Chapter 22) The Dragonkin Realm

Diana POV

Dolhr, the land of dragons. If you listen to the stories, then humans had nothing to do with the great Shadow Dragon prior to the war, but we know how history will lie. But it is true that Medy is responsible for two wars and with the same justification. Humans deserved this. And you know, maybe we do, but we're brats who won't simply let ourselves be slaughtered, so here we are. Once again, Medy's empire is crumbling. Once again, he's nearing the end of his reign. Once again, a child of Altea races forward to end it all.

Today, we decide our fates once and for all. My, how dramatic.

It was almost surprisingly how pretty Dolhr was. I expected more doom and gloom for some reason. But the gloomiest things were the abandoned ruins that dotted the fields and mountains, half-overgrown but still standing tall. With flowering vines creeping up the walls, even. Timeless. I supposed that was the word. It was strangely timeless and strangely pretty. And, as humans are wont to do, we were about to bloody it up a lot.

"My biggest question at this point is if Medeus will wait or if he'll meet us in the field," Hardin murmured, frowning over the map Minerva brought in. It was a War Council again, the last War Council of this campaign. Of this war. Win or lose, this was the last one. "Camus?"

"He'll likely stay inside, actually," Camus replied. He stood next to Minerva, across the table from Hardin. As usual, Prince Marth and Nyna were opposite of each other, with Nyna seated and me perched on the arm of her chair. Kris and Caeda flanked Prince Marth, though Kris tucked herself more into his shadow than Caeda did. "I'm not sure he can leave."

"Really?"

"Yes." Camus rested his hand on his chin, lost in thought. "He's done so once, and did his best to hide it, but I remembered seeing his arm rotting before they threw me in the cage."

"I did hear from Michalis that Medeus had to deal with you personally," Minerva noted with some amusement, mostly because no one knew how to reply to that. Nyna winced, no doubt remembering the terror of that day. I leaned into her to reassure her. "So, his resurrection isn't complete or something? That might explain why they needed Princess Elice's ability to use the Aum staff."

"Though, it does raise the question of why they didn't use it sooner," Caeda murmured. She fiddled with the hair by her face, biting her lip. "Was it that they couldn't find the staff?"

"Could be, though Michalis did mention that Gharnef was taking his time." Minerva shrugged. "For all we know, Gharnef was going to use her as a bargaining chip."

"Against Medeus?" Caeda frowned. "I'm not sure that's very smart."

"We're also talking about someone who started all of this because he didn't inherit a certain tome, providing I've heard correctly." Nods all around as we conceded the point. "What's the plan for now, though? My girls bring back news of dragons. And humans, but the dragons are the worrisome part."

"Actually, not as much as you're thinking," I brought up, shifting to stand and be proper. It only felt right, at this point at least. "I was tending to Tiki earlier this morning and thought to ask Bantu about the strange weapons we pulled from Macedon's armory while the Nefy group went out and slaughtered him."

"The… ah, the swords and lances that had an unusual shape that we nearly broke our spines with because they fell," Hardin said with a little laugh. Noticing Prince Marth, Caeda, and Kris all looked confused, he continued, "it was while you three were away. We were pulling supplies from the armory and three crates of weapons nearly fell on our heads."

"They did get horrible splinters from it, and a few unlucky ones broke their feet," Nyna sighed. She'd been the one on shift at the infirmary when it happened. "All the dragons and soldiers, and it was nearly a heavy crate that killed you, Hardin."

"In my defense, there was no reason to put heavy crates there." Hardin smiled slightly and Nyna relaxed enough to roll her eyes. "Regardless, we discovered a mess of swords and lances that looked unusual. We asked Princess Minerva about them..."

"They're weapons designed to cut down wyverns, so Michalis " Minerva explained, catching the thread. She rolled her wrist a few times, wincing at the motion. Camus gave her a concerned look, but she shook her head. "We then wondered if they could be used against dragon-dragons. Can they, Diana?"

"Bantu says so, and he's actually very helpful when it comes to information," I confirmed. Now, granted, Bantu did keep his secrets, but he kept noticeably less than Gotoh and Xane. He'd even told me a story of how a thousand years ago, there was another earth dragon who gained the power of shadows and tormented humans, though that was apparently on another continent entirely, beyond even the western one. "Regardless, they should be useful."

"Well, that's a relief."

"If that's the case, then we should get as many of our best wielding them," Prince Marth murmured, speaking at last. He leaned forward and rested his hands on the table, looking at all of us. "This is it. We end this today. So-"

"Prince Marth, if the next words are 'this is an honor', save them," Hardin instantly deadpanned. The rest of us laughed, unable to help it. "If you try, then my last words to you are going to be indignant and irritated."

"Well, that would be bad, and I'm certain you'd remember it for however long you live." Prince Marth smiled warmly. "Then, instead, I say that I look forward to sharing a victory drink with everyone, once this ends."

"Much better." Hardin smiled back. "Until we meet at the end of the war."

We all dispersed then, heading to our respective areas. Minerva and Caeda went to the fliers. Camus and Hardin, the cavalry. Marth and Kris went to check in on the Alteans, and the other soldiers. I frowned when I noticed Kris shift so that she wouldn't walk past Cain, thinking it was odd. But there was nothing to be said about that, especially since she broke off quickly to go talk to the mages.

"This is it, then," Nyna murmured. She clasped her hands in front of her and smiled at me. "Are you certain you are all right with being the infirmary guard as usual?"

"Where else would I be but by your side?" I countered, shrugging. A couple of passing soldiers gave us a weird look before continuing on whispering about something. "No, I started this whole little adventure as your guard and that's how I intend to end this war as well. Who needs glory? I'm fine in the shadows."

"Hee… I thought you'd say that." She giggled, muffling the sound with her hand. "You'll return to the court with me, yes?"

"Of course, and you'll laugh at how awkward I get over Jeorge properly courting." I made a face and this time, she didn't even bother muffling her laugh. "Though… oh, Princess Elice." I waved as Princess Elice approached, both Nyna and I switching to our 'professional' personas. "What is it?"

"I was looking for the infirmary and instead, managed to get myself lost," Princess Elice admitted sheepishly, brushing her hair behind her ear. She even blushed a little. "Merric was helping me, but he had to talk to Kris and Linde…"

"You're in luck, as that's exactly where we were heading," I replied, with a little laugh. I patted her on the shoulder and nudged her to follow us. "This way. We're preparing for the last battles, after all."

Who would survive to tell the tale of what happened today? I wasn't sure even the gods knew.

Dragons for the big stuff and distractions. Humans for sneaky strike force. That was the name of the game for today's battle, it seemed, as that was what the enemy was doing. The result was that, happily, I wasn't facing a lot of dragons, but I did have to fight a lot of humans. Fun, fun.

"Gods, I'd damn you lot if I weren't sure you had other problem," I growled, killing another one. This one was more painful than the last few because this one got a good hit on my side. "Any others…?" I looked around to see everything was clear. Well, clear of living enemies. Had a bunch of enemy corpses and some living allies trying to not bleed out while the healers bandaged them up. As one could expect, big battles led to big casualties. We had three tents just for the injured. The dead were left off to the side, stripped down for their clothes to be used as extra bandages. Not the most dignified of things, but the only dignified war was a scripted one.

Still, at the moment, there were no enemies, so I ducked into one of the tents to see if I could find some bandages for the wound on my side. Some of my muscles began aching, some very painfully, so I thought I might've pulled something and honestly wondered if there was any pain medication I could just down to ignore it. Though almost as soon as I thought that, Maria popped out of nowhere, so maybe that was life saying 'hey, you are enough of an idiot as is, no need to be more of one'.

"Oh, this must hurt a lot," Maria murmured, examining the injury carefully. She was covered in so much blood that I had difficulties deciding if the red in her hair was her 'normal' red or because of blood. "Here, here! I'll fix you up!"

"Thanks, Maria," I whispered, finding an unused box to sit on. Sitting, however, made my head spin. "Ugh…"

"Eek!" Maria appeared again with a Recover staff and a bunch of medicine. "Let me see." She got on her tiptoes and prodded at my skull. "You've got a concussion."

"I do?" I winced as she found a particularly tender spot. "Oh, I can believe that, though I don't remember getting hit on the head."

"Hold still. I'll fix you up!" She smiled sweetly and began using her staff on me. I watched her closely, studying her expression. I'd picked her up at the church in the morning, just as I had promised, and neither of us had spoken of Michalis. I was the only one in the army who knew she had tended to him and I had a feeling she had succeeded since she hadn't been in tears. But I didn't know where he ended up and I wasn't sure I wanted to. "How do you feel?"

"Tired." But I wasn't in pain anymore, so I smiled at her. "But better."

"Yay!" She giggled, but she did lean into me briefly, resting her head on my shoulder. "I'm tired too. But it's almost over, right?"

"Yes, it is." I kissed the top of her head and tasted something coppery and iron-y. Blood in her hair, then. "Can you keep going?"

"Yes." She nodded once and straightened. "Back to work!"

"Let the others know if you're too tired to work." I watched her leave and then stood up to check outside. Finding no enemies, I then went to check on everyone. Hugs for Nyna and Lena, and a quick break for Elice because while she was used to healing, she was also recovering from a lengthy imprisonment. Then it was back outside for more fighting.

At least, that was the plan. It ended up with me almost decapitating my lover. I was clearly great at relationships.

"Hello to you too, beautiful," Jeorge joked. He had his quiver and bow slung across his shoulders, and carried a staff for unknown reasons. He was splattered with more blood than normal for a battle and he had a couple of bandages, hinting to on-field treatment. "Didn't think I looked that much of a fright."

"One, there's been a lot of ambushes," I retorted. Still, I backed off and tried to not squirm from embarrassment. "Two, I highly doubt I look anything remotely pretty right now." However, even as mortified as I was, I had to smile. "What brings you back here?"

"Got the staff." He held it up as proof. It took a moment to realize he meant the Aum staff. "And I volunteered to sneak back and make sure it got here."

"Why did you volunteer? You've the Parthia, so…"

"Why else?" He kissed my cheek, regardless of the sweat, dirt, and blood. "I wanted to see you."

"That… you…!" My face burned with a blush and he laughed. "We're in the middle of a battle!"

"Are we? There's no enemies about." He grinned and my face went even redder. I heard snickers from nearby soldiers. "Princess Nyna, Princess Elice, Princess Maria, Lady Lena, we reclaimed the Aum Staff." And I once again wondered where Wrys was. Maybe he was a healer on the field. "If one of you can be spared…"

"And here I thought you were trying to kill my best friend with embarrassment." Nyna stepped out, wincing at the bright sunlight. Like all the healers, she was covered in blood and muck. I almost flinched at how badly her clothes were stained, truthfully. "Though, Diana, your face is quite red," she teased. I scowled at her and she muffled a tired laugh. "I was also ordered by Lena to go on break. I almost confused two different medicines."

"That does sound bad, but I agree that Diana is so adorable when flustered," Jeorge laughed. However, he presented the staff to Nyna with a fair amount of seriousness. "But here is the staff."

"I see." She took it and held it up to the light briefly before very quickly tossing it into one of the lesser used infirmary tents. "I don't want that temptation. Marth is right. It wouldn't be fair."

"An admirable attitude." Jeorge crossed his arms and glanced around, eyes lingering on the bodies. "Camus was hoping you weren't too overwhelmed here. Seems to not be the case."

"It could be worse." Nyna frowned slightly. "When did you have the time to talk, though?"

"He had to jump off his horse to dodge a dragon's fire and I helped him find his understandably traumatized, but miraculously unharmed, horse." Jeorge grinned. "I do believe he picked you a flower for later, though." Now Nyna's face went red. "You're all so easy."

"Meanwhile, you barely blush at anything!" Nyna scowled, but relaxed quickly. I just focused on making sure no one tried to kill us, and trying to get my blush to go away. "Well, regardless of how you said it, I am glad to hear Camus is doing well. How are Hardin and Prince Marth? Diana can see Caeda and Minerva in the sky just enough times for us to be reassured."

"Hardin and Camus have a 'no, I have to protect you' mini-argument that's also turned into a kill competition, and last I saw of Prince Marth, he was leading the charge with his ever helpful mage knight at his side." Jeorge smiled. "And to save us all time and breath, everyone is fine still. Tired, injured, and ready for this to be over. But fine."

"Good." Nyna breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

"However, speaking of Minerva…" I began, having looked up just in time to see Minerva flying our way. Blood poured out of a wound on her leg. "Nyna, if you don't have a staff…" Nyna disappeared inside. "Minerva, over here! There's a clear area this way!"

Minerva managed to land where I indicated, and I helped keep her wyvern calm while Jeorge helped Minerva out of the saddle and limp towards the infirmary. Lena actually came out to meet her, with Minerva just leaning on Jeorge while Lena made sure she didn't bleed out, and Maria followed soon after to take over calming and tending the wyvern.

"Thanks for this, Lena," Minerva whispered once Lena straightened. She carefully put her weight on the leg and nodded. "A dragon managed to catch me while I was diverting attention off of the cavalry."

"It's no trouble," Lena reassured with a smile. She staggered back from exhaustion, though, and I had to catch her. "I think I might need my own break, though."

"Well, with luck, we're almost-" She was cut off suddenly by a thunderous, despairing roar. "Think they did it." She raced to her wyvern and kissed Maria on the forehead before taking to the air. After a moment, she shouted in delight. "They did! They're through the gate!"

"Now the real battle begins." Lena closed her eyes. "Oh, blessed gods, watch over us."

The knowledge that the main group had broken through revitalized everyone. The barely injured raced off with smiles and cheers. Jeorge briefly took my hand and kissed it before running to join them. Minerva flew off to meet up with her fliers. The more seriously injured, the healers, and me the guard all stayed where we were, staring into the distance at the barely visible keep. The infirmary wouldn't move closer. It was deemed too dangerous. Those inside would have to rely on field healers, while we tended to the soldiers falling back and the soldiers still fighting to make sure Medeus received no reinforcements.

Lena continued praying. Maria took my hand and I squeezed it reassuringly. Princess Elice stepped over to Lena's side and whispered her own prayers. Nyna appeared by me and leaned into my side, resting her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her and smiled. Today, it all ended. All the fighting… all the deaths… today, we ended this war of shadows. Either with our victory or our defeat. But here was hoping for victory. I thought we earned it.

Author's notes: In Shadow Dragon, there is potentially another paralogue and it actually has the easiest requirements to get. You have to have Tiki dead, and you can't have the Falchion when you end the chapter (you can do this by getting the Falchion and then killing off Tiki while she has it in her inventory; you can then resurrect her during the paralogue with the Aum staff). However, dialogue in FE12 implies that the paralogue is non-canon (amusingly enough, since the rest are considered canon… as is a deathless run). And we're going to continue with that for pacing reasons (it feels smoother to just run straight into the ending). In the final BS Fire Emblem chapter (which details Camus helping Nyna escape and was featured in Interlude - Castle in this story), if you kill the boss before Nyna escapes, then Medeus himself comes to deal with Camus. However, this chapter in game states that Medeus can't actually leave his keep because his resurrection wasn't complete. I'm reconciling the two by having it where it was leaving to deal with Camus that led to Medeus confirming it wasn't complete.

This chapter features the last shops of the game, with a secret shop in the mountains, a vendor for your staff and tome needs, and an armory which sells wyrmslayers and dragonpikes. In game, it's three each, but we'll just say Michalis kept a lot more. As for the 'other continent', Jugdral is confirmed to exist in the same world as Archanea, but the events of FE4/5 take place 1000 years prior to the events of FE1/11.

Next Chapter - Final Chapter, Chosen by Fate