Chapter XV: Deviating from the Script

Ragna leaned against the wall in the castle dungeon, his arms crossed and his eyes closed, appearing to be deep in thought. When he'd first entered the dungeon, he'd thought he been about to encounter several prisoners and criminals, most of them probably bandits or Plegians posing as bandits, but aside from Aversa it was empty.

"How long do you plan to keep standing there?" He heard Aversa question from her cell. "If you're trying to intimidate me, you'd handle it better if you were swinging that giant sword of yours at me."

"I'm just on guard duty, that's all," Ragna said back. "That and I can at least get some peace and quiet here."

"Oh? Quite the celebrity, are we?" Aversa asked with a hint of whimsy in her tone. If Ragna's eyes were open, he would've rolled them. "I suppose you're quite popular with the ladies then?"

"...Not intentionally," Ragna admitted, briefly thinking back to his time with Virion at a hostess bar. In that next moment his Azure Grimoire gave of a small spark of yellow lightning. "I guess that's progress."

"Practicing magic while on guard duty?" Aversa asked curiously. "I hope for Ylisse's sake you aren't an elite caster because that spell looked awful."

"Who asked you?" Ragna bit back.

"Well, I think it would be easier to learn how to cast a spell if you had its tome to learn the spell and draw energy from. Casting without it is immensely more difficult, especially when first learning it," said prisoner chided.

"Reading those things only give me a headache," Ragna told her. "I'm much better at feeling stuff out and learning as I go." After thinking about what he'd said for a moment he blushed slightly. "That came out a little wrong."

"Or very right," Aversa said with a playful smirk smirk. "But I'm curious to why you're not torturing me for information. Do the Ylissian's think they're higher than any form of interrogation?"

"No clue," Ragna admitted. "But I do know that like you I have standards; I'm not torturing you, I'm reminding you that the sooner you start talking the sooner you can leave."

"Leave?" Aversa asked curiously. "You'd actually let me go. My how chivalrous, but for nothing I'm afraid. Torture me, use me, do whatever you want with me, I'll never talk."

"You're really that loyal to Plegia?" Ragna asked, a little surprised with her behavior.

"Not to Plegia, not even to our fool of a king, but certainly to someone in Plegia," Aversa told him ominously. "But I've said enough, too much actually."

"In that case get ready for a long stay in here," Ragna said before Kellam came in through the open door to relieve him of guard duty. Ragna got off of the wall and proceeding towards the dungeon exit. "Just remember I'm the one keeping the one that'll be keeping you away from the chopping block. You DO NOT want to cross me."

"Noted," Aversa said, apparently bored with the situation. Ragna decided he'd just let things sit with her and hope that she saw reason sooner rather than later. He'd already heard from Chrom that a few members of Ylisse's nobility wanted to execute Aversa immediately to show authority and as a reaction to Themis's destruction, but at least for now Emmeryn was able to keep them calm. This meant Aversa was probably on a clock, and while Ragna didn't owe her anything, something about killing her just felt wrong to him. Maybe because he'd been on the other side of those bars twice.

Back in her cell Aversa glanced around curiously. 'Why in Grima's name is he leaving me here by myself? I'd thought he'd have posted a guard at least.'

Castle Corridors

HELP! (I need somebody!)

"Hey Ragna!" The Reaper turned and saw the blue haired prince rushing towards him. He seemed to be blushing and moving pretty franticly.

"Alright, what did you say to Robin this time?" Ragna sighed.

"I-I didn't say anything to her," Chrom defended not looking Ragna in the eye.

"Then why do you look like you just saw a specter?" Ragna pried further, crossing his arms to look authoritative.

"Don't you mean Gho-?"

"Specter," Ragna hissed in demand. "Seriously, what the hell happened?"

"Well, I was trying to find Robin because I needed to go over some of our march plans for tomorrow with her, but I couldn't find her anywhere. So I asked one of the maids about her and they told me where to find her. I eventually found the room she was currently in and tried talking to her through the door. I couldn't hear her that well, but I thought she told me I could go in and then I realized…" Chrom couldn't even look at Ragna's face. "She was in one of the bathing rooms."

Ragna buried his face in one of his palms at Chrom's mistake, his eyes closed in both an irritation and disbelief. "Dammit Chrom," he groaned. "Tell me that you didn't just run away and leave her."

"Of course I didn't," Chrom assured. "I waited for Robin to finish and talked with her after that about our travel route and apologized. But gods! I've never felt so awkward in my life. I could barely look at her, and when I tried say goodbye I fumbled for a full minute! If she'd tried to attack me I don't know what I'd do!"

"Damn, you seem pretty shaken," Ragna observed. "But why the hell are you coming to me?"

"Because I heard Robin called you her brother once on the road. I figured if I told you now, you wouldn't want to kill me when you found out. Also, maybe you could help somehow?"

"I still think I should kill you," Ragna said with his eyes narrowed. "I'd be putting you out of your misery." Chrom was beginning to think it was a mistake coming to him for help. "But I really think you should just try to talk to Robin like it never happened. If she can put this whole mess behind her, you should to."

"I know, but I still feel so awkward," Chrom told him. "Maybe I'd at least feel less guilty if I gave her something small, maybe as an apology."

"Bad idea," Ragna told him. "You do that and she'll just think you're hitting on her after seeing her naked. I say just keep talking to her, it'll take some effort, but you'll both get over it... Eventually."

"I guess you're right," Chrom relented. "By the way, she also told me that you'd given up your job as a tactician."

"Got a problem with it?" Ragna asked.

"I just don't think it's fair to Robin. I was alright giving her a job as your assistant because it was what she wanted, but the full responsibilities of being a tacticians could be too much for her." Chrom sighed. "I know from just a first impression that Robin can handle herself, I just don't want her to get overwhelmed."

"She'll be fine," Ragna told him. "She's better than I am at it and I'll be giving it everything I've got on the frontlines. I'm as worried about her as you are, but she if she's tactician she won't be at the frontlines as often, but will still contribute. I'm trying to save everyone here so we can't afford to coddle her, she'd never go for it."

"As long as you're sure about it," Chrom told him. "By the way, can you meet Robin and I in the castle gardens tonight? There's something I think the two of you deserve to know."

"About what Gangrel said?" Ragna asked, thinking about when the Mad King had accused Ylisse of causing a war-turned-slaughter.

"Yeah," Chrom said, a slightly darker look in his eyes. "See you, Ragna."

'What's up with that story?' Ragna thought to himself as Chrom headed down a different hallway. The Reaper shook his head. 'Whatever, I don't need to rush him. He'll tell me when he's ready.'

Support Rank B Obtained with Chrom

Repayment

"Damn, it's only mid-afternoon but with all of the marching I've done I'm starting to get tired," Ragna muttered to himself. "Maybe I should grab some coffee, that might help."

"I'd advise against that," Ragna heard a familiar voice behind him say. He turned and saw Maribelle, with her parasol as always.

"Oh, hey," Ragna greeted casually. "What's wrong with having coffee now?"

"It's mid evening, if you were to have coffee now you'd be unable to get a proper night's sleep. If you want to give yourself an extra spring to your step, the most I'd recommend having is some light tea. That should be enough to tide you over for now."

"Tea huh?" Ragna repeated. "All right, maybe I'll grab some from the kitchen."

"Actually, I happen have a fresh pot already made. I was going to share it with Lissa, but she keeps insisting that she needs to practice with her healing staves. It's a crime in my opinion to let good tea go waste, but I wouldn't be able to finish the entire pot myself."

"Alight, why not?" Ragna shrugged. "As long as you don't think you're wasting it on me."

"Then let us depart," Maribelle said with the smallest of smiles as she lead Ragna down a few hallways and into a waiting room where the fresh pot of tea lay waiting. The two took their seats at the table and Maribelle poured Ragna a cup.

"I'd like to thank you for earlier today, Ragna," Maribelle said to the Reaper. "If it hadn't been for you, I'd shudder to think what those… beasts would be doing to me now."

"If you want to thank someone, go thank Ricken, he was the one who helped us with the plan to get you out of there."

"Yes, I know that and I've given Ricken and the others my thanks, but you've still been a mystery to me." Maribelle handed Ragna the full cup which the Reaper accepted. "You've done quite a bit for Emmeryn, Chrom, and of course Lissa, but I still can't determine your reasons."

"Does it really matter?" Ragna asked as he took a small sip of his tea. It was good, better than the kind he'd had with Emmeryn, but it still paled in comparison to Rachel's.

"Since you're now a fellow Shepherd and seem to be spending a lot of time around Lissa, I think it's my business to know," Maribelle said with the flames of determination in her eyes. "So Ragna, care to explain your grand agenda in all of this?"

"Honestly I don't have a single thing planned out," Ragna told her. "I just got caught up in everything when I saw SouthTown on fire. Before that I was just planning on letting Chrom question me and exploring around myself, but now I'm in the middle of a war."

"A war that you have no stake of," Maribelle said. "Lissa told me on the road back about your origins, and while I'm with slight unease of working with a former revolutionary, I suppose you may have been the hero of your world."

"Nothing close to that," Ragna told her. "I was just the lesser of two evils."

"So you say," Maribelle said, sipping some more of her tea and swooning somewhat. "My, I'd heard great things about this tea, but it's certainly something else appreciating it yourself! Wouldn't you agree?"

"I guess?" Ragna said with uncertainty. "It's pretty good…"

"Pretty Good, you say? This tea is supposed to be the height of its kind; the cream of the crop, the greatest paragon, and you tell me you think it's merely alright?" Maribelle gave Ragna a haunting glare, but then turned it into a triumphant smirk. "I suppose this means that you've had better then?"

'Uh-oh.' "N-No, that's not what I meant," Ragna said, trying to get out of what seemed like a dangerous situation. "I guess I just can't appreciate tea. I mean I rarely drink the stuff, you can probably tell the difference between good tea and great." Ragna took another sip of his tea and tried his best to fake surprise. "Woah! Now that I get a second taste of this tea, it's really something else! Wonder how I couldn't have-?"

"Ragna, cease your sub-par acting."

'Busted.'

"So tell me, what's wrong with this tea then?"

"I'm probably not the best person to be asking, but if I had to pick something I'd say they focused too much on the taste."

'But is that not the reason for creating fine tea?" Maribelle questioned in curiosity. "To create exotic new blends and amazing flavors to share with the world?"

"I'm just saying there's a little too much taste there, it feels like I'm drinking warm juice."

"Warm… juice," Maribelle repeated in curiosity before tasting her tea on more and staring at the cup. "I suppose you do have a point; the sweetness is very present and the texture and feeling of the tea does not appear to be captured."

'Isn't texture and feeling basically the same thing?' Ragna thought to himself.

"You've surprised me Ragna, who would've thought you could be a connoisseur for fine tea? I suppose you have a hidden talent."

"It's not really a talent," Ragna muttered. "I just said what I thought about the tea."

"Perhaps this talent could be applied to other uses," Maribelle said with a determined smile that made Ragna involuntarily shiver. "This tea and several other drinks going to be presented at a tasting event for the nobility once the war is over. I've been formally invited, but I'm afraid I lack an escort. Perhaps you could fill the role?"

"Pass, I have a tendency to get violent around nobility," Ragna said, remembering the noble he'd beaten into the ceiling back in Regna Ferox.

"Yes, I've heard about your little duel from Lissa and I've heard whispers of the rumors spread by Virion." Ragna grunted in annoyance. "But perhaps this event could teach you how to conduct yourself better around the nobility?"

"So I save a lady by beating the crap outta the guy who was harassing her and suddenly I'm a double S class criminal again. Freaking great."

"I was implying nothing of the sort," Maribelle assured him. "I only meant that perhaps if you spent some more time of nobility we might dissolve some of the aggression you have towards them. We're not all the rude and uncaring monsters that you seem to associate with, you get along fine with me, don't you?"

"That's different," Ragna told her as he took another sip of tea. "You're a Shepherd so I'll give you the benefit of doubt."

"Benefit of doubt? "I suppose I'll just have to change your opinion of me. Just know that I will not condone any ill behavior from you, especially around Lissa."

"Don't worry you won't get any trouble from me," Ragna assured her. 'Wonder what the big deal is with her and Lissa?'

Support Rank B Obtained with Maribelle

That Night

Ragna headed toward Ylisse's castle gardens with Robin, the two deeply curious what Chrom would have to say to them both. Robin didn't really seem to mind the fact that they were going to see Chrom, so Ragna took that as a sign that she was willing to put their earlier 'encounter' aside.

The two found Chrom outside in the gardens, staring up at the night sky and appearing to be deep in thought. There were very few clouds in the night sky above, leaving the bright moon and sparkling stars above almost completely exposed. Despite the magnificent view, Ragna couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong here.

After a few minutes, Chrom finally realized that Ragna and Robin present. "Thanks for coming both of you," he told them, feeling slightly more confident now that he wasn't talking to Robin alone. "How are preparations?"

"Things are looking pretty good, we'll be ready to make the trip to Regna Ferox tomorrow. Let's hope we can get the additional troops we need without much issue." In the short time that she'd taken over Ragna's former position Robin had changed. Now she spoke with more authority while retaining her familiar personality, leaving Ragna wondering why he hadn't put her in charge sooner.

"Good work, but there's something that you both need to know," Chrom said to them. "Gangrel may be a coward and a madman of a king, but not everything he said yesterday was a lie. The slaughter he spoke of; the massacre that Ylisse inflicted on his own kingdom… that was real."

Neither Ragna nor Robin said anything, they simply waited for Chrom to continue.

"My father, the former Exalt of Ylisse, he headed the slaughter. He turned it into a Holy War, a crusade. After one of the bloodiest battles this continent had witnessed, both armies were clearly decimated with less than a quarter of their forces remaining. But the fighting did not stop there, farmers were forced to take up arms and be sent to the suicidal fighting, both sides experience unheard carnage and barren fields."

"Why the hell did it go on for so long?" Ragna asked. "Didn't your d- Didn't the last Exalt know the hell he was causing?"

"I don't really know," Chrom said honestly. "I didn't know either of my parents for long, my mother caught the plague not long after she gave birth to Lissa and my father died while he was away on his crusade. I remember my father being a very proud king, and at times very stubborn. But…"

"But what?" Robin asked.

Chrom took a deep breath. "There was also his war tactician, one of his most trusted friends and advisors. They'd met a short time before my father ascended to the throne and from what I'm told they became fast friends. I'd only met him once so I don't remember too much about him, but… he terrified me. Something about his eyes was just plain unsettling."

"So that's what you meant when you told us that Ylisse's last tactician was a total dick," Ragna said. "What happened to him anyways?"

"He died in the fighting along with my father and his body was left to rot on his final battlefield. As much as I hate to say it, my father's death was what ended the war. But with the king and queen both dead, Ylisse needed a new Exalt and the duty laid to Emmeryn."

"And after her father died, they blamed her," Robin guessed sadly.

"They did, often throwing at her terrible insults… and stone. But everything she did, she did for the people. She brought the troops home, she ended the war, she managed to stabilize Ylisse's welfare. And when the people 'forgave' her? She never held it against them."

"Damn…" Ragna basically summed everything up with that.

"So now you know the blood on Ylisse's hands. But know that we NEED Emmeryn. She's the very center of our kingdom and its greatest chance for peace. Gangrel will stop and nothing to end her life and the peace we've fought for, but I'll never let him. If need be, I'll stop him myself."

"Well said," came a voice that Ragna barely recognized. The figure revealed themselve's to be Marth, the swordmaster from the Regna Ferox tournament.

"Marth…" Chrom noted before a thought struck him. "Wait, how did you get in here?"

"The hole in wall covered by vines," the enigma told Chrom. "Do not fear, I've covered it and will not tell a soul about it."

"G-good to know," Chrom said, a little unnerved. "But why are you here?"

"I come with a warning; on that will affect the very foundation of Ylisse."

"Care to tell us a little more, lady?" Ragna said, catching everyone off guard.

"Ragna!" Chrom scolded. "That's demeaning! You shouldn't-!"

"It's not an insult, I'm just calling her what she is." Chrom and Robin still seemed confused. "You really didn't know?"

"What makes you think I'm a girl?" Marth asked.

"Dress up as much as you want, wear that damn mask to help, it doesn't really matter. I can tell a lot about a person by their aura or soul, and yours is what's giving you away."

"... Impressive." 'Marth' took off her mask revealing a much more feminine one beneath. "Apparently you're the only one I hadn't fooled. But we've little time to discuss my gender, not when the Exalt is to be attacked tonight and if we don't hurry, killed."

"What!?" Chrom exclaimed. "There's no way she could be, not when she's under guard at all hours!"

"...What if I told you that I'd seen the future?" she asked ominously.

"Impossible!" Chrom shouted. "There's no way anyone can-"

"Actually, I've traveled through time once already where I'm from," Ragna told them, yet again surprising everyone present, Marth included. "But about Emmeryn…"

Almost too fast to see, Ragna took out the Aramasa and rushed towards Marth. The enigma tried to go for her sword, but as Ragna's rush took him past her she stopped. From out of the bushes, two assassin's emerged with blades ready, but were quickly cut down with a single swing from Ragna.

"... she wasn't lying," Ragna finished darkly. "Get the Shepherd's ready, I'm going to see if there are any more of these freaks in the gardens." Chrom's expression hardened as he nodded to Ragna and ran back into the courtyard with Robin and the fake Marth. Ragna then turned his attention to the foliage. "You might as well come out, I can tell where you all are; the tree branches in the back, behind the bushes in the center, and skirting around the statues. Come on! Show a little originality at least."

The assassins emerged from the foliage, all fifteen of them with blade or bow drawn. Ragna smirked to himself. Only fifteen. He'd been hoping that there'd been more to give him a better challenge.

"Let's get this over with," Ragna said before noticing another presence, this one very… unusual. "Hm?"

Out of one of the garden entrances a giant creature burst forth and slammed into a few assassins, crushing them. Ragna watched in surprise as giant… bunny proceeded to claw three more assassins. Getting over his momentary confusion Ragna charged forward and cut down more assassins. The creature didn't seem to spread its aggression onto Ragna and the two finished off the remaining intruders very quickly.

"Well that happened," Ragna said to himself as he reset his sword. "Did I get them all?"

"Difficult to tell, the stench of human blood is heavy."

"Holy shit!" Ragna yelled in surprise as he faced the giant rabbit. "You can talk?"

"Of course I can," the creature said as it faintly glowed. It shrunk and changed form until it became a woman with tanned skin, bunny ears with sprouted from her brown hair, and wore purple tinged leather. Ragna could also tell she had a bunny tail. "Do NOT insult my kind's intelligence man spawn."

"Your kind's? Sorry, I'm a little slow on the uptake, but who and what the hell are you?"

"You don't know of my race," the woman said. "Typical man-spawn, constantly forgetting the atrocities they'd committed. They probably never even told you about us as a child, did they?"

"Okay, the whole atrocities speech I can agree on, but I'm not from anywhere around here so I wouldn't know about you. Anyways, can this wait? There've got to be more of these freaks inside and I need to make sure everyone's doing okay without me."

"Very well then, lead on man spawn," the woman said.

"Enough with the man spawn crap, it's demeaning. Just call me Ragna," the Reaper said as the two ran towards the inner castle. "What do I call you anyways?"

"I am the last of the Taguel," the woman said.

"And your name?"

"You expect me to give it to you?"

"Hey, I gave you mine didn't I?" Ragna really didn't get what her deal was, but now wasn't the time to ask questions.

"...Panne."

'Panne, huh? Nice name," Ragna said, trying to act a little friendly. "Look, just stay close to me so everyone knows you're not with the assassins."

"If I must," Panne said seriously.

Meanwhile

There were soldiers everywhere in the hallways and the Shepherds were forced to face only a few of assassins at a time… though most of the assassins were shocked out of all of the times they were hitting invisible walls... Kellam wasn't really sure whether to feel proud or offended that Robin's strategy was using him like this.

Vaike was currently back to back with Lon'qu as several warriors surrounded the two. To any other fighters this might've seemed like a sign that they were about to die, but they'd both already been through much worse than this. If anything, the fact that they were both here just made things interesting.

"Bet I can put down more of these jerks than you can," Vaike said cockily as he blocked a warrior's axe with his own.

"You really think you can outdo me?" Lon'qu asked, an eyebrow raised as he took down the warrior Vaike had left open. "In my experience cockiness and foolishness goes hand in hand."

"Well in my experience the Vaike never loses!" Vaike said as he leapt into the air before bringing his axe down on an enemy soldier. "Come on, I've got a good bottle of grog for ya back at the barracks if you win. I win and you'll have to admit you're my squire. So what do you say?"

"Five," Lon'qu said ominously. Vaike started the swordsman for a moment, before Lon'qu cut down a thief with his Killer Edge. "Six." Lon'qu then clashed blades with an opposing swordsman before disarming him and giving him a fatal slash across the chest. "Seven." A group of three warriors charged at Lon'qu; the Feroxi swordsman gave a single slash in a wide arc. "Ten." Noticing Vaike speechless he gave a small smirk. "Try to keep up." He then ran off.

"Show off," Vaike muttered to himself.

Chrom was defending the main doorway to Emmeryn's room with the woman bearing the name of the hero king. The resemblance between their swords and fighting styles was uncanny, but Chrom didn't have the time to question it when he was fighting for his sister's sake.

"Well that wave's taken care of," Chrom said glancing around. Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted a faint red glow, an enemy mage charging a spell from behind a corner. "Look out!"

It was too late, the mage sprung from behind the pillar to blast the two blue heads with a powerful Elfire spell. Chrom would've died if an orange haired thief hadn't sprung from behind another pillar and cut down the mage.

"That was a little too close for comfort," the thief said, though he acted more bored than anything. He took a… lollipop? Well, he took one out of his pocket and stuck the sweet in his mouth.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chrom asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Picking a different side; wanted to rob this place dry, but my boss never said anything about murdering the Exalt."

"How am I supposed to trust you?" Chrom asked still unconvinced.

"If it wasn't for him we would've died," Marth told him. "I say we at least hear him out."

"Boss man's assassin are mostly coming in from the west garden, but he's probably at the south entrance guiding most of the troops. You take him down; we've got an easy win after that. And for the record, call me Gaius."

"Fine," Chrom relented. "I'll listen to what you have to say for now, but don't think that I fully trust you just yet."

"Hey no worries I'm already used to this," Gaius assured. "Comes with the trade."

Meanwhile

"This is all wrong," Validar said to himself. "How could they have known that we were coming? Did that old fool warn them? I'd thought we'd scared him into submission properly."

"Sir!" one of the assassin's called as he approached Validar. "The battle goes poorly. We've already lost over half of our forces without inflicting so much as a single casualty to the other side."

"Hmph, it seems that she's learned some things in my absence," Validar spoke, mostly to himself again. "What of Aversa, have you found her?"

"We've located the dungeon and the Shepherds appear to be focused on saving the Exalt. We could retrieve her, but I doubt that we'd escape."

"Regardless, that is where we are going," Validar told him. "Rally a small strike force, we're leaving immediately."

"...Very well," the assassin told him. He knew that his chances of escaping if he followed were almost none, but they were still better than his chances of survival if he crossed one of the greatest sorcerers of the age.

Validar's strike force moved through the capital, largely unaffected by the Shepherd's with all of the other assassins he was sending their way. The occasional castle guard group they came across were easily defeated by Validar's fire tome. Soon they'd made it to the entrance to the lower dungeons.

"Stand guard here, I'll return soon enough," Validar commanded as he walked down the steps haunting. "Captured… I'll not let her live with such disgrace."

The Dungeon Below

Aversa continued to sit in her dungeon cell and wait as the she only faintly caught the sounds of fighting coming from above. She stirred slightly as she heard the guards rustle in apparent confusion and turned her head just in time to see them blasted by fire magic. Standing in the hallway was her apparent savior.

"Lord Validar!" Aversa exclaimed in surprise before smiling confidently. "I didn't know that you were heading this attack."

"Our dear king made it quite clear that this was the day Ylisse would feel unspeakable anguish, so it was only natural that he would send me," Validar told her cockily as he stroked his beard. "But I have to say, I'm rather disappointed that you were captured right when we declared war on the kingdom."

"Words cannot describe my own disappointment at my own failure," Aversa told him, holding her head in shame. "Rest assured, I will make Ylisse pay for this insult. Let me out of this cell and I'll show you."

"Let you out?" Validar asked in a tone that Aversa had never heard him say to her… but often to his enemies. Suddenly his very smile brought a chill down Aversa's spine. "Now why would I do that, child? You seem to be perfectly content there."

"But-!" Aversa tried to argue before screaming in pain as Validar's fireball struck her. The spell would have killed anyone else, but Aversa's resistance she'd acquired during her own magic training kept her alive.

"I have no use for failures," Validar said as he continued his onslaught, casting fireball after fireball at the contained Aversa as she screamed in pain. "I only came her to silence your mouth you wench! I can't have you ruining it for me!"

"But I'd have never talked! No matter what they'd have done to me!" Aversa screamed as she clutched her body in pain. The attacks did not cease. "Please stop! Father!"

With that plea Validar did stop for a moment, then his smile turned sadistic and he let out an evil laugh. "Father!? Oh you poor misguided fool! You really haven't realized it yet?! My enchantments on you have worn off long ago, yet you don't remember!? I KILLED YOUR PARENTS AND BURNED YOUR HOME TO THE GROUND!"

Despair filled Aversa's eyes, the pain that the spells were causing her were nothing compared to the pain of hearing the betrayal from someone she'd dedicated her entire life to serving. "w...what?"

"You had potential, I could tell," Validar said as he charged a final fire spell in his hand now that she was sufficiently weakened. "I couldn't let someone like that rot away in a useless outlands town like yours, so I decided to make you my personal tool. Altering your memories with magic was oh so easy, especially for a stupid, naive, immature girl like yourself." The spell glowed with enough power to give the entire dungeon a violent red hue. "BUT NOW YOU'VE OUTLIVED YOUR USE! DIE!"

Validar violent flung his arm and sent out a massive column of fire at Aversa. The betrayed soul closed her tear filled eyes and waited for oblivion to take her. Just as the spell came close to her spell bars, a giant mass of shadows appeared in front of her and took the attack for her, both magics disappearing in a magic fueled explosion after contact.

"WHAT!?" Validar cried out in surprised rage. He then turned his head as heard slow steps enter the dungeon room. Aversa stared at the man who'd come to her apparent rescuer, and he did not seem happy.

"So… you burned down her home… you took away from her the only family she ever had… and you used her like a puppet…" A black aura coated Ragna's body. "You kind of remind me of someone I used to know… So right now..." His right arm turned into a claw of darkness. "I'M GOING TO DO TO YOU WHAT I DID TO HIM YOU BASTARD!"

Validar swung his arm again and sent out another fireball at Ragna, the Grim Reaper struck it with his claw and dispersed it immediately. He then rushed towards the sorcerer, who sent out a wave of fire to keep him at bay. Ragna easily dodged the attack by dashing to the side before rushing at Validar. As a desperate strike, Validar sent out a quick fireball spell. Ragna took the hit on his shoulder, but all it did was slightly deter his strike so his arm wouldn't impale Validar as the sorcerer jumped back to avoid the blow. He did manage to impale the fire tome his enemy wielded.

"Damn you!" Validar shouted as retreated backward. Ragna's claw remained impaled through the tome of fire, but the dark energy he was giving off was more than enough to tear it apart.

"You're weaponless," Ragna informed with a dark tone as he stood between Validar and Aversa, who was staring at the fight. "I'd tell you give up, but I'm not about to let a single trace of you get out of here."

"How disgraceful," Validar said as he brought out a black tome from the folds of his clothing. "I never wished that I would have to use my most sacred treasure, but you leave me little choice." He became surrounded in an aura of purple flame. "You'll know what it means to defy Grima!"

"...Who?" Ragna asked cocking his head to side. "That supposed to be someone important?" Despite the seriousness of the situation, the look of disbelief on Validar's face could be described as comical before it turned to rage.

"Insolent fool! Die!" Validar sent out blast of purple flames at Ragna. The Reaper merely sidestepped the attack, but he noticed Validar had vanished.

"Above you!" he heard Aversa warn him. Ragna barely managed to dodge the attack that Validar had sent from above. The sorcerer teleported to the ground level and sent another burst of purple flames, this one directed towards Aversa. Ragna clawed through the attack causing it to disperse before rushing Validar once more.

Validar used the purple flames as a shield to defend himself against Ragna's claw, but the Reaper's onslaught of attacks was too much for him. He teleported as Ragna's claws stabbed through the spot he'd been. Aversa watched as he reappeared behind Ragna, a powerful spell already charged. She tried to shout out a warning to him, but it was too late. Validar swung his arm to cast a spell for the final time, but lurched forward halfway through as pain erupted through his chest. He pitifully looked down and saw that Ragna had seen through the attack and had impaled his torso with his claws.

"You… fool," Validar hissed, violently coughing up blood. "I serve… a far greater purpose… one which you could never understand…" He looked at Ragna with hateful eyes. "Lord… Grima… he will reward us in our afterlife… it is you... who has been damned…"

"You'll never know" Ragna's arm erupted darkness causing shadows from below to stirk the sorcerer countless times. After Ragna crushed the remains and absorbed his soul, there was nothing left. "No afterlife for you…"

Ragna heard Aversa's sobs from her cell. Turning his head he saw that she was a mess, while her skin had only been mildly burned despite the ferocity of the attacks, she'd just been betrayed by the person she'd given everything for.

Ragna shook his head as he headed back up the stairs to the battle which was still raging. Before he exited completely he spoke to Aversa over his shoulder. "Hey." Her sobs lightened, only slightly, so Ragna gave her a clear warning.

"...Don't let him win."

Author's Note: I don't own BlazBlue or Fire Emblem.

Let me just answer the BIG question on everyone's mind. What happened to Validar and is he coming back like in the game? The answer is he's not... ever.

Surprised? Well with Ragna basically eating his entire soul and destroying the body, I think it makes sense for him to be gone for good. Did I just dig myself in a big plot hole with that? Yes… yes I did. (But I can still work with this, I'm a writer after all).

Anyways, BEFORE I get into the review commentary, let me tell you about this little announcement I have. This story and my other crossover, 'A Reaper's Game' are pretty much my biggest stories on here. I feel that I owe you fans something as a way of making my stories this successful... (Raises champagne glass) So here's to you. (Drinks)

Just another moment

Ragna sighed to himself as he lay in the fields a few miles away from the Shepherd's barracks. His recent fight with Validar hadn't been his hardest, but it was still one of his more unnerving fights. When he'd heard the mad man's story of how he'd kidnapped and used Aversa as a child he was reminded of his past with Yuki Terumi.

Though Validar had been more refined than Terumi's chaotic urges, sadism and methodical brutality was found in ample supplies in both. Both had people that they'd screwed over and used, and to be honest Ragna thought the world was that much better without them.

"Ragna?"

The Reaper recognized that voice very easily. He opened his eyes and turned his head to the woman who'd addressed him.

"Oh, hey Noel. What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that the rest of the Shepherds are almost done preparing dinner, I came to get you so you wouldn't miss it."

"Right," Ragna said as he yawned and got up. "Well thanks for letting me know."

"You're welcome, but what were you doing out here anyways?"

"Just dwelling on some crap from before all of this," Ragna told her as they started walking back. "How'd you know where I was anyways?"

"I saw you walking out of the barracks earlier," Noel told him with a small smile. "Just lucky I guess."

"Well you seem to be taking all of this pretty well," Ragna noted aloud. He'd found Noel just a few days ago, but unlike Elphelt her guns seemed to be working. "But something's been bothering me for a while now. Why the heck did you try following me?"

"I…" Noel looked a little guilty. "I didn't at first… when you beat Terumi the cauldron just died after you fell in. So I stayed in our old world for a while. But a few days later I checked out the cauldron and it suddenly activated in front of me. So I…"

"You jumped right in without a second thought didn't you?" Ragna asked. Noel nodded. "Idiot, what if it had been a trap? What if someone was trying to keep you in the boundary for good?"

"I knew the risks," Noel said, a little sad. "But I wanted to find you… I owed you that much."

"Dummy…" Ragna muttered. "You don't owe me anything. We've helped each other out in the past right? That should've been enough. You've still got people worrying about you back home."

"I- I know but…" Noel said, looking like she was on the verge of tears. It didn't take a scientist to know this little equation: Noel+Tears=Ragna feeling like a total ass.

'Great job Ragna, Noel gives up everything by trying to help you and you make her cry AGAIN.' Ragna sighed to himself before suddenly stopping and kneeling in front of Noel with his back turned to her.

"Ragna?" Noel asked before Ragna's arms wrapped around each of her legs. That alone made Noel blush, but then Ragna stood and Noel was forced to throw her arms around his neck to avoid falling backwards.

"Hold on tight," Ragna said before taking off into a sprint. Noel screamed at first as he ran with her clinging to him in a piggyback, but eventually her screams turned to laughter as the wind wrapped around them both. When they were only a good half mile away from the barracks, Ragna slowed to walk.

"Feeling better?" he asked, Noel couldn't see that he was smirking.

"A lot, yeah," Noel said happily. "I could've used a bit of a warning though."

"Would've ruined it," Ragna told her. "Sometimes you just got take things as they come, you don't really get much of a choice of what comes your way, you just live with it. Try to make the most of it, even if it seems like total pain."

"I guess you have experience with that," Noel said with a small giggle. "So are you telling me to live the moment?"

"I guess…" Ragna said before coming to a stop. "Ready to get down?"

"Nope!" Noel said without hesitation.

"Good I'll… wait what?"

"I think my moment can last a little longer," Noel said cheerfully. "Come on, you only have half mile before we get back to the barracks. Pleeeeeeease Ragna?"

"Tch, fine," Ragna grumbled. "You're a real handful sometimes, you know that?"

"And you're not?" Noel asked with a giggle as she ruffled Ragna's hair with her hand.

Ragna chuckled. "Fair enough Noel, fair enough."

Support Rank C Obtain with Noel Vermillion

I present to you the first of many Omake's for the series. The character's won't be going into the actual story, but I will let all of the girls go to S rank with Ragna. (Except Tsubaki, but she's already preggers with Jin's kid).

In a Reaper's Game it'll be more of a thing of doing random quirky shorts with the characters (expect chaos). Now for the review comments (which I got a lot of… YAY!)

Greyjebi449t & Astrefernal: Welp, here's the next chapter.

Warrior of six blades: Well Robin and Ragna will still get their S rank, but I suppose I've dug myself a bit of a hole there… Ah, I'll work it out.

BloodedgetheReaper2113: Who is this Lucina you speak of? (She hasn't really seen too much of him yet, but she'll react sooner or later.)

Animeandgamerlover2 & funnyman & Guest: Thanks for the vote of confidence guys.

The Shard of Flame Ice: All good advice that I'm happy to get. And Yuno vs Nu would make an interesting fight… nah, Nu would dominate.

Donkike07: An interesting multi pairing idea, maybe I'll do an Omake dedicated to that pairing or something.

Guest 3: Chocolate huh? ...Leave the double entendres to Nu please.

Black sun 123: Bonus chapter S rank, and it can still happen in cannon (depending on my mood).

Shirosaki Kizuro: Well Ragna is a pretty badass character, even for Shounen standards.

Joker-ZX: I heard that somewhere else too… kind of crazy. I guess that means that the power is always coming from Ragna and the arm is just a slightly matured medium for his powers.

Nitrus7: Well part of her anyways, I just brought a different version of her here.

Dread Grim Reaper: Happy B-day indeed.

Chaos-Sableye: Thank you.

Guest 4: I took your advice for him meeting Lucina, so thanks for that. Also I think pairings are still up for a final decision.

Kaizero6: Right here.

Stellar-Sanctum: Thing is, I have yet to start on Fates, but I might make a story for that someday… I dunno, maybe put Sol Badguy in there just to shake things up.

Thanks for all the support, you guys are great! Ciao!