literature

Signs of Improvement (Minerva X Reader)

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Minerva scanned the training ground at her palace and observed all of the rookie soldiers training among each other to the best of their ability. She was pleased at the outcome of their training. Most of them were making excellent progress in their training, and she was starting to get high hopes for them. At this rate, all of them would end up being good enough to be put on the battlefield.

Well, all except one that is.

Minvera’s gaze landed on (Name), the newest recruit. He had little to account for when it came to his fighting abilities, and he looked like he was having trouble mounting his horse, and even more problems trying to get his horse to behave. There was no way she could permit him to enter the battle against Prince Marth and his army with the skill level he had. He would be much too easy of a target on the battlefield. It was a sad fact, but true nonetheless.

“(Name)!” Minerva called out to him.

(Name) stopped what he was doing, which was trying to mount his horse despite having the horse throwing fits at him, and turned around to face her. “Yes, Lady Minerva?”

“I’d like to have a word with you in private right away.”

“Yes, ma’am.” (Name) put down his training equipment and tied his reluctant horse to a post, getting a grunt of aggravation from it. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” He rubbed his horse’s nose gently. Minerva turned around and walked back inside of the palace while (Name) followed behind her. “What is it you would like to discuss with me, Lady Minerva?”

Minerva stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned around to face (Name). "With the upcoming battle that we have with the Archanean army, I will not permit you to enter onto the battlefield. Your skills in battle are too weak as it is right now, and you’ll need to make a great deal of improvement before you can even think of going onto a battlefield.” There was no point in sugar coating it. He would never improve if she tried to use false words to get through to him.

“B-But Lady Minerva!” (Name) froze and stared in shock at Minerva, bewilderment showing clear in his eyes. “I’ve been working very hard to improve myself! I assure you that I can hold my own and defend myself, and more importantly you, in battle!”

“It’s not enough yet, and this matter isn’t negotiable, (Name). You’re staying behind and that’s my final order. Trust me, it’s for you own sake. You would surely be killed by the enemy soldiers if you were to go into this battle. I would rather not see you end up dead any time soon.”

(Name) hung his head in shame and sighed softly. “Yes, Lady Minerva. Your wish is my command.”

“Please don’t let this command upset you,” Minerva said. “There will be plenty of room for improvement in the future, but for now I urge you to stay behind.”

“Very well, Lady Minerva. I won’t disobey a direct order from you.” Truthfully, he wanted nothing more than to do into battle and fight alongside Minvera, and defend her alongside his comrades. But she was right; no matter how hard it would be for him to admit it himself, he lacked the strength and experience he needed to fight on the battlefield. It was true that he was trying his hardest to improve, but he still wasn’t good enough to go into battle yet. It would be a challenge to stand back while his comrades risked his life in battle, but maybe this new order would give him more time to train. “Is that all, Lady Minerva?”

“Yes,” Minerva said, “That’s all for now. You’re dismissed.”

(Name) bowed his head in respect to her. “Very well. I’ll continue on with my training as per usual so that I don’t fall behind.”

“I have no objections to that. Go back to the training grounds and train to your heart’s content.”

“Right away, ma’am.” (Name) bowed his head to Minerva once more and headed back to the training grounds.

Minerva headed back to her room, lying down on her bed for a moment’s rest. She had to admit, (Name) was quite a diligent fighter, and loyal to the core as well. But that didn’t change the fact that he had a lot of work cut out for him if he planned to become any stronger.

She would just have to wait and see how he turned out in the long run.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Minerva slowly opened her eyes to block the sun out of her eyes. She held her pounding head and tried to sit up, but she recoiled in pain and lied back down, gritting her teeth.

“Don’t strain yourself, Minerva,” said a very familiar voice. “Your injuries are pretty severe. You need to lie down and rest.”

Minerva turned her head to the side to see her brother, Michalis, kneeling on the ground beside her. “M-Michalis…” she said in a weak, cracking voice. “How? I thought you were…”

“Dead?” He said, finishing her sentence. “No, not quite. I did survive the battle against Marth, but just barely.” Michalis placed a cool, damp rag over Minerva’s forehead. “Stay here and hide in this village until Marth comes along with the rest of his army to fight you. Find a priest if you can, but please remain hidden until Marth comes.”

“P-Prince Marth is here?”

“Yes, he’s here. He’ll find you once he draws closer to the village. But until then, please stay put so you don’t get hurt.” Michalis stood up and looked downwards towards his sister one last time before he turned around. “I hope you can forgive me for the terrible things that I’ve done.” Michalis walked away and headed out of the village, leaving Minerva lying down on the makeshift bed he had made for her.

Minerva let out a deep sigh as she tried to suppress the pain in her ever-spinning head. Many different thoughts swirled around her head: Marth was still fighting, Michalis was still alive, and the last thing she remembered was being saved from her captors. What else could possibly be in store for her?

She tried to set those thoughts aside in an attempt to keep her head from aching even worse. But there was one new thought that had suddenly taken over her mind: what had ever happened to (Name)?”
During the first battle she went into, she had left him behind at the Macedon palace. He saw her off after handing Vulernaries to her, and that was the last she had seen of him since then. He wasn’t at the palace when she returned to Macedon after the long battle in which she had fought alongside Marth.

Her mind started filling up with even more troubling thoughts: What if (Name) was dead? Or, what if he had set off all by himself to go search for her after her prolonged absence? She couldn’t help but worry about (Name) when those thoughts started ringing clear in her mind. When she left him, he was still a rookie Cavalier. What had become of (Name) since then?

“(Name)…” Minerva whispered to herself before she drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Minerva woke up to the sounds of a horse’s hooves echoing in her head. It didn’t sound like the hooves were too far away from her. She opened her eyes and saw that the horse that she heard was steadily approaching her.

“Lady Minerva? Is that you?”

Minerva’s eyes shot wide open as she shot straight up from where she was laying. “(N-Name)?” Minerva winced in pain and lied back down.

(Name) dismounted from his horse and rushed over to Minerva. He took his helmet off and helped her sit back up. “I’m so relieved to finally find you. I’ve been searching for you for quite a long time now.”

Minerva grunted and leaned against (Name) to keep herself from tumbling over. “Why? I told you to stay put.”

“I couldn’t help myself. I was worried about you. I waited and waited for you at the palace but you never returned.” (Name) reached into his pouch and took a Vulenary out for her. “Here, drink this. It should ease your pain.”

Minerva took the Vulenary from (Name) and gulped all of it down, sighing in relief as the healing properties started to take effect. “Thank you…” Minerva discarded the now empty bottle and started to sit up on her own again.

(Name) stood up and helped Minerva stand up on her feet slowly. “You’re already recovering, Lady Minerva. You’ll be back to your normal condition in no time.

Minerva looked at (Name) and started scanning him with her eyes. He was definitely much different that the last time she saw him, both in appearance and in physique. “You’ve sure grown since I saw you last, (Name),” Minerva said. “You hardly resemble the man you were before.”

“That’s because I’ve trained as hard as I could to get where I am today. I’ve fought in many battles ever since the day that I joined Marth’s army, and along the way I became a Paladin. Marth even began putting me on the front lines. I’ve been working hard and improving my fighting skills in the hopes that I would find you one day.”

Minerva smiled softly at (Name). His newfound strength surely did show. To think that he was once a rookie Cavalier who could barely hold a lance or get his horse to obey him was now hard to believe after taking a good look at him now. “Your signs of improvement are clearly evident to me, (Name),” Minerva said. “And I have to say that I’m very proud of you.”

“I’m very honored to hear you say that, Lady Minerva. But I do believe that giving and receiving compliments can wait until we regroup with Marth and the rest of the army.”

“I agree.” (Name) put his helmet back on and put Minerva’s arm over his shoulder to keep her standing on her feet. He walked out of the village alongside her with his horse following behind him in order to join everyone else on the battlefield, where Minerva now felt that (Name) truly belonged.
Commission for: :iconmanatiki:

Finally finished after having drawn it out this long @.@

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