Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem and whatever, I only own my characters.

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The Tacticians' Wish

Lyn's Chapter 2: Sword of Spirits

Our little band of warriors recently left Bulgar and headed for Castle Caelin to confront Lord Lundgren. Near the road, there lies an ancient temple, which is sacred to the people of Sacae. Sacaeans usually pray here for a blessing before beginning a long journey. Lyn asked the knights if they could stop here for some time so she and Hiro could pray, and because they are Sacaeans, they believe that this myth is true. So onwards towards the temple they headed.

"Shut up! I don't care about your religious customs and whatnot! Just give me the sword and we'll be done here!" shouted a rather angry mercenary at an old priest.

"Threaten me as you will, but I'll not give up the Mani Katti. The Mani Katti is a sacred blade, under divine protection. It cannot be removed from its place of rest!" the priest held his ground.

"Foolish senile old coot! What good is a sword if you can't use it?" the confused mercenary asked.

"Use it? In combat? Sacrilege!" exclaimed the old priest, now trembling in fear at the mercenary's rage.

"Sacrilege THIS!" the mercenary shoved the old man away.

"My brittle old man hip..." the priest complained.

"I AM GLASS! THE GODS FEAR MY NAME! My swordplay is peerless! And if I want this sword, then this sword I shall have!" He walked up to the altar and took the sword. He looked at it, awestruck at the greatness of its figure. 'This is it! It's more magnificent than I'd imagined! This sword was made for a swordsman of my skill. Eh? What's this? I can't... draw the sword... from it's scabbard?' "EERRGHHHH!" He tried his hardest to pull the sword out, but it never came out. He tried so hard he looked constipated and his face turned a dark purple color.

"The spirits of the blade have judged you. You have been found wanting. They have rejected you," said the old man. Glass was enraged at this comment and yelled at him.

"What? Listen, you senile old fool, if you value your own life, you'll get out of my sight! Curses! Miserable spirits! I care nothing for you! I'll tear this altar down stone by stone!"

The old man, having at least some common sense, left before Glass completely lost his cool.

On the path towards the temple, the group of warriors was halted by a young woman...who was running away from the temple. "I beg your pardon, milady. Are you headed east? To the altar?" asked the woman.

"Yes, in fact we are," replied Lyn.

"Then you must hurry and help the priest there. I saw a large band of ruffians head in there not long ago. They seemed intent on stealing the altar's sacred sword!" the woman said, looking very worried.

"The Mani Katti... They're going to steal it? I cannot allow this to happen!" Lyn was shocked. "Come on, everyone, we need to save it!"

Hiro stopped her. "Hold on. She said they were bandits. Our last encounter went well, but we suffered some heavy damaged." He gave Sain a cold look. "And we're almost out of vulneraries, because we didn't have any money to buy some back at Bulgar. We need to prepare for this. Bandits are usually brigands, meaning they'll mostly use axes. We would do well to have some ranged units, but since I've lost my magic tome, we lost that advantage. So we'll have to use other methods to take them down. Is there any place where we can prepare?"

Lyn nodded, "You're right. There are some homes to the south of us. Let's ask them for some information and their aid."

Lyn headed towards a nearby house. "Hello? Is anyone inside? We want to help the priest of the altar get rid of some ruffians!"

A woman opened the door. "Say, aren't you the... Oh! You're going to help the priest! Well, perhaps you could benefit from something I saw earlier... The bandits may have the main entrance guarded. However, one of the altar's walls is cracked and in dire need of repair. You might be able to create another entrance by breaking that section with your weapons. We're all counting on you!"

Lyn thanked the woman for her advice.

Sain then headed for the next closest house. "Hello? We're a band of warriors that are going to take down the ruffians at the altar. Can you give us any tips?"

An old man opened the door. "There are more bandits coming down from the mountain area. You would do well to avoid fighting there, as it's hard to get a good stance with the footing there. Oh? You're on horseback. I suggest that you completely forget the idea of even going there as it's impossible for a horse to go up the steep hill." Sain thanked him for the advice and told Hiro.

Kent went to another nearby house and asked the woman who was fearfully looking out the window. "Do you know much about the sword held at the altar? It's called the Mani Katti, blessed by the spirits. According to the priest,the Mani Katti is waiting for its rightful owner to appear. It's so odd, don't you think? The idea that a sword can choose who will wield it?" Kent agreed, and walked back towards the group.

Then suddenly, a few bandits came out of the nearby forest area and attacked. The group, not expecting this assault, took heavy damage from a few axe attacks and retreated. "Let's go to that nearby abandoned fortress! We'll stock up on some supplies and recover!" Then they closed the fortress gates. The bandits were trying to thump them out of it. The group finished their vulneraries, then waited.

When the bandits finally broke through, "CHARGE!" yelled the cavaliers, who sliced off their chasers' heads with a few well placed strikes. In a short time, the ambushers were wiped out.

"Wow, Sain, you're actually competent," Hiro remarked.

They finally reached the wall the peasant told them they could break. Kent examined it. "Hmm... this wall IS in poor shape, but it's still too strong. We cavaliers are strong enough, but the iron weapons we have are too weak for this, and you myrmidons aren't strong enough to break it. Odin, this is your job."

Odin then rode up to the wall, and unsheathed his black sword, which shone brightly. He then chanted a spell, and while he did that, Hiro looked amazed that it was gathering what looked like spirits into the blade. He also noticed that no one else could see that, as they didn't look as amazed. They must have only seen the purple energy gathering around the blade. Odin whispered, 'Spirit Break.' Then he swung his sword towards the wall, releasing the purple energy in a giant ball of electricity, which exploded on contact with the wall, and broke it down.

"...wow."

Glass heard the giant explosion, and told his men to check up on it. To his surprise, he heard screams that sounded like they came from his men. Worried, he told the rest of his men to stay there with him and wait for the intruders to come.

The group finally arrived at the altar. Glass spotted them and noticed that they were small in number. "They're only 5 people! GO GET THEM!" With that his bandits charged at the group.

"They're coming! All right, Lyn and I will head for the leader, who obviously is the mercenary. You cavaliers hold off the bandits, but try not to get overwhelmed. Take 2 each, keep them separated, and we'll take care of the rest on our way," explained Hiro.

Then he and Lyn bolted through. The cavaliers herded off the bandits to the side. Sain stabbed through one bandit with his iron lance, and then proceeded to kill the next one. Kent sliced off another bandit's head, and Odin impaled his sword on another bandit. In an amazing feat of strength, he swung his sword so that the bandit on his sword flew off into another bandit, who in turn was hit with the corpse, and landed on Sain's lance. But the bandits soon got smarter and somehow managed to corner the knights in a small group. "Damn it! I hope Hiro and Lyn are doing better than we are!" said Odin as he was hit hard by a flying Hand Axe, and was slammed off his horse and into a nearby wall.

The lord and myrmidon finally reached the big boss. Glass laughed at them and said, "Who do you think you are? What chance do you think you have against me?" Glass lunged at the two. They easily dodged his vertical strike, and both immediately went into a Sacaean swordsman style offensive stance.

Glass swung his sword at Hiro, who tried to parry it. However, Hiro miscalculated the mercenary's strength, and went flying 2 feet, but soon recovered. 'He's strong,' Hiro thought. Glass then lunged at Lyn while Hiro was recovering. Lyn rolled to the side, and then stood up. Glass then tried to strike her hard again, but Lyn cart wheeled to his right side. Behind her was Hiro, who swung his sword down on Glass's horizontal swing. (Note: Think Soul Calibur, vertical strikes beat horizontal) Glass was surprised by their teamwork, as his sword is now in a bad position.

Hiro then body checked him and sent Glass fumbling backwards, and then he returned to his stance. Glass recovered, and took the offensive again. The Sacaeans rolled backwards and swung low. Glass jumped to avoid the strike. He then kicked at Lyn. Lyn wasn't expecting it, so she put up her sword to block it, and was sent flying backwards a few feet, stunned for a moment.

"Lyn!" Hiro called to her. Glass then kicked him too, but he stood his ground, but during the time it took him to recover, Glass went towards Lyn, and tried a strong strike. Lyn barely avoided it, but rolled into one of Glass's kicks. When she got up, hurt, Hiro finally was able to reach the two. However, Glass punched Lyn in the gut, and she choked out blood, and fell. He was about to finish her off when Hiro chopped his left arm off.

"GAH!" Glass screamed, and swung at Lyn with full force with his other arm.

"LYN!" Knowing that he couldn't get her out of there in time, Hiro jumped in front of the blade with his Muramasa out in front of him to take the force of the blow for Lyn. He was sent flying towards a nearby wall. The back of his head hit the wall, and he was out cold.

"...Hiro?" Lyn finally awoke. He saw Glass panting, and readied his sword to impale Hiro's head. Lyn got up. 'I can't let the bandit kill him!' Lyn focused her mind. She focused on her sword training, and as she did, a wind grew around her, and it grew fierce. Glass noticed it. "Wha...?" he said as he turned around towards the source of the wind. He saw Lyn, with wind energy gathered up around her. Then Lyn went into an attacking stance, but did not attack right away. Instead, she made 2 copies of herself, then she and the 2 copies dashed at Glass, and then disappeared. Glass took out his sword in front of him, fearing for what might come next. "DELTA EAGLE!" Lyn and her silhouettes struck glass hard in the front and in the sides.

Glass flew backwards towards the wall, but after bouncing off of the wall, he recovered and rolled towards Lyn. What Glass didn't notice, however, was that a few pieces of wall that fell down from his crash awakened Hiro, who was right under him when he crashed. Glass then ran towards Lyn. Lyn ran towards him as well, but what she did next he didn't expect. She jumped and did dropkick towards his chest, which sent him flying...into a Muramasa; he was impaled in the gut from behind. Hero then twisted his sword, and swung it upwards to get Glass off the blade, and cutting the top half of Glass's body in half. Then he brushed his thumb against his nose. "Good work, Lyn. Let's go help the cavaliers." Lyn looked at him in awe and a slightly dreamy look.

'He jumped in front of the bandit to protect me,' she thought. 'How sweet.'

It turned out that the cavaliers managed to get out of the corner and were able to kill the rest of the bandits. "Good job guys. Oh look. It seems that the priest finally returned from his hiding spot," said Hiro as he congratulated the cavaliers.

"Your clothes...sir, you are from the fallen Sargus tribe, and you, milady, are from the Lorca tribe, am I correct?" the priest asked them. Both nodded, and Lyn asked him to know if he was okay. "Thank you, I am unscathed. I must thank you deeply for your aid. As you can see, the Mani Katti is now safe."

Both warriors let out a sigh of relief. And Kent said, "thank Elimine."

"I have sealed the sword safely away. Until I remove my spell, the sword cannot be drawn. Now, as a token of my gratitude, I shall allow you to lay hands upon the Mani Katti. Touch the blade's pattern, and pray for a safe journey," said the priest.

"Thank you so much!" said Lyn. However, as she touched the sword, it started glowing. "Hey! Wh...What's going on?" Lyn looked worried.

"Ah. Hm... It's the power of the spirits. Lyn, they have looked into your soul, and they call out to you," said the priest.

"Say what?" Hiro was confused at his statement.

"You, dear lady, are its rightful owner. You are to wield the Mani Katti."

Lyn's mouth was agape. "I...I couldn't..."she stammered.

"It is the sword's wish. If you require proof, draw it from its sheath," said the priest to encourage her to take it. Lyn then drew the sword effortlessly.

"Um...It came out easily..."

"I never dared to hope that I might meet the wielder of the Mani Katti in my life. I am indeed fortunate to see your sword reach your hands," said the priest.

"My sword?" asked Lyn.

"It is time for you to go, Lyn. You face a great many ordeals. Grip this sword, and meet your destiny head-on," said the priest, as he walked away, leaving Lyn to stand in wonder at her new weapon.

"Amazing!" exclaimed Sain as Lyn showed the sword to everyone.

"This is all so unbelievable. Perhaps the most famous sword in all of Sacae... in my hand," said Lyn, still surprised that the sword chose her to be its owner.

"It's not so strange. In fact, many legends tell similar tales... Special blades all over the land call out to their proper owners. And yet, when I saw you draw that blade, Lyndis... I felt something extraordinary. That sword was waiting for you. You were meant to draw it," said Kent. Hiro and Odin looked at their swords.

'Mitsuna...'Hiro thought.

'Anna...' Odin thought. Lyn blushed at Kent's comment.

"Oh, stop it, it's nothing special."

'Yeah, nothing special about it...'thought Hiro.

"Think of it this way: Some weapons feel more comfortable in your hand, right? Well, the Mani Katti itself feels very comfortable with you. Does this make it any easier for you to accept? It doesn't appear that either of us can use it." Sain said to calm her down.

"That's right," said Odin. "Apparently, in the case of my sword, it feels light as a feather in my hands, but to the strongest man in the Castle this weighs about twice as much as a horse!"

Hiro nodded in agreement, and said, "It's the same case with my sword."

Lyn was finally happy to hear that her friends supported her. "It... does feel right in my hand. A blade that only I can wield. That seems reasonable enough. I can understand that. Look at it, Hiro. This is the Mani Katti. This is... my sword. I must care for it well."

"It looks...so innocent and tranquil," Hiro said. "Must be the years without any use."

Meanwhile, at Castle Caelin:

"What? Madelyn's daughter is still alive?" exclaimed a purple armored general.

A soldier replied, "Yes, Lord Lundgren. She's currently traveling with Kent, Sain, and Odin, as well as another Sacaean. What are your orders, sir? If we let them be..."

Lundgren scoffed at the soldier's statement. "Bah! I've heard that northern Bern is full of bandits. She's just a girl. She'll not survive her journey here. I'm more concerned with my older brother. His life must be ended quickly. The poison... There must be no blunders."

The soldier replied, "Yes, milord. The marquess suspects nothing and continues to drink it. His death due to 'sudden illness,' is not too far off." He then left the room.

Lundgren cackled like a witch on crack, "Heh heh heh. Soon, soon Caelin will be MINE!" He said as he cackled maniacally. Cue in evil laughter right after that.

At camp later that night:

Odin walked away from the group to a tree to think about his past. He sat near a majestic tree. He then pulled out his necklace, with the obsidian in the middle, and fiddled it around his fingers. He thought back to the time way back then when he was not Odin, the mighty warrior from Caelin, but merely Lazarus the stable hand...

It was 5 years ago. He was only 15. He was an assistant stable hand in the continent of Beltharus. He worked for his father, a famous knight of the House of John. Life was perfect, and it was even better when he met Anna, the daughter of the lord of the castle.

'Anna...'he thought. Now, the Continent of Beltharus was full of forests and cliffs. There were a lot of savage beasts outside. Lazarus and Anna, the best of friends, or maybe something more, walked to their favorite cliff to talk, as they have been doing for the last 2 years. Lazarus was very happy as it was his birthday that day. He just received a birthday present from his father. It was a golden necklace with obsidian placed right in the middle. He wanted to show it to Anna to impress her. Indeed she was. They were having a little romantic moment, and were about to have their first kiss.

However, something went wrong that moment. As their lips almost met, they heard a loud growling. They turned around to see a hungry wolf. Both children were scared; they backed off towards the edge of the cliff. Then it lunged at the two. Anna rolled to one side and Lazarus to another. They knew they were only delaying the inevitable; they were defenseless and without weapons right now. The wolf attacked Anna. She avoided the lunge, but the wolf's fangs sliced some skin off of her arm. She cried out in pain. It got ready for another lunge. Lazarus couldn't look.

Then time stopped, and a voice boomed out to him, "COWARD! What do you expect to accomplish with this attitude! It is clear in your mind that you love her and want to protect her, but too much self doubt has clouded your judgment! You must fight back! Do what you can although the odds are against you!" Then time returned. And somehow, in his right hand, a black bladed sword with a golden hilt appeared. A voice rang through his head, "Do what you can although the odds are against you! You must use the Zantetsuken to be able to succeed in the most impossible situations!"

'Zantetsuken,' he thought. Then his blade cackled with electricity. He couldn't control what he did next. Anna dodged the wolf's lunge, but she moved towards the edge of the cliff. The wolf chased her down there. Then not on purpose, Lazarus swung his sword towards the ground. It released a purple beam of electricity on the ground towards the wolf, and it exploded on contact. Unfortunately for Anna, the explosion blew off the edge of the cliff. Anna fell into the river below. Lazarus looked over the new edge of the cliff and cried.

"ANNAAA!" He yelled. "No..."

A few days later, the people of the House of John found her body at the edge of a nearby river. Lazarus was relieved. "Anna," he said to her, "I'm glad you're all right...It's all my fault..." Anna looked incredibly puzzled.

"Who are you?" she asked him.

"This isn't funny Anna," said Lazarus, awestruck that she couldn't remember him. He then elaborated the events of the day the wolf attacked. Anna couldn't remember anything except her own name.

The lord of the castle was angry at Lazarus, because it was his attack that made her fall off the cliff. His father disowned him. All his friends left him, and Anna said this to him... "Look, I don't know who you are. But I think you are giving my parents grief over my...amnesia. I'm sorry...but could you please leave?"

Those words struck him deeply, like a rapier through the heart. 'Anna...' A few days later, Lazarus left towards the continent of Elibe. There he trained as a knight at the house of Caelin. He discarded his old name and went with a new alias: Odin; to forget any connections he had to his old home, as all he had were painful memories from that place. He easily became friends with Sain and Kent there, and the rest of the story is history. As he finished his recollection, a tear slid down his face.

Back at camp:

"Hiro, can I talk to you for a second?" Lyn asked the myrmidon, who was sitting on a log by the fire, thinking about something. Kent and Sain were already asleep. "...Oh? Uh...sure...sorry, just had something on my mind..."mumbled Hiro.

They walked and sat down on the ground, resting their backs on a tree. "...Hiro?" Lyn asked.

"Yeah?"

"Um...I want to thank you for saving me today. I would have died back there if not for you."

"No problem," said the myrmidon lazily. Lyn moved closer and sat right beside him. Hiro, however, was too tired and sleepy to notice. They didn't talk for a while. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" asked Hiro, suddenly breaking the silence, which made Lyn jump.

"I...want to know your story..."she answered, but sounded a little unsure if she should have said it or not.

"Hmm." Hiro then told her everything from the beginning. As Hiro continued, Lyn felt a pang in her heart; she doesn't know what it was, but she felt it whenever Hiro mentioned Mitsuna. She had tears sliding down her face, but she didn't notice it. As Hiro finished, he sighed, and looked at Lyn. "Are you okay? You're crying," he asked Lyn with a worried look on his face. "It's a sad story I know, but your reaction to it is really bad...something else must be on your mind for my story to have such an effect."

Lyn coughed and hiccupped, while trying to hold back the rest of her tears.

"Let it go Lyn. Let it all flow out. I don't know what's bothering you, but I hope the issue resolves itself soon," said Hiro as he tried to comfort her. He took out a piece of cloth from his right pocket. "Use this to wipe your tears off. You can give it to me in the morning. I'm going to go to sleep now." Lyn thanked him, and Hiro walked back to camp to sleep.

'What is this that I'm feeling,' the girl thought. 'Why does it hurt to know that he already has a lover? No. I'm crying because his story is sad. That's it...I hope.'

Odin finally returned to camp. He saw that Lyn was asleep under the tree. He also saw the mark of tears on her face. He pitied her, but was mesmerized at her form at the same time. She looked beautiful asleep; a face so innocent, her position so elegant, her body so... 'No,' he thought, as he got a nosebleed. 'I'm a knight of Caelin. I will soon be under her service, I cannot think of such thoughts.' Then he looked at her again. Then someone tapped his shoulder.

"About time you returned to camp," the tactician said to him.

"Yeah...just a little recollection about the past."

"You have a tragic method to your madness as well?"

"Yeah...What's your story?" The two sacred sword wielders then told each other their stories.

Odin looked at Hiro with a shocked expression on his face. "You told her THAT?" Hiro was astonished at that question. "Man, you are dense!" Odin said. "Haven't you seen the way she looks at you? Her eyes were dreamy! She totally wants to come on to you, my friend, but you told her THAT!"

"I've inherited Sacaean values; I can't lie," replied Hiro to his friend's outburst. "Anyways, don't you have that same look when you look at Lyndis? Don't think I haven't noticed it." It was Odin's turn to be shocked. He looked at Hiro.

"No wonder you're a tactician. You've got a good eye for detail."

"Thank you...(few seconds of silence)...So when will you ask her out?" asked Hiro.

"Huh? Impossible! I'm soon to be one of the knights under her service, and I shouldn't even think of this outcome!" said Odin, shocked that Hiro would ask that question, although he knew it was going to come someday, just not from Hiro. "Besides, she likes you doesn't she?"

"True," Hiro replied. "But as you know, I'm already taken. You have a chance, my friend, and I suggest that you take it." With that he slept by the campfire.

'I guess so...' thought Odin. He looked at Lyn one last time. 'Good night, Lyndis.'

End Lyn's tale chapter 2

R&R ppl!