The Light And Darkness Of The Mind
They were certainly both enjoying the situation.
Although they both seemed to have no plans to stop, sooner or later that had to happen.
Once their lips broke apart after what may have been their tenth consecutive kiss, they both stared at each other.
"It's your first time making out with a woman, I guess."
Kiran Mark blinked three times. "Uh... well, there's nothing to be gained by denying it."
She smiled. "It was obvious, the lack of experience showed."
"I must assume you do have practice then." There was no annoyance in his voice tone, it was simply a "question."
"I had a friend named Silas..." her tone was more somber in comparison. "He and I... well, we had a great friendship and there was a day when I wanted to try to go further with him... unfortunately Garon didn't find that to be of his liking... and... I was told that he had been exiled, but I never saw him again, even during and after the war..."
She didn't have to say much more, the sepulchral silence let Kiran Mark know what had happened.
As a king of the ancient type who had power gone to his head and an intelligence level that he could humiliate in a matter of seconds, it was only logical to deduce that Garon had ordered him to be executed.
"More reasons why you killed Garon once and for all?" Kiran Mark held her cheek, making them look directly into each other's eyes again.
"After I found out what he was capable of, I realized he was just a monster in humanoid form."
Well, that's something that perhaps people would say about him.
But it was better not to piss her off any further.
"Understandable."
She decided to change the subject. "You really like stroking hair, huh?" she asked, noting that whenever he had an opportunity to do so he didn't even hesitate and certainly hadn't stopped at any point on this occasion.
He caressed with more eagerness. "I don't know why I do it, maybe I have a fetish." He tried to grin, in a mixture of happiness and his current confusion.
"That would make sense." She assented. "You said your father was able to romance a noblewoman while he was just a farmer's son? Well, congratulations! you just won the heart of a princess!" She certainly wanted to give him some self-confidence, the levels of depression he seemed to have were certainly abnormal.
Kiran Mark looked slightly to the left. She had apparently forgotten to mention that she wasn't just a princess, she was a dragon war princess with elf ears.
And from another universe/dimension.
And he was her Mexican boyfriend.
At what point did his life began to become so similar to Star Against the Forces of Evil?
He had to swallow saliva and blink hard. "A-anything that makes me more like my father, or even allows me to surpass him makes me feel like I've managed to do something good with my life but..."
She perhaps would have folded her arms if she wasn't enjoying hugging him so much. "But what?" she still raised an eyebrow accusingly.
It was clear she was losing patience with his pathetic whining.
"It's just... this seems too good to be true..."
He looked extremely worried...
Almost as if he was afraid.
Corrin didn't understand this, she had kissed him, what could be false about that?
Corrin began to give him little kisses on his cheek. "Well trust me, it's true."
This didn't seem to calm him down, but after a few seconds he just sighed and went back to his usual serious face, though his cheeks were still red.
"I doubt pregnancy mood swings start that quickly... so I guess there's no reason why you'd want to do this if it wasn't because you really... truly like me..." The concept just sounded otherworldly. A girl who was attracted to him? Even after going out of his way to ensure that didn't happen when he was just Kiran?
Corrin let out a giggle, she then began to stroke one cheek. "You know... blue really suits you..."
He guessed she was referring to his new eyes. "'Good thing... I wouldn't want to look bad in that color."
"Why are you so obsessed with the color blue?" it was a doubt she'd always had.
Having a favorite color was one thing... it was another thing to beg for his entire head to be replaced just to have eyes and hair of that color.
"It's the color of heroes." He shrugged. "At least on my side of the world, on the continents Europe and America. Blue has a long association with knights and the concept of paragon, to the point that, in some languages, 'blue' is used as a synonym for 'good,' often in the context of fairy tale princes." He smiled. "I mean, do you remember the concept of blue prince, said in my language as principe azul?"
Corrin brought one of her hands to her chin, still hugging him with the other. "You mean... like Alfonse, Seliph, and other heroes?"
"'Sort of'." He nodded, he could name an incredibly long list of heroic characters who wore that color.
"That concept doesn't exist in Nohr and Hoshido." She commented.
"Well, blue is not the only color of heroes. On the other side of the world, mainly in the country called Japan, red is the color more associated with heroism being the color of fire and blood, in other words: the color of action... most probably you could find a timeline where I asked for red eyes instead of blue ones."
There was a reason why, no matter the generation, there was always a red ranger and a blue ranger in a Super Sentai or Power Rangers team.
Reason why it bothered him, as much as the episode Forever Red was legendary, that there had never been an episode called Blue Forever or anything like that.
Although of course, red had also been used to represent villains given its usual connection to the color of blood... especially when this color was paired with black.
Add a swastika and you have the image of absolute evil in popular culture.
However, if you put blue and red together... you'd most likely have the best combination for a hero.
"So you wanted to have blue hair and blue eyes just for that? Isn't that kind of...I don't know, petty?"
He rolled his eyes. "I'm just a person, I can be petty... but well, explaining it further... I always wanted to be a prince knight in blue... and since in my world getting to be something like that was rather far out of my realm of possibilities... I don't know, I guess I always liked to dress in that color to feel a bit more... heroic?" Or at least that was one of his motivations, people always tended to think there was only one reason why he did things.
Corrin seemed to have a look of understanding. "Psychologically speaking wearing blue makes you feel like you're wearing a knight's armor, like you're the hero in a fairy tale."
"Something like that, yes." He scratched the back of his head with his right hand for a few seconds before returning to stroking her hair.
Corrin looked more pleased. "Considering that, it's good to see you got that shirt." She commented, glancing at the part of his outfit underneath the white coat.
"Truth be told, the only reason I haven't asked for a replacement of this white coat with an all-blue one is because I didn't yet have enough merit as a strategist and legendary hero for me to think I'd be allowed to wear an exception of the Askr's strategist uniform... though since I'm now Kiran Mark, I'd like to get a second green coat as well." he grinned.
Well, he had also wanted to keep the white coat since his name was Kiran.
The light "was" mostly white before it was broken down into its different components after all.
It was rather odd to now have two favorite colors... and two sets of memories... and two identities...
And being "in love" with more than one woman in a non-ironic way.
Not like a miserable idiot asking if it's possible just to cheat.
No.
He had inherited the feelings of his two halves for several women.
That just sounded like a lot of headaches and chaos in the making.
Corrin held up the heart necklace he wore. "Why not a red one too, I mean, you already have some red here."
"Maybe, I don't see why not."
There was a quiet moment between the two that lasted several seconds. Corrin stopped smiling so much... and now she appeared to be somewhat unsure about what to do.
"So..." Corrin looked down slightly. "Emm... I know you didn't complain at all about this... so..." had she not been hugging him, he could imagine her nervously playing with her fingers like a teenage girl with a crush. "Does that mean you accept my feelings?"
...
...
...
Dammit.
This was... this was...
"That face doesn't give me a lot of hope..." Corrin looked partially sad after seeing him grit his teeth.
"Look, you have to understand that just because you're in love with me and have confessed doesn't mean I'm automatically going to fall in love with you... especially when I'm now the mix of two people." Well, technically if one considered what he had learned about the brain from Naga, he was actually four people fused into one. "Or when one of my two halves has been uninterested in having a girlfriend for most of his life and even avoiding getting one."
Corrin raised an eyebrow. "Avoiding? Why would you do something like that?" what reasons could anyone have for not wanting someone's company? Love was what made them able to enjoy life.
Humans were beings that were meant to love!
Human... human...
It was then that she remembered.
He is not human, not even in a manner similar to her who happened to be a hybrid.
He sighed in frustration. "Well... let's just say that when I was just Kiran, I never saw what was so appealing about having a girlfriend... and well, my father and his actions didn't help."
She tilted her head, but said nothing.
At this, he simply continued speaking. "My brother only had daughters," he said, "I've always been an introvert, I've always preferred enjoying my time alone and as a wise man said: is better to be alone than have bad companionship, and I was always perfectly happy that way... but my father was constantly worried that because of that I would "never stop just playing video games and studying"... so he began to nag me a lot about how I should get myself a girlfriend." He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "The problem is... that was never one of my priorities and there was never anyone I could say I was really interested in that way ... and it all got worse when I became "the last hope"... mamadas (bullshit)."
"Last hope?" Corrin raised an eyebrow and tilted her head more.
"Since my brother didn't have any male children... my father began to see me as the last chance to get a male grandson who could continue to pass on the Enriquez surname and bloodline." He narrowed his eyes and shook his head in disgust.
"Oh..." the dragon princess's eyes widened in surprise. "And all that pressure just made you angry."
"It got to a point where I got so fed up that I told him I would never have children or get married."
"...Well, you weren't lying when you said you could be petty." She blinked.
"It's not like I cared what people thought of me due to that, they'd most likely just say I was a bitter incel or some bullshit like that." He shrugged again. "Better for me, girls would approach me less and I could still be happy alone..." he sighed and stopped hugging her, placing his hands on her shoulders and giving her a serious but kind look. "What I mean is, if I had been interested in getting a girlfriend throughout all this time I most likely would have tried to go for Lucina."
Corrin shrugged as she nodded slightly, a look of understanding on her face. "Oh... sure, I mean... she's blue."
"I mean, given what I know it probably wouldn't have been too hard to get her to take an interest in me. She's already compared me several times to the Robin of her world, who is a man, and she clearly has feelings for him." And remembering that made him realize that sooner or later he would have to tell her that Robin would not come back from the dead... escaping from having to hide a very dark secret that would break one lady's heart only to have to deal with another... his life was not easy in that regard. "However, having to take care of Azurita and now being Kiran Mark instead of just Kiran makes me think that maybe my Kiran side could let go of that tantrum and embrace the idea of finding a partner for life. And that's why..." he used his right hand to hold Corrin's chin, making her look at him.
Blue and red looked at each other in uncertainty... but each for different reasons.
"That's why I'm not going to turn you down either."
"Y-Y-You won't?"
"Let's try to get to know each other better, go on a date or something. That way I can determine if I can fall in love with you... and at the same time, you can get to know me better and determine if you love me..." he put his index finger on her mouth before she could say anything. "Let's be honest, you kissed me now because you feel too grateful that I helped fulfill your dream of becoming a mother, and that's understandable, but that doesn't mean you're truly willing, or think that it's truly a good idea, to accept me as your partner for the rest of your life."
Corrin wanted to say something... she wanted to think up something to say against that... but now she was the one who had nothing to use as a counter-argument. "I guess you're right... does that mean that when you look for a girl you always go with the intention of living with that person forever?"
He sighed. "I mean, what's the point of starting a relationship if that's not the case?"
Corrin smiled at him again, closing the distance between their faces to give him another soft but short kiss.
"I see."
He then narrowed his eyes for a moment, ceased his embrace of her... and then began to smack himself in the head using his palm. "Damn how did I forget that, I'm a complete moron!"
Corrin held his hands and with an authoritarian gaze that made him understand: stop doing that.
"What's wrong?"
He sighed in a frustrated way and shook his head. "Corrin... you and I can't be together."
"...okay, you changed your mind really fast, what's wrong?" she continued to denote annoyance to him.
"Corrin, you don't think about abandoning your world... I certainly doubt it very much."
Corrin blinked for a few seconds as the information and implications were processed in her mind.
And then she opened her eyes wide. "Oh..."
"I have to send you back once this war is over..." Kiran Mark didn't have the Breidablik at the time, but he most likely would have used it to illustrate his point.
"But..." Corrin held his face affectionately. "Can't I just go say goodbye? Or you could come with me!"
"Corrin, the portals the Breidablik creates aren't like the ones Alfonse generates. Those don't stay open... if I send you back you'll never come back ever again." He started to look to the right. "And I'm afraid I'm not going to leave the world of Zenith, I've planned so many things for the future that in the grand scheme of things the war against Embla is just one more step I have to complete."
"...Couldn't we find a way to open one of the portals that Alfonse makes to my world?"
"I don't think that's possible." he sighed.
"Kiran-"
"Kiran Mark."
Corrin sighed, closing her eyes, then opened them again and gently placed a hand on her belly. "Kiran Mark, I am a woman who was incapable of bearing children who now has twins growing inside her thanks to the help of a manakete with knowledge of reality that exceeds what I ever imagined... if we need proof that we can make the impossible possible we have it right here."
Well... maybe... maybe she had a point.
"...Maybe we could try to find the dragon Askr."
"Askr? The deity of the Askr nation?"
"Breidablik's manual said that it had been crafted by both him and the first king of Askr, if there is someone who can perhaps open a gateway to YOUR world, not just a copy that one that looks the same but YOUR own timeline, it must be him..."
"Well we'll do that." She proceeded to embrace him once more.
"It's just an option that we don't even know if it will work... what do we do if it's not possible to do it?" Kiran Mark didn't feel confident at all.
Corrin then hugged him tighter, to the point where Kiran Mark found himself... resting his head on her chest.
She was stroking his hair in a gentle way.
He found himself returning the hug and partially closing his eyes as a sense of comfort and sleepiness wanted to take over his mind.
"It's okay, don't worry about it now. Worrying may be the source of 'unlimited potential'." She commented, remembering what he had said earlier. "But that doesn't mean you have to spend the whole day like this." She then changed the tone of her voice.
It was... more relaxed, helped by the fact that she was now whispering.
"I don't want you to collapse from stress... my dear Kiran Mark."
Kiran Mark blinked a few times at that.
"I would be honored to be granted the opportunity by a dragon princess from another dimension to determine if we are soul mates."
Corrin let out another giggle, but her voice was still that whispery tone so comfortable when responding... "I think you do indeed behave like the Blue Prince you always wanted to be."
"I hope so..."
Wanting to be or do something and actually being good at it were two very distinct issues at the end of the day...
He reflected that this would give him a chance to organize his emotions better.
If he really fell in love with Corrin, then he would just have to stick by her side.
If not, then he would simply break up with her and there would be no harm done.
Lyn...
If she could be healed... maybe then he could try again with her...
Nino...
The poor girl must be confused, he would have to talk to her and explain why he did that. She was very innocent, she didn't deserve to be confused like that.
He... he just had to play his cards right.
At least four timelines would be generated from here.
One where Corrin was his girlfriend.
Another where Lyn was.
Another where he would end up being Raigh and Lugh's stepfather...
And the other timeline where he would simply end up alone.
Well, there were also those timelines where he would screw everything up and the girls were going to abandon him... or the timelines where he would die before he could figure it all out... though those last ones he didn't worry about.
There was no point in worrying about it.
Every day there was an infinite amount of Kirans Mark who died and an infinite amount who survived to fight another day.
He just had to make sure he wasn't one of the former ones.
And then he realized that he had gotten very lost in his thoughts.
Well, the sweet effect of Corrin's voice mixed with the way she stroked his hair... plus his new "pillows" certainly allowed him to disconnect from thinking about the real world very well.
Corrin didn't seem to complain, she seemed perfectly content to let the time pass like this.
"You know," Kiran Mark wanted to smile again, but he found it hard. "I'm still finding this a little hard to believe..."
Corrin rolled her eyes, though not in complete annoyance as she also had a beaming smile. "A girl wants to be with you, what's so hard to understand?"
"Maybe the fact that I always saw women as stars."
Corrin raised an eyebrow, stroking her boyfriend's hair more gently. "Like beings too bright and beautiful that it hurt you to look at them?" she thought about the fact that he had told her that the sun itself was a star.
"Like something so extremely far away in the void of infinity that even with all the determination, technology, and time a human life could provide they would still be way beyond my reach... I would never be capable of being by their side."
Oh.
"I mean... when I first met Lyn for a moment I thought maybe we could be together... but then she became the heir to the noble house of Caelin... I certainly wasn't worthy."
Corrin looked down slightly in confusion as to what the hell he was talking about until she quickly understood.
These were his memories of his life as Mark.
"Every time I felt like I could finally reach her something new would happen... like that time she and Hector talked together on the boat trip we had to Nergal's island...and now it turns out Eliwood might have fallen in love with her too..." the memories of his interactions with Roy let him know that he should talk to the boy more, Eliwood would be proud. "I guess I just never had a chance with her." Kiran Mark sighed, his eyes now narrowed as "emptiness" could be observed if attention was paid to his pupils. "Sorry, I shouldn't be talking about this when I'm having a conversation with my first girlfriend. It's just that Lyn was like a yellow star, magnificent, but compared to the star that accepted me now in terms of rarity... this star is a legendary one, a dragon princess of equally incredible beauty who is also a heroine... you might as well be a gigantic blue star. The whole thing just... feels almost unreal... in more ways than one."
Corrin did nothing to make him assume she was angry, Valla's dragon princess just continued to pet him and speak in that soft tone of voice. "It's okay... part of being in a relationship is being able to open up to the other person."
He didn't know if it was because female voices in English naturally generated a relaxing effect for him in particular or something, but he certainly felt incredibly better every time she spoke to him.
"But don't worry, this is real and I'll tell you as many times as it takes for you to believe it." He looked up for a moment to see that she was giving him the most heartwarming smile he'd ever seen from her.
The problem for him was that that was exactly what he wanted to hear.
Oh well...
Kiran Mark simply went back to resting his face on her chest and making a noise of confirmation.
Corrin felt calmer after that.
After everything Naga had told her about his mind, the only she desired at the moment was simply to ensure that he was feeling okay.
Kiran Mark for his part pondered one detail.
He had a girlfriend... a pregnant girlfriend even before the first date.
For the love of science, when he said he wanted to be a speedrunner he didn't mean it like this!
Naga herself was somewhat excited.
It had been a long time since she had made a new holy weapon so the "goddess" couldn't deny that she felt somewhat nostalgic about the whole thing.
Using sand and resin might seem like a strange thing to do, but these were some of the items that usually helped her the best when it came to making the mold for a sword's cross-guard.
At first she thought she would simply make a new version of this somewhat lighter "Master Sword", but after seeing the design of the golden Master Sword she had a much better idea.
First, she made a copy of the guard she was going to use out of RTV silicone, nothing complicated.
After that, she placed it inside a mixture of sand and resin which, after leaving the model inside the mold for a while and separating it Naga could see that both parts of the mold now had the pattern of the guard she was going to make.
This was a bit like making a vase out of fiberglass.
She passed the molds to Nagi, who nodded and put on her dark eye protection goggles for this type of activity.
Sure, technically her eyes were better at resisting damage... but it was never a bad idea to have as much protection as possible.
Naga did the same.
Nagi then placed the samples of Mytril, Adamantine, and Durasteel inside the furnace. They start to boil at such a high temperature that they became liquid.
Nagi held the sample with tongs and then began to pour the liquid metal into the mold.
While the metal cooled and took the shape of the guard, Naga herself was also doing her own thing with her own samples of the metals.
Nagi held the sample with smithing tweezers and then began to pour the liquid metal into the mold.
As the metal cooled and took the shape of the guard, Naga herself also did her thing with her own samples of metals.
And then she decided to take advantage of the opportunity and use something that she had forgotten to employ a long time ago.
She held up the remains of an old sword, one of her old projects that had seen better days.
She took the broken pieces and proceeded to melt them as well as adding a little more metal so she could "reforge" this weapon.
Considering that Durasteel was a very rare metal on Earth and that the reserves she had obtained from that meteor were dangerously close to running out, the idea of recycling metal certainly made sense.
She just had to make sure everything went well.
That was why Naga first joined them into a simple rectangular alloy bar while ensuring that the Mythril formed the central part, the Adamantine what would eventually be the edge, and that there were parts of durasteel reinforcing both the part where they were joined and the edges themselves.
Since this sword had lost its divine fang properties, it was necessary to replace the essence of it with another new fang.
The fang was added after she purified it and made sure it would not be destroyed by mixing it with the future sword.
Once she had the bar ready, Naga then approached a machine, placed the burning bar on a square piece of metal that served as a support, and then activated "the hammer".
Most human blacksmiths used regular hammers to shape swords... but she had this machine that repeated the striking pattern at least 4 times per second and without the errors that a regular human would make.
The metal bar began to flatten.
Although of course, once it was finished there was something else to do.
Actually shappen the bar into a sword.
It was for this reason that Naga used another machine which was a collection of wheels against which to rub the metal to make it as sharp as possible.
Multiple sparks came out from the area where the future sword and the wheel came into contact given the speed at which the wheel was spinning.
At the same time Nagi had finished using the mold and, after extracting the real piece of the cross-guard, she used another machine to mark better the parts that looked like the wings of a Neburi.
As soon as he had finished, Naga placed the blade of the recently finished sword near her as well as an image with the pattern that she needed to engrave on it.
Nagi simply nodded and using something resembling a drill she made the pattern on the blade.
Then she put it inside the furnace again to heat it intensely and, once it was burning, she placed the blade inside water to complete the process.
Naga then began to craft the grip of the weapon.
Since this one would no longer be for training, she did not add the solid, big, and heavy part under the guard that existed on the Master Sword according to what she had seen in the blue version.
Likewise, she made sure to make the grip "rectangular-circular" shape, to allow to determine the direction of the tip while wielding the sword.
Also, Nagi had begun to make that yellow gem that appeared in the center of the guard by using the same material the dragon stones were made up of.
However, she did not add it directly since Naga had yet to add the artificial intelligence.
This entire process took hours but by the time everything was ready and done the two "divine" dragons had assembled the entire sword.
All that was left to do was to paint it.
This gave the "goddess" an idea.
Unlike the other instance, all of Kiran Mark's companions were present when Naga asked him to go to a specific floor of her fortress.
This was not a laboratory... instead... it was another part of the temple at the top of the hill.
While Naga would have preferred to make a new room with the right theme it's not like she'd had enough time to prepare something like that.
"Child of the stars, it is time for you to obtain the blessing of the divine dragons. Come closer."
Kiran Mark turned to see his companions and daughter who gave him a supportive stare.
After that, he kept walking until he arrived at a giant door.
There was a moment in which he tried to analyze the door in search of something he could use to open it... but in the end, he determined that the only thing he could do was push.
Placing his hands on the large stone gate, he pushed forward.
The door then revealed a new chamber.
He then found himself in a garden.
It was an incredibly beautiful glass-roofed garden.
There was a circle-shaped structure around the center of the garden filled with water from which the plants could draw their vital resource.
The outside of Mount Prism was beautiful, but so was this.
And in the center of the room was what appeared to be a concentrated beam of light.
Naga was standing in the center of the illumination, looking away from him.
He began to walk slowly toward her, crossing a bridge to cross over the water.
"While I couldn't do much to decorate this place with the little time I had," the "goddess" commenced to speak, glancing in the direction of the stained glass window before turning to look at him with a smile. "At least I went to the trouble of adding this."
She then stepped back, revealing behind herself... a pedestal.
A pedestal that had a sword attached to it.
Kiran Mark remained silent as he blinked.
"I know you would have preferred a door that opened on its own, a somewhat dark hallway, and finding this in a room more akin to that of a Church, perhaps even surrounded by statues, but this was the best I could do." Naga gave him an apologetic look.
Still blinking and unable to look away from the sword in the center he shook his head slowly. "No... it's okay... sometimes the... the sacred blade also rests in a forest..."
"Well, that helps then. Come on, what are you waiting for!"
Kiran Mark reached the point where the focused light began to "bathe" him.
His companions behind noticed that said stained glass window seemed to represent the ancient times of the dragon civilization that had existed long before even the days of the hero king Marth or his ancestor the first hero king Anri.
Or at least that's what Lucina could tell them about it.
"On your knees," Naga commanded.
The "goddess" then asked him to give her his left hand, to which the warrior of light agreed to do. He kept his gaze downward but at the same time positioned his right hand on the area where his heart would be.
"The creation of a third Falchion was not something that was planned to be done and since the arrival of a Lucina from the future it was thought that it would not be necessary... however, today we are reunited to deliver this new sacred weapon."
Naga raised her own left hand and began to imbue the mark of the triforce with magic once more.
"You, who carry the wisdom of thousands of minds that sent their message to the future and now seek to rebuild your civilization by being reborn as a much better species… you, who trained with the help of legendary heroes to obtain power… and you who faced the ultimate terror that lived in your heart and emerged victorious… the mark on the back of your hand is proof that I recognize you as worthy of being a new champion."
Naga then connected the flow of magic from the mark of the triforce… with another flow of magic within the gem that was on the sword. As a result of that it seemed to glow "electronically" for a few seconds.
"The sword is now connected to you, and may it remain by your side through the drift of time."
She helped him to stand up.
"Go ahead, take it. May the power that seals the darkness be yours."
Kiran Mark then analyzed his new weapon.
It seemed to be a combination of the two types of Espada Maestra he had been wielding.
Fitting, he guessed, now that he was a fusion himself.
The "wings" along with the gem were golden, but the rest of the guard along with the pommel had a beautiful dark blue color…
And the grip itself was red.
Likewise, the triforce was engraved right where it should be.
This new sword was beautiful…
His left hand began to slowly approach.
It was supposed to be simple, grabbing the sword and pulling it out... but... the "goddess" noticed that he was trembling.
Kiran Mark started breathing very hard and very fast.
When he was about to make contact with the weapon he suddenly backed off.
He tried to grab the sword one more time... but his hand kept shaking a lot every time he tried to take it.
The process repeated itself at least five times.
And then Kiran Mark felt a gentle hand placed on top of his.
Naga gave him the best reassuring smile that she with her "divine essence" could offer.
And then the "goddess" gently guided his hand toward the hilt of the sword.
The weapon did not react as if was matter suddenly coming into contact with antimatter.
The weapon did not activate holy flames to burn whoever had dared to lay a finger on it.
His hand had not been burned beyond recognition.
The weapon did not reject him.
Kiran Mark glanced once again at Naga who simply smiled and nodded at him.
He sighed… and then grabbed the sword with both hands.
And he started pulling.
"Grr…grrr….grrrrr!"
Kiran Mark narrowed his eyes.
The blade was not going to come off its pedestal easily.
But that was fine.
He preferred it that way.
Little by little the sword began to rise.
"Grrrr! Grrr! Grrrrrrr!"
He could then feel it.
And he saw it.
Magic energy leaving his body through his hands.
The quintessence of his body was being absorbed by the sword.
One last test.
Good.
It wouldn't be fun if there wasn't any risk in doing this.
"Grrr! Grrrr! Grraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
And then the sword left the pedestal.
Kiran Mark had to breathe in and out several times as the quintessence returned to his body.
He had lowered the sword to his waist… and then he positioned it straight upright in front of himself.
He then shook his head.
And he smiled determinedly.
He did what anyone in his situation would do.
He performed a vertical slash, then another horizontal slash, and finally finished with a thrust.
"Hyaaaa!"
He raised the sword above his head, toward the heavens as the halo of light seemed to bathe the weapon in energy.
And he stayed in that position without moving, without caring about the progress of time.
Although his partners watched the scene with fascination at first, it was obvious that they did not fully understand the "ritual."
"How long do you think he will stand there?" Kagero crossed her arms.
The "goddess," who had moved away to give him privacy and space to try out his new weapon, responded. "He's probably imagining text appearing in front of him giving him a description, or at least that's what I saw in his memories. Give him a little more time."
Lucina stopped for a moment from watching all that to look at her sword. "So… is that a third Falchion?"
"Technically." Naga nodded as she shrugged.
"Technically?" Corrin asked.
"The two Falchion, both the one carried by the hero king and the one carried by the unifying holy king of Valm, were made with the essence of my fangs. This one also has Divine Dragon Fang essence, but I used a Tiki's one instead. If you consider it a Falchion regardless of the origin of the fang then the weapons of the twelve crusaders from Jugdral could also be considered Falchions."
Lucina crossed her arms. "I see… now that I think about it, what happened to Alm I's Falchion?"
"You're seeing it, I guess."
Lucina blinked multiple times rapidly, she was switching between seeing the Master Sword and Naga quite a few times.
"What?"
Naga smiled. "1000 years ago a horror of extreme power appeared in this world," she began to tell. While the other women needed the exposition, Lucina could already deduce who she was talking about. "I'm not sure why, but this evil dragon called Grima had a very strong hatred for the descendants of Alm and that was why Valm was the first continent that he attacked. Given his extreme power, I had to ask Wan the first Exalt to support the bearer of the Falchion of Valm in those days, Audrina, in battle to beat him. Although they managed to overpower him, Grima managed to break the second Falchion during the battle. After both of them sealed that monster, I took the broken sword and, considering that it had already fulfilled its purpose of killing Duma and Milla, I decided to keep it as a souvenir."
Little Azura, who had remained silent all this time, finally said something. "And that broken sword is now the sword my Papi holds?"
"Not really, I melted all the metal from Falchion two to craft this new one and, as I said, I had to replace my fang with Tiki's one... but if due to it being made of the remains of the original one you still want to continue considering it as the same sword then we could say that this "Espada Maestra" is the reincarnation of the old Falchion of Valentia."
Lucina looked at the new "Falchion" again, displaying the same admiration that its current wielder gave to it. "That part of the history doesn't appear in the books I've read…"
Naga shook her head in annoyance. "Humans should hire more and better historians, if they are going to have such limited lifespans they should make sure that their memories are left for future generations better."
Lucina, however, began to reflect on something... it could also be that, given the rivalry that existed between Valm and the new nations of Archanea, Ylisse had intentionally erased the records about that heroine who helped the first Exalt against Grima.
When would humanity learn to stop letting hatred get in the way of progress? Lucina wondered.
More or less at that moment Kiran Mark stopped admiring his weapon and turned to look at his companions.
The combination of his face full of admiration and determination with the light falling on him and that sacred sword in his hand made a sight worthy of being captured in a painting, something that Kagero visualized and told herself that she would have to.
Naga approached the young anti-hero.
And offered him the weapon's scabbard.
Kiran Mark blinked hard at the sight of a green version of the scabbard he already knew... but truth be told he had to admit he liked what he saw.
"Thank you very much for everything, Lady Naga." Kiran Mark stored the sacred blade in its sheath and nodded.
"You're welcome, son of the stars." She nodded with a smile.
"Well..." Kiran Mark folded his arms and considered the time of day after looking through the glass. "We need to get ready so we can leave... not to mention plan our return trip well... would you mind if we stay one more night?"
The "goddess" shrugged. "One more day with some company wouldn't be bad."
Azura began to pout, to which Corrin understood that she had to stop carrying her and let her run to her adoptive father.
"Papi! papi! That new sword looks so sharp!"
Kiran Mark stroked his adopted daughter's hair and carried her on his right arm. "That's right, with this sword there will be no stopping me! Soldiers, warriors, the Emblians, heroes, gods, the homeless man on the street! No one is going to be able to beat me!" Kiran Mark then began to swing the weapon to make Azurita laugh.
They all watched the scene laughing as well.
Corrin in particular watched it all with a very big smile.
"One last thing." Naga proceeded to hand him a small tome. "This will be useful for you to give your mark to whomever you deem worthy to take the sword once your time in this world is over."
Kiran Mark, now having magical knowledge thanks to his memories as Mark, recognized the object as a seal marker.
He accepted it with a nod.
Once again, Lucina had a question. "But... why would he need that? The mark should be inherited by his descendants, shouldn't it?"
Kiran Mark stowed his weapon in his scabbard again and scratched the hair behind his head. "Yeah well... there's a problem with that... I'm an alien."
"What's the problem with that?" Lucina didn't seem to understand.
"That means I'm pretty much sterile." Kiran Mark shrugged.
Corrin blinked with her mouth very wide. "Wait... you... you too?"
Kiran Mark gave her a smile. "But never mind, I'd rather be able to choose who I give this thing to and that said person gets to choose."
He looked at Azura for a moment... and his eyes denoted a mixture of sadness and wistfulness.
Part of him wanted to give her an Iron Man-like suit and train her to be a space bounty hunter who could kill space dragons each Tuesday... and another one just wanted to give her a peaceful life without worries.
"Anyway." He smiled genuinely again. "You know my little one," he began to stroke little Azura's hair. "It's a very fitting time to get a new sword because we're just getting to the part where the warriors of light get the legendary sword after giving Adamantite to the supreme blacksmith."
Azura smiled as she immediately deduced that this meant it was time to move on with the story.
All the ladies stared at the scene once again.
"He looks even happier." Kagero scratched her chin.
"Speaking of which… I need you girls to come with me." Naga became more serious and walked out of the garden towards another room.
"What happened?" Lucina, again, was the voice of the questions.
Corrin's face darkened. "I think I know what she wants to tell you."
"You already know?"
"Miss Corrin volunteered to help him as soon as I told her about his serious illness." Naga nodded slightly, still walking.
"He is sick?" Kagero
"Other than his headaches due to the… fusion… I didn't notice anything strange with his body." Lucina continued walking forward but momentarily turned to where he and little Azura had left.
Naga crossed his arms. "Mental illnesses are still illnesses even though they are not as apparent and the consequences they can have on the brain are equally worrying."
"But… hadn't you already cured him?" Kagero crossed his arms.
"What I did was repair the connection between the two hemispheres of his brain, which helped him resolve the emotional imbalance generated by his different beliefs, but this is something else... and perhaps it may be the reason why his two hemispheres suffered a connection cut when I was trying to heal him normally."
Once they reached a room where she was sure Kiran Mark would not find them, the "goddess" took out what appeared to be a tablet.
"Truth be told, I began to notice it since I started analyzing his brain… but it is much more worrying than I thought." The "goddess" sighed. "This is a very complex topic, so I will have to explain it in a simplified way." Naga shook his head. "He suffers from something called imposter syndrome."
"Imposter syndrome?" Kagero didn't quite understand what that was... in what sense was he an imposter?
"In his memories, I could see that he has been replicating inventions from his world for you in Askr." Naga scratched her chin.
Lucina nodded. "He honestly continues to impress me with what he can do."
"Did he ever try to warn you that what he does wasn't "that impressive"?" She already knew the answer, it was simply a rhetorical question.
"Sometimes… although we always told him he should have some more faith in himself, his inventions are just otherworldly!" Lucina insisted.
"I'm afraid that, based on what I saw about his world and what he told me, the education he received is not even something that could be considered professional. There are at least seven educational levels and he never reached the fifth and the fourth was left unfinished."
"What?"
"What?"
"It's really until the fifth level, called college, when they truthfully commence to learn the complicated subjects. And even if you compare it with what I have obtained over the millennia it is still quite limited."
The Ylisse princess and the ninja blinked in confusion multiple times.
Corrin took a step forward. "I had the same reaction… I always got the impression that he always seemed to know more… I came to doubt that there was anything he didn't know about."
They then remembered how he had accepted not knowing much about the brain itself.
Naga cleared her throat before proceeding. "What happens with people who have this syndrome is that they live in constant fear, it is a feeling of insecurity related to work achievements. A person may feel like an imposter because they don't believe they deserve their job. Often, imposter syndrome makes them feel like they're tricking their peers into thinking they're good at what they do. That's where the name comes from, those people feel like they're a fraud."
It was then that Lucina began to remember... how days before he practically thought it was only a matter of time before Robin replaced him as the order's strategist... or how he felt that he was no longer needed.
Kagero, for her part, could remember times when he seemed frustrated when he couldn't remember a certain detail to put in his Encyclopedia. Any information he could use for the future of humanity that he forgot usually equaled to him punching himself on the face.
"If we add the detail that he has always been living in his brother's shadow… well, what that does to the brain is marvelous to look at… the most concerning part is that his brain is inflamed..."
The thought that an organ like that could be going through something so painful was enough to make even Kagero wince. "The… can the brain become inflamed?"
"Brain inflammation is one of the most common effects of depression. Although his case is not very strong I was able to notice it... however, this also generates other problems. An inflamed brain damages itself in different ways, the brain is made of things called neurons, the more you have and the better the connections between them are, the better and more intelligent a person will be... but the inflammation of depression, added to the lack of a certain substance that is produced when one is happy, reduces the power of the neurons... they progressively turn off until... there comes a day when they are sleeping for good." Naga gave them a look of: do you understand what that means?
The silence that followed was something the "goddess" was expecting, after which Naga displayed them an image.
"While he is an alien, his brain is similar enough that I could notice something wrong. This is a human brain seen with a special effect, can you notice the "yellow" areas?"
Both Kagero and Lucina nodded, pointing to said sections of the brain mass. There were quite a lot of them and they gave this brain a somewhat shiny appearance.
"Those areas show high brain activity… well, this is a picture of HIS brain."
Naga then changed the image... and although they still didn't fully understand, seeing a brain that seemed to be mostly blue made them feel horror.
"And the problem with depression is that it creates other self-destructive habits. From what I saw, he suffers from major episodes of stress and usually has problems sleeping… unfortunately, his "solution" to this has been to decide to ignore sleep almost completely in favor of working more… the problem is that all of these things damage the neurons even more."
Lucina placed her hand over her mouth in horror as the implications of it all hit her immediately.
Had Robin suffered from this too in addition to all the headaches that Grima gave him through their mental and physical link?
Naga for her part, after analyzing the details about the mental battle that his two halves had had, was not very optimistic after having seen how one of the two behaved more like a machine.
It was an indication that sometimes he saw himself more as a tool than a person... and he didn't see a problem with that.
Kagero crossed her arms. "And let me guess… this was happening to little Azura too?
Corrin… well, she didn't react well to hearing that possibility… seeing the girl so happy recently had made her kinda forget about her own mental problems.
She then felt the incredibly strong urge to go hug her many more times and never let her go again.
"Maybe, the truth is that it disturbed me too much to notice depression in that girl… however, from what I see, she only suffered from depression for a few years. Irreversible degenerative effects tend to be something that takes longer."
"How long has Kiran Mark been dealing with this?" Kagero asked, she knew something had to be done…
And she was certainly going to report this to Commander Anna once they were back with the Order of Heroes.
"If what I've seen of his memories is true... and considering the difference of what his species and ours consider a year... he's close to reaching ten years since this started... and that is only talking about the damage caused directly by depression... damage as a result of secondary effects by such as lack of sleep, something that also kills neurons in itself… well…"
"It is a vicious circle where one harm generates another which aggravates something else and so on." Kagero commented, raising an eyebrow... but with a very obvious look of sadness.
"And the main problem is that this vicious circle has generated, at least in Kiran Mark, a mentality in which he does not care knowing that he is slowly killing himself... in fact, the area of his brain that is responsible for the basic desire for survival is on the brink of death... that's why I said this to you and not to him, if I had told him he wouldn't have cared... so if you want to help him it has to be through a subtle approach."
"And what can we do?" Lucina sighed before looking a little more stoic and determined.
"Corrin has started spending time with him, and you certainly need to make sure he spends less time alone with his thoughts. "He needs a distraction." Naga placed a hand on the princess of Valla's shoulder.
"Distract him… I guess we could do things he likes to do…" Kagero knew that trying to force him to do other things wouldn't work.
"Well, maybe he likes chess?" Lucina suggested, Robin truly loved that game.
"I say he needs to get more in touch with nature, by investigating things! "He loves to investigate things!" Corrin gave a proposal.
Naga nodded. "Regardless of how they help you in that aspect, you must remember one thing: this is only to be able to start the healing process. Curing depression is something that requires eliminating the source of the problem... otherwise, it would be like eliminating the pain of a person who has been pierced by a spear... but without removing the spear at all. In a similar way to how that person will feel pain again as soon as the effects of the medicine wear off, he will return to his original state the moment he is left alone with his own thoughts. This is usually common when it is time to sleep."
Corrin tried not to show her sadness. "The problem is that Naga told me that there are multiple origins of his problem, the imposter syndrome and living in the shadow of his brother are just two."
"I don't know all the possible causes, but there is a ray of hope. Little Azura looks happier and happier and that is because the reason for her suffering, as Corrin told me, was that she used to be abused in Nohr after the death of her mother. By no longer being there and finally finding people she feels she can trust, her condition has improved so she is proof that there is always a way out."
All the other girls nodded.
Today had been a very productive day.
What he had discussed with Naga regarding the ancient war of Fodlan had been quite the unnerving situation since he never expected anything similar to the Elf Wars to have ever actually happened... but that just meant he needed to be more cautious.
Plus now that he had a "real" Master Sword, he had to decide what to do with the first of all the ones he had obtained.
The Azul one was a training sword, the excessive weight had served the purpose of conditioning his two arms so he didn't really need it anymore.
He could still keep the Dorada one as his second weapon.
After all, it was still the smallest that was perfect for combat with two swords.
He figured he could keep the heavy blue sword as a souvenir anyway.
He entered his personal carriage with the intention of leaving the object in a drawer and then perhaps trying to sleep.
Or rather, spend hours planning new stuff until his brain finally gave up as almost every night.
But what he found was Corrin... sitting while she examined a book.
The book whose cover was the hearts that represented the souls of Undertale.
His diary.
"Do you want me to ask Kagero to make another book with a cover like that?"
"No, it's just that I'm genuinely fascinated by what's written here." Corrin turned a page.
"But… it is impossible for you to understand anything." Kiran Mark finally placed the blue sword in a compartment for safekeeping and walked over to sit next to her.
"I know, what I mean is that all these strange symbols make me curious… and well, the fact of knowing that this is a language that only one person on the entire planet can speak makes it even more unique."
"Ironically, Spanish is the second language with the most native speakers on my planet only behind Chinese." Kiran Mark took out his writing instruments: his pen, and his ink bottle. "Could you pass it to me? "It has been a very good day and it makes me want to write it all here."
Corrin smiled kindly at him. "I guess, yes."
Corrin then decided to examine his boyfriend's sword.
"So this would be the authentic Espada Maestra?" Corrin had learned the lesson of trying to hold a sacred blade without having the corresponding mark attached to the weapon, so she made sure to only hold it from the sheath.
"Well, according to the legend the Master Sword is born after the Sword of the Goddess is reinforced with the sacred flames of the 3 goddesses of power, wisdom, and courage and after receiving the blessing of the fourth goddess and its creator Hylia herself… so technically it is not, but if we consider Naga as Hylia and the three metals it is made of as the "3 flames" then maybe you could say yes." Although of course, the original version of this sword Naga gave him already had the same three metals.
"I wish I could have my Yato here so I can compare it to your Espada Maestra." Corrin sighed.
Kiran Mark extended her right hand and stroked his hair as he continued writing. "Well, I did see it when you lent me your power in that mental battle… and your Yato kinda broke the Espada Maestra so... I guess there's no need." He giggled. "I never thought I would see a chainsaw sword in my life though, but it looks damn awesome." and kinda impractical in that form but he wasn't going to complain.
Corrin smiled for a moment, although a doubt arose. "What is a chainsaw?"
"A mechanical device we use in my world to cut down trees."
"Oh!" Corrin blushed and put her left hand over her mouth in embarrassment. "So I wasn't being crazy when I cut down some of those with my Yato."
"There is nothing wrong with using something for something mundane as long as it doesn't get damaged." He shrugged as he continued writing.
Corrin stared at him for a couple of seconds... and then approached him to give him a surprise kiss on the cheek.
Kiran Mark turned slightly to look at her with a half smile and a raised eyebrow. "Is there anything you want? More food maybe?"
Corrin didn't seem to like that question. "Are you calling me fat?"
Kiran Mark narrowed his eyes. "Woman, now you are pregnant and with twins you need food… wait… that reminds me…" he then slapped his forehead. "How are we going to move this carriage if you can't transform into a dragon?"
Corrin stopped pretending to be upset and instead hugged him again. "Don't worry, Nagi offered to help us on the way back."
"Ah, I see. That's good I guess. Problema resuelto (Problem solved)." he nodded in satisfaction.
"Hey."
"Yes."
"I feel alone."
...
...
...
"Y uno nuevo empieza (and here comes another problem). Eeeh…" Kiran Mark put his diary aside and then caught her in a hug similar to the one they had given each other the other day. "This helps?"
Corrin then sighed in happiness. "Yes, that helps… although…"
"Although?"
She pulled away for a moment to look into his eyes. "There is something you have forgotten to do for a while… something I'd love you you do right now." Her narrowed eyes were clearly accusatory.
"Eeeh… I'm not sure what you're talking about…"
"Don't act like you don't know." She moved his face a little closer.
Did she want another kiss? Did she want him to stroke her hair more?
Oh… wait...
Looking slightly to the right and with an angry face… he began to purr.
Corrin then returned to denoting her happiness and resting her face on his chest.
Although there was a part of himself that had never been bothered by this… now there would always be another part that would complain, which is why he didn't modify his angry face despite the… five or ten minutes they both spent in that position while he purred constantly.
"Oh by the way. I just remembered." Corrin suddenly broke away from him and began searching through her suitcases.
Although he knew that they would be leaving the next day... it was still a little early to bring her stuff inside the carriage... shouldn't they still be in Tiki's room inside the underground fortress?
"Let's see... yes! This is the one!"
Corrin presented him with a piece of paper.
Which contained a drawing, or rather several drawings.
A drawing… of a gigantic building, a tower that had something written in Spanish (Latinoamericana)… another was a monument in the shape of an angel surrounded by more buildings. There was also… a train, a train of multiple wagons and locomotives traveling on what were clearly railway tracks, he could even see what was clearly a train crossing place complete with its X-shaped signs of alert, not to mention that on the road there were cars.
"That's…" She was certainly better at drawing than what he could ever achieve.
"That's your world, right? They are the buildings that scratch the skies, the carriages that move by themselves, and all that." Corrin put the paper on the table and sat down next to him again.
Kiran Mark, however, looked… fearful. "You… did you see all that?"
Corrin held his hand gently with both of hers. "That version of your brother was just a nightmare… it's not real…"
Kiran Mark looked slightly down and to the left, but eventually returned her grip and smiled at his girlfriend.
He then used the ink to try to draw more things, like airplanes and similar things. "That was Mexico City, the capital of my country."
"Your hometown?"
"Well, I wasn't born there but I've lived there."
Corrin rubbed her chin. "It was an immense town… Naga made us fly over the houses and buildings, but no matter how far she was there seemed to be no end."
Kiran Mark shrugged. "Normal, it is one of the largest cities in the world. It's almost fifteen hundred square kilometers of buildings that have been in constant expansion for at least... 700 years, maybe? I don't know, I just know that it has existed for at least 500. It is said that the founders of the first version of the city, when it was called Tenochtitlan, built there since it was a group of nomads looking for "a promised land" and that they would find it in the place where the signal of their god would appear: an eagle standing on a nopal while eating a snake." Or at least that's how the legend went.
"What is a nopal?"
He blinked a few times. "Something like a cactus."
The princess's silence made him understand that she didn't have any idea of what he was saying. "A plant that grows in many mainly desert environments, its most defining characteristic is that they are green and have spikes." Luckily cacti were not that difficult to draw, so he only had to make a few ovals and add lines to simulate the spikes.
"Such a strange plants."
"And yes, Nopales's strangest property is the fact that they seem to be able to grow on almost any surface even if there is no soil, and sometimes they don't even seem to require water." He gave a chuckle as he shook his head in amusement.
Corrin raised an eyebrow. "You got to be kidding…"
Kiran Mark shrugged. "I don't know, I've seen them growing on the roofs of houses and even on top of trees, don't underestimate them."
"If you say so... and by the way, I also remember listening to music that was... well... I remember that you had described a genre of music that you defined as action music as hard as a rock but... if that's what I heard I must admit that it's not at all how I imagined it."
"You mean one of these?" Kiran Mark started humming the music from X's battle against Zero in Mega Man X5.
"Yeah! "Why didn't you ever introduce us to music like that?"
"Well, beyond the fact that the instruments necessary to play music like that don't exist here and that I don't know how to build the vast majority of them... well, I'm simply a terrible artist." Kiran Mark leaned better against the carriage wall. "I couldn't play anything like that lay even if the instruments were given to me by Naga herself. There are many things that I have not been able to replicate either simply because I cannot draw them very well and I cannot get the blacksmiths to imagine correctly what I am asking them to make."
"If only there was someone who could give you the artistic support you need."
Uh…
Someone who could draw for him… well, there was no one in this world who could do that…
In this world…
That gave him an idea...
"Anyway… so you want us to stay up all night while we talk about things from my world?" If he had to do this again he didn't care, he just wanted some more coffee.
Corrin seemed to panic at his suggestion and she began to quickly negate using her hands. "No! "No no no no no!"
"Eeeh…"
"You're right, sleeping is good for the soul." His girlfriend then gave him a sequence of kisses on his cheeks. "Let's rest." She said with an urgent tone.
"... okay..."
He looked for the box where he kept his clothes. "See you tomorrow then."
He expected to hear the door open and close... but that didn't happen. At first, he didn't give it any importance... until after taking off his coat and shirt and starting to sit down to remove his shoes.
Corrin was lying on his bed.
Now wearing only black lingerie.
...
...
...
"Corrin," he remained stoic, concentrating on looking into her eyes. "I know you're… my girlfriend now… but as far as I know there is… a period of time before we should be allowed to cuddle…" he rubbed his face in frustration.
"Oh, come on! You slept with Commander Anna once!" she smiled at him.
"That's not something I volunteered for…" Kiran Mark crossed his arms. "Shouldn't you be with Azurita?"
"Don't worry, Lucina can take care of her." That smile wouldn't go away.
They both stared at each other for at least ten seconds in complete silence until Kiran Mark made a frustrated sound. "Okay, but if we are going to do this I need you to wait for me a moment, I'll be right back." He got out of the carriage, taking with him a piece of clothing.
Corrin could hear the footsteps of Askr's summoner walking away.
She decided to get inside the blankets and wait.
Although after 10 minutes she considered leaving and going to look for him after thinking that maybe he had taken the opportunity to escape.
However, then she heard footsteps approaching.
The door opened to reveal a… somewhat wet Kiran Mark.
And now wearing only underwear.
"Did you bathe in the river?"
"I had to do it, my scent wasn't exactly good after several days without taking a bath." Once he finished toweling off and threw his pants onto a chair, Kiran Mark didn't even flinch when he lifted the blankets to get inside.
"Good night." And with that, he closed his eyes.
Corrin...was speechless for at least another ten seconds. "You're seriously not going to say anything more than that?"
He once again opened his new blue eyes, he was evidently irritated. "And what am I supposed to say?"
"I don't know… I just wanted to have a nice conversation before going into the dream realm."
"I thought the purpose of going to bed was to sleep…"
"Well… I just wanted to get to know you more."
"Can't we do that tomorrow? I mean come on! Woman, you said it was a better idea to sleep than to continue talking."
Corrin reflected on what he said…and responded. "True, you are right. In that case…" She moved closer and proceeded to hug him similar to how a mother would hug her little one. "Good night." This was reinforced when she placed a kiss on the top of his head after whispering that to him.
Kiran Mark remained motionless and silent for a looong time…
He had to admit… this was comfortable…
But… no matter how much he tried to keep his eyes closed… more and more things came to his mind.
At least the sound of the soft rain that had begun to fall outside helped him stay relaxed.
Objects to replicate, battle plans, plans for the future... how did having Corrin as his girlfriend change his plans to build a house? Did he still want to build a house far from the capital? If he got what he was looking for it was unlikely that the idea of staying in Askr would still make sense. There were many places to travel to to obtain resources, build a new civilization, and avoid another Elf War...
Perhaps…
"You're not trying to sleep... are you?" The whispered voice of his girlfriend momentarily brought him out of his long train of thought.
"It's not that I don't want to… my brain just won't let me." Yawning.
"Your brain…" the tone with which he said that was strangely… unhappy. "I'm not as good a singer as Azura… but… do you want me to hum something for you?"
Well... something like that wouldn't be bad...
"That would be nice… thank you…"
Corrin then proceeded to hum the song that Azura had taught her many times already.
The effect of the music was not immediate... but... little by little... his thoughts dissipated in a river of thoughts.
All that existed was the soft rain, the darkness his closed eyes displayed... the sound of his girlfriend resting close to him... and the warmth she gave him.
And for the first time in a long time, he slept in complete and utter peace.
To the point that the next morning he didn't remember dreaming.
To be honest with you, I had kinda lost the motivation to write this story... let's say that the lack of reviews in the previous chapter made me doubt if people are even still reading this thing... the fact that people gave it more kudos on AO3 and kept adding it to their reading lists on Wattpad was what made me get it back.
After 70 episodes with almost no romance, I said: it's time to press the accelerator and add as much as I could in this chapter.
The scenes are designed to be done in a way that if they were a video you would expect them to be ASMR-like, although my favorite type of ASMR videos are those of water or objects like that. I also took some inspiration from… well, you know, the infamous petting your Waifu minigame XD. Speaking of Corrin, the truth is that both voices (Japanese AND English) have their own charisma.
However, I didn't want them to just be romance scenes and that's it. Something that Avatar The Last Airbender does in the chapter where Zuko has a date with a girl from Ba Sing Se is to display us something more than just a simple date: it reveals to us that Zuko grew up in an environment that took away basic aspects of a human being. He's unable to recognize that a girl could look at him just because she is attracted to him and, instead, he immediately assumes that she has discovered his identity as a fire bender (which tells us that he has a mentality too focused on the aspect of war, so he's a very clear example of a child soldier) in addition to being the first time he uses something he always had employed to destroy to create something beautiful instead (his fire bending).
This is why those scenes, especially the final one, were more to show a girl trying to stop the boy from falling again and being alone in the dark.
Depression… complicated topic, really.
The thing about the brain looking different when you have depression is something that you can see yourself, just search on Google: "How a brain with depression looks like" It's strange because it doesn't look like an extremely grotesque wound... but just looking at it is fucking disturbing.
In addition to brain inflammation and eventually neuronal death (both from insomnia killing neurons itself and the simple fact that lack of activity eventually shuts them down), there are other serious consequences including: a reduction in the size of the hippocampus and disconnection of the cerebral amygdala. Most of these things are reversible if detected in time, that's the good thing.
Now that you have seen it... try to imagine how Bernadetta, Marianne, and Alcryst's brains would look like.
Linked to depression is impostor syndrome (SUS)... although his fears are not unfounded, I say... imagine having incomplete high school and being given the job of saving the world... and being in a world stuck in the Middle Ages knowing that if any threat comes from outer-space you would need at least another 500 years to even begin to be prepared.
Something that seems strange to me is that despite the fact that FE Awakening was made as "the grand finale" for the franchise (which is why it uses several mechanics from different games and tries to bring back many things from the first 3 Fire Emblem to reference) they didn't bother to explain what the hell happened to the second Falchion (and as far as I know a second Falchion isn't something they invented in the remake Shadows Of Valentia, it was even in the original FE Gaiden), that's why I wanted to expand a little more on it.
Having the La Espada Maestra Definitiva (Definitive Master Sword) be the reforged second Falchion was an idea that although I wanted to use it... there were several moments when I hesitated and thought about just saying that it was a different, new sword and that something had happened to the original Falchion 2. I even considered just saying that Walhart had thrown the weapon to the bottom of the ocean because he disrespected it for being a symbol of the gods' power over humanity or something... but even after creating an explanation for why Falchion 2 broke I still had my doubts until I learned that technically you can't reforge a weapon, the most you can do is reuse the metal (and add a little more) to generate a new sword. After discovering that, and the fact the Master Sword in Tears Of The Kingdom breaks and is repaired by a divine dragon that may as well be Tiki's counterpart of that world, I decided: yes, I want to use this idea.
In fact, you can technically do the reverse idea by fusing the Master Sword with a white dragon fang, and there you go: a makeshift Falchion. Hell! When I saw what Ganon transformed into after eating the secret magatama stone, all I could think of was: Ganondorf El Dragón Caído (The Fell/Fallen Dragon).
Also, the wielders of Falchion 2 and the Master Sword are two left-handed guys in green with markings on their hands that enjoy breaking pots, it just seemed fitting lol.
Another reason I did this is because the word Valentia is actually identical to the word Valentía in Spanish which means Courage. The Master Sword belongs to the hero of courage so you understand.
If you want to have a better idea of what this "Falchion" Master Sword looks like, more or less, you can look for the AO3 or Wattpad version of this story, where there will be an image of it. The original image is the property of BLUEAmnesiac, a Deviantart user, and the title of the image is: Zeldanime Master Sword.
By the way, if you think that the colors of this version: gold, blue, and red, fit with the colors of Alear it is not a coincidence.
Regarding the whole scene where they forge the weapon itself, well, as Naga said: she has access to a forge a thousand times better than what any blacksmith from the Middle Ages could dream of... although I still think I should have done better research on how they are cast. these metals (titanium, tungsten, and iridium).
Nopales are powerful, don't underestimate where they can grow XD.