Disclaimer: I don't own FE and whatever.
Well, dang. Summer's almost over. I'm gonna try to work on this story as much as I can until it is, but when school's back, I'll probably only update on weekends, and maybe, if I have time, I'll do some on weekdays. We'll see. Also, I'm going to make a side story about Erk, Serra, Priscilla, Raven, Lucius, Lute (FE8; in my universe, FE7 and 8 are in the same timeline; just different continents), Pent, and Louise. Mostly about why Erk is sadistic. Well, most of that influence came from the bad guy of this side story, and Pent. The working title is "The Boy who Burned Stuff," but if you guys can think of something Harry-Potterish, let me know. It will, obviously, have elements from Harry Potter, and not so obviously Love Hina. Cuz I just finished Love Hina, and finished reading the 6th HP recently. The focus of the story, is, obviously, Erk (back then, Voldemort-ish personality; not so much the cynical mage we all know and love). And Raven joins a gang.
THE TACTICIANS' WISH
Eliwood's and Hector's Tale Chapter 8: PIRATE SHIP
It was late at night. A hunchbacked druid clad in black, red, and golden robes walked towards the Ostia arena with a group of men behind him. The men all looked the same; they had the same build, the same hair color, eyes, and everything else. Their eyes were also blank. "Come, morphs. We have a mission to do," the druid said with a slight hint of malice in his voice.
He and the morph broke down the arena gates, as the arena was closed at night. A simple Flux spell, and boom. They walked in slowly. Arena guards, and people staying there woke up to the sound, and so did the owner. "Wha's going on?" the arena's owner, a large berserker, asked one of his guards. The guard just shrugged and ran towards the source of the noise.
When the berserker finally reached the gates, he found morphs and most of his guards, dead and lifeless, on the ground in front of him. "Who...why?" he looked around in rage.
"I did. And I did it simply because I need a place for my experiments," the druid told the berserker as he walked out of the shadows. "You're probably thinking, 'Why didn't you just ask?' Well, the explanation would be far too long, and I doubt you would let me anyways, because these experiments are rather...vile."
"BASTARD!" the berserker yelled, rising his killer axe to strike down the druid.
"Fool. So long," the druid said, smirking. "FENRIR!" A dark aura enveloped the battle area of the druid and the berserker. 6 giant balls of black and purple flame appeared, and then sent themselves straight at the berserker, and exploded on impact. After the smoke cleared, all that was left of the big man were his axe and his helmet.
"Good work, Jonah," Ephidel said, coming out of the shadows. "I assume this place will fit your needs. I do wonder, however ... why here of all places? I mean, this doesn't fit your style..."
"The crystal ball tells me that this will be the place where all 7 Necklaces of the Divine Dragons will be gathered. That is when I put my master's plan into effect. I hope you're still on my side; and that you won't tell your master about this. If you do, the humanity Lord Alveen is supposed to give you will be given to another morph," Jonah said, looking at the morph.
"Yes, yes, I know. I should be getting back to Darin...the idiot might accidentally kill himself, thus ruining our plans. Don't forget to do the legalizing paperwork," Ephidel reminded the druid. Then he threw his hair back and teleported away. "I wouldn't want you to mess this up for me either. Your first chance in this world a few years back should have given Lord Alveen something to think about before bringing you back."
Continent of Magvel:
"So you're saying...you've met him?" a purple haired mage asked Ian. The young myrmidon shook his head.
"I said I heard of him, I didn't say I know him. My friend said he worked with a young man named Lucius in helping settle an inheritance dispute; he said the monk works for the Elimine church now," Ian explained. "Do you know him, Lute?"
"Um...yes. I want to see him, but seeing that only your friend knows where he is...I'll just leave the matter at that; I don't want to disturb him," the mage said, disappointed. She went back inside her tent, and took out a small portrait out of her satchel. The picture had a purple haired mage, labeled brother, a pink haired cleric, a red haired troubadour, with her brother, a red haired mercenary, a blonde, long haired monk, and herself. She didn't know who most of these people were. Only the monk was labeled; the name Lucius was written on it. On the back, it had the signatures; all undecipherable by even the prodigy herself. Also, there was something written in the middle of the back of the picture. It said, 'Friends Forever'. And in the corner, it said, Amhaldum Academy, Etruria, Elibe. This was the only clue to the young prodigy's past life.
Morning the next day:
"Kuro!" Hiro called the lord as he walked down the stairs. "What are you doing here? Where are Serene and the siblings?"
"HIRO!" Kuro ran towards the myrmidon and grabbed him by the neck. "I need help, man! They...we...we were captured by this man called Nergal! He had another hostage with him; a red-haired noble called Lord Elbert! I managed to escape, to go find reinforcements to help me recover them!"
"ELBERT?" Eliwood jumped at the sound of his father's name. "TELL ME! WHERE IS HE? WHERE IS MY FATHER?" the lord grabbed Kuro's neck, making the young dragon drop Hiro.
"Dread Isle," Lucifer answered, after drinking a sip of his cup of coffee. "There's no doubt about it. That's where Nergal is."
"Th...that's right," Kuro replied.
"Well, you're in luck," Hiro told Kuro. "We're leaving on a boat towards Dread Isle today. You can come with us. Just one question. Why does Nergal want you and your friends? I can understand him wanting to kidnap Lord Elbert, an important political figure, but why you four?"
"...Those reasons I can't disclose to you right now, unfortunately," Kuro told the myrmidon. "I'll tell you in due time; our identity...it's best that you don't know it now."
"Well, it won't matter anyways, for now," Hiro thought out loud. "Best get our things ready; we don't want to make Fargus wait. I'll brief you on what has happened so far after we set sail. And Kuro?"
"Yeah?"
"The wings. Hide them; you're freaking everyone out."
"Oh...right," Kuro blushed slightly, and hid his wings under his cape.
"Kuro. It's great to see you again," Odin greeted the lord with the rest of Lyndis's Legion.
"Yeah...and thanks for helping me," Kuro replied with a smile.
"It'll be like old times, Erky!" Serra hugged Erk forcefully; the sage was snogging with Priscilla and was still holding on to the troubadour. Now the two girls are in a human tug-o-war.
"...help...me..." pleaded the sage, looking at Raven, Lucius, Matt, Guy, Rebecca, Kuro, and Hiro. Each of them didn't seem to have any motivation to get in the war of love. Sure, Priscilla had won in the arena, but that didn't stop Serra from trying.
'You may have won the battle, but you haven't won the war,' Serra thought evilly while pulling Erk forcefully towards her. Soon, you can hear the sound of ripping; the girls had pulled off Erk's sleeves.
'Dear Elimine; two girls are great, but only in catfights and threesomes...' Erk thought as he was still getting pulled; by his arms, this time.
An hour later, the group was aboard the Davros; Fargus's ship.
"Ahoy, laddie! You don't get seasick, do you?" Fargus greeted Eliwood.
"I'm fine, sir. This is a beautiful ship," Eliwood commented.
"Gwaa ha ha! For a sea rover, eh?"
"May I ask you a question?"
"What is it?" Fargus looked curiously at the lordling.
"Why did you agree to give us passage? When we said that we wished to travel to Valor, the people in the harbor treated us as though we were mad," Eliwood asked the bearded berserker.
"I'm sure they did. It is the Dread Isle, after all. If not for good reason, we wouldn't want to go either," Fargus said, looking out onto the ocean, and rested his hand on the railings on the side of the boat.
"And yet... you've given us free passage. Why is that?"
"Listen to me, laddie. Men are strange beasts. We can't resist a challenge. Something appears on the horizon, and we immediately set sail. Some dreams we conquer, others we abandon," Fargus told Eliwood, and he sighed. "...I've grown old. I haven't had a good challenge in many a year. Then you mooncalves appear seeking passage to the Dread Isle. I was impressed with your courage. I think you may be the ones to survive the Dread Isle."
"We won't disappoint you. We will return."
"All right. Then we'll weigh anchor and wait for you. Light a signal fire when you want to return, and we'll pick you up," Fargus instructed.
"Thank you," Eliwood bowed. Just then, the young pirate from before walked up to Fargus.
"Captain! There's a log adrift to port! It looks like there're people aboard. What're your orders?" the pirate told Fargus.
"Bring 'em aboard. Looks like we've got a visitor. Odd though, finding a boat adrift near here..." Fargus mused.
"Odd? Why is that?" Eliwood asked Fargus, curious.
"The sea currents in this area... Anything drifting around here must've come from the Dread Isle," Fargus explained.
"From Dread Isle?" Kuro just happened to be nearby and heard Fargus's statement. Fargus nodded. "Oh...shit..." Kuro cursed. "Where's the log being picked up?" Erk asked him. Fargus pointed towards the place, and Kuro dashed there at top speed.
"Well...Shall we greet our guest?" Fargus asked Eliwood, but without waiting for Eliwood's reply, he walked off.
"Eliwood! You done talking to old man Fargus?" Hector asked Eliwood, as Eliwood walked down to the place where they brought the log up.
"You saw us?"
"No, I heard you'd gone off with him. You learn anything?"
"...We can trust him. We got lucky, finding him," Eliwood told Hector in an approving tone.
"Hmmm. If you say so."
"Hey, you two! Come here! They've pulled the dory aboard! I wonder who's on board. They...they're girls!" Lyn exclaimed.
"...Uh...uhnn... Oy! You there!" the young pirate called to Lyn.
"Me?"
"Give me a hand, will you? I don't know where to... grab her."
"Such the gentleman," Hector commented.
"Stow it," returned the pirate.
"Ninian! Serene! Wake up!" Kuro, however, already kneeled beside the fainted girls and shook them.
"Unbelievable...what are the chances?" Eliwood thought out loud.
"You know them?" Hector asked his friend.
"Ninian's how Lyn and I met a year back. I rescued Ninian from a band of villains. Then Serene I met when Lyn asked me for help in her inheritance dispute," Eliwood explained.
"Please Ninian, wake up!" Kuro pleaded. Ninian stirred, and groaned. "Ninian, please, open your eyes!" Kuro pleaded again, and Ninian's eyes slowly opened. "Are you well? Why were you and Serene on that boat? Where is Nils? Why wasn't he with you? ...Ninian?" Kuro asked again, because Ninian made no reply.
"Who...who..." Ninian just said very softly.
Suddenly, the young pirate called to Fargus again. "Captain! Pirate ships approaching from the northwest!"
"Do they dare attack Captain Fargus and the Davros? They must be mad!" Fargus commented.
"What flag are they flying? I've never seen that pattern before."
"These seas belong to us! Whoever they are, they're in our waters! This is a day for strange occurences, it seems. You whelps watch you own hides. We've no time to waste on you!"
However, a noise came from below deck. "Uwaaaaaaaaaaa! Water! The hull's been breached! We're taking on water!"
"Breached? Those scum are more dangerous than I'd thought!" Fargus commented.
"It's bad, Captain! We need all hands below decks, or we'll sink!" the pirate from below called, as he ran up to the deck.
"Take care of it! I'm going to carve these scallywags some new gizzards!"
"We need your help! The water's up to the galley! You must come below, Captain!"
"Fargus! Leave the enemy to us!" Eliwood told Fargus.
"Fighting is something we're good at! But a sinking ship? That's your affair! You have to do something, or we'll all drown!" Hector told Fargus.
"We'll deal with things up here. Please! Hurry!" Lyn pleaded.
"Fine! The deck is yours! I'll be back as soon as we've plugged the breach in the hull!" Fargus yelled back, as he ran below deck with the rest of the pirates.
"Hannah!" Mark called to the fortune teller, and handed her his gold.
"Stay... still. Choose your ground, and fight where you stand. Danger for...knigths... Armorslayers to the east, magic to the west. ...Heh heh heh. You'll understand when the fighting starts. Pegasus knights... yes. It couldn't hurt to have thieves along, either..." Hannah advised, and then she snapped out of her trance.
"Hiro, I'll take care of Ninian and Serene...sorry I can't help you in this fight," Kuro told the myrmidon, as he picked up the two girls and carried them to a safe room. Hiro saluted the lord, and went to help prepare for the battle.
"Kyo, Fiaa, Lucifer, Florina, Wil, Rebecca, Guy, and Matt. You will go west to take care of the magic users, but only after we give the order. Dorcas, Bartre, Lucius, Raven, Erk, Priscilla, Serra, Lord Eliwood, Lord Hector, Lady Lyndis, and the cavaliers will go right. I'll go with Mark and Hiro to the west as well. Eiji and Oswin, try not to move to much or you'll...break through the floor or something. Just be careful. Marcus, same goes to you," Hilda instructed. "THEY'RE COMING!" she yelped, noticing that the enemy ships have put hooks on the side of the Davros, and some have put planks on the railings. Then enemy units started moving across those planks and ropes to attack the group.
"GO!" Mark commanded, and the group started taking down the enemy. The enemy's numbers were huge, that's for sure, but they were diminishing, slowly but surely. "Okay, now move!" Mark ordered, and the groups started going their separate parts.
"...Those knights! They have horseslayers! Our horses won't cross these planks!" Sain told the rest of his group. "There's no way we can cross this!"
"Then we'll make a way!" Dorcas yelled, and readied his hammer. Raven readied his armor slayer, and Bartre also readied a hammer. They dashed towards the knights blocking passage on the planks, and struck hard on the knights' chest armor, breaking them off. The fighters each took a steel axe out of their resting places on the fighters' belts, and cut through their opponents' chest. Raven took out a new Steel Sword, and stabbed his knight. "LET'S GO!" Dorcas called to the rest of the group, as they walked across the plank and onto the east ship.
"Uh..." Serene stirred in the room. "Who...where..."
"SERENE!" Kuro noticed that she had awoken, and hurried to her side. "Are you all right? Why are you here? Why didn't you wait for me?"
"...Kuro?"
"Yes, it's me!...At least you're unharmed."
"...Why am I here?"
"Now's not the best time to explain. I'll tell you later when Ninian wakes up, assuming Lord Eliwood's group can handle our attackers."
"WE'RE GETTING ATTACKED? Why aren't you helping them?"
"I...I needed to watch you two; to see if you two are all right. To guard you; you're not in any condition to fight right now," Kuro explained.
"...I'm all right; I can fight. You take care of Ninian; I'll be right back," Serene told Kuro, as she ran through the door of the room.
"SERENE!...Damn!" Kuro cursed.
'Where are...there's Lady Lyndis!' Serene thought, as she saw the lord to her left fighting off an enemy knight. She dashed towards the Sacaean lord. "Lady Lyndis!"
"...What? Serene? Why aren't you inside the room?" Lyn asked her with concern.
"I'm all right, I can fight now! I want to help too!"
"...Please be careful."
"Don't worry about me."
Meanwhile, on the west side, the magic users were being taken down easily. A pegasus's resistance to magic easily let Fiaa and Florina through the enemy forces, allowing Wil to snipe from the air without much difficulty, while switching his rides in midair. Matt and Guy easily took unwary magic users by hiding in the shadows and slitting their throats from behind. Rebecca sneaked along with them, shooting other unwary magic users from the shadows. Hiro sliced anything that comes nearby as long as it's not an ally. There was a huge circle of bodies around the myrmidon. Nobody noticed it, but his ruby's color became a darker red each time Hiro killed a person. Lucifer broke through enemy ranks, and ran towards their leader. He had a suspicion on who it was, and he was right.
"...Zoldam," Lucifer greeted the shaman, who stood motionless and expressionless behind the enemy ranks. "Good to see you again. Mind telling me why you're doing this?"
"The girls. We want the 2 girls," Zoldam told Lucifer.
"Well, you're not getting them!" Lucifer yelled, and dashed towards Zoldam.
Zoldam just shot his palm out at Lucifer, and Lucifer was sent flying backwards. "..." Zoldam was still silent. "NOSFERATU!" he yelled, as he sent a giant cloud of purple towards Lucifer. Lucifer barely dodged the giant cloud. Zoldam kept sending giant clouds in Lucifer's direction, not allowing the mercenary to get close. Lucifer was getting really tired, and could barely dodge the clouds, until Hiro came to the rescue.
"DIE!" Hiro set his sword on fire, and cut through a cloud that was about to hit Lucifer with his burning blade. He then disappeared for a second, sliced at Zoldam while he was invisible, and reappeared behind Zoldam. After that, Zoldam exploded in a shower of burnt flesh. Again, the ruby became a darker red, although still unnoticeable.
"Thanks Hiro," Lucifer grabbed the myrmidon's hand as it was offered to him, and pulled himself up. "Let's go help the others."
Serene dropkicked an enemy pirate off the edge of the ship. She was struck from behind by an enemy mercenary as she landed. "GUH!" She fell down on the ground, unable to get up from the pain. Her vision became blurred, as she saw the mercenary walk towards her, his sword up to strike his finishing blow. Serene blacked out as she saw the flash of a sword in front of her.
"Serene! SERENE!" Eliwood picked up the fallen girl, afraid that she was dead. He could feel blood trickling down her back. "Damn! Hector, take care of the rest; she needs medical attention! I'll need to find the healers!"
"You might want to get her back inside the room, or get Hilda! Priscilla and Serra are too busy here!" Hector yelled back.
"Hold on, Serene..." Eliwood ran towards the planks with Serene in his arms to find Hilda on the west side of the battle area. As he got on the planks, however, he noticed that an enemy mercenary was on the other side. The mercenary smirked, and pushed the plank off of the Davros, and then headed for Eiji and the rest, only to get killed. However, he did his job. Eliwood lost his balance, and fell down with Serene. "GAH!" he yelped. However, in the confusion of battle, no one noticed that the two had fallen. Well, almost no one. Lyn noticed a flash of red descending from where the plank was.
"I think Eliwood just went overboard!" Lyn exclaimed.
'Damn...the battle doesn't look like it'll end soon...' Eliwood thought, as he struggled to tread water with one arm and his feet, using the other arm to keep Serene from drowning. 'I don't know how much longer I can keep this up...'
"Damn it!" Lyn looked over to see Eliwood treading water, with an unconscious Serene in his arms. "MAN OVERBOARD!" she yelled, but no one heard her. She barely dodged a lance as she turned around, and she stabbed her sword into the attacking knight's visor, killing him. "ELIWOOD OVERBOARD!"
Ninian's ear twitched in the room. "...overboard...?" she muttered.
"Ninian! What...what's happened?" Kuro rushed to her side.
"Someone...fell...in...water...?"
"What...where?"
"Lyn...yelled...from east...Eliwood...overboard..."
"WHAT? LORD ELIWOOD? Damn!" Kuro rushed outside, and instinctively, spread out his wings. His allies didn't see this, but the sight stopped the enemies on the Davros attacking Eiji's group in their tracks. Kuro flew to the left side of the ship, and saw Eliwood struggling to keep himself and Serene afloat. "LORD ELIWOOD!" Kuro yelled as he dived down towards the 2 people in the water. "GRAB MY HAND!" Kuro held out a hand.
Eliwood was too tired to notice that Kuro was flying. He held out his hand, and Kuro grabbed it. Kuro managed to carry Eliwood and Serene on board the Davros again with great difficulty. "Serene...wounded...back...healer..."Eliwood muttered, and fainted in his fatigue.
"All right. Marcus, leave Merlinus and Hannah under the knights' care. I'll need you to protect the room; Lord Eliwood is inside with Serene and Ninian. I'm going to get Hilda," Kuro told the paladin, and ran to the ship on the west side to find Hilda. He saw her running with the rest of the group to cross the planks. After they did, the ship was set on fire and Hiro jumped out of the flames. "HILDA! I need your help! Serene's wounded, Eliwood's fainted, and Serra and Priscilla are too busy with the other side!"
Hilda and Kuro rushed towards the room. Soon after, the other ship was set on fire as well. "...why didn't I think of this earlier?" Erk thought out loud, but then shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, that was fun."
"...they're really cold...I can't feel any heat coming out of their heads..." Hilda commented, after healing Serene's wound. "They might have been affected with hypothermia...I need a Recover staff, PRONTO!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't have one anywhere," Merlinus said sadly. "Perhaps someone on the ship has one?"
"I'll go check," Hiro offered, and left the room.
Ninian woke up to the sound of conversation in the room. "Uh...wha...?"
"Ninian! Don't get up yet, there's blood everywhere!" Kuro told her to sit back down.
"Ninian...is...is that my name...? Who...who am I?" Ninian walked around, asking the question to no one in particular.
"Ninian, what's happened to you?"
"...Am...am I at sea?"
"Those scum were after the girl, it seems. Will you take her with you? The men are afraid she, well, she might be cursed, you know?" Fargus asked the lords.
"Cursed?" Kuro asked him, puzzled. "Are you suggesting that we leave her behind?"
"We can't take her with us, can we? We're heading for the Dread Isle. It's dread for a reason, you know!" Hector told him.
"Regardless... please, let her go with us!" Kuro pleaded.
"Lyndis?" Hector asked the other lord.
"When I saw her, I remembered something. The last time I saw Ninian...She and her brother were being hunted by some dark-robed men..." Lyn remarked.
"The Black Fang," Lucifer interrupted. "This attack was led by a lower ranking member of the fang. His name is Zoldam. And you're right, captain Fargus, he was after Serene and Ninian..."
"If it's true, then it's likely that they'll be attacked again..." Hector said quickly before Lyn could ask how Lucifer knew about this.
"Almost certainly. We can't leave them behind. I will watch over them. Please..." Kuro pleaded.
"I understand. We should be by their side to protect their," Hector said.
"Thank you," Kuro bowed his thanks.
"We're all going to that island. Will you come with us?" Lyn asked Ninian.
"Yes... Please... take me with you..." Ninian nodded.
An hour had passed in silence after this; neither Eliwood nor Serene showed any sign of waking up. Then Hiro burst through the door with a restore staff in hand. "GOT IT!" he exclaimed, and handed it to Hilda.
"All we can do now is pray for it to succeed..." Hilda said sadly as she began applying the magic on Eliwood and Serene.
It was empty. The place he was in was dark. There didn't seem to be any boundaries. He would like to find out, but only if he could move around. Eliwood looked around to see nothing but blackness. He tried to move; it turned out that he could swim through the nothingness. He looked around, and saw a light. His instincts told him to go that way, but he continued looking around...and saw Serene just laying there the opposite direction from the light. He called to her, but no sound came out. 'Damn...what's wrong with me? Where am I?' he thought to himself.
'...What...? Where am I...? Am I...dead? That sword...did it strike me?' Serene thought, as her eyes opened to see...nothingness. She was startled; she thought she was blind, and started looking around to see...Eliwood swimming towards her through the nothingness and a light behind him. Her instinct was to swim towards him. 'Is he dead too?'
Eliwood sighed with relief when he saw Serene stir and start swimming towards him. He started to move faster towards her, but felt himself being pulled back by the light. 'What? No...not yet!' He swam harder towards the girl reaching one hand out towards her. Serene could see that Eliwood was struggling hard against something, and moved faster towards him. However, she noticed that she was being pulled back as well...by the darkness behind her. They both swam faster.
"...I think they're coming to..." Hiro commented, seeing Eliwood's eye twitch.
"Serene...no...please...not yet...just let me grab her hand..." Eliwood muttered quietly.
"Lord Eliwood...just a bit...more..." Serene also said very quietly.
"What's this?" Kuro asked Hilda.
"...The 'seed connection'..." Hiro said quietly.
"...What?"
"When two people are involved in a near death situation, or something like that, if they are friends, rivals, lovers, whatever, as long as they aren't enemies, this 'seed connection' has a slim chance of happening to save their lives. The 'seed connection' brings both persons to a mental plane where they have to fight some type of force to save themselves and the other person; it's either a win-win or lose-lose situation; if one person fails in this fight, the other person dies too. However, if both succeed, they gain unimaginable powers and other abilities, as well as greatly increasing the bond between the two persons...at least that's what we studied at the guild," Hiro explained.
Eliwood finally managed to grab Serene's hand, and she pulled him closer to her. They held onto each other tightly, not willing to let the other go in this nothingness. Eliwood didn't want to lose Serene to the nothingness, and she didn't want to be left alone in the nothingness. After what seemed like hours, they start to ache; the pull of the forces were very strong. However, by sheer willpower, neither of them let go. Both of them tried to say something, but none of them could. Then, finally, the light behind Eliwood closed. Another hole of light appeared, and sucked the two in without much effort. 'Is this my end?' Eliwood thought to himself.
Serene opened her eyes in shock at the light of the candle in the room. So did Eliwood; both sat upright at the same time.
"THEY'RE ALIVE!" Hilda called to the people waiting outside.
After Hilda left the room, Eliwood turned his head weakly to look at Serene, who did the same with Eliwood. They both smiled, and went back to sleep.