The ticking of a clock echoed through the hall, marking the passage of time. How much time passed, an hour maybe two? It was hard to tell how much time had passed. The only indicator of time's crawl was each tick of the clock as it broke up the suffocating quiet.

  People came and went. Castle servants would enter the room with medical supplies. Bandages and vials filled with liquids all in different shades of red, only to leave the room with nothing.

  Each time the door opened, Lucina shot up, only to fall back onto her seat, anticipating what the news would be, if there was any at all. But there was no such luck and slowly she grew to ignore the door each time it opened.

  Looking around, no one dared to make a sound. Azure blue eyes first lazily looked around, still sitting alone.

  Once they started to travel, her gaze fell on Roy, he... he had been standing in front of the door for hours; he was like a statue, clutching Breaker to his chest, and at his side was the horn of his brother's foe. Each time he tried to enter, Achilles would stop him and pull him out of the way. His eyes never looked away from the door.

  The other kids were busy being comforted by their parents, and quiet murmurs escaped from them. Pointed ears twitched at each word Ardee and Jason recounted. Watching Pit, the youngest Massedon royal, only grew more horrified with each detail he was told.

  Morgen was occupied cradling her infant brother.

  Raiden would periodically come by, mostly asking Morgen a few questions before leaving. But she didn't care while her attention fell elsewhere.

  Even when someone would try to talk to her, she would barely respond with a few small words or just a shrug of the shoulder or a nod of her head.

  Her attention and mind were occupied with a single thought.

  Looking back to the door, the main obstacle preventing her... preventing any of them from seeing what was happening on the other side.

  'Red...'

  Only for her gaze to fall back to her hands, her hand rose to feel the bandages around her head, just like the others that covered small sections of her body.

  Her eyes fell on Eden's Dawn. The longer her eyes stayed fixated on it, the further she fell into a trance. The back of her mind rang with the echoing of clashing blades.

  The sound of two blades met under the early August sun shined down on the yard. Breaker and Eden's Dawn met once again.

  The spectacle was met with cheers from their welders' respective families, but they went ignored , her attention was solely on her crimson-eyed rival.

  Watching his blade came down on her, Eden's Dawn rose to block the strike.

  Pushing back against Breaker, Red met her with an equal force.

  "Just so you know I'm winning today, there's no one to interrupt our match to save you this time."

  Even with her declaration, she watched his smile grew, infecting him. Red returned her taunt.

  "Then show me what you can do."

  The force on Eden's Dawn grew as Red pressed Breaker further down.

  'You want me to show you, then I'll show you!' Sinking back, Lucina spun to the side.

  Red wasn't ready for the sudden change forced to stumble him forward. With a grin on her face, Lucina followed with a swift high kick, her strike landing on his back, forcing him to slide against the ground.

  Azure blue eyes watched him try to get back on his feet, but Lucina didn't give him the chance as her blade came down.

  He barely had enough time to evade the strike. Watching him roll out of the way, a smile grew as she gave chase.

  Each time he tried to get up she slashed again, with each strike she pushed him back. Not giving him the moment to get back up, she kept up her assault, forcing Red to crawl back as he tried to find an opening to get back on his feet.

  An opening she wouldn't allow.

  Eden's Dawn moved like a blur with each quick movement; her wooden blade collided with Breaker repeatedly.

  Even when he managed to get back on his feet, her assault on Red wouldn't end. Lucina forced him to be on the defense, unable to do anything but guard against her.

  One of those strikes shook him and caused his grip to loosen. Something Lucina noticed, so before Red even had a moment to retake his grip, Lucina launched another powerful strike at Breaker. The force of the impact knocked the weapon out of her rival's hand and onto the ground.

  Before he even had the chance to make a move to retrieve his blade, he felt Eden's Dawn come mere inches away from connecting with him, its edge pointing at him.

  The pair was breathing heavily. Their eyes met for a moment before she watched his crimson eyes look to the blade before falling back on the ground.

  "Alright, I yield. You got me."

  A smile slowly grew, not even the applause from their families was able to gain her attention as she shot up, cheering,

  "Yes I did it, I beat you!" Shooting a grin at him, she couldn't hold back her smile. "Let's go again, I still have to beat you five more times to take the lead." Lucina could barely contain her excitement, not a single second before making another challenge.

  'Sure, but don't let this go to your head. I'm not gonna lose again."

  "Big words for someone sitting in the dirt." With a taunt, she extended her hand to him, one he happily took.

  The ticking of the clock broke her from her thoughts.

  'Why... Why was I thinking about that? He's in there, and I'm just sitting here thinking about how I beat him. Even after he just saved me from that... that thing. I'm pathet–

  "How ya doin' kid?" Breaking free from her thoughts, only to find Raiden standing in front of her.

  A glare quickly took hold once she saw him, only to fade away when she looked back to the door.

  "Heh, should have figured you were concerned about him." She didn't even bother to respond as her eyes left the door only to look back at Eden's Dawn. "What no snarky threat this time?

  "..."

  "Look I'll just cut to the chase, that LigerHorn you both fought. I was talking with Silver and it turns out that beast was the cause of several deaths over the past few weeks."

  Her glare melted into despair.

  "You know it's funny he always seems to have a way of getting himself in trouble." Still, Lucina didn't respond, doing her best to ignore him. "It was a little over ten years since that day."

  But what drew her attention was when he sat down to roll up the sleeve over his left arm, only to reveal... well a pretty pathetic, barely visible scar. "Morgen, Red, and I were out running around in the forest when we got attacked by a River Rat."

  "And why are you telling me this? I thought it was clear I don't care for you." Her voice was low when she finally spoke, it was like she didn't want to acknowledge she was right there.

  "You have a point, so I'll just cut to the chase." Getting up from the seat, Lucina didn't need to look at him to know he was looking down at her. "That feeling you have right now, that anger, that's saying you should have done more. Don't let it control you; rather, use it to push yourself to improve so that the situation doesn't happen again."

  Watching him walk away, off to do who knows where to do who knows what. Lucina honestly didn't care and returned to her blade.

  Time continued to crawl once again, the clock took over the role of breaking the silence once again. She hated that Raiden's words left a lingering echo.

  'Push myself? He's not just a jerk but an idiot. That's what I've been doing and look how things ended up.'

  The sound of rain grew heavier, falling sky water crashed onto the castle. It was almost calming in an odd way as it started to make everyone waiting slowly come closer to falling asleep to its lullaby. Suddenly, a click of the doorknob echoed, everyone snapped to the new noise.

  The door opened, and the first to step out was the doctor, followed by two nurses. First, they bowed to those in the hall, turned around, and gave the gesture to those still in the room before walking away.

  But what made them rise to their feet was the slow emergence of the boy's mother.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Lucina was the first to sit up, but not the first to move.

  To her left and right were Altria and Mavis.

  Waiting for Lyn to speak, they watched as she looked to the ground before facing them.

  "Red's—

  Lucina didn't wait for her to finish, shooting up from her seat. "How is h—

  "Mom, how's Red!?" And Roy didn't wait for anyone. He ran to her, gripping her clothing.

  Not replying right away, she lowered herself to the ground, wrapping him in a tight hug, holding him for just a moment before returning his gaze. A small smile slowly formed on her face.

  "Your brother is going to be alright."

  It felt like a claiming wave washed over her the moment those words reached her. 'He's going to be alright.'

  Several sighs of relief filled the hall. Lucina watched as Roy tried to rush into the room, only to have a tail shot out, stopping him.

  "Now listen here kid, yer brother needs his rest." Mavis was firm with her words. "Poor boy's more drained than a milked cow. What he needs is sleep so his body can get to recoverin', y'hear?"

  The wolf was met with a strike to the head. "Mavis, we know he needs rest, but really you're going to talk to him like that?" Altria quickly changed her view. "Go on, Roy. Just be quiet."

  Before he took another step, his head turned back to Lyn.

  While a simple nod he went in. Her attention returned to everyone else. "Everyone, if you want to come see him, go ahead. I just ask you all, please keep your voices down, I'd like for my son to get some sleep."

  As Altria and Mavis exited the room, their place was quickly taken by the rest of the Riser family. Roy wasted no time in rushing to his side as Achilles followed Lyn back inside.

  Morgen handed Nikolai back to her mother before walking in only to have the others give them space and leave the hallway, returning to their own chambers.

  But when Lucina approached the entrance, she didn't enter. Frozen at the entrance, looking into the dimly lit room as they looked over a resting Red.

  'Red.'

  His breathing was calm. He looked peaceful while he slept, like today's trials didn't happen. Even at a distance, she could see the rise and fall of the blanket with each breath.

  It was calming to watch.

  The bandages around his head still showed small hits of blood, but that was all she would see; everything else was covered by the blanket or being blocked by the crowd.

  If those details could be ignored then it would look like he was just resting after a hard day's work.

  When she approached the door a small smile grew as she watched him sleep.

  "Ya know Altria, poor kid really took a beating."

  She stopped and her smile started to falter.

  "I know, his injuries were severe. It's a good thing Morgen and Raiden got there when they did. I hate to imagine what would have happened."

  As their words reached her, her eyes focused on Red for a moment; he was all she could see.

  Slowly, a foot took a step forward, but the moment she moved, her mind replayed both her action and inaction.

  'I... I don't have the right.'

  So rather than walk through the door, her feet chose to wander down the hall.

  —-

  As the sun shined from above and on to a crimson-eyed boy who lay in the grass, soaking up its heated rays.

  'It's warm here.'

  'I feel like I could stay here forever.'

  A yawn escaped as he got onto his feet and wandered the forest.

  For what felt like hours, he walked, the only sound that was constant was his feet when they hit the floor. The opening in the trees above continued to move with his and a blurry fog roll in.

  "When did it get so foggy? It feels like I've been walking for miles."

  A low growl rang out from the forest's dark void.

  "What the... there's no way."

  From the tree line, the LigerHorn walked out, glaring at him, before it charged him.

  Instinctually, he grabbed Breaker, pulling it from its sheath.

  Noticing that not just Breaker was at his back but, he was suddenly in his armor.

  'Wait, when did I—

  When charged, it snapped him from his thoughts. Lowering its horn, their blades collided as they crossed each other.

  In one strike, it fell to the ground. But something felt off.

  Moving his armored armed, "Strange... I've worn this for years, but it's never felt this heavy before."

  Suddenly, the beast went up in a puff of smoke.

  "What the—

  Another roar followed and the beast emerged again. Swinging its paw at him, only for Breaker to cut off the limb, and in a quick motion, metal pierced its throat.

  It fell limp, and once it hit the ground, just like before, it turned to smoke too.

  "What's going on?"

  Turning back only to see not just one but two more LigerHorns appeared. However, before either one took a step forward, Red charged them first.

  Two puffs of smoke remained and two more took their place.

  "Again? Seriously, what's happening here?"

  Two more appeared from the foggy woods, only to be cut down. But just as fast as they vanished, two more LigerHorns would take their place, then four would merge, then eight. Only for what felt like a massive pride of them to emerge from the foggy forest until they surrounded him.

  No matter how many there were, it only took a single swing of the blade for them to fall and their bodies gave way to smoke.

  Still more reappeared from the brush.

  "There's just no end to them."

  But a new roar echoed; it was much lower than the ones prior.

  His head snapped only to see a LigerHorn, but it wasn't like the others. When it came to size, it was larger in every category. Its golden fur and black back scales seemed to shine.

  The first step it took caused Red to raise his guard and give the beast his solo attention.

  Each step that followed made his already body feel heavier, until the two were so close they could taste the other in the air and...

  It just walked past him, ignoring him like he wasn't there.

  But rather then strike the beast's turned back. Red just followed it. His eyes went wide. In the foggy clearing it slowly marched towards Lucina and Roy.

  "Ah... !" His hand shot for his throat. 'Why, why can't I speak!?'

  It charged them, so he ran too.

  Each step felt heavy, and the harder he ran, the further back he went.

  'What the... come on, go forward!' As his feet repeatedly hit the ground, he still moved backward, the scene grew smaller and smaller until he was forced into the dark void and it started to rain heavily. 'Lucina, Roy!'

  Crimson eyes shot open in a cold sweat, a blanket was thrown off.

  "Lucina, Roy!" Crying out, like a bat out of hell, launching himself off the bed.

  He shot towards the door the moment his right foot hit the ground, but once his left hit the floor.

  An agonizing, sharp pain spread throughout his body. Wrapping his arms around his stomach, it only worsened and the pain surged from his right arm as he fell forward.

  His eyes shut before he slammed into the floor.

  But he never did.

  Opening up, only to find that he had been caught. "You know, son, I can't say that wasn't the dumbest thing you've done today, but it also wasn't the smartest."

  "Dad?" Pain immediately followed, blinding him to the fact he was lifted up and returned to bed.

  Resisting against his father attempt to lay him back down, looking around, relief washed over him at the sight of Roy. Next, his eyes landed on both his mother and Morgen, but while they both smiled at him, his mother couldn't help but groan at his sudden movement. Still, his eyes darted around the room looking for someone.

  "Mom, Dad, Morgen! Where's Lucina?!"

  Lyn placed her glowing hand on his head, it slowly started to ease the pain as another was placed on his chest. "She's fine, a little banged up, but otherwise she's physically ok."

  "Compared to you, her injuries weren't anything I couldn't handle on my own." With a smile, Morgen did her part to help calm him.

  'Thank goodness.' "That's a relief."

  Lyn smiled, seeing the claiming wave wash over him, only to suddenly pinch his cheek. "You should be a little more concerned about the heart attack you almost gave your poor mother."

  "Sorry, Mom."

  "It's alright, just try not to give me a scare like that for a while, ok?" Still, her smile didn't falter.

  "I knew you'd pull through. You're a lot like your mother, too stubborn to stay down for long." Achilles' laughter was met with a smack to the back of his head, courtesy of Lyn.

  Her maternal smile changed to a sharp glare. "You liar, you were just as bad as me."

  "Maybe, but I knew he'd pull through. He's just as adamant as you."

  "Don't you go trying to change history, you were a nervous wreck."

  "And who had to be reminded they could use healing magic?"

  The bickering between the two gave way to laughter, letting the tension slowly break.

  But the scene continued until dry cough from Red stopped the laughter.

  As a hand helped lift his head, a cool glass met his lips and a smiling Morgen met his gaze. "Morgen, I can still use my left arm... I don't need you to baby me."

  "So? I think you could use a little pampering after what you did." Watching him give in and accepted her assistance. "That's it, nice and slow."

  The cool water raced down his dry throat while he drank. Each sip felt better than the last until the glass was empty. "Thanks, Morgen, how are the others?"

  "Ardee and Jason are fine, a little shaken up but unharmed."

  "That's great to hear."

  A smirk appeared as she lowered herself to be just within earshot, whispering to him. "So... looks like someone finally got to play the role of hero."

  The moment she finished his face matched his name.

  "Morgen... why do you always have to do stuff like that?" He didn't get an answer as his family joined her in laughter that filled the room.

  But Morgen didn't let things end there.

  "You know, the whole time we were waiting, Roy wouldn't stop talking about you." Her voice picked up in tempo with each word she spoke, Roy became the center of attention.

  "Recounting how you battled the beast, even as it stared you all down, you stood your ground so they could run. How you rose from the ground in a pillar of flame, he didn't leave out a single detail."

  The moment he turned his head, his brother was flushed pink. Holding out both Breaker and the golden horn, he placed them on his lap "I cleaned them for you."

  While it stung to grab Breaker's handle, it did give him a moment to finally look at his hands. His palms were wrapped as well. Still pulling out the blade just enough to see it gleam.

  The sudden shine would have blinded him if he hadn't returned it to its stealth. As f

  or the horn, the blood was cleaned off, but the hand-shaped burn mark remained.

  "Thanks." While it hurt, he reached out his bandaged-covered arm and ran his hand through his brother's hair. "Looks like neither one of us will have to practice alone from now on."

  "I look forward to it, I'm not gonna let you get ahead of me, Red."

  "You'd better get to work because once I can get on my feet. I'll be working harder than ever, can't have you or Lucina getting ahead of me.

  A smile grew back. "Then I'm going to work even harder than you, that way I won't have to run away again."

  "Red," The pair turned to their mother as she spoke.

  "While this isn't the way I hoped it would happen, I'm proud you finally broke past that wall of yours, but..." Her tone took a drastic turn. "If you think for even a single moment that I will let you try anything like that in the state you're in if I catch you trying to make even a spark, I will strap you to that bed myself. Understand young man."

  "I understand." The fact he gave in so quickly took them all by surprise. "But once I can stand, I'm going to push myself even harder. After all, I am your son."

  "That you are, just don't go breaking yourself." Her smile returned and leaned over him, planting a kiss on his forehead. "Now lie down and get some rest."

  Slowly, his family started to leave, leaving him and his mother alone in the room as she tucked him in.

  "Hey, Mom."

  "What is it?"

  "When I was fighting, I think I saw these two people who looked familiar."

  She paused for a second. "What did they look like?"

  "Well, its fuzzy, but there was a woman with brown hair that kinda looked like mine, and then there was a man with blond hair. I don't know why, but they seemed familiar, they felt familiar."

  There was a short pause before crimson locked with obsidian. "Did you know them?"

  A soft smile remained; a delicate hand rubbed the top of his head. "Briefly... we'll talk about that later. Right now, I just want you to get some rest." Her lips met his forehead once more before she exited the room.

  Turning to the ceiling, it didn't take long for eyes to grow heavy. A heavy yawn escaped from him as he watched the rain hit the window; each drop started to form a melody that slowly, very slowly started to lull him.

  But unlike his body, his mind was restless. Shifting away from the window, he looked back to the table next to him, where both his blades rested. But for some reason, crimson eyes didn't fall on Breaker; for some reason, they fell to the golden horn as his eyes fell shut.

  —-

  Just beyond the other side of the door, Lyn leaned against the walls. A low breath escaped her. "I knew this conversation would come up one day, but to think it would follow an event like this."

  "But now, I can't think about that. There's something else that needs my attention." Moving away from the wall, Lyn calmly walked down the hall.