Gah, sorry for the long update. But I've been having a writer's block for this fic… Not to mention that I have something big going on at school right now, and its taking up my time. But here's the next chapter, anyway!
Guy: So, how long has it been? A month?
Matthew: Dunno, two weeks?
FireEdge: Shut up, both of you…
Reviews:
Hamano Ayumi: Yup, I was in Fire Emblem waaay before ToS. Thanks for reviewing this story as well!
Ragnarok-legend: Yes I am. Though could you keep it low? I don't relatively like revealing my personal information (Don't ask why I did, sorta, back there). And the twisted charm is on Wil, remember? Not Florina.
Lord Cynic: Hehe, Kirby's so smart!
TheOneAndOnlyT: Good point… I completely forgot about that, but I guess it's because of Florina's shy personality that's hindering me with the more affectionate scenes… I'll try and improve that. Oh yes, the ring…. Don't worry, I only brought that up. He doesn't really "propose" or anything until one of the last chapters. It just seemed appropriate. And statistically they have known each other for… maybe 1 and a half years or 2. But yeah, the confession took place perhaps a week or two past. Thanks for bringing those things up for me.
The Blazing Blade: Thanks for reviewing!
montblancerk: Hehe, thanks for the tip, I'll try and add more angst into it. Though it might be a little hard.
Wyrmseeker: Wow, I'm confused. But okay!
erkxserra rule: Thanks for reviewing!
Emarista the Torturer: Yes… the ring…. My preciousss.
Duelist of Middle Earth (x2): It's okay, I'm glad you're still reading my fic though! Thanks for the comments, and I didn't notice that there were any errors, thanks for pointing them out. I'll be more careful next time. Also, as for a sequel. I won't be doing one. But I have a feeling that you'll like my last chapter. ;)
Kitten.Got.Claws: Thanks for your review!
Initial D ROCKS: Thanks for reviewing!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.
Stray Arrow
Chapter 19
Wil lay on the back of his bunk. It was late afternoon, and outside his window, he could tell that the sun was just starting to set. The sky was streaked with violets, pinks and oranges. What remaining light streamed through the glass and onto his face.
The sniper was in a bored mood, they were resting in Castle Ostia for the night, and the lords and tactician were busy conversing with Lord Athos. The rest of the troops were to rest while they could. He knew that they were to head out first thing tomorrow morning.
He supposed that he enjoyed having some time to be alone, not having to fight, or worry about an ambush in such a fortified fortress as this. Afterall, he got to sleep in a real bed again, there was plentiful of good food. It couldn't get any better for them, he guessed, not in a situation like they were in anyway.
But as he lay there, staring at the ceiling, ignoring the sharpening sound of Raven's sword form the bed underneath his. His thoughts drifted back to Florina. His vision seemed to cloud slightly as he envisioned her. He could almost feel her small body in his arms, her soft lavender hair nestled under his chin. How he longed to hold her. Had he even seen her the past day? The sniper didn't think so.
Maybe I could see her now… It's not that late yet, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind either. With those thoughts, Wil sat upright with a creak from the bed. Swinging his legs over the side of the bunk, making sure not to hit the man below him, Wil jumped off nimbly. Raven looked up once, but resumed his sharpening a moment after. It was no interest of his.
Wil lingered by the door a second, debating whether to take his bow and quiver with him or not. But shrugged and decided against it. It wasn't like they were going to face battle anytime soon tonight anyway. The sniper then strode out the door and heading down the hallway briskly.
He hadn't the vaguest idea of where Florina's room was, whom she no doubt shared with her sisters, but he had a feeling that it was in this direction. Most of the females, next to Lyn and the tactician, were rooming over in that wing anyway. How hard could it be to find her?
After a few minutes of walking in silence, he finally approached an open door. Walking by and glancing in, he saw that this was the healer's room. He could just catch a glimpse of Serra and the red-haired girl, Priscilla. Dismissing them immediately, he continued his search.
The next few rooms were closed, and he didn't want to disturb them. Not until he checked the other opened rooms first. He knew that this was probably a waste of time, but he didn't mind. The young man had nothing else to do anyway.
Finally he came upon another open door. Glancing in, he saw that it was Nino and Rebecca's room. Seeing him look in, the young mage looked up from one of her magic tomes.
"Oh, hi Wil! Are you looking for someone?" She asked curiously.
"Uh, yeah. Do you know which room Florina is in?" Wil asked, rubbing the back of his neck, a bit sheepishly.
"You just missed it! Her and her sisters are in the room next to ours!" Rebecca replied with a grin to her childhood friend. For some reason the smile that the little mage gave him made him blush. When his face took on a pink tinge, the other sniper exchanged a glance with Nino. To his dismay they both giggled and looked at him with mischievous smiles.
"I-I'll leave now!" He stammered, taking on a deeper shade of red and quickly left the room. With a sigh as he was out of sight of the two green-haired girls, he went to the closed door next the their room. Taking a deep breath, he raised his hand and rapped his knuckles against the wooden door.
After waiting a while, he wasn't too sure if anyone was in, since the no one was answering. Just as he was going to knock again, the door flung open, leaving his fist in mid-air. He froze for a moment, coming face-to-face with Farina. After staring at the blue-haired woman, he quickly lowered his arm in embarrassment and opened his mouth.
"I-Is Florina in?" He asked hesitantly. Farina didn't answer for a moment and stared at him menacingly. The brown-haired man resisted the urge to shrink back at the woman's stare. He wasn't very good at standing up to people like that. After an awkward silence, a voice broke out from behind Farina.
"I'm sorry, Wil. You just missed her. She went for a walk a few minutes ago." Came Fiora's kindly voice. "Farina, stop standing there and glaring at the poor guy!" She snapped at he sister.
"Hmph." Farina replied with a sniff, stepping back. "Have fun looking for my little sister." She added, then closed the door instantly in his face.
"Er… Thanks?" He said to the door. Sometimes he wished that Florina's older sister wouldn't treat him like that. It was really disturbing, but he knew that Farina was just looking out for her younger sibling.
With a shrug of his shoulders, he turned on his booted heels and headed back the way he came from. I wonder where she could've gone? Maybe she went to see her pegasus? He pondered. But before he could go any farther, he heard a loud sound coming from outside.
"Huh?" He quickly bounded to one of the small windows on the wall and glanced out. "What the--?!" There beneath him were many soldiers. The door of the mighty fortress was somehow knocked down, and they were storming in. He could tell immediately that they were the Black Fang.
Moments later, there came the sound of the alarm, a blaring horn. Wil could already hear the sounds of resonating footsteps, from both allies and enemies. Without a second thought, he quickly raced towards the sound of the horn.
Finally reaching a large room, connecting to the throne room itself, he saw Eliwood sitting upon a mighty white steed. A horn to his mouth. Seeing most of the troops gathered, the red-haired lord lowered the horn and drew out his rapier, preparing to charge the enemy. Wil ran to take his position when suddenly there came a shout from behind him.
"Wil!" He turned quickly to see Rebecca, a look of shock on her face. "Wil! What are you doing?! Why don't you have a weapon with you?" Wil's face remained blank for a minute, and his eyes widened as he realized that he had left his silver bow in his room.
"Wil!" He turned quickly to see Rebecca, a look of shock on her face. "Wil! What are you ?! Why don't you have a weapon with you?" Wil's face remained blank for a minute, and his eyes widened as he realized that he had left his silver bow in his room."Oh no, I left it in my room! But there's no time to go back for it now!" He exclaimed. Rebecca rolled her eyes and unhooked something from her back.
"Here, use my spare steel bow. I don't want to see my best friend rushing into danger blindly. As usual." Putting the bow into his hands, and giving him a handful of arrows from her quiver, she gave him a quick nod and ran off to join the others, taking her place next to Raven.
Wil quickly tucked the arrows into his belt, they fit uncomfortably, but he had no quiver, unless he made his way to Merlinus somewhere. He then took his spot on the battlefield, waiting for his orders as he started to string the bow.
"Wil! There you are! Whoa! Where's your quiver?" Elfaiya demanded as she ran up to him.
"Er… I forgot it. I got the bow and arrows from Rebecca…" He answered meekly, with a weak smile. The other girl smacked the side of her head with her hand, muttering under her breath.
"Ugh, go get a spare quiver from Merlinus, and a better bow if he has any… Then take the frontlines with Florina, Erk and Serra. I'll send some backup in a minute, but you guys are closest to… the leading morph." She replied quickly. "Good luck, I'll see you later." The tactician then bounded off to talk to the other troops that had yet to get to the more heated fighting.
Looking around, he spotted Merlinus and quickly received a quiver and more arrows, though it had turned out that Merlinus didn't have any more bows. Taking an arrow out of his quiver, he headed towards where his assigned group was battling.
"Wil!" Florina exclaimed happily and somewhat with relief. She had just pulled her lance out of the falling body of a mercenary. He noticed that she wore the Delphi shield on her arm. That made him feel much better, seeing the amount of archers there were in the facility.
"Took you long enough! There are so many of them!" Added Serra with frustration.
"It seems that they planned this out very well." Erk nodded in agreement with the bishop. "They knew that we were unsuspecting and took the opportunity to attack us in large numbers. The sage stopped talking as he shot an Elfire spell at an oncoming sniper.
"I can see that." Wil replied, taking aim with the heavy steel bow. He released with a grunt as it hit a nearby mercenary.
"And they're using poison weapons!!" Serra exclaimed forcibly. Wil looked at one of the enemy knight's weapons, they dripped with lethal liquids. He frowned, this just wasn't their day.
With another disgruntled sigh, he ran off a ways, to shoot at a cavalier that was getting to close to them. He could hear Florina following him, only a few feet away. He couldn't help but smile a bit at that. As he killed another enemy, he stopped to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Using this bow took a lot of energy. It was much heavier than other bows, though powerful. It was very hard to use. But as he let his guard down, he was surrounded by a dark aura.
"What the hell?!" Wil cried, feeling shadows engulfing him. Nearby he heard Florina scream his name. In seconds, he realized that he was the victim of dark magic. The sniper looked frantically this way and that, hoping to dodge the oncoming blows of shadows. But before he could react, he felt a cutting pain, like that of a knife, yet not of a knife, slicing his back. He screamed in pain as another like it struck him in the leg, and another on his arm. It was followed by another and another and another. Until he felt as if half the energy in his body was drained from him.
The dark circle around him faded and he collapsed onto the ground, panting. His arms were wobbling as they held him up, his hand gripped his bow shakily. He could hear footsteps running towards him, Serra no doubt.
"Wil!" Florina cried again, coming next to him. Despite the battle, she dismounted her flying steed and knelt next to him. "Are you okay?!" She exclaimed worriedly. Her pegasus let out a neigh, informing Florina of the oncoming mercenary. She quickly reacted by pulling out a javelin from a pouch hanging from Huey's saddle. Thrusting the javelin, it sank into the mercenary's side, causing him to fall to the ground speechlessly. He was only another morph, afterall. But then as she turned back, she just became aware of a heavily armoured knight, his lance dripping of poison.
The girl let out a scream, as she saw the lance heading straight towards her, it was impossible to dodge it, with a javelin in one hand and her pegasus' reins in another. Florina knew that she shouldn't have dismounted, but she couldn't help it. Now she was going to be struck. She knew that Serra could heal it, but the pain was still going to happen. Just as she braced herself for the blow, she let out a strangled gasp.
From his position on the floor, Wil used all his strength to push himself up and jump at Florina, hoping to shove her out of the way. Knowing that there was a big chance of getting himself impaled by the lance, the sniper did it anyway. He might die right now, being as weak as he was anyway, Serra couldn't possible get to him past the new onslaught of enemies.
"Ugh…!" Wil grunted, the lance sinking into his stomach. He dropped his bow as the enemy knight pulled his lance free, getting ready to strike again. The young man dropped to the floor, unable to move. He could see the lance's shadow above him, ready to strike down. "Looks like this is the end…" He wasn't going to die yet, but the blow that was about to hit him would certainly finish him off, and if it didn't somehow, then he would die from the poison he could already feel seeping through his veins.
"WIL!" Florina cried, tears misting her light blue eyes. In one fluid motion, she was up atop Huey and her silver lance was in hand. Before the knight could strike again, she had the lance sink into the uncovered flesh of the morph. She yanked her lance free and kneeling her steed in again, she thrusted the weapon through the knight's body. The armoured morph fell onto his knees, collapsing in a big clank of metal. Practically dropping her lance, she ran to Wil's lying form.
"Wil!" She knelt down next to him, trying to prop him up, but he was much to big for her to do so. But she settled with resting his head in her lap. "Wil! You're going to be okay! Please hold on! You promised you'd stay alive!" She said frantically. Pulling a vulnerary out of her pouch, she poured the contents onto his wound. The bleeding seemed to stop somewhat, but the wound still stayed open, and she knew that the poison was still present. The vulnerary container was empty however.
"Florina…" Wil spoke weakly. He knew he had done a stupid thing, taking that blow for her, but he wanted her to live. The sniper could feel his breath coming shorter. His vision was starting to blur, he could barely make out Florina's anguished face.
"Serra!!" The falcoknight called to the bishop, who was desperately trying to make her way towards them. With agonizing slowness, the pink-haired girl finally approached them.
"Dear Saint Elimine!" She exclaimed, gripping her Mend staff. "I'll heal him first, then purge the poison. After that we'll take him to somewhere safer." The healer informed Florina. Holding the staff over Wil, she opened her mouth to say the incantation.
"Me--!" Just as she was going to let loose her healing powers, she choked. She took a rattling breath, and her eyes widened with panic. Looking down, the cleric could just make out the vanishing traces of the Silence spell.
"…!" Her mouth was open, but no words came out.
"S-Serra?!" Florina asked frantically, tears openly streaming down her face. The bishop looked helplessly at her, her face stunned. "Y-You can heal him, right?! He'll be okay, right?!" She asked, her hold on Wil tightening.
Wil closed his eyes, and quickly reopened them again, but it was getting harder and harder. The poison was taking a real toll on him, and the effects of the Eclipse spell only added to the damage. He swallowed dryly and opened his mouth.
"Fl…Florina. Don't… cry…" He stuttered. Florina glanced down at him, her face taking a look of panic.
"I-I can't n-not cry! Y-You're going to die, i-if--" She broke out in a cry and couldn't continue her words, the battle around her seemed to fade from her plain of existence. On the other side of the sniper, the muted bishop sobbed silently.
More troops had come by now, and the fight was starting to be more controlled. Most of the others gave them a quick sympathetic glance, but continued on their way to end the battle.
Florina didn't really care though, she hugged Wil close to her, her sobs racking her small body, her tears dripping onto his shirt. Wil stared blindly ahead. He wanted to live, for Florina's sake, but it was so hard to fight. He felt like his whole body was immobilized, his spirit fading. Suddenly he felt a cold shock through his body.
A flash of light blinded him temporarily, he felt the coolness spreading through his body, the source coming from his neck. Forcing his head to look down, he saw a faint light coming from the base of his neck. The charm…
Florina paused, also seeing the light. Letting out a small gasp, she saw the aura encircle him. The bleeding stopped, and the wound seemed less grave. But that's all it did. The injury was still not fully healed, and the presence of the poison was still there.
But some colour seemed to have returned to Wil's cheeks. A faint smile played across his lips. Looks like he might live afterall…
Okay, I think I'll leave it at that for now. You know, I wasn't planning on writing this until the weekends… But… that's good for you guys.
Guy: You're horrible at writing that kind of stuff…
Matthew: Be nice, Guy.
FireEdge: So I'm not the best at writing that kind of scene, but I tried! I really did!!
Guy: Yes. We're sure you did.
Matthew: Mmhmm.
FireEdge: Go away! Yeah, I really need your input on this chapter. I'm not too sure if I did that well a job with the "Wil almost dying" scene. I don't think the emotions were good enough. But that's just me… Review please! And I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible. If you're lucky, before next week even.
--FireEdge--
