Hellooooooooooo, fellow fanfictionites! Yep, I'm back with another one! *hides from angry fans* I swear, I'm still working on my other stuff! But, well, I hit this little snag called writer's block. I'm REALLY trying to get over it, but... visualize a chibi with waist-length brown hair glaring at a giant white block... *chibi attempts to pole-vault over block and crashes face-first into it* *chibi attempts to climb up block and slides back down it helplessly* *chibi grins dementedly and presses giant switch hooked to a pile of dynamite piled up next to block* KABOOOOOOOOMMMMM! ... O.O Yes, this is how my mind works... But anyway! You're not here to read about that! You're here because you are intrigued by the title and/or summary of this story, and you want to know what the result of the writer's block on my other stories is. Well, wonder no longer, o curious readers! Please enjoy this new installment of my insanity, and, if it pleases you to do so, review at the end! *hint hint nudge nudge* OH! Something I forgot to mention! This story will be a sort of love triangle between Soren, my OC Kylara (which is kind of awkward, but whatever) and a character named Elaiya, who does not belong to me, but to the wonderful Lamiror, who so graciously let me borrow her. Now that we have that cleared up... ON WITH THE SHOW!
"Kylara, no!" Ebern pleaded, coming toward her.
Kylara snarled and lashed out at him with her tail. "Get away, Ebern!" she threatened. "I'm leaving and you aren't stopping me!"
He squeezed his eyes shut and coiled himself up. "As you wish, Sister," he said softly. "I... I shall miss you."
Kylara gazed at him dispassionately. "Guard yourself should we meet again, Brother. By refusing to accompany me you have become my enemy." Her tone softened the slightest bit. "But I shall miss you a small amount as well. My nights will be chill without you in the nest by my side. ...Farewell, Ebern."
She turned her back on him then and crouched in preparation to spring. Without warning she leapt into the air. The sound of her powerful wingbeats filled the silent night air long after she had vanished from Ebern's sight.
Ike yawned and stretched as he stepped out into the cool morning air. It had been two weeks since the Greil Mercenaries crossed the Gallia/Crimea border for the second time, heading for Port Toha to find a ship that would take them to Begnion. The company still felt the heavy loss of Greil, as well as Shinon and Gatrie's betrayal. Spirits were low, and Ike could think of no way to raise morale - not even his own.
With a sigh, Ike ran a hand through his blue, spiky hair. At least we have more help now, he thought, glancing back toward the abandoned fort they had spent the night in. Those soldiers we rescued at Canteus... Kieran, Brom, and Nephenee. They're a big help. And Ilyana, and Marcia. Volke, too. They're not exactly recent recruits, but they're sticking with us. That's good...
"Hm? Oh. Good morning, Ike," came a familiar voice. "You're up early."
Ike tried to smile as he turned to face Soren. " 'Morning, Soren," he replied. "I couldn't sleep much. What are you doing awake?"
The mage attempted a tiny smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'm always awake at this time," he answered. He opened the book that he'd been carrying under his arm and took a sheaf of parchment out. "Since you're up," he said, and held it out to Ike. Ike must have looked confused, because he added, "The reports from the last battle," in an explanatory tone.
"Oh," Ike said, and took the papers from him. "Thanks..."
Soren's forehead creased. "...Try not to push yourself too hard," he said after a moment. Then, casting Ike a concerned glance, he dissapeared back into the fort, his black hair and dark robes making him fade into the darkness like a wraith.
Ike let out another sigh once Soren was out of earshot, leaning back against the stone wall of the fort. I've got to get a grip, he thought to himself, irritated. Everyone's counting on me to lead the company. I can't fall apart like this. A fire of determination began to burn in Ike's heart. He would lead his father's company. He would protect Princess Elincia. He would not fail.
Kylara soared lazily on an updraft, letting the wind carry her along as she took in all the new, strange sights and smells of the brightly colored land below her. She had never been so far from the stables in her life, and she didn't even know where she was, but somehow she could not find fear within her heart. This was the sort of grand adventure she had always dreamed of! Why should she be afraid? And besides that, she would be able to search for the one she had met, so very long ago...
One of the strange, two-legged creatures entered the stable, carrying a white bundle. "Melynth," he called. Kylara's mother looked up at him, then stood obediently as the two-legs came to put the big, heavy leather thing on her back. Kylara herself cast a glance at the bundle, which the two-legs had placed in the hay. What was in it?
Kylara rose, unsteady on her feet, and made a fumbling, floppy progress to where the bundle lay, tripping over herself at almost every step and flapping her wings wildly in a vain attempt to keep her balance. At last, she reached the pile of cloth. What could be inside? She sniffed at it curiously, committing its odd scent to memory, then jumped back as it moved.
A moment passed. The bundle was still. Cautiously, Kylara crawled forward and nudged it with the back of her claw. It twitched. Cocking her head to the side, Kylara stood over the thing and pushed her snout against it, burrowing her face down through the layers of cloth, where she found something soft and warm and mushy. She pulled her face back to look, and found her eyes looking into something else's.
The eyes were big for such a small thing, and they were as crimson as the insides of the animals her mother brought her to eat. They stared at her, not afraid, but uneasy, not sure what was going on. Kylara cocked her head again. Gently, she pressed her nose against the thing's milky-white body. It cooed at her, and giggled, and then Kylara felt tiny fingers gripping the sides of her face. She glanced into the red eyes and saw them bright with happiness.
Just like that, Kylara was happy as well. This milk-colored bundle was cute. She liked it. And it liked her, too. That settled it. It was hers. And she would defend it, she thought aggravatedly as she heard Ebern stumbling toward her, no doubt coming to claim whatever she had found. Growling, Kylara smacked at him with her tail. "Mine!" she snapped at her brother, knocking him away. Ebern whimpered and withdrew, casting her a hurt glance.
Kylara ignored him and turned her attention back to her mushy-thing, which was looking at her with its big red eyes fearful. She crooned at it to calm it. It smiled, and Kylara lay down beside it in the hay, wrapping a wing around it protectively. My mushy-thing, she thought happily, nuzzling it.
Suddenly, she was pushed away by the two-legs, who said angrily "Get away!" Kylara struggled to right herself as the two-legs snatched the bundle out of the hay and began walking away with it.
"Mine!" Kylara shouted at him, but he seemed not hear as he headed back towards her mother. She stumbled after him, letting out a pitiful wail. Tucked under the two-legs' arm, her mushy-thing began to cry as well, reaching its tiny hands out to her, begging for help. Though she tried, Kylara could not overtake the two-legs, and he climbed onto her mother's back, holding the bundle tightly with one arm.
"Let's go, Melynth," he commanded, and Kylara's mother crouched low to the ground. In an instant, she had sprung up into the air, beating the cold air with her wings. She then soared gracefully away into the sky, quickly becoming nothing more than a dark shape in the clouds.
Kylara let out a mournful keen, crying out for her mushy-thing, now far away from her. Ebern crept to her side and nudged her with his wing. Kylara looked into his eyes (not pretty and crimson like my mushy-thing's, she thought) and saw sympathy. She leaned against him as she wailed, hoping her mushy-thing was coming back - and somehow, knowing that it wasn't.
Kylara sighed at the memory. She had been little more than a hatchling then, yet the day stood out more vividly than any other she could recall. There had been something special about that soft, mushy thing that, as her mother had informed her upon her bundle-less return, was a baby two-legs.
The kidnapping of Kylara's two-legs had occurred seventeen cycles ago. Ebern claimed that meant that the two-legs would be grown now, or at least mostly, so even if she found it, she wouldn't recognize it. Kylara was less certain of that. She remembered the smell of her mushy-thing. That day, she had learned it by heart. She knew that if she searched, she would be able to find her two-legs.
Now that she was here, though, away from the stables, and away from the young soldier that was meant to be her partner, Kylara found her confidence fading. The world outside the stable was just so big. The sky stretched on as far as she could see, and the land she flew above seemed to be just as endless. And the smells the wind brought her! There were so many! How was she ever going to find one in all of that?
Just then, as the shadow despair began to fall over her heart, the wind carried a new scent to her nostrils. Her eyes flew open wide. Was it possible? Could it really be...? Kylara changed her course, angling herself so that her nose was pointed straight into the wind that carried the scent. It was her two-legs. It was. It had to be!
A gentle breeze was blowing as the Greil Mercenaries resumed their trek through conquered Crimea. Birds sang cheerfully around them, flitting and hopping about in search of breakfast bugs while the morning sun bathed the trees and grass in pools of golden light. Ike, walking with Mist and Princess Elincia, thought vaguely that at the very least Crimea's birds were safe from those Daein monsters. The same could not be said of her people. Anyone who showed even the smallest bit of resistance was killed, and at present, there was nothing Ike could do about it.
I almost can't wait until we get to Begnion, Ike thought, glancing up into the blue, cloud-filled sky. The sooner we get their help restoring Crimea, the sooner I can help these people. ...And the sooner I can t-
"What is that?" Elincia shrieked suddenly, latching on to Ike's arm with one hand and pointing at the sky with the other.
Ike followed her finger to where a huge shape was swooping in and out of the clouds, heading in their direction. "Rolf!" he called, shaking Elincia off and unsheathing his sword. The green-haired boy was by his side in an instant, bow in hand.
"Yeah, Commander?" he asked in his squeaky voice.
"...Get an arrow ready to fire at that thing," Ike said, watching the shape in the sky.
"Already done!" Rolf said, an arrow indeed already fitted to his bowstring and pulled back so that the fletchings brushed his cheek. "Tell me when, Commander!"
The thing came closer to their position. Ike opened his mouth-
"I wouldn't do that," Volke said from somewhere to Ike's left. The blue-haired boy cut his eyes at the thief, who leaned against a tree, his eyes following the shape's every movement.
"Why?"
Volke shrugged. "I just wouldn't. Not yet, anyway."
Ike suppressed a growl. That man was irritating beyond belief! "Do you know what that thing is, Volke?" he asked, crossing his arms.
"Know? No. Got an idea, though."
"And your idea is... what?"
Volke's gaze flickered toward him briefly. "If you'd use your eyes, you might could figure it out yourself," he said scathingly, already watching the shape again.
Tightening his grip on his sword hilt to stop an aggravated snarl, Ike turned his attention skyward. The shape was much closer now, and clearly a creature of some sort. Ike squinted, just able to make out two huge wings and a long tail. "Is that... a wyvern?" he asked, glancing over at the thief.
"Looks like it to me."
"Well then it's probably got a Daein soldier on its back!" Boyd said, joining the conversation. "I say we shoot it down before he and his buddies kill us!"
Ike peered at the wyvern again. "No... There's no saddle on it," he said, puzzled. "There's no one riding it. ...And I don't see any others. Maybe it's wild?"
Boyd humphed and crossed his arms. "I doubt it. It's headed right for us, Ike, can't you see that? A wild animal's not gonna do that... Unless..." His eyes, now rather wide, went up to the wyvern uneasily. "Unless it's hungry," he gulped.
As though to affirm what Boyd had said, the wyvern let out a screech and began to descend, its eye fixed on the mercenaries. "Shoot it, Rolf, shoot it!" Boyd yelled in his brother's ear. "Quick, unless you wanna be lunch!"
Rolf didn't budge. "Ike?" he asked nervously. "What should I do?"
Ike frowned. It was coming straight for them, alright... He cast a quick glance at Volke. "Well?" he asked. "Advice?"
Volke strode over to the rest of the group. "It's your call, kid," he said, seemingly unruffled. "However, I've heard the hunting call of a wyvern before." He looked Ike in the eye. "That wasn't it."
The wyvern shrilled again, and the majority of the mercenaries copied it as they dashed away. Clearly the wind had worked in the beast's favor, for it was now landing amidst the group, far sooner than expected. Clouds of dust billowed up from the ground as the wyvern touched down, shaking the earth with its weight. Folding its massive, blue wings onto its back, the wyvern cast a glance around, as though searching for something specific. Its gaze settled on Soren, who stood stone-still before it, a Wind tome clutched tightly to his chest.
"Ru-" Ike started to shout, but Volke clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Shut it, kid," he hissed. "You make any sudden moves or noises, and your friend there's wyvern fodder."
"Then what do I do?" Ike hissed back, angry and afraid.
"You keep quiet and wait."
The wyvern opened its mouth and let out another noise, the likes of which Ike had never heard. Did it sound... happy? Maybe it wasn't a threat after all... That line of thought was quickly quashed when the beast began ambling toward an immobilized Soren, showing all its teeth. Soren did nothing but stare and hold his tome, seemingly paralyzed. Fearing the worst, Ike shoved Mist and Elincia into a clump of bushes, holding tight to his weapon. This... could get ugly.
...Sooooooo? What do you think? You like, yes, no? PLEASE give me some feedback here, people! ^^