A/N:
WARNING, shonen-ai and some pervertedish jokes and pairings that are considered crack and swearing
REVIEW. I write to improve. And read reader reviews.
FLAME. Sure, why not?
DISCLAIMER: 4minutes claims only the plot, the tactician and the lemonade as hers.
4minutes apologizes for any writing inconsistencies, lame jokes, or dissatisfaction caused by reading this.
Tactician's Quest
1
"'...I live by the sword. My body is a weapon. I cannot live without the taste of blood.' That was what he told me."
"What is he then, a vampire?"
Lucius scowled at Erk. Erk, of all people knew how Karel frightened him, and he, Lucius was not in the mood for Erk's cynicism. "No! I don't know! Why does he even talk to me in the first place?" Lucius wrung his hands, not even close to expressing the extent of his frustration and confusion. Karel called him weak, but Lucius always felt that way with Karel.
Erk, being his usual dense self, did not quite understand the reason for Lucius' considerable distress. "He is our ally. Mao trusts him," he said, "Otherwise he wouldn't have stayed with us all this time. He isn't a spy from Nergal, not even Jaffar knows him."
"Well, he could be someone new. Or even a spy from Bern!" Lucius argued, but dropped it right away. Erk had pointed out before that if Bern were to send a spy, they would not send some one who stood out so much and seemed so suspicious. There was no point in going through this argument again, not when Erk was being patient with him. "Wait, I thought Lord Elliwood hired him?"
"Lord Elliwood only asked for his aid during that battle. It was Mao who personally came to him and asked him to come along on this journey." Erk replied. Lucius looked surprised, and so had the other people had learned this. "…probably promised him dozens of battlefields in which he could, what was that…oh, satiate his taste for blood." he added.
Lucius laughed without quite meaning to, and Erk looked relieved. "If it bothers you so, Lucius, you could speak to Mao."
"No," Lucius replied. "I do not wish to trouble our tactician. If there is a need for me to be close to Karel again in the next battle, then so be it. I would not go against our tactician's ideas for personal reasons."
It was a familiar statement, though Erk was not reassured. "I could speak to Mao for you."
"No, Erk," said Lucius again. "You abuse your position as the tactician's friend, surely! I don't want Mao to change the battle plans on my behalf."
Erk frowned. "Very well…though I do not consider it abuse to speak of your concerns, Lucius. And you are a friend, too."
Lucius did not reply, and Erk did not press further. They spent the rest of the evening in comfortable silence until Kent announced that Lord Elliwood, Lord Hector, Lady Lyndis and Tactician Mao had retired and suggested that the rest of the army go to bed as well.
Several people grumbled, especially Bartre who was in full swing, but Erk and Lucius put out their shared fire quietly and bid each other a good night, Lucius feeling better than he had before.
"Karel is only a man, Lucius," were Erk's parting words, "Don't let him any closer to you if you do not want to."
Lucius turned to Erk, standing over the remains if the fire with his hands folded, as if stating an insignificant fact.
"Thank you, Erk. I won't."
0
"Lucius, where were you?"
Lucius had barely closed the flaps of the tent behind him when Raven started questioning him.
"Where were you?" I was worried, were the words that Raven never would have said, but they were true. They were nearing the place where Nergal was, and anything could happen now.
Lucius, while rather touched by Raven's concern (which Raven was hiding by sounding casual- but Lucius knew better), was reluctant to tell him. Raven was not fond of Erk in particular. Raven cared little for anyone who wasn't Lucius, Priscilla and, of all people, Wil (which baffled Lucius very much, and he discussed it with Erk constantly, each theory wilder than the last) but there were also people whom Raven specifically disliked. Erk was one of them. Lucius supposed it was because he and Priscilla were rather close, and any male that close to Priscilla would never make Raven very happy.
"Lord Raymond, I thought you might've liked to spend some time with Priscilla tonight; that's why I avoided you." It was partly true, and Raven's expression softened a bit- just a bit.
"Alright then, but answer me anyway- where were you?" Raven was gazing at him shrewdly, prying out the truth with his eyes. Outside, it was eerily quiet, which made Lucius even more uncomfortable, as he was standing near the opening of the tent.
He had no choice. He could never lie to Raven, and he had never tried. "I was with Erk, if you must know." He said in his most casual voice.
Predictably, Raven was not pleased. "Surely you could find better company than that mage? And you know very well, Lucius, that no one must know of the relationship between Priscilla and I. To spend time with her would only attract the attention of people like Sain." Raven grimaced at having to use the womanizer's name, but he was still glaring at Lucius.
Lucius scowled in return. "Erk is my friend! And it shouldn't be anyone's business if you or I spend time with other people!" Like Will, Lucius felt like adding, but it would only prolong the dragging argument, and it had gone on long enough.
Evidently, Raven felt the same. Unsmiling, he turned his back on Lucius and began to undress. Lucius' expression was equally unhappy as he did the same.
Raymond and I are always fighting. Always. A depressing thought.
That night both Lucius and Raven slept without another word to each other, both wondering how best to make it up to each other in the morning.
0
Tactician's Tent
Light filtered through the tent flaps as Erk shouldered himself in, arms loaded with books and scrolls. Three-fourths of the room basked in sunlight for a spit-second until the flaps fell close behind the anima mage. Erk set down his load neatly and began his early morning ritual of tidying the tactician's tent in the darkness.
What a mess. Erk shook his head sadly at the disorganized piles of parchment, the near-empty ink bottles and the amount of ink spilled on the floor. The mage just could not fathom how it actually was possible to come up with a brilliant battle plan in all...this. Impossible, he always thought, and yet Mao proved him wrong on each succeeding battle. Erk wondered if Mao was secretly blind not to see all this…stuff lying around.
He picked up a mysteriously shiny white object on the floor that Mao made him vow never to open ever under threat of being sent into a squadron of Pegasus Knights on the next battle, and set it beside the sleeping tactician. The mere thought of the magic-resistant winged horses drove any curiosity for the object out of Erk's mind, and he continued his cleaning. The scrolls and parchments were easy. If there was one other thing Mao could actually do besides plan things, it was to mark things very clearly. Though, the handwriting was terrible. The fact that it was about twice the size of Erk's normal handwriting made it legible, but the scrawling, unconnected letters looked somewhat disturbing to him.
Once all the documents were organized into neat groups, and the spilled ink scrubbed clean and all other cleaning done, Erk was left with the most difficult task…he gulped. Cleaning the tent had taken about an hour, even when he tried to stall as long as possible. This was going to be hard, very hard. It was a battle he'd had to face every morning, but it never got any easier. Never. Erk took a few moments to plan his strategy.
"Right. Here we go."
Gingerly, Erk reached out his hand and poked the tactician's cheek.
___________________________________________________________________________________
2
It happened so fast. In a flash, Erk felt his feet leave the ground and flipped over. He would've made a sound, but the fingers around his throat made it rather hard to get any air out. He tried to breathe, squeezing his eye shut in effort, but then he heard a thud and a soft material pressing against his back. He had landed on the tactician's bed. One hand was pinned underneath him and the other was held above his head. Slowly, Erk cracked an eyelid open. Clear, amber-colored eyes glared back at him.
"…ah…morning…Mao…" Erk gasped.
Blink. "Oh."
Another blink and Erk's throat and hand were released. Erk breathed deeply for a second until the tactician's body came crashing down on him before he could react. Oof! Thought Erk, his vocal cords disabled once again. The area around his neck, where the tactician's hands were up until a moment ago now contained the tactician's sleepy blondish head. The tactician's hair was fairly spiky this morning, so it wasn't comfortable.
"Oh," continued the tactician. "It's you." Amber eyes blinked sleepily once more and fell back asleep. On Erk.
"Oh," said Erk.
Luckily the tactician atop him was very light and thin, so even slender Erk had only a little trouble releasing himself from underneath the sleeping tactician. But before he was fully out, the tactician grabbed his arm.
"Good morning." The tactician known as Mao greeted.
Erk jerked his head in a nod. "Good morning."
"Erk?"
"Yes?"
"Lemonade."
0
By the time the rest of the party began to wake up, the anima mage and the tactician were already having breakfast in the tactician's tent. Kent and Isadora were doing some early morning training exercises while the others gathered around Lowen, the second earliest riser next to Erk (but only Erk, Lucius and the tactician knew that). Today's breakfast was vegetable soup, which got groans from the likes of Bartre and Geitz, but even they had to admit that it tasted great.
Raven planted himself firmly at Lucius' side and glared at people, daring them to come sit anywhere near Lucius. This didn't bother Lucius at all, seeing as he had been planning to do the same as well, except for the glaring part. Actually, Lucius was glad to spend the day with Raven. This morning Lucius ventured a cheery smile at Raven and actually received a twitch of the lips in return. That means we're not fighting anymore. Lucius put a hand to his heart and smiled.
Lucius seems unusually happy this morning, Raven noted. Or was this his usual mood? Was the monk planning something? In any case, he didn't seem angry anymore. Raven was so taken off guard this morning when Lucius smiled at him, but it made him ridiculously happy as well. Too happy.
Raven finished his soup and Lucius took it without a word and brought the bowls back to Lowen. The army sat in groups huddle around the fire. Raven and Lucius were alone. Among one group Raven spotted Karel, which he thought was unusual. He hadn't personally spoken to the swordsman, but Raven had always had the impression that Karel disliked being with other people. He tilted his head back and saw who he was sitting next to. Karla. Oh, that explained it. He'd heard from Wil the other day that they were brother and sister. Family. Raven wondered what he would do if Lucius went over to that mage or that annoying priestess that he somehow gets along with. Would he, Raven, follow him? Did it matter, as long as Lucius was by his side?
"Announcement!"
Lucius recognized Mao's voice over the chatter, which ceased instantly as soon as the golden haired tactician emerged from the tent. The silence was near instantaneous. Lucius dropped the bowls at Lowen's side and made his way back to where Raymond was sitting. The red-haired mercenary had a peculiar expression on his face as Lucius sat down next to him. He didn't even look up when Lucius tried to speak to him.
"Lord Ra-"
Lucius' voice was drowned out by a loud commotion, and he drew his eyes away from Raymond and saw Kent and Marcus speaking loudly to the tactician, disbelieving expressions on their faces. Even others in the camp looked shocked. The announcement that Lucius and Raven missed came as such a shock that no one seemed to notice a purple-haired anima mage discreetly emerge from behind the tactician's tent and blend in with the people.
Lucius glanced down at Raymond, and saw that he had an equally blank expression on his face.
"Lucius? What's going on?"
Lucius shook his head, clueless, until Mao's next announcement gave him some enlightenment.
"Hey, hey, calm down! It's not what you think!" the tactician waved his hands frantically, trying to get everyone's attention. Eventually Kent managed to settle everyone down long enough for Mao to speak.
"Now, as I've said, everyone (calm down), Lord Elliwood, Lord Hector, and Lady Lyndis have left the camp BUT-" more shouts- "they'll be back. I don't know when. Back in the Nabata dessert, Lord Elliwood had a word with Archsage Athos, remember? There is something that Elliwood must accomplished on his own. Lord Hector and Lady Lyndis wanted to accompany him, and I couldn't stop them. SO-" Mao glanced at them, but this time no one spoke up. "I'm in charge. They WILL return, and they will send word to me once they have done what is needed.
"Lord Elliwood asked us to remain together in his absence. He requests that while he's gone, we are to go around helping villages and taking on tasks from other countries. In short, we travel, we train and we earn.
My goal is to increase our fighting power tenfold, so that by the time they return, we'll be ready for an even bigger fight.
"If some of you do not agree with this arrangement- leave! The weaklings among us will die the second we face Nergal and the Black Fang. It's leave or fight!"
No one spoke up.
Mao clapped his hands and grinned. "Okay. If any of you change your mind, feel free to consult me and you shall be dispatched in short order. Now, let's work hard, everyone!"
______________________________________________________________________________________
So now they travel around and do stuff without the main characters. Not exactly a plausible. Oh well.
Technically, these are a string of 'Gaiden Chapters.'