More quick updates? Sure. Why not? Have to get them out before college starts back up. I'm learning German this year so that should be fun.

Well, less about me and more about the fic. This chapter was difficult strangely enough. I can talk about that later but I seriously had about two other versions of this.

Look at all you wonderful people reviewing! You're killing me here! I love it! I enjoy it so much I'll respond to you all. Feel free to skip to the chapter cause this one's a doozy.

JCCT: Friends? What friends? Kidding. On a serious note though, I already have SO much trouble trying to decide on who to pull into the spotlight as it is. Frankly, FE just has so many characters I don't think I'll do this. It'll become an even bigger mess than it already is. Sorry!

SilverFlameHaze: Robin is quite the card. Might have to keep an eye on him lest he grow more powerful… hm… jesterful? That doesn't sound like a word but it is now! You're thoughts on tomes are interesting to say the least! We'll have to see what happens.

realisticFantasy: Glad you're liking it! I like to think I'm doing enough describing to immerse readers, but it's even better when people actually say they are! Anyways, I try and keep plot interventions to a minimum. There needs to be reasons leading up to something for it to happen. Lucina is a skilled warrior and Vincent isn't. Those things and others weigh in heavily when I start writing. Events are gonna keep on changing and changing. I don't like writing the same dialog either!

Guest: Haha. You can't quite call it cheating when it is the ability of her Falchion to heal herself after all. She only necessarily did it once on top of that. The aura around her was supposed to be in a way conveying her about to get a critical hit which also did Vincent in. Also, I don't quite like using stats in a world turned from a game. If we go by that, then what would Vincent's magic stat be? Probably one because "real person" and all, haha. Still glad you liked! Fantasy girls know how to kick butt!

llat-2: It was definitely a fun one for me to write! Glad you enjoyed it. Vincent did have the odds stacked against him going up against a member of S.T.A.- I mean, Lucina.

Annonnyn: It's moments like those that I feel writers should lead into more often. It makes moments more memorable if you ask me. Thanks for the review of course.

Is it bad that I like responding to you guys? I just can't help it at times.

Well, less me blabbing and more chapter reading. Go on and read it!

Italics will be character's thoughts and /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything else I may reference. I only own my OCs.

Flowers and Cards

It was a stormy day for the capitol of Plegia. Rain poured hard and gusts of wind were tearing apart poorly built buildings. Civilians scattered through the streets scurrying into houses. They all wished to escape the cruel weather.

Being in a semi-arid region, this sort of weather was a rarity for Plegians to deal with.

Dirt roads turned to mud and loose items were blown away with the wind. All the while a man in a crimson cloak marched through the town.

The cloaked man looked to his sides noticing how far in disrepair the capitol was. The war between Plegia and Ylisse left both kingdoms in disrepair. Plegia, however, seemed like it was still feeling some of the effects while Ylisse had recovered. The Plegian's king, Gangrel, likes to remind them all of these effects almost daily as well.

Continuing in his walk through the streets, the man passed by a house in slightly more disrepair than the others. On the inside of it lived a family of four. Currently the adults of the household were having trouble patching a hole in their house's wall. They would need to seal it quickly if they didn't want to continue getting drenched.

The cloaked man walked by this torn up house without sparing a glance. He continued to walk dead straight through the capitol. His target destination was a large castle overlooking the town with a giant dragon's skull in front of it.

After a long walk, the man made it to the castle's intimidatingly large doors. Pushing them open slowly, he walked inside as a flock of crows followed him in. Guards waiting on the inside hurriedly shut the large doors as the flock of crows circled overhead.

"Is the king here?" the man in the cloak asked as he looked up at the crows.

"Yes, he should be in his throne room right now," a guard saluted the cloaked man.

"Good. Keep up the good work. Yada yada yada," the man wearing a cloak started to walk away waving his hand around as he did so. The noisy flock of birds followed shortly behind.

Entering into the castle's throne room, there was two individuals already waiting inside of it. One was a man with his head resting atop of his hand as he sat in a luxurious throne. The other was a woman sitting on one of the throne's arms with her hand brushing the back of the man.

The man had red hair and wore a gold crown signifying his rule as the king of Plegia. He wore black clothing and a golden cape that was temporarily taken off. The man's fingernails were unhealthily long. His boots looked highly alike the ones a jester might wear and at first glance a person might mistake him for one if they aren't from Plegia. Although, that very same person would have their eyes removed the next day.

Sitting on the throne's arm next to the king was a woman wearing all black. Her clothes were very scanty as they left almost nothing to the imagination. She had black feathers sticking up out of the neckline of her outfit.

The man wearing the cloak fell to a knee as he entered the room.

"My liege, I've returned," he was highly respectful when speaking towards the king.

The crows flew into the throne room and perched up on various hanging objects. The entire flock of them was watching the room from high above.

The king perked up at the sound of the man's voice. He was almost scarily happy, "Oh? Is that you Ardal? Take off that infernal hood!"

Ardal obeyed as his king ordered and took off his hood. He had short spiky red hair and scraggly growing facial hair.

The mad king started to chuckle when Ardal revealed his face, "So? How did it go? Tell me you brought one of their heads! Bwa ha ha! I can already imagine the face they were probably making!"

The mad king had gotten up from his throne and was almost dancing joyfully with his eyes closed.

Following the king in his joyous dance, the woman in black calmly placed her hands onto his shoulders snapping him out of his imagination. The woman leaned her voluptuous body against the king's, "King Gangrel, maybe you should let him tell you of the faces that were made."

Gangrel nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes, Aversa. Well, go on."

Ardal grimaced and couldn't find the will to stand up and face his king, "I do not have a head for you, my liege. Nor do I know of the face the wretched prince may have made approaching death."

"What are you saying?" Gangrel lost all of the joy that had filled him and was now scowling.

"However," Ardal finally raised his head to look at Gangrel, "I used my most potent of poisons! I'm certain that he's writhing with pain as we speak."

"You mean to tell me you've come back to me and you can't even confirm the death of not even one of your targets!?" The mad king had lost it and shouted loudly causing the crows in the room to scatter around momentarily.

"No, but I had a good reason to return," Ardal tried to remain calm under Gangrel's anger.

"And I have good reason to sever your hands from your arms you lousy child!... Explain yourself," Gangrel stopped his anger just barely.

Ardal winced slightly but managed to not show it, "The prince and his army were heading straight for Regna Ferox."

"Why should I care? I could care less what those icicles do!" Gangrel laughed as Aversa continued to pamper him.

"They went directly into Regna Ferox. I had my suspicions so I had some of my sources confirm it," Ardal finally raised himself to a standing position dusting off his clothes.

"And?" Gangrel looked curious.

"The Ylisseans wish to gain the Feroxians military aid," Ardal looked dead serious.

This shocked Gangrel and made him scowl in response. He turned around to face away from Ardal as he angrily muttered, "Those conniving little-!"

As Gangrel continued to mutter to himself, Ardal stated his thoughts, "If you still want the Fire Emblem, my liege, we should act sooner rather than later."

Suddenly, Gangrel started to chuckle quietly to himself. This peaked the curiosity of Ardal.

"Oh, we'll act soon. In fact, we'll do it now!" Gangrel extended both of his hands above his head and started to laugh manically.

"R-Right now?!" Ardal was incredibly shocked.

"Yes, thanks to that Outrealmer… Well, let's just say we'll be arranging a reunion the Ylissean royals won't soon forget! Bwa ha ha! Because they'll all be dead!" Gangrel continued in his maniacal laughter as the crows in the room started squawking and flying around the room.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The trip back to the Shepherd's HQ was surprisingly a relaxing one. It was a couple of days of travel but that was simply because the size of our party. Also, there was a bit of effort in having to deal with a few of the kinks of various people in the army.

There was a time where we left Kellam back at our camp site because everyone had forgotten him. Also, it's better to not bring up how everybody found out Lon'qu had gynophobia. I think the girls of the army sent him into a mental breakdown when they all tried introducing themselves to him… at the same time.

Also, Auden remained up in Regna Ferox. He said his reason was that he still had business to attend to up there. That must've been code for he literally hasn't popped the question to Raimi yet. Either way, the beard man said he would come help if Regna Ferox's forces went to help.

Eventually we all made it back in one piece though. Chrom happily informed Emmeryn of the success of the mission and the rest of us fell into a lax period.

There was nothing to do. Literally nothing at all. Bandits weren't attacking anywhere. Training was proceeding as boring as it ever did. The only time we were told to do something recently was when a citizen needed help getting their cat out of a tree.

Seriously, we're not errand boys.

Anyways, maybe I should be grateful for the lack of events. It gives me ample time to practice my magic at least.

Speaking of, currently I was testing magic out in the field near the Shepherd's HQ. It was early in the day. Actually, I even got up before Frederick so I don't think there's a single person up beside myself.

Out in the field, I brought various tomes that Robin allowed me to temporarily pull out of the armory. I simply told him that I wanted to try out all kinds of magic so he let me.

In my possession for the testing was a wind, fire, and my thunder tome.

Learning how magic worked was probably the quickest route to me being able to at least stand up against some of the people in this world. Of course, learn and abuse it would probably be my two goals.

If I could fly with a wind tome, that would be awesome!

The first step to achieving both of my goals would start with understanding the core of how the magic worked. Figure out how it worked entirely. That was a good start.

Starting things off, I casted a thunder spell and focused on moving it around. No problem there. Then, I went ahead and cast a fire spell. Things went sour fast.

The electric spell went haywire and ended up giving me a good shock treatment. I then lost concentration on the fire spell that exploded on the other side. Needless to say, I was writhing in my pain after the quick failure.

Damn… Son of a… I'm gonna need to take a bath in concoctions after this!

I was prepared to come out of this testing with a few bruises, but to start off with an explosion!? This was probably a bit too far over my head.

Knowing that I would probably get hurt, I also took a concoction with me. It was contained in a bottle larger than a vulnerary but they both looked like the same blue sparkling liquid.

As much as I didn't want to, I decided to drink some of its contents. It would waste too much to try and pour it across all of my burn marks.

Gagging after quickly downing some of the liquid, I placed the bottle back down a safe distance from where I was testing.

More tests flew by with time. I wanted to try as much as I could before I wore myself out. More or less, I did learn a couple of things.

The first and probably most obvious thing was that it was impossible to cast two different spells at the same time. Unless I'm just too simple minded to do so, it seemed like casting two different spells was out of my range. What would happen is that once the second spell is casted, things go horribly wrong. Usually, the first spell goes out of control and the second spell can be maintained. There are times where, unluckily, they will both explode.

Following the last test was to see if a spell could be cast multiple times in succession. The short answer to this is yes. A spell can be multiplied as many times as possible by the tome. Essentially, a spell can be charged to higher and higher levels. The downside? It takes serious mental control. I can handle casting a single copy of the spell; maybe even two given enough concentration. Three, however, is when stuff gets out of hand. I'm sure experts might have no trouble. I am no expert though.

In addition to the tests, I practiced my aim in firing spells. I was definitely improving. It was getting much easier to hit a target a good distance away from myself.

The fundamentals were coming together smoothly after a rocky start. It was about time I tried theories. I thought it would be easy to start with the easy stuff and went for my thunder tome.

So if this was like my world, then in theory what I'm controlling in a thunder spell is a ton of electrons. Small particles that accompany all things physical in the world. It's basically a bunch of negative energy flying around. Positive energy is always attracted to negative energy. In a way, it could be possible to create a magnet with this spell.

The spell doesn't act entirely on how normal science would dictate though.

That's because it's magic…

Electrons would usually go straight for the most positive area around them. This spell did no such thing. It only went to where I directed it. Still, I could work with that.

In order to test out the theory, I hung my shield off of the tree out in the middle of the field.

After I broke my last sword, I was given a steel sword which should work in testing. Steel, was an alloy with iron in it which made it a ferrous metal. All in theory, it would stick to a magnet.

Charging a thunder spell, I directed it towards my shield hanging from the tree. I then had it spin circles around it until it made a coiling shape around my shield. This would hopefully generate a magnetic field. The electricity should remain there so long as I keep my eye on it.

I believe I've made an electromagnet. The only way to know for sure would be to see if it actually worked.

Holding my steel sword in front of my body, I cautiously approached the electric shield. As I got closer and closer, I felt a tug on the weapon in my hand. Then, without warning, my sword flew out of my grip and stuck against the shield.

Words escaped me. I was amazed to see what I came up with. I made a magnet with magic! Not only that, but a strong one! I wanted to try out more things. With spells in this world, all kinds of things could be made on the spot.

Still, it was almost time for everyone to be waking up. I'm not trying to be sneaky, but I also don't want to have a confrontation with anyone about what I was doing just yet. Especially not Miriel. She would pick my brain dry!

I let the spell I was using dispel into the ground and I started to pack up everything I dragged outside.

While lugging stuff back inside, I stumbled across Sumia coming downstairs. She looked like she was looking for something until she noticed me.

The flowery girl waved to me and started to approach me. She got about five feet in her walk before she tripped.

Ouch. Usually a person falling is kind of funny. I just feel bad for Sumia though.

I made an attempt at offering her help, but she politely declined.

She ended up managing to get back up on her own, "Morning, Vincent. Have you seen Maribelle around? I can't find her."

"Maribelle? Can't say I have. Of course, it is still pretty early. I think you and me are the only two awake," I laughed a bit.

"Fiddlesticks! I guess you're right. Maybe she's still in her room," Sumia looked coyly back up the stairs where all of the Shepherds rooms are.

"What do you need her for?" I decided to inquire.

The usually bubbly girl shot her head back around so fast I thought I got whiplash from just watching, "Oh, I just thought maybe I'd ask her to go flower picking with me. I don't want to bother her if she's still asleep though."

"Can't you just wait for her to wake up then?" I rubbed the back of my neck.

Sumia looked shocked I would've even suggest what I did, "What?! I can't wait! The morning is the best time to pick flowers!"

"Hey, I don't know about flower picking times! I can barely tell flowers apart from each other besides their colors!" I put my hands up in defense.

Sumia then placed a finger onto her chin, "Hm… I know! You can come flower picking with me! I can tell you all about them!"

"I don't really think that's-" Not even allowing me to finish, Sumia grabbed my hand and started to drag me.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" she continued to drag me towards the front door.

"Wait a second! I haven't even eaten today! I'm starving! Sumia!" Despite my resistance, I feared I would end up being taken anyways.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Even though I kicked and fought, Sumia managed to get me all the way to a field of flowers a fair distance away from Ylisstol. There was a multitude of different colors. If there was a color I couldn't see, it was probably because I'm too distracted with just how many there are.

The sun was almost at its peak in the sky now because of how long it took to walk here.

I may have added to that time.

Still, it was a clear day for Ylisse. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It made standing in an open field of flowers somewhat enjoyable. The levels of pollen in the air were astronomical though.

"Oh! Look at this one, Vincent!" Sumia called back to me waving another flower she picked. The flower in her hand was yet another pink one. I couldn't tell the difference from the last bunch of pink ones she plucked.

I acknowledged her waving the flower and she quickly went back to looking for more. The girl was acting really childish. It was slightly amusing to watch how excited she could get by picking random flowers.

Eventually Sumia came jogging back to me with a ton of flowers in her hands. She brought a basket along with her to carry them all. I thought it was a bit ridiculous to bring a basket but she definitely needed one. The basket's almost overflowing with them by this point!

"That's a lot of flowers," I muttered while Sumia got all of her flowers into her basket.

"Yup! You can never have too much of something you like," Sumia beamed as she picked up her basket.

"If it's something you like, than I suppose," I rubbed the side of my head as I watched insects fly to and from different flowers.

Sumia frowned, "Are you not having fun, Vincent?"

I focused back on the girl, "Hey, it's not that I'm not having fun. Picking flowers just isn't my cup of tea."

Sumia smiled brightly, "Well, what IS your cup of tea?"

"My cup of tea?" I recoiled slightly and then fell into a thoughtful pose, "I'd have to think about that."

I can't really say what I like to do. None of it exists. There's no way I can say nothing, right?

"I do enjoy tea made with apple leaves," I jokingly answered.

Sumia playfully pushed me, "That's not what I meant and you know it!"

I really wish it was.

"Ok, ok," I managed to keep myself from falling over.

Getting back into a thoughtful position, I tried to think of an answer. I couldn't think of anything. There wasn't anything in this world that I've adopted as a hobby. I'm really just a newborn in this world. The littlest of things could make me happy one second and then upset the next.

While I was trying to think of a response to Sumia's question, I noticed something behind her. Correction, there was someone standing behind her. It looked like an old man judging by how he was hunched over.

"Um… Old man," I pointed behind Sumia but she mustn't have noticed.

"You like old men!? T-This! I'm shocked! N-Not that it's bad… just,"Sumia seemed really flustered and was attempting to hide her face with her hands.

I have no such attraction to old men!

I placed both my hands on Sumia's shoulder and spun her around. Pointing to the old man she clearly could see now, I reiterated, "No! Old man!"

"Hello, dearie… My… Aren't you a delectable looking young thing," the old man started to grin.

This old guy isn't who I think he is, is he?

Giving the old man another once over, it started to look like I recognized him more and more. The old man was completely bald and had a long white beard. His clothes looked kind of sage like as well. Not to mention, he was also using a cane to support his body.

I definitely wasn't looking at him through a flat screen anymore, but my eyes knew who this old man was.

What the hell is Old Hubba doing out here?!

That old man had to be Old Hubba. There was no second guessing it.

"Don't be shy! Ah… I'm Old Hubba… Mhm… What's your name?" Old Hubba held out his shaking hand to Sumia.

I don't think she even understood what was going on. She stared at Old Hubba's hand with her own still covering her face.

Reaching around Sumia, I grabbed Old Hubba's hand, "Vincent, pleasure to meet you, Old Hubba."

Old Hubba's face contorted. He let go of my hand and looked surprised, "Ah… Um… You have really strong and firm hands, Vincent. Oh, and your voice! I didn't know a pretty girl's voice could get that deep!"

You can't be serious. I'm clearly taller than Sumia so he should see me! How bad is this guy's eyesight?!

"Excuse me! I am not the pretty girl," I stepped around Sumia and was starting to feel a bit angry.

Old Hubba stepped back at the sight of me, "Ah! I-I knew that! For… For I foresaw it!"

Sumia calmed down at this point, "You're a fortune teller?"

Old Hubba looked a lot happier when talking to Sumia, "Why yes… I can see the future, darling! B-But that's not why I'm here."

Don't tell me he's here to pick flowers as well...

"I need strong young lads to help find my Einherjar! They've been stolen," Old Hubba was distraught.

"Einherjar?" Sumia didn't look like she knew what Old Hubba was talking about.

I, on the other hand, knew all too well what he was talking about. My knowledge translated to a look of horror on my face that I tried to hide. Despite my best attempts, I was failing.

"Yes, the Einherjar are powerful heroes of times past… Mhm… They're brought back as physical ghosts through the use of cards. Cards that I'm supposed to protect!" Old Hubba patted himself with his hand while still holding himself up with his cane.

"Guess you didn't do a good job," Sumia said with a smile and a laugh.

She does not know the seriousness of this.

"Um… I suppose not… But you need to help me! These entities are incredibly powerful! They could destroy an entire kingdom if they fell into the wrong hands!" Old Hubba pleaded.

"Calm down. We'll help you," I assured him so he wouldn't have a heart attack.

"R-Really? Well… I thought that'd be harder," Old Hubba tried to whisper under his breath.

I had heard what he said, "After we stop these cards, we'll be sure to return them to you."

"Thank you! Ah… You youngins these days sure are-" Old Hubba was mindlessly appraising us when I motioned for him to stop.

"We'll give the cards back as soon as we think you're ready for them again. Wouldn't want you to lose them as soon as we gave them back, now would we?" I finished my bargaining and lowered my hand.

"N-No… Mhm… I suppose not… W-Wait! I'm having a vision!" Old Hubba placed a hand on his forehead and was making a bunch of faces.

I am not listening to whatever he's going to make up.

"Come on, Sumia," I grabbed Sumia and started to pull her away from the senile old man.

"But he was having a vision! We should listen!" Sumia was extremely interested in what Old Hubba was doing.

I continued to pull her away, "We need to go tell the Captain about these cards."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sumia and I made it back to the Shepherd's HQ just in time for a meeting of some kind. Chrom and Robin were already formulating a plan while Frederick was hauling various things outside. It looked like we were preparing for war.

What was the next chapter? I can't remember it for the life of me.

Noticing our entrance, Robin waved to me and Sumia, "We have some news. Bad news."

"I have news as well," I approached Chrom and Robin with Sumia opting to go and store away the flowers she picked. She tripped on the way up the stairs.

Chrom's attention peaked, "You have news as well?"

"Yeah, it's complicated and all, but… uh… Do either of you believe in ghosts?" I asked both of them as seriously as I could.

Neither of them knew how to respond to my question. When they both shrugged, I took their action as a no, "Well, you should. There's word of a power that allows heroes of old to come back as… Well, ghosts. Ghosts that do as their masters bid."

Both Chrom and Robin looked shocked. They then exchanged glances and Chrom whispered quietly, "Could it be?"

"It sounds like it, Chrom," Robin replied in a hushed voice.

"Is something wrong?" I was feeling slightly perplexed.

Robin then looked me dead in the eyes, "Maribelle's been captured."

I shuddered at Robin's words, "What?!"

I forgot! Damnit! This literally is the start of war!

Following Robin's seriousness, Chrom added, "They claim she invaded upon Plegia and now they're taking action. That's not the worse of it."

"How bad can it get?!" I felt my heart start to beat faster at the thought of what more could be added.

"Remember our friend Marth? Going by your new information, I think we may be looking at a ghost," Robin explained tapping his chin.

They think Lucina is a ghost?!

"No way! Marth was the Hero King! King! We already know that the other "Marth" is a girl," I tried to point out the flaws in how they were thinking.

Chrom shook his head, "Historians are known to get facts wrong. Marth could in fact have been a girl pretending to be a boy."

Not wanting to get into a history debate, I calmed down, "Why are we even talking about that Marth? What does it have to do with what you were gonna say?"

"The Hero King, or Queen, is supposedly with Plegia's forces," Robin added after taking in a long breath.

No way… I know it can't be Lucina… So that means they're using Einherjar?!

"That can't," I paused thinking of what I should say, "The Marth we know helped us! She got Regna Ferox to help! She wouldn't go help a country that wants war!"

Robin shrugged, "I don't know her reasons either. We'll just have to go and find out."

Chrom didn't wait for me to respond, "Grab all of your gear. We're escorting Emmeryn to the mad king Gangrel to hold a discussion."

Marth… The ghost of the Hero King... It's being used by Plegia. Just when I thought things were getting better.

A bit on the short end, but short to me is about four thousand words I suppose.

Let me be the first to tell you that this chapter made me rake my brain. There was so many ways I could go and I wanted to pull more characters into the limelight rather than keep reusing the same ones over and over again. This resulted in me looking over this chapter with a cold, analyzing eye.

I guess I should go over parts of the chapter in that case. Starting with the magic portion, what do you guys think? All and all, I find bringing real world concepts into a fantasy one to fun to pass up. Of course there's the part of this whole thing that this is a fic and not a science book. I'll try and keep explanations small but understandable. Also, I'm not about to go in depth about the hazards of how a magnetic field might affect one's body if it were to be too strong. This is all for fun and maybe you'll learn something while reading!

Before I forget, we got a name for that bandit leader! Provided by llat-2 of course, his name is Ardal! We'll be seeing more of him.

On another note, we have Old Hubba looking for his Einherjar. It seems we know who they ended up with. Now they're heading to war!

On that same topic, what do you guys think about Chrom and Robin thinking Lucina is the Einherjar for Marth. I thought it over and only Lissa would've noticed her coming out of the time gate above. That is, if she wasn't too busy looking at the Risen about to chop her in half. Not to mention the fact that Marth was alive roughly a couple thousand years ago according to Tiki's age. History gets skewed as more and more time passes. There's no real way to prove that Marth was a boy and nobody has anyway of proving Lucina to simply be a person pretending to be Marth at this point. This was all just really how I thought the characters would react to Einherjar if discovered before Lucina's identity reveal.

Anyhow, leave a review on what you think. Be sure to send me a PM with any ideas/questions as well!

Next time we're heading to war!