The Flames Within Us
By: V-Dawg
Chapter 7: The Maiden
1 Month Later
Micaiah was certain something was up. Hidden deep in Marado, alongside some armed militia, she had become a local bastion of freedom for Daein. With her unique magical abilities, she had managed to rank up, and step up to the role of the Dawn Brigade.
So far, they have garnished some small attention due to some small skirmished with Begnion, their oppressors, but this also meant Micaiah was wanted, and revered as a vulnerable target. If she was caught the Dawn Brigade would ultimately be cut.
However, there was another unusual fact about Micaiah, and that was her unique closeness to the forces of order. Unbeknownst to anyone, she was a branded between a heron and beorc, and a pet bird by the name of Yune, Micaiah was able to feel the slightest shifts in the forces of order and chaos.
And recently, near Marado, Micaiah had begun to pick up a strange force in an isolated region not even soldiers wanted to enter, due to it leading to the desert of death.
However, the unique feeling had been going on for a couple of weeks, and Micaiah's curiousity had begun to infiltrate her.
Before she knew it, she had begun to make her way towards where she was being led.
Eventually, after a particularly dense forest crossing, Micaiah had found a weird, abandoned dark building that clearly had something off about it.
Curiously, Micaiah made her way towards the entrance, but stopped after noticing passing laguz bodyguards.
"Strange." The silver-haired girl muttered, before noticing a small window which could easily be accessible thanks to a branch off a nearby tree.
Deciding her plan, she begun to climb the tree, with some moderate difficulty, as she was scared her weight would break the branch, she surprised herself by actually getting to the branch in question.
Slowly closing in on the open window, she quietly passed through, her feet touching solid ground not too far vertically, which she was grateful about.
Quietly and cautiously avoiding laguz soldiers, which were sensitive, due to most being from the beast tribe, she eventually gasped silently, putting a hand to her mouth realizing what she was looking at.
There, in a jailcell, there was a small beorc lady, who looked to be almost an adult, collapsed, breathing heavily.
She was clearly in pain, due to the cuts given to her, made more evident by her bleeding out.
However, there was another weird feeling with this girl that she wasn't used to.
"H-hello?" Micaiah asked very quietly. The girl looked up, slowly and her eyes met with hazel, which surprised her.
"W-who a-are you?" The girl hoarsely asked, which hurt the maiden.
"I'm Micaiah, and you are?" She asked.
"M-mist." Was all she muttered. However, that was enough for Micaiah. She knew very well who she was. She was the sister of Ike, saviour of Crimea from Daein's invasion.
He was also, thus, partially responsible for Daein's sorry state, in the hand of Begnion.
Despite that, Micaiah couldn't bring herself to hate Mist. She was clearly in an immense amount of pain.
So, without thinking, Micaiah put a hand on Mist's frail frame, and a light began to shroud Mist.
Micaiah didn't want to overuse her magic to help, as it could have a dangerous effect on her, but she wanted to help.
It seemed to be enough, as Mist crawled underneath what appeared to be a bunkbed, before fetching an object.
She could easily tell it was a healing wand, and it was confirmed when she used that to heal herself.
"Thanks." Was all Mist said, to which Micaiah smiled, happy she could help someone.
Before Micaiah could ask more questions, Mist seemed off.
"Get out." She said, which confused the silver maiden.
"Wha-"
"Get out! Or they'll catch you as well!" Mist interrupted her, shooing Micaiah away until she moved.
Micaiah successfully managed to escape the building, but before she could get out of view of it, she looked back.
She felt sorry for the young girl who gods now were going through in that building.
"Perhaps I could visit tomorrow." She thought, before smiling. Besides, she felt something strange from that girl.
With her mind set, she ran back to her headquarters. No doubt would the commanders' bicker and argue, especially with Micaiah disappearing suddenly.
But she didn't care. She worried for that girl, and anyone else in that building.
She would be back even if it endangered her.
"Titania!" Boyd exclaimed for the third time today, which only made the paladin sigh.
"What is it Boyd?" She merely asked.
"Shinon and Gatrie are at it again!" He replied, which only made Titania sigh, this time in slight frustration.
"Tell them if they want a day off, tell them to head to Melior, but don't cause any ruckus!" Was all Titania said, not interested in what they were doing. Instead, she was, for the countless time today, swinging Urvan.
Boyd looked skeptically at Titania, knowing the mental battle she was going through, but decided not to push her.
Sighing, Boyd made his way towards Shinon and Gatrie, who were sparing in a unique way Boyd had never seen before.
There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Titania was taking the loss of Ike and Mist incredibly difficult.
The fact that the search for the missing laguz as well was officially ended and that they were assumed dead did not make the issue any better.
Tibarn himself mourned the loss of the hawk member in his tribe who had gone missing, which was why he had joined the squad in the first place, whereas Naesala had mourned the loss of Leanne.
Even Caineghis had mourned the loss of Ranulf, as it appeared this search investigation had caused more pain than good.
Everyone, even Elincia had hoped that they would find something to help ease their pain or tension, but unfortunately not everything has a happy ending.
It was bitter sweet in a way.
They found the cause and some steps, but they weren't able to reach the top.
The only place that hadn't been told of the issue was Begnion, however many thought that it would be futile.
Begnion was too busy suppressing Daein separatists to even bother help their other neighbours.
It was for this reason that despite the Greil Mercenaries had traveled to Begnion, the senate turned a blind eye, outright refusing to even let them in.
It did make it suspicious, however they didn't pry, out of fear of the largest nation getting tempered at another nation that had just recovered from a brutal war.
It was tragic, a situation in which everyone lost something.
As much as everyone wanted to continue, the toll of losing someone close to each other was taking its toll, and mostly everyone gave up, just wanting to return to life before.
As much as everyone wanted to find them, the more time had passed, and that optimism had dwindled, and everyone just accepted they were gone.
Titania had just begun to train more vigorously than most of the Greil Mercenaries had ever seen, whereas the laguz leaders held a ceremony commemorating the loss of the laguz in this event.
It wasn't just the fact that everyone had given up, but the lack of evidence had further made many believe that hope was gone.
Soren was torn with the loss of Ike, and as much as he wanted to blame the laguz for this, he knew that Ike had brought himself into this willingly, and knew the dangers he was getting into when accepting these missions.
Therefore, he held no malice towards them.
As for Tibarn and Naesala, Soren had hoped this taught them a valuable lesson about pride and wanting help.
It was never shameful to ask for help.
As Soren looked up at the night sky, he was never the type to pray. He wasn't as he felt that they wouldn't dare create Soren the way he was, but he digressed.
This was the first time he had genuinely found himself praying to Ashera, hoping Ike and his friends were all alive, somewhere, wherever they were.
"Ike, please as well as your group, please be alright, I don't know what I'd do without you." Soren muttered, as he felt a slight chill of wind shortly after.
As if it was answering his calls and pleas.
Ike was coughing, and he knew exactly why. He had become numb to whatever Izuka had plunged in his system now.
Whatever type of poison that had been semi-daily injected into Ike now had no effect, as if now Ike had a natural built immunity. As for the blood, Ike noticed that Izuka had toned down the cutting, while increasing the amount of blood. This pattern was what Ike had been noticing for the past months now, as he was curious what Izuka was planning.
As for the tan serum, Izuka had given the same amount to Ike, which again confused him, due to the lack of a reaction, which Ike assumed was to a built up immunity.
However, the strange black mark Ike found on his thigh last month had still been embedded in his mind, and he had yet to figure out what it was.
On the one hand, Ike was thinking maybe Izuka had made a tattoo while Ike was at his lowest point, and that he had just forgot, but he decided against it.
There was no surface to it, as if Ike touched it, it was like touching normal skin.
Thankfully, nobody else noticed the mark that was covered by his clothing.
Poor Leanne had been suffering a lot more recently as well. Izuka would also semi-daily come in, with laguz slaves and take some samples of her blood, which would tire her out a solid bit.
It didn't help that this usually happened after Ike's trial, so the trio immediately brought that comparison up.
But then Ranulf pointed out this was AFTER Ike's trials, so the likelihood of what they thought was unlikely.
While Ike was busy by his thoughts, he felt Izuka touch his bare thigh, which froze Ike up.
"Yes, another couple of months, just wait. Yesss." Izuka hissed, as Ike could have sworn his voice was louder than it needed to be.
Suddenly, Ike found his hearing and eyes hurting.
"GRAH!" Ike bellowed suddenly, as he furiously closed his eyes, and his head was ringing from new noises he didn't even now was there.
The black mark on Ike's thigh had begun to shine blue slightly, and Ranulf and Leanne could only look on in horror. This was something they had never seen before.
Ike's arms and legs were now furiously pressing against the metal cuffs, as he was very desperate to escape, wanting to scratch his ears out.
But all Izuka did was laugh, "Haha, burn my trial, burn!" Was all he said, as Ranulf looked on his absolute rage, seeing his friend in pain obviously caused by some sort of magic or witchcraft.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Ranulf yelled, his teeth baring, now wanting to escape and slice Izuka into small pieces.
"Don't worry about him, he'll get used to it." Was all he said, before ordering his laguz soldiers of their final trial.
Throwing Ike, who wasn't aware as he was too busy with his head and eyes hurting, he landed in another hard thud, on the jail floor. The laguz held Ranulf and Leanne out, while Izuka gathered a sample of both of their blood.
"Haha, my prized possessions, keep filling these needles, I'll need a lot of these when his trial finishes, and I can use more." Izuka hissed, while Ranulf looked on his absolute shock at how twisted someone could possibly be.
Ike, who was on the ground, unused to the sudden pain in his eyes and head, could barely raise his head up, but was picked up from the laguz slaves, before dropped yet again, as if they wanted Ike to suffer more.
They then began to attack him, with their fangs, as if he was a rag doll. Ranulf could only look on his horror as his best friend was torn up, and was now bleeding. While his scar tissue took most of the damage, instead of his actual skin, he was now bleeding, as they hadn't already fully healed.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Izuka had unexpectedly raged, stopping the laguz in their paths.
It was then doing Izuka then smirked, "I see. But he is my subject, not your punching bag, go elsewhere." He ordered, and despite their hatred look to Ike, they left.
Izuka was not too far behind him.
Ranulf couldn't bare his teeth to Izuka as his best friend, was yet again, on the ground, bleeding profusely from the fact that those laguz torn him up.
"Leanne!" Ranulf yelled to her.
"On it." She said before chanting another lullaby. This time, it was much more pronounce, due to Ike's severity of injuries, and the laguz seemed not too hesitant to aim for Ike's vital points.
Thankfully, Leanne had managed to heal Ike's most serious injuries, but now she was pretty tired as well, and Ranulf found himself picking her up and taking her to the bunkbed.
Ike, who was still bleeding from cuts from his torso, was still able to get up. Those injuries didn't bother him, but rather the one to his neck and leg did. With Leanne's healing they were healed, almost like a vulnerary.
He was still in pain from his eyes, but he was at least able to slightly raise them without them hurting him.
He looked down underneath the bunkbed and saw his katana, still untouched from last night.
As much as Ike wanted to break the jailcell with it, he knew it wouldn't heal.
The katana healed from blood, not clashing with other metals, Ike had realized, which he theorized was the result of some weird witchcraft Izuka had done to it.
The katana was longer than most as well, most being around 60 centimeters, this one was around 5 feet, a foot longer than Ragnell.
Ike was somewhat surprised he was able to hold it just fine, and swing such a long thin blade around without cutting something accidentally that would give anything away.
Ike had to be incredible cautious as to not show anything that could make him realize one of his weapons had disappeared. However, Ike then presumed that Izuka probably had dozens of extra, so the only time he would know is if Ike was spotted with it.
Ike grabbed his 5-foot-long katana, and stood it up. It came up just below to Ike's shoulder, whereas Ragnell was moderately shorter, but wider, compared to the katana.
Ike quickly looked around, cautious not to cause attention, and began to swing the katana again, with Ranulf watching in the background, to make sure no patrol was around.
After just above and hour, Ike stopped. Which confused Ranulf as he could have gone much longer than he knew.
So, something must have been up with Ike.
It was then Ike calmly put the katana back underneath the bunkbed before sitting down.
"Ike, are you okay?" Ranulf asked, which only made Ike grunt.
This only made Ranulf more concerned, "Ike?"
But no answer, as Ike put his hands up to his ears and his eyes were furiously closed.
It was similar to those previous times, Ranulf noticed and quickly concluded it was something to do with his eyesight and hearing.
Ranulf sighed, as he had a feeling that's would the laguz blood would do.
Over the past month, Leanne and Ranulf were able to conclude, also by Izuka's remarks to them, that he was injecting Ike with laguz blood.
How he was able to do that, Ranulf wasn't sure. But he knew Ike was gaining some laguz-like senses.
He knew how Ike was feeling, as many of the laguz, especially as children don't gain extra senses until they develop further.
Ranulf knew, that Ike was not used to what he was hearing, or what he was seeing, and knew that Ike would have to wait the course, until his body adapted to it.
That is, if his body was capable of adapting to the change.
But Ranulf, could also smell something that was different with Ike. The laguz blood was accumulating in him, growing.
At first, it wasn't much, Ranulf could smell that something was off with Ike, but now, he gave off a similar feeling to Soren. What was this feeling? Ranulf asked himself, as he held Ike who was trembling yet again.
"It's okay, Ike, you'll adapt eventually. Don't fight it. Don't hurt yourself more."
It seemed that Ike listened, as he tried to calm himself down a bit more.
His eyes were still closed, and he was still covering his ears, but he stopped being tense.
Slowly, Ranulf removed on of Ike's hand from his ears, and while he grunted, Ranulf knew that it was better to let it flow, than to resist it.
He also, tried to get Ike to slightly open his eyes, but with that he couldn't stop Ike there, so he sighed.
"At least we're getting somewhere." Ranulf thought to himself, as he had a better idea to what was happening to Ike.
A.N / Not much to say really, hope you enjoyed this chapter! I actually don't know how long this story will be, but we are actually getting towards the end of this stage of the story. Micaiah plays a key role for Mist, and to a lesser extent Ike, Ranulf and Leanne. It should be mentioned that we won't hear anymore from Soren, Caineghis, Elincia, Titania, Tibarn, etc.