At the time I'm writing this, chapter 36 was just posted, and again thank you to RariSweti, seeing your comments always brings a huge smile to my face. I always enjoy getting comments, they usually make my day. Granted there are exceptions, but those are rare. In the whole time since starting this fic, I have only ever gotten one comment that annoyed me. And to be fair I got my own weird form of revenge. I'll go into that after the story is done. So anyway on with the chapter.

The Princess's Dragon Bride

Chapter 41: Rally

Robin swallowed the lump in his throat. "Where are the supplies?" Eleven seemed to give him a raised eyebrow before pointing at a few overturned crates scattered about the road.

Robin rushed over to the boxes, digging through tomes and spare blades, and fished out a handful of Vulneraries. He rushed aimlessly around and grimaced, he couldn't give them to Lucina, not in her condition. He needed someone to heal her.

He rushed around the wagon and found Byleth, and shook them awake. When they gave him a tired groan he handed them a potion. They gulped the liquid down greedily and flung the discarded cork at him teasingly. Byleth stood at attention soon afterward.

"Cloud's in the…" Byleth pointed to the metal thing. "That."

"I'll heal the others, you go heal Lucina," Robin directed. Byleth wasted no time in rushing to heal the Ylissean princess.

Robin couldn't quite lift the truck himself so he pulled Cloud out from the hole in the roof, or side, given its current position. Once he had gotten him out he shook him awake before handing him a Vulnerary.

The last was Akira and Robin found him slumped against a stone. After checking his pulse he sighed in relief and shook him awake too.

"Where the hell were you?" he heard Joker croak out in annoyance.

"Caputed." he smiled, "Now shut up, and drink." Thankfully, he didn't put up much of a fight. Once he regained his strength he and Robin rejoined the collected group.

Robin frowned, "We can't stay here." He turned to Akira "The Kings have already retrieved Corrin, they will be here soon to collect Lucina and us."

Akira nodded and motioned to his team. "Grab what you can and let's get out of here."

Rex winced as Summer started to beat her wings against the stable door. "Easy there!" He raised his palms up in hopes of calming her. She had been in a frenzy as of late and he didn't understand why. She had been almost lethargic for a few weeks but was now almost wild.

"Corrin'll be back, soon." he placed his palm on the wooden gate, then screamed in surprise as it was shoved down on him.

Summer had knocked the gate off its hinges and burst out towards the stable door. Rex cursed as he pushed the gate off of himself, and grimaced as he heard the nearby pegusi winny in panic.

Summer however didn't stop, she ran out towards the small courtyard.

Rex managed to get outside just in time to see her spread her wings. Without thinking he shot his anchorshot outward, hoping not to lose her.

It had snagged her leg but she wasn't stopped, and in one powerful yank managed to free herself.

He watched her fly off, and a knot formed in his stomach. This isn't good.

Lucina's eyes fluttered open. Everything was pained and in the depths of her mind, she knew something was missing. Two figures hovered over her, outlined in the firelight behind them.

"Lucina?" The speaker's voice came through as if she was hearing them from underwater.

"I've done all I can without a proper rest," another voice said, this one deadpan, and vaguely familiar.

"All that matters is that she wakes up, a Concoction should fix the rest." Lucina blinked a few more times and slowly, Robin and Byleth's faces came into view.

"Lucina, you're up." she could hear the relief in his voice. Then gently she was helped into a sitting position. "Here," an open glass bottle was placed into her hand.

She took a long, deep swig from the vile, and a vaguely bitter taste from her childhood rushed into her memory. Faintly she registered Cloud say from farther away, "How did you know those were going to survive the crash?"

Robin chuckled softly "I've been on the battlefield with them, if they didn't break as an explosion goes off in your face, or take a direct swipe from a hammer, nothing will shatter them."

Her wits returned to her shortly after swallowing the potion, and one thought ran through her mind like a lightning bolt. "Where's Corrin?"

Robin frowned, "She was captured by Bowser's lead mage, and she was taken away, it was only because of the fog that they didn't notice you." he sighed, "Had I found you sooner I would have waved him down to take you too."

"We have to go after them," she struggled to stand, she was still woozy. Thankfully Byleth caught her.

"That's impossible." Robin shook his head.

"Why!" she couldn't leave Corrin alone, not with her power the way it was. The nightmares she was plagued with had come to pass, she needed to be with her now more than ever.

"Our main priority was making sure you were stabilized.'' The look on Robin's face was pleading. "Besides, that happened hours ago," he rested a hand on her shoulder "They have probably left the area by now, there is no way we can catch up to them now."

"We have to try," she tried to stand again, and this time she did and she made for the mouth of the cave they were hiding in. "She's scared and frenzied, I told her I wouldn't leave her alone!" she yanked one of the spare swords from the crate they saved, "not then and especially not now!"

"Lucina, please," Robin rushed after her. "You're injured, you need to regain your strength."

"I need to be with my Wife!" Lucina bore her gaze into Robin's "She needs to know I'm okay. She needs to know none of this was her fault." She must have struck a nerve because he shrank away from her. There was sorrow in his eyes.

She began to limp past him, her body still sore and achy, when she heard him mumble something, "You're right." she heard him take a breath, it was shaky as if he was trying to keep his composure. "But you can't do it alone." When he turned to face her she realized he had a stray tear rolling down his face. "I know a half-decent band of thieves if you want to kidnap a princess."

"Half-decent?" Akira huffed and slid past Robin, "I'll have you know my band is quite skilled at kidnapping princesses."

She found herself smiling, "Well, I don't have any money to offer you at present."

"With the publicity, I don't think I need any payment." Akira laughed, "All I want is to help a friend," teasingly he mumbled, "I'll put it on your tab."

Lucina found herself smiling a little harder "Thank you, all of you."

Marth stared up at the endless blue sky, his fingers strumming the strings of his lute as the wind tousled his hair. He could see Ylissetol's outline in the distance. They were almost there now.

He heard footsteps on the ship's wooden floor behind him. "How are you feeling?"

Shulk took the seat beside him, "I told you I was going to be alright."

Marth sighed in relief. He stopped his playing, reached into his cloak, and held up the teardrop-shaped stone. He held it up to the sun's light. "Our journey is almost over."

Shulk chuckled softly. "You're right about that, we'll be landing in Ylisse soon."

Marth brought the stone closer to his chest. "Let's just enjoy the moment for now."

AN/ That goes for us too, we're in the home stretch. Only a few more chapters to go. I'm hoping that after this fic is done I might finally get to work on all those art pieces I wanted to do for it. I mean I have been tossing a possible sequel idea around but no promises. Anyway, see you next chapter.

~ (1/24/2024)