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THE TACTICIANS' WISH

Eliwood's and Hector's Tale Chapter 7 Gaiden: The Port of Badon

Dread Isle:

"huff...pant..." Ninian and Serene were being bogged down with fatigue. They couldn't swim for much longer. Serene wouldn't fly and leave her friend behind, but she couldn't carry Ninian all the way back to Caelin, or wherever it's safe. Kuro escaped shortly before them, and had left to Caelin to get Lyn's help. They escaped while the assassins were busy with Kuro, but had come to realize that they're not strong enough to make it onto land. Luckily, they found a plank from a sunken boat, so they got on it, and rested there.

Port of Badon:

"Phew...need...rest..." Kuro said to himself, landing in a forest nearby. He had arrived at a port city; that much is obvious, but it didn't matter where he was as long as he could get some rest. He went to the inn, and got himself a room for the night. 'Ninian...Serene...please be safe...'

Next day, a few hours before noon, our crew of heroes arrived at the Port of Badon. Eliwood, Lyn, and Hector walked towards the docks to hire a sailor that would take them to Valor.

"Listen! We need a boat to Valor!" Hector told a sailor.

"You want a boat to the Dread Isle? You're mad! No way! Never! There's no one in this village who'll sail there!" the sailor replied, his eyes filled with terror at the mention of the name.

"Please, we're in a hurry. Can you give us passage?" Lyn pleaded, but the sailor still shook his head.

"If you won't help us, can you take us to someone who will? Please," Eliwood pleaded.

"You must be on urgent business, that's certain...There may be one way..." the sailor hesitated. He's obviously talking to nobles, and he was afraid of what they might do to him if he told them this.

"What is it? Tell us, please!"

"...Pirates..." the sailor slowly said.

"Pirates?"

"Uh-huh. The're fearless, or as close as makes no difference. And they'll go anywere for a fee. Who knows? They might decide to accept your mad offer."

"Pirates... Looks like we've no choice..." Hector sighed.

"Are you serious, Hector? Working with pirates? That's unbelievable!" Lyn said, and looked at Hector in disbelief.

"You're considering it, aren't you, Eliwood?" Hector asked his friend.

"If there's no other way, what else can we do?" Eliwood also sighed.

"You, too, Eliwood? I've misjudged you... It's foolishness to trust the goodwill of pirates! I'm finding another way!" Lyn said angrily, and stormed off.

"Why is she so angry?" Hector asked Eliwood.

"I heard that Lyndis's parents were slain by bandits. Bandits at land, pirates at sea... They're all the same to Lyndis. Lawbreakers and murderers..." Eliwood explained.

"I see... My parents died of illness... But I can appreciate her feelings. Shall we abandon the pirate plan?"

"But..."

"Too bad about the girl, but there's no other way," the sailor said sadly.

"Let's meet the pirates. We can't decide until then," Eliwood suggested.

"That's true..."Hector remarked.

"That inn over there is a known favorite of the local freebooters. They're reckless and unpredictable. Best be prepared..." the sailor warned the lords, and walked off. "Kids these days..." he muttered, shaking his head.

Wil was stringing his bow, and refilling his quiver with new arrows. Then Rebecca walked up to him. "...Wil? Is that really you?" she asked the other archer.

"Huh? Who are you?" Wil looked at her. "Do I know you?"

"Wil! It's me, Rebecca! Dan's sister!" Rebecca told him loudly, hopeful that he'll remember after.

"Oh...yeah..." Wil looked at her. "What is it?"

"Where were you all these years?"

"You know the story...Dan and I left to search for the treasure of Han Gak...we never found it, so we gave up. Dan returned home, but I stayed outside because I needed money; I'm not sure I'll be accepted back home..." Wil sighed.

"Wait, where did you say Dan went?"

"Dan? He went home...he did, right?"

"Dan...never came back either...Wil..." Rebecca started crying. "Do you think...he's...he's..."

"What? No! He's...he's tougher than that...we'll...we'll see him again..." Wil tried to comfort her. "I'm sure of it."

Meanwhile at the bar, a young pirate, with a light blue and white striped shirt and a white bandana choked on his beer. "Arr...someone be talking about me just now...I can feel it..."

A large bearded man was drinking beer in the pub part of the inn; obviously the captain of a band of pirates. He noticed 3 young nobles walking up to him. He turned around to face them, and said, "What do you want, whelps? You're here to see me, aren't you?"

"You're commander of the pirate armada, aren't you?" Eliwood asked him.

"Gwah hah hah! "Commander of the pirate armada!" I like the sound of that! Are you lads that naive? Or are you just dumb? Which is it?" the man laughed.

"You insolent..." Hector raised his fist to punch the pirate.

"Peace, Hector! If I've insulted you, I apologize. How should I address you?" Eliwood asked the big man.

"Hmph... You don't frighten easily, do you? Well, at least it seems you're not stupid. 'Captain' will do, whelp. I'm Fargus, captain of the Davros," the big man told Eliwood.

"Fargus... Master Fargus? Or should i call you Captain?"

"You're not one of my mates. Call me Fargus. Now, what do you want?"

"We want to book passage to Valor."

"How much will you pay?"

"We don't know the current rates. Tell us how much you want."

"100,000 gold."

"Wait, 100,000 gold?"

"Well? Will you pay?"

"We've no choice, but we need a little time. We'll get the gold and return as quickly as possible. Come, Hector," Eliwood called for his friend as he left the inn.

"Wa-Wait a moment! Eliwood!" Hector ran up to the other lord to catch up to him. "Eliwood! Hold on! Where do you think you're going to get 100,000 gold?"

"I'm sure there's an arena here. We can raise gold somehow..."

"What? You're not serious?"

"We've no other way, do we?"

"Well, no. Sometimes you surprise me, Eliwood."

"Did you say something, Hector?"

"No, nothing. Let's go earn some gold!" Hector replied, as they walked back to tell the others.

"The arena, huh? Well, we could use some experience...and extra gold won could also be useful. We only have to win about 100 matches..." Mark commented.

"You make it sound like it's nothing..." Hector said.

"Hmm...Guy, Rebecca, Erk, Raven, Wil, and Florina, you 4 go to the arena with Priscilla, Serra, and Hilda. They'll be there to heal you after you get out," Hiro instructed. "When you're tired, come back here and switch with other people. This way we can do this in about...2 days tops." The aforementioned people left towards the arena.

Just then, a young pirate ran up to the main group, past the arena group, but not before making eye contact with Wil and Rebecca.

"...Was that...brother?" Rebecca turned around to see the pirate's face again.

"...Dan?" Wil turned around to do the same thing.

"Ahoy!" the young pirate called towards the group.

"What now? We don't have the money yet," Hector told him.

"Fool! Of course you don't! I know that. The captain's got a message for you," the young pirate replied.

"A message?"

"All of my mates in this village are going to attack you. If you can beat us all and get to the ship unharmed, he'll give you passage."

"For free? No gold?" Eliwood looked at him wide-eyed.

"The captain's a tad off-kilter. He'd rather have a bit o' fun with you than take your gold. Smooth sailing to you," the pirate said, before walking off.

"Oh, for... This is a joke, isn't it?" Hector asked Eliwood.

"Looks serious enough. Here we go!" Eliwood readied his sword.

"Listen! The captain's waiting at the docks. Talk to him, and you're the winner! Trust me, though... Don't make the mistake of attacking him! You anger the captain, and there's no turning back! Don't forget!" the pirate warned them.

"Maybe we should tell the arena group to go back..." Hiro suggested.

"And ruin their fun? Nah...and we could get extra money from this, you know..." Lucifer commented.

"I couldn't find a ship after all. But we have to get to that island...Looks like I'll have to endure pirates..." Lyn sighed, looking defeated, but then noticed noise in the distance. "Hm? What was that? Commotion in the village?"

"Oh! Lyn! Nice timing. We need your help!" Hector greeted her.

"You're battling the pirates?"

"Fighting and... Look, we have to reach the docks and speak to the captain! This is a test to see whether or not he'll give us passage."

"I don't understand, but... I'm here, so let me help!" Lyn unsheathed her sword.

"Remember, we're not going to kill them. Just knock them out when we come across them," Eliwood reminded Hector.

"I know, I know...sheesh."

"Hannah, time for the augury..." Hiro gave the fortune teller some gold.

"Oh... Oh, my... Things have gotten out of hand, haven't they? Concentrate...Go around... Around is best. You should speak with the locals. You might even meet someone. Don't waste your time with every single house though..." she then snapped out of her trance.

"Around...around what?" Mark commented.

"I think she meant the center. But there are two ways...well, it seems that to our left, the pirates are more abundant. We'll have to split up, though, the other way might have some waiting to ambush us. So, the group that goes left will then go to the other side after clearing their own path, to put the ambushing pirates in a pincer attack," Hiro instructed.

"Good plan. Hiro, Eiji, Fiaa, Lucifer, and I will take the left. Dorcas, Bartre, Kain, Lord Eliwood, Lord Hector, Lady Lyndis, Lucius, and Matt, go to the right," Mark instructed. "Marcus, guard Merlinus, as usual. LET'S GO!"

"Hey, there's a special battle today at the arena. A group of 9 people will go against another group of 9 people. There will be a quarter finals, semi finals, and final round. The quarter finals will begin at noon...That's 15 more minutes! And the prizes: 3rd place: 30000 G, 2nd place: 80000 G, and 1st place: 13000 G! We should do this!" Guy suggested. "We have 6 people able to fight, and 3 healers; enough to keep everyone alive for all 3 rounds. What about it, guys?"

"It's a good idea. Let's sign up," Hilda agreed.

Quarter finals 1: Raven's Group vs. K's group:

"...They're all mages..." Erk commented.

"Erk, I think you can take them. You'll be our magical wall. Florina, you and Wil fly and snipe them from the air; Rebecca, snipe from the ground; Guy and Raven, get as close as possible to them, strike, and retreat; you don't want to be burnt. Priscilla I want you to back Erk, Raven, and Guy up, since they'll be in the frontlines, and we'll need someone that can get in and out of range quickly," Hilda instructed. "And that's our plan. Let's go."

"AND THEY'RE OFF!" The announcer yelled.

Erk, Raven, and Guy started dashing towards the enemy mages. The mages all laughed, and started to fire a barrage of fire spells. Raven and Guy jumped to the side to avoid them, and Erk chanted his lightning spell to overdrive to summon a lightning barrage, destroying the fireballs, and striking 3 mages that are in his opponent's team's front lines. "Wil! Florina! Do it!" Erk called to them.

Wil and Florina rose up high, and Florina started to dive towards an enemy mage. The mage attempted to disarm Florina by casting fire at her lance, but she was already going down too fast, and the fire was instead absorbed by the lance, making it burn. Florina threw the burnt lance at the mage, impaling him. As they ascended again, Wil shot 2 mages in the head. Rebecca shot down another 2 more. "One to go," she smirked.

The other mage looked around, sweatdropping. 'Well, if you wanna do it right, you gotta do it yourself...' he sighed, seeing that his companions were all dead. 'Stupid useless mercenaries.' "Oh well...looks like it's time for... GUILDING RING!" he put on a Guilding Ring on his left ring finger, and held his hand up high in a fist. Raven and Guy were already jumping at him, but were blasted back by the lightning that hits a person when he/she promotes classes.

"...Crap..." Guy cursed. After the transformation was done, K was now a sage.

"SCORCHING HELL!" the sage yelled, launching a wave of fire towards Guy and Raven, the closest two of his opponents nearby.

"Yeouch!" Raven managed to dodge most of the wave in time, but some of it caught him on his butt. "IT BURNS! BLOW IT OUT! BLOW IT OUT! ANYONE GOT WATER!"

"It's okay, Raven, it's okay! STOP, DROP, AND ROLL!" Hilda pushed Raven down onto the ground, and rolled him like a human sushi, and covering him in dirt.

"MY PANTS!" he looked around to see that his butt was showing. "Crap."

"Looks like you'll have to sit this one out," Hilda said. Serra laughed at the poor mercenary.

"DIE!" Erk charged up his fire tome, and so did K. They both released scorching hells at once, and the forces collided, making a giant mountain of fire in the middle of the arena. Rebecca took this time to aim carefully, and fired at the sage. The sage, however, saw it, and created a fire wall to block the arrow, and launched a fire spell at Rebecca. Rebecca was sent flying backwards at the impact. K readied another charged fire spell, and launched a gigantic fireball at Rebecca. Rebecca was too stunned to dodge it from the first fireball. Guy got in front of it, and put his sword out to slice the fireball in two.

"Sword of Gale!" Guy yelled, and disappeared into thin air. Slicing sounds can be heard as his Killing Edge cut through K's skin, and wounds started showing up on the sage. Soon, the sage fell down, dead. "Phew..."

"...Thanks Guy, you saved me...again," Rebecca hugged him.

"Um...er...um...just doing my job..." Guy stuttered.

Back outside, a shaman with black and blue robes walked out of his house and walked towards Hiro. "Pardon me! I was speaking with an old sailor a few moments ago. He told me that you're planning to travel to Valor."

"That's right; what do you want?" Hiro asked the shaman.

"In that case, would you mind if I joined you? My name is Canas. I'm a scholar of sorts... I've been seeking passage to Valor, but none will take me. My proposal probably sounds somewhat selfish, no?" the shaman asked Hiro

"...not at all. Welcome aboard. However, did the old sailor tell you that we're in a contest with these pirates? They're giving us quite the workout..." Hiro complained.

"I can help in combat. I've some skill with a form of elder magic... Some call it dark magic, a rather biased term, if I must be blunt. But at the very least, I can take care of myself, and perhaps others," Canas told Hiro.

"All right then. Welcome to Eliwood's Elite, Canas," Hiro said, shaking the shaman's hand. "I'm Hiro, one of this group's tacticians. I'll introduce you to the others later. For now, just follow me."

About 2 hours later: Finals: Raven's group versus Josh's group:

"There's a more balanced team. An archer, 2 fighters, 3 cavaliers, 2 mercenaries, and a knight..." Raven commented. He had had the healers and Rebecca buy him a new pair of pants; a pair of black pants replaced his old blue ones. Serra's decision, of course. They had to drag her out of the store before she'd spend all their gold on clothes.

"This looks easy enough; there are 3 healers in their team!" the knight, Josh, said to his team. "Chris, go kill them first," he ordered the archer.

"...I don't think that's wise. The mage is obviously much more of a threat. None of us can use magic, and we'll be dead after the casting of one spell," Chris replied.

"Whatever. Do as I say, because I paid you to do it."

"Then you don't have to pay me. I'm just concerned about our safety here."

"Little son of a..."

"BEGIN!" the announcer yelled.

"Saved by the bell...but don't think that this is over..." Josh growled at Chris.

"...Of course not," the archer replied.

The archer started to load her Long Bow, and aimed at Erk.

"ERK!" Florina warned the mage in time, and Erk was able to duck the incoming projectile. "Let's go, Wil!" Wil and Florina took off into the air, and Wil started to shoot at the fighters, and Florina flew around dodging hand axes and javelins thrown at them. This group was much better than the last; they were better coordinated, and they had better reaction time. It was a lot harder hitting them.

"Arrow Shower!" Wil and Rebecca yelled, sending down a hailstorm of arrows down on them. The fighters got their heads nailed, while the mercenaries put their swords over their heads to block the arrows. The cavaliers rode out of the range of the attack. The archer rode on one of the cavaliers, and escaped as well. The knight twirled his steel lance above his head and spun it around to repel the falling arrows. "Damn!" Wil cursed; the effect was far less than what he expected.

"THUNDERSTORM!" Erk finished charging up his thunder tome to overdrive, and launched his spell towards the enemy. The cavaliers and the archer did the same thing they did last time. However, the mercenaries weren't so lucky, and were electrocuted by the attack. The knight stuck his lance into the ground, and left it so that it would act as a lightning rod.

"We're losing men fast!" one of the cavaliers said. Raven and Guy got him in a pincer attack, and sliced him down to pieces.

"I know! Grr...take this!" Chris yelled. "RAPID FIRE!" Chris just fired blindly into the enemy crowd. Raven and Guy twirled their swords around in front of them to repel the arrows, but Raven got nicked by a few on his side. The others took cover behind the swordsmen. Erk got scraped by a few on his sides before he managed to set up a wall of fire to incinerate the arrows coming his way. Everyone was pretty much safe, except for Priscilla, who was high up on a horse. "AND THIS! SPLITING ARROW!" Chris put a different kind of arrow onto the bow, and fired. As soon as the arrow was released, it split into two; one went towards Priscilla, and another towards Serra, who was healing Raven; as the mercenary was wounded by arrows from the archer's rapid fire earlier.

Erk was right in the middle. He could jump towards one of them, and save them, but the other will die. 'GAH! I CAN'T DECIDE!...but it's my job to protect Priscilla, so I can't let her down,' he thought. Priscilla put up her staff instinctively to protect herself, but it was in a position far from the target of the arrow; her heart. Erk instinctively jumped up to take the blow. The arrow pierced through his left gut, and he fell.

Serra, however, was saved from the arrow by Raven, who shook her off of him, and blocked the arrow with his sword. He then noticed that Erk was down. "ERK! HOLY SH1T!" He saw Priscilla crouch down and try to wake him up. She waved her heal staff over him madly, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

"DAMN!" Guy sliced down another cavalier. Florina impaled the cavalier Chris was hitching a ride on, and Chris jumped off the horse to join the knight.

"...Quite the drama queens and kings, aren't they?" the knight asked the archer. "They lose only one man; everyone there cries."

"They're only kids, after all," Chris replied. "Let's finish them off now, while they're weak. ORION'S BOLT!"

"KNIGHT CREST!"

Raven and his group turned around to see a sniper and a general standing before them. "Oh...fuck," he cursed. "Damn it! The only chance we had in beating the knight was Erk's fire magic! Now that armor's harder to take down! And the archer's now stronger! Damn it! Ladies, how's the healing going?"

"Not good, I'm afraid," Hilda shook her head, while still applying healing magic over Erk. "He's losing too much blood. We're losing him!"

"ERK! NO!...This is my fault...if...if I hadn't been so careless..." Priscilla started crying.

"Maintain your focus, girl!" Hilda scolded the troubadour. "We need to focus if we're going to save Erk!"

"ERGH!" Guy grunted; Chris hit his leg with an arrow, and Guy can't move. "...Damn it..."

"Say goodbye, pest," Chris said, smirking, and aimed at Guy.

"I guess it's time to use them," Wil said, taking an Orion's Bolt and Elysian Whip out of his shirt. "Let's do it!" He handed the whip to Florina. "ORION'S BOLT!"

"ELYSIAN WHIP!"

Wil's small bow had increased in size to a much bigger and more intimidating weapon; he had a larger quiver on him, and his teal shirt is now a jacket. Florina had intricate patterns on her armor now, and the armor itself is now slightly harder and heavier. Huey also received blue armor. "Huey! Save Guy!" Florina commanded. Huey dived down and Wil held out his hand to grab Guy by his braid. As Chris shot his arrow, Wil grabbed Guy's hair and pulled the myrmidon out of the range of the shot and Chris.

"MY HAIR!" Guy yelled in pain. "IT HURTS MY HEAD!"

"Oh, hush, we just saved your life," Wil smiled, and offered his hand.

"Thank you," Guy said, accepting it.

"ERK!" Priscilla started crying. Serra did too.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Serra pointed at Priscilla. "If...if you...if you never existed...ERKY WOULDN'T HAVE TO DIE!"

"ENOUGH!" Hilda yelled. "You two have been like this for almost 10 minutes! We need to focus!"

"He's losing too much blood!" Priscilla could feel some of his blood seeping onto her robes, as she was on his left side.

Raven was having a tough time blocking the arrows and Javelins thrown at the group. He was grazed by a few of them, but he was tough enough to handle them. 'Damn...they're so much stronger now!' he thought. Just then, Chris was shot in the head by Wil from the sky. Florina and Wil soon landed behind the mercenary. Raven just managed to guard a Javelin aimed at his head. However, it pierced his sword, and it almost went into his head had he not thrown his steel sword aside. '...He's incredibly strong! How are we supposed to beat him now?'

Wil ran up to the general, and strafed around him, firing madly at the giant. However, the arrows just seemed to bounce off the thick white red armor. Josh grinned, and tossed his lance at Wil. Wil dodged it, but the general then took this chance to run up to Wil and grab the sniper by the neck, and slam him into the ground with a choke slam, knocking the archer out. Josh was about to impale Wil, but Florina intervened, by ramming the general with her steel lance, sending him backwards. She then grabbed Wil, and flew out of range again. She dropped Wil behind the group, and started to attack the general by hit and run techniques. She was doing a good job of distracting the general. Slowly and steadily, she's tiring out the big man and weakening his armor. However, Huey is getting tired, as well. "Come on, Huey, please hold on for a little longer..."

"ERK! PLEASE WAKE UP! (Wails)" Priscilla laid her head over Erk's heart. She noticed that the rhythm of the mage's heartbeat has become very slow. "Oh...Erk...If...if you're going to die here...then at least...let me do this..." Priscilla crawled up beside his head, and gave the mage a deep kiss, sort of expecting him to wake up from this. Serra fumed, and was about to jump on the troubadour, but stopped short when Hilda gave her a glare.

"DAMN IT! ERK! COME ON!" Hilda yelled. The mage still isn't waking up. "WE TRIED EVERYTHING!"

"...Not everything..." Guy realized. "You remember, that when a person promotes, his/ her abilities are raised significantly? But also, more importantly, it replenishes their health? Maybe, if we use a guilding ring on Erk, he can gain some vitality back; and enough consciousness so that you 3 can heal him!"

"...One problem," Hilda pointed out. "He has to be able to say the name of the item or it won't work."

"We'll try it anyways," Priscilla said; her robes are now very bloody. "Here, give me the ring." Hilda tossed her a guilding ring that Matt found earlier. "Come on, Erk...please...we need you here...we need you alive...brother needs you...Lucius needs you...even Serra needs you...but...but...I need you most..." Priscilla sobbed, as she put the ring in the mage's hands. "Just...just say it...Erk...please wake up..." Tears slid down her cheek and rained down on Erk's face.

"...g...guilding...ring..." came a hoarse whisper from the mage, awakened by the tears of Priscilla. Then, lightning struck the mage, blasting the healers around him away. After the flash subsided, where the bloodied body of Erk was, stood a sage. Erk had a longer red cloak now; and the sides were lined with gold. His bloodied dark blue shirt was fixed, and now is turned into a jacket, and under it was a white undershirt. The mage also looked taller now. The wound was apparently still there, however, as blood still continued to ooze down the sage's clothes. "Damn, and this is new, too," he complained.

"ERK! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Priscilla glomped him and started to smooch him like mad. Then she snapped back to reality and healed his wound.

"...Thank you, Lady Priscilla. If not for you...and the others, I would have died," Erk said. Then he hugged her, and whispered into her ear. "But mostly you, milady." Erk then walked in the direction of Raven, who was getting really tired from repelling javelins thrown at him.

"pant...pant...huff...huff...DAMN!" Raven yelled, as he barely repelled a javelin thrown at his gut. "HOW MANY OF THOSE THINGS DOES HE HAVE?"

"Need help?" Erk walked up beside Raven and took out a fire tome.

"About damn time!" Raven complained. "Got something that can beat him? His armor is impenetrable...and all lightning attacks will be repelled by that accursed lance of his! I don't think fire will be able to do anything either!"

"Which is why I've come up with a solution," Erk said, dodging a javelin. "You run up to him, while I distract him with my magic. Perform your wings of darkness attack. I'll take it from there."

"...All right then," Raven nodded, and dashed at the general. The general smirked, and threw a lance at the mercenary. However, the javelin was burnt up by a fireball. This happened about 3 times until Raven was close enough to perform his attack. "WINGS OF DARKNESS!" His sword started to tremble and shake, and soon enough, lifted itself up. Raven threw his sword into the air above the general, and he jumped after it. Erk saw it, and enchanted the sword with his fire tome. The blade of the sword is now burning hot. '...I see now,' Raven thought. 'Clever trick, Erk.' He grabbed the hilt of the sword, brought the weapon back over his head, and swung down hard. He fell down, and sliced the general down the middle using the burning hot blade, melting the armor easily and burning the general's flesh as it went down the middle. "That...was...hard..." Raven panted, and finally fatigue took over him. The mercenary fainted.

Back outside, a paladin and some cavaliers appeared from the left side. Hiro's group has met up with Eliwood's group, and they have almost reached the docks. However, the paladin and his group intercepted them.

"What an interesting diversion. Maybe we should join in. Lord Eliwood of Pherae... You don't yet know to fear the Black Fang. Start grieving...for I will teach you that fear," the paladin said. "I am Damian. I will be the one to defeat you."

"...he talks big," Kyo commented and dived down on the paladin, chasing him away from his men so the paladin would have to fight Kyo one on one. As Damian was being led away from his group, Eliwood's Elite made short work of them.

"INSOLENT KNAVE!" Damian yelled, and charged at Kyo with his silver lance. Kyo flew up, dodging the powerful weapon. Damian ran at Kyo again, and Kyo dodged again. Then Kyo dived towards Damian with his Ragnarok out. Damian 's lance clashed with the legendary sword, and the impact sent the two fighters flying back from the backlash of the impact. Kyo, however, recovered faster, and flew away again. Then he ordered Noah to divebomb towards the paladin. "Heh heh heh...You die now!" Damian yelled, throwing his lance at the divebombing Kyo.

"MOVE, NOAH!" Kyo tilted to his left, pulling Noah with him, and dodged the lance. He brandished his Ragnarok again, and sliced the paladin's head off at the bottom of the dive.

The group finally reached Fargus, who was smoking on a cigarette. "Aha! You made it, whelps!" Fargus greeted the lords, who were panting very hard.

"That...was...hard..." Hector collapsed.

"Haa... haa... You'll give us passage now, wont' you?" Eliwood asked Fargus.

"I'm a man of the sea. I always keep my word," Fargus nodded. He turned to look at the third lord; he didn't see Lyn earlier when Eliwood and Hector asked for passage to Valor. "Are my old eyes lyin' to me? Is this beauty really with you? Gwaa ha ha ha! My lucky day!" Lyn just stood there, silent, but she clenched her fists.

"Listen, I know how you feel, but you have to accept it. We've no other choice!" Hector patted Lyn's back.

"I know that! I haven't said a word, have I?" Lyn snapped.

"We can go to the Dread Isle now. Please, Father...be well..." Eliwood sighed, looking towards the sea. "So can we leave tomorrow morning?" Eliwood asked Fargus.

"Of course, boy," Fargus nodded. "You better stock up on supplies and get some rest, though; it'll be hard to get any sleep on a boat if you've never been on one."

The arena group walked towards the inn to get some rest. They gave the lords the gold they won. The army was surprised that 3 of them have been promoted.

"...you know...you didn't really need to go there; we already have passage," Hiro told them.

"What are you talking about? Even if you did get passage, without it, I would never have scored!" Erk told Hiro, and then pointed at Priscilla. The troubadour is giggling with the rest of the girls, except Serra, who looked absolutely pissed.

"...Might wanna stay away from Serra now..." Hiro warned.

Fargus and his pirates were drinking at the pub. "ARR! Dart, we be leaving tomorrow! Tell yer mates that!" he told the young pirate from before. "And tell the lords to wake up early in the morning; sea's calmer then, according to the fortune teller."

"Aye aye, cap'n!" Dart saluted, and left towards the lords.

Wil, Guy, Rebecca, and Florina were chatting when they saw. Dart go up the stairs. "Oh my God...it IS Dan!" Rebecca ran up to Dart and glomped him. "BROTHER!"

"Dan? Is...is it really you?" Wil hugged Dart too.

'Hmm...this is good and bad,' he thought. 'On one hand, this...homo is hugging me. That be bad. Then on the other hand, this bountiful lass is holding me! This be good. But she be thinkin' I'm her brother! That be bad...but, whatever.' He mentally shrugged, and groped Rebecca's behind.

"EEK!" Rebecca yelled and jumped off. "BROTHER! WHAT..."

"Ye be a fine lass..." Dart grinned. Rebecca slapped him in the face. "OOF!"

"Brother...what's happened to you...don't you remember us? Your sister? Your best friend?"

"...I have a sister?"

"YES! ME!"

"...Can't say I remember," Dart said. "Now if you'll excuse me..." he walked off.

"That's definitely Dan," Wil said. "He looks and sounds the same as Dan."

"...He lost his memory, perhaps?" Florina suggested.

"...I guess...Florina, let's go...I'm tired," Wil carried Florina to their room.

"I've...I...I was violated...by...by my own brother..." Rebecca just stood there in shock.

"Well, worrying about it now won't help you. You should go to sleep. We're leaving early tomorrow, you know," Guy told her, as he headed towards the stairs which led to the roof.

"Guy, remember that...when you're going to look up at the stars...that you'll let me come with you?" Rebecca asked him.

"Uh...yeah...that's right...you want to come now?" Guy turned red as the archer nodded. They walked out the passage, and sat on the roof of the inn. "...It's beautiful..."

"Yeah..." Rebecca nodded. The next few minutes were spent in silence.

Guy blushed when she then rested her head on his shoulder. He turned to look at her, but found out that she was asleep. "(sigh)...well, time to go to bed..." he said to himself, and brought Rebecca to her room. He looked at the guest list, to find that he had been assigned to her room, undoubtedly by Matthew. 'Damn bastard just loves making me suffer, doesn't he?' Guy thought. Guy then opened the door to his room. There was only a bed. "I'll only say this...I hate you, Matthew..."

Hiro decided to sleep on the roofs that night, so he saw Guy and Rebecca, but decided that he shouldn't interrupt their moment. He laid his back down on the roof. "Sigh...Mitsuna...please come back to me...where are you?" Hiro mumbled, and finally slept on the roof.

End Eliwood's and Hector's tale chapter 7 gaiden.

Please R&R!