I don't own Fire Emblem. I did make a Fire Emblem fan game though and it was all right. Ayup.

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When the Green Lance rides to fame

And Red Sword's own begins to wane

In that time shall darkness fall

And heroes both must heed their call

Attacked by legions of the dead

We place our hopes in Green and Red

And peace our land shall soon regain

The fruits of labored Kent and Sain

Prologue: The Spar

It was a beautiful day in Caelin, the sun shining through the clouds. Sure, a few of the clouds looked pretty dark, but who cared if rainy weather was coming up? At that moment in time, everything was just fine for everyone in Caelin. Not even a single person was suffering a death in a family, there were no serious ailments, the problem with the rumors of that plague had been dealt with…everyone was enjoying that day.

Everyone except two teenage boys in the Caelin castle knight's training grounds.

"Hiyaah! Ungh!" yelled one of the boys as he launched himself at the other one, but his stroke with the training sword was incredibly messy, albeit forceful.

"Urmph!" The other boy had predicted the sword stroke's path very easily, but found that blocking it was much harder than he had thought, as he was not accustomed to guarding against such power.

The boy that had first attacked, while he indeed looked his age of 15, was very tall for his age and somewhat lanky. He had messy long brown hair that fell down into his somewhat yellowish-brown eyes. He wore a black tunic, light khaki-colored pants, and a pair of brown boots that appeared to be a bit too big for him. On his face was a confident, excited, and determined expression.

The boy that had guarded the attack looked to be only 14, and was a bit shorter and stouter than the boy with the brown hair. He had much nicer clothes than the other boy. He wore an orange shirt, very dark brown pants, a black sash, and a pair of lighter brown boots that appeared to fit him just fine. He had neatly trimmed and cropped red hair that was just slightly messed up by the wind in the front and dark brown eyes, and the expression on his face was stern and calm as he cautiously moved his sword away from the guard stance in which he had placed it in an attempt not to leave himself open.

Now it was the boy with the red hair's turn to strike. He swung his sword at the taller boy, obviously very carefully planning its path. However, the tall brown-haired boy flung his sword up just in time in a guard, just barely hitting the red-haired boy's but nearly knocking it out of his hands.

The brown-haired boy suddenly brought his sword into a sweeping motion that the red-haired boy easily dodged and countered, hitting the brown-haired boy on the right shoulder. Surprisingly, however, the brown-haired boy merely flinched, taking the hit far better than the red-haired boy could have himself. The taller of the two stood, staring at the shorter boy who had just hit him, then glared. He growled and repeatedly swung his sword at the short boy in a sudden flurry of anger. He, the great Sain, soon to be the strongest knight of all time, had been hit! That had never happened, he had bested everyone in his age group at a joust…the brown-haired boy named Sain thought to himself about how quickly this would have been over if he had a lance, then launched himself forward cutting through the air, his sword making the sound of a metal one, the force of it making it swing in a messy fashion, but fast and damn powerful. The red-haired boy managed to keep his cool (though slightly quavering) as he carefully dodged, remembering the techniques his father had told him about dodging arrows if he ever get caught on a battlefield on a horse…if it worked with a horse, why shouldn't it work with humans? He stepped carefully about, his feet working faster than they should have. He just had to keep his legs evenly spaced, a slight distance in between…backward…then he jumped and struck with his training sword. Unfortunately, his arms failed him for a few seconds under the weight of the training sword, and his vertical strike turned into more of a shaky horizontal one. Sain, late in his dodge as usual, as he as well had expected the strike to be vertical, leapt forward just in the nick of time, hitting the ground and sliding forward underneath the airborne red-haired boy. He ignored the scrapes and burns that were now all over his body and quickly picked himself up, his hair now fallen completely into his eyes. He couldn't see a thing. The red-haired boy saw his chance, but as he had fallen straight on his rear end after his haphazard jump, he had to take the time to stand up, which almost ruined his chance. He flung himself up, struggling against the pain in his rear end, and ran toward Sain. The first sight Sain saw when he brushed his hair wet from sweat out of his eyes was the training sword coming down on him hard. Sain immediately brought the sword up…

CRACK!

Sain watched in wonderment as the sword of the boy before him broke from the force of the parry. He had learned to accept that he had to attribute much of his victories in duels simply to good luck, but this was ridiculous. He brought his sword down on the red-haired boy with force, now believing that he had no more tricks up his sleeve…

The boy with the red hair ducked and performed a sweeping kick from underneath Sain's legs. Sain fell flat on his back, the sword flying out of his hands. He quickly stood up, the hair falling into his eyes again. He groaned, shook his head to get the hair out of his face, and saw that the red-haired boy now held the sword in his hands. Sain had to act fast, he jumped to the right as the boy slammed the sword down, something the red-haired boy was not expecting, then quickly jumped back. The boy was picking the sword up from the ground when an unexpected weight landed on it. He heard the sword crack under the weight of Sain who had jumped on the sword just in time. They stared at each other in wonderment. Both the swords were broken. It was a draw.

Silence…

Sain suddenly burst out laughing. He grinned widely, suddenly feeling satisfied with the outcome of the match. A draw with the boy standing beside him was definitely nothing to be ashamed of. The red-haired boy bowed before him politely, but his face was flushed and red, an angry look in his eyes. Sain turned toward him.

"Kent…I have to hand it to you this time…you were really good. I was just better," said Sain, a narcissistic smile forming on his face. The boy with the red hair, Kent, scowled at him.

"Sain, the draw was a fluke. The swords were made of rotting wood, and that never would have worked in a real fight, a fight with cold steel. Your technique is too rustic, and you focus too much on the power of your swings. And I cannot figure out for the life of me why you keep your hair so long if it only hampers your fighting ability! If you don't take some extra precautions before battle your head will end up on the ground one day!" he said. Sain was used to this, and his expression was nonchalant. After all, his sparring partner was what Commander Eagler called a fighting prodigy.

"Kent, relax, it's just a spar! And we've been through this before! All those beautiful girls out there can't resist the hair!" he said, running his hand through it and flashing his beautiful white teeth. Kent shuddered inwardly. Sain had always been one of those kids that got all the girls. He had to admit in his mind that Sain was, at that time, the local young maids' dream man. Maybe if he took a page out of his book and grew his hair longer too…he shook his head vigorously. That was highly immoral. Women were not of importance at his age. He was a knight and he could not allow himself to get romantically involved. He had no time for such frivolity. He turned to Sain and spoke sternly to him.

"Sain, listen to me. Someday what we're doing right now…it's not going to be sparring. One day you're going to be fighting on the frontline, and that kind of trick might work with breaking a lance, or maybe an axe, but a sword made entirely of steel or even iron will not break under the pressure of your body, and will more likely than not chop off your foot. And if you can't see what you're doing half the time, you'll be a sitting duck," he said.

Sain saw the logic in this, and a little concern was starting to furrow his brow somewhat. "But…" Sain began, but he trailed off as he realized he had nothing to say. Kent was right. Kent sighed as he stared at Sain's crestfallen face. Dammit. He had done it again.

"…Look, you don't have to cut it. There's an alternative course of action," he said. He suddenly untied the black sash on his pants and ripped off a large piece. "Take this."

"What is it?" Sain asked, staring at the disgusting sweat-stained, strip of cloth.

"Wrap it around your hairline. That way you can still keep your hair long, and your hair won't be falling in your eyes all the time," he said. Sain took the makeshift headband and looked at it curiously for a few seconds, then put it on. He strode over to the pond and stared at his reflection in the puddle of water on the ground. He liked it. He liked it a lot. He liked it better than when he didn't have the headband on. He looked back up at Kent, grinning.

"Friend, you are a genius!" he said. Kent, who had been turning himself away from Sain's un-knightly sin of vanity, stepped back.

"F-friend?" he stammered, his voice sounding somewhat surprised. He didn't quite realize he had said this aloud, and he wasn't even facing Sain, but his brown-haired companion heard it and roared with laughter.

"Well, sure, we're friends, are we not?" he said, clapping Kent on the shoulder as he walked back toward him. "You should come with me into the courtyard sometime. The girls there really are a sight," he said. The rare smile forming in the corner of Kent's mouth was causing him to ignore Sain's ravings of his immoral behavior. Friend…Kent had never really had friends before. He mainly kept to himself and talked to the older knights. All he ever focused on was training and keeping his chivalrous vows intact. But a friend…

"Well, Kent, I'll see you later. Meet me at the well in the courtyard in a few hours, I hear that lovely Marietta girl is singing a song tonight and she wants someone to dance with her. Also, there is a rumor that she has something of an eye for you, if you know what I mean," he said, winking at him. Kent suddenly snapped back into focus.

"Wha—wait! I don't want to go to any…" but Sain was already gone. Kent stared at the ground again, cursed, then cursed himself for cursing. Dammit! But for a second, just one second, he smiled.

"Friend."

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So yeah. This part obviously takes place before FE7, since they're so young. Review if you want. I'll read 'em.