Chapter XXXIII: Quiet and Calm
Soaring in the cloudy skies above Ylisstol capital were two mounted Pegasus riders, both of which were clad in bright, silvery armor. The two had just spent a long day on patrol safeguarding the kingdom's borders and were now returning how to report their findings... or lack of. Bringing both of their steeds into gentle dives, the two descended from the skies towards their barracks, the pegasi slowly trotting on the ground and coming to a controlled stop.
"Another day of patrolling... another lack of Risen," Cordelia said mostly to herself as she expertly dismounted from her pegasus before removing her helmet. Hearing the muffled thud, she gave a small sigh as she turned to see Sumia having clumsily fallen to the ground, even her pegasus looking at its rider with a sense of disbelief. "...Is it your saddle again?"
"Probably..." Sumia said sadly as she removed her own helmet before slowly rising to her feet. Her pegasus then nuzzled her slightly as a form of comfort. "Aw thanks girl, you always know how to cheer me up." The two then made their way to the stables to return their horses and get them fed. "You look like you've got something on your mind Cordy..."
"I do; it's been far too quiet as of late," the young pegasus rider explained as the two continued to guide the Pegasi to the stables.
"Well Ragna did tell us that there was a noticeable lack of Risen when he was traveling around as the Black Knight," Sumia informed, briefly noticing Cordelia's strange... reaction when the Reaper's name was mention. "Uh... Cordy?"
"I'm just saying that there hasn't been any sign of conflict and it's not just the Risen," the redhead said, trying to take control the conversation's direction. "There hasn't even been a sign of banditry or highway extortion reported anywhere in the kingdom and we have patrols covering all of it. I won't say that I'm not happy... but I can't say I'm not worried either."
"Probably because we're so used to wartime," a sterner voice said. Turning their heads, the two saw the Great Knight Frederick standing in the stables apparently just having finished attending the to his horse. "During this last war we've been pushed to our limits more times than a few, settling into peace may be more than a little challenging."
"Ever on guard as always Frederick," Sumia told him proudly. "But we've had our peace for at least a few months now haven't we? Why has it been so difficult?"
"Well... perhaps until a few days ago we didn't realize our strongest asset was still among the living," the knight admitted, though his reaction was hard to get a grasp on. "If you'll pardon me, I'm needed for training elsewhere."
"Some people just don't seem to change, not matter what happens," Cordelia said as began tending to her Pegasus.
"That's Freddy for you," Sumia agreed with a smile.
"That's Freddy indeed," Frederick muttered under his breath as he continued his walk out of the stables, the girls unaware that he was still within distance to hear the two of them. "I've already completed my first one hundred fifty assignments of the day, let's see if I can get the other three hundred done before lunch."
Meanwhile -Shepherd's Training Barracks-
"Hah! Yer putting up a good fight! But there's no way I'm letting you beat me!" Sully declared as she pushed herself as hard as she could in the arm wrestling match.
"Enter the Vaike! No way Teach is going to lose when he's got his pride on the line!" the axe using warrior declared as used his bulging muscles.
"And I'm here too!" Kellam declared also putting pressure into the match. "Um... you guys are noticing me, right?"
"Honestly, right now I can hardly notice anything," Ragna the Bloodedge said with a smirk... as he held all three of them back with a single arm. "Come on, have the three of you gone soft since I've been away?" he taunted, appearing to barely use any of his strength.
"Well this is embarrassing," Gaius said from where he watched the three-on-one duel. "Figured Red would've stayed tough if he's been fighting Risen in that heavy armor, but it looks like he's gotten even better."
"I mean... it doesn't look like he's really changed or anything," Ricken said as he watched the intense battle of upper body strength. "He's still acting and looks the same as ever... I don't know, maybe he just feels stronger or something."
"Probably has something to do with Emmeryn's rescue," the thief thought aloud as the three continued to struggle while Ragna feigned a yawn with his free hand. "Okay, now he's just playing with 'em."
"Why don't you go in there and help them then?" Ricken questioned.
"Same reason you don't," Gaius told him. "I don't think I'd be able to add much to the effort, more of a hit fast and don't get hit than a hit hard enough so they don't get up." Gaius chuckled. "That and he's already showing off enough without another opponent to boost his ego."
"No kidding," Ricken agreed.
'Looks like these three have improved,' Ragna thought as the arm wrestling 'match' continued. 'Normally Vaike would have tired himself up in the first few minutes, but now he's able to keep the pressure going. Sully would have gotten angry by now and would've lost control, but she's keeping her temper. Whilst with Kellam he'd be unsure of how much to commit 'cause he couldn't be seen, but now I can tell he's giving it his all.'
"KEEP PUSHING! WE'VE GOT HIM ON THE ROPES!" Vaike declared as sweat poured from his face at the sheer effort.
"Fat chance," Ragna said with a snarky smirk upon his face. '...Hopefully I can keep this facade up a little longer, they're starting to wear me-' "GUH!?"
A creeping chill hit the Reaper dead in his spine and tormentingly spread throughout his entire body, leaving him to feel weak for the briefest of moments. Using the moment that they had to their advantage the three's combined push on the arm was nearly enough to bring it to the wooden table, leaving Gaius and Ricken shocked as they watched. Ragna's body quickly recovered from the strong effects before he brought the match around and slammed the three's hands to their side of the table.
"Really, had to fake us out to beat us?" Sully demanded as she was out of breath at the effort. "Talk about a killjoy..."
"Not my fault, just got a weird feeling all of a sudden," Ragna told her as he felt the back of his neck. "Seems to be gone though."
"Suuuuure, we'll believe that," Vaike said with a smirk as he rose. "Alright, time for Teach to hit the axes again."
"I'll head there with you; I've actually started practicing axes in my spare time," Kellam told him as he followed Vaike, though it was unclear whether or not the warrior had heard him.
"An' I've got to go and finally get a bath in," Sully told him. "Can't have all of this sweat scaring the guys away any more than I already am."
"Trust me, sweat's the least of your worries," Ragna muttered, earning his head in a lock underneath Sully's arm as she proceeded to noogie him without mercy. "GAH! QUIT IT!"
"My bad, I thought a saw a damn bug on your head," Sully said with a harsh smirk as she let go of the Reaper, leading Ragna to rub the sore spot that had been abused. "See you around."
"Yare yare, she certainly hasn't changed," Ragna muttered to himself as he headed out of the training grounds himself, though through an exit leading away from his challengers.
Crimson and Darkness
"Hey," a sudden voice called out, causing the Reaper to pause in his walk. Turning his head he noticed a familiar dark haired girl as she emerged from the shadows.
"Hey yourself," Ragna bluntly said in return. "Tharja, right?"
'He remembers my name? Be still my heart,' the dark mage happily thought to herself. "Yes, that's me. I was wondering if you'd want to enjoy a cup of tea... Unless you're busy with something else?"
"Not at the moment," Ragna told her. "'Sides, I've actually been wanting to talk to you again for a while now." With Tharja's normally darker complexion, the contrasting brightness in her smile that followed was all too easily seen by Ragna. The Reaper was surprised that the expression didn't seem forced... in fact it looked downright genuine.
"If you'd follow me then," Tharja said with a smile as she led the red coated man to her room.
Ragna wasn't exactly sure what he'd been expecting to find in Tharja's quarters, but it was... slightly on the stranger side. A few dark magic artifacts were placed along the room and runic circles were drawn all over. A collection of pouches laid on the desk, its contents a mystery to Ragna but he had a feeling there was most likely something occult inside each of them. Taking a seat at an open chair, Ragna waited as Tharja began to prepare the refreshments with an already brewed pot of hot water. The process didn't take long and just a bit later Tharja handed him a cup of freshly brewed (black, of course) tea.
"Thanks," Ragna said before taking the cup and taking a small sip. The tea itself was well enough prepared (still not to the level of Rachel's tea) and immediately gave his body a sense of warmth. "Damn, you have no idea what a relief this is right now."
"How so? Have you had a cold lately?" Tharja questioned him as she held her own mug.
"Not really; just sort of got a brief chill earlier, passed quick enough though," the Reaper explained.
'All he felt was a brief chill?' Tharja thought to herself. 'My hexes wouldn't have harmed him, but he should have felt frozen in place for at least a few minutes... He's not immune to my curses, but his natural resistances are... impressive.'
"Though that's not why I wanted to see you," Ragna admitted, snapping Tharja out of her thoughts. "I... actually wanted to apologize to you..."
"Apologize? My dear Ragna, how could you have possibly wronged me?" the dark mage questioned sweetly.
'That's an alarming change in tone,' Ragna thought to himself nervously. 'This chick planning some kind of revenge?' "That's something that I don't really know. All I saw was that one second you were about to try and tear into to me, and the next you fall to the floor covered in sweat... I was worried something had happened to you."
"Ever the gentlemen," Tharja said with slight boredom, having witnessed similarly uninteresting behavior before and being disappointed that Ragna seemed to possess it.
"You'd be surprised; most of the time I'm a pretty big ass," he admitted with a laugh of self-mockery. "Pick up on that yet?"
"...Maybe I did," Tharja said, her strange little smile returning as Ragna continued to laugh in self-mockery. "Apology accepted Ragna, I'd hate for there to be any bad blood between the two of us."
The two ended up conversing with each other for the better part of a half hour, just trying to engage in mild banter and to tell of any mild discoveries. Ragna had been a little offput by Tharja's more Gothic attitude when he'd met her, but by now the dark mage was a completely different person and they were easily able to talk to as peers. Eventually the Reaper thanked her for the tea and excused himself, only for Tharja to insist that they do this again sometime.
"...Hehehehehehehe, perfect," Tharja thought to herself as her face once more turned creepy once Ragna had gone. "Cursing myself with normality seemed to do the job impressively well and it lasted just as long as I needed it to. Now all I need to do is prepare another incantation for our next meeting. Heh, heh, heh, heh..."
Support Rank C Obtained with Tharja
Ylisstol Township
'...Shit, everyone's still staring at me,' Ragna thought as he traversed through the city. 'I thought after I went out with Cordelia things would have calmed down, but I guess I'm still not that lucky...'
Everywhere he went it didn't matter who it was; guards, merchants, shoppers, children even. Everyone seemed to have this uncontrollable urge to look at the red coated and mysterious Reaper. He was glad that he'd had enough foresight to leave the Aramasa back in the barracks... then again it might have been easier for the people to avert their gazes if he'd been glaring and armed.
"Some things just won't change," the Reaper told himself aloud as he continued traversing through the noisy marketplace.
"Apples for sale!" one farming merchant called. "Apples for sales! Fresh from the orchards and as big as they come!"
Taking a look at the produce on display, Ragna could tell that this man wasn't stretching the truth. The apples did look plenty large and the perfect shade of red for eating. Figuring he'd grab a quick snack, he headed over and read for one of the coins in his pocket.
"I'll take one," Ragna told the man.
"Perfect my friend," the merchant said as he turned. "That'll be two bronze- Sir Ragna!?"
"Present, though I don't remember becoming a Sir," Ragna told the man as he flipped him a silver coin which the owner fumbled with before the Reaper grabbed an apple from the top of the stand.
"I-I can't accept payment from you," the farmer told him nervously. "Not after what you've done for Lady Emmeryn."
"Keep it, I'd feel like a sleaze if I didn't pay," he insisted before biting down and chewing. "That's a damn good apple, I'll have to tell Chrom about this place." With that the Reaper left, leaving the man to look at the silver coin in his palm and endlessly repeating Ragna's last statement in his head.
Re-Introductions
"Right then, where to now?" Ragna questioned as he continued to walk the streets of the capital.
"Thank you milady, you've given me the guidance I need," he overheard one townswoman say not far from him. "I'm sure that with your blessing my son's fever will part soon enough."
"When it does it won't be because of my words, but because of your devotion to curing his sickness," Tiki told the woman. "Take pride in your role as a mother, it will help to shape the next generation."
"As you say, blessings to you," the woman said as she left, caring a basket of herbs and other supplies as she left. Ragna noticed that while Tiki was still smiling, she gave a tired sigh.
"This still common for you?" Ragna asked making his presence known as Tiki turned to face him.
"Sir Kni-, I'm sorry, Ragna," Tiki said to him, trying to keep a warm greeting. "Yes, this has been happening more and more to me as of late... especially after Emmeryn's speech."
"I'm surprised you're still able to keep up with the people, must have a crap ton of... willpower." Ragna's pause on his sentence's end was due to the stare Tiki had directed at the apple he held in his hand. "...Someone hasn't changed," he muttered as he broke the apple in two and tossed the unbitten half to the Manakete.
"Would you have wanted me to?" Tiki questioned with something of a girlish giggle. "...I have to admit though... I'm having a touch of trouble with you."
"Great, what'd I do now?" Ragna said with a groan before he took another large bite out of his now split apple.
"As soon as you took that armor off, it was like you became a different person," she told him as the two began walking the streets with each other. "I'm not inclining to say that it was a bad thing. You just... carry yourself differently."
"Yeah, two tons of armor will do that to a person's posture," Ragna joked.
"Sir Knight..." Tiki began with disappointment.
"Hey, I thought you wanted to call me Ragna."
"I did, but now you're in trouble," she accused him. Ragna didn't try to argue with her. "Back when we were traveling together, you seldom talked about yourself and were grimly serious. But now that you're back in the company of your friends you seem much more outgoing, much..."
"Happier?" Ragna suggested. "Probably because I am... Knowing that I'd managed to save someone important to me and seeing the rest of the Shepherds in good health... well it finally felt like I could stand tall again... but I guess I could see where you're coming from. Giving the fact that I'm acting so differently and I'm not wearing the armor anymore, I guess it would be hard to treat us both as the same person." 'Kind of like a masked freak I used to know...'
"So you understand my problem," Tiki told him.
Pausing for a moment, Ragna gave a gentle smile before turning to face Tiki and holding out his right hand and surprised her. "Guess we'll just have to start from the beginning then. Call me Ragna."
"I was having similar thoughts," Tiki said as she accepted his hand and gave it a friendly shake. "A pleasure to meet you Ragna, you may call me Tiki."
Smirking to himself, Ragna continued his walk with a once prior companion... though Tiki's thoughts drifted elsewhere. 'I could feel darkness as soon as I touched him... an overwhelming darkness. I know what I saw in that vision when we first met... but could someone with such hatred towards the Risen as he truly be Grima's catalyst? It can't be... but I may be forced to ask that difficult question later.'
Support Rank C Obtained with Tiki
Later -Castle Ylisse: Chrom's Office-
"Forget it," Ragna said with authority.
"But Ragna-!" Chrom tried to protest.
"Not a chance," the Reaper insisted yet again.
"Try to be reasonable about this," Robin told him. "It's just for-"
"I told you to forget it," Ragna told the both of them. "I'm wearing my own clothes to the ball and that's final."
"...What if we forbade you?" Chrom asked with a heated glare at his best friend.
"What? You think that would get me to wear those nobility clothes? I'd just as soon wear my armor just to spite you."
"He has a point."
"NOT HELPING LISSA," Chrom angrily told his younger sister. "...Fine then, the armor it is."
"You're serious?" Ragna said.
"No, he isn't," Robin said as she glared at her secret fiancé. "Are you really going to cave in so quickly to a tantrum?"
"LOOK AT WHO WE'RE WORKING WITH!" Chrom shouted exasperatedly. "At least this is something he'll only wear on rare occasions!"
'Tantrum?' Ragna thought to himself.
"True, but can you guarantee that he won't be wearing that helmet?" Robin demanded with a glare at Ragna who raised his hand defensively.
"Unless there's a noble or two you want me to scare, I think the armor alone is plenty," he told the both of them.
"I certainly hope there isn't a need for it, I don't want anything going wrong," his surrogate sister told him, continuing to glare.
"Wow, you're being really serious about this Robin," Lissa said with a giggle. "I'd hate to see what you'd be like at your own wedding."
'Oh shit,' the engaged couple thought simultaneously, unable to keep their faces passive. In a split instant, Lissa was about to turn her head, see their expressions, find out their secret, and ruin the surprise (there wasn't a secret around that the young princess could keep). As the young princess glanced over to the two-
"Seriously? Robin, married? What guy would be crazy enough to put up with her?" ...For as much as she needed a savior, Robin had at least hoped Ragna would ease on his snark. "I mean, we both know how quick she is to fly off the handle in anything other than tactics."
"Excuse you!?" the fellow silver hair yelled at him almost immediately, leading for Lissa to giggle uncontrollably as Ragna was proven correct.
"Wh-what about C-Chrom?" she said between her giggling, leaving the two to glance at each other with concern and risk their secrecy once more. (Un)Fortunately, it was Ragna to the rescue yet again.
"With how whipped she's got him? He'd have to be insane to even think about it," he said before giving a wolfish smile to the prince. Chrom knew a blow was coming... he hadn't counted on how hard it'd hit. "Unless he likes it that way, of course." Lissa's laughter was unstoppable as the two engaged gave dark glares at the all too smug swordsman.
"Both of you... out of my office... NOW," the future Exalt ordered them both. Giving a somewhat mocking bow, Ragna escorted the still cackling Lissa out of the office. "...That man..."
"Hard to believe we ever missed him," Robin said with her own groan, before giving her fiancé a passive smile. "And still, it's even harder to imagine the Shepherds without him. Talk about a dilemma."
"Do you still want to-?" Chrom began, only to silence when Robin put a finger to his lips.
"Lissa could be trying to listen to us, but I can't think of anyone else to do it," she warned the price. "We'll tell him soon enough..."
Dearest Friends
'That was too close,' Ragna thought to himself as Lissa continued to fall victim to his joking. "Come on, it wasn't that funny."
"Y-Yes it was," the princess said as her cackling was finally interrupted by a cough of nearly suffocating on her own laughter.
"Jeeze kid, it's called air; breath some," the Reaper told her as Lissa continued to cough.
"How rude!" the Reaper overheard one of the nobles as they passed by him. "Even if he is the supposed hero of the kingdom, to think he'd treat the princess like such a brute!"
"Indeed," his wife agreed. "If that man had done something and acted with such vulgarity to our daughter I'd have sent him to the stockades at the very least... That man is far too cozy to the royal family; he needs to learn some humility."
"Pot calling the kettle black," Ragna muttered angrily under his own breath.
"D-*whew*-did you say something?" Lissa asked him as she finally managed to catch her breath.
"Nothing, just a couple of annoying flies," Ragna told her, leaving the princess feeling confused... before her stomach's noises revealed what she really was feeling was hunger pangs. "Heh, want to grab dinner?"
"Dinner sounds good," Lissa couldn't help but agree. "Where to?"
"I'll leave this choice to the Lady; can't really say I know the area around the city too well," he admitted.
"Oh, I know the perfect place! Maribelle and I go there all the time!" Lissa told him with a smile. "They serve the best sweets you've ever had!"
"I said dinner, not desert," Ragna reminded.
"Oh, uh... I think they serve regular food too."
"You think, meaning you don't really know," the Reaper said with a smirk as he crossed his arms.
"He-Hey, don't blame this on me," Lissa said with a pout. "It's not my fault that stew doesn't go well with tea..."
'Almost sounds like a challenge now that I think about it,' Ragna considered before saving the thought for later. "Well I don't have anywhere better to go, so I guess we'll try it after all."
"Hehe!" Lissa said with a victorious smile as she grabbed Ragna's arm and began forcefully leading him to her choice venue of dining. "Come on, let's go!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming, you don't need to drag me," told her as he thought back to when she did this just to show him the Shepherds barracks. 'I guess some things never really change.'
As it would turn out, the two wouldn't have to travel that far after all. After guiding Ragna out of the castle, Lissa led him down to the nobility district. As a means of avoiding annoyances, this would actually be Ragna's first visit to that particular district of the capital. Aside from Lissa, Maribelle, and the very few other friends he had in the nobility, the upper-class people were mere annoyances to Ragna who would only try to either put fault with him or try and find a way to use him to get closer to the royal family.
The nobility district didn't look that different from the regular masses of the capital anyways. Sure there were small displays of flowers that looked like they'd been expertly attended to and instead of tightly quartered houses these nobles lived in much larger mansions, but Ragna found that superficial at best.
"Is that the princess?" he overheard one noble's daughter say as Lissa led him through the district streets. "Who's that man she's with?"
"You've never heard of him?" another daughter whispered. "That's Sir Ragna of the Shepherds. There are stories of him slaying entire forces of those filthy Plegians and the Risen monsters single-handedly."
"So he's supposed to be the warrior you've been talking about," another noble said. "Wasn't he rumored to have died?"
"He was, but it was revealed that he was secretly the Black Knight all along."
"THAT Black Knight? ...I must say though, he doesn't look nearly that impressive."
'I'll show 'em impressive,' Ragna thought angrily to himself, only to notice that Lissa herself was scowling. "Tell me we're almost to the place..."
"Yeah, we are," the young princess told him though she remained angry. "I wish they wouldn't talk about you like you weren't here."
"Meh, I've come to expect this and worse from these people, they're always going to try and put me down," Ragna told her before give a calmer smile. "It just tells me that through it all, I'm still as much of a rebel as I've ever been."
"My brother can agree with that," Lissa told him, looking a little happier as she remembered the conversation in Chrom's office.
Eventually the two made their way to the restaurant that Lissa had been trying to lead them to. The place wasn't the largest of any of the other dining options of the noble district, but it was up there. Walking inside, Ragna noticed that the place seemed to be popular for the ladies of the nobility, more specifically their late teen daughters and their children. Like Ragna had gathered from Lissa's claim of sweets, many of the countless tables were adorned with sweets, but he did notice a meat pie and the other occasional dinner course on the table.
"Princess Lissa! Welcome back!" a cheery young woman who appeared to be closer to Ragna's age greeted the princess. She was wearing maid clothes, not unlike those he saw at the castle. "I'm surprised that you didn't decide to bring Lady Maribelle with you, the two of you are always together when you come here."
"Well I have Ragna here with me, so that's at least a little close," Lissa said with a smile leaving the other woman to stare at Ragna for a moment, apparently not having realized that he was here with Lissa.
"I see... well I can either get you a table in the center like you have with Maribelle or off to the side if you'd like to dine somewhere more private."
Lissa glanced to her plus-one who merely gave her a shrug. While he figured spending time more private would likely save him a large headache tonight, he realized that people would have to deal with the fact that he was back. "We'll take a table in the center. We sort of came here for the atmosphere after all."
'I have to hope we don't have to leave 'cause of said atmosphere,' Ragna thought somewhat worriedly as he remembered the nearly unending awkward silence when he'd tried this with Cordelia. As they were led by their host to their table, a few of the ladies of nobility paused in their conversation as Ragna and the princess passed them by, but then seemed to return to their conversations like nothing had happened. 'That's it, just keep ignoring us... please.'
"And here we are," the maid said as she lead the two to a table in the center of the room, covered in white cloth. At the center was a small display with exotic sweets piled on. As Lissa made her way to her chair, Ragna made a point to pull it out to help seat the princess. Lissa gave him a small smile in thanks before he took his own seat. "Do the two of you know what you want or would you like to hear our specials for this evening?"
"I'll hear the specials; never really been to this type of place before," Ragna told her. Lissa also nodded in agreement, so she continued.
"We've got a few new recipes of Plegian sweets that we've just added recently. There not too difficult to make and could have a few ready quickly. Baring that we have the confections you see in front of you along with a few of our well known meat pies or our stew."
"I'll take a bowl of the stew then," Ragna told her before turning to Lissa who also nodded in agreement.
"Very well then, and to drink?"
"Oh! I know of a really good tea here," Lissa told Ragna. The Reaper figured it was probably that naturally sweet tea Maribelle had shown him yesterday, but simply decided to nod and trust the princess's judgment. "Two of the regular please!"
"As you wish princess," the maid told them. "I'll be out with your food in a few moments, please feel free to help yourself to the sweets until then." Lissa did just that as the maid left, starting to add some of the desserts to the plate in front of her.
"I thought we came here for dinner," Ragna reminded bluntly.
"Hey, it'd be rude not to take at least one of them," Lissa told him, with no less than four sweets already on her plate.
"...Just don't get a stomachache, alright?" Ragna pleaded with a small sigh, leaving Lissa to giggle at him, as did a few of the ladies apparently listening in. 'Damn, looks like not all of 'em are going to stick to their own business.'
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Lissa assured him. "I'm kind of surprised you didn't decide to ask for one of the meat pies, that was what we got the last time we did this."
"It was?" Ragna asked thinking back. It took him a moment, but he remembered when the Shepherds had been sent to South Town a second time after a Risen force had invaded. That was when he'd met Elphelt and... he had gone and grabbed a meal with Lissa while he'd been there, and it had been a meat pie. "Jeeze, you really remember that far back? That's impressive."
"Because I'm an impressive princess," Lissa declared proudly. Ragna just gave her a small smirk. "Hey! Why aren't you saying anything?"
"Am I supposed to comment on that?" he joked with her as he sat back and relaxed. "But damn, that feels like a lifetime ago, but it was what? Just a few months?"
"Yep, just a few," Lissa agreed. "Any reason why it feels so much longer to you?"
(Besides the Author taking so long to update this thing you mean? Sorry!)
"...I guess because there's been a lot of stuff in between; most good, some... well, some that seemed to take its time," the Reaper said, thinking to his previous solitude as the Black Knight. Deciding he'd try to be a little less gloomy, he gave Lissa a warm smile. "I dunno, maybe it was because I didn't have a certain troublemaker to pass the time with."
"Hee! Don't worry Ragna; I missed you too," Lissa told him with a large grin. "But isn't troublemaker kind of harsh?"
"If anything it's an understatement; I've heard stories of all of the pranks you've been pulling lately," the Reaper told her, something that Lissa never confirmed nor denied. "Which begs the question; why haven't you tried pulling any on me?"
"So you call me a troublemaker, yet you're feeling left out of the pranks?" the princess asked him. "Well, if you insist Ragna, how can I-?"
"That's not what I'm getting at, and I'm sure as hel- heck, that you know it," Ragna told her, catching himself before he swore (he's been trying to limit his swearing as of late). "What I am saying is that I'm something of a magnet for awkward situations and hijinx like that, so I'm wondering why you haven't tried to pull anything on me."
"Well... what if I told you its cause I'm still planning yours out?" Lissa asked with a mischievous smile. "What if I told you that that I want my prank to be the best one yet so that I can get the biggest reaction out of you that I can? What if I told you-?"
"What if I told you that I already know what kind of person you are and that I know you would never plan a prank out like you're claiming right now?" Lissa couldn't come up with a rebuttal against Ragna's skeptical gaze. "Like I had asked..."
"I... I dunno, maybe because you're already hilarious enough without my pranks?" Lissa suggested. "Like all of the arguments you and Chrom keep getting into?"
"Hey, earlier was a rare exception; I usually don't roast him nearly that hard," the Reaper admitted as he scratched the back of his head in mild embarrassment. Yet again the ladies surrounding the two's table giggled and began whispering words of gossip among themselves. 'Mind your own business dammit, and they call me rude...'
"Pardon the interruption, but I've brought you both your tea," the serving girl said as she set a small yet formal cup in front of the two before pouring each of them a cup with the fresh brewed pot. Leaving the said pot on the table the woman gave a respectable bow. "Your meal will be out shortly, please ask any of the staff if there's anything else you desire."
"I think we'll be fine, but thanks," Ragna told her, deciding he'd wait for the steaming mug to cool. Judging by the smell, this was indeed the sugary tea that he'd had yesterday. He fought back a sigh as he remembered the all too sweet taste... while staring as Lissa added three sugar cubes to her cup. 'Unbelievable.'
"...Um, is there any reason you're staring at me?" Lissa asked, leaving the Reaper to avert his gaze.
"Your eccentric personality maybe?" Ragna muttered leaving Lissa to blush slightly. Noticing the giggle from the surrounding noblewomen yet again, the Reaper finally decided he'd bring up one of the many elephants in the room. "So... are guys are even allowed in this place? I feel like I'm sticking out like a sore thumb, more than usual."
"I don't think there are any rules against bringing guys here," Lissa told him as she glanced around. "I mean, I think this is just one of those places that ladies come more often."
"Have you even seen another guy here besides me?" Ragna questioned.
"Well there's the time Virion-"
"Doesn't count in the slightest."
"Libra was here too, but I think some Nobles might have mistaken him for a woman and brought him here by mistake," Lissa admitted.
"Is that that priest that we met back in Plegia, the one Chrom and those soldiers... right," Ragna said thinking back to the awkwardness Chrom had gone through when he realized Libra was indeed a man. "That was a weird meeting."
"That was when we met Tharja too," Lissa remembered. "She seemed to change sides at the drop of a hat and she's been stalking Robin ever since."
"I've noticed," Ragna muttered.
"Though lately, she's been leaving her alone... I wonder why?" Lissa considered.
'I'll have to ask her next time I see her,' Ragna thought to himself before sipping the warm tea. As expected, it was almost painfully sweet, but he did his best to choke it down and keep his expression passive. Lissa took a sip of her tea... before adding another two sugar cubes. 'HOW!?'
"He... hehehehe," Lissa giggled after a moment, leaving Ragna understandably confused. "Your face just there, it did something similar to Robin's whenever I prank her."
"That so?" Ragna asked before deciding he could stand to have a little snark. "Well then I'm glad to see you're so taken by my face, princess."
"R-Ragna!" Lissa hissed, fighting to keep her blush down and having to settle for concealing it with her hands while Ragna chuckled. Once more the noble ladies seemed to be whispering about the two, but he decided he wouldn't care. "Don't laugh at me like that..."
"I laugh with everyone, you're not getting the short end of the stick," the Reaper told her. "...That and Chrom would be annoyed if he was the only one I ever made fun of."
"You two are like brothers, you know that?" Lissa asked him. "I mean, to him, Emm, and me you're practically family."
"...That's nice to know," Ragna said with a genuine smile. "It really is..." He then gave a more jolly chuckle. "So if Chrom and I our like brothers, I guess that mean you've got three older siblings now?"
"Not really," Lissa told him happily. "You're like a brother to Chrom, but you're a little different to me."
"Really? Then what does that make me?" he asked, a little curious of the princess's perception.
"Not telling!" she declared.
"Aw c'mon, you can't just lead me on like that and leave me hanging," Ragna muttered.
"I'm a princess, so I think that's well within my rights," Lissa declared. "Consider this as payback for all of teasing you've been doing."
"...If that's as bad as I'm going to get it I don't see any reason why I can't continue," he told her with his usual snark.
"Do you want me to worsen your punishment then?" Lissa threatened with a small glare.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll ease up ma'am," Ragna gave in with a sigh.
"Good to hear!" Lissa giggled. Despite himself, Ragna couldn't help but laugh. Things always seemed to lighten up whenever he'd spend his time with the princess.
Later
After the two had finished their meal, Ragna made a point to escort Lissa back to the castle. Much like when he'd taken Cordelia back the day before, neither of the two seemed to talk much in their walk, but Ragna still found himself very much at ease while Lissa it seemed could help but continue to smile. Eventually though, the two made their way to the castle entrance.
"Guess I'll be seeing you around then," Lissa told him, trying to smile while still a little disappointed that their night out was ending.
"Yeah, I mean there's definitely the ball," Ragna reminded her. "Thanks for showing me the place, it was... nice."
"Ragna..." He knew why Lissa was scowling; she didn't like the thought of being lied to by the Reaper.
"It was! With present company at least," he told her before chuckling. "Next time though, I'm choosing the place we're going to. Deal?"
"Deal!" Lissa said before tackling her friend with a hug. Ragna lurched slightly under the force, but just gave a small sigh as he returned the much shorter woman's hug. "See you then."
"Yeah, see you there..." Ragna said with a smile. As Lissa headed into the castle, Ragna began making his way to the barracks, giving a small laugh at the absurdness of it all. "Here I am, a former terrorist; I still can't stand Nobles at all, but now I'm 'family' with the Royalty? What a world..."
Support Rank A Obtained with Lissa
Author's Note
For all of you asking for the next chapter, here it finally is. I've had this one in the oven for a while now, and I finally decided to finish it off and post it on a Wednesday instead of Friday.
I know Lissa's date what a little similar to Cordelia's, but the next few will start to try and mix it up a tad more. Anyways, Omake time.
Loyal, No Matter The Setting
"And you've been giving me crap for working too hard," Ragna muttered with a sigh.
"I don't want complaints, I need you to help," Chrom told him. "I've tried talking to him and he's done nothing but send me away every time."
"Funny, I thought he'd only be that rude with me..."
"Well he did give the offer to work on advancing magic where he could and asked if there were any requests for his turn as chef tomorrow... Saw a bit of Frederick in him."
"I'm not surprised... Fine, I'll talk. Don't expect any miracles though, I'm sure as hell not." Leaving Chrom slightly surprised outside, Ragna headed into Ylisse Castle's main library. Heading through the countless row of books on the kingdom's history, he finally came to the row that contained the magic tomes... and the werewolf he was looking for. 'Well I found him,' he thought as he approached. 'Now what am I supposed to say to him?'
"Try not to breath so loudly, you're breaking my concentration," Valkenhayn R. Hellsing told the Reaper, not raising his elderly head from the tome.
"You've just got a bone to pick with me old man; there could be a damn war outside and you wouldn't even miss a word," Ragna told him crossing his arms. "I'm just asking for five minutes."
"You get one," Valkenhayn told him. Flipping through twenty pages in the blink of an eye before shutting the book, he committed the books contents to memory.
"Wow, I was expecting only half of one," Ragna muttered. "You know you're not going to find anything in here right? The Boundary is a one way ticket only and the fact that you managed to make it here with me is enough of a miracle."
"Hmph, you're best not commenting on things you yourself have no idea on. In my research I've managed to acquire many theories regarding something known as the Outrealm. What have you found?"
"Nothing, because I'm not bothering to look," Ragna told him off. "Look, I don't care if you have to keep searching until the sun burns out, but at least get some rest. It looks pretty damn bad on me if you don't... and I'm the guy that got you into the library in the first place."
"...Crude, unsavory, and brutish as it is I'll borrow a page from your book whelp; Make. Me." Valkenhayn then opened the tome to resume his research.
"You said I got a minute; thirty seconds..."
"Use them then, I can multitask," the butler told him.
"Rachel could already be here," the Reaper suggested.
"Impossible, if she were I'd know. And she'd have found you," Valkenhayn insisted.
"Maybe not," Ragna told him. "Teleportation works differently in this world than our own, she might not be able to cover ground like you and I can."
"All the same I'd need to return milady home to where she belongs, my honor and duty as her butler depends on it," Valkenhayn told him before sighing. "And... I suppose I'd have little choice but to leave the chance of finding her to you if she is here."
"Sorry, what was that last part?" Ragna asked, a shit-eating smirk upon his face.
"I said your minute is up, now leave," the butler ordered.
"Fine, fine..." Ragna asked as he started walking away. "I'll bring you some dinner then so you don't have to stop working."
"That's an... odd act of kindness," Valkenhayn told him.
"Kindness nothing; I'm doing it so you can get the hell out of here already," Ragna told him as he walked off to grab the werewolf his food.
"...Hmph, the feeling is rather mutual here, pup."
Support Rank C Obtain with Valkenhayn R. Hellsing
And that's the Omake done, now... REVIEW RESPONSES ARE BACK!
EpicLinkSam: I've taken my break, BACK STRONG!
Veemaster: I'll get to Olivia soon enough. Don't worry.
Fernandonoguera99: Thanks for the support, I managed to get back to it.
The Unplanner: I'd say he does, he at least knows what a date is.
Marconator360: I've rested.
Kuroll: I think my trouble is committing to a story. If I just wanted to do 12 chapters of one story in a row by chance, they'd be no problems.
Adv: Thanks, with Ragna's hair being so long, I thought it'd be a crime if I didn't do something with it.
Medblare: Well, I did get sick when I was writing this chapter a while back.
Detinc: Aw, you flatter me.
Guest: I don't play Mass Effect or Halo, but I'm taking it slow.
Touhoufanatic: Well Nu's great, I'd just rather make her a strong focus if I write her in a story.
Monkiepawn: Meh, to each their own.
Qreq: But it is one, my earlier messages discrediting it were later changed overruled.
Arcivus N. Sense: If is good...
Reclusive Dork: Maybe I'll do something like that specifically in my GG fic when it gets there.
Guest42: Wow, has it been that long?
Player089: That does seem to becoming more popular.
Mark the Mark: Sorry, no next gen kids as a pairing...
Mark the Mark: Keep reading...
Until Next Time Everyone! Not sure what I'll update next, but be on the lookout for it!
Ciao!