Alright, we're nearing the turning point. This story is about to get a lot more interesting. Also, I have art planned for this turning point, BUT it's for the next chapter, not this one. The chapter 13 art is out, by the way; just a quick reminder, I'm ShadowRose-db on Tumblr. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
The Princess's Dragon Bride
Chapter 15: A Drastic Solution
Lucina looked up from the book as Corrin burst into a fit of joyous laughter. The other Princess's cheer was infectious as she found herself struggling to fight down her own bubbling laughter.
It took Corrin a long moment to calm herself; by then, her laugh had subsided, but Lucina could still see her shoulders trembling. Corrin reached down and took her teacup off the table to calm herself. Her cheeks were still pink from her earlier outburst, and her eyes still sparkling with laughter as if she could burst out into a fit of giggles at any time.
Lucina chose then to reach for her own cup. She couldn't help but smile into her tea. Corrin, after a while, put her own cup down and scooted close to her again. Peering over her shoulder to see the book in her lap.
Lucina tried not to spill her tea onto herself as she shakily put it back. She cleared her throat to start reading again when a loud sound dragged their attention towards the door.
It was Pyra; she scanned the library until her eyes fell on the two girls. Corrin sat upright instantly, and Lucina tried to hide her disappointment. "Pyra?"
"I'm so glad I found you," Pyra rushed over; she was beaming with excitement, barely able to hide her grin. "The kings have finally made their decision."
Corrin tilted her head slightly, "On what exactly?"
"On the wedding," that didn't seem to help. After a moment, the red-head attendant shook her head with a smile, "your wedding."
Corrin stood suddenly so she could meet Pyra's eye better, that with her cheeks suddenly a deep red she beamed "m-my wedding?"
"Yes." She nodded excitably, taking Corrrin's hands in her own, "you'll be marrying Prince Marth by the end of this week."
"Oh," Lucina wasn't sure she had ever seen Corrin's face lose so much color so quickly. Despite this, her smile remained. "How exciting."
"I was going to go back into town so we can pick out your dress." Then Pyra squeezed her hands only slightly, "I think the seamstress from before did a wonderful job on that dress you wore to the ball."
"Right," Corrin took a quick glance at Lucina from the corner of her eye before saying, "I'm sure she still has my measurements from before," she shifted slightly. "Perhaps you should go without me. I'm feeling a bit t-tired at the moment."
Pyra looked only slightly disappointed before letting go, "If your sure." Corrin only nodded as She turned to leave the library.
When the library door closed again, Corrin sunk into the soft plush chair they'd been sharing and returned to her tea.
The light from her eyes hadn't returned, and that had left a stone deep in Lucina's stomach. "Corrin?"
She turned to Lucina and smiled, "Hmm, oh, I'm okay." but that smile didn't reach her eyes. There was a tight squeeze in Lucina's heart, but this one had hurt, unlike all the other times before it.
After a moment, Lucina folded the page they had been on and closed the book. Corrin looked at her then. The Ylissean rubbed at her eyes, "Sorry, my eyes are a bit tired" she stood and held her hand out to her friend. "Would you like to go to the gazebo?"
Corrin only nodded. She took Lucina's hand, and the two walked in silence to their secret garden. Once they reached the training area, Lucina looked around to ensure no one was watching. Thankfully no one was around, but when she turned back, all she saw was Corrin vanishing behind the weapon's rack. She rushed after her. Although, once she'd gotten through the hole, Corrin was already sitting at the stone bench. Her back to the castle.
"Corrin?" Lucina said in almost a whisper.
"I'm fine" when she turned to look at Lucina completely, that fake smile was framed by her tears, and that clawed at Lucina's heart as she said, "it's not that bad."
"I'll be able to stay here, and …" Lucina took the spot beside her, "and we could be sisters."
Lucina tried to speak around the lump in her throat, "but that's not what you want, is it?"
Corrin shook her head. "I always wanted to marry for love, like in all the books I've read growing up" she whipped away a few tears. "And I … I don't even properly know Marth."
Lucina pulled the other princess into a hug. Corrin returned it, clinging to her like she was a lifeline.
"I can't marry Marth," Corrin whispered into her shoulder. Lucina loosened her grip, and the other princess tilted her head up to look at her properly. "I'm not in love with him, I …."
There was something she desperately wanted to say, but all she managed was, "We'll figure something out."
They sat like that for a moment, neither speaking. After resting her head on Lucina's shoulder for a long time, Corrin finally spoke up. "What if you kidnapped me?"
Lucina's face was suddenly on fire, "what?"
"Yeah," Corrin sat up properly, letting go of the Ylissean princess. "You kidnap me, and we hide in the city until they call off the wedding." She took Lucina's hands in her own, "it always works for my dad's friend."
Lucina only raised an eyebrow. She said this so casually as if she hadn't just asked Lucina to paint a huge confusing target on Ylisse's and her own backs.
Corrin's smile returned, "Every time her council brought up marriage, she would send him a letter," she then leaned in excitably. "She would get kidnapped the next day, stay at our castle until eventually, her court would send some guy to fight dad, and she'd get to go home."
Corrin's eyes shined with such radiance Lucina was tempted to take her up on her offer already. "her council would be so happy to have her back they would forget about the whole 'needing to take a husband' thing for a while."
Lucina shook her head to clear her own thoughts, "I don't know if that's a good idea." When she saw Corrin deflate, she felt she needed to explain. "If we stay in the city, they would find us eventually."
"Oh," was all Corrin could manage, and the heartbroken sound made Lucina reconsider everything.
"But we could try it," Lucina slipped one hand out of Corrin's grip so she could place it over one of Corrin's own, "but we can't stay in the city."
"Alright." The Koopa princess perked up again, "as long as you're here, I know I'll be okay."
"Alright then," Lucina gave the other girl's hand a little squeeze before getting up. "Come on, let's go to my room so we can write up the ransom letter."
"Alright." Corrin took Lucina's hand in her own again.
Lucina stopped suddenly, "on second thought." she struggled to calm her racing heart, "let's not go to my room; it won't look good if someone walks in on us writing it."
"Right," Corrin beamed again, "I'm sure there are many spare, unused rooms we can use."
Corrin's smile was a warm and radiant light that Lucina wished would never dim again. She was determined to keep it that way.
Joker grumbled to himself; that lovely lass wasn't kidding. The treasury was now under top security, and he was forced to look elsewhere for something valuable.
Or at least unmistakable in this case. Joker tucked his prize into his coat and slunk off into the shadows. Today had been terrible as far as it goes.
He managed to sneak his way back to the hall where he had first made his entrance. Some old abandoned room by the looks of it. As he neared the door he heard voices.
"I think you should write it, Corrin."
"But I'm still new to your kingdom's script."
"Exactly." He pressed his ear to the door "they will recognize my handwriting immediately." then, soundlessly, he opened the door.
Two girls hunched over one of the writing desks. He recognized the first, long blue hair, shimmering tiara, and dressed head to toe in blue. The other, however, was new. Long silver hair, dressed in a red dress that screamed princess.
"What should it say?" the one in red asked, turning to ask her companion.
"That's a good question," the blue beauty leaned back, pensive. "I've never written or even seen a ransom note before."
I shouldn't, but against his better judgment, he slunk over to the two and spoke up. "Need some help there, Blue?"
Suddenly, the two girls leaped, and Joker had to duck to avoid the thrust of an unexpected blade. "You!"
"Now I know what your thinking," he slowly stood up. Revealed his open palms showing he was of no threat. As he made sure to be as far out of Luci's range as possible.
"But before you toss me in the dungeons, I was willing to offer some criminal help in writing that ah," he placed a finger to his cheek pensive. Clearly hamming it up for the ladies. "what did you call it?" he snapped his fingers, "a ransom letter?"
Thankfully she lowered her blade, but before she could decline his offer, and she was about to refuse, judging by that look on her face. Her silver-haired friend was between them. "Luci wait, he has a point."
"What?"
"Think about it. What better way to get a convincing ransom letter," she stepped aside and motioned towards him, "than have it made by an actual thief." Luci frowned.
He adjusted his mask, "You two looking to get kidnapped?"
"No," Luci growled
"Yes." Her friend Corrin nodded excitably.
"Look, I can assure you that I'm not some dirty cut perse," when she narrowed her eyes dangerously at him, he felt he needed to clarify. "I mean, I do cutpurses every now and then, but they ask for it."
"But if you want a convincing kidnapping, my Phantom Thieves and I can make it look pretty convincing." He gave a slight bow in hopes that would ease her nerves. "And we are the highly regarded gentleman thieves."
Luci still looked unconvinced. Thankfully she put her blade away. "Why are you still here?"
"See, I needed to steal something" he reached into his coat and pulled out a lovely soft blue cloth folded neatly into a square, "but this is all I'm here for, nothing else."
"Come on, Luci," Corrin took Luci's hand and, with the sweetest smile, said, "if it goes bad, you can just stab him, and I can take care of the rest."
He paled at that, "What?"
This coughed the blue princess to smile, chuckle softly, and finally, with an all-knowing grin, said, "I guess that's true."
The thing Corrin had said still lingered in the back of his mind, but he chose to ignore it. "You can come armed?" He made a vague gesture to the sword at her side.
"Fine," she nodded, "what do you need?"
"I'll have to tell my boys the plan," he sighed and then walked over to the window. "But we'll leave a calling card and give everyone a good scare, but we won't hurt anyone too badly."
"And what about us?" Corrin said shyly, now holding Luci's arm.
He sat on the window, tapped his chin, and then snapped his fingers. "Leave a lantern on the shutters of your room, and I'll send someone to get you."
Luci gave Corrin a soft look before asking, "When?"
He couldn't help but smirk at that, "Whenever you'd like." his Phantom Thieves were the finest there was in Ylisse, and they could pull off anything, at any time.
Luci's brow furrowed, eyes burning with determination. "Tonight."
"Sound good to me," and with that, he leaned backward and fell out his window, excited and ready to carve his crew's names into history.
Chrom and Bowser sat in the King's study, idle chatter while working on the wedding plans. Then abruptly, there was a loud noise like breaking glass. Then suddenly, the castle guards were scrambling this way and that.
Chrom darted out of his seat, not paying Bowser any mind as he ran down the halls into the throne room, or ballroom, as it was still slightly decorated from a few days ago.
There standing in the middle of the room, stood three individuals.
One in black, with a white mask and crimson gloves. The second was outfitted in purple, with an overly intricate and decorated mask that flared out to one side like a wing. The last one, though, was the one that captured Chrom's attention immediately.
A long black robe, golden cuffs on the sleeves, purple eye markings along the arms, other purple marks scattered along the body, and a hood that was pulled up entirely. The mask was what made Chrom's blood run cold. A dark, almost black mask, with purple lines running along the eyes, down the cheeks, and ending at the nose, six eyes filled with red all but two.
The Plegian assassin Shulk had seen.
The one in the white mask stepped forwards as the other two drew their weapons. "We are the Phantom Thieves"
Within his palm, he summoned blue fire and from that drew a dagger, "and we're here to steal your greatest treasure."
AN/ Woooooooo! So I'm excited. I hope you are too, and yes, I finished the Chapter 13 art. It'll hopefully be posted by the time I post this chapter. Just a heads up next chapter might take longer, it's a fight scene, and those always give me trouble. Hope you enjoyed it.
~ (2/26/2022)