AN: So this came out much longer than I thought it was gonna be, since I didn't like how the first ending went. So you get more goodness. :D
Also, I know M may be deceiving, but that's going to be revealed when I post the third chapter whenever I can... it's all written, just going through editing and proofreading, blah blah blah...
Also, let me know if you want to see Ricken x Lissa or Cordy x Gaius. I'm doing my Stahl x mystery woman before all else. (If you think you know who it is let me know.)
I hope you enjoy chapter 2 of Nervous! Once again, review, and thanks for all the support!
"Gods… why must the healing magic sting…" Chrom mumbled as Maribelle ministered a strong dose of vulnerary to his abdomen, shoulder, and left bicep, where his bracer failed to protect him.
The noblewoman clicked her tongue in correction. "Milord, I imagine that you'd be in a greater state of discomfort if you went without my healing magic."
"Yes, Maribelle, I suppose you're right," Chrom replied dejectedly, glancing at the to-be scars on his body. He'd feel the after effects of that in the morning, that's for sure. But one thing was for certain, this whole battle, he was distracted by something not pertaining to steel and magic.
"Hm," she acknowledged amidst her concentration, summoning her magic once again, making the prince shrink back in pain slightly. Once she finished healing his wounds the best she could, she stood up and glanced down at the Shepherd's leader with a questioning glint in her eyes. "Milord, I can't help but to feel that you were distracted in the battle prior to me mending your wounds."
He sighed. At least he could express what was on his heart to Maribelle. The woman had been alongside him as he'd grown up, acting more as a second mother rather than a friend. However, the two of them never failed to enjoy each other's company, with the noblewoman constantly reprimanding Chrom for his brutish behaviour, and Chrom giving her backtalk. As they matured, he'd taken the path of the blade whilst she opted for the path of assistance; to offer solitude and healing. Their friendship had stood the test of time, resulting in frequent visits from the blonde-curled noble.
"I concede. I was distracted," Chrom replied, looking away to hide the slight flush creeping up over his face.
"I could tell. But what was it that was bothering you? Did you and Robin engage in another heated argument?" Maribelle inquired, tidying up her healing materials, since no one else required mending. Chrom insisted that, while his injuries were somewhat severe, the other injured soldiers be tended to first.
He chuckled. "Nothing as simple as that, I'm afraid."
"Then what could it possibly be- oh," the noblewoman interjected, realizing exactly why his face was flushed. Chrom wasn't the type to turn red-faced from some powerful magic, like Ricken and Donnel.
"Yeah…"
"Well, I must know who the lucky woman is, or will be. Come now, tell me! We haven't got all day," Maribelle pushed, wanting more information for herself and to try and help the hopeless prince- when it came to love. "Come to think, I don't need your words to explain who you adore. It is Olivia, is it not?"
"Yes," Chrom blushed, twisting his mouth into a pout. He crossed his arms and tried to avoid eye contact with the noble.
"Don't sulk, Chrom. It's undignified," Maribelle chastised, shelving another roll of bandages as she spoke. She made her way over to a kettle to prepare some imported Valmese tea, one she knew calmed the tension between nerves and soothed the very soul.
"Yes, yes, I know. I just…" Chrom began, unsure where to continue with his words. "I just don't know how to tell her."
"Well, my dear boy, I'd suggest that you tell her over something she enjoys very much. You've been around our good dancer for a while now, so tell me what she enjoys," Maribelle explained, crushing the leaves and sifting through them to make sure that they were ground to her satisfaction.
"Well, ever since I began to tutor her in swordplay, she's taken an immense interest in weaponry, loves pies, and enjoys singing, as far as I can tell," Chrom replied, counting off what she enjoyed, most prominently, on his fingers. "Well, not counting her most obvious profession, dancing..."
Maribelle paused to scattered the leaves into the kettle of now-boiling water. "Then I advise that you do something she enjoys, but with no indication that you plan to propose to her. You still have that ring, do you not?" The noble asked, gesturing to his pocket.
He retrieved it. "I do."
"Chrom… before I say this, I must express that I'm very happy for you. I'm most certain that Olivia will do anything but reject you, so please, get out of my medical tent and find the woman!" Maribelle exclaimed, a smile overtaking her features. "As politely as I can manage," she coughed, realizing the rudeness and brashness of her words prior.
"I'm going to give it several night's thought, then I'll propose. Before long, I'll have her hand," Chrom confidently stated, a smile blossoming in his eyes that spread to his mouth. He wisely left out the non-platonic thoughts swirling around in his head, however. He stood to leave, probably to formulate something with Robin, but she held her hand out, stopping him.
"It is most rude to refuse a lady's invite to tea," she snapped, holding out a saucer and teacup full of sweet-smelling tea. The blonde noblewoman looked angry, but after years of knowing her, Chrom could see the humor dancing in her eyes.
Chrom bowed in mock apology. "Apologies, milady. You are too kind," the prince smirked, accepting the small plate from Maribelle with humor of her caliber dancing in his eyes.
"Stahl, I'm so nervous! What do I do?" she complained, waving her arms around, leaving the messy-haired fellow Myrmidon to puzzle confusedly. She hadn't even explained the situation yet.
"Um, Olivia? You might want to calm down before I try to do anything."
"Uh, yeah. Sorry," Olivia coughed, fingering her radiant pink hair as she looked at the ground. "It's about our leader…" she trailed off, blushing.
"Oh, so you're wondering when he'll propose to you?" Stahl innocently asked, thinking much too far ahead for Olivia. His emotion-reading ability played its part well here.
"No! Well, yes…? I don't even know… but I just know that I like him," Olivia replied, a Fire spell working its way up to her cheeks. "I don't even know if I'm qualified to be his significant other…" the Myrmidon replied, gaze shooting into the dirt as she twiddled her thumbs.
"Well, I know you're qualified enough. He wouldn't have trained you in swordplay if he didn't deem you a fountain of potential," the average young man stated, brushing a stray lock of hair out of his face and lopsidedly smiling at the dancer.
"Thanks, Stahl," Olivia beamed, clasping and unclasping her hand around the hilt of her Killing Edge. Stahl noticed this little action and raised his eyebrows in shock.
"You've even begun to act like Chrom when he's nervous. See your hand? It's grabbing your sword's handle like there's no tomorrow. I think you're definitely stricken, and so is he, judging by the way he looks at you, but what to do…?" the hungry Cavalier thought aloud, his stomach growling before he could formulate a rational answer. "Oogie…"
Olivia laughed at her friend's quirk. "It's okay, Stahl. Go find something to eat, I'll figure something out."
Stahl looked up from his discomfort. "I got it," he mumbled weakly.
"What is it?" Olivia asked excitedly, eyes brightening up as he opened his mouth to explain. Her excitement was cut off, however, as he keeled over and passed out on the ground, completely spent. His brown hair flopped in front of his eyes, hiding their identity of being shut. "You really need to…" he mumbled, leaving Olivia hanging higher than the perch that Emmeryn was imprisoned on.
"Stahl?"
"So… hungry…"
Olivia sighed as she flagged down a passing Cordelia who volunteered to help drag the voracious young man to the mess tent. Maybe he could bum some food off of the soldiers on cooking duty tonight. As they were carrying Stahl, who was still mumbling incoherently about cakes and pies, Olivia figured that it'd be a good idea to ask for more input on what to do with her love for Chrom.
"Hey, Cordelia?" Olivia grunted, shifting the weight on Stahl's arms so she could transport him better. "Can you help me with… a matter regarding love?"
Cordelia looked over her shoulder and smiled warmly at her friend. "Of course, Olivia. I'm no expert, but I can try to help. What would you like to know?" the Pegasus Knight replied, steering them away from a big tree.
"Well, I want to get Chrom to propose to me, but I don't know how to get him to… I feel that both of us are in the same state, where we both know what we like but don't know how to get it," Olivia whispered, a blush overtaking her face that she was glad Cordelia couldn't see.
The redhead sighed. For the longest time, she'd been stricken with Chrom. But now, after befriending the timid dancer, she'd come to realize how much Olivia truly loved him. So, she made it her best effort to suppress the affection, and somehow, it had worked. Cordelia never imagined that Sumia would carry an actually-helpful book on how to get over an infatuation, but she had, and it worked wonders.
"Olivia, there isn't much I can say. I can say this, though. Chrom better scoop you up while he can, because you're quite the catch," Cordelia chuckled, glad she was finally over the blue-haired, handsome prince. "Well, I guess just be yourself and make an effort to be around him a lot. Just not more than normal, just enough to make him notice that you love him. And, to make the other ladies around here know that he's yours," she added with a wink.
Noticing that they were at the mess tent, and Stahl was beginning to smell food, she set her half of the cargo down and smiled at her friend. "Is there anything else you needed of me, Olivia?"
"Nope. Thanks, Cordy," Olivia giggled as she used the name that her secret affection, Gaius, used for her, alongside the predictable name of "Red."
Cordelia blushed as she turned, thankful her dancer-friend didn't see it.
One week later
This was it. The day of the plan. Chrom nervously slipped his fingers around the metal band residing in his pocket. If all went well, he'd have Olivia wearing this ring in a few hours, but he couldn't help but be nervous. After all, the prince was completely inexperienced in this area. Robin had been no help to him, since his plans were overtly tactical and held an air of sneakiness to them. He couldn't complain that having Robin in that position had benefits, since they had yet to lose a Shepherd to foreign steel.
Chrom had been so desperate as to even enlist Virion's help. The 'archest of archers' had immediately fallen serious and inquired who it was. When he told the silver-tongued archer it was Olivia, he'd gone into a long spiel of her traits and attributes, including her physical ones. Chrom stopped him before Virion could get too graphic, resulting in the archer falling serious, as he began. Surprisingly useful advice came out of his mouth, much to Chrom's amazement. Virion had instructed him to infuse his words with slightly more romance rather than passion and conviction, as the prince tended to do whenever he spoke.
When Chrom inquired what that meant, Virion simply clicked his tongue (as most nobles seemed to do, he realized) and shook his head. "That," he had said, "is for you to discover, my lovestruck friend." Amidst this little tease, Virion had also instructed him to be slightly more lighthearted. "While war may be a downfall to us all, the throes of struggle must be overcome with one's spirit! Show her that spirit that keeps your head up high every day!" Virion stated, swishing his hand with a flourish, voice rising slightly as he expressed how he would have gone about the night. Chrom thanked him genuinely and left, a plan formulating in his mind.
So why, after a whole week of strategizing with Robin, did he feel ill-prepared?
"Goodness, milord, could your shoulders get any more tense?" Maribelle interrupted his thoughts with a gloved hand waving in front of his face.
"Muh? Oh… sorry, Maribelle," Chrom replied, fingers immediately clutching Falchion out of nervousness as he apologized.
Maribelle shook her head. "Nonsense, Chrom. There's no need to apologize. But what are you so nervous about? You've planned this down- excuse my pun- to a 't,' ran over it with Robin, and even let every other Shepherd know what's going to transpire not a few hours from now. So, why are you still afraid? You know that as a leader and a friend Olivia looks up to you."
"But… I just don't feel like I'll do it right…"
"Is that what you thought when you created the Shepherds? When you led us into war against Plegia? No, most certainly not! You threw your heart and soul into every action you took, and this is no different! Simply place your heart and soul into the date you've planned, and you will achieve victory as you always have, milord," Maribelle encouraged, placing a comforting hand on his bracer.
Chrom smiled at his friend. "Thanks, Maribelle."
"A pleasure. It is a lady's duty to help those in need." Maribelle turned and left without another word, going to join Robin, Lissa, Cordelia, and Stahl in their spying. Lissa had directed them to the same tree she used to spy on Chrom and Olivia when they had headed in the direction of the weapons tent. With a bit of difficulty, Cordelia's pegasus had managed to transport each one of them, one by one, into the branches of the tree, high off the ground.
"Did you have to pick such an obvious spot to spy on them?!" Stahl hissed at Lissa, terrified at the thought of being caught by the prince and Olivia. The dancer had a very, very scary side- that was revealed to him when he'd tried to watch her dance with her shadow, pretending it was Chrom. The average warrior had nearly lost several limbs, according to his reports.
"Can it, you," Lissa whispered back, giggling. "He's so oblivious that he'd never notice the entire Plegian army in this tree. Olivia's so taken with him that she won't think to look anywhere else but into his eyes," the princess explained, having observed the Myrmidon's actions rather closely- and frequently- this past week.
"I just don't want to fall…" Robin muttered as he stared dumbly at the ground, a hundred feet below them. "No wind spell could break my descent at this low of an altitude…"
Cordelia stifled a laugh at Robin's fear of heights and silently whistled for her pegasus to bring Maribelle up to their perch. Thankfully, both the nobles had worn slack wear, making it easier for the two of them to sit in a tree. Gods forbid how difficult it would be to transport their frilly dresses to the perch they currently resided.
AN: Ooh, a cliffhanger (literally) for poor Robin. :P Also, if you questioned the Chrom and Maribelle growing up, just know that's something my imagination concocted to fit the bill of the story. If Maribelle seemed OOC, please, don't hesitate to tell me.
Nothing else to say besides review, favorite, and follow, and thank you so much!
~The Slain Executioner~