Candlelight in the Shadows

[royaltyjunk]

Summary:

Only when Minerva shuts the door does she realize that Michalis had been hiding from the slanting sunlight pouring through his window. Written for the FE: Community Design challenge on Tumblr.

 

Author’s Ideas: The theme was light/dark. I love me some FE1/11/3/12. Also, Minerva’s great, I would die for her. So have both. Bonus of a family/sibling theme.

[Minerva was my first five-star in Heroes and I'm so glad she was she's great and you bet your ass I was on Team Minerva]

I may or may not have been so busy writing this I forgot to memorize my lines for an upcoming show… let’s pretend that never happened :^)

 

Disclaimer: I don’t own Fire Emblem - obviously.

 

~ / . / . / ~

 

Candlelight in the Shadows

 

~ / . / . / ~

 

Minerva knocks gently on the wooden door in front of her, the sound reverberating through the empty hallways.

 

“Michalis?”

 

The clock in the hallway ticks away furiously as she waits for a response from her brother. His gruff voice doesn’t respond from the other side of the door, and she knocks again.

 

“Michalis? Are you in there?”

 

Still, silence. She’s knocking desperately now.

 

“Michalis!?”

 

There’s a soft noise from the other side of the door, and Minerva leans against the door, calling loudly, “Michalis!? What’s happening? Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine. Go away.”

 

“Michalis…!”

 

When she hears her brother’s voice, she’s filled with relief, but it dies down as soon as he tells her to leave. With a huff of impatience and annoyance, she shoves open the door. “Michalis, you can’t just-”

 

“I said go away!” Michalis screams.

 

Minerva squints, spotting her brother squished up against the wall. “What are you-”

 

She pushes the door shut behind him and rushes to Michalis, but stops halfway there, catching a glance of her brother.

 

“Stay away, Minerva… go away… I don’t want to hurt. I don’t know what I could do like this, but… I don’t want you to suffer because of it.”

 

There was something majorly wrong with Michalis ever since the war ended - Minerva could tell, but she didn’t know it could amount to this - to this hideousness that’s crawling up along the left side of Michalis’s body.

 

His entire left side is a splotch of purple darkness, a mess of violet, lavender, magenta. His left hand is no different, and his entire hand has warped, now only a wrinkled palm with gnarly fingers and long, curly nails. His sclera is black, and he stares at her with a pleading red iris, a clear contrast to his remaining brown eye. His hair is dotted with black, red, and purple, like strands of the shadows themselves.

 

“It’s been seven years… I don’t understand. It was only supposed to last for that first war,” Michalis gasps, his form trembling violently.

 

“What was?” Minerva asks, her blood growing cold.

 

“Medeus’s darkness…” he whispers, “was his powers. He gave me some… he said he would take it away when I was defeated.”

 

“But… I defeated you,” Minerva says. “I defeated you… I know I did!”

 

“I know you did!” Michalis cries. “Something is wrong!”

 

She takes a step back shakily, a hand ghosting over her lips in shock.

 

“I have to tell Sister Lena… and Maria…” Minerva murmurs. “They’ll know what to do, they-”

 

“Just leave me alone,” he hisses, glaring at her from his position, pressed up against the wall. “Leave me alone!”

 

Only when Minerva shuts the door does she realize that Michalis had been hiding from the slanting sunlight pouring through his window.

 

~ / . / . / ~

 

The sunlight grows stronger the next day, when Michalis refuses to leave the shadows, and Maria spends the morning helping Sister Lena.

 

“Maria?” Minerva calls into the sanctuary tentatively.

 

“In here!” Her sister responds from the inside, and she follows Maria’s voice.

 

Minerva walks in on Lena, Julian and Maria, measuring a white dress.

 

“Who is that for?” Minerva asks, watching Maria collect a few pieces of ceremonial wear off the floor.

 

“We made it for you!” Maria says, rushing out the sanctuary and down the hallway, her ceremonial robes in her arms.

 

“But you didn’t have to-”

 

“Oh, come on, Minerva. Let us pamper you for a bit,” Julian grins, and Lena elbows him gently. With an “oof”, Julian leaves the room, a playful expression on his face. His wife sighs before holding out the white dress in front of Minerva.

 

“It looks wonderful. Why don’t you try it on?”

 

Minerva sighs in defeat before trudging off to her room, and Lena stifles a laugh behind her hand.

 

She emerges back into the sanctuary a few minutes later, a gentle expression on her face.

 

“It’s a very nice dress,” Minerva murmurs, spinning. “I couldn’t tie the strings on my back. There were too many.”

 

The red-haired bishop reaches forward, grasping at the strings and tightening them. “How is it?” Lena asks, gently tugging at the fabric strings along Minerva’s back.

 

“It’s fine. You can tie it.”

 

The strings are fastened along Minerva’s back, and she reaches for her red coat, slinging it on. Lena stands back, looking her over before smiling warmly.

 

“You look wonderful.”

 

“Sister Lena!”

 

Maria rushes up the sanctuary’s halls, her ceremonial bishop robes flowing behind her. There’s a veil in her arms and her bishop’s pendant is clutched in her hand.

 

Lena takes the veil from Maria and fastens it onto Maria’s head with a smile. Maria clips on her pendant and smiles back. Lena gives her a gentle kiss on the forehead. “There you go. Go on, now.”

 

“We’ll be back before you know it!” Maria grins and pushes open the doors. Lena watches Maria go before turning to Minerva, helping her button up her coat.

 

“It’s been awhile since we’ve had some orphans to care for. Keep an eye out for some, will you?” Lena asks, smoothing out Minerva’s coat when the last buttons click together.

 

“Alright,” Minerva gives Lena a slight curtsy, and the bishop smiles before leaning in.

 

“Keep an eye on Maria, too. I don’t know if it’s best for her to be outside after yesterday’s occurrences.”

 

Minerva nods, a wave of fear crashing over her. Shaking off the strong emotions, she follows Maria out of the church and down the streets that are crowded with people and vendors.

 

“The princesses of Macedon!”

 

“Over here, lovelies! I’ve got just the thing for you both!”

 

They ignore the calls of alluring shopkeepers and curious shoppers, looking upon the bustling city.

 

“Here you are!”

 

A light voice drifts from a certain stall along the edges of the city, and the sisters glance over. There, behind the makeshift open tavern, is a young brown-haired girl, her hair tied into a high ponytail with a pink hairband, a similar shade to the pink dress she wore. She hands off a red book to a customer, and looks up. Surprise lights in her eyes, but melts to happiness, and she waves, a great laugh bubbling from her lips.

 

“Princess Minerva! Princess Maria! Hello there!”

 

“Lady Linde? Why are you here?” Maria asks.

 

“Don’t call me ‘Lady Linde’! It makes you sound so formal, Maria. We’re friends!”

 

“Yes… yes, you’re right, Linde,” Maria beams. “But why are you here?”

 

“Selling tomes. Merric had way too many in his dusty academy in Altea, and I needed to raise some money to help rebuild Pales. It all worked out with this festival coming up, anyways.”

 

“Why come here? Surely there are better places to sell, where there are more purchasers?” Minerva asks.

 

“Oh, of course. I’m just covering as much ground and meeting as many old allies as I can in these few festival days.”

 

“Where have you been so far?” Behind her, Maria scuffles away, flipping through the pages of the tomes Linde has on sale.

 

“Altea, to visit Merric, Marth, and Caeda… Archanea, if you can still it that, to visit Jeorge, Midia, and Astram… I bumped into Sheena in Pales, with that mercenary friend of hers. Samson, I think? They were selling flowers and baskets, so if you need some, head on down there!” Linde winks, holding up a finger.

 

“It sounds nice. We’ll probably visit soon. Maria-” Minerva turns over her shoulder to speak to her sister, only to realize that the tavern is empty aside from her and Linde.

 

“Huh? Where’d Maria go?” Linde asks, tilting her head.

 

A pit of despair opens in Minerva’s stomach, and she excuses herself quickly, bursting from the small store Linde has set up and glancing around the stands. There’s not a sign of her sister, and Minerva rushes down the streets.

 

Panicked, Minerva opens the door to a nearby makeshift shop, and the bells on the door chime as she looks inside. In the corner of the store is a head of red, veiled by white. She rushes to the redhead, ignoring the smell of medicine and herbs, something that would have normally disturbed her greatly.

 

“Maria!”

 

Her sister slams a box in her hands shut and whips around. She stands abruptly, a guilty look on her face. “Minerva?”

 

“Why did you run off like that?” She notices Maria’s expression and reaches out, readjusting the veil around Maria’s head. “Is something wrong? What were you looking at?”

 

“...Herbs. Healing herbs,” Maria murmurs, clasping her fingers around her bishop’s pendant. “I wanted to see if there was anything that could help him.”

 

“Oh, Maria…” Minerva hugs her sister tight, and Maria tenses up before relaxing, squeezing Minerva back.

 

“He'll be fine,” the older sibling whispers. “He'll be fine, he'll be okay.”

 

“I wish he would be,” Maria murmurs, and Minerva starts, pulling away.

 

“What do you mean?” She demands.

 

“Not knowing his symptoms doesn’t help,” Maria rambles on. “What caused that darkness? Why on him? I don’t know how to cure shadows. Even if staves use magical power, they can’t dispel the darkness. And herbs don’t help either. Michalis isn’t hurt physically, internally, or mentally - at least, it doesn’t seem like it.”

 

“Maria-”

 

“And I know, there’s no way to cure darkness. Darkness can only be slain by light, and to use light magic against Michalis wouldn’t just purify him, it’d remove him from the world along with the darkness in him, and I don’t want that to happen, I don’t!” Maria’s voice pitches to a breathy and high whisper, her words barely comprehensible with the multiple wavering in her voice.

 

“Maria… you need to rest. We’ll talk about this later. Let’s go back to the church for now,” Minerva murmurs. Thankfully, Maria just nods mutely, biting her lip. Her eyes are moist, but there are no tears - at least, not yet.

 

The bell above their heads chime as they open the door and walk down the cobblestone street that leads to the entrance of the wooden church. Lena is out front, washing a set of white dresses that belong to Maria. She glances up, surprise reflected on her face when she sees the Macedonian siblings.

 

“What are you two doing here?” She asks, standing and smoothing out her skirts. “I thought you were going to stay in the town square until night. There are many more shops this year than last year, aren’t there?”

 

“Maria needed a breather. Most of them were selling the same thing,” Minerva responded, lifting her white skirt to avoid trailing it in the mud around the stone path.

 

“What sorts of things?”

 

“Clothing, herbs and medicines, crops, weaponry, products like that. Although, we did run into Lady Linde. She was selling tomes on behalf of the people in Pales.”

 

“Linde? That’s interesting. I’ll have to stop by and give her my greetings.”

 

“I do believe Naverre was there,” Maria pipes up. “He was with another mercenary who looked much like him.”

 

“Samuel and Naverre?” Minerva asks, frowning. “They were here?”

 

Maria ponders on the thought, and responds, “I think they just came to look at the swords, though. They didn’t hear me calling out to them.

 

Lena smiles, a nostalgic look in her eyes. “I’ll leave once I finish washing these, then. Can you two make sure you take them in at sundown if I’m not back by then?”

 

“Of course, Sister Lena,” Minerva nods before pushing open the large church doors, greeted by multi-colored light that pours in from the stained glass windows of the church sanctuary..

 

Julian is sitting in the back pews of the sanctuary, and looks behind him when he hears the door crack open. He smiles, standing and shoving his hands in his pockets.

 

“Back already?”

 

“Maria needed a breather,” Minerva repeats, shedding her red coat and hanging it up on the coat hanger beside the doors. The strong smell of herbs and flowers tells her that incense was recently burned. “Lena’s going out soon. You should join her.”

 

“Maybe I will,” Julian responds, brushing past them as he exits, whistling a soft tune.

 

The sisters share a knowing glance before exiting the sanctuary through a side door that leads into a carpeted hallway. The hallway is lit with small candles and sunlight streaming through the small windows. Minerva wrenches her gaze from the door on the far side of the hallway, a room too recently flooded with bitter darkness.

 

Maria opens the door to her room, and Minerva makes to leave, but her sister catches her hand. Minerva turns and Maria lets go of her hand.

 

“I'm tired of this, Minerva,” her sister murmurs, leaning against the doorframe. “I'm tired of these wars. Even if it's over, the consequences still affect us and I dislike it so much.”

 

“I know, Maria,” Minerva coaxes. “I dislike it too. But we have to endure it.”

 

“Why us?” Maria cries loudly. “We fought hard and experienced heartbreak! We were just like the soldiers that fought alongside us! And yet… we have the worst consequence upon us! That we will lose-”

 

“Hush!” Minerva yells over her sister, and Maria stares at her, wide-eyed and mouth shut. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just… Michalis…”

 

“I know, Minerva. I'm sorry for raising my voice too.”

 

Maria glances up at her sister anxiously, and Minerva smiles.

 

“Make sure you get some rest, Maria,” Minerva commands, stroking her hair.

 

“I want to see him,” Maria says. “Can I go with you tonight?”

 

“Maria…” One look at her sister tells Minerva that Maria is not going to be swayed. “Alright. I suppose. I'll stop by your room when I go to visit him, at moonrise. Get some sleep by then, okay?”

 

Maria gives her a soft smile, but the light in her younger sister has disappeared somehow, and before Minerva can question her, the princess-turned-bishop closes the door on her.

 

~ / . / . / ~

 

Her sister’s white dress glows under the candlelight, and Minerva huddles into her red coat self-consciously.

 

“Do you really want to come along?” Minerva whispers hushedly. Maria nods firmly, but doesn’t say anything. Minerva sighs. “Listen, Maria-”

 

“What are you girls doing up so late?” Julian’s voice rings from above them, and the sisters glance up to see the former thief leaning over the wooden railing of the staircase. “It’s almost night, and you know how active the little critters are around here.”

 

“We were just going to see Michalis,” Minerva calls back. “We’ll get to bed as soon as we finish.”

 

“Alright. Just don’t make Lena fret again, you hear?”

 

“Yes, Julian. Good night,” Minerva says, and Maria reiterates her sister’s words before hurrying down the hallway.

 

The candle in Maria’s hand glows, leading them past the corridors and the door to the sanctuary, where the smell of incense floats from. They stop at a door at the far end of the hallway, Michalis’s room, where Minerva takes a deep breath.

 

“Listen, Maria… I don’t know if it’s good for you to be here. Michalis didn’t want to see anyone last time I came by, but… if anyone, you deserve to see him. Don’t step out of line, alright?

 

Maria squeezes Minerva’s hand, and she smiles before opening the door.

 

Michalis hisses as soon as he sees the door open, and presses himself closer to the smooth stone wall. His eyes soften for a moment when he realizes who had stepped into his room before hardening again, an angry look in his remaining brown eye.

 

“Michalis?” Minerva asks cautiously. Maria blows out the candle in the holder, and sets it down on the small table in the middle of the room before following Minerva closely, an unidentifiable look in her eyes.

 

“Why are you two here?” Michalis narrows his eyes, pulling his black cloak around himself and blending into the shadows, his head, half full of red hair and one brown eye the only things that stand out in the blackness. “I told you to stay away.”

 

“I-”

 

Minerva’s cut off by Maria, who lets out a noise, akin to the sound of choking. Minerva turns to her sister just before Maria collapses to her knees in front of Michalis. Minerva catches a glimpse of Maria’s face, and knows the look on her sister’s face - her eyes rimmed red and familiar hiccuping movement in her throat tells Minerva that she’s been crying, or is about to start.

 

“Maria!?” Michalis cries out, his eyes filled with worry and voice pitched with emotion. Yet, he only reaches out his unaffected hand from the shadows, but Maria takes his outstretched fingers, holding his hand tight as she cries into her other one.

 

“Maria…” Minerva sits beside her sister, tucking Maria’s stray hairs behind her ear.

 

Her breath is inconsistent from her, trying to hold back her tears.

 

“Maria, it’s okay. You can cry.”

 

“But-”

 

“We’re your siblings,” Minerva and Michalis both respond immediately.

 

Maria glances at them both, a lost look in her eyes before tears spring up, tears that fall too fast for her to stop, and soon she’s crying and crying, like she’s never cried before.

 

Stroking her sister’s hair, Minerva embraces her as Maria cries. Michalis squeezes her hand, and Maria gives him a gentle smile through the tears welling up in her eyes.

 

“What happened?” Michalis coaxes his sister, in a hushed voice.

 

Maria glances at Minerva pleadingly, and she nods to Maria, tightening their embrace for a second. Her younger sister lets out a gentle breath, nodding to Minerva.

 

The former Dragon Lord looks Michalis in the eyes, swallowing down the lump of fear and hesitation in her throat. Maria had entrusted her with this task.

 

“Maria… she was looking for ways to cure you.”

 

“You didn’t-”

 

“She couldn’t find one,” she says bluntly, and turns her head away, not bothering to hide the pained expression she knows is being displayed on her face.

 

“I can’t cure you. I can’t cure you,” the youngest of the siblings repeats softly to herself like a mantra, and then silences herself with another half-stifled sob. Michalis scoots forward a little bit.

 

“It’s just like that time,” Minerva murmurs under her breath.

 

“What time?” Michalis asks, looking at his sister.

 

“She’d stay up all night, just to make sure you were okay,” Minerva ignores his question, “and she’d work herself sick. It came to the point where I had to stay in her room to make sure she didn’t sneak off during the night to your room. She’d hug you and pray with tears streaming down her face. I remember it so vividly, like it was yesterday.”

 

“Maria… I know you saved me, but… you tried that hard? You were just…” he trails off, turning his gaze to the black cloak draped around him.

 

“A child…” Maria murmurs, squeezing Michalis’s hand. “Still… they wouldn’t let anyone treat you… they wanted to leave you for dead. Then, and even now… I don’t understand why. But…! I wanted to save you, I really did! That’s why I tried so hard! Minerva never said it, but I knew it was all up to me to save you. So I tried! I really did! I wanted you to get better, just like now! But now… I don't know…” Maria breaks off with a sob.

 

“Maria…” He clenches his shadowed hand, and then Michalis looks up at Maria, a determined look in his eyes.

 

“I’ll go tomorrow. I’ll go with you two, and we can look together. Just us, as siblings. Like before that war…”

 

“Brother…! Thank you!” Maria wipes her tears from her eyes, and pulls Michalis to his feet, taking his other hand. The moonlight pours through the window at the moment, and in a grand moment of light and dark, Michalis, with a body half afflicted with shadows, is standing under white brightness, and Maria is covered in shadows.

 

Yet, Michalis doesn’t flinch, and neither does Maria. They embrace, and Minerva slips from the room then, feeling the silence around her drag on as she exits the room.

 

When she leaves, she takes the candle with her. As she relights the candlestick, the red of her cloak and hair is reflected against the bright white moonlight and the dark patchy shadows of the church walls, like Maria and Michalis themselves.