Fire Emblem: Before Awakening

Goodbye, my Little Bird

Anna
Five Months Later...

"We should rest here. Your leg is acting up again, I can tell."

Mom sighed, slinging her bag off her shoulders and onto the ground, trying to take as much weight off her right leg as possible. "You're right. It's almost nightfall, anyway."

I looked up at the sky and sunset was indeed almost over. "Should we start a campfire?" I asked, setting my own bag down and retrieving some supplies.

Mom sat down, releasing a breath. "No, it's already very warm, to begin with. We can just eat some dried meats and berries for dinner."

I nodded, putting away my flint and steel. We've hardly made any fires this summer! And August has proved that it won't let up! As I started rummaging through our packs for food, an unsettling sense of dread washed over me. "...Mom?"

"Yes, love?"

"D-do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"It seems her connection to her true people is stronger than we thought..." A voice snarled.

I whirled around towards the source, quickly standing and placing a hand on my blade. Mom followed soon after. Out of the cover of the forest stepped five cloaked figures. Their robes were a mixture of colors ranging from red to black to purple. What made my heart even more at unease was the six-eyed pattern decorating them.

One of them stepped forward, a woman. "Long time no see, Evelina. How long has it been? Eighteen years?" She removed her hood, revealing a Plegian woman. "It's been so hard to count the years after you stole what was rightfully ours."

Mom stood in front of me, face twisted into a snarl. "What the hell are you doing here?! How did you find us?!"

The woman pretended to check her nails. "Sheer luck, you traitor. It has been so difficult for the Grimleal to enter Ylisse, you must understand. Search parties have been able to enter about once in a blue moon! Master Validar sent us here to look for you and what will you have it. After a month of blind searching, Grima has reunited us with his rightful heir."

Another person stepped forward, removing his hood. "Now, we can do this one of two ways: you submit to us and no one will be harmed - at least for now, Validar has a whole slew of punishments lined up for you - or we kill you where you stand and take the Fellblood with us by force."

"You will not lay a hand on my daughter. Not while I still draw breath," Mom growled, readying her tome.

I have such a sick feeling in my stomach right now. I swallowed, pulling out my own tome. "I'm not going anywhere!"

The woman's eyes flashed with anger. "Tch. Then the hard way it is! Attack!"

Two against five! I know we've fought against uneven odds before, but I'm not so sure about this one! Before I could think of a plan, I was rushed by two of the Grimleal soldiers. I shrieked, leaping back and shooting a bolt of lightning at them.

"Repent and submit, Fellblood! Claim what is rightfully yours!" One of the shouted while the other slashed at me with his blade.