Disclaimer: I own nothing. All of it belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

Men's hearts are no mystery to me. The purpose of my creation was manipulation. I saw the fears, the inner workings of Marquess Laus's mind. I knew how to use them against him, and in his mind I seeded the fear of Ostia that grew into a sapling.

Ostia was a threat to Laus, I claimed. Such a warlike and barbaric state could not be trusted with so much power. If Ostia was not stopped now, who knows what it would do in the future?

I continued this, sowing venom and distrust in his heart until he would not sleep easy until Ostia had been defeated and subjected under his rule.

Can you not see yourself in a crown, I asked, as supreme leader of all of Lycia? To do that, subjecting the most powerful territory would be the best place to start.

I whispered to him what he needed to hear.

Emotions are so ridiculous. They leave you weak, vulnerable, unable to see clearly. His emotions held him back from seeking power, made him feel concerned for his son. Erik was his only son. That was what kept him from acting. He hesitated, but I knew exactly what to say. Sons are disposable, I said. You're still young, and you can easily beget another son. Erik is unfit. He's lost to Hector and Eliwood and he's unsuitable to be your heir apparent.

I succeeded.

He abandoned his son.

I stayed with him all the while, continuing to whisper encouragement, that we were so close, so close, to reaching his goals, that we were merely inches from victory.

He believed me.

After all, he had no reason to suspect that my goals were not his own.

The other man was harder. After all, most with quality quintessence usually are. I saw it immediately – this was a man of honor, one who would not abandon friends or his "morals" very easily. So, I spread rumors of dissent and rebellion against the Lycian League. He had no choice but to go and investigate, and when he did, my lord and I were waiting for him.

Our phantom ship slaughtered all but one of his Pheraean knights, and we took him prisoner.

Still, he resisted.

Kept under tight security at Valor Island, he knew that he himself would be unable to escape, and so committed his efforts to aiding the dragon children's escape. And of course they would be bothersome as well, running straight into the protecting arms of his son.

Who could have known that his son would turn out to be such a pesky annoyance? Driving Marquess Laus out of his own castle, protecting the two dragon-children, rescuing Marquess Caelin, following me all the way to Valor Island, who would have thought he was capable of such stubborn perseverance? And to top it all off, the very same day Eliwood arrived on the Dread Isle, I discovered that one of my best assassins within the Black Fang was a spy under House Ostia! I had been extremely irked, so I indulged in a little bit of psychological warfare, ordering Jaffar to kill Leila and leave her corpse for Eliwood and Hector to find.

After all, humans can fear and feel, and what could possibly be more disturbing than the dead body of a comrade?

Then, when they somehow managed to defeat Uhai and find the temple, I captured the girl and brought her before my lord. I ordered Marquess Laus to stay behind to defend the temple – there was no longer any use for him, and if he died, so much the better. There would be less blood on my hands. Not that I minded spilling blood, of course.

Eliwood somehow managed to fight his way through Darin as I thought he would – Darin was nothing compared to Uhai. Eliwood and Hector attempted to take the girl as well as Lord Elbert and flee, but Jaffar prevented them from leaving.

Together, we performed the ritual to use Elbert's quintessence and Ninian's power to open the dragon's gate. Eliwood's face crumpled in despair as he helplessly watched his father slowly die before him. Emotions, I thought. Unnecessary, cumbersome, burdens. We were so close – the portal had been open, and a dragon had followed the call through the Gate. But then, her brother had shown up, roused her from the trance with a cry, and ruined everything.

See, if emotions didn't exist, our plan would have succeeded.

My lord and I stood directly in front of the fiery gate, and once the girl stopped the ritual, the gate crumbled on the dragon and created a fiery explosion.

It engulfed everything. Flames filled my vision, and I turned to my lord, knowing that he had the power to teleport us both to safety.

He vanished before my eyes.

I screamed in pain, shock, and fury. I cried for him to help me, to come back and save me, but I watched him reappear safely beside Elbert's side. He watched stoically as I trembled before the blaze. Had I become useless, outdated? Was he discarding me for a better version, the same way he pushed Sonia aside for Limstella? It would not have taken him much to save me. Was I really such a waste of quintessence?

For the first time in my life, I think I felt emotions. Fear and loneliness.

I don't think I will ever understand why humans treasure emotion.

The gate looms before me.

The inferno consumes me.

I turn to dust.

A/N: Decided to rewrite this one to make it fit the actual plotline better :P