Age of Destruction: Fire Emblem CYOA

"Fine, dammit...!" Lily mutters.

"Lily, don't...!" Isana calls out.

"The...  The traitor...  nnngh...  The traitor... is... Z-Z-ZENIAAAA!  Zenia!" Lily screams everything after 'traitor' as loud as she can.  Lily just hopes Zenia heard her.  She has no idea how big this ship is...

Bruise-face is ecstatic.  "Great.  That's great.  Just say it a few more times.  Wait here, I'm gonna go get some of the others and you can explain to them."  He pauses at the door and he smiles wider.  "Well, guess I don't really need to tell you to wait here.  Heh heh."

He disappears.

"Lily...  Please don't... please don't do this," Isana begs.  "Don't fall to their level!  Zenia's been... fair to us!  Please...!"

The other two guards carelessly toss the bucket in the barrel.  "Zenia!" Lily calls again.  She grunts with effort.  "ZENIA!"

Bruise-face comes back with a sizable group.  "We found out who the traitor is.  Took it right from the princess' mouth."

"How do we know she ain't lyin'?" one of them asks.

"She wasn't so tough.  Ha!  A little 'persuasion' and she was begging to tell us.  And what more would you expect from some pampered, spoiled noble?  Watch how she squirms!"  He scoops another bucket and tosses it in.

Lily feels something in her arm snap.  Audibly.  Her vision blurs.  She feels like she's going to vomit.

---

Lily's Strength temporarily decreases by 3.
Lily's Skill temporarily decreases by 3.
Lily's Defense temporarily decreases by 3.
Lily's max HP temporarily decreases by 2.
Lily's Speed temporarily decreases by 2.
Lily's Resistance temporarily decreases by 1.
Lily's Magic temporarily decreases by 1.

---

Zenia walks in with a few others only to find Lily, not Isana, strung up.  And on the verge of losing consciousness instead of being in mild pain.  And surrounded by pirates who're supposed to be searching the ship.  And that defiant little prick she'd slammed into a wall yesterday is standing ahead of all them with a bucket in his hand.  

"He's the traitor!" Isana blurts out to the assembled crew.  "He poisoned the water!  He planted the lockpick!  He's trying to frame Zenia!"

That's all Zenia needs to hear.  Two lunging steps and her sword's out.  That bruise-faced bastard goes for his axe.  Too slow.  Four steps and she brings the blade down and cleaves deep into his chest.  Five steps, sword's free.  With the sixth, she chops Lily down.

Lily thuds onto the floor and immediately blacks out...

---

Lily wakes up to a searing sensation as something wrenches her arm.  It's the worst pain she's ever felt.  She retches, but it's already fading quickly.  It feels so much better after a few seconds, compared to how it felt when she passed out.

"Hmph.  You should have stayed asleep a bit longer.  I set your arm as best I could," Zenia says.

Lily gradually starts to become aware of her surroundings.  She's lying on the floor and Isana's holding her head in her lap while Zenia applys some kind of splint to her arm.  Lily notices her back feels... damp and cool, and much less painful.  A healing salve, she realizes.  From the lighting, it seems to be night.  All the others are gone, except a pair of unfamiliar crew members sitting on either side of the room.  Lily catches a scent of blood and notices a sizable pool not far away.  Enough for... three men...

"It appears I owe you an apology, as well as thanks," Zenia admits.  Lily waits for more to come, but Zenia just continues working on the splint while muttering to herself.  "Damned fools don't understand a body's limits...  Shouldn't have left that one anywhere near these two...  Heh.  Well, he's dead now, don't have to worry about that anymore..."

Isana rubs Lily's head quietly.  "I'm sorry.  This is all my fault, Lily.  No one else was supposed to get hurt...!  I'm so sorry..."

"How's that feel?" Zenia finishes her work and stands up.

Lily stares at Zenia.  "...Painful.  But better."

"Good.  Your little bodyguard has plenty of medicine for the rest of the trip and instructions on how to administer it.  There's also a spare change of clothes and some food.  With enough of that sleep-inducing water to make the night less painful."

"That's it?" Lily demands.  Her head is still swimming.

"Yes.  You're done here."

(A) "No, I most certainly am not!  You brought me here for a reason!  Now get back to beating the crap out of me!"
(B) "...Yes.  I am."
(C) "I'll go back in the morning."
(D) "...Fight me.  For Isana.  Right now."
(E) "OK, but I want to swap Hawke for..."

(Wait what just happened? Is Isana still going to be whipped to death? Umm is Lily still getting warked? Umm are we all dead and we just don't know it let?)

Umm C for now

What would the vote be for and what would be the choices?

Unless Isana gives a startling revelation or Zenia runs in screaming "EVERYTHING'S ON FIRE!" We can skip it.

I feel like we should have just skipped this chapter.

I haven't even fought anything yet.

We don't even have Gin to protect her...

The fought the urge to slap Zenia in her face that counts for something right?

Herpesface probably wouldn't be sleeping wit da fishes.

Also Isana probably got off easier which results in an automatic A support could mean something

"I'll go back... in the morning...  Just gonna... sleep here..."  Lily closes her eyes and passes out again.

Zenia taps her foot impatiently, then shrugs.  She pulls off her cape and tosses it over Lily.  She pauses to give the two guards a ferocious glare before heading out.

Lily wakes up some time in the middle of the night.  It seems someone - probably Isana - cleaned up her back while she was asleep.  She's still sore, but doesn't want to vomit anymore.  Isana's propped against a wall, holding Lily to keep her off her arm and back.  Isana wakes up, ruffles Lily's hair, and immediately goes back to sleep.  Lily shifts to get more comfortable, then does the same.

When the morning comes, Zenia comes to collect the princess.  Isana gives Lily a hug before she goes.  "Don't worry, Lily, I'm tougher than I look.  I'm going to be fine.  Have faith, and everything will work out.  Somehow..."  She gives Lily a peck on the cheek and lets her go.  Despite all the physical intimacy the pair had shared before, this felt... different.  Sincere.

On the short walk back to her room, Zenia gives Lily some advice.  "We're going to stock up on fresh supplies, then immediately set back out for Regna Ferox.  We should arrive about five days after.  So it's going to be about another week with this detour...  I pray you'll behave yourself until the end."

When Lily enters her room, Hawke rolls out of the bed and comes running.  He takes one look at Lily, pulls her away, and slugs Zenia in the face.  She stares back.  He goes to throw another punch, but Zenia steps back and slams the door into his fist.

"Ow."  He turns to Lily and starts examining her.  "You're injured."

"I'm fine."

"You aren't."

"You're right.  But that's because I'm worried about what Isana's got to look forward to today," Lily insists.  "...OK, maybe my arm still isn't...  Just shut up and help me change!"

"...Understood."  Hawke helps Lily change into a new tunic and put on a set of stockings Zenia sent; Lily's able to get her circlet on by herself.  Still not a full outfit, though.  Zenia doesn't seem to have that much trust.

Things are awkward for the next few minutes.  Lily bows her head.  "I'm sorry I snapped at you, Hawke.  I shouldn't have done that."

"It's fine."

"It's not!"

"I don't want to start arguing again."  Hawke shrugs.  "You're injured and upset.  Scared.  I don't hold it against you."

"I'm not... scared.  I'm just angry."

Hawke stares at her.  "Yes, you are scared.  Maybe not for yourself."

Lily stammers, then takes a seat on the bed.  She hugs her shoulders.  "I...  I feel powerless here.  I don't...  I don't even know what they're going to do to her, there's nothing I can do to stop them..."

"Better her than you."

"H-Hawke!"  Lily's mouth is open in shock.  "How could you... say that...!?"

"It's my job to protect you.  The way you feel now, I've felt for the last two days."

Lily sighs.  "I'm... sorry about that.  But Isana's been trying to protect me, too!"

"Then let her.  And be grateful about it."

Lily buries her face in her hands.  "...I need to remember to thank her later.  And you do, too."

"Fair enough."

"And... Hawke.  From now on, you don't just protect me.  You need to try to protect the others that are protecting me, too.  Understand?"

"...Yes."

---

Hawke and Lily reached support level A!

---

The pair spend most of the rest of the day in silence.  Every time an awkward conversation starts, it quickly ends as they hear something going on outside.  Lily keeps expecting to hear Isana screaming, but it never happens despite all the other noises she can hear.

Dinner comes with an extra bit of fruit to help stave off the thirst, but no water with it.  Lily assumes they must've run out of that sleep-inducing water by now.  Zenia doesn't make another appearance, but a pair of crewmen come in early in the night to sweep the room.  "Just to be sure you aren't up to anything," one explains.  They're surprisingly thorough, but there's nothing to find.

The sun sets, and the small candle in the room begins to flicker and soon dies.  With nothing else to do, Lily and Hawke drift off to sleep together...

---

Lily's Current stats

HP: 13
Str: 8
Mag: 10
Skill: 6
Speed: 10
Def: 8
Res: 8
Luck: 11

---

Lily and Hawke are suddenly awoken by a single sharp knock at the door.  There's no light other than a few droplets of starlight leaking through a porthole.  They sit up, straining to see in the dark as the door slowly opens.  They can barely make out a large, hunched shape producing some sort of dragging noise.  It stands up, seems to split in half, and shuts the door.

Lily's eyes adjust well enough to realize one of the two figures is a crewman.  The smell of blood and the fact it isn't moving suggests he's probably dead.  If he wasn't before, he certainly is when the other figure wrenches a knife from his chest.  The cloaked figure strips the corpse of its axe and walks over to the bed.  It offers the axe to Hawke and a knife to Lily.  "Ready to go?"

"Kurt...?"  Lily takes the knife without much thought.  Hawke follows her example and takes the axe.  "But...  What are you doing here?"

"Keep your voice down.  I used that warp powder Isana gave me to get on board and hide before I passed out.  That's what her note was about."  Kurt gives a flippant shrug.

Lily's still in shock.  "I thought you didn't trust Isana...?"

"I don't.  Or didn't, at least.  But she mentioned she's a friend of one of my contacts.  The nice young lady who warned me about that ambush in Meridia," Kurt explains.  "I was hoping to introduce you in Trine, but she's sort of disappeared.  But that's a problem for another day."

"But they searched the ship from top to bottom!  How did you-"

"Hey, now.  Who're you talking to?  Though I admit they almost got me when they started doing it again.  If you hadn't made that distraction when you did..."

"Di...stract...ion...?" Lily starts to recover from her surprise and anger starts bubbling up.  "Distraction!?  I was being tortured, Kurt!  They nearly broke my damn arm!  Stop being so damn flippant about this!  Why in Grima's name wasn't I told about anything in this plan!?"

"...It was safer for you not to know about me.  Just in case they... y'know.  Did that.  Or, if things went completely wrong, I was supposed to figure some way to get you to safety.  Or, if things went completely wrong, to find a way to take out the Great Khan."

"Wh-what...?"

"Yeah, things have gotten that bad.  Isana and I'll explain what's really going on with him once we get to the safehouse."

"Safehouse?  What 'safehouse?'" Lily demands.

"Ah.  Some resistance members and reinforcements are waiting for us in town.  We've just got to get off this ship."

"Resistance members.  No one mentioned...  No, how did they know to wait for us here, what if Zenia had chosen to land somewhere else?  What ab- no.  You know what?  Fine.  We're going to have a nice, long, potentially violent chat about all this later.  We'll focus on what's in front of us for now."

"Exactly.  We're in the port, and the crew's busy gathering supplies.  We've got... maybe 5 minutes before things get crowded down here.  You know where Isana is, right?"

Lily's glad she chose to visit her.  She just hopes she wasn't moved.  "Yeah.  She's right nearby."

"Good.  There's another group of prisoners on the floor below us."

"Gale?"

"I dunno.  I haven't been able to check, but I'm pretty sure it's just one group.  The stairs are pretty far away, but I can get us there.  Maybe we can find some weapons or medicine, too."

"Shouldn't we start by getting Isana?" Lily suggests.

Kurt sucks in air.  "She... warned me she probably wouldn't be in much of a condition to fight.  We could free her, but she'll probably just be dead weight.  And she's probably under guard.  I don't want to risk raising an alarm and only having the three of us and not even any decent weapons for you.  It's probably safer to get a few extra hands or at least a decent sword for you first."

"True, I'm... not in the best condition to fight..." Lily admits.  Even after a day to recover.  Isana must be in terrible condition, especially since they weren't splitting their attention between two prisoners.  Lily looks at the knife Kurt gave her.  Not a great weapon, either.  At least Kurt seems comfortable with his knives, and Hawke is fine with his axe.  Even if he doesn't have his wyvern.  "But..."

(A) Let's start by looking for some gear
(B) We're freeing Isana
(C) OK, let's go with your plan and head downstairs