Two species, one harsh reality.

By

Ivan the great

A/N: I am perfectly all right with the majority thinking that Soren is homo sexually involved with Ike but please no flames until I've written the whole thing. Then just go ahead. On a side note I'd just like to say that my support of the Soren and Lethe stories is simply because there is some potential there.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Fire Emblem series, all of which is the property of Nintendo.

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Chapter one.

When logic'll do it for you.

Soren knew he was dreaming because he was naked, and in most real world situations it would be totally illogical to do such a thing. However now you add the fact the in this state of REM sleep he his having, what is to his present world view a night mare, visions of sleeping alongside of a laguz by the name of Lethe, and this whole mental scenario goes right off the charts. You must understand that Lethe is a highly irritable Laguz who, in the real world, about two hours ago tried to tear his spleen out through his throat.

Continuing with his dream Soren noticed that he glued to the bed and all at once the blanket is blown off the bed as the tent is lifted away for all the military encampment to see a sleeping laguz (naked) cuddle up against startled Beorc (also naked).

Now for all of you youngsters out there listening who may be a little confused about why Soren was scared to be in bed with somebody of the opposite race and gender, I must clarify that In those days integration hadn't happened being in bed with a laguz was a major taboo violation, also being branded was not the new black, (which by the way was actually black at that point, it looked good on everybody).

Soren woke suddenly in a cold sweat and looked around the room. It was his tent in the camp and that meant that Lethe was not likely to be within twenty meters.

Unbeknownst to our panicking friend in the tent Lethe was about ten meters away having a hushed argument with a severely drunk laguz by the name of Ranulf. Now the thing most people would mistake about Ranulf is that he is only crazy in times of peace, when matter of fact Ranulf was just about crazy whenever he wasn't up in front of royalty. For instance Ranulf had gone into totally suicidal combats on several occasions, the most notable of which was his attempt to take down the Black Knight of Daien single handed.

"Ranulf, I totally understand that you're a drunken, catnip addicted, pervert, but I really don't understand why you find the prospect of rolling down hills in a barrel trying to hit passers by, so funny!"

"Actually Lethe, the reasons *HICK* quite simple… The rush of the barrel rolling gives a greater rush then the local breed of catnip. I think it *HICK* may be due to the wine soaked into the wood."

"That's the last time I leave you to your own devices commander. You're a bad influence on the younger troops!"

"Would you lot quit yelling!" came the voice of a Gallian soldier from the nearest tent.

"As I said" Lethe continued in the softest whisper imaginable "We've got to do something about all these drunken escapades of yours, couldn't you go back to being a regular old pervert instead of being a drunken, catnip high, one… Alright the cat nip I can understand but the drinking has got to stop. If you stop getting drunk then it might not get out to the world what you're making practical use of every hole in the tent of every female Gallian soldier present. If nothing else then quit using the holes in mine." With this the royally pissed of cat warrior dumped Ranulf on his rear and stormed off without giving the customary salute.

"Well that went well." Said Lyre, Lethe's twin sister, walking casually into the clearing. "I wonder how drunk you really are Ranulf."

In answer to this Ranulf tilted his head to one side and said "Right, who are you then?" Lyre didn't say anything else, Ranulf was usually drunk after a battle, but this had been one big battle which meant that Ranulf's hangover could put him on the technical status of 'luggage' for a good few days. Without another word Lyre mustered a heck of a lot of guts because she knew she might never get another chance like this again, before swooping down to cling to Ranulf and kiss him full on the lips. This lasted for several minutes as Lyre slowly undid Ranulf's shirt.

When Ranulf was found by Skrimir the next morning, the lion king's nephew was dumbfounded to see his second in command passed out on the ground, half naked. The next person to arrive on scene was Soren, then Lethe, quickly followed by the kitchen staff of Oscar, Mist, and a couple assorted Laguz.

"I want whoever did this found!" bellowed Skrimir.

"No need for that Skrimir I found out who it is already, the drunkenness was a ploy!" Said Ranulf buckling his belt, pulling on his shirt and marching off do deal with Lyre. (You'll hear what happened there once you've heard a few other things.)

A few hours past and Ranulf missed breakfast, which surprised no one, it was the day after a battle and he usually wasn't awake at this point. After breakfast Soren went to weapons supply tent. It was just as easy to manage as the mercenary group was because those were essentially the only people in the laguz alliance who needed weapons. The inspection passed uninterestingly until Lethe bounded in and leapt into a crate closing the lid behind her. It didn't make sense until Soren heard Ranulf shouting;

"Lethe! Wait! It's all just a misunderstanding!" Ranulf burst into the tent this time he wasn't wearing his usual head gear, his shirt was unaccounted for, he routinely had to hitch up his pants which were suffering from lack of belt, his hair was messier then usual and he had the unmistakable smell of salmon lingering around him, and on top of all that his skin looked like somebody had taken a clear coat to him because his skin was reflecting even the dim light of the tent.

"What the hell happened to you!" demanded Soren slightly taken aback.

"To say the least, Lethe caught me with my pants down. She wouldn't happen to be in here, would she?"

"No but she would have to bribe me not to tell you if she was." Answered Soren simply crossing the tent to sit down on the crate Lethe was hiding in.

"Alright but if you see her please tell her that I'm in love with her sister weather she likes it or not!" Ranulf left, presumably to find his cloths and Soren placed a heavy box on top of the crate and looked into the hole on the side of it.

"Okay Lethe I'll let you out but you've got to tell me what you saw, and then tell me what Ranulf's problem is." Soren removed the box opened the lid of the crate and helped a disgruntled Lethe to get out.

"Right, so it's not that I have a problem with Ranulf It's that I walked in on him and my sister… mating, to put it simply." Soren blinked in a pathetic attempt to fake innocents.

"Er… you mean like sex, right."

"Is that what you Beorc call it? Weird." Lethe mad for the exit when Soren grabbed her wrist. "What?" she asked spinning around.

"You didn't tell me what's up with Ranulf."

"Goddess, don't get me started, that Fur brain has been annoying me longer, albeit milder and less in a 'ticking me off sense', then you have. Now quit bothering or I'm gonna gut you three ways 'till Tuesday." That threat made absolutely no sense to Soren, who let go of Lethe who stormed out of the tent, tail thrashing violently, ears flat to her scalp.

And yet there's just that something about her that forms a protein string in your brain in response to external stimuli, isn't there. That's about as far as Soren's subconscious got before he dismissed the thought completely, I'm not burning up on the inside because of love… and I'm not even going to question myself on that.

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A/N: Alright, I think that went well, I'll accept mean reviews at the end of the whole thing so you'll all just have to keep reading. (Evil Laughter!)