Riku: Who's turn is it to do the disclaimer?

Mia spontaneously wakes up and jumps off of a still asleep but now awake Ike

Mia: ME! ME! I'll do it!

Riku: (Rolls eyes) Go for it

Mia: Yay! Riku does not own Fire Emblem and DEFINITELY does not own me!

Ike: What happened? I feel like I've been asleep for an entire chapter, and why is my shirt wet?

Soren: That's drool… Mia's drool. Don't you remember her falling asleep on you?

Ike: Oh…

Riku: This is going to be the greatest and quite possibly longest chapter I have ever written. So brace yourselves and get some popcorn! This chapter is gonna be AWESOME! By the way, Soren! This chapter is your time to shine!

Soren: You're going to make me the star of this chapter?

Riku: Yep!

Chapter 11

Paths Cross

A boy and a girl were running from the same darkly cloaked group that they were running from yesterday. However, they weren't so lucky this time, the girl sprained her ankle and still forced the boy to keep running, hoping that he will find help.

"Heh, we got one of them, now we can use her as bait to snare the other one" one of them said.

'Nils, please find help soon… that presence similar to both Nils and me is getting closer, I hope Nils finds that person, I think he or she will be able to help…' the girl thought.

Meanwhile in one part of Khathelet, Soren suddenly stiffened, as if he sensed something odd.

"Everything alright Soren?" Mia asked.

"It's nothing, let's keep moving" Soren responded.

'I sense something… two presences similar to my own, and both of them seem to be distressed in one way or the other…'

Nils was frantically looking for help in any place he could find, but he was at every place he visited due to who was chasing him. He even tried at the inn he and the girl he considers a sister, Ninian, stayed last night. He was denied there as well, and did not notice that a blond haired monk noticed his plight and silently decided to lend a helping hand.

Lyn and her group arrived at the center of the Kathelet section of the Khathelet territory. They expected to just simply waltz right through there, until they noticed an aqua haired boy running straight for them.

'This boy… he's one of the two presences that I sensed' Soren thought.

Then the boy spoke, "Excuse me, but…"

"Can I help you?" Lyn asked.

"You and your friends, you're mercenaries right?" the boy asked.

"And if we are?" Lyn answered with another question.

Then the boy burst out, "I need your help!"

Kent spoke to Lyn for a brief moment and she acknowledged what he said and told him that she won't let her guard down.

"Forgive me, but we're in a bit of a rush, is there anyone else you can ask?" Lyn asked, wanting to be by her grandfather's side as soon as possible.

"There isn't any time! Ninian's been… it's my sister! Some men in dark cloaks have kidnapped her!" Nils pleaded.

Sain spoke up at this point, "Your sister? You said your sister's been accosted right?"

"Sain…" Kent was as exasperated as usual by Sain's behavior.

"That's right! She was taken by some horrible men. I don't know what I'd do without Ninian" Nils finished.

"Milady Lyndis! We must help him!" Sain proclaimed.

"Nonsense! We don't have the time! If the marquess is as ill as we've heard, we have to move now!" Kent said.

"I personally say that we should help, in fact, I plan on helping him and his sister regardless of your decision!" Mia said.

"I also think that we should help, I also plan on helping him regardless of group decisions" Soren said.

"Soren! Since when did YOU, agree with whatever I say?" Mia gasped.

"You just simply happened to think the same thing as me at the same time"

"I still think that something's up with you… are you running a fever or something?" Mia asked, about to place her hand on his forehead.

"Knock it off Mia! I have my reasons!" Soren irately said while slapping her hand away.

"If you say so…" Mia said, deciding to stop badgering him.

"What is your decision Milady Lyndis?" Kent asked.

"I… I want to help this child. I might be worried about my grandfather, but I cannot stand by and let a child be taken from her home!" Lyn responded resolutely.

"I see… I will respect your decision and follow it milady" Kent said.

"Thank you Kent"

"Ah, well. You're in luck, kid! Let's go get your sister!" Sain said.

"Can you lead us to the men who did this?" Lyn asked Nils.

"Uh huh. They're really tough, so be careful"

"Leave them to us, we're pretty tough ourselves. Right, Mia?" Lyn asked.

"Right! I personally think that I could take them all on by myself!" Mia hyperactively proclaimed.

Shortly after Mia's little speech, a small group of men in dark cloaks approached the group.

"Ah! Oh, no…" Nils said scared.

One man in a cloak approached him, "Heh heh heh… Found him! C'mon, it's back to Nergal with you. Now be quiet"

"No! Let Ninian go!" Nils demanded.

"We aren't supposed to kill you, but we CAN rough you up a bit! Get 'em boys!"

But before he could get near him, a blast of wind knocked him off of his feet.

"Huh?" the cloaked man said, "Who do you think you are?"

"Let the boy's sister go, and maybe I'll let you live" Soren replied coolly.

"Humph, so you and your group want to help this kid, huh? What a shame, you're gonna die for something that doesn't even concern you"

"You think so, huh? If you think it'll be that easy, then you're in for a surprise" Soren said.

"Stupid boy, you'll regret those words… Take 'em down!" the man shouted to his comrades.

And then, another battle begins for Lyndis's Legion, this time, against the ruthless Black Fang.

In a small house south of the group…

"Gah! What's taking Eliwood so long to get here?!" Hector complained loudly.

"Give him time and be a little more patient, Hector! He is supposed to show up sometime today, right?" Ike more stated than asked.

"I know… but I just can't wait to get our sparring session started!" Hector griped.

'Today's going to be a long day…' Ike thought, and how right he was…

Right when the group started to move out, a monk came from the same direction Nils came from and offered his assistance. His name is Lucius, and he volunteered to help by talking to Lyn and explained that he wished to help Nils when he saw him asking for help at the inn.

Soren, however, chose not to pay it any mind because he informed that the planed on sneaking past the dark mages that were guarding the fortress. Claiming that due to his high magic resistance, it would be an easy task for him.

Nils caught this and then realized what Ninian was talking about earlier, 'He must be the guy Ninian sensed earlier… his presence really is similar to ours. Does he have dragon heritage or something? It probably isn't a good time to ask though…'

The group took the eastern route, moving around the small group of mountains, while Soren chose to sneak through the mountains so he could sneak through the back entrance of the fortress. One thing that he didn't know though, was that a red-headed noble from Pherae was already there.

Halfway through the battle, Matthew made it to the house where Ike and Hector were waiting without Mia following him. Matthew managed to lose Mia while she was taking on a group of mages on a bridge. When Matthew entered the house, the first thing he noticed was Ike in his Black Knight armor, the next was his lord himself, Hector.

"Huh? Milord! What are you doing here?" Matthew asked.

"Ah, Matthew. Eliwood and I are here for our monthly sparring match" Hector answered.

"Still doing that eh? That's a solid friendship you two have, that you two practice so faithfully"

"If you don't sharpen your blade, then you lose your edge. So tell me, what are you doing here?" Hector asked.

"Lord Uther was curious about Caelin's succession dispute here" Matthew replied.

"Oh, that long-lost granddaughter thing, right? So, which way does my brother lean?"

"He will most likely back the granddaughter's claim. Lord Lundgren is far too ambitious, if we left him alone, we might find him at Ostia's doorstep eventually"

"That's sound advice" Hector said.

"Well, my return to Ostia is going to be delayed for a bit. Would you mind letting Lord Uther know?"

"He's already expecting it" Ike said.

"And why is that?" Matthew asked.

"Because Lord Uther told me to inform you that your job has been modified a little"

"How so?" Matthew asked.

"The mission I was given is to investigate the group known as the Black Fang that just so happened to be active in this region. If you have the spare time, you are to assist me in this" Ike explained.

"I suppose I can do that… by the way Ike, that girl, Mia, that you told me about. The one you won't admit that you're in love with, is here in Kathelet right this very minute!"

"WHAT?!" 'This is bad! I can't let her get involved in all this… this is a shady and unknown enemy that we're facing and I'm not sure that I'll even be able to come back alive from this one! I don't want her getting hurt trying to help me!'

"She is, and I barely managed to dodge her to even have this conversation without her barging in and interrogating you!"

"What did you say to her that made her manage to connect you to me?"

"I barely said anything, I tried lying to her, but she's practically a human lie detector!"

"*sigh* what's done is done, when the coast is clear and we're sure that we won't get caught. We'll follow the Black Fang when they retreat back to their hideout" Ike explained.

"You don't plan on doing that with all that armor on, right?"

"I plan on removing it before we move out, you should return to your group before they get suspicious" Ike said.

"Good idea, I'll be back soon!" Matthew said before rushing out the door.

"And what part do I play in this?" Hector asked.

"Your part is to do what you were planning to do from the beginning" Ike said.

"So the fact that my sparring match, and your mission just so happens to be in the same location is just a weird coincidence?" Hector asked.

"Pretty much"

With Soren

Soren was rushing through the halls, looking for the person that he sensed. Why he was getting worked up over a person he never even met yet, he didn't know, and surprisingly… he didn't care either. All he knew was that he had to save her from the clutches of the Black Fang.

'She's close, and it looks like I'm not alone in here either. There are a few guards, and it looks like there's someone here helping me out'

Soren took a right and found another door that looked like the entrance to a storage room. Soren opened the door and found a few guards between him and the girl known as Ninian. Soren dispatched of them quickly and then noticed that she was unconscious and looked like her ankle was sprained. When he looked at her face, he thought something he thought he would never think, 'She's… beautiful… DAMMIT SOREN! What the hell are you thinking?! This isn't the time to be thinking such things! What is possessing you to think this stuff anyway?'

Soren was about to pick her up and carry her out of here when he noticed that someone was standing behind him with a sword drawn. But he knew that he was only here to help Ninian, so he decided to let him know that they were both on the same side.

"If you're here to help the girl, then put your sword down and help me get her out of here and out of harm's way" Soren stated.

"So, I assume that you're not with those black cloaked men?"

"I'm not; I actually took down a fair amount of them" Soren said.

Soren was now carrying Ninian piggyback style, to make fighting and getting her out easier.

"Well then, shall we get out of here?" the red head said.

"Let's"

While they were running, the boy decided to speak up, "By the way, what's your name?"

"Isn't it customary and polite to give your name before asking someone of theirs?" Soren asked.

"Oh, you're right, where are my manners? I'm Eliwood, the son of Marquess Pherae"

"Soren" Soren bluntly said.

"You're not much of a talker are you?" Eliwood teased.

"Hn" Soren grunted.

The two then heard a group of voices that sounded worried, Eliwood then spoke up, "Are you looking for this girl here?" Eliwood said, pointing to Ninian on Soren's back.

Nils just ran up to her immediately, crying out her name.

"She'll be alright, she's just unconscious" Soren said.

"Who are you?" Lyn asked.

"I'm Eliwood, of Pherae. My father is the marquess" Eliwood answered.

"The marquess's son…"

"She was with a band of ruffians and seemed upset, but when I arrived to rescue her, Soren her somehow beat me to her. Was I wrong to save her?"

"Hn" Soren grunted.

"No, you did the right thing, my name is Lyn. I'm from Sacae, I'm Marquess Caelin's granddaughter" Lyn said.

"Marquess Caelin?" Eliwood asked.

Lyn explained her story to Eliwood, Mia also added her two cents in every now and then.

"And that's my story. It's not an easy tale to believe, but…"

"No, I believe you" Eliwood said.

"What?" Lyn asked.

"At first glance, all I saw was a daughter of the plains folk. Now I can see it though, you have your grandfather's eyes"

"Do you know my grandfather?"

"The marquess, Lord Hausen, is a good friend of my father. I also know that the proud people of Sacae don't tell lies. That is true, right?" Eliwood asked.

"Yes… Thank you. I wouldn't have expected a Lycian noble to be so courteous to a Sacaean nomad" Lyn said.

"You looked like you were in trouble; can I help in any way?" Eliwood asked.

"Thanks for the offer, but this is my problem, though, and I'll deal with it"

"I see, I'll be in the area for a few more days. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. Lyndis, I'm on your side" Eliwood informed.

"Thank you, Eliwood" Lyn thanked.

Nils was with Ninian after the conversation, trying to wake her up.

"Ninian! Are you awake?" Nils asked.

Ninian stirred and slowly regained consciousness, "Nils? Is it really you? Oh, you're safe!"

"Uh-huh, these people helped me" Nils said, pointing to Lyn, Soren, and the rest of the group.

"Who are they?" Ninian asked.

Lyn introduced herself, "I'm Lyn, I'm glad you're feeling better, but the one that you should really be thanking for your safety is Soren here. He's the one that saved you" Lyn said, pointing to Soren.

'He's the one that I sensed earlier… he has the red eyes of someone that has dragon heritage…' "Lyn, Soren… thank you. My name is Ninian, my brother, Nils and I are traveling performers" Ninian said.

"Both of you? Your brother's a musician, what about you, Ninian?" Lyn asked.

"I… I dance" Ninian explained.

Sain also saw it fit to interrupt at this moment, "What? Oh my… you're a dancer!" Sain swooned.

"Not now Sain!" Soren barked, slightly irritated.

"Um, yeah. Of course"

"A dancer? Your clothes don't look like those of a dancer" Lyn said.

"Ninian dances to honor life, it's special… Sacred" Nils explained.

'Interesting… her dances must have some sort of power behind them… that might be the power I'm sensing right now…' Soren thought.

"A sacred dance? What does that mean?" Lyn asked.

"I… the dance I perform when we travel is just a normal dance. My other dance, though… when they caught me, I twisted my ankle. I can't dance to help you… I'm sorry" Ninian said.

"Don't worry about it, we're just happy to see that you're out of harm's way" Lyn said.

"Thank you"

"But I am concerned about your leg; you can't travel on it…" Lyn said.

"I've got an idea. Would it be too much to ask that we travel with you?" Nils asked.

"I can't allow that! It's far too dangerous. We're being hunted, we'll never know when we're going to be attacked again" Lyn protested.

"In case you haven't noticed, Lyn, they're being hunted too. By people far more dangerous than you granduncle, leaving them alone to fend for themselves is even more dangerous for them than letting them come with us. I don't think that they'll be a burden either" Soren explained.

"He's right, we can help, with our… special abilities…" Ninian said.

"Special abilities?" Lyn asked, while Soren was silently intrigued.

"When something poses a threat to us, we can sense its approach" Ninian explained.

"Really? That's amazing!" Mia said.

"We can just feel it coming, but we can't do anything to stop it. You're warriors, though, so you don't have that worry" Nils said.

"What do you guys think?" Lyn asked.

"I think leaving them here would cause you to worry more than having them with us" Kent said.

"Sain?" Lyn said, asking his opinion now, but then finished, realizing what his opinion already was, "Oh, never mind. I already know what your answer is"

"What about you, Soren" Lyn asked.

"They should come with us, their foresight ability is probably only one of many ways that they can help us" Soren said, 'Plus, I'll also have the chance to figure out why I can sense their presence and why their presence is similar to mine…' Soren mused.

"Mia, what about you?" Lyn asked.

"I say let them come with us… if they really are being hunted too. I'll personally guard them if I have to!" Mia said.

"Okay then, what do you say? Are you going to go with us?" Lyn asked Ninian and Nils.

"Of course!" Nils answered.

"You have our gratitude, Lyn" Ninian said.

Matthew was just about to take off back to Hector and Ike, when he heard Ninian say something interesting.

"Oh…"

"What's wrong Ninian?" Nils asked.

"I've lost my ring" She responded.

"Your ring?" Lyn asked.

"Not Ninis's Grace?" Nils asked.

"The very one" Ninian said.

"They stole it? Those curs!!!" Nils said angrily.

"Was it valuable?" Lyn asked.

"It was a keepsake from our departed mother" Ninian explained.

"It was blessed by the spirit of Ninis, there's no other like it in the world. And now we've lost it to those villains. There's nothing we can do" Nils explained.

"You're right" Ninian said.

Matthew saw this as a golden opportunity to help Ike with his mission and still continue his original one of spying on the inheritance dispute, so he jumped in and offered his services.

"This looks like a job for an expert thief if you ask me" Matthew said.

"What do you mean Matthew? What are you implying?" Lyn asked.

"I'm saying that I can help, I already know that they're headed southwest. There's a building in that direction that they are probably using. I can rob them blind, and get her ring back if you want" Matthew offered.

"You're joking right? This is too dangerous for you to do on your own, no matter how good you are at hiding, you should at least take someone with you" Lyn said.

"Relax, I know some people in the area that would be willing to help me out. I'll have the ring back to you in no time!"

"If you say so… alright, the job is yours. Just remember to return the ring when you get it" Lyn said.

"No problem!" 'Bull's-eye!'

Ike was now out of his Black Knight's armor and wearing his usual mercenary's attire when Matthew walked back in. (His mercenary outfit is what he was wearing in FE10 before he reached Vanguard class)

"Well, are we ready to go Ike? The Black Fang is currently headed southwest" Matthew said.

"I'm ready, let's get going before we're seen"

"Right!"

And with that, the duo took off into the night.

Mia noticed that Matthew was gone and decided to ask around to see if anyone knew where he went. When she asked Lyn and she told her that Matthew decided to retrieve Ninian's missing ring and that he was enlisting help from someone he knows.

Mia immediately deduced that that person was Ike and immediately took off looking for them.

Matthew and Ike didn't get the chance to go very far when they noticed that someone was taking off in their general direction. They both looked back and saw an orange jacket with a mop of violet hair with a white headband headed straight for them.

"I thought you said you weren't followed Matthew!" Ike complained and groaned.

"I wasn't! Apparently, we didn't leave quick enough! I did tell you that she was on my tail!" Matthew said.

"We have to lose her now! I don't want her to get involved with my mission… it's too dangerous. This mission will eventually make me fight an incredibly dangerous foe. One that is far more dangerous than anything I've ever faced before… I just don't want her to get hurt…"

"You might not have a choice in the matter…" Matthew said, noticing that they've been spotted.

"THERE YOU ARE!" they heard Mia shout out. "You're not getting away that easily Ike!" Mia shouted out, taking off after them.

Mia took off after them, desperate to reach Ike as soon as possible. She might not have a close up view of him, but she could tell that he hasn't changed at all on the outside, and most likely on the inside too. He probably still places the weight of the entire world on his shoulders and refuses to accept any help.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY THAT EASILY IKE!" Mia shouted out as she closed in as fast as possible.

Ike got a good look at Mia before he told Matthew to initiate the backup escape plan. He noticed that she hasn't changed at all on the outside. She was as beautiful as he remembered her, and he was pretty sure that she was still pretty deadly too. For some reason, she had a desperate look in her eyes, as if she would at least temporarily fall into despair if she didn't reach him in time. Ike did whatever he could to forget that look in her eyes and gave Matthew the order.

"Matthew, we need to escape, now… I don't want Mia involved in all this…" 'Please… try to forgive me Mia…; Ike said with a sad look in his eyes.

"Alright… but you do know that you'll have to face her eventually…" Matthew said, not enjoying what he had to do.

Mia was just a few yards away when Matthew threw a smoke bomb at their feet and they used the cover to disappear.

When the smoke cleared, both Ike and Matthew were gone. Mia looked around the surrounding area, desperate to find so much a clue to where they ran off to.

There were none…

Slowly falling into despair, Mia did the only thing she could to at the moment. She fell onto her knees in shock, and started to tear up, and eventually, openly wept. She then started to release her frustration and sadness by punching the ground and shouting.

"DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! I WAS SO… SO CLOSE! HE WAS RIGHT THERE! I COULD ALMOST TOUCH HIM! And…" Mia's voice got more quiet and ragged, "and… and he slipped right through my fingers… I- I almost- almost had him and... and he slipped right … right through my fingers…"

Mia couldn't speak any more at this point; the mental stress of her situation was too much at the moment, and caused her to fall into a state of shock.

Lyn and Soren found her lying down on the ground, barely awake with tears streaming down her face. It was a really pitiful sight. They both immediately knew that she must have seen Ike, only for him to run off. They both picked her up and slung her arms over their shoulders and carried her back to camp.

Mia didn't notice any of this because she was lost in her own world at the time.

When Mia saw Ike's lips moving back when she saw him, she couldn't make out what he was saying to Matthew. But she did manage to hear the last few words he said before he disappeared.

'I don't want Mia involved in all this…'

What did that mean? Was he trying to protect her? And if so, from what? What could be so powerful, or have the potential to become that powerful that it would have Ike fear for her safety?

A thousand thoughts were running through Mia's head, every single one of them revolving around her blue-haired hero.

From a spot safely hidden from Mia, both Ike and Matthew saw Mia's heart wrenching display of anguish. Matthew told him that he would probably regret it, but Ike didn't care, he believed that he deserved to see the consequences of his actions and at least suffer emotionally from it. After seeing Lyn and Soren carry Mia off, he felt like a monster. He knew that at this point, he no longer even came close to deserving Mia's love or to even ask for her forgiveness. But so long as she was safe from the force he would have to confront eventually, he would gladly sacrifice his own happiness so that she would not have to face that thing. With a guilty conscience, Ike turned around and left in the direction of the Black Fang.

"Let's go Matthew…"

"Right!" 'He must feel horrible right now… and have a guilty conscience right now' Matthew thought.

End of Chapter

Mia: *Sobbing* Why did you have Ike do that?!

Riku: A story like this requires drama, and I just delivered a drama sandwich!

Mia: That… That still wasn't very nice!

Ike: I agree, I don't care if this was your longest chapter yet, you could have saved Mia the heartache by just simply having Matthew and I slip away unnoticed...

Riku: I thought about that, but then decided against it

Mia: (Tears in her eyes) JERK!

Soren: While these three are arguing, please review