Blind Eyes and Deaf Ears
Disclaimer: I do not own the Fire Emblem franchise. As you all already know.
Author's Note: This is a fiction which uses the Janaff/Ulki friendship with a slight hint of Reyson. This is for Ru-kujaku and I hope that you all enjoy it and a review would be just great.
Janaff hovered high in the morning sky, all was calm and peaceful as the hawk laguz drifted through the air much like the clouds that surrounded him on almost all sides. From his vantage point Janaff could see just about everything below. He could see Ranulf in his beast form coming out of his tent, orange material between his claws. He could see ever-smiling Oscar walking out of the food tent and stretching out his limbs. He could see the scowling Shinon, with Leonardo and Rolf, shooting the wooden targets with his bow and arrow flawlessly, bullseye after bullseye. He could see the beautiful blue-haired Lucia walking with her brother Geoffrey as they followed Queen Elincia and the Heron Princess, Leanne as they all walked through the camp.
With a content sigh he closed his eyes, allowing the blissfulness of his own blindness sweep over him. He often enjoyed these moments to himself, these moments where he didn't have to watch and look at everything, where he didn't have to be the king's eyes. He pitied Ulki at times who wasn't able to switch off his ability as easily. Ulki couldn't just shut his ears and get lost in the brilliance that is ignorance. But then again maybe Ulki didn't have to.
Lost in his daze Janaff hardly noticed Ulki as he approached, only opening his eyes when he could he the beats of Ulki's wings as the taller male approached him.
"Hey Ulki," Janaff greeted cheerfully as he spun his body around and started to drift towards him.
"Hi Janaff," Ulki replied in his own cheerful voice that sounded only slightly lighter than his usual voice.
"What brings you up here?" Janaff asked lazily, gesturing around at the clouds and sky.
"The same reason you're up here," Ulki answered. "Peace and quiet."
Janaff grew a small smile, "Yeah… So I've talked to the Beorc again lately. Just like three years ago. They haven't changed."
"Not really, no."
"That horse riding Beorc… Oscar," Janaff chuckled to himself. "He's still a clueless little child who becomes so confused around me."
"I see… I enjoy their company," Ulki replied sombrely, there was no doubt that he was completely serious.
"If you were to say that three years ago, I would have called you insane," Janaff laughed. "But now, it's great to see all these guys again. I don't even mind the new faces."
Ulki nodded in agreement and the two hawk men floated around for a while, enjoying the breeze that the wind had. The thermal currents were warm beneath their wings and made their flying all the easier for them to maintain without having to go down to the ground and land for rest.
"RANULF!" Sothe's voice shouted out through the camp and continued up high until it reached the two hawks.
Janaff winced at the loud voice as Ulki clutched his head in pain as his flying became shaky and his beat jumbled.
"Too loud for you Janaff?" Janaff half joked to Ulki before his eyes widened in shock.
The darker winged laguz fluttered around in the air a bit uncontrollably before he begun to lose height and dropped down lower and lower
"Ulki?" Janaff called out worryingly.
Instead of replying, Ulki just continued to drop in height at a greater speed. Fearing for his friend's life Janaff sped towards his falling friend until the two of them were level. He tried grabbing onto Ulki's arm but he was shocked when a force drove into him. Janaff looked down to see Ulki's fist against his stomach, a deliberate punch that had landed there.
"U-Ulki?" Janaff spluttered as he stared at Ulki in fear.
Ulki looked at Janaff, his eyes full of apology as he retracted his arm. The look then changed into one of pur confusion before it returned to the previous one of pain that he wore.
"Oh goddess. AAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH H!" Ulki cried out as he shifted into his bird form.
"What? Oh no-" Janaff started as he realised the answer to what was happening but was cut off as Ulki in his bird form came hurtling at him.
Janaff closed his wings and began to drop, just being able to dodge the fast Ulki who charged over him. Shifting to his bird form, Janaff dove down to the ground before pulling out and soaring over the ground as the dark figure of Ulki followed him closely. Unbeknownst to Janaff, Ulki was coming up fast and was soon right above the smaller hawk. Janaff could only let out a squawk of pain as Ulki's talons scraped across his back. Janaff turned his body quickly so that he could fight back, if not just to push Ulki away but was stopped as one of Ulki's claws struck his face.
Involuntarily, Janaff reverted back into his more human form as he crashed to the ground. He lay face down on the ground as he heard Ulki land beside him, still in beast form.
"U-Ulki… Ulki stop," Janaff pleaded with his friend as he began to approach him, both Janaff and Ulki's breath heavy and ragged, Janaff's due to the pain and Ulki's due to something unknown.
Ulki hesitated for a moment, his large bird body beginning to shift back into his usual form.
"Janaff…" Ulki groaned in pain and fear of himself.
In another shout of pain Ulki clutched his head as he begun to shift back into the bird form. Janaff could only crawl across the grassy ground, unable to see where hw was going due to being unable to open his eyes and see which direction he was heading.
"Ul-Ulki please…stop," Janaff pleaded with his friend before he yelled out in pain as one of Ulki's talons landed on his back and raked through his flesh.
Janaff huffed and groaned in pain as he could only cry out in pain before he slipped off into blackness, leaving himself defenceless against the mad Ulki. He couldn't hear the sound of four people approaching them, three Beorc and one Laguz.
Janaff waked up with a shock, it was dark and he couldn't see a thing. He rose his hand to feel his face but was only met with the feeling of a bandage wrapped around his eyes. In the distance he could hear singing, the beautiful singing of the heron clan. He could easily distinguish the sound of Reyson's voice singing the ancient language along with his brother and sister. They were singing the Galdr of Rebirth for some reason that Janaff couldn't figure out. He brought himself into a sitting position, ignoring the pain in his back and feeling around the bed he laid on so that he could get his bearings.
"You're awake," a woman's voice stated from his left, it was a familiar voice one that belonged to…
"Lucia?" Janaff asked, turning his head towards the source of the woman's voice.
"Um… No, it's Laura…" Laura answered, her tone seeming sad.
"Laura? Oh, the cleric girl," Janaff sighed. "Sorry, I guess you kinda sound like Lucia…"
"She was here earlier with Leanne but they had to go…" the cleric answered.
Janaff nodded in reply before he suddenly realised what was going on.
"Ulki!" Janaff shouted. "Where's Ulki? Is he ok?"
"Oh… well the thing is…" Laura started before stopping and doing something that Janaff couldn't see due to the bandage.
"He's going under restoration," another female's voice finished for Laura from the entrance of the medic tent.
"Ah. Lucia, you're here at last…" Janaff laughed, leaning into the back of the bed.
"At last?" the blue haired woman asked confused at Janaff's greeting.
"Never mind… what do you mean 'restoration'?" Janaff asked, confused.
"Well… the thing is Janaff…" Laura started to explain.
"Ulki has become a feral one," Lucia stated, dead serious.
Janaff gasped in shock and started to find his feet, rising from the bed and feeling around himself so that he could make his way to where the singing came from.
"That's impossible. Izuka has been gone for ages. How could Ulki even…?" Janaff asked as he moved slowly through the tent, finally being stopped as Lucia grabbed onto his arm. "Help me get this bandage off, will you?"
"That isn't a good idea Janaff," Laura piped up while Janaff started to undo the bandage he was wrapped in.
Even as he took off the bandage, his view didn't change. With the bandage fully removed his eyes only met with darkness. Confused, Janaff looked around, trying to find some sort of light source. Finally he raised his hand to his face and felt around his eyes, feeling traces of six scars running over the top of his face and over his eyes.
"Oh…" Janaff stated as he realised what had happened to him.
"We tried our best with our healing magic, Janaff," Laura stated. "Even with the combined effort of Rhys, Elincia, Mist, myself and Micaiah's Sacrifice, we were only able to save your wings, but not your eyes. I'm so sorry."
The feeling of darkness spread over Janaff, adding to the darkness of his vision. He couldn't see… he was completely blind. He was useless and Ulki was lost. He felt completely ashamed and sadness filled him. He could no longer assist his king, Tibarn. He could no longer protect the Heron Prince, his friend, Reyson. He could no longer look upon the faces of his friends, Oscar and Lucia. But he could still do something for his friend Ulki, he could still help him come out of his own darkness.
"Lucia, Laura. Take me to where Ulki is," Janaff requested. "I have to help."
Ulki couldn't think. Darkness filled him and he could only feel the instinct that replaced all his senses. Surrounding him were three herons, each one easy prey to destroy. Around the herons were a number of Beorc who were mere twigs to be snapped between his claws much like the laguz he had attacked earlier…the laguz… he couldn't remember it's name, he couldn't remember his own name. After he had brought that laguz down he was interrupted by two Beorc attacking and restraining him, a blue haired male and a green haired female.
He could only feel himself falling further and further into something he knew he couldn't get back out of and he had stopped fighting it sometime ago. But then the music started, a sweet tune that floated through his ears and surrounded him. It acting like a rope, pulling him out of the darkness and instead filling him with a sort of serenity. The darkness didn't like this however and continued to fight against it, pulling him further down until the two forces made him feel as if he was going to be torn in half. After what seemed like a life time of pain Ulki eventually began to be pulled back down into the darkness, losing the feeling of the calming rope.
"Ulki! Ulki snap out of it!" a familiar voice cried out from near one of the herons.
He recognized the voice belonging to the hawk he attacked earlier. The feral animal within him snarled at its failure to kill the smaller laguz. The voice brought something out of him though, something that could only be described as relief. He could remember the laguz's name now… Janaff. Janaff's voice continued to call out to him, yelling out, almost pleading. Soon enough Janaff's voice was joined by others. Ulki could hear the voices of his Beorc friends, Rhys and Boyd, as well as Boyd's brothers, Rolf and Oscar. He could hear the voice of the medic girl, Laura, along with Lady Lucia. He could hear Queen Elincia with Geoffrey. He could hear the loud booming voice of Tibarn along with the other hawk laguz. He could hear the soft praying of Micaiah in the centre tent, even though it was all the way in the middle of the camp.
Ulki could hear the voices of all the people in the camp, he could hear the animals surrounding it and he could hear the song of the herons. Despite all the voices talking at the same time, they didn't drown out the sound of the Heron's song and instead just seemed to make it louder somehow. He could feel the feral mind inside him getting smaller as the darkness once again continued to retreat until with a gasp he managed to shift back into his more comfortable form and collapse to the ground, unconscious.
Ulki once again awoke to the sound of the Heron's song, but this time it was only being sung by one Heron, Reyson. Opening his eyes he realised that he was lying in the medic tent and as he looked over to his right he could see Reyson singing whilst standing over Janaff. After a while of listening to Reyson sing the song ended and Reyson had to sit on the edge of the bed with Janaff, slightly worn out. Reyson looked over his shoulder to see Ulki watching the two of them and with a smile he stood at sat himself on the other side of the bed, now facing Ulki and Janaff then joined the two of them.
"Janaff… I'm…" Ulki started before he was cut off by the light brown hawk laguz.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry about it, it wasn't even your fault," Janaff replied, waving off Ulki's apology and then bringing up his hands to his eyes. "You see? Cause I do?"
Ulki and Reyson smiled slightly at Janaff's joke, recognizing the extent of his recovery. Ulki opened his mouth to mutter another apology but was cut off by the looks Reyson and Janaff gave him before he could even make a sound. The three friends sat in silence before it was eventually ended by Janaff raising his own question.
"Why… How… Why did you become a Feral One?" Janaff questioned, sounding sad. "I mean, that man, Izuka, was killed by Pelleas. How could he give you the serum?"
Ulki paused, thinking for a moment before he found his answer, "He must have given it to me when we were at the swamp… He must have used a staff that gave the effect or something…"
Janaff nodded, accepting the answer but the two of them soon noticed Reyson shaking his head.
"No. That's not the case I'm afraid. The healers, my siblings and I realised something when we were all taking our turns healing you…" Reyson started to explain.
"What was it?" Ulki asked, obviously curious.
"It wasn't magic, it was the serum. It wasn't administered to you until just recently, within a day or two ago. So that would mean…"
"That someone in the camp gave it to you…" Janaff finished for the other two and sighed in annoyance. "We should go and report this to Tibarn."
"I'll do it," Reyson stated before he turned away and started to head over to where Tibarn was camping. "I know that you two want to go flying. Especially after everything that's happened."
"Thank you," Ulki and Janaff thanked in unison.
As Reyson left the two hawk laguz took off into the night sky, seeing and hearing everything.
