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It was a cloudy night. The stars were barely visible shining through the clouds. Too obscured to make out any of the constellations or find any of the planets. They were seemingly lost to her sight tonight as well.
Takamatsu Tomori thought about this as she and the rest of MyGO!!!!! marched through the path leading through the forest. As they walked, Tomori clung tightly to her chest the sword of bone that she had been entrusted so many years before. She wished to merely hold it, that she would never need to swing it again. It wasn’t her sword. It wasn’t her desire.
Taking point for the group was Tomori’s trusted friend Shiina Taki, sheathed thin blade at her side, and their guide and guardian, the Paladin Ferdinand von Aegir, on his horse. Behind her were her other bandmates, Chihaya Anon, Nagasaki Soyo and Kaname Raana, each carrying their instruments; Soyo and Anon on their backs and Raana at her side. The five of them surrounded Tomori as if to protect her from the harsh and hostile world of today.
Looking at Ferdinand’s back, she remembered how Soyo and Taki openly and suspiciously wondered if it was instead the sword that he in particular was protecting. Why would a decorated and high ranking Imperial officer lend his services as a bodyguard for a band of foreigners, they argued. The sword was clearly a Relic, something the Adrestian Empire had clear interest in. He always shrugged off their accusations and treated them with chivalry and kindness; Tomori couldn’t understand what he truly felt.
As always.
“If everything as it was when I last passed through here, there should be a chapel at the next clearing, overlooking a cliff.” Ferdinand spoke, waving his hand to the distance as he did so. “Considering our closeness to the Faerghus border, the chapel was likely abandoned by superstitious fools who feared what the Emperor would do to them but it should still provide shelter for the night.”
“Have we passed a chapel this far north that wasn’t abandoned…?” Anon muttered to herself. None of MyGO!!!!! were practitioners of the Seiros faith, so Tomori never really payed attention to the status of their temples. Was it normal to abandon them in times of war and upheaval? She didn’t really have an interest in temples and shrines beyond the visits her family would make back home, so it never occurred to her.
As Ferdinand had said the forest path eventually gave way to a clearing, not just in the forest but to the land itself, a cliff that seemed to overlook the entire countryside. Tomori found herself walking over to the edge, staring out into the still cloudy sky and the vast land that overlooked it. The leaves and flowers from the trees behind them flowed past in the strong wind off the cliff and towards the land below. A high place overlooking the land where the flowers and leaves blew...wasn’t this just like the place where she met Sakiko, what seemed so recent yet also forever ago now?
“Tomori. We’re here.” Taki gently but firmly called out to her, bringing her out of her trance. Taki’s long black hair blew in the wind flowing like a river, simultaneously raging and beautiful, her purple eyes gazing gently at Tomori.
“R...right.” Tomori turned from the cliff side to the sight of a slightly worn chapel just ahead of them, the marble and cracked stained glass shining in the moonlight in contrast to the swaying trees. Even in ruin, the brilliant marble illuminated by the light seemed to shine as if it were an earthbound mirror to the moon in the sky, the cracks in the walls analogous to the moon’s craters. “...are...the trees the stars then?” She muttered.
Taki kept close to her as they approached, a small smile creeping onto her face as she noticed Tomori gaze at the chapel and overhearing her muttering.
“It seems we can presume no one is home then…?” Soyo muttered as the group assembled at the grand front doors.
Raana shook her head. “Someone’s here.” She didn’t elaborate.
Ferdinand smiled and opened the door, having gotten off of his horse. “Then let us great them and ask for their aid for the night!”
Despite Raana’s words, the chapel appeared completely empty. No one responded to Ferdinand’s calls which echoed through the grand hall.
As the six entered, again in their formation around Tomori. Again with Tomori clinging tightly to the sword of bone. They couldn’t help but notice that for a ruin, it was surprisingly clear of clutter. Not exactly clean, but enough to suggest that someone was indeed here at some time recently.
Despite their misgivings, the chapel did provide the safe shelter they were looking for the night. Taki laid down the satchel she was carrying on her back and began pulling out blankets and pillows for her bandmates to lay down on. Soyo at least made the motions of winding down as well and began assisting Taki in setting up their sleeping area but everyone else was on alert. MyGO!!!!! knew that Raana’s intuition was usually correct, so they were just silently waiting for the shoe to drop.
Maybe they were just travelers seeking shelter like them. Maybe this apprehension was for nothing. Tomori secretly wished that they were already gone though, whoever they were. War had made a world that already felt confusing and alienating even more so. Tomori held the sword of bone close to her chest as her bandmates and Ferdinand carefully and silently combed over their surroundings with their eyes.
Soyo sighed. “I understand being cautious, but if we are too tense we won’t be able to do anything if they are hostile.” She turned to Tomori. “Tomori-chan. If you’re worried, shouldn’t you be holding that sword by its hilt? You should be prepared if something happens.”
“Oh… Right.” Tomori flipped the sword around in her arms so that the hilt, which before touched gently against her chin, was now in her hands. She extended the blade away from her...something that she felt uneasy about. She held her sword firmly, but she didn’t want to fight. It wasn’t her desire.
Soyo and Taki finished laying out the sleeping area and punctuated it by placing the satchel in the center of the hall. Six blankets were laid out around the satchel between the desolate pews, three on each side, so they each could have some semblance of privacy. Soyo and Anon moved to them, laying their instruments down by their chosen blankets, while Ferdinand and Taki stood firmly on guard and Raana and Tomori both just...stood still.
“That sword! That’s his sword!” A sudden call came from an unexpected place: above. “That sword belonged to the bastard who killed the boss!”
Ferdinand readied his spear, Taki drew her sword and Anon and Soyo took cover beneath the pews as armed thugs began to drop down from the higher levels of the chambers behind the main alter, jumping out of the broken window on the back wall. Before long the enemy was upon them; Taki’s blade and Ferdinand’s spear clashed with their own blades as the two moved to shield Tomori and others among the pews.
But two people can’t hold off an entire group, and one slipped past and charged to Tomori, hatred in his eyes directed at her blade. His axe swung down at her…
...and Tomori parried it with her blade. Hesitating for only a moment, she swung the sword back at her attacker. The sword was so heavy in her hands and her attacks were crude and inelegant...but they were fierce and the weight of the blade came crushing down on the attacker. Panicked and scared, she kept swinging. Over and over...until the attacker stopped moving.
It happened again. The horrible thing. The thing she never wanted to do. It wasn’t her desire!
Before she could think, another attacker charged at her. Now moving by reflex, she blocked his blade with her sword and thrusted forward to break his guard, the heavy sword piercing through his weapon handle, then armor, then body. Tears flowing from Tomori’s horrified eyes as the body flowed from the sword. Another came after, only for Taki’s sword to cut him down before he could approach Tomori any further.
“Tomori! Are you alright? They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Taki said as she swiped the blood off of her sword and extended a hand towards her, urgency and worry clearly apparent in her voice.
Tomori simply nodded, still holding the sword tightly. “I’m...I’m fine.”
Anon popped up from behind the pew, holding the satchel behind her back. “I think Mister von Aegir has this from here, let’s go Tomorin!” She grabbed Tomori by one hand, pulling it off of the hilt of the sword of bone and began pulling her away from the carnage. Taki followed closely after, sword still drawn and ready to strike at whoever tried to stop them or attack Tomori again.
As the sounds and screams of battle raged behind them, the four of them emerged back out of the chapel onto the cliff side, the wind still blowing as if nothing had happened at all.
“Ah, Raana-chan? When did you…?” Soyo called out at the sight of Raana sitting on the edge of the cliff looking out over the land, her having slipped away when the chaos started without anyone noticing.
“Someone was here.” And that’s all Raana said on the matter.
Tomori slowly walked, no, dragged herself, towards the cliffside, stopping before she reached the edge. Her breathing was heavy, sweat flowing down her brow and her eyes tilting upwards towards the sky. Was she looking away from the blood that tainted the sword of bone in her hand? Or was it simply because….
“….the clouds are clearing.” Tomori said. “The stars…”
Anon nodded. “Oh! You can finally see the stars, right? We can see the moon now too!”
Tomori simply nodded. Without warning, she fell to her knees, tears welting up in her eyes.
Taki quickly ran to her side. “Tomori! Are you okay??”
“I...didn’t want to kill anyone.”
“It’s not your fault. They attacked us. It’s not your fault.” Taki’s voice was gentle and soothing, a tone that the others only heard around Tomori.
“I never wanted this…”
Soyo put her hand on Tomori’s shoulder, having walked up to them quietly. “It’s OK. None of us did. ...it really has been a lot for us to go through.”
“W….Why?” Tomori’s words came out weakly. “Why is this happening…?”
Taki looked away, teeth clinched. “I….don’t know.”
“I wish I had an answer for you, my friends. But alas, to nobles and the common folk alike, fate is cruel.” The voice of Ferdinand von Aegir rang out from behind them, causing Tomori to slowly turn to face him. He was slightly injured, but carried himself as if he was none the worse for wear. He was dragging one of the attackers behind him, restrained but otherwise alive. “I am glad to see you were all able to get out of the chapel unscathed.”
“Hah?” Taki scowled at the sight of the restrained man. “Why are you carrying one of those creeps behind you?!”
Ferdinand nodded, as unflappable as ever, and pulled up the man to show them his shoulder sleeve. “Do you recognize this emblem on his clothing? It was posted all over Garreg Mach after Professor Jeralt was assassinated.”
“J...Jeralt.” Tomori muttered, remembering the stern, gruff yet kind Paladin. She remembered how he and his mercenary band had rescued her and her family on their way to Garreg Mach when they were accosted by brigands, seemingly just because the mercenaries happened to be in the area. Even though she had no interest or desire for war, she respected Jeralt. Maybe that was why when his son Byleth entrusted her with this sword of bone...
“So these people...they were the ones who…!” Tomori continued, a rage building in her eyes as she remembered Jeralt’s death.
Ferdinand shook his head. “These are the remnants of Kosta’s gang. They were involved as fodder that fateful day, but they were not the one who did the deed.”
“I...I told you! We haven’t seen that girl in ages!” The ruffian tried to protest, only for Ferdinand to elbow him quiet again.
“I plan to take him back to the capital and interrogate him on the whereabouts of ‘that girl’.” Ferdinand continued, acting like the ruffian’s outburst didn’t happen at all. “Unfortunately, that means I must leave you now.”
“Aw, really Mister von Aegir?” Anon said. “Are you sure about leaving us alone?”
“-or leaving behind Tomori-chan’s sword?” Soyo added, her sweet voice hiding her venom.
Ferdinand waved his free hand over his hair and smiled. “It cannot be helped I’m afraid. It was always a risk for you to be seen crossing the border into Faerghus accompanied by an Adrestian Paladin after all. They say there is a wild boar who hunts our very scent. But I will wish that you continue to have good fortune. You are a capable bunch after all, I have faith in you.”
“Grr. Fine. As long as you don’t do anything else to bother Tomori.” Taki growled at him.
Ferdinand simply laughed her off and dragged his prisoner to his horse. “And so I am off! My friends, I wish to hear your songs again one day!” With that, Ferdinand von Aegir rode off, prisoner in toe against his back, into the forest and out of MyGO!!!!!’s sight. They could faintly hear the sound of the horse galloping and the ruffian’s protests for a time, until there was nothing but the sound of the winds reaching their ears.
Tomori dragged her sword of bone to the cliff side and sat down next to Raana, her eyes once again drawn to the now clear sky. Staring at the stars would help remove her from this painful, bloody world, even if only for a moment. She just stared, wordlessly.
“...Soyorin, how do we get to the Faerghus border from here? Mister von Aegir was the one who was actually leading us and he just left....” Anon said, looking around the now abandoned chapel, the forest around them and the lands below.
Soyo sighed. “We will just have figure something out I suppose.” She turned to the chapel. “We should probably give those ruffians a proper burial.”
“Oh, right! Lest they haunt us or something.” And the two moved to do just that, leaving the other three alone for a moment in the cool breezy night air.
“That one?” After a long period of silence Raana’s voice called out, pointing to a red star in the sky.
“Oh, that one isn’t a star at all. It’s actually observed by astronomers to be a world close to ours. Some call it Mars, after the ancient Ylissian god-king, but at home we call it Kasei (fire star).” Tomori’s eyes glistened for the first time since the night began. “There is another one that shows up clearest at twilight or dawn and shines brightly. It is called the ‘morning star’ or ‘evening star’ depending on the time of day but it is actually another planet as well!”
Raana nodded. “Is there a matcha star?”
“Uh...erm...I don’t think so. But there is the Big Dipper!” Tomori pointed at the sky towards that constellation. “They are the seven brightest stars part of the bigger constellation Ursa Major, so named because when all together it forms a shape of a bear. These seven together form the shape of a ladle or dipper, and consist of Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid-” As she named each star, Tomori’s finger quickly moved to point at each one in the sky.
Taki wordlessly sat down by Tomori’s side, a gentle smile on her face listening to her talk about the stars. While Tomori’s eyes were on the stars and Raana’s were struggling to keep up with Tomori’s pointing, Taki’s warm gaze was on Tomori, glad that she could be freed from today’s suffering for even a moment. One could forget that they were in a bloody altercation just moments before, but they didn’t need to dwell on such things. They needed to keep going.
After a while, Soyo and Anon returned. “Come on everyone. We need to keep moving. We need to find a new safe place to camp before sunrise.” Soyo’s sisterly inflection took Tomori and Taki out of their trances and the three rose to meet their bandmates. As Tomori stood up, she instinctively grabbed her sword of bone and returned to holding it close to her chest.
It may not really be her sword and swinging it was never her desire. It may symbolize the painful world she now lives in, the aimless responsibility she was given...but she still wished to hold it.
“Where do we go from here then?” Anon asked as the five began to walk back into the forest the opposite way from where Ferdinand had gone, from where they originally emerged.
“Forward.” Tomori said simply, pointing her sword ahead of her. “We might be lost...everything might be painful-” Her eyes briefly looked down at her sword as she spoke of pain. “-but we need to still keep moving forward.”