The Flames Within Us
By: V-Dawg
Chapter 14: Looming War
Ike wasn't really sure how he was going to do this. He was going to meet Elincia after those months, after telling himself he didn't want to see her for a while.
He didn't want any of the royal drama, he stepped down on that mark before he went missing. He, for starters didn't want to be involved in more royal squabbling, and he didn't want Elincia to see and recognize him as Ike.
For one, it would possibly result in a chain reaction that would ultimately result in Crimea finding out their saviour was alive.
While many would be willing to be the famous hero in their country, Ike didn't. He just wanted to live his life, as he was trained. He didn't want to be a hero who had an easy life because he fought for his country.
Sighing, he eventually found himself staring at the castle he recognized too well. A castle he didn't expect himself to return to for a while. But atlas, he kind of expected this when he requested, they should rescue Lucia.
Regardless, he didn't want to overthink everything, the sound of small footsteps got Ike to turn his head, and he saw Lethe and Ranulf approaching him.
"Man, you're hearing as significantly improved..." Lethe said, somewhat surprised.
Ike shrugged, not thinking too much of it, "That's what happens when you get experimented on." He finished, looking to them, their face full of concern.
"Are you okay, Ike?" Ranulf asked, however Ike took a breather.
"I'm fine, just didn't expect myself to be involved with royalty so soon..." Ike grumbled.
Lethe then took a good look at Ike, and like Ranulf, he wasn't recognizable as he first was. Whether it was his changed figure, or his wings, heck even though his hair was still blue, it was styled different, he looked different.
The only thing that made Lethe realize it was Ike was in fact his voice. It was just a deeper version that still had traces of what Lethe had previously heard from Ike.
It was as if Ike had disappeared and became a different person entirely, which was true.
Lethe couldn't even tell what Ike was anymore. Was he still a beorc? He still fought with a sword, and had his personality. Or, was he a laguz now? He had ears that looked non-beorc like, nails that seemed like talons, and wings. The last time Lethe checked, the beorc didn't have wings.
Lethe shook her head as she noticed Ike began to make her way towards the entrance of the castle. Ranulf followed him shortly after. Shaking herself off, she followed the two.
Soon enough, Ike, Ranulf and Lethe found themselves behind the Greil Mercenaries, who were currently being thanked by Geoffrey for saving his sister, as well as Elincia looking over Lucia, who was awake, but very weak and traumatized.
"How are you?" Elincia asked, to which Lucia sighed.
"Not very well, if they didn't arrive when they did, I would've been gone." Lucia said before getting a bit teary.
"What about the rebels what happened to them?" Elincia asked.
"They merely collapsed from the barrage. Without their hostage they don't have any trump-cards anymore." Titania merely stated, which made Elincia sigh.
There was no doubt at this point that the rebellion was as good as done. Thanks to the Greil Mercenaries, they didn't have to take any major losses.
It was almost as if the stress of war was finally gone, and Elincia felt she could finally relax and watch Crimea watch a more peaceful era in its history.
However, her eyebrows raised when she saw three figures behind them.
The Greil Mercenaries seemed to have noticed and moved out the way to let the trio approach Elincia.
Some of the Greil Mercenaries, like Shinon, Gatrie and Boyd had left the building, whereas Titania, Soren and Mist had stayed behind.
They had agreed to keep Ike's identity a secret. While they disagreed with Ike's thoughts, they did respect what he wanted, and if he wanted to remain anonymous, then they would accept that.
Shinon and the others simply stated they would act like they didn't know Ike when around most people instead, which Ike was fine with.
Elincia seemed to recognize the new faces.
"Ah, Lethe, Ranulf, and-" she said, pointing to the weird figure with noticeable dark-brown and black wings on his back.
"Oh, him, his name is Vizor." Ranulf stated after a bit of awkward silence. Lethe facepalmed, as Ike himself could hear her mutter, "Vizor, what kind of name is that?"
Ike chuckled at Lethe's reaction, before Elincia looked to him, or Vizor, her eyes seemingly torn on him, as if she was trying to figure something else.
"You look familiar..." Elincia started, which caused Ike to sweat a bit. He was thankful he changed the colour of his bandana to black, to differentiate himself a bit.
Elinica noticed his silence, and her eyebrows arched in confusion.
Eventually, Lethe stepped up, "I'm sorry about him, he's sort of mute." She said, and immediately Elincia's mouth dropped in shock, before it turned to shame.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry about that, I didn't know." She said rather glumly, which only made Ike feel terrible for her.
He simply nodded as a way to tell her he accepted her apology.
"So, where did Vizor come from?" She asked, and the two laguz quickly realized they had to create a backstory of Ike, under Vizor.
Ranulf scratched his head, "Well you see, we don't really know too much about him. We just found him in the woods, kind of spooked out and terrified of everything."
Ike grunted, and slapped Ranulf at his story, who just laughed.
"Oh, sorry, terrified of us. But anyways, it was much harder because he wouldn't speak. He hasn't made a sound of words ever since we found him. Once he managed to bring him back, Caineghis just said to keep him around me." Ranulf finished, and Elincia noticed him, uncomfortable.
"I see, well I hope you're doing better, Vizor." Elincia finished. Ike, or Vizor simply nodded in reply.
Elincia seemed to be understanding something, "He clearly know our language, when did you find him?" She questioned, to which Ranulf took a bit of time to think, which Elincia thought was just him trying to remember.
"Around a year ago." He said at last, which made Elincia nod.
"I see." She said finally.
"Any signs of Ike?" She asked finally, which made many in the room flinch slightly.
Ike in particular, lowered his head at that.
Mist then spoke up, "We're still looking for him, and there's a lot of evidence that he's living in civilization, but we haven't found him."
Elincia sighed, she was clearly a bit upset at the fact that they haven't found Ike yet, but she knew that there was still hope.
Despite this, she knew of some more issues that she had to inform the laguz.
"Ranulf and Lethe, we have another serious conflict brewing." Elincia started, to which they nodded.
Even Ike, who was confused, noticed that the Greil Mercenaries were leaving. Almost tempted to leave, he then realized under Elincia, he was with Ranulf and Lethe.
Meaning he had to learn of a conflict he wasn't supposed to know about.
But regardless he listened on.
"The Silver-Haired Maiden?" Ranulf had asked, and immediately Ike's eyes widened. Were they talking about that other girl who was with Mist?
"Yes, apparently she was leading the liberation army in Daien. It was our few recognitions of Daein ruler that got many of the other factions of Crimea mad, so much so that they rebelled. The idea of us helping a nation that had previously declared war on us was terrifying." Elincia finished.
"I see." Ranulf had begun, before continuing, "But I've heard now that it's pretty much an open rebellion now."
"What do you think of the chances of Daein actually breaking its occupation against Begnion?" Lethe asked Elincia.
"I don't know honestly, this is Begnion, it's the strongest state in Tellius, but Daein had managed to break away once, it can do it again if it really wanted to." She finished.
"So, it's possible but unlikely." Ranulf finished, to which she nodded.
Ike, who was listening to the whole ordeal was intrigued of the resemblances of that silver-haired girl he had seen before. She had played a key role in his escape from that treacherous place, and he did want to reward her. But hearing she was part of Daein did complicate matters.
Just in case, Ike had to be cautious, as he was still around Elincia, and now under her surveillance he had to act as a mute laguz, which he was fine with.
However, Ike eventually found himself listening to something bigger.
"What..." Was all Elincia had said, her eyes widened.
"The laguz nations of Kilvas, Phoenicis and Gallia and the beorc nation of Begnion. Their diplomatic missions have collapsed, the leaders had begun to trade verbal insults towards them, it seems that war between them is inevitable." Ranulf finished.
Ike himself hadn't known of the brewing tensions between them, and even he was surprised at the thought of another war so soon.
Regardless, he continued listening, but soon wished he hadn't.
"Information regarding to Serene's Massacre had been revealed to both sides. It was revealed that Begnion had essentially killed their own apostle, and framed the heron laguz for the crime. We don't know the true motivation or intentions of the massacre. Some say it was to make room for beorc civilizations, other say it was tensions. Regardless, the heron laguz were framed and massacred from something they weren't able to do." Lethe had finished.
Elincia and Ike's eyes had widened, however, Ike's was mute.
"That's-" But she couldn't say anything. She was too petrified at what she had heard.
Ike simply was upset now, especially after spending nine months with Leanne, now he had learned that she didn't even deserve what happened.
Nobody does, but this was a low blow, and suddenly Ike found himself growling, which scared the others in the room.
"I thought-"
"He is, but he can still make some noises." Lethe quickly debunked.
Elincia nodded, and sighed.
"Well, had war broken out yet?" Elincia asked.
Lethe sighed, "At this point it is inevitable. The three laguz nations had already given an ultimatum to Begnion. Unless they accept it, war will most definitely break out."
Elincia sighed, "So that means Gallia will also be at war."
"A first yes." Ranulf said. "We do plan on hiring the Greil Mercenaries very soon as a sort of support. This is the most powerful nation in Tellius, so we need everything we can get."
Elincia nodded, "That is fair enough, however I don't know if Crimea will join the war."
Lethe simple nodded, "We understand, Gallia was hesitant to assist Crimea during its war."
But Elincia simply shook her head, "It's not that, the rebellion has halted our recovery progress quite significantly. If we were to assist, we want our nation to be recovered from the previous one."
The laguz nodded in understanding. "That's fine, we laguz are proud fighters against the beorc, we shall be able to hold ourselves against the beorcs."
Elincia smiled, "I'm glad, but I do have one question, why does Vizor have a sword?" She was looking towards Ike, or Vizor, specifically his sword pouch.
Immediately Ranulf and Lethe had flinched, Ike had begun to sweat again.
"It's a long story." Lethe started, but Ranulf finished for her.
"Like we said, when we found and took him in, we eventually learned he didn't really know how to fight like a laguz, but he was exceptional with a sword." Ranulf stated.
"But don't the laguz think fighting with beorc weapons is dishonourable and weak?" Elincia asked.
"We most definitely do, but any form of fighting is fighting, and if he can beat us with his ragtag sword, then we'll tell him he's strong." Lethe mumbled.
Elincia clearly had a lot more questions she wanted to ask, however she decided against it.
"Well, I wish you all luck against Begnion, like I said Crimea may not be able to assist you until they recover, but I'm sure the Greil Mercenaries will be more than happy to help." She smiled to the three.
They simply nodded, before they made their way out.
They had realized the rest of the Greil Mercenaries had left outside the castle once the topic of the Serene's Massacre had come up, but they eventually made their way towards them.
Mist hugged her brother tightly.
"Okay Mist, stand down." Ike chuckled, as he eyed the black mark on her arm, that had been cemented in his mind for a while.
The rest of the Greil Mercenaries came up to Ike, as they realized Ranulf and Lethe's presence.
"Ike." Soren started, but Ike made his way to Mist.
"Have you heard from that silver-haired girl in a while?" He simply asked, and Mist immediately gasped in realization.
"Micaiah?" She couldn't believe it.
Ike nodded, "There have been reports that she is aiding the Dawn Brigade, a liberation army in Daien."
Mist could see it, but also gasped, relieved that she was alright after all those years.
"Oh, thank Ashera!" Mist exclaimed as her smiled brightened.
Ike could only watch in slight content as he watched his sister smile. After everything they had been through, it was relieving to see that Mist was okay.
Before, Mist could ponder further, Ike then got up, to Titania and Soren, specifically.
"Soren, Titania!" Ike had called for them, and they have approached the mercenary.
"What do you need?" Titania asked.
Ike nodded, with Lethe and Ranulf behind him.
"What's going on Ike?" Soren asked.
Ike simply nodded. "Well, after a talk with Queen Elincia-"
"Did you tell her about-" Titania asked, but Ike stopped her.
"No, I did not, but anyways, long story short, there have been reports that tensions between the laguz nations of Gallia, Phoenicis, and Kilvas and the beorc nation of Begnion had increased regarding the Serene's Massacre, and now there are reports that a war is highly likely."
Soren and Titania had simply listened and they had an idea on what Ike was hinting at.
"So, a war is brewing in Tellius again?" Soren asked.
"Yes, this one may possibly be bigger than the Mad King's War. The laguz nations had formed an alliance called the Laguz Alliance, in order to intimidate Begnion into signing an ultimatum, to essentially take blame for the massacre. The idea is that they will most definitely reject it, as small skirmishes has already begun." Ike finished.
"I see, so what is the Greil Mercenaries' purpose in this upcoming war?" Titania asked Ike, who simply nodded.
"Simple, we are being hired by Gallia to assist the Laguz Alliance in the war, alongside it's commander Skirmir." Ike finished, and the two individuals nodded as they began to draw up plans.
A.N / This chapter was a bit shorter than usual, so that's why there's a double update today. So next chapter will probably be the first signs of fighting, alongside the return of Tibarn and Naesala. We may also check up of Micaiah after all those times. The next two chapters are essentially that, whereas the upcoming will have Ike fight something that will turn him into something he can't control. You probably have an idea as to what will happen, and I feel this is a nice homage to chaos/fallen Ike. I really like that inclination as you can kind of make a hero and villain with Ike now. It's really intriguing and I wish they implemented that sooner.