The Flames Within Us
By: V-Dawg
Chapter 10: Travel
"I have wings?"
Those three words, after Ike had spoken that, and the reaction afterwards, had changed Ike's perception entirely.
"Yeah." Was all Leanne said afterwards.
But it was the look of shock from those around him that made him terrified. He could see Ranulf eyeing him up, he could see Mist looking at her own brother in shock, heck, even could even see the silver-haired Micaiah looking at him in confusion. Just who was that woman?
Suddenly, Leanne approached Ike, and began to feel the wings that had unexpectedly grown on him.
"Wow." Leanne said a while after taking them off, as if they were actually real.
"Can you fly?" Ranulf asked Ike, which only resulted in Ike giving a shrug.
"I don't know honestly."
Silence began to erupt around the group before Mist began to hug Ike again.
"Brother, it has been so long!" Mist said after a bit, to which Ike sighed.
"It has."
"What have they done to you?!" Mist said, as she looked back at Ike, specifically his wings that were now surrounding his back frame.
"I- I don't want to talk about it." Ike said with a surprising amount of emotion.
However, this only caused Mist to get angry.
"You don't want to talk about it?!" Mist said, a bit louder.
Immediately Ike realized his error, as his sister began to yell at him.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I HAVEN'T SEEN MY BROTHER IN NINE MONTHS! AND HE COMES OUT WITH WINGS! YOU DO REALIZE I SPENT LIKE SIX MONTHS IN THAT PRISON AS WELL! YOU DON'T THINK I HAVE AN IDEA WHAT HE PUT ME THROUGH?!" Mist yelled, and before she could continue, she noticed Ike was on the ground, holding his hands to his ears.
"Mist, please, you're hurting my ears." Ike mumbled.
Normally, Mist would slap her brother at that remark, but the way Ike said it, coupled with Leanne and Ranulf's face of concern made her think otherwise.
"I was tortured in there for six months Ike, I know what you've been through." Mist continued, this time with a calmer voice, before revealing her hand.
And just like that, the others, besides Micaiah were shocked.
While Ranulf could smell a difference in Mist, even he was shocked. The mark was clearly similar to when Ike had one all those months ago.
"He, was injecting me with some laguz blood and a weird serum, trying to rid the beorc from me, by cutting me." She said, as she showed some scars across her shoulder and abdomen.
At that, Ike's face widened, as Mist continued, "He said he was doing the same thing to you, and for you to go through that for nine months, it must've-" Mist couldn't continue.
The idea of her brother being beyond what she last saw him hurt.
Eventually, Ike raised his shirt, and Mist and Micaiah gasped at Ike's scarred torso, the most easily spotted was a scar that ran from his right shoulder to his left thigh.
"Oh my god..." Micaiah said.
But despite that, Ike remained silent, as if he didn't know what to say, or if he wanted to say anything.
"So, what kind of laguz blood did Izuka inject you with?" Ranulf asked.
Mist sighed, "I don't know."
But it was then Leanne realized something. "Ranulf, Izuka take my blood for something."
And just like that, Ranulf and Ike's eyes widened in realization. Ranulf was taking Leanne's blood sample, for Mist?! Mist had Leanne's heron laguz blood in her?!
"Then that means-" Ranulf started.
"Izuka must have injected Mist with heron blood..." Ike finished.
"But how does the blood stay in me?" Mist asked.
"I don't know, but it's the same question asking how I'm pretty much this..." Was all Ike said.
"What happened to you?" Mist asked finally.
"The same thing that happened to you. Can't you see my wings?" Ike asked, to which Mist deadpanned.
"Yes, I can see your wings, but how does it stay in us?" Mist asked, her voice raising again which was making Ike's ear hurt.
"Can you stop that? I don't know." Ike replied.
"Hey, where did silver lady go?" Leanne asked, and suddenly, everyone realized Micaiah was gone.
"Where did she go?" Ranulf asked finally.
"I don't know." Mist said, saddened to see her gone.
It was then Ike sigh, "Listen, I don't know the questions to what happened, but all I know is that we need to get out of here. He could be coming back for us."
Mist looked at Ike, clearly wanting to ask him more questions, but even she knew he had a point. On the other hand, she knew Micaiah was a relatively strange girl, despite her being a heron branded, she was ultimately sad to see her disappear so suddenly.
"Your right, let's get to safety, and worry about this later."
And just like that they began running.
"Uh, Ike, can't you just fly? I mean look and Leanne?" Ranulf asked, with Mist following shortly behind him.
"I don't know." Ike replied. It was an honest reply, he had just realized he had wings, and now he didn't even know if he could fly, or how to. He just learned how to move his wings around him, that's it.
Before they could continue, Leanne stopped, in front of them.
"What gives?" Mist asked.
"Desert of Death." Leanne spoke, and immediately, did the group know where they were.
"So, the east side of Tellius, huh?" Ranulf asked. "Looks like we just go the opposite way and we can find ourselves back in Gallia! Let's go the other way!"
Their trek took around two hours, before they saw a sign indicating where they were.
"Sella? We're in Daein!" Ike exclaimed, thankful that they at least knew they were in the right direction and knew where they were.
However, Leanne had gotten tired, and so did Ranulf. In fact, everyone was tired. They hadn't eaten since yesterday, and starvation had begun to take its toll.
"Where do we find food?" Mist asked, which only cause Ike to laugh.
"Ranulf, let's find some food. Leanne, Mist set up a base to stay." Ike said, as Ranulf and Ike made their way towards a nearby river.
Meanwhile, Mist and Leanne had begun setting up a temporary home, including a fire.
"So, my blood was given to you?" Leanne asked, which caused Mist to sigh.
"Probably now that we put the pictures together. I'm effectively a branded now, because I have the mark all of a sudden." Mist replied. "What about Ike? What do you think about him?"
Leanne pondered, "He has wings, so bird."
Mist deadpanned at that, "Well, yeah, but do you know what kind?"
Leanne put her hand to her chin. "Not heron, cause wing colour isn't white or gold like us."
Well, that narrowed it down, "Yeah, but is he like, a laguz?"
Leanne, sighed, and nodded. But in truth, Mist had an idea. No doubt had nine months of trials changed Ike entirely.
He was effectively a laguz at first look, and if you didn't know him, he looks like he was born a laguz.
But the only questions were, what type was he now, and would this last forever or temporarily.
In truth, Mist was unsure on how she felt, but knew that now, all that matters was that she had found her brother, after all those months.
Soon enough Ike and Ranulf came back, with appeared to be some fish.
"I told you going after the fish was more efficient." Ike said, while Ranulf scratched his head.
"I know, but more variety is always better." He replied, his mouth watering.
Ike chuckled, "I can't disagree with that."
They had brought back a lot of fish, alongside some captured deer, which Ranulf was a fan of.
Bringing the food to Leanne and Mist, Mist had begun to heat the food up with the fire, despite her six-month absence, she was still able to cook well.
Ike, in the meantime, continued to practice his sword swings with what Mist could only describe as a red/black katana, that she had never seen before.
Leanne, however, looked to Ike, which intrigued Mist.
"What's up with Ike?" Mist asked.
"His wings, he flies?" Leanne asked, which Mist understood.
"Maybe he can, but you'd have to teach him. Everything is taught and learned, you just don't wake up knowing how to hunt, for example, it takes practice and teaching." Mist said, which Leanne understood.
Before she knew it, she saw Leanne approach Ike, and while Ike scratched the back of his head, clearly nervous at what Leanne told him, he sighed, and nodded.
While they only spent half an hour, and multiple failures with Ike landing on his stomach, while Mist was laughing, the fish had cooked healthy, and Mist called them, with Ranulf and Ike scrambling like a buffet.
"Boys..." Mist mumbled, which Leanne had a laugh at.
"Ike, how'd it go?" Ranulf asked, referring to Leanne helping Ike.
Ike shook his head, "Not well, pretty sure I killed my ribcage..."
But that was sarcastic, at least his ribcage, Leanne could tell.
Eventually, the night sky came, and the group began to slumber. While Ike and Mist, had quickly fallen asleep, Ranulf and Leanne were still up, hearing the quiet slumbers of them.
However, Ranulf looked towards Ike, specifically the large wings that were situated behind him, on his back.
Ranulf began to slowly feel Ike's new wings, and his ears drooped, remembering the suffering Ike had previously gone through for the past nine months.
Leanne obviously could sense the despair in Ranulf.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"I don't know, looking back at those months, watching all that, suffering for Ike, and now seeing these, it feels like he won't forget about it, like it'll be a memento, like his scars."
The silence between the two occurred afterwards for a while, before Leanne spoke. "We fix him?"
Ranulf sighed, "I hope, for Ike's sake."
That was all that was said before the night time made the two drowsy, and shortly after fell asleep.
Waking up, to the sounds of simple wind, Ike was somewhat surprised to wake up to sunlight.
Quickly looking around, he saw his sister, Mist, alongside Ranulf and Leanne not too far away.
Before he could quickly ask what happened, he felt soft limbs surround him, dark brown to black feathers off the corner of his eyes.
Immediately Ike remembered what happened. A fight to escape, before trying to making their way home, to Leanne temporarily trying to teach him how to fly.
Ike sighed, as he knew it would be a while to recover fully. Grabbing his sword/katana Ike stood up, a decent way and swinging mercilessly in the forest.
"Grah!" Ike yelled, as he eventually slices apart a tree with the katana, the tree falling down.
"Ike?" Ike turned around to see Ranulf behind him, concerned.
"Sorry Ranulf I was just-"
"Practicing your sword swing, I know, we're heading out soon, so come back." Was all Ranulf said before making his way to the small base.
Ike sighed, looking near a cliff, his eyesight being able to see every small detail, which made Ike knew his senses had indeed changed.
If one were to look at Ike, specifically his wings, one would describe them as light and fragile, but were surprisingly sturdy. Solidly constructed, its frame fitting Ike's pretty well.
Ike sometimes felt insecure about his knew wings, but he would catch them out the corner of his eyes, and he could see the dark coloured wings on his back. They weren't angel-like, but they were wings nonetheless, and not your average unnoteworthy wings.
His wings were rather springy, essentially being able to extend them above average than that of regular skin.
Quickly shaking off his thoughts, Ike made his way towards the group, with them planning to reach the Crimean border.
While Ike himself had thought of the whereabouts of the other laguz who had been stuck in Izuka's prison for as long, or longer than he, but his main focus was to get back to civilization.
Eventually, they found their way back to traveling through Daien, but they also had to keep note at civilization in Daien. It was currently under occupation by Begnion, and they didn't want to be discovered by the wrong group of people.
It didn't help that they were with laguz in a laguz-hostile society.
Regardless, they began to make their way towards Crimea. A bridge separating the two countries, but it was then did they realize that the bridge was currently occupied by what appeared to be officers.
"Crap!" Ranulf whispered, as the group looked to see the officers preventing anyone from crossing.
"I guess we'll have to travel through Begnion quickly if we want to get through and into Crimea." Ike replied, with the group nodding.
Sure enough, they found an area devoid of any military patrols, and they quickly made their way towards the Crimean border.
However, despite all of this, the group was obviously getting tired.
"I'm getting so tired!" Mist exclaimed.
"Come on, I'm the one carrying you!" Ike said after a bit, causing Ranulf and Leanne to laugh.
Eventually, however they decided take temporarily refuge a couple of kilometers from Delbray.
"At this rate, we may not make it." Ranulf said, panting quite a bit.
In a rather plains area with a forest to the south of them, keeping them away from the sight from Begnion soldiers.
Ike, in the meantime, went quite a bit away from the group, to yet again practice his sell sword skills.
He hadn't had much time to think over everything, however, off the coast of his eyes, he could see a group of avian.
This was a time where Ike thanked his eye sights for.
"Hey!" Ike yelled as loud as he could, as he slowly watched the flock slowly pass by him.
Ike heard a loud snarl that came from Ranulf, but it seemed that they weren't paying attention.
However, just when they thought they would pass by them, Ike found himself approached by a muscular man, who was slightly taller than him, with wings spanning around a character length.
At this, Ike saw the figure's eyes widened at the sight of him.
"Ike?" Ike recognized the voice well.
"Tibarn..." Was all Ike said, before he slowly fell on one knee, trying to keep himself up as he felt his body tremble.
Tibarn quickly came to his side, helping him up.
"What happened..." Tibarn stopped himself, realizing an idea what Ike had been through.
"Where are the others?" he asked, which he got a response when he pointed in the direction.
Tibarn motioned the rest to go fetch them, while Tibarn helped Ike up.
As much as Tibarn wanted to ask what happened to Ike, as he wasn't blind to see Ike's new pair of wings, he knew it wouldn't be ideal at the moment.
Now, their focus was to get them home to their families and friends.
Eventually, his flock came back with the other three, including Mist, Ranulf and Leanne, which made Tibarn sigh in relief. The sigh of all of them after months of disappearance being a miracle.
They managed to fly up alongside Ranulf and Mist, whereas Leanne brought her wings up to the sky as well.
Tibarn looked to Ike, eyeing his wings, which looked very similar to his, albeit with a different colour.
"Can you fly?" Tibarn asked after a bit, which took Ike by surprise.
"No..." Was all he said.
Tibarn couldn't believe it. "You mean to tell me, you can't fly? Come on with those wings it should be like riding a bicycle!"
Ike sighed, "Leanne tried, for like a bit, and she failed."
Tibarn looked to Leanne who nodded in confirmation. Sighing, Tibarn picked up Ike and began to fly.
He was surprisingly light, Tibarn could tell, which he must have theorized would have been from near starvation.
Regardless, Tibarn knew they had quite the way to go before they could reach Gallia.
But eventually, with periodic stops, shuffling and eating, they had managed to make their way to a nearby area, with a small cottage-like house, close to Mugill.
"Fly to Gallia, tell Caineghis, we found them, Janaff and I will keep an eye on them." Tibarn was unsure what to do. He had never thought in his daily patrol, that he would ever find them.
But unlike the rest, he held onto the smallest tinge of hope he had felt, and while it certainly paid off, as they were clearly alive, they did have some unfortunate scars that probably wouldn't disappear for the rest of their lives.
As a result of this, Tibarn was unsure whether or not he should inform Elincia, so he decided to let Ike and Mist decide what they wanted.
The hawk tribes nodded, before they took off.
Tibarn looked to the group, and realized how much they all had changed.
While Leanne and Ranulf were the least affected, they clearly had signs of being tortured, which alone appalled Tibarn, at who did these deeds to them. It also meant that the laguz who disappeared were also found, and while Tibarn wanted to ask, he knew now wasn't the time.
Leanne looked paler than usual, while Ranulf looked more beaten.
Mist, looked more roughed up than the two of them. While Tibarn wasn't trying to be disrespectful, he could see some scars from Mist's shoulders.
Mist also looked paler, like Leanne, and could tell she had signs of being torture. Tibarn, could also see the strands of a black mark on her hand, but Tibarn thought it was the cause of black magic.
And then, Ike. If there was someone who clearly changed the most, it was Ike. Not only did he have the scars across his torso, as Tibarn took his shirt off to replace with a more comfortable one, even he was in shock and the sheer number of scars across the mercenary. He had plenty of red marks across his skin, and a bizarre torso-wide scar was what caught Tibarn's attention.
Then, there was Ike's wings. Possibly the most surprising thing Tibarn had ever seen, he had never seen wings grow on someone all of a sudden, especially after nine months of disappearance.
Regardless of what this were, Tibarn could tell these were actual wings. You could fly with them if you wanted to, so Tibarn was also confused as to why Ike couldn't fly.
Nonetheless, Tibarn knew something strange happened to both Ike and Mist during those months they were missing.
However, Tibarn couldn't fret too much as he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps.
"Do you guys hear that?" Ike asked, his ears also hearing what Tibarn was hearing, which surprised him as well. Whereas he would expect Ranulf and Leanne to hear it as well, Ike certainly wasn't one of them.
"Yes." Ranulf said. "They sound like-"
"Begnion soldiers." Tibarn snarled, as he got up and entered a fighting stance.
Ike stood up as well, and unsheathed a weird sword that Tibarn had never seen before.
Whereas Ranulf got up as well, his claws open. It seemed that the rest of the group was ready to fight.
But what concerned Tibarn was Ike and Mist. While Mist looked fine, besides the scars, Ike clearly had some sort of internal struggle. This was made more evident by the sudden noise coming from Ike, something Tibarn had never heard for the beorc.
An animalistic growl. It was reassuring, knowing he would fight, but it was also unsettling, as it was unlike Ike. Unlike any beorc.
"So, what's the plan?" Mist asked. To which Tibarn was unsure. On the one hand, his mind was telling him to fight, as it was his go to.
However, he looked back at the terrible state of those around him, and while they looked ready to fight, they didn't look like they would stay standing afterwards.
Despite his desire for fighting, Tibarn knew the last time he let his instincts go, he failed his friends. He wouldn't do it again.
But how would they escape? No doubt would the Begnion archers shoot them, which he could evade if he didn't have a carrier.
Sighing, as much as Tibarn knew he was taking a gamble, by allowing his instincts take place again.
"We fight, Mist, Leanne you stay behind, Ranulf and Ike, are you able to fight?"
Ranulf nodded, "Yes."
Tibarn looked to the eyes of Ike, in which he saw the most conflict, but also saw the fiery passion in Ike, similar back to the war.
Tibarn smiled slightly, watching Ike nod, his sword high up.
"Keep your wings low, so they don't strike them, Ike." Was all Tibarn said, before they went to face the Begnion soldiers.
A.N / Sorry for the small wait. I might make a small interlude before this story and the Radiant Dawn story, as the timeline between this would be two years. The couple interlude chapters may focus on what the group would do, and maybe teaching Ike to fly.