Fools Rush In | Fire Emblem 7

[farina]

Title: Fools Rush In
Fandom: Fire Emblem 7
Words: 4,251 words
Summary: "I know it's crazy, and I know it's sudden," he whispered, "but please marry me."
Pairing/Character: Eliwood/Fiora, Lyndis
Extra Info: This was originally posted in June of 2010. I chose to rewrite this because MarkoftheAsphodel said a while back that she'd like to see it redone.
Warnings: This story alternates past and present tense.
Rating: T
Genre: Angst, romance

Notes:

Rewritten for Mark, who left me this comment on my Tumblr:

I pulled up the file I have of reviews for this ‘fic and kept all of those criticisms in mind when I started my rewrite, in particular the things that @arthoure left in a 2014 review of the story. I guess initially I thought that because this was one of my better older pieces, I wouldn’t have to rewrite too much of it, but…I was wrong. This required what I would consider a fairly extensive rewrite.

Originally this was inspired by Can’t Help Falling in Love with You (of course). This instrumental version in particular captured my heart.

I think when I initially wrote this I really just wanted to show Eliwood/Fiora the way I interpreted it. The game kind of shoves Eliwood/Ninian down your throat pretty hard, so it felt a bit off to have romantic-ending supports like this one amidst the, uh, game text. That said, I found it fully plausible, just…not as a purely happy and healthy “perfect” relationship. I have never felt Fiora was suited to the life of nobility and even though she’s not a classic “free spirit” kind of character like Lyn is, I wanted the juxtaposition of the two of them; it’s totally possible to write characters who need freedom without them falling into the “free spirit” trope box!

I actually enjoy Fiora quite a bit. She’s got a temper and she’s argumentative around people she’s comfortable with. She’s also overprotective! It’s easy to imagine that she feels kind of plain and unappealing romantically-speaking. She’s not sweet and soft-spoken; she isn’t demure. She’s also not bold with either her personality or her sexuality. She hits this very intriguing middle ground that I can’t help but feel is intentional on her part—a way of keeping balance, something she feels is necessary to keep the family together, or at least her nerves.

Even though my original goal with Lyn was for a comparison to Fiora, I also wanted to show their difference in situation clearly. Lyn wasn’t born into nobility like Eliwood and she didn’t choose it like Fiora; there’s also her upbringing to keep in mind. The racism is straight-up evil but she twists it to her advantage—or tries to. If people are going to think poorly of her, let them; it gives her more freedom to get away with doing what she wants. But I think even at this point, Lyn knows that her situation isn’t a lasting one; she knows when she speaks to Fiora that she is going to be leaving Caelin before too long.

One of the bigger criticisms I received initially was regarding Lyn’s situation. Is she pregnant for real? The answer is yes, and I hope it was more obvious in this rewrite (without me having to state it). I like the idea that Lyn doesn’t readily subscribe to the societal views of sex that others do. The only person who gets to decide what she does with her own body is her.

Something else I wanted to confront originally was Eliwood’s faults. I failed in some regards because he came across too strong when I wanted him to be passive-aggressive (because I feel this is the way Eliwood was raised to be and no, I’m not on board the “Eliwood is wholesome and pure and has done no wrong ever in his entire life” train). Still, he was way too harsh in the original so I reworded a lot of things to reflect that he’s in charge and telling her what to do, but not directly—and without cruel intention.

I didn’t give much insight into Eliwood, but I see him as a genuine sort of guy; he’s earnest and kindhearted and a romantic. Ninian appeals to him for all the sweet romantic reasons, and Fiora appeals to him because of her reliability/steadiness of character. Generally speaking, he will always choose Ninian over Fiora for a romantic entanglement.

Anyway, it’s probably obvious but in this ‘fic, Eliwood turns to Fiora for comfort in his grief and gets a bit carried away with it; she keeps him from thinking about Ninian too much—from feeling too guilty about what happened. When he’s with her, he’s not lonely and he doesn’t ache as much. He loves her, but he rushes in and does something romantically drastic because he feels desperate. Yikes.

Perhaps the biggest change was in the ballroom scene. Originally Fiora loses her grasp on her prided middle-ground steadiness and says something sharp to the other women present. In the rewrite, I cringed at that, because I felt there was a good message in this story of Fiora harnessing her crafted skill of moderation! So I had her consider the consequences and say fuck it, this is worth the hassle. I think it was a positive change.

In part this is thanks to Lyn in the rewrite, because Fiora finds a moment to really and truly admire her. I don’t intend to make Lyn look like a cinnamon roll fave; she’s riddled with faults tbh and in future ‘fic rewrites I’ll be showing it. Rather, one of Lyn’s best qualities is that equality isn’t something she has to sit around and talk about (the way Eliwood has to sit and talk about it to Fiora); it’s her natural, default state. Not only was she not raised to feel that divide between classes, but she refuses to acknowledge it now. In many ways, Fiora thinks that’s very brave of her, primarily because she’s not comfortable enough herself to challenge it openly. But…Lyn gives her the courage to begin trying…even though it’s just one moment. (And the effect is pretty draining.)

Regarding the trees, I think of Pherae as a sea-side sort of place, so it’s close to the sea but the castle is just far enough away they can’t quite see it. I can’t even remember now if this is accurate re: the map or not, and I didn’t look. The imagery was good.

I wanted to include Florina and/or Farina in this ‘fic but couldn’t think of a way to do it directly that wouldn’t add too at least another 2,000 words to this already kind of long story. (But since you read this far, I’ll say I considered having Farina show up to be a bad influence so that Eliwood would have to hint at Fiora that she needs to send her sister on her way.)