Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or anything associated with it.
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"Quick, magic users on this side!" Eliwood called, waving nervously as he saw the incoming group. The mass majority of the Black Fang members on the left flank were shamans, practitioners of dark magic. Seeing the cause of concern, Aracho ran over with his tome in hand, converging with Lucius, Erk and some strange nerd guy with a reading glass over his right eye.
"Who are you?" the teen bluntly asked.
"Canas!" he said with a small smile. "Nice to make your acquaintance, but perhaps we can chat a little later."
"Cool with me!" Aracho agreed, snapping his fingers and dropping a large bolt of lightning on an incoming shaman. Unfortunately for him, the man just barely held on, though the one next to him was also shocked and fell into the water, which was a certain death sentence, in this case. Seeing that these mages were competent in magical defense, Aracho put up his tome and yanked out his daggers, waiting for them to approach the ship. "Get back a little!" he told the other mages, who complied with a word. While the enemy shamans took the small retreat as a sign to move further, Aracho let out a deep breath as he raised his hood.
The second the shamans began to conglomerate on Fargus' ship, the assassin moved into action. Taking advantage of the slow chanting and spells of the dark shamans, Aracho slithered between them, cutting and stabbing every vital point imaginable. Chanting to himself, he quickly let off a thunder spell to further disorient the group, dropping the last three shamans of the ten before the thundering echo faded out of existence. "...Good job," Canas complimented, though anyone could see his slight discomfort at seeing so many people murdered in such an...intentional way.
"Should we go on their ship?" Erk asked.
"...I don't think so," Aracho slowly said after a moment of thought. "We don't know what kind of nasty surprises they may have planned if we did. Better to stay here and defend our turf." Just then, another plank released itself onto the boat, with another entourage of Black Fang members coming from the end of the ship, in addition to more shamans on their side. "We need someone to plug in that hole!"
"We don't have any extra hands left!" Eliwood, from the other side, yelled out. What he said was true, considering that the extra troops from the left and the right already took all of their attention away. Growling in discontent, Aracho took it upon himself and rushed down to the tent, chanting a spell. As the soldiers approached, the boy said the ancient words as fast as he could to stop their advance.
"...Eliminian Bolt!" Aracho called as a circle of runes formed on the ground around him. Focusing the energy, he directed the thunder magic directly towards the crossboard, splitting it in two from the sheer power of the thunder spell. With shock in their voices, the attackers couldn't do anything as they fell into the sea, unable to grab onto anything to keep them from a watery grave. "...Good thing I had my tome on me or else I'd be ready to take a nap," he noted, still relatively full of magical energy.
"Aracho!" Hector called, running over to him. "Can you do that spell two more times? If you could take those out, then we can sink the other ships!"
"Aaand I spoke too soon," the blue-haired mage sighed, going over to do what was asked of him. Repeating the process two more times, he successfully managed to separate every crosswalk from their ship, rendering their enemies unable to reach them.
"Mages! Sink them with your magic!" Hector commanded, drawing further irritation to the blue-haired teen.
"Do you think we just have an unlimited supply of magic or what!?" Aracho yelled irritably, as he snapped his fingers and sent a large fireball to the ship of shamans, causing a hole in its side and a fire. Following right after him, Canas used a Luna spell, sending six balls of darkness that poked many other sides in its hull, causing the ship to sink even faster. Running to the other side of the deck, they repeated the same process with the ship on the right, effectively eliminating the enemy, since the southern ship was connected to the first. "There. Happy?"
"We did it!" Hector congratulated, completely oblivious to the somewhat tired states of the four mages of the group. After all, they did have to handle an entire crew of shamans by themselves, against whom only Lusicus could handle without too much difficulty.
"Ahoy!" Captain Fargus' voice boomed. A few seconds later, he appeared from the lower deck, signaling that the problem had been solved below. "I'm back! Who wants to die first?" His excitement cut itself short upon realizing that there were no enemies left. "What's this? You've routed 'em already? ...Well done, whelps!" he laughed, hefting his giant axe on his back.
"Those sea dogs were no match for us!" Marquess Ostia's brother exclaimed, still on a high from their victory. Unlike him, however, Eliwood was deep in thought about something else.
"Ah, Ninian!" Lyn's voice sounded. Shifting his head, he saw the red-eyed girl try to leave the room she was put in for her safety. "You can't come out yet. There's blood everywhere!"
"...Blood?" she absentmindedly repeated, walking without taking note of any of the blood from the enemy all around her.
"Look out!" Eliwood shouted when she almost stepped in a puddle of the bodily influence, scaring the girl. She staggered as if intoxicated before the Pheraean ran over and grabbed her, offering his body as support. Mindful of the blood, Hector, Lyn and Aracho all made their way over to the two.
"Ninian?" they heard the girl ask Eliwood with confused eyes. It was clear something was wrong. "Is that...me? Is that my name?"
"Ninian!" Lyn called, thinking the worst. "What's...happened to you?" Clearly, the silvery-blue haired girl didn't have much of a memory to work with.
"My...head...It's so foggy...Are we at sea?" she asked, looking around with wide eyes.
"Yes. We found you adrift on a small boat," Lyn answered.
"Those scum were after the girl, it seems," Fargus pointed out with a serious face. "...Say, will you take her with you? The men are afraid she might be cursed, you know?"
"Cursed?" Hector echoed with a hint of mockery. Unfortunately, Lyn picked up on the Ostian's tone.
"Are you suggesting that we leave her behind?" she challenged.
"We can't take her with us, can we?" We're heading to Dread Isle," the burly teen emphasized, pointing at the island that appeared ever closer by the minute. "It's dread for a reason, you know!"
"Regardless, she goes with us!" Lyn said in a slightly desperate tone, wanting to finalize this matter as soon as possible.
"...Lyn?" Eliwood softly called, with a questioning gaze.
"When I saw her, I remembered something," the Sacaean said. "The last time I saw Ninian...her and her brother were being chased by some dark-robed men." At the revelation, both Eliwood and Hector gasped in disbelief.
"Dark-robed? Are you sure?"
"Yes, I think it must be the Black Fang! It didn't occur to me before, but now I'm certain."
"How can you be so sure?" Hector challenged, not ready to jump to conclusions.
"I was with her," Aracho spoke up, bringing all attention to him. "After we got Ninian's ring back, I...well, I guess ransacked, their hideout. They were Black Fang, for sure."
"...If that holds, then it's likely she will be attacked again," Eliwood pointed out, killing the silence.
"Almost certainly," Lyn agreed. "We can't leave her behind…"
"I understand," Marquess Pherae's son said, nodding in agreement with Lyn's sentiments. "We should be by her side to protect her."
"Thank you," Lyn said. With that resolved, Aracho left the Lycians to peek over the ship, seeing that they were slowing in anticipation for their landing at the ominous island. Already, light fog clouds had begun to surround them. In a while, they would probably thicken to the point of seriously obscuring their vision.
"Hey, Aracho. Are you looking for something?" Guy asked, walking up to him. After another moment of simply looking out, the mage exhaled deeply.
"Not sure, to be honest. Did you get injured?"
"Me? Nope! But I can bet that you're probably tired," the Kutolah tribe member noted. "Say, why don't you hang around the back of the group for a while? Ya know, so you don't have as much to do?"
At that, Aracho snorted. "Now that was funny...But why not?" he agreed, though not for the reason Guy stated. As the boat came to shore, he put on his hoodie and swapped his thunder tome for an elfire tome. "Alright, lead me to the back." Following the Sacaean myrmidon, the two hopped off the boat along with everyone else, and chose to wait at the shore while Lyn, Hector and Eliwood engaged in further conversation with Fargus. "...This is boring," he said after what felt like an eternity, slightly wandering off.
"Wha-hey! Where are you going?" Guy called, running up to him. Just then, Hector called everyone over, mentioning final preparations before setting off into the forest. Looking over, he saw Merlinus already prepared with everyone's supplies, true to his good name as an organizer.
"...Well, I guess nowhere," Aracho sighed. "Come on, let's get this mess started." Walking up, both Guy and now Matthew followed the kid directly behind the Lycian Lords. "What did the old man say?"
"We have two weeks," Lyn told Aracho shortly.
"That should be more than enough time," he off-handedly shrugged; the island, despite the horrid name and reputation it held, wasn't exactly large. As they walked further into the deep forests of the area, the fog began to thicken, hindering almost everyone's vision.
"...Let's get through these woods and try to find a clearing," Lyn suggested, with a pinch of urgency in her voice. "It's starting to get very foggy. Try not to get separated, anyone," she called out to the rest of the army, who got closer together in response.
"...Enter and be lost," Hector said mysteriously. "It feels like we're not coming back."
"Hector!?" Lyn yelled, clearly creeped out by the statement. "Are you trying to curse us?"
'Too late for that,' Aracho thought, rolling his eyes. Who in the world gets mysteriously attacked by strange people, ends up with an amnesiatic girl drifting at sea and has to rescue someone from an island named after dread and isn't already cursed? 'But I digress…' Just then, he heard a shift ahead of them, enough to make him tense.
Noticing Aracho's change, Eliwood put his hand on the hilt of his sword as a precaution. "Someone's there!?" he yelled. Cautiously advancing, the group slowly made their way up until they saw someone standing in the fog.
"...It's that spy girl," Aracho revealed, being able to see the best in the fog.
"Leila!" Hector called, coming up to approach the girl, as well as Matthew right behind him. As they got right up, it had been confirmed to be her, leaning on a tree. "Is that you? Impressive work finding your way here!"
"...Something's wrong?" Eliwood noted when the woman didn't respond, or even look up at them. Touching her shoulder, he and everyone else jumped back when her body fell on the ground, obviously lifeless. Absolutely horrified, Aracho put his hand to his face, before looking right at Matthew.
Amazingly, he had a neutral face before the whole situation. But his eyes...told a completely different story. They had pain. Pure, unfiltered pain.
"She's...dead," Lyn said in horror, before moving to comfort Ninian, who was scared by the corpse as well.
"This...She was one of our best spies," Hector said, clearly in disbelief that the woman didn't make it. Ignoring Aracho, he looked over at the remaining spy, Matthew. "I'm sorry, Matthew."
"...Why do you apologize, my Lord?" Matthew said, doing his best to keep his voice even. "Leila blundered...that's all."
"Matthew…" Aracho called, slightly pulling his hood down to make direct eye contact. "It's okay."
Somehow, the brown-haired man knew exactly what he meant, and made the slightest of nods. "My lord...Might I rejoin you later? She has to be buried."
"Of course," Hector agreed without hesitation.
"Ah, I'll go with you!" Lyn offered, before a hand on her shoulder courtesy of Eliwood stopped her.
"...Let them be alone," he said with closed eyes. "There's nothing else we can do." Aracho, however, was thinking about what else could happen. They had just arrived, and already, a casualty occurred.
'Who found out it was her?' he asked himself. Despite catching her himself in Castle Caelin, he could tell that she was highly capable. It must've been someone high up… 'That sort of blow was from a dagger,' he determined from the mental image of her body. 'So it was either Jaffar or Jerme…But Jerme would never just have one cut on someone,' he remembered, quickly narrowing it down to the enigmatic member of the Four Fangs that Ursula said always follows Nergal around. That was the only logical conclusion.
"Beware! Something comes!" Ninian said, snapping them out of their phase.
"What!?" Lyn gasped. Just then, a rapid galloping came to Aracho's ears. Before he could do anything, Marquess Caelin's daughter was grabbed and hoisted in the air. Pulling up his hood all the way, Aracho prepared to use a thunder spell before he got a better look at the kidnapper.
"...No…" he gasped, quickly stepping back to hide both his face and his shock.
"...If you value her life, send the girl to me," the assailant said as he held a sword to Lyn's body, clearly motioning to Ninian, who stood next to Eliwood.
"You! You're Sacaean!" Lyn noted in shock.
"Correct...I am Uhai of the Black Fang," he revealed, confirming what Aracho already knew. "I've been sent to capture the girl and kill the lot of you...However, if you hand over the girl and depart at once, I'll grant you your lives."
At once, Aracho considered shoving Ninian over to him. He still wasn't ready for this conflict to happen yet! He couldn't fight against his family...Not like this. But he knew the Lycian nobles would never hand Ninian over willfully.
"And if we refuse?" Lyn challenged, which was bold considering she had a sword placed to her body.
"You know nothing, little lord," Uhai said, shaking his head in...sadness? "Nothing of Nergal's might. Nothing of his terrible power. You are so ignorant, and so you hope to oppose him. You are insects railing against the heavens," he bluntly told them. "Your actions will change nothing! Speak no more foolishness and begone!"
'...He doesn't want to fight, either,' Aracho noted. It didn't show just by his body language or the way he said it...he felt the conflict going on with his uncle figure...Because he was going through one that was painfully similar.
"...Maybe we don't know what it is we're fighting," Eliwood said, taking his sword out of its sheath. "But if we flee, our loss is assured. So we will continue to struggle, and we may yet prevail!"
"...Folly," Uhai muttered, before letting Lyn go and making distance between themselves.
"Why are you letting me go?" the Lorca survivor asked curiously, with confusion in her eyes.
"Holding a woman hostage during a battle is shameful," he answered, showing off the strong convictions that he had used to help raise Aracho. The teen could remember the nomad telling him all sorts of customs and honors that defined a real fighter and those that exposed cowards. And Uhai was never a coward. "You, too, are of Sacae, and I've a mind to show you mercy. I will let you die with a sword in your hands But be assured," he continued, "I will kill you all here. But be of good cheer! In dying, you shall be spared the calamity of what's to come!" With that, he struck a metal band on his wrist with the blunt end of his sword, which was a signal for an ambush in the Black Fang.
"Ninian, you must hide! Merlinus! Keep her in your carriage!" Eliwood said to the man, who nodded quickly before guiding Ninian over to the back, away from the enemy.
"Florina, Aracho! Can you keep them safe?" Lyn asked, showing her trust in the two. Nodding, they quickly went to provide guard duty for the traveling merchant. Setting up around the shore, the two quickly created a shield around Merlinus and Ninian, with Florina looking north and east, while Aracho looked south and west.
'...Uhai…' the boy thought as he sighed. It was a nightmare come true, and he was stuck back here. Maybe they did it just to spite him. 'No, they don't even know who I am,' he rejected, shaking his head of suspicion. Now that was just jumping to unreasonable conclusions.
"A-Archy? Are you...alright?" Florina nervously asked him, with her lance and horse at the ready in case of a surprise attack.
"Hm? Oh...Yeah, I'm fine," he said. The Ilian pegasus rider didn't look convinced, but couldn't press further due to the sound of wood falling right in front of them. Looking intently, Aracho quickly saw some people beginning to cross, presumably Black Fang. "They're coming!" he warned, preparing to do a fire spell before he stopped himself. 'I might be recognized if I do fire spells…' he thought, before changing to his thunder tome. Quickly chanting, he felt his anxiety jump with the magical energy in his hand. Pushing it back down, he finished his spell, channelling his power into a thunderbolt that zapped an enemy fighter.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something gleam. Realizing it to be an arrow, Aracho quickly snapped his fingers and released a Bolting spell, catching the nomad right as he released the arrow. "Florina!" he called out, only to realize that the arrow wasn't aimed for her… "Someone's up there!" he told her, pointing up.
The purple-haired teen took to her horse when a gasp of pain alerted both of them that someone had been hit. While they waited, the figure lowered themselves down, revealing the outline of a pegasus and a blue-haired lady with darker blue armor. As soon as she caught a good look at the woman, Florina gasped in shock, making both Aracho and the unknown pegasi rider jump in surprise.
"Sister?" Florina called. "Fiora!"
"Florina!" the pegasus knight returned, coming right up to them with concern in her face. "Why are you here?"
"...I'm here with Lady Lyndis. What are you doing here?" the younger sister, by Aracho's guess, reflected.
"...I was investigating the Dread Isle for someone," Fiora answered, a little too cautiously for Aracho's taste.
"By yourself?" Florina asked with wide eyes.
"No," she denied, shaking her head in sadness. "There were others...a full unit of pegasus knights."
"You can't mean…"
"I misjudged our situation," the woman sighed. "All of my knights are dead because of me...I'm such a failure."
"That's not true!" Florina denied. "You're a splendid pegasus knight! I chose this path because I admired you so much. Please...don't do this to yourself," the girl begged, nearly in tears.
"Florina...don't cry," Fiora eased, patting her sister lightly on the back.
"I'm...sorry."
"No, it's my fault. The pain of being the sole survivor...it had me trapped," she admitted, with a sad look on her face. "Thank you, Florina...I can see clearer now."
"Fiora! Come travel with us!" the younger pegasus knight suggested. "It's better to travel with friends than to struggle alone. Right Aracho?" she added, looking at the boy expectantly. To the surprise of both of them, Fiora's face became one of confusion, before shock as she got a decent look at his face. "...Fiora? What's wrong?" Florina asked in concern, scared that she said something to set her back.
"It can't be…" Before anyone could wonder what Fiora meant, a battle cry pierced the air.
"I am Uhai, the Soaring Hawk! Come!" The shout rang out to the point where even they could hear it clearly. The deep seated anxiety and indecision that had riddled Aracho earlier came back in full-force, overriding any sense he may have had at the moment.
"Florina, I have to go to the others. Please, stay here." Pulling his hood up even further, he left without giving either one of them a chance to respond. Skillfully avoiding the other fights occurring in the foggy and undergrowth-dense area, he eventually caught the sound of the fight he wanted to see.
Ducking down behind a tree, he caught Lyn, Hector and Eliwood teaming up against Uhai, locked in a deep battle. His stomach twisted into knots upon seeing a pretty nasty shoulder wound on his uncle, most likely courtesy of Lyn, the quickest of the three. Retreating back, the Soaring Hawk quickly sheathed his sword before firing three arrows in quick succession. Two of them hit their mark, striking both Eliwood and Hector, though Lyn narrowly avoided the strike, only suffering a graze on the leg.
'I can't watch this…' Aracho thought, seeing wounds on Lyn as well. Even if he hadn't been around the Sacaean for too much time, she had come to be a close friend. As the three advanced, the assassin noted exactly what would happen; they planned to have Hector attack him from the side, leaving an opening for Lyn to end the fight. "What do I do!?" he quietly whispered, with tears threatening to run down his face. Suddenly, Ursula's words from yesterday rang clearly in his head.
"Aracho, don't be scared of who you are. Running away from it will not help you."
"I...I…"
"Do not be afraid," Uhai's voice resounded in his head, repeating that phrase whenever Aracho would have trouble with something as a child. Whenever Lloyd or Linus went out for a mission and he would worry, whenever Ursula was about to give him a test on his magic progression, after his first kill a few days after he turned ten years old.
...Eliwood and the others may have been friendly, but Uhai was family.
Aracho's mind was finally made up.
As the three circled Uhai, Hector charged slowly, giving more time to Eliwood and Lyn to distract him. Closing in, they swung their weapons, forcing Uhai to jump off his horse to avoid Eliwood's strike and meet Lyn's. Quickly feinting to the right, Lyn made a deep cut to the man's side with the Mani Katti, causing him to fold. "Hector! Now!" she yelled.
Taking her cue, Hector came in at full-speed. Raising his axe, he prepared to deal the final blow. Uhai, who was too hurt, raised his sword as a final defiance, but wouldn't be able to completely block the Ostian's attack.
As he approached, everything around them seemed to go silent.
Then...a snap.
Before anyone could find out what was going on, Hector was blasted by a strong bolt of lightning, paralyzing him and throwing him to the ground. "Hector!" Eliwood yelled, before he was attacked himself. Trying to raise his sword, he found it useless as his sword arm was cut by a dagger, weakening it. In his slight falter, he was disarmed and kicked back into a tree.
"What?" Lyn gasped, seeing both of her comrades taken down in a matter of seconds. Before she could fully comprehend what happened, she was also shocked by a thunder spell, though comparatively much weaker than the one dealt to Hector. When she regained her barings and saw the attacker clearly, her eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "Aracho!?"
"It's me, Archy!" the boy yelled, running over Uhai. Kneeling down, he quickly pulled out a vulnerary and gave it to the Black Fang man. "Hurry! Take this before you bleed out!" he said, ignoring the pure shock on the nomad's face. "Come on, Uncle Uhai!"
"Uncle!?" Lyn shouted in shock, though it seemed that she went ignored by the boy, who continued to try to help the man who momentarily held her hostage.
"Aracho! What is the meaning of this!?" Eliwood shouted in confusion.
"You attacked us!" Hector yelled, angry when he got up. Approaching the two, he barely got a few steps in before Aracho jumped to his feet, taking out a dagger in his left hand.
"Stay back! ...Come any closer and I'll kill you," he threatened in a deadly serious tone, despite the tears in his eyes. With a defiant look, Hector was about to approach them anyways before he was stopped by Lyn, who blocked him with her arm.
The girl's large eyes held a look of pure confusion; how could Archy of all people attack them like that? "Archy...What are you doing?" she asked, doing her best not to crack her voice.
"..." Without answering her question, Aracho looked back to see Uhai shakily getting back on his feet with the help of his horse. Seeing his uncle figure back on his legs, the boy only slightly lowered his dagger, before completely lowering his hood, showing his full face and head. "...No more hiding," the boy said to himself, before raising his head to look at all three Lycian nobles in front of him.
"...My name is Aracho Reed. I am the adopted son of Brendan Reed, and the Blue Raven of the Black Fang."
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A/N: Hm...I honestly don't know when I want to update this, but WOW things got spicy! I can't wait to see how things turn out with all these developments! But until then, I hope you enjoyed it! Remember to follow, favorite and review, and I will see y'all later!
Blizzard, out!