Three Stars

Disclaimer: Tibby-san, Writer-of-Worlds, and I do not own Fire Emblem Fates. We just own our OCs.

Notes: At first, I thought about doing it POV and letting the other ladies do their POV of being the central characters. And then I was like "why limit it? What if we were ALL the avatar character, and we all take different paths in the story?" SO. That's what I'm doing. Sure, the plot's gonna end up different, but that's the point of a fanfic, right? The prologue is actually based on a conversation had IRL. I wish EmblemCon was a thing, too.

FIC START!

Chapter 1 -The Paths You Choose

When the three girls opened their eyes, they were no longer lying on beds in their hotel room, holding their 3DSes while playing their favorite game. They were standing on a wide open field that had been discolored due to drought, with the sun near the far east area of the sky. All three girls recognized this place. It was disorienting. How did they get here? This was too weird. They all wore a similar uniform, too. Something almost otherworldly. But it was comfortable. No area of the outfit was tight upon any part of their body. They could move about freely and easily.

"Excuse me, princesses," a voice said behind them. A butler approached them, his eyebrows bent upwards. "The battle looks to be growing worse by the moment. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems you may need to join the fray."

"Don't worry about me, Jakob," one of the girls said proudly. Her hair was long, flowing white. She stood shorter than the other two, holding a sword in her right hand. "I'm not afraid of anything."

"Lady Kamui," the butler said, smiling, as he pointed to his side. "I wish to assign you an attendant in case we are separated in the exchange. Felicia, guard the princess with your life."

A maid with pink hair bowed her head. "I will uphold my duty. Come, my lady. We will head out now."

"Yes," Kamui agreed. "Take care of yourselves, my wonderful sisters."

"Please," the girl with the long green hair said, rolling her eyes. She flicked her hair back and adjusted the flower in her hair. "You think I can't handle myself on the battlefield."

"I know your axe is as sharp as they come, Arielle. I'm more worried about our eldest sister."

"Don't think you can get away with being so snarky," the last of the princesses grunted, clutching a spear in her left hand. "I will skewer all that cross me."

"Ah, Lady Rynah, they do not mean anything by it," Jakob tried to reassure her. "Fiora, you will guard Arielle."

"Very well," Fiora agreed. "If we are going, then we should set out. Last I heard, our forces are dwindling."

Both Kamui and Arielle left with their guardian maids in tow, with only Jakob and Rynah there alone on the field. He watched her eyes for a moment, as she still seemed a bit dizzy. He reached out to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Does something trouble you, my lady?" he asked. "I know being under attack here in Hoshido while getting to know your family is cruel."

"Honestly," Rynah said quietly, sighing a bit. "I don't know how to feel right now."

"I hate to be the one to say it, Lady Rynah, but might I suggest you put your feelings aside? If there were not such a need for help, it would not have been requested of you and your sisters." He reached into his back pocket, making sure his shurikens were where he set them. In his other hand was a staff that he carried in a very proper way, He knew no other way to conduct himself, as his entire life he had been a servant to royalty. "You can sort this out once the battle is over."

"You're absolutely right," she agreed. "Thank you for reminding me of what's important. I will defend my family."

"Any time, my lady," Jakob said, following her as she followed exactly the way her sisters left earlier.

Swords clashed, balls of magical energies flew across the battlefield. Pegasus knights charged with naginatas while wyvern riders defended themselves with their axes. Kamui had managed to fight well enough with her wounds being tended by Felicia. Arielle was beastly in her movements, almost like a heavy armored knight, throwing all of her strength into each blow she gave. Rynah used her spear to propel herself into different flips and attack from a distance with deadly aim. All three of them made it to near the center of the battlefield, and all three of them wondered exactly who was behind this battle. There was an explosion earlier while they were visiting Hoshido that killed the benevolent Queen Mikoto and many others native to the land of light. But when they ran out here, there were enemies all ready here.

"Stop attacking!" shouted a female voice from above. Rynah looked up to see that it was Hinoka.

"...but we were called here, Hinoka..." she muttered.

"We will not stop..." came another female voice from the sky. "...not while you have our sisters."

"Camilla?" Kamui asked.

"Nohrian scum, how dare you..." Takumi's voice said as he prepared to notch an arrow into his Fujin Yumi. "I wouldn't be surprised if you'd set this up on purpose just as a reason to attack us!"

"You can assume all you like, not that it will get you anywhere," Leo's voice said from atop his horse.

"You shall not have them again, now that they are home," Ryoma's voice boomed. He was running up to the trio of girls with his electricity-charged Raijinto at his belt. "Using these girls as bait is low, even for King Garon."

"How could you presume to understand the mind of our king, Prince Ryoma?" Xander asked. "I see you presume past your station. We will see our beloved family whole, back together."

All three girls now stood between all of the royal siblings from across the entire continent. Kamui turned to look at both Rynah and Arielle, whispering, "...tell me you two are seeing what I'm seeing..."

"What do you mean by that?" Arielle whispered back.

"This... You know what this is, right?" Kamui whispered. "This is the moment where we choose our path..."

"Kamui, Arielle, Rynah," Ryoma said, reaching out for them. "Come home to us. We will keep you safe regardless of what happened earlier. I swear it."

"Big sisters, please," Sakura cried out behind him. "Don't leave us!"

"Please..." Xander said, also sticking his hand out to them. "...like they would abandon the family they've lived with their entire lives."

"You can't leave us," Elise said as she clutched her healing staff to herself like she were hugging a teddy bear after a nightmare.

"We are your real family," Ryoma said sternly.

"This choice isn't hard," Rynah whispered. "I know where I want to be."

Arielle replied, "The only thing is... I don't think it's a good idea if we separate..."

"I will follow my heart, no matter where it takes me," Kamui said loud enough for everyone around them to hear.

"If you do that, then-"

"Rynah, I know what you're going to say. You should follow your heart, too." She then looked at Ryoma and smiled. "Big brother... I... would be honored to fight at your side. Having to live in that lonely old fortress all alone, when I could have been as free as you all are... amid such lies..." She stepped away from the other two, taking his hand. Sakura instantly hugged around her. Hinoka and Takumi seemed very pleased with her decision.

Rynah watched them all embrace Kamui happily, and then they looked at her, expecting her to do the same. But she didn't know the Hoshidans that well, even if they were her blood relatives. Ryoma didn't give her that sense of security the way Xander did. She didn't feel supported from Sakura, but Elise was always there to heal a wound. And Rynah had many a wound from training with everyone in that old Northern Fortress. She shook her head, backing away, until she bumped into Xander's horse. She looked up at him, and those eyes of his peered down at her, filled with concern. "Kamui, do you really... not care about the ones that have been with us all our lives? Yes, it was away from the rest of the world, but when we were little, we knew no better. And... this family, they came to us when we had no one else." Rynah reached up and put her hand in Xander's. "I can't leave them." He pulled her up so that she sat on the back of the horse behind him. Elise cheered while both Camilla and Leo seemed satisfied with her decision.

And so, everyone on the battlefield looked at Arielle.

Arielle began to panic as she felt herself being watched by so many people. "You aren't really going to- I mean... there's good things about both families! I like them both, I refuse to pick a side!" She felt her eyes burn with tears. "I know you have your reasons, but I... I can't-" She grabbed her axe and turned around from everyone, fleeing as fast as she could run. The maid that had been set to look after her quickly followed, begging for her to stop. But there was nothing that could be done about it. She had run so fast and so far that there was no way either Hoshido or Nohrian forces were going to go after her. She could hear the battle being waged, knowing that it would be possible that Kamui and Rynah both would be pointing their weapons at each other. There was no way she could watch that. Taking out enemies was one thing, but each other? Was choosing a side because both of them wanted to be with a particular person really that important, when now it would be possible that all of them could very well be fighting against one another? What was she going to do now?! After denying her Nohrian family, she couldn't go back to that life. And after denying her Hoshidan family, there was no way they'd take her in. She was homeless, friendless, without a family. Even the adopted family she chose wasn't with her anymore.

Fiora stood there, not sure what to say. She had a mission, and that was to attend to Arielle regardless of what happened. Even though she was loyal to Nohr and her Ice Tribe family, she refused to leave the side of her liege even now.

"Excuse me," a voice said above her. "Arielle, if I may have a word with you..."

She looked upward to find a floating creature above her. It was almost like a lizard-fish clinging to a crystal ball. It wore a very long scarf? She couldn't really tell where it began and where it ended. "If you want to tell me to go back and choose a side, I refuse. I will not, will not choose between those two..."

"No, no, not at all," the creature said. "I am Lilith. You all ready forgot me? Now I'm sad..."

"I didn't mean to make you sad. I just. Didn't recognize you at all. But I'm sorry. What did you need?"

"There's something I want to show you."

"Oh?"

"Yes."

"Um, can Fiora come too?"

"She'd better. If either army finds her, it may not look very good for her."

"Good point. Lead the way, Lilith."

"You think this is a good idea?"

"I don't think we have a choice. Every time we only had one go on one path at a time, things fell out of balance. That's what we need right now."

"Having three chosen ones is far more complicated than just havine one at a time... you're asking far too much of me."

"I'm not asking anything of you. I have seen into the hearts of each of the three girls that have come here. They all have wishes that they are willing to fight for."

"How am I supposed to protect all three? Back before, when we only had one chosen at a time, it wasn't difficult, but now..."

"If you're going to complain, I'll find another."

"I'll do what I can."