thehometree | (no subject)

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| characters | Fuu Hououji and Owain Dark, Avenging Avenger of Justice

| date/time | 4/21, daytime

| location | House 8

| rating | PG, but watch out for HAM

| summary | After Owain bumps into the fourth wall, Fuu can't just let it wobble.

The Hero-King Marth of Akaneia. Right. Well. Fuu supposed she shouldn't find it to be so strange. There were two Links, after all, and she had met Princess Peach, not to mention Otani Yoshitsugu... but she could deal with figures from history. It wasn't so strange that a person might simply fall out of a different time into another world. But how could their summoner possibly take people out of video games? And not one, but many? And different games out of a series?!

The puzzle had been knocking around the back of Fuu's thoughts even as she tried to keep them concentrated on the more pressing matters of newcomers and new riddles.

She was busy tidying up when she spotted Sir Owain himself coming in. This was ideal--they were the only ones here at the moment, a perfect way for him to tell his tale (which, she was sure, he would do so as grandly as he could) without anyone else noticing if she had an unusual reaction to it--she figured she could hide that kind of thing from him while he was acting it out. "Oh, Sir Owain! Do you have a moment free?"

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Owain glanced up attentively at Fuu's call as he entered their house; he was still getting used to being called Sir Owain, and he couldn't help but grin each time he heard it. Grin, and do his utmost to live up to the title and all the chivalrous implications it carried, which meant that even if she wanted him to help clean up or cook or something, he was honour-bound to do so.

...Curse her cleverness.

Not that he minded in the least. "Indeed," he answered with a smile, "I am at my lady's beck and call! Speak, friend! What aid can I offer you this day?"

~~just as keikaku~~ I mean what she would totally never do such a thing.

Anyway, Owain so clearly wanted to behave that way, she felt she would have been denying him something if she just called him plain old Mr. Owain. "Something that isn't too difficult, I think," she said. "You mentioned the story of Marth and Akaneia to a couple of the newcomers the other day. I'd like to take your generous offer to tell me about it."

"What, really? Great!" Owain beamed. Congratulations Fuu, you just made his day. "I always have a moment free to share the exploits of the Hero-King!" It wasn't often that people actually asked to hear his stories and meant it. Not that he ever let that stop him, but epic tales of heroism were always even better with a good audience.

"...This is no mere fairy tale, though, but the tumultuous history of my homeland and my bloodline. Nor is it for the faint of heart!" That was unlikely to be a concern, though, considering the bravery Fuu showed in that battle against the spider queen. She could totally handle a little war and bloodshed. Owain smirked, and launched eagerly into his tale.

"Now, our story begins over two thousand years ago, in a time when Ylisse--that's my homeland--was known as Akaneia. A great evil rose to threaten this fair realm... the dark dragon Medeus, bane of humanity! He founded the Doluna Empire on the toil and lifeblood of innocent, peace-loving citizens, eventually engulfing all the lands in a murky black ocean of fear and despair! ...Okay, so that's the backstory. With me so far?"

Fuu took a seat on the fungus-couch as Owain began his tale. It was a good thing she had, because his words continued to ring as far too familiar. He was practically reciting the back of the box! (If he ever visited Earth, she thought he would be able to make a very good living writing ad copy for video games.)

She hoped he would take her wide eyes as an expression of horror at the description of Medeus, but when she thought about it for another moment, that became her genuine reaction. To her, it had been a fairly standard set-up: an ancient evil returning to found a new empire, hero rises etcetera. To Owain, it was history, just as much as the Battle of Sekigahara was her history: distant, but real. "I am," she said with a small smile. "Is this where the Hero-King comes in?" She knew it wasn't--Anri had come first--but of course she wouldn't admit that.

It would be rude to undercut his story, anyway.

Owain did indeed take Fuu's reaction as an expression of horror, and it only served to goad him on. Great, she was getting into it! Finally, someone appreciated the old sagas the same way he did!

"Patience, patience," he said with a smile. "We're getting to that. First Anri slew Medeus. See, Anri was a peasant who fell in love with the Akaneian princess Artemis, and for her sake he took up the holy blade Falchion, forged from a fang of the divine dragon Naga, and put an end to Medeus' evil reign once and for all! ...Or so it was thought."

Owain cupped his chin in his hand. "It's the classic warrior-saves-princess-and-becomes-king epic. ...Aside from the part where he only got to be king of the teensy little land of Altea because he couldn't marry Artemis. Still, it's all very romantic, wouldn't you say? Sadly, detailed accounts of Anri's exploits have been more or less lost to the eroding winds of time, and all knowledge of Medeus may have been lost as well... except he was revived!"

He sounded far more enthusiastic about that than was probably proper.

"...And that's where Marth comes in. The tales of his heroics survive intact to this day, so brace yourself! For now... we get to the good stuff!"

"Oh! What a shame that the full story has been lost." Would it have have been better or worse if he'd been able to add more detail than the game itself did over Anri and Artemis? "I suppose it would be happier if they had married, but reality doesn't always allow things to be picture-perfect." At least that story of romance with a princess hadn't ended in terrible tragedy, just disappointment and moving on--presumably, since Anri did have descendents.

In spite of the unhappy memories such thoughts touched on, Fuu hid a giggle behind her hand as he followed up his grand language with we get to the good stuff. She theatrically gripped the edge of the couch with both hands. "All right, Sir Owain, I'm braced. Tell me about King Marth."

"Perhaps that's why no one went to much trouble to record Anri's full tale," Owain speculated with a nod. "Epics are supposed to have epic endings, not just kind-of-all-right ones. No one wants to read a story that ends with 'and they lived not-too-unhappily ever after'. Even writers of history need to know their audience!"

And speaking of audiences, Fuu was the best one Owain had had in a long time. He couldn't help but grin as she gripped the mushroom-couch. "Very good. Then let us continue."

He cleared his throat. "So, like I said, Medeus was revived. This was the work of the evil Gharnef, a dark mage of twisted mind and terrible power! Once again, the Doluna Empire threatened to choke the land with the noxious reek of malevolence! Altea fell before its assault, her king betrayed and killed, her fair princess taken hostage, her national treasure Falchion befouled by Gharnef's unworthy hands! The peoples cried out as one for a deliverer, a champion of justice, a hero. And that hero's name..." here he paused for dramatic effect, "...was Marth."

The drama was lessened somewhat as Owain hastily added, "--Except he was Prince Marth then, not King Marth." But he continued without missing a beat. "Having been forced into exile, he was spared the gruesome fate of his lord father. He thus embarked upon a noble quest to slay Medeus, reclaim his rightful kingdom, and rescue his sister from the clutches of evil!"

"Still, stories without perfect endings are important to remember," said Fuu. "That way, we're better prepared for what can happen in reality." That was a slip of the tongue--this was Owain's reality--but she hoped the point would stand anyway.

But the rest of the narration was familiar and steadfastly heroic. She remembered with a small twist of guilt that Gharnef's petty, jealous malevolence had helped shape her actions the first time she was in Cephiro. But it was useless to tell herself that she should have thought of Camus instead; all that was in the past now.

"That must have been very hard for Prince Marth," Fuu said, covering her mouth with her fingers. "He was--that is, was he very young when he began his quest to reclaim Altea, if he was still a prince?"

"Yes, of course, the tale of Anri is of great worth in spite of its lacklustre ending," Owain agreed. "Still, it is my solemn duty as his descendant to strive for nothing less than the utmost glory and greatness in life! The Chosen Scion of Heroes accepts no reality but the best!" He declared this with a dramatic pose for emphasis, sword hand poised before his face, fingers splayed.

"And Marth wasn't really that young," he continued, abruptly breaking the pose with a slight shrug. "Sixteen, according to the most reliable sources. A man grown, and past due to have his mettle tested in true combat. Heh, I was little more than half his age when I first took up the blade in defence of my realm!"

~~Fire Emblem: War For Kids 10 And Up~~

"Anyway, where was I? Reclaiming his kingdom, right. Okay, so he did that." And if that seemed like a rather uncharacteristically abrupt summary coming from Owain... well, it was. But only because he was eager to get to the really interesting parts. Those being, of course, the climactic battles against the chief antagonists.

Sixteen was rather young, in Fuu's opinion. But she was looking at it from the perspective of 1993. In sword-and-shield times, sixteen was a perfectly acceptable age to lead armies in a continental war.

"I'm sure you'll be able to write a most magnificent ending to your own story, Sir Owain." Though she suspected she would have to help him stay alive long enough to do that. "But do you mean to say that you were just eight years old? Even in a land of legends, that seems a little young to be in pitched battle."

That was rather abrupt, wasn't it? Fuu tilted her head to one side. "I believe he did, but surely there is more to it than that? It must have been very harrowing to fight this dark mage Gharnef."

"I was little more than half his age," Owain reiterated, "which is to say, a few years more. Eleven or twelve, maybe? Around there." He waved a hand dismissively. Never mind that twelve was actually three-quarters Marth's age; he wasn't one to let little details like mathematical accuracy get in the way of a good story. "...Even at eight, though, I was prodigiously honing my skills in preparation for my obvious destiny as a future legendary hero."

He grinned. "Anyway. I was getting to Gharnef. You see, he wasn't even in Altea when Marth liberated it. Rather than face our brave heroes head-on, the craven had holed himself up within his Temple of Ultimate Seclusion in the distant ruined city of Thabes! But AHA! There was no escaping the powerful Warp magic of Gotoh, greatest of ancient sages!" Owain was growing progressively more animated as he got closer to the good part. "The Hero-King and his comrades, mystically transported through the very fabric of space, stormed the temple fastness! Undeterred by Gharnef's minions and his pitiful attempts to mislead them with sinister illusions, they closed in around the fiend... and thus began the greatest rooftop battle in the history of battles!"

Whether or not it had actually been a rooftop battle, Owain didn't really know. Nor was it terribly likely that Gharnef had ever referred to the location of his last stand as the Temple of Ultimate Seclusion. But the sagas never explicitly said those things didn't happen, so this was how it played out according to Owain's imagination.

Twelve was better, although maybe he ought to have spent some of the years between eight and then working on his mathematics as well as his swordplay. And... all right, the Temple of Ultimate Seclusion was not what the game had called the shrine in Chapter 23, but she had a feeling that had more to do with Owain's creative sense than a real discrepancy.

~~Finding the real Gharnef had been kind of a pain, too. As was giving up the Starlight Sphere.~~

"Ah! And that was the final battle? No, but Medeus still awaited them, didn't he? This warp magic of Gotoh's sounds... interesting. Do you think it might be related to what brought us here?"

A Warp Staff and even Gotoh's cross-country warp was a far lesser force than something that could take a person to another world, but it was still something worth looking into. It could help them reach higher areas of the Tree or cross the barrier of mist outside.

Owain blinked at Fuu's speculation about Warp magic. "Oh hey, I didn't even think of that," he admitted, idly scratching his cheek. "I just figured the Outrealm Gate was malfunctioning or something."

His brows furrowed in thought; this idea might just have some merit to it. "Normally Warp magic only works over short distances, of course, but wielded by a great sage like Gotoh... I'll bet if anyone could warp people from distant realms, it'd be him!" Owain's face lit up in excitement. "Or no, wait, I bet it's one of his disciples! Or descendants! No, I've got it, a disciple's descendant! One who has toiled tirelessly for ages uncounted, building upon the arcane knowledge of generations past and achieving the very pinnacle of magic prowess! I bet that's who's sending us riddles, too. Sages love that kind of stuff."

He grinned, clearly proud of himself for having figured it out. "This sage probably awaits us at the top of the tree, ready to impart some mystic wisdom or gift us with awesome legendary items of epic power."

But they were getting sidetracked. "...Okay, but back to Marth. Medeus did indeed still await him and his League of Justice Warriors deep in the heart of Doluna, land of the Manaketes! Our heroes cornered their arch-enemy within Doluna Keep and stormed its four great gates... unaware that this was exactly what the dark dragon was expecting. The final glorious struggle for freedom was upon them!"

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