So I'm still working on the Art piece planned for Chapter 24. There is a chance that It'll be on my Tumbler by the time this chapter comes out. But at the moment of writing this, I still need to get on that. I've just been having issues with motivation lately. I'll try and take things slow, but the feeling worsens if I don't work on anything.

The Princess's Dragon Bride

Chapter 25: Inner Light

Lantern winced as the door to the room opened. Corrin and Lucina's fathers walked in. They didn't look pleased. Corrin's father was terrifying, and the anger-filled gaze he sent him made him feel so small. On the other hand, Lucina's father looked far calmer and more serious.

Lucina's dad pulled up a chair and sat at the table before him. "You're one of the Phantom Thieves, yes?"

Leven lowered his gaze. "... No."

Corrin's Dad slammed a clawed fist into the table. "Don't play dumb!"

Luci's dad raised his hand in an attempt to calm him. "Bowser, enough." then he returned his gaze to Leven. "You're one of the Phantom Thieves. Yes?"

Why does it always feel like I never get any real options? Leven let out a deep sigh, "Yes."

"I am Chrom, Exalt of the Hailidom of Ylisse," He motioned to the large dragon turtle at his side. "This is Bowser, King of the Koopa Kingdom."

"What are we to call you?"

Leven paled, his mind shutting down, "No."

Chrom tilted his head to the side. "No?" he shook his head. "Come now, we can't keep calling you Thief or Prisoner."

"No." He tried his best to squirm out of the rope they had him in.

Chrom frowned. "That wasn't even a yes or no answer."

Leven continued to struggle, and Bowser seemed to be getting impatient.

"Bowser." Leven stilled as Chrom raised an arm again, attempting to calm the other King. "He's just a kid. I don't think he knows what's going on."

While Leven did, in fact, know what was going on, he really wasn't sure what they expected to get out of him. Well, he had a faint idea what they may be after.

Leven had started to wiggle out of his bonds. He had completely tuned out the kings' conversation.

Chrom's voice pulled Leven from his struggling. "You do have a name, correct?"

What kind of a question was that? "Yes."

"Can you tell us your name?"

"Yes."

"Will you?"

"... No."

Chrom let out a groan.

Robin had tuned out most of the ride in the wagon. Nothing really happened anyways. No one was willing to say anything.

Until Akira finally decided to ruin the peace. "So, we need to discuss some things."

Robin looked up as Akira adjusted his vest, "With La-Leven out of commission, I'm gonna need a new tactician."

Robin raised his eyebrow, ready to volunteer. Then Akira pointed outside, "Ashen, you're our new tactician."

Robin let out a sigh, covering his face. Of course, why did I get my hopes up.

Akira then turned to Lucina. "That reminds me, you had a mask-."

"Right, well, I couldn't let them see my face, especially my brand." She motioned to her left eye.

He completely ignored her, "You're going to need a code name."

"What?" Lucina tilted her head to the side in complete confusion, but before Akira could explain, a look of realization dawned on her. "Oh no."

"You're one of us now," he then adjusted his glasses, "Maybe, Prince?"

Robin shook his head in disbelief, "If you so set on blowing her cover. Why not just have her go as Marth?" he threw his arms up, "Or Hero King?"

Akira rolled his eyes, "Azure?"

Corrin held Lucina's mask and then, in a timid voice, said, "What about Monarch?"

Lucina smiled, "I like it."

Akira nodded. Robin looked pensive, "That… could work. I'm surprised your dad didn't recognize you."

Suddenly a thought occurred to him, "That reminds me," he directed his attention towards his leader, "what was this about you stealing Chrom's …."

Akira's face paled, Corrin looked shocked, and Lucina looked concerned. Before her brow furrowed, "What did you steal from my father?"

"His unmentionables." Robin finished despite Akira waving his hands pleadingly.

"What!" Her jaw dropped. "Why?!"

"I needed something that was obviously from the castle." He looked away, his face pinkened slightly, "and you tightened the security for the treasury, so I needed something else."

"And how would anyone confirm those were my father's," Lucina looked absolutely mortified.

"Anna used to sell photo tomes of the Shepherds," Robin pulled his hood up, hoping he could hide the growing pink on his face. "She tended to take photos of us whenever we ran into her on our outrealm adventures.'' He owned a few; although he would never admit it, not even Chrom knew.

An awkward air filled the carriage.

Marth was no fool. He didn't need to try countering to know just how dangerous Pyra's strikes were. However, the prince was thankful for his speed. At this point, he had doubled his affinity for dodging and rolling out of the way of powerful strikes.

Just when he thought he had Pyra's fighting style figured out. She tossed her blade at him, and instead of flying past him, it spun mid-air.

After taking the first hit, he backflipped out of her range again. She darted forward and grabbed her blade on her way.

Marth had expected her to leap upwards and slam it down, but instead, she spun the blade around herself. He didn't have the time to dodge.

He raised his blade and countered as much as he could.

He was clearly worse for wear, but he was determined to win this time.

Marth managed to get as much distance as he could. He had a plan.

Pyra tossed her blade at him, and he managed to leap over it. Then without her sword to protect her, he charged a powerful strike.

He let it loose, but she was quick to recover, sidestepping his blade and snagging him by the back of his tunic. In one mighty swing, she hurled him into a nearby weapon rack.

Shulk winced, "You all right?"

Marth coughed out a response, albeit an incoherent one. Both seers ran up to the Ylissean prince.

"You're a lot lighter than I expected." Pyra shyly scratched the back of her neck as Shulk knelt down.

Shulk summoned his healing light. It took Marth a moment to regain complete focus. "I've been called delicate before, so being called light is a step up, in my opinion."

Shulk smiled, "I mean, you're clearly not too delicate. You managed to survive after all."

Shulk's magic managed to ease the ache in his back and shoulders, "Help me up, please."

The rest of the day had gone on without much incident. Lucina had gotten a bit brave, reaching over and digging out one of Robin's tomes from the supply crates. She thought he was asleep as he leaned against the back wall. His hood pulled up, covering most of his face.

Corrin turned to Lucina excitably. "Are we going to continue your lessons?"

Robin raised an eyebrow as he peeked out from under his hood. Noticing the wind tome in the Ylissean princess's hands. Lucina smiled and nodded.

Corrin scooted closer to the Ylissan princess as she opened the book to a random page. Corrin frowned as she peeked over her shoulder. "Let's try something smaller."

She flipped through the pages until she beamed excitedly, "This one looks about right."

Corrin then summoned a small whirlwind in the palm of her hand. Then with a flick of her wrist, she sent it flying out of the wagon. "Give it a try."

Lucina tried the hand motion she copied from Corrin. She repeated it several times to no avail. She closed her eyes, trying to hide the obvious frustration on her face.

Robin pretends to groggily sit up, rubbing his eye absentmindedly. "What's going on?"

He wasn't sure what he expected, but Lucina tossed the book over her shoulder and back into the box. "Nothing."

He was tempted to call their bluff but instead decided to lay back down.

"I don't understand." Despite her disappointed gaze, Lucina smiled, "How do you do it?"

Corrin looked pensive, her brow furrowed as she tried to answer the other girl's question. Then her expression brightened, "Maybe we can try something different."

Lucina tilted her head to the side, "Like, how different?"

Corrin reached into her cloak and pulled out a tome of her own. However, the rune on the cover was unlike anything the princess had seen.

Robin, on the other hand, had seen a tome like that. Twice before, both when he was enjoying a private moment to himself when the Shepherds would find an outworld realm. The image of that mischievous red-haired merchant holding it when he was less than modest froze him like a startled deer.

"Robin?" Lucina shook his shoulder, snapping him out of his sudden trance.

"Are you okay?" Corrin's concerned gaze met his, and he shook off the panicked memories.

"Sorry, I-" he steadied his breathing. "I haven't seen a photo tome in a very long time." When either of the girls dropped their concern, he smiled awkwardly. "Bad memories, well, good but extremely embarrassing memories."

Lucina then turned to Corrin with awe and excitement. "A photo tome?"

Corrin nodded excitedly, and Robin was thankful they dropped his sudden panic. He wasn't in the mood to explain any of that. Lucina scooted closer to the Koopa princess. "How does it work?"

"I have no idea," Corrin said with her usual bright smile.

Robin sighed and sat up, "Need some help?"

"You know how to use one of these?" Corrin's eyes sparkled with excitement.

Robin held the tome out, getting both princesses in the frame. "Smile."

Corrin tossed her arms around Lucina, startling the Ylissean Princess before she embraced her back. The look of genuine joy that filled the frame made the ex-tactician smile.

The frame was frozen and captured in time with a pulse of magic. "Here you go." The princess grinned as they stared into the image.

Chrom was seconds away from pulling his hair out. Bowser had walked out hours ago; he envied him now. "Alright, I'm going to ask you one more time." He took a long and agonizing breath, "what is your name?"

The thief still hadn't said a word, stubbornly staring back at him.

Chrom covered his face, irritated, and took in a deep breath. He stared at the ceiling, trying to keep his calm. What would Robin do?

Chrom then stood and walked out of the room. Bowser gave him a look as he walked by him without a word. He grabbed a few things from his room, returned, slammed a piece of parchment onto the table, and handed the thief a quill. "Write your name."

The thief looked at him, eyes wide and clearly startled. "No?"

Chrom leaned down slightly and shoved the paper closer to him. "I wasn't asking."

Chrom was thankful that the thief took his bluff at face value. Then much to his surprise, he wrote, with beautiful penmanship, one word.

"Eleven?" The boy nodded. Chrom only shrugged, "Alright, Eleven, we have a few questions to ask you."

Eleven shook his head, "No."

Chrom took a deep breath and let it out in an annoyed sigh. This is going to be a long interrogation.

Lucina had tried her luck again. She gripped one of Robin's wind tomes tightly as Corrin excitedly smiled at her. Robin himself, who had insisted she try again, was watching from the far wall of the wagon. Akira was also watching, sitting just left of Robin.

She let out a frustrated sigh as she fell backward, "It's no use. I'm terrible at summoning the magic."

"You'll get it. I believe in you." Corrin smiled as she inched close to her again to peek at the spell she was trying to cast.

Robin leaned backward, stretching his back. "Perhaps try calming your mind."

Corrin inched closer to the other princess, placing her hand around Lucina's. Her chin resting on her shoulder, "Here, let me guide you through it."

Lucina could feel her own heart pounding against her ribs. She could feel her face heat up as Corrin took her hand.

After Corrin attempted to move her arm a bit awkwardly, she then adjusted her sitting position, pressing herself a bit closer to the other girl. "Sorry."

Lucina's mind had completely shut down. Her face burned, and her heart threatened to leap out of her throat. Her arm moved mechanically, thanks to Corrin's guidance. The wind gathered in her palm.

"You did it," Corrin cheered before gripping her in a tight hug.

Lucina should have dispersed the magic. Instead, she tossed it, sending it flying forward. Striking Robin in the chest, flinging him out of the wagon.

The girls were frozen in shock. Akira tried to keep a straight face as he watched Robin tumbling down the road. Nobody told Cloud to stop the wagon.

The girl turned to Akia as he struggled not to laugh. After being judged silently, he raised his hands defensively. "Look, Grim can basically fly. He'll be fine."

Lucina frowned but relaxed. Robin was a Shepherd once; Surely, being flung out of a wagon isn't the craziest thing that's happened to him. "If you say so." Akira was the group's leader. After all, surely he wouldn't leave Robin to the wolves. If he said he'll be okay, then perhaps he was right.

After the tension in the wagon seemed to ease up, Lucina tried to conjure another wind spell, only to have difficulties again. She huffed and closed her eyes, trying to summon the magic from herself, but still, she couldn't focus.

With a smirk on his face, Akira then said, "Having performance issues, eh?"

Lucina's face was suddenly on fire, and in one fluid motion, she hurled the tome at Akira. The tome slammed into him with more force than she had expected, and he went tumbling out of the wagon too, book in tow.

Lucina watched in horror for a moment before calling out, "Sorry."

She saw Robin floating up the pathways. He blew past Akira and caught the tome before leaping back into the wagon. "Don't lose these. They're expensive and invaluable."

Akira's grappling hook embedded itself into the wagon. Once he made it back, he clung to the wagon's edge before hauling himself up.

After pulling himself back into the wagon's bed, Akira glared not at Lucina but at the mage behind her. "You could have helped."

"Didn't feel like it."

Akira grabbed a nearby object and weakly tossed it at him, "You suck."

AN/ I don't want to admit it, but it took me so long to think of Lucina's thief name. Marth's training scene didn't take as much brain power as the last chapter. It was actually that final scene that took forever to finish … for no real reason.

Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed the weekly uploads. Unfortunately, this chapter might be the last one I upload on a set schedule. However, I'll probably start posting strictly on Mondays whenever I finish a chapter. So keep an eye open.

I hope you guys have a wonderful day and see you soon.

~ (9/16/2022)