Chris: Thanks to all that reviewed and I'm glad you enjoy this story. So, here's another chapter for all of you. I'd say something catchy, but I don't have anything catchy on me at the moment. Have a disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.

Chapter 3: Spirit and Resolve

Ilyana, after having gotten a nice snack from the Gallian kitchens, was munching on a couple of cookies that she had taken from Zihark when he wasn't looking. She felt kind of bad about taking them, but she had grown hungry again and her stomach would brook no delay in being filled. She walked inside her room and shut the door before flopping down on the bed, her mind filled with different thoughts.

'…' Ilyana stared at the decorated ceiling, wishing that all the turmoil within her would just disappear. She was very confused about everything and it didn't look like she was getting any answers soon. "Why…Why do I feel like this? This isn't right at all."

Ilyana closed her light-purple eyes and thought about previous events. The sharp lance of fear that she had felt when she saw Mia collapse. The strange, unnatural thoughts that had been running through her head these days. That new, rebellious part of her mind that seemed to welcome the new thoughts. It was all too confusing, but everything pointed to one thing. She was in love with Mia.

"But I can't be! It's not right!" Ilyana said to herself, her hands clenching into fists. "And besides, it's way too fast. I've only known her for around a month! I can't be falling in love with her already. Maybe it's something else…"

'Don't delude yourself. You know what it is. You care for her. I guess your first meeting with Mia had more of an impact than you thought.'

Ilyana grimaced. "No…Not at all. There must be a logical reason for all of this." She knew that if someone happened to pass by her room, she would be considered crazy for speaking to herself, but now she didn't care. Ilyana took another bite of her cookie and sighed.

'But you're afraid, aren't you? After all, from what you know, Mia is a normal girl that likes boys. Not girls.'

"Shut up." She whispered, but she knew her inner thoughts were correct. The mage was very afraid about what would happen if anyone found out how she felt. In this society, people who had different tastes like hers were often considered cursed and outcasts. If she told Mia how she felt, how would the swordswoman react? It scared her. What if Mia scorned her? What if Mia called her a freak for her feelings? And how would this change Mia's life? After all, it isn't every day when somebody of your own gender told you they loved you. It would haunt Mia for every day of her life.

'You need to find out. You can't keep questioning. Just tell Mia how you feel so that she knows you love her.'

Ilyana took a deep breath and came to a decision. There was no reason to drag Mia in all of this. She could deal with her own problems without making Mia feel strange. If she could fall in love with Mia, she could fall out of love with Mia. And then everything would be fine.

'Doing this will crush you. Don't even try it. The only way you can make this work is by accepting it.'

If there was anything you could say about Ilyana, it was that she was a very hungry girl. Another thing you could say is that she was very stubborn when she wanted to. Now that her plan was set, she wasn't going to let anything stop her. She pushed away the rebellious thoughts and felt relieved.

"I'm hungry again." Ilyana said to herself. She walked back towards the kitchen, humming to herself.

---

The missions passed with very little in the way of problems. The mercenary group, which was growing fairly large, had picked up a couple of new recruits. Sure, there were some scary moments during the fighting when it seemed like there was no escape. One such moment was when the Black Knight, one of the Four Generals of Daein, appeared right smack in the middle of the port city of Toha. Another situation was when their ship had gotten wrecked because they crashed in a couple of rocks.

Throughout their travels, everything seemed to be running smoothly. Boyd was still getting yelled at for not training enough, Oscar still managed to go through life with closed eyes and a small smile, Mist got better at cooking, and Soren was still being grumpy and pessimistic. However, not everything was going that well in the mercenary camp.

First of all, guards had to be posted around the supplies because some mysterious stranger kept stealing the food. Second of all, one of the new recruits, Gatrie, was driving everyone crazy because he insisted on doing morning workouts dressed only in shorts. As you can probably imagine, this did nothing to help the morale of the mercenaries. And finally, Mia was growing very confused.

While she and Ilyana had continued functioning well as a team, outside of the battle, the mage had pretty much cut all ties with her. Mia didn't like to think that Ilyana was avoiding her, but in all aspects, it seemed like she was. The swordswoman tried to figure it out, but nobody else could think of a reason as to Ilyana's behavior. It didn't seem like she ate anything strange, although she ate almost everything.

'What's wrong with her?' Mia thought as she paced around the campsite, her hands clasped behind her back. She narrowed her blue-green eyes and thought about Ilyana. 'Why would she avoid me? It doesn't make much sense. Did I do anything to make her angry?'

Not looking at where she was going, she bumped into Rhys and fell to the ground, surprised. Shaking her head, she looked up to see the cleric holding out a hand to help her up. Smiling sheepishly, Mia accepted the hand and got up to her feet. "Sorry 'bout that, Rhys."

"No problem, Mia." Rhys smiled pleasantly. "So, what's on your mind? You're not one to walk around in a daze and bump into people. Is it about Ilyana again?"

"H-How did you know?" Mia stammered, amazed that Rhys was able to read her thoughts so easily. She occupied herself by brushing the dirt off of her skirt, ignoring Rhys' knowing smile.

"It's not that hard to tell. After all, you've been asking about her a lot, recently." He shrugged. "But tell me, what's bothering you about her? You can tell me. We're friends, right?"

"Yeah." Mia nodded thankfully. "It's just that…Ilyana is avoiding me! I mean, earlier, she was kind of a nuisance, but it was always fun with her around! Now she won't even talk to me! Sure, she helps me out during battle, but afterwards, it's like she's a whole new person! I know she's avoiding me, but I don't know why?"

"Was there something you said?" Rhys asked concernedly.

"Of course not!" Mia protested. "Ilyana's my friend! I wouldn't say anything to hurt her or something."

"Okay, when did she first act strange?"

"Hmmm…The day before we arrived at Castle Gallia. Yeah, it was then." Mia nodded confidently. "She was about to ask me something when she ran away. I wanted to ask her what the question was, but she just said she was hungry. I didn't believe her."

"Obviously, everything happened because of the question that Ilyana was going to ask you." Rhys reasoned. "After that, she began avoiding you, correct?"

"Yep. She always asked me to cook for her earlier, but now she doesn't. And we all know how much Ilyana eats! It's remarkable that she's still that thin! I'm getting kind of lonely without her with me. Besides, I'm getting worried. Ilyana seems a little too pale to me."

Rhys nodded. "Well, keep trying. I'm sure you'll find a way to break through her shell. And don't forget that I'm always free if you want to talk." He patted Mia on the shoulder as he rose and walked away.

"Thanks Rhys." Mia smiled at the cleric. "I owe you one."

---

"Sheesh, damn fog!" Mia cursed as she waved her free hand into the air, trying futilely to somehow banish the fog from the air. The mercenaries had been tasked by the Apostle of Begnion to intercept a bunch of merchants and it seemed as if it would be the perfect mission. If it wasn't for the annoying fog that kept clouding her vision, Mia might have even thought that she could relax.

Mia heard Ilyana laughing behind her and spun around in mock anger. "Don't laugh! This fog is pissing me off!" She grumbled and continued waving her hands, trying to find some way to work through the muck. "Too bad you can't eat it. If you could, then we'd have no trouble."

"Hee hee…" Ilyana giggled, a happy smile gracing her face. "If I could eat fog, I would never be hungry again."

"Yeah!" Mia said, laughing. She stopped when she remembered where they were and grew somber. Her grip tightened on the sword she held and she looked around warily for enemies. "Ilyana, get ready. I think there's someone nearby."

"Huh? Okay." Ilyana fumbled for the tome that was tied to a sash at her waist.

"Hey, watch out!" Mia cried.

"What?" Ilyana heard a sound from behind her and turned, seeing a man with a large axe rushing towards her. Mia shoved her aside and brought her sword up to deflect the axe, grimacing as she slowly bowed under the bandit's greater strength.

"Let me help!" Ilyana flipped through the pages of her book, trying to find a spell powerful enough to kill their assailant.

"Don't cast anything with electricity!" Mia shouted as she jumped backwards. "The current will travel through his weapon and go through mine!" She charged towards her enemy, lancing her one-handed sword in a quick thrust that pierced the bandit's side.

"R-Right!" Ilyana responded, still searching for an appropriate spell.

Mia's sword flicked past the bandit's axe and struck him in the arm, causing the man to howl with rage and swing his weapon wildly at Mia's head. The swordswoman ducked under the swing and brought her elbow up into the man's stomach. Mia quickly ended it by thrusting her sword through the man's chest, piercing the heart and killing him. Unfortunately for her, at that moment, her legs slipped out from under her and she fell to the ground and the bandit's corpse fell on top of her.

"Get off!" Mia struggled against the bigger man's bulk but was unable to escape. "Ilyana! Help! I'm stuck!"

"Ha ha!" Ilyana couldn't help laughing at Mia's predicament. A little well of warmth flowed through her and she looked at Mia fondly. Her friend was really funny and Ilyana wished that she could tell Mia how she felt about her. Still, she promised to not tell Mia so her friend could live a normal life.

"What's so funny? This guy is heavy!" Mia shouted from under the body. "And he smells, too! Come on, Ilyana! Help me out here!"

"Sorry!" Ilyana apologized as she hurried over to Mia's side, trying to restrain the urge to continue laughing. Between the two of them, they were able to drag the body off of Mia and the swordswoman took a deep breath in relief. Then, grinning wickedly, Mia dragged the mage down to join her on the ground.

"There! That's revenge for laughing at me!" Mia chuckled, laughing at Ilyana's surprised expression.

Ilyana laughed as well, smiling broadly as she looked up from her position on the ground. She looked at Mia and felt some blood rush to her face as she looked at Mia's angelic features. Ilyana felt her hand slowly reach out to grasp Mia's and she breathed a sigh of contentment.

"Hey Ilyana?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm really glad you're with me. Heh, I probably wouldn't have lasted this long if it wasn't for you being at my side." Mia said gratefully. She rolled on her side to look at Ilyana with a warm smile. "Thanks a lot."

"Oh…You're welcome." Ilyana whispered back. Abruptly, she stood up and began brushing specks of dirt off of her blouse and skirt. "We'd better go. This is still a fight, you know."

"Ilyana?" Mia pushed herself up. "What's wrong?"

Her tone sounded concerned and Ilyana felt her heart leap within her chest. 'Don't hurt yourself any more. Just tell her.' Ilyana shook her head and didn't look backwards. "Nothing is wrong. Nothing at all. Come on, let's go." She walked in the fog, leaving Mia behind her.

"Ilyana?" Mia asked worriedly. "What is it?"

"I said it was nothing!" Ilyana shouted. She spun on her heel and faced her friend, her light-purple eyes blazing with anger and a little fear. Mia looked so hurt by her words that Ilyana wanted to just drop the act and hold her. But Ilyana steeled herself and prepared to say words that she had never wanted to say.

"Mia, stop pestering me! You're making me sick with all of your questions!" Ilyana raged. She felt a ripping sensation within her chest and she almost stopped. "Just…Just leave me alone! I'm tired…I'm just really tired."

"Ilyana…I'm sorry. I didn't know." Mia whispered.

"Well now you know!" Ilyana felt sick to her stomach and it wasn't because she was hungry. She couldn't look at Mia anymore and she looked away, her hands clenched into fists. "Just leave me alone."

"Okay, Ilyana. If you want me to…"

"I do." Ilyana said resolutely.

"Then…I guess I'll just have to leave you alone." Mia smiled weakly. "Let's just finish this and I'll see what I can do about having Ike change our partnership." She sighed and jogged forward into the fog. "Not matter how you may feel…I enjoyed working with you."

Ilyana watched as Mia was swallowed up by the fog. Choking back a sob, the mage followed behind, desperately trying not to cry. She failed, however, and swallowed thickly as she tasted the salty tears that were falling down her face.

Chris: It's drama! Who can see what will happen next? Even I don't know what will happen! Seriously, I don't. Aaaaanyway…Review please and tell me what you think!