Note: This one would take place at RD, whenever Soren promotes to Archsage.

Clad in White
In which Mia is convinced that Soren is her very archrival.

White and deep blue swayed around him as Soren walked briskly towards Ike's tent early in the morning, Mend Staff at the ready. He was supposed to have given it to Mist the night before to replace her broken Heal Staff but upon deliberation, the strategist had decided to hand it over to Ike together with his battle report the next day -which was in fact, the present day- and save himself the trouble of looking for the young healer.

Being as jumpy and paranoid as he was, he had also considered the fact that if there was an ambush or something to that excent before daybreak, it'd be easier to find Mist in the battlefield and hand over her new staff since she was hard to miss with the bulky -and tall- Boyd guarding her. In many senses, it was easier for him to wait a bit.

However, it seemed like another trouble was about to pounce at him. He had thought a Trueblade would be more silent and discreet when it came to following someone around but that didn't seem to be Mia's case.

Stopping dead in his tracks, he called out to the shadow that had jumped sideways to hide in the gap between tents the moment he did so. "Mia, if you have any business with me, please state so before I have to drag it out of you."

The energetic blue-haired girl appeared in a flash before him, practice sword at the ready. "Hah! You saw me coming, didn't you? Exactly what I would expect from my archrival! En garde, Soren!"

The Archsage leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the dull bronze weapon. "What's the matter with you?"

Soren had heard similar stories around camp of Mia attempting to attack anyone wearing white, being a poor Crimean Knight her last victim, but this was turning to be a ridiculously common occurrence.

"I got my fortune read in town one day," Mia explained, while she circled around Soren looking for a weakpoint to exploit. "The old lady told me my 'archrival clad in white would come riding towards me'! And then in the last battle I saw you wearing those new white robes... That must be it! You were destined to be my archrival!" She made another lunge, which would've cut off Soren's long dark locks neatly if he hadn't ducked in the last second.

"This is ridiculous! That's why you've been attacking everyone wearing white, starting with Rhys of all people?"

"Yes! I'm sure that that fortune teller is right! She had this very determined glint in her eye!" Mia continued swinging her practice sword unrelentlessly at Soren who could only dodge around the quick strokes. "Now I'm totally convinced it's you! Not even the Boss could've avoided all my hits like you do!"

Maybe because Ike isn't as concerned as I am about getting his limbs cut off as he wears armor, Soren thought sarcastically.

Mia ran at him and made a graceful backflip which Soren instinctively blocked with whatever he had in his hands -in other words, the Mend Staff and his battle report. The staff was surprisingly sturdy and didn't even receive as much as a scratch from Mia's sword; sadly, this couldn't be said about the battle report. Soren couldn't even utter the very rude words he had in mind when he had to hold up the staff to meet Mia's sword with every bit of strength he could muster. Even so, his arms began trembling like mad after a second of being under the pressure of the blade. Mia seemed very surprised that the Archsage could use a staff like that, an evil glint appearing in her eyes the very next moment which was followed by the bewildered look from the young man clad in white.

And that day, Soren discovered that a staff could save lives in more ways than one.

A/N: I had planned to update this yesterday, but I played RD till I dropped... I was sad Reyson didn't made it to the best 5, lol. Anyways, thank you all for your feedback, especially both anonymous reviewers. I hope you enjoy this one while I drink some more soda to lure my muse out again C: