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This wasn’t how this was supposed to go.
Lucina sighed heavily, swinging Falchion aggressively, hearing her leather gloves creak slightly as she adjusted her grip. She didn’t know what kind of monster this was, but they were invisible, something she never had to deal with when it came to the Risen. At least she could
see
her enemies in Ylisse, even if there were more of them at a time.
It didn’t help that she didn’t know where in the world she was.
“Lucina!”
Lucina looked up to see Cynthia looking with wide eyes, and it only took her another moment to see–or, more accurately, sense–the attacking creature. She held her sword up, hoping to block the blow. She felt something come in contact with it, and she slid back on the slick grass before coming to a stop, lashing out at the soldier until it regained visibility.
“Thank you!” Lucina called out, grunting as she surged forward, Falchion gleaming despite the blood and grime that coated it. She stabbed the creature through the chest, yanking up as she removed the blade in the hopes of dealing more damage. “What the hell are these things?”
“I wish I knew,” she heard Laurent say, followed by a quick blast of Thoron and a soldier appearing with a burnt hole through its chest. “These are nothing like anything I’ve seen before.”
“Do you think it has something to do with the dragon Naga mentioned?” Morgan asked, breathing heavily as he stabbed a soldier through with his sword. He cringed as its invisibility faded before he could kick it off the weapon. “You know, like how the Risen only started appearing as Grima grew in strength?”
“Gods, I hope not,” Kjelle said, panting as she lunged. “They’re impossible to track.”
“Look for the purple flame things at their feet,” Noire said, stringing back another arrow and letting it fly. “It’s not perfect, but it’s a good enough guide.” Lucina watched as the arrow struck true, the soldier appearing around it thanks to how deeply embedded it was in the creature’s eye.
“If that’s the indicator, there are only a few left,” Gerome said before diving down to the ground, axe drawn.
“Thank the gods,” Yarne murmured before activating his beaststone again, launching forward with a cry. Lucina couldn’t help sharing the sentiment.
Lucina attacked the next closest creature, slashing through its chest with a cry. It collapsed to the ground, and Lucina winced as she saw its hair, silver and pink.
Inigo.
How long had it been since she’d last seen him? Seven years? Eight? But it wasn’t Inigo, she realized with a relieved sigh, shaking her head and forcing herself to move on.
The fight only raged for a few moments more, and then the clearing was silent save for the panting of her allies. Lucina stuck Falchion in the ground to help support her, and she saw Gerome leaning on his axe from the corner of her eye.
“Is anyone still injured?” Brady asked, scanning the nine of them for hidden wounds (though the worst culprit for that was long gone, Lucina supposed). But they were fine, save for a few grazes and bruises that a little time would fix.
“That ended better than it could have,” Morgan said, ever the optimist. Nah snorted from next to him.
“It could have ended a lot worse, Morgan,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“What kind of mission did Naga send us on?” Kjelle asked. “I mean, really, invisible soldiers? Where the hell are we?”
“I don’t know,” Lucina said, shaking her head. “Naga couldn’t tell me, and it sounds like not even the legends mention it.”
“Floating islands, invisible soldiers, ruins scattered throughout…” Morgan said, biting his cheek as he thought. “Nothing. Laurent, you?”
“No,” Laurent said, hanging his head. Lucina turned to Cynthia, knowing she liked the occasional fantasy book, but she was shaking her head.
“So we have no clues,” Nah sighed.
“Not even a map,” Gerome confirmed.
“How the hell are we suppose’ ta find this great dragon and defeat ‘im if we don’t even know where we are?” Brady asked, sitting on a boulder with a heavy sigh.
“Follow the ruins?” Cynthia suggested. “The closer together they are, the closer we’d get to the capital… right?”
“But Naga can’t be called upon from Ylisstol,” Nah pointed out. “Who’s to say it’s not the same?”
“I doubt there are any residents we could ask, either,” Laurent said. “They’ve likely all been turned into, well…”
There was a somber silence. It wasn’t as though they weren’t used to corpses being used against them–there was a chance, after all, that they had fought their own parents' corpses, mutilated by Grima and his servants before he turned them against their wishes. But this… it was somehow different. Somehow worse; maybe because these soldiers still looked human. Still retained their features, in a way Lucina knew was somehow perfectly preserved.
“We have no choice but to keep moving forward,” Lucina said. She sheathed Falchion, dusting herself off. “Naga gave us this mission. We’re going to fulfill it, no matter how strange this place is.”
“But how will we find the dragon?” Cynthia asked.
“Remember how we always knew when Grima was approaching, or how even Laurent and Brady could tell when Naga called to me?” Lucina asked. “The dragon will likely also have that kind of magical index. We’ll just have to wander until we can track it down.”
Lucina looked at her allies, saw the exhaustion already written on their faces. She stared at the sky, wondering why the sun hadn’t moved from the position it had been in when they’d arrived here.
What was this place?
“We should rest before we continue,” Lucina said, looking around the clearing. “We should start a fire, maybe attempt to hunt.”
“What if more of those
things
come because they see the fire?” Yarne asked, fidgeting. “We don’t know much about them.”
Lucina frowned, and then she looked around. “We can hunt first. That way we’ll only start a fire if we actually catch something.”
“Which, I hate to break it to you, is a pretty big if,” Kjelle said, looking around with a frown. “The world is so… barren. I haven’t seen a single animal. There isn’t even birdsong.”
“I’ve heard rustling in the leaves,” Yarne said, still fidgeting. “I’ll accompany you.”
“That’s a good idea, actually,” Lucina said. “That way it’ll be harder to ambush us.”
“I’ll come too,” Cynthia said. “Noire?”
“Uh– alright,” she said, nodding hesitantly. Lucina had to stifle a smile; sometimes she forgot how far she’d come lately. Going back had been good for all of them, but her especially.
“I’ll join,” Kjelle said. “It’s not like I’ll be able to relax so soon after a fight, anyway.”
Lucina nodded, looking around. There was a forest next to them; that would likely be their best bet. She nodded to it, waving goodbye to the rest of their party.
“Be safe!” Morgan called, and Lucina smiled. Even if they weren’t, he’d be able to direct them just as well as (if not better than) she could. He’d inherited more of their mothers tactical thinking, after all.
“Let’s go,” Lucina said, and away they went.
The forest was more densely packed than Lucina anticipated, and they ended up relying on the small fire Cynthia was able to conjure and light a fallen branch as a torch. Yarne kept his ears open, and Noire did her best to try and spot any movement, but there was nothing. It was empty, eerily so.
“Anything?” Lucina asked, beginning to feel somewhat on-edge.
“Not yet,” Yarne said, frowning. “It’s strange. There seems to be no animal life, but the forest isn’t overgrown, either.”
“I noticed that,” Cynthia said. “It’s just like how our Ylisstol was.”
“It’s so dark I can’t see anything,” Noire said, fiddling with her bowstring.
“Don’t worry about it, Noire,” Lucina said. “I doubt anyone could be, unless they were used to this kind of darkness.”
“It’s still strange,” Kjelle said. “This place is just… so
unnatural.”
“I agree–”
“Shh,” Yarne said, and Lucina turned to see his ears perked and his hair standing on edge. Lucina felt hope begin to curl in her chest, but then she saw Yarne’s expression and it burned. “People are coming.”
“People?” Noire asked. Yarne nodded, and she squeaked before grabbing an arrow from her quiver.
The rest of the group followed suit, Lucina brandishing Falchion. The group surrounded her, and she winced somewhat; she knew certain habits died hard, but she didn’t need protection. Her life was no more valuable, especially now that she was only a princess in name.
“They’re coming closer,” Yarne said. He looked in Noire’s direction, listening intently. “Noire, now.”
Noire followed his instruction, pulling her bowstring back and letting the arrow fly. Based on the pained scream, it met its mark.
But Lucina’s eyes widened.
“The invisible people didn’t make sound,” she said, and she heard Kjelle curse under her breath.
“So I just attacked an actual
person?”
Noire said.
“Probably,” Cynthia said, readying her lance. “Gods, this is a nightmare. It’s been forever since I fought on foot.”
“Arrow,” Yarne said, and the four of them ducked, Lucina waiting until she heard the whistle until she stood. Her heart dropped when she looked behind her, seeing a glowing blue arrow.
“Oh, that’s not good,” Cynthia said.
“No fucking
shit–”
“Look out!” Lucina yelled, diving to the ground as the crackle of Thoron blasted through the trees.
“We need to get closer,” Kjelle said.
“Let’s go,” Lucina said, and she began to run in the direction the projectiles had been coming. She heard the others on her heels, and she ducked beneath another glowing arrow. She heard a grunt, and took a moment to look behind her; Kjelle had been hit, but it was in her non-dominant arm.
It’ll be fine
, she assured herself, and she picked up speed.
They came to a clearing fairly quickly, met with a few soldiers in strange dress. Several unfamiliar-looking swords and other weaponry were drawn, and a bow without a string was held by a man in the front with silver hair.
Noire released another arrow, and the fight began in earnest.
It didn’t take long for Lucina to realize that the man with the stringless bow was the one shooting the magic, cyan arrows. Was it a weapon like Falchion, where only he could wield it? She hoped so; she didn’t want to have to look out in every corner for a weapon like that.
“How did you get into Valla?” the silver-haired bowman asked, voice booming and anger pulling him taught.
“Is that where we are?” Lucina asked, deflecting one of his arrows with Falchion. She watched as he balked at that.
“So you don’t know where you are, but you can block the Fujin Yumi with that blade of yours,” the man said, raising an eyebrow.
“Explaining
this
to Leo is going to be something,” a swordsman said, and Lucina realized that he was carrying Yarne’s unconscious–
please only be unconscious, please don’t be dead
–body.
“You know Corrin’s rule,” the bowman said. “Don’t kill them. Besides, a breach to Valla’s security is something not to be taken lightly.”
“Yessir!”
Lucina didn’t take such an order at face value. Why usher such an order so close to the enemy?
She saw a woman blast Thoron at Cynthia, who rolled out of its way just in time. Lucina rushed at the mage, ignoring Kjelle’s call of warning. Worst case, Falchion would take the brunt of whatever magic attack she used.
She yelled as she approached her, jumping up and somersaulting over a glowing arrow as she brought her sword down. The mage, however, dodged just in time, Lucina only snagging her robes. Lucina groaned, the impact traveling up her arm and into her shoulder, but she righted herself quickly.
She had just enough time to process Cynthia’s call for her before the world went dark.
Everything was sore.
Lucina sat up with a groan, taking in her surroundings. She was in a cell, it seemed, and Cynthia, Kjelle, Yarne, and Noire were still passed out around her. Falchion was no longer secured to her side, and she rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes.
Is this supposed to happen, Naga?
She rubbed her face wearily, wondering about Morgan and the others. She wished she could confidently say they’d be alright, but with this mysterious group wandering around, she couldn’t be sure.
She hated this uncertainty. She hated the questions she had; why wasn’t Naga able to tell them about this place (what was it called? Valka?), or warn them of the dangers they’d encounter?
She heard a groan and looked to see Noire stirring, sitting up and blearily wiping her eyes. She looked around, frowning. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know,” Lucina said, bringing her knees to her chest and resting her head on them. Was this what Inigo faced? Did he die in a cell somewhere, maybe with Owain and Severa? Was he alone?
She shook her head. She wasn’t going to die here.
“How long have you been up?” Noire asked, her voice quieter now. She was sitting against the wall across from Lucina.
“I’m not sure. A few minutes at most,” Lucina replied, shrugging. “Hard to tell.”
“It’s so… dark,” Noire said, looking around. “Though, I suppose that’s the point.”
“Probably,” Lucina said with a sigh. “We never needed to make use of the dungeons, so I’ve never been in ours.”
Noire nodded, taking her talisman out of her pocket. She’d stopped needing it, and her mother had removed the curse as their relationship improved and the real Noire of that time grew up, but she kept it as a kind of good luck charm. Lucina smiled as she saw it, remembering old times.
“What do you think is going to happen?” she asked hesitantly, and Lucina smiled sadly.
“I wish I knew,” Lucina replied, shaking her head. “But whatever happens, we’ve probably made it through worse.”
Noire snorted out a laugh. “Remember when the two of us got surrounded by a horde when I was, like, ten?”
“I still don’t know how we made it out of that one,” Lucina said, chuckling. “Miriel and Sumia almost killed us for that one.”
“They were the only ones still alive by that point, weren’t they?” Noire said, her voice growing somber.
“I think Vaike and Gaius might have still been around,” Lucina said. “But yeah. That was pretty much it.”
Noire leaned her head back, looking up at the stone ceiling. “This place is weird.”
“You only just noticed?” Lucina and Noire’s attention were brought to Kjelle, who was sitting up and blinking the sleep out of her eyes. “We fought invisible
somethings
and got captured while trying to hunt in some freaky forest, but it takes us getting thrown in a cell for you to realize that we’re currently living in Validar’s fever dream?”
“Well, I noticed before,” Noire said, looking down and hiding her eyes behind her bangs. “It only processed now. I mean, we literally spent our childhood fighting zombies, jumped through time, met our parents when they were only our age, and defeated an evil dragon who was also Lucina and Morgan’s mother. It takes a lot for things to seem weird.”
“When you put it like that,” Lucina said, teasing them both. Kjelle glared for a moment, but she quickly broke into quiet laughter.
The three lapsed into silence, and Lucina looked at Cynthia and Yarne warily. Yarne had a lot of bruises blooming across his body, though the slight rise and fall of his chest tells her that he’s alive.
“They’ll be okay,” Kjelle said.
“Yeah,” Lucina replied, nodding. “They will.”
Lucina wasn’t sure how much more time passed, but eventually Yarne and Cynthia woke up. They sat in a companionable, if tense, silence, biding the time until anything happened. Guards passed through the hallway outside, though no one paused to talk to them. Nobody called out, either, which Lucina took as a good sign.
Eventually, Lucina noticed that the silver haired man from before was walking down the hallway, and he stopped at their cell. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed before unlocking their cell and slipping in, one of his companions locking the door behind him.
“I’m here to ask you a few questions,” he said, and the group nodded. Lucina was wary of the man, but she was certain that she had more questions than he did. “First and foremost: how are you here?”
“We were sent by the divine dragon Naga,” Lucina replied. The man narrowed his eyes.
“Where do you hail from?” he asked.
“Ylisse,” Cynthia replied.
“Yeah, right,” he scoffed. “Ylisse is a fantastical country. A Nohrian legend at best. You won’t fool me.”
“I’m sorry, did you just say Nohrian?” Lucina asked, eyes widening. “If we’re talking about fantastical countries, I believe that you’re the one referring to them. No proof of Nohr’s existence has existed since the Hero-King’s days.”
The man looked just about ready to pick a fight, but instead he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You know what–fine. Sure, you’re Ylissean.
Why
are you here?”
“To stop the dragon Anankos,” Kjelle replied.
“To stop–I’m not dealing with this,” the man said, turning around and leaving the cell. Lucina looked at the others, her confusion mirrored on their faces. It didn’t take much longer for Cynthia to snap, snickering quietly to herself.
“That was… strange,” Yarne said.
“Very,” Kjelle replied. “I think I need a nap.”
“We’re stuck here for the foreseeable future,” Lucina replied. “I won’t stop you. We’ll wake you if necessary.”
Kjelle seemed to consider it for a moment, and then she laid on her side and closed her eyes. Lucina smiled at the sight; it had been a while since they’d had to adjust to such conditions, but the adjustment didn’t take long.
It didn’t take long for footsteps to ring through the cell yet again, and Lucina turned to see a heavily-armored blond man. He would have looked confident if it weren’t for the dark eyebags that reminded Lucina of her mother during the war–eyes of a tactician stretched too thin.
He unlocked the cell and stepped in, eyeing each of them. “Who is your leader?”
Lucina stood. “I am,” she replied, and he walked up to her and put a blindfold over her eyes, binding her wrists shortly thereafter. She felt her heartbeat speed up; she doubted these precautions boded well for her future.
“Hey, wait a minute, are you
executing
her?” Cynthia asked, voice raised. Lucina heard shuffling, and she had no doubt that Cynthia was now standing as well.
“Likely not. Regardless, that is not my prerogative,” the man said, and something in Lucina’s chest eased. It wasn’t a definite no, but it was certainly better than a yes.
With that, she was led out of the cell, directed up staircases and through winding hallways. She was in a castle, of that much she was certain, but she couldn’t tell if she was being led in a roundabout way just to throw her off or if the destination was truly so far from the dungeons.
Eventually, she heard a large door open, and she was led into a room that she assumed was rather large–a throne room, perhaps? A few gasps sounded as she was led up a few stairs before the man pushed her to her knees. She went willingly, doubting fighting would do her any good.
“The leader of the prisoners Prince Takumi captured, as requested,” the man said. “Takumi said that they claimed to hail from Ylisse.”
Three gasps. They echoed in the otherwise quiet hall, tone and pitch
achingly
familiar, but Lucina didn’t dare let herself hope.
“Thank you, Leo,” a voice said, but they were cut off before they could continue.
“Let her go.”
Lucina stiffened.
She knew that voice.
Inigo?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Let her go.”
Leo stood next to the prisoner, looking at Laslow with wide eyes. From what he’d known of his brother’s retainer, he was shy and obedient. Only spoke when spoken to, unless off duty or on the battlefield. For him to order something so brash, in front of all of those in the army who outrank him?
Well, this better be something good.
“I said
let her go,
milord,” Laslow repeated when Leo didn’t move. He felt the woman stiffen even more, practically trembling under the weight of Laslow’s voice. Did they know each other, perhaps? He, Selena, and Odin were foreign, after all, though the other two hadn’t protested. They had gasped upon seeing her, however, so maybe his thought had merit.
“And why should I do that, Laslow? She attacked a Hoshidan prince without provocation; I think in any country, that would make her a rather high-ranking prisoner. But I know that you, if no one else, are familiar with what happens to attempted assassins in Nohr,” Leo said. From the corner of his eye, he saw both Odin and Selena stiffen; something in his gut told him that he’d made the wrong choice, but it was too late to retract it now.
“Say that again,” Laslow growled. He was standing now, hand on the hilt of his sword. “Say that about my wife again. I dare you.”
Leo wasn’t certain he’d ever heard such profound silence.
“Wife?” he heard someone say, and vaguely he realized that it was Niles. “All that flirtation, yet you’re tied down?” Leo clocked Xander’s expression, and had no doubt that his brother was thinking the same thing. But Odin and Selena were smirking; strange.
“That was my idea,” the woman said, confident despite the way she still trembled. She was smirking as well, Leo realized, and his brows furrowed even more. “A way to get information.”
“And why would you need such information, pray tell?” Xander asked. The woman just laughed.
“This is not the first war we have fought, if I’m correct in my assumption. It’s not the first time we’ve had to defeat a dragon to end it, either.”
Silence again. Leo is almost certain he’d learned more about his retainer here than he had in all of their conversations prior.
“Let her go, Leo,” Corrin said, and Leo nodded. He stepped away, cutting through her rope bindings with the dagger he kept secured to his belt. He meant to go for her blindfold, but then he heard footsteps and saw Laslow making his way to them.
He kneeled in front of her, gently reaching for the blindfold. “Close your eyes,” he warned, “it’s bright.” And Leo realized that he wasn’t certain he’d ever seen Laslow this gentle, this
warm.
He removed the blindfold, and the woman’s eyes were closed, just as he instructed. She blinked them open slowly, and Laslow practically melted, surging forward and holding her close, clutching her in the same way Takumi clung to Leo in the aftermath of a particularly stressful battle.
“I missed you,” Laslow murmured, kissing the top of her head. Leo realized dimly that Laslow was weeping, but he couldn’t entirely blame the man; it had been eight years since the three of them had shown up, after all. “Gods, I missed you so much, Lucina.”
“You’re real,” the woman–Lucina–said, and she sounded awestruck. “I–gods, you’re
real.”
“I’m real,” Laslow assured. “I’m here. I’m right here.”
“I–Gods, Inigo, I thought you were dead, we all thought you were dead,” Lucina said, and her voice was trembling. Leo questioned the name she’d called him–
Inigo?
–but Laslow had only tightened his grip around her, pressing gentle, chaste kisses to the top of her head.
“I’m not,” he whispered. “We’re not.”
Lucina pulled away then, looking up into Laslow’s eyes. “We?”
Leo looked up at that, scanning the crowd for Odin and Selena. They were running up to the podium, and Leo realized with a jolt that it wasn’t Odin leading, but Selena. Just how much of their lives did they keep hidden, for there to be such a shift in demeanor?
“Severa? Owain?” Lucina said, and now she stood, Laslow stepping away to let her. “Oh my gods, you’re
alive.”
“What, did you really think we’d go and die on you? After everything?” Selena said, rolling her eyes even as she hugged Lucina (that, at least, was consistent). “We survived the apocalypse twice, Lucina, we weren’t gonna let these dimwits kill us.”
Leo was almost offended, but then the first part of her sentence sunk in.
“Odin,” Leo began, and Odin looked at him as though he’d forgotten he was there. “When you mentioned the Risen… they weren’t just wild animals, were they?”
The four of them froze, and Selena turned to her husband with a glare. Odin rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, they were, in a sense.”
“Hang on,” Lucina said, and though her cheeks were tearstained she was grinning at Odin. “Did he just call you
Odin?
As in, the name you would call yourself when you pretended to be a great, legendary hero when we were kids?”
Leo didn’t even have to look to know that Niles was positively
beaming
with that piece of information.
Odin was completely red at this point, but he jumped to defend himself. “I didn’t choose it! And besides, your husband has been going by
Laslow
for eight years. And he has an accent, if you hadn’t noticed!”
For the first time through this whole ordeal, Laslow flushed. “Again, we, ah, didn’t exactly
choose
the names.”
“Oh my gods, you do have an accent,” Lucina murmured. Laslow flushed even more, but Lucina just leaned up and gently kissed his cheek. “I like it.”
Laslow looked like he wanted to combust. Leo heard Peri laugh in delight.
Lucina then turned back to Odin, looking him up and down before frowning. “Where’s your Brand?” She then turned to Laslow, frowning even more. “Where is
your
Brand?”
“They were hidden for this mission,” Selena explained. “They’ll show up again eventually. I think.”
“Someone surely knows restorative magic,” Laslow said, shrugging. He then paused. “Wait–how do you still have yours? How are you
here?”
“Naga sensed a realm in danger,” Lucina replied. “She sent us–”
“Us? Is Brady here?” Odin said, and Leo vaguely recalled him referring to a brother from his homeland. Perhaps that was him.
“Wait, is Gerome?” Selena asked, eyes brightening.
“Not
here,
but here,” Lucina said. “We all came together, but a group of us broke off to hunt. Gerome and Brady stayed behind with Morgan, Laurent, and Nah. That’s when we were captured.”
Corrin cleared his throat, and it was then that the four seemed to realize just how non-private this was. “I apologize for the interruption, but Takumi said that you were sent to defeat the dragon, Anankos. Is that correct?”
“Yes, sir,” Lucina said, bowing politely to him. It was a complete demeanor shift, much like the ones he’d see in Xander when a private moment was interrupted.
“Then that makes you and your group our allies,” Corrin said. “My name is Corrin. I am the leader of this army; standing next to you is Prince Leo of Nohr. Earlier, you met Prince Takumi of Hoshido, as you may have heard.”
“I apologize for the rocky introduction,” Lucina said, bowing to Corrin. “I am Princess Lucina of Ylisse, though it seems you already know my husband and cousin.”
There was silence for a moment, Leo staring blankly at Lucina. Laslow was flushed once again, and even Odin was staring at the ground and seemed to wish that it would swallow him whole.
“You’re a
prince?”
Peri screeched. Laslow winced, face flushing even more, as if he had hoped that detail would be lost on them.
“Oh, no,” Leo heard Lucina murmur.
“Odin,” Leo said, looking at his retainer–a prince, for gods sakes–as he seemed to shrink in on himself. “Do you mean to tell me that one of my most loyal retainers, and, by extension, the girl whom I view as a niece, are foreign royalty?”
“I–well, milord, that is a story that would require more than a simple yes or no answer,” Odin said, rubbing the back of his neck. Even Selena looked uncomfortable; what the hell kind of past did they have?
“Selena, dear,” Camilla called, and Selena visibly froze. “This does mean that you’re married to a prince, does it not?”
“As Odin said, that’s a long story,” Selena replied.
“What, did you forfeit the title?” Camilla asked, puckering out her lips.
“Not exactly? I mean, I guess you could make an argument for that,” Selena said.
“Wait a minute,” Laslow said, turning to Selena and Odin with wide eyes. “You…
did
tell Ophelia, right?”
The way they both stared blankly at Laslow was answer enough. (He didn’t miss the way Odin looked almost… guilty, however.)
“Well, this is a bit of a mess, isn’t it,” Leo said, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Odin, I would recommend you go inform your daughter of her station. And free the rest of your friends while you’re at it.”
“Yes, milord,” Odin said, bowing with his usual level of flare.
“And–stop calling me milord,” Leo requested, wincing somewhat. “You are also royalty, after all. We are equals.”
“Technically speaking–” Odin began, but he stopped at a glare.
“Selena, go join him, dearest,” Camilla said. Selena only nodded in response, and the two of them left the room in a hurry.
“I fear that I created more problems than I was sent to solve,” Lucina murmured, though with the way it echoed, everyone heard it.
“I’ll admit, all of this is… disconcerting, to say the least,” Corrin said, though he didn’t necessarily appear upset. “But we’ll take anyone willing to aid our cause, and assuming you are as capable as Laslow, Odin, and Selena, I doubt we’ll have any issues.”
“She’s stronger,” Takumi said, and everyone’s attention swiveled to him. “She took a shot to the Fujin Yumi with her sword like it was nothing. It’s one thing to continue fighting after getting shot–all three of them have done that–but to take it on a sword and not sustain a bit of damage?”
“That’s… practically impossible,” Xander said, seemingly shaking from his stupor. “Even Siegfried could not withstand such a blow.”
“Falchion sealed away a dragon and took down an uncountable number of his minions long before it was passed down to me,” Lucina said, shrugging.
Silence again. Lucina’s casual manner was more intimidating than anything Leo had encountered before; it terrified him.
“In that case, allying with you is our
only
choice, not just the best one,” Niles said.
“Precisely,” Corrin said, and he walked up to Lucina, holding out his hand for her to shake. “I look forward to our allyship, if you will accept our invitation.”
“I would like to discuss with my allies before accepting your offer, though I doubt there will be any objections,” Lucina said, though she shook Corrin’s hand with a smile regardless. “If someone were able to escort me back to the forest so I could gather the others, that would be ideal, but I’m certain we can figure something out if not.”
“Takumi, Leo,” Corrin said, turning to him. “Take Lucina and Laslow to their allies.”
Leo nodded, looking at Takumi, who looked like he was going to protest before he decided against it, hanging his head and sighing. He walked over to the three of them, chatter beginning to spread throughout the other royals as he did.
It was barely noon, and yet Leo just wanted to curl up in bed and sleep for the next ten years.
“Let’s go,” Takumi said, adjusting his grip on the Fujin Yumi at his side. Leo had Brynhildr tucked away, and Laslow had his sword at his side. But Leo frowned when he remembered that he had helped Takumi strip those he had captured of their weapons.
“We aren’t letting Lucina go unarmed,” Leo stated, changing his course. “We’ll get her sword, then we’ll go.”
Takumi huffed but followed, conceding. Leo reminded himself to check in on him later tonight, when it was just the two of them and Takumi could be vulnerable, not just angry, about whatever was on his mind.
Lucina and Laslow were quiet behind them, but Leo trusted Laslow enough not to be worried about it. He figured they were finding some way to make up for lost time, but he kept track of the footsteps that echoed through the hallways.
Eventually, they came upon the armory, their foreign weapons separated from the Nohrian and Hoshidan ones. Lucina grabbed hers–Falchion, she had called it–and fastened it to her belt. Leo sympathized as he saw her relax at the familiar weight; he, too, felt safest with his divine weapon secured to him at all times. It had, unfortunately, been a necessary measure, but he regretted it nonetheless.
Lucina smiled at the others, and Leo noticed that some of the hair had fallen out of her ponytail, framing her face. Laslow was staring at her with ill-concealed awe, though Leo couldn’t blame him; he had no doubt he often looked just as lovestruck, if only in private.
“Shall we get going?” Leo asked, though he didn’t wait for a response before leading the way.
He led the way through the winding hallways of the castle, reassured by Takumi’s steady presence by his side. Sometimes, when things got awful, he’d stay a step or two ahead or behind. But if Leo dared reach out, he could grasp Takumi’s hand with little issue; whatever was bothering him was minimal.
“When we get back we’ll check on Forrest and Kiragi,” Leo murmured, slightly leaning over to him. Takumi smiled somewhat at that; they didn’t have the privilege of spending as much time in the Deeprealms as their allies did, their princely duties pulling them away, but they spent what time they could with their sons.
They walked through the castle, finding Lilith along the way and delivering the request. She grants it happily once Takumi explains where they had been when they captured Lucina, and then Leo found himself in a clearing surrounded by dense trees.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” Laslow muttered, looking around warily. Lucina, to her credit, looked largely unaffected.
“Well, Lucina, you’ll likely have the best estimate of where your friends were,” Takumi said, crossing his arms. “Besides, they will likely take more kindly to a friendly face, if they are anywhere near as wary as you are.”
Lucina chuckled, the corners of her lips twitching up ever-so-slightly. “Morgan would probably attack on sight, you’re correct.”
“Gods, how old is he now?” Laslow asked, turning to Lucina with wide eyes. She laughed at him.
“He’s twenty-four, darling,” she said, and Leo disguised his laugh as a cough when Laslow flushed pink at the endearment.
“I really have been gone a while, huh,” Laslow said, and Leo caught a hint of guilt and grief in his voice. Lucina just kissed his cheek.
“We found you,” Lucina said. “That’s all that matters.”
Laslow smiled before looking around the clearing. “Shall we go?”
Lucina turned around, walking into the forest. She led them through the underbrush for a moment, looking around every so often, before turning and heading straight.
Eventually, they came out of the forest. It wasn’t a clearing as much as a field, with a few ruins spread out and the floating islands native to Valla visible in the sky. Lucina was frowning as they paused, but then she walked over to one of the ruins.
“Morgan? Laurent?” she called, no doubt trying to find her allies. There was no response, and she frowned again. She turned to Takumi. “How long was I out?”
“A day on the Astral Plane, so only a few hours here,” Takumi said.
“They usually wait a day,” Lucina murmured, frowning again. She rested her hand on the hilt of her sword, and Leo thought for a moment.
“Are any of them mages?” he asked. “If so, I might be able to find some of their magic residue.”
“Laurent, Morgan, and Brady all use magic, yes,” Lucina said. “And Nah is a manakete and uses a beast stone, if you’re able to track those.”
Leo balked. “She’s a
what?”
“A manakete,” Laslow said quickly. “She can turn into a dragon, like how Keaton and Kaden can turn into a wolf and a fox respectively. Or, I suppose in the same way Corrin can turn into a dragon, actually, though their forms are vastly different. Yarne, who was among the ones you captured, is a taguel and can turn into a rabbit.”
Leo sighed, opting not to think too hard about that in favor of trying to trace any magic in the area. There were some that were several hours old, likely lingering from a battle (had Lucina and her crew engaged the Vallites before the Hoshidans?), but nothing more recent.
“That’s unnerving,” Leo said, opening his eyes. “There’s no magical index save for that lingering from whatever battle most recently happened here. It’s like trying to track Odin down.”
“Is Owain a mage now?” Lucina asked, turning to Laslow.
“Unfortunately,” Laslow said, sighing. “He hasn’t shut up about the whole Owain Dark thing, though thankfully it stopped him from having to “stay his sword hand” every ten minutes.” Lucina snorted a laugh, and Leo found himself wondering just how eccentric his retainer had been in his youth.
“Could it have something to do with their homeland?” Takumi asked. “If you can’t track Odin, and you can’t track these allies either, maybe it’s something about that?”
“I mean, we got good at hiding our presence from the Risen,” Laslow said, frowning. “I guess hiding any magic would be important when hiding from Plegian commanders, since they relied on dark magic to command the Risen.”
Lucina sighed heavily. “So, we’re stuck doing this the old fashioned way.”
Yet again, Leo found himself shocked and somewhat horrified at the nonchalance the Ylisseans displayed when referring to their past.
But Laslow and Lucina moved on quickly, looking in each of the ruins around and calling out their allies' names. Leo and Takumi did what they could to help, but Leo didn’t want to interrupt anything if it wasn’t requested of him.
“Oh,
fuck,”
Takumi muttered, and Leo turned to him with furrowed eyebrows. “Wyvern spotted; there’s probably more!” he called to Lucina and Laslow, holding up the Fujin Yumi and preparing to shoot.
“Wait!” Lucina yelled, following Takumi’s line of sight. “Gerome?”
Takumi lowered the Fujin Yumi, frowning at Lucina and Laslow as they stared at the sky. But as the wyvern came closer, Leo realized that he could see the rider, not just the wyvern; maybe it was their ally, if that was the case.
“Lucina?” the rider called when he was in earshot, and Takumi let the string of the Fujin Yumi release and he put it back on the sling he had across his back for it.
The rider landed, and Leo realized that he had very similarly colored hair to Selena (she did mention something about a Gerome, didn’t she?). Lucina looked relieved as she ran up to him.
“Oh, thank the gods. I was worried something happened to you guys,” Lucina said.
“What happened to
you?”
Gerome said, looking her up and down as though scanning for injuries.
“We ran into another army,” Lucina said. “We got off on the wrong foot, but…”
“Let’s just say she had some familiar faces to bail her out,” Laslow said, and it was then that Gerome seemed to realize he was there. His eyes widened as he took in his features.
“Inigo?”
he said, disbelieving. Laslow only laughed.
“The one and only,” he said, smirking at Gerome. But then Gerome wrapped him in a tight hug, and Laslow seemed surprised for a moment before hugging him back.
“Is–”
“She’s okay,” Laslow said, cutting him off (Selena, Leo guessed). “She’s back at the castle with Owain and the others.”
“Where’s the rest of your crew?” Lucina asked, frowning again. “We’ve been looking, but we haven’t seen anyone.”
“I brought them up to one of the islands in the hopes that it would keep them safe,” Gerome explained. “Nah rode Kyra up and then took Morgan on her back. I took Laurent and Brady up after she confirmed that it was stable.”
“Wait, so those islands are actually usable?” Leo asked, somewhat surprised. Their fliers had been under orders to avoid the ones that weren’t large or connected by bridges, but if they were stable, they could easily be used to their advantage.
Gerome looked at him, taking in his armor and general appearance. “It seems so,” he said after a moment.
“Leo,” Leo said, walking forward and extending a hand to shake. Gerome hesitated before taking it, though he dropped it quickly.
“Gerome,” he responded, nodding hesitantly before turning back to Lucina. “I’ll go get everyone.”
“I’ll go with you,” Lucina said. “Kyra trusts me, and that way Nah can fly down on her own.”
Gerome nodded, mounting his wyvern and offering a hand to Lucina. She took it and hoisted herself up gracefully, and Leo didn’t miss the lovestruck look on Laslow’s face as she did. And then Gerome and Lucina were taking to the sky, and all that was left to do was wait.
Leo walked over to Takumi, gently entwining their pinkies.
I’m here,
he said without words, looking into his lover’s eyes.
I know
came the response, Takumi’s eyes closing as his face relaxed. Leo smiled, resisting the urge to press a gentle kiss to Takumi’s forehead; he knew the only one around was Laslow, and that he was likely too busy staring at the sky to be giving them much attention, but he still preferred to reserve those kinds of affections for quieter moments. He knew Takumi did, too, so he held back.
There was a commotion from behind them, and Leo turned away from Takumi to see a blond man yelling at Laslow. He heard Takumi cover a laugh behind him, and Leo couldn’t help but share the sentiment; watching anyone get yelled at with a smile on their face was amusing, after all.
“Shall we go meet with them?” Leo murmured. “They are our allies now.”
“What an easy introduction this will be,” Takumi said, and he looked uncomfortable. Leo resisted the urge to reach out and take his hand.
“Nobody can blame you for what you did, ‘Kumi,” Leo said. “You were prioritizing the safety of your established allies. Besides, look at how we started.”
Takumi still looked uncomfortable, but he followed Leo when he began to move towards the group who had landed. The blond man had stopped yelling at Laslow and was now hugging him, and Leo thought he heard soft crying. Laslow was patting him on the back, and it didn’t seem all that awkward; a regular occurrence, perhaps?
Next to them was a boy with the same colored hair as Lucina, smirking at Laslow as though he knew something. Leo noticed a Levin sword strapped to his side, though it sparked in an irregular pattern instead of the carefully-crafted ones he was used to finding in Nohr.
“I missed ya so damn much,” the blond man said, pulling away from Laslow and wiping his eyes. He turned to face Leo, and it was then he realized just how similar he looked to Odin. Perhaps this was the brother he had mentioned. “Who th’ hell are these people?”
“I’m Leo, and this is Takumi,” Leo said, bowing to the man. “We are allies of Laslow’s, and, by extension, you. I take it you’re Odin’s brother?”
“Laslow? Odin?” the man said, raising his eyebrows. “I got no clue who you mean, pal.”
“Ah, that’s me and Owain,” Laslow said, cheeks turning pink. “We were given false names for this mission, but, the, ah, the cat’s out of the bag now.”
The man looked confused for a moment before he took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “Of course he’d go by
Odin
in some other world. Yeah, that’s my kid brother alright. Gods, Mama’d be throwin’ a fit right about now.”
“He’s younger?” Takumi asked, eyebrows raised. “I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
“I assumed as much,” Leo said. “He dodged Niles’ every attempt at trying to gauge who was older of the two of you.”
“He talk about me much?” the man asked.
“Sometimes,” Leo said. “He generally steers clear of talks about his homeland, but I know more about you and your moms than anything else. Brady, correct?”
“Yup,” Brady said. “So, how do you know–”
“Um, sorry to interrupt,” the blue-haired man Leo had noticed earlier yelled, “but we’ve got company!”
Not a moment later, Leo felt an arrow pierce through a socket in his armor, hitting his arm and sending shooting pains throughout it.
Shit.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Laslow had his sword out to deflect the second arrow faster than Morgan could warn him about it. And then he was rushing forward, staring at the ground and looking for the purple flames that indicated where Vallite soldier met Vallite earth.
“Has Nah come down yet?” Inigo asked, shouting over his shoulder as he attacked one of the soldiers.
“Doesn’t look like it!” Morgan said, grabbing his sword and commanding lightning to land on what Inigo assumed would be an archer.
“Stick to Thunder and your sword,” Inigo commanded. “Higher chance of one of them putting two and two together if they can actually see the battle from up there. Lord Leo, if you have a Thunder tome, that would also be preferred.”
Morgan followed without question, but Leo shook his head. “Brynhildr will have to do.”
Laslow nodded before rushing ahead, engaging another soldier. He’d gotten better at seeing their outlines, he realized; that would certainly make these fights easier.
He twisted out of the way of a wayward sword, catching the refracted light just in time to avoid what likely would have been a nasty wound to his side. He parried another blow, lashing out and hoping to make contact with armor or flesh instead of air. The gods took pity on him, it seemed, as his sword connected with a sickening crunch of bone. The figure began to regain visibility, and Inigo turned back on the invisible demon he had yet to defeat.
“Morgan, I left for
five minutes,”
Inigo heard Lucina shout, and he held back a snort of laughter.
“It wasn’t my fault this time!” Morgan yelled, sending a burst of Thoron at what turned out to be a group of the demons, all of them crumpling to the ground as they became visible.
“My dad isn’t here to be your scapegoat, Morgan,” Inigo called back, grinning at his disgruntled response. He’d missed the lighthearted banter they’d have during battles; that was unique to their little band, it seemed, as no other armies carried that tendency.
Inigo watched as Gerome and Nah swooped over the battlefield, diving in opposite directions one after the other to attack. Laurent was attacking with Excalibur further down the line, and Brynhildr’s vines crawled on the ground, swallowing the purple indicators and felling Vallite after Vallite. Inigo could smell burnt flesh, and figured that Brady was keeping the rear guarded, and he could see arrows of the Fujin Yumi fly every so often.
“Laslow, on your left!” Takumi called, and Laslow dodged the blow just in time, rolling to the side and spinning in his next attack.
“No hard feelings,” he said as he struck, slashing at what he hoped was the demon’s throat.
He twisted around a stray bolt of magic, waving off Morgan’s apology and lashing out at the invisible soldiers, hoping to fell more than he could see. He willed his senses not to fail him now, hair on the back of his neck rising as a Vallite approached him from behind. He spun quickly, stabbing them through with a grunt of effort, piercing through the plate armor they wore before kicking them off the blade.
He felt the warm wash of healing magic rush over him, erasing aches and pains he hadn’t realized were there, and he looked for Brady to offer his thanks before jumping back into the fray. He scanned the skies, relieved when he saw Gerome and Nah still airborne. His friends were okay; they’d been through worse than a handful of these demons.
Gods, Xander was going to have so many questions.
He ran another demon through with his sword, slashing through another two in a broad, extended stroke that he was barely able to control. He bent awkwardly out of the way of a whistling arrow, feeling it graze his hair and breathing his quiet relief when he realized just how close a call it had been.
Inigo found himself at Morgan’s side, tearing through a group of Vallites, all huddled together with the purple flames of their feet blending together. Inigo ducked under Morgan's magic and bent around it while slashing and stabbing and dodging, reminding himself that
these were not Risen
no matter how undead they seemed. But they retained any skill they had prior to death, even if their movements were jerky and stilted at times, and so Laslow remained on his guard.
He felt the blade of an axe graze his arm, hissing in pain before stabbing the offender. He knocked over another Vallite with the axeman’s body, killing that one too before leaning out of range of a charged Thoron.
He twisted and hacked and slashed, a dance he’d rehearsed since he was thirteen. Blood stained his sword; he’d clean it later. What a harsh reality that had been, coming to the past; kill or be killed was always true, whether against Risen or against fellow humans. It made him sick, at first; how long did it take for it to become just as normal as the putrid lavender smoke Risen always left behind?
He felt a sword nick his side, felt the tip of a lance at his throat before he twisted away, pressing his free hand to his neck to stanch the bleeding from the small cut. He scanned the area for Brady, but he wasn’t close enough to warrant healing just yet. The adrenaline kept the pain at bay, anyway.
Laslow scanned for the rest of his allies once again, relieved when he saw bright arrows from the Fujin Yumi shot and stopped in midair, people appearing around the shaft. He watched as Brynhildr wrapped invisible soldiers in its impossibly tight hold, and Inigo smiled when he realized that Lucina was fighting with him, their styles meshing easily (but not as easily as his meshed with hers; their dance was special, to a rhythm all their own).
The battle was winding down, he realized with a relieved jolt, scanning the ground for purple flames. But save for a handful of stragglers, which Morgan and Nah were making quick work of, they’d cleared the field of invisible soldiers.
Thank the gods for that.
“Are we done?” Takumi asked.
“I think so,” Lucina replied, sheathing Falchion before rubbing her shoulder.
“Is your old wound acting up?” Inigo asked, furrowing his brow as he scanned her for injuries.
“Yeah,” Lucina replied, and the gentle uptick of her lips had Inigo breathless. “It’ll go away in a little while.”
“I’ll massage it when we get back,” Inigo promised, and Lucina smiled back at him.
“It’s been eight years, how are you still so sappy?” Morgan asked, receiving a glare from Lucina.
“You threw yourself down a cliff to get Nah a flower, don’t even start,” Inigo replied, laughing when Morgan flushed beet red in response.
“It has been
ten years–”
“You deserve it,” Nah said, pecking Morgan on the cheek. He only flushed more, though Inigo let him have his moment this time.
“So,” Brady said, clearing his throat. “How are we gettin’... wherever we’re goin’?”
“It’s disorienting,” Laslow warned, turning to Leo and Takumi. “Ready?”
“Yeah, hang on,” Leo said, and he began the procedure to get them sent back to the Astral Plane.
In the interim, Brady went around and healed all the lingering wounds, the warmth of his magic different from what Laslow was used to now but familiar all the same. He’d missed the feel of Ylissean magic, even though he hasn’t realized how distinct it was until now.
“Ready,” Leo called after another moment, and Laslow closed his eyes, preparing himself for the jolting feeling of switching dimensions, and opened his eyes when he felt solid ground beneath his feet.
“Laslow, I assume Lucina will be rooming with you?” Takumi said, looking at the two of them and turned to the others when Laslow nodded. “You lot, come with us. Corrin will assign you rooms.”
With that, Inigo was alone with Lucina for the first time since he left. He stared at her, leaning forward and gently cupping her cheek. “Gods, how I’ve missed you,” he whispered, closing his eyes and pressing their foreheads together. He swallowed the tears that threatened to form, instead pulling Lucina closer to him.
“I still can’t believe you’re real,” Lucina whispered. “That you’re not just a cruel dream my subconscious supplied me with on a particularly lonely night.”
“I’m not,” Inigo promised, kissing her forehead. “I won’t leave your side. Not ever again.”
“You better not,” she said, kissing his cheek. He smiled before kissing her lips, falling into the familiarity of
her
as he slipped his hand to cup the back of her head, underneath the ponytail that was truly going to be the death of him. He broke away after a moment, pressing his forehead to hers and laughing helplessly.
“Gods, how I love you,” he whispered, as though it were too delicate a thing to be said. “How I’ve missed you. How I’ve missed the curve of your cheek–” a gentle peck– “the crinkle of your eye–” a careful kiss– “the freckles on your nose.” He leaned back and she giggled, a sound he only ever had the pleasure of hearing when it was just them.
“I missed you too,” she whispered, so reverent, as she always was. “I missed the furrow of your brow–” she leaned up to kiss it– “the scar under your eye–” she kissed that, too– “the bow of your lips.” And then she kissed him, and he relaxed into it, pulling her closer once again.
“Ahem.”
Laslow stumbled away from Lucina, feeling a blush quickly crawl its way up his neck. “Ah–Lord Xander, is there something you needed?”
“Odin and Selena have been looking for you,” Xander replied. “And, ah, I was hoping to apologize for how I reacted to your demeanor surrounding women.”
“You need not apologize, Milord,” Laslow said, laughing somewhat despite his mortification at getting caught by his liege. “It was deliberate.”
“Still,” Xander said. “It reflects poorly on me to truly believe that my retainer would stoop that low for such base reasons.”
“He used to,” Lucina supplied, and Inigo’s flush came back at full force, though he supposed he deserved it. “He was quite the flirt in his teenage years.”
“I don’t hear you complaining about my silver tongue,” Inigo said, trying to redeem himself even somewhat. (He wouldn’t be able to withstand teasing from both Lucina and Xander if he couldn’t tease back even a little.)
“Of course not, love,” she said, grinning at him as his blush deepened (how could she still do this so easily?). “But if Severa and Owain really are looking for us, we should probably go. Where would we find them, Prince Xander?”
“They were in the wing of the castle you all will be staying in,” Xander said. He turned to Laslow. “I trust you know the way?”
“Of course, sire,” Laslow replied, chuckling. “My room is among those, after all.”
Xander simply smiled. Laslow bowed to him and turned away, but Xander stopped him before he could get too far.
“Ehm, Laslow,” he said, and he looked somewhat uncomfortable with whatever he was about to ask. “Is… is that still the name you wish to be called? Or would you prefer Inigo?”
Inigo blinked at him for a moment, surprised at the question. The name sounded strange rolling off Xander’s tongue, just as strange as Laslow sounded when Brady said it. “I… hadn’t thought about it,” he admitted. “Whatever you’d prefer to call me is what I’d prefer to be called, I suppose.”
Xander smiled and nodded, and then he turned away. Inigo looked at Lucina, smiling and taking her hand. “We shouldn’t keep them waiting. Ready to meet Ophelia?”
“Their daughter?” Lucina asked, squeezing his hand.
“Yes,” he said. “Though, fair warning, she hasn’t grown up here on the Astral Plane, or in the real world. Time works… differently, where she’s from. Faster.”
“So she’s older than she actually is?” Lucina asked, somewhat bewildered.
“Yes,” Inigo replied. “She was born a few months ago to us, but she’s fourteen.”
Lucina stopped, staring at him, trying to process what he was saying. Honestly, Inigo wasn’t entirely accustomed to the premise of Deeprealms, either, but at least it was prefaced to him.
“Did anyone tell Brady about this? Or
Gerome
?” Lucina asked, and when Inigo froze, she started laughing, bright and pure. “Were they even told that they have a niece?”
“I think the battle distracted us,” Inigo replied, laughing with her.
“Gerome is going to kill us,” Lucina said, still giggling.
“More likely that he’s going to kill Owain,” Inigo said. “Come on, let’s make sure we don’t lose one of our best mages to Minerva.”
With that, he led her through the winding castle hallways, the two of them running with their hands entwined the same way they did when they were children, long before Grima’s rise to power. Their laughter echoed behind them, and Inigo had to remind himself repeatedly that they were going to meet with the rest of their friends, not back to his room so he could appreciate her yet again.
Eventually, they came to a stop in front of Owain and Severa’s door, though Inigo’s hand got stuck on the handle. It had been years since he’d seen everyone all at once, and most of the attention would probably be on him. He loved his friends, of course, but he knew it would be… a lot.
“Ready?” Lucina asked, so gentle in the way she always was. He smiled at her, squeezing her hand; it was incredible how she calmed his nerves by just being next to him, patient and encouraging, just as she had always been.
“Yeah,” he breathed, and he pushed the door open.
Immediately, he was hit with a wave of
sound,
though he was unsurprised; with how long it had been, he would have been more concerned if it were quiet. He smiled when he saw Cynthia and Ophelia talking animatedly, grinning at each other while Ophelia explained something. Brady and Owain seemed to be arguing, and Severa, Gerome, and Kjelle were talking.
These are my friends,
Inigo reminded himself, swallowing down the apprehension that was threatening to crawl its way up his throat.
Time won’t change that.
Lucina squeezed his hand, and he relaxed a bit; she would be with him, as she always was. As he hoped she always would be.
“
Inigo!”
Cynthia screeched, jumping up from where she was sitting next to Ophelia. Her hair was in one long ponytail; it would seem she abandoned the twintails she’d boasted for so long. He had time to acknowledge that, and only that, before he found himself with an armful of her, Lucina laughing all the while. “Never do that to us ever again, you hear? We all thought you were dead!”
“I won’t, I promise,” Inigo said, laughing as he hugged her back tightly. “Eight years without you guys is plenty of time. Though the occasional vacation wouldn’t hurt.”
“Rude,” Gerome said from where he was standing next to Severa, though he was smiling slightly. Cynthia wiggled her way out of Inigo’s grip to stick her tongue out at him.
“Oh, don’t even start,” Kjelle said. “It took us bribing Minerva to get you here.”
“What, because you
wanted
to kill another dragon?” Severa said, rolling her eyes. “We were told that was the goal after we agreed. I don’t know what you guys are doing here.”
“Wait, another?” Everyone’s attention snapped to Ophelia, who’s eyes were wide. She, however, was looking directly at her parents–or, more specifically, Owain–with an almost offended expression on her face. “You killed a dragon and
didn’t tell me?”
“It was long before you were born, darling,” Severa said, trying to salvage the situation. “It simply never came up.”
“Dad tells me all about his various exploits as a great mage!” Ophelia protested.
“Well, sweet dim to my dark, your father was not always the legendary dark mage you see today,” Owain said, and Inigo wasn’t sure if he should laugh or roll his eyes.
“Yes, and he had to “stay his sword hand” and “quell his boiling blood” every time the opportunity presented itself,” Kjelle drawled, rolling her eyes.
“
You were a swordmaster?”
Ophelia shrieked, and Owain winced slightly. Inigo did laugh at his expense then, but then Ophelia seemed to remember he was there. “Why didn’t you tell me, Uncle Laslow?”
“
Laslow?”
Kjelle said, gaping at him.
“I didn’t pick it!” Inigo replied, and no doubt he was pink again. “Besides, Owain has been going by
Odin,
so I’m really not the biggest issue here!”
“You sound like Lady Tiki,” Nah observed, and Inigo buried his head in his hands.
“Oh my gods,
that’s
where I’d heard that accent before,” Severa said, gaping at him.
“Can we go back to the part where Ophelia learns that her parents actually had a rather tragic backstory?” Inigo asked weakly.
“Tragic? ” Ophelia said, cocking her head to the side as she looked at Owain. “What kind of tragic backstory are we talking? You talk about your moms all the time, so it’s not like they died.”
“Well…” Brady said, scratching the back of his head. “They kinda did.”
Ophelia stared blankly at him, and everyone else looked at each other nervously. What should they tell her, and what should they leave out to avoid needless trauma?
“We’re time travelers,” Morgan said eventually, ripping the band-aid off. “Our parents
did
die, we just got to meet them again, from a time before most of us existed in that world.”
“
All
of your parents died?” Ophelia said, though she had lost her enthusiasm now. She looked as sad as Inigo had ever seen her; he supposed the life they used to live would do that, even to a girl who had grown up on tales of glory.
After all, hadn’t they all thought their parents invincible until Chrom and Robin died?
“Yeah,” Severa said, quieter than she usually was. “Yeah, they did.”
“Oh.” She looked sad as she looked at all of them. “But… why? What happened?”
Inigo hesitated before speaking. “Ophelia… remember the bedtime stories I used to tell you, about heroes defeating the monsters called the Risen?”
Understanding dawned on Ophelia quickly. “So… the Risen killed all of your parents?”
“Yeah, kid,” Owain said, slinging an arm around her shoulder to pull her into a hug. “Not the legendary tale you expected, huh?”
Ophelia was simply staring at her hands while she chewed her lip, as though she was trying to piece something together. “Does… does all of that have to do with my Brand?”
Severa gasped, looking between Owain and Ophelia. Inigo himself stiffened; when had her Brand come in?
“In… a way, I suppose,” Owain said, scratching the back of his head with his free hand before he sighed. “I suppose it’s time to tell you the truth, huh.”
“You mean she doesn’t
know?”
Brady said, eyes wide.
“Well, until you lot appeared, nobody did,” Severa said, rolling her eyes. “Did you not notice that none of our brands are visible right now?”
“Your arms are covered,” Gerome observed dryly. “And Inigo hasn’t come close enough for us to notice his.”
“You have Brands too?” Ophelia said, looking between them with wide eyes.
“They’re different,” Inigo said. “Bestowed directly by the divine dragon Naga. When someone marries into the Exalted line, they go to Mount Prism and, if they’re deemed worthy, they’re given the Consort’s Brand.”
“Let me show you,” Yarne said, approaching her and showing her the crook of his elbow, where his and Brady’s Brands were located. She looked at it, curious as she frowned.
“Wait, does that mean you’re my uncle, too?” she said, looking up at him.
“He’s my husband,” Brady said, leaning over to ruffle her hair. She batted him away, though she was smiling.
“Wait,” she said after a moment. “What’s the Exalted line?”
“The royal family in Ylisse is referred to as the Exalts,” Lucina explained, smiling gently. Ophelia stared blankly at her for a moment before turning to Owain.
“So you weren’t joking when you said that?” she yelled, indignant.
“It’s not my fault you didn’t believe me,” Owain said, teasing.
“With the way you always talk, can you blame her?” Severa teased, kissing Owain’s cheek.
“I’m a princess…” Ophelia said, disbelieving.
“Technically, yes,” Owain said.
“It gets a little complicated when you factor in the time travel,” Inigo said, shrugging. “And your time in the Deeprealm doesn’t make it any easier.”
“She’s a princess just as much as I am,” Lucina said, grinning.
“You’re the crown princess, but you’ll never have to rule,” Morgan teased, grinning. “Lucky bastard.”
“I think being the leader of the last stronghold for humanity in an apocalypse led by a dragon using her mother as a vessel at 12 years old is leadership enough,” Laurent said, frowning.
“You forget that aforementioned dragon mother brainwashed me for most of my childhood and teen years,” Morgan replied, deadpan. Laurent flushed slightly, and Inigo laughed; he missed the easy banter with them. He loved the people he had met here, wouldn’t trade Peri or Lord Xander for the world, but nothing could beat this.
They were his family, really, just as much as his parents were. Nothing could replace that.
He felt Lucina rest her head on his shoulder, and he pressed a chaste kiss to the top of her head. Gods, how he’d missed the way she fit so easily. Like the piece of himself that he was missing.
“I missed this,” Inigo murmured, blanketed by the chatter the others created. Lucina looked up at him, smiling.
“I did, too,” Lucina said, smiling. “It wasn’t the same without you.”
A blush crept its way up his neck, and he kissed her forehead in lieu of responding. She giggled lightly, and Inigo wrapped an arm around her waist before returning his attention to the others.
“How in the world did you manage to keep everything secret for eight years?” Brady was saying, staring at his brother.
“Nobody would have believed me even if I slipped part of the truth,” Owain said, shrugging. “That was deliberate.”
“He’s only mostly grown out of his childish ways,” Severa replied. “It’s not all part of some grand plan.”
“You love me anyway,” Owain said, smiling. “Enough to marry me twice, even.”
“I do,” Severa replied, smirking.
“I’ve heard that one before,” Owain replied, and Severa’s smirk only grew.
“Oh my gods, get a room,” Kjelle said, and Morgan was pretending to gag behind her.
“If you think those two are bad, wait until you see Camilla and Niles,” Inigo said, and Severa groaned.
“You’ve seen nothing,” she said. “Try working for one of them.”
“Try working
with
one of them,” Owain replied. “Niles was always bad, but…”
“Spare the details,” Inigo said. “Please.”
“How come you got the normal one?” Severa said, glaring at him.
“None of us got Elise,” Inigo replied, smirking. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Fuck all the way off,” Severa groaned. Ophelia snickered at her mother’s language.
“Seriously though,” Owain said, “how is it that I got the kid genius who can’t dress himself, Selena got the threateningly doting motherly princess, and you got the training-obsessed crown prince?”
“You were perfectly happy with your magical abilities until now,” Inigo said, grinning.
“How did Severa end up with Selena and you two got Odin and Laslow?” Kjelle muttered.
Owain simply groaned, defeated. “At least none of our colleagues are normal.”
“Beruka is a trained assassin, and yet she is the
most
normal of them,” Severa groaned. “Peri is like a worse version of Henry.”
“More emotional, certainly,” Inigo said. “The only time I’ve seen Father do anything but smile was when he thought I was just a carefree idiot and called me a disappointment.”
“He did
what?”
Cynthia asked, gaping.
“I can’t blame him,” Inigo said, shrugging. “I didn’t exactly make the best name for myself. And, I mean, he caught me hiding a severe injury to “look cool to girls”, so I kind of deserved it.”
“You absolutely deserved it,” Severa said. “I would also be disappointed in a son who did that.”
“Yeah, well, we cleared that misunderstanding up pretty quickly,” Inigo said. He then laughed, shaking his head. “I actually think it’s a good thing Father and Peri will never meet.”
Owain and Severa nodded, but there was silence from the rest of the group. He frowned, looking at them.
“About that…” Noire said hesitantly.
“If we succeed,” Nah began, “Anankos’ country would become a bridge, of sorts, between our two worlds.”
“And since your parents have been helping with foreign relations, it’s quite possible that they will meet the royal family and anyone associated with them,” Kjelle finished.
Severa, Owain, and Inigo stared for a moment, processing. All this time, it was
here
or
there.
There was no thought of both; there was no way to
create
both. It was Nohr and Hoshido, or it was Archanea.
“So… going home doesn’t mean
leaving,”
Severa said, quiet. “It… it doesn’t mean saying goodbye forever.”
“It doesn’t,” Lucina confirmed, and she squeezed Inigo’s hand. “It never did, for us.”
“And… Naga told you this? Directly?” Inigo asked.
“She did,” Gerome confirmed. “All of us.”
“Gods,” Owain said, pressing a hand to his face as he laughed. “All this time… I’d been forcing myself to remember that eventually, there’d be a goodbye.”
“Me too,” Inigo said. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or cry; it almost felt too good to be true.
“So we restored
our
world, agreed to save another world, and now we’ll be able to cross the bridge between these worlds with little difficulty,” Severa breathed. “I couldn’t have dreamt this.”
“You… restored our world?” Lucina said, looking between them.
“
We
didn’t,” Owain said. “It was just the payment we requested from Anankos for agreeing to put him to rest.”
“It’s not perfect,” Inigo said. “But the world is living again, and everyone who died during the apocalypse was given a gravestone.”
“A nice one,” Severa said, just as she had eight years ago when they agreed to take on the mission.
“And… he heard our parents' voices,” Owain said, quieter than Inigo had heard him in a very long time. “Just their spirits, but… they said they were proud of us.”
The room felt heavy and light all at once, and Inigo smiled despite the melancholy he felt. He remembered the shock when Anankos had first told them, and how the happiness pervaded him quickly. It was one thing to hear it from the people who would one day become their parents; it was an entirely different thing to hear it from the ones who had raised them, especially so long after they had died.
Inigo and Lucina didn’t stay much longer than that, claiming their exhaustion from the rest of the day was finally catching up to them. It was a flimsy excuse at best–Inigo had no doubt that everyone knew that they just wanted time alone–but nobody protested when they bid them good night, retreating to Inigo’s room.
They collapsed onto the bed, Inigo’s arms wrapping around Lucina without a second thought, holding her the same way he always had all those years ago. She had softened, a fact that made him grin; she had always been so unbearably thin, all skin and bone and sinewy muscle just as they all were, and it made him happy to know that in peace she was able to leave the days of starvation in her past.
She reached up with the intent of undoing her ponytail, but Inigo’s hands beat her to it, gently pulling the ribbon and letting the locks of brilliant midnight blue spill out behind her, framing her beautiful face like a halo. Gods above, she was stunning.
He gently ran his fingers through her hair, marveling at its softness. Lucina leaned into his touch, closing her eyes and letting him gently work out the knots and tangles that had accumulated throughout the day.
“You haven’t cut it, have you?” Inigo murmured.
“Would you prefer it if I had?” Lucina asked, opening her eyes.
“I prefer it however you like it,” Inigo said truthfully, gently pecking her forehead. “I’ll admit, though, the length does things to me.”
Lucina kissed his cheek, her eyes gleaming. “Good,” she said before she tangled her fingers in his hair and gently pressed their lips together. It was slower, more sensual than the ones they’d shared earlier, less desperate in their attempt to reacquaint themselves. Lucina gently tugged his hair and he groaned, nipping at her lips.
Inigo pulled away, breathless at the sight of her, flushed and smiling and perfect in the way only she could be. Oh, how he missed this, the moments they stole away for themselves.
“You’d make a good father,” she murmured after a moment, and Inigo spluttered.
“What, ah, what sparked that thought?” Inigo asked, flustered. It wasn’t like he’d never had the thought before–he’d always wanted to someday settle down and have a family, after all–but they had never discussed it before, and it seemed rather out-of-the-blue to him.
“I don’t know,” she said, retreating in on herself slightly. “Just… seeing Owain with Ophelia, I guess. It got me thinking, you know?”
“Yeah,” Inigo said, pulling her closer to him, kissing her temple. “I do. I’m not opposed or anything, I promise, I just… didn’t expect it.”
Lucina hummed, smiling at him. “We don’t have to rush into it or anything. It’s just… a thought for the future, I suppose.”
“It’s a good one,” Inigo murmured, smiling. He hesitated for a moment, looking into her eyes–gods, how beautiful she was. “I do want kids, I think, when you’re ready.”
Lucina grinned at him, and he felt a shiver go down his spine. Something told him that she was ready.
Well, that wasn’t a bad thing, really.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Odin knew this was coming. It didn’t make it any easier.
He sat in the library between Laslow and Selena, clutching Selena’s hand in his own as they waited for everyone else to get settled. He saw from the corner of his eye that Inigo and Lucina were holding hands as well, though it was different for them. Though Inigo had doubtlessly filled her in at least somewhat, she likely still had questions, and Owain couldn’t deny the fact that her presence would make explaining even that much easier.
He looked at Leo and Niles, seated side by side with Takumi and Camilla next to them, respectively. The curiosity that had once faded from Niles’ eye had returned with a vengeance, though he was surprisingly quiet as he, Laslow, and Selena struggled to find a place to start.
“I suppose the beginning will do,” Inigo murmured after a moment, turning to Lucina for strength. She smiled warmly at him, and Owain braced himself for the reality that this was really happening.
“It starts with an amnesiac, a prince, a princess, and their loyal retainer,” Odin said, finding his storytelling voice. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, closing his eyes and trying to collect himself. Selena squeezed his hand; they had all agreed, once upon a time, that he would explain if it ever came to this. At least his wife realized it was easier said than done. “The prince was kind, and, despite arguments from his retainer, welcomed the amnesiac into his ranks, a choice that proved most fruitful in the battle ensuing not hours later. In the aftermath of that battle, once the amnesiac was introduced to the Exalt–er, that is to say, the leader of their country–she was named tactician of the prince’s army.
“This country, called the Halidom of Ylisse, had been peaceful for most of the princes’ life, and under the protection of the divine dragon Naga for millennia before then. The Exalt of the time, named Emmeryn, prioritized peace above all else in the aftermath of her father’s war-mongering tendencies.” Odin didn’t have to look up to see Camilla’s flinch or the set of Xanders’ jaw; even once the war was over, there would be much to be done in Nohr. “However, tensions with the country her father had attempted to conquer–called Plegia–had been rising throughout the 15 years marking the end of the first war, and another broke out not long after the tactician’s arrival. She guided Ylisse to eventually win the war, but the prince was taken out of commission and the Exalt killed midway through.”
“Is the preamble entirely necessary?” Odin heard Niles mutter, and he smiled despite knowing it was likely for Camilla and Leo’s ears only. Corrin glared at him.
“This time, yes,” Laslow said, jumping to Odin’s defense. Niles looked startled before leaning back, interest effectively renewed. “We’ve warned you before that our past wasn’t pretty. Trust us, we don’t want to think about it any more than we have to.”
Odin shot Laslow an appreciative look before continuing. “After the war, the prince ascended the throne, even if he did not take the name to honor his sister’s memory. During the efforts to rebuild, he and the tactician grew closer and closer, until eventually, they were married. They had a daughter two years later, whom they named Lucina. She would later become humanity's last hope.”
Several gasps as eyes flew to Lucina, who was staring pointedly at the floor. Odin took the moment to gather himself; it would be harder from here on out.
“A new generation was born within eight years of each other,” Owain said, “us among them. At first, we grew up in peace. But, as it would later be discovered, the tactician–”
“Use their names, for gods sakes,” Selena muttered, rolling her eyes.
“—Robin was not from Ylisse, but from Plegia. Not all Plegians were bad, of course, Laslow and his father are proof enough of that, but those wilfully allied with the Grimleal were.” Odin took a moment, swallowing thickly.
“The Grimleal worshiped the fell dragon Grima,” Laslow said, interjecting himself smoothly while Odin took a moment to collect himself. They were barely scraping the edge of the worst part; doing this would be harder than Odin thought. “A thousand years prior, he had attempted to destroy the continent of Ylisse. For some reason, the Grimleal sought to bring him back.
“The Grimleal were cruel,” Inigo continued, looking down at his hands. Owain let him speak; this was likely information only Inigo knew, and maybe Noire, passed down from their escaped-Grimleal parents. “Their loyalty was to Grima above all else. The soldiers were disposed of at the whim of the leaders, and disobedience of any kind was met with death. Most who climbed the ranks grew distant and cold, repeating the cycle for generations. There is evidence of a mere five mages escaping the clutches of the Grimleal, my father and Noire’s mother among them.”
“Your father was a mage?” Xander asked, eyes widening. “You’ve never used magic.”
Laslows’ cheeks burned as the rest of them laughed. “Attempts were made. They, ah, never went very far.”
“Sometimes they went a little too far,” Severa said, snickering. “Remember the time when–”
“Odin, please continue,” Laslow said, flushing pinker. He heard Corrin and Elise giggling quietly. Odin laughed, but ultimately took pity on his friend.
“Robin was a vessel,” Odin said, growing serious once again. “Though she had no way of knowing it, her bloodline was carefully crafted to one day host the dragon Grima inside. She was that host, unbeknownst to her, and after the birth of her son, Grima began to take hold.”
“It was slow,” Lucina offered, eyes glazed over ever-so-slightly. “Strange headaches here, eyes that seemed the wrong color there. I don’t remember much, as I was still young, but it was gradual enough that no one picked up on the shifts in time.”
“Another war broke out with Plegia, this time headed by the Grimleal,” Owain said. “The details of it are unclear even now; we were too young to understand the intricacies at the time. Robin and Chrom–the Exalt, Robin’s husband–led their army back into the fight. As they faced who they thought would be the leader, putting an end to the Grimleal’s violence once and for all, something went awry.”
“Grima took over Mother’s body completely,” Lucina said, and her voice was quiet, almost far away. Inigo was drawing patterns into her hand, an attempt to heal wounds that had long since scarred. “He killed Father and disappeared, for a time.”
“That was the beginning,” Severa said. She looked up at the group, and Odin followed her line of sight. Shock, horror, and worst of all, understanding was written across their faces. Effie looked as though she was going to be sick. Peri’s kohl was already beginning to drip.
“It was slow, yet all at once,” Owain said. “Valm was the first to fall. It took most of our troops with it, whether they were in Valm or Ylisse, as Grima’s soldiers could not be contained. Anywhere there were dead, the Risen could grow.”
“Mother and Mama,” Severa murmured. “Sully. Virion. Stahl. Ricken. Donnel. Basilio. Kellam. Frederick. Lon’qu. Nowi. Maribelle. Henry. Kellam. Panne. Gregor. Anna. Olivia. Morgan.”
“We’d already been fighting,” Inigo said. “Grima may not have focused on us, for whatever reason, but the Risen were worse when they weren’t commanded. Less predictable.”
“Nine,” Severa said. “That’s how desperate we were. The children of the Shepherds, of Chrom’s elite force… half of us were nine when we faced our first battlefield.”
Odin looked up. Takumi and Leo were pale, frozen. “Kiragi is
eleven
,” Takumi whispered.
“That’s how old I was when Mama took an arrow meant for me,” Odin said. Leo flinched.
“That’s how old I was when I was entrusted with Falchion,” Lucina murmured.
“I almost lost my sword arm,” Inigo said.
“I was speared through the chest,” Severa said. Everyone was growing paler; even Niles looked mildly horrified. In a different situation, Odin might have laughed, but the image of the arrow sticking through Mama’s chest lingered in the forefront of his mind.
“Regna Ferox fell next, and with it, the rest of our forces,” Odin said, trying to collect himself, pretending smoke wasn’t filling his nostrils and he couldn’t hear Mama’s shrieks to get out of the way. Selena squeezed his hand, rubbing patterns on the back with her thumb. “It was the twelve of us in control of the last stronghold of our world, or what we perceived of it, at least. Even if there was something else out there, Grima would have destroyed it before even an attempt was made at fighting back.
“But hope was not yet lost. A ritual was made clear to us, one that could seal Grima away and restore the world,” Owain said. “Lucina was the key, along with artifacts scattered by the first Exalt. It took a while, but eventually, we found all the pieces.”
“We were sent deep behind enemy lines. Three groups, sent to increasingly dangerous places,” Severa said. Owain squeezed her hand; he knew her part would be the hardest to tell, here, but her voice was steady despite her shaking hands. “It was almost perfect. The other groups received their gems—the keys they had been assigned—and made it back to the capitol. They weren’t unscathed, but the gems were, and that was all that mattered.” Owain heard Lucina start to protest, but Inigo squeezed her hand.
“She’s right,” Inigo said. “You were the only one who needed to survive. Brady and Owain would have been nice, but you’re the wielder of Falchion. You’re the only one who could have done it.” Owain thought back to the bridge, the one that gave out from under his feet as Yarne screamed that the Risen were on their way. They were lucky anyone made it out alive.
“There were issues for each group,” Severa said. Her voice was shaking now. “But Grima found us, as we feared he would. We were going to his altar; it was always a risk. But he destroyed the final piece before our very eyes, something we hadn’t realized was possible. All hope for the world, shattered. I was younger than Nina.”
Elise, Corrin, and Peri all let out a sobs. Xander and Camilla were, if possible, even paler than before, and Niles had abandoned all pretenses of being unaffected by the story. Leo and Takumi were holding each other’s hands in a vice grip, and Odin idly found himself wondering if they were locked in a silent competition for who could grip the hardest, if only to keep them grounded. Effie’s eyes were wide, and Arthur looked like he was going to be sick.
“We made it back, missing a piece but mostly intact,” Severa said. “The three of us—me, Gerome, and Laurent—had resigned ourselves to our fate, but that didn’t mean the others had.”
“We thought hope was lost,” Laslow said. “But we tried anyway. We clung to the hope maybe it would be harder, but not impossible, if we were missing a piece.”
“The ritual didn’t work,” Owain said. “But another was offered in its place. And so we took it.”
“We jumped back in time,” Lucina said. “With Naga’s assistance, we were sent back to before it all began. Scattered across time and distance, yes, but away from the apocalypse.”
“We fought in the wars, whether with the main army or not,” Owain said. “We met our parents, mere years older than us. We wanted to stop Grima from rising at all. We altered the timeline enough that we all thought we succeeded, even if we hadn’t found each other yet. We didn’t.”
“But the time we were sent to had all the pieces,” Severa said. “Chrom completed the ritual. The plan was to seal Grima away.”
“Aunt Robin was never one to leave things unfinished,” Owain said, scoffing out a sad laugh.
“Robin was Grima, and Grima was Robin,” Inigo said. “And only Grima could kill Grima. So Robin struck the final blow, despite all the attempts to stop her.”
“Mother died, then,” Lucina said. “Henry figured that much out by sampling her hair; he had worked with the Risen enough to know that much. But she came back two years later.”
“That doesn’t explain how you got here,” Niles said, though it was quieter than Odin expected. A story enough to subdue even Niles… what a bar that must be.
“This is the strangest part,” Severa warned.
“The rest of this wasn’t strange?” Takumi asked. “You’re
time travelers
, for gods sakes.”
“We are also dimension hoppers who have known of Azura’s homeland since we arrived,” Odin said, ripping the band-aid off. “We were found in our dimension by a man named Anankos.”
“Anankos?” Elise asked, eyebrows furrowing. “But isn’t that…”
“It is,” Laslow said. “Anankos came to us with his weak human form, and ordered us to help destroy the corrupted part of him before he could wreak anymore havoc on the world.”
The three of them shared a look. Did they tell Corrin? There were no explicit instructions not to, but Odin looked at Lucina. He knew what a toll such knowledge could take. But Corrin was older; maybe, just maybe, it would sit better with him.
“There’s one more piece to this story,” Laslow said. He was quiet. “But once we tell you, there’s no coming back from it.”
“Lord Corrin, the decision rides on you,” Selena said. “This is the last missing piece of your past. It is not a pretty one.”
All eyes turned to Corrin. Owain sought Lucina; she’d put the pieces together and looked with sympathy.
Corrin swallowed before answering. “I’m… I want to know.”
“Before they tell you,” Lucina said, “I need you to know that this does not reflect on your character.”
Odin watched Corrin’s eyes widen. He took a breath.
“There was another piece to our assignment,” Selena said, beating him to the punch. “We were instructed to assist Anankos’ son in defeating him. He thought that son was in Hoshido, but was told that really, he was in Nohr. Milord…”
“That son is you,” Odin said, finishing for Selena.
The silence was loud, and Corrin stared disbelievingly. Elise got up to hug him, but he simply smiled as he hugged her back. “Well, then we have no choice but to win. I may never have known him, but… a request from my father is still a request from my father.”
“Are you certain, dear?” Camilla asked, eyebrows furrowed ever-so-slightly.
“I am, big sister,” Corrin said.
“You are stronger than I was,” Lucina said, though she was smiling too. “Let hope lead you well.”
Corrin simply nodded before sighing, standing up. “Well, we’ve got planning to do, don’t we? We’re close to Anankos, according to Azura.”
“I’ll join you,” Leo said, standing up. He looked at Odin, then, and then Selena, Laslow, and Lucina. “Thank you for sharing that. It must not have been easy.”
“We’d kept it secret long enough, milord,” Laslow said simply, offering an easy smile. Leo nodded and turned away.
Slowly, the others filtered out, until it was just the four of them left. Owain sighed, flopping against the back of the couch he was sitting on.
“That was… harder than I expected it to be,” Severa murmured.
“It’s been a long time since we had to explain,” Inigo agreed, looking at his hands. Owain closed his eyes.
“It’s funny,” he said. “I knew it was bad, but… it didn’t really hit me just how bad until Niles looked pale.”
“Which one was Niles?” Lucina asked, and Owain opened his eyes to see her drawing idly on the palm of Inigo’s hands.
“The white haired man between Lord Leo and Lady Camilla,” Owain said. “Leo’s other retainer.”
“It’s still strange to hear you actually use honorifics,” Lucina teased, and Owain rolled his eyes.
“I was nine when the world went to shit, and it’s not like it mattered much back in Ylisse,” Owain replied. “It absolutely does here.”
“If King Garon heard one of us refer to them incorrectly…” Severa trailed off, shivering. “Well, let’s just say the lesson would have been learned quickly regardless.”
“I wonder what happened to him,” Inigo mused.
“If he’s not dead yet, he will be once we kill Anankos,” Owain said, shrugging. “That’s probably the only thing keeping his body alive.”
“Like with Mother,” Lucina said. Owain frowned, but nodded.
“In a way,” he said. “I don’t know the details. The magic of it all is complex; perhaps Leo could understand it, but even that is a stretch. Transfiguration magic… it’s not to be tampered with, nor taken lightly.”
“It’s so similar, yet different all the same,” Severa said, leaning back. She sighed heavily, closing her eyes. “It’s been a long time since I longed for home.”
“Soon,” Owain said, squeezing her hand again. “We’ll defeat Anankos, and then we’ll be able to go home.”
“And it won’t even mean saying goodbye,” Inigo said, laughing. “I still can’t believe it.”
“I can’t believe you agreed knowing that it would be a one-way experience,” Lucina said. “When we time traveled, we knew that we’d see all the same people. Dimension hopping, though?”
“How else are we going to go down in the history books?” Severa asked, the lopsided smile that Owain hadn’t realized how much he had missed gracing her lips.
“We had to get our fill of saving the world,” Inigo said, pecking Lucina on the cheek. “Hadn’t quite met the quota yet.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Lucina said, giggling.
“If he’s ridiculous, what does that make Odi–er, Owain?” Severa said, and he had never been so happy to hear his name, even if it did come after what could be considered an insult.
“Well, Severa of the Silver Moons, I am what you would call talented,” Owain said, leaning forward and pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. She tried to scoff, but her cheeks flushed pink, and Owain took it as a victory.
He relaxed after that, just watching Inigo, Severa, and Lucina talk for a while. He’d missed this, he realized, more than he had known.
He could go home. It had been a long time since he’d thought that without guilt.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It wasn’t long until they approached Anankos.
Severa found herself reminiscing, in a way, as she watched Lucina and Inigo tagteam Owain, though Owain used magic now and the situation was so much
different.
They had an idea of what they were getting into, this time, with actually
fighting
a dragon.
It wasn’t so scary the second time around.
She’d seen the looks that the Nohrians and Hoshidans shot at them, confused and scared and scornful. She paid it no mind; it was easier to be casual about it when you’d survived two apocalypses caused by a dragon much more malevolent than Anankos.
She marched into the cavern, Ophelia between herself and Owain. Lucina and Inigo were right behind them, Morgan and Nah in front, and Severa almost laughed to herself, the deja vu hitting her.
The battle began with a yell from Corrin, and Severa unsheathed her axe and ran forward, her sword beating against her thigh. She attacked the invisible soldiers, efficient but not reckless, ducking under where she assumed stray swords would land.
She heard Corrin, Leo, Xander, Prince Ryoma, and Prince Takumi in the middle of the battlefield, doing something likely extravagant, but she paid it no mind. She ran up to Anankos, dodging the attacks he lobbied at her.
“I see what he did to you,” he growled with that same draconic rasp that Grima had. Selena rolled her eyes, swinging her axe to disperse a magical attack he threw at her.
“You asked me to do this!” she taunted. “So don’t make this harder than it has to be!”
Anankos growled, and Selena scampered away, switching out her axe for her sword and falling into step with Owain. He gave her a look, and she simply grinned at him.
“What do you always tell me about recklessness?” he asked with a grin. Severa just laughed.
“Maybe the thought that we’ll finally get to relax after all this is over is enough to make me let loose a little,” she replied. And really, she felt lighter than she thought she ever had. “After today, I’m never picking up a sword again.”
“I think we deserve that much, my love,” Owain said, quickly pecking her cheek before sending a bolt of Thoron out, illuminating the bodies of a few invisible soldiers as he did.
She jumped back into the fray with a grin. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and this time, it really felt like it.
The idea of rest felt better than anything she could have hoped for.
The battle raged on, and she fought with the wild abandon of someone who knew that it was finally,
finally
over. She saw her Nohrian comrades look at her confused–this wasn’t the Selena they knew, after all–but there was recognition in the Ylissean’s eyes.
This was the end that Severa had been looking for, all those years ago as Grima finally met his death. The relief, the finality that everyone else had felt.
She heard Anankos scream, and she lowered her weapon, turning to watch as he died. The old dragon, put out of his misery once and for all.
The army erupted in cheers. After a moment, Selena joined them.
She was finally,
finally
done.
She watched as Inigo ran up to her, both of them sheathing their swords as they hugged, laughing brightly. And then Owain was there, and they were all hugging, putting their heads together and laughing.
“We’re finally done,” Inigo said, disbelieving. “After all these years…”
“We can stop fighting,” Owain finished. He shook his head. “Somehow, I never thought this day would come.”
“Thank the gods it did,” Severa replied, and Owain and Inigo both laughed again.
And then Lucina was pulling Inigo into a kiss, and Ophelia was hugging Owain and Severa. And then Camilla swooped down and pulled Selena into a hug, spinning her around, and Beruka was there and offered her a nod and even a smile. And she could see Niles and Leo hugging Odin, and Xander ruffling Laslow's hair (much to his chagrin), and all she could feel was
giddy.
She pulled Owain down to her level when Niles released him and kissed him, hard and heady and happy. They were safe for the first time in their lives, and gods damn it, she was going to take advantage of it.
There was still much to be done, of course–reparations to dole out, peace treaties to sign, coronation ceremonies to attend–but that could wait.
For now, she would bask in the feeling of her wars being over.
Predictably, Inigo and Peri both cried during Xander’s coronation, though Severa couldn’t honestly say her eyes were completely dry either. King Ryoma’s coronation reminded her of the Feroxi festival she’d attended in her youth, the one she met Inigo at, and when she told him that he jokingly asked her to dance. She shrugged, taking his hand, and she had a feeling Kjelle and Lucina weren’t going to let them live it down.
(Owain, of course, got every other dance, even if he was a noticeably worse dance partner than Inigo. But as they sat under a tree, watching Ophelia and Gerome participate in one ridiculous race or another as they ate candied strawberries, she knew the bruised toes were worth it.)
And then they were at Corrin’s coronation, pride swelling in Severa’s chest even if she didn’t know him as well as she knew the other Nohrian siblings. But he gave her a hug anyway, thanking her for everything she’d done for them, and she grinned brightly and told him that she’d be happy to return any time (and the fact that she
could
was a reality she didn’t realize would feel so good in the moment).
And the goodbyes she uttered Camilla and Beruka were temporary, but Camilla still cried and demanded she come back, demanded that she get to meet her parents. Gerome agreed for Severa, and then Camilla pulled him into a hug too, and Severa didn’t bother trying to muffle her laughter.
She was happy.
This
was her happy ending.
“Are you ready?”
Severa turned to see Gerome staring at her with a raised eyebrow. Severa puffed out a breath of air, looking out into the horizon again. “I don’t have much of a choice.”
Gerome chuckled. “You could have stayed behind.”
“I want to see them again,” she said honestly. “It’s just been a while. It’s gonna be a lot.”
“Mama’s gonna be so overbearing,” Gerome said, chuckling.
“She can’t be worse than Lady Camilla,” Severa said, and Gerome shook his head in agreement. “Not to me, anyway. Absolutely to Ophelia.”
“I think the one who’s going to be most overbearing to Ophelia is Maribelle,” Gerome said, and Severa groaned.
“One disaster at a time, please,” Severa said, and Gerome laughed.
“They’re gonna be happy to see you,” he said after a moment. “Little you has gotten so big.”
Severa blinked rapidly at that, trying to process it. Of course, her younger self had been born in the time she was gone. But she didn’t realize she’d be coming home not to an infant, but to a child.
“That’s… weird,” she said, feeling her mouth twist. Gerome laughed.
“It is,” he said. “She’s less feisty than you were.”
“I mean, our parents had you to guide them this time,” Severa said. “And Mother and I talked a lot about… well, everything.”
“I suppose you have a point.”
They lapsed into silence, then, staring out at the horizon from the bow of the ship they were on. Severa didn’t realize that Valla and Ylisse were only an ocean away, making getting home so…
simple.
And then she saw a shoreline, and she heard some of the crew yelling “land ho!” in Nohrian, and she let out a startled little laugh.
“Welcome home,” Gerome said. “It’s been waiting for you.”
“I’m ready for it, now,” Severa said. Gerome smiled.
“I know.”
Severa turned around, scanning the deck until she saw Owain pointing Ylisse out to Ophelia. His Ylissean accent had changed, a little, still carrying hints of Nohrian. She noticed the translation necklace around Ophelia’s neck, smiling as she went up to her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders.
“Welcome to your land, little princess,” she said, and Ophelia laughed as Owain rolled his eyes.
“You make it sound so much more dramatic than it actually is,” Owain said.
“Oh, because you didn’t milk everything out of your status when we were kids,” Severa replied.
“My deeds during my seventh year in this world are not a reflection of my modern character,” Owain said, though his ears were turning red. Severa laughed, kissing his cheek.
“I know, dear,” she replied, and she and Ophelia both laughed when Owain turned redder.
It didn’t take much longer for them to dock, and Lucina sent a messenger to let their parents know of their return. She winked at Severa, and she had a feeling that Lucina “forgot” a handful of details.
Owain stopped at nothing as he wove tales of their grandeur to Ophelia at every stop they passed, even going so far as to tell her about the various encounters they’d had in the future past. Severa watched the two of them with a smile, the warmth in her chest more potent than ever.
Anxiety began to grip her as Ylisstol came into view, and Owain, bless him, seemed to sense it. He came up next to her and took her hand, squeezing it three times.
I love you.
She did the same.
The citizens waved at Lucina, eyes widening as they realized that Inigo was once again beside her. People cheered when he timidly waved back, and Lucina laughed with a grin, kissing his cheek. He looked around, pink dusting his cheeks, before pulling Lucina to him and kissing her lips.
Severa turned away, rolling her eyes. She heard Nah and Cynthia coo from behind her.
Eventually, they came to the steps of the castle. She saw Chrom and Robin standing side by side at the entrance, watched as Inigo went from pink to red (much to Lucina and Morgan’s delight).
Severa watched as Robin narrowed her eyes before brightening, elbowing Chrom and saying something. And then his eyes widened too, and he turned to one of the guards and said something that had them saluting and rushing into the castle before both he and Robin ran down the stairs to greet them.
“Inigo! Owain! Severa!” Robin yelled, immediately, pulling Inigo into a hug (that he easily reciprocated with a grin). She let him go and made a beeline for Owain, and then Severa, and Chrom did the same. “You’re
alive!”
“Alive and well,” Inigo confirmed, cheeks still pink. Robin turned with a raised eyebrow when he spoke, and Severa covered her mouth with the back of her hand to keep herself from laughing.
“You have an accent,” she said.
“He’s the only one with
that
accent,” Severa said.
“Thank the gods,” Owain said. Inigo glared at them, and they both grinned at him.
“Who’s this?” Robin said after a moment, gesturing to Ophelia. She looked away shyly, pink rising to her cheeks, and Severa smiled as she wrapped an arm around her.
“This is your great niece, Ophelia,” Severa said. Robin blinked once, twice, before grinning and walking over to her, hugging her. Ophelia visibly relaxed, and Owain smiled at the two of them.
“You weren’t really gone that long, were you?” Chrom asked, raising an eyebrow, and Severa heard Kjelle laugh before covering it with a cough.
“It’s… a long story,” Severa said. “I’d rather just explain it once.”
“Only you three,” Robin muttered. Severa and Inigo grew bashful, but Owain grinned.
“You love us,” he said, and Robin rolled her eyes, leaning over and ruffling his hair.
“For one reason or another.”
Severa’s attention was pulled from Robin and Chrom by a gasp. She looked up to see Mother standing at the top of the stairs, Mama holding her hand. She smiled and waved sheepishly at them, and then Mother was running down the stairs, and Severa stepped forward before she knew what she was doing and she ran into Mother’s arms, clutching her.
“You’re alive,” she whispered, and then Mama was hugging her too, holding both of them. And there were tears in Severa’s eyes, and she blinked them away as she swallowed thickly.
“I missed you so much,” she admitted, not realizing just how true it was until now. And their grips on her tightened, and Mama kissed her forehead, and everything felt
right
in the world.
“We missed you too,” Mother said.
They stood there for another minute before Severa pulled away, wiping her eyes before smiling. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”
She turned around, only to see Owain already leading Ophelia over to them. “Cordelia, Cherche, meet your granddaughter.”
“I’m Ophelia Dusk,” she said, seemingly regaining her confidence after meeting Robin and Chrom. Mother gasped, and Mama smiled, looking at her.
“I told you your genes were stronger,” Mama said, and Mother rolled her eyes. “What? Both of our kids–all four of them, in a way–
and
our granddaughter have your hair color. Not a
hint
of me, forget the blonde from Lissa and Maribelle.”
Severa laughed at their commentary, but then Mother was hugging Ophelia, and Severa walked over to Owain and grabbed his hand. She looked to the side and realized Inigo was currently being smothered by Henry and Olivia–at least
she
had the buffer of a child–and didn’t have time to wonder how it happened that Henry and Olivia were in Ylisstol now of all times before she heard a shriek and looked up to see Lissa and Maribelle standing at the top of the stairs.
Owain grinned up at them, and Maribelle was sprinting down the steps, Lissa hot on her heels. And then Owain was engulfed by both of them, hugging them back with a grin, and Severa looked away, letting them have their moment.
Ophelia was going on some monologue or another, and her parents looked enthralled. Olivia had let go of the death grip she had on Inigo and now seemed to be demanding answers from him, if the red flush to his ears were anything to go by. And Severa looked around, at the sky, at the flowers blooming to the side, at the happy, glowing faces of her family.
She was finally, finally home.