A/N This little writing is turning into a sort of diary. Second and last chapter update for tonight. I don't know when I'll next update, and I've decided not to make any more promises. They always get broken anyways… I don't own Fire Emblem or any of its alternate timeline forms.
The children's departure only signalled the beginning of the fight. With the portal open to the alternate timeline, there was a chance for Grima to be stopped before he became a real threat. Before he ruined everything.
The people who stayed back had one task: at all costs, defend the portal. One slip-up could cost them all of their efforts. It would only take one agent of Grima to pass through, and the Fell Dragon could be reawakened and the future would repeat itself.
Lissa tried her best. She did, she did, she really did. But no matter how often she casted her healing magic, the Risen's numbers overwhelmed the guards. Injury after injury, the sages were just too spread out. One by one the healers were taken out. The remaining Ylisseans dropped like flies. She felt useless.
Fifty-six fighters for Ylisse on their feet, fifty-six fighters for Ylisse… Take one down, corpses abound, they bleed and they bleed till the blood runs out.
So she stopped.
She discarded the healing staves and picked up a fallen comrade's fire tome. Lissa scanned the runes inscribed-Arcfire, and she surveyed the great hallway before unleashing the devastating magic. If everyone died in this defense, it would be worth it so long as none of Grima's forces made it to the other realm.
The dark hallway was lit up solely through moonlight. With her fire magic, it resembled a hell on earth. Allies and foes alike fell in droves after that, and with each loss on her side, the good side, Lissa became more and more numb. She ran on adrenaline alone and persevered through any wounds she sustained.
Die, die, die, die, all of you, die.
Lissa remembered a night, so long ago, when the world was sane, Grima was a mere shadow, and everyone she loved was alive. That one night, the three of them and him were traveling to Ylisse when the first Risen attack had happened. She allowed herself a rueful smile at the memory. She had been so scared, so weak, and unable to do anything but cower from the monsters and shoot a healing spell from the sidelines.
Now was her atonement for being weak. The blonde woman chanted the incantation for Arcfire, the flames licking her bloodied and cut fingertips. She spun and shot the spell towards a Risen axewielder.
The axewielder faltered from the force of the spell, but quickly recovered and lumbered towards the mage. The portal behind her illuminated the cadaver's expressionless face in a sea of greens and blues.
It looked just like the portal that the Risen and a lost princess fell through so long ago, a portal in the sky. The lost princess had appeared by her side then, and fought off the threat. Lissa felt the sting of tears and hurriedly blinked them away. Not here, not now, she worried. I have to keep myself in control, just a little longer! For the children!
Because in this world, the Ylissean princess could not afford to play the damsel in distress any longer. In this world, there was no happy ending, and there was no mercy. Blue hair and a blue butterfly mask ripped at her memory, and Lissa could feel the lines between reality and fantasy blurring once more. Defiance coursed through her veins.
"No!" Lissa yelled. She blasted another potent Arcfire at the Risen. The monstrosity was engulfed in fire and flame, the smell of cooking flesh filling the air before the cadaver turned to smoke. When it disappeared, she was left with the sound of silence. She was alone. Bodies littered the great hallway. All brave men and women, all dead from fighting for a future they would never partake in.
Just.
Like.
Her.
Just like me. Lissa dropped her magic tome and sank to her knees, adrenaline fading and injuries demanding her attention.
Idly, the blonde wondered if there was a even point to downing a healing potion.
She could see the cool swirls of light in the room grow dimmer and dimmer. The portal was closing, ever so slowly. Once it was gone, that was it. It was up to the children to prevent this hellish future. But I guess I can't really call them children anymore, Lissa snorted girlishly, recalling how her son became slightly more theatrical around a certain pegasus knight. Or how two leaders would sneak glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking.
But they were gone without her, and Lissa's heart felt a strong sense of longing.
There was nothing now, no Risen, no children, and no Chrom, and no Emm, and no Owain, and no Frederick… Lissa dug her nails into her palms to stop the line of thinking before it took over. She promised Owain. Already she felt the familiar sensation of breaking skin. It was pain that let her know that was still alive, and that she mattered. Lissa glared at her ruined hands for a moment, hating the way they looked without her gloves. Her head was starting to feel a little light. She immediately stopped and clutched her head, trying to control her breathing and focus on the pale blue light the portal gave off. The only sound was her shallow breathing and… little thuds.
Wait. Thuds? Footsteps?
They sounded offbeat, like the sound of a Risen shuffling, but the movements were too precise to completely resemble the characteristic.
The princess slowly raised her head, haphazardly brushing aside some blonde strands. She squinted. In the dim lighting, she could make out a dark shape making its way towards her. Another one? she thought, surprised. Then her expression hardened. I must protect the children. I must protect my son.
On the last reserves of her strength and concentration, Lissa shuffled towards her fallen tome. Her hands shakily found the worn spine, and she clutched it to her chest. She turned… and the dark shape, no, the woman, was standing before her.
She stifled a shriek, and scrambled an inch or two away, ignoring how the rubble dug into the cuts on her hands. But the woman made no move towards her and said nothing, only stared at the portal in awe and confusion. Not another Risen, breathed Lissa in relief.
The stranger wore a typical Ylissean guard uniform under a heavy black cloak. The hood was pulled up so that Lissa could only see the bottom half of the stranger's face, but what she saw made every muscle in her body tense. The navy locks that fell to her shoulders. The way the jaw clenched as if in deep concentration, the petite nose that wrinkled with unexpected laughter in her dreams…
The familiarity of the mysterious woman hit her and the princess' eyes became unfocused. Was it really?.. Am I dreaming again?
The stranger turned to Lissa and in at point, Lissa could see the other's face in its entirety. Suspicions confirmed, she decided she didn't care if she was a friend or foe, reality or fantasy. She was just happy to see.
Lissa ignored the way that blood was splattered across the woman's chest, or how the woman gripped her sword with such determination and sinister intent and in her direction.
Lissa cracked a smile, then a laugh, then her mind.
The blue-haired swordswoman stared at the sage who was now laughing hysterically on the floor.
The sage clutched her sides and cackled maniacally for a few seconds more before abruptly pointing a finger towards Adriane. Her yellow dress came away red wherever her hands touched.
"You!" the blonde exclaimed breathily. "I haven't seen you in a while!" More giggles. This woman was really becoming insufferable, and Adriane would have already killed her if it wasn't for that last line.
Adriane gave the woman on the floor a perturbed look, asking, "You must be confusing me for someone else, madame. This is our first meeting." Perhaps she may be worth something before she dies.
But the sage pouted and shook her head. "No, dummy! It's me, Lissa, don't you remember? We were best friends a long time ago!" The woman, Lissa stretched her arms wide open for a hug, but dropped them dejectedly after she saw the annoyed expression on Adriane's face.
"You used to visit all of the time after you collapsed, but you always looked really sad… come to think of it, Robin was really sad too. Not his usual sad though. Like, really, really depressed!" Lissa's face lit up, though her eyes still retained that blank look, as if she wasn't completely there. "But here's a thought! Let's try talking to him again! He might be able to see you this time!"
Lissa crawled forward and tugged on Adriane's fingers. The commander jerked her hand away and Lissa fell face down into the floor. The sage didn't move from her fall, but her voice lost none of its cheeriness when she proclaimed, "Maybe the two of you can talk again and be happy together!"
Robin. That name… why did it sound so… familiar? Adriane felt a tugging at her heart and look confusedly at the woman in her pathetic position. And why does this woman insist on knowing me so much? She must be crazy. Most likely she doesn't know anything, but I have to try everything I can to aid Master Grima before it is too late. She felt a rising panic as she scanned the room. The "Fire Emblem" has to be here somewhere… I don't have much time.
Desperately, Adriane played along with the woman's delusions. She nodded at Lissa, saying, "yes, that does sound wonderful, but-" the hope that filled Lissa's eyes flickered, and Adriane derived some pleasure out of the dirty parent killer's misery "-how are we to get past the Fell Dragon? Isn't there a plan to get rid of Grima so I can reunite with… Robin? The Fire Emblem, was it called?"
Lissa's expression darkened for a moment, and her brows furrowed. She looked as if she was struggling to remember something lost long ago. Then her cheery disposition came back, albeit a little strained.
"Oh, that old thing?" she chirped, wringing her hands nervously. She seemed to be at war with herself for a brief moment. "You don't have to worry about Grima anymore, Lu, we've already used the Fire Emblem! The others have already gone back to fix this. To fix everything! You don't have to worry so much anymore."
Adriane froze. Already… working? Was she too late? Was Grima already dead? She couldn't keep the panic out of her voice as she demanded, "what do you mean? Where are they?"
Then Lissa looked terrified, and she flung herself around the commander's boot. "No! No, you can't go! Just stay here with me, I promise, you can see Robin again, just don't… don't go back into the portal with them! If you go, you might fall down again, and it'll be my fault, my fault, and everyone will die and I'll be all by myself and-" Adriane looked at the sobbing woman at her feet with disgust. before kicking her face away.
The sage fell in a crumpled heap with a thud and didn't get up. She continued to babble nonsensical nothings, and Adriane turned her attention to the portal. Its sea green magic flickered invitingly, urging her to step forward. She did, and the light's intensity flared in response.
If Grima's cause of destruction lay past this portal, Adriane saw it as her duty, no, her pleasure, to follow through.
She tightened her belongings about her person and prepared herself for whatever could lie ahead. With her disguise, Adriane figured she could fool any of the Ylisseans or their allies. And, if worst came to worst, well… she gripped her sword.
Speaking of her sword, she considered what to do with the fallen sage. Her jaw tightened and she ultimately decided to spare the wretch. For now, Adriane would leave her alone. Crazed as she was, Lissa was not able to pose as a threat, and killing her would be more effort than it was worth.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that, a little voice in the back of her head commented snidely. You had no problems abusing her earlier, but when given the chance to eliminate a threat once and for all, you back out with your tail between your legs. Look at her. She's terrified of a life lived alone-this would be a mercy killing. You're a coward. You're not fit to serve Grima. Admit it, you abandoned your duty not out of a sense of loyalty, but because you were too afraid to repeat your ac-
Shut up, Adriane growled internally. The voice disappeared, but Adriane could still hear its echoes of judgment.
However, now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts. The portal awaited her. She moved closer until she was right next to the magic. Adriane lifted a hand and sunk it in the portal experimentally.
Nothing, no pain. It was safe.
From behind her, she could hear Lissa calling out softly, "Please..." In the distance, she could hear the clanking of metal approaching. She ignored both sounds. Enemies or allies, it did not matter. Adriane would be long gone.
"...don't go…"
She passed through the barrier.
"...Luci-"