Chapter 2

After some time of pursuit, Mackalov and Marcus somehow lost sight of Sothe, thanks to the short-lived intervention of a certain Bishop.

"Aww... this wasn't supposed to happen! We're the guys on horseback, and that thief is only traveling on his feet, for crying out loud! How are we supposed to be to explain this to Queen Serra?" Mackalov explained.

"We don't... we simply continue with our duty" Marcus responded.

Mackalov shrugged silently, then proceeded to move forward.

The horses trotted a few feet forward before Mackalov opened his mouth again.

"I suppose I do owe that peculiar broad much. She DID eliminate the whole lot of my debts by threatening to destroy the collectors with her powers of darkness and everything. She even upped my power a bit by giving me that Paladin promotion when few would even give me that opportunity because they already had Oscar or Astrid well raised. I guess I can understand why people would prefer a friendly sociopath like Oscar on their side, but Astrid? Come on, her English name is a joke, she's a frikin' useless Bow Knight and she starts out on level 1! Who cares if she raises levels ridiculously fast and can grow to be an uber-powerful Paladin that can crush people with a deadly and accurate axe swing of people gave her that secondary weapon choice? We all know it's the "Jeigan" archetypes the truly rule, not the "Est" ones! I mean, take Marcus here, for instance! Sure, people despise he hogs experience from the lower-level units, gradually grows into a craptastic unit of mediocrity, and if used WAAY to often, will reduce the rest of the force into something even more craptastic, but he's strong in the beginning! And early strength is all that matters, right old goat?"

The aged Paladin glared at Mackalov like he was about to sock him into the face, but preffered to reamin cooperative for the sake of their sacred mission.

Unfortunately for him, Mackalov went on with his blathering."Yeah, glad to see my fellow man take a complement! Of course, out of ALL cavaliers in Fire Embelm history, I would have to be the best! Who cares about Kain and Abel? Noah can have Fir or Fil or whatever for all I care, but he still sucks! Percival may LOOK badass with his dark armor and horse, but he's just a wannabe! And Sain? Phaw! That failure for a lady killer can't even compare to me! Who can resist my... handsome visage?"

Again, Marcus wasn't in the mood to talk and continued forward.

"Say, Marcus, my friend. If Queen Serra is from the FE game where you're younger, than come you have whitening hair and purple armor? Sure, Queen Serra's all-powerful and can probably find a way to make herself immortal, but wouldn't she find the YOUNGER you more useful? Because I hear you just plain suck REALLY bad in your current incarnation!"

At this point, Marcus couldn't take it anymore. He was about to draw his silver sword and do in his partner until a lightening-quick flash pierced through his armor and slew both him and his horse.

"I suppose I should never question Queen Serra's decisions on these kind of things, but ya know, I still think calling out the aged version of a soldier to do her duty his a bit... flawed. Whatever. I still think it's amusing that you're pretty much like some Phaerian Royal Treasure handed down from generation to generation since Marques Elbert's time. How long do you think you'll live to --- Marcus? Hey, Marcus? Why is there a thick long line of blood running through you and your horse? Is this... one of those pranks they play on the newbies? Marcus! Marcus! You can stop now! This isn't funny! Y-y-you're starting to creep me out now! Seriously! Get up! Ma--"

But before he got off his last sentence, another silver streak slashed through his body and horse as well, felling him in one stroke.

After the last big thud that Mackalov will ever make, the elusive killing figure finally revealed himself as well.

She wore long, white traveling robe resembling the clothing of a Sacaen Tribe. She also had long, black hair flowing from her beautiful face. Her eyes too a glance at the two foes she recently downed before she raised her head just in time to see the approaching Queen Serra.

"Marcus! Mackalov! What was that? I demand that you answer me immediately!" she cried from a good distance, but to no avail.

"Marcus! Mackalov! Fine, if you cannot cry back to the call of your mistress, then attend me! Come back with your news!" she cried, but the corpses still couldn't answer back.

"GAAAH! DON'T MAKE ME SMITE YOU!" she yelled as she made a mad dash towards the two the dead bodies of her former servant.

After finally making the distance to her fallen warriors, she carefully surveyed the area and realized their current "condition". Before she could go on a rant on how useless they are, and whine about her poor situation, she spotted the collected, sexy sword master before her.

"Karla! I wasn't expecting YOU of all people to rebel against me! But... but why? As someone who was ruthlessly underpowered by our creators, I thought at least YOU would join my cause!" she cried.

Karla remained silent. She wasn't exactly sure where her beloved brother's loyalties lied in this conflict, but she somehow sensed that Queen Serra's intentions weren't so noble. Still, sensing the dark power emitting from her sadist soul, Karla felt that trying to assassinate the dark one would only result in her own demise. She turned her back and was about to slip into the shadows to make her escape.

"W-wait! Karla! I... I know this appears to be an act of treason at first, but I can look past this! Marcus and Mackalov were useless, anyway! And you just proved that to me with your clearly superior skill! Marcus was an aged billy-goat who would ultimately amount to nothing, anyway. And Mackalov? Well, he's a disturbing freak with no fashion sense! I mean, seriously! Who would style their hair in a pink afro nowadays? That's just... wrong! But you, Karal! You're a fellow woman, you're strong, you're smart, and you're beautiful! You even got the fashion sense to flaunt the kind of style that my evil army requires! Don't give up the power and fortune I can offer you! Please don't make me kill you!" Queen Serra desperately pleaded.

The sleek Sword Princess turned to face the diabolical dictator with narrowed eyes. "You intend to send me after Sothe, right?" she asked.

"Well, of course you can have that honor!" Queen Serra grinned. "That little fool blasphemed against the wondrous name of the Wii, therefore he MUST be punished. But relax. Cute as he is, I'm sure a scrawny little punk is no match to someone of your caliber!"

Immediately after her last bit of dialogue, Queen Serra felt a sharp gash of pain across her cheek.

"That little thief... is searching for someone dear to him. So he is a kindred spirit. I will not allow you or any of your followers to lay a hand on him" she unexpectedly threatened.

In outrage, Queen Serra extended her left arm to aim at Karla, while her right hand was busy healing her bleeding cheek. "Why you... how DARE you scratch my beautiful face! Such blasphemy! Now suffer!"

But before she could complete summoning the powers of darkness, Karla disappeared. On the other hand, she managed to heal the wound inflicted on her without leaving a scar.

"Hmph, upstart sword girl! I know... she's just jealous of my omnipotent might and beauty! Well, I can always take care of her later! For now, I must continue the hunt for my darling Sothe! I have still have plenty of servants left that are actually useful!" she grinned with evil intent.

She then took some time to think about which one of her wide array of minions would best serve her at the moment. One name quickly came to her.

"Yes, he's... PERFECT!" she exclaimed.

She then started up a summoning circle. The air around her crackled with malignant energy as she chanted her summoning spell. In the midst of the ceremony, the silhouette of a wyvern appeared. After it was finally finished, a black wyvern let out a ferocious roar. Smoothly, the demented queen walked up the Wyvern's back like a set of stairs.

"Captain Haar, my dear follower. I command that your wyvern take flight so that we may survey the skies for our delinquent green boy" she requested.

To her dismay, Queen Serra had just woken up the sleepy Captain Haar from one of his many infamous naps. "Mmm.. hmmm... wh-what? Oh, Queen Serra! S-sure... yeah, whatever" he muttered. In a matter of seconds, the black wyvern soared brilliantly into the sky, casting an ominous shadow below it.

"Just you wait, my little Sothey, I'll have you yet! Ohohohohohohohohoho!"

Author's Note: Of course I still don't own the rights to Fire Emblem, and I probably never will, even if I DO make it into the video game industry. Anyway, yes, there is a plot to this story! Not an excuse to argue about whether or not the "Wii" is a great name. Please review the story, and don't ask about my opinion on this matter. I'll just say that I don't necessarily agree with everything Sothe says. And yes, Serra IS evil. Matthew's right. She truly does serve dark gods. It was probably Serra's idea that the creators make a nonsensical support pair ending between them, just to make poor Matthew suffer. As a final note, Yay Karla!