The Flames Within Us
By: V-Dawg
Chapter 1: Disappearance
Takes place 6 months after Path of Radiance
The tranquil air of Crimea was the first thing Ike woke up to, the silent but calm lullabies of many birds. Sitting himself up, he took a sigh.
It had been six months ever since the Mad King's War, and ever since then, Ike could feel the calmer presence in Crimea, the sense of peace, a sense of assurance, that there's no more threats.
Getting up, he took a sigh. Ever since, the Greil Mercenaries had been hard at work in aiding in the recovery of Crimea, even going as far as accepting a role in the Crimean Monarch.
Ike admitted, it was his initial admiration and lust for Elincia, that had somewhat blinded Ike to accepting the role. However, not only was the internal and constant squabbling and backlashes, but him noticing the connection between Elincia and Geoffrey was what ensured Ike's departure from the royalty.
Ike himself just wanted to go back to his previous life as a mercenary, working odd jobs for money, which may not be the most effective way to work for money, but was something they were used to. Ike was built for this lifestyle by his father, and he had come to accept his role as the leader.
Grabbing Ettard, Ike made his way towards the outdoor space, and proceeded to take a breath of fresh air. It had been a long time since Ike could breathe quietly, without any major stress being a giant war, alongside avenging his father's death.
Being approached by Soren, Ike smiled at the sight of seeing his tactician and friend.
"Good morning, Ike." He greeted with a rather straight face, to which Ike simply nodded in response.
"Hello Soren, you had a good sleep?" Ike asked.
Soren shrugged in response, and Ike sighed, knowing Soren didn't have the easiest time falling asleep, at least compared to Ike himself.
"What was going through your mind this time, Soren?"
Soren sighed, with Ike noticing a change in his demeanor, which somewhat shocked Ike, as he knew Soren was rather apathetic.
"I had a feeling something bad happened..." Soren said finally, to which Ike took in.
"I appreciate the concern Soren, but I feel the greatest I've been ever felt since the war."
Soren seemed to understand what Ike was saying, but shook his head.
"I didn't mean that, I meant that I'm feeling as if something bad is going to happen."
"What kind of feeling?"
"I don't know honestly, I don't know who it's going to affect, but I feel it may have something to do with those laguz."
At this Ike looked to Soren's eyes, then the direction he was staring at, only to see looks of a concerned Lethe and Ranulf, which perplexed Ike.
"Huh, what a strange coincidence..." Ike murmured before making his way over to the laguz duo.
Ike quickly hugged Ranulf, while Lethe looked on with a tinge of seriousness.
"Hello Soren." Ranulf greeted warmly, to which Soren nodded back.
"You must have had a tiring morning getting here from Gallia, come inside." Ike quickly informed to the laguz, which Ranulf accepted by Lethe looked skeptical.
"You think us laguz get tired from that run? Ha you beorc are pathetic." Lethe remarked, causing Ranulf to look at Lethe in anger.
"He is not calling us weak Lethe! He is looking out for our health!" Ranulf told Lethe, raising his voice slightly, which got Lethe to bring her head down.
"Sorry Ike, I thought-"
"I was attacking you verbally, I understand, now let's get inside." Ike finished for Lethe before going back inside, leading the laguz and Soren to a headquarters sort of area.
Once inside, Ranulf and Lethe put on a serious face, which Ike took notice.
"What's going on?" Ike asked warily, to which Ranulf sighed.
"I know this may be a bit of a surprise, but we have a situation, a pretty grave situation."
Ike took notice of the tone Ranulf was using and quickly knew something was up.
"And what is this situation?" Ike simply asked to which he responded back.
"Multiple laguz within Gallia have disappeared under abnormal circumstances. First it was some laguz civilians, but it eventually went to those with connection to Caineghis, and ever since he's been on overdrive trying to map out any suspicions." Ranulf finished. Ike looked to Lethe for any additional information, but her silence said everything was said.
Ike pondered, multiple laguz mysteriously disappearing? There couldn't be any way they just vanished.
"Is there any circumstances or similarities in terms of reported sighting?" Ike asked, to which Lethe responded.
"There was one who claimed his child went in the forest to play, and by the time night came the child never returned. Most are under a similar circumstance but they can be of all age and species of laguz."
"So, wait, have there been missing laguz from the bird tribes?" Soren asked, to which Ranulf replied.
"Caineghis had brough the issue to Tibarn, but the hawk leader said there wasn't anything that he heard of, meaning the issue at the moment is strictly a Gallian disappearance."
Ike put his head around his head, "This is very strange indeed, but I'm pretty sure the Greil Mercenaries could lend a hand."
"Really?" Ranulf asked hopefully, even Lethe gave a smile at the hope of more help.
"Of course, we have many reasons to help Gallia, why would we not, especially when its citizens are disappearing randomly, this could become a problem." Ike finished, to which Lethe smiled, and hugged Ike unexpectedly.
"Thank you!" Lethe said, as she was squeezing Ike, who was feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Uh Lethe your kind of squishing me." Ike huffed, to which Lethe let go.
"Sorry, have you been growing Ike?" Lethe said looking at Ike before the rest of the group started laughing.
Ike had gone and informed Titania of the issue Ranulf and Lethe presented him with, and decided to confront Caineghis on the issue in order to get a better understanding of what he was dealing with. Titania agreed, and brought the rest of the Greil Mercenaries alongside them.
The only one who was opposed was Shinon, purely because he didn't want to go to what he called Beast Country, but alas, Ike let him stay so he could teach Rolf more archery, which while Shinon hated Ike, was at least glad he gave him the decision.
Eventually meeting up with Caineghis, Ike approached the Lion King.
"Kind of funny how you got sick of the beorc royalty squabbling, and now you're meeting with another royalty, huh Ike?" Caineghis remarked, to which Ike smiled at.
"You could say, but the reasoning for these is different, I've heard from Lethe and Ranulf that you've been having disappearing citizens in Gallia?" Ike said, getting straight to the topic.
"Indeed, most of the laguz citizens disappear after an adventure to tame their energy, and while the age comparisons aren't anything too noteworthy, the young ones are particularly vulnerable." Caineghis replied to Ike noticing his serious tone immediately.
"I see, while our best bet at the moment may be the ask these citizens where these laguz said they went before disappearing, that way we could maybe find a pattern." Ike proposed, which Soren immediately nodded, seeing that as the most logical thing to do.
Caineghis nodded, "At first we thought the forest, it's the easiest place for abductors to take active laguz, but assuming we are not dealing with bandits, they not only should be able to handle themselves, but we would've found any presence of life, but the opposite has happened."
"Wait, what do you mean by no life?" Soren asked.
"I mean is that aside from some remnants, there's no actual living thing in that forest, as if everything migrated."
"That is strange." Ike said, noticing Soren was pondering.
"There's only one explanation I could think of, but even that is unlikely." Soren said, an idea forming.
"What is it?" Ranulf said.
"Magic is being used, now fire would obviously be cut off otherwise we would see burn marks on the trees, and thunder makes too much noise, so the magic that maybe is being used is wind."
"Wind magic? Well, I got to say, that's a pretty good analogy to this situation, but how could we find any traces of wind?" Lethe asked.
"The same way for every wind, look at the branches of trees, and see if it's unusual. If it is, then we have our weapon."
"I never thought someone would go as far as to target and, Ashera knows what else they could be doing to those laguz right now." Lethe snarled, the thought angering her.
"I can't believe it too, Lethe." Ike replied, "which is why the Greil Mercenaries will aid in this."
Caineghis smiled, "Well I am certainly glad that we are getting some much-needed assistance."
Ike and Caineghis shook hands, but before they could end their chat, they were interrupted by the sound of wing flaps.
"What's going on?" Soren asked, his question answered when he saw an angry looking Tibarn, followed by Reyson and Leanne.
Ranulf was the first to talk after, "Tibarn, is everything alright?"
"Obviously not, if we approached Caineghis!" He unexpectedly yelled, to which he realized his mistake after seeing Ranulf step back, fear in his eyes.
Sighing, Tibarn offered an apology to Ranulf who nodded, before turning to Caineghis.
"What is the beorc doing here?" Tibarn asked, quieter and referring to Ike.
"He is assisting us in our disappearances." Caineghis simply said, with Tibarn looking towards Ike.
"Ahh, Ike, it's been a bit, haven't seen you ever since you took that beorc royalty." He replied, to which Ike shrugged.
"I gave up that title, but our Caineghis and I were discussing potential events that are leading up to now with the disappearance of laguz."
It was then doing Tibarn realize what he was here for, and just then his scowl returned.
"Ah yes, that, well I hate to inform you Caineghis, that one of the laguz in our Hawk Tribes have disappeared under mysterious circumstances."
At this, Caineghis, Lethe and Ranulf were in shock. Their mysterious disappearance issue with the laguz had officially spread to other laguz nations.
"Well, this certainly is becoming more of a Tellius problem now." Ike commented after a bit.
"Yes, problem." Leanne said with her trademark struggle, as she was used to speaking ancient languages.
"I don't know if the Ravens have reported anyone missing, but I didn't bother checking." Tibarn said shortly after.
The room was quiet at the expense of the news, after learning of current cases and the fact that it wasn't just ending there. Now the disappearance had started in the Hawk Tribes, which made the few Herons vulnerable. If something were to happen to Reyson or Leanne. Ike didn't want to ponder further.
"Well I suppose our clan will start the search." Ranulf said, with Leanne following.
"Agreed." Lethe said going her own way with Reyson.
Ike seemed to have not expected the sudden movement, and quickly was realizing they were getting away.
"I'll go with Ranulf and Leanne, you go with Reyson and Lethe." Ike told Soren, to which he simply nodded, and Soren made his way to Lethe's group.
Before Ike went to Ranulf's group, a thought occurred to him, "Wait, Caineghis, if this issue is starting to spread, shouldn't we inform the head of the other states?"
Caineghis sighed, while Tibarn was more adamant, "And tell the beorc what's happening with the laguz? Absolutely not. You're the only exception, and we intend to keep it like that."
Ike sighed, "Very well, I shall be on my way with Ranulf and Leanne, safe travels."
As Ike ran to catch up with his group, Tibarn sighed.
"You know the Crimean Beorc's don't mean any harm to us." Caineghis told Tibarn to which he sighed.
"I understand, but I'd rather keep them out of this than appear weak and needing their help. If the situation extends to them, then they have the right to be informed." Tibarn finished.
"Fair enough."
"Hey Ike! You finally caught up!" Ranulf said.
"Had to finish something up with Tibarn and Caineghis, sorry about that." Ike replied.
"It's no problem, really, let's just continue our search."
Ike nodded, before reaching a rather dense and rocky forest. Immediately Ike quickly realized the area they were at. This was the area Ike had run off after seeing his father disappear in the forest. Sure enough, they approached an opening in the forest, a place all too familiar for Ike.
Ranulf seemed to notice Ike stopping, whereas Leanne sensed loss in Ike.
In front of Ike was Urvan, the axe that belonged to Greil, Ike's father. On the one hand, Ike wanted to tell his father of his accomplishments, while also wishing he was still here.
In truth, Ike was still unsure of himself. While he thought getting rid of the Black Knight would fulfill his vengeance for his father, Ike didn't feel complete, and he failed to understand why.
"What are you doing Ike?" Ranulf asked.
"Not Now!" Leanne told Ranulf, pulling him away from Ike. Originally confused, Ranulf quickly realized what was happening.
Lifting Urvan off the ground, before kneeling, Ike picked up some flowers around before planting them on his father's burial.
"I'm sorry father, I should've given you a proper funeral, but take these flowers."
Originally planning to put Urvan back in its place, Ike noticed a faint glow on the Axe's hilt, growing stronger the closer he put it to the ground. It was then doing Ike notices the light was due to Urvan fading, and Ike quickly realized the message.
Heaving Urvan to his back, and placing his sword in his pouch, Ike walked away from his father's burial, Urvan in his right hand.
Ranulf and Leanne looked to Ike with a bit of understand and loss, but Ike motioned for them to continue.
Approaching a particularly dense forest, Ranulf and Leanne approached, and Ike touched a twig, pushing it slightly, before breaking it off.
"Notice how easy it was? That's a sign of wind magic in a forest like this." Ike finished.
"Yes. Wind." Leanne replied.
Eventually, Ike continued moving, with Ranulf and Leanne following behind him.
"We find them?" Leanne asked rather timidly to Ranulf.
"Yes, we will find them, I'm sure. If not us, then Lethe, Reyson and Soren will."
A.N / So this story will be a bit darker in comparison to other stories. I already have the format for each chapter planned out until 12, so expect some chapters there. It's length will be around 2.5k, more or less, but I will try and update. This story was influenced by other fanfics called Transformed and From Ashes of War. Read those as well.