Title: Sable
Fandom: Fire Emblem 11
Pairing/Characters: Marth, Nyna
Warning(s): Spoilers
Genre: Gen

Camus, even in death, seemed somehow larger than a normal man. When the dust was cleared and the castle was in their possession the League scoured the battlefield for bodies as per usual, giving each a proper burial; Marth and Nyna stood by Camus for a long while, each trying to comprehend the gravity of the situation.

“Death was instantaneous,” Marth said, and pointed to a clean hole right where his heart used to be. “Tiki was concerned about using her Divine Stone, as it can only be used so many times, but I…wanted it to be a clean death. Is that worth anything?”

Nyna said nothing in response, dropping to her knees; they both knew that death was paradoxically both the most costly thing and yet worth absolutely nothing. She reached out with a gloved hand and stroked the side of his face. “Look how he smiles, Prince Marth. I think – he was glad to see you, and knew it was his final hour.”

Marth shook his head, then looked up to the gray clouds that had gathered. “It is a dark day. Mankind has lost its finest warrior. Princess Nyna, if you –”

“—No,” she said. “I am through mourning as Nyna the woman. I have begun mourning as Nyna the princess who loved Camus, but understands that all men die eventually. His body should be honoured.”

Barst, with Xane’s help, carved a headstone; Abel and Cain felled a nearby oak, which they fashioned into a casket. It took some time – Camus was six feet four inches, but had eight feet of presence – but by nightfall it was finished, and Lena recited a funeral prayer from memory.

The irony was not lost on Marth. Camus the Sable was a memory now, a man who had fought with honour and dignity even when faced with death. Perhaps in another world at another time they could have been close companions, but Camus was dead now, and Medeus would pay dearly for it.