Hey there! This is Elchi! I planned to do this story as a comic, but my life's too busy, lulz. So instead, I'll make a fan fic! Unlike my other fic, this one has BL (boy love). I'm pairing Oscar and Kieran, which is my OTP! Aren't they just lovely together? And beside, there are so many hints that give so much sense to that pairing!
I must also give a great thanks to Brokenzero for the inspiration, Vikki for the title, and Yuki for the beta reading! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem and its characters. Intelligent Systems and Nintendo own them.
Prologue
The moral of the troop seemed to be at its lowest point that day, and for good reason. After what looked like eternal miles of walking and war here and there, anyone would just want true peace that would last for a long time. But then , to achieve this, we didn't have much of a choice but to get inside the huge tower of Begnion, the great home of our goddess, Ashera. Ironically, to find that peace we were all striving for, we must stop idolizing her like we did all our life and throw away our past to defeat that humble divine entity.
Well, "humble" was a word which took all my pride to use when I was speaking about her. She wasn't that humble, honestly. Beside, I never saw her in person before; not even anyone else to my knowledge.
As soon as I put a foot inside the majestic tower, a cold chill took over my veins, strangely thrilled over the action that will probably come soon. Even if we had to defeat that goddess we cherished so much, each of us would tremble in expectation to the idea of seeing and contemplating her. What did she look like, how powerful was she, and stuff like that, you know?
Arrgh! What a thought! The only goal of Ashera was to destroy this world that she believed to be too much chaotic for her taste. Well, she was right in a sense; this world was chaotic. But… destroying this world would also mean having to witness everyone's death, and that was not acceptable!
Oh, if only she knew… that in this chaotic world that she created and wanted to put an end to, there were such beautiful things. Did she know that without the evil, there would be no good? The chaos existed to give us the craving of life, the desire to fight for the people we love.
Without that chaos, I could have never met him, that partner, that friend, that dear…
…rival.
I shall continue to fight with you!
-----Lalala-----
Sitting on my horse, we were slowly walking, following the small army of goddess Yune, the other half of the cursed goddess we were going to fight. Each of us was chosen carefully by the general Ike. How delighted I was! I, the Crimean Royal Knight's Second-in-command Kieran, was to take part of the ultimate battle that will tell the destiny of the entire humanity! How was I trembling of joy! When I get back from the tower, I will be known as a great hero, not only in Crimea, but in all Tellius! Rah, how exciting this will be!
Humm…
Really, what shall I do after? I'll get the fame, a title in this world and everyone who will see me shall enthusiastically scream: "Oh Goddess! It's the Great Kieran, one of the heroes of the continent! Hurrah for Kieran!"
Wait a minute; I still need something to spice it up. Something would be missing.
As soon as I put my sight on him, I realized why.
Of course, he was also one of those who were to fight in the great tower with his two brothers. We weren't the only ones; a dozen others were as well.
On one side, we had some people from our rival country, Daein. There was the young Sothe, whom has greatly grown up since the last war against Ashnard. Wait, he had more than grown up: he became a man! A true one, who stood ready to protect the one he had been searching so hard for. She is the one we all called the "Maiden of Dawn" and the only light of hope for a country ravaged by the ruin and poverty: she was Micaiah. Where did her powers come from? That I'll probably never know, but one thing was sure: she was the key to our eventual success by being the divine contact of our goddess, Yune.
Oh, but indeed, her physical force couldn't be compared to mine! Ah! Take that, maiden of dawn!
Heh, enough of me, let's get back to our main subject.
Still from Daein came two kids, one with the name of Edward and the other Leonardo. Why the heck did the general choose them? How could I know? But when I took a look at them, I could see resolve in their innocent eyes. Maybe the fall of their old protector was the cause of it, a man with the name of Nolan. I heard he was a brave warrior who lost everything before the last war, but despite all of this, he took care of those two young orphans. If that was so, I could understand their determination, even at their age. They didn't lead an easy life, these poor things. Some told me they were still pretty skilled with their respective weapons and that they had a huge potential for starting their fighting more than early in their lives.
Two more from Daein made their appearance: Aran, an ex-soldier of Begnion, and his faithful childhood friend, Laura, a young, beautiful priestess. Aran joined the army of dawn with the Daein after he noticed Laura within their group. He knew of Begnion's abusive powers on Daein, but the only reason he was working with them was to get a decent job. What people would do to gain their earnings!
A little far ahead, I could see a group who would rather stay a little away from the rest. I could distinguish the powerful prince of the dragon laguz who, oddly, looked so frail compared to everyone else. I never saw him in a fight, but he was probably stronger than he looked. I heard he still had destroyed a whole castle tower with one single breath attack! Around him stood Ena, one of his dragon laguz partners, ready for everything to help her prince in being more trusting of his natural primal skills and being able to handle the sight of blood. She was one of those whom I admired for her willpower because of the loss of her fiancé during the last war, and indirectly, he fell by the hand of our general Ike. She had accepted his fate as nothing else could have been done. Life couldn't be more ironic.
From the same group was one of the legendary heron laguz from the royal family of Serenes. His majestic look and his stunning beauty picked up everyone else's curiosity. He had the power to make a weary person feel much more powerful after the exhaustion of a fight, giving him or her a magical feeling of maximum vitality. Rafiel would be indeed very useful to us. Near him stood the young and admirable empress of Begnion, the biggest country of all Tellius. Despite her appearance, she, the little Sanaki, was more than innocent; she was a little unbearable because of her title of empress, wanting us all to call her by her superior name. In these times when the destiny of the whole world was at the hand of a small handful group, why bothering for such little things like our social rank? Well, whatever. What counted the most about her was her powerful skills with fire magic.
Here were some of more familiar faces! As I can see, the general might have a secret preference over his little mercenary group over the rest to explore the tower. There was Mia, a swordmaster in a quest of a rival all the time, which made her more and more skilled with her weapon. Beside her stood an old friend of mine, a fragile and yet a very determined priest who wanted to become stronger, so he decided to completely abandon the goddess he pried for all his life. Meet Rhys, the young man who wished everyone happiness.
Truthfully, a rumor said that he was, in fact, the rival Mia was seeking for according to a fortuneteller; she told her something like "your rival will come in his white robe, riding toward you on a mount". If that was the case, I was sure it was only an excuse to hang around him. Ha! I could see the love!
Behind the imposing shadow of general Ike was the small but skillful and intelligent Soren, an enigmatic sage who refused to get far from the one he considered his only friend. Mysterious, that boy… I wished to understand him. Everyone admired him for his talent of strategist and his strategies that led his group to many victories, and, regardless of all, he would only trust Ike.
Here were the last ones, the three brothers of the Greil mercenaries. Despite their differences, nothing was more admirable then the bond that kept them together and their skills to fight. The youngest, Rolf, was an incomparable archer, being able to defeat an enemy in one shot at one specific spot. I wondered who taught him such techniques… I really hoped it was not that corrupted master sniper of the mercenaries, that red-headed, long-haired alcoholic whom I forgot his name. Here was the second brother, Boyd, a ferocious warrior who could easily handle the axe weapon, just like me, ha! Honestly, I liked that guy, since he had chosen a great weapon for himself! Even though he was a little clumsy and immature by nature, his strength of mind and his great love for his family made him more likeable than loathsome.
And there was the oldest of the brothers.
Damn it…
I blushed at the only thought of him. How could he accomplish such feat? He was the only one capable of it! Not even that woman, one of my closest companions, Marcia, was capable of it!
My ultimate rival, Oscar…
Well, while we were at it…
Meet Oscar, the oldest of the three brothers (oh goddess, I felt like repeating!) and an old Crimean royal knight. You would ask me… old? Why would he leave the knights where I also belonged? Obviously, I knew him too much, that old friend; he was too noble to leave because of the fear of combat and death.
Oh wait, back then, I wasn't so sure anymore.
Then, why?
I remembered the time when he left us, around ten years earlier… Well, actually, I did not see him go directly. After a long and painful fight against some random rebels, I fell. Yes, even I, the great Kieran, can fall, but let's not discuss about this (hey, I was weaker back then!). I was stuck in some nursery tent, and, for a week, nurses would use some sleep staves to keep me down on my bed. Oh, but I realized, much later after I woke up from my recovery bed, that something was missing; or rather, someone. Then I heard, one day from my old knights' pals, about some squinty boy who left suddenly without a word, even leaving most of his personal stuff in his room.
That cur! How could he leave us like that? That was the worst thing a knight could have done for the country he loved! That traitor!
I couldn't understand, leaving behind him his title of royal knight, his glory, his fame, and his friends! I even heard a rumor that he was going to be promoted to captain! But, no! He had to leave everything behind like that! I even started to think that he joined those Daein curs!
Despite all of this, somehow, our commander did not speak ill of him. So, if he left, there must be a reason.
Until recently, I never knew why he left the knights, he who dreamed so much of being a hero, like all of us, after all. I learned, seven years later, during the war against Ashnard, the real motive of his departure. Rolf's mother, the only person who could take care of the family in their birth hometown, far from the capital, suddenly abandoned every one of them to live with another man, leaving alone a frail little Rolf and a confused young Boyd. The later one was, despite his juvenile age back then, forced to take care of both his little brother and his sick father, resting on his bed, only waiting for his upcoming death. Desperate, Boyd sent a letter to his oldest brother (who was with us in the capital as a knight), begging for him to come back home, without knowing what to do to survive this whole mess. Without hesitating, Oscar didn't lose any time and sacrificed all his fame to save his little family.
Wow, what a bitch, that mother…
So that was the reason why the commander didn't think of anything bad about his parting.
Even though he had lost many, he continued to smile of his fate despite all. If he had lost his glory and his father during that incident, he still had his two little brothers whom he loved so much. When I thought about that, that young man really became a hero; without him, his brothers would have probably joined in the rank of death like their old man.
Ah, my dear rival, you still had not changed after all these years.
That's good, stay that way…
I was going to make the whole fan fic in one chapter, but it was getting long, so yep.
Lulz, Kieran being thoughtful. OMG, Kieran, thinking? Well, probably, lol. Yes, most of these facts mentioned in the fic are canon, including the Dawn Brigade people and the three brothers' stuff, as well as the « rival » Mia is searching for. The only thing I created for this fic is the part when Kieran mentions his tale when he was blacked out.
Next chapter is going to have more action, lol.
