A/N: The views on this thing skyrocketed after the last chapter! Sorry to say that this one is going to be a bit boring, if a little confusing. All of it is character interaction. In response to the one review I got...the ONE review...
Herald: Maybe I did plan it for your birthday. You don't know if I did or didn't. Also, Bahamut was named because he has an ego the size of his namesake, at least for now he does. He may not in the future. I'll introduce Ranulf's sweetheart, don't worry...but it'll be after or at the very least at the END of the PoR portion of the story. And I didn't make that innuendo, you did. Bad Herald. Bad.
Alrighty folks, enjoy the third installment of FERD!
The day I understand exactly why Soren had his gender changed by Grima is the day I understand why my world ended. Yes, folks, as I discovered upon finding the galley, the Soren of this tale is a woman. A. Woman. A very suspicious woman. Meaning she was very suspicious of me. Which is why she sat down across from me at the table with her meal. To watch me.
"So. Hi. Anything I can help you with miss?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.
"We're related. Somehow." Soren's soft, feminine voice and the words it carried both confused me.
"I'm sorry, what do you mean by that?"
"You're a dragon Branded too." Yes, folks, she officially confirmed it.
"Ah. Yeah, yeah I am. So you wanted to just…tell me that?"
"That was one reason. Another would be as to how you've managed to get on such good terms with the su-Laguz." I blinked twice before quirking an eyebrow.
"This has to do with strategy or combat efficiency right?" Soren seemed a bit surprised I had pinpointed the two potential issues the Laguz not being friendly to her might pose.
"Both, actually. I know little about them both as a race and a people," Soren admitted, sort of ashamed.
"And why are you being so open to me right now?" I asked.
"You're my best shot at solving these problems," Soren deadpanned.
"My advice: give it time. They'll warm up to you. And hey, only two of them seem particularly willing to give me the time of day. So just give it time." Soren nodded at that, then began to slowly eat her food whilst lost in deep thought.
By the time she looked back up, I could have been gone. But I knew that would be really mean and she seemed kind of out of her depth at the time…I didn't want Ike trying to rip my head off. I wasn't entirely sure what their relationship might be since Soren wasn't a guy…then again, even in the games they were oddly close. Meh, not like I care. I have the weirdest ships anyways.
"You're still here?" she asked, her voice rather frosty.
"I figured I could keep sitting here until I finished eating," I responded, my last bite of bread halfway up to my mouth.
"…I suppose." I saw her eyes flicker to look at something before returning to her food.
"I'm almost done anyways…so whomever it is you want to sit with can have my seat." I stood up, popping the last bite of bread into my mouth, chugging down my unidentifiable (non-alcoholic) drink, and then turned my dinnerware in at the kitchen. When I walked back through the galley to leave, Ike was sitting across from Soren, giving me a really odd look.
Soren didn't seem any different as far as I could tell. She's a bit of a cold fish it seems.
I found my way back up onto the deck and looked around for a clear spot to start working out in. I'd developed a routine back in prison and I needed to get back on it or I'd lose all the muscle I'd worked so hard to build up.
I found the answer to my prayers in Boyd. He was smelly enough to discourage any feline visitors from pestering me and I remembered Titania nagged him in the game about doing his practice swings…so I figured I might get in her good books by making him look bad enough that he'd do it just so I, the self-proclaimed 'new to fighting' guy wouldn't outdo him. Plus, after my little episode in Port Toha, everyone was taking turns keeping an eye on me. No one said anything outright, but I could tell that despite the trust I'd earned by taking out Daein soldiers and only Daein soldiers wasn't enough to keep them from being practical enough to make sure someone was on hand to warn the rest if I lost it again.
They were the only ones out here with me after all. Better me than them.
After I spent the first thirty minutes silently doing a series of pushups, crunches, improvised pull-ups and chin-ups, and some serious stretching, Boyd suddenly started to grin. "Hey," he began to walk towards me with a set of rough looking wooden practice weapons.
"Yeah?" I had a very bad feeling in my gut about what he was going to ask.
"You up for a little spar?" Boyd asked, drawing ire and suspicion from the others on deck nearby. I did a little head count to see who was on hand just in case I somehow did lose it.
"Ike, Titania, Soren, Lyre, Mordecai, Jill, Zihark, and Mia…they should be able to stop me. Plus it'll be pretty hard to kill someone with a wooden sword. I can't even use one…"
You got that right, pup.
"Seriously? What the hell happened with the phone?!"
I told you to say it's an experimental magical communications device because that was the truth. I brought Sephiran in on this to get my hands on it.
"What did you give him in exchange?"
…
"Uh, crazy guy? You okay?" A hand waving in front of my face brought me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, and the name's Bahamut. I was just wondering how good an idea this is…" I did my best to sound a bit worried about something, and the inference was that I would be worried about my berserker incident.
"Thought you said you didn't care about what people call you so long as you know it's you they're talkin' to?" Boyd asked.
"You have yet to save my life. I only said that to Lyre because she did," I explained.
"So then that soldier girl can call you anything she wants to too?" Boyd asked. At the point, I realized two things. First, I'd given Jill a nickname that had apparently stuck. Second, Boyd's name can be rearranged to spell 'body'. I don't know why that occurred to me, but it did.
"Yes. Yes she can. As can Zihark. Maybe Ranulf too…yeah, I think he saved me in there at one point when I was, ah, going wild," I had the grace to look at least bothered and embarrassed about the event when it finally did come up.
"Okay then…anyways, Bahamut, mind having a friendly spar with me?" Boyd held up a rough looking wooden sword, clearly meant for my use.
"I don't know the first thing about using swords…" Boyd blinked and opened his mouth to ask another question, but I beat him to it, "or axes, lances, bows, or magic. I haven't even an ounce of talent either. It's why I use those altered shields. Only fighting experience I do have is barehanded."
"Well, there's no time like the present to give it a shot. Here, catch," Body said as he tossed me the wooden sword. I barely caught it. I fought down my immense sense of embarrassment. I was the psycho who took out a score or something of enemies in a blood rage! …and I couldn't even use a weapon properly.
"Wow, you weren't kidding were you." I glared at Boyd.
"You thought I was kidding?" I sighed. "Can't blame you. I guess I did make a bit of a spectacle of myself in the port, didn't I?" It bothered me, what had happened. It bothered me a lot.
"C'mon, ready yourself!" Boyd was standing a few feet away now, having apparently missed my entire little speech.
"Alright…" I took what I thought was a somewhat solid stance.
It was over in seconds. I was flat on my back with a wooden axe in my face and a growing bruise on my right arm.
"You brawler. Not fighter." I looked 'up' and saw a large intimidating figure standing over me. Mordecai, with his hand held out to help me up, and a curious smile on his face, had apparently taken interest in my combat-readiness.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," I responded, taking his hand and almost literally being pulled to my feet. I retrieved the wooden sword from the deck and tossed it back to Boyd. "Let's try this again, shall we?"
I knew it wouldn't be too big an achievement if I beat Boyd in a practice spar. Given how much Titania nagged him about practicing in Path of Radiance, I'd say he didn't actually come into his own until later in the war and the time following it.
Still, it would be nice.
This time I lasted longer. I managed to avoid the first few attacks and land some solid punches to Boyd's wrists to try and weaken his grip and I scored a lucky knee to his gut before he 'chopped' my head off with a solid blow to the back of my neck.
"Lasted a bit longer that time. Guess you really are better off unarmed," Boyd idly commented, barely winded. Neither was I, of course, but I wouldn't be a very good sport if I lied about Boyd.
"Yeah, but not good enough to do much without going psycho. I want to fix that though…" I sat up on the deck, trying to think about what I could get proficient in fast enough for me to make a difference.
"Here. Mordecai show you," the Tiger Laguz rumbled. I looked up and watched at the man immediately turned his side to me and went through with a very powerful looking punch. "See?"
"I'm not sure, but are you offering to teach me a bit about fighting with my fists?" I asked. Mordecai, to my shock, nodded. "You have to be one of the nicest people I've ever met."
Mordecai just smiled at me, then showed me the punch again. I got up and watched carefully as he demonstrated, more slowly, the punch a third time. I then began to practice the motion, pushing down the feeling of stupidity at having to be taught how to properly punch. Mordecai knew what he was doing and I had to be grateful for him even bothering to show me even one thing.
Mordecai stood back and watched me practice the punch, switching arms each time, and nodded with approval.
"Boyd, watch carefully. You could learn a thing or two," I heard a feminine voice comment from somewhere behind me.
"What? Oh come on, you just saw me totally own him! How can I learn from him?!" Boyd asked, a lot of exasperation in his voice.
"He does his practice without complaint. You don't even do your practice swings without me watching you like a hawk." I realized it was Titania speaking, but focusing on moving my body the way Mordecai had shown me.
From the sounds of it, Boyd had been sufficiently chastised and had begun his practice swings again.
After a while, I just kind of spaced out while I was doing my punches. I must've been at it for a few hours though, because my arms felt like they were on fire when Mordecai finally came over and tapped me on the shoulder. "Food."
"Alright. Thanks for the lesson," I said, wondering how the hell I'd manage to eat with my arms in so much pain. I made sure to avoid showing it too much on my face though.
"Hey," came a cheerful voice that bore the solution to me problems. "You worked pretty hard. I didn't think you were so inexperienced a fighter though."
"Hi Lyre. What you saw at Port Toha was mostly due to my, ah, unique heritage," I remarked with a slight wince at the reminder of how many I'd killed without thought or intention. It was eased slightly by the memory that I helped Lyre, Kyza, and Ranulf out of a tight, possibly deadly, spot.
"Ah, that. Right." Lyre paused, but as she was not one for long silences, quickly broke it. "Mist said something about you missing dinner, so I brought you up a plate!" she cheerily reported.
"Thanks Lyre." I noticed Mordecai smiling before turning away to go find food himself presumably.
"Alright, now just sit yourself down over here…" Lyre grabbed one of my shoulders and spun me around, sitting me down on a crate. It provided me a view that let me know that the deck was more or less deserted. I knew Volke and Sothe were skulking around somewhere, avoiding Mist. The poor girl was probably wandering the ship looking for the Fireman to give him food. Food, which would end up being Sothe's once he found an opening to steal it. "Now open up and say 'aaaaah'!"
Without thinking, I absentmindedly obeyed Lyre's command. Maybe it was because of the cheery tone of voice. Maybe it was because of how worn out I was. Maybe it was because she just looked so damned happy when I started to follow through. Whatever the reason, I didn't get to eat because Lethe stormed out onto the deck and started to growl at Lyre. A fairly confused and harassed looking Jill shortly followed by Ike and Soren joined the growing number of people on the deck. I began to tune out more because of how damn tired I was than anything and without a peep I fell asleep sitting upright, swaying with the ship in the waves.
I woke up on the deck with a blanket draped over me not too far from where the Laguz party was sleeping.
"What…?" I reached back in my memories, trying to figure out how I'd gotten there.
"You can thank Lyre later. It's chow time!" I heard a familiar voice state. I looked up to see Ranulf standing a few feet away, stretching like he'd just woken up too.
"Lyre? Oh, right. Shit, I fell asleep when she'd gone to the trouble of brining me food too…" I groaned. I hadn't had a day to be proud of, had I?
"Hey, she was fine with it. She still got to feed you either way," Ranulf muttered, quietly enough that I couldn't clearly hear him.
"Hm? What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing! C'mon, let's go. From what Mordecai was saying earlier, you're going to need as much food in your stomach as you can get," Ranulf chuckled.
"Alright…" I got up and folded the blanket quickly and neatly, laying it out with the rest of the Laguzs' things.
Ranulf and I arrived just as breakfast seemed to be winding down. After getting my plate of vaguely edible materials, I made my way over to a table in the back corner of the galley, where Jill and Zihark were sitting. They two seemed to be getting along rather well.
"So you were just walking down the hall, minding your own business, when Lethe just storms past you and then stops for some reason?" Zihark asked.
"What happened?" I cut in, sitting down with them.
"Um, hi. Yes, well, you see…yesterday, just before you passed out, you remember how Lethe stormed out onto the deck and I wasn't too far behind her?" Jill began. I nodded, so she continued. "Well, a minute before that I was just walking through the passageways of the ship, minding my own business, when Lethe walks past me in a rush. All of a sudden I trip and she'd grabbed my arm on reflex, but since she didn't put enough effort into it I should have just slipped free. Instead, she comes down with me. I'm lying on the ground on my stomach and Lethe just falls on top of me. She even pulled on my hair when she stood up!" Jill indignantly whispered, now cautiously eying up other people nearby like they might as well.
I contemplated that very odd behavior for a moment before glancing over at the Laguz in question. Lethe was making it a point not to look our way, but I did notice something new. There was an odd looking choker around her neck with a small leather section that was wider than the rest in the front. She also looked oddly more at peace than she did the day before, even with her sister chattering away in a manner that would usually irritate the hardcore warrior.
"That's odd. She seems a lot more careful than that…" I commented, a bit suspicious of Lethe's behavior.
"Yeah, that does seem a bit off for her, huh?" Ranulf commented from my left as he sat down with us. I noticed Lyre take notice of the action with a rather obvious twitch.
"It does. What's up?" I asked, turning to face him.
"What, I can't try to get to know my new friend's friends?" Ranulf asked, a crooked grin on his face. His grin widened at the sight of something in the direction of the table Lethe and Lyre were sitting at, but I wisely chose not to look or ask.
"I, um, I didn't expect you to have any interest actually," I honestly responded.
"Oh, Bahamut, I'm wounded! You really think I wouldn't want to be social? I admit I'm no Lyre, but I get around…conversationally I mean," Ranulf tacked on the end.
"Well, it's nice to finally be able to speak with you. Zihark," said swordsman said, a hand held out in a warriors' greeting. Ranulf grasped the man's wrist and they shook on it, forming the natural bond between men of battle.
Jill was just silently sitting there, warily looking at the blue haired Cat.
"It's nice to meet you too…Jill right?" Ranulf held his hand out in a warriors' greeting to her as well. Jill hesitated, but reached out and reciprocated the gesture.
"Indeed. It's an honor to be given a chance to get to know the truth behind the lies I've lived my whole life with," Jill responded. She really was just so formal at times.
"I'm honored you want to," Ranulf shot back, not unkindly though.
Jill seemed a bit unprepared for such a response and Ranulf took advantage of the lull to turn to me again, probably to gauge the reactions of Lethe and Lyre. "They really are twins," he chuckled under his breath.
"The hell does that mean?"
You'll learn one day.
"Damn it Umbreos, I told you to quit it!"
"So, how's the voyage been treating you two?" Ranulf asked, addressing Zihark and Jill once more. His mismatched eyes found Jill first.
"Uh, pretty well. I've gotten used to being around everyone here if that's what you mean," Jill began. She continued after a moment as Ranulf continued to stare at her, her voice a bit more shaky. "I suppose…it has been a bit rough though. I mean, finding out all the things my homeland had told me were lies? I just…" the words seemed to catch in her throat and she stood up. "Excuse me." Jill left without another word.
"Uh…whoops?" Ranulf said, an apologetic look on his face.
"She'll be fine in a bit. She's just not one to show her tears," Zihark reassured him.
"Hey, if she can keep up with a psycho like me, she can get through this. If she needs help, she knows that she can reach out to at least some of the people on this old tub," I added.
"Right. So, uh, how about you?" Ranulf asked, redirecting the flow of the conversation to Zihark. I doubt even he noticed when Lethe had just simply vanished.
"Oh, well, I've been helping the more inexperienced swordsmen and swordwoman with their technique…"
"Kick, punch." That was all Mordecai said (once I'd done my stretches) before repeatedly demonstrating a powerful looking roundhouse and following up with an uppercut three times before crossing his arms and nodding at me.
"Alright." I went for the kick but Mordecai reached out and grabbed my leg with one of his massive hands.
"Not like that. This." Again Mordecai demonstrated the kick. It took another three repeats of this, and a moment where I was truly grateful for my patient, if pushy, new teacher, before I got it right. It only took two corrections to get my uppercut right.
"Good. Stay." Mordecai then left the immediate area, leaving me to continue my muscle-memory training. Lyre had explained it too me earlier, saying that it was a standard practice amongst their tribes for children to do this, Tigers especially. The Cats didn't do it too much since they like to be unpredictable.
"Okay, now talk. Why'd you dump me here instead of just letting me die?"
One, you die I do. Two, I thought you'd want to live life to the fullest on a wild adventure. And three, I hate Arashi and didn't want to let him get his hands on you once he finished his little trial and becomes the Avatar of Time.
"The...what the hell're you talking about?"
A tale known as A Timeless Battle. It's only known to entities more powerful than lesser deities.
"Okay..."
You remember Arashi, that time traveling ninja you invented?
"The ninja guy with the chains, yeah."
He's real too. Only, he's real real. Like Shin Verus real.
"You're shitting me. Shin Verus is real?"
Yep.
"Damn."
He's also my current nemesis. He acts like Fate with power over time.
"That would be my fault."
No, you just acted as a conduit; you didn't make him.
"Really?"
Yes really.
"Okay."
"You're hard at work I see," an amused feminine voice drew me back to reality. I saw braided red hair and knew who it was immediately. I didn't stop my training though, and I was relieved to note that I hadn't stopped even while conversing with Umbreos.
Like I'd let you.
"Yeah. Gotta get good at something, right? You're, uh, Titania right? I don't think we've been formally introduced." My Branded status was the only thing that let me speak while working out. It was also the reason I was able to do this for as long as a Laguz might. Branded are really strong compared to people.
"That's right. And you're Bahamut, correct?" I nodded. "I have to thank you," she continued. I almost froze, but something kept my body moving. I suspected it was Umbreos, likely using tech he implanted in my body for some reason or another. "Boyd's been training much more seriously today so the 'rookie' doesn't show him up."
I chuckled and almost immediately regretted it and tried to get air back in my lungs. Once I had, I responded. "Yeah, well, I won't disillusion him of that."
"Oh?"
"I'm not a merc. I'm only here because my pops asked me to do him a favor while I was traveling around Crimea and I got caught up in the war and was mistaken for a soldier," I said, my tone carrying my supposed irritation with the series of unbelievable coincidences.
"Who is your father?" she asked.
"Sorry, but if I tell someone, it might get out. Bad for his rep and the chance that someone might blackmail him with the information is too high. Can't afford to let anyone get that kind of dirt on him. Begnion needs him." I made note of a mistake I made in my next uppercut and corrected it in the next set instead of stopping and starting over.
"I see. Well, I'll let you get back to your training then. I have a Boyd to harass," Titania called out over her shoulder as she turned and walked away.
"Have fun with that," I called in reply. I got back to my repetitive training routine. Half an hour later, Mordecai made me add the first punch in and had me do them in a random order, watching carefully to make sure I didn't settle into a pattern. I didn't understand the point of this at the time, but it makes sense now. It was to keep me from falling into patterns that can be read in combat.
"Good. Stop." And just like that, training for the day ended a while earlier than the previous day. I figured Mordecai had just been trying to get a lock on how long I could go for with the first day. Thanks to prison, quite a while.
"Is that all for today?" I asked, just to make sure.
"Yes. Good work," Mordecai rumbled before turning away. "Dinner."
"Thanks." I followed after him quickly, and we made it to the galley in time for me to intercept Lyre at the door as she left to bring me food like the day before. She was surprised for just long enough that I managed to pluck the plate of assorted food items from her hands and smile at her gratefully before slipping past and sitting down at the nearest empty table.
"So, earlier than yesterday…" Lyre said as she slid into place beside me.
"Yeah," I said in between shovels of the delicious, delicious Oscar-made food. "How're you doing, by the way? Haven't had much chance to speak with you."
"Pretty good," Lyre said. She didn't say anything after that for a while, just watching me eat with her head propped up on one hand. It was just starting to really make me uncomfortable when she spoke again. "You eat about as much as we do."
"Hm? Is that unusual?" I asked, pausing in my feasting. I hadn't even noticed the second plate she'd slid in when the first started getting empty until then. "Oh, thanks."
"My pleasure," she smiled. "But, yeah. Only soldier girl and Ike eat that much aside from you and us Laguz."
"Huh. That's interesting." "I didn't think Ike was a Branded."
His appetite is canon.
"Really?"
Yes. Now focus on the pretty girl.
"You seem a bit out of it…you about to pass out again?" Lyre asked, her voice holding curious undertones to it.
"Nope. Just thinking. Well, as delicious as that was, I'm going to go hit the hay early today," I said, standing up and making to take the dishes back to the kitchen.
"Oh? Why?" Lyre asked.
"I haven't had a real, voluntary night's sleep in months," I quietly answered, hoping irrationally she wouldn't hear. I ignored the feeling of her eyes staring at my back as I gave my plates to the cabin boy and left the galley to make my way up to the crow's nest.
"It's going to be a long few months…isn't it?"
Yes. Yes it is. And be careful around that Lyre. She seems a bit more off than yesterday.
"I figured. Now then…time for some sleep!"
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