Hey guys, sorry this chapter was a little late, but no worries. I think you'll enjoy it!
Chapter 9
"Greil? But you're Ike's father! Everyone says you died when Ike was in his teens. How can you possibly be back now?" Tarkus sat across from Greil around the fire as Greil sighed heavily in reply.
"How can I explain this?" Greil muttered to himself. "The mastermind behind this whole war came up with some way to magically revive fallen soldiers. I didn't even know who I was at first, I just felt like a lifeless zombie and moved to his every whim. When they started threatening the ones I loved though, that's when I snapped out of it."
"Like amnesia?" I asked. He nodded his head.
"Yes, exactly like that." He replied. Everyone then turned their gaze on me. I knew they were looking for answers.
"And what about you Zelda?" Tarkus started. "What's your real relation to Ike?" I sighed heavily and lowered my gaze.
"I'm his fiancé." I stated. Greil hearing this moved closer to me as a small smile rose to his lips. He looked at my stomach and went to touch it still smiling.
"Then the baby is..."
"Yes, I carry your grandchild." He looked up at me and before I knew it embraced me in a bear hug.
"That's wonderful!" He pulled back and laughed aloud. "Boy does my son know how to pick em!" The others stayed silent during the moment but when all grew silent again. Tarkus drew the attention back to him.
"There's only one problem. We still don't know where Ike is and who the mastermind could be." He stated. "What in the..." Tarkus' eyebrows then furrowed as he sniffed the air taking in deep breaths of the new aroma. It was mere seconds later that Tarkus' broke out into tears hiding his face in his hands. I reacted immediately and placed myself beside him rubbing on his back in a comforting manner. His sobs however didn't die down in the least bit, only grew louder and louder. Martellus, Cyrus and Greil just watched the fire with blank faces. Samus didn't know how to react but locked eye contact with me for an hour at the least. During that time I as well began to smell the scents. The smell of smoke and burning houses filled my lungs. Eventually Tarkus' cries ceased and he was left staring at the fire as well with an angered face carved from unmoving stone. The others began to relax as Tarkus sighed heavily and stood.
"Follow me." He muttered lowly with his cold blank expression. Everyone stood as we began our silent trip following the scent of the fires. It was coming from the village we had just recently visited. The trees began to thin as we all found ourselves crouching behind the bushes in horror. Houses were set ablaze and small pools of blood on the ground led off to the bodies of friends and family of the people. The rebel soldiers had invaded the town with numbers of around three hundred in the least.
"Those bastards..." Tarkus hissed watching as a rebel soldier was dragging off a pleading woman into a house which he shut the door laughing. I turned away and sat on the ground with my back to the bushes. Tarkus looked down at me and sighed heavily. "We can't do this today. The sun is already setting and we aren't prepared to take on these numbers. We'll investigate tomorrow." Everyone nodded their head once and started off back to camp. During the short period of time there, Tarkus gave me a shorter lesson as well as Samus. As the night fell, everyone headed off to sleep early preparing for the investigation tomorrow.
Samus laid quietly awake from her constant tossing and turning. Though she kept her eyes closed and listened to the soothing sounds of the night. The sounds of shuffling and light footsteps however made her curious. Once the sounds faded off towards the entrance of the ruins, she opened her eyes to see Martellus was the only one missing. She sighed and closed her eyes again hoping that he would come back soon. Waiting patiently, he patience began to fade and her worry surface. With these rebels out and about anything could happen. Grunting slightly, she stood up slowly and quietly made her way out of the ruins. A small trail of fresh footprints led off into the woods the opposite direction of the town. She followed them being extra careful not to make any noise. Then suddenly they disappeared. Samus bent down to examine them and jumped at the voices of two rebel soldiers coming this way.
"Samus!" Martellus' low voice came from behind the tree next to her as he pulled her behind the tree with him. Samus' back was against the tree with Martellus' arms pressed against it on both sides of her. She lowered her head and closed her eyes blushing at how close his body was to hers.
"Can you believe it? That damn group of rebels cleared out the fort and killed Commander Isaac. Fredrick even said that Princess Zelda from Ike's letters was the one to kill him!" One of the rebels complained. The other one chuckled once.
"I swear, when I get my hands on that woman..."
"Say, why don't we get back to the town and go get some drinks?"
"Sounds good enough to me." The short conversation ended with the two rebels singing and laughing back to town. Once their footsteps faded, Martellus sighed heavily his warm breath blowing across her face. Samus opened her eyes and looked to realize her face was mere inches from Martellus'. Martellus as well noticed this and cleared his throat backing away. His cheeks were now the brightest red she had ever seen and she knew her's was as well.
"What are you doing out here?" She asked lowly finally swallowing her nerves. His gaze was still averted from her.
"I always get some time out here by myself." He stated with a stutter. She looked up at him with a small smile.
"Do you mind if I join you?" She asked. He replied with the shake of his head.
"N-not at all." Samus and Martellus started walking slowly and silently through the woods. Samus however would unknowingly find herself inching closer and closer. Samus looked at his handsome face from the corner of her eyes. As her eyes kept returning to his lips each time, she blushed and started playing with her blonde hair nervously. As they stopped walking, Samus took a deep breath.
"Martellus," She started blushing. He looked up slowly to meet her gaze with a small smile and a blush. "There's... something I need to tell you." Martellus' eyebrows furrowed at her hesitation. Samus cleared her throat and looked at the ground nervously.
"Samus..." Martellus stepped towards her slightly as Samus looked up again and slowly moved closer to Martellus. She didn't resist what her heart wanted and closed her eyes leaning in for the kiss she longed for. Martellus met her half way and placed both of his hands on each side of her neck bringing his lips to hers in a passionate long kiss. Samus felt her eyes beginning to tear up and threw both of her arms around him pulling his body closer to hers. He understood her desires and moved to the nearest tree pressing her back against it and his body against hers. Their kiss began to deepen as they both lost their selves in each other forgetting about everything else. Martellus pulled back slightly and sighed heavily with a small smile.
"Well," He started with a small laugh. "I guess that's one way to say it." Samus' contented smile widened as she returned her lips to his for another quick kiss. They parted shortly after and tried desperately to catch their breath.
"We should get back to camp." She murmured still smiling. Martellus nodded his head slowly his nerves completely gone now as well as Samus'. With a chuckle, he swooped her up and began to carry her back to the camp kissing her occasionally along the way.
I woke up rather early the next morning to find Cyrus already up and enjoying a fresh cup of tea. He greeted me with a small smile.
"You're up awfully early." He laughed. I stretched and sat down beside him on the stone bench as he offered me a cup of tea.
"I could say the same to you." I replied with a small grin taking the cup of tea. "Have you always been the first up?"
"Sometimes no, most of the time though yes." He stated casually. I heard Samus let out a long yawn and stand with a small smile. When she spotted me though, her smile faded. I looked at her in question as she slowly made her way over to me and sat down.
"What's the matter Samus?" I asked. She sighed heavily.
"Well, I found out how the rebels know about you." She started. "Ike had your letters on him when he was captured." I shook my head.
"I can't believe I never thought of that. That explains how they knew my name was Zelda. That means they know of our baby too."
"I wonder what exactly they want." Cyrus muttered stroking his goatee lightly.
"Wait a minute, how did you find this out?" I asked turning back to Samus with my arms crossed. She smiled sheepishly.
"I was walking though the woods and two rebel soldiers were talking about it." She replied looking away.
"What were you doing walking through the woods at night?" I raised an eyebrow and received a pleading look from her.
"I just needed some fresh air." She replied looking down. I nodded my head slowly as she eyed Martellus with a slight blush. I suppressed a giggle as I then understood exactly what happened. It was soon after that the others had woken up and Tarkus still seemed stuck on giving us another lesson but not before he wanted to explain a short overview. Everyone grabbed a bite to eat as Tarkus had begun to explain.
"Alright, our main focus today is finding any information regarding Ike or other captives the rebel army has hidden away. Even if you have to loot the dead bodies of the rebels, its our only chance of finding info of where Ike might be held. If by chance you are spotted by any single soldier, take him out quickly before he tells the others and be sure to hide the body. Now each of us will be paired up. Cyrus, your with me, Samus your with Martellus and Greil, protect Zelda at all costs." Tarkus stood slowly and motioned for me and Samus to follow him. "We'll have a quick lesson and then it's time to move out."
Thank you everyone for reading. I hope you like the Samus and Martellus pairing. Who expected that? Any show of hands? Anyway, please review and get ready for the battle! Chapter 10 coming soon! :)
