Notice: For anyone interested, some friends and I are going live on the internet on July 7th through the 9th to have a speed run marathon of the Zelda, Mario, and Metroid game series. If you're interested, PM me for more information or visit triplespeedrunners (dot) com for more information.

This is my first Fire Emblem fic, but here is the first chapter. A near novelization. I say near because I will make some deviations (Extra battles maybe or something) and will eventually add my own character in at a later point in the story. This story will hopefully provide some decent character development for people that I feel were left out of the game too much. I hope to give enough development to all characters as much as I can, but don't expect everyone to have equal screen time here. Most chapters are going to alternate point of views. And uhh… read and review!!!!!!!!!!!!

All Fire Emblem characters copyright Nintendo or whoever the lucky bastard is that owns this.

CLANG! CLANK! WHOOSH! Up until now, the forest had been relatively quiet, only to be broken by two men who were dueling in the forest. The shorter one, Ike, had blue, spiky hair and a bandana wrapped around his hair. He had a somewhat even build, with armor on, despite the fact that he and the other man were dueling with wooden swords. The taller one, Greil, had short brown hair. He stood a fair bit taller than Ike, but was more muscular. Ike leapt back as his father, Greil, took another swing at him. Ike had been training with his father for years in order to become a full-fledged mercenary. Today was no exception. Training in full armor was something he had only recently begun doing. It was hard to move about well in armor, but he felt more and more like he was getting the hang of it.

Ike let out another cry as he swung his wooden sword, courtesy of Greil's whittling talent, down at his head, but the blow was easily blocked, and Ike was pushed back by Greil's far superior strength.

Day in and day out, Ike had been forced to stay behind as the other mercenaries went out to perform their jobs, whatever they may have involved. With Greil as the leader, they were always prepared and had never failed to finish a job. It was Ike's dream to be a part of it and to help them out, which was the whole reason he had been training with his father, even if his dad was a bit hard on him at times.

"Whoa!"

Ike fell over backwards in an attempt to avoid the sword Greil had just thrust mere inches from his face.

"Well Ike, you had enough?" Greil asked in an obvious taunting way. A faint hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips, as if he already knew the answer.

'Hardly' Ike thought to himself. Quickly picking himself up off the ground, he rushed at his father with an overhead swing that was stopped short of its intended target by Greil.

"Dad! Ike! There you two are." came the voice of a young girl running down the dirt path. She was a fair bit shorter than Ike and Greil with brown hair running down almost to her shoulders.

"Ah, Mist."

"YAAAAAHHH!!!!"

Ike took advantage of his father's distraction to take another overhead swing at him, but he was surprised as he connected with only the ground after Greil side-stepped. However, he got an even bigger surprise as Greil took a powerful swing at Ike's now exposed backside, causing him to literally fly several feet.

"Ike!? Oh no!" Mist cried out as Ike failed to get up.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was very comforting. He was enjoying a good rest with only her there to watch him. Sunlight streamed in the open window as he slowly sat himself up but everything was out of focus and dull.

"Mother…"

"You should rest. You've had a rough day."

"Mmmmm."

It was the old house that they had lived in before… before she had died. Why did she die? Ike wished he could go back to the way things were before that awful day. Not that he could remember that day, but his father had told him of the accident with the house fire. That was why they had had to move.

He heard something. It was faint, but it was definitely there. He couldn't identify the sound though.

Mother had always sung this song for Ike and Mist as a lullaby It was a sweet melody. It had always been his favorite one. Ike laid down and closed his eyes before he felt himself drifting off into a deep sleep.

He heard it again. It was getting stronger. Someone was singing. A sweet soprano.

Ike suddenly woke up and snapped his eyes open but immediately regretted it when the sun seemingly shined right into his eyes. After his eyes adjusted, he picked himself off the ground, allowing the patch on his forehead to slide off. Probably Mist's doing.

"Oh! You're up. 'Bout time. Are you all right?" said Mist. Ike staggered to his feet, swaying a little as he did so. He briefly wondered how long he'd been out,

"Nn…Yeah, I'll be fine." Ike said. 'I hope' he added as an afterthought. He turned around to see Greil, his father, running over to them.

"So, the sleeping prince finally awakens, I see." He said with a smile on his face.

"Father, I can't believe you! Those may just be wooden swords but they're still heavy! You have no right to be so rough on Ike!" Mist exclaimed. She knew Greil would never really hurt Ike…much. Even so, Ike had been out cold for the better half of three hours.

"If this is too much for the boy, he will never make it as a mercenary." Greil stated.

"Stop worrying Mist. I already told you that I'm fine." Ike said. There was no way he was going to let his father know how much that last blow actually hurt after the "boy" comment. In fact, his back was still hurting as he stood there, although it felt a little better.

"Ha! You'd better be! Now grab your sword and get ready." Rang the voice of the commander.

"What!? Don't tell me that you're going at it again!" Mist said with obvious disbelief.

"Of course. I just want to land one blow. I'm not giving up until I can get one good hit in on father." Ike said with a look of concentration on his face. Mist knew the expression too well. There was no talking sense Into him when he had that expression.

"I like your resolve, but it's going to take more than just a strong will to…" At that moment, a figure came running out of the trees, stopping just a few feet from them. He was about the same height as Ike, with green eyes and dark-green hair kept up with a cloth wrapped around his head. As with the other two men, he also wore armor.

"Aha! I knew I'd find you here." Said the green-haired man.

"Hi Boyd! What brings you out here?" asked Mist.

"Nothing special. You said you were going to get the boss, but you never came back. I got picked to check up on you."

"Oh! Sorry. I guess I got caught up with Ike and my Greil."

"It's nothing. Besides, I thought I'd get a good laugh watching Ike get worked over by the boss. You look fine though…haven't you been practicing?"

Ike hastily replied, "Yeah, but I've been holding my own. Sorry to disappoint you." Unfortunately, Mist picked the wrong time to speak.

"No you haven't! You were just out cold for about two hours!" Upon hearing this, Boyd was unable to control his laughter.

"Mist!"

"Sorry, but it was funny." Before Ike could go after Boyd, his father intervened.

"You came at just the right time, Boyd. You can be Ike's sparring partner."

"What!? Me!?" This announcement stopped Boyd's laughter.

"I'm beginning to think it would be better if he sparred with someone closer to his own skill level."

"I understand. Thanks for the help, Boyd" Ike quickly said before Boyd could protest. He was looking forward to a match with him after that last embarrassment.

"Well, I don't know about this whole 'closer to his skill level', but I'm ready!" He said, retrieving a wooden axe from the pile. Ike went over to retrieve the wooden sword he dropped after Greil knocked him out. The two fighters each took up a spot on each end of the training field and prepared for the fight.

"C'mon Ike! I'm ready for you!" Boyd called out. 'He can be annoying sometimes' Ike thought, 'Actually, he's annoying almost all the time.' Greil then called for them to begin. Ike took the defensive because he had never gone up against Boyd. Then again, Boyd had never gone against Ike either, but he seemed content to simply wait for Ike, just as Ike was waiting for him.

"Hey! What's the hold-up!? Let's get started already!" Boyd yelled. He wasn't even standing in a fighting stance, but merely allowed his weapon, to hang at his side, showing off his confidence to everyone present.

'That does it'. Ike rushed at Boyd. Somewhere from the side, he heard his sister calling out, but payed her little mind. He was focused solely on Boyd and his grinning face.

"You can do it, Ike! Boyd's got nothing on you!" Mist called out.

"Nothing!? I don't have nothing! Err… I mean- AH!" Boyd shouted out the last line in a bit of pain. Ike had taken advantage of Boyd's moment of distractedness and closed the gap between them, putting a solid blow on his arm. The wooden swords weren't meant for killing or any serious wounds, but even still, Boyd was going to have one hell of a welt for letting his guard down. He wouldn't let it happen a second time though. He readied his axe and took a swing at Ike. The two crossed blades for a couple minutes. Neither one would allow the other one a chance to attack. Ike was clearly faster than Boyd, but Boyd had strength to his advantage, just as Greil had had, and he was using it to his advantage as he continued pounding away on Ike's sword. The force of the blows prevented Ike from effectively counter attacking.

This continued on until Ike saw his chance. Boyd took a powerful side swing, but this time the swing literally went into Ike's wooden sword, sticking the two together. Boyd tried in vain to pull his weapon free, but Ike instead punched Boyd in the face, causing him to reel back. Taking the two weapon hybrid in hand, Ike knocked Boyd onto the ground, and put the blade, it was difficult to tell whether it belonged to the axe or the sword at this point, to Boyd's throat.

"And that's that!" Greil called out from the sides.

"That wasn't too bad, I suppose." Boyd admitted, loathe to say that he had just been beaten by someone not even part of the mercenary group.

Mist couldn't help herself though. "Boyd, you're such a loser."

"Shut your trap! I wouldn't lose if we fought again!" Came the quick reply. 'Boyd always was one of the more temperamental mercenaries in the group. Actually, he's probably the most temperamental. On second thought, he definitely is.' Ike thought privately to himself.

"No, that's enough Boyd." Greil replied.

"But that was just random chance! Come on, just let me go grab another axe and-" Without another word, Greil took to the field.

"That was decent enough swordsmanship Ike, and an interesting maneuver at the end. But now I'll be your next opponent."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Ike said. In truth, he really had been hoping. His father was possibly the strongest swordsmen he knew, so fighting against him was quite a challenge.

"Ha! Well, if I can't fight again, watching the boss work you over again is the next best thing!" Noyd called out as he walked off the field.

Greil stepped onto the other side. "But first, Mist!"

"Already on it!" Mist stepped out to Ike and handed him a vulnerary. Ike already knew what it was of course. This wasn't the first time he had used one. Vulneraries healed wounds. By drinking some of it, it magically closed wounds, healed bruises, and other things that Ike didn't know about, or have time to wonder about.

"Ready or not, here I come, Ike!" True to his word, Greil wasted no time crossing the field to Ike. It was amazing how fast he could move even in all the armor he wore. Ike quickly popped the top off the vulnerary and took a gulp. The effect was almost instantaneous. His bruises suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace of discomfort, and even his pain in his back courtesy of his dad was gone. Tossing the vulnerary aside since he didn't have time to store it away, Ike brought up his sword just in time to block the first of his father's attacks. The force was suspiciously weaker than what Ike remembered from only a short while ago, but still more than he could handle. He wouldn't win simply playing defensive. He waited for another swing from his father, but this time he put his weapon up as if to block, but instead allowed the weapon to go right through as he turned around and swung at Greil's now exposed side. Much to his side, it was a clean hit, and his father took a step backwards.

Not wanting to lose his advantage, Ike pressed the attack, and took swing after swing, dodging each attack Greil could muster, until finally he got a clean swipe at Greil's throat and held his sword there. It felt like eternity that he waited there with silence all around until Mist broke the silence.

"Woohoo! I knew you could do it Ike!" She rushed out onto the field to give Ike a congratulations before Ike interrupted her small celebration.

"You were holding back, weren't you father?" He stared into Greil's eyes and a smile broke on Greil's face.

"Ha! If you could tell the difference, you're improving!"

"So does that mean you admit I'm ready? Can I finally fight too?"

"You think you're ready to in a real fight? To take on a contract?" A rhetorical question, but Ike didn't pick up on that.

"Boyd's already out there, and I beat him today." Upon hearing this, Boyd rushed over to the group.

"Listen, the difference between you and me is that I'm a professional."

"A professional who just got beat!" Came Mist's quick reply.

"That was just random chance. Random chance. You understand that?"

"What, you fighting like a berserker is random chance?"

"You take that back you little-"

"Eek!" Mist ran around Ike and Greil with Boyd following close behind. Neither one seemed too worried about the chase. Indeed, it probably would've been stranger if Boyd had let the comment slide. It just wasn't like him to let things go, even if he wasn't being completely serious. Greil continued on.

"Alright. That's enough Boyd. Go on and tell everyone that we'll be behind shortly." Boyd gave Mist one last look to see her stick her tongue out at him. Ike sighed. It was always the same with those two, constantly teasing each other.

"Alright then Ike, as of tomorrow, you officially start as a full fledged mercenary."

"You mean it?"

"But, if I think it's too much for you, you're back to trainee status, you understand?" Ike knew he was completely serious about putting him back as a trainee.

"Yes. I'll pull my own weight, I promise."

"Good, then let's head back. Oscar should be finishing dinner soon, hopefully." Oscar was Boyd's older brother, but was almost opposite him. He was very calm, even under trying circumstances, and his cooking was the envy of everyone. Ike had other things on his mind however. Tomorrow he was finally going to become a mercenary, tomorrow he would finally be able to fight alongside everyone else. 'Tomorrow is going to be a wonderful day.'

Don't forget to review this!