FD: Okay… so apologies for the long wait for a chapter, and it's probably going to come out as crap anyway. Look, over the course of this year, I've been going through a lot of change, and not much of it is of any good. Hmm…

To start, my personal life has really been kicking me as of late; work has become increasingly scarce, my girlfriend of two years and I separated two months ago, my family is barely getting by with enough money to eat, and I've been in a ever-growing pit of depression that only seems to be getting deeper. And most recently, one of my friends who I knew from wrestling, my damn teammate… he was murdered. Unfortunately, all of this, especially the stuff with my girlfriend, has left me drained in just about every sense of the word, and I have resorted to doing things I am far FAR from proud of, and have needed mental help to get resolved. I feel little to no motivation to do anything really. I've lost motivation to do work in school(thank Naga I had some of the EASIEST courses on the planet this past school semester), I've lost motivation to talk to others like I usually do. I've lost motivation in life, to put it bluntly. And probably most fitting to this, I've lost motivation to continue writing, period.

Now, I see the potential in the story and it could come out to become something great but as it is, it feels like more of a chore than anything else. Not to mention, all of maybe four people really even read this thing, which kind of kicks morale right in the gut. That said, I will still continue this story to its conclusion. And perhaps tweak it a year or so after the fact to polish it up once I've found myself out of my life's depression again.

And finally… without consulting anyone, I shelled out for a new intro. Kick it.

"The Day" by Porno Graffiti (Boku no Hero Academia OP1)

(Intro)

The camera flickers over various areas of Eric's body bathed in light: his legs, his belt, his arm, and then his chest. Quickly, his sword is seen taken from the its spot in the ground before his cape, swipes across the camera.

(Shizukesa ga shimikomu you de iki wo tometa gozen goji

Hijou kaidan de tsume wo kamu asu wa docchi da? THE DAY HAS COME!)

The scene shows Eric looking out into the sky on a cliff from a bird's eye view perspective, then one of a closer side profile with a wistful expression on his face as he grips his blade tensely. As if brought out of his thought, he jumps when he feels a hand touch his left shoulder, belonging to Raven. Eric grins at her before Chrom walks on his right side, punching his own palm. The three draw their blades and lock them with another's before raising their blades up high. The camera follows the blades' ascent until only the sky is in frame. The title of Fire Emblem: Decisions slowly fades into frame as it shrinks and becomes less transparent.

(Keshite akenai yoru mo, furitsuzukete yamanai ame mo

Kono roku demo nai sekai ni wa arunda yo)

The Pandorian royal is walking down a dirt path with his blade on his shoulder, casually walking past an entire squadron laid to waste in his wake. Once he comes across a tree that has lost all its leaves, one sees a silhouette of boots standing on one of its bare branches. Eric looks up and is greeted by a red-clad figure wearing a mask. His coat billows in the wind as he reaches behind him and grips his sword. The camera shows Eric's mouth initially open in slight surprise slowly become a grin of anticipation.

(Sukoshi mo hen de wa nai no madoromi ni ashi wo torareteru

Anata wo semeteiru wake janai da yo)

Facing the left, Raven is walking in spot in front of a mountainous backdrop with horizontal white bars, behind her are images of her Generals who each show up one by one in order of Lugiel, Regulus, Reo, and Zeno; each of them with a grin on their face bar Regulus. The next scene shows the four Generals' figures slide quickly from the top into frame, then change from the previous background to a dirt field, where the four Generals are standing in front of their lieutenants. A split screen shows the four looking forward with a look of determination and willpower before a hand waves, sending the four generals forward.

(Hitori kuusou ni asobu

soko de omoi egaita koto made hajiru no kai?)

Say'ri has her hands clasped together as she sits in a seiza position in front of an ominous purple background. The camera zooms out and shows her sitting in the palm of Shuyo, who looks down at the smaller woman with an evil grin. Zooming out even further, behind Shuyo is a large pair of hazel eyes that open up briefly and then close once again. Shuyo balls his hand into a fist and swings his hand out, changing the purple background into a high plateau, where his adjutant Luar is standing by him in front of an entire battalion of troops led by a handful of his captains. Shuyo's forces look down on the fifteen intent on rescuing Say'ri. Without words, Chrom nods at Robin and then bumps his fist against Eric's.

(Karamiau meikyuu meikyuu, soredemo yuku to iu no?)

Miriel fires a torrent of fire that consumes a number of enemy soldiers, and Vaike immediately jumps out of said flames to smash a shield with a hammer. Robin opens his tome, pages flipping quickly, and is surrounded by golden magic runes before the scene instantly shifts to Cordelia, taking off on her pegasus and zooming out into the sky.

(Chiisaki tabibito ga kanaderu hajimari no kane no ne)

The camera shows a lone woman with pigtails beneath the moon, then an image of the woman's face on the left side of the scene in the sky in side profile. She brings a hand up and removes her mask to reveal a young, emotionless face. Next, Mikalus is trying to get to his feet using his sword as a cane. Blood spilling down his chin, the camera shifts to a closer shot of Mikalus gritting his teeth and flashing a smile.

(Yukuate mo DON'T KNOW DON'T KNOW, hontou wa kowai'n ja nai no?

Fumidasu sono ippo ippo ga kaete yukeru sa THE DAY HAS COME!)

From a bird's eye view, three arrows of light rush forward and weave in between one another; one is red, the middle is purple, and the final one is blue. The camera slowly moves to the front of the arrows, showing Raven, Eric, and Chrom respectively charging into battle with immense speed, weapons drawn and wearing their war faces. The camera zooms over to show a close up of a taller and bigger Shuyo with red eyes and black sclera grinning at them before it gets so close, the reflection of the three warriors can be seen in the bald man's eye; this clip is then frozen in place.

(Outro)

Cordelia and Olivia, Vaike and Miriel, Gaius, Panne, and Libra, Robin and Tharja, Frederick, Mikalus and Onyx, and finally Chrom, Eric, and Raven all pose with their respective weapons ready, each group in their own respectively clip in tune with the guitar riff. The opening ends with the full fifteen standing in frame.

Eric PoV

How long had it been in reality? A couple minutes? An hour? Or perhaps even a day? I knew not for sure, but surprisingly, after what seemed to me like only but a moment, I could process that I was conscious at last. I could feel the pain ripple through my head, growing in intensity the more my consciousness came to me. How this came to happen, I wasn't certain. A quick search of the inner confines of my memory unearthed a helpful detail: the crash. Not as clear as I would have preferred, but I could discern that we were falling out of the sky like a meteorite. The perpetual whirl, shifting colours of white and blue, both dark and light. And then all of a sudden… it stopped. Everything in an instant just went to black. From that point forward to now, my memory failed me.

I blinked a couple of times with hesitance, wincing at the intensity of the light that invaded my retinas. Gods above, I prayed it wasn't yet another concussion. As if I didn't already have enough problems. My muscles, while with a bit of struggle, managed to get me to a sitting position so that I could see what it was that was around me. A sudden sharp sensation ripped through my midsection, prompting me to clasp a hand over the area in response. The hand that rose up made contact with a piece of splintered wood, stained red from the contents of my body.

Without a word, I hissed sharply as I removed the plank from my torso and discarded it. It hadn't been too deeply embedded, but it certainly would amount to tremendous blood loss if I had left it unattended. Thus I would prioritize finding something to halt the bleeding. I took only a single look around, and my eyes widened in surprise once they processed the fact that there were two other unfortunate souls who fell along with me. The two figures were of one male and one female. The male had white hair and wore a thick dark cloak while the female wore thin, translucent robes. "Robin," I muttered. "Tharja…"

Removing my sword from my belt, I planted it into the ground to pull myself to my feet. I could feel my frame wobbling on two feet, but I righted myself quickly enough. Their bodies were still, their breathing even. That brought me a sigh of relief, at least they were only unconscious. Once the relief had its effect, I observed that there were a number of objects strewn across the area: namely Tharja's collection of magical tomes, as well as Robin's Arcthunder and his silver sword. However, in addition, I took in our terrain around us. The surrounding land, apart from rock formations, plateaus and the large, forest-laden trees off in the distance, the three of us were next to a dirt pathway, essentially out in the open in enemy territory.

"We must be in the province of DeLeon, if I can recall," I remarked, placing the weapon back in my belt. "Either that or Katal." Not a moment after the words left my mouth, I picked up the sound of footsteps. They weren't just any footsteps, I reckoned. They were… heavy. And irregular. Judging from the sheer weight the sounds conveyed, these were more likely soldiers than your average merchant. There had to be quite a number of people approaching, not to mention. And they weren't too far from here.

"I think the sound came from over here." Shit. I can't take them down with my wounds, as well as with unconscious comrades. I had to think fast. In my case… the word "think" was rather subjective here, as the only plan that came to mind wasn't a good one. Quickly, I took a fistful of Tharja's collar and I tucked Robin beneath the crook of the same arm, the adrenaline in my veins leaving me ignorant of the pain that shook my core. I ran across the pathway and dove down the other side, barely catching the three of us on a natural alcove as we hung from the steep incline out of sight. My muscles burned as I struggled to keep us from falling, and it only seemed to intensify once I recognized that the steps got louder and louder, then immediately stopped.

Go away, my mind screamed. I stared up at the fleeting clouds, silently and desperately hoping that their presence would fade off into the distance for who knows how long. My fingers, as much as I'd wished against it, they seemed to be slipping from the rocky surface. In order to keep our trio alive, however, I redoubled my grip and managed a stable setting. I cursed my inability to use flight in this situation, it would have made it so much easier. The problem with it was that it utilized wind magic, magic that no doubt would have detected by these soldiers. I remembered Raven telling me that it was standard issue for Pandorian militants to be able to sense magic.

From that note, my mind wandered to Raven. While I still had concern for the dark-haired mistress of death, I knew that if anyone were to be okay, it was Raven. That said, I couldn't say I felt the same about the others. Even Chrom was a big maybe.

Eventually, I turned my head back up to the cliff, the diminuendo of footsteps music to my ears. I almost let out a reflexive sigh of relief, but I caught myself, instead opting for a more silent fall of the head. Now I had to get the three of us out of this predicament.

"Urgh… damn it." I had both hands full: one to hold the cliffside, and one to hold Robin and Tharja. I wracked my brain to find any potential way to get the unconscious pair up onto the alcove safely, only reaching one potential idea. Carefully, I guided the dark mage's body in between my legs and wrapped them around her lithe form, holding her stable and freeing my hand. Now I could grasp Robin by the shirt and haul him up into the indent in the cliffside. The heavy bastard, that he was.

"Good. Now her," I muttered, grabbing Tharja by her collar and doing the same to her. Once I threw her up, I took hold of the ledge with both hands and climbed my way up with the unconscious duo, rolling onto my back and laying spread eagle on the cool stone bottom. I let my head fall to the side facing the opening, immediately reminded of the other pressing matter I had to deal with. A thin smear of blood along with the rippling, albeit somewhat subsided pain reminded me of the wound I was afflicted. Though it had decreased, I still had to stop the bleeding somehow. Without a second thought, I ransacked Robin's coat to come across a piece of cloth. It was rather thick-and unfortunately-white. Sorry Robin.

I pressed the cloth to my wound, watching the red liquid seep through the material. It wasn't enough.

A grimace appeared on my face and I let a sigh of exasperation leave me. Then again, I shouldn't have expected any less. It did hit just below the liver after all.

With a miniscule bit of fire magic-the smallest I could manage keeping concealed while still being effective-I rose the temperature of my metal arm, the limb glowing only the slightest bit red. I wasn't the best with precise magical control, admittedly, but hey, I was working on it. I had to keep myself silenced with the cloth the best I could as I placed the metal to my would, struggling as I gurgled out a series of guttural groans in pain. The blistering metal sizzled away, fortunately slowing the bleeding to a complete stop before long.

"Crisis averted," I sighed before dragging myself to the wall, laying up against it. "Now I just have to wait for the two to wake up." I closed my eyes and focused my breathing. What came to form an image was not the perpetual blackness I had expected, but rather a number of flickering flames. All of which were roughly the same size, none too extraordinary, and were spread out across the general vicinity.

"They're investigating the area," I surmised. "So they know we're here."

A pair of moans and the shuffling of clothing prompted me to turn my head towards the source, discovering that the Ylissean tactician and the Plegian dark mage had finally come to. Tharja held her head like she had the meanest of hangovers, while Robin rubbed away at his eye with his palm, like he had woken up for the first time in days. "Oww… what happened…?"

I placed a finger to my lips in urgency. "Keep your voices down and focus of suppressing your magic. I didn't risk plummeting to certain death so that you could blow our cover."

The platinum-blond narrowed his eyes. "Mind telling us where we are?" he asked in a whisper.

I cut off the magical flow to my metal arm, letting it gradually cool. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we've landed in Pandora, I am certain of it."

"And the bad news?"

I frowned, typing the borrowed fabric around my forehead. "As you can see, we've been separated from the rest of our group. What's more, we're in a rather compromising position. The crash site is basically a beacon to let others know we were here."

"I see. That's… rather troublesome." Robin pulled himself up to a sitting position with crossed legs. "Do you know how many there are up top?"

"I counted twenty," I responded, holding up the appropriate amount of fingers. "But there could be more, knowing our luck."

Robin patted himself down before his eyes widened in realization. "Where's my gear?"

"I had to leave it all up there," I sighed. "If I collected it all and tried to escape along with the two of you, I would have gotten caught."

Robin's brow furrowed in thought. "Hand me your dagger, Tharja." The dark mage complied, handing Robin the knife. With the instrument, Robin carved a small indent in the floor of the cave, as well as a line to mark the cliff we were on.

"A singular spot. That's where we are right now." Robin lifted his gaze to me before he offered me the knife. "Eric, please mark as accurately as you can the locations of all the scouts."

Taking the dagger from Robin's hand, I scratch out the positions of the soldiers the best I could. When finished, Robin appraised the impromptu floor map, more than likely trying to analyze the best way for escape without capture. When he gave such a dejected sigh, however, I could tell that he came up with a… less-than-savoury way out. "What's the plan?"

The platinum-blond grit his teeth. "Turns out we're fresh out of luck with our hand. Judging based on the position of the cliff versus the position of the numerous enemy soldiers, they more than likely have the path lined with men as they patrol the area."

Tharja bit her nail. "Which means that escape up top is next to impossible."

"Right. Not only would that take the three of us too long to climb up to the path, or the fact that it would be too difficult with this steep an angle, but even if we got to the path, they'd be on us faster than we could prepare ourselves," Robin concluded. "Considering the fact that Eric is the only one of us armed, we can't fight our way through. We'd give away our cover anyway if we were to start up a big ruckus."

I was beginning to grow impatient. "So then, what's our plan?"

The tactician sighed. "We have to go down the cliff."

I glared at him in disbelief. "Yeah, we'll just go down the cliff and kill ourselves," I scoffed sarcastically.

"I wasn't finished, I'm getting to it," Robin responded dryly. "They may be able to sense our presence if we utilize magic, but no matter how good their sensory capabilities, everyone has a limit to how far their capabilities stretch. An area-of-effect, so to speak. Understand what I'm getting at?"

I held a thoughtful pose for a brief moment, an epiphany coming to me quickly. "You're thinking of getting out of that particular range so that we can use magic undetected."

"If we can get far enough away, we could potentially fly to the next town or region over. The two of us need to restock on weaponry, and you" He gestured to the poorly treated injury I received, "need to get proper medical aid."

Ah, Robin. Your genius never ceases to amaze.

"Alright, but I'll need you on my back, Robin, and Tharja in my arms. I can't carry you both with just one or the other method," I told him with a tone one would associate with a complaint. "You two are too damn heavy."

"This is so embarrassing."

"I look like a damned princess in distress."

"Stop complaining. This is your boyfriend's plan, and the only way it can be executed."

And so that was how I ended up as a human ferry for the Ylissean Grandmaster and the Plegian Dark Mistress. With the former on my back and the latter in my arms, I took a few sharp breaths as I peered over the face of the cliff. Once I began to feel the breeze from our altitude and the howling of the winds, my breath grew rougher and rougher.

Wait. That wasn't mine that I heard. If that was the case, then those must have belonged to...

"Something wrong?" Tharja began. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts about your plan, love."

"I just realized something. I. Do not. Like heights," Robin gasped out, trying to keep my composure.

I rolled my eyes. "Calm down, I won't drop you," I huffed.

The snowhead wrapped his arms around my neck, making it and effort to keep his grip as tight as possible. "As long as you don't suffocate me, idiot!"

"Focus, you two."

The voice of Tharja pulled the two of us back into focus. I stepped up to the edge, preparing myself to take the jump. Receiving a nod from the dark mage, it was all on my go. "You guys ready? No going back now."

"Yeah," Robin said. "But whatever you do," he began as I took my running start, "Don't do anything ex-TRAAAAAA!" After I ran up to the ledge, I leapt off with the grace of a swan, flipping forward until I was falling feet-first. The ground below me, while I knew it was approaching, it seemed like it took an eternity to reach us. At least Robin's fear of heights was founded.

Speaking of which, the stunt that I pulled left the tactician in question very irate. "You fool! You could have sent us straight to our deaths! We're not in the position to play around with flips!"

"Shut UP!" I growled. Our descent continued until eventually I started channelling wind down towards my feet and propelling us forward. I made sure that we were well out of range before taking off, however. I needed to be extra careful, and the tactician's screaming didn't help. "Are you trying to get us spotted?!"

Just as I finished berating my passenger, I saw a flaming arrow fly right past me. Of course we were spotted.

I had the urge to pinch away at my nose to ward off the coming migraine, but with Tharja in my arms, I simply grit my teeth. "Robin, I swear once we get out of this I will kill you!" In lieu of a coherent verbal response, the usually collected and level-headed tactician sputtered out a whimpering mess of unintelligible gibberish. The sooner I got this lunatic off of my back, the better.

While on the topic, it wasn't before long that the three of us escaped out of sight and made it further down the path, around an hour's march away from where we all started. And with a less-than-delicate landing-me throwing Robin off at the last second while I crashed on my shoulder to lessen the impact on Tharja-the three of us rested a little bit to catch our bearings. Gone were the crags and cliffs of the mountainous pass, replaced by what seemed to be a rural village on a grassy plateau, topped off with some nearby woodland. The fatigue really begun setting in, and it was certainly no different for the other two. "Looks like we're safe, for now."

On Robin's end, ultimately, it seemed that he still had the energy left to blow his top. "Safe is highly subjective here. Trapped in an unknown place with a twisted maniac. And Tharja."

"Hey! You got a lot of nerve talking like that to the guy who saved your ass!" I snapped.

"You only got us out of that one scrap, and barely at that!" Robin barked back.

"Okay, girls, girls, you're both pretty," Tharja sighed with a roll of the eyes. "Now if you'll stop bickering like such, we have more pressing matters to attend to. We need to figure out where we are and go from there. It'd do us no good to just sit around waiting to be caught."

I pointed over Robin's shoulder behind him. "There's quite a large village there. Perhaps we could rest and gather some intel."

The platinum-blond crossed his arms once he spotted the civilisation. "They don't look like they would carry weapons, they're basically out in the boonies."

"Well, you'd be right." I patted him on the shoulder as I passed him. "But you seem to forget where we are. This is Pandora. Honestly, I'd be surprised if they DIDN'T have weapons to sell."

Robin tilted his head. "Come to think of it, during our escape, my eye did catch quite the number of mining sites around."

"Must have been the iron and coal mines. Which means we were around the third or fourth district of DeLeon's province."

"District?"

"Oh, right, I forgot." I glanced back at Robin. "Pandora is a large country divided into five main provinces: Xeldross, our capital. El Sol, the easternmost state, our breadbasket. Barceis in the northeast, and our smallest of the five provinces. Katal, the largest province in land mass, mainly rural, but has its fairly densely packed areas. Finally, DeLeon. Mountainous, and rich in coal and iron."

I rose a finger in instruction. "Each of these provinces have five districts, and each one is run by a noble house. They, however, are run by what is called the governing house, who heads the five districts. Pandora has four of these governing houses for each province except Xeldross."

"I assume that's obviously where the throne is."

"Yeah," I replied. "And since Xeldross is the crown province, the only governing body there is the throne, which goes without saying, runs the entire country."

"Wonderful geography lesson," Tharja dismissed with an eye roll. "What's your point?"

"Uh, Robin was the one who asked me, thank you," I retorted with equal amounts of sarcasm. "But that brings up something more important. Districts 3 and 4 of DeLeon are somewhere closer to the eastern side of the province."

"And….?"

"Aaaaaand, that means we're closing in on the capital province. Where Say'ri is being held."

Robin nodded with slightly widened eyes. "How long would it take for us to get there?"

I scratched my head. "Hard to say, but based on a general estimate, we would probably reach by maybe two weeks on foot, give or take a day."

"Two weeks, huh?" Robin shook his head. "Let's hope we find the others soon. Three of us in enemy territory, it's suicide."

I raised a hand to my forehead. "Subterfuge is key, so just act normal."

It would not be long before the three of us reached the village on the way, where we would spend a bit of time resting, restocking, and the like. The sun was rather high in the sky still, just a little lower than the midday point. We had a little bit of time left before we even needed to consider going on the move again. So, while we had the mistress of time at our leisure, I gave Robin and Tharja some coin to purchase them new gear while I hobbled myself over to the local apothecary. Sure, my bleeding had stopped, and the wound was superficial at this point, but I didn't want to risk it getting infected or later on in or out of combat. I would assume not even that weird regeneration I had would stop nasty infections from surfacing. Nitpicks aside, I approached an ornately decorated hut that had chimes hanging from the roof.

Inside was a rather petite woman with hair tied up in a bun. She was very vibrant looking, and while I knew she was a handful of years older than me, she certainly maintained her age extremely well. She stood before her work table, salves and concoctions splayed all across its surface. Seems like she was ready for business.

I cleared my throat, getting the youthful lady's attention. "Hello there?"

Her small meek frame jumped. "O-oh, good day, sir! I-I didn't hear you enter! What brings you here?" she asked with a charming southern drawl.

"It's okay, I should have knocked." Waving my hand in dismissal to her apology, I closed the door behind me. "To answer your question, I was on my travels and I received a rather superficial wound. Nothing too threatening, but I would like to get it treated properly to prevent infection."

I grasped the hem of my shirt before lifting it up, revealing the wound to the lady, who subsequently nearly fainted on her feet. With a delicate touch, her dainty hands danced across the left side of my torso, right along the length of the laceration. "Superficial? Sir, how long have you had this?"

"Perhaps an hour or two?" I answered, phrased more like a question.

The woman's eyes widened considerably. "This is no simple scratch, it looks like a deep wound! I'm but a simple apothecary, no surgeon or cleric! You need stitches to sew the skin back together!"

"My lady, it's okay." Lowering my shirt, I moved to remove my belt and place it at the foot of her work table. "It's bleeding has stopped, the wound has been healing well. I just need it to be disinfected. Would that be out of the question?"

The woman gave me an apprehensive glance before reaching for a cloth. "I s'pose not. Please, grab a stool."

Conceding to her wishes, I sat down and removed my shirt. The lady submerged her cloth in one of the mixtures she had available before reaching to dab away at the blackened, hardened, cracked wound. Her brow wrinkled at the sight of the gruesome cut, eyebrows raising ever so slightly when she saw the small, nigh-unnoticeable specks of purple miasma traipsing around the inflicted area. "My, my, now what could you have possibly got yourself into to receive something like this?"

"I'm not sure," I replied between dabs, accompanied by winces. "I was just in my travels, blacked out, woke up with a two-by-four lodged in my gut. All in all, not my best day."

"I see." She dampens her cloth once more before wringing it out. "Lucky for you that you know how to treat a wound, primitive as the method is. But if this was the same day, your injury shouldn't be in nearly as good a condition as yours."

Reaching into her apron, she pulled out a roll of gauze to bandage up the disinfected flesh. "Still, even with your treatment and my handiwork, there's the bigwig town a lil more east of here you could get better treatment, right close to the capital province, that it is."

"Close to the capital, you say?" I perked up with intrigue. "Which reminds me… would you happen to notice any activity with the local military?"

The woman froze. "Now that ya mention it… our nation's been in a state of civil war o' sorts. Ever since the fall of the royal family nearly twenty years ago… the country's been unstable ever since. Through the downward spiral, the head of the right-hand house, the Gallos, has been able to keep it together, albeit barely. But…"

I tilted my head. "But…?"

"He's been overthrown and imprisoned by a rather stout man named Shuyo two years ago, and the country's been in civil war ever since. The man wasn't even subtle with it… rather, he explicitly admits it as some sort o' badge of honour. It's done nothin' but ravage our lands… Starve out the civilian population, leave everyone in poverty… It's become a war of attrition that the populace simply can't take."

Another revolution of the bandage had come full circle. "However, Zech saw the potential of this outcome. What's more, he truly believed that the blood prince… the TRUE next-in-line was still alive out there in the world, so he sent his son out of the country to find him prior to his imprisonment."

It took me only a split second to realize what it truly was that this woman was suggesting. She must have been referring to Raven. Not important, but still interesting to know the name of her father, as I hadn't known the man by name, and I barely remembered what he looked like. How Shuyo managed to drag Pandora of all nations to the brink of collapse within a short two year period is beyond me. Makes me want to snap his neck even more.

I clenched my fist before slamming it on the bench, shattering it to pieces. "Damn him!"

The lady flinched quickly, retreating right as she finished tightening the knot on the bandage. A rush of red flowed through my cheeks, embarrassed for not holding my anger in check. "Er, sorry for that, my lady. I'll shell out a few extra for that table."

I gave her a handful of gold, more than enough to cover for her table and service. "O-oh, well thank you, sir. Anyway, you should be fine for now. Don't push yourself too hard now. And good luck on your travels!"

"Thank you." With a curt nod, I put back on my shirt and my belt, the extra weight of my sword and other equipment swinging at my side. I was about to leave before I heard the ring of a sword being released from a sheath. So naturally, I whipped my body around only to see my sword in the hands of the maiden in my company. In her hands and beneath her focus, she analyzed the blade extremely closely.

"Hmm…" She held the blade out tip-first towards me. "You know, I've had my eye on this sword ever since you came in. This particular shade of purple… the curve, its single edge… Even its guard, the triangular sigil on it… It's a beacon for attention. Still, that would make things significantly more precise. Either A: you're a simple sellsword who may have killed the prince and took the royal blade as a spoil of war. Or B…"

A quick swipe upwards with the blade cut the cloth around my forehead in two, revealing my stamp and shocking the maiden with my sword. "Y-you're the actual prince… Eric Pandora…"

"Aw, crap."

The woman could not contain her elation. "Pardon my grievous manners, my young lord! My name is Lara. Oh, this is wonderful. Our lord has finally come back to us! I was but a piglet when you left us, not much older than you. Why, if I knew you'd grow up to be such a handsome young fellow, I would have taken my chances and left with ya!"

I scratched the back of my neck. "Flattering, but at the moment, I'm currently engaged, and with child no less. That's actually why I'm here."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, the bald bastard took her right from under my nose and I'm here to get her back. Whatever happens afterwards, well… we'll see."

The once exuberant apothecarist, now named Lara, shoots me a needled yet confused glare. "You mean, you haven't come back to us? Your home?"

"Home?" I snatched the sword out of her hands, careful to use my left hand so I didn't cut myself. "You mean the same home that would go so far as to blame an innocent child for the fall of a kingdom, and quite forcefully chase him out long before he'd even tasted his tenth birthday?" Eternity found its sheath once again as Lara's glare fell, her eyes reflecting an iota of regret and sympathy. "Knowing that I am truly alive would make them all try to brown-nose in repentance, which if I'm being honest, would be quite the ego boost. That said, the only reason why anyone would accept me now is in the hope that I drag Pandora out of the sorry state it's currently in."

I tore the door open, ready to walk out. "If the people so desperately want their king back… I will fight to save this country. However, upon my coronation, I expect no less than a formal apology on behalf of the councils for their incompetence. It's the very least they could do after trying to murder their crown prince." And with those words, I left the apothecarist alone, continuing onward with my journey.

Narrator PoV

Somewhere else, within the eastern mountain range of DeLeon, was a woman traipsing around on the back of a bear. Crossing over into what she had always remembered as the Lion's Mane, or Melena de León in her native tongue, she knew that she had been reaching incredibly close to the objective she had sought.

A dainty hand brushed against the smooth brown fur of her ursine steed. "Things are going well, aren't they?" Receiving a guttural growl in response, Raven hummed in contentment. "Fear not, gentle one. We will meet with the others soon enough." A dismissal snort was heard as their movement continued. "I just hope milord is okay…"

It had been maybe an hour or two since she had awoken herself, laying in a crater with nothing more than her lord's pet bear and whatever she had on her person. Since then, however, she made sure to drink in the view of her home country, she had missed it a substantial lot. It had been a rather long time since she had been here in the rugged land of Pandora, and that description applied to both the topography and demography of the nation, a remark the swordswoman giggled at internally.

As she marched onward, she caught a glimpse of a small guard that patrolled the border she was currently about to cross. However, in her years of military action, she hadn't seen this crop before. Now, one could argue it was simply because she hadn't been around in the last three years or so, but she had her eyes and ears all over the country, even in her absence. So she knew virtually everything that was going on within the bounds of the nation.

It also didn't help that this patrol guard also brandished their flag.

Their banner was a cool, almost mint green colour, with a white insignia on its face: two wolf heads facing away from one another, separated by a lance pointing downward in a diagonal fashion, making the insignia take on the shape of the letter 'Z'.

Raven narrowed her eyes in both observant thought and mild disdain. She knew what banner that was. It was the banner of the house in which Shuyo hailed from, House Tenochi. It was a minor, almost unremarkable noble house from the small northeastern province of Barceis. At least the intel was correct, she surmised with a frown on her face. From the position she was in, she had a fairly good view of the border patrol, not even two hours march away. If she were a betting woman-while she didn't gamble much, she had faith in her eyesight-she saw that they had mobilized in a formation unheard of for a simple patrol. Like they were in wait for something.

Raven clenched her jaw tightly. "Damn. He knows we're here…"

The Commander-General gripped the saddle tighter as she inched closer and closer. A pair of coughs escaped her, muscles tensing at the taste of metal in her mouth. Concerning in its own right, but not the time to worry about that. She would potentially have a fight of her own to come across.

Upon approach of the border, she was halted by the patrol guard, who were in a sort of defensive rally. She was right. "Halt! State your name and business!"

Hopping off of Mei Ling, Raven put on a sweet smile. However, deep down, she had every intention of killing them if need be. She knew very well that a battle was essentially inevitable. "Hello there, officers! How may I help you today?"

A rugged armoured man with stubble on his chin rose his hand in gesture. "You could start by identifying yourself, like we requested."

Still biding her time, Raven maintained her false grin. "Oh, I am simply a wandering merchant peddling my wares!"

Some of the men snickered rather menacingly, others in a more amused manner. One of the former approached Raven, standing right in front of the lady. "A merchant, huh? Is that why you carry a sword on you?"

"Excuse me for having half a mind in recognition that this country is in trying times," Raven replied, voice sweet as sugar. "A sweet young lady like me needs to have some sort of protection."

"And your clothing, your robes. They don't look like something your everyday merchant would wear."

Raven crossed her arms with posh that rivalled Maribelle. "No rule saying I can't look good while doing so. Also just so happens that I have a problem with self-indulgence."

The man simply nodded, his previous grin becoming a frown. "I suppose you make a good point. Now tell me your name, wandering traveller."

Raven said nothing, instead she moved her finger to gesture the officer to lean in forward, which he had obliged. "Well, if you must know…"

A loud squelch could be heard as the man grunted in pain. All men held up their weaponry, ready to fight. "...my name is Raven Gallo."

Removing her hand, she let the man drop dead before swiping her hand clean of his blood. All who were present at the patrol were taken aback, some were even looking as if they were ready to turn tail and run. They all had fear written on their clear on their face, they knew exactly who it was they were messing with. Not any simple merchant, but rather the Commander-General of Pandora.

Raven drew her sword. "Now then… which one of you degenerates are first?"

"Grrr! How dare you!" One man in the back growled. "Either turn back or die!"

"An ultimatum, huh? I love ultimatums," Raven responded. "Here's mine: Men, either die to your leader for insubordination, or die to me. Your choice."

An air of despair looming over the patrol group, the men looked between one another before they focused their gaze on Raven. A single gulp was heard, echoing throughout the silence of the mountain range as muscles tensed, anticipating the next move until suddenly, with a hive mind, they all attacked.

"Deep end it is," Raven huffed as she readied her blade. Angling her sword arm back with her free hand gliding along the flat of her sword, she laid in wait as the others charged her. "Shirotōryu: Gyaku Karasu no Jutsu(White Sword Style: Reverse Crow Technique)!" In a blinding flash of movement, a mere blink of the eye, Raven darted forward like an arrow, killing nearly twenty men in a single movement. Crimson mist sprayed all around, permeating the area with a thick, steely fog as the bodies hit the floor.

Raven grinned at the shock and ire written on the platoon's faces. "Consider that but a warning shot. Stand down, or the rest of you-"

A sudden sharp pain shot through Raven's body before she began convulsing heavily, falling into an intense coughing fit as she crumpled to one knee. The remains of the enemy platoon, while confused, decided to take advantage of the weakness in the swordswoman. "Apologies, milady, what was that?" the bearded man from before asked maliciously. "I couldn't quite hear you over the sound of the coughing fit you just had. Please, do speak up."

But Raven could not. Dry hacks turned into bloody coughs, staining her palm red when she tried to cover her mouth. 'Damn, not now,' she cursed internally. She looked at the blade she had used to support herself. Raven feared it hadn't come to pass, but she knew it. This was the price for what could be considered her inhuman power.

Uramasa was no laughing matter.

More blood was expelled from her body as the aged man kicked Raven in the chest, sending her tumbling back. The pain was minimal, however, drowned out by the sensation she felt burning through her entire body. Soon enough, her vision began to blur as she saw the elderly figure loom over her. Lecherous laughter, clanking of metal boots approaching ever so daunting… and then screams. Were they hers? No, Raven was for sure that her mouth wasn't even open, let alone screaming. What's more, they were far more masculine than she remembered her voice being.

It had to have been those men, she assumed. It couldn't have been anyone else. But why did they scream in such agony?

"Men! Subdue this wretch!" she heard the commanding officer bark. Yet as moments passed, they never got to her. Instead, what should have been a struggle to detail her was replaced with utter silence, save for a pair of light boots and a young lady's voice who sounded rather miffed.

"Gods, I can't believe these brutes!" she said. "Well, I suppose that's what I get for doing my hair like this. Not very combat appropriate."

Raven said nothing as unconsciousness took her. If this was a person with good intentions, she would happily give in and let this woman do what she willed. If she was of the enemy… well, Raven figured she had a good run. The last thing the swordswoman felt before slipping away was her arm being draped over shoulder.

"She's surprisingly light," the masked woman remarked. "To think this is the woman here to protect Dad…"

Her eyes fell towards the sword that Raven had been holding previously. "No… if it weren't for whatever that thing was doing to her… she'd have no problem." Making sure that this wouldn't fall into the wrong hands, the woman picked up the sword with cloth to protect from direct contact, and sheathed it before taking off, Mei Ling following not too far behind.

"I know where she is being held," the masked woman thought aloud. "I can take you right to her… right after I treat you. Your body isn't in good shape, Auntie…"

FD: I know someone is particularly happy about the end little bit. Even though I kind of rushed it on a fleeting whim of motivation.

Tychon: *squeals uncontrollably*

FD: Until next time, when we follow Cordelia, Chrom, Olivia, and Mikalus on their journey to the capital.