Opening:
"And last, but not least, these are the training grounds!" Sharena proclaimed. She looked back at the group of newly summoned heroes and smiled. "As you can see, some heroes are already making great use of them!"
"Yes, that certainly seems to be the case," Tan'bay said. He took a moment to glance and study the other heroes' swordsmanship. "Unfortunately, their techniques pale in comparison to those taught and practiced in Chon'sin. No doubt these training grounds will be vital as I teach our fellow heroes a higher form of fighting!"
Sharena awkwardly frowned. "Um..."
"Please, forgive him," Lumaria said, quickly stepping forward. "He is always a bit too eager in sharing the ways of his country. When he gets like this, he tends to forget his manners."
Sharena giggled. "Oh, is that it? In that case, count me in! I'm always eager to learn more about our heroes and where they came from!"
"You should reconsider," Tenk muttered. "Tan'bay's descriptions of Chon'sin are drenched in nothing but insufferable whimsy and obvious hyperbole."
"You bite your tongue!" Tan'bay exclaimed. "I speak nothing but the truth about my homeland!" He turned to Sharena and smiled. "Ignore him, Sharena. The words of a pessimist are never worth listening to."
"To imply that your words hold any more weight than mine further proves my point," Tenk scoffed.
"You dare continue to mock me?!"
"Oh!" Zephyra cried, before excitedly jumping up and down. "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"No, no!" Lumaria cried, quickly running in-between them. "No, fighting! Not when we just got here!"
Ananias inconspicuously walked towards Sharena, sighed, and muttered, "Yeah, sorry again for all of this. We can be... a little bit dysfunctional."
"Oh, I don't mind!" Sharena reassured him. "You guys aren't the first heroes who haven't exactly gotten along. If anything, that just means you'll all fit right in!"
"That... sounds concerning."
"Bah!" Tan'bay exclaimed. "I've had enough of you! If you truly insist on being a thorn in my side, then I'll just do both of us a favor and stop conversing with you altogether!"
"Fine by me!" Tenk retorted. "I've heard enough lies about Chon'sin to last a lifetime!"
Lumaria sighed. "Come on, guys. You don't really mean that."
"Actually, I think Tan'baby's got the right idea!" Zephyra said. "New world, new us! We can completely reinvent ourselves here, and no one will be the wiser!"
"And forget and leave behind everything from before?" Lumaria asked.
Zephyra shrugged. "Why not? It's not like anything is left waiting for us."
"No offense, but don't you still have family?" Ananias asked.
"Oh, you mean Owain and Lucina?" Zephyra thought about it for a moment. "Well, I guess if they got summoned here too, I'd just let them in on the secret, but otherwise, nope! New Zephyra, baby!"
"Oh!" Sharena cried. "You're related to Owain and Lucina? In that case, it's your lucky day! They've already been summoned to Askr."
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. "They did?" Lumaria asked.
Sharena nodded. "Yep!" She then frowned. "But it's strange. I don't recall them ever mentioning you before."
"Well, with Owain being Owain Dark and Lucina pretending to be Marth, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised," Zephyra said.
"Yeah, but still...," Lumaraia murmured. "Sharena, has anyone else from our group been summoned here? Inigo, Nah, Brady, do any of those names ring a bell?"
Sharena nodded. "Uh-huh! All here!" She frowned. "Though now that I think about it, I don't think any of them mentioned anything about you guys either."
"Surely they haven't forgotten about us, right?" Tan'bay asked, clearly beginning to get concerned.
Tenk shook his head. "No. Our group has always been a sentimental one. Unless something specific happened to them, I can't imagine any of them simply forgetting our existence."
"Maybe it's a no-person-no-tell type of thing," Ananias suggested. "Like, if a person isn't here, then you don't bother mentioning them."
Sharena shook her head. "That hasn't stopped anyone from mentioning others from their world before."
"Excuse me." The entire group turned to see who had just spoken to them. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but your clothes, they look like those made in Chon'sin."
Tan'bay gasped. "Mother?" he quietly uttered.
Say'ri's eyes widened in surprise. "Mother?"
C:
"Mother, it's me!" Tan'bay cried. "Do you not recognize me?"
"Forgive me, but I am certain that we've never met," Say'ri said.
"But -"
Lumaria placed her hand on one of Tan'bay's shoulders and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Relax. Sharena mentioned that people can be summoned to Askr at different points in their lives. This may just be a Say'ri from before you reunited with her in the past."
Say'ri's eyes widened in surprise. "'In the past'?" She looked the entire group over. "Am I to believe that you are some of Lucina's friends from the future overtaken by Grima?"
Lumaria nodded. "Yes, we are."
Say'ri's eyes narrowed. "That is strange. Neither Lucina or the others mentioned anything about you."
"No way," Zephyra murmured. "They didn't?"
"Like I said, it could just be that there wasn't any point in mentioning us," Ananias said. "I mean, no use bringing up people who may or may not show up, right?"
"If only," Tenk cryptically muttered.
"Wait here," Say'ri instructed. "I know where Lucina is at this time. I will bring her here and we will no doubt get to the bottom of this."
"Here they are, Lucina. Just as I said."
Lucina's eyes widened in surprise upon laying eyes on them. "Gods..."
"Luci!" Zephyra cried, jumping on top of her cousin and giving her a great, big hug. "Where've you been, girl?"
"A-and you are?"
Zephyra blinked in confusion for a moment before letting Lucina go and answering, "Luci, don't you recognize me? It's me! Zephyra! Your favorite cousin!"
"Cousin? Lissa had a daughter back in your world?"
Zephyra gave Lucina a funny look. "Aunt Lissa? No. My mother was Emmeryn, Lissa's older sister."
Lucina's eyes widened even more. "Emmeryn?! Emmeryn had a daughter?"
Zephyra grabbed Lucina's hands and began rubbing them. "Luci, you're scaring me. I mean, I know that we didn't always see eye to eye, but we were still family, right?"
Lucina hesitated to answer, and for that very moment, Ananias, Tan'bay, Lumaria, Tenk, and Zephyra all held their breath. "I'm sorry, but... I don't have any other cousins besides Owain."
Zephyra took a step back and shook her head. "H-hey, this is some sort of joke, right? You're just trying to get me back for all of the pranks I did to you, right?"
Lucina shook her head as she gave the five a sympathetic look. "I truly wish that were the case," she said. "But as far as I can tell, I'm not your Lucina. And I don't think Owain is your Owain either."
Tenk sighed. "Then I suppose that the others aren't our versions either?"
Lucina bowed her head. "No, I don't think so."
"W-wait, that can't be right!" Sharena exclaimed. "Sure, events can happen a bit differently from parallel world to parallel world, but the people in that world still stay the same, right?"
"Well, there's always a first time for everything," Tenk muttered. "Congratulations, guys. We're officially the first group of heroes that come from a world completely separate from everybody else's."
"S-so then," Tan'bay said, "this Say'ri came from a world where she never had a son?"
"I'm sorry," Lucina said softly. "But that seems to be the case."
"Incredible," Say'ri murmured. "To think another version of me has a son that I will never have."
"Well, I'm glad that you find it so fascinating," Tenk scoffed. "But we've just found out that we're completely alone in this strange new world, so I kindly ask that you keep your fascination to yourself."
"Tenk," Lumaria firmly, but softly said. "It's not their fault. You shouldn't take your frustrations out on them."
"No offense," Tenk said. "But I've suddenly lost whatever little motivation I previously had to care." He then began to leave.
"Tenk!" Lumaria called. "Where are you going?"
"To wallow in my loneliness by myself," Tenk irritably answered. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
Say'ri stepped towards Tan'bay. "Tan'bay, was it? I -"
Tan'bay raised his hand up to stop her as he began to leave himself. "Please, not right now, yes? I... I need some time to absorb all of this."
Lucina turned back towards Zephyra. "Z-Zephyra, I -"
"Don't pretend like you know me," Zephyra coldly said, stepping away from her. "You don't. You've made that very clear."
"Guys, come on!" Lumaria cried. "Let's just talk this out, alright?" When none of them listened to her, Lumaria sighed, turned to Ananias and asked, "What now?"
B:
Lumaria let out a big sigh of relief. "There you are!" She and Ananias approached them. "We've been looking all over for you!"
"Then we failed," Tenk said. "We had no intention of being found."
Lumaria nodded. "I see. And just how long were you three expecting to keep that up?"
"Buzz off, Lummy," Zephyra said. "We're not in the mood."
"We can see that," Lumaria retorted. "But why though?"
"Really?" Tan'bay asked. "Do you really have to ask?"
"A bit, yeah. I mean, when we made our way back to the past, we figured something like this would happen, didn't we? Weren't we prepared for this? For our family members not to recognize us when we met them?"
Tan'bay shrugged. "Yes, I suppose we did."
"So what was all that back there then?"
"It's not the same!" Zephyra cried. "It's different!"
"How is it different?"
"They're here, but they're not!" Everyone could hear that she was beginning to choke up. "How? I mean," she laughed, "is this some kind of joke? Or am I just doomed to never have a real, normal family?"
"Zephyra..."
"Everything was gone," Tan'bay quietly said. "Everything. The only thing that I know for certain survived the destruction of Chon'sin was me. But in that Say'ri's world, I didn't exist. No child of hers existed. Which means that in her world, that's it. It's all gone. The land of my mother, wiped out from existence. Just like that." Tan'bay laughed bitterly. "I put my entire being into being the last remaining survivor of Chon'sin. The last one to pass on its culture to the next generation. To hear that the memory of my mother and Chon'sin were basically erased without a shred of hope in another world... well, it certainly puts things into perspective."
"Well, good!" Tenk exclaimed. "Finally, you understand! Our missions, our countries, us, none it ever mattered! None of it! It can all be so easily be erased, just like that. The fact that it took you this long to figure that out is astounding."
Lumaria sighed. "Not now, Tenk."
"Oh? And why exactly not? What could be more important then finally accepting the futility of our existences, hmm? Do you wish to delude yourself for just a little bit longer? Is that it? Because if so, then I ask that you kindly leave me out of it!"
Lumaria shook her head in dismay before turning to Ananias and hissing, "Ananias, help me out here!"
Ananias' eyes widened in surprise. "How?"
"I don't know! Say something, at least!"
Ananias uncertainly scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, even if I did, I doubt these three are in any mood to listen."
"So what? We just leave them here to mope all day?"
Ananias shrugged. "Well, moping IS a part of the process. Not the most desirable part, but still..."
Lumaria frowned. "Ananias..."
"Listen, I'm not saying we leave them here to die, I'm just saying there's nothing we can do right now. Let's just leave them here to mope a little and then we'll come back and talk it out later."
Lumaria sighed. "Fine."
"Tan'bay?" Say'ri called out.
Tan'bay, Zephyra, and Tenk's eyes widened in surprise. "M-mother?"
"Ah, there you are," Say'ri said. "Lumaria said that this is where she saw you last."
Tenk rolled his eyes, turned away, and groaned. "Honestly, that woman... does she always have to go around meddling in other people's affairs?"
"Technically, we're not 'people', we're manaketes," Tiki said, revealing herself just behind Say'ri. "Though I suppose the difference is negligible."
Tenk's head snapped back towards them. "M-mother?!"
Tiki sadly smiled. "So it's true. In your world, I really am your mother."
"The same goes for us," Emmeryn said, making her presence known.
Zephyra sighed. "Oh, look. My not-mom came too."
"Zephyra..."
"Save it," Zephyra said. "You're not my mother. I have better things to do than to waste my time on a mother I'll never have."
"Is that how you all feel?" Say'ri asked.
"What else are we supposed to feel?" Tenk scoffed.
"I'll admit, meeting another version of Ban-Ban and Mar-Mar was a bit off-putting to me as well," Tiki said. "But as I slowly got to know them, I realized that deep down, they were exactly like the Ban-Ban and Mar-Mar I knew back home, in my own time."
"That doesn't change the fact that they're not them," Tenk argued.
Tiki chuckled. "True enough, but think of it like this. I now have the opportunity to spend time with them again. And while they may not be the exact versions that I knew of, such a difference is negligible."
"She's right," Emmeryn said. "A dear friend is a dear friend, no matter what world they came from or what differences they may have from the ones we knew."
"Except the difference isn't negligible!" Tan'bay replied. "We don't exist in your world!"
"And it pains me just as much as it pains you," Say'ri reassured him. "To think, I could've had a son who took pride in his heritage as much as you. You may have felt as if you've lost an important part of yourself upon meeting me, but rest assured, this pain is not exclusive only to you."
Emmeryn went up to Zephyra and held her hand. "Zephyra, thanks to Lissa and Chrom, I am fully aware of what becomes of me in the future. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for my shortsightedness. In the end, it seems my actions had unforeseen consequences on those whom I hold dear."
Zephra began to tear up. "Mother..."
"And Tenk, was it?" Tiki asked.
Tenk gulped. "Um, yes?"
"It seems that I too, have much to explain for. No doubt your bitterness and cynicism comes from a shortcoming on my part as well."
Tenk bowed his head. "No. You had nothing to do with that. I ended up ruining myself all on my own."
"Regardless, I would like to make it up to the son I'll apparently never have."
Say'ri nodded. "Agreed."
"The feeling is mutual," Emmeryn said. "So please, don't push us away. The situation may not be perfect, but this is probably as perfect as it is ever going to be."
Tan'bay, Tenk, and Zephyra looked at each other. "So, what say you?" Tan'bay asked. "Care to give these not-mothers a chance?"
Zephyra smiled. "Well, I guess this is as good a time as any to see if mother and I have any actual chemistry or not."
"Humph, very well then," Tenk said. "It's no sweat off my back."
A:
"Hah! Rah!"
"Ugh!"
"Come now, Ananias!" Tan'bay exclaimed. "Is this really the best you can do?"
"You know as well as I do the answer to that! Gah!" Ananias fell to the ground.
Tan'bay triumphantly smiled. "Ha! It appears you still have a long ways to go before you can beat me!"
Ananias dusted himself off and rolled his eyes. "As if that was ever my intention," he muttered.
"Oh? Then why did you sign up for one of my classes then?"
Ananias picked himself up. "Because you wanted me to," he answered.
Tan'bay's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? That's the only reason?"
"Yes, that's the only reason," Tenk said, before shaking his head. "Though why it's reason enough for Ananias to waste his time on you, I will never understand."
"Well, surely it's because you see the inherent superiority of Chon'sin's sword techniques, yes?"
"Eh, I'll admit, Chon'sin's got some pretty cool moves," Zephyra replied. "But your classes! Ugh! Why are they so boring?"
"Because that is how Chon'sin sword techniques are taught!"
"Well then, I guess Chon'sin's techniques just aren't meant for me! Or for Annie-Bear either!"
"Please don't rope me into this," Ananias muttered.
Tenk raised an eyebrow at this. "Correct me if I am wrong, but weren't you the catalyst for this conversation?"
Ananias sighed as Lumaria giggled. "It's nice to see the three of you back to your normal selves again."
"Yes, no thanks to you," Tenk said. "Would it kill you to leave other people be every once and a while, like Ananias?"
Lumaria smiled. "I'll admit, Ananias had his points, but yes. It really would have killed me to see you three stuck like that. Which is why I asked three people who you WOULD listen to for some help. And in the end, it worked out just the way I hoped."
"As annoying as your meddling can be, I suppose we should give you our thanks," Tan'bay said.
"Why should we thank her?" Tenk mused. "Considering the nature of this place, it would've eventually happened anyway."
Tan'bay glowered at him. "Have you no sense of gratitude, manakete?"
Tenk crossed his arms and looked away. "I'm just saying..."
"Fine then," Zephyra said, going up to Lumaria and giving her a great, big hug. "I'll thank Lummy for all of us."
"I will too," Ananias said. "Since, you know, if you did it, then that means I didn't have to do it, so, um... thanks... for that."
Lumaria laughed. "You're very welcome, all of you."
"Oh, there you are, Tan'bay!" Sharena cried.
"Ah, Sharena! How are you?"
"I'm doing good, thanks! Just here for those lessons you mentioned. I hope I'm not too late!"
Tan'bay shook his head. "Nay! I will always make time for those who are willing to learn Chon'sin's ways!"
"You're also the only other student besides us at this point," Tenk whispered. "As they say, beggars can't be choosers."
"Still your tongue, brat!"
"Poor choice of words, considering the fact that I'm just as old as you are."
"That does it!" Tan'bay pointed his training weapon at him. "I challenge you to a duel for my honor!"
Tenk rolled his eyes. "One: your honor doesn't mean that much; and two: I'm not, nor will I ever be a swordsman."
"Well, today, you make an exception!"
"Even if I agreed to your little duel, why can't I just use my dragonstone and just eat you?"
"Tan'bay, now!" Zephyra cried, running away and laughing like a maniac. "Do it now! I've got his dragonstone!"
Tenk's eyes widened in horror. "You what?!"
"Ha! Here is your weapon! Prepare yourself!"
"What?! No! Get away from me you psycho!"
Lumaria groaned. "Guys, come on! Why can't you guys just learn to get along?!"
Ananias sighed and shook his head. "Here we go again."
Author's Note #1: Ananias doesn't do much in this story, but I'd like to think that this perfectly illustrates how he behaves in a group setting.
Author's Note #2: I have a poll on my profile for the next character I will be focusing on. You can either choose between Lumaria (Flavia's daughter), Tan'bay (Say'ri's son), Zephyra (Emmeryn's daughter), Tenk (Tiki's son), or Lana (Ananias' daughter during the Fates chapters). You can choose your top two choices on this poll.
