Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, if I did, I would give myself an early copy of Fates. All of them. It doesn't even have to be english dubbed really, I'm fine with the original voice actors going along with english subs.
"We need to talk." Those four words might as well have been liquid nitrogen because Darren froze instantly at hearing them, both mentally and physically. Here he was about to go get some food –and possibly a drink, maybe for Grima if he felt charitable enough– since he hadn't eaten since that morning, and somehow ended up being face-to-face with the person who he'd just fought earlier that day.
It didn't help that he still didn't know what to think of 'Marth'/Lucina; whether she's an enemy or an ally. And his weapon was still by the bed where Grima was, not that it would make much of a difference, judging from his previous fight with her, but he had found out that it was just reassuring to have a weapon with you. Running wasn't an option since she was blocking the door and going through the window probably wasn't the smartest –or safest– idea. So he decided to take the only approach that he can.
"O-okay." So he let her in.
The masked princess calmly walked into the room, the door closing silently behind her. She glanced at the bed where –oddly enough– Grima still was, but either didn't see him or just didn't show any sign that she cared. Meanwhile, the dragon himself was just a tense coil; watching for any sign of hostile movement towards either him or Darren so he could take action. A quick blast to the head would probably knock her unconscious, or at least stun her long enough to escape. He didn't want to kill Lucina, for obvious reasons, but he wasn't going to risk any harm done to them.
Stopping a short distance away from Darren, 'Marth' took in a deep breath to calm himself down, before suddenly asking a question the dark haired youth didn't expect.
"What is your purpose here?"
Taken aback by the sudden question, he answered without thinking, "To restore Grima back to his original body." And then proceeded to slap his hand onto his mouth and started to berate himself for being an idiot.
Ignoring his actions, 'Marth' nodded at the answer and seemed to think for a moment before continuing. Hesitating a little at first, the masked swordswoman reached up, and slowly took off the butterfly mask that hid her identity, all the while asking in a wavering voice that Darren had never expected coming from the normally strong willed princess. Her hair, previously kept in place by the mask she wore, fell down now that it was unrestricted as she stared at him with no small amount of uncertainty in her eyes.
"And, who am I?"
A feeling told him that it would be better for him if he just went with the truth. And he already just admitted that he was working with Grima, so why not right?
"…Lucina, future daughter of Chrom and the future princess of Ylisse." He said all the while avoiding those blue eyes that appeared to be holding so much emotion in them.
And so he really wasn't prepared when he suddenly found himself being hugged with intensity so strong that it made his ribs protest under the strain.
"Oh uncle it really is you!"
The Other Way - Chapter Eleven
Darren remained unmoving as he ate, with the exception of how mechanical his arms moved when they reached for his food. He could guess that it was really early in the morning since there was no one around. With what happened last night he just couldn't get any sleep, not that this was the first time he's stayed awake this long.
Grima had also been confused after that, and simply decided to put it off until he woke up. Meanwhile throughout the night Darren had been thinking. Well that and simply staring off into space while his mind desperately tried to process earlier events.
-flashback begins-
As Darren's mind tried desperately to collect itself after being thrown like a curve ball, into a wall, Grima gaped at the crying girl that he only knew through memories not of his own. Seeing Darren still frozen he decided to take pity on the girl.
Flying over to the pair he landed Darren's shoulder and smacked him lightly with a wing. 'Comfort the young one you idiot.' The dragon chided through their mental link.
Snapping back to reality, Darren hesitated as he looked down at the person currently trying to burrow herself into his torso and nodded nervously. So with shaking hands he awkwardly returned the hug, patting her back in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.
It took a few minutes for Lucina to calm down enough to pull away, but when she did her eyes were beginning to look a little puffy due to the amount she cried. When it became clear that the two humans were feeling rather awkward and couldn't say anything, it was a relief when Grima coughed to catch the two's attention.
"I believed that you still want to talk young one?"
Grima barely had enough time to squawk before he was suddenly snatched off of Darren's shoulder at a speed he couldn't see and then enveloped in a possibly life-endangering hug due to his small size. When he noticed her trembling the fell dragon began to worry that Lucina was about to break down again, but sighed inwardly in relief when she caught herself.
Darren chuckled at the sight of Grima getting crushed by Lucina, especially since it was in a way that would shock quite a few people.
After the ice had been broken Lucina then told the pair a very brief summary of what's happened before arriving at a certain forest not too long ago. Not that Darren minded the skimming through it; since he already had the gist of the situation there. Then she got to when she arrived in Regna Ferox. And despite already knowing that she beat Lon'qu, when she explained –admittedly with a bit of colour on her cheeks– the main reason behind his loss, Darren and Grima had nearly howled with laughter. But throughout her explanation Grima noticed that the princess before them didn't appear to have the same grim determination that he knew from the one in the game, there was still some noticeable, but she seems more… alive?
When she got to the part about why she went to Darren however, was when he interrupted.
"I told you to find me?!"
"Yes uncle," Lucina responded calmly. "you –er– he asked me to find you if I wasn't able to contact the rest of the future children. He said Ferox would be the most likely place to find you."
"B-but wouldn't meeting or telling me all of this do something to the timeline?!" Only now did he remember one of the many dangers of time travel.
Apparently Lucina was told by future Darren that it would be completely fine to meet and tell present Darren about the future, as long as it was very vague. It was explained to her that the past him would already know quite a lot of what happens in the future, so there was no danger as long as she didn't go into details. She didn't know how that was even possible, but trusted her uncle too much to doubt him on that.
With Darren pacified about the possibility of endangering the timeline, Grima decided to broach a topic he had noticed earlier, namely with how she's acting.
"Well," Lucina began hesitantly as she sat down on the edge of the bed while Darren remained standing, "ever since father didn't return, and uncle Robin went missing shortly afterwards, you, mother, and Grima did your best to take care of me. And whenever mother was busy you would always take me outside to play or practice with my sword." She laughed silently at a memory, but the sound was a sad one. "But when mother was also lost, you two were all I had left. You two were all we had left." She said remembering the other children of the Shepherds who had lost their parents.
In essence they were the rock for many of the people she knew, including herself, and the ones they had to look up to when there was no one left. The two of them tried their best to shield the rest from the worst of it all. And when they had to leave, her Darren and Grima decided to stay behind to provide the last line of defence for them to escape.
Watching as her shoulders trembled, Darren once again found himself comforting the princess of a fallen world.
-flashback ends-
It had taken a while for Lucina to once again regain control of herself, but with a quick hug and a goodbye she left, once again wearing her mask, leaving the two behind with quite a lot to chew on. Needless to say Darren didn't get to eat for the rest of that night.
He had been here before. He had been in the future-past timeline. The mere thought itself brought up conflicting feelings within him. Knowing that he's played a part in this worlds' history –weird timeline and all that– made him feel excited, giddy even. He was glad that he wasn't just a random stranger that had just popped out of nowhere. But any positive feelings he had vanished at an afterthought, since he knew the reason why Lucina and the other future children had to go back in the first was, and what that meant to him.
It meant that he failed his objective.
'Get any more depressed and I'll smack you upside the head again,' an interrupting voice admonished within his mind. 'Be grateful that you were at least still alive when they had to go back.'
Generally used to having more than one voice in his head –while still retaining his sanity thankfully– Darren sighed.
'It's just, too much to take in at once, y'know?'
'That's an understatement,' Grima dead panned. 'But I guess it would be for a lot of people.' He added as an afterthought. 'Look, why don't you go find something to do that'll take your mind off this. Maybe you can go get some early practice before Lon'qu shows up, or get some sleep okay?'
Agreeing to the first idea Darren went to his room to get ready, then set off to the training grounds nearby.
Lon'qu had to admit, he was impressed when he saw his student already going through the forms they had worked on by the time he arrived. The cleric that he saw yesterday must have done a better job than he'd expected. It seemed almost as if he hadn't been run to the point of collapsing yesterday.
Well, at least now he wouldn't feel guilty for doing the same. It would serve as good practice for the student.
All Darren heard as a warning was a single crunch of snow and the sound of metal cutting through air before he hastily raised his arm to block the unexpected attack. The moment he saw the Chon'Sin(ese? ian?) blade that unmistakably belongs to a Killer Edge, he figured that Lon'qu had arrived. He was quite surprised really; he was so focused that he was sure he lost track of time. It seemed as if he just started a minute ago.
Throwing off the attacking blade, Darren risked a quick glance at his teacher as he attempted to increase the distance between the two, and saw something that definitely threw him for a loop.
Now Lon'qu was normally neutral about most things, and kept his face the same way. In fact, the frown that Lon'qu usually has is what Darren actually considers as his 'neutral' expression. When his eyebrows start twitching, such as when he was coming up with the various forms for Darren's 'unique' weapon, or when said student started complaining about certain methods of teaching, it showed that he was starting to get irritated. The only other emotion Darren was able to bring out of his stone-faced teacher was the barest hint of a smile (if you can call the corners of his mouth twitching so slightly that you needed Grima to tell you a smile). Darren planned on making more notes on things like this about his teacher, so they could be sold to any future suitors willing to pay a little for a possible guide to Lon'qu's heart.
Anyways, a little off topic. Back to the fight, Darren blanched at the full-on scowl that myrmidon was wearing, and soon paid for the mistake in the form of three new cuts spread over his arm and torso.
'Lon'qu doesn't look too happy.' Grima remarked from the stands.
'Ya think!'
About an hour later found Darren dropping to the ground out of exhaustion for the second time in a 24-hour time span.
He had come to the conclusion that Lon'qu was not in a good mood. He didn't know why, but it fairly obvious. Thankfully however, the intense sparring had completely taken his mind away from earlier events.
After dragging himself into a sitting position, he looked up to find the myrmidon seated on the stands, sharpening his blade with great care. Noticing that he was no longer recovering, Lon'qu tossed a familiar looking bottle down.
Catching the bottle more out of reflex than anything Darren set to applying the salve to his newest wounds, and immediately remembered why he would always prefer healing with a staff than the burning liquid that he held.
"When were you going to tell me you were Flavia's champion?"
Pausing mid-dab Darren looked upwards once again to the eyes of his teacher, looking genuinely confused. The two never talked much even with the amount of time they spent together, unless it was about how to take care of your blade or criticisms about his stance. Other than that there was only the sounds of their blades cutting through the air that kept the silence at bay.
"I thought you knew?"
Seeing as he wasn't getting a response, Darren elaborated. "News that Flavia got a new champion, you all of a sudden getting a student to train, and you're not even the least bit suspicious of how much a coincidence that is?"
A snowball rolls between them, making the situation even more ridiculous in Darren's opinion.
Suddenly getting up Lon'qu quickly walked passed the still sitting Darren. "We'll stop here, Khan Flavia is expecting us to be there before your friends leave."
Watching as the myrmidon retreated Darren shook his head and asked aloud to no one in particular, "What was that all about?"
Popping his head out of the snowball, Grima tried his best to shrug.
"Beats me."
While Darren and his draconian partner were making their way back to the castle, the Shepherds were up and getting ready to leave. Now that they had their alliance they wanted to return quickly to Ylisse. With Frederick, Sully and Stahl tasked with the job of re-supplying the group's food stocks —Vaike couldn't help due to partying too hard last night— and other resources, they would be ready to leave in the hour.
"Chrom, could I talk to you for a moment?"
Said prince turned around to find his tactician and friend, Robin, walking up to him.
"Sure thing Robin. What is it you want to talk about?"
"Well," the tactician began, "I was wondering if we could recruit Darren as a Shepherd before we leave Regna Ferox."
"Really now, and why would that be?" inquired Frederick, who had just been 'walking by' when his charge was approached by Robin. It wasn't that he was still suspecting him to be a spy, no, he was just being… wary.
Robin had to willfully command himself not to sigh when he heard the Great-Knight enter the conversation, and thankfully showed none of his annoyance beyond his brows becoming slightly furrowed. "Because it would be useful to have him around," He explained. "Yesterday when you," glancing at Chrom momentarily, "were unable to attend our meeting, Darren was the one who helped me with our plan. And even though I did most of the work, he showed a certain potential for tactics. I'm sure that given some time he could become a great tactician that could help me in later battles." Unsaid and unknown to Robin was that the only reason that Darren was able to help with anything back then was because he had played the game before, that and having Grima also regaining those memories was almost akin to cheating; because he could recall every, single, detail there was in that one chapter.
Chrom seemed to think it over for a moment, having another person to help with the battle plans was always helpful. Battles he could do, but anything beyond the normal "charge!" and he was at a loss on what to do. Now that he thought about it, he really wished that his older sister would allow him to add tactics to his list of boring education during his childhood. "I don't see why not," he finally agreed. "I'll ask him to join the Shepherds before we leave."
"Thank you Chrom." With that Robin left to his room to pack up his things.
"I shall return to getting everything ready milord." And so Chrom was left by himself, not counting the giant pile of armour that has been standing nearby for the last couple of minutes. Poor Kellam.
Everyone was ready to leave, all the supplies were outside. All that was left to do was to say their goodbyes to both Khans and they could be on their way.
"Thank you once again for helping us Khan Flavia, Khan Basilio." Chrom said graciously.
Flavia laughed off the thanks, saying that it would well be worth it to beat the tar out of Plegians. Basilio however, apparently had a surprise for the Shepherds to take with them.
"A present from West Ferox, my former champion Lon'qu." He said simply as Lon'qu walked towards the group. Chrom was a little hesitant in replying to the… er… gift, as the brown haired swordsman looked quite apprehensive at the thought of leaving. "He might not talk much, but he's peerless with a sword. As good as Marth I'd say, I still can't figure out how he'd been beaten so easily."
"What?" Exclaimed a star-struck Lissa. "But he looks so strong!" She approached the newcomer, but with every step she took Lon'qu took a step back.
"Away woman!"
"H-huh? W-what did I do?"
Basilio guffawed at the sight of Lon'qu backing away from someone only a little above half his height. "Let's just say that the ladies tend to put Lon'qu on edge," he joked before sobering slightly. "Nonetheless, he is a capable swordsman. Consider him West Ferox's contribution to the Ylissean cause."
"And you're certain about this?" Chrom asked to get confirmation. At Basilio's nod he turned to the man in question, a questioning look in his eyes.
"You give the orders. I stab people." He responded simply.
"…Okay then. Welcome aboard Lon'qu."
With that the Shepherds turned to the exit and began to leave. Only Robin and Chrom stayed behind to talk to Flavia. The tactician asked her where Darren was.
"He should've been here," she answered, a small frown making its way onto her face. "He was training with Lon'qu before now. And if Lon'qu showed up that mea—" before she could finish the sound of a door opening loudly and heavy footsteps interrupted her. The three of them turned to find a familiar face, unfortunately for them however it was not the one they were looking for. Raimi entered the large room they were in. And despite that it seemed like the Knight had run there, she barely even looked winded as she quickly approached the East Khan.
Robin and Chrom watched quietly as Raimi began whispering into Flavia's ear and handed her a slip of paper. After reading the paper, the Khan nodded to Raimi and dismissed the Knight.
Sighing she turned back to the curious pair. "I don't know what you wanted to talk to Darren about, but it appears that he's already left Regna Ferox."
The cold winds appeared to accompany Darren as he ran across the land of snow at maximum speed. He carried a bag with a few days' supply of food in it over his shoulder. Grima was inside his hood sleeping —or what he liked to call, power saving mode— and away from the harsh bite of winter, occasionally feeding his partner small doses of energy to maintain the speed they were currently at.
'You sure you don't mind not joining the Shepherds?' The dragon asked curiously.
'Not at all,' Darren responded, 'I'll join up with them sooner or later. But we've things to do right?' He had decided that staying would have meant that he might have been offered a chance to join the group, so he chose to leave instead since he and Grima already had plans to do. On the way out he had passed a note to Raimi that was to be delivered to Flavia. There wasn't much on it, just enough to explain that he still wanted to be her champion but had to go do some things. It never hurt to have a place to go back to.
'True,' Grima conceded. 'But our destination is quite far away. Maybe we could make a detour?'
Darren grinned as he quickly caught on to what Grima was hinting at. He was thinking the same thing.
'I was thinking of heading over to Donny's place actually.'
An: Guess it's been a while huh? Sorry about that really, I figured out that I can write more when its like, really late –around 3 am basically– than I can at some other time, and since I'm going to school now it becomes quite problematic. I can still write during other times of course, just not as much. So I apologize in advance when there are even bigger gaps between chapter releases. So hopefully you'll be satisfied with this chapter until then...
I'd like to thank those who've reviewed my chapters so far, and to those who have favorited and followed the story. It feels great when I see these great reviews from you guys. No joke, I wished that I'd have a few who enjoyed the story, but the amount I've gotten so far surprises me. Hopefully I'll get more in the future, but I'm honestly satisfied with what I have right now.
As usual, review if you enjoyed the chapter –if some things seem a bit off feel free to point it out actually, and I'll try my best to fix the problem. And if you've enjoyed the story so far, favorite and follow.