Love Thine Enemy

Chapter One

Ike stood next to his tactician, Soren, listening to the latest change of their battle plans. With the sudden snow storm, Crimea's march would have to halt and wait for it to pass. He nodded as he watched Soren point to the capital of Daien on the map.

"It would take at the most one week to reach Nevassa with all this snow. That, of course, does not include how long the storm will last."

Ike nodded, "Right."

"And about our last battle-" Soren closed his mouth.

Ike figured that Soren heard the same sounds that he was hearing. It was a low, gruff voice that got louder as time passed. Soon, the voices of varies soldier's joined in and both Soren and Ike glanced at each other. They moved in unity to exit of the tent to see what the commotion was. The figure surrounding by the soldiers was Mordicai and he wasn't in his beast form. His arms were bent in way that looked like he was holding something. Ike stepped through the crowd of soldiers to get a better look. "What's going on, Mordicai?"

Mordicai stared at Ike with a look of guilt. "I-I did something very bad…"

Ike saw what Modercai was holding so close to his body. It was person, a shivering person. "Soren! Get Rhys into medic tent three!" He didn't have to look back; he knew Soren was on his way carry out the orders. "Let's go, Mordicai."

The soldiers made a path to allow the beorc and laguz to escape the circle. Ike opened the flap to the tent and followed the beast laguz inside. He turned the toggle on the fire lamp to get the flame as high as possible and placed it near the shivering man. Ike peeled off his fingerless gloves, before he removed the other's white hood, uncovering blonde hair. The man's face was lacking color in and his lips were slightly purple. "Tell me what happened," Ike demanded as he started to rub his palms together.

"I was following orders."

"Looking for spies, right." Ike had issued this order earlier in the day, mainly to the few laguz units in his army, to look for spies. Where ever they went, Daien was there, waiting for them. Someone had to be watching them. "You think he's one?"

"No, not anymore."

Ike moved the collar of the white coat down the man's shoulders. He saw more white fabric lying beneath. Must be a priest. Ike placed his palms on the sides of the man's neck. His skin was freezing to the touch, draining the warmth from Ike's hands. He started to rub his palms again. "What changed your mind?"

"I could sense that he meant no harm. But it was after I had frightened him that I realized this. He fell down a hill and into ice."

Ike felt sudden rush of cold air. Rhys had entered with Soren following closely behind. Ike moved back, knowing that they would need the room.

"Set him down, Mordicai." Rhys held the blonde's head as his body was placed on the ground. "We can take care of it from here, Ike."

"Alright," Ike stood and signaled Mordicai to follow him. Cold air engulfed his body. He blinked away the snow and wiped his eye.

"Ike, I'm-"

"Don't worry about it, Mordecai." Ike interrupting, patting Mordecai on his arm. "It was an honest mistake and he's going to be fine. Rhys and Soren are both in there, so he'll be fine."

Ike saw in Mordecai down casted eyes that he didn't believe Ike's words. "Just wait until tomorrow. He'll be fine. Now, go rest and don't worry about it."

With a nod, Mordecai turned and walked to the general direction of sleeping tents. Ike let out a breath and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and fore finger. He had a feeling he wasn't going to get much sleep.

/…/

When Link woke up there was one thing about his surroundings that he was grateful for. It was warm, toasty even. He opened his eyes and saw a low ceiling made of fabric. He blinked and turned his head to the side. There was an oil lamp about and arm length away from him. Where am I? Link propped himself up on his elbows. The folded entrance in front told him that he was in tent. He could hear voices coming from the other side. His curiosity controlled his actions as he crawled over to the fold, opened it slightly and peeked out.

Those aren't Daien flags.

Daien flags weren't light blue. Daien soldiers did not wear bright red armor. He looked around the tent again. There were no decorations inside but he did see what looked liked his robes hanging up. Link immediately looked down and released a sigh of relief. Someone had given him an over sized spare tunic to sleep in.

Link stood and snatched his robes from the hanging line. The fabric felt rough and wrinkled beneath his fingers. He stripped off the tunic and quickly replaced it with the familiar robes. As Link was wrapping the lavender sash around his waist, he felt his left wrist was not able to twist as well as his right one. He lifted the sleeve and saw that his wrist was confided in a brace. He jumped at the sound of a voice.

"Ah, so you're up."

Two people had entered the tent, a man and a girl. Link eyed them suspiciously, keeping his distance. The voice was gentle with a low and slightly tired tone. It had come from the man with orange hair. Link could see similarities between himself and the other. Both were pale and were wearing white priest robes. But the man's paleness made him look sickly. "That's good. We would have had to wake you sooner or later to feed you. You've been asleep for over a day and-"

"Where am I?" Link interrupted. "There are Begnion flags outside."

Link heard a low hum for a brief moment until the man spoke again, looking at the girl that had entered the tent with him. "Mist, could you go get Ike? He wanted to be alerted when our guest woke up."

"Right!" The girl nodded and quickly left.

"What would you like to eat?" asked the priest. "We've just made some beef stew."

Link was confused. He had figured that he was with the invading army and they are offering him food and calling him a guest? He could only think of one reason for such treatment. "I know nothing about the Daien army and its defenses."

The man stared at him, blinked and then laughed. "We're not going to put some drug in your food! You haven't eaten in over a day. It would be terrible to let you starve!"

Link looked at him, studied him, read him. He could feel it, he could feel that this man was sincere and would not cause harm. "I can't stomach beef. I can only eat fish."

"That's fine. We have plenty of that too. It may take a while…"

"That's alright, thank you."

The man gave one final nod before turning to leaving. Link heard him carry a short conversion outside and another man entered. He was tall and had a commanding yet somewhat friendly air about him. He nodded to Link as a greeting, his indigo hair moved with his head. "How are you feeling?"

Instead of answering, Link responded with a question of his own. "Is this the Crimean army?"

The man frowned, not happy with the other's tone. "Yes, it is. I'm the General, Ike."

The General… Link's left hand tightened into a fist. He ignored the pain shooting from his wrist as he glared at the man responsible for Daien current state. "You did this. You opened the flood gates in Talrega!"

"That wasn't-!"

"Because of you, all of Daien is retreating to Nevassa! There's more crime and poverty! There are so many people on the streets, it's impossible to walk down one without hearing at least ten people begging for food! There are children crying and asking why their mother isn't waking up! There are constant fights and murders over a piece of bread that's smaller than my hand! Tyarnël naicelë liënnar!"

"Enough."

Link flinched, he knew he did. Ike's voice was not loud, but his tone was serious and demanded an immediate response. Link closed his mouth and bit his tongue, looking away from the General's hard stare.

"You will not raise your voice while you're in my camp. Understand?"

Link said nothing, his jaw was clenched tightly.

"What's your name?" Ike asked in a more gentle tone.

"Link."

"Well Link, why were you heading towards my army? Did you get lost in the storm?"

"I was going to Nevassa…" Link mind started to connect thoughts together. He was on his way to the capital. He ran into the Crimean army on his way to capital. "You're after Ashnard, aren't you?" Link gathered up the courage to look at Ike's face. During his life as a priest, Link encountered people that would have the same expression on their face, guilt. "You can't-"

"We're doing this to take back Crimea. Once we to Nevassa, we can help the people there. We can give them supplies and food."

"They won't take it from you." Link knew the pride of Daiens, he knew that they would starve before taking helping form the ones who caused their pain.

"You didn't answer my question."

Link frowned, feeling his patience grow thin. "I told you I was going to Nevassa. But then I ran into a laguz."

"You mean 'sub-human'?"

Link's anger flared. "I was not raised to use that term!"

"Lower your voice."

"Don't insult me."

They both glared at each other. Link took in a shaking a breath, praying for strength from the Goddess to get him through this ordeal. "I was going to visit a friend, so I left, got caught in the storm and now here I am." Link figured it would be better to cooperate, so could return as soon as possible.

"You went to visit a friend in the middle of the night?" Ike inquired.

"Yes."

"And you left to walk to Nevessa. Where do you live?"

"A temple that's less than two miles away," Link answered.

"That's about an hour on foot."

Link looked away again, but not in fear of the man before him. Link was a horrible liar and he knew it. Talking anymore would dig him into a deeper hole.

"What were you running from?" Ike asked.

Blinking, Link looked back at him. How could he have known? Had he given that much away? He racked his brain for some believable story.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me anything."

"If I could get my sword back, I would be on my way."

"Are you serious? You have no idea where you are and you just woke up after nearly two days sleeping and now you just want to leave?"

"Yes," Link answered simply.

Ike shook head and turned away from Link. He stood there for a short moment, rubbing his eyes. Link was able to see how sunken those eyes were when the General looked at him again.

"You will be staying today to make sure that you have fully recovered. If I get the okay from my healer, then you will be able to leave."

"I-"

"Just rest for one more day. Get some food and sleep and I can arrange a way for you to get to Nevessa."

Link sighed, knowing the decision was practically made for him. Ike had mentioned it before; Link had no idea where he was. Only Crimea can point him to the right direction to get to the capital. Until then, he was stuck. "Fine."

"Alright then," Ike nodded. "You don't have to be cramped up in here-"

"I'm not going out there."

Ike released a slow breath. "Okay," he muttered. "Do what you want." And then he left Link alone in the tent.

/…/

Link turned at the sound of someone entering the tent. The smell of cooked fish filled the small space within seconds, causing Link's stomach to rumble. Although his body had reacted to the food that the other was carrying, his eyes focused on something completely different. There was a red mark in the center of the other's forehead, framed by long dark bangs. Link's own hand moved to touch his brace, where his own stigma was hidden.

"Do you want to eat or not?"

Link blinked out of his trance. "Uh, yes! Thank you." With both hands, he took the bowl from the other's small hand. Seeing that his duty was done, the pale individual turned to leave. "About that mark!"

The other stopped right before he reached the opening. He turned his head, looking at Link with red eyes. "What?"

Link felt tense under his stare. "Um… It's the mark of a spirit charmer, isn't it?"

Their eye's met and between them, there was a silent understanding.

"Yes, it is," he answered and then he exited the tent, leaving Link with his warm bowl of fish stew. The scent attacked his nose, making his stomach growl once again. He swirled the orange brown liquid in his bowl before he brought the rim to his lips.

It wasn't too salty, like expected it to be. The small chunk of fish that had entered his mouth was tender and moist. Sitting on the ground, Link thanked the Goddess for meal and threw all eating etiquettes aside. He was done will his meal in a few minutes. He set his bowl aside, away from his floor bed. Feeling drowsy from eating too quickly, Link curled on top of the sheets and allowed his body to get the sleep it demanded.

/…/

Alright and that's chapter one! Can anyone guess who Link met in the end? Who has red eyes and dark hair and is pale? Any guesses? It's something ya gotta think about for a while!

On a side note, am I the only the name's the horse in Twilight Princess Ike and then go around game saying, "Alright Link, time to ride Ike now!" You guys should try it. It's so much fun!

See you in the next chapter! There will be more Ike and more of the 'mysterious' person at the end, some Mordecai, and two characters from Radiant Dawn!