The Second Princess [indefinite hiatus.]

Chapter Thirty Nine

I don't own Fire Emblem.

...

A soft aura of blue magic enveloped the army, and slowly, everyone felt their strength and stamina return to them. They raised their weapons and shouted out vigorously.

Naga and the woman vanished, and Chrom turned back to the army.

"Let us finish off Grima, once and for all!" He declared. "Grima shall plague this land no more!"

...

She floated around in darkness for a while. Unable to breathe, hear, see, or feel anything. There was just absolute bliss – and she couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not.

Her mind was blank, and she felt numb. She didn't know where she was, or how she got there. She didn't know who she was either. All she knew was darkness.

Darkness enveloped her.

Then there was a warm embrace, in the form of a beautiful gust of wind that ticked her. That's when she realized that she could feel again, and she knew her sight was restored when she saw an inviting white light that beckoned her to it. The roar of the wind that carried her to it made her know that she could hear again.

She took a new deep breath, and finally relaxed. She had thought that floating around in darkness was pure happiness, but this – this was pure freedom.

Memories flew back to her mind. She was Diana Celeste, the Princess of Ylisse, daughter of Exalt Chrom and the Grandmaster Robin, the Sorcerer Princess of Ylisse-

...and she was dead.

The realization hit her faster than she thought it would. Oh gods – her family. Grima. Her half-blood heritage. Her siblings, mother, father, friends –

Who would no longer remember who she was.

That thought hit harder than the last one. Suddenly the bliss was gone, replaced by sadness, down to her very core. Though she was happy that her family now had a chance to win, the small, selfish part of her resented it.

She closed her eyes, to blink back the tears quickly welling up. The light was getting closer, closer –

Then she could no longer see it through her eyelids. The warmth of the breeze was replaced by another feeling – the sensation of a cold floor against her back.

A voice called out to her.

"You have done well, child of mine. Rise."

Her eyes pulled open, and Diana gasped for a breath. She slowly got up, looking around.

She seemed to be in some kind of palace, a beautiful wide spaced area with columns made of gold and a high and mighty throne. The floor she was laying on was made of marble, glistening in the silver chandelier above that held her reflection.

Quickly getting up, Diana nearly tripped when she saw herself – she was wearing a beautiful but simple white dress, yet fancier than the one she wore in her dreams, adorned with shimmering gold in the skirt and a silver girdle. On her shoulders lay a white cloak, the left side wrapped across her chest to her right shoulder, held there with a golden emblem. She wore her usual circlet, glinting in the light.

Spotting linen gloves on her hands, she quickly tore the right on off, and sighed in relief when she saw the Brand of the Exalt in her hand.

Naga stood before her, a beautiful and majestic sight as always, smiling gently.

"Welcome to my palace, my child," she spread out her arms.

"Milady," Diana quickly curtseyed, lifting up her skirts gracefully to do so. "May I ask what I am doing here, when I am fairly deceased?"