Behold part of the confusing mess that is the Prelude is explained but only a small part. I finished this chapter while bored at 3am. Anyway enjoy.
I don't own Fire Emblem or any of the characters.
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Chapter 2: Sain's AwakeningAs he woke up the memory hit him and Sain wished that he hadn't. The offending area ached reminding him of his stupidity. "Ergh," he groaned. When he opened his eyes they were greeted with the sight of Kent, Fiora and Lyn standing around the bed he found himself wearing concerned expressions.
"Thank Elimine, he's awake," Kent exclaimed, looking quite relieved. At that moment Farina ran into the room, probably to watch him suffer Sain decided.
"Well how could I sleep with so many lovely ladies in same room as me?" Sain replied jokingly to his red haired friend. Kent just sighed and shook his head at his friends irrepressible nature.
Lyn was the one who voiced the question that they'd all been wondering. "Sain what happened to you? Matthew found you unconscious in the Grand Hall." They all looked at him expectantly.
Sain sighed, at the embarrassing memory. He supposed he would have to tell someone eventually, it might as well be them. "I er, I had a run in with…" he paused bracing himself against the reprimands he would undoubtedly receive. It stung him that he was always blamed. True it was usually his fault, but he couldn't help it…
"Go on," Fiora's prompting cut off his train of thought.
"What?" Sain asked blinking in confusion.
"You were about to tell us who you had a run in with!" Lyn seethed clearly loosing her temper with the hapless cavalier. "Who was it?"
Sain sighed dejectedly, bracing himself again for when Lyn misunderstood the events and exploded at him. "Florina," he said meekly.
At this Lyn's anger did explode as he had predicted. "What did you do to Florina you know she's afraid of men if you tried to kiss her again I'll!" As all this came out in one quick stream, Lyn had leapt onto the bed Sain was in and hit him, before being restrained by Kent and Farina.
As Lyn was placed in a seat brooding about how Sain must have mistreated her best friend yet again, Sain rubbed his jaw wearing his usual smile. That just made her glower at him even more.
"That went better than I expected," Sain thought to himself. "Although that punch of hers' is getting stronger. Ah it looks like she calmed down enough now." All three of the women in the room were glaring at him and Kent just gave him an overly critical look as usual. "Please, just let me explain what happened, then you can choose whether or not to beat me up," the cavalier said aloud with a pleading tone in his voice. As there was no reply he started to recount the events that led to his collapsing in the Grand Hall.
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Sain had spent all afternoon trying to find somewhere quiet to be alone with his thoughts. He had failed miserably, always running into some woman who he felt duty bound to flirt with. So after the evening meal he stayed in the Grand Hall after the servants had cleared away the remains of the meal, where he was left alone in the dark with his thoughts.
As he sat there pondering, he was interrupted by the main door opening. He kept his head down in the hope that whoever it was would think he was asleep and leave him alone. His plan failed as the figure silhouetted by the light streaming in through the door from the hallway approached him. "Yes? What is it!" he snapped irritably.
"Um Sain, I…I'm sorry but have you s…seen Lady Lyndis?" Florina asked in a petrified tone.
"Oh Florina! I'm so sorry," Sain quickly apologized. " I didn't see it was you and I've been trying to find somewhere quiet all afternoon." Inwardly he cursed himself for snapping at Florina. He knew she was timid around men and he wasn't helping matters much. "No I'm afraid I haven't seen the lovely Lady Lyndis." He replied to her question. "May I inquire why are you seeking her?"
"Well I er… I saw Lord Hector storming around and… I assumed they'd been arguing again. I thought she might want comforting," Florina answered in a worried tone.
"How considerate of you fair Florina," Sain said. "Such kind thoughts could only come from one with a heart as pure as yours." Florina blushed at his compliments. Sain cursed himself again for his behaviour, why couldn't he just be serious for once? "However Florina, if she has been arguing I think it would be best if she was just left to blow of some steam on her own. It was indeed a kind thought, but you forget just how strong our friend is. Lyn and Hector were always arguing while we were fighting Nergal and yet they still married one another." Sain said this last part with a bemused look on his face that made Florina giggle.
"Hmm maybe you're right, thank you Sain. I'll leave you to your quiet now." Florina got up to leave and stopped when Sain abruptly stood up. While she had surprisingly been at ease with Sain before, that hard earned reprieve was now over.
"Er… Florina can I ask you a question?" Sain asked hesitantly. His uncharacteristic behaviour made Florina tense.
"I…I suppose s…so," she muttered just audibly.
Sain paused for a second wondering whether he should ask the question in her current state. Unfortunately his usual behaviour took over and he just blurted it out. "Do you love anyone Florina?" Her face went deadly white as she panicked.
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"And that's what happened. I know it was a stupid thing to ask, but I was just curious." Sain finished his story. The others just looked at him with unreadable expressions on their faces. That is except for Kent who looked intrigued.
"That explains why Florina panicked," Fiora started, "but it still doesn't explain why Mathew found you on the floor unconscious."
"Well that's the really embarrassing bit." Sain started to turn red. "Well let's just say she's got one hell of a strong knee and I won't be in the saddle for quite a while. The pain was so great I must have passed out." His face was now as red as Kent's armour. That's strange he thought as mind went down another route, his friend never seems to take that armour off.
As one by one realization dawned on them they started to laugh, Kent being the only one to suppress his laughter out of loyalty to his old friend. "Alright, alright!" Sain protested, "I know it's funny, but…" He paused until they had calmed down. "I know this sounds really stupid but I didn't think a girl as innocent as Florina would know that such a vulnerable spot existed."
Farina and Kent just looked at him like he was an idiot. However his comment Lyn and Fiora looked embarrassed and confused. "I never told her about that. At the academy they already assumed we knew about it." Fiora looked guilty now. "I never explained it to Florina as she's always been afraid of men. I thought it would just make her worse if she knew about…" Fiora trailed off blushing. She then looked up at Florina's best friend accusingly.
"Hey don't look at me," Lyn sounded hurt by the accusing look. "I thought exactly the same as you."
Farina looked rather sheepish. "Er, I kind of explained it to her," she finished meekly as Lyn and Fiora turned on her. "Well she needed to know, anyway I didn't tell her anything she didn't know. Except the quickest way to stop a man in his tracks. Only if he was threatening her though," she added quickly.
"How stupid could you be!" Fiora shouted at her sister. "You know Florina considers all men threatening! Now because of you, poor Sain got hurt." At this remark Sain, who had been watching the whole conversation up until this point bemused, smirked while Kent choked back a laugh.
"I know," her sister wailed in defence, "but I thought she understood that I meant if they were attacking her." She deflated. "Look Sain I'm really sorry." She turned to him with look pleading for forgiveness.
Even if it was just to get Fiora off Farina's back, Sain decide to forgive Farina. "It's not me you should be apologizing to, but all the lovely ladies who will be so disappointed because of my injury," he said in a joking manner. At his remark everyone decided that no lasting harm had been done to Sain. The women trooped out arguing among themselves, while Kent helped his friend out of bed.
"One thing puzzles me about your story," Kent started. Sain looked up intrigued. Kent continued, "Since when have you ever wanted to be on your own with your thoughts, when instead…" His voice took on a teasing tone, "you could have spent time flirting with women." Sain just shot him disapproving look. "I see you're not going to tell me what's wrong." Another pause. "Oh well, whether it's flirting or thinking you still get the same result."
Sain just laughed at this. "Since when, my friend have you been the one to tease me?" he guffawed.
"Since I decided it was time to avenge myself, for all the times you teased me," Kent laughed with his friend for as while. Then he turned serious again. "I hope you realise that you can tell me whatever it is that's bothering you." Silence. "No? Well I'll just have to let your other visitor in then. I'll see you later (if you're lucky)." With that he walked out of the room into corridor nodding at the pink haired figure waiting there impatiently. As he walked down the corridor he smirked at the cry of "Aww poor Sainy!" and the bellow of "KENT! I'll get you for this!"
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I know this isn't getting anywhere fast but please bare with me. I'm working on the next chapter as fast as I can. Anyway can anyone tell me which rating heavy drinking falls under as I'm not that confident with the rating system and I need to know before I can upload the next chapter. Bye.