Mountainside
A/N: This is a short little story that I wrote for Ramgigon, as a part of Fire Emblem Mew Mew's Secret Santa Fanfic Exchange. It's also the first thing I've actually uploaded since last year. I'm not giving up any of my stories, really! I'm just busy lately, but I will finish "The Sacred Flames" one day! For now, though, happy holidays, Rami!
The setting for this is the Path of Radiance timeline, on the level where Daein soldiers are throwing rocks at you from up a mountain, also known as … chapter 25. Also, what we the players view as "the left side of the screen," the characters themselves view as "to their right," so there is no confusion.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem for anything else you may recognize.
~FE~
It was just another uneventful day for the Crimean Liberation Army – marching tirelessly through the countryside en route for Melior, where their foe Mad King Ashnard of Daein was waiting for them; an activity that had become routine since Ashnard had invaded Crimea over a year ago.
And yet, despite the endless monotony of their everyday lives, the troops seemed to be in higher spirits than usual. Several weeks earlier, they had fought and prevailed against the Rider Petrine, claiming victory at the Riven Bridge and crossing the border into Crimea. At long last … after months of traversing the continent, visiting and garnering support from every country on the mainland, they had finally returned to the land they were to liberate.
That day had started out no different from the others. Ike and his ragtag group of beorc and laguz had reached the Marhaut mountain range, where they were to join with their Gallian allies. However, there was word of an ambush lying in wait on the other side of the mountain. The sensible thing to do would've been to avoid their enemies, even if it meant taking the long way around the mountain.
But Ike and Soren … they had no patience for the sensible option, had they? The two had instead decided, with few words exchanged, to charge straight into the ambush … against Ranulf's protests.
The blue laguz barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes, as Soren barked his orders. From what they could all see, there were two feasible paths that led to the top of the mountain, so Soren wanted to split the army into two. Because the mountain terrain would slow the cavalry, their horseback soldiers would compose the rearguard. Everyone else who was capable of doing so would rush uphill and decimate the Daein soldiers. The wind mage then quickly divided them up, assigning each person in the army to a different side of the mountain.
Ranulf, however, wasn't to take part in Soren's plans. He had been injured during the last battle, and Rhys had recommended that he avoid participating in future skirmishes until his wound was healed. His fellow laguz, Lethe and Janaff, along with Mia and Marcia were sitting out as well.
Marcia's pegasus had been hurt in the same fight Ranulf was injured in. Mia was running a fever and attacking everyone in white, declaring the person in question to be her rival. Lethe had fractured her wrist and was waiting for it to heal. Janaff was staying behind to protect them in case of an attack. With the exception of Lethe, they were not Ranulf's first choice of companions. But for the time being, they were his company.
"Aw, crackers," Marcia grumbled, shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun. "Wish I could help take down those no-good Daein scum!"
"Daein soldiers all wear black. My white-clad archrival wouldn't be anywhere in the Daein army!" Mia complained. She then eyed Marcia's outfit for a brief moment. "Say, Marcia, you wear white. And you ride a pegasus, too! You're my rival! Do you like dueling at dawn?"
Lethe's eye twitched as she listened to the purple-haired myrmidon babble on. "Absurd humans," she hissed. "No laguz would ever be caught acting so foolish!"
"Come on, Lethe, lighten up!" Ranulf joked. "Janaff! You've got a good view of the battlefield from here, don't you? Tell us what's going on!"
"Hmm …" Janaff was hovering above the others, peering at the mountainside. "The enemy's got a ballista – several of them, actually! Ulki, dodge it! Whew! Just missed him." The hawk let out a sigh.
"Sounds like they've got it pretty rough …" Marcia frowned, even as she easily dodged Mia's haphazard sword swings. "Grr … that cheese-brained brother of mine! If he had just been paying attention to his surroundings! Then I wouldn't have had to jump in to save him!"
"Take that, my white-clad archrival!" Mia slurred. She didn't seem to even realize how badly she was missing her intended target. "Fight me! We will have our duel at dawn!"
"Oh! They're rolling boulders down the mountain!" Janaff exclaimed, wincing soon afterwards. "Ooh, that's got to hurt! Largo and Boyd just got clobbered by that rock!"
"Beorc are so slow and clumsy," Lethe huffed. "Their instincts are dulled and weak. No true laguz would ever –"
"Hey, would you look at that? Mordecai just got hit by the same rock," Janaff interrupted, unintentionally yet effectively shutting Lethe up.
"What else is going on?" Ranulf asked.
"Give me a minute," the hawk replied. A few seconds of relative silence passed before he spoke again. "Looks like the army's halfway up the mountain. They've seized control of two of the ballista, the ones closer to the bottom. Rolf and the angry redheaded jerk are shooting down the wyverns."
"I've … never seen a wyvern rider … wear white," Mia mumbled. The swordfighter was slumped on the ground, and her sword lay at her side. "My white-clad archrival is not a wyvern rider. I know it."
"Bah! Would you shut up about your 'white-clad archrival' already?" Lethe snapped. "Your beorc drivel is driving me out of my mind!"
"Hey! Give her a break, will you?" Marcia glared at Lethe. "She's sick and out of her mind! That's why she's being so nutty!"
"Now, ladies, why don't we all just relax and let Janaff tell us how the fight is going?" Ranulf attempted a feeble grin. "So, uh, what's happening now, Janaff?"
"Well, that mean-looking wyvern rider at the top of the mountain – I think he's the enemy commander – just attacked Mist, and he's fighting with General Ike now," Janaff reported. "They're trading blows now – oh! Ike just got hit! But Mist is healing him now. Tormod and Stefan are helping him, too."
"Stefan?" Marcia repeated. "Who was he again?"
Lethe let out an irritable hiss. "He's that crazy swordsmaster I found in the Grann Desert. I'm not even sure why that loony is fighting with us."
"Hm, I can't say I'm well acquainted with him," Janaff remarked, never taking his eyes off the battle.
"Hah! You always did pick up the strange ones, eh, Lethe?" Ranulf teased, ducking under her paw as she swiped at him.
"That Stefan guy? He's not my white-clad archrival," Mia moaned, her eyelids drooping and her voice becoming more garbled with every word.
"The enemy commander's gone down!" Janaff shouted just then. "Tormod just finished him off with a well-aimed spell! Way to go!"
"All right!" Marcia cheered. "Does that mean we've won?"
"Not yet," Janaff said. "There are still some Daein soldiers left. But there aren't many of them."
"I would've thought that they wouldn't keep fighting with their commander defeated," Marcia muttered. "Some people are just so stubborn!"
"I will never understand beorc ways," Lethe muttered, her tail flickering back and forth. "So many of you would simply give up and stop fighting when you lose your commander instead of fighting with your all to try to claim victory!"
"Are you saying that you would go on without me, Lethe, if I were to fall in battle?" Ranulf demanded, his voice laced with mock hurt.
"Yes." Lethe gave him a look, one that plainly showed that she was not amused by his jibes. "We laguz always fight to win, no matter what the odds against us are! Retreating from a battle is the coward's way out!"
"That's not true," Marcia argued. "There is no need to get yourself killed out of some fool pride. Retreating isn't just the coward's choice. Sometimes, you need to retreat so you can keep your life and win future battles."
Ranulf laughed nervously. "I can get what you're saying," he said, "but that's just not the laguz way. Most of us do not stop to think of tactics."
"Yes!" Janaff whooped, cutting the impending discussion short. "The last Daein has fallen! General Ike has claimed victory yet again!"
"Yay! You show those land monkeys how it's done, Ike!" Marcia shouted, pumping her fist in the air.
"Eh, not bad, for a beorc of course," Lethe said.
"I got to say, I'm impressed." Ranulf gave his comrades a cheeky grin, the smile faltering a little when he noticed that Mia was fast asleep on the ground. "Now that the path ahead of us is clear, perhaps we should catch up with the others?"
Janaff and Marcia agreed enthusiastically, Lethe giving a noncommittal grunt. Ranulf picked up Mia, slinging the swordfighter over his shoulder, and with her in tow the four stragglers hurried up the mountain to unite with the rest of the army.
~FE~
A/N: I'm sorry, Rami! This didn't turn out how I had wanted it to! But I did my best considering that I wrote this in less than a day! Hope you had a happy Christmas!