All right, after a really, really long time, here's Chapter 3. This chapter contains all of Chapter 8: Despair and Hope and continues to the info conversation between Ike and Mia before Chapter 9: Gallia. Oh, and I know I said that the first cameo appearance would be in Chapter 5 or something, but I decided to put him in here. Have fun guessing who it is XD. First person to guess correctly will get first dibs for a pairing =P.

Thanks to all my reviewers, with the ones getting honors bolded, in no particular order:

Saleh Onasi, Chakram Soldier, Shadow Greymon, Phish, FE Frog, Han-ko, The Light Hidden In The Shadow, tiger002, Solstone, jojobevco, Aquatic-Idealist (for reminding me of the pair's ages), jordan114725, Starlll, darkmiester, and though they aren't reviewers, Frog-Lizard (AGAIN) for being the awesome beta-reader they are.

Notice how the bolded people either wrote more than a couple of sentences or asked for a pairing. Or cameo character, even though the one request wouldn't work. The cameos won't have a major role in the story, excluding the ones I'm planning on using…but maybe there'll be exceptions…who knows? XD

Heck, just send your pairing requests anyways, even if you're not first to get it. I'll consider them ALL.

Just a little heads-up, italics will be thoughts as well as emphasis in a sentence. And sound effects. It should be obvious which is which, as an entire sentence will not be italicized unless it's a thought, and same goes for sound effects. CAPITALS are shouting/yelling (if not mentioned, like if I said "Mia shouted..." beforehand, it won't be capitalized). ' ' is whispering, and " " is normal speech. ( ) is for extra details.

---Chapter 3---

Reasons

Mia woke up to the sound of a bird chirping on her window sill. Sitting up and looking out the window, she saw that the sun hadn't risen yet. Stretching, Mia checked her injuries. They were, for the most part, healed. However, her stomach area still hurt like crazy while stretching. Stupid Ike… Mia thought as she slid off her bed. I'll get back at him one day… Then she remembered her decision she made the night before. Oh…never mind, I can't just go around injuring my sparring partner…heh, doesn't mean I can't bug him about it! And with exactly that in mind, Mia grabbed her swords, put on her boots, and set off to get some exercise before finding her Boss.

---Outside---

Skipping outside the fort, Mia took a deep breath and sighed. "Ahh, nothing like the fresh morning air!" Taking off at a brisk jog, the young girl headed out of the fort for a short run. As she passed a part of the fort where the wall had collapsed, with the rubble leading up to the second story, she got an excellent idea. Tip-toeing up mound of debris, Mia slinked through the hallways, peeking in through several doors, trying to find something. After 5 minutes of opening random doors, she finally found her target. Ike was sleeping soundly, with his wooden Trainer swords propped up right next to his Regal Sword, handed down to him by his father. However, he didn't seem to use it much; his preferred weapon was the Steel Sword lying horizontally on the ground. Perhaps he thought it too valuable to be used. Carefully, Mia unsheathed the Steel Sword, laid it carefully behind one of the Trainers so that you could only see the hilt, and took the other Trainer and sheathed it into the now vacant scabbard. Ohh, Ike was going to be in for a surprise when woke up! Giggling silently, the mischievous myrmidon soundlessly closed the door, snuck back down the pile of debris, and continued the daily before-dawn jog.

A few hours later, Mia walked slowly back to the fort. It was slightly past dawn, and the sun was just showing its full self over the horizon. Judging by the position of the sun and the shadows, it was still pretty darn early. Pausing only to lean over and pick a flower, Mia made a beeline straight back to their temporary residence.

As she neared the gates, she heard a cry, followed by a loud "BOYD!!!!" Hearing this, the purple-haired girl burst into hysterics as she saw a very pissed Ike chasing and whacking a terrified & half-dressed Boyd across the fort courtyard. After they rounded a corner, Mia managed to pull herself together and attempted to walk as casually as possible into the breakfast hall. She made significant progress but failed when she found an unconscious Boyd with one of Ike's Trainers laying nearby. Almost if he had intentionally timed it (which he had, with Soren's help), Ike walked in on the girl rolling around on the floor and whacked her on the head with the fallen Trainer.

"Hey!! What was that for, Boss?!" Mia growled as she picked herself off the ground and rubbed the second bump growing on her forehead.

"I knew it was you who switched around the swords." Ehh?! How did he… "I believe you're the only one who wears a white headband around here…" From his left pocket he revealed Mia's headband. "It got caught on the doorframe. Unlucky, I suppose. Want to tell me why you did this?"

"I…uh…um…kinda dropped something outside the gates…yeah…see ya!!" With that Mia sprinted towards the fort gates, only to be caught by the collar by her Boss. With a yelp, her legs flew out from underneath her and she landed flat on her back.

Ike squatted down next to her, grabbed her collar once more, and asked again, "Once again – why'd you pull this prank on me?"

"Eh…well…I was bored..? And I figured you'd blame Boyd…" Mia replied, figuring it was best not to lie. "…by the way, if you knew it was me, why did you chase Boyd literally halfway across Tellius?"

Ike's reply was totally NOT expected by Mia. With a grin, he merely replied, "I was bored." Ignoring the drop of sweat that ran down the side of Mia's face, he went on. "Plus, it's a chance to practice my father's Boyd-bashing skills." Huh?

"Um…what's-"Just as Mia started to speak, a raindrop fell in her eye. "WAAH! What in the name of-"

Whizz. Thud. Clatter.

Boss and subordinate stared at the arrow in wonder, which laid just at the feet of Soren, who had been eavesdropping on them. The trio looked at one other, then back to the arrow. In unison, they whipped their heads to locate the source of the arrow.

To their surprise (and for Mia, her amusement), a pair of Daein archers stood upon a wall.

"YOU IDIOT!!" The one on the left yelled, wielding a hefty Steel Bow. "I TOLD you not to let go of the string even if they threw a horse at you!!"

"How about a little green-haired boy in a skirt?" Mia teased.

"SHUT UP!!" The pissed off archer yelled back. "This is DAIEN affairs!!"

Mia rolled her eyes and leaned towards Ike, 'You wanna kill them right now, or do you wanna watch?'

Ike whispered out of the corner of his mouth, 'Let's just watch.'

Back to the idiot archers. The one on the left cowered and meekly replied, "Well, sarge, it's my first time using a long bow…and…and…the rain! IT BURNS!!!" He started screaming profanities while rubbing his eye vigorously. Quite accidentally, his right elbow just happened to smack his superior in the face.

"Oof!! Bloody oaf!!" In an effort to stop his fall, the sergeant grabbed onto his partner and managed to pull them both off the wall screaming. The scene came to an end with a loud THUD and an awkward silence. Ike took the liberty of freeing everyone from the awkwardness, quoting, "Well, I suppose we're under attack." He was met with another very awkward silence. "Soren, get everyone together. We meet at the central courtyard(1)." The said person sprinted off.

"…I don't really know if that counted, but let's go, Boss!" Mia hopped up, brushed herself off, and ran straight to the courtyard, dragging a protesting Ike (literally) behind her.

---Central Courtyard---

"This isn't looking too good. We're totally surrounded." As if anyone couldn't see that! What Soren had just said couldn't be more obvious. To their left were a squad of armor knights and the two archers Ike, Mia, and Soren had seen earlier. Just outside the gates, a platoon of mounted knights were galloping towards the mercenaries. The narrow right passage was littered with soldiers, archers, myrmidons, and Ashera knew what else.

Looking around, Ike could not think of any way to keep everyone alive. "Blast. Soren, what do you think?"

The black-haired mage thought hard for a bit, then grimly said, "The chances of survival are slim. We cannot expect any reinforcements from Gallia until their envoys arrive to pick us up, Gatrie and Shinon have deserted, Commander Greil…Our best bet is to block those narrow entrances to the door to the main building and try to hold out as best as we can."

"I see, then what should we do?"

Soren rolled his eyes and replied, "YOU'RE the commander now, Ike. You make the decisions."

"Crap. I guess…Titania, stop those armored knights from coming in. Soren, you're her artillery, your magic should do a number on them, but watch out for those archers." The two mentioned people nodded and ran off. "Oscar, take point and fend off those mounted knights as best as you can. Boyd, take that stack of throwing axes and support him. Rhys, stay in between the two groups and heal them whenever someone gets hurt. I'll take the left passage. Mia, you're back up."

"I believe taking Mia with you is better!" Soren called over as he jumped out of the way of a fireball. "You will have someone to watch your back AND she will put down that Trainer!" Turning around Ike was confronted with the sight of a very pissed Mia and his Trainer sword just inches from his face.

Before Ike could say anything, Mia threw the wooden sword in his face and stalked off, unsheathing her sword as she walked towards the incoming enemies. Pausing, she turned around shouted, "I hate being back up!" before engaging an armor knight in combat.

Ike laid there for a second, and then got up. "What a strange girl…" he wondered aloud before running to help Mia finish off the knight and impale a soldier.

---Mia's POV---

After the armor knight was dead and twitching, Mia's adrenaline rush from getting mad at Ike's orders wore off. She barely parried an enemy myrmidons slash and disarmed him before taking off his head. The next few minutes were a blur as she desperately jumped around, trying to avoid the Daien weapons while dispatching as many as she could. Chancing a glance at her Boss, she saw he was doing better, but not by much. He wasn't literally flying all over the place like she was, and he had taken down at least half a dozen men more than her. On the downside, he was badly cut up, and was currently wrenching an Iron Lance from his left forearm. This proved to be a bit too much of a distraction, as Mia's attention was suddenly diverted from the soldier she was avoiding. She saw the lance a little too late.

With a mighty swing, the Daein sent the girl flying back into Ike, smashing her head against the hard stone floor. As the two tried to disentangle their various limbs and swords, the archers opened fire and nailed both in the shoulder. Mia, due to being a myrmidon and thus not any wearing armor besides her light leather guards, took the damage more badly than Ike, and struggled to get herself off the ground, let alone keep her consciousness from flying off. Ike, on the other hand, still had enough strength in him to roll over, rip the arrow out, and chug down a vulnerary before grabbing Mia and retreating back out of the corridor. After throwing his spare Iron Sword into the face of an incoming fighter, he called Rhys over to patch the barely conscious Mia. "Heal her up. Make sure she doesn't run off until she's fully recovered," With his orders given, Ike ran back into the fray and lopped off the arm of the one who had landed a blow on is subordinate.

As Mia groggily pushed herself off the ground, she felt a pair of friendly hands gently push her back down. Looking up, she saw Rhys trying to multi-task holding her down without touching her wounds while healing her. It looked funny, but it was working. "Sorry, orders from Ike. You can't go back until you're completely healed." With that comment, Mia grew furious. Why does everyone underestimate me?!

"Rhys. I. Am. FINE." With that she shoved Rhys out of the way and staggered to her feet. Grabbing her sword, she tried to go after Ike and support him, but her vision went woozy was she collapsed back onto the ground. "…damn…ugh…I am NOT going to lose to him again!" Rhys scurried over to start healing her again, but she kicked his staff away. Bracing herself for another attempt, she succeeded in standing up, but her head injury prevented her from taking a step forward. Groaning, she leaned against the wall and pulled out the last bit of her vulnerary. Taking a small swig and dumping the rest directly onto her head, Mia bit her lip as the wound closed. Now fine for the most part, she stretched and ran around the corner…

…only to run straight into somebody. While Mia remained standing (albeit receiving a large forehead to the nose), the mage was sent flying a few feet. On her guard, Mia prepared to impale the mage when a hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed her sword. Spinning around, she accidentally whipped Ike in the face with her hair. Woops.

"Don't worry. She's one of us now. This is Ilyana. More details later," Ike said as he rubbed his cheek. "I'm charging the rest of them; there's not that many over here anymore. Watch over her. I think she's sick." He added before Mia could put her two cents in about the situation.

Rolling her eyes, she took a better look at the mage she had just mowed over…and GOSH, she was thin. Did she even eat anything recently?! "…are you sure you can fight? I mean, you're…" Mia stopped herself before she could say something rude. "…thin. Kinda too much so."

"I…I can fight…" Ilyana weakly muttered, before promptly keeling over and clutching her stomach.

"W-Whoa! Hey! Ugh…" This was turning out to be the worst day of her life. First, she got her hair band caught on Ike's door after pulling that prank; then he whacks her over the head with his Trainer, followed by a Daein attack. If that weren't enough, her Boss had to carry her back to safety AGAIN. At this rate he was gonna get more kills than she was! Mia was determined not to let him win at anything anymore.

Oh, and the unconscious girl with the orchid hair. Almost forgot that important little detail. "RHYS!! Hey, Rhys, get your behind over her!" Mia yelled, and Rhys came scurrying over, Heal staff in hand. "Get her to a safe spot, will ya? And YES I'm fine. F. I. N. E. Now, shoo!" Gawd, that priest can be annoying sometimes…banishing that thought from her mind, Mia turned back down the alley and arrived in the nick of time to take a couple of Ike's kills. Turning around briefly, she smirked and poked Ike between his eyes. "C'mon Boss. Loosing your touch already?"

---Ike's POV---

After Mia had returned, taking down the remaining handful of enemies on this side of the fort had been a heckuva lot easier than when she was unconscious. Actually…maybe not, if you take into consideration that said myrmidon kept sticking her tongue out at you whenever she dealt the final blow to someone and not you. Strange, very strange. However, his primary concern was the sheer number of reinforcements the Daeins had. For every soldier they cut down, another would take his place. And this was after Boyd had bashed their leader's head in with a Hammer!

As Ike kicked a soldier down the stairs, he heard heavy footsteps behind him. Way too heavy to be Mia's. Instinctively jumping straight up, he managed to avoid being impaled from behind. Without warning, a lightning bolt fried the poor lancer, quickly followed by his partner. Glancing behind him, he saw Ilyana grasping an Elthunder tome. Wait. Where's Mia? His mental question was immediately answered when said girl went back-to-back with him. Looking around, he noticed for the first time that the trio (Ilyana, Mia, and himself) was surrounded by massive amounts of reinforcements.

An exhausted Mia voiced his concerns, "B…Boss? Just how many are there?" She craned her head back to look him in the eyes, and that cheery glimmer that had been there was all but gone, replaced by desperation and a bitter stubbornness to survive.

"I…don't know." As much as Ike hated to admit it, they were loosing…and he didn't see any Gallians coming to help them. Oscar had taken a spear to the shoulder, Boyd had run fresh out of hand axes and his Steel Axe wasn't in the best condition, Titania's horse was injured, Soren's Elwind tome had been rendered useless by an arrow (forcing him to use his less powerful Wind tome), and Rhys was getting exhausted from the strain of healing so many injuries. Ilyana was the only one who was fighting at full strength, and she was sick! The situation looked bleak. Damn. No choice but to…

"Mercenaries!! Retreat into the fort! Hold the door!" Ike charged a couple of injured enemy fighters, cut them down, and fended off the rest until both Mia and Ilyana had gotten past him and to safety before running away himself. Turning the corner, he found Soren hastily getting the mercenaries to form a box around the entrance to the fort. Taking his own position, he issued his own orders. "Titania, Soren, Boyd! Form a human wall with me! Everyone else, rest for a bit inside! Rhys, grab us some more vulnerarys from Aimee and stop using your heal staff, you'll exhaust yourself soon."

Oscar stepped up, clutching his wounded arm. "I'll help defend as well. It's only my left arm, and I am right handed." Ike pondered this for a moment, and then nodded.

"Sure, just be careful about that shoulder. Hurry it up. They'll be here soon." As if it were the will of the goddess, the Daein soldiers appeared en masse right as Ike finished his sentence. As Ike moved towards his post, a shaky hand grabbed his cape.

"Boss…" Looking down, he saw Mia collapsed against the entrance, pointing at her knapsack. Kneeling down, he opened it and found a vulnerary. Assuming she wanted to drink it, Ike handed the bottle over to the injured girl. To his surprise, Mia carefully shook her head, and pressed the medicine back into Ike's hands before shakily handing her Slim Sword over as well. Glancing at the two objects now in his hands, Ike then looked at Mia, silently demanding an explanation. In a sudden burst of strength, Mia pulled Ike's ear towards her, and whispered…

'Kill some of the bastards for me.'

…before her hand went limp, and it was all she could do but stay conscious. Ike, now knowing her enough that she'd never want to loose to him, knew the significance behind those words. Patting Mia on the head, he sheathed his Regal Sword, pulled out the borrowed Slim Sword, and charged into the fray awaiting him.

Behind him, Mia rolled her head so that she could view the desperate battle between the remaining 5 mercenaries and a whole regiment of Daein troops. Bolstered by desperation and the feral instinct to survive, the minority was putting up a helluva fight, felling 4 Daeins for every injury they took…but it was only a matter of time. Smiling sadly to herself, she sighed painfully and thought about the company. From where she lay, it seemed that her Boss was bathed in a brilliant white light. Whether it was just her or not, she didn't care. Ike, huh…what a guy...my rival...?...just a few days, and he and Mist are…almost like…family…screw rivalry...if only fate…would allow me…to…survive this…I'd follow him anywhere…e…everywhere…f…for... And she passed out.

---20 Minutes Later---

Ike's POV

Ike grunted as yet another lance pierced his side. Spinning away, he slit the throat of the soldier. Looking around, he saw Titania slumped against the wall, unable to continue fighting. Boyd's axes had all broken, and he was throwing whatever weapons, armor, and objects in general he could find at the incoming Daeins. Rolf had the same idea, and was sitting on the top of the fort, tossing bricks onto the heads of their enemies. Oscar had been forced off his horse, and was getting cornered by two myrmidons and a fighter. Soren was limping around, painfully pushing bodies into heaps to slow the enemy advance.

Chancing a glance back into the fort's entrance, he was relieved that not a single Daein had made it that far. However, the two things that had nabbed his attention was Rhys desperately motioning with his arms and an empty vulnerary bottle – they had run out, and Mia's prone form and the trickle of blood dripping down from the corner of his mouth. Assuming they made it out of this mess alive, he'd have to thank her. Her Slim Sword was light, easy to handle, and very sharp, effectively allowing Ike to accurately hit enemy vital points with minimal effort required. Even so, it was coming close to breaking. I…guess I'll have to buy her a new one…ugh! He grunted as an arrow grazed his cheek, and he deflected another with his borrowed sword, watching as Boyd lifted up a dead armor knight's chest plate and chucked it at the archer with a great roar (not literally). That is, if we survive this hell hole…(Possible paragraph break) Ike was snapped out of his reverie as he heard a weak "Boss!" and dropped to the ground to avoid decapitation by blade. Bringing his sword up to parry, he tripped over a carcass and would've died if not for Rolf's now deadly aim with dropping heavy objects onto people. With a sickening thud, the Daein myrmidon dropped like a rock, no pun intended. Hearing someone call his name, Ike turned and to his chagrin, saw Mist running out to his side, supporting a now conscious Mia with her shoulders. "Mist?! Mia?! What are you two doing?! You're not supposed to be out here!!"

"We don't care, Ike!!" Mist hollered back. Ike was taken aback; this was the first time Mist had been so angry. Suddenly, her face fell. "There's no way we can escape! This is it, isn't it? We're all going to die here, aren't we?"

What? "Don't be an idiot! I'm going to get as many of us out of here alive as I can, starting with you and Rolf. Once you're safe, go straight to the palace and stay with Princess Elincia. Take Rhys, Mia, the merchants, and whoever else is injured…Titania and Soren…with you."

"No! I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here with everyone! I'm staying with you!" Mist was serious.

"But…"

"She's not the only one…urgh…" Mia interrupted, trying to stand by herself. Stumbling forward, she almost fell into Ike and gently took her sword back from Ike. Looking up into his eyes, she smirked and said, "I'll be having that back now, Boss."

"You see, Brother? We're not leaving!" Mist cried out, tears welling up in her eyes. "As long as I'm with you, I'm not afraid to die. We'll see Mother and Father. We'll all be together again. So, please... Stop telling me to leave you. I can't. I can't leave any of you again. All right?" Mia nodded her agreement and stood next to Mist. Why do girls have to be so stubborn…

"…All right. Don't leave my side, Mist. Mia, help Soren pile those bodies into a wall." Mia immediately turned and hobbled over to Soren. Mist merely hugged Ike's arm, giving him a silent thanks. "Just one thing," Ike added. Mist's ears perked up.

"What?" She asked.

"You're not going to see Mother just yet. I'm not going to let you die. I gave Father my word." With that, he spun, kicked a soldier trying to sneak up on him, and ran him through, putting a period onto his sentence.

---5 Minutes Later---

Ike and Mia were the last of the mercenaries still standing. Back to back, they stood their ground in front of the entrance to the fort, with Mist standing between them and the door. The duo was completely surrounded on three sides by masses upon masses of Daein reinforcements, and all the other mercenaries were currently inside recuperating. Even Rolf had abandoned his rock throwing to help the injured. To top it off, Ike' left arm was useless at this point, thanks to the two arrows sticking out of it, and Mia, though unscathed, was exhausted to the point of nearly blacking out several times. Unexpectedly, the Daein soldiers backed off, revealing their second-in-command. The large armor knight towered above the two teens, and stared down at them. "So few soldiers, and yet you managed to defeat our general? You have fought well. But it all ends here. Prepare to die!" As he raised his lance, Ike rushed forwards, swinging his Regal Sword in a heavy swing. The knight punched Ike square in the gut before Ike's sword had a chance to touch his armor. Coughing up blood, Ike was sent flying back.

Mia gasped and ran to his side. "Boss! Hey, Boss!!" Ike groaned and slowly rose back to his feet, only to fall back down to his knees. When Mist came over to his side to tend to his wound, Mia gritted her teeth and grabbed the Regal Sword out of Ike's hands. With a great battle cry, she too charged at the armor knight.

"Hmph…Do you whelps ever learn?" The Daein sneered as he thrust his lance at Mia, believing he had killed the girl with the stroke. However, Mia, having anticipated the move, hopped on top of the lance, ran up its length, and flipped onto his shoulders. "What?!" Smirking, Mia swung a heavy blow at his neck.

Nothing happened.

From Ike's point of view, it looked as if Mia had stopped her swing. In reality, she had not the strength to cut all the way down through the armor; the blade had been stopped by the armor just centimeters from the soldier's throat. Gritting her teeth, Mia barely whispered a '…damn…' before being thrown off of the knight's shoulders and landing on her side next to Ike. She turned her head slowly over and faced Ike, and for some odd reason, she was smiling, though her eyes were watery. "It was an honor serving under you, Ike." Wait…she called me by name? "The past few days were the best I've ever had. Mist, Ike. Thank you."

Ike smiled back and ruffled Mia's hair, perhaps for the last time. Over the past few days, she had become something of another little sister to him. "You're welcome." He put his arms around both Mist and Mia, and the trio closed their eyes, waiting for the end.

But Ike had a plan. Once the Daein started his stab…he would get Mia and Mist out of there, alert Titania to use the last-ditch plan they, along with Soren, had formulated. The timing is everything…timing… he thought as he closed his eyes and waited for the pain.

Mission clock: 54:32:39, Objective: Find & Rescue. Standing orders remain. Engage if necessary. No New Messages.

A tall, cloaked man looked up from a glowing gadget in his hand to the scene unfolding in front of him and sighed. He had watched the entire battle from his hiding spot in the tree, and was impressed by the mercenaries. They reminded him of his friends and their little band from not too long ago (to him, at least), and as he watched, the large man in the black armor drew his spear back to deliver the finishing blow. Glancing once more at the glowing object, he sighed again. There was more than enough time to deal with this and still find his objective. It was troublesome, especially in this world that didn't have the same technology as where he came from, but he might be able to get some information of out this. Drawing out a strange looking object from his belt– the place where he held it was curved, and had a small metal part sticking out the bottom, and the rest were three pipe-like objects pointing outwards. Aiming the curious contraption at the black man, he fired.

BANG

Ike's eyes flew open, and looked around. He saw that the two girls were doing the same, and in fact, they were all wondering at the same time, What was that?! And in the same moment, they all looked towards the Daein solder, and what they saw would be imbedded in their memories forever.

The man was just standing there. Just…standing, with his lance just inches away from Ike's chest. He wasn't moving, not one bit. Soundlessly, he toppled over, just like how a statue would if you pushed hard enough. With a resonating thud, the man's body hit the ground, and there was silence.

Just silence.

And that silence was soon broken by a light tap of someone behind them. Spinning around, Ike grabbed his sword out of Mia's hands and stumbled into a defensive position. Once again, the sight he beheld would become a tenacious memory.

A tall, very tall man stood, with long black hair down around his shoulders. Upon his head he wore a red headband, to match his glowing blood-red eyes. A red cloak with several buckles rested upon his shoulders, covering black clothes. A belt with several objects strapped to it adorned his waist. He wore a strange golden gauntlet/claw thing on his left hand, and he had matching shoes. Oh, they were strange shoes, to match the strange person, as they were sharp and pointed. What caught his interest the most was the strange cylindrical object with a curved…hilt, if you could call it one...wait, make that three cylindrical objects on a single hilt. The weapon didn't seem to have a blade, nor was it a bow or magical device. With a quiet humph, he bent his knees and jumped.

By jump, we mean JUMP. He literally flew from where he stood to the top of the fort. He pointed his strange weapon at a couple of the Daeins and pulled the protruding metal object from the hilt.

BANG BANG

The two Daeins unlucky enough to have the object pointed towards them were thrown backwards as something unseen hit them. To Ike and Mia's trained eyes, they saw three small objects fly from the three cylinders from the weapon each time the mysterious man pulled the metal thing, which was followed by a bang. The combination of strange man, weapon, and abilities succeeded in driving the Daeins away. Looking around, the man seemed satisfied that the enemy was gone. Reaching into his cloak, he pulled out a handful of blue bottles –elixirs, the trio supposed – and jumped down to where Ike, Mist, and Mia were. Ike and Mia got into defensive and offensive stances respectively and Mist hid behind Ike. The mysterious man, seeing their reaction, chucked, and said in a deep baritone voice, "I'm not your enemy. Take these." Then he seemed to realize that he still had his weapon out. Slowly, he put the thing back into its sheath and raised his hands. After carefully placing the elixirs on the ground, he slowly, and carefully said, "They're elixirs. They aren't poisoned. Do not worry. I just want some information." Hearing this, Ike lowered his guard, and motioned for Mia to do so as well, though the two did not sheathe their weapons.

Ike made his move before the other could say anything more. "Stop. First, who are you?"

The man cocked his head to one side before replying, "You should introduce yourself first, no?"

Ike flinched, and Mia giggled slightly, relieved that this person did not appear to be an enemy. She sheathed her sword, and soon Ike did as well. "My name is Ike, commander of the Greil Mercenaries. This…" He patted Mia on the head. "…is Mia, one of my coworkers. And the short one is Mist, my little sister." He received a swift kick to the shin as a reward.

"I see." The man in red dropped his hands to his sides and paced back and forth. "However, I am afraid I cannot give you my name at this point and time, as I am currently on a mission, just like you." Huh? How did he-

"I watched the whole battle, and I listened to the whole battle. The men in black said you had a princess here, but she's already safe, is she not?" The man asked. "No, I am not one of those…Daeins, as they called themselves. It is…my job to notice these things." He added, when Ike grasped the hilt of his weapon again. "I'll get straight to the point.

"Have you seen a tall, blond man, with a strange looking machine that he rides that goes very fast and makes a loud sound? He wields six swords, two at once, one in each hand, or one oversized one with both hands. And his hair is spiky. The man should be wearing all black clothes, and his vest should have a wolf's head emblazoned on his left shoulder."

Ike looked at Mia, who in turn looked at Mist, who looked at her brother. "No, I'm sorry, but I believe none of us have seen him. One of my coworkers would certainly have told me if they saw such an…unusual sight. After all, what you describe is not an everyday occurrence."

The mysterious man sighed, and flipped out the strange object he had looked at earlier. When he opened the thing, the trio he had been talking to gawked. It glowed!! It freaking glowed!! The man tapped some things on the object, and then held it up to his ear. Unexpectedly, he started talking.

"Hello. This is…no, I have not found him." The man looked at Ike, put a finger to his lips to ask for silence, and looked away again when he resumed talking. "I was caught up in a conflict. No, nothing major. I asked around if they saw him…and negative results……..I'm sorry. I'll keep looking. Bye." With that he closed the thing and walked away. Stopping, he turned around and said one last thing. "Take this." He tossed a cylinder to Ike, who caught it warily and examined it. It had two strings on the bottom, color coded for something. "If you ever find the man I told you about, pull the white string. If you need military assistance, pull the red one. The ones with pink bands are my…associates. They will help you." And with that, he jumped off and was gone.

Ike, Mia, and Mist stood there for a while. Finally, Mia broke the silence when she smiled at the siblings and said, "Hell, I'd do anything to jump like that guy!" Breaking the tension, the three laughed, and laughed harder when the rest of the mercenaries charged outside, weapons at the ready, only to find the battle already over, along with three laughing children(2) and a bunch of elixirs. In fact, Mia laughed so hard that she teetered over, bumped into Ike, knocked them both into a wall, and promptly blacked out on his shoulder.

---The Next Day---

Mia's POV

Mia woke up to the sound of laughter and eating. Sitting up, she found herself in her room in the fort. She immediately began wondering how she had gotten there, and the memories of yesterday's battle hit her all at once. Squirming on the bed, Mia managed to calm herself down before she could injure herself. Ahh…the injuries were bad, but recoverable… she thought. But…agh! I acted so…dear goddess, embarrassing in front of Ike!! Ohh…and I think he's my arch rival…not to mention the man I plan on following for the…oh, gosh darn! Mia buried her face in embarrassment. Sure, Ike was the best (and nicest) commander she had ever met, but just thinking of being included in the family structure of the mercenary company was uneasy for her. After all, she could barely remember her mother, and had never met her father. Heck, she didn't even know if she had siblings or not! "Whatever." With that one word said, Mia hopped out of bed and checked herself for injuries.

They were all gone.

Without a trace.

There were no scars, so soreness, no remaining pain, nothing.

What the heck?!

She was going to ask Ike about this. Now.
Opening the door to her room, she made her way down to the appointed mess hall just as Soren exited. She sidled around him and entered the hall. Finding that Ike was eating, she grabbed her food with a smile from Oscar and literally skipped down to where Ike was sitting and promptly sat down next to him, unnoticed until she nearly yelled into his ear, "Boss! Morning!"

Ike choked on his food, and was coughing for a good minute before recovering. "Good morning. Are you ready to go?"

Mia smiled and stretched before digging into her breakfast. "All set! It doesn't matter how late I go to sleep, I'm always awake before the sun rises! I can leave whenever!"

"…it's around 7 o'clock, Mia." The said girl's smile faltered a little, and then the teen did a face-palm. Doh. "...Um, I'm sorry. You know, for everything that's happened. It's all so sudden."

Mia froze. She hadn't been expecting that. "Oh, it's…nothing. But it's been rough on you, hasn't it?"

"I could say the same to you. It can't have been easy joining a band of wanted mercenaries and fighting every day." Seeing Mia shrug this off, Ike decided to take a bit of revenge from the Trainer sword incident. "And it must have been pretty hard trying to keep your weight constant…you were pretty heavy, a couple days ago." Mia took a while to process this in, and when she did her face turned bright red. Her hair hiding her eyes (but not her blush), she took her sheathed sword and smacked her Boss over the head with it.

"Oh, it's not so bad...not the weight thing." Mia replied, facing away from Ike, pouting.

Ike rubbed his head, then stood up, walked in front of Mia, and looked her in the eyes. "You were forced to join us by the whims of fate, not by choice. I know my father said you had a debt to repay, but he's not here anymore. If you want to leave, I won't stop you."

…wow. Hard question. Mia thought. I can't really…tell him that he's my rival…but I do wanna tell him that I'll follow him… "Um... Er... Aaaaah!"

"Aaah! What!?" Mia's random outburst apparently scared the living daylights out of Ike, and Boyd, who had walked in on the conversation, fell over laughing, and promptly received a chair to the face.

Mia, deciding to ignore the little Boyd incident, tried to put her thoughts into words. "Oooh! Times... Times like this... I never have any idea of what I'm supposed to say. None! Uh, darn! Hold on." Umm…well, here goes nothing! "Yesterday...in the middle of that giant mess, you didn't give up, Boss. And I knew. That is how a true man lives! So now I have to follow you. You see?"

Ike pondered this for a second, and then hesitantly responded. "I...think so."

Mia let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "That's my story, Boss. So do me a favor and don't tell me to get lost. I'm good to have around. You'll see!" With that she jumped up and saluted, only to hit herself in the eye.

Ike chucked at the sight before saying, "I have seen. And if that's how you feel, I guess I understand. I'm counting on you. Don't let me down, since you're watching my back from now on."

Mia nearly jumped for joy when she heard that. Promoted to sidekick of the Ike! Wow…that's gotta be a new verb or something…Ike… "Never! I wouldn't know how! And same goes to you, Boss!" And with that, Mia grabbed her now empty plate, gave it to Oscar, and all but skipped out of the hall. Oh. Right. Grabbing the door frame, the myrmidon pulled herself back into the room. "By the way, how did my wounds just…disappear?"

Ike stopped putting his plate away, and turned around. He motioned for Mia to come closer, and she complied. Whispering in her ear, he said, 'I really don't know. Let's keep that mysterious man between you, me, and Mist, okay?' Mia nodded. 'It was those elixirs…Rhys had healed everyone else up via a Heal staff, so me and you were the only ones to use those elixirs. I have no idea what was in them, but we're keeping them.'

Mia whispered back, 'What about that tube thing he tossed you? It looks too small to hold arrows or anything like that.'

'Hmm. Not sure. Oh well, that tall strange guy helped us, and that's that.'

'Ehh…oh well. You're the Boss. But, boy, was he huge…'

"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! HAHAHA!!" Oh god. Boyd had just woken up and had heard the last comment somehow. Luckily, he was silenced as another chair made its way into his face, and this time it wasn't Ike that had thrown it. Looking around to see who had beaten him to bashing Boyd, he found Mia with a wide grin on her face.

"Hey, what do you know? That is pretty fun." Mia gave Ike a salute before dusting her hands off and stepping over Boyd's prone form. Again.

"Where'd you learn that from?" Ike questioned, with an eye brow raised.

Mia stopped in her tracks, and turned around with a sly grin on her face. "From you. That reminds me, you wanna be sparring partners? We could learn from each other."

Ike responded by motioning for Mia to stay put, jogging off, and returned with his Trainer practice swords. Passing one to his sparring mate, he led the way outside. "I hope Lethe and Mordecai won't mind us being a little late, then."

"Who?"

Ike stopped and turned around. "They're the laguz sent by the Gallian king who arrived just after you passed out." Mia mouthed an Ohh, and Ike resumed walking.

Mia quickly followed him. "You better not hold back. I've gotten better; this time I'll beat you, Boss!" With that, she stuck her tongue at Ike and rushed outside ahead of him. Sighing, her Boss followed suit.

Now outside, the two got into their dueling stances. "Not if I can help it. You're not the only one." And with that, the duo clashed in an epic battle of blades, with one glad to have a new friend and the other euphoric that fate had listened to her wish and answered.

1) I'm assuming the area where the mercenaries start off is the central courtyard.

2) People who are 15 and 16 are children…right?

There we go. The delay results from the website's failure to deal with the login issue last week quickly enough (or was it the week before? I forget...), Frog-Lizard having academic issues - not as in having bad grades, just a bust week, and my own tons of projects and experiments.

Once again, a pairing to the person who guesses the cameo character =P, though it is kinda obvious, since I took quite a while describing him (about 20 minutes, 5 of which was research into his descriptions…ha ha), and yet another pairing to the one who gets the person he's looking for (yes, incentives for you all to review). Two one-shot suggestions for the brief stay in the Gallian capital (consisting of 3 short one-shots, followed by the story resuming, requests must be feasible) to the one who gets who the cameo is talking to via his object.

Mia's OOC-ness during the battle is due to the fact that it was a loosing battle, one which barely allowed any time for her quirky and happy attitude towards life. The next few battles, where the Mercenaries and company are on the offensive, will have Mia back in character and getting happier, and also her past will start to be revealed soon. R&R!

Geez…13 pages on Microsoft Word…NOT DOUBLE SPACED…more than 7,000 words for the story (which excludes the A/N's)…took a helluva long time to write half of the darn thing (6 hours?), plus maybe 1 hour of editing, as of 5:06 PM, JST.

Don't forget to check out me and Solstone's (though the moderator request doesn't seem to work…) new IkexMia community and forum!! Write more IkexMia fics if you like them!!