To start off with, my latest chapters have been getting sloppier, so I hope you didn't mind me taking some time to write, but I promise I won't take this long. Also, I have camp this weekend and next week so I'll only be able to update next weekend.

Anyway, seeing as I forgot to include it in the last chapters: I don't own Fire Emblem or any of the characters.

Chapter 8 – A Frumpy Dart

-Near Santaruz-

After some muttered complaints from the young blond mage, Farina and Karla decided to stop for the night in a cosy clearing, near a small stream. Leo thankfully grabbed his bags from his horse, before tying it to a tree with a long rope. He quickly shoved some sticks into the ground, threw an oilskin over the top and flung himself under his makeshift tent with his sleeping bag.

"Uhh OK…?" Farina mumbled after Leo dove into his tent. "I'll set up the tent, and care for Murphy, can you get some firewood for us?" She asked Karla, who was staring into the distance.

"Uhh sure…" Karla said, before heading off into the failing light. Farina took their bags off Murphy and tossed them onto the grass. She took a long length of rope out and used it to tie Murphy to the tree. She also took two small buckets from the bag, filled them with water and gave them to Murphy and Leo's horse.

A few metres away, Karla spotted a fallen mouldy log and propped it against another tree, before using an iron sword to break the log apart. She took them back to the clearing, where Farina had finished making their tent and they both went in search of some twigs.

"You do know that taking Leo to Santaruz will take us off our journey for a while?" Karla asked Farina, while they examined the area for some sticks.

"Yes, but don't forget that Dart and Rebecca had to go towards Pherae for a while." Farina said, mischievously. Karla merely smiled.

-Somewhere south of Santaruz-

It wasn't the movement that roused Wil, but the lack of it; the cart had come to a sudden halt. Wil didn't open his eyes straight away, but spent that moment wondering why there was pressure on his right arm, perhaps a sack had slid onto him? He opened his eyes to find that the pressure on his arm wasn't a sack at all, and nearly screamed, but instead made a bizarre squeak.

This squeak woke Rebecca, but she just stirred, squeezing Wil like a teddy bear.

"Uh Rebecca?" He whispered, so softly that even he couldn't hear it. She groaned a little and pressed even closer into him. With a great deal of embarrassment Wil realised that she didn't have her breastplate on. He felt his heart beat faster and his muscles tensed.

Do something, Do Something, A hitherto unknown part of Wil's mind pleaded. You've got the love of your life snuggled up next you, do something! But that's sic--

Unfortunately for Wil, Geitz chose that exact moment to fling open the cart door. He paused for a moment, as he stared at Rebecca pressed into a guilty, red-faced Wil. Geitz raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.

Although this reduced the embarrassment of the situation a little, Wil was a bit angry that he didn't get an opportunity to laugh it off.

"Uhh bad timing…. ?" Wil said half-heartedly. Geitz raised his other eyebrow and grabbed some bags and buckets.

"What's bad timi… What. Ar'. You. Doing." Dart said menacingly, picking up an axe.

"Uh D-Dart I… It was… uhh she was cold and…. I-I-" Wil faltered mid sentence at Dart's death glare. "I was a source of warmth… and maybe comfort…" Wil trailed off.

"Please get off my sister when ye say tha'" Dart said coldly. He decided for the time being to leave Wil alone, but another time… Dart turned on the spot and walked away with his axe swinging in his hand.

Geitz chuckled from next to a tree, but hastily began putting up the tent when he saw Dart's expression.

Dart headed off into the woods and began chopping wood glaring at it, as though each log had tried to hit on his sister. At the camp, Wil got out of the cart nervously, after making sure that Dart wasn't in the vicinity. He rubbed his arm for a moment, before helping Geitz with the tent.

"Eh heh… so…" Wil began sheepishly.

"So?" Geitz questioned, shortly and a little amusedly.

"Well you… I wasn't… oh whatever" Wil gave up trying to ineffectually convince Geitz of his innocence and instead grabbed more of his belongings out of the cart. Geitz continued to put up the tent, sniggering, while Wil stumbled over with his bags. Just then Dart returned, with a large armful of wood and a slightly less hate-filled look. Wil dived into the newly erected tent, dragging a bag behind him, while Dart dumped his wood elsewhere with an almighty CLUNK and began loudly throwing logs into a fire-pit.

This, of course, woke up Rebecca, who walked shakily over to him.

"Dart… do you have to make so much noise…?" She said slowly.

"Rebecca! You're awake! How do ye feel?" Dart asked her, with a note of concern in his voice.

"I'm okay, but why do you look so frumpy?" Rebecca replied, commenting on Dart's comical anger.

"Uh no-- no reason, well apart from this blasted fire!" Dart said. Rebecca smiled weakly and pulled out a flint.

"Let me help you" She offered, and quickly lit the fire. She laid back on the grass in front of the fire and basked in the warmth. Geitz strolled over and sat next to her.

"Where's Wil?" Rebecca wondered aloud, noticing that Dart's face darkened a little when she asked that. Or did it redden?

"I hope Wil's okay…" Rebecca said, this time focusing on Dart. Wow, she thought, his face both darkened and reddened… so it marooned?...hee hee

"Is Wil okay?" Rebecca asked Dart.

"I'm sure he's fine." Dart said shortly.

"Is there food?" Geitz asked no-one in particular. "Dart bring us some food". Dart rolled his eyes before heading off to the cart. Rebecca took the opportunity to find out where Wil was.

"Where is Wil?" She asked softly.

"He's in the tent, but don't you know what he did? He tried to-- take advantage of you in your weakness" Geitz said equally softly, sounding like a gossiping middle-aged woman.

"Wil! Take advantage of anyone?" Rebecca scoffed. "Wil's the most uptight person I know!". With that she walked over to the tent, where Wil was currently sitting listening to every word. And although he was glad that Rebecca believed he was innocent, Wil was more than a little shaken by her choice of words.

Uptight, he asked himself, Me? He was interrupted from his silent denial by Rebecca's entrance.

"Hello Rebecca" He greeted.

"Wil, what are you doing in here? The fire's been lit, come outside with me." Rebecca said, gesturing outside.

"Uhhh" Wil paused for a moment trying to think of a credible reason to not go outside, but couldn't see any reason to spend more time in a dark smelly tent than next to a fire with Rebecca. "Yes of course…"

Outside Dart returned carrying a small sack, containing some salted meats, and a loaf of bread. He had already put some meat on a stick, when he realised that Rebecca wasn't there.

"Where's Rebecca?" Dart asked Geitz, who was rubbing his hands. Geitz gestured wordlessly to the tent and Dart turned around to see Rebecca and Wil emerge. He glared at Wil and drummed his fingers on the handle of his axe. Wil noticed Dart's glare and moved a metre or so away from Rebecca. Dart gave an almost unnoticeable nod at this and went back to putting up meat on a sticks to roast.

They sat down on the grass next to Geitz, but at a growl from Dart, Wil moved to the other side of Geitz.

-Near Santaruz-

Meanwhile, at Farina's camp, Farina and Karla were trying to make a fire themselves, but it was proving exceedingly difficult to find their flint in the dark.

"I could swear it's in this bag" Farina said angrily, as she dove once more into her bag.

"We could just wake up Leo and ask him to perform a fire spell…" Karla suggested.

"Yeah okay, now I'll just make the sticks into a pile, while you go and wake him up." Farina bargained.

"…" Karla didn't say anything.

"Okay we'll both wake him up." Farina agreed. "Where are you though, I can barely see a thing."

"I'm over here, follow my voice." Karla said calmly.

"Okay… Oof!" Farina gasped, as she walked straight into Karla. They walked in what they guessed was the direction of Leo's tent.

"Uhh Leo…" Farina started. "Could we ge-- oahh!" she exclaimed as the tripped over one of Leo's bags. She fell into Karla, who quickly caught her, but their combined momentum toppled Karla over as well. They both ended up falling into Leo's tent, thankfully avoiding being impaled upon on of the sticks.

"Is it dawn already?" A sleepy and somewhat muffled voice came from beneath Farina and Karla.

"Uhh no…" Karla said, as they got off the poor mage.

"Ok then… … …" Leo mumbled, drifting back into sleep despite the lack of a tent.

"Leo… Leo!" Farina shouted, prodding him.

"What.. What!" The mage growled as he awoke.

"Could you start a fire?" Karla asked.

"Alright, but next time could you just shake me or something?" Leo joked "Did any of you bring a lantern here?". Farina looked dismayed.

"I knew there was something I forgot…" She said.

"Okay, well then let's try and work our way back" Leo said unnecessarily. He promptly walked into a tree. "Ow!" He said rubbing his nose.

"Here it is!" Karla called out, ignoring Leo.

"Okay so can you cast fire?" Farina prompted.

"Sure… If I have my tome…" Leo said, jokingly, looking into his cloak. Farina visibly relaxed when the young mage pulled out a hard red book.

"Okay and… Fire." Leo said softly. A tiny flame blossomed in the centre of the woodpile before dissolving into thin air.

"Maybe you should try again." Karla suggested.

"Okay… Fire!" Leo shouted and the firewood burst into flame.

"Better." Karla said, impressed. They sat in front of the flames and rested for a few minutes.

"So… Let's see what we have to eat…" Farina said.

"I have enough travellers' rations for all of us… but it's not very appetising." Leo offered.

"Well actually I'm sure we have some salted meat" Farina answered. They quickly ate and headed off to their tents as soon as possible.

-Dart's camp-

At Dart's camp, Geitz had already fallen asleep, while Wil, Rebecca and Dart, who was choosing to ignore Wil, were talking next to the fire.

"You know I still wonder why those people ambushed us like that…" Rebecca pondered.

"They said something about the Black Fang." Wil said. Suddenly the fire didn't seem as warm.

"The Black Fang… I though' we…" Dart began, but paused to think of a way to end the sentence.

"We did. Maybe these people are impostors… or the remaining Black Fang troops?" Wil suggested.

"This is kinda worrying, maybe they're attacking the other members of our army, you know… revenge." Rebecca put in. Dart swallowed.

Whew… so ill….

To the Reviewers:

Lemurian-Girl: Thanks. yep Farina's slowly driving Dart off the edge. Slowly…

ManaMage: I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks, why yes… I am… uhh shhh…

Sam: Thanks. I understand your confusion, so I'll clarify it: Farina's plan isn't really to steal the map, but to get Dart to willingly give her a longer look at it. So she made the decision to… uhh seduce him, for want of a better word. It's better than just asking for it, because this way Dart wouldn't tell anyone else.

Nightmare3: I guess I did rush it a bit… Thanks. A perverted old man huh... that just about sums up most Nintendo artists. As for your nose, just try and crack it back into place…

Northernsword (Chapter 1): Uhh Thanks?...

Thank you all for reviewing! Now I was wondering if you help me a little more: Could you please tell me who your top 10 favourite characters are?. In case you're wondering, this has absolutely nothing to do with this fic, so you can give it in a review…

Please do so, because it will probably the basis for a new fic I'm writing… so if you want your favourite characters in another fic…

R&R!