Unscripted Love | Fire Emblem Awakening

Chapter 1: Going Off Script

Calla

I have never admired healers as much as I did in the weeks after Grima rose.

Admittedly, I hated using the crutches they gave me. As if not having two working legs wasn't bad enough, these inventions took away the use of my hands so that I couldn't carry things and walk at the same time. Going up and down the grand staircase was also a nightmare, and taking shortcuts down any of the backstairs was a no-no. To top it all off, getting anywhere in the castle took a millennium. And I wasn't a particularly patient person.

When Princess Lucina summoned me to her study on the evening exactly three weeks after I'd been shot, it took me twenty minutes to get there. My arrival was announced a long time before I even reached the door by the clicking of my crutches.

Commander Merton had been walking up the corridor the princess' study was housed in, but he stopped and turned around when he heard me approaching. A warm smile spread across his face, and I almost fell over.

Until that night three weeks ago, I'd thought the rumours had suited him. He never smiled, they said -- and had never smiled in his life. While I'd seen evidence to the contrary, his smiles had all been directed at nobles, and they had all been fake.

Now he was not only smiling, but also running a hand through his long, black hair in a casual manner. My eyes followed his movements fervently. I still couldn't quite believe that it was Merton I was seeing like this.

He must have believed what he'd heard about me, too. The pegasus knights were a tight unit, and my soldiers often repeated their nicknames to my face. I was Calla the Fiery, from my hair to my heart, and sometimes Calla the Reckless. The only thing I knew they'd said behind my back was that my eyes looked as if they came from another woman. They were cold, dead eyes.

I shoved those thoughts aside and smiled back at Merton as I reached him. "Good evening."

"Good evening, Calla," he replied. "How's your leg?"

"Not so bad. Princess Lissa tells me that I can stop using crutches tomorrow."

"I imagine you're pleased about that."

"Quite." I glared at them. "These things are such blasted --"

The door to Princess Lucina's study creaked open. She peered out, and her shoulders slumped when she saw me. "I wondered what had happened to you, Commander. I could hear you coming and then...well, I thought you might have fallen." She blushed.

I tried not to scowl. "Apologies, milady. If you will excuse me, Merton."

Amusement flickered in his blue eyes. "Of course. The sooner I let you get on, the sooner it will be tomorrow and you will not have your crutches announcing your presence wherever you go. Good evening."

He bowed to Princess Lucina, then turned and walked away.

The princess watched him retreat with a thoughtful stare. Once I was over the threshold, she shut the door. "Please, have a seat."

I sat down on one side of her oak desk, situated at the back of the study. Prince Chrom had allocated her a large room, and its cream panels made it feel light and airy. Heaving bookcases engraved with carvings of the divine dragon lined one wall, and a few chairs surrounded a low table beside them. The air smelled fresh, the room too recently converted to have picked up the scent of ink or books yet.

"My apologies for not inviting you in here sooner." Princess Lucina sat down opposite me and glanced about the study. "I am still getting used to it myself. I never came of age to have my own study in my timeline, but Father thought that I would have use of it here. He's been very kind. He helped the servants to prepare it himself, and while he and Mother have been so busy, too."

Even though I saw Princess Robin regularly each day, I asked the obvious question for courtesy's sake. "How is your mother?"

"She is still very tired after the sacrifice she made for us, but she's getting stronger. It's hard to believe she's with us. Two weeks ago, I was fearful that she would never come home again." Princess Lucina cleared her throat and shifted in her seat. "But that is not what I wished to discuss. My apologies. You are not the Calla I once knew, but you are, of course, so much like her. It is hard not to tell you everything."

I allowed myself a sad smile. Princess Lucina was only six years younger than me in this timeline, yet she could come across as being all sorts of ages. Sometimes she was a matured and experienced ruler, confident in herself and her decisions. But sometimes she was a small child lost in a foreign world that looked just like her own.

"Perhaps we do not have the same relationship that we once had in your time, milady," I said, "but it will surely come over the years."

"Yes." She sat up straighter. "For now, let us start again. I summoned you here because there is something about my timeline that I wish to discuss."

My stomach sank, but I kept my expression plain. "Surely there is nothing left to warn us about?"

"Nothing regarding Grima, no. But there is a warning for you. As you are aware, you were supposed to die while defending Ylisstol after Grima rose. Merton was in the castle with me at the time, and I was certainly more devastated by the news of your death than he. But since he saved you in this timeline, you seem to have become...friends."

My heart fluttered. Yes, Merton had let his mask down for the first time that night, and I'd seen in his eyes that he thought he was going to lose me. He'd spoken about everything he could think of to keep me awake while we'd waited for the healer. And when I'd survived the night, he hadn't backed away.

"I suppose being on the brink of death can change things," I said. "Perhaps Merton regretted our distant relationship and he's simply making amends."

Princess Lucina frowned. "It's how unexpected and unimaginable it is that concerns me. I am worried the two of you are developing feelings deeper than you will admit. You see, Merton was married in my timeline."

If I'd been standing up, my bad leg would have given out. "I'm sorry? Merton? Married?"

"He was supposed to meet someone soon after the Valmese War -- Lady Florence. They married before they had even known each other for a year. I believe he will meet her soon, in different circumstances."

"How lovely," I said coolly. "Beg pardon, milady, but what does this have to do with me?"

She lowered her eyes. "Even when I tell myself that you are not the same commander who nurtured me, I still find myself caring greatly for you. I don't want you to fall in love with Merton and have your heart broken by fate."

"I am not a simple, swooning recruit charmed so easily by a handsome knight. You need not be afraid."

"But you have let your guard down with him -- something you have not, and will not, do for anyone else. Clearly not even for me, if you tell me things like that even when I can see..."

I frowned. "Even when you can see what, milady?"

"The way you act around each other. The way you look at each other." She met my eyes. "When I came back in time and saw my mother and father together before they married...it's how they used to be."