coincidental it was that I just had a similar discussion with Aquarius. "You're lying to yourself there. You do care."
"What? I absolutely do not care!" I clenched my fists and glared for effect.
He shook his head dismissively, seeing right through my facade. "When you lie, you so this thing with your nose. It's subtle, so you can't really tell unless—"
"That's BS if I've ever heard it. Why can't you accept that I don't give a fuck about any of you?!" I insisted, nose scrunching up.
"Lying," he deadpanned.
"I DON'T—"
"Still lying."
"GODS, WILL YOU JUST ST—"
"Will you just stop? Stop trying to cover up how you feel," says the vegetative prince who won't confide in his comrades. "It's rather selfish, don't you think?"
Selfish.
There's that word again.
"I-I know…." I stuttered, trying to find a solid response. "...I still didn't tell you how you could have saved your sister—" I know she comes back later, but… "—Gods...I'm so sorry...I know they're empty words, but that's all I can give you now. Just. Words. And I'm not even worthy enough for that…"
"Of course you're—" A handaxe flew through the air, cutting the prince off. Of all the godsdamned things…Frederick had wandered and bit off to the side and couldn't get there in time, but he called out all the same.
"Milord!"
"Watch out!" I yelled, steering Amph into the weapon's path of destruction. The axe embedded itself in my lower right leg, a scream erupted from my lungs. "OW! FUCK! …." Shaking it off for now, I gasped for air; looking to Chrom to make sure he was unscathed. "You all right?"
"I-I should be asking you that…" He glanced at his younger sister, who was currently preoccupied with her own cloud of sadness. Her pegasus was being used to carry Ricken, who had been injured pretty badly during the fight earlier. "Lissa! We need you over here!" Rather than giving a vegetative response, she nodded in affirmation and ran over.
I tried to pull an excuse to keep fighting out of the air. This was a fight where I did not want to sit out. I needed to make sure Chrom didn't do anything reckless. "I really am fine; I can hold it out—"
"Stay out of this, Erin!" He forcefully struck Amph's side; the stupid horse obeyed and began to slowly make her way off of the battlefield. Damn horse! Why can't you side with me for once?! "Keep Lissa safe from behind the rearguard while she heals that leg of yours." More like: "I don't trust you, so stay the fuck out of this fight and every single one after, since we have no use for you anymore."
"But—" I began to protest once more.
"Just go!"
I gulped, remembering my place in all of this. I had no right to speak to him like I always had; I never did. We weren't equals. "...Yes, milord." I muttered that while Lissa pulled on Amph's reigns as the horse neared her and she led us the rest of the way off of the field. When our destination became mere feet away, Lissa began to pull the axe out of the wound, unplugging a bloody pipe. She did it rather abruptly, making me let out another scream. Watching the blood pour from the wound, I wondered how it hadn't done so until now. Meh. FE logic.
While I mulled over this silently, Aquarius decided to stop being a depressed bitch and give some input. "When you receive a wound like this, I harden the skin in that area to keep the blood and weapon from coming out. For example, the axe didn't fall out and the wound didn't start bleeding until it was removed. This is only the case with these types of injuries though. If the weapon were to fall out before five seconds were up, this wouldn't take place."
"How convenient…Skill acquired, Aquarius' Blessing."
"You really need to be more careful," Lissa murmured as she held her staff up to heal my wound. The skin began to stitch itself back together, only leaving proof of forming scars. "It looks like that'll scar…"
I shrugged; taking that as par for the course. So what? It's just a stupid lil scar. Plus… "If I hadn't, your idiot brother would've been beheaded."
"He would've survived by some miracle. Emm always said that nothing could kill him. The world would have to end first…" Lissa frowned at that last part, remembering what had happened only three hours prior. "She always was the greatest guardian and sister you could hope for—always willing to give advice, a hug and reassuring smile." And that's when the waterworks started up. "I...I told myself I wouldn't allow myself more than two hours, but...I miss her so much!"
"Lissa…" I enveloped the petite girl in a hug. She began to heave as her cries became sobs. Sniveling and whimpering, she clutched onto me like a lost child would a found parent. "Shhh...Everything is going to be all right—it may take some time, but it will. Just you see!" I just hope my words are enough to save her.
"Hmph. That's….That's what everyone else has...has said...b-but I can't believe it." With that, I sensed some of her sanity ebb away. We're losing her fast! Come on, Erin, think!
"Hey, stop it, all right? I'm going to tell you a secret, okay? You can't tell anyone." Lissa looked up at me, curious as to what I would say next. I can't believe I'm telling her this. It could put the entire timeline in...Wait. I don't have to tell her Emmeryn is alive. I can just say that Aquarius didn't feel her consciousness leave this world. "Promise not to tell?" The princess nodded furiously, her childlike lust for knowledge becoming even more evident. "When Emm hit the ground and after we left the capital, Aquarius told me that she did not lose hold of the information on her consciousness."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"When a person dies, their body is the only thing that stays in the physical world. Meaning: The consciousness leaves with the soul, and that in turn wipes their consciousness from Aquarius's living database. Do you get what I am trying to say?"
"...She's...She may be alive?"
"That's right. Now you see why we can't tell anyone, besides other members of the Zodiac; this is top secret celestial being knowledge." She seemed to buy that, finally calming down.
"Crisis averted!"
"Her mental state seems to have returned to normal. Great job. A feat worthy of a god."
"Mmkay..."
"Thank you…" Lissa murmured, stepping back and forcing a smile. "But what about you? Why don't you smile?"
Smile? Why do I need to smile? "Why must I?"
"Because otherwise you're a big fat hypocrite!"
I sighed, not really feeling like dealing with this. This always happened. People would always call me out on the fact that my natural face expression does not include a smile; that I always looked unhappy. "Do you have to smile if you are happy? I can't help it if I don't, but believe me, I'm fine."
"I'm not expecting you to be happy, I want you to put on a smile like me for everyone else. That's basically what you've been saying for the past twenty minutes."
"Lissa, this isn't a time for sm—" She cut me off.
"The Shepherds need that now more than ever!"
She's right...Smiles are contagious, so if we start, it'll spread and everyone will cheer up...Right? Sorry, I'm new to the whole 'bring happiness upon others and boost morale' concept.
"When we set up camp then. What else could we do?" I asked.
"You have cooking duty tonight, right?" I nodded, telling her to continue. "Great! Then we can cook up something everyone will love!"
Considering what food we had lying around, I questioned the princess's idea. "What exactly are we going to do with bear meat jerky and potatoes?" She smiled creepily at that.
"We make magic, that's what!" Do not take that out of context, do not take that out of context, do not take that out of con… "You can make anything taste like anything with the correct combination of spices!"
"Since when did you become a culinary expert? Are you sure you can cook?"
"I'm not going to be the one cooking: You are!" Well, that's not terrifying. There's a reason why I blackmail Robin into skipping over my shift each time it was my turn. I can only make eggs (a breakfast dish) and store bought, five minute feasts (something that isn't accessible here). I never said things came out well in Home Ec…
"Me? Not a good idea. We're going to need to bring in an expert. Do you think Stahl would be willing?" He's a really good cook—he has to be with all the food that he eats. How else do you think he acquires that food?
"Why do you think we have so little food? Between Stahl and Gaius we don't get anything."
"Mhm, I bet half of what Stahl takes goes to Rei, honestly. She tends to steal people's food."
The princess pulled a book out of her space pocket and opened it. "It says it right here in Robin's Shipping Tome."
Princess say what?
"You stole Robin's book?!" When one steals from Robin and soils our goods, the fair tactician does not let them off very easily. Lissa should fear for her fate right now.
"Yup!" she exclaimed.
"He's going to kill you when he finds out. Princess or not, that's a death wish."
Lissa flipped to a page and held it up. On it was a very poorly drawn horse. "Not when he sees the brand new picture of a pegasus I drew in his book."
"That… That is a very...beautiful pegasus, Lissa." Beautiful was one word for it. I'm certain that if you squint your eyes and tilt your head, it sort of looks like one. "I'm sure he'll love it…."
"He didn't like my picture of Mari I drew in there, so I figured I should draw an animal," Lissa said, looking rather proud of herself. It was clear to see that she did not notice the sarcasm that had laced my words. Sure, it had only been a little bit, but she should've at least heard it and chose to ignore it. That doesn't seem like the case, however.
I promptly facepalmed, muttering to myself, "Gods…that poor man." Robin truly did have his hands full when it came to our motley crew. There was Lissa with her pranks, me with…I guess everything about me could be considered a big fuckup – in my eyes anyway. There's Chrom with his sometimes idiocy. I think he's been hanging with Vaike a bit too much. Oh, and Frederick with his crazy schemes to "Please milord". Whatever that meant. Most of the time it did quite the opposite.
Things seemed to be going well with the battle from where me and Lissa stood. That was until Mustafa and his squad made an appearance. For one, they were on the wrong side of the battlefield. I just turned my head to look back and there he was! Like, dude, know your position. Rather than being at the fort, blocking our escape, he was behind us, unlike the game. He looked up at me, and I looked down at him, grabbing Lissa's hand and pulling her into Amphitrite's saddle. As soon as I kicked Amph's sides, Mustafa shouted.
"Stop in the name of Plegia!"
I glanced back once more, before facing forwards and forcing Amph's canter into a gallop. Why is he here and not one the other side of the battlefield? That's not how it was….Why isn't he where he was supposed to be?
"I don't know," Lissa said in response. Apparently, I had said that aloud instead of thinking it. "Why didn't you save Emmeryn?" Really? What's with the sudden change in mood? Gods, why does everything come back to that? I'm sorry for being such a failure. I'm sorry for being only human. Only…superhuman. That one reality hurt me so bad. I had the ability, yet I couldn't.
Exhaling slowly, I gave the best response I could. "Let's…just get you to your brother. Or somewhere else…Where someone more fit can protect you as, you clearly just implied, I am not."
Spotting an outcrop of rocks, I lead Amphitrite there, depositing Lissa there, and turning my horse to face the events that were taking place. Mustafa was now over near Basilio – about 50 feet away from the brutish man. How much Basilio abhorred the Plegian general was written with the angry look that compacted his features. The other man had a calmer look. Pity. It was pity that he felt for us. Even so, there was still a necessary roughness expressed. The kind that can with the territory when someone was a general.
Mustafa brought his tomahawk down to his side, showing that he did not wish to fight Basilio. He then went on to say, "I offer an exchange! I feel as though there should be no more death this day! I will fight Chrom in single combat until one of us is dead. If I win, we capture you. If you win, you can leave freely. What do you say?" No more death this day…You and me both, Mustafa, but we must…There's no choice.
"What," Basilio growled, raising his silver axe over his head, "is stopping us from killing you here?"
As if expecting that answer, Mustafa snapped his finger. Immediately, the ground around Basilio's feet was peppered with arrows. The khan stiffened, knowing full well that he should abide by this man's orders, but not showing it one bit. I could just tell without proof. Ye~ah~…..
"Lissa…" I glanced back at her, speaking softly, but commandingly. "Stay behind these rocks, all right?"
The princess didn't give me a chance to reason further. "You can't tell me what to do!" she yelled, staying on top of Amph and probably giving away our position.
"Just do as I say, and wait until Noah gets here." I was broken, and weak, and she saw it from my furrowed brow, frown and shattered wall. "I'm not losing another royal today."
Lissa jumped at the chance to pin – duly pin – the blame on me again. "Whose fault was that?"
Done with this, I stopped ignoring it and gave her my answer; the answer that I truly believe deep in my heart. "Mine and mine alone—"
What I hadn't expected was to be interrupted by someone. And I most certainly not expect that person to be Noah, even though I knew he would be heading over here ASAP to get to Lissa.
"You are right on one point," he said, before gesturing towards Lissa. "Get down Lissa."
"Fine…" the princess said, scrambling down from Amph's back and landing with a plop in the mud. I decided to as well, sliding off my horse's back and pulling my weapon out of her saddle's sheathe. In hindsight, that was probably never a good thing to do, so I placed it into the sheathe that was on my own belt.
Noah looked to me after Lissa made her way to his side, frowning slightly. "You are wrong otherwise. Everyone thinks it is their own fault, but they are all partially right and partially wrong. It is everyone's fault, so quit trying to carry the burden alone."
I am not carrying a burden if it is the utmost truth. Why couldn't he see that? This…I could've prevented this all! "Aversa was feet away from me. I could've killed her. Right then and there. But I wasn't good enough to handle the blast."
The assassin shook his head, holding up his bow a bit as he spoke next. "And I could have shot her with my bow, and bows are more effective anyway. See? My failure too."
That's not the same thing!
"No. You could not have. My sole purpose of being here was to stop all the events that lead to the end. And now she's dead. It was in my power! I could've done it, but I choked. I know I could've easily endured that Thoron, but...I-I didn't! I just...This is the beginning of the end. I hope you are ready for it." Gods, I am such a—
SLAP
Blinking, I slowly brought my hand up to my left cheek. It stung real bad, and it took me a few seconds to process what had just happened. And boy did I want to beat him up for hitting me like that. In fact, I was about to, but never got the chance because of the words that came next.
"You don't know why I am here do you? The reason I am here, the reason I have no powers is surely to take your failures. It will always be my fault."
Now, there are two options here. Me flipping shit and ruining everything again, or me walking away, thinking about those words and doing something productive. I was hanging onto the first one, to be honest. I wanted to beat this little (used lightly) fucktard to a bloody pulp. But, I knew that was just my annoyance speaking, and not me. That wouldn't be the right decision. I couldn't have the Shepherds think any less of me. Wait. That's what I wanted before. Fuck I don't even know. Respect or how it really is? Gods…This is why I don't make friends, because I always fuck things up and shit like this happens. I suppose I was never meant to have any. I'm so bad at keeping them…Someone may be facing some real shit out there, and I won't give one shit about it, yet I will. I'll tell myself that I care, but I won't.
GODS, I DON'T UNDERSTAND! WHO THE HELL AM I?! SOME CONVOLUTED ROBOT, OR GODS DAMNED HUMAN BEING?!
Dropping my hand to my side, I balled both my hands into fists, took a breath and started to walk away. There was no point in this. There were bigger things to worry about! Like, the battle that was going on! I'm such an irrational bitch when I'm upset…I should've been out there helping, not squealing like a little child to the guy who looks like he has mommy issues (sorry, Noah)!
Fricken…Fricken…FRICK FRICKITY FRICK FRICK.
"What lovely inner monologue…" Aquarius deadpanned, having given up on her attempts to concuss me. For that, I was extremely thankful.
"Well, SOOOOOOORRY!" I thought bitterly. "I can't help if I want to kill something!"
"Actually, you can. It's called killing something."
"OH, REALLY?! I DIDN'T FUCKING KNOW!"
"…"
"…"
And that was the end of that conversation.
By then, I had come to a hesitant stop near everyone's favorite Great Knight, who had dismounted, and let his horse do random shit. He simply glared at me. Though, from the looks of it, it was the usual glare. He must've been too tired from this battle to put any effort into making me cry. At this point, there really was nothing for me to do. It was over. Mustafa lay dead where Chrom had slain him. As for why Mustafa wasn't the only one dead, some from both sides hadn't heard his orders for one-on-one until it was too late.
I was just about to turn and go sulk once more when I heard Freddy say something.
"….milord….."
"What did you say…?" I asked, not having completely heard him over his grumbling.
Frederick looked down at me as I looked up at him. He was frowning ever so slightly, and looked a tad annoyed at having to repeat himself. I would have been too, to be honest. Freddy closed his eyes briefly and sighed, speaking. "I said, if my thoughts interested you, I would say that you did an admirable protecting milord while I could not. But even though that has been said, that does not mean I trust you inexplicably with milord's, or anyone's for that matter, life quite yet."
But where is the lie.
I stared blankly, at the mama bear, brow slightly furrowed, looking him up and down, piecing together the true meaning of what he had just said. As I figured it out, I felt a half smile form on my lips. "Thank you for caring, Frederick."
He seemed confused by that statement, so I elaborated.
"If you didn't, you wouldn't bother pointing out my faults, and wouldn't have mentioned that you didn't trust me. You wouldn't have cared enough to make any of those observations."
And then he silently stared at me after that, so I creepily patted him on the shoulder. I wouldn't risk any more affection at this point.
"You're a great knight, Freddy," I said. "I'm glad you're watching over that….I'm glad you're watching over him for me. For him. For us all…" After that, I immediately stiffened, in anticipation. Something was coming.
"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Oh no.
"ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR—"
It's my best friend.
"—INNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"
BOOM.
FSHHT.
CLANK.
OWWWWWWWWWW.
"STOP BEING SO DEPRESSED!" Rei yelled from on top of me. The BOOM was her landing, the FSHHT was my knees buckling and me slipping, and the CLANK was my armor hitting the ground. I was now face first in the mud, with her straddling my back. Lovely. She then forcefully brought both her hands down on the back of my head.
"OWWWWWW! REI, STOP IT!"
"Come on, Kat." Lucas casually walked up behind me, knelt down, and ruffled my hair. I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL MURDER HIM. No one ruffles my hair. It is an abuse of their height!
"Lucas! Not you too!"
"Pfft. You guys are such bozos," Brandon said from somewhere to my left. "Crying and laughing over stupid things. You're all wi—" Rei pulled him down to our level. "GYAH!"
"Come on, Gonzy!~ It's time to bond!~ Stop acting like you don't care!~" she sang.
"I-I d-don't want to bond with the likes of you!"
"Sure you do!~"
I sighed loudly, sticking my face up and spitting out the mud. Craning my neck to Lucas the best that I could, I asked him why we were not in a caravan, running from the Plegians.
It was Lucas' turn to sigh. "We would be on our way by now, but Olivia isn't here yet with our ride. And don't worry, we should be fine for now. Miyaji set up a barrier." A barrier? Huh. I guess Sagittarius is more of a healer role then.
GROOOOAN. I don't want to sit in the mud under her like this…I wanna flee!
"Um…Guys…?" We all looked to Brandon as he spoke. "I don't think it's over yet…"
"Why?" We all said simultaneously.
He shakily pointed an outstretched arm at something that was moving slowly through the mud, smoke billowing around its green robes…green robes? Wait…no…that's… "Emmerisen."
Emmeryn…No…We can't have this now…Our spirits were just lifted! We can't…We can't be crushed any more than we already have… No…I refuse…to accept this injustice.
"Emmeryn….Sister…" I watched as Chrom stepped forwards, the arm the held Falchion limply hanging at his side. "You're…." He took one more step and stopped. Lissa ran up behind him, taking his free hand in her right one; the one that didn't currently hold her staff.
"Emm…" Lissa muttered. From the tone of her voice, I inferred that her eyes were watering at that. Perhaps Chrom's were as well. No one wants to see a dead relative. Especially one that has turned into a Frankenstein.
"Sister…This…You…" Chrom's grip tightened on Falchion's hilt and Lissa's hand.
"…She's just hurt, r-right?" Lissa pulled her hand free and stepped forwards, raising her staff. "Yeah…You're hurt…I'll fix you right up…" She moved even closer. At that exact second, more Risen landed behind Emmerisen—Emmeryn—damn that catchy name. The other Shepherds quickly ran off to deal with them.
"BLARGHHH!" Emmerisen cried, raising a Thoron tome and firing at Lissa. It hit the princess head on, flinging her back to the ground next to Chrom.
Something appeared to snap in him then. He shakily turned his head to Lissa's unmoving body, and then back to Emmerisen.
"S-sister….E-Emm…W-why…." He looked at Lissa again, raising Falchion, and turning to Emmeryn. "You…YOU….Hurt…Lissa…" Emmerisen raised the tome again, as if to land another hit on Lissa. "NO! DON'T TOUCH HER!" He ran forward, swinging Falchion in a wide, horizontal arc. The risen was cut in half at the waist, falling to the ground in separate pieces. It stayed like that long enough for Chrom to get a good look at what he had just done before turning into smoke and dissipating.
The prince turned and immediately ran to Lissa, falling to his knees next to her. "Lissa!" He shook her shoulders. "LISSA! Not….NOT YOU TOO!" Chrom's head hung in defeat as a silence settled in the area. A silence that was only broken by a groan.
"Gods….Big brother….Just five more minutes."
Chrom brought Lissa into a very uncomfortable hug. "I…I thought I had lost you too. …Thank the gods, you're okay…." If possible, he hugged her tighter, earning yells of protest from the princess.
"C-Chrom! I can't breathe! Stopppppppp! C-c'mon! L-let go!"
"You're never going to leave my sight or my side….ever again."
"BUT CHROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
"No 'buts', Lissa!"
"Oh, come ooon!"
I laughed at the scene, having gotten to my feet during that ordeal. It was cute to watch but I knew….It wouldn't last. The reality would sink back in. The reality of what happened then, and what had just happened. He may be happy to see one sister alive today, but he'll hurt over killing her. He would believe it to be again. That he had done it twice…
All we could do was prepare for that shitstorm.
"CHROM! SERIOUSLY—EWWW, YOU KISSED ME! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME AGAIN?!"
"Aw, Lissa, it hurts! Can't your brother show how much he cares for you?"
"BUT NOT IN THAT WAY! THAT WAY IS TERRIFYING!"
Gods…This dorkdom of Ylisse is doomed.
I have no BTS today. Meh. I think that ^ is enough. It initially had a – if possible – even happier outcome. But yeah. I sort of like how it turned out. After the first half, the writing style *might* have changed. I dunno. I've been writing more…doing RPs on tumblr…etc. As well as finals. Hah…Finally out of school! Well, that's it! Oh, I'd like to know about your plans for FE Fates! So, like, do tell me about it! Bye!~
