(Chapter 1)

(Third person point of view)

(Disclaimer-I do not own Fire Emblem or any of its characters.)

First off sorry for not getting chapter seven of NON up, I just don't have muse for it at the moment, being tired and somewhat depressed. With the end of school coming up life has been full of projects and people are starting to get antsy, but I need to write right now before I lose my mind, which I think happened a long time ago.

Thank you for taking your time to read this. I would love to hear from all of you who take the time to read this. Reviews are really nice to have, but please don't flame, I have done nothing to you, if you don't like yaoi or the pairing then please don't read this or flame. Please review I really love to hear your ideas and thoughts.

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Falling upon the small village the lights of torches began to flicker and the pounding of feet against the cement ground echoed through the streets. As the droplets of rain bashed against the window of a house a man picked his head up to glance out the window. What had this sad world become? People were mad without their hero and the continent of Tellius and it was falling quickly into the shadows. He watched the rioting villagers chase some poor soul out of the village once again.

The once proud nation of Crimea, home of the now legendary hero, had fallen to attacking one another for food and killing one another just to survive. Now, even here the laguz were being pushed around once again. A few had left Gallia to live in peace, but had soon found Hell. The mobs were always chasing them out. Someone was forcing the villagers to take action, but the question was who? The old man had not a clue and barely cared for that matter. As he lifted a cup of coffee off the wooden table that was in front of him a loud moan was sent through the house. Sighing, the man placed the cup down and walked in the back part of his rather large house.

In the back stable of the house a large black dragon lay in his pen, growling at the unseen noise that had awakened him.

"Hey, my friend, they woke you up too, huh?" the man asked his voice calm and lazy. The dragon moaned and glared up at his master. Laughing, the man grabbed a piece of rancid meat from a large steel box in the right hand corner of the stable. He flung it over the black dragon, who lazily caught it in his mouth.

The stable was large, but it held only one creature, the single dragon, who lived with his still single master who had backed out of admitting to the woman he loved. The large pen was covered in straw, but it was not laid out neatly on the wooden floor. There was a single window in the back for the dragon to stick his head out of when the weather was nice. A long tray ran along the southeast wall. A saddle and harness were hanging on the side of the box which had the meat in it.

"It seems the villagers are once again chasing someone out of the village," the man sighed as he looked down at the dragon with his good eye. The dragon groaned and shot an annoyed look at his master.

"Alright, alright, I'll leave," the man said walking out of the stable and back up the hallway that led into the main part of his house. The house was small, but it was nice to have the stable attached to it. Now back in his kitchen, the man sat back down in front of the small table and picked up the cup once more, hoping to relax this time.

Small, nimble paws hit the damp ground as a blue cat laguz bolted off across the streets of Crimea with a young man chasing after him. The young man glanced back nervously at the mob, which was chasing the pair. His sleek long black hair was drenched and his thin body looked as if it could no longer run, but he kept pace with the cat. A spear came sailing threw the air at them followed by a burning torch. The cat quickly dodged the spear which clanged against the hard, wet ground. A yelp of pain escaped the lips of the young man as the torch hit his pale arm. The cat turned to look at the young man, worried, but the man simply glared back at him.

Cringing in pain the young man quickly went to work putting the fire out which had started in his clothes. The task was easy for a wind mage who could take the oxygen out of the fire, causing it to stop. The cat slowed to run beside him, but he was fine and the fire had already been put out. The cat looked back at the mob and cursed under his breath.

"Quickly Soren, this way," the cat said as he took a sharp turn down a small rode, his small paws easily made it and he continued down the path. The young man followed after him, despite the fact that he knew Crimea better then the cat laguz who had only come for a brief visit to remember Ike with one of the few souls who knew he was really alive and not some made-up hero. They both knew better then to attack the villagers, but both were becoming annoyed by the state Crimea was in.

The blue cat ran up to a small house as he turned up another small path. He tried to stop, but his paws slid on the wet path and he skidded into the door with a loud thud. Soren ran up beside him, shaking his head. The door flung open and the older man stared down at the pair with an annoyed look in his eyes.

"Ranulf, what do you want?" the man asked staring down at the cat.

"Hey, Haar mind if we hide in here for a while?" the cat responded. Haar sighed and allowed the two into his home. They followed the man into the back of his house and into the stable for safety. Ranulf circled a small hill of hay in the corner of the room and a bright light engulfed his body. He was soon sitting there in his more human form. Soren sat down beside him, holding the spot on his arm where the torch had hit him. Haar picked up a large bucket and filled it with water. He then set the bucket down beside Soren. Soren rolled up the sleeve of his outfit and gently placed his arm into the water.

"You two need to learn how to stay away from people here…" Haar sighed. Ranulf flicked his tail.

"Yeah…I wonder if Queen Elincia knows what is going on," Ranulf replied. Surely she would not let this happen. He thought something had happened to her.

"Probably, you can not trust anyone. They'll just end up leaving you," Soren said bitterly. Both Haar and Ranulf knew who the comment was about. He had become so bitter about Ike leaving and not taking him with him that Soren would hardly talk to anyone. Luckily, over years he had warmed up to Ranulf who would often visit Crimea to keep the young man from shutting out the world. Haar said nothing to Soren. He was not one who liked to deal with touchy subjects.

"Soren…he…" Ranulf began, but he was quickly cut off my Haar who just wanted to avoid the subject.

"I have a theory that she may have been kidnapped or is being threatened by the person who is causing all of this chaos. She hates fighting and would never stand for this," Haar said. Ranulf titled his head to the side as he thought of people who could close enough to the queen to stop her from doing anything. Soren was the first to come up with a suspect.

"Perhaps, her husband is using her? It would make sense if he started to get Crimea worked up, the people and army would be more willing to go to war. It seems once again Tellius is going to be at war", Soren said grimly.

"Don't think like that. I know things are bad right now, with the famine and whatnot, but things will get better. They always do," Ranulf said.

"Only because Ike was hear to fix them," Soren snapped. Haar sighed and his dragon moaned in response to the noise that was now keeping him awake.

"Think what you will, Soren, but Ike didn't do it alone", Haar said as he picked up a few blankets that were lying beside the saddle. With a heavy sigh he threw the blankets at the two and walked out of the stable. Soren and Haar often got into small arguments like this with Haar always being too lazy to argue for long or with Ranulf playing the peace keeper. Ranulf lay down on his back, pulling one of the blankets over himself as he did so. Haar's dragon glared at the two, hoping they would shut up soon. Soren did not lie down instead he stared at the wall of the stable letting his thoughts wonder. Ranulf playfully hit the mage in the back with his tail.

"What, Ranulf?" Soren asked somewhat annoyed.

"You have a point. Maybe we should pay the queen a visit tomorrow morning?" Ranulf said, staring up at the ceiling wagging his tail back and fourth. It had been years sense he had seen Elincia. In fact, he had not seen her since Ike defeated Ashera several years ago. He couldn't really recall the exact number of years, but it had been quiet a few.

"Fine…" Soren said as he glanced down at his arm, the burn was not bad and it would be okay if he took it out of the water. Pulling his arm gently out of the water, he lay down beside Ranulf and shifted away from Haar's dragon. A frown appeared across Ranulf's face as he remembered something about Soren.

"Why did you never take Daein's throne?" Ranulf asked. He often brought it up even though he knew Soren hated talking about it. Soren kicked Ranulf in the leg and the cat winced slightly.

"Stop asking me that. I've told you a hundred times why," Soren replied somewhat annoyed. Ranulf laughed and Soren glared at him. Ranulf may have been one of the few people Soren tolerated, but he was still cold and bitter to him. The two had become friends after Ike had left, both saddened by his choice to go alone.

"Yeah, I know, but one day you'll change that answer," Ranulf replied as he let his eye lids fall. Soren sighed and closed his own eyes, letting darkness take him.

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This story is a little different from what I normally write and with different characters then I usually use, but I picked my favorites, Ranulf and Haar. This story does have yaoi parings in it, but I have not decided them yet same for the straight pairings in this as well. Thank you for reading. My writing style has since changed from this.