Hope, a fire emblem fanfic

School has to stop giving me so much homework… I absolutely refuse to believe that it has been two months since I wrote the rough draft.

If anything sounds funny, I really do apologize. I should know better than to do things like editing at hours of the morning like 1 o'clock. But thanks to school, this is the only time I get! So huzzah! *is going crazy*

Some of Mia's speechis taken directly from PoR. But I don't own anything Fire Emblem. There is also a bit of a reference to Dir en grey's song ザクロ (zakuro; pomegranate) hidden in here. I don't own anything Diru related, either.

This one-shot was inspired by my idea that anyone as chipper and optimistic as Mia came to be that way because of a difficult past, and that there is the hope of a better life available to anyone who is willing to work and risk everything for it.

Enjoy~, and review if you wish.

Rough Draft With Pencil and Paper: 3-15-09

Typed: 3-18-09

Edited: 5-3-09, 5-10-09

Final Copy Uploaded: 5-10-09

Hope

"This is it!" Mia smiled widely. However, a frown quickly returned to her face as a growl drowned out her words.

"Oh, be quiet already, stomach! We'll have food soon enough, don't you worry!"

She sighed as her feet stopped moving and her hand drifted to her abdomen. Was there truly any truth in her words? Was there truly any merit in sugarcoating anything anymore?

Her hand continued to drift, now moving slowly up her arm. Her left arm with the beautiful porcelain skin covered in scars. Every scar brought back yet another memory. Every one of those memories was one too many, and yet, they simply continued to come. One for losing a friendly spar. That one was almost a good memory. One for being beaten and picked on. It was ludicrous for a girl to have aspirations of becoming a mercenary, they had said. Girls should knit and cook and raise children, not wield swords. One for abuse from her parents. What had she done? …Come home five minutes late, or something? She had been too little to be able to remember now. One for more harassment by her fellow mercenaries who had deemed her too delicate and incompetent to help complete even the most simple of work. There were plenty more, however… Out of them all, only one scar truly mattered.

She could remember the last one perfectly. It traveled down her shoulders and ended on her back. Eight centimeters long, one centimeter wide, and a pain connected to it that would never disappear, never to be forgotten.

It was a young love, a foolish love. She was lost in him, head over heels for him, and he knew how to play any girl.

The one time in her life that she could trust anyone. Why couldn't it last?

He was there, then gone.

There for four months, gone for the rest of her life.

She hated the pain, hated the scars.

So why was it that she had inflicted the biggest and most painful scar upon herself?

The sound of fighting echoed out from the fort and into her ears. She ran toward the fort, not once looking back. Her resolve, her dream, her love for the sword could not crumble under the weight of memories. There was no way that she would ever allow that.

The stairs echoed ominously as she hurried down them, warning her at the chance that she was taking. She ignored it.

At the bottom of the stairs, a young man greeted her.

'A priest? What's he doing here?'

His entire body shivered, jumping every time steel met steel. Instantly, at first sight, she wanted to protect him.

A moment later, that opportunity came.

An axeman roared, and the priest noticed a minute too late.

Mia had one second and one chance.

She ran, jumping into the air with a scream.

The axeman may have sliced the priest's shoulder, but Mia had stabbed straight through his skull.

Leaving her sword where it was, Mia caught the falling priest.

He was so light, so delicate. Just like everyone else had always thought she was.

"Where does it hurt?" She asked gently, as if she were a mother caring for her child.

His right arm clutched at his left shoulder, staining his hand a deep, sickening red. "Th-there…" He gasped, his voice almost nonexistent as a result of the pain.

"Don't worry, I have a vulnerary. Can you sit up?"

"…Yes. J-just… help me down." He rasped, coughing between words.

Doing as she was requested to, Mia was able to shift the priest from standing to sitting without bringing him any further pain.

Mia fell to her knees, sitting herself behind him and pulling a vulnerary out of her pocket. "Your shoulder, ri-" Her entire body froze.

"…What's wrong? Another enemy?" The priest tried to turn his head to face her, however, he stopped abruptly when the movement caused another wave of nauseating pain to shoot through his body.

"Th… there's no way…" Her eyes widened with every word, disbelief forcing her breath to speed up.

"I-Is it that bad?" Tears came to his eyes. The pain was getting worse.

It was not possible, and yet there it was, staring right at her.

A scar eight centimeters long, one centimeter wide.

Just like her's.

"…Ah… No, I've seen worse. It should heal just fine with enough vulnerary." There was a brief, awkward pause.

"So, uh… What's your name?" With the pain subsiding thanks to the healing suave, the priest could now realize that he was talking to a stranger, and a female stranger at that. He began to fidget with a corner of his robe, at a loss for what else he could do.

"Mia." She responded simply, focusing on her task at hand.

"I-I'm… Rhys. Nice to meet you, Mia." A nervous blush formed on his cheeks.

"Nice to meet you, too! Now, I hate to leave, but I'm looking for someone-"

"Rhys!"

"Oh, thank Ashera!"

"Quick, I need healing!"

Through all of the commotion, the words of a certain green-haired axeman stood out above all of the rest. "..So who's that, Rhys?" Got a little someone we don't know about?"

"Ah… ah… I just met her!!" Rhys squeaked, trying to hide his reddening face behind his staff. Unfortunately for him… it didn't work too well.

"Excuse me!" Mia popped in, back to her happy-go-lucky, optimistic self that she would soon become all too famous for.

Everyone froze and stared at her oddly.

"I'm looking for a man named Greil! I heard he was around here somewhere, so…"

"That's our commander!" The green-haired axeman smiled like a fool, showing off his happiness and pride toward his work.

"…Don't mind him." A red-haired knight sighed as she jumped down from her horse.

"The name's Mia!" Mia chirped, eagerly shaking the red-haired knight's hand.

"Titania." Titania smiled warmly, making Mia feel right at home. However, she got right down to business. "…And what business do you have with the commander?"

"I was hired by Crimea to bolster the army's numbers. However, I… I got careless and was captured. They were about to send me to a prison camp when Greil saved me." As soon as she had uttered those words, oh, how Mia wished she hadn't. The feelings of incompetence flooded into her, and her skin immediately became pale and clammy, showing off the crimson scars all the more… "I… I was hoping to find him and repay him in some way…"

"Hey, I know!" Boyd grinned. "Why don't you join us? I know that the commander would want that! We're always lookin' for more help. We really do need it, after all."

"…If you want to fight with us, Mia, then I suppose that we have no objection to that. The help is always appreciated." Titania couldn't mask a sigh. Boyd and his lack of a fear to speak his mind…

"My blade is always ready!" Mia smiled widely. …And just as quickly as the feelings had flooded in, they flooded right back out. Immediately, the past was forgotten. Already, the Greil Mercenaries had become family.

With a nod, Titania remounted her horse, and she, the green-haired axeman, and the others that Mia hadn't really noticed were off.

"…Are you going to be alright, Rhys?" Mia placed a hand on his good shoulder, stopping him before he could run off.

"O-of course I am, Mia." He turned back around to show her that there was no evidence of pain left on his face.

For a moment, Mia was lost in his visage. The skin that was somehow even paler than her own, the gentle orange-red hair, the calm blue eyes, the wide smile that could brighten anyone's day… already, it all entranced her.

…Mia had to realize that in the end, she always had to come back to reality. Pulling her sword from the axeman it had slaughtered earlier, she wiped the blade clean before returning it to its sheath. "Then we've got work to do! Let's go!" Grabbing his good arm, she pulled him along as she dashed to catch up.

"Ah… M-Mia, careful!! P-Please!"

Mia giggled and slowed down. "Sorry, Rhys."

His nerves were too frazzled to respond.

Facing forward and not once looking back, she continued on.

Mia thought of Rhys' smile once more. Perhaps… there was still hope, even for someone as battered and lost as she was.