"What's With This Sassy…Lonely Princess?"

Chapter 4: The Unknown

Kiran spent the first couple of months following his summoning prosecuting Askr's war against Embla. Together with Alphonse, Anna, and Sharena—and the growing corps of Heroes summoned by his relic—he helped secure Askr's borders from further incursions by Emblian forces, a long-time problem, retake land lost to the Empire, and police the portals to other realms that had been opened in times past to liberate their Heroes from Princess Veronica's contracts. As the battles wore on, he began to uncover more about the history of his hosts as well. More specifically, he learnt of the mysterious disappearance of their close friend and comrade, Zacharias the Lancer.

Their fellow had apparently disappeared a while back in the World of Awakening, a realm they had already visited twice in hopes of finding even the smallest clue about him but to no avail. At the end of their last sortie, he witnessed the Askr Trio, as he had come to call them, fall into their own individual despairs due to their inability to locate him.

As he mused over this mystery while eating breakfast in the Great Hall, Kiran's thoughts began to drift, as they often did nowadays, towards Princess Veronica. Not only was she the head of the enemy state, but she was also their commander-in-arms, and should've therefore been one for whom he should feel nothing but disdain. And yet…

And yet something in the way she carried herself—haughty, regal, but also abandoned—or the hidden loneliness that lurked behind her usually cold, ruby eyes spoke to him keenly, and it was all he could do keep himself from just rushing over and holding her tight in his arms each time he saw her.

A small sliver of a smile flirted across his face as thoughts of her continued floating through his mind. He knew he was being rather unreasonably idealistic, but Kiran still hoped that they could bring about an end to this war that would leave little animosity between Veronica and the Askrians. The last thing he would want to do is to choose between them after peace had been brought to their realms.

Unfortunately for him, it was at this moment that Commander Anna decided to break him out of his daydreams, shouting as she entered the hall, already armed, "Gather around, everyone! I'm afraid I have terrible news. The Emblian Empire is mounting another attack on our kingdom." Everyone's eyes went wide at this proclamation. Kiran began to choke on a piece of toast, but nobody noticed as the commander continued speaking. "They have more Heroes in their ranks. Some are from the World of Mystery. Other Heroes are from the World of Binding and the World of

Blazing."

A gasp of surprise rippled through the assembled. Alphonse stood up and slammed his hand on top of the table, rattling the dishes. Kiran spat out the bread stuck in his throat, but nobody noticed.

"What? Mystery, Binding, and Blazing? But our order liberated all of those worlds from them!"

Sharena chimed in, "Those blasted Emblians must have snuck back into those worlds and taken them over again!"

"Their Heroes are headed for our capital. We need to stop them before they conquer Askr!" the commander said before shouting orders to everyone to don their armour and ready themselves to once more step foot onto the field of battle.

Kiran stood in front of the door to his room, fully dressed in his regalia as the Summoner of Askr, Breidablik on his hip. But he hesitated to reach out and open the door to join his companions.

He knew that there was no time to waste, but still, his hand just wouldn't move. Two months of constant warfare had started to wear on his nerves and he found it harder and harder to take to the field each time. So far, he had been pretty lucky, but at any time a stray arrow or a lucky dagger could take his life. And yet, this cowardice on his part only made him feel all the worse when his comrades were fighting so hard on his orders. At the same time, he also worried for Princess Veronica. What if she would be present at this battle? Would she try to kill him? What would he do if someone tried to kill her or ordered him to do the same? Such a thought made his stomach churn with horror and a cold sweat broke out across his body.

A knock on his door from the other side broke him out of his reverie. "Kiran?" came a kind voice from the other side. "Are you in there?"

"Mi-Miss Tiki? What is it?" he asked, opening the door at last. On the other side stood a woman in a red dress and green hair tied up into a high ponytail. Her long, elf-like ears betrayed her true nature as a member of the manaketes—a powerful race of long-lived beings capable of switching between a human and dragon form. A look of concern flitted across her face before her usual comforting smile returned.

"Is something wrong, Kiran?" she kindly asked.

"I…" Kiran started, unsure of how to put what he felt into words. "I don't know. I am…scarred, Miss Tiki. I'm afraid of going off to battle. You know that I was summoned here from another world. Well, while there are still wars and such, the land I've lived in has been largely at peace since before I was even born. I don't know anything about war. I don't know how you and the other Heroes manage to fight for this land in a war that has nothing to do with you."

"Don't say this has nothing to do with us," Tiki gently chided him, wagging a finger. "You brought us here, didn't you? We heard your call and answered it. We all fight for you, Kiran." She saw that his hands were still atremble and reached out to grasp them in her own. He gasped as her warmth and power filled her. "And as for feeling afraid, shall I let you in on a secret? You never really lose that. It's a feeling most of us continue to feel, regardless of how long we've been fighting for."

"What? Seriously?" he asked, taken aback.

"Yes, seriously," Tiki chuckled. "But…I can sense that isn't all?"

Kiran started in surprise before slowly nodding his head. "Ah, uh, yeah. Um…you haven't told anyone about me liking Veronica, have you?"

The manakete shook her head, indicating that she hadn't, and Kiran let out a sigh of relief before pouring out his worries to Tiki.

She seemed to ponder it for a while before reaching out and patting Kiran on the head. "You're such a darling, Kiran," she laughed. "I doubt you have need to worry about that, love. In the short time I've known you, I haven't known you to be anything less than an absolute sweetheart, and I'm sure Veronica will soon realize this for herself, if she hasn't already."

The Summoner felt his face grow warm at the effusive praise and looked away from her, feeling embarrassed. "I'm, uh…" he stammered, uncertain of where to look.

Tiki chuckled again with a teasing lilt in her voice before continuing. "And if you're that worried about something happening to her, maybe you should make sure you're the closest one to her at all times, shouldn't you?"

"You mean…?" Realization began to dawn on Kiran.

Tiki nodded. "Just take the fight to her and keep her occupied. This should prevent Alfonse or Anna from getting too zealous as well. And, of course you always have my help. I can make sure no one from Embla interferes."

"Tiki…" Kiran murmured, taken aback at her earnestness to help him. "Why…why would you go this far for me?" he asked incredulously. "Like you said, we only met two months ago."

She just smiled and patted him on the arm before turning around and walking out of the room. "You're different from the other Heroes and the people of this world. And as Naga's voice, I can feel your warmth and kindness," she said as she left before pausing in her tracks. Tiki turned her head around to give him a wry smirk. "It's almost enough to make an old dragon fall in love…Princess Veronica had better hurry up, or else I might just gobble you up first," she finished with a wink, before leaving a mystified Kiran in her wake.

"H-huh?"

•

A few minutes later, Kiran found himself approaching the front of the massed corps of Heroes, where the Askr Trio stood in wait.

"Ah Kiran, there you are. Are you ready?" Alfonse asked. He nodded.

Sharena chimed in. "I was beginning to think we'd need to send out a rescue squad for you, Kiran!"

"Haha, yeah…" the Summoner laughed weakly.

Commander Anna shot him a queer look before turning around to face the amassed Heroes. "Heroes of the Order, march out!"

Michalis, King of Macedon, faced them first, along with Camus, captain of Grust's Sable Knights, and a small detachment of Emblian soldiers. Tiki duked it out with the Wyvern Lord while Anna and Frederick held off the Great Knight.

Wave after wave of Emblian soldiers surged forwards, led by figures from worlds they had thought already freed—Zephiel, Narcian, and Ursula—and all were beaten back by the combined might of the Order of Heroes. All the gathered knights of Embla, garbed in their ominous armour of black, were felled like so many stalks of wheat being reaped by the harvestman before the warriors under Kiran's command.

As the Order plunged deeper past the Empire's borders, a figure riding on a muscular black destrier rode forwards out of the gloom, followed by a few other soldiers. His silvery hair stood out against the swarthy brown skin of his face, half-obscured by the black and gold mask he wore. An aura of magical power crackled subtly around him, a deep thrum of power that lurked just below the surface. Kiran's eyes widened as the masked knight he had met back when he was first summoned to Zenith and introduced to Alfonse rode forth against them.

"You again. Turn back—now," he said imperiously, a dark undercurrent in his voice.

"So, you are with the empire!" shouted Alphonse. "Why do you hide behind that damnable mask?"

"I am not with Embla," the cavalier replied flatly. "Nor am I with you. Still, I'll say it one last time. Turn back—now," he ordered, drawing out his tome from its holster on his hip.

"Never. Stand aside, or we will break through, one way or another!" the prince of Askr yelled, blade pointed as his foe.

At the prince's words, the Heroes of the Order charged forward, intent on breaking through the Emblian blockade. Tiki stormed eastwards, snatching up the axe-wielding Great Knight in her massive jaws and throwing him over her shoulder. He slammed into the ground towards the north, nearly crashing into healer there and spooking the masked cavalier's steed. Before he could recover and fire back at the manakete oracle with his magic, he found a drizzle of arrows raining down towards him, and he cursed his positioning, trapped between the cleric and the fortress wall. Growling in frustration, the dark rider tore of his cloak and swung it violently through the air, catching the arrows and batting them away. In the next instant he began to chant a spell that sent spikes of blue magic ripping through the ground in the direction from which the arrows came, throwing Lyn off her horse as the mare whinnied and reared up in fear.

Unfortunately for the masked mage, it was in that very moment that Tiki's muscular tail slammed into him, knocking him clear off his steed and onto the ground with a heavy thud. He felt his vision nearly go black and his head swim as the pain blossomed in his body outwards from the point of impact. A low groan escaped his mouth. It felt like ages before he could even open his eyes again without them spinning wildly, and another eternity before they were able to focus again on the sight of a sword's blade pointed right at him. A swish of motion in the corner of his eye drew his attention, informing him that someone had knocked his tome out of his reach.

Speaking up, he made a decision. "I...I can't keep fighting. You Order of Heroes people..." he trailed off, wincing in pain. "Don't you realize you're on the wrong track? Veronica's imperial forces aren't invading your capital. They're going to your summoning ruins—to destroy them."

"What? Why?" Alfonse asked, taken aback.

"She wishes to put an end to your summoner's power," he answered. "Do you understand what that would mean—for everything?" the masked knight asked them gravely. "If so, you should get to the ruins fast."

"Why are you revealing her plans to us?" Askr's prince asked him again, unable to understand the mage's motives. A silence settled over the field.

"That," the dark-skinned man said in a low voice, "is my secret to keep."

Kiran's face twisted into a snarl and he grabbed the masked knight by the collar, pulling his face closer to his. "I don't know what your intentions are, but if you're trying to hurt Veronica I will stop you."

The other man went still at the Summoner's words, taken aback by how protective he sounded about the Emblian princess.

"If this is some kind of plot to get us to do your dirty work and overthrow her for you, you can forget about it," Kiran hissed. "We'll go there, and we'll stop here—assuming you're even telling the truth—but not for your sake. For hers. I won't let anyone hurt her, whoever they are."

Eyes still wide, the masked knight reached up to place one hand on the Summoner's.

"…I want only what's best for the princess. And if that means saving her from herself, then so be it."

Kiran glared at him with suspicion clear in his eyes. "Alfonse, we need to take him prisoner. I don't trust him."

"Wh-what? Prisoner?" Alfonse asked, surprised by Kiran's request. They were just a small unit, not really equipped to handle such operations. "Kiran, I don't think we can hold a prisoner and still make it to the ruins in time to stop Veronica. If we make him walk, he'll just hold us back."

"Well we can't have that, now can we?" Kiran said grimly, "Guess we'll just have to make sure he isn't walking then."

The masked man felt the blood drain from his face at what the Summoner seemed to be implying. But the other man continued to speak.

"Tie him up and seat him on my horse behind me. I think that should take care of it."

"Kiran! That's not—" Alfonse began to protest, but, surprisingly, it was Commander Anna who cut him off.

"Actually, I think that might be a good idea."

Alfonse was shocked and opened his mouth to object, but the Commander continued, stating "Think about it. It would be safer for us if we took him into our custody, at least for the time being. If we were to leave him here, who knows what he might do. This way we can ensure he won't come back strike at us from behind while we are otherwise engaged with Princess Veronica."

Alfonse considered her words before slowly nodding and pressing the tip of his sword closer to the mage's neck. "We…should head for the ruins," he said at last.

Sharena spoke up at this point, face full of worry. "What if it's a trap?"

"I have a strange feeling he wasn't lying, at least about Veronica wanting to destroy those ruins. We need to put a stop to that, Kiran," the prince told his sister before turning back to their fallen foe. "We won't hurt you, provided you don't give us cause to. Just let us tie you up for now, and we'll let go afterwards. Is that understood?"

The dark-skinned man looked into the prince's hard eyes, as though searching for something, before nodding and laying back down. Alfonse and Kiran turned him over to lay down on his stomach, as Sharena bound his arms to his sides and his hands behind his back. Finding him to be satisfactorily tied up, the members of the Order pulled him up onto Kiran's horse before clambering onto their own horses. The Summoner sat behind him and settled his feet into the stirrups before spurring the animal into a speedy run just behind his companions.

The two men stayed silent for a good while, before the dark mage spoke up, trying to resolve his confusion. "Why…why do you care so much for the princess?"

Kiran's expression soured further. "You don't need to know that." They rode on for a while more, before the Summoner decided to ask him something. "Why do you care? What are you to Veronica?"

The other man struggled with how much he could truly reveal at this juncture.

"…We are family," he finally answered after taking a moment to collect himself.

This was definitely not what Kiran had been expecting to hear, and it briefly startled him out of his mood. "You—what?" He began to mutter to himself. "But you look nothing alike! Though I guess there is the hair…" he muttered to himself.

"We are family," the man said firmly. "And that is why I care."

"How?!" Kiran shot back, still in shock. "Who are you, really?"

"I am her brother."

Now Kiran's blood drained from his face. "You're her…b-brother?"

"Indeed. And now let me ask you, Summoner of Askr," the masked man answered him cooly, voice growing harder, "what are your intentions with my little sister?"

Kiran's mouth suddenly went dry at the question. Thankfully, he was saved from having to answer by the sight of the stone ruins of the Summoning altar looming in the distance, just beyond the woods, surrounded by a small detachment of Emblian soldiers. In a copse of trees, they bound the mysterious knight to one and took his weapons with them as insurance, before setting out to face their foes in battle, prepared to avert the princess' designs…

AN: Hello everyone. I must apologize for how long it's taken me to update this story and for how relatively short this chapter is, but I was very busy this summer (with a mandatory internship) and I think I'll need some time to get back into the swing of things. Still, I do hope you enjoy this installment and continue to read this story, because I am going to do my best to keep it going. I did have Kiran realize ?'s true relationship to Veronica earlier than he would have otherwise in canon, but I hope that it seems like a natural development and not something that was written just for comedy or plot's sake. The next chapter is already in the works, so hopefully that will come out much sooner. I definitely need to catch up on FEH's story, especially now that Book 4 has come out. Thank you to all my readers and to everyone who reviewed last time. Please leave a review this time as well, even if it's only to tell me what you think about writing quality after all these months.