Chapter Ten
"Remind me again why I decided to take on this job?" Ike sighs miserably.
"Because you are more inclined to listen to your feelings rather than my logic," Soren states bluntly.
"Soren…could I ask a favor of you?" Ike asks. "The next time Dr. Ryan's daughter gets kidnapped, remind me to decline his offer to retrieve her. If I agree to it, I give you permission to launch a Blizzard at my head."
"I will keep that in mind," Soren says. "I did all the calculations and, of the 250 gold coins Dr. Ryan gave us for the job, 150 of it had to go for weapon and staff repairs. Here are your ten coins for your salary."
Ike sighs and accepts the ten lousy coins from Soren. For a guy as rich as Dr. Ryan is, he sure is a cheapskate, Ike grumbles in his mind. We go out of our way to rescue his kidnapped daughter, who turns out to be the most spoiled little brat I've ever met, and all he gives us is 250 gold. We get more than that delivering heavy packages for the mail service.
"We've really been getting some low-paying jobs recently," Ike mumbles. Ike knows this is the path he chose. He wants to live humbly, serving people because it's right, not because of the fame. Still, realistically, he has ten mercenaries to feed, not to mention having to keep up with clothing, weapon repairs, and buying new supplies. He wonders how his father ever did it. Then again, my father only had seven of us to deal with. Mia hadn't arrived yet, Mist and Rolf weren't trained to fight, and Soren was gone for a while.
"If things don't pick up around here, we may need to move elsewhere simply to find higher-paying jobs," Soren suggests.
"Elsewhere in Crimea?" Ike asks. Their jobs cover most of the Crimean land. Ike doesn't know of an area where they can't reach.
"I was thinking more along the lines of Daein or Begnion," Soren says. "Daein especially is in need of one."
"I don't know if I could leave Crimea," Ike frowns. "If we were to change our base, I'd try Gallia first."
For a split second, Ike notices Soren's fists clench. Soren has never been fond of Gallia, nor its inhabitants. Being the offspring of a beorc and laguz union, something the laguz society detests, Soren had received an overwhelming and undeserved amount of rejection and negligence from the beast tribe of Gallia. Soren has never been able to fully accept them since.
"We're staying in Crimea for a while," Ike says. "It may just be a slow season. I'm sure it'll pick up soon."
Soren nods, then sighs. "I promised Mist I would teach her how to read a tome," he says.
"I'll offer some prayers to the goddess for you," Ike laughs. Soren nods, then walks away mumbling something incomprehensible to himself.
Ike smiles and shakes his head. The only time Soren ever loosens up, he ends up doing it way too much, which leads to revelations of fear, anger, and sometimes tears as well. Ike wonders how someone can live in those extremes and still maintain their sanity.
Ike decides to step outside for a moment. He feels like he needs a little fresh air, especially after how disappointing today has been. One of the richest men in Crimea paid them one of the lowest salaries they've ever received. Sometimes Ike wonders what makes a man stingy and what makes a man generous. Humble mercenaries can't live off of a stingy paycheck. Their work gets taken for granted so often.
Still, if Ike had kept his lord position three years ago in Crimea, he would've had to deal with folks like Dr. Ryan everyday. He could hardly bear that kind of life - neither could Soren. Listening to the advice of his best friend, Ike resigned his position.
Still, I do wish people would be more generous, he thinks. After all the sacrifices we make for them, they can at least sacrifice a little financially to thank us. Ike decides he shouldn't think about it anymore. It'll only make him more depressed.
Without paying attention, Ike finds his feet leading him to a place of comfort - his father's grave. Sometimes it brings more pain than relief, but most of the time it calms his soul. He feels close to his father, standing near his grave, as if Greil can hear what he has to say.
Ike stops suddenly. Sitting on top of the patch of dirt known as Greil's grave is none other than Shinon, his long red ponytail swaying with the gentle breeze. Ike doesn't really appreciate Shinon sitting directly on top of the grave, but what irks him even worse is the fact that his archer is drinking as well.
"Shinon, give it a break," Ike says, walking up to him.
"You give it a break," Shinon mumbles, taking another swig.
"If you're going to drink, don't do it on my father's grave," Ike says, reaching for the bottle. Shinon jerks it away and gives Ike the same glare he'd given Dr. Ryan's daughter earlier.
"I'll drink where I want to," Shinon snaps.
"It's disrespectful, Shinon," Ike says, quickly feeling his bitterness rising. Normally he'd have more patience for this, but the anniversary of his father's death and his lousy payday is beating heavy on his heart. He wants his father back so bad…
"Well, excuse me for not respecting a pile of dirt," Shinon snarls, spitting off to the side.
It's all it takes to push Ike over the edge. Shinon practically called Ike's father a pile of dirt. Consumed with a sudden flare of rage, Ike reaches for his sword - only to grab air. He'd left his sword back at the fort. Just because I don't have a sword doesn't mean you'll get away with this, Ike seethes to himself, quickly and angrily stepping beside Shinon, grabbing his arm, and jerking him off his father's grave. Shinon has no time to react, spilling his drink all over.
"Don't ever talk about my father or his grave that way, do you understand me?" Ike barks in his archer's face. "From now on, you aren't even-"
Ike is cut off by a strong shove, which nearly topples him over. Shinon gets on his feet and gives what can only be described as a look of power and authority. Ike, now almost blinded by his anger, refuses to let Shinon have the control.
"You want to fight, eh, Shinon? I'll take you down right here, right now," Ike says, advancing on Shinon at lightning speed and throwing his arm.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Shinon lets out a laugh, parrying Ike's punch and shoving him again. "I could beat you blindfolded with one hand tied behind my back."
Ike recovers from Shinon's push and unexpectedly backhands him, his knuckles forcefully colliding with Shinon's high cheekbone. Before Shinon can refocus from the blow, Ike delivers another to his neck, bringing him to the ground.
"I'm sure, just like you could three years ago when you fought with the Daein army," Ike mocks.
Ike is unable to see Shinon's hand in time, which launches towards his ankle and pulls him to the ground as well. Before Ike can even think about what happened, Shinon is on top of him, pounding Ike's face and chest.
"I let you win, idiot!" Shinon snaps.
"That excuse is getting old, Shinon!" Ike yells, finally getting himself to turn over to his side and knock Shinon off-balance. "It seems you use it every time I beat you." Ike's first punch hits Shinon in the chest, his second in the stomach. Shinon's hands fly to his stomach for only a second, but it's enough time for Ike to smash him in the face, allowing the position to reverse, with Ike on top of Shinon. Ike begins to nail Shinon's face with all his power, even with Shinon covering it.
In the back of Ike's mind, he realizes at this point he'd usually give his opponent the chance to surrender and give the win to him. However, Shinon's disrespectful words pound in Ike's brain, driving him on. He finds himself hammering Shinon harder and harder.
He is finally stopped by a crushing blow to the groin, then another. Ike shrieks and backs away slightly, covering his aching area. The sudden surprise allows Shinon to slip out from underneath Ike and throw some punches of his own. Ike's lip is cut open, blood swirling in his mouth. His eye partly swollen, he sees the fire and bitterness in Shinon's eyes, glaring over now-almost-black bruises on both cheeks.
"My father never should have hired you," Ike growls, defending himself from Shinon's raging blows.
"What, you calling your father stupid?" Shinon barks. "You got a stupid father, Ike?"
Ike loses all sense of mercy and selflessness. At this moment, Shinon is an enemy - one that deserves to die. A small voice tells Ike that this is certainly not like him. He ignores it. Ike's body takes complete control as he grabs Shinon's long ponytail and throws him to the ground. Keeping Shinon's hair in a tight grip close to his scalp and planting his knees on either side of Shinon's chest, Ike uses his one free hand and closes his fingers firmly around Shinon's throat. Shinon begins to struggle immediately, first trying to punch Ike's groin and stomach. However, it only seals Ike's power. Ike can feel Shinon's strength quickly diminishing. Stop, a little voice in the back of his mind tells him. Ike only presses harder against Shinon's throat.
Now Shinon is kicking and squirming, trying to release Ike's grip from his neck. Ike hears his breaths getting shallower and hoarser. Ike stares into Shinon's eyes, now slightly tinted with fear and panic as they water up.
Stop it, Ike.
The squirming begins to slow down. Shinon's tugs get weaker and weaker. Ike can literally feel himself squeezing the last bit of life out of him.
Ike! You're going to kill him!
The kicking ceases. Shinon gives a couple of strained coughs, his hands simply resting on Ike's, unable to pull away anymore. Just ten seconds more. Ten seconds will be all it takes…
"Ike!" a shrill voice yelps.
"Uncle Shinon?" a slightly deeper voice cries.
Immediately Ike's senses slam back into him like a flying arrow. Oh, goddess, I'm about to kill Shinon, Ike's mind screams. Like a lightning flash, Ike removes his hand from Shinon's throat and leaps off of him. Shinon faintly rolls over to his side and tries to gasp in air through his swollen neck. Ike glances to his right and feels his heart sink as he sees the horrified faces of Mist and Rolf.
"G-go get Rhys, Mist," Ike swallows and commands, suddenly trembling all over. "Go get him now. Tell him Shinon's hurt."
"Why did you fight? Did Shinon start it again?" Mist squeaks, her eyes watering up.
"Did Shinon start it again? You're pinning the blame on him?" Rolf screams, turning in anger towards Mist. "Your brother almost killed him! He almost strangled him to death!"
"Shinon always starts it! Ike wouldn't be mad if Shinon didn't tick him off all the time!" Mist yells back, furiously defending her brother.
"You're justifying Ike trying to murder Uncle Shinon?" Rolf shouts.
"Go get Rhys and go get him NOW!" Ike screams over their argument, halting it immediately. "Mist, you get a staff too. Do it quickly."
Mist and Rolf still look furious, but they both dash back together to find Rhys. Ike looks at Shinon's crumpled body on the ground. The level of Ike's rage had been so great, and now his sorrow and remorse is equally as great. Here he is, commander of the Greil Mercenaries, honorable and merciful, yet he almost kills one of his own men in cold blood. Nothing anyone says or does should provoke a commander to lose control like that.
Ike swallows and kneels next to Shinon, listening in horror as Shinon tries desperately to breathe. Saltwater drips down Shinon's cheeks from his watering eyes, which are now closed in agony.
"I'm sorry, Shinon," Ike croaks, seeing the deep blue hand-shaped bruise on Shinon's throat. He tries to help prop Shinon up so he might breathe better, but Shinon's weak fingers brush against him. If Shinon had been stronger, the small touch would have been a shove.
Ike wonders how he ever could have lost his mind like that and, for a moment, wonders if this incident was just a taste of how his father felt when he'd touched the medallion.
"Forgive me, Father," Ike whispers, dropping his head and shutting his eyes. "I have failed."
NOTE FROM ALLHAILMARIO'S SISTER (aka author of this story): Somehow I sense right after this chapter that I'm going to get some crap about, "Ike's not like that! He's merciful and wonderful and wouldn't ever do that to anyone ever! Go die in a hole, stupid can't-ever-get-character-personalities-right girl!" Or something along those lines. My whole desire for this story was to make it as realistic as possible. So here, I took into account that a) Ike is a man and therefore more prone to a physical fight, and typically as fights progress, people get more and more upset, b) it was the anniversary of his father's death, which combined with worry and stress over a hard day and low pay can make anyone pretty irritable, and c) he felt deep disrespect from Shinon, and at least from what I've heard and observed, men have this thing about respect and its utmost importance.
Taking all that into account, and remembering Ike's strained relationship with Shinon anyway, this is what developed. Ike is merciful most of the time, but Ike is also human. We will get to see his great remorse later on in the story. Thank you for reading this long explanation, which hopefully will clear some things up before I get knocked with a bunch of insults. Enjoy the rest of the story. :)