Hi everyone reading this! It's been two days since the last time I've posted the chapter, and if you've read the caption in the last chapter, you would know why.
Anyways, I complete chapter 12 and 13 Monday! (Which basically all I did was copy and paste some ideas I had earlier in June and July.) They are both put on the editing list and my plan is to have all these chapters and be up to date in the next 2 weeks! The only bad news I have today is that this chapter is at least 2000 words shorter than the rest of the chapters. (Don't hurt me. I tried my best to extend it X[ )
Also, read the note at the bottom of this chapter. It might explain some reasoning's I did what I did in this and last chapter!
Chapter 5 Come Along
"...You know, Chrom," The redhead started. "I didn't really expect you to just let me leave, but I definitely didn't expect you to KIDNAP me! And here I thought I was the mad one, but it would seem madness resides within all kings, not just me."
"I'm not like you, Gangrel. I'm simply doing a favor for the old man that took care of my sister." Chrom argued without looking back to the Mad King behind him.
"Ah, so the old dust was the one who sent you after me." Gangrel muttered with a hint of disgust in his voice. "...So, what do you plan to do with me, your highness? I'm sure I can think of many different instruments of torture you could use on me. But be warned. I am QUITE the screamer! GYAHAHAHA!"
"I have nothing like that planned for you, Gangrel. If it was up to me I would have skinned you alive right on the spot." There was a short lull before the Exalt continued. "But I put aside my anger for you 2 years ago for the sake of the present. So right now I'm only thinking of the future of Ylisse. Bandits and Risen still threaten our nations, and it would seem our neighboring continent, Valm, isn't acting so friendly toward us." Chrom let out a heavy sigh. "You don't seem like the Mad King I fought 2 years ago... Well, some parts of you at least. If you are seriously not a threat to Ylisse, and if you really have changed, then all the more reason to have you help quickly end these threats to our Halidom."
Gangrel went silent. He stared at the back of Chrom's head as the blue head walked in front of him. What AM I gonna do when I leave? He thought. Plegia already has another king and he was sure the people didn't want their old king to ruin their peace. He could travel around, but that wouldn't really protect him from the Risen that leaked through the lands. Plus, he DEFINITELY did not want to repeat his days as a pirate. After going through the thoughts in his head he let out a low growl.
"Fine." he sneered. "It's not like I have anywhere to go anyways, so just throw me at any warlord or bandit you please." Chrom turned his head and looked back at the Mad King with a smile.
"Welcome to the Shepherds."
"Thanks...I guess." Gangrel replied dryly. "...There's just one question I've been meaning to ask." Chrom raised an eyebrow at the trickster as he kept walking through the town. Gangrel turned his head till the armor, which was currently carrying him in a bear hug and restricted his arms to his side, came into his peripheral vision. "How in blazes did you get this piece of armor to move on its own?! On top of that, it snuck up on me without even making a sound! What manner of sorcery is this?!"
"It's not sorcery. I'm-"
"GAH! It even speaks?!" Gangrel yelped in surprise.
"Of course I do. I AM human." The armor replied while Chrom let out a small chortle.
"That's Kellam. He's a little on the silent side, but he's a good Shepherd none the less. That is, if you can actually FIND him." Gangrel raised an eyebrow at the blue headed Exalt.
"He's not joking. I tend to go...unnoticed by people." Kellam explained.
"Riveting..." The Mad King grunted. "Now can you put me down? I would rather walk on my own two feet." After an approved nod from the Exalt Kellam released the redhead and the Mad King stretched his limbs as he watched a soldier run toward Chrom. The soldier stop in front of the blue head and saluted.
"Sir! We have a message from Regna Ferox!"
"Matthew, say something!" Lissa said with a smirk across her face.
"W-What am I supposed to say, Lissa?" Matthew looked down to the blonde Exalt who didn't loosen her grip on him. "U-Umm...Your Grace? Is everything alright?" Emmeryn pulled her head back from his chest and looked up to him with a smile.
"I...remember you!" She said with elation in her voice. Lissa gasped and ran up to her sister.
"You're remembering Emm?! What else do you remember? Do you remember Chrom? Or even me?" Lissa asked with excitement escaping her voice. Emmeryn shook her head.
"I don't...but I remember...Matthew's name...and face." Emmeryn smiled. "He was...smiling at me...it was so...nice." Lissa looked at her older sister with a questionable gaze, then to the tactician with a frown.
"Hey, buster. What was your relationship with my sister behind my back, eh?" Matthew immediately threw his hands up defensively with sweat dripping down his face.
"W-We were just friends. Nothing more." Matthew explained. The word "friend" resonated in Emmeryn's head. Hearing the word made Emmeryn happy, but it also gave a sharp pain in her chest. Unable to understand the pain she quickly shook it off and looked up to the tactician wrapped in her arms.
"I...don't remember our..." Emmeryn searched her brain for the right word to say. "...relation...ship...but I know...you were special...to me."
"Special?" Emmeryn was interrupted by a voice coming from behind the tactician. Matthew turned his head to see Chrom, with Gangrel in tow, both walking into the tent with raised eyebrows.
"Hey Chrom!" Lissa started with excitement in her voice. "Emmeryn is remembering things!"
"Oh really? What did she remember?"
Lissa immediately glared at the tactician and replied. "She seems to only remember Matthew and their 'special' relationship, but nothing else."
Chrom looked to the brunette male in front of him with furrowed brows. "'Special' relationship? Mind explaining this to me Matthew?" The tactician, once again, raised his hands in defense with Emmeryn still clenching onto him.
"Chrom, I-I can assure you I had no such relationship with your sister. Like I told Lissa, we were just friends."
Chrom crossed his arms and let out a sigh. "I'm sure you were, but we will discuss that later. Right now we've received a message from Regna Ferox." Matthew raised his eyebrows.
"What did the message say?"
"It said that Valm ships were spotted at sea approaching their docks, and from the looks of it they don't seem to be very friendly." Chrom looked to his older sister in the tacticians arms. "I was thinking of dropping Emm at the castle first. I think it would be safer to keep her away from the battlefield. I don't want her to see the pain of-"
"NO!" Emmeryn yelled. Everyone's attention left Chrom and was now fixated on Emmeryn as she eyed her brother with a look of disapproval. "I...wanna stay...with my family."
"Emm..." Chrom started in a soft voice. "I don't want to leave you behind either, but I can't risk bringing you with us. I just got my sister back and I would be damned to lose her again." Emmeryn released her grip on Matthew and walked pass the him till she was looking up at Chrom.
"I...don't want...to be left behind..." Chrom put his hands on his sister's shoulders and looked to his sister who still kept the same frown on her.
"Listen Emm, I can't risk putting you in danger. We are most likely walking into a full scale war and the last place I want you is on the front lines of battle. Hell, I don't even want you in the back. So please, can you stay here?" Emmeryn puffed her cheeks like a pouting child.
"Father...would let me go."
Chrom furrowed his brows in confusion. Father?... Ah. She must mean the old man. (I'll have to ask him about that later.) Chrom thought. "Emm, can you just do what I ask? I'm only looking out for you."
"You can...look out…for me better...if I'm...with you."
Chrom's face curled into frustration as he said, "Damn it Emm! You're being stubborn!"
"No! You are...stubborn!" Emmeryn shouted back with the same face of frustration as her brother.
Chrom turned his attention to the tactician and looked at him with eyes begging for help. "Matthew, help me out here!"
"Chrom, please don't bring me into this. You of all people should know how stubborn Emmeryn is when she makes up her mind. I'm not saying it's a good idea to bring her with us, but the more you two argue the more daylight we waste." Matthew looked at Emmeryn as she was giving him her undivided attention. She had a determined expression, but her eyes spoke to Matthew as if she was saying "help me". Matthew blushed and slowly looked away. "Besides, I do think it would be better to bring her with us. At least we can keep a better eye on her than sending her to the castle." Emmeryn's face lit up as she was unable to contain her joy. Chrom gritted his teeth and looked at Lissa who was now raising her hand to speak.
"I also think Emm should come with us! We just reunited and I want her to remember us as quickly as possible!"
Chrom sighed. "Lissa, not you too." Gangrel, who had been silent till now, spoke up.
"Since we are voting I would like to vote that she stays. I would be quite heartbroken without our fellow former Exalt there with us." Emmeryn smiled at the Mad King who winked back at her, then her eyes were back on her brother. Chrom stared at her determined eyes for a moment before sighing in defeat.
"Fine." Chrom muttered." She can come with us." Emmeryn's face immediately lit up and she jumped with joy as she pulled her brother into a tight hug.
"Thank you!" She cried in joy.
"But under one condition." Chrom looked over to his tactician who looked backed to him with raised eyebrows.
"Yes, Chrom?"
"I'm trusting you to keep my sister safe on this journey."
"W-W-Wha?" Matthew stammered in shock. "But…why? Surely you or even Lissa is better suited to be with her, so why me?"
Chrom smiled. "Because there is no one else I can think of to keep my sister safe. Besides," Chrom looked to his older sister to see her gazing at the tactician. "she seems to be quite fond of you. If putting her with you makes her happy, then who am I to stop her? Right, Emm?" Emmeryn jumped out of her trance and looked to her brother.
"Y-Yes...thank you." she answered.
"Then if there are no objections, get ready to head to Regna Ferox. We leave within the hour." With that Chrom turned on his heels and left the tent with Gangrel in tow.
"I'm really gonna miss you Emm. You have truly made me a happy old man."
"No...thank you...for taking care...of me...for so long...you were...patient with me...and you taught me…so much...I really...appreciate it...Father." Emmeryn brought the old man into a warm hug, which he gladly accepted and wrapped his arms around her.
"Be careful out there Emm. War can be quite dangerous. I want you to come back to Ylisse safe."
"I promise." Emmeryn replied while releasing her grip on the old man. "I have…to go now...bye Father."
"You take care of yourself, Emm." Emmeryn nodded at the old man with a smile, then turned and walked toward Lissa and Matthew who were waiting for her at the entrance of the town.
"Are you done saying your goodbyes Your Grace?" Matthew asked. Emmeryn turned to look back at the old man who was now waving. She smiled and waved back, then she looked back to her sister and tactician.
"Yes...I'm ready now." Lissa smiled then wrapped her arms around Emmeryn's arm.
"Then let's start walking! There's so much I want to tell you Emm! This time I will be the one teaching you instead of you teaching me. Oh, we're gonna have SO much fun!" Emmeryn smiled at her ecstatic sister, then to Matthew who was also smiling back at her. Matthew's smile dropped when he looked at Emmeryn's face.
"Your Grace, are you alright? Your face is turning red."
"Wha-" Emmeryn put both of her hands to her face. She hadn't realized that she was blushing. Her flushed face turned crimson as she turned away from the tactician.
"I'm…fine..." she mumbled.
Matthew looked at Emmeryn with a questionable gaze, but he shrugged his shoulders and quickly brushed it off. "Well, we better get back to the others. I'm sure they are waiting for us."
"Y-Yes."
"Come on, Emm! Let's go!" Lissa pulled on her sister's arm which made the former Exalt stumble behind the pace of the short princess, but soon found her rhythm and kept in sync with her. Matthew smiled and followed behind.
"Welcome back, Emm."
So! If you haven't notice already, I made Emmeryn appear with a more childish behavior that would match her speech(well, at least it matched in my mind). It didn't feel right that her personally was so vague and somewhat boring in the game (Even though her silence is cute in my mind ^_^). Changing her slightly gave me so much material to work with and even have a story to go off of. It made her more open to choices and she was able to be put into a lot of scenes that I found funny and cute for the future chapters.
Something that I believe people are confused about in the last chapter would be Emmeryn interacting with Tharja. At first, I scaped the idea and thought that it would be better for her to interact with someone like Olivia or Sumia. Both characters are cute and have their own funny moments, but they didn't lead me into anything but 'girl talk' in the future, and, being a man, I find that kinda weird to write :/ . Tharja, on the other hand, led me to many different things I could do with her in the future! Like have Tharja help Emmeryn stock the tactician; which will never happen by the way , but you see what I mean.
The argument would be that Emmeryn would be too high class for Tharja to want to hang around. And that would be true for the Emmeryn who never lost her memories, but the child Emmeryn was a whole different ball game!
Anyways, thank you all for the reviews, favs and follows and hope to see you next time!