Chapter 1) Marth Embarks

Kris POV

Two years have passed since Altea's fall, and it's clear that the word is turning shittier, not better. Still, Talys remains peaceful, so here we are. Training and waiting for the day to take back our home. Yes, even I'm doing that, though it's more so that I can keep needling princey boy. After all, he's 'my' silly prince. Wait, that comes off as romantic. Was that why Ogma thought I might be jealous of Caeda?

The sound of wooden thwacks echoed through the air. In recent months, Marth had taken to sparring Cain and Abel, since Ogma was often away to deal with bandits and pirates and couldn't teach him. Today, it was Cain's turn.

"Your penmanship is getting better." While Marth spared with Cain, and the rest of us lazed about in the courtyard with them, Jagan was giving me lessons. Today was history, which meant a lot of essays. "You still have a bad habit of forgetting to cross your 't's," Jagan gently chided, laughing a little as he showed me where I wrote 'lille' instead of 'little'. "You also have a bad habit of writing, still, as you talk."

"What's so bad about that?" I demanded, sulking. History was easily my worst subject, though I kicked ass at math and chemistry. Being a thief meant you had to know your numbers and what things were worth, and I'd used chemistry for my little 'gifts'.

"Most teachers look down on getting essays with the words 'shit' and 'ass' in them."

"Most teachers need to get their heads out of their asses." I sulked more as he laughed again. "Aside from that, did I get it right?"

"Mostly. You made a slight mistake with Altea's first king. He was Anri's brother, not son."

"But princey boy is always called the descendant."

"Indirect descendant. Anri never married and had children, but the blood he and his twin brother shared allowed his brother's descendants to wield the Falchion." A particularly loud 'thwack' caught his attention, and he turned his eyes to the sparring. "Seems they're both holding well."

"I suppose." I turned to look as well, and thought Marth's sword strikes were too angry and harsh again. So, I decided to have fun. "Oh, hey, Caeda's here!"

"Huh?" Marth immediately yelped. His attention wavered, clearly looking for her, and he was soon rewarded with a good hit on the arm, one that made him drop his sword. "Ack!"

"You fell for it!" I laughed, nearly falling onto my side from how much I was laughing. "How are you supposed to fight Gra if you get distracted by your girlfriend?"

"Sh-she's not my girlfriend!" His flush deepened as I continued to laugh. "Kris!"

"Kris, you should not interfere like that in a sparring match," Jagan scolded. I grinned, unrepentant. "Prince Marth, she does, however, bring up a good point. You should not let your attention waver during a fight so easily. If that had been live steel, you would be armless."

"He's pretty 'armless already," I joked. I ducked as someone, Draug maybe, caught the pun and threw a towel at me. "Wouldn't hurt a fly, our princey boy!"
"I'm going to get you, Kris!" Marth snapped, face still a mottled-apple-red. He lunged, intending to chase, and I sprang up, running about for an impromptu game of tag, still laughing all the while. The others in the group looked on indulgently as they cleaned up the sparring area.

I kept on running, heading towards the fields by the castle, dodging Marth all the while. However, when we reached 'our hill', I slowed to a stop, grinning at him. "You should work on your running, Marth," I teased as he finally caught up. "After two years, you should be able to better keep up!"

"You're mean," Marth grumbled. He rested his hands on his knees, panting heavily. "Making me run a marathon after sparring."

"You're the one who chased, silly prince." I snickered as he lifted his head to glower. "Your sword was getting to angry. You weren't 'fighting' Cain anymore, were you?"

"I was, but… I was starting to imagine Jiol." His head dropped again. "I want him dead. So much."

"Well, he's an old man. Maybe he'll die of a heart attack."

"That doesn't sound satisfying."

"Are you happy?" I found myself prompting him more and more on Frey's last wishes as the months went on. "Well?"

"...No…" He straightened slowly, eyes grave. "The rumors from the mainland are… I hate being so weak that I cannot help. How can I be happy, when so many are suffering?"

"I'd say the same way others are, but that's just not you. You're an idiot." I shook my head and looked up at the sky, frowning as I noticed something. "...Marth, Caeda is here."

"I'm not falling for that twice."

"No, I mean it." I pointed for emphasis. "Caeda's here." I felt everything freeze when I noticed something else. "Oh, shit, she and her pegasus are injured." Blood and feathers were dripping down as they struggled to stay in the air.

Marth whistled sharply twice, catching her attention, and her pegasus more 'dropped' than 'swooped down' for a landing. She half-fell from the impact of the landing, but Marth caught her easily. I tended to her pegasus, noting that the wounds on both were superficial. They both seemed more exhausted than in pain.

"The castle…" she mumbled. She leaned heavily on Marth. "Castle… attacked… pirates…"

"Pirates are attacking the castle?" I asked, incredulous. Pirates weren't normally that bold. "Where the hell is Ogma?"

"A different attack… away…"

"Damn them." I looked to Marth. "There's no way she's walking, and we need to tell the others."

"Right," Marth agreed. He easily picked up Caeda is a 'princess carry', and I tugged her pegasus to follow us. "This is bad."

That was the understatement of the month.

"Caeda, easy," I whispered, steadying her as she tried to rise from her chair. After tending to her injuries, our group had met in one of the larger rooms of the villa to discuss what to do. Caeda was in the only comfortable chair in the room, at Marth's insistence, but she kept wanting to get up and pace. "I know it's rough."

"I'm just…" she began, before sighing. "No, I'm sorry." She slumped back into the chair. "I'm just antsy."

"I know." It was hard not to be. Marth and Jagan were in a side room right now, arguing. "You need anything."

"No, not really." She smiled slightly. "I mostly… just need to know what's going to happen."

"Yeah." I glanced around and noticed Cain not far away. "Cain." I waved him over and, after a moment, he came to my side. "Why is there an argument again?"

"If we take up arms to protect Talys, Medeus will learn we're here," Cain explained. His eyes were dark. "That means we'll have to leave Talys and head to the mainland, taking up arms and the fight."

"The problem, though, is whether or not we have the skills, strength, and charisma to pull something like that off," Abel added, joining the conversation. His eyes were more thoughtful. "Jagan thinks we don't. Prince Marth… well, I'm not sure if he thinks we do or don't."

"Something like that wouldn't even occur to him in this situation," I replied. I glanced at the door, wondering what was being said. "All Marth would care about is… Talys falling like Altea. He doesn't want another Altea. Talys has been our second home, and it is the home of those he cares dearly for." I glanced down at Caeda, but she didn't catch my little bit of teasing.

"So, it's between Jagan's logic or Prince Marth's faith."

"Oh, princey boy is going to win, even if he has to charge the castle with just one other person. It's more of a matter of when is Jagan going to realize he's fighting a losing battle." I shrugged. "I mean; how is he supposed to 'save the world' like everyone expects if he can't save even one kingdom? It's not like we're under attack by Medeus's army, right? It's just pirates."

"Very smart and clever pirates," Cain pointed out. However, he nodded, smiling slightly. "You know our prince well."

"He's not that hard to read," I retorted. I nudged Caeda, noticing she was half-asleep now. "Jagan better give up soon, though. The longer they argue, the more likely everyone is going to die. That'll be a fine way to repay Mostyn for taking us in."

"You really should use titles."

"Huh? Why?" I waited for an answer, but received none as the door to the side room finally opened to reveal a sighing Jagan and a triumphant Marth. "So, I hope you have a plan to go along with the argument, pretty boy." I shook Caeda awake as Marth walked over. "Otherwise, we're going to fall and splat fast."

"Where did that idiom come from?" Marth asked, looking genuinely curious. Then he shook his head. "Wait, no, not the time."

"It's from doing roof work," I explained anyway. "If you mess up or get caught without a plan, you're inevitably going to fall off the roof and go 'splat' on the ground. It's very messy." I shrugged, leaning back against the side of the chair. "So? What's the plan?"

"I'll want to double check with a map, but I was thinking a doing a 'dual strike' sort of thing." Prince Marth smiled slightly. "We get them to open the gates for a showy 'frontal assault', while having a smaller strike force slip in from another entrance."

"How, exactly, are they going to…?" I trailed off as I realized what he planned. "Oh, shit, Marth, you're really going to use yourself as bait?"

"If they're working for Dolhr, then I'm quite the prize, yes?" His smile brightened, and it brightened to the point that the protests of everyone else in the room died out. "So, I 'surrender', and then we have Norne and Gordin cover me when the gates open." His smile dimmed slightly as he focused on me. "I'd like you to lead the strike force, Kris."

"Sure, that's no problem." I pointed to Caeda, who looked a little dazed. "I'll want her with me, though. It'll be easier to find a way inside if there's actually someone who knows the place."

"Oh, yes!" Caeda agreed instantly, before Marth could even think to protest. "I can think of a couple of places just off the top of my head; I used them to sneak out."

"You're overruled, Marth," I teased as he looked conflicted. "Relax, pretty boy. I'll keep her safe. But we'll need to go over a map to get everything set up, right?"

"Yes, we will," Marth confirmed. He sighed a little, and I could tell he had thought, or hoped, Caeda would stay safely behind. But that just wasn't Caeda. "Cain, Abel, can you find a map for me and set up the room for a war meeting?" There was a bit of light in his eyes, and I knew it was because, at last, we were able to repay those who helped up. At long last, we were beginning the fight to reclaim our 'first' home. "Our objective is to seize Castle Talys!"

Whoever led the pirates was crafty. He'd actually had his people scour the castle for secret paths in and out. Caeda had escaped only because he hadn't expected a pegasus way out here in Talys, since they were native to Macedon. That made sneaking in tricker than originally expected. But they clearly didn't expect people to sneak in from the roof, so the guard was lighter there.

"I don't think I ever wanna do tha' again," Norne mumbled as she slowly crept her way through the window. She breathed a sigh of relief as she bounced on the solid floor. "I swear those tiles were gonna slip under me!"

"There's more stable than that," I dismissed, already scouting the area ahead. Norne quickly went to my side to help. "If anyone fell, it was going to be Cain with all his armor."

"I'm specifically here to be a shield, since the three of you are lightly armored," Cain defended. He looked a little uncomfortable. I guessed it was because sneaking wasn't a very knightly thing to do. "Princess Caeda, are you well?"

"I'm fine," Caeda reassured. She looked a strange mix of chipper and grim. "I've climbed more precarious things in the past."

"I had guessed, considering your first choice in an entrance way." It had been a series of bricks and windows that made even me be wary. "But I doubt you were injured prior to climbing those."

"My injury is fine. Wrys is skilled." It took me a second to remember that the healer near the Villa, Wrys, had volunteered to help us out. "I'm far more worried about Marth…"

"He will be fine. There are many near him, and more importantly, Abel is with him." Cain smiled slightly. "His loyalty to our prince is absolute. He'll ensure that Prince Marth is fine."

"Oh, I do not doubt your loyalty or skills, Cain." Caeda's eyes turned sad. "But I worry some might die. He spoke often of a Frey who died."

"...We know the pain our prince will feel, Princess Caeda. We love him enough to live for him, just as we respect him enough to die for him." Cain smiled slightly. "Trust me. I saw that pain too."

"Right, right…"

"If you're done talking, we can move forward," I called. Both Norne and I pointed down the hall. "It's clear now, but might not be in a few." The two squeaked and quickly caught up to Norne and me. "Caeda, where's the most likely place they're be held?"

"The throne room," she answered easily. She gripped her lance tightly. "It's the one room big enough for all the servants and nobles in attendance." Her fierceness faltered. "It's… also one of the easiest to… clean..."

"Hold the thought, but don't follow it for now." I glanced down the hall again. "Let's go. Tell us when to turn."

"Okay."

Our little group quickly made our way through the castle, taking the lesser used hallways and servant paths to avoid the patrolling pirates. It was a winding path down to floors, and as we got closer to the first floor, the sounds of screams and metal on metal grew louder. My stomach turned as the smell of blood wafted through the halls, and my hands shook as we heard the sounds of metal through flesh.

I didn't want to be here. I was a thief. I avoided fighting.

The feeling of just wanting to run intensified as we made it to the throne room at last. There were bodies scattered about, and there were even more wounded. The main part of the battle was in the 'front' part of the room, closer to the gates, but there were a few here, ready to take hostages.

Cain and Norne immediately struck them, showing no hesitation. Caeda went to untie those captured, jaw set as she tried to pry the knots undone before gritting her teeth and just using a knife to cut them. I stood awkwardly in the back, not quite sure what to do. The screams of those who drowned echoed through my head, and I couldn't even pull out my tome.

A shadow fell over me, and I blinked slowly as I realized there was a pirate in front of me. His axe was high above his head, and he wore a vicious grin. He smelled of blood, sweat, and dirt. He had a few shallow cuts on his chest.

The axe moved towards my head, and I could only stare. I didn't want to die, but those screams kept me pinned.

Then, there was red, but not blood-red. At least, it wasn't only blood-red. It was red armor, speckled with scarlet dots. More crimson streamed down it as someone grunted over my head. The someone twisted, trying to strike the pirate, but missing. The someone had red hair, darkened to auburn from sweat, and fierce red eyes that were slightly unfocused from pain.

The different shades of red jolted my brain again as I realized what happened. I'd frozen, and Cain protected me. Now, the pirate was about to strike Cain as he tried to bring his shield up with a wounded arm.

So, I surged forward, tome in hand, and ducked under the pirate's guard as thunder crackled around my fingertips. "Dodge this," I whispered as I held my hand over the pirate's heart and loosed the spell. It cracked through him, splitting his chest and back into a myriad of cuts and burns as the thunder rocked through his body.

He dropped like a stone, bloody axe clattering to the ground, and I stared, startled. He hadn't screamed. He'd been in so much pain that he couldn't scream before he died. I… wasn't sure if that was worse or better.

"Thanks." Cain's voice dragged me out of the shock, and I was startled to see him smiling. "That second strike would've hurt," he continued. He winced as he rolled his shoulder, and more blood streamed down. "Ugh, right on the upper part of my shield arm. Abel's right; I do need to get faster." He paused and turned to me again, looking very serious. "Don't tell him I said that."

"I… sure?" I replied, not sure what else to say. My eyes widened as I realized a pirate was targeting Caeda. "Don't you dare!" I loosed another thunder spell, this one hitting the pirate in the head. It didn't kill him instantly, but it did give Caeda the opening she needed to kill him herself. "I…" I glanced back at him, feeling… weird. "Um…"

"Norne needs some help." He smiled, and there was no blame in his eyes. "I'll guard Princess Caeda if you can help her cover."

"Yeah, I think… I can do that." If nothing else, I did have my little 'gifts'. "...Thank you."

"I'm just glad I could guard you." His smile faltered just slightly, and I suddenly knew, knew, what had happened on his end. Someone he had known had frozen when Gra betrayed Altea, and he had not gotten there in time to save them. This time, he was fast enough. "Just…"

"I'll be fine. Be careful of your arm." I wouldn't freeze again. I refused to freeze again.

The look on his face… I never wanted to see him look so sad or scared again.

At some point, Ogma and his group returned. With their assistance, Marth killed the pirate leader and liberated the castle. Now, he and Mostyn were talking, something about ships and supplies and going out to war.

I should've been with them to hear all of it, but I was too busy puking up my guts.

I coughed and hacked, constantly thinking that it was finally over before I started puking again. I had no idea how I had anything left in my stomach, but it was determined to rid itself of all of it in a vain attempt to purge itself of the smell of blood and burnt flesh.

At some point, someone had kindly snuck up on me to hold back my hair, so that I could avoid getting more vomit in it. I'd nearly electrocuted them with a thunder spell for their kindness. That triggered another wave of puking. But, finally, my stomach decided there was just nothing left, and my body just let me cough, wishing by all that was holy that I could get the taste of everything out of my mouth.

"Here, chew on some mint, but make sure you don't swallow it." Cain's voice jolted me and I yelped as I fell on my ass and scooted back. His only reaction was to blink slowly. "Um… do you hate mint that much?" he asked. He had a small glass of water with him, as well as a bowl with a washcloth.

"No, that's not…" I began. Absently, I reached up to touch the ends of my hair and found them damp. He'd cleaned the vomit out of my hair. "Just… what are you doing here?"

"I figured you'd be vomiting." He sounded completely nonchalant about it. "You did after your first time, after all, and I doubt the second time is easier. It wasn't for me."

"Well, yes, but…" I trailed off as I realized what he said. "Wait, you just…"

"The ship." Everything froze at the words. "You're the one who sunk it."

"What are you…?" I tried to protest, but started coughing instead as I remembered the ship. "I…"

"I was one of the few watching the ship. I saw the thunder." He had remained silent, though. He had respected that I hadn't wanted anyone to know. "You were sick afterwards. I took some guesses from there. Prince Marth knows too?"

"He was next to me." I shook again, remembering. "A fireball was coming our way, and I shot the thunderbolt to dispel it. Thunder magic trumps fire, after all and…" The screams echoed through my head. "I didn't mean to hit the ship. I didn't mean to kill them. I didn't…"

"Easy." His hands rested on my shoulders. "I'm not blaming you. You saved us."

"But they died… and drowning is…" Drowning was painful. Drowning was terrifying. The dead might look peaceful, but they didn't go peacefully.

"...I won't tell you it's okay. It's clearly not, to you." He handed me the mint again, and this time, I carefully chewed it, grateful to have anything to get the taste out of my mouth. "But you did save us from that same fate. They would've left us to drown, and stood by to watch."

"That's strangely not comforting."

"I'm sure it's not." He laughed a little. "But, unfortunately, those are all the words I know to say."

"Are you making girls cry again, Cain?" Abel walked up, grinning. It softened as he looked at me. "How are you feeling? After my first kill, I couldn't look at anything red for weeks."

"I'll get back to you on that," I croaked. Abel passed me a towel, which I used to wipe my face and to spit out the mint. "Water? Though, I have to say. Drowning myself in alcohol has never sounded more tempting."

"Don't. You'll just throw it up again." Abel sat next to us and passed me the glass of water. "Tiny sips. You'll want bland drinks for a few marks, and then some bland foods for the rest of the day. If you can't keep those down, you're going to Wrys."

"Okay." Carefully, I sipped the water, and tried not to blush as Cain shifted to go back to cleaning my hair. "Um…"

"We'll be staying in the castle tonight, so they're preparing rooms and warm baths for us." Abel smiled slightly. "The meeting is over. Prince Marth has declared we'll leave in the morning." His slight smile became a grin. "Oh, and Princess Caeda is coming with us."

"Is she?" That startled me. "I thought she'd stay here."

"So did everyone else. Well, except Sir Ogma. He wasn't surprised at all." Now Abel was snickering. "King Mostyn and Prince Marth tried to convince her otherwise, but she put her foot down. Both of them lost that argument, easily."

"Well, I suppose we'll just have to try and not drown in their awkward flirting." The thought made me smile, though. "She just wants to be with Marth."

"I think that's why King Mostyn backed down, though of course, our prince is oblivious." Abel shook his head. "Poor Princess Caeda. It'll be a lot of work getting him to notice."

"I don't think he needs to hear that from you, Abel," Cain immediately deadpanned. He grinned, shifting to face him. "Mister 'half the servants get all giggly and give stuff to me but I have no idea why'."

"Wait, that's why?!" Abel yelped, his face going red. Cain burst into laughter, and I couldn't help but chuckle. "No way!"

"Oh, the trail of broken hearts you have left behind, my friend, could lead Dolhr straight to us, if they knew what to look for! There's some here!"

"You're making all this up!"

"I couldn't even if I tried!" The two of them dissolved into banter that brought my mood up immensely. I was outright laughing before long, though it was weaker than usual.

Among the laughter, though, both dread and cheer filled me. I dreaded the coming days, because leaving meant we were going to war. War meant more death, more fighting, and more killing. War meant more chances to freeze, despite my vow to never freeze again, and war meant more chances that someone would get hurt protecting me.

At the same time, I couldn't help but be cheerful. We were leaving Talys, meaning it would be safer. We were working to head to our 'first' home, and that felt wonderful. The coming days also would bring a lot of ways to tease both Marth and Caeda, and that was always fun.

I supposed it didn't matter. Marth had decided we were leaving, and thus, we were going to, no matter what happened. Maybe it was a good time to start praying again. I hadn't really, since Grandfather died, but this might be a time where we needed a little divine luck.

Records on Marth

The sixteen year old Crown Prince, uncrowned King, of Altea.

A kind and gentle boy who avoided his sword lessons to play with the local animals and to study things such as weather reading

Battles with swords, favoring the rapier. Knows some less-than-knightly tricks thanks to tutelage from the mercenary, Ogma

Carries deep mental scars from Altea's fall and Frey's sacrifice, tearing him between wanting vengeance and wishing to focus on Frey's last wish

Author's Note: So, here we go with Chapter 1. If you played FE1, or played Shadow Dragon's Hard Mode, this is where you started. Some parts of this is inspired from the manga. It's never mentioned that Anri and his brother were twins; I threw that in. (As a reminder, this is two years after the prologue, so Marth was 14 during the prologue and 16 now.)

Next Chapter - Interlude, Battle Maid