Disclaimer: These are works of purely speculative fiction. It is not intended to infringe on any rights by any of the companies and/or individuals involved in the production of any series mentioned here. Fate Grand Order and all the franchises and series associated with it, are owned by Kinoko Nasu, Notes Co., Ltd. and their affiliates. Similarly, Fire Emblem Heroes is owned by Nintendo Co., Ltd. and their affiliates.
I DO NOT OWN THESE FRANCHISES.
Sister Fanfic: A Grand Order of Heroes
Nightingale was looking down at 3 individuals. Edison, Helena, and Karna are sitting in seiza, all sporting different stages of swollen faces, but the most consistent injury on them was the bumps on their heads.
One would assume that this level of brutality was needed to get them in line, but in truth, they only required a few well-placed strikes to take them down.
Paul Bunyan landed a solid punch to Edison's head, returning him to his senses.
Corrin had used her draconic Nature to close the distance with Helena and knocked her out before she could buff Edison.
Karna was here because his Christmas self punched him so hard, that he fell unconscious and so he carried his body to Edison's office.
Unfortunately for them, Nightingale wanted to make sure the message stuck to their noggins, so she beat them up, again.
"Have you all come to your senses yet?" The fact that a Berserker, a class known for not having any form of sense or reason, asked that question only made the scene before Gudao more ironic.
"Yes, Ma'am!"
She nods before Gudao takes over and looks at the white lion man in the eye, "Since you are ready to talk, then let's talk. But this time, it will be on our terms. What do you say about that Presiking Edison?"
This time, Edison sighed in defeat, very well," his inhuman, feline eyes stared into his own, "state your terms of alliance then."
0-0-0
Later at night, after the talks ended for the day, Corrin is staring out into the stars.
After walking for what felt like an eternity, enjoying a peaceful night under the stars after pushing her aching and weary body was pure bliss. It was a well-needed rest after their brush with defeat at the hands of Cu Alter.
She bit her lip just remembering what happened because she wasn't strong enough. She was much more capable of keeping up with Chaldea's missions, as she had been a frequent companion to Gudao and Mash, but even with her draconic nature blunting the magical attacks that would have killed others, she was still too slow. And for that, Gudao was almost killed. She failed him, and had it not been for Beta's power to break noble phantasms, everyone would have died.
To make matters worse, it left the poor boy unconscious, which meant that the attack could not be relied on at all. At the moment, everyone just tried to move to safety, but once they were far enough away, he had still not woken up.
Seeing poor Sita become a mess after seeing her companion nearly die must have been traumatizing, especially after losing her husband. Thank the gods he woke up, she would not know what to feel if her incompetence cost his life.
"They're pretty, aren't they?"
Corrin was brought out of her melancholy by the mysterious boy she was just thinking of, Beta, who was sitting next to her.
"Oh, Beta good evening, and yea, they are." Beta and Corrin hadn't interacted much since the prison break, if at all since it had been one fight after the other, but even now that they were in a moment of peace, she could not help but feel awkward around him.
Still, that was no excuse to be rude to the boy, "Yes, they are."
The question was answered but he didn't respond, which only added to the awkwardness. So Corrin, being who she was, decided to continue breaking the ice.
"Truth be told, I can never get tired of watching them. Now that I am in another world, I have a chance to experience entirely new constellations."
"Hmm, Wish I could get a chance to see them," Beta responded which made Corrin thankful that the conversation did not get more awkward.
"When we complete this singularity, I'll invite you over to my home and we can go stargazing."
"Really?!"
"Sure."
Corrin and Beta smailed at each other before returning to stargazing in silence, but without as much awkwardness as before.
"This is going to sound like a cliche question, but you ever wonder what's out there, up in the stars? Corrin asked but did not really expect anything else from Beta as he was a child. Which was why she was surprised when she heard him give an intelligent response beyond what his looks made him to be.
"Space is vast, cold, and mostly empty. It might not look like it, but the light from even the nearest stars took decades to reach us. Humans worked hard to manage to get to the moon safely, but to travel between stars is a task that is currently impossible for humans," The boy paused then spoke again, "but no matter how vast, or how dangerous it is, it's beautiful, wonderful and full of hopes for the future of humanity."
Corrin glanced at the boy and was surprised to see the face he was making did not hint at curiosity or awe, but a look of longing. If Corrin didn't know any better, it sounded like he was speaking from personal experience.
"I apologize if this sounds insensitive, but who are you really Beta?" Corrin asked, but the boy shook his head, "it isn't the right time to reveal my identity in the foreseeable future. It's nothing personal, but it's one of the conditions that allowed me to manifest in this singularity."
With that said, Beta stands to leave, "anyway, it was nice hanging out with you miss, but I have to go. Sita is waiting for me to go to bed."
"You two sleep together?" Corrin is surprised at that bit of information, but Beta just shrugs, "yea, I'm used to it since we've been spending months as cellies, so it's no biggie."
"Well then, goodnight." Corrin didn't press further, as it was none of her business.
"Night."
0-0-0
"Report." Mebd, the former pink beauty was now lying down in a luxurious bed, covered in bandages. She had finally woken up after being in a coma.
Cu Alter and Archer Arjuna stood by her bedside, each at the ready to present giving their reports.
First was Arjuna, who reported that Deputy Warden Beowulf had been killed and Rikers Island had been invaded.
Next, Cu stated that the brat the Chaldeans rescued broke his noble phantasm, not stole or lost, but broke. Which meant that Cu Alter was now much weaker than he was. This information really upset Mebd.
"Is it gone?" Mebd asked, but she already knew the answer.
"Yeah. I had no idea Chaldea held that kind of trump card." And to think that trump card came in the form of an unassuming and aloof-looking brat.
"How pitiful. All those looks, all that youth, wasted on an arrogant horny brat like you." the sound of high heels clicking on the floor hit Mebds's ears, which caused her to flinch away in fear.
The smiling, red luscious lips were all she saw before the painful sensations of metal piercing flesh assaulted her.
Mebd felt a warm hand grab her hand, causing her to snap out of her flashback. Turning to look at who it was, she saw a concerned Arjuna looking at her.
"Are you alright master? If this is too much for you, we can save the report until you finish recovering."
"Yes, I am fine. Thank you Arjuna," she looked at Cu and asked, "What about Scathach? Did you not manage to kill her and take her spear?"
The question seemed to have been a mistake since her beloved Cu clicked his tongue in annoyance, likely remembering what happened during that incident. The one where he found his teacher in a messed up state.
He has no idea who the hell had enough strength to push his crazy former teacher that far. He'll never know who they were, since Scathach killed him before running into him.
Regardless of what happened, the man's actions heavily injured her, which made their confrontation survivable. So survivable in fact that it was easy to puncture her weakened heart.
Had this been another Cu, they would have been angered and would have gone to great lengths to kill whoever did that to his teacher, however, there was no need because that someone had done most of the fighting already.
Regardless, Alter didn't care. It was less of a hassle to kill a weakened Scathach than to fight a full-powered one. And that was that.
"Nah. Teacher had enough foresight to keep it away from me before I could claim it. Not that I would, since I had my own at the time."
Mebd clenched her blankets in frustration. It was just one humiliation after another. Her perfect Celtic empire nearly came to an end due to bad luck!
"Give me a mirror." Arjuna bowed and grabbed a nearby hand mirror from her dresser. She looked into the reflective surface and was met with her former face, heavily covered in bandages. One of her eyes was covered and although she wasn't a doctor herself, she knew that the damage she took from the spikes had completely destroyed her eye.
Mebd, for all intents and purposes, looked calm and collected when she stared into the mirror, but without warning, she threw the mirror across the room, where it shattered when it hit the wall.
She was not furious at the fact that her beautiful face was scarred, no, she could easily fix the scarring with the grail. Instead, she was furious that the vampire bitch had disfigured her at all!
How dare that wench lay her old and wrinkly hands on her beautiful face?! How dare she?!
She will not let that transgression stand.
"Arjuna… Cu… if you ever encounter that red whore that attacked me, I order you to capture her alive. And bring her to me."
Arjuna bowed, "As you wish milady. I will bring her before your feet at once."
Cu on the other hand just rolled his eyes but gave a grunt of understanding. No matter how much he cared little for vengeance and the like, he still needed to enforce his authority as king. Letting the rebels get away with nearly killing his queen was not going to be forgiven.
Mebd smiled at their responses because she will be damned if anyone but her kills her.
"Although, milady, such a thing may be much more troublesome now that Chaldea had joined Presiking Edison's forces."
Mebd took a deep breath, but it was not to calm herself. No, she was livid, but she needed to concentrate to pull more magical energy from the grail.
Her body shone brighter and brighter until nearly the entire room was too bright for anyone to see.
The energy exploded even more brightly, which caused hundreds of thousands of Celtic warriors to manifest, both in the room and outside the Pink House. They alongside the ones who were already summoned, were given a boost in power.
Opening her lone eye, she snarled, "Enough playing around. It's time to refocus our efforts and show these bastards just who they are messing with!"
0-0-0
"Again?! It's only been 2 days since they attacked last."
A loud slam reverberated through the meeting room in Edison's war council room. The sudden sound frightened the people near him.
The owner of the fist that slammed the desk was Presiking Edison, who was sporting a nasty grimace on his face after hearing the updated war news report from his aide Helena.
A large wave of Celtic warriors has just been spotted nearby and is advancing to their location.
"It seems that your failed attempt to assassinate Mebd has backfired and forced her to be more aggressive than normal." Helena sarcastically commented to Chaldea, who was now directly responsible for this new development.
Gudao could not look at her in the eye. She was right, their failed attempt had stirred up a hornet's nest and caused the Queen to ramp up her aggression against them. Based on what he had been told, Medb was a woman who placed heavy emphasis on her looks. Combined with the fact that Carmilla's noble phantasm doesn't provide the... cleanest assassination method available, it was safe to say that the Celtic Queen was not in the best shape beauty-wise.
The factories still haven't recovered their lost machines from the last wave from yesterday. The hero summons and heroic spirits are putting up a good fight, but even they are reaching their limits.
The amount of undead was outpacing the production of machines and they needed to get an advantage.
As they were discussing, Gudao noticed Lucina was looking a bit reserved and a bit panicky. Which was unusual behavior for her.
"Hey Lucina, you alright there? You're kind of pale," Gudao asked with concern, a question which caused everyone to turn to Lucina and wait for her response.
The sudden attention only seemed to make her more pale and manic, which Nightingale immediately picked up on and went to soothe her.
"Breathe, Miss Lucina, breathe. If you do not feel comfortable sharing, we will not push," Nightingale said.
Lucina shook her head to dismiss the concern, "No, it's fine. I can talk."
She took a deep breath and released the anxiety she was bottling up at that moment.
Then, she gazed around the room full of people with an emotionless, stone-cold mask, "Romani, when we resolve the singularity, will it affect what happens in normal history?"
"I mean, not really. When a singularity collapses, the world will correct the discrepancy to match what would have happened at the time. Why do you ask?"
"Because, I might have a solution to the endless horde problem, one which might not be subtle," Lucina said.
The group's attention was now solely focused on her after she made that claim.
Helena Blavatsky seemed to be skeptical of her words, "Do you really? No offense, while you Hero Summons are more useful than normal humans, you are still living humans, so bringing more of you will only end up causing pointless deaths."
Lucina shook her head, "Not more of them, just one…. I hate to admit it, but there's only one who can keep the endless horde at bay."
Helena still seemed unconvinced but Presiking Edison was considering the proposition, "Are you sure this person can do what you claim he can do? I am not familiar with you hero summons aside from what I've witnessed from you three so I also have my reservations about how just one individual could stand up to an army."
"That is a good sentiment to have, however, unlike Lyn, Corrin, and Myself, I can say with absolute certainty that that thing can easily match whatever that woman can do," Lucina said with confidence.
This display seemed to be enough to convince the lion man as he hummed in approval.
"Very well, I will put my trust in you young Lucina, but if you knew someone that could do this, why didn't you bring this up sooner?!" Presiking Edison roared which startled the girl but she easily composed herself.
Taking a deep breath she answered the lion man, "Because he destroyed my entire world using that power."
The grave tone in her voice cut off any rude remarks or comments that Helena had been ready to sling at the girl, "Oh."
Her eyes turned stern when she leveled them at Gudao.
"Which is why I must ask that the Hero King Marth be summoned over alongside it. That way, it can be kept on a leash." She turned to the rest of the group, "he was the one who originally slayed the beast so by your world's magical rules, he has an advantage over them."
"That sounds like a most excellent plan!" Edison roared in approval.
"Fine. I'll be sure to accommodate them into my plans but for your sake. I hope it doesn't disappoint." Helena said before opening her war book and started writing down some strategies.
With the plan set in motion, the meeting was dismissed and preparations were made for the summon. Mash, seeing Lucina in a bad state of mind, patted her shoulder.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this Lucina?"
"It's okay Mash, my feelings are irrelevant. If the situation was not this dire, I would never even dream of entertaining the idea of using him at all," Lucina smiled, "But with all of you plus The Hero King watching it, I have faith we can keep him in line."
Mash gave her a smile, "Okay. But if you feel you can't, we can always have you take a break back in Chaldea."
"No. I brought up the idea of using it, and I will see it through to the end."
0-0-0
A lone flower swayed in the wind.
Its leaves sung in joy while basking in the afternoon sun. But its joy was short-lived as a shadow cut off its supply of energy.
A brown leather boot crushed the vegetation under it, uncaring for its presence. If the flower had a voice, it would be screaming in agony from the violence done unto it.
The boot lifted off the ground and revealed a broken flower, its leaves crumpled and bruised. Several petals had fallen off its head and the few that remained were stained brown from the dirt that was stuck to the bottom of the boot.
Its misery was not over, as this action repeated, and again and again. The cacophony of footsteps that crushed it and the vegetation of the grasslands belonged to the Celtic Army. The army that had done even worse brutalities to the people of America was now headed straight towards the castle of Presiking Edison.
They were not the first wave of soldiers sent to avenge their queen, as previous waves had been sent to weaken their foes.
Even if they fell in battle, they cared not for what awaited them later, so long as they achieved their goal for their queen.
That is all that matters.
They marched, fought, marched, and fought until their last.
Sooner or later they would crumble.
Their marching came to a halt when a loud crack of thunder roared across the plains. Normally, such phenomena did not bother them as they feared no natural disasters, but this was different. This thunder was anything but natural.
As if responding to their actions, the sky suddenly went from bright and sunny to dark and gloomy, with the same cracks of thunder getting closer and closer to their location.
The unknown saturation of ozone, magical energy, and malice caused them to stiffen in surprise. Another crack came shortly after, but this time purple lit up the dimmed atmosphere.
The warriors all unsheathed their weapons, shouts of the commanders yelling "Enemy attack!" sounded all around them, but they were drowned out by the ever-increasing noise of the brewing storm.
*CRACK*
In a bizarre scene that seemed impossible to the natural order, a flash of purple lightning streaked upwards and struck the sky. The already dim atmosphere turned darker, so much so that one could easily mistake the time of day for night.
One of the warrior commanders looked to the sky and snarled at what he saw.
A mountain-sized black dragon loomed over them, its giant wings easily stretching over the horizon. Its six menacing red eyes were easily visible to the peons, from the dragon's point of view, below. Had the army consisted of normal humans, they would have felt fear looking at such an imposing and cataclysmic sight.
But Celtic warriors were not normal, and so they ordered their riders to attack. The figure snorted seeing this and decided to show its dominance by releasing a thunderous roar so loud that it echoed across the plains.
The wave of malice impacted every Celtic warrior in the vicinity, it was so thick and powerful that the people in Presiking Edison's castle from the Queen and her lapdog king were able to sense it from across the other side of the country.
Then, something responded to its call as hundreds, upon hundreds of thousands of magical circles appeared on the battlefield, and from them emerged droves upon droves of its own undead.
In contrast, however, they looked even more inhuman as they had purple skin with bright red eyes and piranha teeth.
The forces of the evil dragon collectively turned their gazes upon the Celtic warriors and unsheathed their weapons.
"GRAAAAAAHHHHH!"
And like starved wild dogs, they charged at their foes.
Author's Note: Surprise motherfucker! I managed to do double update! Hopefully it's enough to make up for the long wait time.
I'm sure you guys are surprised to see Grima here, well, he is too! Next chapter I'll go more into that but just know that this was one of the earliest scenes I wrote when I first started writing this story. It was only a snippet for a long time, even after I posted. I am so glad to have finally fleshed it out!
Also we are in the endgame now so I will be putting aside some of my pointless youtube shorts scrolling to finish writing and fleshing out the arc.
I hope I didn't make anyone too mad with my story choices in these two updates, but if you want to let me know something, be sure to leave a comment. I am using these experiences to help me improve my time management and goal setting for my next fic.
Critique is welcome. Until next time.