The Doctor: Hello again!

Ewan: Hi!

Raven: 'sup!

Doc: Here's the first chapter for real. Again, I don't own Fire Emblem because if I did, Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem would be in my country (the United States) already and all those old games would've been offically translated and released on their respective systems (including Fire Emblem 6) long ago.

Doc: As you can probably guess, I took the liberty of exploiting multiple supports, meaning rather than just having ChadLugh's supports, I had ChadLleu as well; I did this for Chad, Lugh, Hugh, Lleu, and Cath so all five could be a group of good friends and they all know eachother. I suppose this is the AU bit mostly, in my own defense, it was for the sake of artistic license. Besides, that's what fanfiction is, right? Anyway, enough of my dilusional rant, on with the show.


Chapter 1

Past and Present

"There it is!" declared Klein on his steed. While most members of the army dismounted when in combat, to travel around Elibe in a reasonable time, all of them had horses of some sort as the standard issue of the Lycian Alliance and Etrurian Army. Most of them got to keep their steeds after the war ended, which was very handy in their return trips.

Presently, Klein pointed to a castle, a manor, really. Reglay manor was an elegant building, nonetheless. It was about a mile from a nearby village, situated in a woodland. The manor's grounds surrounding the great stone building and its out buildings was all cleared, however. There were many gardens and paths dotting the surrounding green and grounds of the manor. There were stables, a blacksmith, a small Elimine church, and several houses for the various servants and priests that ran the various out buildings.

Reglay manor was indeed the residence of the Count of Reglay, but was also known as a mage school. The current Count, Lord Pent, was formerly the Mage General of Etruria, and therefore, a fantastically powerful sage. He started accepting a group of students almost immediately after he took the throne of the manor. Soon, he hired mages as teachers and before anyone really knew it, he had a mage school in his house. Of course, the castle was more that big enough and his students really only numbered less than twenty, but it did serve to raise questions from the snobbier nobles of Etruria. But Pent's fruitful results from his continuation of Archsage Athos's research could hardly be ignored. He'd been a student of Athos for about a year, and after the greatest wizard of all time died at the Dragon's Gate twenty years before, Pent took the research back to his manor and worked on it in between running a school, running a manor, and raising his darling son and daughter. It seemed that despite the fact that Lord Pent was considered odd by his less than forgiving peers, he could do it all.

"Ah," said Clarine sentimentally, "Home sweet home!"

Behind her on her steed, Rutgar rolled his eyes, "Whatever…" he said quietly.

"Oh, don't worry, Rutgar," said Clarine, "After I clean you up, mother and father will surely adore you!"

"Yeah, it's the 'cleaning up' part that concerns me, Clarine." said Rutgar.

"That's Lady Clarine, Rutgar," corrected Clarine defiantly, "And don't you be forgetting the Lady before my name."

"Clarine, give the poor man a break," said Klein in defense of Rutgar, "Come, let us appear before our parents." Klein brought his horse into a gallop as he headed towards the manor. The others soon followed and they all headed up to the massive oaken doors of the manor.

Lord Pent and his lovely wife, Lady Louise were waiting in front of the doors to the manor to greet their children. They would seem not to have aged a single day to those that knew them twenty years previous, despite the fact that Louise was in her mid forties and Pent was in his late forties. Pent, of course, was a mage of great power, and therefore had a slower aging process than normal, thanks, in part, to Athos's research, Athos himself being at least two thousand years of age when he died. Pent had even been able to slow his wife's age as well as she was as beautiful as ever. Both were now beaming at their children and children's friends as they rode up.

"Mom, Dad!" shouted Klein and Clarine, humorously in unison, as they jumped off their horses and ran up to their parents. Never bothering with formalities, the siblings didn't bow towards their parents and rather gave them each a warm hug.

Chad, Lugh, and Lleu all sadly looked towards the ground. They had no parents to hug and hold like that. No parents to tell of their travels and share experiences to. They were orphaned children. Such was the sad story of their existence.

"But aren't you going to introduce us to your friends?" asked Pent after hugging his son and daughter.

"Oh, yes, sorry," replied Klein, slightly embarrassed at himself. "This is Tate and Rutgar. And that's Lugh, Lleu, and Chad, the ones I told about in my letter, and their friends Cath and Hugh.

Lugh, Lleu, Chad, Cath, and Hugh all got off their horses, walked up to the stone stairs leading up to the doors and all of them bowed except Cath, who stayed back just a little. "Oh please, none of that!" said Pent, "I get enough of that sort of junk from my students and attendants. Please, rise."

Cath looked more than a little surprised as the other four rose from their bows, "Louise," said Pent as he put his hand on his chin, "Wouldn't you say…"

"Of course, my love," replied Louise with a smile, "They are definitely Nino and Erk's sons. There's no doubt about that. They look so much like Nino…"

"And you, sir." said Pent, pointing at Hugh,

"Me?" asked Hugh.

"You look a lot like a chap I knew about twenty years ago." stated Pent, "Canas. Are you familiar with him?"

"That's my old man," replied Hugh, "You knew my old man?"

"Yes, I did," said Pent with a smile, "I'd like to tell you more, but right now, all of you are tired, hungry, and in need of a bath, I'd wager. Our attendants will take good care of your horses. Come, inside, you are all welcome as our guests, right, my dear?"

"Of course, my Lord Pent," said Louise to her husband, "Come, let us take care of you." she said very motherly to the group.

"Thank you, mom and dad," said Klein. They entered the manor and walked into a high-ceilinged stone entrance hall.

"C'mon, Rutgar, into the bath!" said Clarine. She grabbed Rutgar by the shoulder and dragged him down the hall in another direction, not letting him go no matter what happened.

"Wait, can't we talk about this…" pleaded Rutgar.

"No, you're getting in that bathtub and that's final!" shouted Clarine, her shouts echoing off the walls and ceiling as she entered another room. They all had a good chuckle before Klein and Tate departed to get their own baths.

Lugh, Lleu, and Chad approached Lord Pent, "Lord Pent?" asked Lugh.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" asked Pent courteously.

"Have you received the little ones yet?" asked Chad.

"That, I did." said Pent with a smile, "The Elimine church delivered them safely to me yesterday. They're the most well behaved four children I've ever had the pleasure to meet. Come, they're this way-"

Pent didn't need to show them to the little ones, as the little ones presently came bolting out of a particular door at one of the ends of the hall. They screamed all three of the orphan's names as the four of them, two boys and two girls, jumped into the three's arms.

"Hey guys," said Lugh, "Told you I could get Chad and Lleu back."

"We were so happy when we heard you'd come, Lugh," said one of the boys cheerfully, "We couldn't wait to see you guys anymore!"

"It's alright," said Chad, "We're glad to see you guys, right Lleu?"

"Yeah," agreed Lleu, "We are a family, I guess."

"Here, guys," said Lugh, "I'd like you to meet our friends, Hugh and Cath."

Hugh smiled as the four little children all hugged his legs as he towered over them, "I guess children aren't too bad… Of course, Mr. Nosferatu stealer over there did give off a bad impression."

"Oh, why'd you have to bring that up… again?" asked Lleu, first rolling his eyes, then crossing his arms, "I already said I'm sorry, but that spell book did save my bum, time after time, I might add." his mouth formed a bit of a mischievous smirk as he looked at Hugh.

"Yeah, I suppose so." said Hugh, rolling his own eyes.

Cath also was charmed by the young orphans. She smiled as they all hugged her in greeting too. She was still preoccupied by Lord Pent. The rumors that he was… well, put bluntly, a wacky noble were right. He didn't even call his servants 'servants', rather 'attendants'. She resolved to ask him about his old habit of leaving his manor for long periods and she would ask him how he felt about the people and how the people felt about him…

"Come," said Pent to the little ones, "They're rather tired and are in need of relaxation… and a bath… Come." the little ones trouped behind Pent as he walked down the hall. He turned his head back to the group, "Meet me tonight in the sitting room, we've a lot to discuss."

"Wow," said Lleu, "Pent must really have a talent for children if he could get the little ones to behave so well."

"Well," responded Lugh to his twin, "He is a teacher and a parent."

"True," nodded Lleu, "C'mon, I've been dieing for a hot bath… for years."

His friends and brother all laughed at his very true statement. They all followed a helpful attendant to individual bath chambers and they proceeded to soak their tired bodies in hot water. Then, they were shown to their guest quarters, Lugh and Lleu shared a room, but the others got their own.

"Oh, why do we have to share a room, again?" complained Lleu as he plopped down on a plushy couch. The room was really large, certainly large enough for two people. It had a sitting area near the fireplace with two couches and a balcony that overlooked the forested countryside beyond. Two four poster beds were placed long ways out from the wall on the opposing walls and against the door's wall and were somewhat close to each other.

"Oh, you love me, Lleu," said Lugh with a grin, "Besides, I'll be so quiet over here, on this incredibly comfy four poster bed." he said as he laid back on the bed in question, "You won't notice I existed. Now your snoring on the other hand… boy, it's a wonder I got any sleep at all. You were the real reason we were never attacked in the middle of the night."

"I'm not that bad," said Lleu honestly.

"Yeah, I guess." remarked Lugh, also with honesty, "I'm just messing with you."

"I know," Lleu replied. He sat up to look at his twin, "You're my brother, it's your job." There was a bit of a silence between the brothers. Lleu took out Apocalypse and looked at it in his hands.

"You know," said Lugh as he got up to sit in the couch opposite to Lleu's couch, "We really ought to return these divine weapons."

"I'll return it when I'm finished making my copy," said Lleu, another mischievous grin had come to his face.

"It is a divine weapon," pointed out Lugh, "You shouldn't take it so lightly."

"And who's been copying out of Forblaze since he received it from Roy?" pointed out Lleu.

"…Touché." remarked Lugh. He had indeed been making his own copy, trying hard to match Athos's divine tome as exactly as possible. "It's fascinating, though. It's not just a really powerful fire tome, it tells how to be an Archsage."

"…You mean someone who can wield elder and divine magic just as good as anima magic?" asked Lleu.

"Yeah, you get to live a really long time, too." added Lugh.

"Well, I might just have to barrow that tome of yours," Lleu said, a mischievous grin returning to his face once more, "Really, it beats surrendering your soul completely to darkness and becoming an echo of everyone else's personality. That's what happens in my book. And trust me, I do not want to have to echo your personality for the rest of my life." The brothers laughed. Lleu, it seemed, was becoming a little less cold and distant to his brother of late. Lugh was really happy for that. He assumed at first it was because Lleu's own brother got to wield the Forblaze, the greatest fire tome, above and beyond any of the other mages in the army. At first, Lugh figured, it was sheer respect for his brother because he owned the weapon. Then after a while, Lugh figured, Lleu remembered who he used to be, considerably less cold, and Lleu began to open up, at least to his brother.

"So what do you think Pent will say tonight?" asked Lleu, descending back into his cynical attitude. Lugh supposed that meant his brother took everything into careful consideration, a trait Lugh admired in his brother.

"I dunno," replied Lugh honestly, a trait his own brother admired, "But one thing's for sure, I'm too interested in learning something about my dad to care what Lord Pent will say."

Lleu nodded slowly, "Me too," he agreed quietly.

"Do you remember dad?" asked Lugh.

"…No." Lleu lied.

"Well I do. I remember mom's and his faces very clearly," stated Lugh cheerfully.

"I know," said Lleu pensively, "You've told me about them countless times…"

Lugh walked over to the balcony, "Oh, it looks like a storm's brewing."

Lleu followed his brother and looked out towards the setting sun. Dark clouds loomed on the northern horizon, threatening to cover the already nearly gone sun. Fortunately, the sun set without hindrance over the mountains to the west. The brothers silently watched it together, both of them strangely lost in thought. When the sun went over the mountains, the brothers went inside. The wind began blowing from the north and thunder could be heard far away.


The Doctor: I got the very very distinct impression that Lleu was beginning to open up and not be so emo towards the end of his support conversations with Chad, Lugh, and Sophia. In Hugh's supports, he's still a jerk, but I think he deserves to warm up and de-emo, don't you?

Raven: That's one hell of a risky move, Doc.

Doc: Hmmm... yes.

Ewan: Read and review...

Doc: ...because we want you to!

Raven: Oh, God.