Riku: We are now back up and running guys!

Mia: Break time over?

Riku: Break time over

Mia: Hurray!

Ike: It took you long enough…

Riku: Sorry, I just wanted to spend some time on my other stories before getting back to this one, but now I'm back on this one so Reclaiming what was Lost is now back up and running! Mia! Shout out the disclaimer so we can get this party started!

Mia: RIKU DOES NOT OWN FIRE EMBLEM!!!

Ike: I THINK YOU JUST BROKE MY EARDRUMS MIA!

Mia: WHAT?!

Riku: I think Mia over did things again… well, I'm pretty sure they'll have their hearing back by the end of the chapter, or once they figure out that they're not in this chapter…

Chapter 14

Separation

A year has passed since Soren parted ways with Ike and Mia, and things have been rather tedious for the half-breed archsage due to the rather frequent attacks from the Black Fang. There have been a grand total of 12 attacks this month and Soren was exhausted. At least Soren managed to find out that the reason that the Black Fang was after Ninian and Nils was because that they are actually both dragons, and a person by the name of Nergal is after them because of it.

Soren however, is now in a serious pickle on the 13th attack of the 13th month of traveling with Ninian and Nils. The Black Fang decided to send one of its Four Fangs after him. If it was just him against the Valkyrie Ursula, Soren would win without breaking a sweat, but unfortunately, life wasn't fair that way. Due to the amount of numbers that he was up against, he was forced to take Ninian and Nils and run to avoid getting his ass handed to him.

The escape was actually going pretty well until Ninian was hit by a Bolting spell. Soren was then forced to quickly pick Ninian up bridal style since it was the fastest way to pick her up, and run again to find a safe and strategically positioned hiding spot. Unfortunately however, they were not lucky enough to find one because Ursula and a good amount of her flunkies caught up to them and surrounded them.

"I highly suggest you three surrender now and come quietly, you're surrounded and cannot win" Ursula stated while putting away her Bolting tome.

However, surrender was actually the last thing on Soren's mind right now. It might seem illogical right now since the odds were against him dangerously, yet somehow, he didn't seem to care. All he knew right now was that he had to save Ninian and Nils and he has every intention of doing so.

Soren then put Ninian down on the ground and whispered to her, "Just trust me Ninian, this isn't much of a plan, but it's the best I can do right now…"

Ninian just nodded her head, choosing to trust Soren, hoping that he can get them out of this mess.

"Finally giving up?" Ursula asked.

"Not exactly…" Soren said while pulling out a Tornado tome from his robes, "I have no intention of surrendering to the likes of you, let's see how you and your grunts handle this… TORNADO!!!" Soren shouted out while casting his powerful wind magic. Soren then used his spell as a distraction to pick up Ninian and run while shouting out, "Nils! We have to get out of here now! Let's go!"

Nils clearly got the message and took off after Soren and the injured Ninian.

When the spell dissipated, Ursula noticed that the targets escaped, and their mage bodyguard wiped out half of her forces in one attack. Ursula cursed and then ordered, "Search the surrounding area until you find them! They couldn't have gone far!"

Her grunts saluted and took off in the direction Soren, Ninian, and Nils escaped.

Soren decided that they were now a good distance away from their pursuers and set Ninian down so that he could search through his cloak for a vulnerary. While Soren was doing this, Nils was lying against a random stump hoping that he could get at least an hour of rest before being forced to run like a maniac again. Ninian on the other hand, was being tended to by Soren, and having the burn marks that were dealt to her by Ursula's Bolting spell healed by Soren's healing ointment, blushing the entire time.

Once Soren was finally done, Soren decided that it was time to get moving again and said, "We've rested long enough, we have to keep moving or we'll get surrounded again like last time."

"But how are we going to lose them Soren?" Nils asked. 'And can't we rest a little while longer? I don't have nearly as much stamina as you! I'm tired!!!'

"If I remember correctly, there's a rope bridge that's used to cross a gorge near here, we can cross it and then cut the ropes after crossing it to prevent our pursuers from following us." Soren planned.

"That could work, let's get going before they catch up to us" Ninian said.

Soren, Ninian, and Nils just reached the bridge when Nils noticed that it was rather old and rickety.

"This doesn't look safe Soren… are you sure that this is a good idea?" Nils asked while Ninian agreed, "Nils has a point; this bridge doesn't exactly look very stable."

"I'm well aware of that, and if we weren't being chased right now, I would look for an alternate route, but we're rather pressed for time right now and don't really have a choice. This is our best chance at losing our pursuers for the time being" Soren reasoned.

"How exactly are we going to get across safely?" Nils asked.

"By the looks of this bridge, it seems like it's capable of supporting one person at a time, so I guess we'll have to go one at a time." Soren said.

"Who's going to go first then?" Nils asked.

"Why don't you go first Nils? You're the lightest out of all three of us" Ninian said.

"Well… okay then…" Nils said, still unsure if crossing the bridge was a good idea.

Nils slowly inched his way across the bridge with both of his hands on the rope railing, making sure to test each plank before applying weight to it. About 10 minutes passed before Nils made it to the other side. With Nils now on the other side of the bridge, it was now Ninian's turn.

Ninian inched her way across the bridge in a fashion similar to Nils, in fact, she was actually crossing the bridge faster than Nils until one of her feet collapsed through a plank, causing her to gasp and panic with her eyes wide open in fear of falling into the river below. Ninian squirmed and tried to free herself until she heard Soren call out, "Ninian! Calm down and listen to my instructions! I'll guide you through this!"

Ninian slowly calmed down by breathing deeply for about 15 seconds before nodding and listening to Soren.

"Alright, start by kneeling down and apply as little weight as possible on the plank at the same time, then use your free hand to pry away enough of the plank to free your foot" Soren instructed.

Ninian followed Soren's instructions to the letter and kneeled down while slightly pulling on the rope railing with her left hand while prying away at the flimsy wood with her other hand, and after a minute of prying, Ninian managed to free her leg and continued inching her way across the bridge with even more caution before.

Soren was about to start crossing the bridge when Ninian sensed danger and then cried out, "SOREN! DUCK!"

Soren did as he was instructed with an impressive reaction time and just barely dodged an arrow shot by a Black Fang member in the trees.

"Tch, almost had him" the member grumbled in frustration.

Soren then heard the sound of the footsteps of a large group and decided that now was no longer the time to be cautious and ran across the bridge at full speed. He was actually rather lucky to not have any planks give way until he was two-thirds of the way there, and when it did give out, Soren reached into his cloak and pulled out a dagger that he used to cut away the offending wood in one clean cut. However, before he could continue, a bolt of lightning from a thunder spell struck the bridge behind Soren, causing it to be split in half and forcing Soren to hold onto the rope railing for dear life.

"SOREN!" Ninian cried out in panic as she ran to the edge of the gorge. She then wore a look of worry and relief when she saw that Soren was still with them, but needed help pulling himself up.

Nils then caught up and then shouted, "Hang on, we'll pull you up!"

While Ninian and Nils started working together to pull the shattered remains of the rope bridge up, Soren looked at the other side and saw an archer taking aim at him. Soren immediately grabbed the dagger that he just recently put back into his cloak and prepared to deflect the shot. When the archer saw this, he decided to redirect his aim and instead aimed for the rope that Soren was hanging onto. Soren then looked back up and saw that he was almost within arm's reach of Ninian, he put his dagger away and started to reach for the girl that he 'might' have feelings for while she did the same. Soren was almost able to grab Ninian's hand when the shot was made, cutting the rope cleanly in two, causing Soren to fall into the river below while Ninian cried out in horror with tears starting to fall from her eyes, "NO!!! SOREN!!!"

Soren then blacked out as soon as he hit the water.

A day later, Soren was found at the river's edge by a red-headed Pheraen noble, alive but unconscious.

Riku: I'm evil aren't I?

Soren: Yes you are… how could you do this to me?

Riku: Would you rather have been shot down by Ursula's Bolting spell?

Soren: NO!!! I'd prefer it if I wasn't defeated at all!!!

Riku: Sorry, but it was required for the plot

Ike: Okay, my hearing has returned… so what happened?

Riku: Not much, but you missed the chapter

Mia: Was I in it?

Riku: No, and Ike wasn't in it either

Mia: Drat!

Riku: Soren, would you like to make the review request?

Soren: No! I'm currently fuming over what you did to me!!!

Riku: Somebody's getting a little uncharacteristically emotional…

Ike: I'll do it… review or both Mia and I will let Soren vent his anger on you…