Yeah… this update has come a bit faster than the others, eh? You know what I've noticed? People are beginning to update a lot faster on the Fire Emblem fanfiction area… There are about 5-7 new updates a day as opposed to about 3-5 before. That's good. I gotta keep up!
General of Lylat: Hahaha… yeah… I understand what you're saying about McAffe… but I don't really like the Symantec corporation either… so… Haha, I just use a separate brand altogether! Haha, thank you… yeah, I try to write the characters as I see them… I think I've learned my lesson after the Lyn incident of many chapters ago… Actually… maybe I haven't… seeing how Eliwood is, right now...Ah, yeah, pray for Mark! Lyn will 'kill'. And don't worry… If I don't update by a designated time… I'll e-mail all of you guys a reason and a new time!
The Gamer: Ah, haha, I just re-read the chapter! And I see what you're saying! Yeah, Mark really does laugh too much! But believe it or not, that was based on me! Yes… I know… I laugh too much… Yeah, I remember your last trip to Japan! Well… enjoy the trip! (Maybe this time you can check out FE4: Genealogy of the Holy War.) Well, thanks for the review!
Knives91: Excellent… thou hunger shall be satiated!
KiraYamato1: Ah! You reviewed! Yay! I liked the new chapter of your own story… Haha, take your time! I know it'll be great… Thanks for reviewing!
DISCLAIMER: The following has been jacked from a Pepsi commercial… I am the CEO of Nintendo. DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER: BattleWiz88 is not rich. BattleWiz88 does not 'own' Nintendo or anything created by Nintendo… yet.
The Battle Wizard Chap 15x:
Love is a Beautiful Thing
"Mark, dear… you're still reading that book?" Mark's mother asked him.
"Ah, yes… I wanna write something like this some day!" Mark replied enthusiastically.
"Ah, I'm sure you'll be able to someday when the abilities you have today build as you get older," Mark's mother told him.
"Haha, yeah!" Mark said happily, after returning the Luce tomb back to his mother.
"Hmm… there's a good boy… Why don't you show me that new sword style you've been practicing lately, son?"
"Ahh, yeah!" Mark grabbed a Slim Sword from a nearby stand and rushed up to his mother enthusiastically. "Heeeeeere!"
Mark performed some of the moves his father had taught him the past week. After finishing, Mark's entire body was sweaty and he was breathing heavily.
"…Son… you should not try so hard… look, you face is covered in a pile of sweat… Son… why are you…?"
"It's nothing, mom. I want to show you my best, that's all," Mark turned around and left, dropping his Slim Sword deliberately to the ground.
"Son…" Mark's mother sat up and followed Mark all the way to the castle gates. She kneeled down next to Mark and put her hand on his shoulders.
"Mother… why doesn't the King promote Father? Dad's a thousand times stronger than that man who's the King's Knight General! If dad wanted to… If he wanted to… He can join that rebel group and probably overthrow the king himself!"
"S-Son! Don't say that! Your father… is a great man. He is willing to wait. And you should too. You're only ten years old and you're already speaking treason! If you want to be Knight General yourself, then train! And speak only when you have the steel to back it up!" Mark's mother scolded before walking of indignantly back in the castle, the two guards at the gate just staring.
Mark stormed to the training ground, staring at the weapons.
'So many types of weapons… I know how to use basic Light Magic… And I'm now learning how to use a sword…Maybe… I can spy on the castle guards and learn how to use a lance! And those archers… I'm pretty sure I can try my hand at shooting an arrow! I can also self-study anima magic… Maybe I'll be able to borrow dad's Excalibur tome? Then I'll be like my dad! I'll be able to use magic AND weapons! I'll be a knight… No… I'll be greater than ANY knight!'
"And there you have it, Rebecca. That is how I started training… and how I learned to be what I am today… The skills I learned throughout my childhood have carried me through my worst times and have built me up till now," Mark said to Rebecca.
"Wow… So what you can do… You can cast all types of different spells and use all weapons?" Rebecca asked him, wide-eyed with admiration.
"Well, truth is… yes. However… I can't use all of them to great extent. My power lies with my past. Swords still remain my best bet against my enemies… and Light magic is still my most adapt form of magic…"
"But Mark… what about Dark Magic? I mean… you know how to use that to, right? How did you learn that? I heard that Etruria is based on bishops, clerics, mages… and sages. 'The Righteousness of Saint Elimine', or so I once heard from a storyteller that passed by our village when I was young."
"…Very perceptive, Rebecca. Elderly Black Magic… is indeed forbidden to be learned by anyone under 25 years of age… and by all means NOT considered appropriate to be learnt by an only son of such a great lord as my father…. As for how I learned it… It was… on a trip to Bern with my father… when I was 15 years old…"
"Hmm? Who's that? Come out! Now!" Mark shouted. He was practicing his lancework when he saw the bushes shake… It was a windless night.
"Heh heh heh… You wouldn't harm an old lady, would you? An elderly hermit of a lady came out of the bushes.
"What… What on earth are you doing in their??? Who are you? This is the royal garden of Bern! I should report you to the Imperial Guards…" Mark said. In truth, he did not have any intentions to report her to anyone. He was just testing the waters.
"Hehehe… My name is Niime… and I doubt you'll report me to anyone once I show you this…" From inside her coat, she pulled out a tome. It was a tome Mark had never seen before. But he recognized the design from "Different Tombs of Elibe", a book he had borrowed from the Etrurian library.
"It's… It's a dark magic tomb…" NOW Mark was considering turning her in to the guards. "What do you want?" Mark asked. His hands were in his pocket, fingers firmly on his concealed Aura tomb. Not that he could actually use it… but…
"Hehehe, I sense I curious mind behind that stern face of yours… Take it… You won't find it no matter where else you go back in Etruria… You're on a road trip… Enjoy it…" And with another cackle, Niime disappeared into the night.
Mark picked up the tome and read the cover. 'Fenrir,' it read.
"Mark… what are you doing?" A boy asked him from behind. Mark turned around to see that it was young Gale, a boy he had met as soon as Mark's father and Mark himself had arrived at Bern.
"A-Ah, I was practicing my lance… um… you?" Mark said quickly, holding the tome behind him with both hands. Mark noticed that Gale, too, was holding something behind his back.
"Oh, um, I was just… I was doing the same."
"R-Really?" 'So that's why he was holding that little javelin behind him.'
"Y-Yes. I want to be a great wyvern knight someday… And I won't become better by just standing here!" Gale said, determined. Gale was about 8 and half years younger than Mark. Yet there he was… holding a Javelin…
'I've long heard that the training of wyvern knights and their wyvern started when they were only 8… this boy's only 6… He's one determined child.'
"G-Gale?" A meek voice whispered over to Gale. Mark leaned sideways to see a little girl of perhaps 4 or at most 5 years of age.
"Miledy! What are you doing here? You have a cold!" Gale scolded.
"Gale… I'm sorry… I just saw that you were outside and wanted to see you and tell you… my mother just gave birth! And-And… I don't think she's going to… m-make it… I'm sorry," Miledy said, too stricken with emotions to even cry.
"Gah… Ah, Miledy… No, don't apologize… I'm the one that should be sorry! Hurry! Let's go back," Gale said kindly, carrying her in his arms back to the palace. "Bye bye, Mark."
"I was only fifteen… Fifteen… That was to be the only wonderful year I would have for another three years. Hahaha… what happened when I returned… Well…"
"What did happen?" Rebecca asked, not getting the subtle hint.
"My mom died… The last thing she ever gave me was that Aura tome. My dad… passed away due to his mysterious illness a month or two later. I completed my Gespenst research. I killed the murderers of my mother, home, and memories… I met Sophia. I traveled along the Western Isles. I joined an Ilian mercenary company………….. I met Lyn………. All in three years."
"Oh…" Rebecca uttered, silent, not knowing what to say. 'There's so much I don't know about him… Then again… what does he know about me…'
"I'm sorry for wandering Rebecca. I don't enjoy keeping secrets. You are my sister… and you WILL know more about me someday. Until then, however… please know… I would never purposely hurt you, or anyone else close to me. Never… Not anymore…"
"Yes, brother, I will trust you…" She laid her head on his lap and quickly fell asleep.
Mark's thoughts began to go towards his 19th birthday. And who he spent it with…
"Sophia… We finally meet again…" Mark said, an exhausted look upon his face after climbing a hill so steep.
"Mark…" Sophia uttered, her hair, ever so long, and her speech, ever so slurred.
Mark watched her hair drag upon the soft Ilian snow as she walked towards him. Every inch of her figure blended in with the nature around her. Very much like Ninian… and Nils. It was not just the snow… It didn't matter where they were. What scene they were in, the three of them just seemed to fuse with the life around them… so different from human beings.
"Sophia… I figured it out. I understand."
"…Your heart… I can see… it… The darkness… is… gone… but not… destroyed… There is… one thing… hurting… you… One thing…killing you… One Thing…breaking you…Let me take…away…the pain…I shall…soothe…your soul…I shall…prepare…you…The true battle…is yet to come…"
"I wonder how Lord Pent and Lady Louise are doing. After this little adventure is over… I must visit them…"
"Hello, Mark," a certain red-haired Lord called out to Mark.
"Ah, Lord Eliwood. Good evening. Most of the people are getting ready to sleep. Won't you?"
"…I can't, Lord Mark." Mark could see that Eliwood's eyes were a tad pink.
"…Lord Eliwood. We have not known each other that long. But… I share your pain. Your father is missing… but do not lose all hope! I promise… Lord Eliwood… that I will help you find your father to the best of my ability!"
"Lord Mark… I thank you. But there seems to be so much secrecy these days… It seems as if there is no one you can truly trust… I need all the help I can get. I can sense that this may be a longer journey than hoped for… I am sorry for burdening you with my troubles."
"No Lord Eliwood. Look… you are naïve. You do not know much about how this world runs. I… I cannot say that I am a master of knowledge, but I can show you what little I do know. Allow Lord Marcus and I to be your aids, and we WILL find your father!"
"…Lord Mark… Thank you… but I must say… no to your request."
"……………."
"Ah, Lord Mark, do not take what I've just said the wrong way. What I meant was… I must make my own decisions… I must do what I have to do. And I will forever be welcome of your support… I am sorry, Lord Mark. If I have offended you… You may leave at any time… But if you pity my cause… If you care about my father, my mother, and I… Then I implore you to stay…"
Mark paused for a few seconds, stunned.
"Ahahahahaha, Lord Eliwood! You have taken the first step to being a true leader! Lord Eliwood… I am far from upset!" Then Mark looked down to his sleeping sister. The he said, more quietly: "Lord Eliwood. I will follow you all the way!"
For the first time for a while, Mark saw Eliwood have a genuine smile of happiness as Eliwood leaned forward and offered a hand to Mark, to which Mark gladly accepted.
"Lord Mark, I will take my leave…"
"Of course… sleep well milord. Tomorrow may be a rough day." Mark told him.
"Yes… good night." Eliwood left to prepare for his sleep.
As Mark watched Eliwood leave, he thought to himself about his own life. Again, Mark looked down to the sleeping girl on his lap.
"Love… is such… a wondrous thing. At so many different time in my life… in all of my most difficult times… Love has helped me overcome my problems… Mother… Father… Sophia… May… Lord Pent… Lady Louise……… Lyn… Thank you. Thank you all."
Author's Note: Yes… this chapter… is short… But hey, it's a side chapter. Like it? More and more characters from Roy's story are appearing! Gale… Miledy… Niime… Sophia again… Remember this side chapter… It will play major roles in the future! Well, thanks for reading, folks! Hope you enjoyed it!