halfamoon | [Day 3] Fire Emblem: Awakening

Title: Villains
Day/Prompt: Day 3/The Story Behind The Villain
Fandom: Fire Emblem: Awakening
Character/Pairing: Lucina, Cynthia, Owain
Rating/Warning(s): AA, post-canon
Word Count: ~978
Summary: Lucina discovers that her sister and cousin have taken up interesting new professions.
--

Lucina read the sign a second time, blinking. Well, if nothing else, she'd found Cynthia and Owain. That much was clear...

Though for her younger sister to be advertising herself at the gate as Evil Witch Cynthia, and for their cousin to be equally proudly Dreadlord Owain... No, no, that did sound like them, just perhaps a bit more villainous? Of course, there was also the small print on the shingle and that made Lucina feel a bit better.

She quietly let herself into the cottage's yard, latching the gate behind her and admiring the herb beds growing off to one side. Cynthia hadn't seemed quite like the witch-type, but a few years had passed and she had always had a knack for magic. She did try more with their mother's fortunes as well-- Ah, that would explain all the flowerpots! And some of the small print, too.

Lucina knocked at the cottage's door, very curious.

The door was flung open a moment later, and Owain stood there in what had to be a hastily-grabbed costume.

"You've come to challenge Dreadlord Owain and--" He stared, realizing who was looking back at him.

"Hello, Owain," Lucina said with a smile. "You look well. I'm glad."

"Lucina?" Owain grinned and pulled her into his arms. "What are you doing here? Come in! Cynthia was just making lunch. Terrible, evil sandwiches, I mean, filled with..."

"Is it a customer?" Lucina heard her sister's voice call.

"You do need to explain all of this," Lucina said softly, laughing just a bit against Owain's shoulder. She didn't entirely want to let him go, but she didn't entirely need to in order to be pulled into the cottage.

"Have you come for a fortune? Or for ill-fortune?" Cynthia bounded into the cottage's main room, obviously also just-costumed. Her eyes went wide before she launched herself forward. "Luciiiii!"

Lucina laughed and caught Cynthia half in her arms, half-against Owain.

"I should prefer a good fortune, or at least a non-evil sandwich," Lucina said as she stroked Cynthia's hair, knocking her little witch's hat askew. "It's good to see you. I've missed you-- both of you-- so very much."

"Then come and eat," Owain declared. "I'll have you know that Evil Witch Cynthia is a fantastic cook these days."

"For my beloved Dreadlord Owain," Cynthia replied with a giggle. "Oh, Lucina, we should probably explain why we're evil now!"

Lucina tried to hold in a little sigh. "You should, though I daresay it's not the sort of evil I should worry about at all."

"Hey, we're taking this very seriously!"

Lucina shook her head and let Cynthia pull her to the kitchen, which was an interesting mix of what a witch's kitchen should seem like while also being bright and airy.

"When we got here, there was a real evil witch," Cynthia explained as she took a stack of books off a chair, piled them on the counter, and then dragged it over to the table for Lucina to sit. "We defeated her and she decided that maybe she was too old to be an evil witch and she'd retire to a nice Outrealm with a hot springs."

"Mmmhmm." Lucina sat, still looking around. Aside from drying herbs hung from whitewashed beams, there were shelves of jars labeled with questionable things, but they were opaque enough to contain anything...

"But heroes kept arriving, also wanting to defeat her!" Owain continued. "Apparently, she'd been good for the town as far as hero tourism went. They could handle storms of toads and occasional rainstorms of blood in exchange."

Lucina nodded. That made enough sense in a... weird way.

"I can tell fortunes," Cynthia said with a shrug. "Owain has his sword-hand, and being a witch is fairly easy overall. We keep the tourist thing going and we don't even have to bother with toad storms. Nobody has ever come close to beating us, but it's not like we actually hurt them, either."

"Dreadlord Owain, controlled by dark magic, cannot help but fall victim to the bright pureness and good of those who come challenging..."

"That's very honorable of you," Lucina interjected. "It sounds like you've quite the nice life here, even if it's not what I was expecting. I'm sure our parents won't mind the report, though."

Already, she could imagine her father giving her mother, and Robin, the most helpless of looks. Aunt Lissa, well... perhaps she'd show up and demand a toad rain? That might be worth tagging along.

"It's a lot of fun," Cynthia said as she finished grabbing food from the counter. Aside from sandwiches, there were other vegetables that all looked fresh and quite tasty. "Owain fixes things around town, and I have learned a good bit of helpful magic and some lovely hexes that I can sell, aside from fortunes."

Lucina considered and then reached for a sandwich. "Perhaps I can challenge the Evil Witch and Dreadlord after lunch?"

Cynthia winced and looked to Owain, who seemed to be equally apprehensive for a moment. But then both smiled.

"Okay," Cynthia finally said. "But we both know you can beat us. If we're vanquished, then you become the next evil witch..."

"I'm not entirely sure I have time for that."

"How about you fall under our dark spell for a few weeks, instead? There's a spare bedroom of terror upstairs," Owain suggested.

That was far more agreeable, though Lucina did want to spar with her cousin, at least. She'd always enjoyed crossing swords with him, evil or not. Perhaps he had some interesting new blades to go with his occupation. Though they would not stand against Falchion...

"I would like that very much," Lucina replied. Honestly, she couldn't think of anything she'd enjoy more--

And if she ever did need a change of pace in the future, now she knew who to vanquish.