Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or any characters within. This fic is… well, very different from the rest of my work. I fell in love with the Muarim, Vika, Tormod triangle while playing RD and I wanted to write something a little more serious and meaningful for a change. I haven't beaten RD and I didn't have a lot to work off of for Vika because she's barely in the game and I don't know anything about it. I gave her the past that she was once a Laguz slave. Whether or not that is true I haven't the slightest idea, so pretend for now that she was a slave in the past. Muarim x Vika, Muarim recollecting his past on raising Tormod.
It was frigid that night as Muarim sat by the camp fire, his eyes cast far over the Daein army campgrounds, their sight resting on the young Beorc known as Tormod. The young fire mage was rough housing and laughing with Sothe and the other young males of the Daein Emancipation army while their female companions stood off to the side and pretended not to be interested in the excitement. The cold didn't affect him physically, but Muarim couldn't help but mentally match the weather's emotions.
"Is it alright if I join you?" A soft female voice echoed throughout Muarim's ears, but the tiger said nothing to the crow. Instead, the voice's owner, Vika, took the silence as a positive answer and slowly side-stepped around the log Muarim was seated upon and sat down beside him. She sat in silence, her elbows resting on her knees while her hands dangled loosely between her legs as she joined Muarim in watching the teenagers across the camp.
"I wonder if I made the best choice for him." Muarim finally spoke, breaking the melancholy silence between the two former slave Laguz.
"Are you talking about taking him under your wing?" Vika asked. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Muarim slowly nod, but his gaze shifted down to the campfire blazing quietly before them. "If you ask boss," Vika's hands folded themselves together as she leaned forward to get closer to the fire. "I think he would tell you he was happy you did. I've seen how he looks at you, Muarim. He looks at you as a son does a father. You're everything to boss."
"I know, but sometimes I catch myself wondering if I only raised him out of spite for the Beorc." Muarim closed his eyes, "Maybe I took him on as revenge for how they treated me. Maybe I'm just using him as a tool-"
"No, no!" Vika gently protested, "I have seen you and boss together. You do not treat him how the Beorc treated us. You treat him as though he is your own flesh and blood. Do you remember when Izuka poisoned you, Muarim? You told boss to run. If you had gone completely mad you would have killed him but you didn't want that. You held on for as long as you could, telling him to run…"
"Yes, but thanks to Rafiel's galdr I was healed…"
"And it was thanks to boss that Rafiel was there." Vika reached out, a little hesitant at first, but she comfortingly rested her left hand on the back of Muarim's right. He didn't move, so she inched her fingers forward and grasped his hand tightly. "He went running to the Commander and her officers, right? They brought Rafiel and even though you told him to run, he stayed... boss stayed with you because he cares for you." Only a depressed sigh escaped the tiger's lips, but in gratitude for her comforting words, his own hand gently folded itself around the crow's. "Muarim…"
"He's grown up so fast, Vika." Muarim changed the subject. "Right before my eyes he turned from a crying, helpless Beorc cub into a…" Muarim paused. Across the way, Sothe had Tormod in a headlock, and the fire mage was swinging his arms frantically at the thief while the other boys laughed on.. "…rowdy young Beorc man." The tiger couldn't help but crack a small smile.
"Boys will be boys." Vika chuckled as she leaned up against Muarim's arm. "He is still young. He has a lot to learn."
"I don't know if I can teach him what he needs to know." Muarim's downcast air returned and he lowered his head, starring hard at the roaring fire again. "I know what I know about the Beorc world, but I'm afraid my good views on their world are ruined. I'm afraid I've taught him that Beorc are bad people, but not all of them are."
"I think you are wrong and you know it." Vika pointed with her free hand toward the lively bunch. "If boss hated Beorc, would he be acting as he does now?" Muarim gazed to where she pointed, and sure enough Vika had brought up another good point. "See, boss knows that not all Beorc are bad. He learned that from you, and he learned that from that Beorc named Ike I've heard him talk about with the green haired Beorc. For the little time I have been able to spend with you and boss I, too, have watched him grow. He is determined and very kind. He wants what you and I want, for Beorc and Laguz to live in harmony. That is why we fight and that is why he fights, right?"
"…Exactly." Muarim roughly rubbed the side of his head with his other hand. "I must be losing it out here in the cold. Anyone could see what my little one has become."
"You are doing what all parents do." Vika soothed him, "They all wonder if they raised their children right. Even though he is not your son by blood you raised him and still treat him as if he were your own." Silence befell the two again for a moment, and then Muarim jumped a bit when Vika let out a laugh. "See? Watch boss for a minute. The green haired one and boss are playing some sort of game but I can see them both smiling like fools from here. Don't worry about boss anymore."
"I will worry until I am dead, Vika. These days I try to tell him things but he fights me. No matter how many times I tell him to watch it or not to be stupid he shrugs me off."
"Well what do you expect? He's at that stage where he thinks he's invincible." Vika snickered, "Wait until he starts sneaking into the girls' tents at night."
"Now you have got me wanting to stay up at all hours of the night to keep an eye on him."
"Leave him be." Vika patted the tiger's arm and Muarim relaxed. "I'm sure you were just as rowdy as he was growing up. Calling your masters names behind their backs, pulling pranks on them when they and the guards weren't paying attention… and don't lie to me, I know you did. Everyone did."
"I cannot say I did." Muarim's expression failed to change at first, but after a second or two he glanced down at Vika with a mischievous smile on his face. "…But I also cannot say I didn't."
"Ha ha… Don't tell boss, he'll ask you for tips."
"…I wonder what will happen down the road?" Muarim sobered up again and Vika grew quiet. "He'll meet someone… get married… have children of his own…"
"You sound like an old crow. I'm sure those days are a long way off, but when those days come you will be there to lend him words of advice and encouragement. Though…" Vika tilted her head back as she leaned against him and gazed up at him with curious eyes. "What about you? You are still young. Perhaps you should find somebody to share a life with."
"I have my little one… I do not think I want to raise any of my own children… To be honest, Vika, I am happy with just him." He thought for a moment as he watched the fire, and then slowly glanced down at his female companion. "But as for me…" Muarim could see the reflection of the campfire flicker in Vika's eyes and the light from the flames created shadows which danced about her worn but beautiful complexion. For a moment fear pierced through his stomach and his sights shot forward again. It was blasphemous for Beorc and Laguz to have any type of romantic affair, but it was also frowned upon for Laguz to be involved with other Laguz outside their own species. Still, Muarim and Vika had little knowledge of life inside the Laguz nations, and Muarim himself was raising a Beorc child. Both he and Vika had once been slaves. They had been through and seen much more than what most Laguz of their respective tribes had. The story his friend Zihark had once told him raced through his mind regarding the relationship Zihark himself once had with a female beast Laguz. There had been a time, long after the story had been told that Muarim had asked Zihark if it had been worth it. Zihark told him if he could do it all over again he would do it in a heart beat. What did it matter if the other Laguz thought ill of him? The choice was his to make, not theirs. Slowly, the tiger turned his sad, lonely gaze back down to the warm, inviting eyes of the crow. He hadn't known Vika for that long, but he knew she was a warm and kind person. She brought him comfort when he needed it the most, and unlike most Laguz he had met since the war she could see where he was coming from. That alone made all the difference in the world to him. It didn't matter that he was a tiger and she was a crow. They understood each other. Muarim cautiously released her hand from his grasp, and when Vika sat up to relieve him of her weight on his arm, he took the same arm and wrapped it around her and pulled her close."…who knows. Maybe I will find someone sooner than we think."
"Hm… Maybe." Vika's head now nestled itself against Muarim's chest, her other hand now grasped tightly in his other. They exchanged a glance that seemed to last a life time, but it was only a few seconds before they both turned their sights forward, once again watching their Beorc companion and his friends by the light of the lulling fire.