Chris: Here's a new chapter for you all. And now I've decided that I am going to make this a shoujo-ai fic. Mainly because I can think of an idea for it and I planned for the shoujo-ai anyway. So read on if you wanna!
Chapter 2: A Helping Hand
"Mia!" Ilyana shouted in fear, running towards the fallen mercenary. Struggling in the sand, which constantly shifted under her feet, she finally made it to Mia. Ilyana gave a small gasp when she saw how rapidly the poison had worked through Mia's bloodstream. The swordswoman was pale and shaking and sweat dampened her brow. Ilyana hurriedly wiped away some of the sweat with a handkerchief she pulled from her bag.
"Rhys!" Ilyana yelled at the orange-haired healer. "Rhys, I need your help!"
"Huh? What's wrong, Ilyana?" Rhys ran towards her, his healing staff banging against his legs. He kneeled next to Mia's trembling body and nodded. "I see. It's a good thing we picked this staff earlier."
Rhys rummaged through his belongings to withdraw a thin, wooden staff topped by a shining green stone. He gently placed the stone on top of Mia's forehead and closed his eyes. "My goddess Ashera, lend me your magical arts and cure this girl from whatever sickness ails her."
A calming glow emanated from the stone and enveloped Mia's whole body. In a couple of moments, Rhys removed the gem from Mia's forehead and gave a small sigh. "She should be fine now. The poison has been removed from her body."
"Phew…Thanks Rhys. She'll be okay, right?" Ilyana asked, brushing back one of her purple-white pigtails. She breathed a small sigh of relief and rubbed her stomach. Recent events had made her even hungrier than usual. "Ah…I don't suppose you have any food on you."
"Me? Well, I carry a banana along with me." Rhys offered, holding out the yellow fruit. Ilyana gratefully accepted it and wolfed it down, ignoring regular manners in face of soothing her hunger. Rhys watched her with an amused expression on his face, holding out a napkin for the mage to use once she was done eating.
"Ilyana?" Mia murmured sleepily, as if she had just woken up from a deep sleep. "Rhys? Why are both of you here? Is there a party that I'm not aware of?" She smiled wanly and pushed herself up on her elbows.
"Oh, Mia! You're awake!" Ilyana said happily. She hugged Mia briefly before motioning to Rhys. "He helped heal you."
"Thank you so much, Rhys." Mia smiled at the healer, her blue-green eyes twinkling. Taking a deep breath, she managed to stand, although she stumbled back onto the sand directly afterwards. She gave a goofy smile and laughed. "Guess I'm still a little bit weak."
"Glad I could be of assistance. If you'll excuse me, I think I'm needed elsewhere." Rhys bowed quickly before dashing off, shouting at the distant figure of Ike, who seemed to be wounded in the arm.
"Come on, I think I'm ready. Let's go. We can't let this stop us." Mia staggered back to her feet and managed to steady herself. She winked at Ilyana. "I thought I told you to wait for me…But I'm glad that you decided to follow your own instincts. Phew, that really was close." She headed off towards some of the homes in the distance, intent on warning the occupants of the danger they were in.
Ilyana quickly followed behind, her thunder tome tucked underneath her shoulder. A small smile flittered on her face as she watched Mia run ahead of her. 'It's a good thing that Rhys was around. I would hate to lose my first friend.'
---
The remainder of the battle finished without any other incidents, other than the crazy pirate that only spoke in rhymes. He called himself Nedata and kept dancing, even when he was trying to chop Mia's head off. A skilled piece of swordplay knocked the axe out of Nedata's hand and Ilyana stunned him with a quick burst of electricity. Mia finished him off by plunging her sword into Nedata's chest.
"Hah hah!" Mia crowed. "Nobody alive can beat me, especially a cock-eyed fool like thee!" She paused when she looked back at the words she said. "Aw, dammit. His stupid rhyming is getting stuck in my head. I'm just happy now that he's dead."
Ilyana giggled as she watched the swordswoman's antics. Mia was now cursing at the fallen body, somehow rhyming even though she spat out words that not even the most ferocious of people should know.
"Mia, we should get going now." Ilyana pointed towards the remainder of the group. Mia turned to face her and nodded, satisfying the rest of her anger by kicking a mound of sand on top of the pirate's body. She ran a hand through her dark-purple hair and hooked an arm around Ilyana's shoulders.
"Ah, our first battle together! It certainly was exciting, wasn't it?" Mia said happily, her face radiant. She shook Ilyana slightly, ruffling her hair a bit. "Fighting makes the blood race and fills you up with adrenaline and excitement! It's not something that should be advertised, but in its own way, fighting has a way for making us feel alive!"
"I guess so." Ilyana returned unsurely. Her own thoughts of battle contrasted sharply with Mia's. Most of her thoughts revolved around the terror, the pain, the worry, and the horrible feelings that a person felt in the chaos of warfare. She kept thinking of the battle that led her to Mia and the others. The rain made her sick and her hair kept getting plastered to her face. While it was true that her thunder magic would focus better in rain, it still made her feel miserable. And today, when she saw Mia fall, she felt a sort of fear that one can only feel when someone you care about is about to die. War and fighting were horrible aspects of humanity and Ilyana only hoped that it would someday end.
"Hey, you seem down. What's wrong, Ilyana?" Mia shook Ilyana good-naturedly, a smile on her face. The swordswoman plucked at a few loose strands of Ilyana's hair, mumbling incoherent things to herself. "We're partners, remember? We should help each other with our problems."
"It's nothing, Mia. But…" Ilyana smiled sheepishly. "Do you have any more food? I'm really hungry."
---
"So there you have it." Ike looked seriously at the assembled mercenaries. "Either we got unlucky and ran into a Daein patrol or they were already here, waiting for us."
It was the evening right after the fight and Ike wanted to inform everyone of the plans that he had. Ike crossed his fingers and grimaced. "I have no doubts that this will be tough, but I think we can manage to pull this off. Lethe, you said your king would like to speak with us?"
"Tch. I don't know why, but yes." Lethe, a female cat laguz with orange fur and angry, purple eyes, hissed. Obviously, she didn't think much of Ike or any of the other mercenaries. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" She stood up and departed from the room, ignoring the looks that were shot at her.
"Sheesh…Stupid sub-human." Soren whispered under his breath, glowering at Lethe. He pointed to a map that had been placed on the table. "Anyway, back to the business at hand. We are now at the borders of Gallia and I doubt that Daein has any more patrols in this area. If we remain on a straight course and not cause any trouble, we should make it."
"Okay, does everyone have their assignments?" Ike said, relieved to be out of the tedium of planning. "Good, now let's all get to work. The king of Gallia will receive us tomorrow, so don't do anything stupid."
---
"I can't believe we're actually going to Gallia." Mia said, a smile on her face. "Isn't this exciting, Ilyana?"
"Kind of…" Ilyana responded, looking slightly glum. "But I can't help feeling that something bad is going to happen."
"Don't worry! Nothing bad is going to happen." Mia cheered. "Now cheer up, Ilyana. Being all gloomy and depressed is a good way to get yourself killed. Now, since we're got some break time, what do you want to do?"
"I don't know." Ilyana shrugged. "Perhaps you could cook something for the trip?" She flushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, but whenever I can't think of something to do, my mind always wanders to food. I get hungry so easily…"
"Ha ha!" Mia laughed and walked towards the makeshift kitchen tent that had been erected. "Okay, Ilyana. I'll make the best food a mercenary like me can every make in her life! Hopefully, it'll sate your hunger for a little while. OW!" Mia leaped backwards and winced, putting a hand to her throbbing ear.
"I'm sorry! I got so hungry listening to you that your ear looked so tasty and I just had to take a bite!" Ilyana explained, her face a bright red. "Um…Let's just go right now. I'm afraid I might try to eat your leg next. Mm…Chicken legs…"
"Right, to the kitchens!" Mia dashed towards the tent, trying to avoid Ilyana's hungry stare. Mia laughed as she felt the pain in her ear fade away. "Hopefully you won't try eating me during battle!"
"I-I'll try my best." Ilyana nodded, smiling.
---
Luckily for Ike and his mercenaries, everything had gone well at Castle Gallia, even though the king was unable to lend his official support due to political reasons. Unofficially, though, King Caineghis wished them the best of luck and gave them enough funds to supply them for a while. The King had also given them their next task. They were to escort Princess Elincia to Begnion to persuade the Apostle to lend the support of Begnion to their cause. Unfortunately, they were forced to travel back through Crimea, meaning that it was almost certain that the mercenaries would clash with the Daein army.
Mia was busy in her quarters in the castle, focusing her thoughts to the tasks she would have to do. A knock on the door broke her out of her meditation and she looked up, curious. "Who is it?"
"It's Rhys." The cleric said from behind the door. "May I enter?"
"Sure, why not?" Mia opened the door to allow the cleric inside. She flashed him a quick grin. "My fortune teller told me that challenging my rival today would be a bad idea, so don't worry about having swords thrown at you."
"Phew." Rhys smiled and sat down in one of the chairs scattered throughout the room. "I just came to see how you were doing. It was the first time I had ever used a restoration staff, so I wanted to see if there were any adverse effects."
"If you consider perfect health to be an adverse effect, then yes, there are." Mia smiled and sat down opposite of Rhys. A flicker of pain flew through Rhys' face and Mia halted, chagrined. "I'm sorry. I forgot about your illness."
"That's okay." Rhys waved away her concerns. "I've come to grips with my disease and in that, I'm becoming stronger and stronger. But this isn't about me. How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm doing great." Mia stretched languidly, breathing a sigh of pleasure. "Your magical skills are really amazing."
"Thanks." Rhys stood, his white robes rustling around his legs. "I'd better go. There might be some other things that require my attention. Farewell." He left the room and Ilyana entered immediately afterward.
"Is there some 'Let's all talk to Mia!' event I'm unaware of?" Mia grinned, showing that she was just joking. "Come on inside. Is there something wrong?"
"O-Oh, no! I just came to thank you for all the food that you cooked for me." Ilyana said, curtseying. "It really helped a lot and the food was delicious. Where did you learn how to cook?"
"When you're a mercenary, you pick up these things. If you don't, then you'll be in trouble if you're low on supplies and money." Mia said. "Anyway, it was no problem. After all, we're partners, right? Partners should look after each other."
"Right." Ilyana nodded. "Um…Mia?"
"What?" Mia tilted her head to the side.
"Nothing!" Ilyana flushed and left, immediately breaking into a run. Mia shrugged, going back to meditate. However, she was unable to concentrate because curiosity had gotten the better of her. Groaning, she halted her exercises and left her room, searching for Ilyana. She wouldn't be able to concentrate unless she found out what Ilyana had wanted.
---
'What was I going to say? Why was I going to say it?' Ilyana thought to herself, placing a hand to her chest and feeling the rapid beat of her heart. The mage looked around worriedly, hoping that no one would find her. She was too flustered to face anyone at the moment and even her hunger had been banished from her mind.
She took a few deep breaths and straightened, smoothing out her pigtails. Ilyana closed her eyes in order to calm herself down. "It was nothing. I was just worried about a friend."
'That's the only reason why I was worried. Mia was my first friend here, so I was just worried about her safety.' Ilyana thought to herself. A portion of her mind brought up a conflicting argument but the mage squashed it before it could affect her.
"Ilyana!" Mia's voice filtered through the halls of the castle and Ilyana froze, her heart starting to beat rapidly again. "Where are you?"
"Ri-Right over here!" Ilyana responded, trying to bring herself under control again. The only other time she had felt like this was when she had gotten seasick and that felt a lot more pleasant than how she felt now. "What is it, Mia?"
"Hey, I was just wondering what you were going to ask earlier." Mia said.
"Oh…I was just going to ask to see if you were okay." Ilyana replied nervously.
"Really?" Mia asked skeptically, one of her hands on her hips.
"Really." Ilyana nodded with more confidence than she felt. "Come on, I'm hungry again. Let's go get something to eat." She grabbed Mia's hand and started dragging the violet-haired girl towards the kitchens.
"H-Hey!" Mia protested. "What's the rush?" She managed to struggle out of the mage's grip and looked at her in confusion. "Ilyana, you're acting strange. Is there something bothering you?"
'Yes.' Ilyana shook her head. "No. It's probably just the air. I always feel strange in humid environments like this. I'm sure I'll feel better when we get out of Gallia." She smiled half-heartedly. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Well, okay." Mia replied, looking concerned. "Are you sure there's nothing else wrong?"
"Yes." Ilyana nodded, avoiding Mia's gaze. "Um…I need to go." She spun around and left for the kitchens, rubbing her stomach absent-mindedly.
Mia folded her arms, frowning. 'What is wrong with her? I know that she's lying, but why? Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll figure it out sooner or later.'
Chris: Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Any advice, suggestions, comments, or ideas are always welcome. So review please.