author's note.
Xylacorabi is a very lazy person.
So, she forced me to write this for her.
Yeah, ME! Mashou no Tenshi.
(Her best friend, by the way, who also has a not very good but worth reading Fire Emblem fic to review! Man, that was a shameless plug.)
So if the writing style is different, that's because I got an A+ in English and Xy just got an A. XP
Anyways, let's get on with this…
By the way, slight spoilers ahead. Not anything REALLY major, except for one in the second line of the story. Ahem.
Oh right. Disclaimer. I don't own anything related to Fire Emblem. And I don't own Isaac's scarf either. (You'll understand what I mean soon, only if you played Golden Sun.)
m.a.s.k.e.d e.m.o.t.i.o.n.s
chapter three: serra's diary
Nils loves his scarf.
He'd received it when he'd transformed into a human and had had it ever since. It had been with him through thick and thin, desert and rain, enemies and hugs from very fat women who thought he was "SUCH A CUTIE!". He never got it replaced, even when it was thin and raggedy and Ninian pointed out it didn't even keep him warm anymore.
That wasn't the point. The scarf wasn't just a scarf. In a way, the scarf was HIM, too.
But now, he had been separated from his precious, lovely golden scarf!
Because of that evil, annoying, obnoxious, shrill healer…Serra.
Yesterday, he'd been sitting at one of the many campfires, driven out of his tent by his unsavory roommate Vaida (of all people! She'd tried to kill him before, and now Eliwood had placed him with her…just his luck) and playing his flute. Then Serra had come by, fuming (most likely having had another argument with Erk), and had snarled, "Your stupid flutey music is getting on my nerves!" before yanking at his scarf and taking it with her.
Not only had he been half-strangled in the process, he'd lost his scarf!
His beloved, DELIGHTFUL scarf. (Well, actually it wasn't his. He'd stolen it from a boy of about seventeen with messy blonde hair and blue clothing, but that wasn't the point.)
He'd managed (barely) without it for a day, but enough was enough!
And so now Nils was going on a little trip into steal back what was rightfully his…
-x-
Luckily, the section that Serra's tent was in was quiet and a little deserted, due to the fact it was dinnertime when Nils decided to do his subterfuge. The only people that remained were Canas, who was studying a Resire tome by the fire, and Lucius, who sat beside him drawing a picture. Nils tiptoed past them and entered Serra's tent.
The talkative cleric shared it with the other healer: Priscilla, a troubadour, who was quiet and refined in comparison to her tentmate. Luckily she was also out, so Nils had the whole tent to himself.
One side of the tent was a disaster area, while the other was perfectly clean and tidy. Nils opted the disaster area first for search, seeing as it would most likely be Serra's; however, upon closer examination it became obvious that it was, surprisingly, not. Making the conclusion that Priscilla probably wasn't used to being neat (being a noble, after all; he'd overhead the healer and Raven talking), he treaded softly over to the spotless part of the tent.
Nothing of that side showed Serra's personality beyond the pink silk sheets covering her cot, her trademark blue crystal staff leaning on the wall, and a small handmirror propped up against the canvas. Nils checked under the blankets and, sure enough, there was his scarf.
It looked different. The holes in it had been patched over and the rips had been sewn together. Surely Serra couldn't have done it, Nils thought, blinking at the fine golden thread that bound the tears together. She always complained about doing any sort of menial work! And yet, there was a needle with gold filament through the hole lying on the cot.
"That's a side of Serra I've never seen," muttered Nils. And that was when he noticed the corner of something peeking out of her white pillowcase. Pulling it out, he discovered it was her diary; surprisingly plain and simple, with an uncomplicated white dot design and a grey flower upon the cover.
Nils' parents hadn't been around enough to teach him that many morals, and Ninian wasn't exactly the most patient teacher, either, so Nils' curiosity overcame his conscience as he picked it up and flipped it open to a random page covered with slanted, curling cursive.
April. 04. 960.
On the march again to who knows where.
Lyn tripped today and her skirt when flying. Rath took a look, I'm sure of it.
Eliwood didn't bother to brush his hair today. It looks even worse than usual.
I think Erk has a crush on Priscilla…
Twitching a little, Nils flipped again. The diary fell open to a page bookmarked by a slender silver-trimmed white ribbon near the middle of the book. All the pages after it were blank.
September. 18. 960.
I was taking a stroll by the lake when I heard Eliwood and Lyn talking.
Lyn was reprimanding our wonderful lord (sorry, sarcasm doesn't show up in words) about not being true about his feelings to…who else but…Ninian! I mean, honestly, everyone BUT Ninian and Eliwood know about their feelings for each other! Even Karel! And Sain! And Bartre! Anyways, Eliwood is finally going to pluck up the courage to tell Ninian that he loves her, apparently!
I'm looking forward to this. Hopefully, if Ninian and Eliwood get together, he'll finally find the sense to tidy his hair. And stop giving us stupid orders on the battlefield.
Nils stared at the creamy-colored page and the neat cursive. Of course, he already knew about Eliwood and Ninian's feelings for each other, but he hadn't known Eliwood would go as far to admit them! Could this be true?…
Most likely, he decided finally, shutting the book. Serra might be a gossip, but she only told rumors that were true. (For example: the fact that Louise was already pregnant, Raven's real name was Raymond, and – shock of all shocks! – dark, brooding Jaffar had some sort of deep affection for little Nino!) And in that case, he had to tell Ninian about this!
He stepped cautiously over to the tent flaps, peering outside; Lucius and Canas were still sitting at the fire, though now they were conversing lightly. Across from them sat Pent and Erk, probably discussing some magic matters. Otherwise, the coast was clear. Nils stepped silently from the tent and walked in the opposite direction, whistling nonchalantly and glancing behind him –
Only to trip and send the diary flying open to the latest entry…
In Farina's face, who had happened to be passing through the section. (The magic section was directly adjacent to the heavy infantry's section, and she had some matters to settle with Dart. Money matters.)
"Eliwood's finally going to confess his feelings to Ninian!" she shrieked in surprise.
All the candles in the camp flicked on in unison so every tent lit up. From every tent flap poked out heads of Eliwood's Elite.
"What?" they all gasped.
"What?" Ninian gasped, dropping her sash in the dishwashing basin.
"That was my piece of gossip!" whined Serra from inside the dining hall. "Oh, right. What?"
tbc.
-x-
footnotes.
one. The boy with messy blonde hair and blue clothing is Isaac, from Golden Sun. He has a scarf too. –points-
two. Vaida did try to kill Nils, in that chapter where you had to survive a certain number of turns after seeing the scene in the secret gardens of Bern.
three. The Resire tome is a tome from Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi. You can't use it, but it pops up in some of the support conversations concerning Rei, Hugh, Lugh, and Niime. It is a dark magic tome though.
four. I'm trying to explore another side of Serra here. Look, no one can be THAT obnoxious unless they're pretending to be. Besides Tamaki. (Ya know, the guy from Ouran High School Host Club…)
five. You might recognize the blue crystal staff from a certain fantasy book series.
six. It is the year 960, isn't it? I'm not too sure. No matter.
seven. The comment about Eliwood's untidy hair is someone derived from Clarine's remark about Roy's equally messy hair in Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi. Mwaha.
eight. You might recognize the dates I used for the diary entries. Then again maybe not.
nine. Mark is non-existent. Eliwood is governing his own army by his own tactics.
another note.
yeah, so this chapter isn't really funny. TT I dun care. I did the best I could. Did I mention I'm at Xyla's house at the moment? Her little brother just told me that when you touch rolly pollies they roll up into balls. Thank you, Marco, for that fascinating bit of information. –sigh-
I end my chapters with people saying "What?" too much.
Meanwhile, why don't you review. It'll make me happy.
This is depressingly the longest chapter so far. And it's not even written by Xy.