Chapter 22 Disappointed?

The young dark mage grunted as she pushed herself up from the bed she slumbered in. She knew she moved too fast when her entire body cringe in protest from the sudden movement. From the looks of the still setting sun, she could tell that it was still noon (or maybe noon of the next day?). "I see you are awake." Naomi looked to her left at the masculine voice that spoke to her. She was almost terrified to see her father with his arms crossed and looking at her with a scorn of his face as if he was about to scold her.

"H-Hi, Father." Naomi muttered and looked down to the sheets that laid over her legs.

"…I heard what happened between you and Morgan." One sentence that she truly didn't want to hear from her father was brought up immediately; she almost wished that she didn't wake up just to dodge this conversation. "Do you mind telling me what happened yesterday?"

Naomi refused to look to her father's face in fear of seeing his anger filled eyes.

"Naomi, I want an answer. Now." Naomi shrunk from the pressure of her father's words. The last thing she wanted was for her father to come down on her right now, especially after everything she said to her sister. Clenching her fingers tighter in her lap, she decided it was time to open up to her father, but at the same time, get the truth.

"Father," She started while still looking away from the tactician. "Are you...disappointed in me?"

Matthew felt his heart sank to his stomach when the words left his daughter's mouth. His face dropped from anger to a loving smile. "Of course not, Naomi." He said while standing from his chair and sitting down on the bed of his distressed daughter. "Why would you ever think that?"

Naomi looked to her lap as she prepared to show her father the weaker side of her. "Morgan...when we were little, Morgan and I idolized you. We did everything to make you proud of us. We learned tactics, the sword, and even chest. We would sometimes stay up all night just to read one of your tactics books." Naomi smiled at the memory. "We had so much fun back then. I really wished that we could have had fun like that again." Naomi's smile soon grimaced at the next memory. "But it wasn't long before I realized that my efforts were in vain compared to Morgan."

"While Morgan excelled in tactics, I had a hard time actually getting the concept down. No matter how hard I tried, or how much I studied, I could never beat Morgan in anything. She inherited so much from you. Your sword style, tactics, heck, she even inherited your blithe outlook! I asked you for your help and, of course, you gladly helped me. But one day…you came home and I showed you a tactic I worked hard on…you said that you wasted your time on me and…ripped the tactics I worked so hard on, then you left… and never came back."

Matthew was completely blown away at that last part. That didn't sound like him in the slightest. No matter how much time he spent with his daughter, he would have never lashed out on her like that and done something so heartless. "Of course, I couldn't bring myself to blame you, so…I blamed Morgan." The young girl turned her head further away from her father in shame. "My anger didn't last very long, though. After all, when you have smile so contagious like Morgan had, it was hard to be mad at her. I decided I would have to work harder on tactics so when you came back, you could take back all those things you said about me. But I had no one to help me anymore. I could have swallowed my pride and asked Morgan for help, but I was too stuck up to ask."

Naomi paused for a moment as she tried to pull herself together. Meanwhile, Matthew patiently waited for the young dark mage to carry on. "Since you and Mother were now both gone, Morgan and I were given a home with Aunt Tharja. I've always loved Aunt Tharja because she would teach me cool hexes and show me her outstanding magical prowess. Her smile and kind heart always made me feel at home." That part was hard for Matthew to get an image of. Tharja actually showing a warm smile besides her usually seductive and evil-like one? That was really weird, and actually a little out of character for the dark mage. "As the days went by a thought finally came to mind. Since I couldn't beat Morgan with tactics or swordplay, I finally asked Aunt Tharja to teach me magic. At first, she denied me; something about me being too young to learn the dark arts, but I never stopped asking. After about 3 weeks of me pestering, she finally gave up and agreed to teach me."

"FINALLY I could do something better than Morgan! I could FINALLY beat her in something and taste victory! I told myself that I would not let Morgan take this away from me, that I would never let her reach me. But now, when she asked me to teach her magic, something in me just...snapped. I felt like she was gonna take away the one thing that meant everything to me! The one thing that I could do better than her would also become just another 'talent' of hers. It infuriated me and I no longer felt like myself after that. Even if I couldn't inherit anything from you father, I thought I could at least do something else that you could be proud of me when you came back, but when Morgan asked for my help I just..." Maybe this was why she got so mad yesterday? Was this the reason all of her anger from so long ago came back to her? Was that really the case?

Naomi stopped for a brief moment to look her father in the eyes. Tears were welling in her eyes and her sorrowful face made Matthews heart shatter into a thousand pieces. "Father, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I just, can't, compete with her! Even when I was finally reunited with her I find that she even inherited your blithe outlook! She literally inherited everything about you except your gender and hair color! But that's not the worst part." Naomi looked away from her father's sad face and back to her lap. "The worst part was, somewhere deep down in my heart, I wished that I didn't find her. I wished that she had been lost somewhere in time where I never had to see her again...I'm a terrible sister, and childish. I...I know that. If you are disappointed in me Father, even hate me for this, I...will understand."

Silence.

After the young dark mage finished, it left Matthew baffled and heartbroken. He didn't know what to say to the young girl. He didn't know that she had held in everything since she always had a calm and commanding atmosphere around her. He felt like he failed as a father to not notice that his daughter was in pain. He now felt bad for yelling at her earlier since, in theory, he was the cause of her pain in the future. But now was not the time to grimace. Right now his daughter was in need of comfort from her father. At least one thing was clear to him. He was far from being angry with her.

"Do I...even belong in this family?"

"Don't ever say that!" Matthew barked at his daughter that made her jump in her seat.

"Naomi, listen to me for a moment, okay?" The young dark mage hesitated for a moment, but gave a small nod in reply. "If you think that I'm angry or even disappointed in you, then you are sadly mistaken." The tactician stated firmly, causing the dark mage to visibly relax a little and look to him. A smile emerged on his face as his daughter looked into his eyes.

"I don't care if you didn't inherit anything from me. It makes me happy enough that you care so much what I think about you. It makes me even happier that you kept trying even when you knew your opponent was superior in every way. You may not have realized this, but you inherited a lot from your mother."

"Mother?" The blonde asked confused.

Matthew nodded. "Yes, you are very much like your mother indeed. You have her talent for magic, her eyes, her smile, her motivation to never give up, even your kindness to go out of your way for those who accept you. I've seen and heard it all and it reminds me so much of your mother. You may have an attitude at times, but when you smile and show your true personality you look so much like your Mother. You could debate and say Morgan looks the same, but I doubt Emmeryn has ever made the smiles Morgan makes." Matthew joked. And earned a giggled from his daughter that looked down to her sheets in thought.

She had never thought about inheriting anything from her mother. She was so stuck up with trying to be better than her sister that she never thought about her mother at all. "I...never actually thought about that before, Father."

Matthew nodded. "Naomi, I want you to know that I love you no matter what, okay? You are a very hard worker and you have proven to be one of the best mage's in camp. I can't speak for the actions my future-self, but I'm very proud to call you my daughter."

Naomi looked back up to her father. When she saw the warm smile on his face she could no longer hold back the tears as they rushed down her cheeks and into her lap. She threw the sheets off her legs, reached over and wrapped her arms around her father; burying her face in his chest. Matthew wrapped his arms around his weeping daughter as she sob softly in the crook of his neck.

After 5 minutes of crying, the dark mage finally began to calm down. She slowly pushed her father away and turned her head away in an attempt to hide her face.

"Thank you...Father." Naomi cooed.

"No problem, sweetheart." Matthew replied while standing to his feet. "Now, I think you owe Morgan an apology."

Naomi cringed as she thought of Morgan. No doubt what she did and said to her must have hurt her sister, but she had to apologize no matter if she was mad at her or not. "O-okay."

"Not right now, of course. I'll go get her and bring her he-"

"No, I would rather do it right now."

Finding Morgan was a very simple task. If Naomi knew her sister whenever they got in a fight and she wanted to be alone she would be one of two places. In the bathroom, or concealed in her room; in this case, her room.

"Morgan?" Naomi called out to her sister as she opened the door to their room. Morgan was sitting on her bed with her hands in her lap. The young tactician jumped at her sister's voice and looked up to Naomi, but quickly looked back to her lap in fear of her sister.

"H-Hi, Naomi." Morgan mumbled to her lap.

Naomi closed the door behind her and walked over to her nervous sister. She gentle sat down next to Morgan and looked to the side of her twin's rich blonde hair. "Morgan... Listen I-"

"I-I'm fine!" Morgan interrupted. "I-I was being selfish yesterday. I-I wasn't thinking about your feelings at all. B-But I really didn't know that that...meant...so much...to you." Morgan refused to look to her sister. In fact, the more she talked, the further her head turned away from the young dark mage. Naomi felt bad, but she knew she had no one to blame but herself for making her sister this distant from her.

"Morgan, look at me." Naomi said pleadingly, but her sister refused to look her direction. Naomi became frustrated at her sister's behavior and tried again, but this time more loudly and aggressive. "I said look at me!" Morgan jumped in her seat at her sister's tone. She was hesitant, but slowly turned her head towards her sister. The young dark mage immediately gasped once she saw the obvious, swollen, red spot on her sister's forehead. "W-What happened, Morgan."

Morgan turned her eyes away from her sister before speaking. "I-I tried banging my head against one of your tomes..."

Naomi's expression quickly turned to fear as she asked, "Why would you do something that stupid?!"

"Because I want to remember!" Morgan shouted with tears welled in her eyes. "You don't understand how messed up it is to wake up one day and your memories are gone! No matter how hard I try to hide behind my smile, it doesn't change the fact that all the memories I've ever had with my family and friends are completely GONE! It's a nightmare, Naomi! If I had my memory I would remember all the fun times we shared together, I would remember the hell we went through, and I would have never asked such a dumb question to make you mad! This is all my faul-"

"Don't say that!" Naomi silenced her sister. "It's not your fault that you don't remember anything, and it's not your fault that I got angry! If anything, it's all my fault for being so childish!"

"Don't blame yourself for my ignorance!"

"And don't blame yourself for my childishness!"

"Why has this turned into an argument?!"

"I don't know!" The two girls stared long and hard at each other, then smirked and burst into uncontrollable laughter.

The two girls when on for at least 30 seconds before Morgan wiped away a stray tear and said, "It feels like we've done this before."

"That's because we have. We did it all the time in the future, but we would usually just end up laughing it off like we just did." Naomi looked down to her lap in a reminiscing trance. "I really miss those times where we could laugh like this. "

"…Sorry I can't remember those times, Naomi. I'll try my best to remember though!"

"You don't have to go through so much trouble to remember me, Morgan." Naomi said before her face turned into a hard scold at her sister. "In fact, smashing your head again any tome or surface is completely forbidden, do I make myself clear?"

Morgan sweated nervously at her sister who looked at her like a parent would when scolding a child. "Y-Yes ma'am."

Naomi smiled and said, "I don't actually know what came over me back there, Morgan, but please don't feel bad about anything you did to me. I…kinda deserved it."

"Whether you deserved it or not, I'm still sorry."

There was a short period of silence before Naomi spoke up. "How about we start over. Even if you don't really remember me, we can try our best to get your memories back together and even make some new one's along the way!" Morgan looked to her twin in utter surprise before smiling back.

"I would love that!" Morgan exclaimed and pulled her sister into a tight embrace; who gladly accepted the sudden contact. Morgan slowly pushed her sister away and showed an ever so bright smile t her sister. "Now that we are all "sister-sister" again, how about a fun new game of TOME STACKER?!"

Naomi's face dropped immediately and went back to her signature scold. "…I was a fool to believe you would act serious for just one moment. Absolutely not."

Morgan's face twisted into a childlike pout as she continuously poked her sister in the ribs. "Come ooooon, just one game!"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"Nngh!" Matthew gripped his skull as the ringing inside it refused to cease. The unbearable pain was like something was inside of his head trying to claw itself out. The last time he had to deal with this pain was back at the Mila Tree 2 months ago. Why was it coming back after not appearing for so long? "Damn it. Not only is it back, but it's worse than the last previous ones."

The tactician was interrupted by three soft knocks on his door. After yelling for whoever it was to come in, he decided to shake off his pain and give a more presentable pasture. He relaxed when none other than his wife walked through the door with her ever so bright smile. "Still working I see." Said Emmeryn as she closed the door behind her.

"Yeah, but I shouldn't be that much longer on this. Once I write this few bit down, I can retire for the rest of the day." That reassurance seemed to lighten up his wife more than usual. Instead of replying, Matthew watched as his wife walked over to him and sat down comfortably sideways on his lap with her hands in her lap and the side of her head now rested on his shoulder; causing him to blush lightly. "Emm, what are you doing?"

"Being bold." Emm replied and placed her head into the crook of his neck.

"I can see that, but didn't you just hear me say that I was almost done? I can give you all the attention you want when I'm finished."

"Can't you do it while I'm right here?" Emmeryn asked innocently as she nuzzled further into the tactician's lap.

"W-Well," The flustered tactician started while rubbing the back of his head. "T-There are many reasons I won't be able to work…"

"Hmmmm?" The blonde hummed happily at her husband's stuttering voice. "If you don't hold me I might fall~."

Matthew sighed in defeat and wrapped his arms around his wife. "Fine, you win, but just know that it will take longer for me to write since I'm left handed and you currently have that occupied around your waste."

"All the more reason I shouldn't move." Emmeryn giggled.

The tactician rolled his eyes. "You lucky I love you."

"I love you too, Matt."

…

Matthew's hypothesis was correct. It took him an hour to do work that couldn't have easily taken him 15 to 20 minutes to do, not to mention he would have to rewrite everything since his handwriting looked like a preschooler's. But in all honesty, he could care less. Spending this little time with his wife was something he truly needed since they haven't had much time alone since they were either with the kids or he had work to finish.

The brunette peered down to his wife whose soft breathing filled his ears. "Haha, if you were tired, then you should have gotten in the bed." Matthew laughed and went to grab his wife's legs before picking her up like a knight would do for a princess. He swiftly turned around walked over to their bed, making sure not to hit or trip over anything. When he arrived successfully to the bed, he used his feet to kick back the sheets and placed her slowly down on the bed. After successfully slipping off her heels, he pulled the cover over her and kissed the band on her forehead and whispered, "Good night, Emmeryn."

The tactician looked back to his messy work station and exhaled. "I guess I can at least clean up this place-" The brunette was interrupted by a force that pulled him into the bed. Before he knew it, he was now hovering over his wife with her lips hardly pressed against his. His eyes were now wider than flying-disks as his wife pulled away from the sudden affectionate kiss.

"No more work… You must rest now." She mumbled with a stern look on her face. Meanwhile, Matthew looked to his wife with hesitant eyes.

"But I have to clean up my work area. I'd hate for people to walk in an-"

"No more work."

"But it will bother me if-"

"No. More. Work."

Matthew looked into the childlike frown on his wife's face. With a face like that, how could he keep arguing with her? The tactician let out a sigh of defeat and mumbled a short, "Fine". Much to his wife's joy, her husband kicked off his shoes and placed them neatly next to their bed, then looked back to her with a wide smirk. "I hope you know what happened the last time you wouldn't let me get out of bed." Emmeryn tilted her head in confusion, then she became completely alarmed as the last memory popped into her head. Before she could even react, her husband attacked her with a furious wave of tickling at her ribs.

"HEHE, n-no! N-N-Not again!"

Thursday chapter! YAAAAAY! The next few chapters are gonna be fun because it has everything to do with Ylisse's former Exalt returning to her home! Just imagine the chaos that will blow the Shepherds with never ending questions and answers! Also, those chapters have everything to do with the Grimleal and Emmeryn too, hint, hint.

THE CREATOR: Wow, that fanfiction sounds like something I would read! If you know the name of the story, could you so kindly pass that over to this nice young gentleman? I for one love captain falcon since I used him a lot in smash (don't use him anymore due to seeing an actual professional whip me with him).

Sugouxxx: I hate cliffhangers too, but it didn't feel right when I tried to put this chapter with the other! X( Skipping to the next chapter sounded a lot better in my book, but hey, the chapters out now! Not such a long wait, right?

Anichamanga: I'm glad you have been sticking around so long to read this fanfic of mine! As always, I'm glad to see that I'm improving even if it's just a little bit! Thanks a bunch!

As always, thank you for the reviews, favs and follows and hope to see you all next time!