Age of Destruction: Fire Emblem CYOA

"Oh, Isana..."  Lily walks over calmly and embraces her.  "What have you done?"

"Princess...?"  Isana's too surprised to return the embrace.

Lily presses their foreheads together and looks at her sadly.  "Why did it have to turn out like this?  Just when I was... starting to..."

"Ah...  Ah?  I... disappointed you, didn't I?"  Isana looks down sadly.  "I'm... sorry.  I didn't mean to..."

Lily lifts her chin.  "Just... stop."  She clumsily pulls her into a kiss.

Isana jerks back and pulls away.  "Wha...  What?  Why are you...?"

"Sorry.  I wouldn't normally do something like that so suddenly, but we may never have another chance.  So..."

Isana blinks at her, mouth half-open in surprise.  Her eyes wander from Lily's eyes down to her lips, then she leans in and gently joins their lips together.  Lily slowly works the lockpick free and cautiously passes it over, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.  When she's finished, Lily steps back calmly.  Isana sniffles, eyes tearing up.  "Not yet..." she whispers.  "Just a little more..."  She uses what little slack her bindings afford to grab Lily by the scruff of the neck and pull her back in for another kiss.  This time, Lily's the one surprised.  With shocking dexterity, Isana tucks the lockpicks back into Lily's mouth.

"I'd heard your family fell in love fast."  Zenia watches the display with an obvious look of disgust while the three guards all have various reactions.  She points to the one looking away uncomfortably.  "You.  The princess has clearly decided to stay.  You're on watch.  Someone will bring you dinner eventually.  You two, chain them up for the night then get out."  Zenia gives one last look at Isana and Lily, frowns and shakes her head, then walks out, slamming the door behind her.

Two of the guards place a pair of manacles around Lily's wrists and lock them together over her head.  The last fixes Isana's manacles, then drags over a box and uses it to grab the chain hanging from the exposed beam.  The pirates use it to hoist Isana into the air, then force Lily to stand on the box and attach her restraints to the other side.  When they slide the box from under her feet, she and Isana are left dangling, balanced in the air a few inches apart.

Lily decides it's certainly uncomfortable, but not really painful.  And then the ship sways, causing the pair to slam into each other.  The guards laugh as they swing back and bump into each other again.  Lily stretches, trying to reach the floor.  Her toes barely brush the wood.  Every time the ship rocks she loses her footing and crashes again.  The three pirates chat briefly, stopping to snicker any time the princess and the courtesan have a forceful mid-air rendezvous, before the extras leave for the night.

Isana sighs with relief.  "I think we've put on enough of a show.  Don't you, Princess?"  She entwines her legs with Lily's to hold her close; they start to swing as one, rather than constantly crashing together.  "Now, let's get back to enjoying our last night together...  And making that guard as uncomfortable as possible," she adds under her breath.

Well after the sun's set, there's a knock at the door.  The guard walks over and soon comes back with dinner.  He sits quietly in the corner, largely ignoring the pair he's supposed to be guarding.

The guard falls asleep moments later.  Isana grins, unceremoniously takes the lockpicks from Lily's mouth, wraps her legs around Lily's waist, and shimmies up to sit on her shoulders.  She fiddles with Lily's manacles with the lockpick clenched in her teeth.

"Isana...?  Not to say you're heavy - you're surprisingly light, actually - but this is rather uncomfortable...  Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Don wor, he..."  Isana gives up trying to speak through clenched teeth.  She spits the lockpicks out and lets them fall to the ground.  "Don't worry.  I slipped the last of that sleep powder into his water.  We just need to make sure we're back up here by the time Zenia comes back in the morning."

"What?  But...  How could you have possibly...  Ow!"

"Sorry!" Isana hauls herself up to stand on Lily's shoulders, then deftly swings herself up and over the beam supporting their chain.  Lily drops the last few inches, barely keeping her feet.  Isana lands gracefully at her side.  "I'm sorry about that.  Are you OK?"

Lily rolls her shoulders.  "Yeah.  A little stiff, but I'll live."

"I'll have you out of those manacles in a moment."  True to her word, Isana reclaims the lockpick and easily undoes the restraints.  With a bit more difficulty, she manages to get out of her own.  Isana takes a seat and pats the floor invitingly.  "Please, Princess, allow me to rub your shoulders.  This is my fault, after all."

Later, Lily drifts to sleep nestled against Isana as the pair share her cape for warmth.  The floor's uncomfortable, but it's much, much better than the alternative.  Her sleep is restless.  Every time she wakes up, Isana strokes her head and assures her everything's fine.  One time she hears Isana muttering under her breath.  "Oh, Lily...  You're so sweet.  But why... why did you have to come tonight...?"

---

Isana wakes Lily early in the morning.  Lily isn't happy about any of it, but she lets Isana put her back in chains.  The dancer shows off her dexterity, using Lily as a footstool to leap onto the beam where she puts her own restraints back on.  She even manages to lower herself slowly enough to not jerk Lily painfully into the air.

She gives Lily a brave smile.  "That's one night down, Princess.  Just another week until we arrive in Regna Ferox!"

Isana's timing was excellent.  Before Lily can respond, she hears the sound of several people stomping down the hall.  Zenia throws open the door with a furious snarl plastered across her face.  Her eyes dart around the room before coming to rest on the still-sleeping guard.  She walks over and kicks him in the side of the head, then turns on Lily and Isana.

"Which... one... of you... did it...?" Zenia growls.  Lily's never seen her like this.  Even in her worst moments, she's never seemed so... out of control.

Lily recoils despite herself.  "Did... Did what?"

Zenia hurls a flask of water to the ground.  "Poisoned the fresh water!  And destroyed what you couldn't!  Did you think we're going to turn around?"

"I...  I don't know what you're talking about," Isana probably lies.

"Ha...  Haha!  HA!"  Zenia laughs maniacally.  "Sure, we can't make it back to Regna Ferox!  But you think sleep poison is going to stop us?  We've got plenty to make it to Terranus to restock!  Now, how did you do it!?"

"I... didn't..." Isana protests.

"She never left the room!" Lily interjects.  She can't help but feel vulnerable.

"Oh, shut up!"  Zenia turns to her men.  "Search the ship top-to-bottom!  I want anything she may have stashed around found!  You two, search this room!"  With that, Zenia storms off.  The ship springs to life, every room abuzz with activity as Lily and Isana are left hanging.

At noon, Zenia comes back with a few of her men.  She doesn't say anything.  A pirate points to a spot near Isana's feet.  Zenia walks over and bends down.  She fishes the lockpick out of a crack in the floorboards.  She holds it up to Isana's face.

The dancer smiles nervously.  "Heh heh...  Oops.  Shoulda tossed it out the window, huh?"

Zenia nods.  "Yeah."  She turns to Lily with a crazy look in her eye.  "So.  Princess.  Did you... have anything to do with this?"

(A) She asked me to hide the lockpicks and bring them to her, but she never left the room!
(B) She gave me the lockpicks, but I chose to bring them to her...  And we didn't touch the water!
(C) We didn't do anything!
(D) It was all my idea.  All if it.
(E) It was all Isana's idea.  All of it.
(F) I'd say it was about 50-50...
(G) I'M GONNA ****ING KILL YOU, ZENIA.  (Swing violently at her)
(H) Picking the locks, poisoning the water, and spitting in your breakfast...  It's all Alice's fault!

Oh goodie, my discreet lockpick exchange scheme changed/did nothing. Not even short term.

C) One of your boys gave that pick to us. Hid his face and left as quick as he came, though. Probably felt sorry for us.

"We didn't do anything!" Lily insists. "It was one of your men! He came in the dark and gave it to us! Maybe he wanted to help us, or maybe he was just framing us so he-"

Zenia grabs Lily and squeezes her cheeks. "Why do you insult my intelligence like this, Princess? You must think I'm stupid. Is it because I'm strong? There's plenty of strong warriors in Regna Ferox, but most wouldn't last a second in Feroxi court. You don't get where I am by being stupid."

"She's right. Don't waste your breath, Princess." Isana bows her head. "I had Lily smuggle them in for me. But I didn't tell her why. She probably thought it was just so I could... get down and stretch a bit. She doesn't know anything about the water. I went after she was asleep. Everything was my idea, she was just a pawn."

"Isana..." Lily begins.

"Well?" Zenia demands. "Is it true?"

(A) I had no idea she his those picks on me while I was asleep, I just came to check on her! Everything was her!
(B) It's true.
(C) It's true, but I still chose to do it!
(D) Bull****! I'm telling you, Isana didn't leave this room!
(E) I'm telling you, it was one of your own men!
(F) It was my idea in the first place!
(G) ONCE I'M DOWN FROM HERE I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!

We're in the second-worst position to be making demands or empty threats. If we at least try to play the part of the quasi-helpless damsel, it can lead to her or the soldiers underestimating us and giving an opening.

We'll be sure to rub it in when we have the advantage, of course.

Might as well say D, since the guard's water was tainted before Isana got a chance to leave.

Lily thrashes to face Zenia as directly as possible.  "Bull****!  Isana never left this room!  I was sleeping right next to her, I think I would have noticed!"  She looks over to the still-groggy guard from the night before and stops to think for a moment.  "Besides, there's no way..."  There's no way Isana could have poisoned his water!  Even if Isana did manage to sneak out without waking her, collect some poison - and where would she even have that stashed? - then sneak into the hold to sabotage the water...  Huh?  There's too much that just doesn't make sense!

"Princess...  Lily.  Stop.  Just stop.  Please."  Isana's voice is weak and shaky.  "She'll find out the truth eventually, she probably already knows.  So just tell her.  It'll be easier."

"But-"

"Just admit I used you like a pawn and beg for mercy!" Isana yells.  There's a hint of desperation in her voice.  "Stop trying to protect me and just worry about yourself!  I...!  I...  I knew what I was getting into.  I made my choices.  There's no point in you suffering, too..." she trails off quietly.

Zenia taps her foot impatiently.  "This is the last time I'm going to ask before I lose my patience.  Isana says this was all her idea.  Even if I know she's full of ****, I'm inclined to believe her.  But you say I have a traitor to hunt down.  So, which is it?"

(A) It was someone else!
(B) It... was Isana.
(C) It... was my doing.  Isana's just trying to protect me.
(D) ...I don't know.  I'm sorry.
(E) I'm going to kill you!  Sooner or later, I'll ****ing kill you!

A) Point out the obvious: how did that guy over there get tainted water before Isana could've feasibly left the room?

Also, I personally wouldn't poison water that we ourselves are also going to be drinking.

I can't say anything. I'm busy.

I'm gonna wait.
I don't want Kitty-Kitty to fall behind...