Author's Note: Nyaaa! I'm so sorry, taking so long to update! You can all throw tomatoes at me in your reviews if you want! The thing is, mom demanded I enter Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga contest, and blocked my writing privileges until I finished my entry. I managed to get it in the mail a day before the postmark deadline. :Sweatdrop: I'm a slow poke when it comes to those things. Rest assured, this isn't going to happen too often! Aminec makes sure of that. Don't kill me, everyone? And wish me luck with the contest, please.

Disclaimer: Amethyst Bubble does not own Fire Emblem.

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Something Wicked

Chapter Ten

By Amethyst Bubble

-

"Hmm... No one in here," Louise mumbled to herself as she explored the library. She was either looking for people who had yet to learn of the attacks, or the attackers themselves. She wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation. It was all a bit too much for her to take in. First the death of Leila and now an attack on the house?

Suddenly, she couldn't help but wonder if this had been planned. Raising a hand to brush a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, she frowned. It would make a great deal more sense then to assume that both acts happened separately. Yes, first they had intended to shock them by the sudden death of one of their own, then strike while they were still stunned by that. The witch hunters had assumed that they would still be too shell shocked to fight back properly.

Louise's eyes narrowed a bit. Well, they would just have to prove them wrong, wouldn't they? She had confidence in all the witches under the roof of this house, and she had no doubt that they would be able to chase out the intruders quickly.

Maybe they'd even be able to get revenge for Leila.

"Yes," she spoke out loud to herself, unusually satisfied with the thoughts of revenge. "I suppose that would be in order."

In the distance, she heard voices. Frowning, she stepped back, hiding behind one of the shelves. She assumed witch hunters were approaching. Careful not to draw attention to herself, she began forming the liquid bow and arrows that were her specialty.

Footsteps were coming closer, and the voices, though hushed, were getting louder. Because of the hushed tones, she could not make out exactly who it was. Making sure she was completely hidden, she fitted a water arrow to her bow, holding it steady, just in case.

"You can't do this to me!" A child's voice whined. Louise frowned; had one of the witch hunters captured a younger witch of theirs? Her grip on her bow tightened.

"Yes, I can," A voice belonging to an older male replied. Louise peered out around the edge of the shelf, careful to stay hidden. She was just in time to see two figures pushed into the room. She recognized one of them as Nino. She had never seen the other one. He wasn't a witch hunter, was he? No, she shook her head. Nino showed no signs of being uncomfortable around him, and while she was a trusting person in general, she would know better then to trust a witch hunter. Seeing Legault in the doorway, she figured that the person who had been shoved into the room with Nino must be the man Legault had brought back with him. Erk had told her that he had met him.

"You two stay in here," Legault commanded, hand on the door. "I'll be back for you later."

"This isn't fair!" Nino protested, "I can fight, really I can!"

"You can't treat me like a child, Legault," Heath said, eyes narrowed in a glare.

Legault stared calmly down at them, "I'll be back in a little while. Stay here and be quiet." The door slammed shut. Nino tried the doorknob, just in case.

"He's locked it, hasn't he?" Heath frowned at the door.

Nino nodded, "Probably with his shadows too, so witch hunters can't break in. We can't get out until he gets back." She bit her lip, "I wish he'd let me go with him."

Louise called her magic back, the bow and arrows disappearing, leaving no trace except a thin mist in the air. "So," she spoke slowly, stepping out from behind the bookshelf with a kind smile. "We're locked in then?"

Heath and Nino spun around. Nino's look of panic quickly faded when she saw the blonde woman, but Heath's stayed in place.

"No need to be alarmed," She spoke more to him then Nino. "I'm not a witch hunter."

"Of course you're not!" Nino exclaimed, hands on her hips, "Heath, this is Lady Louise." She introduced the blonde woman to him.

"No need to be so formal," Louise shook her head. Turning to Heath, she explained, "My husband is the one who owns this house, and a few people have taken to calling me 'lady' because of that fact. But really," She smoothed some of her hair back. "Just Louise is fine."

"I'm Heath," He introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you," Louise smiled at him. "Not to be impolite, but was I correct in my assumption that Legault did indeed lock us in here?"

"Yes, he did," Nino answered, giving the door a glare. "I'm sorry you got locked in here too, Lady Louise." She apologized.

"Oh, well, don't worry. Someone else will take up my share of the fighting," She assured. "Though I suppose my husband may worry as to where I am. It'll do him some good to do so," She laughed lightly.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Heath questioned, looking rather worried.

"Of course they will!" Nino said strongly, "Everyone here is really strong! A bunch of witch hunters won't be able to defeat us when we're together!"

"Nino is right," Louise agreed with the small girl. "We have some very strong fighters here. They won't let a few attackers defeat them." She took a seat in an armchair that sat in a corner of the large room. "There's no use worrying about it," She said, gesturing that they too should sit.

Nino obeyed, sitting down in another chair, but Heath's eyes were fixed on something up high.

"... What is it?" Nino got up, craning her neck to see what he was looking at. Finally, she caught sight of it. A window, set high up. It was well above their heads, and the only way to get to it would probably be to stand on the desk conveniently seated under it.

Louise followed their gazes with mild curiosity.

"You don't think Legault locked that too, do you?" Heath questioned, looking down at Nino.

After a moment, she shook her head, "I don't sense any of his magic, and it's pretty high up. Even if he knew it was here, he probably wouldn't think that we would notice it." She met his eyes, her own blue ones sparkling slightly, "Should we use it to get out of here?"

He paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. Finally, he nodded, whether to himself or Nino, Louise couldn't tell. Nino seemed to think it was an answer to her question though, as she clapped her hands together, smile widening slightly.

Louise studied them slightly. This was a third floor library. They didn't actually intend to use that window to get out of the room, did they? As Heath climbed onto the desk with Nino cheering him on, Louise sighed slightly. She supposed they did. She didn't disapprove completely of it. She could understand why they were so desperate to get out of the room and fight. Though she didn't show it, she longed to go help her husband and Erk.

Though the window was set high up, it was in fact a large window. It wouldn't problem getting through it, Heath figured as he pushed the glass up, allowing the cool evening air to flow into the room. Placing his palms on the window left, he lifted himself up, swinging a leg over the ledge. Surprisingly enough, there seemed to be a sort of thin ledge beneath the window. Good, he thought. This was the third floor after all. Jumping from here to the ground would not turn out well.

He gazed down at Nino and Louise for a moment, before nodding to himself once again. He couldn't allow them to get hurt. Even if they had magic, he couldn't go on knowing he'd endangered a women and a child. Climbing out the window and placing one hand on the wall as he balanced precariously on the thin ledge, he called down into the room below, "I'm sorry, Nino, but I can't allow you to get hurt."

A mix of surprise and frustration passed over her face, "What do you mean?" She demanded.

Turning his gaze to the blonde woman, he said, "Please don't let her get into any trouble." With that, he reached up and shut the window, ignoring Nino's angry protests.

Louise nodded to him through the window, saying loudly enough that he could hear her through the glass, "I'll do my best."

Taking a deep breath, he took a step forward, not daring to look at the ground. Luckily, the ledge seemed to extend all the way around the edge of the house. He wondered if it had been built for this particular reason. At least something similar to this, he figured. He stopped as he came to another window. Looking in, he saw that the room was deserted. Good, he thought as he pushed the window open with limited difficulty. Luckily, none of these seemed to be locked from the inside. Climbing inside the room, he jumped to the ground.

Straightening up, Heath found himself in a room filled with weaponry of all sorts. He briefly wondered why a house filled to the brim with witches would need a room filled with weapons. Shrugging it off as an extra precaution, he turned and headed for the door.

There was no sound coming from the hallway, so there probably weren't any battles taking place out there.

Knowing it would be foolish to go out there unarmed, Heath grabbed a dagger that was on a table. Just in case, he told himself, not liking the feel of the hilt in his hand.

He opened the door and slipped into the hall.

First things first, he had to find Legault.

-

They'd been standing there for a while. Matthew was out on the porch, leaning against the railing and staring up at the sky. Guy was still inside the house, leaning half out of a window, eyes fixed on Matthew's back. Neither had said much. Matthew knew Guy was there, even though he hadn't turned around once and Guy knew that Matthew knew he was there. For a while, Priscilla had kept him company, but she had left a little while ago.

Fiddling with the edge of his dark green braid, Guy bit his bottom lip. He really didn't want to disturb Matthew, but he was scared to leave him alone. He'd never seen Matthew act like this, so eerily calm. All he knew was that he didn't like it one bit. It would have been better if Matthew had gotten angry. It would have been fine if he'd started yelling, swearing revenge for his dead love, or anything like that. Guy wouldn't have even minded if Matthew had shouted at him. He all ready felt guilty enough as it was.

He just didn't like the silence, that was all.

Maybe this was just the calm before the storm. Maybe Matthew would start getting angry or upset any second now. Guy had heard about people being too shocked to react to bad news immediately before, but... it had been a while, hadn't it? If that was the case, shouldn't Matthew have gotten over the shock by now?

He felt something tug at his braid and looked down to find that his water sprites had gathered on the windowsill. He pressed a finger to his lips in a 'shh' sign, telling them silently to be quiet. They stared from him to Matthew quizzically, but obeyed all the same.

Unable to repress a sigh, Guy's gaze traveled upward to stare at the moon, rising above the tops of the trees that shielded the house from view. They really had been standing there for a while, hadn't they? He hadn't been able to see the moon when they'd first gotten here. He felt restless suddenly, and fidgeted with his braid some more.

Matthew must have felt the same way, he thought, as the sandy haired man moved for the first time in a while, scuffing the wooden floor with his shoe. It was a small movement, but it was some what comforting. It assured him that Matthew was still alive.

Of course Matthew was still alive; he berated himself for being ridiculous. He was worrying too much. He needed to calm down, really he did. He couldn't move from this position though, not until Matthew moved too. It wouldn't be right. He couldn't abandon Matthew now. He would just have to stand here like this until Matthew was ready to return inside.

Still, he wished Matthew would at least say something.

"Why don't you stop leaning out of the window like that and go inside, Guy?" Dark eyes shifted back towards Matthew's figure, surprised that he had spoken. Matthew still hadn't turned around, "You must be cold."

He hesitated a moment before replying, "No." He wouldn't return inside and he wasn't cold. It was summer after all, why should he be cold?

Matthew nodded slightly, but didn't speak after that. Guy resigned himself to another uncomfortable period of silence, leaning more heavily on the window as he frowned at nothing in particular. He wasn't angry with Matthew... maybe just a little bit annoyed. This couldn't be a good way to handle grief.

The sky on the horizon was still tinted with shades of pink and orange, but it was navy over head. Guy idly wondered what time it was. It was summer, so the sun set late. It was probably far past dinner time. He wondered why he wasn't the slightest bit hungry.

His sprites were getting restless as they flitted around his head, occasionally flying off to circle the room. He couldn't blame them. He was getting restless himself. He couldn't leave, though. He just couldn't.

While he was watching one of his sprites do a flip in midair, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Whipping his head around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Shrugging it off as either paranoia or a squirrel, he rested his chin in his palms, fixing his eyes on Matthew's back. Something was wrong, he thought suddenly, watching Matthew closely. The other's posture was tenser then before.

Something flitted between the trees, fast enough that Guy only saw a blur.

Frowning, he left his position at the window and pushed the door to the porch open. Turning slightly, amber eyes flitted over to him and Matthew motioned for him to come closer. Guy came forward until he stood next to Matthew.

"What's going on?" He asked quietly, leaning forward over the railing to get a better look at the trees. Whatever had been there moments before was either hiding behind one of the trees, or had moved on.

"You saw 'em, didn't you?" Matthew hissed back, "There's someone hiding behind the trees."

A thought struck Guy, "Witch hunters?" He questioned, panic flashing in his eyes. Were they being attacked? How had they found the house? It wasn't listed anywhere, Pent had made certain of that. No one outside of the house even knew it existed.

Slowly, Matthew nodded. "Most likely," He said shortly, grabbing the back of Guy's shirt and pulling him away from the edge of the railing. "Be careful."

"So, we're under attack?" Guy questioned, even though he all ready knew the answer. There was a difference between knowing it and hearing it from someone else.

A nod, "My bet is that there are a couple hunters in the house right now, and these guys are just sneaking in the other way." Matthew frowned as something moved behind the trees. "Wish they would hurry up and attack. This is frustrating."

So says the man who stood and said nothing for who knows how long, Guy had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Should we go get help?" He asked, making a move as if to head for the door.

"Nah," Matthew shook his head. "There's only two or three coming this way at the most. We should be able to handle them."

"If you say so," Guy said, feeling anxious. Still, he couldn't help being a little bit happy that Matthew seemed to be back to his confident self.

-

"Serra, please!" Lucius said, feeling just a little frustrated, "We have to go! You can't stay here like a sitting duck!" Taking her hand, he tried to pull her to her feet, but she remained where she sat. Cursing his lack of physical strength, Lucius wondered where Raven was when he needed him, "Serra, we're under attack! Please, come with me!" He begged.

"No!" She protested, glaring up at him with red-rimmed eyes, "Just leave me here! I don't feel like running right now."

Lucius half heartedly wondered why he wasn't surprised that even a grief stricken Serra was somewhat selfish. Tugging at her arm in an attempt to get her to stand up, he repeated his plea.

"Lucius! Leave me alone!" She shouted, "If you want to get out of here, go by yourself!" She yanked her arm out of his grip.

"Serra..." Brushing some of his long hair back, Lucius knelt down before her. "Please, come with me. I understand that you're probably not up to much right now, if anything at all, but you can't just sit here in the middle of the living room waiting for doom to strike."

"And why not?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly, "I'm my own person. I can do whatever I wish."

Lucius was this close to screaming in frustration, "Please, Serra, just come with me... We'll find somewhere safe for you to hide and sit out the fight..." He placed a hand on her shoulder.

She frowned, "Hide? Why would I hide?" She had said that she didn't want to move or run. Hiding was a whole other matter.

"I-I don't know!" He stammered, wishing she wouldn't be so difficult, "It's just that you don't seem to be up for much, so I assumed that you wouldn't want to fight..."

Apparently, he'd guessed wrong. She stood suddenly, dragging him up with him, "I'll fight! I have to get revenge for my friend, don't I? I'm going to take out the first guy I see!" As she strode confidently to the door, Lucius sincerely hoped that she was only speaking about the witch hunters. He also wondered what had happened to the solemn, depressed mood she had had moments ago. Deciding that he was better off not knowing, he quickly followed her, hoping to meet up with Raven.

"So, where are they all?" Serra demanded as he exited the room.

"Oh..." He trailed off, wondering exactly how to put this. "Well, I don't exactly know... I ran into Lyn a little while ago, and she had said that she had seen about three, but there are probably more..."

"Well, we're going to find some and teach them not to attack us!" Serra placed her hands on her hips, surveying the hallway.

Lucius was starting to miss the sad, quiet Serra that had been around moments before. Why had he gone and messed with that? A door swung a little while down the hall swung open forcefully, banging into the wall. Not waiting to see who stepped out, Lucius grabbed Serra by the arm and pulled her around the corner.

"Why don't we go find everyone else?" He said quietly as she glared at him, but followed him down the hallway none the less.

-

Minutes after the attack had been announced, Rath had decided that it would be better not to let Wil be involved in any sort of fighting. Unlike Legault, he did not lock Wil up in a room. Instead, he left him with two other witches that he deemed responsible enough to make sure he didn't get into any sort of fights.

"Shame that we had to beat up a pretty girl like that," Sain commented with mock sadness as he watched a female witch hunter flee down the hallway, clutching a broken arm and sporting several severe burns.

"Be quiet, Sain," Kent said, raising a hand to his head.

Wil stood behind the two of them, "I don't understand..." He looked puzzled. "Why'd you let her go?" They were being attacked, weren't they? Then shouldn't they, well, eliminate the attackers? He shuddered. He didn't like the idea, but it seemed to be the only thing to do in this situation.

Kent smiled slightly at him, "We're under command not to kill." He explained as he gestured that they should keep moving.

"We don't want to sink to their levels." Sain put in, looking uncharacteristically serious.

"If you don't kill them, how do you they won't come back?" Wil asked.

Kent and Sain exchanged looks for a moment, as if in a silent conversation, before Sain started to explain, "Well, we've never... really been attacked before." He said sheepishly. "But Lord Pent's instructed us not to kill, but rather to just chase them away."

"At least," Kent said after a moment. "We haven't been attacked in this house."

Wil blinked. Not in this house? That meant there had been a house before this one, didn't it?

As if reading Wil's mind, Sain began to speak again, "Y'see, about five years ago, Lord Pent and Lady Louise owned another house for witches, so they could get schooled in their magic, and protected from witch hunters. There weren't quite so many of us back then, so the house was a little smaller then this one."

"So what happened to it?" Wil asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Witch hunters burned it down," Kent said gruffly, frowning deeply at the memory.

Sain nodded, "By the time the fire was put out, the house was a real mess. On top of that, someone had seen the smoke and called the fire department. A news crew followed closely on their heels." He paused to take a breath, "That was a worse mess then the house itself, seeing as it's better for us if we go unnoticed."

"Why?" Wil asked.

Kent took it as his turn to explain, "A good deal of us are runaways."

Wil winced slightly, seeing as he himself was one- more or less. Well, that certainly made sense.

"Besides," Sain said. "A gigantic house in the middle of nowhere populated almost entirely by teenagers, who no one in the surrounding area has any recollection of seeing before? If I was a police officer, it would sound pretty fishy to me."

"After that, Lord Pent decided it would be better for us not to stay in that area any longer. So we moved to a more secluded place, and we've all been very careful not to draw attention to ourselves, so we won't be noticed by witch hunters." Kent frowned, "I really would like to know how they found us."

Wil silently nodded, absorbing all that he had just heard.

"You don't think these are the same people who killed Leila, do you, Kent?" Sain asked suddenly, staring at the red head.

Kent was silent for a moment before he shook his head, "I'm not sure, but it's certainly a possibility."

"Well, just pretend they are for a second," Sain said. "You don't think they could have found the address somewhere on Leila, do you?"

Kent frowned, "You mean, if she was carrying it in her purse or something like that?"

Sain shrugged, "I dunno, it's just something that struck me. I mean, we've been really careful. How else could they have tracked us down?"

"... I don't know," Kent said slowly. "Your theory would certainly explain how they tracked us down and the fact that they did it so fast after Leila was killed..."

Sain nodded, "See?"

"It's worth considering. When the fighting is done, you should offer this explanation to Lord Pent." Kent stopped short, and from ahead, footsteps were heard.

Sain heard them too. Turning to Wil, he motioned for him to move back, just in case it was another hunter.

-

"Two or three, you said!" Guy glared at Matthew as a witch hunter fell backwards, unconscious. As that one was rendered unable to fight, two more crept out of the forest.

"I was estimating!" Matthew defended himself, dusting off his hands.

Guy frowned, "And I'm unarmed, too!" Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the newest duo of witch hunters approach. One of them seemed to be carrying a sword. Guy really hoped that the one that appeared to be weaponless wasn't concealing a gun. That would certainly be a nasty experience, although he was certain that Matthew could disarm him before he managed to pull the trigger.

"You're a witch, aren't you?" Matthew hissed at him, "Use magic, dammit."

"I'm sorry that I don't have the same amount of talent for offensive magic that you do," Guy grit out, but readied a sphere of water all the same. "I'll just soak them into defeat," He muttered sarcastically to himself, feeling rather pathetic. Still... Matthew seemed to be almost back to his usual self. So maybe this attack had a bright side to it. Maybe.

Oh, great, the one with the sword was heading his way. He really wished he was gripping the hilt of his own blade in his hands right now; it was his favorite weapon, after all, and he was so much more skilled at it then magic.

Matthew was heading to the other side of the porch to take care of the hunter over there, so Guy supposed he was on his own with the other one. Well, it was just a one on one match, right? It shouldn't be so hard.

So why was it, his panic stricken mind had sarcastically wondered mere minutes later, that he was lying flat on his back, staring up at the witch hunter, who raised his sword high in preparation to strike.

-

Chapter 10- End

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Cliffhanger! I love these things. Next chapter should be up very, very soon. Hopefully.

This chapter is dedicated to Miserikordi, who was our hundredth reviewer. Thanks, Miseri!

Speaking of reviews, we hit the hundred review mark! And passed it! And then hit the hundred and ten review mark!... I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it. :Sniffle: Thanks for all your support everyone, and I hope that you continue to read and enjoy this fanfiction. Your reviews make me so happy.

Review please!