Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or anything associated with it.

XXXXX

The next morning…

The early morning stood still over Eliwood's campsite. The sun had yet to rise over the horizon when Aracho woke up from his slumber. Yawning as quietly as he could, he stretched lightly before rubbing his eyes. Putting his hands down, he inadvertently grabbed one of his dagger holsters, which reminded him that they still had to be cleaned from yesterday's skirmish.

'Might as well get to it,' the kid mentally thought, taking the two daggers and walking out the tent he shared with Matthew. Slightly straying from the campsite, he quickly found himself at the stream that they collected water from the evening before. Drowsily taking the daggers out of their holsters, the Black Fang member began the process of cleaning them, only made worse by the fact that the blood had dried out by now. "At least they're purple...Still have to find some polish or something, though," he said to himself, putting one dagger on the grass beside him.

Letting a big yawn fall out, Aracho scrubbed the other one until a chill came up his spine. Instantly stopping, Aracho took a long around him, now completely alert of his surroundings. "...Must be the paranoia," the teen rationalized, going back to cleaning, though putting the dagger in his left hand and now cleaning it with his right.

"You're up early!" a voice called out, making the child nearly jump. Without even turning around, Aracho sighed in resignation.

"Morning, Matthew. You have a real habit of following me around, you know that?"

"Following you around happens to be really good training for a spy," the Ostian returned, walking up to Aracho. "Ooh, those are some good quality daggers. Sharp edges meant for quick and easy cutting. How could you let such beauties get stained?"

"I used them," the blue-haired kid said, rolling his eyes at the rhetorical question. "Before you guys made it over to us, bandits attacked Eliwood and tried to ransack a neighboring village."

"Ah, good thing you were there! Any injury to Lord Eliwood would be highly detrimental to his mission."

"This is more than a mission...It's for family," Aracho said. "If I were in his shoes, I'd never stop until I saved my family."

"Never? How far would you go?"

"...However far it would take," the boy responded with closed eyes. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and put his daggers back in their pouches, reattaching them to his hip. Looking high, he saw the earliest rays of sunshine begin to penetrate the nighttime darkness. "Come on, let's get back before the others wake up."

"Sure! Lead the way." Flashing the thief an annoyed look, Aracho still did as asked, taking point on the return trip to the campsite. Surprisingly, Matthew didn't make any commentary on the way back, much to the teenager's delight. "Oh, looks like Lord Hector and Lord Eliwood have already awakened," Matthew announced when the two Lycian nobles came into view.

"Along with the whole group, it looks like," Aracho added upon seeing Marcus and Lowen packing materials with assistance from Dorcas, Bartre and Rebecca. Serra just...looked annoyed at having to wait.

"Ah, Aracho and Matthew!" Eliwood greeted as the two walked up to the rest. "Good morning. Out for an early walk, I presume?"

"I guess you could say that," the mage responded, shrugging his shoulders. "Just down to the stream."

"It was a very enlightening experience," Matthew added, with a small smirk on his face. Rolling his eyes, the teenager simply shook his head with a smirk on his face, though he wondered how much information the Ostian spy gained from their conversation. Couldn't have been much, he concluded.

"Anywho, it is best if we continue our journey as soon as possible," Hector jumped in. "The supplies have already been packed. If we make haste, we can arrive at Castle Santaruz around midday."

"Yes...We cannot spare any moment to Lord Helman," Eliwood agreed, before turning to the rest of the group. "Come! It is time to set out."

And so they did. With everything quickly cleaned up from the campsite, they set out very quickly, going as fast as possible to cover as much distance as possible. Without anything else to do, Aracho took out his book of fire magic and turned back to where he stopped. "Advanced fire manipulation is very difficult, even for those well-versed in the magical arts. The very essence of fire is one of chaos and freedom, refusing to be restrained in any way. To master the higher classes of the fire anima magic, one must understand on a spiritual level that fire is to be expressed, not controlled."

"Aracho?" Eliwood called, dragging the teen from his book. Begrudgingly, he acknowledged the call of the Pheraean.

"Yes? Did something happen?" he asked, doing his best not to let any sign of irritation creep into his voice.

"I cannot help but notice...That book looks rather complicated."

"It is."

"Well...How long have you studied the magical arts to achieve such a high level?" Eliwood asked, curious.

"Eight years. Since I was seven," he curtly answered.

"Have you a chance to witness him in combat, Eliwood?" Hector asked, his curiosity also piqued.

"Not much, admittedly. The fights are over too swiftly to catch a true display."

"If it makes any difference, you two fight very well in your own right," Aracho added. That was a truth; Eliwood was nimble on his feet and responded decently to enemy attacks. Hector, from what little he had seen, reminded him a lot of Linus, attacking in a seemingly wild display of force, despite having a much higher level of control than anticipated on first sight.

"Thank you. It is most encouraging news to hear." Afterwards, the group again fell into silence, giving Aracho the chance to return to his book. As they continued, the sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, taking its place above the world around them.

"Once fully realized in the arts of fire, one can perform many spells, such as the Ring of Arcfire or the Bolganone. Even the legendary Forblaze falls under this category of mastery, though such condensed control of the element has only been realized by Athos, the Archsage of the era of the Scouring."

Shutting the book quickly, Aracho discreetly took a look around him, feeling as if they were being followed. "Hey, Eliwood, look! There's the Castle!" Hector noted, pointing at the large structure that had just come into view. Just then, the axe-man noticed something off in the air as well. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Pah! I can't believe I was spotted by a snot-nosed stripling!" a voice said, coming out of the shadows. It was yet another very large person, with green hair and heavily armored, with a lance at his side at attention.

"Who are you?" the Ostian blurted, before shaking his head. "Never mind. Keep your name. Why should I care what a corpse is called?" At the insinuation, the unknown assailant gave a hearty laugh.

"So the cub thinks himself a wolf, eh? Does your bite match your bark?" he challenged. "Tell ya what. If you can make it to the castle alive, we'll find out. Sounds good?" Before anyone could catch the man, a small horde of soldiers came out of nowhere, all masked and ready to deliver some pain.

"W-We're surrounded," Lowen announced, noting more enemies from the west as well as the direction of the castle.

"Really? I never would've known," Aracho dryly responded, putting away his fire magic book in favor of his thunder tome.

"In that case, we'll split up," Eliwood said. "Hector, Serra, Marcus and I will traverse to the west, around the castle."

"That way, you can attack from the rear," Matthew summarized. "Great thinking, milord!"

"So the rest of us just keep straight? Great," the mage responded, before heading off into battle. Confronted by two archers and a brigand, the teenager raised his hand as he chanted a quick spell. Releasing the energy, he quickly dispatched one of the archers, before having to jump back to avoid getting an arrow to the face.

Preparing another spell, he found that he didn't have to use it as Dorcas and Lowen took on the brigand, while Bartre and Oswin charged after the archer. "Shall we continue forward?" Matthew asked with a sly look on his face.

"Go warn the locals," the mage sasid, pointing over to a small group of houses a little ways away. "I'll go ahead."

"Alright. Be safe!" Snorting at the comment, Aracho didn't reply as the two set off in different directions, Matthew slightly west by the river, and he to the south towards the bridge. He quickly found himself staring down five enemies in the form of two brigands, a lanceman, an archer and a Sacaean swordsman.

"I might've bitten off a little too much to chew," he muttered as he put away his thunder tome. Snapping his fingers, he let a crackle of magical energy flow in his hand before throwing a large fireball at one of the brigands. Without waiting, he snapped another Elfire spell into existence, killing both of them in a pillar of blue fire.

"Get the mage!" he heard a voice yell. Before he knew what was happening, the swordsman ran up to him with very impressive speed. Narrowing his eyes, he swiftly took his daggers out and met the Sacaean's blow head-on. Whipping around, the green-haired opponent tried to strike Aracho horizontally, only to miss as the Black Fang member flipped out of range. Storing up magical energy, he prepared to throw a fire spell at him before Matthew's voice rang through the air.

"Hold on!" the spy said to the two. "I know you! Isn't your name Guy?" The Sacaean looked confused for a moment, before his eyes suddenly widened in recognition. While the two had apparently struck a small conversation, Aracho took it upon himself to take out two more enemies with bolting spells, clearing the way for Dorcas, Bartre, Oswin and Lowen as they neared their position.

"You are aware that this isn't the best place to be catching up, aren't you?" Guy asked Matthew.

"Ya think!?" Aracho snapped, irritated that he had to release another two spells for some reinforcements that tried to attack them from the rear.

"What, are you saying you're going to fight me?" the thief asked.

"I...Well, yeah. I'm much improved. You can't beat me," the swordsman declared, readying his blade once again. Getting his daggers ready, Aracho prepared to attack until the brown-haired Ostian put a finger up to stop him.

"You're quite a terror, Guy...Wait, hold on!" he thought, having a thought come into his head. "I'd prefer if you repaid what you owed me."

"...Huh?" Guy grunted, completely lost. Aracho was, too, but didn't say it.

"Last time I saw you, I gave you food," the thief recounted. "If I remember correctly, you said that you owed me your life."

"I only said that because I hadn't eaten for ten days and you were cooking meat!" the plainsman refuted. "You can't...that's not fair!"

"The proud people of Sacae never lie, isn't that right?" Matthew smirked, putting the myrmidon in checkmate.

"Wha-U-But...Argh, fine!" Guy relented. "I can't believe this. I finally find work, and I have to throw it away!"

"Better to throw away work than a life, isn't that right, Archy? I might've just saved your life again, Guy," the thief bragged with a knowing expression on his face.

"Pah! You never even lifted your weapon," the myrmidon returned.

"I wasn't referring to me. But that's neither here nor there. Let us get to Castle Santaruz!" he proclaimed as the rest of the troop caught up with them. Fully combined, the small group passed the bridge, traversing the small hillsides that preceded the nearby castle. As they climbed the last hill, they found Hector engaged with the supposed leader, while Eliwood and Marcus dealt with apparent reinforcements. Snapping his fingers one more time, Aracho released a bolting spell towards the castle, killing the last lancer that was about to engage Eliwood.

With no other resistance, everyone else joined the two teenage nobles as Hector managed to dispatch the large man by himself. "Hurry! This way!" Eliwood shouted, running inside as soon as the man fell to the ground. Without a second thought, Aracho followed the Pheraean, going in right behind Hector to see what was going on. "Lord Helman!" the redhead called as he wandered frantically through the castle. "Lord Helman!"

"Is...that you...Eliwood?" a weak voice responded from a room slightly to the back. Following the sound, the three ended up in the Marquess's quarters, where a weak, elderly man laid on the ground, nearly dead.

"Hold on, my lord!" Eliwood tried to comfort, lifting the man's head up. As he coughed up more blood, Aracho could tell that he didn't have much longer left to live.

"I...I must...apologize," the elder strained. "Your father, he…" Despite the man's poor state, everyone's eyes widened in recognition; this could possibly be the information that Eliwood needed to find his father.

"Do you know something, sir?"

"If...If I hadn't told Elbert…" the man broke out in another violent burst of coughs, releasing more blood onto his person. "Go...to Laus...Darin...the marquess of Laus...knows all."

"Marquess Laus?" Eliwood echoed, with a neutral expression.

"I...I'm sorry Eliwood," Marquess Santaruz apologized. "I..can't…"

"Hold on!" the kid said, doing his best to keep the older man's body awake despite the dimming light in his eyes.

"Beware...the Black Fang…" Before he could say anymore, his hand finally fell completely to his side, showing that he had finally passed to the next life.

"Lord Helman!?

"...He's gone," Hector frankly stated, putting his hand on Eliwood's shoulder. The Ostian's best friend looked ready to cry, understating the many years he had spent in the company of the old ruler.

"It...can't be," Eliwood shook his head in denial, even though he couldn't deny what was in his face. "Lord Helman...Why did this happen?"

"Laus knows it all," Aracho cut in, watching the event with an unreadable expression. Internally, he again wondered exactly what was happening in the Black Fang to cause these sort of actions. Out of all the missions he'd known about in Lycia, none included murdering a marquess.

...Well, at least not in the middle of the day after taking him hostage and attempting to kill visiting passersby.

The thoughts of the young teen were cut short at the sound of footsteps. Leaving nothing to chance, he yanked out his daggers, quickly maneuvering a dagger to the unknown person's throat. "P-Please don't kill me!" a man in semi-formal garb screamed with wide eyes.

"Aracho! What are you doing?" Hector shouted as he took his weapons away from the person's neck.

"You literally just survived a murder attempt and you don't have any suspicion of someone walking through the castle?" Aracho threw back with an extremely exasperated expression, before throwing his attention back to the new person in the room. "Now, who are you?"

"I-I'm the steward of Santaruz," he explained, clearly shaken by his near-death experience. "I...with our lord gone, what are we to do?"

"First, you give Lord Helman a proper burial," Hector answered, though it came out more as a demand than anything. "After that...I'm sure the Lycian Council will have to meet. Stay and keep the castle in order until you hear more."

"I understand," the man calmly breathed.

"Let's get going…" Eliwood said after putting Lord Helman's dead body on his bed to be carried away by the others in the castle. "We must keep moving."

"Yes...Now we seek answers for Marquess Santaruz, as well," Hector agreed. With the decision made, the three walked out of the castle, starting once again on their journey to Laus to find out what was really happening.

XXXXX

Later that evening...

After the events of Santaruz, the trip had entered a phase of silence that served as mourning for the dead old man. They had made plenty of haste, even still, managing to enter the lands of Caelin fairly quickly. When they had arrived, Aracho felt a desire to go visit Lyn to see how she was doing. Unfortunately, his current "job" as Eliwood's protection detail wouldn't allow him to leave. Even though he'd been in Lycia many times for a long stint doing various...things, he never had taken the time to visit the Lorca survivor on account of having to keep a low profile. It did pain him to do it, but the fewer people that saw his face, the better.

That was just how it had to be, the boy concluded with a sigh. The life he lived required secrecy and didn't allow for many friendships….'Why am I thinking like this?' he mentally questioned. 'I'm only 15 and I already sound like Legault on a bad day.'

"Bah, dark already!" Hector complained, snapping the kid out of his own head. In his own musings, the Black Fang member hardly noticed the falling of the sunlight and the dark sky that greeted them.

'Guess when you get used to working in the night, you forget the difference sometimes,' he mentally shrugged.

"We'll have to stop here for the night," Eliwood announced. "We'll set out for Laus at the first ray of sunlight. Marcus...Please prepare the camp."

"Yes, my lord," the paladin complied, before setting off to do the deed. After a moment of deliberation, Aracho decided not to do anything and settled for sitting on the grass. Despite outward appearances, the teen was tired. Using multiple spells like he had, especially including about a dozen Bolting snap spells without any rain to assist, took a lot out of him. The only reason he probably made it this far without showing any fatigue was because Ursula was a demoness in disguise when it came to his training, which they secretly continued in the year after killing Lundgren, Lyn's granduncle that tried to usurp the throne of Caelin.

He had finally started to work with wind magic, which had gone...interesting. In the beginning, any attempt at a wind spell or an ice spell turned out to be extremely draining, though his teacher said that it always started out that way when exercising a new pool of magic. Especially so for the arts of wind and ice, since it involved manipulating elements such as water vapor to make ice and other things more complicated than poofing a fireball out of his hand.

He had progress and a wind book for beginners, but didn't read it often in favor of honing his much stronger fire magic.

"So...this is Caelin?" Aracho heard Hector asked. Looking lazily to the side, he saw the Ostian take in the appearance of the surrounding area. "You think we ought to present ourselves to Lord Hausen?"

"...No," Eliwood denied. "We are simply passing through, so I do not see the need. I am curious to see how Lyndis is getting along, though."

"Lyndis?" his friend asked, not recognizing the name.

"Lord Hausen's granddaughter," the Pheraean clarified.

"Oh, her. The missing heir that dealt with Lungren the past year," Hector recalled. "Didn't you have something to do with that?"

"Mm…"

"And...The granddaughter? Is she a beauty?" he continued, with a small grin on his face.

"A beauty?" Eliwood echoed, clearly not expecting such a question to be asked of him. Interested and protective all at once, Aracho gave a little more attention to the conversation going on near him. "She's…" Interestingly enough, the boy's face started to turn red, very close to the shade of the hair on his head. "I think it must be her Sacaean heritage...she's striking."

"Striking? ...Too bad, isn't it?" Hector said with a sly look on his face.

"What?"

"That we don't get to see her, loverboy."

"No!" Eliwood rejected. "Lyndis and I are just...We are not…" He couldn't contain his embarrassment and found it better to shut his mouth, much to Aracho's approval. As good as Eliwood turned out to be, he didn't want any of the two to go out with the woman who he had come to recognize as a close friend.

Unfortunately, Hector found it acceptable to continue hassling the redhead. "You're not? Then why are you getting so worked up?"

"Hector!" Eliwood angrily yelled. "Do not make me angry!" The burly blue-haired teen simply laughed at his friend, clearly not frightened by the threat.

"You are so much fun to tease!" Suddenly, a shout rang through the air, putting everyone at alert. Grabbing his daggers out of reflex, Aracho jumped to a fighting position. "...What was that?" Hector asked. "Did you hear something?"

"Clearly everyone heard that," Aracho sarcastically replied, before rushing off in the direction of the sound.

"Hmph, why that-"

"Hector, we must assist! Someone is being attacked!"

"Milord, this way!" Marcus put in, already mounted on his horse and ready to go. Following the paladin, everyone went in the direction of the scream. On the way there, a large pillar of blue flame temporarily lit the night sky, inspiring the rest of the group to move even faster.

"Last time. Leave the bald guy alone and you won't get cooked like your poor buddy," they arrived to hear Aracho say. The blue-haired teen stood with an emotionless look on his face, covering an older-looking man with slightly formal clothes and a blue ponytail.

"What are you? Touring around with a whole bunch of other kids?" a mercenary sneered. "You know what? Bring everything you got! We'll just kill all of ya!" Running to the back, the man avoided sharing the fate of the two men next to him, who were promptly burnt to death in blue fire, courtesy of Aracho's snap spells.

"Aracho? What's going on?" Eliwood demanded.

"T-They attacked me! And wanted to steal my goods!" the merchant interjected. "Please. I know nothing of combat. Please protect me!"

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" Hector asked rhetorically, raising his axe. "Come on! Stay close, old man." Satisfied, Aracho prepared to leave until Eliwood called him again.

"Aracho? Where are you going?"

"I'm going to fight against them," the teen answered plainly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But someone should come with you! Let me-"

"It'll be better if I go alone." Without any further discussion, Aracho pulled up his hood and went off into the darkness, away from Eliwood and the rest of the group. 'They made a mistake choosing to attack at night,' the teen thought as he pulled out his daggers. The darkness was his element; it was how he was trained, how he worked, and how he lived. No matter what he did, this would always be where he was most comfortable.

Spotting a group of fighters in the darkness, he quietly chanted a spell as he hid behind a bush. As soon as he finished, he willed a thunder spell to attack the one at the front of the axemen, causing him to fall, convulsing uncontrollably. Taking advantage of the sound and confusion like he had done so many times before, Aracho advanced without a sound, slitting the throat of one bandit after another. The only sound that one could hear was the continuous dropping of bodies and weapons to the ground.

Continuing his small path, the young assassin stopped as he realized that some nomads were coming towards an unsuspecting Eliwood and Hector. Quickly putting up one of his daggers, he snapped a great deal of magic energy between his fingers.

One bolt struck.

Another snap. Another bolt struck.

Snap. Boom. "Now the archers are taken care of," Aracho quietly said before turning his sights back to the leader of the band of thieves. Finding a small snag turned over, he found a small group of people, the myrmidon included, waiting over by a broken wall structure.

"How did you get back here so quick!" the swordsman said in shock upon seeing Aracho before him and five of his men. "No matter, we'll just have to kill you ourselves. Get him!"

Unfazed by the six people running by him, Aracho simply started chanting quietly. Right when the first of them, a lanceman, came into attacking range, they were struck by a quick bolt of lightning. Just like the blue bolt, Aracho disappeared in a flash, once again stabbing and slicing vital points of all the men. By the time the echoing thunder produced by the spell ended, only the leader remained with a scared look on his face. "W-What the hell are you!?"

"...The Blue Raven." Without another word, Aracho rushed forward. Blocking the man's sword strike, the teen maneuvered past his weaponed and sliced his neck with a dagger, dropping him on the spot. Finished, the Black Fang member stood quiet for a second to hear for any further conflict.

"W...We won't forget this!" a bandit yowled closer to where the Lycians were. "Hurry! Let's go!" Hearing a quick multitude of running steps, he guessed that the bandits left in quite a rush. Fighting off the ridiculous amount of fatigue that he was feeling, Aracho took his head off as he walked back to the group.

"Aracho! Why did you run off by yourself!" Hector questioned as soon as he returned.

"...I work better alone," he simply answered, looking down to the floor.

"That's no excuse! You're supposed to help protect Eliwood, not rush off to who knows where!" the Ostian pressed in defense of his friend.

"Hector...Let him be," Eliwood eased. "He is very good at what he does, so I will not question him. Besides...we have other matters to discuss," he continued, looking at Merlinus.

"Cool! Well, I'm tired...so I'll go back to camp for the night," the mage announced, taking his leave of them to get back to his tent. When he was most of the way back, a small rustle behind him caught his attention. "...Yes, Matthew?"

"You're a really different one, you know that?" the thief said, coming from behind a tree. Turning around, Aracho simply stared for a while before motioning for the spy to walk with him. "..."

"You gonna chew me out for leaving, too?" Aracho asked sarcastically.

"Not quite, you're too tired for me to do that," Matthew said matter-of-factly. "I do have questions, though, if you wouldn't mind." Something about the brown-haired adult's tone made Aracho paused for the slightest of seconds. It wasn't the usual banter like before; Matthew was serious.

"Shoot."

"I couldn't see everything you did. You moved too quick, even for me," the thief revealed. "But I know one clap of thunder doesn't drop six people at virtually the same time. Who are you working for?"

"Eliwood."

"No, who are you really working for?" Matthew stressed, narrowing his eyes at the blue-head. "Your work...even from Lyndis' Legion, was too clean. Who...are you really?"

'Why can't he just let me fall on my face and sleep?' Aracho mentally complained. He was a 15 year-old assassin on a mission to kill his adopted father's wife and save his family who happened to be a close-knit organization of vigilante murderers. He killed nobles, bandits, mercenaries and even a marquess, on top of plenty others. Exactly what part of that could he tell someone?

None. No one can, should, or will know. And that ate up the teen on the inside. Being forced to live in the shadows, doing things that even his adopted brothers hadn't been aware of, and living with himself as normally as possible knowing that any given night may be a call to kill whoever had to be killed in the name of justice.

Tonight confirmed it. The ease with which he killed all the bandits. He had already been in this life for too long and couldn't leave it. With a heavy sigh, Aracho stopped walking and looked Matthew in the eye. Unable to block the tiredness and exhausting from permeating his entire frame.

"...I'm me."

XXXXX

A/N: And that's that! It feels like a friday, finishing this after two hellish exams. Welp, that aside, hope y'all liked it! Remember to do all that button stuff and see ya next time!

Blizzard, out!