Not much to say, we had this idea, and it's here now. I'm not going to apologize. Okay, so I've been uploading every other week for the past few weeks, but I've been, of course, I've been having issues keeping up the pressure, so I'll be taking my time again. Feel free to follow that way; you won't miss the Mondays I do post.
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Note for my Ao3 Readers: thank you for your patience. I'm super sorry for the late update, writer's block sucks.
Anyway, hope you have fun and enjoy the chapter.
The Princess's Dragon Bride
Chapter 35: A Doll for The Don
Marth had been staring at the sky for hours, lute in hand. There was something so surreal about flying through the sky amongst the stars, the moon shining so brightly it was as if he could reach out and touch it. He couldn't quite put into words the emotions running through him. But where his words failed him his lute did not.
What exactly he was feeling he wasn't sure. Was it excitement? For being one step closer to helping free Corrin of her burden. Anxiety? Or Fear? Of failing her. Joy? Maybe wonder? For finally drifting through the sky like he had always dreamed, far from the castle, far from the council, far from the stress of his royal mask.
Just faintly he can hear a certain someone coming above deck to join him on the above deck. "It's getting rather late you know."
Marth glanced over at Shulk as he took a seat beside him, a metal flask in hand. He raised an eyebrow at the seer as he took a drink, "I didn't know you drank."
Shulk's cheeks pinkened as he almost spat out his drink. After a few labored coughs, he offered the flask to the prince. "It's not alcohol."
The prince took it and found it was strangely warm. He took a small swig and recognized the smooth bitter flavor immediately. "You brought tea?"
"A force of habit." Shulk smiled as he leaned back and stared up at the stars, "you should get some rest, there is still a chance we may need to make the trip up the mountain by foot."
The prince gave him a confused look, "we're that close?"
Shulk smiled at that. "Yes. Travel by airship is rather amazing."
Marth found himself smiling. He put down his lute and leaned back as well, "You don't sound surprised."
Shulk chuckled softly, his gaze never leaving the starry sky. "I will admit I've never seen ones that look like actual boats, but I've seen a few airships back home." Marth turned his head, as Shulk continued. "These are made of wood and metal, but the insides seem to function similarly."
"Do you know a lot about airships?" Marth's head was spinning with questions, he knew Shulk wasn't from Ylisse, but the homs wasn't prone to talking about his home country.
Shulk's eyes seemed to sparkle in the moonlight, "Dunban said my dad used to fix the colony ships back home and that I was like a little engineering sponge."
"Engineering?" Marth had seen that term before, but only in regards to books that spoke of other far lands. He read about the strange automatons and furnaces that could sustain themselves without fire, "Did you build things?"
There was a wistful look in the seer's eyes "I wasn't allowed to work on the ships myself as I was too young, but I made a mess of any weapons I could get my hands on." He chuckles softly to himself "I started putting them back together once I was seven. And they ended up giving me smaller simpler machines to fix that weren't military related to keep me from walking off, scavenging parts, and making my own."
"You never told me about this." Marth teased.
Shulk turned to face the prince, "The engines of my home work differently to anything here, and while I have built a few things here, I don't think I'll have the energy resources to make something work for an extended period."
"You made …" Marth's eyes widened as he connected the dots, his and Lucina's lanterns. The realization brought a smile to his face, his cheeks burned just a little hotter. The lamp Shulk had given him almost eleven years ago had never faltered in all the years he had used it. "The technology of your home must be incredible."
Shulk rolled onto his side so he was facing the prince. "It's amazing." he had this soft smile on his face as he added, "Maybe I can show you someday."
There was a knot forming in his chest at the thought of going on his own adventure, to a foreign land with his most trusted friend. "I'd like that."
They lingered there, gazes locked and hands resting an inch apart. Slowly the knot grew, and Marth found himself restless. Yet he didn't want to move, didn't want to break that peace.
The ship tilted. Subtlety, but it was enough to have Shulk's flask tipping over.
It was as if the trance Marth was under shattered and he found himself reaching to pick up the flask. Thankfully it was closed but the spell had been broken. Shulk it seems was drifting off to sleep as he only sat up after Marth had started gathering his things.
"I think you may have a pint," Marth stretched. "I'll get some rest."
"Hmm," Shulk yawned. "Right, good night."
"Yes, Good Night." Marth found his hammock and put his lute away before climbing in. Quietly he rested his hand over his brand. His heart was beating far too quickly to get any sleep. Despite being a mess of nerves and rapid heartbeats, he couldn't keep the smile off his face.
Lucina was left speechless, completely confused, and almost amazed.
The Phantom Thieves cleaned up very well. She had no idea why they needed to dress up like women, but they looked good. Whenever she asked Pit what they were going to do he changed the subject in a very awkward way. She stopped trying after the fifth time.
Although it was a little unfair that Byleth was actually, physically female at the moment, she was gorgeous. Her outfit reminded Lucina of a dancer. Her back, shoulders, and much of her stomach were bare. Her arms and legs were covered in this sheer fabric that made those traces of skin all the more noticeable.
But the thing that made her outfit so eye-catching had to be the number of ribbons and jewelry she had on—including a lovely and ornate headpiece that made her hair a vibrant color of green. However, Lucina wasn't sure if it had always been that color or not.
Byleth looked absolutely stunning, if a bit overdressed.
Akira similarly wasn't in a dress. No, he was in a black silk shirt and leather skirt combo. It reminded Lucina of a uniform of some kind, It was attention-grabbing, that was for sure. It was a short-sleeved top with a white undershirt. He even had a silk tie to match.
A studded belt rested high above his hip line making the skirt look longer than it was, despite not reaching his knees. He also had high-heeled leather knee-length boots. And a dark set of sheer tights that covered up the rest of him. Rounding out the outfit was a wavy dark wig that matched his usual frizzy hair.
Lucina was thankful she never met a girl like Joker. She would drag her into so much trouble and she wouldn't find it in her to say no.
Leven, Cloud, and Robin were all given dresses. Apparently, Cloud had connections for that too. He also refused to elaborate when asked what he did to get all these connections.
Leven was given a lovely and very ruffly white dress, with a purple accent color. The shoulders were poofy with short elbow-length sleeves that ended in huge purple ruffles.
He was given a wig that matched his brown hair and even extended it so that it draped over his shoulders and ran a bit down his back. But what wrapped it all together was the cute little tiara they gave him.
He was so soft and meek he reminded Lucina a bit of Corrin upon their first meeting.
Robin was given quite a layered ensemble. First, he was given a pale purple dress that was almost ankle-length. Then a black long vest was tied at the front with a nice pale ribbon. The last part of the outfit was a small bolero-like jacket that covered his shoulders and upper back, with short sleeves that only went down to his elbows with pale ruffles at the elbows. He was even given short white gloves to cover up a strange tattoo on the back of his hand
Lucina offered to help him with his wig but he was able to style it himself. He ended up pulling the wig's long silver hair into two long twin-tails that he let cascade over his shoulders.
With a touch of makeup, he could almost fool Lucina into believing he had "Magic Goddess Powers Beyond Mortal Understanding" as Byleth had put it.
Cloud chose a long princessy dress, it was a mostly black skirt with puffy black shoulders with long sheer sleeves that had a fishnet pattern that ended with small ruffle wrists that almost covered most of his hands. The main torso was this lovely blue undershirt that gave the impression of a curved shogunate.
He had asked Lucina for help braiding the long strands of his hair into twin braids that he let drape over his shoulders. She also helped him place a matching black bow accessory into his hair, it looked rather nice on him.
He gave off a strong and strangely graceful aura. He almost reminded Lucina of herself if she was more of a ballroom type.
She had to admit that, for the most part, they looked really good in those outfits. She had no idea that The Phantom Thieves were so adept at disguises and trickery.
Quietly she reached into her bag and pulled out Corrin's Photo Tome and took a few shots of all the boys in their outfits. Corrin is going to want to see this.
Robin swallowed the lump in his throat as Pit led them from the dressing room to the main room. He chose now to speak up. "What exactly will we be doing?" He chose not to bring up their outfits. At this point in his thieving career, he just learned to roll with it.
Pit blushed slightly as he made a vague hand gesture, "Oh, you know, just some hostess work." Everyone stopped moving.
Hostess? Robin let out a sigh, at this point did he really have any dignity left to lose? Sure he had dropped his towel in front of the Exalt and sure he had acted like a complete flirt toward the Exalt but they were once lovers, it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before. Yet he liked to believe there was still a small sliver of dignity he still had.
When none of the group continued, Pit sighed. "We'll introduce all of you to the Don, he'll pick one of you and the one he picks will do simple hostess stuff." he raised his hands defensively when Cloud cracked his knuckles. "O-once he picks one the rest of you can leave and change back into your normal clothes. Sound fair?"
They gave each other approving nods before continuing to follow Pit.
Robin groaned internally. Now he was playing dress up for a man Pit referred to as the Don. He smoothed the front of his dress as Pit stopped to push open the doors to the biggest and gaudiest building in the district.
The Don, it turns out, was a rather large blue penguin-looking creature dressed in fine fluffy robes of mostly reds and golds.
Pit cleared his throat and motioned to the large penguin, "Introducing Don Dedede." they all gave an awkward curtsy.
The Don gave a boisterous laugh and smirked, or as much as a penguin could. "Athena never disappoints!"
He walked down the line and after a moment pointed at Leven. "You." Leven looked a bit startled but was quick to follow the Don back to the large couches in the middle of the room, surrounding a round coffee table, with tea, and snacks, organized rather beautifully.
Robin tried not to let out a relieved sigh as he and the others turned around to leave, only for the Don to speak up again. "Hold up."
"I've got some guests coming in, so stay put." The group turned around and returned to formation. Robin cursed internally. So his torment wasn't quite over. This can't get any worse.
Suddenly the large double doors were almost slammed open revealing a very large and very familiar dragon turtle. The Don gave the guest a hearty greeting, "You must be King Bowser!"
He nodded and turned to the lineup. He didn't say anything but the vague jab he made with his thumb and the raised eyebrow was enough.
"These fine ladies are here to keep us company." he patted Leven's shoulder, "Go ahead and take your pick, and we can get down to business."
As Bowser evaluated the lineup, Robin tried to keep his panic from overtaking him. This is bad. Wherever there was Bowser there was …
The double doors opened again, only a bit gentler than before. And a very handsome Exalt walked through those doors, "Are you Dedede?"
"I am. Pick a gal and take a seat." The Don made a motion and Leven figured out he was meant to grab tea.
Chrom looked at Bowser who only shrugged and pointed at Cloud, "You, Blondie." Cloud scoffed and took his seat beside the Koopa King.
Chrom sighed and walked down the line. When he met Robin's gaze his eyes narrowed only slightly. His eyes wandered as he eyed up the ex-tactician. His eyes locked on Robin's neck and suddenly Robin was forced to worry about marks that should have long since healed. Absent-mindedly he raised a hand to his neck, looking away shyly as if he was slightly uncomfortable.
Chrom Smirked and Robin cursed himself for falling into an obvious trick. "It would be my pleasure if you joined me." That smug smile never left his face as he offered Robin his hand.
Would it be suspicious if I refused? Would it cause a scene? He swallowed the lump in his throat. We have a favor to keep, best not to make waves. He took Chrom's hand and followed him to his seat.
We are so screwed.
Lucina flipped through the photo tome absentmindedly before deciding she would try and take a photo of herself, as Corrin would likely have taken another candid shot if she could.
Outlined by the warm light of the lamps around Madam Athena's shop she decided to adjust the tome to take the best shot she could.
The door slammed behind her and unfortunately, the shocked look on her face was reflected in the photo. Drat!
She turned to see Akira patting a mildly annoyed Byleth's shoulder. At least she assumes Byleth was annoyed. They are a lot easier to read as a woman.
"It's just I'm an actual girl, and I still lost," yup she's annoyed.
"It's because they have terrible taste, Byleth." Joker huffed. Ah, he's annoyed too.
She watched as her two teammates walked past her and kept walking. Lucina sputtered for a moment. "Where are you two going?"
"To get dressed and blow off some steam!" Joker called without looking back.
Lucina watched absolutely dumbfounded. What just happened in there?
AN/ Yeah, sorry I took really long to upload this chapter was really hard to write … for some reason, on that note. October was hell, the Write's Block demons found me. I'm getting better but not quite full force. And yes, this whole side arch is based on the WallMarket mission from FF7; thanks for asking.
Fun fact:
1. Robin, Leven, and Cloud's dresses are all based on the three possible dresses that Cloud can get in Final Fantasy 7 Remake with some color adjustments, as the original outfits are black and white.
2. Akira's outfit is based on the crossdressing outfit he has in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight.
3. Byelth's outfit is based on the Sothis Regailia from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Female Byeth's Brave outfit from Fire Emblem: Heroes… it's the same outfit.
4. This chapter went through so many rewrites I ended up rearranging the timeline at least twice.
Ah, right before I go, thank you to unflowingideas for their comments that made me so happy it might have gotten me out of my slump. And a thank you to everyone who leaves kudos. They make my day. Well, with that said. Have a wonderful day, and I'll see you on Monday. I'm not sure which one, but it'll be a Monday.
~ (12/19/2023)
