~A week later

"See you later Mother! Father! Going through the portal!" I call behind me as I hover quickly through the castle hallways, through the main part, up the stairs and into my room.

"Be careful!" I hear them call up after me.

"I will!" I call back.

I open my window and fly out, slowly floating down to the courtyard below it. The courtyard is one of my most favorite places within the castle walls. There is a giant fountain in the center surrounded by flowers my mother and I carefully grew together. Several of my guardsmen are wondering around here and several of our maids as well, tidying up the gardens in all four corners.

As each one sees me, they bow to me and either say, "Good day, Princess Star," or "Hello, Your Majesty,". I do a curtsey bow back to each of them as I pass by.

The portal is opened in the corner closest to my bedroom window here in the courtyard. It leads to one of the secret spots Ike showed me when we first met. The thought of that day makes a smile appear on my face as the portal comes into view. It is one of those fuzzy ones where you can see the world it leads to. It is about as tall and wide as a door with a black fuzzy border indicating it is powered by dark magic, my mother's magic.

I jump through it once I approach it and feel the world spinning around me. I remember feeling this feeling the first time I fell through one of these. The more I go through them though, the better I get at controlling how I fall.

Not far from making it through, I flip myself where my feet are falling first and then the darkness that I am seeing is replaced by bright blue sky and the shadows from the forest. I feel the spinning world around me stop as I slow myself. I descend from the sky down to the ground, delicately, landing softly onto my feet. I turn behind me and the portal stands there identical to the one I just jumped through in my castle courtyard.

It's so strange how I fall from the sky when I go through these, but they stand a foot above the ground.

I look around and faintly hear the sounds of blades clashing together.

That must be Lucina and her father in their courtyard.

I shove myself up into the air and follow the sounds to the entrance of this Ylisse Castle. Lucina's guards nod to me as I pass by them, entering the castle courtyard right after the main doors. In the furthest section within the courtyard, I see Lucina and her father practicing. I decide to watch for a bit before I greet them.

Lucina is blocking her father's swings. They are expertly thrown at her and each one she blocks exceptionally. Each swing is quick and accurate, and some moves include them throwing their blades into the air and then jumping up to catch it to attack on the way down.

When they both sheath their blades, they stand and face one another.

"Very good, Lucina. We will continue this tomorrow," Chrom smiles at her and he embraces her for a moment, "I am very proud of you. Every day you get better and better,"

Lucina smiles back at him, "Thank you father,"

Their courtyard was very similar to my own, with a fountain in the center and some type of garden in each corner.

"Trust your instincts before you give trust," I lift my gaze back up to Lucina and her father. "Remember that trust is easily given and not easily kept,"

Lucina nods, "Yes, father, I understand,"

Chrom smiles back at her, "Trust your blade the most. If used improperly, it will consume your strength,"

'Swords are similar to emotions...they must be used properly or you lose control, they consume your strength'... That is what my father told me as well. Maybe that is why Lucina was extremely hesitant to trust me. She must have been afraid... Just like me.

Lucina nods and her father smile as he turns away to enter the castle, leaving Lucina in the courtyard. I begin walking towards her, looking at the flowers on the way over.

"Oh, hello Star," I look up and smile at her, finding her gaze on me.

"Hello Lucina," She turns to face me as I approach her. She has something in her eye that I cannot read as she looks at me.

"How much did you see?" I keep my gaze focus onto her, "Wait, it does not matter,"

"What's wrong, Lucina?" She sighs and looks back up at me.

"Hey, I am sorry from before, when we first met,"

"Oh, don't worry about it, it is okay,"

Why is she worried about that now? She has already apologized to me about that.

She jerks her head back up to find my gaze, approaching me further. Something was bellowing in her eyes now and I have no idea what she is about to tell me.

"No, Star, you do not understand," Her voice is sounding more serious and slowly increasing in volume. She pauses for a moment, "I have something to ask you," I wait for her patiently, keeping my eyes locked onto hers.

What has gotten her so worked up?

"Star, what did father teach you when you were younger, when you told me he did teach you how to fight," Her voice is shaky and sounds a bit flustered. My eyes widen a bit. Her eyes look as though she is pleading with something. My mind goes to that time, the time when he first tried to teach me the ways of the blade.

I told this story to Ike that one time... It is that memory I did not expect to tell to anyone. But, something is bothering Lucina, my friend, so I will tell her.

"Oh, it all started on that first time I tried to use a blade. I watched father practice from my window of my room. I learned how to do some things from watching him. However, I was not good at handling a sword. I always have had to use my magic to power it up to use it properly,"

I pause for only a second. "I had learned how to fight with magic from my mother. She mostly taught me how to control and balance my emotions," I focus on Lucina's gaze.

"One time, I tried using father's sword. Without any of my magic, without nothing. After a couple of swings, my emotions started raining over me, feeling after feeling. These emotions were difficult to compress. I normally did not have any problem compressing them. But that time...was different. Those were aggressive emotions, anger...power. I soon realized I had lost control over those emotions then. My magic deep inside me had escaped and took control over the blade," A shiver falls down my spine as I recall what had happened that day.

"I instantly dropped the blade, it fell to the ground and clattered, creating a loud jolting noise. I was young then, so I started to cry after that," I keep my focus on Lucina's eyes. They continuously look as though they are fighting something back.

I continue, "Father once told me, 'Swords are similar to emotions...they must be used properly or you lose control, they consume your strength'," Something changes then in Lucina's eyes as she keeps looking into mine.

"So, he did teach you to trust," She says, almost whispering. She pauses for a moment, looking down, looking like she is pondering something. Then she jerks her gaze back up to me, "Star, how are you so trusting? Why did you trust me so soon?"

My eyes widen again, "Lucina, I could just tell that I could. You did not show me a reason not to, throughout the time that I spent with you,"

"But father taught you to trust your blade, trust your emotions, your instincts! You had just met me!"

"My emotions told me you had good intentions, Lucina,"

Lucina's mouth opens slightly. Her eyes become soft as she searches my eyes. Then she has a saddened look for a short moment, but she shoves it away, "I... I'm sorry, Star. I am not meaning to yell at you. I was just wondering how father raised you, if it was any different than how he raised me," Her voice is lowering in volume as she says this to me, becoming softer.

So, that's it.

A slight smile appears on my face, "Lucina, I was afraid, you know. I was afraid to even try. Afraid that you would reject my trust. You are a good friend, Lucina," Lucina's eyes soften even further as she looks at me.

"I... I don't make friends easily, Star," She pauses for a moment, "You are good friend too," Lucina lets a smile creep up onto her face. I give her a hug and it feels as though something is lifted from her mind.

Was she thinking about that ever since we first met? Did she actually believe me? She just did not know how to show it?

"Thanks, Star, for believing in me," Lucina says, as I release her.

"And thanks for believing in me, Lucina,"

~An hour later

"Star!"

I turn and find Myst running up to me, "Oh, hello Myst. What are you doing here?"

"Star, your father is looking for you," I turn to Lucina and she nods. I nod back, meaning I will see you soon, and take off following Myst back through the portal. As we arrive to the portal, we jump in and the familiar feeling that the world is spinning around me sweeps over me once again.

Once the feeling disappears and the blue sky reaches my eyes, I slowly lower myself to the ground and swiftly follow Myst into the castle, through the courtyard to find my father standing there waiting, "Star,"

As I quickly approach him, I notice his eyes show sadness, similar to the sadness I saw that day I was banished, in his eyes.

"What is wrong, father?"

"Star, do you remember, my very good friend?"

My eyes widen. "Papa?"

My father nods, "Yes. I found out just now that he is gravely injured and is very ill,"

My stomach drops to the floor from this news. I cannot stop the single tear that swells up in my eye, "Father, take me to him, right now!" I yell with a crack in my voice.

My father pauses for a moment, then nods in agreement and gestures for me to follow him, "Come,"

Father takes me to a hidden shack just outside of the forest close by to the castle.

The cabin I played in with Myst those many years ago...

My father leads me inside and into the back room. The moment I step inside my feet carry me straight to the bed positioned on the floor. My eyes swell up with tears and my knees hit the floor.

"Papa..." I whisper, reaching my hand out to brush over his cheek, "Papa... No..."

Please, Papa, please do not leave me. I have not seen you in what feels like an eternity.

He lays on the bed. His eyes are shut closed and he is lightly breathing. Papa, has light brown short shaggy hair. He also wears armor similar to Ike's and my father's, but blue with brown trim and a yellow cape. I soon forget everything around me and focus only on Papa laying there. I lift my right hand and place it onto his arm while keeping my left on his cheek.

I will use my healing magic on you, Papa. I will stay here as long as it takes. He was like my second father. I remember when I was little, he would come visit my father at our castle. He is skilled with axes, so they would spar in the courtyard. I remember watching them and then after that he would call me there and he would tell me stories while laughing with my father. He told me many stories about when he lived back with his family. He said he has a son and a daughter. But he never really went into detail about them, he never told me why. For a short while, he came every day. Then one day he stopped coming and I never seen him ever again, until now. What happened Papa? I have missed you so much.

Tears are falling rapidly down my cheeks as I watch over Papa. I do not know how long I sat there but it must have been a very long time. Papa is beginning to be surrounded by my healing magic. It only works as long as I am touching him.

~Several hours later

"She is in there," I hear faintly from outside the cabin. It sounds like my father. I hear footsteps and then Ike appears in the doorway. He catches my gaze for a moment, noticing I have been crying. Then I watch his eyes pan over to Papa. Ike's eyes widen and his mouth opens.

"Father?" Ike looks as though he has just seen him for the first time. Ike rushes over to the other side of the bed and kneels down, not taking his eyes from Papa, "I thought you were dead," Ike says, almost in a whisper, his voice almost cracking.

Did he call him... Father?

Before I could process what he had just said, Papa's eyes slightly open and he sees me first. "Star? Is that you?" I anxiously nod my head and grab his hand, "Yes, Papa,"

"Papa?" I hear Ike say softly, looking up at me.

Then Papa turns to see Ike, "Ike? My son?"

Ike nods, "Yes, father. It is me, but is it really you? I thought I would never see you again,"

That is when I am registering what is going on, "Wait, Ike, this is your father?"

Ike turns to me, "I was just about to ask how do you know my father?"

Wait, Papa is from the parallel world? Not from here? He is Ike's and Myst's father? How did he get here?

I am broken from my thoughts as Papa sits up and is slowly standing up. He turns to face us.

"Ike, my son, how did you get here?" Ike glances at me, then proceeds to tell his father how he met me. He told him everything, starting with how I have dark magic and was sent to his world to be freed from the danger here.

Then continues with now we visit each other through portals created by my mother's magic spell. Papa nods in understanding.

He looks as though he is confused and says, "Amazing, how the young girl I knew years ago, is the same girl you meet later, Ike," Papa then turns to face me, "Star, it has been ages since I last saw you,"

"Yes it has, Papa. You stopped visiting the castle, I missed you very much," I pauses and find his wondering gaze.

"So Ike is your son you told me you had?"

Papa smiles as he searches my eyes, "You have grown so much, Star, my dear," He embraces me and wipes the tears from my eyes. He turns and motions for Ike to join too, "Ike, my boy, to answer your question, I was also banished here somehow, similar to what happened to Star. I have a friend who has magic. He is not a dark magician but he messed with it anyway even though I told him not to. I ended up here and met Star's father. He became my best friend,"

He releases me from his grip and looks me over once again, "I know you healed me, Star, my dear. I must thank you," My father rushes over to us and Papa gives him a wholehearted hug, "Chrom, my friend!"

"Star, you healed him? Thank you!" I hear my father tell me as he approaches us. Sincerity flashes in his eyes as he smiles at me and raises his arms to embrace me. He tightens his grip on me and kisses the top of my head. Once he releases me, I turn to face Ike and he looks a little confused, but also gratified.

"Star, thanks for healing my father," Ike does not look away from my eyes as I smile, "Surprises me you are well known with him. Everything about you is so..." Something appears in his eyes but it looks as though he conceals it away again. He searches my eyes, "You surprise me every time I look at you," He beams at me, "I thought I would never see my father again! Turns out he was here all along, spending time with you,"

I cannot hide the way I am feeling when Ike tells me that. I feel as though my heart is going to burst from my chest, it is thumping so hard.

Ike, you are amazing. How did you know that I was hoping you would come?

Before I could respond, Papa had turned to us and grabs Ike in a sincere hug, "Ike, my boy. Come," Ike gives me a small smile as his father drags him away. I place my left hand slightly over my lips and chuckle a little bit as I watch the smile get bigger on Ike's face. I follow behind them, back to Ylisse Castle.

Greil, who I call Papa, is the leader of my kingdom's mercenaries. He is the man who helped my father raise me, and turns out he's the father of the love of my life.

As I wrote this part, I was surprised by my own characters. I had no idea the story would go quite like it did! I had the idea in mind but my characters told the story for me far better than I could ever tell it! This amazed me just as much as I enjoyed writing this part. That is a wild experience, like your characters are telling the story to you instead of you telling their story. :0

What do you guys think of my characters now, especially Lucina?