Aww, I guess I couldn't stick to my "try and get this up in two weeks" plan. I tried, though, I really did. For some reason, everything seemed to pile on top of me last week and I've been running around like crazy and giving myself massive headaches.
Oscar: On the bright side, her exams are now finished; which is the only reason why she even had time to get this chapter out.
FireEdge: Hey…
Oscar: What? I didn't mean for it to sound sarcastic.
FireEdge: Right, anyway, this chapter is probably one that I think you've all find rather interesting. I think. In this instalment, Astrid finally finds out—BZZT! (This transmission has been cut off. We apologize for the inconvenience. Have a nice day!)
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.
Defying Fate
Chapter 7
It had been nearly two weeks since Oscar had learnt of Astrid's engagement. A lot had happened since then, too. They had taken over the Daein capital and were now on their way to the Crimean border. After everyone had packed up and finished their preparations, they would march on to the Riven Bridge. Finally, they would once again see their homeland.
Just thinking about seeing his home once again, after nearly a year of travelling and fighting, put Oscar's mind in a wonderful state. However, his heart was still at unease. He just could not put Astrid out of his mind. It seemed that ever since he had talked to her about her fiancé, the noblewoman's face kept creeping back into his head. A disturbing trend, indeed.
Luckily for him, he had not seen her since then. Well, he had passed her by casually in the mornings or afternoon, but ever since they had entered Nevassa, everyone had been too busy to really socialize.
It seemed that Astrid was also occupied with her weapon training. Recently, she had been learning how to wield an axe. Titania had told him that she had approached her with a request to learn how to use one. Ike had recommended her to pick up the axe and to learn from the red-haired paladin—Kieran was too risky of a choice; Ike did not want poor Astrid to be killed. It was a difficult undertaking, but the young man had thought that she was up to the task.
Either way, having almost a week to himself, had led the squinty-eyed mercenary to thinking about his rather sticky situation. During that time, he had made up his mind. He knew that he could no longer deny it, and if he didn't come clean now, it would just cause him even more trouble. Of course, the plan he had produced had no guarantee of ending up nicely.
Wandering about the camp, Oscar soon found the person he was looking for.
"Gatrie!" The addressee glanced up from cleaning his armour and looked at Oscar quizzically.
"Can I help you, Oscar?"
Oscar peeked around briefly to check if there were many people around. He didn't know what would happen next, and he'd prefer it if there wasn't a crowd to witness anything if it did turn for the worse.
"I need to talk to you," the paladin said, returning his gaze to the blond man. The latter stood up and propped his fists on his hips.
"I'm listening."
"… I lied to you—" Oscar started, but a gloved fist punched him squarely on the side of his face.
He staggered back and worked his jaw gingerly, one hand holding it gently. Gatrie's face held an unreadable expression and his fist had returned to its original position. Oscar had suspected that that would happen, just not that soon! The knight hadn't even heard him out! At least his jaw was slack…
"I suppose that you knew what I was going to say, since you were so ready to punch me?" Oscar asked as soon as he was sure that his jaw wasn't broken. He cringed, though, a shot up pain coursing up the side of his face. There was a taste of blood in his mouth.
"Of course. Do you think I'm daft, Oscar? I knew you were lying! You were so persistent about saying you weren't, so I just played along!" Gatrie replied, sitting down again.
Oscar however noticed the too smug expression on his face.
Liar… You just guessed that! Lucky you were right, too. I hope he doesn't do this to everyone.
"Hmm, right, I should've known not to try and deceive you," the paladin said with a grimace. He cringed again; he'd better ask someone to heal him before they had to go to battle.
"Precisely! I'm glad that you came to your senses and admitted it to me. Of course, this doesn't change anything; Astrid will still be mine," Gatrie retorted.
"Shouldn't we let her decide that? She doesn't belong to anyone. Anyway, if you haven't forgotten, she has a fiancé," demanded Oscar, sitting down across from Gatrie.
"I thought that we already went over this? I won't let my beautiful, little Astrid fall into the clutches of this evil man that she obviously doesn't want to be with."
"… Has it ever occurred to you that she might not want to be saved? I talked to her about it, actually. She said that she won't run away from her marriage; she's going to go back and marry this guy after this is all over," Oscar said pointedly.
Gatrie's hand tightened on the cloth that he was using to clean his breastplate. He seemed to be thinking hard about what Oscar had just said.
"Preposterous. She's just saying that to sound brave. That's the way she is. Don't you know anything about women, Oscar? By saying that, she's just telling you that she really wants to be rescued from her fate!" The blond man was greatly reassured by what he said. Oscar wished he could be, too.
"Well, whatever you say, Gatrie. Just… what's going to happen with us now? You're not going to punch me again, are you?"
"Not unless you deserve it. The answer to your first question is simple, too. We are now, once again, rivals for the woman we love!" exclaimed Gatrie, a little too loudly. A few soldiers passing by glanced at the pair of them bizarrely.
Oscar sighed and slapped a hand to his face, only realizing too late that he hit the side that was in pain. He really wasn't going to try and convince Gatrie that they never were 'rivals for love'; he knew that it wouldn't work. Instead, he stood up and walked away while Gatrie continued to ramble on about who-knows-what. It was better if he left now, that way no one would know Gatrie was talking to him.
As Oscar made his way to Rhys' tent, he heard the flapping of wings above him. Glancing upwards, he perceived Janaff flying towards him. The hawk laguz slowed down and dropped in front of the paladin.
"Oscar! What happened to you? I could see that injury from a mile away, and I mean that literally, by the way. Do you need Uncle Janny to put a vulnerary on for you? How did you get it, anyway? Should I go beat up the mean person who did that to you?" Janaff's questions kept coming and coming; Oscar didn't even get a chance to answer them.
"Ah, Janaff? Heeelloo? I'm fine! I'm O-K-A-Y!" the green-haired paladin said loudly.
Really, he had only become good friends with the hawk laguz last week, but whenever Janaff's sharp eyes spotted something wrong with him, he was there.
"Oh, really? Are you sure, though? After all, what would everybody say if I let a youngling walk around injured? What happened, anyway, little one?"
Oscar sighed again. Also, there was the factor that Janaff was convinced that he was a five year-old child. At least it was better than when Janaff had despised him because he had accidentally called him a kid.
"Nothing really. I, er, got from a skirmish with one of the other soldiers. In fact, I was just on my way to see Rhys about it. If it'll make you feel better, you can come along," the twenty-four year-old answered.
"Of course!! If it hurts, you can hold my hand. No worries, I won't tell your friends, I know how you young ones are embarrassed by such things," Janaff exclaimed, falling into stride with the taller man.
The paladin resisted the urge to sigh and smack his head against something. Perhaps listening to Gatrie would've been better…
"Wow, Oscar, what did you do? It looks like someone punched you," Rhys stated as he held his staff up to Oscar's face.
"Well, that would be because someone did, Rhys," he replied. In a few moments, the healing aura of the priest's magic engulfed his jaw. Oscar felt the familiar tingling of the magic mending his wounds.
"Why's that? Who punched you?" the other man asked, lowering his arm as the bluish aura faded.
"Errrr, I'd rather not say… Thanks, though, Rhys." Oscar stood up and turned to the entrance of the tent.
"No problem. Oh, and nice to see you, too, Janaff."
"Likewise, beorc," replied Janaff. "Oh! Oscar, wait for me!"
Janaff dashed out of the tent and quickly caught up to the paladin. He did not say anything for a few minutes, allowing the pair to walk past a large group of soldiers. As soon as they were out of earshot, his mouth opened.
"So, Oscar, are you going to tell me what happened? You know, it's not good for you to keep everything bottled up. If you have a problem, your Unkie Janny will help you."
"Umm, there isn't any problem, Janaff. I just got into a bit of a row with someone. You know how we young people are, always roughhousing," Oscar answered.
"A row? About what?" the other asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about. Can't we just talk about something else?" the paladin demanded, hoping that Janaff would agree to change the subject. The less who knew about his predicament, the better.
"Weeeellll, if that's what you want. Let's see… Why don't you tell me about that female beorc you seem to be smitten with?" Janaff inquired innocently.
"Wh-What?!" cried Oscar, whirling on Janaff with a flushed face. "What are you talking about?"
"Come now! I'm the King's eyes! I see many things. Really, it wasn't that hard to figure out, anyway. You keep company with her quite a lot; though I do think you're a little bit young to think about mates…" The hawk cupped his chin thoughtfully.
Oscar turned a deeper shade of red. How in the world did Janaff know that he hung out with Astrid? He had only met Janaff about a week ago; he hadn't really seen Astrid since then! Why was the laguz asking him about this, anyway?!
"Isn't it rather rude to spy on people like that, Janaff?" Oscar asked, weaselling around the direct subject.
"Spying?!" exclaimed Janaff. "Despicable! I do not spy on people—well, unless the King asks me to. I simply enjoy flying in the dusk sky. It's not my fault that these superb eyes of mine accidentally see things. For the entire time that I've been here, I've spotted you and that she-beorc lounging around together. I simply assumed you were attracted to her; after all, isn't that what you beorcs do when you're after a mate? Spend time with them alone?"
"N-No! NO! That is certainly not what beorcs do! Sure, that's one ways of-of going after a mate, but not everyone does that! People who are simply friends could still keep company with each other with no strings attached," Oscar explained, managing to calm his somewhat hysterical voice by the end of his explanation.
Okay, I'm calm. Janaff just doesn't understand beorcs, it was all a misinterpretation… If I act indifferent, he'll move away from the subject and I'll be fine, Oscar thought to himself. However, another part of him spoke up. It was asking him why he was so frantic to hide his feelings, since he had, obviously, accepted them; that punch to face wasn't for nothing!
"Oscar? Yoo-hoo!" Janaff waved a hand in front of Oscar's face. "Are you sure you don't need to see that healer again? Really, you youngsters need to control yourselves more; you get excited too fast and end up exhausted or asleep on your feet."
"Hmm? Oh, sorry! I'm fine, I was just thinking," replied the green-haired beorc as he resurfaced from his inner monologue.
"About that female?"
"NO!" Oscar answered, just a little too fast to avoid suspicion. "Anyway, shouldn't we go get ready? We're marching out soon."
"Why, I do think you're right! I'm off then. See you later, Oscar." Janaff flapped his wings a few times before he began to lift off the ground. Before he took off, he called down to the beorc: "She seems like a nice person. You have my approval!"
"Darn it, Janaff!!" the paladin exclaimed as the hawk flew away swiftly.
Janaff sighed happily as he floated through the chilly air. The sun was low on the horizon and there was a soft breeze. How glad he was that he could fly! Really, how did beorcs cope with their inability to soar through the skies? What boring and unbearable lives they must lead.
As the hawk laguz passed the perimeter of the army's camp, he spotted a lone figure standing by its outskirts. Was it an enemy? Focusing in on it, he easily identified who the form was.
Oh! It's the she-beorc that Oscar's fond of. Ah, she seems to be alone today. Hmm, this could be a good time to look her over. I did give him my approval since everyone in the camp speaks highly of her, but it wouldn't hurt to get some personal experience.
Janaff tilted his body towards the ground and let his body pick up speed as he hurtled downwards. When he was just above the height of the treetops, he levelled out skilfully and began to decelerate slowly. He flapped his wings loudly as he neared Astrid, letting their sounds warn the paladin as to not startle her.
The noblewoman turned around and watched as the laguz neared her. Janaff hovered several feet above the ground and gradually descended, transforming to his beorc form as he touched down.
"Oh, good evening to you, good sir. I believe that your name is Janaff? What brings you out here?" Astrid inquired curiously, leaning her iron axe against the nearby tree. She had just been practising when she had perceived the hawk coming towards her.
"Well, you're a very polite beorc! That's good to know! You even got my name right, and we haven't even met before!" Janaff cried in delight. "I'm afraid that I don't know your name, though. There's just too many of you beorc."
"My name is Astrid. Pleased to make your acquaintance. So, um, did you need something from me?" she asked, unable to contain herself. It wasn't everyday that one of the army's laguz came up to her out of the blue.
"Need something? Oh no, I simply wanted to meet you in person!" Janaff replied with a smile. His eyes flickered momentarily to the axe against the tree; so, she was dedicated, too.
"Might I ask why?" the dark-haired paladin probed.
"Errmm…" the hawk looked away from her a moment, a hand cupping his chin in thought. Oh dear, what do I say? Oscar will be furious if I told him of his interest in her. But what am I supposed to tell her? Oh! Here's an idea!
"I heard about you from Os—I mean, everyone. They were good things, though. So, I wanted to meet you myself. Hahaha… hah…"
"Um, thank you…" Astrid replied with a blush. Did people actually talk about her? Also, what was that word that the laguz had fumbled? She was almost sure that it was a name.
"So, Astrid, I know we just met and all, and that this is a rather personal question to ask… But, do you have your eye on anyone in this army?" Janaff ventured.
The hawk knew that he was overstepping quite a bit, but he wanted to know if this girl returned Oscar's feelings. After all, if she didn't, he could warn Oscar and save him some heartbreak. He knew how much it hurt to be rejected and he didn't want the poor fellow to get hurt. What kind of adoptive uncle would he be if he didn't look out for his 'nephew'?
"E-Excuse me?" she exclaimed, flushing profusely. "Indeed that is a personal question! Wh-Why do you want to know?"
"My apologies… You don't have to tell me, if you're uncomfortable about it. Maybe you don't like anyone, at all. It's just that… well, it's confidential, but I know someone that might just admire you," the laguz answered secretively with a wink.
"Wh-What? Really?" Astrid asked, both surprised and flattered.
"Yes! He's a very nice person, too, if you decide to consider him. Of course, I can't tell you who he is."
The paladin smiled. It seemed that the hawk wanted to meet her in order to help his friend. That was so sweet of him. However, reality struck her and her smile faded.
"Oh… Ah, I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm already engaged to someone. I'm very flattered, really, but could you tell your friend that I have a fiancé?" she said sadly.
"A fiancé?! You look so young! Your parents have already chosen a mate for you?! I just don't understand you beorc," Janaff exclaimed.
"I'm sorry… It's customary for beorc nobles to arrange their children's marriages. That way, they maintain their dignity and status. Usually, it helps them financially, also," added the noblewoman.
"What if you don't like your future mate? Can't you decide if you want to marry him or not?" Janaff asked. Oh, poor, little Oscar! He'll be heartbroken!
"… No, the children have no say in it. We must obey our parents and marry whomever they chose."
"Ridiculous! What cruel parents would do that to a child?! Forcing them to live the rest of their lives with someone they have no love for! Just for such superficial things like gold and status! Like the no-good crows! Bah! Your Beorc traditions are barbaric!" The laguz's wings flexed in vexation and he wrinkled his nose in disgust.
Relaxing his body, Janaff frowned and contemplated what he should do. How would Oscar react to this? He certainly can't know that he had approached Astrid… Maybe he'd just bring it up in conversation casually.
"Pardon me, Janaff? Are you all right?" Astrid's voice brought his attention back to reality.
"Oh yes, I forgot that you were there. I have much to think about; I'll take my leave of you. It was nice to meet you, Astrid. Good night." Janaff jumped into the air and flapped his wings a few times before transforming and gliding away.
"Ah… good night."
Interesting chapter I've got here. I'm not too sure what to make of it, hopefully you all can tell me instead.
Oscar: Oh no, I don't want to see what Janaff might do next…
FireEdge: Sorry Oscar, dished you out quite a bit of punishment this chapter. Haha. Oh yeah, about Janaff. I hope I kept him IC. It was a little hard to write him, but I just had to include him in this story somehow. Oh, and if you don't get the Uncle Janny thing, go read Oscar and Janaff's supports. NOW! They are the funniest things ever; you're missing out if you haven't seen them yet.
Anyway, that's all for today. Unfortunately, the next update might be late (again), since my school's production will be put on at the end of February. I'll be really busy until after that, but I'll try my best. See you next time!
--FireEdge--
