Chapter 1: Troubling News
At the west coast of Gallia, a lone warrior trekked the plains, eyes scanning, looking for something.
"Why would his majesty's shadow send me here? There's nothing here." As she turned to head back she bumped into a very muscular Beorc. The laguz warrior had grown to trust Beorc, to a point. Even so, this one had ill will written all over. She started to transform, expecting a fight, but this Beorc had other plans. Pulling a strange mechanism from a pocket, he touched the transforming cat with it, and her transformation was cancelled.
"What? What happened? You!" The warrior lunged at the Beorc, figuring she could take him even without transforming. With a soft smile, the muscled man said,
"The worst move you could have possibly made, I'm afraid." And at that point, as if on cue, an arrow whizzed over the man's shoulder, sticking painfully into the untransformed cat's shoulder. She simply made another attack attempt, resulting in arrow's piercing her legs. Where were the arrows coming from? So strange. Then a puff of smoke revealed an archer, who looked as if he had skidded to a stop. 'So fast,' thought the warrior. 'I couldn't even see any sign. That guy, he's better than...Shinon.' The marksman readied to fire once more upon the now frightened cat, but the muscled man ordered a stand-down. He then looked at the warrior, reaching a hand out slowly. The cat found herself cringing at the thought of what he might do to her, and was thus stunned when he just stroked her cheek.
"Calm yourself, Lethe. Gallia is not our target, neither is its people." Said the muscled man.
"Then why?" Asked Lethe The man looked past the archer to someone in fine white robes.
"Erio, heal her." Without hesitation, the saint he spoke to approached Lethe, pulling out a staff. He started chanting, and though the wounds healed, the arrows stayed in her legs and shoulder. Lethe growled when she found that to be so, and asked,
"What's the meaning of this?!"
"To make sure you don't get away." Said the archer in a sinister voice. This worried Lethe, and seeing this, the muscled man punched the archer in the face, sending him reeling.
"Forgive him, and me as well. I happen to have business with a friend of yours, one whom I know for a fact gainss strength from emotion, moreso than anyone I know. I want to fight that power, but it cannot be willingly drawn upon. I needed a way to draw out his anger, so that I may test myself." Said the man. Lethe spit in the man's face, and yelled,
"That's what this is about? A test of strength? You disgust me!" The archer suddenly appeared in front of Lethe, arrow pulled and held to her neck.
"You would do well to watch yourself, unless you're just that anxious to die!" To this, the muscled man picked up the archer by the head, looked him in the eyes, and tossed him behind him.
"You watch yourself, you are no longer allowed to speak to Lethe! If I ever find you in so much as the same room as her when we return to the base, you'll find your head on my mantle before you can say ouch!"
'Base...' Thought Lethe.
"If I may ask, are you a band of mercenaries?" She asked. Turning to Lethe, the muscle man smiled, revealing teeth whiter than she expected to see.
"Yes, we are. I am the leader, named Sotile. My weapon of choice is this magnificent sword." He pulled a familiar sword off of his back.
"This is Gurugant." Lethe was speechless. She knew that sword.
"Gurugant...Ashnard's sword, rumored to be unmatched."
"Ahhh, so you know it. Well, let it be known that the rumors are true. Anyway, way behind me is the archer of my group. He is cold, to say the very least. His name is Zet." The archer stepped forward, and said,
"I take pride in my bow, Liawun, as I do my speed." Sotile looked to Erio, who stepped forward.
"This is Erio, my saint, the best there is." Erio bowed graciously, and Lethe sighed, saying,
"I appreciate the introduction, but before we continue, if you intend to take me somewhere, please do it so I can get these arrows out." Sotile stopped suddenly, and said,
"Yeah, sure." As they helped Lethe into a boat, she asked,
"So who are you after?"
"The Greil Mercenaries." Said Sotile. Lethe should have known, and she now felt stupid for not knowing.
"So I'm...bait?" She asked, sounding irritated.
"Far from it. You will be our guest until Ike and his merry band arrives. You will be our guest, and treated like one once we arrive." Said Sotile as they set sail.
Meanwhile...
The Greil Mercenaries remain bound to their loyalties, even following the struggle at the Tower of Guidance. Ike continues to follow in his father's footsteps as the head of the Greil Mercenaries, though by this time, he has set an example for himself to follow. No longer is he merely his father's shadow. One morning, while the mercenaries are still at the fort, Shinon picks up on a new, yet familiar presence. He was just waking up, but this finding gives him the incentive to quickly prepare for a fight, just to be on the safe side. He nocks an arrow in his longbow, and stealthily creeps around a corner to look outside. Seeing nothing puzzles him, but he comes to the hasty conclusion that whoever it was was scared off by the reputation of those who reside in this fort. As he walks outside with a smile on his face, he is tackled by someone who is apparently female, whoever she is. Then comes the aggravating feature, which slips down between his eyes. Growling upon the sight, Shinon hastens to his feet, knocking the girl on her butt. The marksman turns to the fallen female, his free hand clenched in a tight fist and his right eye twitching in an aggitated manner.
"LYRE!!" Shinon's scream wakes Gatrie, if for no reason other than the name that was uttered. The knight in blue armor sighs before saying,
"Ahhhh, Lyre. So it seems that fate has led you to me once again. Oh, my pretty kitty, you shall wait no longer." His rambling about love and his supposed girlfriend, wakes Ike, who is immediately irritated, which he proved by saying,
"You know, if you like her that much, tell her, not me. It's a lot more effective, trust me-" And with that Ike knew he had said too much. Gatrie was now eyeing his leader strangely.
"Oh really now? I can trust you on that? Who is it? Who did you confess love to? Tell me!"
"N-n-no one I swear!" Stammered Ike. "Now, I think Lyre must be here for more of a reason than just to see you, ya big lug. She never crosses the border alone. Let's go find out why she's here." After slight pondrance, Gatrie agreed. He and Ike joined Shinon and Lyre, who had for once been engaged in friendly conversation, in the meeting hall. Ike approached the conversing pair, resulting in a look from Shinon.
"What?" Asked Ike, having done nothing wrong as far as he was aware.
"You know I don't like being left out of a decent bit of information." Said Shinon; a vague description of what the look was for. This answer just confused Ike even more.
"Why didn't you ever tell me that talking with a Laguz could be so interesting."
"Be-cause I didn't think it would be interesting to YOU." Retorted Ike, surprisingly to Shinon's agreement.
"You're right, or at least I would have thought you were right. But enough about that, now to business. We have enough mercenaries here to talk problem. We can talk strategy later. So Lyre, what exactly happened. You told me that your sister has gone missing. Do you know any details?" Lyre nodded, tears starting to trickle. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of parchment. Upon request, it was given to Ike, who recognized it for what it was almost immediately. There was one name, however, that he didn't understand.
"Lyre, where is this name referring to." Asked Ike.
"That's the name of a country." Muttered Lyre. Ike knew this already, and so he persisted,
"Okay, the name of a country where? I'm not familiar with it." Shinon looked at the parchment, then to Ike and said,
"You're not familiar with...are you joking? You must be joking." Ike sighed, and said,
"I figured that, considering the gravity of the situation, you would know that I'm serious."
"Korriande, I've heard of it, but I always thought it was just a myth with no true significance. Now, what of the rest of this document? Is this what I think it is?" Asked Shinon. Ike chuckled before speaking,
"Well, I don't know what goes through your head at times like these, but this is a receipt, which considering the circumstances, can only mean one thing." As Ike finished saying that, Lyre punched him in the face knocking him to the ground. Ike rubbed his face painfully, then looked at Lyre, agitated and asked,
"What was that for?!"
"Lethe promised me this kind of thing would never happen again, and she said that General Ike was the reason for that change! If that really is the case, why has this happened?!" Asked Lyre, in somewhat of a fury.
"I don't know, but fighting each other isn't going to get your sister back!" Yelled Ike. Shinon sighed, and stood before saying,
"Ike, chill out, Lyre..." He looked from Lyre to Gatrie and smirked before continuing, "play with Gatrie or something." At that single comment, Ike fell over anime-style while Lyre punched Shinon's head, Gatrie now continuing his obsessive fantasizing over Lyre.
"That's enough lover boy, I'm trying to think." Said Shinon, having not even felt Lyre's punch. This aggravated the Laguz, and she transformed, lunging at the marksman, who dodged, simply saying,
"Down kitty." Shinon shook his head in an annoyed manner, and finally yelled,
"I'm trying to THINK!"
"Shut up Shinon." Said an annoyed Soren, who obviously just woke up. Walking forward, he sat down in a chair, and without any sort of contemplation said,
"You are so slow in the head. It's obvious why it happened, and it's not Ike's fault. Apparently this, Korriande place, it has not subjected itself to any sort of emancipation. In other words, it's the kind of nation where Beorc and Laguz unfortunately do not see eye to eye. To the Beorc there, Laguz are tools, not friends or even companions. I've heard a great deal about this place, including some things you do not want to know. Needless to say they made me retch."
"Soren, enough! Lyre's suffering enough already, she doesn't need to hear this!" Yelled Ike, in obvious annoyance. Soren just stopped, sighed, and said,
"Right, sorry Ike." By this time Lyre was clinging securely to Shinon as she weeped, not wanting to be anywhere near Gatrie at this point. Shinon somehow made Lyre feel secure, even though this was the same man who had insulted her so heartlessly some time ago. Ike smiled at the sight, before bearing a more serious expression as he asked,
"What about Mordecai? Is he okay?"
"I haven't seen him, he probably went to look for his commanding officer." Said Lyre. Suddenly, another familiar face dropped in, literally. Ranulf stood just outside the doorway. Lyre's eyes glistened at the sight of the teal-haired young man, but that went unnoticed. Ranulf looked at Ike, and said,
"Well old friend, I trust you've heard the news?"
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Yes, strange as it may seem, the Greil Mercenaries seem to have gotten an incorrect message. Why? How? You'll find out.