Author's Notes: And you all thought I was dead. I apologize for the extremely late update, I was simply focusing on my new story Chosen Path (it's truly terrible. That one is already at chapter 6) and was only working on that one for so long. I just decided that I should get this one done soon, if not now. And I got it done. (sad, I know.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, or its characters.


Chapter 10: Fort Meritenne

Soren scanned the field for any sign of their missing companions. As of yet they had been searching a few hours now, yet had still seen nothing of the commander, Shinon and Gatrie. He was beginning to wonder if maybe they had gone ahead after all…

"They're not here either," Soren heard Ike say, a deep sigh clouding his words.

The mage turned toward him. "Ike," he knew this would be hard for the young man to hear, but it had to be said. "Pursuing them any farther may be dangerous. I think it would be best if we returned to Gallia for now," he stated, as much as he loathed going back to that country of beasts. "It's possible that the commander may have followed another road into Gallia. It's something we should consider."

Ike thought it over a moment, before nodding reluctantly. "…You're right," he agreed, "getting killed looking for them would waste everything they accomplished by breaking away. I guess all we can do is hope that they are well and withdrawn."

Soren nodded at the wisdom of those words, admiring greatly how much Ike had grown over the sort time he had been a mercenary. The dark haired boy was certain that, just a few months ago, he would have insisted they keep up the search for their missing companions. Humans grew so quickly.

Titania approached the two, leading her horse instead of riding. "Ike, there's a fort over there," the red head stated, waving her arm in the direction of said building. "Just now, for a moment only… I thought I saw someone. Shall we investigate?" she inquired professionally.

Ike blinked at the news. "What? Really?" he thought it over for but moment. "Yes, let's go have a look."


Soren frowned as they stepped through the darkened archway of the old Fort Meritenne, not liking the atmosphere of the place at all. Something felt… off. "It seems as though this place had been abandoned for a long time," he mentioned as he glanced over at Ike.

"There's no one here," Titania murmured to herself. "Hm. I could've sworn I saw a silhouette, but…" the woman trailed. "I guess it must have been a trick of the light."

"Let's take a quick look around," Ike decided, speaking up. "If we don't find anything here, we'll head back to Gallia," he stated.

"Very well…" Titania agreed, sounding slightly… reluctant.

At that moment, Soren heard the clanking metal armor of a Daein soldier. Cringing inwardly at the vague, unpleasant memories that brought back, he turned to glance in that direction, the rest of his companions doing the same. The soldier spotted them quickly.

"Here they are! I found the Crimean mercenaries!" he shouted to the rest of his company. "Surround them!"

At that, Daein soldiers appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and soon trapped the heavily outnumbered mercenaries. Soren's frown only deepened, not liking the odds one bit as they were forced to retreat into a small corner of the room. He hated the feeling of vulnerability that pervaded when being forced to fight like a rat in a trap, but they had little choice in the matter.

"Ike, there are too many soldiers near the exit. If we make our way down this corridor and start picking them off one by one, we would stand a better chance," the mage advised, indicating the hallway to the right.

"Got it Soren," Ike nodded in acknowledgement. "Since no one else has a better plan we'll go with that."

"You and Titania should lead the charge, and Oscar and Boyd can cover the back," he continued to explain. "Rhys can heal from the middle, and I will strike were it is needed," Soren finished.

Everyone got into position, and Soren took out his trusty wind tome. It may have been getting old, but it was still useable, and any magic was better than none. The first attack came from behind; two soldiers, a swordsman and a lance-wielder, tried to decapitate Boyd.

Thankfully, Oscar managed to hold them off long enough for the clumsy axe fighter to chop off one of the lanceman's arms. Oscar swung his lance back around and impaled the swordsman when he tried to skewer his brother. Soren sent a quick wind spell and finished off the other soldier.

On the other front, Titania and Ike were having little difficulty, mostly due to the fact that there were, as Soren said, fewer soldiers that way, and Titania was the most experienced out of all the mercenaries, aside from Greil himself. It was simply a matter of keeping ahead of the spears and axes and swords of the oncoming enemies, something which Ike seemed quite adept at. He would run up to a soldier, lash out with his sword, dodge, then strike again with a counter-attack when they were off guard, more often than not kill the Daein soldier before much damage could be inflicted on him. It was a rather effective strategy as Titania could take care of any that slipped passed his guard and prevent them from getting to the vulnerable Rhys and Soren.

They made excellent progress, in Soren's opinion, and the boy began to wonder about just how poorly trained the Daein soldiers were. They didn't seem quite as difficult as they were made out to be. But then why was it that…?

"Hah!" Ike, Titania and Soren, Rhys was to focused on healing Boyd to notice, stared in surprise as a girl charged out of one of the nearby corridors.

She wore, orange color clothes, and armor. A white headband kept her long, bluish-purple hair out of her green eyes. She held a small, slim sword in one hand and would occasionally lash out at any nearby soldiers with it.

Ike and Titania spared a glance at each other, and they started moving forward with far more speed than before. They reached the girl with little difficulty, but she, evidently, thought that they were enemies at first and attacked Ike. The girl performed an expert back-flip before charging Ike with her sword raised. Ike blocked her strike with his sword, but she quickly pulled away and stabbed at his throat where his armor was weakest. Soren chanted a spell and sent a heavy wind strike to blow the girl back.

She hit the ground on her rear and her sword flung out of her hands, clattering to the stone floor. Glancing up at them, she stared in confusion, her green eyes sparkling in the dim light. "You're not Daein soldiers," she spoke in surprise.

"No, we're not. We are a group of mercenaries with the Crimean Army. We came to find our commander, Greil, in this fort but we found ourselves trapped by Daein," Ike responded as he offered her his hand. He helped the girl to her feet and she retrieved her sword.

"Crimean, huh? I was a mercenary too. I was hired by Crimea to bolster the Crimean military, but I grew careless and got caught by Daein. So Greil's your commander then? That settles it, I'm going to be working with you now," she chirped cheerfully, a bright smile coming onto her features.

"Wait, what?" Ike asked in shock as his eyes bulged. "I don't think I have the authority to do that…"

"Don't worry about the money. I already spoke with your commander when he got me out of the prisons here. I just what to help you take care of the soldiers here so we can get out of this place," the girl replied.

"Ike," Soren spoke up from behind, "I think it would be within our interests to allow her to fight. If she wants to, just let her, we could use all the help we could get," he stated logically.

"Alright, you can fight," Ike said after a short pause. "But what's your name first?"

"I'm Mia," the girl responded. "Don't worry, you won't regret this decision, boss!" Mia beamed, a slight grin on her face.

Soren stared at her for a long while. "How come I'm not so sure about that?" he muttered to himself, a frown coming over his pale features.

Ike glanced over his shoulder at his friend. "Did you say something Soren?"

"Nothing," was Soren's immediate response.


Endnotes: Enter Mia! I actually really like Mia, and have read a few stories with a Mia/Soren pairing. Not sure if I would ever do one myself, but I have nothing against that pairing. And no I don't consider it a 'crack' pairing seeing as they would be more likely to have some interaction (though not directly in the game) then some other pairings. Seriously people? Shinon/Soren? They hate each others' guts! I mean, I can understand were the idea for some yaoi pairings come from (even though I think they were never more then good friends) but this one is just stupid/ridiculous! I'm sorry, I'll stop ranting now.