Travant/Loyalties (761 Grann)
Heat filled the atmosphere, burning anyone and anything that dared to enter; especially my soldiers and I, who were wearing armor. The sun glared dangerously in our direction, threatening to kill. That was a normal situation for a desert, but the Yied Desert was even more extreme compared to any that I had ever heard of.
Though, despite this, we prepared to enter the dangerous, barren desert. As Thracia had the less than fertile south, its inhabitants were willing to do anything to survive - even if that meant becoming mercenaries. In fact, the Thracian Dragon Knights were known for it.
But the fact remained that the ongoing war between both halves of the Thracian Peninsula had been raging for over a century, and didn't look like it would end soon without coming up with a different plan than charging and hoping for the best. It was a war that had started with our ancestors, Dáinn and Njörun, after all, after the Tragedy of Gáe Bolg had divided the peninsula in two.
Therefore, I had thought of something else. An ambush in which I would send some soldiers to attack Leonster, and then follow Quan, Ethlyn and the soldiers they would be taking with them to Sigurd's aid through the Yied Desert, which was known for its harshness. They would expect that I would attack Leonster myself, as that was my opportunity to reunify Thracia, but that would be too obvious. That had led to countless failures and stalemates.
Noticing that we were nearing the right location, I turned to my soldiers. "Men, close in! This is it! Thracia's destiny lies before us, ripe for the grasping!" The nearby air was immediately filled with determined and loyal "Yes, sir!"s. "Then prepare for battle," I finished calmly, and I flew down - my soldiers following me - quickly, yet discreetly in hopes of my plan working. That was all I could hope for.
If I would credit Leonster's soldiers for anything, it would be efficiency. As soon as we approached them, a few of the soldiers alerted Quan immediately. But there was still not even a chance that they would make it out of the desert alive.
As I flew closer, I noticed Quan was talking to Ethlyn.
"Ethlyn, run!" he said desperately. "Travant has been at our heels all along! We've no hope of victory in this blasted desert!"
"But," Ethlyn said quietly. "What will you do?"
"They're like wild hyenas, Ethlyn!" Quan protested. "Children are little more than easy targets for them! Thracia has sought to reconquer our territory for over a century. I knew that my absence would be taken as an invitation, so I left Finn behind with half the army in case they made the obvious move. Not once…" he shook his head. "Not even once did I ever suspect they would pursue us instead! I... This was all a mistake.."
"You can't give up now, Quan," Ethlyn said softly, holding his hand. "It'll be okay. We're together, aren't we? At the very least, together we'll not go down easily!"
He nodded, but at the same time whispered, "Ethlyn, forgive me, please…"
Their conversation was interrupted by their child. She turned to her child, whispering reassurances to her. Her. It was most likely Altena, Quan and Ethlyn's daughter.
I snorted. Why would they bring their child through the Yied Desert? It was one of the most idiotic things I had heard of, and I was used to hearing things like this, as I was the leader of a country, and therefore saw a large amount of idiotic actions and decisions.
But as I flew in her direction to attack, Quan blocked Gungnir, the Lance of the Heavens, with Gáe Bolg, the Lance of the Earth. A sound, almost like a cry, reverberated through the air.
"Away, Travant!" Quan yelled angrily. "As long as I have the Gáe Bolg, I will not lose!"
"Then make me, if you really think that," I retorted.
At the same time, Ethlyn was facing some of my men, and wasn't able to dodge most of the attacks, as she was protecting Altena. But even so, she continued, even at the cost of her life.
I blinked for a moment, feeling some sort of pain. Something wasn't right, though I didn't know what it was.
"Your fight is with me!" Quan yelled, attacking me with his spear and bringing me back to reality. He had a disadvantage, riding a horse in a desert, but he was holding his own against me.
"Correct," I said, having just blocked his attack in time.
The fight went on for far longer than I kept track. Several times, it looked like one of us would win, but the other quickly regained his balance, and continued fighting.
A little while later, when Ethlyn was killed by my soldiers, I felt the same, strange pain again.
"Oh, Ethlyn," Quan whispered sadly, tears filling his eyes, his grip on his lance shaky. "Forgive me, please."
"What should we do with the child?" one of my soldiers asked me, interrupting our thoughts.
"So, how do you feel about this situation, Quan?" I said, staring directly at him.
"Travant!" Quan yelled. "You can have Gáe Bolg, but don't you dare so much as scratch Altena!"
"Fine," I said coldly, plunging Gungnir into Quan's chest. He was startled for a moment, but then was surprisingly satisfied. He looked sad, but still calm.
"And so ends Quan," I said calmly, removing Gungnir before turning to a general who had come with me. "Magorn!"
He blinked and then turned to me. "Yes, sir?"
"You're in charge now," I replied. "Head north and give Sigurd's army a fair share of grief. Let none of them escape; There's a fine bounty on each traitorous head, after all."
Magorn nodded. "Yes, sir! Er, that said, what are we supposed to do with this child? She's just crying and crying. We don't know how to handle this. Shall I put her out of her misery, sir?"
I thought for a moment. "Certainly not. Hand her over to me. She and Gáe Bolg are coming with me back to Thracia."
"Can't say I expected this, sir," he replied. "If I may, why exactly are you taking her home with you?"
'Moron!" I snapped. "You've no need to know! Keep that mouth of yours out of business that isn't yours!"
Magorn flinched. "Y-yes, sir. I beg your forgiveness, sir. By your leave, sir, we will pursue Sigurd's rebels."
"Good," I said coldly. "Don't fail me."
He nodded, and then flew off to alert the other soldiers.
I turned to Altena, who by now had seen her dead parents and was shaking them desperately while tears filled her eyes.
I felt my stomach lurch as I came to a horrid realization. Up until now, I had wondered why I felt pained when I looked at Ethlyn protecting Altena, and why I had spared the princess of Leonster in the first place.
But then I realized it. She was around the same age as my own son, Arion, who I cared about so much.
I reached my hand out for Altena, and after half a minute, she took it nervously.
As I picked her up carefully - with her permission - all I could do was wonder how this would affect the future: for my family, and for Thracia.
Notes:
So now that I finished the first Travant chapter (AKA the Yied Massacre), there's only a few more chapters left of the first generation, which is funny, since it feels like I barely started.
I picked this chapter title because of Travant's loyalty to his country, which means that "Massacre" is still open for one of Arvis's chapters.
He's also the second character in this to be in FEH, after Eldigan (and here's a quote that stuck in my head: "Remember well the name of Travant… He who will see you swallowed by the afterlife!").
Something I want to mention for people who don't know: The Yied Massacre plays out in game and have separate turns. If you seize Phinora before it happens, they disappear anyway. That also happens if you ignore Eldigan (chapter 3) and seize Silvail.
I keep forgetting to respond to reviews, but I remembered this time. Since they're all written by guests, I'm not sure how to sort them by, but I'll separate them by review and date for now.
Guest (2-25): I'm going to take things from the Oosawa manga, but do most of the time from the game and my interpretation. And I also hope I don't mess Arvis up. I actually have a draft for the second story (yeah, you guessed right), but it's only a draft so far and takes place around Chapter 10, so it's not going to be uploaded for a while.
Guest (3-06): I actually don't ship Lex/Ayra because of that (not that I'm judging you for shipping different characters). It's mainly because 1) Naryfiel Lillth's fanfictions are the reason I got into, and one of the reasons I'm obsessed with, the Jugdral games, and her fanfictions have Lex/Ayra, and 2) The Brave Sword event. (It is fun playing as Larcei and Ulster and using them to destroy pretty much anything, though. Unless they get destroyed first, though, but I understand why you prefer paring Ayra with Arden, even though I probably will never do that.
Guest (3-08): It's funny how one person likes Arvis, and doesn't want me to mess him up, and another person hates Arvis completely. I used to hate him, but now I'm more neutral, but closer to liking him than disliking him. (Like my opinions on ships, I don't really care that much if people hate or love certain characters.) I might (probably) have read it wrong, but I think you might've mixed Deirdre and Cigyun. I like your suggestion (I was rushing the last chapter, so I thought I might forget to put things in, or write the wrong things), and I'll try to add it in.
EDIT: Something I forgot to mention was that I took one of the things Quan says in this chapter from his dialogue in game and his dialogue in FEH.
Disclaimer: Since I'm taking things from the game (I know most of it's from a fan translation, but I want to be careful), here's a disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with FE4, or the Fire Emblem series in general.
