Fire Emblem – Mercenaries of Dawn

Summary: AU where Micaiah decides to tell Ike, and they begin on a conquest to the Begnion senators. This is where events begin to change, and a new foe awaits them in this alternate universe. Ships: EdLeo, Zihark/Ilyana, Micaiah/Zelgius, Laura/Aran may change as story goes on…

Chapter 1 – "In the Midst of Battle"

"By the goddess' will, let my light strike my enemy!" Micaiah spoke in the ancient tongue as she read the words from her Light tome. A shining, yellow light appeared above the grey, tiger laguz that was attacking one of the Daein generals. Within moments, the beast was on the ground, motionless and dead.

"General Micaiah, the Greil Mercenaries!" A bow paladin charged his horse towards her at full speed to deliver the message from the entrance at Nox Castle. The sage turned towards the knight as the latter told her the new information.

"It's up to us, now…" Micaiah closed her golden eyes, and made a quick prayer to the goddess, in hopes that the battle would turn out smoothly. As she did so, her lovely orange bird Yune flew to her shoulder, resting on her blue cloak. She grasped her Purge tome, holding it to her chest.

She held a staff with a blue orb at the end of it; it was a Physic staff. She cast it into the air, as the orb glowed a faint blue. Micaiah pointed the staff at one of the generals guarding the last line of defense, who had taken some damage from the tiger laguz before. The general looked gratefully towards Micaiah, who simply focused on the battle at hand.

Micaiah looked towards the distance, and noticed a change of colors; the Greil Mercenaries had arrived.

The ebony-haired boy dressed in a light green spoke the ancient tongue from his own Tornado tome. A strong whirlwind appeared in front of him, killing the Daein archer almost too easily. However, he noticed more of their army falling, as the piles of dead laguz were building up from Nox Castle's lines.

Ranulf, the blue cat laguz, ran next to Ike, showing Soren that the mercenaries were almost in the heat of battle. Perhaps this would make the death count lower. However, as he noticed a blonde-haired boy take out a laguz with a technique similar to Shinon's, doubts began to cloud his mind.

"You need to focus, Soren. Focus on the task at hand; the mercenaries will take care of them." Soren told himself under his breath, as he noticed another Daein soldier nearing Ike. He whispered the words of his Tornado tome once again, as the threatening gusts of wind decimated his opponent. Soren sighed; perhaps this would take longer than usual.

"Edward, look to your left!" Leonardo called out to me, as he held his personal bow, Lughnasadh. I turned to my left to see a cat laguz transform to try and threaten me. I smirked as I gripped Caladbolg. I quickly swung my sword to my side, before having an adrenaline rush. I quickly brought my sword up in the air, raising the cat with me. Then, I swung down rapidly, flipping as I did so, sending the laguz down into the ground. I landed gracefully on my feet, as I brandished my blade.

I turned to check if Leonardo was okay. He nocked another arrow, before jumping into the air, and firing the arrow from there. Leonardo's opponent had been killed nearly instantly from that one arrow. I should've expected as much; no one had ever outmatched Leo, not since he had become a Marksman.

We were nearing the front of the lines, near where the enemy commander was. The snow piled up on the fort itself, as I felt the icy feeling on my skin. However, fighting warmed right up. I looked to see a cat laguz, from the figure's stature and body size. I grabbed my blade, before Leonardo called out to me.

"Edward! Please use the gift I gave you, okay?"

"Why?"

"That's Ranulf. Sothe told us that he was one of the most powerful cat laguz out there, and I don't want you to get hurt too early, okay?"

"Okay, Leo!" I put my golden personal blade back into the sheath around my waist. Then, I pulled out Leonardo's gift to me; one of the rarest gems that was known as the Tempest Blade, a blade so sharp that it could attack from long range. I quickly moved to a distance that was far away enough for the laguz known as Ranulf to not be able to hurt me.

"Charge!" I swung down the sharp blade at a high enough speed that it generated a blade of air. The blade of air reached Ranulf, causing immense damage to him since he was untransformed. Then, I swung down again, and the strong winds generated by the blade brought him to his knees. I heard the blue-haired commander talk to him, as Ranulf exited the battlefield. I smiled; that was one threat that wasn't a problem anymore.

Ike was trying to keep matters under control when it had happened. One of the more esteemed members of the Dawn Brigade, a young boy named Edward, had used his blade to take Ranulf out. It hurt Ike to see the blue cat laguz on the ground, with so many cuts and gashes that Ike could visibly see. Ike had turned to his friend, urging him to go back to camp.

"Ranulf, we can't lose you in this fight. We need you to live, to fight for another day…" Ike tried to explain it to his blue-haired companion. Ranulf simply grinned, as blood trickled down his nose. He got up, albeit weakened.

"You sound like a pink-haired wyvern rider when you say that…" Ranulf joked, and Ike took a sigh of relief. Ranulf knew that the battle was only going to get harder, and Ike realized that it was only Ranulf trying to lighten the mood. It wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. Before he knew it, Ranulf was walking off the battlefield to join up with Tibarn and the others.

Ike readied his holy sword, Ragnell, for when the soldiers would attack him. Most of them stood no chance; however, he was wary of the members of the Dawn Brigade. He had heard that they were some of the most adept fighters since them, the Greil Mercenaries, had defeated Daein in the Mad King's War. He wasn't surprised; some of their former members, Jill and Zihark, namely, were fighting against the laguz. Ike knew of their strength, and he knew he had to be ready.

Mia cut down one soldier with ease with her blade. It was quite simple really; only a few simple jabs, and one killing blow. She whipped her deep purple hair back as she brandished her Wo Dao. The sword essentially infused her with adrenaline, allowing her to fight with a lot more passion and fury.

Her heart was racing; this was the best battle she'd ever been in! She could feel the blood rushing through her veins, her fingers gripping her sword like her life depended on it. Mia knew that, if she made a mistake, she would be cut down; yet, she loved it.

Suddenly, she came into encounter with a soldier that looked different. He was dressed in red garments, brandishing a golden blade that looked almost surreal. If he had used it, Mia could've never figured it out. She readied her own blade, and her gaze met his. When his hazel eyes came into contact with hers, she felt a passionate fire burn brightly within her. Mia could've almost sworn that he had felt the same.

The boy came over to her; he looked young, almost around her age. He unsheathed his golden sword, and she readied hers. Was this a battle where someone could match her skill? Perhaps this was her archrival? But, he wasn't dressed in white…

"You feel it, too, huh?" When he spoke, Mia was almost taken aback. She forgot that this sword-wielder in front of her was a person just like her. She began to search words for a reply, but he said an answer to his own question.

"I can see it in your eyes, and I'm almost betting that you see it in my eyes as well. I'm Edward." Edward had said to her. Mia regained her composure, now able to respond to his questions.

"Mia. We should begin; not much time for a talking in the battlefield, right?" When Mia said this, he simply nodded, and got into a stance. She quickly readied her blade, and got into her own stance. Her Wo Dao glowed in the sunny castle, and Mia swore she never felt anything more passionate than before.

Edward had made the first strike. He swung the golden blade, which he called Caladbolg, down. Mia blocked the treasured sword with her own blade, and quickly tried to get in a swipe to his shoulder. Edward sidestepped out of the way, as he began to attack once more. He swiped the golden blade down at her leg, which he managed to scratch along her knee.

Mia could feel some blood oozing out the cut, but she felt that it wasn't too deep. Her adrenaline was too high for her to feel anything. She sidestepped to the side when Edward tried to close in on her, and swiped at his side. He managed to parry her blade with a simple block, effectively keeping her off balance. Edward rushed in, and flipped, slashing at Mia's arm. This sent her off her feet into the air, where she couldn't manage to land on her feet. She hit the snowy ground of Nox Castle with a hard thud. She got up quickly, as Edward waited for her to.

"You're good. No one's been able to sweep me off my feet."

"Same to you. Although, I already have someone to sweep me off of mine." Edward grinned, and Mia grinned back. They readied their blades once more, and charged at each other.

Oscar parried the other's lance attacks as he tried to recover. The silver knight in front of him managed to recover also. His opponent equipped her silver bow, and nocked an arrow in it. The girl fired the arrow at him. Oscar tried to dodge, but the arrow managed to strike him in the leg. He winced in pain, but knew that his blood would be let out if he tried to remove it.

As he recovered from the arrow, he began to take a closer look at the silver knight in front of him. The girl was dressed in blue armor, and her white horse looked esteemed. She looked so familiar, as if she was some kind of royalty…

"Wait! I know you!" Oscar remarked as the girl in front of her looked taken aback. She had a look of confusion on her face, before understanding. She did not smile, however, and she readied her bloodstained lance for the inevitable fight to come.

"You're the Lady of Marado, Fiona!"

"Indeed, I am. And, to me, you are an opponent which I need to take out." Fiona raised her silver lance, and charged at Oscar on her horse. She tried to stab him with the lance, but Oscar blocked the attack with his spear. He tried to stab Fiona's arm, so he can disarm her weapon, but she managed to break out of the weapon's engagement before it could happen. Fiona moved back a few paces as she readied her bow.

"Impressive…" Fiona whispered under her breath as she nocked an arrow into the silver bow. She fired two arrows at the green-haired knight in front of her. One arrow missed its mark, while the other stuck it in his other leg. She smiled as she noticed him wincing in pain, proving that he was getting hurt. Of course, the battle was not over.

Oscar held his breath, trying not to scream at the pain of the two arrows lodged in both of his legs. The green-clad knight rushed over to the ruler of Marado on his horse, before stopping a few paces away. As opposed to attacking her with close-quarters combat, Oscar held his sharp spear in his hand. He positioned it, and his horse stood up on its hind legs. Using the momentum from the horse, Oscar released the spear at Fiona when the horse slammed its front hooves on the snowy ground. The spear was a deadly shot; it pierced Fiona between the slits of her blue armor, causing her to wince in pain.

The Lady of Marado fell off her horse, before taking out her spear. Oscar wished that he could've helped her, but he knew that the lady was his enemy. He rode off on his horse, while Fiona stayed on the ground, looking up at the stars. She couldn't die; she needed to live to see Daein's dreams come through. With a muster of strength, she plucked the bloodstained spear out of her side, and put a vulnerary on the wound. It was deep; she would need a medic later, but for now, she simply waited.

"Just who are you?" Rolf asked the blonde-haired marksman in front of him as he plucked an arrow. Rolf held the Silencer that Shinon had crafted for him in his hand, and he nocked a sharp arrow. He aimed it at the blonde marksman, who had a special bow that he had never seen before.

"I am someone that is focusing on what I am doing, and that is to take you out." Rolf's opponent had said ever so emotionlessly. The marksman nocked a handcrafted arrow into the bow, and fired it at overwhelming speed. Rolf barely had enough time to sidestep, as the arrow whizzed by a vital point of his body. As he realized what he was going up against, Rolf felt his nerves tingle.

"I can't be scared, not right now. This is time to be serious." Rolf told himself as he aimed at the blonde. He let go of the arrow, sending it flying at the other. The blond sidestepped the arrow, and he jumped into the air. The blond aimed at the green-haired marksman, and fired the arrow at him. As Rolf saw its different shade, he realized that it was a poisoned arrow designed to make a person fall asleep. Rolf had a few of those himself. Rolf tried to sidestep, but he was pushed out of the way onto the ground of Nox Castle.

As he recovered from his fall, he noticed who had pushed him out of the way. Lying on the ground was his red-haired teacher, Shinon. The sarcastic marksman had taken the arrow for Rolf, but the latter knew that it hadn't hit him in his vital points. Rolf saw the arrow sticking out of his side, as he realized that Shinon was now asleep.

Wordlessly, Rolf nocked an arrow to the Silencer. He carefully pulled the arrow back, and breathed slowly. No doubt, no hesitation. He released the arrow, as it flew out at the blond marksman. It had managed to scratch his unprotected shoulder as the former tried to sidestep.

Leonardo sighed, realizing that the marksman on the other side was equal to him in skill. Leonardo needed to be smart, and he needed to be strong…for him. Leonardo looked to his side and saw Edward dueling a girl with purple hair quite furiously. He knew that he had to be there for him, regardless of the outcome of this battle or not.

"May the goddess forgive me…" Leonardo spoke as he nocked another poisonous arrow. He threw the arrow up into the air, perfectly circular. The green-haired boy in front of him realized this, and was prepared to sidestep this. Leonardo grabbed the arrow, and nocked it in the air, aiming at the boy. However, instead of releasing immediately, he saw that the other marksman had begun to sidestep. In those few milliseconds, Leonardo released the arrow.

The toxic arrow flew past many other battles that were going on. A hawk laguz was tearing apart a Daein soldier, while a general was fighting a tiger laguz. The black arrow whizzed by at blurred speed. The arrow made contact with the green-haired marksman as he realized what had just happened.

Rolf's mind couldn't calculate what was going on in the events that had just happened. He fell to the ground, as he noticed the arrow sticking inside of his exposed leg. Rolf's vision was starting to blacken, and his eyes began to close. The green-haired marksman saw out of the corner of his eye the blond marksman leave to fight another battle. Rolf let go of the Silencer, as he laid on the ground, unconscious, right next to his master.

Boyd swung his tomahawk at the other reaver, who simply sidestepped. Boyd couldn't tell why the other was so fast; the other man in front of him looked older than the others. The brunette in front of him clutched his personal axe closed to him, and went in for a strike.

Nolan swung Tarvos at the other, trying to get a hit in. He managed to connect the axe at the other's shoulder, as the battle raged on. Nolan looked to his side, and saw Leonardo taking down two of the mercenaries' marksman. He grinned, before unleashing another crashing blow on Boyd, and the two were engaged in a battle of willpower.

Boyd's axe was blocking Tarvos, and Nolan knew he had to do something quickly. He quickly jumped out of the way to avoid doing any other blows. Nolan's mind began to formulate out some plans of action, but nothing controlled his brain more than instinct at the moment. Nolan sidestepped, and swung his axe down at Boyd. This ended up scratching his shoulder, albeit not very deeply. Boyd felt some blood oozing out of him, but he ignored it; right now, he had to focus on the task at hand.

Boyd decided to take a different approach, and took out a hand axe. From a few paces back, he threw the axe, managing to scratch Nolan's left arm. Nolan winced in pain, but threw a Tomahawk at the other reaver. The golden throwing axe sailed by Boyd, and managed to incapacitate him as it hit his wrist.

Boyd dropped the axe, feeling the pain in his right arm. He couldn't even hold his axe right, and he was readily sure that his wrist was broken. Boyd simply laid on the ground, and stared into the blue sky, praying for a miracle.

"Let the goddess hear my words, and strike down the heavenly light on my opponent!" Laura chanted the words of her Ellight tome. The female saint was in a duel of magic against an orange-haired saint, who wielded a stronger form of her magic. Rhys casted another Shine spell, trying to attack the powerful saint. Laura dodged, sidestepping quickly.

Laura held her Ellight tome close to her chest, as she turned to her side. She noticed Aran fending off some laguz, and stayed close to him. Whenever she was near him, she felt stronger. Secretly, she had hoped that she would marry Aran, despite being childhood friends.

"With these words, I shall strike down the lights of the corona on my opponent!" Laura felt a passion, and her tome began to glow a faint red. A light red orb started to glow in front of her, and Laura felt her attack getting stronger. The light gathered in a ball above the orange-haired spellcaster, and descended with forceful, but lovely grace. When the attack made contact, the orange-haired person wasn't standing. He was on the ground, lying unconscious. Laura thought it best not to attack any further, since the person she had just defeated looked so weak and frail.

Before she went, Laura took one last look at the Saint she had just outcast. Looking own, she saw that the orange-haired tomewielder was shivering. Knowing it was against her better judgment, but still following her moral conscience, Laura equipped herself with a Heal staff. The red orb glowed a faint red, and the orange-haired saint began to look better. Content, she ran off to help with the others.

Soren looked at his opponent, not paying attention to any of the other events happening around him. He didn't pay attention to the freezing temperature, or his comrades fighting the Dawn Brigade. All he saw in his vision at the moment was the green-haired thief that was now all grown up. Soren gripped his tome wordlessly, completely willing to kill his enemy without hesitation if he was in Ike's way.

Sothe looked back at Soren's cold, dark eyes. He felt his gaze piercing his soul, as if trying to convert him without any words. Through every possibility, Sothe had thought of this; but in all of them, he couldn't betray the girl who had trusted him. The green-haired rogue knew that if he had joined with the mercenaries once more, Micaiah was in severe danger. Sothe gripped his Stiletto with a firm hand.

"Let the winds of my words consume my foe!" Soren chanted the words from his tome. A whirlwind of green visible wind began to form where Sothe was, and began to increase in speed and damage. However, Sothe sidestepped, and moved in to start his attack.

Sothe raised his dagger, and tried to slice at Soren's book to prevent the latter from chanting spells, essentially incapacitating him. However, Soren jumped back, trying to keep the distance between him and the rogue. Sothe rushed forward, and equipped one of his silver knives. He gripped the hilt of the throwing weapon, and threw it at Soren's legs. The silver knife sliced across his knee, and Soren winced in pain slightly before focusing on defeating Sothe.

"Why are you doing this? You know, it's pointless to resist."

"Like you, Soren, I have someone I need to protect."

"The person you're trying to protect is in danger by getting involved in the first place." Soren said simply, as he unleashed another spell on Sothe. This time, his Tornado managed to cut Sothe's torso, causing visible bleeding to occur. However, this did not deter Sothe from throwing one more knife at the tomewielder.

As Sothe get up, he hid one of his silver knives in his scarf. When Soren turned away to focus his attention on the rest of the battle, Sothe revealed the knife, and threw it at blurred speeds. The knife whizzed by every single laguz in its path, before hitting its target. Soren turned, only to see the knife punctured in his abdomen. Soren felt blood begin to drip out of the wound he had just gotten. However, he knew that if he removed the knife, the blood would leak out in greater quantities.

Ike turned to his chief tactician, and noticed his condition. He rushed over with Ragnell in hand, and helped Soren out by carrying the green-clad archsage over to his side. Ike quickly demanded that Soren help with Ranulf near the front, and the archsage was in no position to deny. Slowly, Soren trudged over near the front of Castle Nox to deal with the opposing forces.

Gatrie never knew how powerful the opposing forces were. He figured that the Daein army had gotten quite weak, since their liberation was only recent. The blue-clad marshall gripped his lance, and trudged forward only to meet a fellow marshall in his way.

"Wait, you're Brom's daughter!" Gatrie remarked as soon as he got a view of Meg's face. The girl dressed in light orange armor didn't respond; she had gripped her sword and was ready to fight.

"My father would be proud to know I've made my own decisions. I'm not going to let myself get fooled into joining you!" Meg responded, gripping her Killing Edge. Gatrie didn't know how to react to this; simply, he let go of his lance, and he heard the clatter of the silver meeting the castle grounds.

"Pick up your weapon and fight!" Meg commanded, but Gatrie stayed silent. Meg took this as a sign of defeat; she began to trudge forward in her large armor. Meg felt a surge of energy within her, as she began to slash at Gatrie with such force. Gatrie felt each piece of his blue armor fall and crack as it met the castle grounds. Finally, when Meg slashed at him one last time, Gatrie fell to the floor, armorless. Gatrie trudged off the battlefield wordlessly, knowing that he'd have to tell Brom the news of his daughter.

"Ike, we're in serious trouble here. The laguz forces had no idea that the Daein forces were this powerful, and laguz are getting slaughtered by them!" Tibarn had flown in from the front of the fort. He flapped his wings, keeping above the air as he explained to Ike what their current situation was.

"My fleet of hawks is dead, and it will take weeks to replace the fleet with newer hawks. Even then, the next set of hawks I get won't be as good as the old ones." Tibarn commented to the listening Ike, who only looked upon the bodies of all the dead laguz and Daein soldiers. After looking, Ike turned to Tibarn and began to report something even scarier.

"We had no idea that Micaiah and the Dawn Brigade was this powerful…"

"Well, they did liberate Daein, Ike."

"Yes, but I never thought they would crush us like this!"

"What happened, Ike? You sound distressed."

"My own mercenaries have been defeated, Tibarn. Ranulf was defeated before he could even transform. Toxic arrows have knocked out both Shinon and Rolf from the Dawn Brigade's marksman. Sothe hurt Soren enough to incapacitate him. Their reaver defeated Boyd. Rhys was defeated by their saint, and is now suffering from an illness. Gatrie's armor has broken, and he's incapacitated as well. Mia's still fighting the Trueblade who took out Ranulf. Oscar's incapacitated by the arrows in his legs, so I told him to stay back. The only Greil Mercenaries still in combat right now are Mia, Titania, Mist, and I…" Ike stated. When Tibarn heard this, his eyes went wide; he had never heard of Ike losing, and realized that the situation was even more desperate than before. Ike faced forward, and prayed to Ashera that the battle ahead would be easier despite the tides not being in their favor.