Author's Notes: Okay I got the most brilliant question today, so especially for The Bloody Vampire (who appears not to have a fanfiction account but is furiously reading and reviewing all of my stories, thanks for that btw every review makes my day a bit better) So, how do you pronounce Nienna? Bit like this: nee-EN-ah.

Sorry if this chapter contains many spelling errors. My Microsoft Office suddenly decided after 1.000 words that Italian is the new English and I couldn't change the settings =S

**I've re-wrote chapter two of this story, there are no big changes but there are a few (The name of the sister is changed to Nora (means: woman of honor) and the parents died eight years before chapter two instead of three)

Disclaimer: Do I even have to explain?

Castle Wars

"I'm tired!" Serra whined

Nienna gritted her teeth "So..?" Unfortunately for her the cleric had decided that she and Nienna were best friends for ever, and didn't even seem to notice that she was driving the thief absolutely crazy.

Serra looked at her with big eyes that seemed to say 'isn't it obvious?' while she exclaimed "Someone needs to carry me!"

"Of course." She replied, voice filled with annoyance "But you're way too heavy for me, go ask Matthew."

"You're so right!" As always, the cleric completely ignored the comment about her weight and turned her head to yell at the spy "MATTHEW!"

Matthew's jaw tightened "...I am not going to carry you."

Suddenly Serra stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest. "If no one is going to carry me, then I refuse to move any further!"

They turned around to look at the pouting cleric "So... you're going to stay there?" She nodded fiercely which made the two thieves to look at each other and shrug in unison. "Fine to me." Nienna announced before the two of them jogged away to catch up with the others.

"WHAT?" Serra yelled before running after them.

"..So...close to silence.."

Nienna sighed before sprinting off to Eliwood and Hector who formed the head of the group. "Eliwood" She said "I know that now, since Lord Helman is dead you want to get to Laus as soon as possible. But it's already dark and if we don't stop soon I will kill someone!" And that 'someone' is probably going to be the only cleric we've got.

To give her backup, they heard someone screeching "I'M TIRED!" somewhere in the back line just as she was done speaking.

"You're right" Eliwood said after hearing Serra's screech "We'll have to stop here for the night. We'll set out for Laus as at the first sign of sunlight." He turned his head to the paladin next to him "Marcus prepare the camp."

Marcus gave a firm nod and a "Yes, my lord." Before he turned his horse around to give the needed orders.

"So this is Caelin?" Hector asked "You think we ought to present ourselves to Lord Hausen?"

Eliwood shook his head "We're simply passing through so I don't see the need. I am curious how Lyndis is getting along, though."

"Lyndis?"

"Marquess Caelin's granddaughter." Nienna explained.

"Oh, her. The missing heir who dealt with Lundgren last year." His eyes went from Nienna to Eliwood "Didn't you have something to do with that?" The lord nodded and a grin appeared on Hector's face "And? The granddaughter? Is she a beauty?"

"A-A beauty?" Eliwood stammered "She's... I don't...she's... I think it must be her Sacae heritage. She's...striking..."

Nienna covered her ears with her hands "By the Saint you guys are not really talking about this, are you? If so, I fear that I have to run my sword through the both of you." The three of them burst out laughing, that was until they suddenly heard something in the distance that sounded most like "Aaaiiieeee!"

Hector's face turned serious "Huh? What was that? Did you hear something?"

"It was a scream." Eliwood clarified "Someone's being attacked!"

"Do we help?"

Nienna rolled her eyes "Of course we help!"

OOO

The 'someone' who was being attacked happened to be a merchant named, Merlinus. They had protected him from bandits and after it he had asked them if he could travel with them. He said that he couldn't carry a weapon but he kept going on about the fact that he could be useful to help with equipment in battle, about that he could switch items and hold them if their packs were full. The decision was up to Nienna, and because she thought that it would be handy to have a merchant around, she had accepted his help.

To their luck, Merlinus appeared to be a great cook and together with Lowen he managed to make quite a nice supper that evening. A few hours after supper most of the army members were either sitting around the campfire, asleep or keeping watch. Nienna was busy doing the first of those three options and listening to the story's of others until Eliwood came to sit next to her. "I have question to ask." Nienna said without looking up, she already knew it was him. "I've asked Lyn pretty much the same question a year ago, but I want to know your opinion."

"What is your question?"

"You appear to have a problem with thieves."

He shook his head "That didn't sound like a question."

Nienna shrugged and a smile appeared on her face."It wasn't. It was merely an observation. I can also see why you hate thieves, but my question is; Why don't tell him that I am one?" She pointed her head towards Hector who was laughing at something Oswin had told him.

"I don't hate thieves."

She chuckled "...You my friend, are avoiding my question."

"Am not."

"Yes, you are" Nienna chuckled again. "And I can't see why. Hector hired Matthew and I bet some other thieves too. He has seen use in it, so why don't tell him that your tactician has some other skills?"

"I've told him about your capabilities with a sword."

"Not the same. Swordsmanship is a skill I have. But I am a thief, I couldn't change it even if I wanted to."

Eliwood looked at her "Doesn't it bother you?"

"What?"

"People will always look down on you, because of 'what you are' they treat you without respect. Without honor." At that last word she looked up at him. After a few seconds of staring she burst out laughing. Normally she had a musical, infectious laugh and everyone around her had a hard time keeping themselves from laughing with her. But this time she laughed so loudly that it almost scared him. By the looks of it the others in camp, they had that same thought.

After a few minutes, when she was finally able to contain herself, she said "I have no honor? You so sound like Lyn." She whipped the tears out of her eye corners and stood up "I don't care what others think about me. It's because I'm a thief that I'm still alive today. It's why I have survived the past nine years, and why others did not."

The tactician started walking towards her tent, then suddenly seemed to remember something and looked over her shoulder back to him, "Eliwood?"

"Yes?"

"Don't worry, I won't tell him. I will protect your honor. Like you'd said, I've already lost mine long ago."

"I did not--" Nienna didn't hear him, she had already disappeared into her tent.

OOO

"Hee hee hee..." The woman laughed "A world of trouble you've landed yourself in, yes?"

"Who--!" He looked down over his shoulder. Behind him stood a very small, very wrinkly, very ugly and very old woman. She somewhat reminded him of a witch. "You startled me, old woman!" Hector exclaimed "You should get out of here. This is going to be a bad place to stay if you plan on living."

"I want to see the one searching for his father." The woman spoke very slowly and with crackling voice "Marquess Pherae's son."

Hector, the man of all patience in the world had, like he always did, just the right and well-thought answer to this request:

"LISTEN UP OLD WOMAN! QUIT YOUR YAMMERING AND MOVE ON!"

His younger friend had heard his roar and came to look at where he was yelling about his time "Hector!" Eliwood said "You should mind your manners. I am Eliwood. May I ask your name, milady?"

"Ho ho ho." The woman giggled "What a polite your man. I'm Hannah, a fortune-teller. I came here to help you."

"Can you tell me where my father's gone?"

"No.. no.." Hannah slowly shook her head "I can see other things... useful things. I can tell you what weapons to take into battle, as well as who should wield them. Things of that nature."

Eliwood rubbed his forehead "I see..."

His eyes went wide as he looked at the smaller man "Don't tell me you believe any of this."

"I have no reason to believe or disbelieve in Hannah's powers." Eliwood pointed out. "But I'll not rule out anything if it helps me find my father."

Hector rolled his eyes "Fine, if you want to believe that senile old woman, I'm not stopping you."

"Thank you, now where is our tactician?"

"Over there, protecting that mage--"A pink blur shot past them towards the thief and the purple-haired mage "OHMIGOSH! It's Erk!"

OOO

Nienna walked into the room. Right after the fight and talking to his (former) friend Erik, Eliwood had disappeared. She didn't knew what Erik had said to him and Hector but she knew it wasn't any good. "Eliwood..?" She asked when she saw the lord sitting on a chair in the center of the room, back turned to her. "...Are you alright?"

"My father is... alive." He mumbled "And... I can't believe he supports...rebellion. There must be... There has to be a reason..."

She putted a hand on his shoulder "At least we know now that he's alive, and when we find him I'm sure that he has a reason for all of this."

"But what if--"

"Eliwood look at me." He did what she asked, when he focused his eyes on her she saw a light shimmering in them but she decided not to mention this "You can't keep asking yourself what would happen if..." She said "I don't know your father, but I do know you. You are a good man and I am not willing to believe that your father isn't."

When she was done speaking he smiled weakly "You're...you're right."

"Of course I am." Nienna laughed and let go of his shoulder "That's my job remember? Now as far as I could understand, we are staying here for the next few days, am I right?" He nodded "Great! Then I guess that Lowen is already making supper down in the kitchen." She walked to the door but stopped in the opening "Hey, are you coming or what?"

When he walked to the door she hooked her arm trough his, like that they walked to the kitchen where Lowen (with some help of Merlinus) was busy making one of the best meals they had seen in months.

OOO

Erk walked along the hall way. He liked being in the castle, as long as they were there waiting for word from Ostia he had finally the time to catch up with his studies. Too bad that every advantage has its disadvantage. While the extra studying time was nice, just like the gigantic library Castle Laus has, being in a castle had one big disadvantage. Walls. It would keep the cold out, but when your inside you have no place to go when--

"Erk! Eeeeerk! ERKY!"

The mage let out a groan and quickly fled into the first room he came across. After he heard Serra racing past the door without opening it he let out a sigh of relief and turned around to study the room he was in.

He immediately noticed two things. One, he was in some kind storage room. And two, he was not alone. Apart from him, there were three more figures inside the room, probably all for the same reason.

Nienna lay on her back atop of a high pile of crates, staring at the ceiling. Lord Hector was sitting in the center of the room, his back against a large crate and his spy, Matthew was causally leaning against the wall with one foot propped against it, arms folded across his chest.

Erk raised an eyebrow "Hiding for something?"

"Not a word, Erk." Hector replied grumpy.

Nienna chuckled and used one hand to prop herself up "Serra wants to marry him." She said while pointing her head towards Hector.

"Nienna..." The lord threatened "Remember who pays you."

"No one pays me" Nienna exclaimed happily "That threat only works with your own employees... Well, most of them." At that Erk heard Matthew chuckle, and Hector gave him a furious look.

Nienna laid back down with a satisfied grin on her face and innocently began to sing. "Hector and Serra sitting in a tree..." The three men obviously didn't knew the song, but by seeing the grin on his face Matthew had already guessed the rest of it. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G"

"Nienna... Stop it!" Hector hissed, of course this made it only more fun.

"First comes love..."

"Nienna..."

"then comes marriage..."

"I said STOP IT..."

"then comes the baby in the golden carriage!"

"STOP!" Hector snapped, and finally there came a pause in the song "Would you pay me if I stopped?" Nienna asked, hiding the evil smile she was actually having with an innocent one.

Hector's face was bright red from anger "Pay you? You don't even work for me!"

Nienna shrugged "Well then..." With a huge grin she continued the song "Sucking his thumb, Wetting his pants, Doing the hula-hula dance. Not too big, Not too small, Just the size of a doody ball."

When the song was finally came to an end Nienna fell silent the Lord let out a sigh of relieve. When the thief heard this she grinned "Hector and Serra sitting in a tree: K-I-S-S-I-N-G..."

Hector let out a furious growl, charged past Erk out of the room and slammed the door shut. One second later they heard a high-pitched voice outside speaking; "Oh, Lord Hector! Just the person I need!" and Hector letting out a groan. When the two voices were completely ebbed away Nienna and Matthew burst out laughing and even Erk chuckled.

OOO

"MATTHEW!" A voice suddenly roared, echoing down the hallway. Nienna chuckled as she heard that the large man with the dark blue hair started to chase her. Hey, he brought this on himself! He decided to stay in the castle. One has to find something to do in order to pass the time without going crazy. She thought as she grabbed the top of a window frame and swung up onto the small canopy roof.

Without even a second of thought she ran up the wall and jumped to the ledge of the window directly above her. Quick hands and even quicker decisions... the true secret to effective thievery. Swiftly she climbed up until she made it to the roof of the castle. She got there just in time to see Hector sticking his head out of the window, luckily he didn't saw her. "Sorry, not fast enough." Nienna whispered to herself, a huge grin on her face.

She heard someone chuckling behind her "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with T"

The grin on her face even got wider when she turned around to Matthew and answered as innocently as she could manage "Talent?"

"BLOODY THIEF!" Hector roared. (Not that he had heard them. No, Hector just felt like roaring every now and then).

"Hmm..." Nienna tabbed a finger on her chin, feigning that she was considering the possibility of that answer. "No, I'm pretty sure that 'bloody thief' starts with a B." She said after a while.

Matthew grinned "He seems a bit angry at you."

"Oh, he's not." He raised his eyebrows at her and with a smirk she continued "Actually he his angry at you. Eliwood decided not to tell him about my...what's the word? Ah! Nimble fingers... So he thinks I'm you." To be honest, it had really surprised her that Hector had mistaken her for the spy. After all they looked nothing like each other, he was a man after all and she certainly was not. Not to mention that he was about three years older than her, his hair color was different, he was taller than her and he wore completely different clothes. But apparently the lord wasn't that bright.

"Congratulations" Nienna grinned back "you've just stolen his gold!" She threw him a pouch and as in a reflex, he caught it.

Matthew chuckled and shook his head "You do realize that I'm a spy?"

"Oh, yes and you're a quick one too..." Nienna answered as she walked to the edge of the roof "Too bad that I'm much faster." She continued as she started jumping from roof to roof and slipped into one of the windows on the other side of the castle.

Eliwood jumped up as someone suddenly entered his room, but relaxed slightly when he saw that it was his tactician "You could try to use the door more often..."

The thief grinned at him "Yeah, but that would be way less fun."

Before he could reply the heavy wooden door swung open "Lord Eliwood!" Marcus rushed into the room. "Castle Caelin has fallen to a surprise attack from Marquess Laus!"

Nienna's eyes went wide "What? Is Lyn alright?"

"We've no word on Lord Hausen or his granddaughter, the lady Lyndis."

"I never expected them to attack Caelin..." Eliwood mumbled "Lord Hausen... Lyndis..."

"They might be still alive..." Nienna said "We must leave for the castle at once!"

OOO

"Eliwood you made it!" Lyn smiled when she looked to the head of the army. The lord smiled back "Florina told us where you were. We're here to help."

"Thank you!" She said while looking past him to the rest of the army. Surprisingly she saw a few familiar figures, and two of those figures tried desperately to sneak away from the frontlines. "Hey! You!" Lyn said while slipped past Eliwood. One of the figures cringed while the other sprinted away. "You're--"

"Um... No, I'm not." The young man exclaimed "You've got the wrong fellow... Bye now!"

He turned around but Lyn quickly grabbed his cloak and forced him to turn around again. "Stop right there, Matthew!"

The spy grinned "Saw right through my disguise, didn't you, Lady Lyndis?"

"What are you talking about? How could I not recognize you? You're.." She hesitated "Well...you!"

"Yes, but I had to at least try to fool you. Being memorable is not the best quality for a spy to have."

She raised her brows "Spy? I thought you were a thief?"

"Oops!"

"What is this about? Come on, tell me!"

"I can't... It's a... secret."

Lyn's brows almost reached her hairline now "A secret? Would you have your mouth sealed if you spoke it?"

Matthew grinned "You're very knowledgeable!"

"Very well, I'll ask no more questions. If you have any trouble, though, you can talk to me. I'm sure I'll be able to help." Lyn walked back to the front line to take on the last enemy between her and her grandfather, leaving the muddled spy behind her.

"Ah... Lady Lyndis?" He asked "I believe that you are the one currently in trouble. You're either generous to a fault, or...something else altogether."

"Not fair!" A voice behind him exclaimed when Lyn was fighting Bauker "You got away easily!" He chuckled in response.

Bauker had learned the most important, and well last rule off his life. Do not threaten Lyndis's family. Without much effort but with much rage Lyn won the fight. Their only obstacle was the castle itself, it appeared to be overrun by enemy soldiers. At the moment Eliwood was quickly introducing Hector to Lyndis, while the tactician tried to hide from them.

"Nienna!" Damn, she saw me. "Is that really you, Nienna?" Nienna turned around with a smirk on her face, "Er... Hello Milady Lyndis." She said while making a quick bow.

Lyn, Eliwood and Hector looked at her with the same odd expression on their faces, usually she wasn't this polite against her friends... or well, anyone. "Nienna..? What's wrong? Your acting quite...odd."

"Well--" She started

"HEY!" One still remaining castle guards yelled "THAT'S THE ONE WHO STOLE THE MARQUESS'S HORSE!"

"AND THE GOLD!" Another one added. "DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!"

The whole army was looking at how three of the castle guards ran after Nienna, trying to catch her. "Luckily I'm a fast runner..." she muttered while looking in her belt pouch for her moneybag. "Okay, not fun! LYNDIS CALL YOUR GUARDS BACK!" After another few minutes of running the Lady finally did what she had ask her to do.

"I'm glad that you find this so funny" Nienna mumbled as she walked back Lyn who couldn't manage to contain her laugh "Oh, and here's your 10.000 gold back." The thief continued when she finally found the moneybag.

"Er... You stole 10.000 gold from the Marquess's daughter?" Hector asked, obviously confused.

She raised her eyebrows as she gave Lyn the large pouch "Of course not! I stole it from the Marquess himself."

"But--"

"Don't ask." Nienna said while looking back at Lyn with a huge smile on her face "So... Have you been well?"

OOO

"Grandfather!" Lyn yelled while running into the throne room "Grandfather! Where..."

Eliwood ran after her, Nienna and Hector on his heels "Lord Hausen? Where are you?" Nienna kneeled next to the throne, that are defiantly blood spatters "Lyn..." She said "Here, on the throne... It's blood."

"Blood?" Her eyes grew wide in horror "No! It can't be!"

"Lyndis! Calm down. He might only be injured." Eliwood said "Come, let us find him."

"Yes, you're right. I must be calm." Slowly, her eyes scanned the room "There! Over there! there's Someone..."

Eliwood walked forward into the direction Lyn had pointed out "Who is there? Show yourself!"

From out the corner a pink-haired woman appeared "You... Lelia!"

The woman grinned "Yes, it's me, Lord Hector."

OOO

Nienna looked at the woman next to her "So you're not mad at me?"

"Of course I'm not!" Lyn exclaimed "You've paid everything back right? And thanks to you my grandfather is still alive, even though we have to pretend that he's death to prevent that he's targeted again."

She smiled "How could I not help a friend in trouble?"

"I'm still glad you did." Lyn stopped in front of one of the large oak doors "This is your room" she announced as she opened the door. The room was small and almost entirely filled with two huge canopy beds. On top of one of the beds was a white/green package.

"What's this?" She asked

"You're new attire." Lyn simply said while unfolding the clothes.

Nienna groaned "Again? I was just getting used to these..."

"Stop complaining and change" The Sacraean said with a smile, with a sigh she did what was asked. To her relief she saw that the clothes were not entirely different. It was almost exactly the same dress as she was wearing right now, but in green and the leggings and gloves were exactly the same as her current ones but white. "No boots?" Nienna asked with a smile.

"The ones your wearing now are in perfect shape."

"Yeah, you're right. Besides that I was just getting used to a full day march on heels." She noted while putting on the light brown boots and belt. "Hmm... Yes, this is better" Nienna said when she looked into the mirror inside her room. The leaf green and pearl white looked better on her then the black and red.

"You forget one thing."

The thief frowned when she saw the pearl white package in her hands "You're giving me a sheet?"

"No." She answered with a almost child-like smile on her face. She frowned as she took the package from her hands. To her surprise she saw that it was a cloak, almost the same style as the one the female spy they'd met that afternoon was wearing. The only difference was that this was a new one and not yellow.

Nienna grinned "Thanks, Lyndis." Just as she had putted on the cloak the door suddenly opened, making both of the woman jump up "Leila, this is your room... Oh! Lyndis!" Hector rubbed his neck "Er...I..."

"It doesn't matter Hector, I was just planning to leave." She walked to the door and waved "Night, Nienna."

"Night."

OOO

After speaking with the Ostian spy Leila, the group realized that they must travel to Valor, the Dread Isle. The small island, located south of Lycia, is said to be home of the Dragon's Gate. Tomorrow the group would enter the port of Badon to seek passage. But now, it was time to rest in camp.

The army was just eating supper and most of them (the ones who weren't on watch tonight, that is) were sitting around the campfire, switching stories while they ate, Nienna listened to all of those stories. She herself never told them, the only stories she knew were about the 21st century and it probably wasn't a good idea to talk about cars, radio's, guns and televisions in this time period.

The old woman, Hannah seemed to have the most fantastic stories to tell but tonight she was quiet. Nienna noticed that she was watching her for quite some time. The thief hadn't really talked to her before, so maybe she was imagining it but she felt something was wrong. "You are not from here." Hannah said after about half an hour of staring.

"Er... No I am not." Nienna answered, she literally felt the rest of the army looking at her and Hannah. That was the drawback of never telling stories, if you didn't talk about yourself people get curious. "I've just come to Lycia recently."

Slowly Hannah shook her head "No you're not from here." She said while standing up and walking towards her.

Nienna looked away from the woman and found the soup they had for supper suddenly very interesting. Now everyone is looking at me. Gee, thanks Hannah. "Here...?" Nienna asked after a few moments of silence.

"You are not from here." The woman repeated "You are not here. Not real." Her eyes went wide as she looked up to the woman. How could she know that? "You're an image, a shadow from yourself, a ghost, a twist of mind, but you're weaker, you're... fading away. Not physical...but mental...your thoughts are not here, your thoughts are...away..."

When Hannah felt silent there was a tension in the camp, like everyone was keeping their breath, waiting for her to say something. Nienna choose this as a good moment to chuckle "So you're telling me I'm homesick? You're right I am." Luckily, the tension in camp weakened and Hannah walked away to her tent, mumbling things like 'spectre' and 'wraith' before entering and disappearing out of sight.

"What was all that about?" Lyn asked when she sat down next to her.

Nienna looked up "To be honest? I have no idea." Slowly the others went back to their talks and sound returned to the camp "...Do you really miss your home so much?" The Lord asked after a while.

At first, she didn't respond at all but when Lyn stood up and was about to go get some sleep Nienna finally answered "...Not really. Home is terrible. But I miss my little brother. He is the only family I've got..."

Nienna didn't knew how long she sat next to the fire. She didn't even know if Lyn had said something to her after her words. Her mind was cloudy and she couldn't think straight. The only things she could hear were Hannah's words, repeating themselves over and over again in her head. Not real... What could she mean by that? Except for the obvious. But I'm pretty real here right? I can touch things, grab my weapon, set up a tent, buy and wear new clothes, hug my friends, laugh at their jokes, slab Sain if he tries to seduce me again... And if something is not real it's not me but everything here. This is a game right? Or not? Is it something else? And if I really am some spectre. But...That can't be right? If I get wounded I'll bleed, right? If someone tickles me I laugh, right? If someone poisons me I will die, right? I'm a human being, right? I feel pain, just like anyone else...right? Nienna kept her eyes on the fire, everyone else was already gone to bed, no one could see her beating herself up over this. Maybe... if I could just... She removed her glove and slowly stuck her hand out to the fire, the fire was hot, the flames licked her fingers, but it didn't hurt her. That was odd...

Suddenly someone grabbed her wrist and pulled the hand out of the fire. As soon as her hand left the fire she felt a souring pain coming from it. "Are you crazy?" Matthew hissed.

Nienna suddenly felt like someone had poured an entire bucket of ice cold water down on her head. "Damnit!" She hissed as she jumped up and desperately not tried to wake the others at the same time. The thief quickly putted her hand into the bowl of water he handed her "Stupid Hannah, that witch has done something with my head" she muttered followed by a long string of curses that the spy didn't even half understood, about the only thing he did understand was a 'Thanks, Matthew' on the end of it.

"Don't mention it. Ever saw a thief who can't uses his or her hands?" He grinned "And if you are injured, who else could help me to make things more lively around here?"

"You're right, I'm going to wake Pricilla and see if she can do something about this..." Her voice trailed off and she let out a sigh "Let's hope I don't wake Serra instead." Matthew nodded and walked back to his tent.

"Hey, Matthew?" He looked over his shoulder at the now grinning thief "Heard you've got yourself a girlfriend."

He chuckled "How do you--"

The other thief shrugged "I had to share a room with her back in the castle. She talks in her sleep."

End notes: Always thought that Hannah was some kind of senile old witch, figured that I should add it into my story xD I've noticed that the army is still a bit small... Eliwood must get more people to join it... and fast cuz I can't write a romance story if half of the characters involved are missing -,-