Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems or however it is called do, and I'm pretty sure you knew that already.

Reviews are appreciated, flaming isn't.

That's all I wanted to say, so lets get started!

Thawing a frozen heart

Prologue: The traitors

Everything was dark. Everything was silent. Nino couldn't see anything, she couldn't hear anything. She was alone in the dark halls of Bern's royal manse. Alone – Alone with her thoughts, alone with her feelings. And yet she was afraid. Not about herself, but about Jaffar. About Jaffar who was somewhere in the manse, fighting Ursula's overwhelming forces. He had commanded her to flee, but she just couldn't move her legs. She couldn't let him alone!

'Why not?' A voice in her head said, 'What's so special about him? He's a Black Fang member, just like the people he's killing at the very moment.' "No!" Nino said to herself aloud, "He refused to kill me, and I'll refuse to let him alone!"

Maybe she could have better not done that. A monk who was sneaking along the hallway had heard her and now prepared to attack. From the corner of her eye, Nino saw how he threw a lightning flash at her. She screamed in panic and casted a spell from the magic tome she had taken with her. It was her best tome, an Elfire. But the monk didn't seem very impressed. "Die little traitor", he whispered. "St. Elimine, give me strength", he prayed and shared all his power to cast another Lightning spell. Nino was thrown backward by the impact of the spell and landed hard on the stone floor. She stood up again, her legs trembling. She opened her book and found a part she didn't fully understand. She recalled her mother telling her about harder parts of tomes and them doing more damage. She did her best to cast the spell, took all her strength together and closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again the monk was lying on the ground, heavily injured. He didn't breathe anymore. But already, the next danger appeared. The noise of her fight had drawn the attention of a swordsman and two mages. Nino knew she would not win this. She was scared, she wanted to run, but they where blocking her way and she was trapped. Only a miracle could safe her now. Gladly, a miracle came. The two mages turned around as they heard footsteps behind them. One of them got sliced open by a swift sword slash and the other one lost his head to an axe.

Out of the darkness appeared three people. The owner of the axe was a big man with short, black hair, black eyes and a black armour as well as a black cape. The wielder of the sword was a woman with long, grey hair, black eyes, black boots and a dark robe. But it was certainly not a Black Fang robe; it looked more like one of Sacean style. It covered her whole body from her belt upward, downward, it was open at the sides, showing her legs.

And there was a third person. A man with dark hair and eyes wearing a black robe as well as a black cape, grey pants and almost black boots. He had a sword with him. None of the three looked older than 20.

The man who hadn't attacked yet opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but before he could speak, the last swordsman took a sprint gripped Nino.

"One step and she dies!" he yelled and brought his sword to her throat. Nino screamed and looked at the big blade fearfully. But the sword wielding man drew his sword as if that little girl's life didn't matter. Nino feared for her life and her captor tightened his grip. I'm done for! Nino thought. But the man didn't move. He just held his sword before his head, his eyes closed, as if he where praying. Suddenly, Nino's captor was thrown away by a lightning flash.

"Now!" the man yelled and the swordswoman jumped forward and stabbed her sword into the foe.

"Whoa! Where did you learn that, Eliwood?" the axeman asked.

"I found this sword in the desert. It's of the same kind that madman used."

"You, lassie!" The axeman now spoke to Nino, "Your name's Nino, right?"

"H-how do you know…?"

"Hector! Your manners are as terrible as always! Tell me, Nino, are you being attacked by your fellow members?"

"Y-yes, it's because…"

"You can explain why later! For now, we have to protect the prince!" the man called Hector said.

He wanted to run away, but Nino hindered him.

"Wait! You have to help Jaffar, too! He's in a corridor west of here!"

"We have to go westward to the throne room anyway. Alright, we'll help him!" Eliwood said.

"Eliwood!" A voice from the dark said, "When you don't mind, I'll clear up hear."

Eliwood looked backward over his shoulder to see someone point in the direction of a treasure room.

"Alright Legault, why not."

"It's uncle Lagault!" Nino screeched and ran to her "uncle".

"Well met Nino", Legault said.

"May I come with you? Pleeeaaase!"

"No Nino, you have to show those people the way to Jaffar."

"Okay!"

Now, a group of people came out of the dark. In the light of their torches, Nino noticed that the three people she had met earlier looked fully different then in the dark. They didn't only consist of black and grey like it first looked like. The swordswoman, who's hair where now green, ran over to a wagon. In the wagon sat two people. One of them stood up and asked her something, pointing to Nino.

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A little later

"Thank you for the explanation, Lyn."

"Okay! Listen everyone! Sain, Oswin, Dart, Rebecca, Priscilla and Bartre follow that girl over there and rescue her friend, Legault takes on the treasure room, Canas will escort him for safety and everyone else follows Eliwood to the throne room!" the man said so clearly that everyone, even Nino, could hear it. A paladin, a general, a warrior who scared her a little bit, a troubadour and a female sniper who looked as if they where not much older than Nino herself and a berserker who scared her a little bit too, moved into her direction. The paladin opened his mouth, but closed it again immediately when the general gave him a scary look.

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That was the prologue! Please review and tell me how it was!