Italics = Thought
I do not own Fire Emblem.
Cross published on A03
Anankos, now thoroughly bored of kicking The Rainbow Sage's remains around was lounging on his throne once more. Whilst he did enjoy dancing with the only woman he had ever loved, they did actually have to do actual things that didn't involve wasting time now and then.
So she had done to guard the entrance, which left him to do nothing.
He could go and watch the fighting, or prepare for his sons inevitable arrival.
For he could have some fun…..
A thought formed in Anankos mind, and he sneered cruelly. He strode out of the throne room, and placed a hand on Mikoto's shoulder. He smiled at her, almost affectionately, and raised his other hand. Seemingly ripping life from the shadows around him, they soon took form, clawing themselves out of the shadows, his Faceless servants formed up.
Mikoto nuzzled his hand happily, and the elder dragon turned to leave. A glimmer out of the corner of his eye stopped him.
A silver streak that was their son flew through the sky, and landed in the courtyard. A maid and a Butler with a cane slid off of his back, before Corrin himself let out a loud, lizard-like yowl, and vanished in a flash of light. When it subsided, he was back to his human form, adjusted his eyepatch. It was clear by the looks on their faces that they had seen what had unfolded below.
"Mother." He greeted curtly. "I must admit, I'm surprised to find you here. Last I heard, you were dead."
The former Queen of Hoshido narrowed her gaze, and stuck out her tongue childishly. "Thhbt!"
"Sweet Corrin!" Anankos cooed. "Don't you have a hug for your parents?"
"Jakob, Felicia…please go and assist our forces. They will need all the help they can get."
"My Pri-"
"You have your orders, Jakob." Corrin said calmly.
Jakob kept silent for a few moments, before he nodded. "Do try to stay alive, My Prince. There isn't a great market for crippled butlers and clumsy maids right now."
Corrin let out a short bark of laughter. "Don't think I didn't see the look on your face whist Felicia held onto you, my friend."
Jakob smiled wryly. "Are you telling me you wouldn't like it?"
"I wouldn't say that.."
"I'm right here!" Felicia cried out in annoyance.
"Yes, so are we." Anankos drawled. It did amuse him, seeing the mortals interact, but even he had to admit, this was awkward.
"Yes yes." The butler said dismissively." But you are not the one I serve, so I shall ignore you."
"Jakob. Go."
Jakob bowed stiffly, and led a still protesting Felicia away, leaving Corrin facing down his parents.
"Now." Anankos clapped his hands together "Let's get to the business at ha—"
A lone battle cry filled the silence, and a figure, clad in black armour slammed into Mikoto.
"Corrin!" It was Gunter's voice. "Deal with the oversized lizard. I will deal with this one!"
"I owe you one F-…Gunter!"
"More than one, boy!" Came his bemused reply.
Anankos rolled his eyes, and tugged his hood down. Blood red eyes gleamed at Corrin, like a cat toying with its prey. He smiled savagely, and cracked his knuckes.
"Well, looks like we're doing this now!" Anankos declared, his voice a mix of bloodlust and glee.
Anankos was suddenly on his blind side, a broad, toothy smirk had taken root on his face. He slammed his palm into Corrin's gut, and sent him tumbling into the throne room. The elder dragon held his arms out wide, as if asking for a hug, and swaggered in after him.
"Come ooooon, give your old man a hug." He teased. "Be a good little boy, KamKam, and I promise I'll only skin half of your friends.."
Corrin made himself stand, a defiant look in his eye. He had not come this far to fail now. "Not much of a promise. I will have to decline."
Anankos let out a mad giggle.
"I was hoping you'd say something like that…" He said with a happy sigh. "It makes things more fun!"
Marc and Flora watched the chaos unfold from the highest level of seating in the arena. It was, frankly, chaos.
"This is madness." Flora whispered under her breath. "
Desperate times…
Just because he was glad his Father was gone did not mean Marc wanted to be free of the power He had granted him. He loathed using them now true, but…
…..call for desperate measures.
Marc smiled sadly, and removed his glove, showing off the many eyes of the mark of Grima. He raised it up, so that his palm faced the city. Flora eyed him suspiciously, but said nothing.
"…Show me what this land hides…..IGNIS HECATE!"
Power, dark and tempting, billowed from Marc's fingertips. Like a spectre, the deep purple smoke sought out its targets. When they found them, the long since deceased of Valla, the smoke changed them. Forcing them to rise again. The Faceless didn't even have time to process things before they were set upon by the undead horde.
A sick feeling of glee filled him for the first time since joining up with Corrin, Marc tugged his hood up, and took a hold of his tome. He turned on his heel, and strode back down from the highest ring of seats.
"W-Wait! Where are you going?! W-What did you just do?!" Flora demanded.
"You do not wish to know. Stay here, Ice Maiden. Let me deal with this." Marc said in a quietly concerned tone. "You do not want to see this."
Without another word, The Grand Necromancer of the Grimleal took to the field of battle once more.
Nyx had, much to her pleasure, landed in the old royal library. Surrounded by shelf upon shelf of old tomes, scrolls and runes, the Dark Mage was in heaven. She poured over several books at once, reading about curses, herbs and history.
This was bliss.
There was a low groan from somewhere in the library, causing her to snap out of the luxury.
A scow formed on her face, and she took up her own tome. "Tch. You are an annoyance. Begone. Fimbulvetr!"
Since the Faceless intruder, now a pile of ash, was no longer a threat, Nyx went back to reading.
"…I never did get that cake." She commented in annoyed realisation.
Corrin drew his blade, and tore across the room toward his father, who wore a smug look on his face.
Closer. Closer.
At the last second, Corrin dropped his blade, causing to clatter on the ground. He arced his arm back, and launched it forward, now in the form of a lance. It glanced across Anankos' cheek, drawing blood. The ancient dragon blinked in genuine surprise. Corrin followed up by launching a savage kick toward the mans face.
Anankos ducked down, and allowed Corrin to turn and face him. In a lightning swift movement, Anankos was suddenly in front of his son.
"YOU!"
Anankos seethed, and landed a hard, lightning fast strike into Corrin's gut. With every word that followed, he landed another blow, eyes ablaze with hate.
"WEAK! ARROGANT! LITTLE! SHIT!"
Anankos tightened his grip on his son, and hissed under his breath. "After I am done with you, I will flay your wife and drown that bawling whelp of yours.
"..shigure…." Corrin murmured "…his name is Shigure."
Anankos' eyes widened, before he dropped Corrin and started laughing as loud as his lungs would allow.
"BWAHAHAHAHA! Y-YOU THINK I…..HAAAA YOU THINK I GIVE A RATS ASS WHAT HIS NAME IS?! BWA….BWAHAHAHAAAAA!"
The laughter died in his throat suddenly, and Corrin could finally hear why.
"You are the oceans grey waves….." The voice was soft, sombre and certain. The singer was clearly confident in what they were singing. "…destined to seek, life beyond the shore just out of reach….."
Shock filled Anankos' face, and he paled.
"Impossible."
Something old and forgotten crept into him now, and he realised it was fear. This was wrong. He was Anankos! He didn't feel fear! He clawed at his ears, comforted by the hot burn of his own blood in his hands.
"Blissful silence…."
"Yet the waters ever change, flowing like time, The path is yours to climb."
"I can still hear it!" He screamed, and grabbed his ears. With an almighty, primal scream, he tore them both free from his skull.
He looked around.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Peace. Sweet blissful hot silence.
Wait. Silence wasn't hot.
"We take the chances we are given." Corrin panted from behind him.
Anankos didn't hear him. He looked down at his chest.
There was a long shard of metal rammed through his chest.
Azura strode in, a grin on her face.
"Did you like my performance?"
The dragon of silence fell to his knees, and tried to crawl away. His son, in a bid to vent rage, and to get a little payback knelt on his back, and started to bring his blade down onto the howling figures form. The angry young man didn't stop until a river of blood was pouring out of countless wounds.
As his lifeblood fed the stone of the throne room, visions flashed before Anankos' eyes; a tower that touches the clouds, ships that claimed an endless blue expanse, a lost little girl returning home after so very long, and a small cabin, far removed from anyone. He was already too far gone to decipher any meaning from them, if in fact they had any meaning to decipher.
The very moment their master died, the Faceless simply fell to the ground into a dull grey mush. Marc sighed, and recalled his Hecate. The Risen clattered to a halt, falling into endless piles of bleached bone.
He rubbed his eyes, and sighed to himself.
He really needed a drink.
Corrin was slumped on the throne of Valla, Jakob and Felicia tending to his injuries.
He spied Gunter slip in out of the corner of his eye. There was blood splattered across both his sword and armour. The pair shared a knowing nod. Mikoto was dead. With any luck, or good this time. Despite his mild hatred of the woman, Corrin was filled with a profound sense of thankfulness that his mother was finally at peace. His mother had done her best to find him again, and he supposed it wasn't her fault alone that she failed to convince the Hoshidians to rescue him.
On a far more personal….far more important note, however, she had taken care of his beloved Azura.
That counted for something, at least.
The Havenites had set up camp in the ruined palace, all in small groups, happily talking amongst themselves
"So." Mozu asked curiously, breaking the silence. "What uhm…..what do we do now?"
Corrin let out a chuckle, rubbing his throat. He hauled himself to his feet, small flakes of his armour falling away as he rose.
"Well….I have a few ideas."
"They can wait. We have something more important to deal with."
The sound of his lover's voice filled his ears, and comfort flooded Corrin's entire person. The Songstress walked over to him, their son in her arms.
"Azura!...Wait…..what're you…talking about?"
"We are getting married." Azura said forcefully. "This is not up for debate."
Corrin beamed, and to the sound of wolf-whistles and applause, he pulled his small family in close, and placed a firm kiss on his now betrotheds lips.
"As my Lady commands…"
As the Havenites began celebrating, the same feeling of unadulterated relief filled all of their hearts.
Everything was well.
And absolutely nothing could go wrong…
Anankos awoke in a field, his head throbbing. He sat up, and looked around.
Golden wheat, for as far as his eyes could see.
"….Why did I end up here?"
"Because you've died, old friend." A kindly voice came from behind him.
"Genji?"
The Rainbow Sage smiled warmly at the younger dragon. "Indeed."
"But I…you're alive?"
"Oh no, I am very much deceased."
"S-So I really did…."
Kill me? Aye, that you did." Genji confirmed. "And as you killed me, Corrin killed you."
"If we are dead….where are we?"
Genji looked around, and shrugged. "I am not entirely certain, if I am honest. A purgatory of sorts, perhaps."
"I see."
"You really do care about him, don't you?" Genji asked.
"I don't know what you mean…" Anankos said indignantly.
"Do not try to trick me here, my friend. You all but let him do it, did you not?"
Anankos said nothing.
"Anankos, if you had truly wished to do so, you could have torn him and his forces to shreds whilst blindfolded. Yet you faced him one on one. Why?"
"…Because I was tired." He admitted. "Because I enjoy a fair fight…." He paused, before quietly adding, "Because he's my son, and he deserved that much."
"Why not simply allow him to walk over and kill you without incident then?"
Anankos raised an eyebrow. "You honestly think he'd accept my death that way?"
Genji scratched his beard. "Mmm…no, I see your reasoning. He is a curious young man, is he not? I am not entirely sure if I approve of the child born in wedlock, but he does appear protective of his people."
Anankos grinned. "Come now Genji, we can hardly talk about bastard children now, can we? Both the Hoshidian and Nohrian Royal lines can be traced to you, and I don't recall you marrying Miki….." A dull burst of loss filled him at the mention of his former lover…she had always hated that nickname..
"I take you point."
"What will happen to your old sanctuary now you are gone?" Anankos inquired. "Who will take over keeping Hoshido and Nohr in check?"
"I am not so arrogant to think the world cannot function without me." Genji said firmly. "Our time is done. Let the mortals have their world at last."
Anankos smiled. "Too true…who among our kind could truly have such notions?"
"I did, once." The elder dragon pointed out. "Now, I do believe we've wasted enough time. It is time we departed."
"Agreed….come on, I'll race you!"
The younger dragon, a youthful grin on his face now, bolted ahead, leaving Genji to sigh in mild amusement as he headed after him.
And the two old friends, after so very long, moved on together.
Finally at peace.
This addition of: "It's 2AM and I am eating random food" was brought to you by reheated pizza!
Fun bits of trivia for you fine folks:
Hecate (Or Hekate, sources vary on that one (The Romans called her Trivia!)) was the Greek Goddess of magic, ghosts, necromancy and crossroads (Not too sure why that last one is connected, but hey).
The last scene takes inspiration from one 'areas' of the ancient Greek afterlife. The Elysium fields, which is often depicted as a field of wheat. (To be honest, I got the idea from the end of Portal 2, but after I did research, it pretty much solidified it being the afterlife.)
EDIT 1: Added in the explanation as to how Corrin knew to send Jakob/Felicia. Not entirely sure what went wrong there. Thanks to The Apocryphal One for spotting it.
And now, for the first time….a stinger.
Whilst the rest of the Havenites were partying in the palace, a lone figure was heading for what he hoped was the way out.
Corrin's actions had, frankly, disappointed him. Manipulating whole countries to war, using foul magics such as necromancy, and abusing transformation magic.
The bastard child was probably also bad. Although since Corrin and Azura would soon wed, little Shigure wouldn't be a bastard for much longer.
Regardless.
"Ryoma will want to know about this." Kaze said to himself.