Lee: -Stares at story- Er… You sure?
RWT: Well the idea was bugging me to write it down… This is my first one shot that is not a songfic and FE story too.
Lee: Er fine then… We don't own Fire Emblem 6.
"Are you sure? Sir Zealot or the other knights may be looking for you."
"It's alright. I would've been informed earlier if they are looking for me."
"Truly?" The dark haired myrmidon pressed. "I could always try and ask another for a spar…"
The blue armored social knight nodded. "It's fine." He said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "Didn't I agree to spar with you today until one of us passes out again?"
The girl's tired face brightened. "Y-Yes!" She said happily as she resumed her fighting position.
"Let's go!"
-
"Sir Noah…"
"You were always good to me…" She muttered to herself as she buried her head in her hands. "Unless you had urgent matters to attend to, you never turned me down for a spar, or any other favor…"
Her killing edge sat with her on the large tree stump as she pondered to herself under the night sky.
"But…"
She gritted her teeth. "I chose to follow the way of the sword and you're…"
Tears started forming on her dark eyes. "You're… You're always in my mind that I lost… Concentration… Ever since we met again in this war… I never thought we would meet once more and me… You said that… That… But I…"
-
"Fir! Wait up!"
The myrmidon stopped a curse from slipping her mouth as she stopped walking and let the knight run up to her.
She was trying to pass without getting seen by him but…
"Fir," Noah started when he finally caught up with her.
Fir quickly looked at the ground, steering clear from his eyes. "Sir Noah…"
"Where have you been?" He asked. "I haven't seen you for a while now."
"I-I've been… Pretty busy…" She lied quite weakly.
Noah bought it though. "With your training?"
She nodded quietly.
"Hey, I'm free later on. If you're up to it, we could go sparring again." He offered with a smile.
"Uh…"
"We could have a rematch if you want. You passed out last time first again, remember?" He added light heartedly.
"…"
Noah chuckled, not noticing her strange silence. "But I passed out too, the second later. Treck and General Zealot said that we were heavier than we looked."
"Uh huh…"Fir said absentmindedly.
Noah looked up to the night sky. "Hey, look at the sky."
"Huh?"
The young myrmidon snapped out of her troubling thoughts and followed the knight's gaze.
As he dark eyes stared at the starry sky, she couldn't help but forget about her thoughts that we're torturing her. The stars blanketed the whole night sky. They twinkled gently at them, as if it were late mother smiling down on her.
"Beautiful…" She said breathlessly. "I never saw the stars this beautiful before…"
"Yes, beautiful… Just like you…."
WHAT?
Fir turned a faint pink as she tore her eyes from the stars and looked at the knight with surprise. "S-Sir Noah?"
The blue social knight grinned uneasily as he scratched his head in embarrassment. "I guess I said that one came out loud…"
…
Noah tried to hide his blush as his eyes started to wander around nervously. "Heh, heh… I suppose…" He then stopped being nervous and locked his eyes with Fir's. "Fir, do you… Remember the day when we first met?"
Fir mouthed her answer and nodded.
"And the day we parted ways?"
She nodded again.
His eyes were still locked with hers. "When you left, I was suddenly attacked with deep regret. It was as if I lost something very dear, but I didn't know what it was."
Fir said nothing as she listened and looked at him intently.
"But when I found you again, in the middle of this war, I was no longer in deep regret of whatever I had lost. Fir, it has been some months now but this war's not far from over but it took me that much time to finally muster up the courage and realize that…"
Fir suddenly felt her heart beating rapidly. "S-Sir…?"
"I… I love you, Fir…"
CLANK!
She couldn't help it when her killing edge just fell from her hands. Her eyes widened in surprise as she her face turned bright scarlet. Noah was still looking at her as she opened her mouth say something in par with his words but instead painfully veered her eyes to the ground. "I-I'm sorry..." She said shakily.
"F-Fi-"
She shook her head vigorously and cut the knight off. "I-I'm sorry!" She cried again as she stooped down and quickly grabbed her blade. "I've already chosen to live the path of the sword. I must… Sir Noah! Don't take this the wrong way but… Please forget about me!" She cried out in mixed sadness and confusion before bolting off.
Noah could only watch her leave. "Fir…"
-
"But what good did it do?" She asked herself. "Things just got worse… I still can't focus and… I'm breaking inside…" She then shot her head up and balled her tired hands to frustrated fists. "WHY IS THIS SO!" She cried out to the quiet sky.
…
…
…
Seeing that it was unanswered, she wrapped her arms around her legs and quietly sobbed to herself.
She was a fair distance away from the camp but nobody seemed to have heard her frustrated cry.
"I just… Want to be strong… Just like mother-"
-
"My parents met at the Western Isles. Before they were married, my mother was traveling and training around the world."
Noah nodded. "Ah, I see. You're full of surprises, Fir."
Fir stopped her warm-ups and tilted her head at him in puzzle. "What?"
"Through out the past weeks we were practicing, all you ever said is you wanted strength. You kept saying that you wanted to be better with the sword so I thought that that was all that mattered to you but now you say you wanted to be like your mother?" He then laughed. "I'm glad to see that you have a cute and charming side too!"
"H-Hey!" Fir cried out as she turned to a shade of pink. "D-Don't tease me!"
Noah just continued laughing. "Well it's not like it's a bad thing!"
"Sir Noah!"
-
Cute and charming…
Tears continued to stream from her face. It's just too much. "This is so…"
"Fir?" The young myrmidon quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. She couldn't let her uncle see her like this.
Karel stopped right behind to his niece's side. "Fir? Are you well?"
Without looking at the older swordsman, she answered, "I-I'm alright... I'm…"
"What's wrong?"
Fir tried her hardest to stop her tears and harness her confused and mixed thoughts that were tormenting her. "U-Uncle, I-I'm fine… N-Nothing's… Wrong…"
Karel said nothing as he continued to watch his niece's back. He knew something was bothering his niece but decided not to ask yet.
"Uncle?"
"Hmm…?"
"The path of the sword," She started quietly.
"How long will I find the end of my journey?"
Her uncle crossed his arms. "That is… Not for me to say…"
Fir sighed. "Will I … Even get there, uncle?" She asked, surprising Karel a bit.
Fir had always been a headstrong girl. She wished to be stronger and is always looking for opportunities to make her self stronger. Sure, she was a bit naïve but she never doubted of her getting there.
Karel furrowed his brow. "Why… Did you ask that?"
Fir looked up to the starry sky. "I… I'm not sure…"
…
"When mother married father, she reached it already, right? Can you tell me how she did it?" She suddenly asked as she looked at her uncle.
With only the help of the full moon and the stars for light, Karel noticed that she had been crying but decided to pay no heed to it. "Fir, didn't I tell you that your path and your mother's is not the same?"
Fir nodded profusely. "Yes! But…" She then looked down at the ground again. "I know I should discover the way on my own but… How can one do it if she's… She's… She's always thinking about something else?" She asked finally as she raised her head and looked at her uncle again.
"…"
"Uncle?"
"Is it… That social knight?"
The moon didn't give much light but it showed Fir's fierce blush as the image of Noah's gentle face appeared on her head. "Uh!"
Karel nodded. "I see…"
Fir was still red. The moon was still not helping her on hiding it. "S-So… What do I do? I wish to be strong, but my mind always wanders off and thinks about him. I tried to push him away from my mind, but I think I already have… I… Can't focus anymore then…"
"… Then tell him,"
"W-What?"
Karel took his seat beside her. "Tell him, Fir."
"But the path of the sword-"
"Fir," He started, cutting her off. "Ever since I was born, I followed the path of the sword. I didn't care for anything else except to be strong. When your parents married, I wasn't present. When you were born, I wasn't present either. Only on very rare occasions that you and your family saw me. Also before I heard that your mother was ill…"
"Uncle…"
"… I was in a village, out for some bandit's blood." The sword master then looked up to the sky. "Even when she was dying… I was not with her…"
Fir just looked at him in silence as he continued.
"I chose that path because I crave for power and strength. But even if my name spread across the lands as the "Sword Saint", it was meaningless. I found my path but I made the mistake of throwing the other things of the same value."
"Other things?"
Karel nodded. "Your mother was not as foolish though. She was strong but what she did weren't for naught, unlike me…"
"Uncle Karel…" Fir whispered as she started to think about what he had said. Karel placed a hand on the young myrmidon's head.
"All paths lead to the same place but not all paths are the same. There are also many other things to consider other than strength. There's also nothing wrong finding that place with someone else. Your mother found the place but she found it with your father."
"Really? I thought she already found it before she was wed."
Karel shook his head. "I suppose they never had the chance to tell you… They found it together, after they were wed. It is a bit strange though for most people find it alone but it's fine. You could also find that place with that social knight, Fir."
Fir tried to smile at this when she remembered what she told Noah some days ago. She looked down at the ground again. "But uncle, I told him to… Forget me… I've pushed him away… I've… rejected him… even if…" She said sadly.
Karel took back his hand. "Go and talk to him then."
Fir lifted her head up. "But uncle-"
"It's not too late." He said as he stood up. "There's still time to remedy this fault."
"I…" Karel turned to leave. "I'm going to take a walk. You should return to camp now. Your father may get worried." He said as he started to walk away.
Fir grabbed her killing edge and stood up. She looked at her departing uncle for a second and bowed. "T-Thank you, uncle!"
-Later-
Fir quietly but quickly ran towards camp as she prayed a quick prayer to Mother Earth and Father Sky that her dad hasn't got the whole camp up and barking orders at them to go looking for her. "I know he means well but-"
"Fir?" The myrmidon froze. She knew whose voice it was. She then didn't know if she should just run or stay.
"Fir! Please don't go!" He cried out as he ran towards her.
Fir didn't dare turn around as he ran up to her.
"Fir," He started. "I must… Apologize for last time… I was…"
"No," Fir said as she shook her head and cut him off. "I should be the one apologizing. I should've realized that living by the sword didn't mean strength must always be first…"
Noah was surprised. "Fir?"
She kept going. "I should've realized it… But I was too blind and busy honing my skills. I was doing everything to make myself better, and I was also doing everything to get rid of all my hindrances…. all… even to the point of rejecting you…"
Noah listened in silence as the images of his rejection came into mind. He didn't tell his fellow knights about it, but they did notice his unusual silence after the night it occurred.
Fir continued, her back still facing him. "I don't really know when, but as the weeks and months passed, I kept… my mind couldn't focus anymore. In everything I do, I no longer have focus. Even on my training, I couldn't concentrate as my thoughts continuously torment me… my thoughts were always wandering… thinking about…" She paused and continued in a softer yet still audible tone.
"You… I kept thinking where you are when we're in different places… wishing that I could be with you… then it was to the point that I had to try and… push you away… I didn't know that I've…"
Fir…
Tears started form in the myrmidon's eyes again. "I-I didn't realize, I held a very firm grip on strength that I… I'm… I'm…"
She didn't finish as she felt a pair of arms wrap around from behind her.
"S-Sir Noah?"
"It's alright." Noah said softly as he held her in a warm embrace. "I understand…"
Happy tears streamed from the tired girl's eyes as a smile formed in her lips. The social knight then just held her closer.
A certain swordsman who was watching them from afar smiled a bit as he looked up at the stars above. The stars then twinkled down at them, as if the swordsman's sister was smiling herself as well…
RWT: I'm not sure if I turned Karel's philosophy the wrong way a bit... Fine, a whole lot. And I'm not even sure if they're really IC… Hmmm… well at least here's another NoahxFir story. I only have seen a NoahxFir in Untitled by Wandering Cat. This is what I get for reading a game script's translation… Please review!