Love is Psychotic

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, if I did, do you think I'd be writing fan fiction?

A/N: I'm sorry for the lateness!! Not to mention this chapter is going to be pretty short, with just he Carcino gang. But I have nothing to say about Ike, since he's at work, and Micaiah.

Hmm, nothing to do with the story, but something I though I'd say . . . I just finished my 13th play through on Radiant Dawn! And my top killer was . . . Soren! With 266 kills. That's exactly four kills away from being exactly 100 kills difference from top killer number two (Boyd). XD All hail Soren! Anyways, onto the story. Lol.

Friday - Week Two


Six young adults were crowded into one hotel room, chatting idly, the smell of pizza could be sensed coming through the open window.

Sothe was still fuming because of meeting Astrid's old boyfriend, and apparently they were meeting up with said male on Saturday. Zihark still wouldn't give the details to any of the group except for his newly-made girlfriend. Vika of course could stay silent, also.

Never before had Sothe experienced being left in the dark, and he immediately took a disliking to it. His thoughts suddenly drifted to Micaiah; was this how she felt most of the time? Always anxious about what was going to happen in her own future, frustrated that people treated her like an underling? Sothe shifted in discomfort at the thought of his childhood friend, brushing away her image from his mind's eye.

Beside him, Tormod burst out laughing, making Sothe jump in alarm; had his best friend finally lost it? But no, it turned out to be just a funny scene in the movie that Sothe wasn't even paying attention to.

He wasn't going to start watching either, instead, he took a look at the room's other inhabitants. Sothe himself sat on one of the beds, leaning against the headboard, Tormod mirroring his actions beside him. Ilyana lay on her side at the edge of the bed at their feet, cheerfully eating from a bag of trail mix. Astrid sat between the two beds, directly in front of the T.V., this confused the greenette for a moment. Wasn't there space on the other mattress?

A quick glance to his left, beyond Tormod, answered that question; he blanched at the sight of Zihark and Vika rolling around on the mattress. "Would you two mind getting a room?" Sothe snapped irritably. They immediately stilled, looking up from their previous activities.

"Yes, I would mind." Zihark said just as coldly, scowling at the greenette.

By now, everyone was watching the scene unfold; Tormod looked hesitant, Ilyana looked nervous, Astrid was in a defensive stance.

Zihark and Sothe were glaring each other down; it had been like this since Sothe had saved Ilyana from being strangled by the blunette. Sothe couldn't find it within himself to really like the man anymore.

Sothe opened his mouth to make an ugly remark, but suddenly, Astrid stepped in, "Sothe, could I talk to you outside?"

The greenette blinked, and after a moments hesitation, agreed, standing and stepping away from the bed, walking after his girlfriend who had stepped outside. Since his back was turned, he missed the sneer Zihark sent his way.

After making sure the card key to the room was in his pocket, he shut the door and followed Astrid down the walkway towards the staircase. Wondering were they were going, Sothe hurried to catch up and ask, "Hey, what's going on?"

"I didn't want you doing anything stupid and getting on Zihark's bad side." She replied bluntly.

"What do you mean by that?!" Sothe snapped, idly noticing that they were in the parking lot.

"Tomorrow, we're going somewhere, obviously, and if Makalov is involved, it is probably dangerous." they stopped in front of Astrid's car and she unlocked it, motioning for Sothe to get in.

He did so, and once they were both settled, stated questionably, "Um, no offence, but how can that man possibly be dangerous. When we talked to him . . . He seemed like a freaking dope."

"Uh, yeah, a lot of people say that. But, the truth is, he hangs out with some very scary people. Not to mention Makalov himself. He drinks a lot, usually he just gets silly-drunk, but . . . Sometimes, he gets angry. I don't know, I just have this feeling today that tomorrow is going to be bad." Astrid bit her bottom lip worriedly.

Sothe wanted to comfort her a little, yet couldn't find anything to say, instead, he glanced out of the car. He blinked when he thought he saw a flash of blue. It was vaguely familiar, and yet, it had been very brief, so maybe it was just a figment of his imagination.

Sothe turned back to his girlfriend who seemed to be in deep thought, after heaving a soft sigh, he spoke up, "So, how did you happen to meet Makalov and start going out with him?"

It was Astrid's turn to sigh, "Alright . . . Back in my Freshman year at college, when I had all A's on my report card. There was a man who seemed fascinated by me, Makalov, and I was fascinated by him." Sothe flinched, but Astrid was too deep in her thoughts to notice. "You know . . . Back then, my entire family were proud of my grades, not me, but my achievements . . . He was the first person to not even care about that, instead, just saying that I was an interesting person. Back then, even my friends were just that because of my grades. They figured if we were on friendly terms, I'd help them through their schoolwork. It was like, Makalov was the first person to see me, for me!" Astrid sighed sadly.

"If he was that great, why did you two break up?" Sothe didn't mean to sound that harsh, yet he couldn't help it; the idiotic looking man was like a saint in her world! What was he?

"It turns out he just wanted a pretty girl to show off and make himself look better . . ." Astrid closed her eyes then, a pained look flashing across her face, " I broke up with him, but yet . . . I couldn't go back to my family, school or anything . . . I was a cast out, all because I wanted to see what it would be like to be on the not-quite-legal side." Astrid shuddered, and a tear ran down her cheek.

Sothe stared at her in shock, mainly because of her tale, but also because he had never seen her cry before. The greenette moved closer to her and brought the woman into his arms, cradling her close to him. She gave a small sniff and cuddled into his chest, uttering a small 'thanks'.

"You know . . . I can't believe that no one like you for you."

"What . . .?"

"You're forgetting about me, Astrid, do you think that I'm a bastard like that? No, I like- no, I love you for who you are." he paused, she had gone completely still, " I love you, Astrid." She gave a sob and hugged him even tighter, burying her face into his chest.

"Oh, Sothe . . ."


A little while later, after Astrid had composed herself and Sothe had told himself not to beat Zihark up, they entered the hotel room.

Zihark looked up from his seat on the right side bed and rolled his eyes, "About time you two showed up. I was about to tell the plan without you here." Sothe felt a slight flare of irritation at the man, but a soft hand on his arm stopped it. "Okay everyone, gather round."

Tormod, Ilyana, Astrid, and Sothe all sat on the bed, leaving it rather crowded.

"Tomorrow, starting in the afternoon, we're going to join in on a political protest."

Tormod gaped openly, the incredulous look on his face almost comical if not for the circumstances. Ilyana blinked rapidly, Astrid raised a brow.

"A political protest." Sothe repeated in a dull voice.

"Yes." Zihark replied coolly.

"Uh, wouldn't that be illegal?" Ilyana murmured.

"Yes, if the police found out about it, we'd be in trouble." Astrid answered for Zihark.

"Yeah, but no ones going to find out." Zihark said confidently.

"You know," Sothe started, ignoring the warning glance he got from Astrid, "This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard."

"No one cares what you think," the blunette snapped back, he turned away from Sothe, "So, who's in?"

Everyone looked hesitant, "Will there be alcohol?" Tormod inquired.

"Yes."

Tormod looked torn then, "All right . . . I'll go."

Ilyana bit her lip, "Me too."

Astrid cursed under her breath, "I'll go," at Sothe's disbelieving glance, she added, "if only to watch over the two of you." She indicated at Ilyana and Tormod.

"It won't even be necessary." Zihark muttered.

"Well, I guess I'll be going too." Sothe said irritably.

"Like I even care." Zihark smirked, "alright, get some sleep everyone, we have a 'big day' ahead of us." He stood, "Be ready to go at 10 a.m." then he was striding towards the door, yanking it open and stepping out, Vika in close pursuit.

After they were gone, Sothe turned a furious stare on Tormod, "Why did you agree?!"

"You know I've always wanted to try alcohol! This is my chance!" Tormod hissed back defensively.

Sothe bristled, "You couldn't have picked a less dangerous situation? It would have been better to just wait another year instead of this!"

Tormod pouted, "I'm not talking about this anymore. Let's go Il." He stood, and like Zihark, walked out of the hotel room stiffly, Ilyana following behind, giving a quick, apologetic look to Sothe and Astrid before leaving.

Sothe groaned and flopped down on the bed, a hand over his eyes, "This is stupid."

"I know . . ." Astrid replied softly.

"I have a really bad feeling about this."

"Me too, Sothe, me too."


A/N: Uh, yeah. Sorry for the shortness, not to mention the out of character characters. Also, no Ike and Micaiah. But I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter! Reviews are appreciated . . .