Okay, so here it is…the moment you've been waiting for…sort of.

Yeah, it's chapter three! Yay!

Before I get around to thanking my reviewers (you peoples are great XD), I'd like to introduce you to my new muse! Pretty much all the authors on Fan Fiction I've read have little muses to make comments before and after their stories, so I went out and got myself one. I really wanted Pent, but he said that he had too many people that he had to be a muse for and recommended that I get a generic muse. So, here he is…say hi, generic Pent.

Pent: w00t!

Since he's generic, he can only say one phrase…there were several to choose from, such as "well, that sucked", "pfft", and "umm…", but I feel that 'w00t' is the most motivational.

On that note, I'd like to thank my reviewers!

Pent: w00t!

Nightmare: oh, stop it…you're making me blush XD I'm glad you like it so far, and keep thinking that she's his mum, we'll see what happens. :) Did I really have you in tears from laughing? Haha sorry…

Jenkins: awww…thanks, you're all too sweet hee hee I'm thinking of getting another story out sometime within the next few months, maybe you'll like that, too.

"Lil": nice name lol thanks for your support!

Serra's Evil Twin: you think you've figured me out, eh? Well, we'll see…I read your profile; doesn't it bother you that Erk's with someone else? -gasp- I'm just kidding lol thank you very much; I'll be sure to update again soon…

Cool-Chan: Er…I don't actually remember any little girl from chapter 30 XD my friends and I made up this character all by ourselves :) I'll have to look it over again when I get there.

All right…that being said (I love all my reviewers, they're all so sweet to me!), I'd like to make it known, once again, that the wonderful game of Fire Emblem does not belong to me in any way, shape, or form but instead belongs to the kind folks at Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. There is one character I made up, though. You'll hear more about her soon. :)

Also, as a quick note, I have no idea why they won't let me put symbols in here, so the first line break you come to is actually a different paragraph...just to make sure there's no confusion.



Chapter Three: A Mockingbird

There wasn't a lot of time to stop and think about what had just happened before Hector and Eliwood rushed everyone off again. As it turned out, that battle was only the first and shortest of all the battles they had to go through that day, and everyone gladly set up camp when the last one was finally over, completely exhausted. Hector randomly chose Kent and Sain to be the guards, a decision neither of them were too happy about. No was awake enough to care that they probably wouldn't do the best job and protest, so they got to be the guards.

They didn't do a very good job of it, though, as someone managed to 'infiltrate' (walk right into) the camp when they had fallen asleep. They didn't exactly grasp the concept of shifts that well. This person, a mere silhouette in the moonlight, sneaked easily past the snoring cavaliers and slipped silently through the shadows cast by makeshift tents until they found the one they were looking for. The person stepped inside into the dim lighting. This particular individual happened to be a girl—a girl with long, wavy, purple hair and (yep, you guessed it) clad in a black dress. Her almond-shaped, inquisitive, violet eyes looked around the interior, seeing a lit oil lamp sitting beside a sleeping boy, his head resting upon an open book in slumber with his long purple hair framing his face. It appeared that he had fallen asleep while he had been reading it.

The girl smiled, walked carefully over to his other side, (she didn't want to upset the oil lamp on accident) and knelt down beside him. She reached out and gently brushed away a strand of his hair from Erk's face, tilting her head curiously to see him better. Could this be the one she had been searching for all these years? He didn't look much older than fifteen. Besides, he had the same wavy hair, the same shaped eyes…

"Awfully cute, aren't you?" she giggled, stroking his cheek. "Even after all these years…" she noticed with concern that he didn't seem to be sleeping very soundly, as if he were having a bad dream. "What's wrong, love?" she asked softly, though she wasn't expecting an answer. "There must be trouble in paradise…" she lifted his head gently and held him close, starting to sing an old lullaby her mother had sung to her eleven years ago before her untimely death with a voice that would put the seraphim to shame.

However, while she had been singing her song, a man had appeared in the doorway, watching them in silence. That man happened to be none other than Raven, who was looking even scarier than usual (if that's possible), his sword drawn at his side.

"My, wasn't that lovely," he said softly, seeming almost sardonic in his congratulations while applauding her quietly. "You're a regular mockingbird, my dear. No need to be frightened," he added with a quirked eyebrow when she looked up with a gasp, her violet eyes widened in fear. "I've got a right mind to let you pass unharmed…but answer me this first: who are you, and what are you doing here? Taken a fancy to young Erk here, have we?"

"Erk?" the girl repeated blankly. "This isn't—?"

"Ah, so you've been mistaken, is that it?" Raven's other eyebrow went up when she started to look very confused. "Hm. Pity. So, who are you? Would you care to grace me with a name?"

"Erk?" she laughed softly to herself, ignoring Raven completely after contemplating this new information. "My, isn't that clever? Such an excellent alias."

"Alias?" Raven's eyebrows went still higher. "What do you mean, 'alias'? And what in blazes is your name? Or shall I continue to call you 'mockingbird'?"

"I beg your pardon, sir," the girl replied, setting Erk down and covering him up better with his cloak. "But I'm not about to tell you. Call me what you will, as we'll probably never meet again…farewell."

"Now, that's not very nice," Raven remarked. She smiled secretively, took the oil lamp from the floor, and blew out the light. "Blast," he murmured to himself as he felt something slide past him, leaving him with only a sweet scent of flowers as her hurried footsteps faded into the night. "I'll find out who that woman is someday…I wonder if she can cook as well?" he mused, taking leave of the tent.


"Your little guardian angel was here again last night, Erk," Raven informed Erk the next morning at breakfast. Lowen was freaking out in the background, as Hyperion (Heath's wyvern) was trying to go back for seconds on his cookware.

"Get away from that, you bloody pigeon!" Lowen snapped, whacking him upside the head with a wooden spoon when Hyperion was about to munch on a pot. Heath was too busy talking with all the other guys that were obsessed with Raven's little mockingbird to notice when Hyperion started chasing poor Lowen around.

"My guardian angel?" Erk repeated, watching this chase with mild interest. "I didn't know she was my guardian angel. Would we be able to see her if she was?"

"Well, you know what I mean," Raven said impatiently, trying to get his attention again. Of course, Pent had told him that this was near impossible. "Do you know who she is?"

"No, I don't," Erk replied semi-truthfully. "How'd she get in? I thought Kent and Sain were on guard?"

"They were asleep when I found her in your tent." Raven said. That pretty much summed it up.

"She was in my tent?" Erk repeated, alarmed.

"Don't flatter yourself, Erk…she wasn't about to try anything. She was singing something to you. I would tell you how it went, but I don't remember the words that well."

"Singing?" Erk repeated blankly.

"Well. She's a mockingbird, and you're a regular parrot. You needn't repeat everything I say. I know I said it."

"Did it sound like…ah…a lullaby?" Erk inquired softly.

"Yes," Raven's eyebrows went up. "Are you sure you don't know anything about this girl? I feel as though I've seen her somewhere."

"I know the feeling," Erk agreed, avoiding the question.

"She wouldn't tell me her name…in fact, she was pretty eager to get out when I found her. Am I that frightening?"

"Ah…" Erk didn't trust himself to answer that.

"Well, well…how convenient. My two favorite men in the same place," a familiar voice giggled behind Erk. "Good morning, darling," Priscilla said, sitting down beside Erk and giving him a kiss. "Did you sleep well?"

"…What's this?" Raven said suspiciously, watching them. "Something I should know about, sister?"

"Oops…" Priscilla said sheepishly under her breath.

"Didn't you tell him?" Erk asked her in alarm.

"Er…not…exactly…um…I suggest you run…" this was an excellent suggestion, as Raven didn't appear too happy about this, which was made evident by his snarling expression. That usually meant 'doom' for the recipient. Thank goodness he didn't have his sword.

"I love you, Priscilla, and you can have all my stuff if I die," Erk said hastily, giving her a quick hug before running for his life. Raven tore off in pursuit, despite Priscilla's protests.

"Oh, dear," Priscilla sighed. "Why is it that I was blessed enough to have such an overprotective brother? Raven!" she shouted, getting up to run after them. "Raven, I can explain! Please don't hurt him!"

"That Erk is one lucky son of a bitch," Hector was muttering to himself, referring to his relations with the much sought-after mystery girl. "Okay, never mind," he said as Erk ran by, screaming his head off with Raven not far behind. "He's not that lucky."

"Maybe she'll pay more attention to one of us instead," Eliwood mused as Lowen and Hyperion ran past them as well.

"Why is everyone chasing each other around?" Lyn wondered, having finally showed up. "Did Raven find out about Erk and Priscilla?"

"Apparently," Hector remarked. "That must really suck."

"And Lowen hit Hyperion with a spoon," Eliwood informed her.

"He what?" Heath said incredulously. "You'd think he'd have learned not to by now. Oi! Hyperion!" he called to the insolent wyvern. "Cut that out! Sit!" and thus, Hyperion stopped chasing Lowen and sat obediently. "Good boy," he said, tossing him a cookie.

"I don't think that trick'll work with Raven," Hector said aloud to himself.

"Oi! Raven!" Heath shouted at Raven in experiment. "Cut that out! Sit!" Raven stopped momentarily to give him a look that clearly said 'what the hell?' before chasing Erk again. "Nope…it didn't work."

Priscilla eventually managed to restrain her brother and console him a little bit while apologizing several times over, leaving Erk to collapse to the ground in exhaustion.

"Erk?" she inquired gently, looking over at him. "Are you all right, sweetheart? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"I don't think so," Erk replied, crawling over to her cautiously, as she was sitting on Raven.

"You die at dawn," Raven said ominously to Erk, glaring at him with as much menace as he could muster. His position wasn't exactly dignified.

"Oh, shut up, Raven," Priscilla snapped at him, jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow. "Stop bullying poor Erk! We're in love! Get over it!" Raven muttered darkly to himself as she resumed her conversation with Erk. "I'm sorry, Erk. He's being awfully rude, isn't he? I wish he wouldn't over-react like this so much!" she added pointedly, narrowing her eyes at her brother.

"Well, excuse me for trying to protect my little sister from such bad influences. Don't roll your eyes at me!" he added indignantly. "I told you he was nothing but trouble. Look at him! He's the devil in disguise, I tell you!"

"I thought I told you to shut up?" Priscilla reminded him. "And there's no way he could be the devil, you twit. He's far too sweet."

"That's what he wants you to think!"

"You just keep lying to yourself, Raven…whatever helps you sleep at night. Come on, Erk…" she said, offering Erk a hand to help him up. "No one wants to be with such a fusspot."

"Well…" Erk remarked as they walked off, hand-in-hand. "That could have been worse."

"That's the spirit," Priscilla said cheerfully. "He really does like you better than all the others, you know…just be sure you don't break my heart, or he'll come after you for sure."

"I don't plan on it," Erk smiled.

"Awwww…how sweet," someone cooed behind them, watching them as they kissed.

"Who the hell is that?" Priscilla wondered, looking behind Erk after pulling away. "Oh, crap…bandits…"


o.O the bandits are coming.

Goodness, they're intrusive, aren't they?

Pent: w00t!

Yes, I agree. Anyway, be sure to review if you think you want to…I love reviews, you know ;) I'll get chapter four up ASAP, but in the meantime, enjoy!