TITLE: The Importance of Being Sane
CHAPTER: Act 1 - A Gentlemanly Approach
AUTHOR: Sharyn (sxzha[at]yahoo.com)
SERIES: Fire Emblem 7 - Rekka no Ken
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: The rating is justified. There is some bad language in this, and some darker adult themes (attempted rape, blood, violence etc.) Also this is a piece containing shounen-ai, which if you have no idea means that there may be guys liking other guys and if this isn't your cup of tea or repulses you, hit the back button.
This act does NOT contain any definite shounen-ai. I would suggest readers to try this chapter and see if it agrees with you, with or without the shounen-ai, before making a decision as to liking/disliking the concept of two guys together. There are also het couples as well, so fair warning at that too.
PAIRINGS: Just in case people were interested . The main pairing of this series is Raven/Lucius (big gasp), although there are undertones of Sain/Lucius (even bigger gasp), with a large serving of side pairings, after all, I am known to write untraditional pairings (points to that quaint little fic called Silent Observers which was a Matthew/Jaffar) and my partner in crime Drala-chan suggested many unthought of pairings. This act though, contains implied Raven/Lucius (barely) and very very mild Sain/Lucius. Oh and Kent/Sain and Lyn/Kent should you want to read it that way.

DISCLAIMER: Fire Emblem 7 is copyright of Nintendo 2003, I make no claims to any of the characters, only to their interactions in this piece. If I actually owned FE7, I would be engaging in acts such as with

-----

The Importance of Being Sane
Act 1 - A Gentlemanly Approach

It had been a truly long day, a long and taxing day. For Lucius, however, it was more than just physical exhaustion that plagued him. After House Cornwell had fallen, he had made a promise to stay by Lord Raymond, his former master, and together they had traveled as mercenaries. When they had joined as soldiers in House Caelin's army, they had no idea that the job would be as devastating as it had become. The events of earlier today had only confirmed this.

Lord Raymond, although he had changed his name to Raven to avoid suspicion was swayed yet again by the temptation of revenge upon the House Ostia. Amidst the heavy air of battle between Laus and Lord Hector and Lord Eliwood's band, Raven had left Lucius to pursue his revenge. Lucius didn't blame him, he had become too familiar with Raven's pain over his lost home over the period of time they spent together that he only felt compassion at his frustration, sorrow at his anger. And yet, beneath the layers of hate and hurt, there was a caring man. Lucius had seen evidence of a soul worn down by burdens meant to be carried by someone much older than nineteen and had heard the silent pleas of peace of mind that emanated from his friend.

Lucius sighed, he was very tired, and his temples throbbed as a headache loomed on the horizon. His headaches came quite often and while he had managed to learn how to block the majority of the pain that came with the dull throb in his head during such moments, the headaches usually drained him of energy. And that lead to his fits. He himself didn't know why he had them, it was an illness present in him ever since he had become an orphan. Still, he hoped that this headache wouldn't cause a fit, he didn't need to add to Lord Raymond's worries, especially when he was so torn between his desire for revenge and the need to protect his sister from the knowledge of his activities.

"Oh my eyes! I have been dazzled, such a beautiful light shines before me!" Sain's unexpected voice rang out startling Lucius from his contemplation.

He had traveled with Sain during the previous year along with Lady Lyndis but had been fortunate enough that the cavalier was, at the time, more smitten with Lady Lyndis to notice his presence amongst the band. For that, Lucius was very grateful. His feminine looks caused him more harm than good throughout his whole life and everyone felt the need to comment on them. And now, rejoining this group, Lucius almost groaned in frustration at being the recipient of Sain's attentions.

"Umm…" Lucius began, intending to end this nonsense by telling Sain that he was not a woman. Unfortunately, Sain had other ideas and cut him off straight away.

"Oh beauteous one, I believe we meet again after a year," he was saying, kneeled on one knee and holding his hand to his heart, "Grant me knowledge of your name so that I may utter it when you grace me with your radiant presence."

Lucius was somewhat surprised, after traveling together for so long, Sain still had not bothered to learn his name. It didn't irk him, but if he were a woman and was in the same position, he would have rejected Sain immediately for lack of insight on the cavalier's behalf.

"I'm Lucius and er…Sir Sain, is it?" Lucius tried again, fatigue biting at his patience, to inform Sain of his gender.

"My dearest heart, my name has never fallen so prettily from a pair of luscious lips," Sain said, reaching for Lucius' hand.

"Yes…Sir Sain," Lucius said, jerking his hand away, "I think I should tell you that I am…"

Sain shot him an expression of mock hurt as Lucius cradled his hand to himself, "Hush sweet beauty, tear apart not this knight's heart with your gentle worded rejection."

Lucius felt the beginnings of frustration rise up within him as he was determined to stop this foolishness. It was a very taxing day for him and he didn't need this kind of worrying attention now.

"Sir Sain, I must inform you that I am…"

"What glory you bring into my world, with hair putting the sun's morning rays to shame with its brilliance! And such deep expressive azure orbs that seem to see into the very depths of my heart and soul!" Sain closed his eyes and said with an impassioned tone of voice.

Lucius sighed, this was getting him nowhere and his headache had begun its reign of pain over his mind.

"Do not sigh in sorrow, delicate one. Allow me to shower you with praises you rightfully deserve!" Sain said shuffling closer to Lucius.

"…Never mind…" Lucius said, drawing a deep breath and just walked away from Sain, his gait not entirely steady. He could hear Sain's pleading for him to stay but he ignored them and concentrated on getting back to his room. His feet automatically took him down the corridors of Castle Caelin to the soldiers' quarters that he had stayed in with Lord Raymond. It was only when a hand gripped his shoulder stopping him in his tracks that he looked up and realised that he had been given a bedroom in the main area of the Castle, not the soldiers' barracks.

"Oh look guys," the man whose hand had gripped his shoulder said, "it seems like upstairs sent us a pretty little lady."

"Let me go," Lucius said, struggling to loosen his shoulder so that he could use both hands to defend himself and summon his spells if necessary.

"She's a feisty one isn't she?" another said coming up to grab his hand and kissed it mockingly.

"I'm not…" Lucius began to say, a little louder when both his hands were suddenly forced behind his back and secured. Meanwhile, his first captor had captured his face in his hands and was caressing it roughly while murmuring.

"About fucking time they sent us something to play with," he murmured and licked the side of Lucius' face while he squirmed in their grasp, "We're bloody men. They expect us to just sit back and await more orders without any reward."

"But you'll have to do for all of us," another man said and grasped at Lucius' backside.

Lucius closed his eyes and tried to concentrate so that he could form a spell and escape the place. However, both the struggle and his headache, not to mention the rough hands that were grabbing at him had weakened him further than he was already and he found himself slipping, losing grasp of consciousness. Lord Raymond…he thought wearily.

"What do you think you're doing!" a voice shouted through the haze forming in Lucius' mind, "Let her go now! What kind of soldiers do you think you are, handling a lady like that!"

Lucius registered Sain's voice and wondered what the cavalier was doing here.

"She's part of Lady Lyndis' personal band now, and if you touch her, I will not be responsible for any blood I may shed as a result," Sain's voice had lost its usual gaiety and had taken a more serious tone with the warning.

The hands were suddenly removed and Lucius found himself swaying a little bit in efforts to stand and Sain's arms came around him lightly. He looked up to see Sain giving glares to each of the soldiers and registered something about how their actions would be reported to Lady Lyndis and their judgement would be passed by her.

"Let…go," Lucius muttered, attempting to push Sain away from him but lacking the strength to do so.

"Shh…I won't do anything ok? On my honour as a knight," Sain said, his arms still circled around Lucius but barely touching him.

Out of the corner of his eyes Lucius saw one of the soldiers approach Sain with a stick planning to knock him out. Lucius gathered the last of his energy and recited a lightning spell which managed to hit double. As fatigue and his headache took control, blackness flooded his vision and he felt his grasp on reality loosen before finally breaking.

---

As Sain saw the burst of light that struck twice and someone behind him, he felt a weight fall against him. Holding Lucius firmly in his grasp, he punched the other incoming soldier before drawing his sword and knocking two other soldiers down using the flat of his blade.

"I gave you all fair warning," Sain said a frown gracing his normally pleasant features, "Do not come and bother Lucius or myself ever or else I will demonstrate proper Caelin sword work on your body."

With that, he replaced his sword into his scabbard and lifted Lucius and walked back to the main part of the castle, his mind running at a thousand miles per hour. Lucius felt insubstantial in his arms, like a child and Sain was shocked to feel how light he was. Even more so was the fact that he had seen Lucius strike a soldier down with a lightning spell. If he had remembered correctly, the young cleric Serra had said something about only extremely experienced light users could casts spells using the power of light.

"Just what are you, beautiful one?" Sain murmured as he climbed up a flight of stairs to the bedrooms where everyone else was.

He looked along the corridor and tried to figure out which of the rooms had been assigned to Lucius but after a few moments of frustrated thinking, he gave up and proceeded to his own room.

Inside, he lay Lucius down on his bed while he quickly looked over searching for injuries and noticed that there was a small scratch on one side of Lucius' face and a ring of darkening bruises along his wrist. Sain felt his anger well up at the callousness of the soldiers, beauty such as Lucius was extremely rare and to be admired like a finely crafted sword, not defaced and ruined like some common kitchen knife.

Sain stared at Lucius a moment longer before noticing a large bruise that had started to darken Lucius' pale skin near his collarbone. He was a little apprehensive when his trembling fingers touched the cloth that obscured that area before finally deciding that he ought to assess the damage before deciding whether or not to call a healer. Despite contrary belief, Sain did flirt with many women but he had never disrespected them in any way. It was times like this that he wished he wasn't so bound by his honour as he undid Lucius' top revealing a patch of pale skin marred by a bruise that was turning an ugly purple.

It was then that Sain made the biggest discovery of his day.

Lucius was male.

There was no doubt about it in Sain's mind as he assessed the lack of curves otherwise hidden by Lucius' loose clothing. Sain quickly reflected back on the conversation he had with Lucius earlier and finally noted Lucius' stumbled attempts at trying to inform him of something.

"I'm such an idiot," Sain said hitting himself in the head, "I didn't even notice…but you really are too beautiful."

Looking down at the sleeping beauty on his bed one last time and deciding that his injuries were unpleasant looking but not extremely serious. He probably just needed rest and Sain decided to leave him to it. Sain turned around and went out of his room, closing his door softly and looked around to see if he could find Kent. He needed someone to talk to and in the past Kent had always proved himself to be an extremely good listener, albeit a little wary on some of the comments Sain made. With that he walked to the room next to his and knocked.

"Who is it?" Kent said as he opened the door and looked at Sain with a peculiar expression on his face, "Sain, what is it?"

"Kent, who's at the door?" Lyn's voice sounded from behind Kent, "Oh, hello Sain."

Sain looked at the sight before him trying to decipher whether he had disturbed something he shouldn't have but neither Kent nor Lyn gave any indication that he had interrupted anything private.

"I was wondering if you are free," Sain said, directing the comment to Kent, "Did I interrupt anything?"

"No, Kent and I were just discussing a few things, but I was planning on leaving soon anyhow," it was Lyn who answered and quickly left, not before giving a small smile to Kent who returned it.

"What now?" Kent said.

"Do you have anything to drink?" Sain said, a look of despair quickly passed over his face before he glanced back at Kent who was looking at him with peculiarly, with a bit of sympathy.

"Come in," Kent said and stepped away from his door to allow his best friend into his room.

---

Kent noted the look of confusion on his best friend's face and knew whatever it was that Sain had wanted to confide in him was serious for he had rarely seen Sain in such a state. Sain didn't say anything as he entered the room, which was unusual for the other cavalier since under most situations Kent would have been trying to stop Sain's chatter. He went to a small cupboard on one side of his room and took a bottle of wine out and two glasses and set them on the small table in his room. He poured two glasses of red wine out and handed one to Sain and took one himself and seated himself down, indicating to Sain to do the same.

After a cautious sip Kent prompted, "Well?"

"When I said 'a drink' I had in mind something stronger than fine red wine. After all, this stuff is too delicate for me to be using for confession," Sain said with a bitter laugh.

"Tough, this is all I have," Kent said and took another sip savouring the taste of the wine.

"You're my best friend Kent," Sain said, not looking at the other cavalier, "You've seen me do some pretty stupid things before."

Kent merely nodded in acknowledgement, wondering what this was leading to.

"I fucked up badly today," Sain said after moment.

Kent was unsure as to what to say since Sain rarely ever swore and when he did, it was usually a sign that he was extremely stressed and possibly wallowing in self-pity or self-hate. Kent just sipped at his wine a little more and waited patiently for Sain to continue.

"Do you remember Lucius?"

"Wasn't he the monk we met a year ago? The one who joined up again with us today," Kent replied after a moment's thought.

"Yeah," Sain said and took a deep breath, "Did you know he was a guy?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, he was a monk. All monks in St. Elimine's service are male," Kent said.

"I didn't," Sain said, his expression darkening, "I didn't know he was a fucking guy."

"You didn't flirt with him did you?" Kent asked, his eyes narrowing in concern.

"Of course I did, I mean look at him, he's absolutely breathtaking. He's more beautiful than some of the women I've been with," Sain said with a resigned sigh, "I think he may have been tired, he ignored me and ran off to the soldiers' quarters."

"You followed him?" Kent asked already suspecting the answer.

"Yeah, I found a couple of the bastards trying to molest him," Sain's fists clenched, "Some of them have absolutely no honour to speak of, I will speak to Lady Lyndis about them and suggest that they resign."

"Is he alright?"

"He's fine, he's resting in my room at the moment," Sain said, "I didn't know which was his room so I just put him in mine."

Kent nodded in understanding.

"You should have seen the look on his face, he looked so vulnerable," Sain was speaking in a whisper now, "But I have never seen anyone so determined in that state."

"What will you do now?"

"I'll go apologise and then…" Sain trailed off, a far off expression present on his face.

"You don't actually feel anything for him do you?" Kent asked, slightly alarmed, "I mean you flirt with girls all the time but you don't feel anything for them. What's so different with him?"

"He needs someone to protect him, his determination can only last him to a certain extent. I…I should probably atone for my mistake," Sain said, "Even with him in the beginning it felt a bit different, he was more than just beautiful."

"He is a man," Kent reminded.

"Yes I know, but you haven't studied him. Gods, Kent, he looks as if he glows from inside. Even when I was making a fool of myself, he tried to tell me so gently that he was male," Sain shook his head.

Kent waited a few moments before he stood up and went to his bathroom to wash his hands off while he contemplated his friend's problem. It was apparent that something had happened between Sain and Lucius but what it was exactly, Sain wasn't even sure. It was more than just guilt, that much Kent could see. But could Sain actually be developing feelings for someone he had seen a handful of times and only truly met today, it was a little improbably especially considering Sain's reputation with women. Yet Kent couldn't ignore the nagging voice that told him people could change.

When Kent came out of the bathroom, Sain was hunched over the table, his head in his hands. After a quick observation, Kent noted that Sain had consumed most of his wine too. He walked over to his friend and tried to lift him to his feet.

"What?" Sain snapped at him. Kent knew from experience that when Sain was even a little drunk, his temper became quite short.

"I'm getting you into bed," Kent said and tried to drag him up but Sain stubbornly refused to move.

"I can't go back to my room, remember? A very pretty distraction is currently sleeping in my bed," Sain said with a snicker.

Kent hadn't thought of that, but he amended his plans quickly.

"You can take my bed," Kent said.

"What about you?" Sain asked.

"I was planning to look at some maps to see where we are heading anyhow," Kent made an excuse.

"Nonsense," Sain said, "If you don't mind helping…you could try and find out which room he was meant to be in and I'll sleep there."

Kent pondered this option for a moment and then toyed with the idea of moving the monk to his own room instead. Sain seemed to have sensed his thoughts because his eyes met his and Kent found himself receiving a furious glare from his best friend.

"You're not going to be moving him," Sain said in a soft tone, danger leaking through, "He doesn't need to be disturbed."

Kent put both his hands up in defeat and left his bedroom to search for the room where Lucius was supposed to be staying. The night had a promise of not ending anytime soon and Kent had a feeling that there were more events waiting around the corner.

-----

A/N: Well that concludes the first act of my Sain series. There are a total of three acts in the first part, and if things go according to plan there will be three parts altogether. To all who were looking for Raven/Lucius, I direct you to the second act of this part which will be devoted to Raven/Lucius. If time permits, I will be posting once every week so look out for the next installment. As always, comments and constructive criticism very welcome, even if it's to tell me you loved it or hated it.