FIRE EMBLEM: THE ELEMENT MAGES
A/N: This is the first of many revised chapters in this story, I hope to have it completely finished soon.
I don't own Fire Emblem.
Prologue:
The Laguz and the humans have been mortal enemies as long as anyone can remember, and the death of a particularly important ambassador in Gallia was the final straw. The people of Beginon invaded Gallia's capitol, thinking the death was planned. Thus began the Great War.
Three young and abandoned mercenaries from Crimea moved to Gallia in hopes of finding small, manageable jobs, but found only war. They joined the royal guard and were soon shipped away on assignment to protect another nameless, faceless government official.
They set off at the sides of their fellow countrymen destined for Goldoa, a home to the mighty dragon tribe. Like the beasts of Gallia, the members of the dragon tribe transform for battle and become beasts of immense power. These people, along with the bird tribes, are known as Laguz.
Almost immediately, the small escort fell under attack by the Begnion army.
Chapter 1: Unlikely Victory
It was growing dark one foggy night on the road to Goldoa. Three soldiers, younger than the rest, were walking behind the main group, talking to each other. They seemed slightly out of place as if they didn't know anyone and did not particularly want to be there in the first place. They were small and looked a little weak compared to the hardened soldiers they were traveling with. Just ahead of them walked a horse bearing a thin and delicate-looking man in a suit and tie. He wore glasses and looked as if he would pass out then and there, despite the short distance they had traveled in the last hour.
The children were rather particular. Holly, the first soldier, was a Pegasus Knight with long, brown hair and amber eyes that seemed to glow in the lantern light. She wore thin armor and a tabard with the crest of the Royal Gallian Guard upon it. Another girl, Furu, was a Sword Knight with short cropped blonde hair and very pale eyes. She held a disposition that gave the impression that she was always in disagreement, and would take on the world at the drop of a hat. The boy, Chii, was a myrmidon with short, brown hair and chocolate eyes. He seemed quite kind, but might have been a bit worn from a journey. All three had sorrow written upon their faces. In the circles under their eyes and the premature wrinkles in their foreheads, you could tell they had seen far more than children of their ages should have seen. None of the trio could have passed for more than 20 years old. These three were the lone survivors of a battle fought by the Greil mercenaries of Crimea.
"Hadn't we better find a good place to camp soon?" Chii said to Holly. "It's getting dark and I don't like the look of this fog..."
"Oh stop worrying Chii!" Furu came riding up on her horse, falling into step with the others quickly. "We'll be fine! The Begnions wouldn't dare attack all these people. Besides, most of us are Gallians!"
"Yeah... I suppose you're right..." Chii said, staring off into the brush for a moment before returning his attention to the road. "I just keep thinking I hear sounds from the bushes."
Meanwhile, in the thicket on the side of the road, Begnion soldiers hid and watched the band of Gallians march past, confirming that this was the guard for the official. Their commander, a monstrosity of a man, wearing blue armor and carrying a large sword, gave the order to emerge. The troops stepped quickly in front of the Gallians and the commander spoke.
"Drop your weapons, surrender the senator, and you shall not be harmed!"
"We'll not surrender to the likes of you humans!" the Gallian General roared in return, his deep voice resembling the roar of the lion that was his alter ego.
Without a word, the Begnion commander gave a grandiose wave of his hand, causing a band of men to reveal their location just behind the Gallian guard, doubling their force.
"… This doesn't look good." Chii said, a single note of fear in his voice.
"Yeah…" was all Holly could say as she licked her lips nervously and readied her Pegasus.
The enemy made the first move. Several knights wearing blue approached and lashed out with their lances. The beasts were wounded but none fell. In retaliation, the Gallian General sent Chii and two tigers to attack the knights. The tigers did fine, but Chii, being only a myrmidon, was wounded gravely.
"Chii!" Holly cried, her knuckles white, gripping the reins.
The General soon ordered him to retreat so he could tend his wounds.
"Ahhh…" he limped back, trying to look heroic."I need a vulnerary. Anyone got one?" Once healed, he returned his attention to the battle.
"Oh no…" Holly moaned in a low whisper as she was ordered to advance toward the front.
"Be careful Holly!" Furu cried after she had taken off.
As Holly flew forward on her Pegasus, she noticed an archer with his bow drawn, standing directly in her path.
Holly gave a desperate cry as she swerved to dodge the arrow, yet the arrow did not zip past, too close for comfort, for the archer never fired. Completely disregarding orders, Furu had rushed forward and separated the archer's head from his neck in one surprisingly powerful stroke.
"Are you alright?" Furu cried, adrenaline rushing from the heat of their first real battle.
"Oh Furu, I'm just fine. Thank you so much!" Was the grateful reply, paired with a hug. "You saved my life! …But you ignored the General again." The note was ended with a slightly reproachful tone and Furu began to protest.
"I know, I know, but he wasn't even looking in your direction. You might have died!"
The battle raged on until both sides were nearly annihilated. In the end, Holly, Furu, and Chii stood alone on the desolate road, facing the Begnion general and his second in command.
"You three, weakest of all, we will defeat you in an instant! Throw down your weapons and surrender!"
"What do we do?" Holly whispered desperately searching the eyes of her beloved siblings.
"We'll have to keep fighting. Even though our battalion has died, if we fight at least we have a shot; because, if we surrender we will surely be captured and tortured. It is our duty to defeat these soldiers who have killed the senator so rashly. We have to continue!" Chii said with unexpected conviction.
"You're right! For Gallia!" Furu shouted into the night.
"For Ike." Holly whispered to herself as the three began to advance.
Suddenly, a voice cried out from the brush.
"Hey! Could you use an extra soldier?"
"Who are you? Show yourself!" The Begnion general demanded, looking around, and for a moment, forgetting the three children.
There were two unknown soldiers, and they ran up and engaged the remaining Begnions in battle. One was a spearman and the other, an ax knight. They appeared young as well, but they were much stronger than the three Gallian soldiers. They easily defeated their combatants and turned toward the small group. The taller and obviously older one of the pair smiled brightly.
"Hi my name's Mat, I'm a knight working for the Greil Mercenaries. Surely you've heard of them?" the spearman said to the three survivors. Mat appeared strongly built, yet had a rather delicate demeanor despite his heavy armor. The kindness in his hazel eyes was overwhelming and turned the mood of the group instantly. The words he spoke were also of high importance.
"Heard of them?" Holly said, disbelieving excitement in her voice. "We used to work for them! We thought there was no one left. How many of you are there? And who?" Her voice was getting progressively higher and she was moving toward Mat with every word until she was stopped by his hand held in the air.
"There are only three of us. My associate and I are recent recruits. I would like you all to meet Chris." He waved his hand toward the man standing slightly behind him.
"Hey. I guess we came to save innocent noobies at the right moment." Chris laughed. Chris seemed a bit more withdrawn than Mat, but he was pleased all the same.
"Who is the third member of your group?" Holly pressed on, not wanting to believe.
"He was the one who recruited us. Found us in a situation not unlike your own. He trained us really well. His name is Ike." Mat replied, a bit of reverence in his voice. When he spoke the name 'Ike' Holly had gasped quite unnoticed by the others.
"No…" Chii said with a little bit of excitement in his voice.
"Ike was the leader of the group…" Furu began, but she was cut off by Mat.
"When they were slaughtered, we know. He's told us about you. You three must be the children that he had sent to town on an errand that day." Mat mused in a slightly awestruck tone. "He's been wondering what happened to you… Holly, Furu, and Chii, right?" Mat had correctly identified each member of their group. "It's an honor to meet you."
"Errr, you're the ones who saved us, so it's an honor to meet you." Furu replied, respectfully.
"Let's not keep Ike waiting! It'll be a great surprise for him." Chris smiled thoughtfully.
"Oh! Certainly not! Follow me; I'll take you back to our base." Mat began to walk in the direction which the group had originally come from, back toward Gallia. The senator had died, the rest of the battalion had died, so what did it matter if they defected? They would be taken for dead anyway. Nobody kept track of the soldiers, especially the weak mercenary recruits from out of town.
So they began making their way to the headquarters of the new Greil mercenaries. They walked through the dense fog for what seemed like hours, full of excitement and intense silence before they came upon an abandoned looking old castle.
"Well, this is it," Mat announced, "Home sweet home."
Mat led them into the kitchen where they all sat down and laid aside their weapons.
"Ah, you're back. What took you…" A tall, young, blue haired man walked into the kitchen wearing casual clothing and carrying a frying pan, evidently to put upon the fire that was blazing in the hearth. He stopped when he saw the three new faces and gazed at them for a moment. "Holly." He said in a low voice, not believing his eyes.
"Ike, do you remember us? We were the new recruits! Three years ago!" Chii said, his voice was tense with expectation.
"Of course, I haven't had a moment of rest from you three ever since!" He replied, going to the fire and setting the pan in its place. "Where have you been? I'm so relieved the three of you are safe. I've been searching high and low for you."
"Well, we were fighting this battalion from Begnion today…" Furu started, but Ike cut her off.
"Why don't you tell me the whole story from the very beginning?"
"Well… we got back from getting the groceries in town, it had been really uneventful, I mean, we had heard some whispers that the Greil mercenaries had been attacked, and we thought it was complete rubbish." Furu began, she paused for a moment.
"Until we got back to base," Holly began to speak, her voice was quiet, but everyone was listening intently. "We returned and we saw that everyone was dead. We didn't know what to do. Everything had been taken. The treasures, the ancient scrolls, even the food and other supplies… It was all gone. We were so upset; we didn't know what to do. We just ran because we were afraid the assailants were still around. We didn't really give the whole place a good rundown even; we didn't look to see if our things were still there… We left with nothing, not even our armor. We struggled for a while, just floating. We eventually ended up in Gallia and joined the royal guard. We were pretty untrained, and they don't spend any time teaching their soldiers how to fight. Tonight, Mat and Chris ran into us, we were the only survivors of our battalion and we were about to take on their general. It was pretty much a suicide mission, but we decided it was better to die in action for our cause than to be captured and tortured. Luckily they came and helped us… They told us that they were Greil mercenaries and I could hardly believe them, I didn't dare to hope that anyone else had survived." She sighed, a little shiver captured her, and she looked down, remembering their friends.
"I must apologize. I surely appeared dead to your young and frightened eyes. During the battle, I had been rendered unconscious. When I awoke, it was night and no one was around. I laid all our comrades to rest before I gathered all that was left and I set off." He took a deep breath. Despite having told the story a few times before, Ike was particularly emotional telling it to these three apprentices of the old Greil mercenaries, these three whom he had nearly lost toady without even knowing.
"I'm glad you made it." Chii nodded and shook Ike's hand. Furu stood and hugged him briefly where he stood by the fire.
"Me too." Holly murmured, standing to hug Ike as well.
"And I'm so very relieved that you three made it through such difficult times." Ike replied over Holly's shoulder as she put her arms around him. "Don't ever leave me again." He said, releasing Holly from the embrace.
"So, how old are you three then?" Mat asked Furu, making conversation.
"I'm 18." Furu smiled at him. "Holly is 19, and Chii is 17. We're all siblings. Our mother couldn't take care of us all when our father died, so she sent us away to be mercenaries." She explained. Chris listened as well, curious about them.
"I had always wanted to be a myrmidon anyway." Chii smiled. "Our dad was one. He fought for the Gallians, that's part of the reason we joined them."
"Ike…" Holly said quietly, under the voices of the others.
"Hm?" Ike was now paying much more attention to what he had been doing before they arrived.
"How did you cope on your own?" She rubbed her foot upon the stone of the hearth; she now was standing against the wall near where Ike crouched, poking at the embers of the slowly dying fire.
"I was alright. Found these two and trained them up… Pretty fair knights, I'd say." He replied, still not looking at her.
"I'm sorry we weren't there to help you mourn our friends." She sighed gloomily as she sunk to the floor, still leaning against the wall.
"Don't worry. You did the right thing by leaving; I don't know whether or not the bandits returned that night." He now turned to look at her, but she was staring holes into the rock on the floor, scratching it lightly with her thumbnail. "Hey." He said, still looking, and wanting her to meet his gaze. She looked up. "I'm going to turn you three into great combatants, great mercenaries. I promise. I know that I have only a fraction of my father's experience, but I think together, we will all improve so much."
"I think so too." Holly now smiled; her brown eyes had the old sparkle that they used to have, back when she was only 16. He always suspected she had a crush on him. He didn't approve back then… Of course, three years ago, he was much more of an egotistical young man, convinced he was destined for greatness, and power, and all that it comes with it. He had no time for 16 year old girls. He had been only 20, but she seemed like such a child, whereas he was such an adult?
"Oh, I found something of yours in the dormitory as I was leaving. I kept it for you, all this time." Ike stood and smiled. "I'll be back." As he left, Holly began listening to the others.
"We've been training with him for about 6 months now. I think that he's improved far more than Chris or I have. Not to say that Ike was clumsy back when we met him, but you could tell that he had grown up fast, and that he needed some people to guide. I could see it in the look on his face. He had been the leader of a pack, and there was no denying it. Ever since, he's just brightened up and bloomed into the most amazing leader. He had been searching for you guys for a long time." Mat was leading the conversation, Furu was sleeping quietly on her arms, Chii and Chris were listening, but beginning to nod off themselves. It was getting pretty late.
Soon, Ike returned with something in his hand, it was small and completely concealed. He sat down against the wall on the stone floor next to Holly. He smiled and held out his hand, palm open. She looked at the trinket he held. She recognized it and gasped. Ike turned his hand so that the dainty chain dangled from his fingers, he smiled.
"I saw a glimmer on the floor partially hidden by an upturned mattress. I picked it up and opened it, and I knew who it belonged to immediately." Ike now opened the locket and looked at the photograph inside. It was of a small girl and her mother. The child had long brown hair, as did the mother, and they were smiling.
"Oh Ike." Holly breathed, taking the heart shaped locket. "I had beaten myself up over this. Of all the days to leave my locket behind, that was the worst." She laughed. "Oh thank you!" She flung her arms around him again. "It's good to be with you again… We are part of the new team now right? I'm not sure I want the Gallian army to know that I'm alive…"
"Of course! How else can I keep my eye on you three?" He laughed.
Holly had always enjoyed Ike's laugh. It was melodic, and soothing. She still couldn't believe he had survived. She had given up all hope. And there he sat, more handsome than ever, kinder now. That was something she did not miss. He had looked right through her for most of her days with the Greil mercenaries. Toward the end, he had become a bit friendlier when they had proven some worth to the group. Yet now, he looked right into her soul, as if she were the only person on the planet. That felt good.
"I missed wearing this." Holly reached around her neck and clasped the gold chain.
"I'm glad I saw it. I decided to keep it forever. It was one of the only things left that I could remember anyone by. I remembered how nice you were to me, and I enjoyed the thought of being able to return this to you someday, to somehow repay your kindness."
"Oh, I was just a kid then, you know." Holly blushed a brighter shade of pink, and then fake-yawned. "It must be getting pretty late, hm?"
"Yeah… You should go to bed; the battle today must have been frightening." Ike stood. "I have rooms you all can stay in, this place is pretty big, really. We haven't been using most of it. It will be nice to have more people here to make it feel more like home." He smiled and held out a hand to help Holly up. She took it and stood.
"Sounds nice, soldiers quarters are hell." She laughed.
"It's getting pretty late, isn't it?" He said to the others, all of whom were sleeping on the table. "I have rooms you can stay in…" He went on to see if anyone was listening. "No takers? Alright, suit yourselves." Ike laughed and exited with their lantern to the hallway. Holly followed as they went up a flight of stairs.
"We were talking for quite a time." She smiled, though he couldn't see in the darkness.
"Yes, we were, weren't we?" Ike stopped. "I'll put you right near us. That way, nobody is secluded in the rest of this place… It's a really old castle, small but old and creepy all the same." He opened the door of the 2nd room he came to. "I'll put you here." He went in and lit the lantern on the dressing table. The room was pretty basic. A large four-poster bed, an old dressing table with a large mirror and a wash basin, a padded chair, and a large window overlooking the drive were all that was in it. The floors were wood and had no rugs, and the closet was open with no doors.
"It's… nice." Holly smiled at Ike when he looked at her as if he were expecting an assessment.
"I'm so sorry about it… We haven't really been in here much…"
"It's fine." She smiled. "I'll just work on cleaning it up a little tomorrow. It's a bit dusty is all that's wrong."
"You could have my room tonight… I wouldn't want you sleeping in a dust pile… I would be fine in here..." He offered quickly.
"No… I'm fine!" Holly smiled. "Really, I'm just happy to be here. I'm just happy that you're alive!"
"Only if you're sure."
"Positive." Holly laughed then followed Ike back out into the hallway. He pointed to the door to the right.
"This is me, across the hall is Mat, down from him is Chris, and we can put Furu next to you, and Chii next to Chris." Ike smiled. "I hope you sleep well then."
"You too, Ike."
"Goodnight."
They parted and went into their rooms. The next day would be big, and they needed to get some rest. The Greil mercenaries had just doubled in size, and there was a lot of cleaning, arranging and training to be done.