OK, as some of you may have noticed, the Official Fanfiction University of ToS has been removed. I'm really sorry about that, but I don't think I'll be reloading it anytime soon. It'll not only be a real pain, but it might get removed again, and I don't think I'll be able to take it. But one day soon I will repost it (I still hold the rights to that OFU, after all), and I kept all of your application forms too. Once again, I'm really sorry.
Now, onto this story! It's my first Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones fic, so don't be too hard on me, please…
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones or the band that wrote the title to this story (anyone know who it is?).
Chapter 1
Darkness crept over a small campsite in the theocracy of Rausten. The only light emitting from the area was from a meager campfire in the center of it. It glowed brightly, although its shine didn't wake anyone up. At least, no one that was already up. Sitting around the flame were four members of the army, wide awake.
One of them was sitting on an upturned log with his chin on his fist. He was fairly young, with spiky black hair and dark eyes. He wore a blue shirt, white shorts, small boots, and was clad in leather armor. One of his gloved hands lay on his axe, which he brought along for protection. He looked determined, and suddenly spoke out in a strong voice, "Guys, I've been thinking."
"That's a first, Ross," jokingly replied a figure sitting across from him. This one was just as young, if not younger, than the first. He had flaming red hair and bright red eyes. Wearing a blue cape, red tunic, brown shorts, boots, and a headband, he fingered his Flux tome in case the first figure got upset.
"Hey, shut up Ewan!" Ross growled angrily. The shaman simply gave an "it's the truth" smile and leaned back on his log.
"Ross, please lower your voice. You're going to wake up the rest of the camp," a third figure sitting next to Ewan whispered. The girl that said this was very young as well. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. She was clad in red metal armor, a white skirt, and tall gray boots. Unlike the others, she had decided to leave her lance back at her tent, due to its weight (A/N: it IS a Heavy Spear, after all). The girl, who was named Amelia, continued, "What were you thinking of?"
"Well, I just thought… didyoueverthinkthattheadultsinthearmydonottdoagoodjobofrunningit?" Ross burst out quickly, partly hoping that none of them heard him. Unfortunately…
"What?" asked Amelia incredulously. "Do you mean Prince Ephraim and Prince Eirika? They're doing a great job running this legion! Why would you think they aren't leading it well enough?"
"I don't know," replied Ross uncertainly. "I guess that… days like today, when everyone is just lazing around when they could be training or something, makes me think that. And it's not just the people in charge. When no one is in the mood for fighting, they let they're training go to waste. But I was practicing with my axe all day, and look at the results! Now I can use a Silver Axe, easy!" He grinned at his axe and his muscles. He was definitely proud of his work.
"Not to mention their jumping quickly to anger," Ewan added.
"Like when?" Amelia asked.
"Remember the time Ephraim woke up to find all of his clothes gone? He couldn't even leave his tent! And then Kyle eventually found them in a nearby river, soaking wet? Ephraim totally lost his cool; instead of being THANKFUL that someone tried to wash his clothes, he said that he would spear the culprit with his new Siegmund lance! And that meant the kind person who tried to wash his clothes and armor had to run away!"
Ross was laughing. "You couldn't even get past the Rausten border!"
"Yeah, but that was only 'cause Vanessa spotted me from her Pegasus," he responded.
"That was YOU that threw his clothes in a river?" Amelia asked.
"Well… yeah, but I had a good reason!"
"What did Ephraim do?"
"He was… hitting on my sister."
In reality, Tethys unknowingly left her scarf on the ground, and Ephraim picked it up and brought it to her.
"Really? That doesn't sound like Prince Ephraim," Amelia mused.
"And there was also the time that Princess Eirika got attacked by that skeleton monster when she wasn't looking," Ross added. "She got so mad, she grabbed Lute's Fire tome and lit her Rapier on fire, and then she toasted every monster against us." Amelia shuddered, remembering the slightly traumatic experience.
FLASHBACK
"Die!" screamed Eirika, brandishing her Rapier, which was now burning bright. All of the Bonewalkers, Revenants, and other monsters had looks of pure terror on their faces (except for the Mogalls, since they were floating eyeballs). The princess of Renais stabbed a nearby monster, and watched as its corpse ignited before attacking another one. The other members of the army did nothing to stop her; they were too terrified. She was shouting the entire time.
"DIE, YOU FILTHY, EVIL, ROTTEN, ANNOYING SON-OF-A-"
Amelia felt strong palms press against her ears, stopping her from hearing the screams.
END FLASHBACK
"Why did Duessel do that to you?" wondered Ewan.
"I'm not sure," Amelia replied. "He said something afterwards about 'innocence', but I can't remember what, exactly."
"Strange, you weren't guilty of anything, were you?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Anyway," Ross interrupted, "have you also noticed that the younger members of the army, which is usually us, are kept out of the big, important meetings the leaders have?"
A silence fell around the campfire. It was broken by a quiet voice saying, "What would you do about it, Ross?"
The fourth figure, who had been silent thus far, finally spoke. She had indigo hair that was tied in two braids, held in place by gold bands. Her eyes were crimson, matching the dress that she was wearing. She also wore wrap sandals and bracelets. Strangely enough, she had two scaly wings jetting out of her back. Ross gave her a strange look.
"What do you mean, Myrrh?"
"I mean what would you do to revise this situation?"
Ross hadn't thought of that, but the answer came to him right away. Of course it took a few seconds to leave his mouth.
"If only we were older…"
"What does being old have to do with it?" inquired Myrrh.
"Think about it!" Ross exclaimed, growing a little impatient. "Aren't adults always telling us, 'Maybe when you're older' or 'You're too young to understand'? Well, what can be so tough to understand about it? After all, we've been through hundreds of fights and we're all good at it! So we understand, right?"
"You know what? I think Ross has a good point… for the first time in his life," agreed Ewan, ignoring Ross' glare. "Tethys is always telling me not to look in her dresser when I lose my tomes, and when I ask why she says 'You'll understand in a few years'! What is she trying to hide? I wear clothes, don't I?"
Amelia opened her mouth to protest, but Ross beat her to it. "Amelia! Aren't you tired of people always saying 'Aww, isn't that cute, a little girl holding a lance!'? Because of our ages, no one takes you, or any of us, seriously! They think we're all immature babies! And I'm not saying that's not entirely true, for most of us anyway (he glared at Ewan, who replied with a sarcastic, exaggerated 'Who, me?' look). Don't you want that to stop?"
Amelia shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "Well, there are some people who keep offering to help me with my lance work… a LOT of people, come to think of it," she mumbled.
The axe wielder rounded on Myrrh next. "Myrrh!" he cried. "Don't tell me that no one in this army babies you around! Look at Ephraim and Saleh!"
"They're only looking out for my safety…" was her reply.
"Ugh!" groaned Ross. "Never mind, I'm sorry I even brought it up. I just wish we were older…"
"Wait," said Ewan. "When you say old, do you mean 'adult' old or 'Riev' old?"
"Adult old! Wait, who?"
"That crazy old bishop who tagged along with the Demon King."
Ross looked ready to vomit. "NO! I wouldn't want to be THAT old! Just old enough to have everyone else look up to me, or at least respect me!"
"Ross! Keep your voice down!" reprimanded Amelia, hoping the rest of the army wouldn't hear his ranting. He sighed in defeat.
"Fine, it's getting late anyway," he muttered. Taking a nearby bucket of water, he doused the fire and they were immersed in darkness. "I'm heading back to my tent. Night everyone."
"Good night," replied three voices, all heading back to their respective tents.
A figure stirred in the underbrush, glancing at the four retreating figures. His face was masked by shadows, but anyone could see that it was sunken and wrinkly. His red hair was pushed back and he wore holy clothing.
"So, little boy, old am I? Well, you certainly shot off your mouth tonight, and now you're going to pay for it! You wished for yourselves to be older? Hmm… impossible, nothing can stimulate age growth. But… here's an interesting spell" the man croaked with a smirk after consulting his tomes. He waited for several minutes, being sure that the foursome had made it back to their tents and were fast asleep.
Raising his staff after checking that he was completely alone, he whispered a few unknown words and the staff emitted a pale green light. It seeped throughout the campsite like a dense fog, leaking into every opening it could find. Suddenly, after five seconds of this, the light seemed to evaporate.
The old man cackled softly to himself. "Careful what you wish for, boy! I hope you enjoy your adulthood as much as I have!" He let out one more mirthless laugh and teleported away.
The sun rose over the theocracy of Rausten and light filtered into every tent in the campsite. Ross, after his late-night congregation, did not greet the sun with much enthusiasm. He moaned and pulled his pillow over his skull, but knowing that he must wake up or face dire consequences from the lords (a.k.a. doing the breakfast dishes), he stumbled out of his bed and groped around for the exit.
However, he tripped over another mattress, his father's. Since there weren't enough single tents to supply everyone's needs, Garcia decided he and his son would share a room. Ross rubbed his eyes to remove the bleariness from them and lightly shook his father who was entombed in his bed sheet.
"C'mon Dad, wake up… you're the great warrior Garcia… not a dishwasher… which is what you will be if you don't get up soon…" he whispered. The lump that was his father stirred and fell still. Ross, starting to get impatient, snatched the hem of the blanket and pulled back…
…revealing a tiny Garcia staring at him.
The silence seemed drape over the tent and Ross couldn't find any words to break it with. He tried to speak but couldn't make any words. His father (or was he?) was the one to shatter the tranquility as he opened his mouth and started crying VERY loudly. Soon, his yelling was joined with others, and in a matter of seconds, an entire ensemble's voices echoed throughout the campsite.
"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Ross was completely confused, and, being new at this kind of situation, picked up the baby Garcia by his feet. This, however, only caused him to scream louder. Ross made himself a mental note as he flipped his father right-side up: Never dangle babies upside-down by their ankles. He dashed outside into the fresh air, trying desperately to quell the baby's crying.
"Umm… uh, shush? Please?" he begged.
"Ross!"
He turned to find Ewan, Amelia, and Myrrh dashing towards him, and, to his complete horror, each holding a miniature-sized version of their roommate: Ewan holding Tethys, Amelia carrying Duessel, and Myrrh cradling Saleh. They placed their babies on the ground and Ross did the same. The younglings stopped crying and looked at each other.
"How did this happen?" questioned Ross ferociously.
"I'm not sure," replied Ewan. "I woke up this morning this morning and asked Tethys if she had seen my Flux tome and she started screaming! I thought she was having some kind of a mental fit, but then I saw that she had turned into a baby! Then I picked her up and found Amelia and Myrrh waiting outside after having the same thing happen to the people THEY were sharing tents with!" After this, he inhaled deeply, having said the explanation in one breath.
"I think we're the only ones who weren't affected by this," noted Amelia, looking exhausted.
"But it does not explain why this happened," reminded Myrrh, who was taking this entire situation rather stoically.
"Wait!" cried Ewan. "I have an idea!"
"Did someone overhear us last night talking about how great it would be if we were older, and decided to use a strange spell to change everyone else into babies to teach us a lesson about being careful what we wish for and the value of responsibility?" asked Amelia, stifling a yawn.
"Yeah," replied Ewan, amazed, "How did you know?"
"Well, that's pretty much the only way we learn lessons around with this army…"
The shaman pondered this.
Amelia sighed. "First, Innes wished he could beat Ephraim in a challenge, and he did beat him… into the ground. Then Lute wished she knew everything in the world and her head grew to the size of a watermelon before anyone knew what was going on. After that, Forde wished Kyle wouldn't take things so seriously, and Kyle ended up selling the entire army into slavery to a tribe of bandits. Then-"
"Well, right now it doesn't matter how this happened; the question is, how do we fix it?" wondered Ewan.
"Let's just round up all the babies first," recommended Ross. "After that, we can decide what we're going to do next. What, Myrrh?"
Myrrh, who had been tugging on Ross's sleeve for their entire conversation, pointed down at the ground. The four youths inclined their heads.
Garcia, Tethys, Duessel, and Saleh had all vanished.
'It's going to be a long day,' Ross thought.
End Chapter
I'm done! If the chapter seemed a little short, or not funny in some places, don't worry, I'll fix that up come next chapter.
I've got school, marching band, and drama club coming up, so don't expect too many updates right away, but I'll finish it, I promise!
Goodbye for now!