Disclaimer: Fire Emblem and all related characters, names, and concepts belong to Intelligent Systems and Nintendo.
Characters: Varies per installment- will be listed in the chapter title and within the chapter itself.
Author's Notes: People who know me on a personal level know that I am a self-proclaimed support whore; they provide so much material to work with as well as just insight into characters that I consider them one of the best parts of Fire Emblem. As such, it's probably no surprise that I find it anything ranging from disappointing to outright criminal that certain characters don't have supports between them! In this series, I hope to write out some decent-quality supports, albeit in prose form rather than script form, for character combinations that didn't have them in their respective games.

First up are Marth and Merric, childhood friends who DO support each other stat-wise but for some reason never got any support conversations together in New Mystery. What is up with that? Before I get to New Mystery supports though, I wanted to do some Shadow Dragon ones, to cover some topics about the years they spent apart. Sue me, I like these close friendships.

Marth and Merric- C

The camp was almost unnaturally tranquil today. With the road ahead uncertain, Marth had called for patience while he had sent scouts ahead to secure their path and ascertain the positions of enemy troops. With no hard travel to be done and no battle to be fought, the troops used this time to rest, to tend to their mounts and their weapons, and check the supply stores.

Merric found himself sitting under a tree in the middle of camp, lazily flipping through the pages of Excalibur while occasionally looking up at the people walking by. No one really caught his eye until the army's commander stood in front of him. "Hey, Merric," he said, smiling. "So this is where you went."

Marth had been looking for him? He sat a little straighter, respectfully shutting the tome in his lap. "Is something the matter, sire?" he asked, now concerned.

Marth frowned. "Yes, actually." He gestured towards him. "That is."

Merric didn't understand. He thought for a moment, but finally had to shake his head in confusion. "Beg… pardon?"

"You keep calling me 'sire,'" Marth said, crossing his arms and suddenly looking very uncomfortable. "You promised me years ago you wouldn't do that." That was what this was about? It seemed so minor.

Now uncomfortably aware of his own choice of words, he tapped the tome on his free hand. "But… you are the crown prince of Altea and my liege lord. I'm supposed to show the proper respect, aren't I?"

"But you're Altean nobility too," Marth said, lowering himself to the ground and crossing his legs under him as he sat down next to Merric. "And you've been my best friend since we were children. Surely, friends can respect each other without the need for formalities." He shook his head. "I know we've not been in touch during the past years, but I was hoping that hadn't changed."

"That's not it," Merric hurried to say. "I guess I've just grown accustomed to addressing people by title. The more accomplished scholars and mages in Khadein were quite.. adamant… in that. I was at the bottom rung like any other student, and some of them expected us to grovel."

"They demanded this of a nobleman?" Marth looked incredulous. In Altea, it was unheard of for a commoner, no matter how educated ot accomplished, to make any sort of demand of anyone born into the nobility.

Merric shook his head. "They didn't know about my parentage. I didn't want it to define me at the academy, so I never told them about it. I wanted to be valued for myself, not for my parents, privileges, or gold."

"That makes sense…" Marth muttered, although he still looked a little bewildered at the audacity of the scholars Merric had spoken of. Finally, he smiled. "It does sound like something you'd do." Merric turned a little red in embarrassment. He'd always felt like sort of the laughing stock of the Altean nobility for his complete lack of talent with a sword, and admittedly, this didn't make him fit in any more either.

He scratched the nape of his neck. "Besides… with Altea in the state it's in…" he shook his head. "Being Altean nobility is not exactly something that commands respect at the moment."

Marth chuckled, but there was no mirth in the sound. "That's true, but by that logic you definitely shouldn't be using titles with me. It's as you say…" he rested his chin in his hand, staring into the distance. "Altea is in shambles, and her prince, an exile. At this point, I neither deserve nor require a title."

For a brief moment, Merric thought to remind him that even if he were no longer a prince –which he was, but that was a whole other argument- he was still the commander of an army, and the other, contracted soldiers and mercenaries had to know to respect him. However, he sighed, deciding instead to just drop the subject. Marth was right. They were friends- using titles with each other felt unnatural, anyway. "You must be the only royal who's ever insisted on not being called by title, Marth," he said, grinning.

"Now, that's better."