A/N: Hello fellow Fire Emblem Mark X Lyn lovers out there. I just have a few things to point out before you start reading, its only two things; no big deal.
Ok first, I'm writing this story because, well I'm being curious as to how I can write a Fire Emblem fic of my favorite couple.
Second thing and the one that honestly made me think that Mark X Lyn is actually canon: for those that have played Fire Emblem 6; you know that Lyn doesn't exist in that game at all. Not one bit. Then when I played 7 I was like "wait a minute, what?" So I started thinking. "Why would they make Lyn a character so damn important in a game that's supposed to be the prequel to a game that already came out, and like she doesn't even exist in that game?" I was like: "why couldn't they just start the game with Eliwood's story from the very beginning?" Sure it might have been a bit shorter than other games, but it was still good. And when you get to Caelin after driving out Marquess Laus from his territory, why didn't they just make the Marquess of Caelin's granddaughter a myrmidon or an NPC that you have to protect through the whole battle? It would have made much more sense than just making her a character that everybody loves and for her to disappear of the face of the world in the sequel or the game that came before 7 that's a sequel or WHATEVER YOU CALL THAT! Well anyway, sorry for that, as I was saying it makes more sense for that to have happened. Then I was like, "if they made Mark a character, would he/her have the option to like well get married and all?" Yes I know I said her as in Female Mark/Tactician X Lyn and you know what? I don't give a damn. I'm just trying to make a point here and I think it's not getting across that well.
Anyway, I think you get what I mean and if not, then I suck at explaining.
Disclamer: I don't own Fire Emblem. If I did, MarkxLyn would be canon; IkexElincia would have happened at the end of Fire Emblem 11 and not Ike leaving like an asshole! Anyway, I rambled too much in a disclamer, sorry. Again, I don't own Fire Emblem.
Prologue: A girl from the plains
Fire. Everywhere he looked, everything was on fire. Dead corpses surrounded him. In front of him was a woman crying over the corpse of her husband. Around them bandits kept going from tent to tent, killing each and every single villager.
"Why are you doing this?" asked the woman as her tears streamed down her face
The man smiled a cold, sadistic, evil smile as he leaned down and picked the nearest sword. He then ran it through her heart, slowly and painfully, enjoying her pain filled face.
The man then took the sword out of her and laughed as her life slowly left her eyes.
"Ahh!" yelled the man as he bolted from the bed he was sleeping in, wait bed? Last thing he remembered was him passing out in the plains.
"Wait a minute, the plains?" he looked around the room "Oh no no no, please don't tell me I was saved by-"
Just then a woman, who seemed to be around 17 years of age, entered the room.
"Oh good, you're ok" she said "I thought something happened when I heard you scream"
The man looked at her, unable to believe what he was seeing.
"Is something wrong?" she asked
The man noticed he was staring and he looked away "No, nothing at all, just uhh, something I dreamt"
"Well, I'm glad you're alright then, I found you unconscious on the plains and brought you here"
She left the room and 2 minutes later she came back with some water which she handed to him. He took it, thanked her and drank a bit. She then sat on the chair next to the bed
"Would you mind telling me your name?" she asked "I'm Lyn of the Lorca tribe"
The man looked at her and debated telling her; right now actually, he didn't even want to be here, but he still told her his name'
"It's uhh… Mark"
"Mark? What an odd sounding name…" She then looked to Mark and saw that he was in a heartbroken fashion over calling him odd and quickly corrected herself "But pay me no mind, it's a good name!"
He nodded, still a bit heartbroken
"So…" she tried to find a topic to talk about, it's been quite a while since she had a visitor "What were you doing out on the plains?"
He started coughing on the water he was drinking and hit his chest a few times
"Are you okay?" asked a concerned Lyn
He coughed a bit "Y-yeah I'm fine" he reassured her "So uhh, you wanted to know why I was on the plains?"
Lyn nodded slowly
Mark scratched the back of his head with his left hand "Well…"
Just then they heard some noises
Lyn stood up "Wait here I'll go investigate"
Not a moment later Lyn returned
"What's going on?" asked a concerned Mark
"Bandits, 2 of them, it looks like they came down from the Bern Mountains"
"Great…just what I needed" Thought Mark sarcastically
Lyn grabbed a sword that was hanging off the wall "Stay in here and rest, I'll ward them off"
Lyn then turned to leave, but Mark held her back before she could do so "Wait…I can help"
Lyn didn't seem convinced "Are you sure? I don't think you should fight in your condition."
At this Mark turned and sighed, but looked at her again "I'm…a war strategist of sorts, still an apprentice, but I know enough to help direct you to drive off those bandits quickly without much struggle, besides, I owe you for helping me."
Lyn still looked reluctantly at letting this man out and about in the middle of a fight with his wounds still healing, but still saw logic in his words "…fine, but make sure to stay away from them as you direct me, alright?" Mark nodded and got out of the bed, wincing a bit from his injuries but still following the sacaen woman out the ger.
Outside, Mark scouted the field and indeed there were two bandits. One was near the neighboring ger on the other side of the field while the other one was nearing Lyn's ger.
"This won't be too hard, though it depends on Lyn's skills" thought Mark and he picked out one of his simplest strategies.
"Lyn, draw his attention, but let him come to you. Bandits tend to rush and not think ahead, so the moment he rushes at you, dodge then retaliate. If you move swift enough, it won't take more than one duel to finish him"
Lyn nodded and moved ahead.
The bandit saw her moving and stopping a few feet away from him. He smirked and rushed for an axe swing but Lyn dodged and quickly finished him off with a quick but precise slice to the neck. Mark walked forward and saw the other bandit moving towards them.
"This bandit seems to possess a small amount of skill, not unlike his partner and he is stronger"
"Lyn, this one might be a challenge so stay on your toes; keep dodging as best you can for now"
Lyn nodded and got ready to fight against the bandit.
The bandit stopped a few feet away from them and stared at them before smirking.
"You think you can stand up to Batta the Beast, little girl?"
Lyn didn't answer and steeled her senses for the fight.
Batta rushed, just like the other bandit, but his swings were shorter and more precise. Lyn dodged to the best of her abilities, barely avoiding each swing, one coming dangerously close to her neck. She was able to dodge it in time, just receiving a small cut around her left shoulder. As Lyn kept dodging, Mark noticed something about Batta. His swings were more precise and short, but he was getting slower and slower, which means that it was time to finish him off.
"Lyn, wait until he swings again and strike!"
She did just that and Batta fell to his knees before hitting the ground with a loud thud. Lyn was panting heavily as Mark walked over to her.
"…that was close…" panted Lyn
"You did good Lyn, not bad" Mark gave her a smile but noticed the small injury
"You're hurt"
Lyn looked at her left shoulder and noticed the bleeding "This? It's nothing don't worry" she stood up and after wiping her sword clean of blood on the grass, sheathed it. "Well, let's go back"
When they made it back to the ger, Lyn treated her shoulder with some vulnerary, after which, she took a piece of cloth to fully clean her blade "Oh! I almost forgot, I put your belongings in the other rooms"
Mark stiffened a bit "Uh oh…please don't tell me she looked through my things!"
Lyn noticed it but quickly reassured him "Don't worry, I didn't look through your things, I'm not for prying into others possessions "She got up and started to walk towards the other room " Let me get them for you"
"Don't trouble yourself, I can get them. You should focus on your blade" Mark remarked as he got up quickly to look for his belongings.
Lyn looked curiously at Mark and wondered why he seemed so nervous, but shrugged it off. A moment later Mark returned with a bundle, a black book, and a brown book. He set the bundle on the foot of bed and sat down. He put the brown book next to him as he inspected the black one. After carefully making sure nothing bad happened to it, he sighed in relief.
"Is everything okay?"
Mark looked up from the book and saw Lyn staring curiously at him.
He nodded "Yeah, everything's fine" he then picked up the brown book and put the black one where the brown one was.
He inspected the book in the same fashion but he opened this one and searched the pages one by one, making sure nothing happened to it. After making sure the book was not damaged he nodded to himself.
Lyn was finished cleaning her sword, which was now in its scabbard and wondered if she should ask him what she wanted to ask. Minutes went by and she just decided to ask.
"Mark, you're a traveler right?"
Mark nodded, wondering where this was going
"And most of the times, travelers come under attacks from bandits"
Mark already had a pretty good idea of what Lyn wanted
"Lyn I-"
"Mark, please let me travel with you!" she asked before he could finish
"I-I don't think-"
"Please Mark!" she pleaded
Mark sighed "…Okay"
Lyn hugged him out of joy "Thanks Mark!"
Mark scratched the back of his head nervously "Y-yeah sure" Lyn let him go "But I'm going to have to know your reasons"
"Well, I need to, no; I want to be stronger, strong enough so nobody can beat me, strong enough so I can-" she cut herself off as the memory of what happened six months ago passed through her mind'
Mark noticed her sad look and decided to ask something he's been wondering. He stood up and walked towards Lyn's desk where he was inspecting some cloths with his eyes.
"Lyn, can I ask you something?"
"S-sure"
"You said you're from the Lorca tribe right?" Mark looked at her
Lyn nodded
"I heard some rumors that, six months ago, the Lorca were wiped out by the Taliver bandits. Are you a survivor?"
Lyn nodded again "Yes I am. The Taliver bandits poisoned our water and attacked us at night" Lyn looked down as tears threatened to fall "…It only took one night…"
Mark looked back at her "I'm sorry to hear that, maybe I shouldn't have asked"
"No, it's alright" she wiped her tears away and took a deep calming breath "You didn't know"
Mark eyed the cloths on Lyn's desk and asked.
"By the design of these cloths, I'm assuming you were the related to the chieftain?"
Lyn nodded "I was the chieftain's daughter…but… that meant nothing to my people when I tried to lead them to escape from the Taliver bandits. They saw me only as a woman…they were so old-fashioned, but I still…I still cared for my tribe."
A few more moments of silence went by before Mark spoke
"So tell me, when do we leave?"
Lyn looked at him, a bit surprised "What?"
"I asked, when do we leave?" he smiled "I did say that you can travel with me didn't I?"
Lyn smiled "Thank you Mark" Lyn then thought of when they could leave and what their first stop would be "We could leave tomorrow morning, and stop at Bulgar to buy supplies"
"Sounds like a plan, tomorrow then"
That night, while Lyn was sleeping in her bed, Mark was sitting down on the chair at the desk and had picked up the bundle, which he was staring at.
He sighed "What have I gotten myself into?"
A/N: Well, there you go. My first chapter of ATBLU (I know the acronym sounds weird), hope you enjoyed. Remember to review please.
