Yay! Update time! Sigh...it's so hard to write about snow in your story when it's eighty-plus degrees outside...
Mihara: You'll survive.
Me: That reminds me...why have you suddenly popped up? I was trying to make this a one-sided a/n this time around...
Mihara: Beats me. You're the one behind the keyboard.
Me: ...That's true...
Mihara: It's probably because you can't help yourself.
Me: Maybe not. Anyway, stop bothering me! I'm going to answer reviews now!
Mihara: Hey, you're the one making me 'bother you'.
Me: ...Whatever!
TheSilverHairedMaiden: I'm sorry. I thought I was being somewhat clear about the flashbacks and stuff. Everything that's a flashback is in bold. (And it's EGP) You're, like, the first reviewer who doesn't know me personally that said you wouldn't want a Reyson/Mihara! I'm sorry, I find that funny! At first, everyone was like "YOU GIVE US REYSON AND MIHARA" but now, they're, like, diehard Ranulf/Mihara! Makes me happy. Thanks for reviewing!
Chef Colette: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Everything will slowly unfold in time... Many thanks for your review!
Ethereal Thoughts: (looks at your review) Sentence, enterenter. Sentence, sentence, enterenter...etc. Haha! ;) Well, I'm awesome. That's how I'm able to keep up with my characters. Not to mention, they're not all in one place at the same time...for very good reason. There's like...fifty? Not including my people? Something like that. You should type more. Or else I'll sic one certain tuba player on you! (innocence) Or I'll beat you at Ninja... Have no fear! The action is coming! ...Just not necessarily this chapter! (laugh) Yaysy for your review!
Predator Drone: Haha, "Zelena is alive! Well, sorta." Here is the next chapter...wait no longer! Thanks for reviewing!
knowlee: Yes, I would never shun Ranulf for two chapters in a row. His name must at least be mentioned, mwahaha. I'm glad you liked the chapter, and you're another Shoen/Sylvia supporter? Hehe, you will all be so shocked if the owner of Sylvia gets their way... (evil smirk) Thanks for your review!
Iline: I'm sorry you didn't get to be the hundredth review. =( And I'm also sorry, but nothing...major...happens in this chapter.
Mihara: She's lying-!
Me: Hey! Shut up! Anyway, thanks for reviewing!
VolcanoGoddess: Yay, Gladys reviewed! (smile) I luvvers you...hehe. Thankies for reviewing! Now you don't need to buy me a candy bar anytime soon!
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Fire Emblem... I own the plot...and...a lot of characters... Yep. ARGH, SUCCESSOR, STOP DISTRACTING ME SO I CAN FINISH THIS!
XxXxXxX
Chapter 28
Mihara's eyes snapped open and the first thing she saw were the worried faces of her brother and her friend. Sylvia smiled with relief. "You're awake! What the hell happened to you?"
"Hnn..." Mihara rubbed her aching head and muttered, "Good question..." However, she suddenly froze. Her entire body tensed up. She remembered...her mother...and her mother's message.
Shoen saw his sister tense up and inquired softly, "Mihara, what's wrong?"
"Dad..." Mihara sat up quickly. "I need to see Dad...! Where is he?!"
"He just left, milady. He's outside with Janaff and Ulki, observing training," the healer reported from across the room, Irea standing beside her.
"I need to talk to him-!" Mihara tried to jump up, but she felt lightheaded as soon as she stood. She almost felt faint again. Shoen put his hands on her shoulders, guiding her back down onto the bed.
"Mihara, you need to take it easy. What could be so important? Did...she do this to you...?" There was traceable anger in Shoen's voice.
"N-no..." Mihara shook her head. "It wasn't her...but it was someone..."
"Who?" Sylvia frowned.
Mihara fell silent. She hesitated, then politely said to the healer and Irea, "Would you two mind leaving the room?"
"Of course not..." they answered. They quickly made their way to the doors and closed them behind them.
Once they were gone, Sylvia asked her again, "Who was it?"
She looked up at the two. "It was...Mom."
Those three words stunned Shoen and Sylvia into silence before they both gaped. "What?"
"How is that possible?!" Shoen added. "Mom's..."
"No, Shoen..." Mihara's voice slightly cracked. "She's not dead. Ashera stole her soul."
The son of Tibarn blinked with confusion. "No...how...? Why...?"
"Are you...positive that it was her...?" Sylvia sat on the bed next to her friend.
"I'm positive! I need to go talk to Dad...! But talking to Mom just made me...so tired...!"
To Shoen and Sylvia, Mihara sounded as though she were desperate. They looked at each other, then sighed with defeat. Shoen took one of Mihara's arms and put it across his shoulder and supported her. "Okay...I'll get the whole story when you tell Dad..."
"Thank you..."
Shoen brought Mihara outside, having to support her the entire way with Sylvia closely following them. Instead of taking her outside, however, Shoen brought her up to her room, let her sit on her bed, and went out onto her balcony. He glanced around, not seeing his father, Janaff, or Ulki anywhere nearby. When it looked as though Shoen was about to take off into the air to look for them, Mihara said, "Wait. You can just call for Ulki... He'll hear..."
"Oh...yeah, that's true..." Shoen turned to his sister, then back to the landscape, speaking aloud for Ulki to hear him.
Sylvia quietly asked, "Do you want me to leave?"
Mihara scoffed. "Of course not. You can stay."
"Heh...okay..."
Within a half minute, Tibarn appeared before Mihara's balcony, flapping his wings to keep himself airborne. "Ulki said you needed me?"
"Yeah, umm..." Shoen backed away so that his father could land. "Mihara...kinda has something she needs to tell us."
As he landed on the balcony, Tibarn demanded, "What is it? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah... Well, you see, Dad... Just now...I had...a vision. Like how Ashera talks to me."
Tibarn raised an eyebrow, listening intently to his daughter.
"Only...it wasn't Ashera that spoke to me."
"...Then who was it? Yune?"
"No..." Mihara inhaled deeply. "Mom."
Tibarn's face instantly became stone-like. His entire body froze while what Mihara said sank in. He softly asked, "How... How is that possible?"
"She isn't dead, Dad. Ashera took her soul."
Tibarn's eyes flashed. "What?"
"Mom said...before she passed on, Ashera took her soul. She said she's been kept a prisoner ever since and could only just now contact one of us."
The Hawk King's face displayed an undescribable fury. He turned around and pointed out, "How do you know it wasn't Ashera?"
"Mom told me to tell you that...you didn't fail her. And that you, Shoen, and I were all together again."
Once more, Tibarn froze, and for a moment, breathing became hard for him. When he caught his breath, he inquired gently, turning back around, "...What else did she say?"
"That she could be brought back." Mihara's voice became hopeful again, like it had when she was speaking with Zelena. "That either Ashera, or maybe Yune, could recreate her body, but her soul would have to be released again...I think."
The other three present in the room looked at Mihara with wide eyes. Shoen was first to find his voice. "...Really?"
His sister nodded. "That's all she managed to tell me. She said that she can only speak to me for short periods at a time."
After she said that, silence fell in the room between the four of them.
XxXxXxX
"Lady Ashera...are you sure you are prepared to try?" Ian followed behind the goddess while she walked to the center of her chamber.
"I am. I feel that this will be a successful trial. Now that I have obtained young Mihara's bond, I can open a portal to the other world. However, once I am there, I will need to test my powers to make sure there won't be a problem." A smirk came to Ashera's lips.
"I see."
Ashera stopped just short of the middle of her chamber and faced Ian. "Ian...you have been a loyal and trustworthy subject. Reward will soon come to you, despite the fact that you failed to kill the Hawk King's daughter. With the help of the Hawk King's wife...young Mihara will die, soon enough."
"Thank you, Lady Ashera." Ian bowed his head.
"Now...you may want to step back. I am not sure how this will affect the room," Ashera advised, turning back around. Once Ian had obeyed, she took one more step, a magic circle formation appearing on the floor. Lights began flashing brightly and wind even began howling in the chamber.
XxXxXxX On Earth... XxXxXxX
Harmony sighed, long and hard. The sky was rumbling and the stormclouds were a dark, dangerous gray. She had gone up to the barn to feed their horses, Rex following her. However, it had started to pour and Harmony didn't feel like running down to the house and getting soaked in the process. It was just another night, getting stuck up at the barn. It wasn't anything new. Although, the lightning was bad and the wind was picking up. She hoped they weren't expecting any tornadic activity...
She stood to the entrance to the barn, watching the rain pour down. Behind her, the horses and Rex were all beginning to become restless and even began to panic a little. She turned and looked at them and told them, "Hey, guys. Calm down. It's not that bad."
Just as she finished her sentence, there was a nearby flash of lightning, followed immediately by a deafening clap of thunder, causing Harmony to jump. Her heart raced at how close that was and slightly leaned her head out the doorway, looking to see if it had struck a tree or something. She squinted her eyes. She did see anything that was burning or that anything new had fallen. However, she saw... Was that a person?!
Indeed it was. The figure was that of a woman with long, flowing red hair. Harmony then saw her clothes as she floated towards her. Her eyes then widened with fear and she froze. It's not possible...! How could she possibly...?!
As she drew nearer, Rex whimpered and backed away with his tail tucked in between his legs. Harmony stumbled backwards, her mouth gaping slightly. Ashera was suddenly before her, looking over her.
"Hmm...a beorc?" An evil smile danced across her lips. She pointed a finger at Harmony. "I suppose you'll be my experiment.
"N-nooo!!!"
XxXxXxX
Tibarn had left to go back and supervise the training, even though his attention was obviously elsewhere. Shoen, too, had wandered off somewhere, and Sylvia and Mihara decided to go back outside so that Sylvia could practice her magic. And so...
"Sweet goddess-!" Mihara jumped. "If you aim at me one more time, I'm going to kill you!"
Sylvia grinned sheepishly (for the umpteenth time). "I'm sorry! That's why I'm practicing! I don't know how in the world to control it."
"How about you not look at me?" Mihara's eyes narrowed.
Her friend shrugged. "Worth a shot, I suppose." She turned and looked back down at her book. "Lemme see now..." She spoke another word.
"Yah-!" Mihara yelped. "...Sylllviiiaaa..."
"Heh...hehe...Whoops." Sylvia turned her head and smiled at her friend innocently.
"Why, I oughta...!"
"It's not my fault!" Sylvia cried again. "Nobody's taught me! Nobody's nearby to teach me! Ilyana was sick!"
Mihara made a pouty face, shoved her hands into her jacket pockets, and sighed. She looked around at all the spots where the snow had melted from Sylvia's lightning bolts. She then happened to glance towards the castle, where she saw a wingless figure approaching them. Sylvia looked, as well, and droaned, "Oh...here she comes."
"A different target aside from me." Mihara smiled to herself. "Yes!"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you want me to hit her."
"...Better her than me, in my opinion. This friend has taken enough abuse."
Sylvia laughed. "Whatever!"
Irea, dressed in a thick golden jacket, smiled at the two. "Umm...hello. I'm not interrupting, am I?"
"Nope, nope. Not at all. Sylvia here just needs some target practice." Mihara smirked at Irea.
The young branded girl's eyes widened. "Wha-what? Target practice? But-but-!"
"She was kidding," Sylvia assured.
"...Oh. I see." Irea smiled, chuckling slightly.
"Although...have you seen my brother?" Mihara inquired, Sylvia raising a confused eyebrow at the question.
"I'm afraid I haven't. I believe I may have agitated him slightly..." Irea trailed off, her face slightly worried.
"Agitated him? How so?"
"Well, I'm just very insistant on repaying my debt... He brushes it off, but it is a big deal to me."
"Oh, that. Don't worry about it. He's just not used to people like that. For that matter, neither am I..."
"Of course you aren't," Sylvia said, scoffing.
"Heyyy..." Mihara glared at her playfully.
"But if I may ask, why are you looking for him?" Irea pondered.
"Oh. Hehehe..." Mihara grinned evilly and bent down, collecting a mound of snow, patting it together tightly, forming a snowball. "He needs to experience a snowball fight with Sylvia and I."
"I see. Well, he will more than likely fly by sooner or later."
Mihara shrugged. "I suppose so." Her eyes widened and Irea and Sylvia could practically see the light bulb above the Hawk Princess's head. "If that's the case..."
The two shuddered at her face.
XxXxXxX Not too far in the future... XxXxXxX
Shoen shivered slightly as he flew out towards the white, snow-covered fields, pulling his jacket closer to him. Even though he hadn't layed around too long, he felt antsy...he didn't want to sit still. He frowned slightly. That girl he had saved – Irea – had not been in the castle when he left for his flight, nor were Sylvia or Mihara. So, he had concluded that at least his sister and his (crazy) friend were out in the fields so that Sylvia could practice some magic-
Thump.
"Agh, what the-?!" Shoen jumped, looking down towards the ground, having been assaulted by a snowball. However, all he saw was the mound of large rocks and boulders that he, Mihara, and Sylvia had gone to the first time for Sylvia to practice her magic. The second he turned around to glance behind him, yet another one hit him, on his leg. Then, he heard, "Alright, get him!"
Recognizing the voice as his sister's, Shoen turned back to the rocks, only to see about six young laguz laughing, holding armfuls of snowballs, Mihara, Sylvia, and Irea behind them, making the snowballs. Shoen grinned. "Whose idea?"
The children simlutaniously said, "Lady Mihara's!"
"How did I know?"
Mihara beamed with the best angelic face she could make. She then chucked a large snowball at him, hitting him in the shoulder. "Come down here and fight like a man!"
The children, too, began throwing snowballs, all excited. Many hit the Hawk Prince, and he laughed, trying to block some. "Ah, no, please! It's too much! I can't take it!" He made his way to the ground and scooped up some snow of his own, patting it together.
The children squealed and scattered as Shoen threw the snowball, which hit Sylvia instead. She blinked with surprise, for she obviously didn't see it coming. Her eye then twitched. "Oh, now you're gonna get it. Ammo!" she demanded, holding out a hand, only to have a large snowball placed there.
Shoen flinched, getting ready to dodge. Sylvia brought her arm back to throw the object hard at Shoen. However, she didn't see the puzzled figure behind Shoen, who was wondering what was happening. She only found out when she threw the snowball. Shoen ducked, practically falling to the ground, and the snowball hit the King of the Skies directly in the face. Everyone's eyes widened and they all froze with fear, their mouths gaping. Tibarn stood there, registering what had just happened. He slowly brought his hand up and wiped the snow off his face.
Sylvia stuttered, "Oh, K-King Tibarn... I'm so sorry... I didn't s-see you there..."
Tibarn remained silent and entered a deadlock with Sylvia. Then, in one swift motion, with a grin on his face, he bent down and gathered up snow, forming a snowball and throwing it. Not even having time to move, it hit his daughter in her stomach. She yelped and held the offended part of her body before throwing another snowball, the children emerging from their hiding spot behind the rocks to join in on the fun again.
XxXxXxX
Elincia sighed and stretched her limbs. She had just come out from yet another meeting with the nobles to deal with a slight food shortage in a rural village. Day after day, it seemed like, all she was doing now was attending meetings. She'd hardly shared a word with even Lucia for the past four days. She felt exhausted.
"Elincia? What's the matter?" Geoffrey's voice inquired from behind her, his footsteps indicating that he was approaching her.
The young queen turned and faced him as he stopped just in front of her. "Ah, it's nothing, really. I may sound selfish for saying this, but I feel like a short break. Things have been rather hectic around here for a while..."
Geoffrey gave his queen and friend a warm smile and walked even closer to her before taking her hands. "Then take a break. Surely the nobles can handle things without you for a day or two."
Elincia flushed lightly and for some reason, her heart began beating faster and a knot formed in her throat. She never realized how nice Geoffrey smelled once he cleaned up. The young general was almost always in his armor, even in peacetime. However, he had apparantly chosen this particular day to shed his armor. He was wearing a comfortable-fitting black shirt on, along with a pair of dark blue pants that hung over his boots. Still, Elincia leaned forward into his chest. "No...I'll be okay. Things should start settling down soon enough. I knew things would be like this from time to time when I accepted the position of queen. But thank you for worrying about me, Geoffrey."
"Well, one of us has to." Geoffrey chuckled lightly.
"YAAAHHH!! TAKE THIS, OSCAR!!" a familiar voice belonging to a certain knight named Kieran rang throughout the halls of the castle.
After a moment's silence, once the echoes faded, Geoffrey sighed into Elincia's hair. "By the goddess, will he ever stop...?"
"C'MON, OSCAR! DON'T LET HIM BEAT THE STUFFIN' OUTTA YA!"
"Oh, my. It sounds like Marcia's in on it, now." Elincia laughed. "Shall we go watch?"
"If you wish." Geoffrey continued to hold Elincia's left hand as they walked down the hall, heading towards the training courtyard. "Never a dull moment here, is there?"
"Of course not. But I prefer it that way. It's relaxing, in a sort of way, to me..."
Elincia and Geoffrey came to a balcony that overlooked the training courtyard, and they watched. As usual, Kieran was forcing Oscar to spar with him, both on horseback and bearing their wooden weapons. A small group had gathered – Marcia, Devdan, Astrid, Lucia, Makalov (who was betting on the winner), and Bastian. At the moment, it appeared as though Kieran had the upper hand, but Oscar was keeping his cool.
He blocked a hard blow from Kieran's axe, and swung his lance at his fellow knight. It barely grazed Kieran's armor, sending the hotheaded knight into a frenzy. "Arghhh!" He began swinging his axe more viciously, intent on striking Oscar. "Curse you, Oscar! Even if you ARE my rival, I cannot believe that you landed such a blow upon me!"
"...I barely touched you," Oscar muttered.
"Sounds like someone's a sore loser!" Marcia called.
Kieran turned to face Marcia with a fire in his eye. "What...?!"
Oscar took that opportunity to aim his wooden lance at Kieran's chest. The redheaded knight froze before slowly turning his head. Amazingly enough, good-naturedly, he said, "Blast. You win again, Oscar."
Oscar withdrew his lance and held out his hand. "It was a good match, Kieran."
Kieran grinned and shook his hand. Then, he pointed a finger, "HOWEVER! Do not think this means we are friends!"
The green-haired knight rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
As the two began dismounting, a fierce gust blew through the area before lightening up. All present frowned with confusion. They had never had a gust in the training courtyard before – or wind, for that matter. Lucia turned to Bastian. "Hey, if you wanted to interfere, don't you think that you're a little delayed?"
Bastian's face was as puzzled as everyone else's. "Dear Lucia, it is not I."
There was yet another strong gust that even spooked Oscar and Kieran's horses. This time, it did not die away. It stayed strong, blowing steadily. Up on the balcony, Geoffrey pushed Elincia behind him. "What is this?"
"It feels like magic...but on an enormous scale," Elincia whispered to him.
Becoming suspicious, the Royal Knights all grabbed their nearby weapons and stood, looking about, on guard. Suddenly, there was a flash of light, causing everyone to shield their eyes, and the wind was gone. Cautiously, they all turned to the center of the courtyard. There, laying unconscious, was a female otter laguz. She had shining silver hair and a slightly petite figure. She had a baby blue tank top on, along with a pair of brown breeches. Around her neck was a silver choker, and she had a silver armband on her left arm. Her ears and tail were the same color silver as her glimmering hair. Oscar and Kieran, being closest, slowly approached her, their grips not loosening on their weapons.
"This is strange on a whole new level," Oscar muttered.
"Agreed." Kieran turned to look at his queen. "Queen Elincia! What should we do with her?! She is breathing!"
Elincia stepped back beside Geoffrey and examined the unconscious laguz. "...Bring her inside and allow her to be tended to!" she ordered.
"At once, my queen!" Kieran nodded at Oscar, and the two set their weapons down before leaning down.
She had no visable wounds to the two. Oscar offered, "I'll carry her to the infirmary."
"Right."
XxXxXxX The next morning... XxXxXxX
"Gah-!!" The unidentified otter laguz flew up out of the infirmary bed, beads of sweat upon her brow, her hands clenched tightly.
Her suddenly awakening startled the healer who had been tending to her, for her hand was over her chest while she caught her breath. The otter woman demanded, "Where...where am I?"
"Ah...please try to relax. You're in Castle Crimea. Please wait while I get Her Majesty."
The otter's baby blue eyes widened with shock and disbelief. Before she could stutter out, "Wha-?!", the healer was gone.
What the...what the hell...?! This can't be! How the freakin' hell would I be-?! ...Wait...
Ashera...she was there. But...why did she...? How did she...?
Moments later, the healer returned with none other than Queen Elincia, Geoffrey behind her. The knight waited at the door while Elincia walked towards the otter. "I am Queen Elincia of Crimea. What is your name?"
"You're...you're Elincia...? Er, Queen Elincia...?"
"Umm, yes. And you are?"
The otter began laughing weakly. "This can't be happening. First her, now me?"
Elincia frowned with confusion. "I beg your pardon?"
"I'm sorry to confuse you, but do you know a Mihara?"
Suspiciously, Elincia nodded. Finally, Geoffrey demanded coldly, "Her Majesty has asked your name. Answer her."
The otter's eyes narrowed and turned downward. "I'm Harmony."
XxXxXxX
I shivered and pulled my covers over my head. It was way too flippin' cold for this time in the morning for me to get up. Satisfied with that thought, I attempted to go back to sleep. However, things just don't go my way sometimes.
My door swung open and who else would pop in but Sylvia at such an outrageous time. "Miharaaa, c'mooonnn, get up, get up, get up!"
"Nngh...why should I?" I muttered to her. I was so warm...I swear that if she takes my blanket, I will gut her.
She walked closer to me and when I cracked one of my eyes open, I could see her figure above my bed. "Because!"
"Ughhh, that's not a reason! My birthday isn't until tomorrow – you have no good reason to wake me up now!" Hey, it was the truth.
"Pleeeaaassseee, Mihara? It's important, I promise."
Important? I sighed. Important could be so many things. "Care to be a little more specific?"
"Nope! C'mon, up, up, up!"
"Alright..." I groaned, not moving. I was still recovering from yesterday's snowball fight. Dad wasn't throwing as hard as he could've been, but I was still sore. Note to self: build a giant snowman next time. Much safer. ...Maybe. Well...probably not-
OHMYGODDESSFREAKINGCOLD!!!
Sylvia had torn the blanket off of me, letting frigid air wake me up. She saw my look of death I gave her and my messy bed-hair hanging in my face only added to it before squeaking and running out of the room.
Urgh. I'm gonna kill her.
Since I was awake, I went ahead and got dressed (very quickly) and brushed my hair, not bothering to braid it again. I walked out of my room and looked around for the girl who I was gonna kill, just to see her standing at the very end of the hall, Reyson beside her with a blank stare as she rambled on and pointing my direction. Of course, the only words I caught were "she's gonna kill me".
I dragged my feet their direction, stretching and sighing long and hard. Sylvia must've found a secret thing of caffine or something. She's not usually this perky in the morning. As I drew closer, Sylvia hid behind the heron, Reyson grinning at me. "Not a morning person, huh?"
"You weren't involved in that snowball fight yesterday," I retorted.
"Thankfully," I heard him mutter under his breath. Haha, I had tried to get him in on it when he had wandered out to see what had happened to everyone. But, naturally, he just flew the other direction. Party pooper.
Then, I smirked and said, "Here, Reyson. You have something clinging to your back. Let me get it off for you."
"No!" Sylvia practically sobbed, which made me snicker. "He," she pointed at Reyson, "and Shoen needed to talk to you! It was them! They acted through me!"
"Oh, really?" I droaned, pretending not to believe her.
She stuck her tongue out. "Yes, really!"
"How old are we turning this year?" I grinned at her.
"Oh, shut up, meanie! I'm going to find some breakfast!" Sylvia walked down the stairs to the first floor, keeping an eye on me, as though I were about to attack her.
Well, I would. Later.
I looked back at Reyson. "You and Shoen wanted to talk? About what?"
Reyson smiled...though it seemed a little evil... "Follow me."
Oh boy. This can't be good. Still, I followed him back down the hall towards Shoen's room.
XxXxXxX
And this concludes chapter 2-8! Party, party!
Mihara: ...O.o...what the...?!
Me: Sylph is happy because she got accepted to a rare event called Commissioner's School of Excellence! Apparantly, it's rare, and my county is the only one that offers it on the east coast... I didn't know that... But now I do! So, for two weeks during the summer, I will be unable to review. There is no technology that I will be in contact with.
Mihara: Not that that's much of a difference. You take about a month to review sometimes.
Me: Well, during summer, I will be writing more! Anyway, you all know the drill! Please review! I love my reviews. =)
Mihara: Wait, what the hell's up with Harmony?! Otter laguz?! What the-... Ugh, she's gone...
