Here's another update. Interestingly, I thought I'd put this one up already, but it appears i havent.
There's not that much to say about this chapter. Well, I guess there's a little more action, and a bit of a plot twist, if a tad cliched. Having said that, I wonder if Leila is becoming a little too OP for my liking.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem. No witty remark this time.
Night had fallen by the time they're reached the end of the passageway. It had led to a cave hidden in a wooded hillside.
Matthew and Brenya were far too tired to say anything. The simply sat down near the cave entrance.
He watched as Brenya prepared to click her finger when he grabbed her wrist to stop her. "No fire," he rasped, "too easy to track."
The reality was grim. They were days away from their base camp, and no doubt their advance camp would have been discovered and razed. They had maybe half a day's water and no food between them. Then there was the issue of the compromising pose they'd been in earlier. He'd caught the hesitation in Brenya's eyes, and it brought back a memory of long ago.
He still remembered it like it was yesterday.
Matthew leaned against the wooden beam near the middle of the abandoned barn, facing the one and only entrance of the barn. He'd been told that he would meet an accomplice here, but beyond that, he knew nothing.
He'd been waiting for a while now, and wondered if this person would show up. He pulled his hood closer to his head.
And that was when she struck.
She came from above, but in the darkness her aim was slightly off. Instead of landing beside him, she'd landed on top of him.
Their faces were inches apart.
"So, beautiful, I take it you're the informant?" he said with his characteristic smirk.
And that was how it all began.
He was so lost in his thought Brenya's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Someone's here!" she hissed.
The two of them immediately stood up, weapons ready and back to back, watching for any sign of movement. Of course, the assailant came from the only place they hadn't expected; from above.
Matthew whirled around but was too late. He heard a thud and almost instantly, Brenya collapsed onto the ground. Although he wanted to check if Brenya was alright, the red flash that had dropped from above had begun slashing at him, and it took all his concentration to avoid being sliced.
This was a worse situation than the one he'd been in the night they got here. If he lost now, which was highly likely, then all would be over. Heck, Leila had probably just killed Brenya, so it was probably all over for her anyway.
"Heh, she's not around to save you now, is she?" Leila mocked him gloatingly. He was holding up, but only just. The day's events were beginning to catch up to him, and he was losing concentration. All he could do was parry. He saw yet another silver flash head towards his chest, but knew it was too late.
Except, instead of the slicing sound he'd expected, she winded him with a punch. Matthew sank to his knees. Of course, she was supposed to bring him in alive.
Leila threw a small sack at him. It was filled with provisions.
"There's enough for you to get to Dragon's Gate in there, but not quite enough for you to head back to your camp," she smiled evilly. "We expect to see you in two days. Head north from here until you hit a path, then follow the path to the gate." She looked at the unconscious Brenya. "I'll be taking her there first. Don't worry, I haven't killed her… yet."
"And what guarantee do I have that you won't?" Matthew countered as he slowly got up.
"You don't, darling." she laughed as she hauled Brenya onto her shoulders and disappeared off into the night.
Matthew wondered why he was heading north. Three to four days south was not that hard of a hike for him, so he would probably make it if he stretched out his provisions, but something had stopped him from doing so.
Again, everything he was doing went against his principles of being a spy. Those who take risks should know the consequences of being caught. Whatever those consequences were, then so be it. Helping an accomplice was a noble thing to do, but it wasn't cruel to leave someone behind. The secrecy of the organisation was prioritised over the lives of a few members. That was how it was in the world of spies. An operative who had been caught was as good as dead, and could expect no help.
Yet here he was, trudging along a path, on a deserted island filled creepy morphs, trying to save someone whom he had no real affiliations, nay, whom he should have been enemies with.
Maybe it had something to do with saving her from the morphs but Matthew quickly dismissed the thought as it made no sense. If anything, Brenya's death at the hands of morphs would have been quite convenient an excuse to explain that she would not be coming back.
Leila, maybe? It was true that he still held some affection for her, but the realist inside him told him that if anything, he just wanted to put her out of this torment. It did occur to him however, that while on this island, he'd stopped thinking about her as much. Of course, that could be to do with the fact that surviving was his top priority, but even in the week he'd used to recover…
It hit him then. The similarity with Leila. The toying with the names. The back-and-forth ripostes that flew between them. Their lack of embarrassment when tackling one another even in dangerous situations. Brenya's hesitation when they were in a compromising position. It was possible that they'd been leading each other on a bit too much, and without realising it…
Matthew's head immediately churned out at least a dozen reasons why they were not to be. Their positions in society. Their nationalities. Their age difference. Their guiding principles. And the list went on.
Again, wasn't that the first thing he'd done when he began to notice Leila as a rather alluring presence in his life? (Well, apart from the age difference and maybe guiding principles – but then again, Leila had been a spy)
The other issue was that he doubted that he (or Brenya, for that matter) was emotionally motivated. Maybe they were getting a little too cosy at times with one another, but it was still unlikely. They had protected each other because their chances of survival were better if there were two of them, right? Wasn't it co-operation out of necessity?
However, the question still remained. What was Brenya to him? Too close to be just an accomplice, he would concede, but where was the line between an accomplice and a friend? He'd left accomplices behind in the past, heck, he'd even left behind friends, (admittedly not very good ones), but the only person he'd never leave behind (bar Lord Hector) would have been Leila, were she still alive. Brenya had somehow now made it onto that list, even if it was just a promise. But then again, what was a spy's promise worth?
He figured it didn't matter anyway, since he probably wouldn't make it off the island. And even if he did, they'd be separated from one another anyways.
How was it? R&R please! Just to tell anyone reading this, 13~17 have been written, but the real bottleneck is at 14/15. Those two just aren't up to scratch, and they still need to be re-worked properly, or at least until they hit the satisfactory mark and some more.
