Fubuki no Kaen
(MarthRoy)
Authors: Xan and Vallen
Rating: R
Warnings: One thing… Or, lot's of things: This is a story with yaoi/shounen
ai/slash, whatever you want to call it. If that sort of stuff isn't your thing,
then don't read it. But, we hope that you do…
Disclaimer: The characters Marth and Roy, plus "Altea", do not belong to us. We
just use them for our pleasure.
Feedback: Yes. (That means we would love to hear from you and what you think!)
Notes:
Xan: Here we are again, guys! I was in charge of typing up this chapter and I hope that it got out more quickly then some of the other ones. This is the big battle scene you were clamoring for, so I hope you like it! I also did the "thank yous!"
Vallen: Plus… There's talk about this *cough* "relationship" *cough* that's they're supposed to have, but… Just read!
Thanks to: Li Kayun ("Sappy-cliché?" Ohhh boy, you're talkin' to the wrong writers here. The last sappy thing I wrote ended with one of them dying in a really gruesome way, so I don't think we do sap very well), Boethas (*evil grin* Sorry, but we're evil by nature! Can't help it! ^_^), Spectrum (Maaan, I wanna play SSBM so bad! Unfortunately, I don't have it, but Vallen got it for Christmas! And she hasn't invited me over to play yet. *sniff sniff* *feels unloved* Oh well. I can just imagine!), blank (Sorry, but I think you're going to be a little disappointed. And he was NOT acting like an ass! Or I didn't think so… Was he, guys?), Sinnatious (Yes, tension IS fun to write! You have no idea! And Marth and Roy tension is doubly fun to write. *'nother evil grin*), Spanish Ninja Sneasel (*sniffs* Yeah I miss Trave too sometimes… He was such a fun, evil character! I'm afraid he doesn't come back- unlike most of our characters- he STAYS dead. *nervous laughter* But I'm glad that you like the fic even without Trave there to be mean. Just wait until Gaimen comes back. He's a pretty sick puppy too), Miru-miru (Gah, not the rabid fans! Anything but that! *runs from them* I hope this was quick enough!), Kit, Ankaire and stupid Yami (Heh! Glad somebody likes our cliffhangers! And you're right- we want you to be scared to miss the next update. When we get them out. Heh…), Pichu*Star (*big smile* Thanks! I thought it would be fun to give the horses a little bit of a personality because they are technically semi-main characters), Dark Comet (Yay, Rowen's gotta 'nother fan! We love that old guy as much as you do. We take pride in our original charas like Rowen and Trave. And ask Vallen about the italics on the group- she explains better then I), Moiras (Thank you for your comments! After so many people saying that the kiss scene was hokey, I was getting kind of worried, but at least one person liked it, so that makes up for it a little. Rowen is extremely fun and we're glad that everybody likes him so much!! And since Roy was a general, it would only make sense that he'd wake up that way. At least to Vallen…), Asudem (Oh, you want ACTION? We'll GIVE you action! HA! *looks innocent* Other cliffhangers? Like what?), Lil Princess Me (Thanks! Was this soon enough? I hope so!), tikimoof (*much nervous laughter* I can't help it- Ents ROCK! But the Nazgul are even cooler! *huggles them* Glad to have you back!), Belldandy (O_O 50 pages? Wow, I hadn't realized! I'm honored that our little fic is plane-worthy reading materiel! I hope your trip went well and you got all of it printed…), RcA (*sings* Evil evil evil, that's us!), Tinie Ashie (Thanks! Here ya go!!), YoshiMars (YES YES YES!! Make us fanart!! It makes us very very happy when people draw fanart of our scenes and stuff!!)
Marth lunged forward, sweeping his sword up towards Roy's face. There was a momentary flash of blue from the blade and the force sent Roy flying head over heels. Roy got up with a growl, deciding not to protest about the unfairness of the battle. It was a matter of pride.
"Okay…" He ran up to Marth, their swords meeting for the first time. Roy had to grit his teeth and use all his strength to push as hard as he could against the ex-Prince's blade, but it seemed like even that wasn't enough.
Marth had sworn to only use magic on the first blow in order to deplete the last of his anger towards Roy. After that, it was steel, strength and skill alone.
Roy's strength was impressive, especially considering his age and size compared to most other warriors. Marth twisted his sword away from Roy's and jumped back into a defensive crouch, face calm and awaiting Roy's next move.
The teen narrowed his eyes at the ex-Prince's stance. In his eyes, only the weak and strategic took defensive positions this early in battle. He charged Marth again, their swords clashing dangerously. Roy called upon the techniques that he had been forced to learn even before he could pick up a sword at all. It was his guess that Marth had something up his sleeve and was just waiting for him to tire.
"You act as if you're being forced to fight me… You're doing the least amount of work, just standing there and blocking my sword…" Roy hissed, feigning to his left, then slashing at the blue-haired man's chest.
Marth dropped to the ground, rolling out of the way of Roy's blade. He jumped back up, smacking Roy's thigh sharply with the flat of his sword as he did so. He didn't notice that his tunic had been sliced open by Roy's blade and that a long, shallow gash had been opened diagonally across his muscled chest. Though not serious, it was bleeding profusely, staining his tunic and dribbling down his chest to his abdomen.
The teen limped backwards with a wince. The wound he had gotten from Trave had just started to scar and now the flesh throbbed painfully. He drew himself up to stand as best he could and stared at Marth's chest, then to his face.
"Are you going to fight me or not?"
In response, Marth charged Roy with a whirlwind of moves, slashing with such calm ferocity that Roy was forced to retreat several steps back. His eyes were everywhere, searching Roy's body and form for weaknesses, flaws in his defense. Roy's technique was effective, but quite crude and unrefined, lacking the subtlety and tact of Marth's, whose style was centered around strategy as opposed to sheer strength. Marth could predict exactly what Roy was going to do next just by watching his body, especially in the chest and arms. He twisted his sword around Roy's, locking the blades together with a loud shriek that ground in their ears and leaned down on him, using his superior weight and size to his advantage.
"I see now how you beat Gaimen." He told his General.
Roy grunted and pushed up against his opponent's sword, but was forced down to one knee. With another burst of energy, he swept his leg under Marth's, knocking the ex-Prince to the ground roughly. Marth struggled to his feet, finding that his sore body did not maneuver as quickly or as well as he needed it to. Roy had plenty of time to get back on his own feet and prepare for the next wave of attacks.
"And how is that?"
A tiny, evil smirk crossed Marth's otherwise icy, expressionless face. Roy had done exactly as he had hoped and was playing right into his hands. Marth surged to his feet, driving his swords' point directly towards Roy's throat. The General jumped back to avoid the razor-sharp blade. In the split-second that Roy was thrown off-balance, Marth swiped at his sword hand, smacking it again with the flat of his blade. Surprised, Roy dropped his sword. Marth snatched it up with his left hand and knocked Roy to the ground.
He stood over the auburn-haired General, holding one blade to Roy's heart and the other to his throat. His eyes bored down into Roy's.
"You fight like a soldier instead of like a knight. He wasn't used to that style of combat after so many years off the battlefield and fighting only in the courts. You have no tact, no refined strategy – you simply burst into the battle with nothing but steel and the will to win. Your defense covers nothing but the vitals and you leave important areas completely unguarded altogether. You surprised him because your style is atypical of what he was used to fighting and, additionally, your appearance is quite deceiving. He probably didn't take your challenge seriously and you caught him unawares. That is how you beat him."
Roy stared down the length of both swords into Marth's eyes, trying to decide whether the triumphant look in them was worth fighting back for. He didn't like anyone standing over him like that, but he had been defeated… Two times in the last two days even. The teen growled up at Marth, but did not move.
"I was not trained to be a knight. To me, chivalry is stupid, unnecessary at times, and I have no need for it. Your uncle managed to knock me around pretty good, but I beat him in the end." He said quietly, in between breaths. "Although it doesn't seem like such a victory to me now…"
Marth lowered the blades and handed Roy's back to him, hilt first. It was a gesture of extreme trust. If he wanted, all Roy had to do was push the blade foreword a few inches and Marth would be run through.
"I was there when you fought him."
The teen grabbed the hilt of his own sword and pressed against Marth's chest, then pulled away and rolled out from under him. He got up, still favoring his leg a little bit.
"Well, that's interesting… What did you feel when you watched me?"
"I was glad that somebody was doing what I lacked the strength and the courage to do." Marth's voice filled with icy hate and his hands tightened on the hilt of his sword. He closed his eyes, trying to block it out. "But you didn't cut off his hands. I wanted you to as I watched. I kept whispering it."
Roy frowned and stepped towards Marth, his sword raised.
"He needed his hands to fight me, so that would have been completely illogical. And besides, I thought you were a knight."
Marth looked at Roy for a moment before peeling off his bloody, ripped tunic. The wound on his chest was still bleeding, although not as badly. He smeared some of the blood on his fingers and looked at it.
"I was a Prince. They don't teach Princes chivalry – they teach them ruthlessness. Chivalry is for idealists and fools who think that the world makes exceptions for nice people who follow all the rules." He tossed his hair out of his face. "It's a pity you didn't kill him."
"And I would have been arrested if I had. He was a powerful member of the kingdom even then," Roy replied flatly, looking a bit confused as he watched what Marth was doing with his own blood. "Oh, and my fighting style has changed a little bit, so your analysis was partially incorrect."
"I know." Marth fell quiet, looking down at the now-frozen blood on his fingers. Slowly, he lifted them and touched his lips, then turned to Roy, face expressionless.
"What is it that you feel for me? What did that kiss mean? If it was nothing and you really have no feelings for me, then tell me and put my heart to rest. Because I don't want to be played with, Roy. It may have been nothing to you, but it meant something to me and I don't," he paused, stumbling over his words as if there were a fault in his icy shell. "I don't want to be made into your toy."
"So I see…" Roy murmured, picking his words carefully. Then he raised his head to stare at Marth and raised also his voice a notch, but not so loud that Rowen, who was standing off to the side, could hear it.
"You and I are different, that much is obvious. I can have relations with someone without giving them a second thought afterwards, but you can't even receive a kiss without it haunting you. What do you want it to mean? Do your sexual preferences lean towards the male sex?"
"You're very good at avoiding questions that you don't want to answer. Is that part of your training?" Marth asked quietly, looking down at Roy. "I am tempted to ask how many men you have slept with to make you so indifferent towards the matter, but it is neither my business nor my concern. I have slept with my share of men. And I have slept with my share of women, but your kiss is the only one that has ever haunted me so. I want only to know how you feel for me because I feel something for you and if there's no hope of getting anything in return, then I just want to forget about it."
"You're a Prince, Marth, no matter what you think! After all this is over and when we do win, you will eventually be King and where will that 'something for me' be then?" Roy's face contorted with emotion. The ex-Prince's endless barrage of questions had finally broken him down until he couldn't avoid them any longer.
Then he realized that he had called the blue-haired man by his true name of Marth and clapped a hand over his mouth. It was a sort of taboo among the people who served the royalty of Altea that it was forbidden to call the royals by their first names alone. Roy remembered receiving a harsh beating that had been the result of referring to Marth by his first name only as a small boy. The child in him glanced around, looking for Brock's heavy hand to come swooping down on him again.
Being with Marth had forced him to remember his place in society, so much further down on the chain than the Prince was. Exiled as they were, their ranks had fallen and were now technically void, but Roy couldn't help but feel inferior to Marth, supposing that it was normal for a person of common birth. But why did the Prince feel something for him in matters of the heart?
"Yes! Say my name, dammit!" Marth's voice rose to an angry shout. Suddenly, he didn't care if Rowen heard what he had to say or not. "I'm not going to punish you for it! I can't! We're equals out here, don't you see that? You see this blood? It's no longer royal. Don't you understand, Roy? I care about you. And if you gave me half a chance, I could probably love you. But you're too wrapped up in your pride and inferiority to even care!"
"Equals…" Roy repeated, clenching and unclenching a fist and trying to keep his emotions under control. "And what if I gave you a chance? What if I wanted to give you a chance? What would happen? I tend to think of the kingdom more than of myself in situations such as these because it is what I serve. What would Altea think of a King with a male consort?"
"Do you not believe that my Kingdom is always my first thought? Because it is." Marth's voice became quiet again. "All my life, I've have done nothing but the best for my country and for my people. And where has it all gotten me? Exile. I gave everything and at the first sign, they betrayed me and cast me away like an old boot. I don't care what they would think. Just because I am King, does that mean that I cannot love as I choose to love? Do the laws of a country governing the right to marry whomever you desire not apply to the monarch who upholds them?"
The teen looked away, biting his lip.
"Fine… Then will you answer my other question?"
Marth turned and looked at Roy. "I don't know. It depends on what you want."
"What I want? I," Roy's voice lowered so that Marth could not hear it. "…I…I'll think about it." He finally whispered.
"Thank you." Marth said softly. He walked past Roy and touched his arm softly before going into the house to bind his wound.
Rowen stepped foreword, absolutely no expression on his face at all. For a change, he was neither joking nor serious.
"Well, I was almost sure you were going to kiss and make up," he said, walking up to Roy. "Arm yourself. I'm going to see if you're any good, Boy."
Roy's attention snapped to Rowen's face and he raised his sword quickly.
"I am so tired of you interfering with my personal matters… Why do you feel that you must make a witty comment on everything?!" He yelled, taking a hard swing at the mage.
Rowen's lips quirked and he easily blocked the ex-General's blow with his large sword.
"Alright. Tell me with your sword."
To Be Continued…
Xan: Bwahaha! Another cliffhanger, but this one is my fault! So blame me! *giggles* That had a little more action than the last few chapters, but you like that, right? Heh! Hope you liked it!
Vallen: Whew… *wipes sweat off forehead* That was a pretty tense chapter. Did you think so? *shrug* I did… See you next time on… *coughs and just leaves* Heh…